Rosanna Arquette

Rosanna Arquette selects feminist landmarks by Lizzie Borden and Barbara Loden, reflects on working with Hal Ashby, and praises Jane Fonda’s performance in KLUTE.

Stout

 

Shadows

 

Belgian Humor

"Pebbles don't talk"

"Yes, they do"

"What do they say then?"

"Only losers wear a beret"

 

Mona Roma

The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is the enfant terrible of Australia’s art museum scene.

A visit to this unique site – a twenty-minute ferry ride on the Mona Roma from Hobart – is known around town as a trip down the rabbit hole, due to the capacity of this dark, cavernous, underground gallery to “transport” you and leave you feeling pleasantly disorientated.

MONA Roma 1 sports a controversial military camouflage exterior, and inside is divided into five public spaces over two levels, with a two-tier admission. General admission is for the main, aft and upper decks, serviced by two bars and an array of fixed and loose seating. VIP admission includes drinks and canapés in the restricted Posh Pit at the bow of the boat. Large windows with low sills and higher-than-standard ceilings give the interior an open feel and offer all passengers clear views to the passing vistas and a close connection to the river.

The Dog Line

The Dog Line is one of the most terrifying parts of Tasmania’s complex convict history.

The 30 meter wide neck that leads to the Tasman Peninsula from mainland Tasmania was once guarded by a line of up to nine ferocious dogs. Three more were later positioned on watery platforms extending toward Norfolk Bay. 

A life-size bronze replica of this infamous scene can be found along a winding path near the local Community Hall.

The dogs were housed in old barrels and stationed within touching distance of one another but not close enough to fight. Along the ‘dog line’, oil lamps were fixed on posts at chest height and cockle shells were scattered on the ground to reflect the light.

Rumours were spread that the local waters were shark infested so ‘The Neck’ was the only exit from the peninsula.

Moonless Flag

15 April 2025: the image of the Jalur Gemilang, or the Malaysian national flag, on the first page of the Sin Chew Daily, had omitted the crescent moon symbol which the king said is unacceptable. 

The Sin Chew Daily has issued an apology to the king and is taking disciplinary action against the staff responsible for publishing an illustration of the flag without the crescent moon. 

Grandmaster

In this video, Johnny (a park chess player) discovers that a chess grandmaster. He gets very excited, and they end up playing a game where he tries to play his absolute best. 

This video was recorded in Washington Square Park, in NYC.

Portraits from the Basque Country #2

 

Corte de hierba en Andazarrate, Asteasu (Gipuzkoa). Fot. Garikoitz Estornés Zubizarreta

Farmer from Ataun (Gipuzkoa). Photo by Garikoitz Estornés Zubizarreta

Farmer from Ciordia (Navarra). Photo by Garikoitz Estornés Zubizarreta

Farmer from the Labarte hamlet (Aldaba, Gipuzkoa). Photo by Garikoitz Estornés Zubizarreta

Futura cosecha de manzana. Gesaltza, Oñati (Gipuzkoa). Fot. Garikoitz Estornés Zubizarreta

Portraits from the Basque Country #1

 

The servant of the Berazeaga farmhouse (Bidania, Gipuzkoa). Photo by Garikoitz Estornés Zubizarreta

Aitona del caserío Altxerri (Aia, Gipuzkoa)

Baserritarra del caserío de Larraul y su nieto. Fot. Garikoitz Estornés Zubizarreta

Fisherman of San Sebastián. Photo by Garikoitz Estornés Zubizarreta

Dimitar Voev

Dimitar Pavlov Voev (1965 –1992) was a Bulgarian poet, composer, vocalist and musician (bassist), best known as the founder of the cult Bulgarian dark wave band " New Generation “, formed in 1987 and existing in various lineups until his death in 1992.

In 1985, Voev and Vasil Gyurov founded the first post-punk band in Bulgaria - " Kale ". Their first performance was in 1987 at the First Sofia Rock Festival, but after the third song they were removed from the stage. A year later, "Kale" disbanded, and Dimitar founded the band "Vhod B". Soon the band was renamed " Nova generatsiya ", the name coming from Voev's poem "Nova generatsiya zaviniga". The songs "Samo dvama", "Ice", "Patriotic song", "Scorpions dance alone" and others became big hits. 

In 1989, Balkanton released songs by Nova generatsiya and Kontrol on gramophone records. In 1991, the band's first solo album, entitled "Forever", was released.

 Voev died at the age of 27 from a brain tumor. After his death, the album "Beyond Death" was released, which included the last recordings of Voev and Nova Generatsia . In 1994, a collection of his poems "Greetings from Me, the Gods" was published.

Walfrid de Moraes

Veteran of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB), Walfrid de Moraes, spoke about his experiences in World War II, in an interview recorded on April 30, 2025 in Rio de Janeiro.

Walfrid de Moraes was among the more than 25,000 Brazilian soldiers who, in 1944, travelled to Europe to join the fight against fascism.

The veteran recalled how soldiers faced many hardships and dangers and the impact it had on survivors. “War is no joke, it’s war. And today I can’t stop thinking about that little boy, there, in the middle of the rubble, eating however he could, walking barefoot,” he said.

The FEB served in the liberation of Italy from September 1944 until May of 1945 under US command, including the decisive Operation Grapeshot. It is credited with taking tens of thousands of Axis prisoners, including the surrender of an entire German infantry division to Brazilian troops in northern Italy, while a fighter squadron of the force's air wing flew hundreds of missions during the campaign. 

Leonel Salazar

Dr. Leonel Salazar is a lawyer who graduated from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) and has been part of the Official List of Conciliators and Arbitrators of CEDCA since 2023.

He has published “The legal-economic circuit of intellectual property” (2010), and “Notoriously known distinctive signs” (in press, 2023); also, in national and international peer-reviewed journals on intellectual property, technological innovation and commercial law.

He is Vice President of the Association for the Advancement of University Research (APIU). Founding Member of the Venezuelan Society of Commercial Law (SOVEDEM) and the Venezuelan University Network of Intellectual Property (RedUPIVen). Head of the Intellectual and Industrial Property Chair at Santa María University (Caracas).

Béla Tarr

Béla Tarr (21 July 1955), who died yesterday, 6 January, was a world-renowned Hungarian filmmaker and a seminal figure in the "slow cinema" movement. He was celebrated for his bleak, black-and-white visual style, exceptionally long takes, and existential themes.

Tarr’s work moved from early "social cinema" realism toward a philosophical, deeply atmospheric approach. He frequently collaborated with novelist László Krasznahorkai, his wife and editor Ágnes Hranitzky, and composer Mihály Vig. His influence extended to prominent directors such as Gus Van Sant and Jim Jarmusch.

Béla Tarr died at the age of 70 in a Budapest hospital on 6 January 2026, following a long and serious illness. His passing was marked by tributes from the European Film Academy and colleagues who hailed him as a radical artist and a "titan of contemplative cinema".

The Venezuelan Blue Student Beret

“Our world of blue berets

His voice invites you to listen

push life towards the soul

in a message of triumphant march!"

(Anthem of the Central University of Venezuela)

For decades, Venezuelan university students have been recognized by a distinctive blue beret, worn at ceremonies, marches, and academic events. Few, however, know the origins of this emblem that sets Venezuelan students apart worldwide.

The story begins in 1927, during the dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez, when universities were largely silenced by repression. Two young women from Caracas society, sisters María Luisa and Lola Blanco Meaño, ordered a batch of blue berets from the Paris department store Au Bon Marché. In early 1928, students Miguel Otero Silva and Uberto Mondolfi purchased several and began wearing them daily to classes, sparking immediate interest among their peers.

The remaining berets were soon distributed in solidarity with students organizing Carnival festivities to raise funds for a Student Center to support disadvantaged students from the provinces, at a time when most regional universities were closed. These activities were coordinated by the newly formed Federation of Students of Venezuela (FEV), led by law student Raúl Leoni.

Public parades in February 1928 marked the first mass appearance of the blue beret. Speeches and celebrations quickly took on political overtones, provoking repression and the imprisonment of many students. In response, women from Caracas society joined the protests, also wearing blue berets.

By 1929, the symbol assumed a more tragic meaning. A small group of students studying abroad abandoned their studies to join General Román Delgado Chalbaud’s armed expedition. Wearing their blue berets, they sailed toward Venezuela, many to their deaths, fixing the beret forever as a symbol of student unity, resistance, and sacrifice.

Manuel Caballero

Manuel Antonio Caballero Agüero (1931 - 2010) was a notable Venezuelan historian, journalist, best-selling author and professor of contemporary Venezuelan History at the Central University of Venezuela.

Caballero was born in Barquisimeto, studied History at the Central University of Venezuela and obtained a PhD at University College London. With the publication of his PhD dissertation he became the first Venezuelan author to be published by Cambridge University Press.

In 1989 he was invited to teach at the Universitá degli Studi di Napoli in Italy. He wrote regularly for Venezuelan newspapers El Nacional, El Diario de Caracas and most recently El Universal. Despite his past as a left-wing thinker and political activist, in particular against President Rómulo Betancourt, in his later years he became one of the most vocal and vehement critics of President Hugo Chávez and his administration.

He revised his perspective on President Betancourt in a biography written in 2004.

In 2010, he underwent a prostate surgery that triggered a series of infections unresponsive to antibiotics, further complicated by diabetes. He died on 12 December 2010.

At the Movies

 Anna Karina

Lana Turner, here with John Garfield in The Postman Always Rings Twice [1946]

Louise Brooks

Tony Hancock in The Rebel [1961]

Faye Dunaway for Bonnie And Clyde [1967]

Eve Green in Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers [2003]

Ingrid Bergman in Arc Of Triumph [1948]

Julien Carette in Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion [1976]

Catherine Deneuve & Françoise Dorléac in Jacques Demy’s Les Demoiselles De Rochefort”