Happy New Year! (En)

My dearest friends, I will keep my greetings to you all as short as possible (nobody wants to read an essay while preparing to celebrate with family and friends, right?).

2023 was a tough year for many, full of losses and grief: let’s hope that 2024, despite the dubious reputation of leap years, be merciful and yes, happier to each and every one of you. I am wishing you to be healthy and strong, feeling loved and cherished by those who are the closest to you, achieving all your goals, academic and whatnot, no matter how minuscule they would seem from the outside: they are important, because you are important.

Let’s stay in touch in the upcoming year, because our connections, real and virtual, are valuable. Love you all, your Lena.

Christmas Tree-2023: часть 2

И елка in full glory днем (без этих фотографий, конечно, никуда) плюс вечерние фото каминной полки (они тоже необходимы):

Christmas Tree-2023: часть 1

Традиция есть традиция, а значит, завершающими постами этого года снова станут фото нашей елки — вечером и днем (следующий пост). В этом году она поменьше, чем в предыдущем, но все такая же пушистая и красивая, с нежным еловым ароматом.

Итоги года

Дня два назад мне попалось на глаза шведское слово Mellandagarna, которое, если я правильно поняла, обозначает неделю (или немного меньше) между Рождеством и Новым годом* — с детства самое любимое мое время. Рождественские праздники тогда еще не были частью моей реальности — скорее, необходимым литературным фоном и предпосылкой чудес у Андерсена, Диккенса и Гюго, однако ж все дела уже постепенно решались сами собой, и наступала радостная суета с елкой, праздничным столом, гостями и проч. Так было и позже, когда я повзрослела и жила отдельно, и так продолжалось вплоть до 2022 года: к обычному распорядку прибавилось и немного нелепое полушутливое (вообще-то, нет) соцсетевое подведение итогов, которое писалось больше для себя, чтобы можно было позже сравнить и понять, что из задуманного получилось, а что из несделанного осталось на потом и перешло на следующий год.

Сейчас все не так; нет никакой Мелландагарны, да и подводить нечего: все завершенное или пропущенное видится мелким и очевидно-ненужным на фоне войн и катастроф.

“Dunwich” illustrated by Baranger: now in Cambridge (En)

So, my copy of the latest Baranger book is here and has joined the rest of the squad (I don’t remember posting them here, so I have to do it next year I guess).

“A Post Mortem on the Gino Case”: a hot mess, P. 2 (En)

A followup from the New Yorker to the previous post.

Ugh, yikes! Yet there are lots of folks (see the Harward Crimson remarks, for example) who defend her practices. Funny that.

One former graduate student thought that she caught Gino plagiarizing portions of a literature review, but tried to convince herself that it was an honest error. Later, in a study for a different paper, “Gino was, like, ‘I had an idea for an additional experiment that would tie everything together, and I already collected the data and wrote it up—here are the results.’ ” The former graduate student added, “My adviser was, like, ‘Did you design the study together? No. Did you know it was going to happen? No. Has she sent you the data? No. Something off is happening here.’ ” (Gino declined to address these allegations on the record.) ©

“A Post Mortem on the Gino Case”: a hot mess (En)

The whole story is a hot mess and keeps on giving (mind you, I haven’t read the infamous New Yorker piece yet). Speaking about the real horrors of Academia.

The story so far is very banal. I, a (very) early-career researcher, took a deep dive into a famous paper and discovered inconsistencies. These stories always start with “that’s odd…”, “it doesn’t make any sense…”, or “there is something off here…”. Then, I second-guessed myself, a lot. After all, the authors are famous, serious people; and the paper is published in a prestigious peer-reviewed journal. So I thought “I must have misunderstood,” “I must be missing a part of the puzzle,” “it was probably addressed during the peer review process”… Then, as I finally grew more confident that the issues were real and substantial, I decided to write about them. ©

Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 (концерт в Клэр)

Совершенно блистательный концерт Монтеверди в только что отремонтированном холле Клэр: музыканты звучали безупречно и солисты (хор Клэр колледжа под управлением дирижера Грэма Росса) были просто невероятны. Ура!

‘Starve Acre’: a new folk horror (En)

When The Wicker Man and Penda’s Fen meet The Shining?.. The more folk horror the better, I guess.

The film is thus set in the precise era when many of its most obvious influences, including “The Wicker Man” and “Don’t Look Now,” would have been on cinema screens — not that anybody’s going to the movies in this remote, wind-whipped enclave, where even television seems a slightly anachronistic imposition on the local lifestyle, fitting only when the faulty local signal collapses the image into blaring static. ©

Looking forward to watching it in 2024.

“The French Dispatch”: a visual analysis (En)

Your decadent entertainment: a brilliant video about Surrealist planimetry of The French Dispatch (it follows my previous post on the matter). Enjoy!

Wimpole Hall and Home Farm: P. 2 “Wimpole Estate: an interior design” (Photos, En)

As for the interior of the mansion, it looks fairly similar to the other stately homes (albeit less ornate in comparison with Felbrigg, Anglesey or Audley End as it was heavily refurbished in the late 30s). One of the volunteer curators told us that the latest owner of the house, Mrs Bambridge, a daughter of Rudyard Kipling, revamped the design of the rooms (she and her husband bought Wimpole in 1938 after being tenants for a while) with the help of money left her by her renowned father.

An amusing detail: young Queen Victoria visited the estate exactly 180 years ago, in October 1843.

Wimpole Hall and Home Farm: P. 1 “Mid-October wanderings” (Photos, En)

That was a splendid day, thanks to our friend who took us here!

Дисклеймер перед завершением года

Как обычно, в последние два дня перед Новым годом я размещаю несколько отложенных в долгий ящик постов, до которых, наконец-то, дошли руки. При этом я не предусматриваю для них какого-то особого хронологического порядка: пусть идут как идут, главное — не забыть. Поехали.

Австрийские tutti quanti: P. S., Hundertwasser House, details (photos, En)

When people asked Hundertwasser, “Why do you wear different socks?”, he always answered, “Why do you wear the same socks?”

(Reminds me of Donnie Darko’s Frank with his “Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?”)

Австрийские tutti quanti: P. S., architectural details (photos, En)

Strictly speaking, there are no holidays for art; art pursues you everywhere, and that's just fine with the artist. ©

Австрийские tutti quanti: P. 15, Departure (photos, En)

And just like that, Vienna has become a great memory.

Австрийские tutti quanti: P. 14 (The Belvedere Palace—the Northern Renaissance; photos, En)

And, of course, the Northern Renaissance, all these unknown artists who made Biblical art eternal—alter pieces, triptychs and wooden crucifixes:

Австрийские tutti quanti: P. 13 (The Belvedere Palace—Klimt, Schiele etc; photos, En)

Klimt and the Secession are one of the reasons (the second one is the Northern Renaissance) why one must visit the upper Belvedere.

When the soul goes forth on travel, and is prest

Round and compassed in with clouds that flash and flee. ©

“The Woman in Black” (2011; En): instead of a review

Rewatching the BBC (?) adaptation of “The Woman in Black” with Daniel Radcliffe who’s trying hard to live the simple life of a Victorian* Muggle (unsuccessfully). As usual in the case of relatively modern takes, despite the accurate period clothing, houses etc. the faces are a dead giveaway—too much makeup and the expression of a person who didn’t catch the latest sales at John Lewis.

_______________

* Edwardian.

NecronomiCon: a big announcement-2024

Итак, НекрономиКону-2024 быть: Нильс объявил даты. На этот раз конвенция состоится 15-18 августа, чуть раньше, чем обычно, и я начинаю обратный отсчет до заветной даты. 12 января можно будет букировать туры и заказывать билеты на все панели и секции. The stars will be right again, и я очень жду нового симпозиума и встреч с любимыми коллегами.

Построждественские тутти кванти

Встретились с любимыми друзьями, посидели в отличном гастропабе, а когда заехали к нам, я умудрилась сжечь рукав псевдошифоновой блузки к чертям собачьим и немного опалить руку до локтя — всего лишь нужно было широкими элегантными жестами поколдовать над подсвечником. Учитывая, что три недели назад я прожгла большой палец на той же руке практически до кости (кипящее подсолнечное масло, I see you, немедленно прекратить балаган), второй раз-таки обернулся фарсом, и рука особо не пострадала. Не будьте как я, удачливая пятидесятилетняя девужка из СССР. Блузку немного жаль, но, в принципе, если надевать ее с серебряными готическими украшеньями и сложным выраженьем лица, сойдет за косплей ведьмы на отдыхе.

Christmas tv (a brief summary, part 2)

A few more films were seen:

“Suspicion”

Not the best of Hitchcock’s—dull, too overtly noir, old fashioned (and not in a good sense, with lots of romantic huffing and puffing), with uninteresting and predictable characters. I don’t want to be too harsh, as I am not a big fan of Old Hollywood overall.

“High Society”

The best part of it is Bing Crosby singing and Louis Armstrong playing trumpet. The rest is cringe beyond belief: Grace Kelly is cute, of course, but that’s about it. Sinatra is annoying. New look fashion is fine.

Christmas tv (a brief summary)

We suddenly ended up watching a few things on Christmas tv, and here is my brief summary, if I may:

“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (Netflix)

Surprisingly, I never watched this classic Christmas comedy before, although I am somewhat familiar with Dr Seuss (his works have never been part of my childhood, so there) and all the pop-cultural references connected to the Grinch as a staple meme of that one annoying git who’s fun at parties. The movie was exactly what I expected—daft beyond belief, sickly sweet, with lots of stupid slapstick gags for young kids. The best element of all this was the future Goth queeny Taylor Momsen as a baby: she was insanely cute. On the other hand, the most confusing part of the whole film was a moment when Jim Carrey mumbled “schedule” as “sheh-jool” (?!)—perhaps a weird attempt to add even more malice into the Grinch, casually inserting Britishisms in his scrambled furious philippics? I don’t know, but that was strange.

Gregorian Christmas-2023: The Feast (photos; En)

The Christmas Feast turned out for us to be quiet yet lovely, and cosy, and cheerful enough (in many ways thanks to our Irish neighbours, who started celebrating around lunch time; feels like their festivities are not coming to an end anytime soon), but, surprisingly, also very red (?)—no, I am not talking about Champagne Socialism (although our Rosé Moscato plays its sparkling role fairly well), but merely about the brightness of the colours: they brought us their own joy.

And, of course, there were crackers with paper crowns and solid cringy jokes (looks like one of them took the cake: “What kind of motorbike does Santa ride? A Holly Davidson” etc), nice food and stollen at the end, which we ate being full already, but felt no regrets. Merry Christmas!