Books you read while on vacation with academics

Photograph of Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby via JGoldberg

You might think I have been absent from my blog because I was on vacation. I wasn't. In fact, I have been suffering from the kind of frenzied exhaustion that only stress can cause. Nothing really bad in and of itself, just death by a thousand little paper cuts. Mostly punishment for putting things off until the last minute. You know how that goes.

So here I am, just checking in to tell you that I am going on vacation later this week and to say that I miss you. Also, to solicit some vacation reading recommendations. Here's the catch.

It's vacation for me but it's actually a {mostly} work trip for Kyle. We will be in Berlin for a while with a group of his colleagues. It's a curriculum development sort of trip for them and they will be going to museums and historical/cultural sites every morning and every afternoon for a few days. I am frantically trying to figure out what books to bring/download to perfect the trip. It *is* vacation, so I am adamant about picking titles that are light and fun. But, at the same time, I know that being in Berlin and being exposed to so much history and art, I will be inspired to push myself intellectually. So, I am looking for that perfect book that entertains IMMENSELY and takes you completely out of your world but at the same time nurtures your mind and does not leave you feeling like you are wasting your time.

So far, I am thinking of The Great Gatsby, which I suppose I need to admit, I have never read. And/or picking up a Kate Christensen novel... maybe Jeremy Thrane. I think Maud said it was her favorite. What would your recommendation be?

P.S. After Berlin, we go off to Marrakesh for a few days. Have you been?

YURI GAGARIN SMOKES A JOINT, LEARNS TO WATER-SKI

Eastern European kids love celebrating World Cosmonaut Day! Because of the Cold War, we grew up thinking it was very important to excel at technological development. We had to be prepared to defend ourselves against an American attack. We also had to hold the moral high-ground over Americans. Petty consumerism was so bourgeois, we would go explore SPACE. Gagarin, the first astronaut, was the poster child of Soviet supremacy. Together with Valentina Tereshkova, they became every little communist child's role models. We all truly thought we could grow up and be cosmonauts.

Gagarin and Tereshkova's images are imprinted in every Eastern European kid's mind but during communism, those images of course were produced by the state and used as propaganda. In recent years, various archives have been opened up and I have started coming across rare, unseen images of various Soviet royalty... in less than dignified moments. The image above is of Gagarin lighting what looks like a joint. Or perhaps, just a cigarette... but still... it would have been unthinkable to see this kind of photo before 1989.

The photo was taken at an outing in 1963, out in the country where Gagarin spent the day with a bunch of his guy friends (including other Soviet cosmonauts Alexey Leonov, Boris Volynov and Victor Gorbatko) .... having a picnic, learning to water-ski and just hanging out. Not especially graceful, I must add. You can see the rest of this amazing collection of photos at English Russia.

If you are a fellow Gagarin fan, you should take a look at my World Cosmonaut Day post from last year. It features Gagarin and Tereshkova, sipping cocktails.

Audrey Tautou: The thing that is blocking me is a lack of self-confidence.

Photograph of Audrey Tautou from HERE.

Do you know the website The Talks? It features outstanding and very personal interviews with some of the most creative brains of our time. If you haven't seen it, do take a look. {Don't do it if you only have a few minutes to spare because it will suck you right in.}

The reason I am bringing it up today is the most recent interview – with French actress Audrey Tautou – which surprised me with its honesty. Tautou talks about her personal interests, outside of work – I travel, I write, I take photos, I read, I draw – which, at this point, she says she is keeping private because she lacks self-confidence:

Do you also lack self-confidence as an actress?
Yes. I look for that self-confidence in the director I work with. The director will give me that dose of confidence that the rest of the time I am lacking to make me feel totally secure.

Don’t you think you are being a bit too hard on yourself?
It doesn’t mean that I think I suck! I am able to make a negative or a positive judgment about the roles and scenes I am in. Some of the work I’ve done is good work and when I watch myself I can see that there is not a moment when I leave the character. Often, in quite a few of my films, I will watch my work and see that in this scene or that scene I wasn’t quite on track. But I don’t beat myself up saying I am good-for-nothing and wondering why I was chosen.

I love this interview for so many reasons! No. 1: I am increasingly interested in stories about people's hobbies and side-projects. I find it extremely empowering to know that in a world that puts so much emphasis on professional success people are still venturing out and finding fulfillment outside of their workplace (even if that workplace is as creative as the movie-set). No. 2: I love that an internationally recognized artist is honest and open about the fear and self-doubt involved in the creative process but also, No. 3: How one can still figure out to live with said lack of self-confidence and not let it stifle them completely. It doesn’t mean that I think I suck! is perfect.

My Eastern European Sisters

Source unknown. Image found on Pinterest

It's been a tough week. I feel like I'm holding this heavy ball of steel over my shoulder and having so much trouble pushing it off.

My Eastern European sisters are so tough and never complain. They act like they can do it all.

My recent Jackie O obsession, chronicled for The Equals Record

I wrote about my recent Jackie O obsession for The Equals Record. I am so excited about this contribution because The Equals Record is such a great publication: very smart, substantive and respectful of women without being stuffy or pretentious in any way.

Thank you so much, Ally, for recommending me as guest editor!

Dolce & Gabbana find fashion inspiration in XII century Byzantine art

Detail image c/o of Dolce & Gabbana

The image above is a close up of the beautiful embroideries in the Fall 2013 Dolce & Gabbana Ready To Wear collection. The images are inspired by the Cathedral of Monreale, Sicily. The cathedral was built between 1172 and 1185 under the commission of the Norman King William II of Altavilla and is famous for its gold mosaics.

For those of you unfamiliar with Byzantine religious art, one of its most distinct features is its anti-naturalistic character. In contrast to classical Greek art, which aims at hyper-realistic representations, Eastern Orthodoxy takes a more symbolic approach to religious imagery. The artist has very little freedom in the depiction of his subject. So very little freedom, in fact, that the proper way of referring to the icon-creation process is "writing". You write, you don't paint an icon. There are principles you must follow and elements you need to include in order to comply with the Canon. Heck, even your color choices are pre-determined for you:

• Gold represents Heaven
• Red represents love, passion, divine energy, the triumph of life over death. 
• Blue stands for human life and is considered the color of the Mother of God
• Purple is the color of the clergy

If you look closely at icons, for example, you can see that some buildings are painted purple: that signifies that a particular building is a church. Also, in some icons you can notice that the Virgin Mary is painted with blue layers of garment under her red robe. That's because she is a regular human being that has been graced by the will of God. In contrast, Jesus is often portrayed the other way around, in red under-garments because he was sent to Earth by a Heavenly Father.

I am VERY curious to know how much attention the design team at Dolce & Gabbana has invested in representing symbolism of the iconographic canon. The colors seem Byzantine and the iconic imagery appears true to form but I wonder if they were "writing" as they were sewing, too.

Either way, I am in awe.

Jacqueline Kennedy and Nina Khruscheva–Just so, always and in everything

Photo credit: LiveInternet.ru

Kseniya Sobchak, the Russian TV personality/socialite/political activist just posted this photograph on Instagram with the following caption: "Жаклин Кеннеди и Хрущева. И так- всегда и во всем ..."– Jacqueline Kennedy and Khrushcheva– Just so, always and in everything. If I am not mistaken, the picture was taken in Vienna during Nikita and Jack's meeting that culminated in the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty more than one year later. 

Sobchak's followers were divided in their reactions to the photograph. Some of them agreed with her assessment. "Russia" always was and will continue to be portly, unpolished, unsophisticated. "America" will always be a symbol of style, elegance, and class. Several people mentioned this picture embarrassed them. Others were offended and felt the caption was unnecessarily harsh. Several women pointed out that at the time the picture was taken, Nina Khruscheva was twice Jacqueline's age AND spoke several languages and was fairly educated and very erudite.

As a great admirer of Jacqueline, as I look at this picture, I still find myself rooting for Nina. It must have taken a lot of guts to stand poised next to a beauty queen and smile so pleasantly. I wish I knew what she wrote in her diary that night but I also suspect that she didn't keep one to begin with. 

What's your response to this image? Also, do you know much about Nina? I am finding very little info about her online.

War and Peace on BBC: who's going to be in it?!

Photography: Rainer Hosch for Venice Magazine via Eddie Redmayne's Fan Site

Did you hear? War and Peace is being made into a six-part one-our series, written by Andrew Davies whose name I was not familiar with but apparently, he's a well-know period piece director. The project is still in early planning stages but people are already speculating about the cast (of course!).

Davis says that he would love to cast an unknown actress to play Natasha Rostova but more well-know male actors for the roles of Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky. Eddie Redmay's name has come up.

When War and Peace was on TV back in the early 1970s, Pierre was played by none other but Sir Anthony Hopkins. Pretty wild, right?!

Penny Martin, Editor-in-Chief of The Gentlewoman: Women talk to each other very differently when men aren't in the room

Mira Duma and Vika Gazinskaia

The Telegraph has done a little piece on Penny Martin, the much revered editor-in-chief of The Gentlewoman. She comes across as very charming and down-to-earth but also, incredibly erudite. Apparently, she was on track to receive her PhD and was working on a thesis about women’s magazines – "about Vogue, Thatcherism and the representation of the working woman." Amazing, no? I was particularly tickled by this little note on why it was important to her to chose a markedly conversational style for the magazine:

'I think it is very important that you can hear the way women sound. I think women talk to each other very differently when men aren't in the room and I wanted that sound of their voices,' she says. 'What I wanted to reproduce was that thing when women sit down and say, "God, I love that."' She mimes pulling at a jacket. 'You know, they touch each other.'

Read the whole interview. You will feel she knows you.

via The Luxe Chronicles

Eastern Europe in Pictures: Baku, Azerbaijan

Photo via Marciano 37

I saw this photograph being shared on Pinterest and I fell in love with it. Where else but in Easter Europe can you find so much beauty in destruction and sad, sad architecture. If you look closely, you can see that this is a {roof-top} cafe as evidenced by the air shafts and antennas around the opening. According to the Internets, the cafe is located in Baku, Azerbaijan. So far, I have not been able to find its name  or any information on this building. Please be sure to let me know if you do.

Have a great start of the week!