Tag: books

Celebrity Wisdom: Perception vs. Reality | January 08 2025, 03:57

I’ve always been curious: why do people assume that famous singers, musicians, and even artists must be intelligent? For instance, if some lady with a mere three years of schooling blathers some nonsense on the tram, nobody rushes to tweet about it, right? But if it’s not a lady from the tram, but a lady from the TV, suddenly there’s this expectation for her to be sensible.

I also don’t understand why sometimes these same singers are asked to comment on events. And others, probably their fans, for some reason regard their opinions as more substantial than those of an unknown person who is, obviously, closer to the topic.

There are good examples, though—like Makarevich, whose interviews on arbitrary topics genuinely reflect an understanding of how the world works and, I can’t quite find the word, wisdom, perhaps. But if you look deeper—he is just another intelligent person. There are many like him, but he also sings. And if an interviewer wants to talk to him, it’s only because Makarevich has something to say. Most celebrities, in general, have nothing to say. And often, even if a thought does mature in their head, they can’t express it clearly.

If you think about it, people who from an early age dedicated themselves to a profession—athletes, actors, often musicians—inevitably see the world around them skewed by their passion. Frankly, much of it remains unseen to them.

The same goes for Polunin, who can’t write in Russian without a dictionary, yet for some reason, people are interested in his opinion on matters other than the very thing he’s been doing since childhood.

Snowfall and Monsters: Unveiling the Apocalypse Hellfire 6×6 | January 06 2025, 14:19

We had snowfall, and monsters began to appear on the roads.

This is the Apocalypse Hellfire 6×6, a product of Apocalypse Manufacturing. It’s based on a Jeep Gladiator with an 800 horsepower engine. Overall, Apocalypse has quite a lot of different designs, and they are all superb from a design standpoint.

In terms of brutality and design, the renders on the website look somewhat better than this particular instance. Perhaps the workshop invests more into aesthetics each year, and on the road, we encountered something from “past collections.”

Unexpected Discoveries from a Pair of Tights | January 02 2025, 22:17

The last thing you expect to find in a package of women’s tights is a salad recipe. With mozzarella and avocado, no less.

So, I delved into a new topic for me and uncovered quite a lot.

For instance, it turns out that lycra is not the name of the fabric, as I always thought, but a brand name for the fabric known as spandex, which I would have guessed was the brand name. And by the way, spandex is officially an anagram of the word expands. In Europe, spandex is also known as elastane. There is a brand of elastane called Elaspan belonging to The Lycra Company. All in all, it’s complicated.

By the way, this spandex was invented by Joseph Shivers, just two hours away from me, in Waynesboro, VA.

In the USA, tights are extremely unpopular. Moreover, if they are worn, they tend to be black and nearly opaque. It’s almost impossible to find nude and sheer ones (at least around here). You can buy anything on Amazon, but you’ll never find them in stores. Apparently no one is interested in salad recipes. However, leggings have conquered the market. Especially lululemon. Meanwhile, women’s high-heeled shoes and tight mini-dresses are also extremely unpopular and are only worn about three times a year. For example, by schoolgirls for Prom and Homecoming—but even then, without tights. Both the shoes and dresses are often of very poor quality, but they suffice for two or three times a year, after which new ones are simply bought.

That same day in New Orleans at the antique M.S. Rau I saw a thing, the name (darner) and appearance of which seemed very perplexing to me. I went to Google it, and searches for darner only show dragonflies. Turns out, a stocking darner is a tool for darning stockings. Specifically, this glass darner, looking like a ball on a handle, was being sold at M.S. Rau for $4400. Google shows mostly metal darners, looking like a hoop with brackets. In Soviet times, they were “mushrooms”.

There’s also a linguistic aspect. In English, tights are called both tights and pantyhose. Generally, pantyhose are considered to be thin (8-40), and tights—are thick (40+). In British English, the word “tights” covers the entire spectrum of tights, unlike in American English.

Interestingly, back in 1972, Australian lifeguards came up with the idea of wearing tights to protect against potentially fatal stings from box jellyfish (sea wasps). Funny, but it’s supposed to help.

All in all, at 47, I’m discovering new horizons, and I hope you found this interesting too.

Exploring “Life of Pi”: From Book to Play | January 02 2025, 05:11

The performance of “Life of Pi” was something I couldn’t miss. I read Yann Martel’s book in Russian, then—for educational purposes—in English, later I listened to the audiobook in English for the same reasons, then spent time during a long family car trip listening to the audiobook in Russian, and eventually watched Ang Lee’s film. And now, I’ve finally gotten around to the play.

I always thought of a play as something much simpler than the show we just came from. The “Broadway standard” keeps the audience awake not only with an interesting script (which reflects the book 99% of the time) but also with some amazing audiovisual effects: projections on four walls, intricate set designs, actors’ movements synchronized with programmed effects. The use of puppetry was particularly impressive; considering the story involves many animals, all of which are crucial, transferring this to the stage always seemed to me an incredibly challenging task.

The plot is as follows: after a shipwreck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, an Indian boy named Pi Patel survives on a lifeboat with four companions—a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger.

When I first read the book, I didn’t even know that somewhere at the end of the first third the “intensity” with the shipwreck and the struggle with hunger and fear would begin. Because the first third is philosophical—about religion and how the young Pi simultaneously combines several beliefs in himself. For me, it was almost a meditative reading: measured, thoughtful, with reflections on God, the meaning of life, and how to find one’s place in the world. It seemed that the book was moving towards something profound but unhurried. And then suddenly—shipwreck. Pi’s life is turned upside down, and a completely different story begins—harsh, severe, filled with despair and the struggle for survival. But there is also a third part, quite psychedelic, but I won’t spoil it. This third part was compressed into one minute in the play, but it was done very organically.

Perhaps, the play added new shades to my perception of this story. If the book and film focused more on emotions and philosophy, the play emphasized visual and emotional shock. However, all of them highlight the main question: where does reality end, and fiction begin? What part of what Pi experienced was reality, and what was a product of his imagination, trying to cope with the horror?

After the play, I thought again that each art form shows this story in its own way. The book is about reflections, and the play is a visual explosion, perhaps even stronger than the film of 2012. But the main thing is that after all versions of “Life of Pi,” I realized one thing: sometimes a well-told story is enough to step out of the theater and discuss it over dinner, recalling the brightest moments. This play is definitely worth seeing.

Chichvarkin on Children’s Ambitions and Identity | January 02 2025, 00:36

Chichvarkin had a good point about children in his last interview:

“Here’s what my Alice says: ‘I will do ballet, but I want to be an actress!’

For God’s sake! You can be absolutely anyone you want! I wouldn’t want you to be nobody. I don’t understand, I can’t comprehend, I can’t respect people, I generally can’t interact without disgust if someone is nobody.”

There is something to it.

Tea Selection Disappointment at Wegmans | December 21 2024, 00:00

There is a wide variety of teas at our Wegmans. Here in the photo are all the teas from left to right. But, there’s not a single loose leaf tea. Only various teas for weight loss, in bags, some grains in jars labeled tea. However, a tea ball is sold in the same section — for brewing loose leaf in a cup, and I bought one. But you have to specifically look for loose leaf tea. It’s not popular in the USA.

Exchanging Nutcracker Tickets: A Telephone Transaction | December 20 2024, 15:12

I’m exchanging tickets for The Nutcracker over the phone.

– What is your card number?

– Five quadrillion three hundred seventy-three trillion six hundred sixty billion two hundred sixty-three million three hundred thirty-four thousand eight hundred seventy.

– Expiration date?

– October twenty-eighth. That’s basically half of October.

– Done!

Turns out, you can exchange the tickets, and now we are not going to the ballet on Sunday, but on Saturday.

Digitizing International Tapes: A Journey from PAL/SECAM Challenges to Solutions | December 19 2024, 00:19

Remember how I mentioned needing to digitize old tapes brought from Russia? A solution was found. Maybe it will be useful to someone, so here’s the story.

First off, it turns out you can digitize tapes for free by just visiting the local Leesburg library. They have a bunch of equipment available for free use, from engravers to 3D printers; you only pay for consumables. There are no consumables needed for tape transfer, so it’s completely free.

However, it turned out that this doesn’t work with tapes from Russia. Because in Europe it’s PAL/SECAM, and the equipment in the USA is NTSC. So, they just aren’t compatible.

Friends let me know that they have a PAL/SECAM standard VHS player and video capture equipment with HDMI. Hurray! That solved half the problem—I managed to digitize all the “big” tapes. But there were still MINIDV tapes. Technically, MINIDV is a digital format, and ostensibly PAL/SECAM/NTSC shouldn’t matter, but it turns out MINIDV cameras are still region-dependent and can only play tapes recorded in their native format.

Finding a PAL/SECAM camera in the USA was not easy, and shipping one from Europe was too pricey. So, I just went to Istanbul.

Of course, I didn’t go there just for the camera. But I did buy one. Istanbul’s market setup is very convenient. The whole city is like a market. If you need electronics, there are at least two places that sell only electronics, and there are places that sell only photo-video equipment, both new and used, and they also offer repairs. In one such place, there are three floors, each large, in another—six, but each smaller.

The lowest price for a MINIDV camera was 3,500 lira, which is roughly 100 dollars. Nobody is willing to drop even 10%. I found about 10 cameras in different places. Eventually, I managed to get a slightly flawed one (minor issue) for 2,000 lira—about 57 dollars. Samsung Duocam VP-D6550i PAL. It’s a model from 2004 (21 years ago!) with a cassette and SD cards. And it seems like all these cameras are new. I don’t know how that works—maybe the Turks have learned to restore old cameras to perfect condition, but more likely, the Chinese just never stopped making them.

As I write this post, the third tape is being copied. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. The power supply, although it says 100-220V, does not work on 110 volts—it does not output the necessary 7.2V. I had to buy an additional camera battery charger for 10 dollars, which is universal at all markets.

For video capture, a combination of AVERMEDIA LiveGamer GC311 (thanks, Misha!) and a simple RCA to HDMI Converter is used. The AVERMEDIA software is very good—it works “like clockwork.”

The camera is quite remarkable for 2004. It has a separate lens for photos and—separately—a telescopic lens for video. There’s even a built-in flash. In short, the task is accomplished.

Boeing 777 Chess Speeds: Quick Losses on Level Two, Slow Plays on Level Three | December 11 2024, 15:57

In the whole wide Boeing 777, chess on the second level is undoubtedly lost in 20 seconds, and on the third, each move is given a minimum of three seconds. Even the first one;) and then the time only increases.