berry randomness that got saved up over the past 3 months
Clearly if you have come to check out my blog, you are bored out of your mind and have no life. A game from this week’s Economist might be a better alternative for wasting your time. I also recommend The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem, which is something like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but 10 times shorter.
I completely forgot to post this executive summary of Ukraine that I was enlightened with during my stay in Kiev. Enjoy.
Awaiting the beheading
A complete summary of Ukrainian life as of today can be found in the first chapter of Bulgakov’s “Master and Margarita.” Even trying to order sashimi at the fancy Buddha Bar in the down town Kiev where a champagne bottle goes for $1000 ended with the waiter coming back to inform that there was no yellow tail. Choices one, two and three were also unavailable. Shortly,out of the 9 kinds of fish on the menu, you could get only 5, one of them being raw shrimp (bleh).
- Дайте нарзану, – попросил Берлиоз.
- Нарзану нету, – ответила женщина в будочке и почему-то обиделась.
- Пиво есть? – Сиплым голосом осведомился Бездомный.
- Пиво привезут к вечеру, – ответила женщина.
- А что есть? – Спросил Берлиоз.
- Абрикосовая, только теплая, – сказала женщина.
- Ну, давайте, давайте, давайте!..
Here is the same in my free translation, written especially for our no-Russian-understanding friends
- Some seltzer, please, – asked Berlioz.
- There is none, – answered the woman in the kiosk, and, for some reason, got offended.
- Do you have beer? – Bezdomny enquired in a hoarse voice.
- Beer’s being delivered later this evening,- the woman replied.
- Well what do you have? – Berlioz asked the woman.
- Apricot water, only it’s warm.
- All right, all right, we will have that!..
Inspired by
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The song is about Anne Sexton; it heavily draws on her poetry, mostly on 45 Mercy Street.
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This photo is substantially digitally manipulated: there are three layers to the image, and this is actually the same side of the face on both sides. The idea was to make this image confusing, to where the viewer does not clearly understand whether the droplets are running down the face or another surface, and how many surfaces there are all together.
Astor Place, NYC
Manhattan from New Jersey
Far Rockaway beach in Queens, NY
