Monday Book Review

I was aware that The Master and Margarita was a seminal piece of work for Mikhail Bulgakov, but not much else.  Several people, unbeknownst to the each other, recommended I read it.  Fate sealed it as I perused a book store in Hyde Park and found it waiting there for me.  I was barely looking for it and it manifested itself to me, which sounds quite spooky, I know.  I read the Diana Burgin and Katherine Tiernan O'Connor translation for Picador.  It became apparent to me that the further I delved into this story, the more useful reading it in Russian would be.  Bulgakov does employ word play and the meaning of Russian names makes identifying the book as a satire much easier.  Sadly, I discovered all the annotations––written by Ellendrea Proffer––for the novel about halfway through and didn't get the full effect until past the climax.  If you read a translated version, I highly suggested checking for annotations/footnotes/end notes to accompany it.  I would not have appreciated the depth of work without it.

Riga Fashion Week

This week is Fashion Week in Riga, and I'm tweeting all about it! (See left-hand side of blog)  I've already written about a few here, but now that Twitter has expanded my world, I can do a more full report on the whole week of fashion and what I loved.  So far I loooove Triinu Pungits as much as ever, but Janis Šnē totally gripped me with (what I will consider) icicle inspired designs, possibly origami inspired since they look like paper.  Plus, putting icicle-origami daggers where your eyebrows are is totally what I'm into.  Because, FASHION.  People who have no imagination hate on haute design because it's inaccessible, but people who understand flights of fancy and the power of image through clothing get it.  I love me some practical wear, but I love some crazy shit that I would never dare wear outside the house because I am a timid person.  It's fun to see clothing be a wearable piece of art instead of the boring reasons we all wear clothes.

So follow my handle for some more fashion updates before I do a round-up of my favorite Riga fashion moments. (I am really hoping mareunrols shows up because their stuff is BOMB, too)  If you need the lowdown on a few designers in CEE to fully appreciate my tweets, read up here.

To The Next Level

I finally got a Twitter handle.  I figured it was time to join the social networking side of things to expand my reach, my research, and sometimes it's easier to retweet a good article than to do a post for it.

Follow me @whysored!  I'll put it up in the sidebar so you can follow me and see what I do.  I'd love some feedback on who to follow.  I almost added Donald Tusk, but then I remembered I have no comprehension of Polish and that's a problem.  I added Viktor Orbán because I like to pretend I know enough Hungarian for it to make sense, but as for German politicians, I legitimately can read and understand.  Does following Orbán make me look bad?  I'm just intensely curious what politicians tweet about; best I can tell, Orbán's tweet was about bread and the Chain Bridge.  I knew those words, so I felt pretty proud of myself.

Follow me on Twitter.  If this goes well, I might expand to Facebook. ZOMG.

Belarusian Insight

The Independent published a rare interview with Lukashenko.  It's an intriguing read about a man that controls the last Soviet dictatorship.  A great Tuesday read.

Monday Book Review

Featuring: The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.  This book is quite famous and the cover art is easily recognizable.  I was recommended this book by a friend a few years back, but I read it simply because I really loved The Joke, by the same author.  For the first time ever, I actually have mixed feelings on this book!  I wanted to love all of Kundera's work, particularly his most famous, but I ran into some trouble.  Simply put, I couldn't separate his work to stand alone.  I read this book with a constant mental reference to The Joke.  There are really similar themes running in both, but the comparison left one in better standing than the other.  I would have to recommend The Joke if someone wanted to read a Kundera novel.