Byzantine Blog

Susan Southworth: Americans Don’t Know the Truth

“The Last Kosovo Serb Won’t Leave” by Susan Southworth. BookSurge Publishing, 144pp, ISBN 1419662635. Buy this book at Amazon

“As an American, I don’t think I should suggest any solutions for Kosovo province. This is your internal issue, and that is how it must be treated,” said Susan Southworth, author of the novel “The Last Kosovo Serb Won’t Leave” in an interview published in Sunday edition of Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti.

She is aware her approach is diametrically opposed to numerous American commentators who, according to Southworth, can’t be scraped off the TV screens where they keep explaining to the public their version of the conflict-development over southern Serbian province.

“These self-styled ‘Balkan experts’ don’t know the difference between Bosnia and Kosovo. They come up with conclusions like: they’ve been fighting over there for centuries and the only solution is to grant independence to Kosovo. Recently, you could hear on the national radio that Kosovo is ‘former Serbian province.’ The American professors and scholars who actually do understand the gist of the problem are never invited to TV studios,” Susan Southworth explained.

Well-Meaning American Whose Actions Contribute to Suffering

Author of the several books is the fifth generation of Minnesota Americans, with ancestors who came to the continent from Norway and Great Britain. She now lives in California.

The title of her latest short novel is the quotation from “an irritated and impatient Kosovo Albanian” and relates to the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from the Kosovo province. Subtitled “Balkan war novel,” the book narrative takes place during the first half of 1999, at the time of NATO aggression on Serbia. The story is situated in the town of Prizren in Kosovo-Metohija province and describes the ethnic cleansing of Serbs, Roma and other non-Albanians, through the prism of the main character, American Donald. Among other things, Donald is researching the Albanian national roots. He represents the United States — he wants to help the Albanians, he means well, but he seems unaware of the war and, even though he is not immoral, his actions are harmful and contribute to the suffering of Serbs and other non-Albanians in the province.

Mass Media Compounds the Problem with Cartoonish Simplifications

“I want to explain to the Americans to what extent the complex Kosovo situation is different from the simplified outlook they keep getting daily from the mass media. Novel is the best way to reach people. It’s incredible, but most Americans are unaware we were at war during those 78 days of bombardment of Serbia,” Soutworth said.

She believes art offers the most direct insight into nation’s ethos:

“University of Berkley library holds thousands of books and articles about Kosovo from around the world. I have read Serbian poetry, novels, stories, researched fresco images and Kosovo architecture. I have also read the Albanian poetry and prose. Art is the main gate which leads to the essence of national ethics.”

Posted by Svetlana at 03:12 PM | Permalink

Previously Unknown Modigliani Owned by a Serb from Belgrade

German news agency DPA reports that a previously unknown painting by the celebrated Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) was on Tuesday reported by Belgrade city officials and international experts to have been found in the possession of a Serbian man living abroad.

The owner of the painting — an art collector and Belgrade native who wished to remain anonymous — wanted both the announcement about the painting and its first exhibition to be held in his home city.

According to the reports, the painting, a portrait of an as yet unknown man, dates back to 1918 and is of public importance.

Experts believe the man in the painting was either a musician or writer, judging by his hairstyle and clothing.

Both Serbian experts and several from the Modigliani Institute Paris-Rome and an atomic physics institute in Rome confirmed the authenticity of the painting.

1918 Modigliani Painting to be First Exhibited in Serbia

“It took us 17 years to verify the authenticity and I can now say for certain that it is Modigliani,” said Christian Parisot, president of the Modigliani Institute Archives Legales Paris-Rome during the press conference held in Belgrade.

That the news confirming the authenticity of the painting was to be first announced in the Serbian capital was an explicit wish of the owner. The press conference was also attended by the director of the atomic physics institute from Rome and the director of an Italian Culture Institute in Belgrade.

According to Ksenija Prodanovic reporting from Belgrade, the canvas measures 46 x 38 cm (18 x 15"), and shows a neatly dressed, wealthy young man with carefully combed hair. Experts said the oil colors had been watered down, a sign that the artist, regarded as one of the seven greatest painters, was living on meager means at the time of the work.

“The identity of the model is still unknown, but we are hoping that somebody will recognize it, once the painting is presented,” Parisot added.

During the press conference, Belgrade city hall official Dragana Zeljkovic said the owner specifically asked for the painting to be shown for the first time in Belgrade. It is expected to be exhibited some time in November.

The owner has revealed that he will not sell the valuable painting and will make it available for presentation elsewhere, after the first showing in Serbia. Finally, he will donate the precious work of art to his country, Serbia.

Posted by Svetlana at 04:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A More Artful, Unique Desktop Wallpaper

Let me ask you this: When was the last time you changed your desktop wallpaper? Six months ago? Last spring? Ever? Do you still have the hi-tech blue-on-blue-on-blue-with-some-blue bland abstract on the desktop your computer came with when you bought it? Then you might want to consider a more artful, unique dress for your screen.

Vlad Gerasimov from Irkutsk in Russia has long been one of my favorite graphic designers, with wonderfully witty, sweet, inspiring wallpapers — the whole wardrobe of them!

His loving, tender “The Two” family collection has become his trademark of sorts, his Christmas wallpapers combine gentle humor and nostalgia, while Alice in the Wonderland series merges childlike visual marvel with the miracle of words.

Vlad’s Mona Lisa and Malevich make me chuckle every time, but my favorite VladStudio wallpapers are Punctuation, Google Data Center, The Two, Jazz Band, Hairdresser, and Trees With Labyrinths.

You’ll see he does have both the hi-tech and nature wallpapers if you prefer those, but in any case, I’m sure you’ll have tons of fun browsing through few hundred of them, available for all screen sizes, in all resolutions.

Or Make Your Own

The reason why spring-changing the desktop wallpaper also turns to be an Art Play is that Vlad is kind enough to show us how he does some of the things that look so fresh on our computer screens.

I took a quick course on making Vlad’s favorite background with a very nice texture to it, like a hand-prepped watercolor paper, and made few of my own backgrounds in Adobe Illustrator. If you don’t have a good vector graphics program, you can get a quality one for free at Inkscape.org, an Open Source SVG Editor; it should work just as well.

Managing to make a Vlad Background is one thing, making something out of it is quite another, though. So, up on top you can see my flower pots and the other one is of swimming/flying geese... ducks... no, pigeons... swimming birds.

No, I’m not going to use them as a desktop wallpaper, I’m just giving you guys some examples... the things you can do... on a rainy day, or something.

Posted by Svetlana at 07:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Marina Arsenijevic: My Balkan Soul

Serbian composer and pianist Marina Arsenijevic, whose new album “Fire and Soul” will be introduced on PBS on March 4, is regarded as one of Europe’s most exciting musical talents who completed an unprecedented one-year 75-city concert tour throughout Europe.

Born in Belgrade, Serbia, she was recognized as a child prodigy and played her first concert at the age of nine before an audience of 2000. She went on to win first prize in six international piano competitions. Marina’s recordings of Mozart with the St. Petersburg Soloists and Chopin became top selling classical CDs in Eastern Europe.

As a composer, Marina created a new genre of music, the ethno-classical style, whereby she combined diverse ethnic rhythms with traditional classical themes and techniques. This resulted in her recording “My Balkan Soul”, which sold over 500,000 copies becoming the best selling classical-crossover CD in 11 European countries.

Marina’s goal is to bring “unity in the face of diversity” through her music. Many ethnically diverse rhythms and themes are uniquely and seamlessly interwoven into Marina’s compositions. Her music boldly proclaims the existence of a common humanity for all people in conflict, regardless of the political, religious or ethnic struggles that engulf them. Marina hopes to accomplish her mission of unifying diverse groups by reminding all people of the common humanity that is portrayed in their music.

Posted by Svetlana at 07:23 PM | Permalink

Serbia’s Knight

As of Thursday, February 8, Serbia has another Knight, a highly esteemed movie director Emir Kusturica. French Minister of Culture Rennaud Donnadieu de Vabres has awarded world renowned Serbian director with France’s Order of the Knight of Arts and Literature of the first degree — Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

This is the highest French recognition for achievements in arts and culture, honoring those who have “significantly contributed to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance.” The medal was given to Kusturica as an acknowledgement of his professional achievements in France.

Minister De Vabres said that with this recognition France wanted to express its affection and admiration to Kusturica and appreciation of his entire artistic opus that, along with movies, includes his music band Zabranjeno pusenje, documentary films and the magnificent ethno village he has built in Serbia.

“Kusturica is a great artist who carries within all that Europe represents today — positive values, drama, tragedy. He is the artist of exquisite power and ingenious mind,” the French Minister of Culture pointed out.

Before Kusturica, Serbian artist Vladimir Velickovic and writer Danilo Kis were also recipients of this decoration.

The ceremony was attended by representatives of culture and foreign ministries of France and Serbia as well as Serbian Ambassador to France Predrag Simic and Director of the Serbian Cultural Centre in Paris Zivadin Mitrovic.

Kusturica and Coppola Only

Born in Sarajevo, capital of former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1954, Emir Kusturica graduated from the Film Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in 1978. Extravagantly brilliant, Kusturica almost immediately became one of the most creative cinema directors during the 1980s and 1990s, and the only director other than Francis Ford Coppola to have won the Cannes Palme d’Or twice.

Among his numerous awards is also the Best Director award at Cannes Film Festival in 1989 for Time of Gypsies, Golden Lion in Venice Film Festival in 1981 for his first movie Do You Remember Dolly Bell?, a Silver Bear at Berlin Film Festival in 1993 for Arizona Dream, and a Best European Union Film at César Awards in 2005 for Life is a Miracle.

From Emir to Nemanja

Although born of Muslim parents, on Đurđevdan (St. George’s Day) 2005 Emir decided to correct the historical anomaly and return to his roots and the faith of his ancestors by being baptized into the Serbian Orthodox Church under the christened Serbian name of Nemanja, in Dormition Monastery near Herceg Novi.

While for Kusturica this represented an act of reclaiming his true origins and reaffirming his identity, among his critics and opponents it was equated with the final betrayal. Bosnian Croat Mile Stojic commented: “... it shall be written that Kusta was the first Orthodox Christian in modern history whose father’s name was Murat.”

Emir responded:

My father was an atheist and he always described himself as a Serb. OK, maybe we were Muslim for 250 years, but we were Orthodox before that and deep down we were always Serbs, religion cannot change that. We only became Muslims to survive the Turks.

From Paris and New York to Serbia’s Mecavnik

While filming a movie Life is a Miracle in Serbia, Emir noticed the beauty of the Mecavnik hill three thousand feet up on Tara Mountain, and decided to build a village there. Fiachra Gibbons of Guardian describes the visit to this unique place:

What started as a couple of salvaged traditional wooden houses 18 months ago, on a bluff above the spectacularly beautiful Mokra Gora valley in western Serbia, has mushroomed into a modern take on the great monastery-universities of the middle ages. The village is equipped with a library, Serbia’s most advanced cinema and, most incongruously of all, an underground basketball arena — a tribute to the three world championships won by the former Yugoslavia. For Küstendorf, as he calls the place, is also a hymn to Serbian cultural achievement and traditional living [...]

The focal point of Küstendorf (also known as Drvengrad, or WoodsTown), which is every bit as rustic, poetic and miraculous as Kusturica’s films, is Serbian Orthodox church dedicated to the first Serbian Archbishop and the father of Serbian nation, St. Sava. The church Kusturica built in the center of his village has been consecrated on St. Archangel’s Day in 2003 and dedicated to the great Serbian saint in January 2004, by the Bishop of Zica of Serbian Uzice Diocese, His Grace Hrizostom.

P.S. Kusturica Deserves a Medal From Serbia Too

If for nothing else, Kusturica deserves another medal for being a greater Serbian patriot than some of those who have been born in Serbia, of Serbian Orthodox parents. The fact Soros’ anti-Serbian propaganda tool operating in Serbia — B92 — television program is expressly prohibited in coffee-shops, bars and public places in Küstendorf, because B92 is “treacherous and Serb-hating” nest “working directly against Serbian interests” is sufficient, in and of itself, for Serbia to award him, today.

That’s the kind of guy you need when men with no chest fill the earth with chicken shit.

Posted by Svetlana at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Learn to Draw With Vectors

If you ever wondered how those perfectly polished computer illustrations get that way without any wobbly lines, spills and the utter mess of not being able to produce even the simplest curves that would look smooth and half decent, after trying on your own, you must’ve decided all of THEM surely have a special drawing pad and are never using something as clumsy and impossible to control as computer mouse for any of their drawing.

Free-hand drawing pad aside, illustrators who are utilizing the blessings of the technological advancement are using vectors, mainly the Bézier curves for their work.

It was a French automobile engineer, Pierre Bézier, who introduced the use of these curves in computer graphics. The Bézier curve is the mathematical equation that represents lines in computer graphics and if you have ever used the ‘pen tool’ in Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, Fontographer, or any number of spline-based 3D programs, you have already used the Bézier curves.

So, vector graphics consist of points, lines, curves, and polygons all based on mathematical equations that we, thankfully, don’t need to worry about, because their use and application in computer graphics is entirely intuitive: you simply trace your own lines after scanning your drawing and fill the fields you’ve created by linking different curves with color afterwards. And you trace your drawing not by repeating entire lines and every bit of it, like you would do with the pencil, but by clicking (with the active pen tool) on parts of your lines — between the two click-points the Bézier curve will appear and you can adjust it to follow your line perfectly by manipulating the end points, or anchors. Once you get the hang of this, it becomes very easy and fast, and you end up with perfectly smooth curves and fields to fill up with color, gradient, pattern or texture you like.

Unlike raster graphics (the representation of images as a collection of pixels — dots), vector art can be resized into really large or very small images without any loss of quality (dreaded blurring or “pixelation”) and successfully used for print. A good quality logo, for example, that you can use on the web and print on everything from business cards and letterheads to posters and t-shirts, while keeping the same crisp quality, is nowadays unthinkable without vectors.

Although there are many demonstrations of Bézier curves available on the web, if you wish to really try producing your own vector art you should download Adobe Illustrator and utilize the one-month free trial (under “Downloads” > “Tryout”) of the best computer graphics program in the world.

And if it turns out you are not quite the Digital Picasso just like yours truly isn’t either, despite the high hopes and unyielding self-confidence, at least you will learn one more creative, beautiful thing — drawing with vectors.

My vector illustration shown here is created in Adobe Illustrator.

Posted by Svetlana at 07:33 AM | Permalink

When you lose the sweetest little dog that was with you for over fourteen years, that followed you from one continent to another, back and forth, slept with you and spent most of her days on you rather then near you, one of the things you can do instead of going to a half-empty bed at night and crying yourself to sleep is REDESIGN... anything.

And, since dragging furniture around at 4a.m. and repainting bedroom walls might not sit too well with those you love and live with, redesigning a web site seems like the second best option.

So, I changed some colors, played with textures, added a top banner... The whole thing was done through the CSS style sheet and the most important change is that the new layout is liquid -- it stretches and shrinks to fit different resolutions. I’m using a high screen resolution and it kind of irritated me that over half of my screen was showing just the black background of my site - it seemed like such a waste of space. But making a static layout for the screen resolution higher then the standard 800x600px means some people would be forced to scroll not just top to bottom, but also left to right and that is even more annoying. So I decided to take the guesswork out and offer a layout that will do us all a favor by adjusting itself to everyone’s screen resolution.

I promised to myself a while ago I won’t use any images in the layout of the blog, because I wanted the pages light and fast loading, but more importantly, I wanted to be able to illustrate different entries with wide range of graphics, from cartoons, to photos, to all sorts of artwork, so any kind of imagery that is static and “built in” as part of the layout would, I thought, dictate the tone in a way and limit the type of graphics I can use for each new entry. Besides, I really like the look that emphasizes typography, a sort of cleaner and leaner daily newspaper style that leaves a lot of freedom in the choice of graphics for each ‘edition’. If I didn’t like colors so much, I think my first choice would be to have the “skeleton” of the blog entirely black & white with extra-extra-large title and super clean font.

That was then.

Now, it occurred to me during one sleepless night the main page of my blog is a bit too flat and could use some texture. So I incorporated the banner image, the side navigation background image and the little red squares and dots for the lists. (I’m not sure I’ll keep the last part though -- it looks a bit over the top and I seem to be having some problems with those dots in the Internet Explorer, though Mozilla Firefox is displaying them just fine.)

You probably also noticed the main content area is not entirely white any more, it now has a bit of cream in it, because the contrast seemed a bit too stark before, making the reading of the long index page uncomfortable. In case you want to give it a try on your own web page, the color is #feffe5.

It’s been a whole week since we’ve lost our dog -- I still have the lump in my throat and another one in the center of the stomach, as if someone punched me really hard. If this keeps on, you can expect more redesigns in the near future.

I couldn’t at the time, so I would like to say something about her now.

Mrvica (Bread Crumb) was a mutt, probably a mixture of Japanese Chin and Pekingese, that we picked up in Belgrade, while we still lived in Serbia. She was the tiniest little thing and so severely ill we thought she won’t survive. But she fought very hard and, with the vet’s help, woke up one morning with her big dark eyes unexpectedly cleared, bright and shiny like two brand-new buttons someone sewed on while we slept.

We carried her with us to Canada, went through sheer misery whenever we looked for an apartment to rent (in Vancouver nobody seems to want dogs and babies in their buildings), dragged her back and forth on endless, torturous plane flights whenever visiting our family and friends back home and had her follow us through the good, the bad and in-between like every good dog does (as if there is any other kind), contented merely to be with us no matter what.

Although very small, Mrvica must have thought she’s a Pit Bull and would chase any German Shepherd down few blocks if only allowed, acting as if she’d eat him alive if she could get to him. She was terribly spoiled and rude, with a personality of a Hollywood Diva, strong-willed and stubborn. She was also acutely aware of members of her own “pack,” the one she felt responsible for, and completely and totally loyal and in awe of us as if we are the most perfect things ever created on this earth. No one else could hold her or touch her (unless willing to risk a finger or a nose), though you could give her all the treats you can come up with, as long as you didn’t expect anything in return.

She embarrassed us probably a million times in her fourteen years of life, because she was so appealing, a feathery little dog with a bushy tale, bouncing off the ground in the rhythm of tiny chime bells, but with Mrvica appearances really were deceiving and every bit of cuteness would evaporate abruptly, as soon as someone unfamiliar tries to get too close. That’s how she was from the time she was a puppy, until the very last day of her life, when she managed to postpone her dying for an instant, long enough to warn the veterinarian trying to check her temperature to BACK OFF.

She dyed of kidney failure -- a progressive old-age disease that could have been developing for a year. We had no idea she was ill, since she never looked ill, until a month before the end and even then we were assured she has an infection of some sort, but certainly nothing life-threatening. Her vet explained that dogs compensate for the kidney disease successfully for quite a while - basically, they’re hiding it and it isn’t something one can do much about anyway, even if discovered early on.

Over the years I had quite a few dogs and cats, since I kept collecting whatever I find all my life (I’ve been born with this disease of not being able to pass by anything that cries) and I’ve lost a number of pets before - the birds, the fish, cats, dogs, you name it... Every one was different, every one had its own personality and unique character and I still remember each of them.

But losing Mrvica was, so far, the hardest. Maybe because it was all so sudden and unexpected, maybe because she looked so healthy and happy as if she could easily live another five years, maybe because she never left my side and was, somehow, entirely mine from the first day I picked her up... I think it is mostly because she was very special and quirky in such a surprising and irresistible way you couldn’t help but laugh and love her even more for it.

I will miss her for the rest of my life.

Posted by Svetlana at 02:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Design Your Own Logo

Free Logo Maker is so much fun, I spent few hours playing with their Macromedia Flash pad, and had to be unglued from the computer screen by sheer force.

Go to the big orange button on the right of the linked page that says “Design it for Free”, it will open a Macromedia Flash pad where you should choose the “industry” for pre-designed graphic you can use to - finally! - create your trademark that was, if you want to be completely honest about it, deserved LONG TIME AGO.

From there on, you can follow the short instructions on the left, or go straight under the design area and dive into it: type the title of your site, company or your own name, all on a single line (like I did in the first example), or broken into two or three parts; pick the font you like (for each line of text) and play with the elements of your logo by creating different groupings, changing the size of each, angle (rotate) and colors.

If the image you chose has more then one element, you will be able to change the color of each. The trick in selecting different layers of one graphic is to click on it the second or third time -- the selection box will slightly change size, so you'll be able to juggle between layers.

As you know, the basic idea behind logo is that it should be fairly simple and easy to reproduce, while representing your particular brand or product through shape, color and style. I broke every one of the rules here because I just wanted to play, but if you want to be serious about things, don’t do as I did.

Instead, think of the look and feel that would blend with the design of your page and pick the color or two from those you are already using. For my blog the one with the candle on the above-right would make much more sense then Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa having a coffee.

But then again, you got to play sometime! (And pretend you’re a beautician or a hairdresser, or a... I don’t know, an all natural, no-genetically-engineered-produce farmer? The last one should cover it all.)

Posted by Svetlana at 05:49 PM | Permalink

If you prefer graphic to plain-text links and would like to link to Byzantine Sacred Art Blog, you now have a choice of seven images, designed to fit different styles. You can either right-click on the image you like and upload it to one of the folders on your site, or just copy the code provided next to each image, paste it to the web page where you wish to have it appear and - presto! - your cool new graphic link is in place, while the image remains stored on my hosting server.

If you choose to save the image to your computer and host it on your site, you will also be able to customize it, add borders, shadows, or different effects to each image to make it fit your design better.

Otherwise, when you find the version you like, right-click on the form next to it, click on “select all,” then “copy.” “Paste” to your page and you’re done.

RUGGED Look

Air of MYSTIQUE

ORTHODOX Way

Art PLAY

ROMANTIC Touch

CITY Slick

No Image MINIMALIST

This is a two-part code, because it relies on a CSS styled hyperlink, beside the rest. If you don’t have an external CSS style sheet, copy the first code below and paste it between the <head> and </head> tags of your web page:

If you do have an external style sheet, or a part in the <head> of your page for the CSS style, you should then just use the styling of the link (I assigned it a “bblog” class, for Byzantine Blog, but you can name it however you wish.

Next, in the <body> part of the web page where you want to place the link, paste this part:

You can play with colors and other elements of the style until you get the exact look you want (pick some fancy colors with the Color Schemer and make sure you get the right HEX number for your code).

Have fun and thanks for the link -- as people click through, your web site will be listed on the main page of the blog, under the “Incoming Links,” so you’ll start receiving visitors from the Byzantine Blog in no time!

Posted by Svetlana at 03:00 AM | Permalink

Born in 1968 in Belgrade, Nebojsha Djuranovic graduated on the Academy of Applied Arts. Inspired by the Serbian-Byzantine medieval expression, the artist finds the rich source of ideas in the fascinating history and ethos of Serbian nation.

Monumental like Serbian frescoes and narrating his nation’s heroic epos, Nebojsha’s regal canvases evoke the scent of the thick gusts of myrrh pouring from the Church portals, the light of hundreds of candles floating above the ancient liturgical chants and the solemnity and dignity of the majestic Paschal Service.

Unsatisfied with merely tracing the contours of Serbian history, through the cycles Nemanjics Among the Serbs and The Lights of Fire the artist reaches deep into its very roots and causes, revealing the permanent imprint the flames of the eternal battle have left on the Serbian soul, and the weight of their Cross.

Posted by Svetlana at 11:27 PM | Permalink

Want to get rich? Come to Canada and start making simple woman’s slippers.

It took me no less then a week to find the Chinese ones you see on the left. I wouldn’t complain if they didn’t have all the fancy flowers either -- the fact they are simple, light and obviously created for indoor dwelling two-legged creatures who take their shoes off when they come home was sufficient for me.

FEMALE two-legged creatures - a piece of folded carpet my husband might wear if he could fit into size 7 isn’t quite what I was looking for.

For some reason, Vancouver shoe stores have no slippers whatsoever. It must be because they don’t understand the overly simplified footwear-for-money concept, but subscribe to outrageously-expensive-show-off-shoes-on-which-teenage-girls-can-splurge-their-allowance philosophy instead. The lingerie stores have specialized for fuzzy bathroom and S&M “slippers” designed for punishment, and department stores have filled their racks with multiple variations of one and the same terrycloth/rubber-sole bathroom slipper.

And, to top off the fine range of slippers available, there’s always an option to attempt to revive your childhood by wearing a zoo on your feet.

Presumably, wearing an entire cow on your foot lets the Inner Child play and makes the despicable world of grown-ups fade into the background.

So, after completely familiarizing myself with Canada’s women’s slipper-market, I believe I can safely predict its next big hit -- if you are a fashion conscious Canadian importer with the nose for business, you should hurry up and get us some real FUN&FUNKY footwear no one will be able to resist!

On the other hand, why hold back? Just give us the whole thing, so we can truly relax and be ourselves at home!

Posted by Svetlana at 03:05 AM | Permalink

Slobodan Rekalic graduated at Belgrade Academy of Art, Department of Sculpture, two decades ago. In his Studio, Slobodan produces the most beautiful pieces of sculptural jewelry and art in precious metals -- gold and silver, as well as bronze. Most of Slobodan’s artwork is inspired by Byzantine masterpieces, often fusing the modern simplicity with the regal intricacy of the Byzantine era.

Apart from pendants, bracelets, rings and earrings, Slobodan is also making Church candelabras and cupola crosses, each of which represents a truly unique piece of art -- a one-of-a-kind sculpture.

Posted by Svetlana at 06:51 PM | Permalink

Italian Casa dei Libri has recently published a truly remarkable book about Kosovo and Metohija, titled “Second Kosovo War,” with subtitle “Serbian Orthodox Christian Heritage that Has to be Rescued.”

European Unity Built on Serbian Graveyard

“Second Kosovo War” is a compilation of well documented studies prepared by the Italian Parliament Senator, Luana Zanella. In a short and powerful preface Mayor of Venice Massimo Cachari writes:

If Europe fails to comprehend that monasteries and churches in Pec, Decani and Gracanica are an integral part of its own memory and its own cultural heritage, not only a possibility for the peaceful development of the Balkan region will be lost, but the political unity of the European community will become absurd.

Cachari urges Europe to rebuild destroyed cultural, artistic and religious monuments in Kosovo and Metohija, since “although most proficient and most capable of destruction, the man is also able to restore.”

Apartheid in the Heart of Europe

Editor Luana Zanella says that if there is “one nation today that is forced to live in the state of apartheid in the heart of Europe, and precisely at the place where its civilization was born, it is the Serbian nation.” In the gesture of His Eminence Amfilohije Radovic, the Bishop of Serbian Orthodox Church, who defended a mosque in Belgrade from the enraged crowd, Zanella sees the hope for ethnic, religious and cultural tolerance in the Balkans.

The first part of the book titled “History and Art,” follows the once flourishing Serbian culture and art in Kosovo and Metohija as it steadily declines through the centuries, suffocated by the Turkish and Albanian Muslim hordes and tribes.

Andrea Catone, President of the Bridge for Belgrade Society, documents that the latest ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija is only the continuation of the ethnic cleansing Albanians were carrying out for centuries, especially since the mass exodus of the Serbs in 1690. Valentino Pache claims the architecture and fresco painting from the time of Serbian medieval King Milutin represents the peak of Byzantine art.

Outside the Ghetto Walls

The second part of the book, titled “Testimonies and Documents,” contains articles by Alessandro Bianchini and Andrea Catone (“Kosovo Under the UNMIK Protection: Ethnocide Revealed”), as well as reports and interviews by Tomaso di Franchesco, the renowned Manifesto journalist. The compilation ends with Luana Zanella’s travelogue, “Three Days of Kosovo.” Both Franchesco’s and Zanella’s writings give a convincing picture of the true situation in Kosovo and Metohija today.

Tomaso di Franchesco also spoke with Father Sava of Decani Monastery, who says that Albanians plan to turn Serbian shrines and holy places into museums, but that can be done only if they cleanse Kosovo and Metohija from the last remaining Serb. They have already achieved that with Gypsies, very few of whom remain in Kosovo today within Serbian enclaves, and whom -- as Rajko Djuric said -- no one from the International Community even thinks of including into the negotiations about Kosovo status. While the images of Serbian misery and poverty dominating Serb enclaves are still fresh, Zanella is taken to a luxurious Albanian restaurant in Pristina named by the Italian military base from which fighter jets were taking off to bomb Serbia -- “Aviano” -- another detail from the sad, controversial and absurd Kosovo and Metohija reality.

“Second Kosovo War” is richly illustrated with color photos of the most important churches and monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija. The photo of the destroyed Church of Holy Trinity in Petric is on the front cover, along with the note that Albanians have even cut down the tree around which the faithful were gathering.

Posted by Svetlana at 07:53 PM | Permalink

For those who prefer not to be bothered with learning to work with complex and expensive graphic programs, but would still like to occasionally display an original piece of digital artwork on their sites, TypoPoster Generator is the ideal answer.

TypoPosters are a creative combination of letters (words) and images and the nicest thing about them is that they can be used to visually illustrate the content of the page, instead of meaningless pretty pictures with no connection to the content.

~ Rose ~

Any term or word (even your name or the title of your web site) can be typed in the form provided as the subject of your piece of art, or you can type in a random string of letters and punctuation marks and see what happens.

Remember you can choose the portrait or landscape orientation and that you can “keep” the colors, background or the font you like on a certain image, while changing the other elements until you get the perfect poster for your site.

With a little bit of css styling, like in my Rose example, your TypoPoster can be adjusted to any look and feel you are after, and the best thing of all is that it's absolutely free!

Posted by Svetlana at 06:17 PM | Permalink

Old Serbian Fairy Tale

Ninth Peacock

Once upon a time there lived a great king who had three sons. Now, before the king's palace grew a tree of solid gold apples, which in one and the same night blossomed, bore fruit, and lost all its fruit, though no one could tell who took the apples. One day the king, speaking to his eldest son, said, “I should like to know who takes the fruit from our apple tree!”

And the eldest son said, “I will keep guard tonight, Your Majesty, and will see who gathers our apples.”

So when the evening came he went and laid under the apple tree, upon the ground to watch. Just, however, as the apples started to ripen, he fell asleep and when he awoke in the morning there was not a single apple left on the tree. Whereupon he went and told his father what had happened.

Then the second son offered to keep watch by the tree, but he had no better success than his eldest brother.

So the turn came to the king's youngest son to keep guard. He made his preparations, brought his bed under the tree, and immediately went to sleep. Before midnight he awoke and looked up at the tree, and saw how the apples ripened, lighting up the whole garden and the majestic palace with their dazzling brightness.

At that moment there was a soft rustle of velvety wings and nine golden peacocks flew towards the tree. Eight of them fell upon the apple tree, but the ninth alighted on the young prince's bed and turned instantly into a beautiful girl -- so beautiful, indeed, that the whole kingdom could not produce one who could in any way compare with her.

She gently smiled and hugged the dazed prince and they kissed and caressed each other till after midnight. As the dawn approached, the girl prepared to leave, thanking the prince for the golden apples. He begged her to leave him at least one apple to take to his father. She gave him two, one for himself and one for the king. Then the girl turned again into a peacock, and flew away with the other eight. In the morning, the king's son took the two apples to his father, and the king was much pleased, and praised his son.

When the evening came, the king's youngest son took his place again under the apple tree to keep guard over it. Again the nine golden peacocks came, the eight of them settling in the branches of the apple tree and the ninth one flew to his bed. They again kissed and hugged each other like the night before, and in the morning brought to his father two apples of solid gold as before.

But, after he had succeeded so well several nights, his two elder brothers grew envious because he had been able to do what they could not. At length they found an old woman, who promised to discover how the youngest brother had succeeded in saving the two apples each night. So, as the evening came, the old woman stole softly under the bed which stood under the apple tree, and hid herself. And after a while, came also the king's youngest son, and laid himself down as usual to sleep. When it was near midnight the nine golden peacocks flew up as before, and eight of them settled on the branches, and the ninth stood on his bed, and turned into a most beautiful girl.

When the young prince and the peacock girl hugged each other, the old woman slowly took hold of one of the girl's braids, and cut it off, and the girl swiftly rose up in fear, changing again into a luminous peacock and flew away without a word, and the other peacocks followed her, and so they all disappeared.

Brokenhearted, the king's son jumped up and cried out, “What is that?” and, looking under the bed, he saw the old evil woman, and drew her out. Next morning he ordered her to be tied to a horse's tail, and so torn to pieces. But the peacocks never came back, so the king's son wallowed in sadness day in and out, and wept at his loss.

Finding no comfort and losing all hope his golden peacock girl will ever come back to him, he decided to go and look after her, resolving never to come back again unless he should find her. When he told the king his father of his intention, the king begged him not do go away, and told him that he would find him another beautiful girl, and that he might choose the bride out of the whole kingdom.

But all the king's persuasions were useless, so the prince went into the world taking only one servant to serve him, to search for his peacock on the sea and on the ground, in the mountains and on the plains throughout the vast world.

Magic Bellows

One day, after many travels, he came to a lake. Now by the lake stood a large and beautiful palace. In the palace lived an old woman as queen, and with the queen lived a girl, her daughter. Tired of the long roads and weary of the places where no one knew about the golden peacocks, the prince pleaded with the old woman, “For heaven's sake, grandmother, do you happen to know anything about nine golden peacocks?”

And the old woman answered, “My dear son, - said the old queen, - I know all about them. They come every midday to bathe in this very lake. But what do you want with them? Let them be. Think nothing about them. Here is my daughter -- such a beautiful girl! And such an heiress! All my wealth will be yours if you marry her.”

But the prince suddenly awash with joy, burning with desire to see the peacocks, would not listen to the old woman any more, nor take a second look at her daughter.

Next morning, when day dawned, the prince prepared to go down to the lake to wait for the peacocks. Then the old queen bribed the servant and gave him a little pair of bellows, saying, “Take these bellows and when you come to the lake you must blow secretly with them behind the prince's neck, so he will fall asleep and will not be able to speak to the peacock-girl.”

The crooked servant did as the old woman told him. When he went with his master down to the lake, he took occasion to blow with the bellows behind his neck, and the poor prince fell asleep just as though he were dead.

Shortly after, the nine golden peacocks came flying, and eight of them alighted by the lake, but the ninth flew towards the prince as he sat on horseback, and caressed him, and tried to awaken him. “Awake my darling! Awake, my heart! Awake, my soul!”

But for all that he knew nothing, just as if he were dead.

After they had bathed, all the peacocks flew away together, and just as they were gone the prince woke up, and said to his servant, “What has happened? Did they not come?”

The servant told him the nine golden peacocks had been at the lake, and that eight of them had bathed, but the ninth sat by him on his horse, and caressed and tried to awaken him. And when the king's son heard all this, he was so angry that he almost killed himself in his rage.

Next morning he went down to the lake shore again to wait for the peacocks, and he rode about a long time till the servant again found an opportunity of blowing with the bellows behind his neck, so that he again fell asleep as though dead. Hardly had he fallen asleep before the nine golden peacocks came flying, and eight of them alighted by the water, but the ninth settled down by the side of his horse and caressed him, and cried out to awaken him, “Arise, my darling! Arise, my heart! Arise my soul!”

But it was of no use. The prince slept on as if he were dead. Then she said to the servant, “Tell your master tomorrow he can see us here again, but nevermore.”

With these words the peacocks flew away. Immediately after, the king's son woke up and asked his servant, “Have they not been here?”

And the man answered, “Yes, they have been, and the one that settled down by the side of your horse trying to wake you up said that you can see them again tomorrow at this place, but after that they will not return again.”

When the sorrowful prince heard that, he knew not what to do with himself, and in his great trouble and misery tore the hair from his head.

The third day he went down again to the shore but, fearing to fall asleep, instead of riding slowly, galloped along the shore. His servant, however, found an opportunity of blowing with the bellows behind his neck, and again the prince fell asleep.

A moment after came the nine golden peacocks, and the eight alighted on the lake and the ninth by him on his horse, and sought to awaken him, caressing him. “Arise, my darling! Arise, my heart! Arise, my soul!”

But it was of no use. The prince slept on as if dead. Then the peacock said to the servant, “When your master awakens tell him he ought to strike off the head of the nail from the lower part, and then he will find me.”

Thereupon all the peacocks fled away. Immediately the king's son awoke and said to his servant, “Have they been here?”

And the servant answered, “They have been, and the one which alighted on your horse ordered me to tell you to strike off the head of the nail from the lower part, and then you will find her.”

When the prince heard that, he drew his sword and cut off his servant's head.

Twelve Cellars

After that he traveled alone about the world, and, after long traveling, came to a mountain where he found an old hermit. The prince remained all night there and asked the hermit if he knew anything about nine golden peacocks.

The hermit said, "Eh, my son, you are lucky! God has led you to the right path. From this place it is only a half a day's walk. But you must go straight on, then you will come to a large gate, which you must pass through. And, after that, you must keep always to the right hand, and so you will come to the golden peacocks' city, and you will find their palace there."

So next morning the king's son arose, and prepared to go. He thanked the hermit, and went as the old man instructed him. After a while he came to the great gate and, having passed it, turned to the right, so that at midday he saw the city, and beholding how white it shone, rejoiced very much.

When he came into the city he found the palace where lived the nine golden peacocks. At the gate the prince was stopped by the guard who demanded to know who he was and whence he came. After he had answered these questions, the guards went to announce him to the queen.

When the queen heard who he was, she came running to the gate and took him by the hand to lead him into the palace. This was his young and beautiful maiden, and so there was a great rejoicing when, after a few days, he married her and remained to live there with her.

One day, some time after their marriage, the queen went out to walk, and her young husband remained in the palace. Before going out, however, the queen gave him the keys of twelve cellars, telling him, “You may go down into all the cellars except the twelfth -- that must on no account be open, or it will cost you your head.”

As he stayed by himself in the palace, the king's son began to wonder what could there be in the twelfth cellar, and soon commenced opening one cellar after the other.

When he came to the twelfth he would not open it at first, heeding his wife's warning, but again began to wonder very much why would he be forbidden to go in. “What could possibly be in this cellar?!” he exclaimed.

At last, he couldn't bear the bewilderment and opened the last cellar too. In the middle of the dark and damp cellar lay a big barrel with an open bung-hole, but bound fast round with three iron hoops. Just when the prince thought there really wasn't anything here worth the time or fear, a deep strong voice called on to him from the barrel, saying, “For God's sake, my brother, I am dying with thirst. Do a good deed and give me a cup of water!”

The king's son took a cup and filled it with water from a drum nearby, and emptied it into the barrel. While the last drops of water still hung upon the cup's rim, one of the iron hoops on the barrel burst asunder with the loud crack.

Again came the deep voice from the barrel, “For God's sake, my brother, I am dying of thirst. Do a good deed and give me a cup of water!”

The king's son filled the cup again and emptied it into the barrel. Instantly there was another loud crack and another iron hoop burst asunder.

The third time the deep, strong voice came out of the barrel, “For God's sake, my brother, I am dying of thirst. Do a good deed and give me a cup of water!”

The king's son again took the cup and filled it, and poured the water into the barrel, and the third iron hoop loudly burst. The barrel fell to pieces like it was built out of matchsticks, and a mighty dragon filled the cellar with his wings and flew out, catching the young queen on the road and carrying her away.

Fish, Fox and Wolf

The queen's servant who followed the queen on her walk, ran back breathlessly, telling the king's son what had happened. And the poor prince was grief stricken and knew not what to do with himself, so desperate was he, and full of self reproaches. He resolved to set out and travel through the world in search of his queen.

After long journeying, one day he came to a lake, and near it, in a little hole, he saw a little fish jumping about. When the fish saw the king's son, she began to beg pitifully, “For the love of God, be my brother, and throw me into the water. Some day I may be of use to you, so take a little scale from me and rub it gently when you need me.”

And the king's son lifted the little fish from the hole and threw her into the water, after he had taken one small scale, which he wrapped up carefully in a handkerchief.

Some time afterwards, as he traveled about the world, he came upon a fiery fox caught in an iron trap. When the fox saw the prince, she spoke, “For the love of God, be a brother to me, and help me get out of this trap. One day you will need me, so take a single hair from my tail, and rub it gently when you need me.”

And the king's son took a hair from the tail of the fox, and set her free.

As he crossed a mountain, the prince found a wolf fast in a trap, and when the wolf saw him, he spoke, “Be a brother to me! For the love of God, set me free, and one day I will help you. Only take a hair from me, and when you need me, rub it gently.”

So he took the hair, and set the wolf free.

After that, the king's son traveled about a very long time, till one day he met a man, to whom he said, “For God's sake, brother, have you ever heard where is the palace of the dragon king?”

The man knew about the dragon king's palace and gave him directions which way to take, and in what length of time he could get there. Then the king's son thanked him and continued his journey until he came to the city where the dragon king lived.

Once he arrived to the city, the prince went into the palace and found therein his wife, and both of them were exceedingly pleased to meet each other, and began to take counsel how to escape. They resolved to run away, and prepared hastily for the journey. When all was ready they mounted on horseback and galloped away.

As soon as they were gone, the dragon came home, also on horseback and, entering his palace, found that the queen had gone away. Then he said to his horse, “What shall we do now? Shall we eat and drink, or go at once after them?”

The horse answered, “Let us eat and drink first. We shall catch them anyway. Do not worry, master.”

After the dragon king had dined, he mounted his wind-fast horse, and in a few moments caught up with the runaways. He took the queen from the king's son and said to him, “Go in God's name! This time I forgive you, because you gave me water in the cellar. But if you value your life, do not come back here any more!”

The unhappy young prince went on his way a little, but could not long resist, so he came back the next day to the dragon king's palace, and found the queen sitting alone and weeping.

Then they began again to consult how to get away. And the prince said, “When the dragon comes, ask him where he got that horse, and then you will tell me so that I can look for such a horse too; perhaps in this way we can escape.”

He then went away, lest the dragon should come and find him with the queen.

By and by the dragon came home, and the queen began to pet him, and speak sweetly to him about many things, till at last she said, “Ah! what a fine horse you have! Where did you get such a splendid horse?”

And the dragon king answered, “Eh! The place I got it not everyone can get one! In such and such a mountain lives an old witch who has twelve horses in her stable, and no one can say which is the finest, they are all so strong and healthy and beautiful. But in the farthest corner of the stable stands a horse which looks as if he has leprosy but, in truth, he is the very best horse in the whole world. He is the brother of my horse, and whoever gets him may ride into the clouds and over the sky. But whoever wishes to get a horse from that old witch, must serve her for three days and three nights. She has a mare with a foal, and whoever during three nights keeps this mare and the foal for her, has a right to claim the best horse from the old hag's stable. But whoever promises to keep watch over the mare with the foal and fails will lose his head!”

A Kingdom for a Horse

Next day, when the dragon went out, the king's son came, and the queen told him all she had learned from the dragon. The prince went straight away to the mountain and found the old witch, and entered her house. “God help you too, my son!, - brayed the old woman. - What do you wish?”

“I would like to serve you,” said the king's son. Then the old woman said, “Weeeehll, my son, if you can keep my mare safe for three days and three nights, I will give you the best horse that you can choose for yourself. But if you do not keep the mare safe, you shall lose your head.”

Scuffing and limping, the old woman led the prince into the courtyard, where all around stakes were ranged. Each of them had a man's head on it, except for one stake which had no head on it, and wailed incessantly, "Oh, grandmother, give me a skull!"

The old woman showed all this to the prince, and said, “Look here! All these were heads of those who tried to keep my mare, and they have lost their heads for their pains!”

But the prince was not a bit afraid, so he stayed to serve the old woman. When the evening came he mounted the mare and rode her into the field, and the foal followed behind. He sat still on her back, having made his mind up not to dismount, so that he would never lose the sight of her. But before midnight he slumbered a little, and when he awoke he found himself sitting on a rail and holding the limp empty bridle in his hand.

Then he was greatly alarmed, and went instantly to look about to find the mare, and whilst looking for her, he came to a small pond. When he saw the water he remembered the little fish, and took the scale from the handkerchief and rubbed it a little. And immediately the little fish appeared, singing in its small voice, “What is the matter, my brother?”

And the prince replied, “The old woman's mare ran away with a foal whilst under my charge, and now I don't know where she is!”

And the fish answered, “She is here, turned to a fish, and the foal to a smaller one. But strike once upon the water with the bridle and shout, ‘Hey! mare of the old woman, here!’”

The prince did as he was told, and immediately the mare came with the foal, out of the water to the shore. Then he put the bridle back on her, mounted and rode away to the old woman's house, and the foal followed. When he got there the old woman said nothing and gave him his breakfast. But she took the mare into the stable and beat her with a poker, hissing, “Why didn't you go into the fishes, you damned mare?!”

And the mare answered, “I went into the fishes, but the fish are his friends, and they gave me away.”

Then the witch jeered, “Then go among the foxes!”

When the evening came, the king's son mounted the mare and rode to the field, and the foal followed behind. Again he sat on the mare's back until near midnight, when he fell asleep as before. When he awoke, he found himself riding on the rail and holding the limp empty bridle in his hand.

So he was much frightened, and went to look after the mare. As he went, he remembered the words the old woman had said to the mare, and took the fiery fox's hair our of his handkerchief, rubbing it gently between his fingers. All at once the fox stood before him, and asked crisply, “What is the matter, brother?”

And the prince said, “The old woman's mare has run away with the foal, and I don't know where to look for her.”

Then the fox answered, “She is here, with us! She has turned into a fox, and the foal into a cub. But strike once with the bridle on the ground and shout, ‘Hey! old woman's mare, here!’”

So the king's son struck with the bridle on the ground and cried out, “Hey! old woman's mare, here!” and the mare obeyed and came and stood with her foal near him.

He put the bridle on her, and mounted and rode off home, and the foal followed the mare. When he arrived the old woman gave him his breakfast, but took the mare into the stable and beat her with the poker, crying, “To the foxes, damned one! To the foxes!”

And the mare answered, “I have been with the foxes, but they are his friends, and told him I was there!”

Then the old woman screeched, “If that is so, you must go among the wolves!”

When it grew dark again, the king's son mounted the mare and rode out to the field, and the foal galloped by the side of the mare. Again he sat still on the mare's back till about midnight, when he grew very sleepy and fell into a slumber, as on the former evenings, and when he awoke he found himself riding on the rail, holding the limp empty bridle in his hand, just as before.

Stricken with fear, he went in a hurry to look after the mare. As he went, he remembered the words the old woman had said to the mare, and took the wolf's hair from the handkerchief and rubbed it gently. Then the wolf came up to him and asked, “What is the matter, brother?”

And the prince answered, “The old woman's mare has run away with her foal, and I cannot tell where she is.”

The wolf said, “She is here, with us. She has turned herself into a wolf, and the foal into a wolf's cub. Strike once with the bridle on the ground and cry out, ‘Hey! old woman's mare, here!’”

And the king's son did so, and instantly the mare came again and stood with the foal beside him. So he bridled her, and galloped home, and the foal followed. When he arrived the old woman gave him his breakfast, but she led the mare into the stable and beat her with the poker, crying, “To the wolves, I said, miserable one!”

And the mare answered, “I have been to the wolves, but they are his friends, and they told him all about me!”

Then the old woman came out of the stable, and the king's son said to her, “Well, grandmother, I have served you honestly. Now give me what you promised.”

And the old woman answered reluctantly, “My son, what is promised must be fulfilled. So look here! Here are the twelve horses. Choose the one you like!”

And the prince said, “Why should I be picky? Just give me that leprous horse in the corner! Fine horses are not fitting for me!”

But the old woman pressed hard to persuade him to choose another horse, saying, “How can you be so foolish as to choose that pitiable leprous thing whilst there are such excellent horses here?”

The prince remained firm in his choice, and said to the old woman, “You ought to give me which I choose, for so you promised.”

So, when the old woman found she could not make him change his mind, she gave him the scabby horse, and he took leave of her, and went away, leading the horse by the halter.

When he came to a forest he curried and rubbed down the horse, and soon all the muck and dirt and mud fell off the horse and it shone as bright as the sun. The prince then mounted, and the horse flew like an eagle and in a few seconds brought the king's son to the dragon king's palace.

Rescue

The prince went in and said to the queen, “Get ready right away!” She was soon ready, when they both mounted the horse, and began their journey home. Soon after, the dragon came home, and when he saw the queen had disappeared, said to his horse, “What shall we do? Shall we eat and drink first, or shall we pursue them at once?”

The horse answered, “Whether we eat and drink or not, it is all the same. We shall never reach them.”

When the dragon heard that, he got quickly on his horse and galloped after them. When they saw the dragon following them, they pushed on quicker, but their horse said, “Do not be afraid! There is no need to run away.”

In a very few moments the dragon came very near to them, and his horse said to the prince's horse, “For God's sake, my brother, wait a moment! I shall kill myself running after you!”

The prince's horse answered, “Why are you so stupid as to carry that monster on your back? Fling your heels up and throw him off, and come along with me!”

When the dragon's horse heard that, he shook his head angrily and flung his feet high in the air, so that the dragon fell off and broke in pieces, and his horse came up to them.

Then the queen mounted the dragon king's horse and returned with her beloved husband happily to her kingdom, where they reigned together in great joy and prosperity until the end of time.

Illustrated by Jelena Obradović, a winner of the Golden Pen Plaque at the 8th International Biennal of Illustration and by Dobrosav Živković, for Serbian Fairy Tales book by Creative Centre, Belgrade, Serbia.

Posted by Svetlana at 03:36 PM | Permalink

Capturing Tesla's Spirituality

Recently, the Belgrade Inventors' Association awarded Serbian artist Ivanka Jevtovic for the best poster commemorating 150th anniversary of Nikola Tesla's birth.

The poster entitled Orthodox Synthesis Tesla 150 was created using computer graphics to superimpose architectural ornaments and details of frescoes from Visoki Decani Monastery and Pec Patriarchate in Kosovo and Metohija on the great inventor's photos. Ivanka's Tesla posters will also be exhibited on the web site of the International Federation of Inventors' Associations, whose president, Dr. András Vedres, praised the artist's work for capturing Tesla's spirituality.

On June 1 this year, Serbian daily Politika published the article The Day Nikola Tesla Visited Belgrade, which Boba Borojevic translated. Upon the arrival to the land of his ancestors, Tesla said:

All the glory I have experienced lately in London and Paris means little or nothing to me compared to the honor I have received from you, gentlemen. The cradle of my forefathers, the Kingdom of Serbia and the city of Belgrade, invite me to visit them… It is a great reward for me. Great, indeed. Nothing in the world, or in my life will be dearer to me than your invitation. I am happy that I am a Serb and shall pride myself with this forever.

Another newspaper revealed a little known fact Nikola Tesla translated into English a book of poems by the beloved Serbian poet Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj, while living in States. When Tesla's compatriot from Lika (Serbian Krajina in present-day Croatia) who visited him in Chicago asked about this, Tesla smiled and said:

Many of us Serbs sing graceful verses, but very few in the world show a desire to hear them.

Twelve Hundred Years Old State Seal

On July 11, 2006, Serbian Ministry of Culture rescued part of its missing treasure by purchasing the 9th century Serbian State Seal at the Munich auction for 20,000 Euros.

The Seal that was kept in a private collection belonged to Serbian Duke Stojimir, one of three sons of Duke Vlastimir who ruled Serbia, and was used to approve the state documents. The starting price of the Seal was 6,500 Euros, but collectors who were also eager to get the treasure have quickly brought it up to 15,000 Euros. Serbian vice-consul for Germany who was bidding on behalf of Serbian Government under the instructions the Seal is priceless for Serbia, has placed the highest bid and won the auction.

Worn as a pendant, the Seal is made of gold, 19 millimeters high and weighs 15.46 grams. The Byzantine-style cross on the top is encircled with the Greek inscription: God Help Stojimir. So far, this Seal is the oldest material evidence of Serbian early statehood with the Court Office, Archive and the administrative apparatus.

Posted by Svetlana at 05:28 PM | Permalink

I was thrilled to find the magazine both my parents and I grew up with, Politikin Zabavnik (Politika's Entertainer), is available on the web.

This is one of Serbian oldest magazines, first published on 28 February 1939. From 1939-1941 it was published biweekly, during which time a total of 220 issues were published. The title was picked up in 1952 (the magazine is the edition of Serbian oldest publishing house Politika) and has since been published once a week. The numbering restarted in 1952, reaching over 2,800 issues in 2006 which, with previous issues, would go well over 3,000.

I was always fascinated with the fact editors of Zabavnik are able to make every single issue so engaging and exciting, and afraid they'll run out of ideas at some point and the magazine will suddenly become boring, repetitive and choked up with dull fillers. But it never happened - they haven't just preserved the ability to find an intriguing angle and fresh approach to each story both visually and textually, but are still one of the rare weekly magazines that are commercial-free.

They still have a “Believe It or Not...” section where they reveal the most amazing things, like the fact there is a river in Algeria the chemistry of nature has turned into ink. The stream is formed by the union of two others, one of which is strongly impregnated with iron, while the other contains gallic acid. And the natives use this compound for writing letters and other documents.

Many of the articles are written by historians, mathematicians, physicists, anthropologists and experts from different fields, and every one is wonderfully illustrated. You can learn about ancient Serbian cities, like Sokograd (Falcon City), a town made of stone high up in the hills (“neither in the skies, nor on earth”), which served as a fort to Serbian hero Hajduk Veljko from where he fought the Ottomans; about the Byzantines and why were they so proud of their beards; about Dr. Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof who created “The Language of Hope,” Esperanto, in which Tolstoy was able to read few hours after receiving its Dictionary and Grammar from the gentle doctor; the history of Romanov Dynasty and the Holy Tsar Martyr Nikolai, including the fact three Serbian princesses were married into the Romanov family; the most famous fairy-tales and than those same stories retold by the kids with the unexpected twists, like the Little Red Riding Hood being swallowed by one of the storytellers' TV and thrown into her living room and how, from that moment on, this great friendship was forged, so the girl remains Little Red Riding Hood's best friend since, while the grandma lives in the closet and they feed her with sweets from Riding Hood's bottomless basket; about the great Saints of the Church, like St. John Maximovich, whose father was of Serbian descent and who, at some point, was selling Politika in Belgrade for living, and all you ever wanted to know about the Moon, like why both Sun and Moon look so much bigger on the horizon than while they are in the zenith.

Although most of the articles are so interesting, well written and engaging adults read them too and remain faithful to the magazine throughout life (Zabavnik says it is for readers “from the age of 7 to the age of 107”), The Entertainer is generally aimed at children, so it has regular sections for comics by Disney, Dick Browne, etc. During the sanctions in the '90s, Disney prohibited the use of their comics in the magazine (I guess the idea was that Serbian children should also get punished and feel the sanctions on their own skin), and Zabavnik switched to other comic writers. I don't know if they still use the Disney stuff, though. I hope not.

Unfortunately, the World Wide Web edition offers only few marginal articles per issue and not even the main article around which each weekly Zabavnik is built, and the illustrations designated for the Internet edition are just a tiny fraction of those that are printed.

But for those of us who sometimes feel stranded in a foreign universe, everything that tastes like home is greeted with great joy.

Posted by Svetlana at 04:59 PM | Permalink

There's another online generator someone told me about, where you should be able to discover which celebrity you resemble most, based on the uploaded photo. It seems to be broken though, since it gave me a range from Greta Garbo (yeah, right!) and Farrah Fawcett (?!) to Eminem(!). Thanks, that made my day.

But Julia Gorin did way better without any tools! Oh, brother, that's just AMAZING!

So, following her example, here's what I came up with:

EERIE!

Posted by Svetlana at 12:39 AM | Permalink

In 1998 Serbian artist and calligrapher Svetozar Pajić Diak began a study of the historical material related to the Serbian nation and its participation in the creation of literacy culture from the 12th to the 16th century. Admiring the beauty of our historical and cultural heritage, which is very little known, he set on a difficult mission of a new transcription of old artistic works from the Middle Ages, in the manner the old scribes.

With a goose quill and aged paper, he hand-copied the original of The Codex of the Emperor Stefan Dušan in a calligraphic manner, and then hand-copied the same Codex into the contemporary Serbian language, using the same manner and style. With the same inspiration, he continued to hand-copy the most beautiful pages of the Gospels, first on aged paper, then on kidskin and finally on parchment.

Now we have newly hand-copied Medieval spiritual works rescued from the centuries of oblivion and made available to the views and admiration of contemporary man. And that was Mr. Pajić’s goal in all his endeavours; in his own words, he wanted to present to his nation its own literacy culture and unique beauty of Medieval miniatures.

From the introduction to the artist's work, by Professor Bogdan Stanojević

Posted by Svetlana at 01:17 PM | Permalink

Make your own Picasso drawing, using elements provided at MrPicassoHead. This is more like a quick and fun collage, but if you prefer a free-hand experiment in drawing, you should try the ArtPad for making a true digital masterpiece.

Posted by Svetlana at 07:32 AM | Permalink

Ever wondered how would you look on a Modigliani canvas (apart from eLONGated)?

Well, now you can get a pretty good idea if you upload your photo into a Face Transformer applet and choose one of the art transformations from their drop-down menu.

Here are some more of my art transformations (all from the same photo).

Posted by Svetlana at 04:21 AM | Permalink

Good web design basically means three things: functional, practical and accessible. It doesn't simply mean “pretty”, but it does end up being pleasing to the eye, like everything that is orderly, clean, well organized and neat. In other words, think of visual appeal as a consequence of solid structure and order, rather than as a result of chaotic and unrestrained imagination. These are some of the basic rules of good web design that apply to large corporate web sites as well as to personal pages -- regardless how big or small, these ten simple principles will assure your site is useful, efficient and visually appealing.

1. Four Colors
   Black and white, as every artist will tell you, are not colors. Well, they are in web design. And they are your most important, basic colors, used primarily for background (white) and text (black). You have two more colors to add for just about everything you would like to highlight on your site: logo, links, headings... Rule number one is the bullet-proof insurance you will never go overboard and create a migraine-inducing mess of a page.
2. Center Nothing
   We have all tried it at some point - struggling to make the collection of various elements on the page ‘come together’ by centering them. We thought it looks nice and orderly if it's neatly grouped in the middle. Well, it doesn't work. It makes the site look amateurish, it is difficult to follow through and very difficult to read. Left to right and top to bottom is how we read, it is how we scan the page and it is the way it should be, if you want people to stay and get interested in the content of your site that you worked so hard to make available.
3. White Space
   Leaving enough room for each element on your page to breathe is essential. You must have seen the sites where images and text are crammed in like potatoes in a sack, struggling for space and attention. Images that are too big, heavy blocks of text without breaks, links bunched up so close it takes a sharp-shooter to click on the right one... Finding the back-button after landing on such site becomes a matter of urgency. White space is web designer's prime assistant: it helps her organize the content and make it visually appealing and pleasant.
4. Subtlety
   Once we get our hands on any better graphic program, we tend to go crazy over effects we can now, finally, create. So we start adding shadows on just about everything and buttonizing even the pictures of our pets. At some point, the fact I couldn't make a big round button (with shadow!) for every page that would be a link to my homepage was absolutely killing me. I think I spent a week on that "project" and discarded it about a month later when I learned it might not be as cool as I thought it was. Subtlety is a hard thing to achieve, but it is the main reason why well designed web sites are beautiful. It doesn't mean nothing should be bold and bright, it just means that if some part of the web page is bold and bright everything else has to be subtle.
5. Separate Apples and Oranges
   Text should always be text, never an image. Logo is the only exception, since it is usually graphic that includes textual part. Transforming blocks of text into images and pasting them on web pages makes search engines think you have no content - there is nothing to index except images. And images cannot give you any decent placement in search engines, because none of your keywords are legible to search engine spiders. Worse, though, is the fact that people with visual disabilities who rely on screen readers (software that reads text on the screen and outputs the information to a speech) to use Internet, are virtually barred from sites where text is converted to images. Such sites are violating the most basic principles of web usability and, apart from being a sure sign of poor design, are discriminatory.
6. Group
   Think of all the things you want to put on web site in groups. This is like cleaning up: plates should go in the kitchen, towels belong in the bathroom, jeans, socks and t-shirts in the closet or, more likely, in the washer, and so on. You have to have a separate place for each group of items you would like to publish. These transform to sections or pages of your site. Each separate page then needs to be further organized to allow for easy access to the main content and to other pages and sections. On a single page, you need to have a place for logo, a place for links, a place for the main content and a place for your copyright and personal information. Keep these sections in the same location throughout the site and your visitors will enjoy a pleasant and easy stroll through your portion of the cyberspace.
7. Prioritize
   Is the picture of your pet really the most important message of your entire web site? If not, then it shouldn't be the largest image you have and at the very top of your home page. Think of your home page as of your window display: the most important things to be found on your site should be there. That doesn't mean that EVERYTHING you have on your site should be crammed in your window display, just the most important parts. When a visitor gets in he’ll find more good stuff, but don't chase him away with the entrance that looks like a marketplace after the flood, because most surfers won't waste their time digging through the pile in order to find something interesting. Invite your visitors with few well chosen, nicely displayed items, and let them find the rest.
8. Mind Your Fonts
   Two fonts are all you need for the entire site. Actually, one is more then enough, but some people like to use a different font for their links or headings and that cannot hurt. More then that, though, is too much. There is a flood of painfully designed web sites with itsy-bitsy tiny fonts most people can hardly read. The idea that small is beautiful is fine, only beauty isn't the sole purpose of web sites - they usually have some information to convey. And if the information is barely legible, regardless how beautiful, the site fails. So, keep your fonts to a healthy, medium size, allow some space between text lines and choose one easy-to-read font for all your text. For web sites these are usually sans-serif fonts, like Georgia, Verdana or the most popular, Arial font.
9. Be Square
   Making people scroll horizontally rather then vertically, leading them through a labyrinth of "rooms" instead of pages, unusually shaped weird objects in place of list of links and, generally, trying to re-invent the wheel doesn't add anything but frustration to surfer's experience. In this sense, web site is very much like a book or magazine and it should comply with certain rules in order to be fully accessible and re-visited. Granted, there are some books in rather weird formats that were published, but how many of those do you keep on your shelves? At some point, we all thought white background is boring and black text is dull as dull can be, but when you visit the web sites featured on Best of the Web, CSS Zen Garden etc, guess what -- over ninety percent of those amazing, gorgeous sites have the boring white background and super-dull black text! So, don't boldly go into the unknown with your site, or most people will never find it.
10. Simplify
    Learning to discard the non-essentials is probably the hardest rule of all. Over time we tend to create collections of cute little icons, buttons, arrows, borders, animated gifs that are just perfect for our stuff and hundreds of megabytes of images - flowers, kittens, pink bunnies, white puppies, purple hearts - you name it! None of it is necessary, none of it serves to promote our message, most of it has nothing to do with our message to begin with, but IT'S SO CUTE and irresistible that we have to paste it somewhere. Don't. And if you did, start removing all the non-essentials, today. Essential to your web site are only those things that work hand-in-hand with your content, where connection is obvious and doesn't need to be explained to anyone. Ask yourself if it's absolutely necessary to have certain parts of text blue, or purple or yellow. Would it be just fine if it was simply black? Will your page lose the clarity and importance if the bear-smelling-flower animated gif wasn't there? Would we know what your site is about if you didn't have those 45 smileys there? Would we, perchance, enjoy visiting your site more often if you didn't stop to greet us on five welcome-enter-hello-thanks-for-visiting-pages before we finally hit the home page? So, get rid of the clutter, dust your site off and make it useful.

Finally, some people might be less then thrilled to discover the 11th rule added to the ‘Ten Golden Rules’ but this one is the most important and above all:

Learn (X)HTML and CSS
There is a flood of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) software that allows everyone to create web pages in an instant, but most of the pages produced this way are loaded with excess, junk code, impossible to validate and therefore practically inaccessible. The blog service providers also enable creating entries through WYSIWYG text formatting, but nothing gives you as much freedom and flexibility as the basic knowledge of XHTML/CSS. It takes less then an afternoon to learn the essential HTML markup and, combined with the endless possibilities style sheets offer, those few hours will be the best investment you could have made.

Posted by Svetlana at 08:43 AM | Permalink

For a wonderful summer refreshment and generous amounts of inspiration, read the old Serbian fairytale The Goat's Ears of Emperor Trojan. The story is beautifully illustrated by Jelena Obradovic, a winner of the Golden Pen Plaque at the 8th International Biennal of Illustration.

Posted by Svetlana at 11:33 AM | Permalink