Happy New year (in) Moscow ;)

Hello everybody, and have a nice year!
Some pictures from Moscow to show the holiday season. The weather was not specially winter one, but funally we have some snow. At least a little bit, though not everywhere.



In the center (technically it is an island in the middle of Moscow).

Typical Megalopolis Christmas tree

Some trolleybuses have been repainted to make the streets more colorful and ready for celebration. Perhaps that was the plan, though don`t know for how long the words about the New year will be on board (I mean they might look a bit bizarre later in the year). I also saw the tram driver in the costume of Father Frost (our Russian Santa Claus, looks the same). Well, that was a nice idea, makes people smile :)

Near where I live - the Metro station "Prazhskaya" (named after Prague, to confirm the "friendship" during the Soviet times)

Another one in the same area, but on the other side - close to the shopping center.

Many office and shop entrances are decorated with something looking like the X-mas trees


"Chanel" written in Russian.

The hot-dog spot

Undecorated but real. The red-ish building on the horizon is the Moscow city hall.

While Saturday walk with my friend we also found the Wish-tree. Examples of wishes (read there and translated here): "Wish to pass the winter university exams on the Customs law", "Wanna cool boyfriend and an I-pod", "Would like to study in the acting (theatrical) colledge and a car", and lots of healthy-wealthy wishes.

Near the Moscow City Hall.

Near the Kremlin, entrance to the Red Square

Fifty meters apart - the next one. With two policemen on the horses (the town center exotica) and the police people truck (is it exotica?)

This year innovation - the flying snowmen :)


In the Indian food place, mixing the styles :)

In the bookstore

Bye now and have fun!
From Moscow, photographed with love :)

The conference and some fun

The conference for one hundred and a half teachers and professors all over Russia - done. We are very tired. Participants are very happy. We are very proud.

Three days of living in the middle of the forest outside of Moscow without actually seeing it. One of the comments: “Well, it`s like the monastery: you brought us here and never let us out”. Lectures, discussions, open space work etcetera – for participants. Contracts, money, guests and program, food, lodging and transportation logistics, sleaping with the cell phone – for us. Some fun on the last evening: we`ve invited the photograph people with costumes. That was fun – choosing between feather boas and lace caps. We were doing the old style, and that`s how it looks now.

Our team (am always quite careful about publishing other people faces but it should not be a problem now as we are proud of ourselves and pretty open minded about that).

Do you like my jeans? (the “before” shot).

And yes, we already have an X-mas tree in the office.

Patrick and Patricia. Plus Amel and us :)

The welcome news for Moscow based francofollies (if there is such a term) – “chanson francaise” is getting closer and closer.

Patrick Fiori – yesterday, Patricia Kass – a week earlier, both in the Kremlin palace, which is actually able to accommodate six thousand persons at once, but having been created for official ceremonies, communist conferences and stuff like that - it just doesn’t have any ambience suitable for shows. Somehow you never feel or behave naturally there. The famous Kremlin security people also never help with the concert atmosphere. Anyway...



Patrick Fiori. Very energetic, with charming voice. "The thrilling voice”, as the announcement says. Sweet melodic songs, with several vigorous digressions to make people jump (and be stopped by the securities). He on the stage allowed running and jumping a bit, even entering the public zone (again, escorted by the guards – nothing wrong the girls could do to him, but it is always like this in Kremlin). I think he himself was pretty excited by the thought of singing there. In short, Monsieur Fiori is in a very good shape and as a result the audience was singing, shouting, applauding, feeling excited and thrilled, and that was nice to be part of it. According to the tradition there were a lot (a lot!) of flowers, so the girls were taking their chances to have a quick handshake with “him”. Just to clarify: of course the hall was not totally full, but it was okay considering its whole size and the amount of locals interested in French culture. Advertising also was not really serious but finally it turned out to be a very welcoming event and our guest can feel quite impressed that he managed to make a good show in all local circumstances.


Patricia Kaas. Good, very good. Again, it is worth keeping in mind that she is the best known French female singer – here (in Russia) and now. The most well known male one is Aznavour I guess. People know some others of course, and such experts like me (hahah) knows all the rest but generally it is like this: everybody in Russia expects that it is only Patricia Kaas who exists in France, and almost everybody can remember a couple of her early days hit-melodies. That is only partially fair because since then (late eighties) she has obviously done lots of other things but at least that shows her popularity in Russia. This new show is quite experimental: a mixture of cabaret traditions and modern electronic sound. Lots of black color, the big screen showing her close looks with no attempts of decorating. Such a dark glamour – sincere and sombre, a bit mysterious, very feminine showing her feelings, thoughts and sufferings. There were new songs and the oldies. I got an impression that the audience was not ready for such a show – which speaks good for it. It was a bit difficult (even for me, hahah again) to understand the whole conception, the language of course, all other details which mattered. And also as we (me and my concert buddy) decided it would be better in smaller halls, with tables and perhaps some wine. I think it is planned like that for Europe. As I said the Kremlin is not a totally singers-friendly concert hall. It is always fun – though a bit sad – to look around during the concert to see people trying to seat quietly because it is not allowed to come closer to the stage. And the whole huge "territory" of the hall doesn`t look cozy enough.


Another topic here: Moscow prices which are always shocking. Starting from twenty euros (which is okay though the balcony is really high and far away) and up to whatever, to almost a thousand in those cases. Besides there are also several rows for VIPs, entertained for free on the best seats. By the way Madame Medvedeva (the President`s wife) was attending the Kaas`s concert. I told you she is popular, Patricia :)

So considering all those circumstances (desire to visit the “French” event, the prices and an uncomfortable surrounding) it is always the best deal to pay less and then to seat better, which we managed again, after some manoeuvring in the dark. By “we” I mean myself and Slava whom some of you may remember from the “Zazie-en-Russie” video which we shot last autumn. It was done to participate in some sort of competition and to entertain us (creating it was a big fun). Feel free to enjoy it again – this example of us being enthusiastic and a bit naive :)

And back to the francophone events in Moscow. Even Amel Bent was here last Sunday, though I missed her show because didn`t have enough curiosity (or free money) to visit it. The handwritten note on the advert says: “Persons under eighteen years old are not allowed, take your passport” :)) It`s nothing to do with her naked knees on the photo (I hope) - it should be because the concert was in the night club.



So that was a short story – a little bit about almost everything, bye now :)

RuNet etcetera

Hello, need to verify that time is flying by… I mean it always runs pretty quickly but it`s getting speedier these days. Working all day, jumping from the office to meet people in the middle of the day, running out of the office to visit something else… The Runet Awards ceremony yesterday.

Think about Russia and about Internet – that is the RuNet (the Internet in Russian language). State support plus lots of sponsors are equal to some champagne and a concert with local celebrities lip-synching their songs. Maybe it`s fun, maybe it`s just one more event. This actual ceremony haven`t done anything but it was the part of the whole process which is advancing IT skills, still a task.

One of our projects got the prize and a really heavy goldenish column with RU letters on the top is standing on the table in the middle of the room now. It is surrounded by plastic plates with cake`s leftovers. The local office celebration was brief as lots of work is around - preparing the conference for the next week.

Snowing in Moscow (the first autumn snow) though the temperature is around zero so everything melts away creating puddles, but the streets looked clean and light yesterday night and my evening promenade – from underground to my apartment – was agreeable.

Just a bit of useless information now. My street is named “Ulitsa Krasnogo Mayaka” (never fear, I`ll translate). Literally it is “Street of Red Lighthouse” (or Beacon). During the Soviet times the toponomy (is it a word?) was seriously influenced by certain circumstances, so there are lots of “Reds” in the names of streets, towns, factories or whatever, because the word “red” was obviously seen as a synonym to “communistic”. And a lighthouse is supposed to show you the way, the red one. Translated into English now it sounds a bit funny as streets with red lights typically have a particular sort of reputation (not particularly our case but it`s questionable perhaps). My present-day street is just a vast territory with lots of high blocks buildings overcrowded with people. The percentage of people from Mid-East is pretty high there (and here "Mid-East" means Uzbekistan, Kirgizstan, Kazakhstan etc – former Asian republics of the Union).

The good news – my Mum was visiting me. Since recently she enjoys coming to Moscow occasionally - for one day of a weekend, to have a walk, a chat and a lunch with me. This time I provided her with the copy of “Oscar and Lady in pink” by E.-E.Schmitt. She called me the next day to say: “Can I give your book to Kolobkova at work?”. I love my Mum, and it is also because she can use phrases like that.

Ok, need to go now, see you soon.

Oh, and just in case anybody was interested in the RuNet stuff – it`s here though the more serious it is… okay, am not judging, but there is still now update on their website after the ceremony. Bye now.

My Windows, part 2 (Small update about me)

Have changed my office location. Well, actually almost changed the job – stayed in the same (non-for-profit) company though working for different program now.

The program to which I devoted three years of my one and only life has been finished. It was quite fun – giving grants to Russian youth for implementing all sorts of social projects and useful initiatives for the benefit of their local communities (let`s hope), though finally I was a bit disappointed with the whole idea. It was great enough to visit their towns - all over Russia, from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, and the distance between them makes eight-hours time difference by the way. Anyway there was three-year limit from the beginning so no regrets. By the way it was US money to be distributed there which actually added some charm (if not extreme) to the whole thing thinking about some aspects of life in modern Russia. Never done anything wrong but somehow felt a bit questioned at times.

So now it is another story: IT sphere, computers and communication, education for the future; financed by serious business, and me managing the contracts in the middle of that chain going from huge corporation to modest internet centers all over Russia. Not that exciting because reporting grant contracts sometimes reminds living a nightmare (well, that sounds exciting).

Anyway all that gave me the new office space, a bit crowded but with a lovely view from the window. Enjoy! (I like the gate).

The famous Tretyakov Gallery is on your left with its vast collection of art, painting mostly. The nice street full of pedestrians is Lavroushynsky pereoulok (Lavroushynsky lane). It is ended by the Moskva river which you can`t see from here because it`s just a river. And sort of on the horizon you may see one of the Kremlin palaces (there are several of them plus cathedrals on the territory of the Kremlin, I suppose everybody heard the name).

It is the Bolshoy (meaning “Big”) Kremlin Palace, supposed to be the best one. Here are some - interior pictures

And that`s my actual table as it is. (Hey, I`ve just moved in, so... yes, it`s messy).

With the new table I`ve got the map. Don`t know why but I like maps. They are beautiful, according to my taste, though somebody can confirm that I am not the best navigator. I admit I might have some difficulties, while walking or driving, but the thing is - I am where I am right now which proves that finally my navigation is successful enough (can all that be called success?!)) The thing is – I never know how to start and where to go – I perfectly see the map but until you understand the direction… So with all my brisk and confident walk I always start in the wrong direction. Actually, and I discovered it recently – I just need to walk in direction opposite to what my feelings tell me. Perhaps it`s some sort of topographical (anti)talent.

The picture which you hopefully see on the screen of my desktop was made in Brussels, on the bus stop with busses going to the suburbs with that cinema studio mentioned below.

Need to go now. Au boulot!

Oscar, la Dame Rose et moi

(*and forgive that immodest title today)

Salute, time to briefly testify what happened.

So there was me and the trip to Belgium. And there was the route looking like: night train from Moscow to Vilnius, then plane to Paris, and train to Brussels after, with some buses and underground in between. Which actually saved me some money on travel expenses and - as a bonus - kept me out of Moscow for a week. Fair enough. Plus sure there were lots of walks - me changing hotels every day because last minute booking (and that`s literally) is seldom a reasonable idea. Yes, my logistics was challenged by several obstacles but finally was precise and perfect enough.

- Paris, Brussels… what were you doing there?!
- Moving every single day to the next hotel.

All that doesn`t really matter because finally there was me in the real (!) cinema-studio outside the Belgium capital. Watching (and for the first time in my life) how the movie is being done... No idea how to describe that but let me put it clear: that was wonderful. And nothing else to add here, that was totally amazing and interesting in every moment. Honestly I was hoping to participate more actively, like carrying cables or stuff, but I had a chance just to observe things with a minor physical activity (like passing a special black screen covering unnecessary light once, come on, am proud of it). And that`s only fair, was glad to follow the rules.

I definitely saw what a professional business movie-making is. Perhaps that is an obvious statement but it`s always handy to see things in real. The documents and planning, the team work, working for one project which by the way keeps people together just temporarily. “Silence, Action and Cut” rhythm of activity. Whatever interesting conversation you have you stop it after the “Action!” word and nobody can guarantee you will remember it after the “Cut!” word. Being the real two-day long witness I respect cinema people on a new level now. And everybody was just nice, gentle and open. Lunches were also good.

So the film... Since last Monday Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt is shooting his second film (second as the film director, because there are already several others based on his books but made by other directors). Now it is “Oscar and the Lady in pink”, already a real success as a book and as a theatrical play in many countries.

On the photo: Michele Laroque ("Lady in Pink"), Amir Ben Abdelmoumen ("Oscar") and Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt (author and film director). Photos taken from www.michelelaroque.com.
The shooting should be finished in January, though in Canada.

Oscar, interpreted by the little bruxellois Amir, doesn`t look the same now, because... have you finally read the book?

The story has been rewritten for the scenario and for a good reason – to show the evolution of the character. Of one of the characters... That will be a film worth watching, no doubt. Not that I was signing any documents concerning confidentiality but just don`t want to spoil pleasure of expectation for you, so... suspense.

Needless to say how much I appreciate what happened. New experience, meaningful conversations, tons of new information, smiles, big thoughts and small questions to myself... As some of you may know, all that happened in quite an intricate period of my life. Job issues and new ambitions, questions about potential childbirth, global politics and questioning my feelings towards my country and people, general attitude as well – somehow surprisingly all that became my everyday tension since this August and may be called something like “stress occasionally overcome by small nice moments of life but stress anyway”. Not that I finally solved that now, but... life`s going on.

So thanks for attention today. I guess there is not much valuable information about the film here, but knowing how talkative I am... If you are lucky to be around Moscow now or if you know my email address. Welcome, though time, time... Ciao now!

Reading and healing

One of my bedside table books: To be healed by the earth by Warren Grossman. It is not only about healing, but could be understood universally. The book which you may open on any page and start reading comforting text or watching relaxing pictures. It makes me so calm and serene :)

The chapter read yesterday – “Generosity”. About importance - and even necessity - of giving. Both giver and receiver get benefits from that, because giving allows the nature`s energy to flow.

The proof experienced yesterday – washing the windows at home. As perhaps someone knows, "my home" is a tiny little room in the rented three-bedroom apartment shared with two landladies of respected age (62 and 82), which may sound a bit pathetic but no condolences – that is my choice and financial decision. Anyway...

Washing the windows is quite a commitment, especially when you are not the biggest fan of household chores, so I felt pretty antagonistic when they suggested me to help them with all (all!) apartment windows, which makes four rather huge ones. Not that I wanted to quarrel about that, but I didn`t want to do it. At all. But being sort of a nice person... And once the decision was made, I experienced sort of a calm fatal feeling. And the windows were washed. I mean - by me :) Feeling myself almost the hero of the neighborhood, which - perhaps - proves that giving is good :)

Read right books :) Peace to everybody :)

Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, almost in Moscow

Meaning – his plays in Moscow...
Somehow unexpectedly I became interested in the work of Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. And what I`ve discovered: almost everything is already translated into Russian, published in several (!) editions, his plays are in the repertoire of many (!) theaters all over the country already... Well, okay, now I also now :)

His “philosophical” plays are interesting – in the sense that otherwise, without that “easy” manner, I perhaps wouldn`t read anything about French philosophers of the past. We all are too busy for that... (*bad joke).

I liked his stories more. Or are they novels? Three of them are written as by a child or a teenager, so we see the story as the young main character saw it. “Oscar and Lady in Pink” , “Monsieur Ibrahim and the flowers of the Koran” , “L`Enfant de Noe” . Briefly, these are the stories of young people in complicated or just terrible circumstances, and how they search for truth, how they learn about life, about people and about themselves. They are not sentimental but they are true. They are worth reading.

Several Moscow theaters have his plays adapted to Russian. “Oscar and Lady in Pink” (14 letters to God) was interpreted by a very reputable Russian actress Alice Friendlich (from St-Petersburg). My web search investigation showed that those plays were played in many towns, in professional and amateur theaters, and always got approving feedbacks and enthusiastic reviews.

As for me I saw “Libertin” last Friday in Moscow and it was good :) Interpreted by the troupe of the Satire theatre . I definitely liked the scene décor – an imitation of the French park, and the dialogues were also distinct and meaningful, not lost anything from the original Schmitt`s idea, so the final applause were merited.

Funny thing – once you are interested in something – you start to see it all around you. Now there are many Schmitt`s books in the shops I see, the French center has his books in Russian and French, they even have a DVD with one of his plays and the film based on his story... He is quite a productive author and well-known in the theater world. The point is - am a bit surprised anyway :)

By the way, Mr.Schmitt was in Moscow, in 2005, for his one more new book.

Moscow - Budapest - Larnaka - Paphos

So in Cyprus now, solving "personal" issues :)
The flight here was through Budapest - managed to save half the price of usual Russian Aeroflot price. So was enjoying Hungarian Airlines and the whole night in Europe :)

Also managed to "visit" the actual Budapest because still have my "French" Shengen visa. So that was sort of exciting, though need to be continued. The funny moment appeared during the passport control and customs when I had to deal with the citizenship thing. The question by the officer: "So how many days do you plan to stay in Hungary?". My answer: "Well, like four hours" :) (thinking in my head that 9pm still may be considered to be a late hour for the sightseeing tour" :)

Planning to visit more Hungary on the flight back - like whole five hours :) BTW what surprised me a bit: they still have fohrints (whatever), no euro. Ciao now.

PS: have returned the rented car today and bought a scooter, cool.

BBC

One topic + one article + two pictures = some difference.
Regular BBC and Russian speaking BBC.
The text also differs a bit but I saw the pictures first.

PS: the links (if automatically) are opened in the same window, sorry for the inconvenience)

Two facts from my side

Still trying (unsuccesfully) to keep myself aside from talks about “politics” but found the following two details to be quite demonstrative... though still not going to make any analysis, anyway:

1) The radio weather forecast – typically giving weather forecast for the largest Russian towns. Now includes Tskhinvali (the capital of Southern Ossetia). Heard that recently and a bit unexpectedly - while having my cup of tea on my rented kitchen. Felt weird because always considered weather forecast to be absolutely politics-free, but it is obviously not...

2) The Moscow B-Day (861 years now). Once a year, the first weekend of September - to celebrate something like a city holiday. Something the city authorities invented for spending stupid money and stopping the traffic on the main central roads (fine with me). Several lines of security. A crowd walking along the roads and watching shows here and there. One of the main concert stages is specially (temporarily) build on Tverskaya street facing the Moscow City Hall. A group of “Georgian” dancers. Very recognizable Georgian melodies. Female scream from the audience – sort of “hurray” but in a crazy hysterical way. Silence from all others. Nobody cares actually as people just want living their lives – weekend, promenade, some music.



It`s true that enjoying life is my favorite philosophy, and I am with those people enjoying the music, but I am honestly puzzled by such “sweet” facts... like nothing happened... and like people won`t see and won`t understand... so why all that? The weather, the concert - with not a lot of text. "Just enjoy it" sort of thing...

PS: The monument in the center is to Yury Dolgorouky, the founder of Moscow. All other enormous stuff is constructed just for these two days.

A bit of linguistic investigation :)

Nothing to advertise here (on the photo). Me personally don`t visit it – have enough of junk food already, so that`s just samples of Georgian letters making the famous name.

And as you see there are eleven letters here, which is one more than ten needed to pronounce it in a typical version. As far as I know in Georgian you always add a vowel when the name ends with consonant. For example, no David but “Davidy”, no McDonald but “McDonaldy”. That definitely works for names, but perhaps not only. Anyway I was told that :)
And speaking about vowels: there are only five of them in Georgian alphabet (in Russain we have ten ), though the total number of letters is the same - 33 :)

Another fact: There are no capital letters in Georgian alphabet. There is a full stop, but all the writing is one size.

Interesting... And looks lovely :)


Tbilisi underground. "M" is for "Metro" (like in Moscow and perhaps everywhere :))

Ciao now.

Having some hectic time at work now - and actually that`s ending soon, contract`s termination and no more job in a week, hahahah - but still have this desire to show Georgia, though all talks and conversations look a bit postponed now. First I had this depression based on politics, mass media and attempts to influence (me), now I just have a hard time in general, so actually speak soon and see you later :)

Tbilisi: signs, flags etc

Flags and fountains everywhere. People are quite happy with the fountains because they are lovely in hot climate (and actually really helpful). But I`ve heard complains that all that is too expensive for the economy, especially thinking about extremely low social pensions.

Just a sewer manhole in the old town.

The old-fashioned military tailoring shop - in the Old Tbilisi.

City graffiti, no comments

The diplomatic relations with Russia has been stopped today. The Russian embassy in Tbilisi (and the Georgian consulate in Moscow) put their flags down. (quite a bad picture done during the brisk walk in Tbilisi, cuz the guards usually don`t encourage making pictures of such buildings; end of July 2008, still with the flag).