6.10.09

Master XX years celebration.Rare footage from Moscow and Kiev..

Valery Kipelov
K.Pokrovsky


K.Pokrovsky


M.Seryshev




A.Granovsky and M.Seryshev



M.Seryshev





A.Bolshakov from the left.








Strike





Lex








5.10.09

Russian cuisine "Borsch" (Борщ)

Russian cuisine

Borsch (Борщ)

Ingredients

  • Some beef on the bone
  • 1 mid-size beetroot
  • 3 average-size potatoes
  • Some fresh or pickled cabbage
  • 1 carrot
  • 2 average onion
  • Tomato paste or fresh or pickled tomatoes
  • Celery
  • Dill, parsley, peppers, garlic, laurel leaf, patience

Cooking

Good borsch requires good, almost perfect broth. For that boil a medium-size pot of water, but don’t make it full – three quarters is enough. Add beef to the boiling water. Pork or chicken are options also, but beef is more traditional. Pork makes borsch heavier, chicken gives it an air of ‘foreigner-cooking’. It’s important to have a bone in the meat, as it gives the broth an amber colour and specific borschy taste. The broth is to boil slowly, and all the brownish foam on top of it needs to come off with a spoon. It’s edible, but doesn’t look like food at all! The broth MUST be clear – if a spoon doesn’t do the job, you’ll have to pour your broth through a cloth napkin.

Once the meat is almost done, take it out of the broth, cut it into small bits, put them back into the broth and add salt. Then chop the beetroot into small cubes (no bigger than half an inch on the side) and throw it into the broth. In 4-5 minutes add potatoes and a handful of celery root (if you find any) also cut in cubes, and straight after that add pre-cooked fried mix.

The fried mix is done this way: finely chop the onions, tomatoes and carrots, fry them on a slow fire in vegetable oil (a real Ukrainian would’ve used lard, though) until the onions are goldish-yellow and carrots are half-done. You can add pickled tomatoes or tomato paste. The kind of tomatoes you use affects the soup’s taste slightly, so you’ll have to experiment and find the ingredient you like most.

So… we’ve put in the fried mix, now – finely sliced cabbage. Russians usually slice it into hair-thin long stripes and add it only after the potatoes are half-done, so that the cabbage is fresh and crunchy.

Add herbs, finely chopped garlic (3-4 cloves), a laurel leaf and whole black peppers (8-12 balls). Cover with a lid and put into a hot oven for 10-15 min. The grand Borsch is ready.

It is served hot with a spoonful of sour cream.

TIP: Some people add lemon juice after they add beetroot, so that the soup keeps the colour of the beet.

3.10.09

Air of Freadom , my piano song from "Brugge".

Air of Freadom ,
my piano song from "Brugge".
This neo -classic composition
resently felt into attention of
Japanese film director

Tarō Araki (click here to know more) so I made a little

presentation for him.

Listen to my songs ,

while browsing , - this is all the meaning of multitasking , multimedia experience.

Please share your opinion on you tube "comment". double -click on the clip below, to get to you tube. start a new page in a new window.(right -click)

2.10.09

Some of my friends from Larian studios..

Some of my friends from Larian
studios look like
a rock - stars, some of them really are.
DAVID WALGRAVE - PRODUCER:





Cliff Laureys -the graphic artist:




My friend Nick gives the new body to elecrick piano.


My friend Nick gives the new body to electric piano.
Working on a project to give a solid body to my trusted FP8, Nick find a solution to fit the entire piano into body of acoustic grand. The Project is not finished yet, but most probably my next performance will be taking place on this piece of "intelligent design".

"Interbellum Project" and "Need for Speed -Shift"




"Interbellum Project" and "Need for Speed -Shift" If you into racing games (as I am lately, because I have no "real" car at the moment :)
Why, oh why the Russian driver license is not accepted in Belgium? (well all of us know the answer :). and there are some another concerns, of course. Public transportation and the bicycle , that is, what we are trying to promote.
EA Games Developer published" Slightly Mad Studios" marvel "Need for speed - Shift " -
Take a look .
What is especially interesting about this clip, that "soundtrack " for it is written by my young Russian friend Valera Potchekalov (Coloboque)
- Leader of the Ghent - based band "Interbellum" .You can find a complete song here - http://www.myspace.com/interbellum The song has a title - "E 19".


Bunny Project at Kalmar Konstmuseum, Sweden



Bunny Project at Kalmar Konstmuseum, Sweden
Performance commissioned by
Kalmar Museum of Art, Sweden. During the inauguration of the new art museum in Kalmar a suspicious individual sneaked around the premises mounting sculptures made of carrots, alarm clocks, red and blue cables, metal wire and tape. On direct orders from the Swedish secret police the performance was stopped since the Culture Minister refused to give her inaugural speech if it were to continue. The speech , as it later turned out, was about how art must be allowed to be free and provocative.

Disney Lab Unveils Its Latest Line Of Genetically Engineered Child Stars




Elton John tickles the ivories of his “Red Piano” in Moscow


Elton John tickles the ivories of his “Red Piano” in Moscow


Not only do you get a wild and full-of-energy Sir Elton John, but you get it all in a truly unique environment also. “The Red Piano”, the spectacular musician’s show, comes to Moscow straight out of Vegas.


“The Red Piano” was first staged in Las Vegas in 2004 and it immediately became a hit. Since its first performance the program was performed over 240 times in the city. And now, as Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports, Elton John has decided to use his show in Moscow as a farewell to the Red Piano.In recent years Elton John has visited Russia more often than any other country for concerts and private events. This time on October 7 he comes to Moscow with “The Red Piano” show – which will be more than just a run-of-the-mill gig.

In many respects it will remind people of what the musician was like on the top of the pop and rock music hill: one of the brightest, most talented and unpredictable musicians in unusual shades and very extravagant suits.

The concert, directed by Elton John’s close friend David LaChapelle, reflects the nature of the musician through art.

Sir Elton John will indeed play the keys of the titular piano on the stage of Olympiisky Arena as emotionally and eccentrically as he did back in the 1970s. The scenery will be turned into an original art installation made up of colorful neon sculptures, pop art, inflatable figures and spheres, projections of photographs and short films.

And for even more spiciness, famous burlesque artist Dita Von Tease and model Pamela Anderson are rumored to be taking part in some of the shows.

The concert will be held in Moscow’s Olympiisky Arena on October 7.

Old Testament to be put behind bars?

Old Testament to be put behind bars?


A scientist has sent a statement to the Prosecutor General’s office in Stavropol, Southern Russia, demanding the Old Testament be declared extremist literature.


Dolzhenko has also managed to gain the support of arbitrator and organized crime and corruption methodologist Evgeny Trufanov.As Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reports, Anatoly Dolzhenko presented an 11-page document to the prosecutor’s office on Friday, also demanding that those who distribute the book should be held criminally responsible.

“We want the Old Testament on the basis of the quotes described in the statement which call for violence, genocide and promote brutality to be officially declared literature of extremist content igniting ethnic discord,” said Trufanov.

If their request is refused, the appellants intend to go to the European Court of Human Rights.

In the declaration a few quotes have been listed that the appealing party has found to be particularly appalling. One in particular reads:

“Do not give away your daughters in marriage to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons. Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them at any time.”

Dolzhenko said that he acted on call from an internet resource “Slavic Internet Portal Darislav” to appraise such Jewish books like the Bible all the way to the Prosecutor’s office.

Commenting on the initiative, the press-secretary of the local diocese Evgeny Bronsky said that the “Old Covenant world is a world where people have renounced god, renounced a sense of values, of sin, a world where paganism has sacrificed infants for soulless gods.”

“To stop this evil, to not allow humanity to die was only possible then by force. This was a treacherous path of the Lord in a world, penetrated by evil, in a world, devoid of God’s grace, a path connected with much suffering. But this path brought all of humanity to the good news of Christ, to the New Testament,” said Bronsky.

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia called the matter “absurd”.

“It’s quite absurd, comical and stupid to take the Lord God to Court. This case is about 3000 year old events, when monotheism simply did not exist and if someone gets the idea, using these views, to teach the rules of modern warfare or modern behavior towards people of different faiths, then this person will be declared demented including by those from his own denomination,” said the head of public relations of the federation, Borukh Gorin.

stranger than fiction

Baring more than soul

Truth is stranger than fiction in the new film De helaasheid der dingen

The new Flemish film by director Felix van Groeningen (called The Misfortunates in English) will open the 36th edition of the Flanders International Film Festival on 6 October, a splashy red carpet evening of movies, champagne and celeb spotting. Although the opening film is always chosen for its broad appeal to both a general audience and critics, this year the excitement is mounting a bit higher than usual. Helaasheid has everything: it’s a local production by a very exciting young director; it’s based on the uproariously popular 2006 novel by Flemish literature’s badboyDimitri Verhulst; it’s a mixture of humour, drama, tragedy and hope; it features an excellent cast of well-respected actors; and it is Flemish through and through. And there’s the bicycle race – a singular image that combines pure Flemish folk tale with the thrill of victory. Even we could not resist it.

Director Felix van Groeningen could also not resist the temptation to take what does not amount to more than a few lines in the novel and make it part of the story of four unemployed brothers who sleep all day, drink all night and, in between, half-heartedly raise a circumspect 13-year-old boy. Having read Flemish writer Dimitri Verhulst’s first few books, Van Groeningen knew he wanted to do something with De helaasheid der dingenbefore he even read it. “I bought it with the express purpose of making a film out of it,” he says. “And then half-way through I thought, no way, this is not possible.” Helaasheid is made up of anecdotal stories from Verhulst’s childhood with a drunken, violent father and three boorish uncles. With a very loose narrative structure, its power is in the language. Finally, Van Groeningen reached the page in the book where an adult Verhulst tells his senile grandmother, living in a nursing home, how much he appreciates how she took care of him. “I just started crying, and I thought, ok, I get it now,” says Van Groeningen. “This story is big enough to make a film.” Verhulst sold the director the rights to the story, “but it became a bit difficult, and I think he was sorry that he said ‘ok’ that fast,” admits Van Groeningen. With a difference in opinion about a key element of the film, Verhulst finally gave up and left the director to it. But Van Groeningen was a bit disappointed. “I wanted his approval, you know? But he just couldn’t do that.” However, Verhulst is happy with the final project, to everyone’s relief. Although the novelist sticks by his original opinion, he still “loves the movie and is proud of it,” says Van Groeningen. Helaasheid is a career-making movie, which is remarkable considering that the director is just 31 years old. It was obvious with his first film, 2004’s Steve + Sky, about a reforming thief who meets a young prostitute, that he was a talent to watch. Then two years ago, his Dagen zonder lief (With Friends Like These) charmed the critics again, with its story of youthful angst set in Sint-Niklaas. But it’sHelaasheid that was accepted at five international festivals, including Toronto and Cannes, where it screened as part of the Directors’ Fortnight and received a Special Mention in the Art Cinema Award category. It is the Belgian entry to be considered for an Academy Award nomination, and it is poised to be one of the most popular films in Flemish history. Although it would be optimistic to say that it will meet the million tickets sales of last year’s crime-thriller Loft, it certainly deserves to knock that film off its record-breaking pedestal. Van Groeningen is one of very few directors making first-rate films about young people in Flanders. “I’m interested in social environments and in the tone and style of films. That’s what drives me,” he says. In the meantime, he’s riding high in the weeks that lead up to his film’s release – and from the publicity stunt at Cannes earlier this year when he and the cast of Helaasheid rode naked on bicycles. Although he wasn’t really looking forward to it, “I loved it!” he enthuses. “I got such a kick out of it. It was really liberating.”

www.dehelaasheidderdingen.be

Review

It’s a typical grey afternoon in the fictional Reetverdegem, a tiny town outside of Aalst in East Flanders, when a man arrives to repossess the television. It seems that Uncle Breejen has amassed quite the gambling debt. The four unemployed brothers of the house beg the official to reconsider. Take something else, anything else! He looks around at the broken-down furniture, holes in the wall and hairy, unkempt men. He takes the TV. Meet the Strobbe brothers. Potrel gets into a lot of fights. Breejen drinks himself into a coma (in addition to the gambling). Koen crawls around under tables to look up women’s skirts (and he also drinks himself into a coma). Celle, well, Celle just drinks, period. But Celle has good reason to try to avoid getting into all this trouble: he has a 13-year-old son. And this is the tragic centre of De helaasheid der dingen, the new film by Flemish director Felix van Groeningen, based on the autobiographical novel by Dimitri Verhulst. Celle wants to be good. But he simply isn’t capable of it. Fortunately, the (surprisingly) sensitive boy, Gunther, has a grandmother (Gilda De Bal), who looks after his basic needs, as she does all four of her useless grown sons. She has, after all “a heart bigger than her pension.” Helaasheid is full of such wonderfully rich narration and dialogue, some of it taken directly from Verhulst’s book of the same name. Keeping the autobiographical nature of the book intact, the film goes back and forth between Gunther’s childhood and his adult self, struggling with the demons of his past. Van Groeningen superbly juggles it all, blending the comic elements of the novel with its stark reality, much like in his first two films, Steve + Sky and Dagen zonder lief (With Friends Like These). Wouter Hendrickx from the TV drama Witse is a stand-out as the youngest brother Potrel, who beds girls, shoots pigeons and picks on his family with unpredictable menace. Johan Heldenbergh, so excellent in Aanrijding in Moscou, is Breejen, sporting the giant handlebar moustache he grew for his current stage show The Broken Circle Breakdown. Though you wouldn’t necessarily want to find yourself in their company, the brothers do at one point prove that, when the chips are down, taking care of Gunther is a primal instinct. But it’s Koen De Graeve as Celle and Kenneth Vanbaaeden as Gunther who steal the show. De Graeve seems to have been working his way up to this part, drinking his way through moviesDagen zonder lief, Los and Loft. This is easily his best role: a good-old-boy drunk, occasionally swallowed alive by his own self-hating rage. Vanbaaeden makes Gunther thoughtful, while avoiding making him seem like a victim – useful when Gunther is eventually forced to face the decision of whether he will head down the same road as his family or an altogether different one. “Everything beautiful has to leave our town,” Gunther says silently to himself as a boy. Indeed.