After Octavian

Escrava Isaura (1976 TV series) - Wikipedia

This sounds fascinating! I think I'm going to need to read the Guimarães novel it's based on and then see if I can find a stream of the original show. The Wiki page is pretty interesting: it's apparently "the most dubbed program in the history of world television"! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escrava...

Sincere congratulations to all of you!

Ha ha! No, just someone who spent too many hours of her teenagerdom entranced by the melodrama of Latin American serial television.

Silvia Pasquel, the sweet little sister in Muchacha italiana, is the antagonist here and chews the scenery like nobody's business! It's both over the top and totally down market (the sets are beyond basic). I was a teen when it first aired and just loved it. Still have a great fondness for it.

If you're ever looking for something kind of trashy but totally addictive, I highly recommend Al Rojo Vivo starring the queen of suffering beautifully, Alma Muriel, and stalwart Frank Moro. (1/2)

Ha ha! My partner actually does like that for breakfast and I reminded them we need to get more ASAP just the other day.

This is making me think of all my favourite telenovelas as a girl. Oddly, my two faves both had an Italian connection. Que Dios se lo pague had two great Italian-Argentinian actors as stars (Leonor Benedetto and Federico Luppi) and the 1971 Mexican Muchacha italiana viene a casarse speaks for itself

Oh, what an excellent subject for a conference! There are many, many people of Italian origin in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay and they have left indelible marks on the culture of those nations. Excited for you!

He looks the same from here. I don't know anyone who doesn't think he's a pathetic little troll who'll be toast the minute Trump leaves office (and, with any luck, far sooner).

I will say that he can be a convincing Lieder singer still and there are times I find myself moved by his work almost despite myself. But, as an operatic bass, I think his time is past, and as a person he apparently leaves much to be desired.

Ah, GG. Yeah, such a disappointment for me. Early in his career, he was a fine singer with a really promising voice but time seems to have taken a premature toll on his basic sound (very dry now) and he's turned into a caricature of a conservative Austrian. Sad, because I did really like him once.

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

It's a great day to remember how important a translator like @ottiliemulzet.bsky.social is for those of us who can only read in English.
Without her superb translations, we would have missed so much of the great work of László Krasznahorkai.

I took this picture of Olga and László in London in 2018. Congrats to Krasznahorkai and his translators, including George Szirtes and @ottiliemulzet.bsky.social, and long live a Central Europe free of dictators (foreign and domestic) and full of magnificent minds like these!

Congratulations! It's a wonderful book and so deserves all the accolades it's received.

Was wondering if you'd seen the news yet! A good choice, IMO (and clearly yours, as well).

Magpies in bare branches, illustration.

Morning.
🖼️ Tunnicliffe

Read a banned book today!

I can understand that. It was certainly a disturbing and frequently sad read, although I came away with great admiration for the author and a desire to read her fiction.

Like Gisèle Pelicot, Sinno insisted that her trial be public, a remarkable thing for such a young woman, barely out of girlhood, in a very small and insular town.

Have you read Neige Sinno's 'Triste tigre', Jane? It's about child abuse/incest but it raises so many of the same questions regarding the incredibly poor show the French legal system makes when dealing with women and girls and abuse against them. Disturbing but an important, thought-provoking read.

I love Benedictine. Rarely drink it by itself but often use it in classic cocktails. Lovely stuff and quite reasonable compared to something like Chartreuse.

I have a 5 yo great-nephew. Do I need to ask him what this means? *clueless and so old*

Great! I look forward to reading their opinions.

Well, if nothing else, it's sure to be memorable!

Georg Friedrich Haas piece at the Armory? Please report back an let us know what they thought as reviews have been mixed and somewhat tepid.

I am reading the Lemebel collection right now!

Yes! Ratti is execrable on both the live and studio Callas' Ballos. Just one of the most charmless voices I've ever encountered.

It's an absurdly trivial annoyance in the midst of everything going on right now, but, God!, I cannot stand Eugenia Ratti's Minnie Mouse Lisa in the Callas/Valetti/Bernstein live recording of La sonnambula. Ruins every scene she's in 😖

I was curious and did a little more research. It appears to date from 1988 but didn't really become known outside Spain until the last couple of decades and didn't go viral until maybe 7-8 years ago.