Month: July 2011
Roman Polanski’s ‘Carnage’ to Open 49th New York Film Festival – indieWIRE
Roman Polanski’s ‘Carnage’ to Open 49th New York Film Festival – indieWIRE
by Brian Brooks
The North American premiere of Roman Polanski’s latest film, “Carnage,” will open the 49th New York Film Festival September 30th, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which produces the anticipated annual event, said Friday.
Based on Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage,” the 2009 Tony Award-winner for Best Play, “Carnage” follows the events of an evening when two Brooklyn couples are brought together after their children are involved in a playground fight. Produced by Said Ben Said, the Sony Pictures Classics release stars Academy Award winners Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz and Academy Award nominee John C. Reilly.]
(continue reading at indieWIRE).
Moscow Summer: Mansion For Sale
A mansion up for sale in Moscow city centre |
Moscow Summer 30, originally uploaded by loscuadernosdejulia.
Last week when I went on a river cruise we went past this curious sign. I have seen “flats for sale” in many places around the city, but mansions… The inscription does actually say “mansion”, not a “house”, “edifice” or “building”.
The building stands facing Prechistenka Embankment, close to Park Kultury and Frunzenskaya metro stations, in Moscow city centre. I am not sure I will be inquiring just yet… but if you want to have a place to live in the centre of the Russian capital, there is a phone number to call.
P.S. Let us know if you do inquire. And if you purchase it because of my blog post, please invite me to the housewarming party. Thanks 🙂
Tverskaya Street – The State Telegraph – Temperature
The photo was taken on Saturday, on the shady side of Tverskaya Street in Moscow. As you can see, it was +32C, which makes 90F. Hot? You bet. The good (bad?) news is that it’s +35C today and is forecast to rise to +36C on Wednesday. And the temperature is expected to drop to +25C on Saturday. And strong showers are also forecast, starting Tuesday. Needless to say, this is what many people are waiting for.
Moscow Architecture: The British Embassy in Smolenskaya Naberezhnaya
When I was recently passing the building you see in the photo, I was not quite impressed. I even said to someone in my company:
– What an ugly building! What is it?
The person had a look and replied:
– Julia, you should not be saying this. You surely visited this building many years ago, when you were going to the U.K.
I am sure my face exposed all the thoughts and emotions that engulfed me at the realisation that I slagged off the building of the embassy of my second native country.
Well, things happen. I still think that it could be a more interesting design, considering what is erected these days in Manchester and elsewhere in the U.K.
The embassy was agreed to be built in 1994, and by 1997 the building had started. The architects on the project were Ahrends Burton and Koralek from ABK Architects. There are photos from different angles at the ABK’s official website. ABK have worked primarily in the U.K. and Ireland, submitting and executing designs for Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester and Stockport Town Hall and town centre. Apart from Moscow, their other overseas project proposal was Lafayette Street in New York.
Other companies included in the project were TME Engineers, Hanscomb, Landesign, and Ove Arup and Partners. The entire building process was overseen by The London Group, while the main contractors were Taylor Woodrow and Skanska.
The building in Smolenskaya Embankment includes:
– 250 offices;
– 31 apartments for the embassy’s employees;
– medical centre and a nursery;
– shops;
– parking;
– an Atrium hall for cultural and commercial events;
– a conference hall with multi-media equipment.
UK artists contributed to the inner and outer decoration of the embassy, including Tess Jaray, Norman Ackroyd, Roman Halter, Michael Craig-Martin, and others. The furniture, armchairs and divans were designed by Robin Day, Ron Arad, and Luke Hughes, among others.
Queue Up For Art: The National Passion of Russians
Every time there is a must-see exhibition at the Pushkin Museum there is a massive queue of people standing outside, waiting to get in. No weather conditions seem to influence the choice: when it comes to art, we Russians can withstand frost and wind, heat and rain.
The Views of Moscow from the River
The Olympic Games for Thor and Kolobok
Quotes about Orient: Alan Hovhannes on Music
Alan Hovhannes, an American composer
St Basil’s Cathedral Marks 450th Anniversary
One of Moscow’s celebrated monuments, The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin by the Moat, otherwise known as St Basil’s Cathedral, marks its 450th anniversary today. The celebrations will be held until October 14, the Russian holiday of Intercession.
The cathedral was built by two Russian master-masons whose names were only discovered in the 19th c. The cathedral commemorated the victory over Kazan in 1552 and was finished by 1561. The legend states that Ivan had ordered the masons to be blinded, lest they created anything similarly beautiful.
The cathedral indeed stands on the site where St Basil (Vassily), the ‘holy fool’, was buried, and hence bears his name as an alternative. In front of the cathedral, as well, is a statue to the heroes of the Civil War against the Polish invaders of the 17th c. – Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky.
Amazing as it may sound, the cathedral nearly perished during the Soviet times when its location interfered with Stalin’s plans for military parades. The architect Pyotr Baranovsky categorically stood up for this gem of Russian architecture and saved it.