Gianfranco Franchi

"Aspettiamo con santa pazienza che l'industria del libro, con tutti i suoi debiti, la sua plasticaccia e il suo diluvio di cose volgari, stramazzi. Per poi rigenerarsi, su ben altri principi e per il poco pubblico ormai superstite”
G. Franchi
@franchi1978.bsky.social
www.9colonne.it/595003/franc...

Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan)'s driver's license for BLUE VELVET (1986)

#MosaicMonday

The "Abduction of Europa" is a 2nd–3rd century AD.

Discovered in the early 20th century in the Trinquetaille quarter, a site of wealthy Roman villas in Arles.

#AncientBlueSky

Fairytale Maskenfest
German masquerade ball at the Royal Odeon in Munich

Februar 1862 • Joseph Albert

R.E.M. released "Losing My Religion" as the lead single from 'Out of Time' 35 years ago on February 19, 1991 | Watch the official video, listen to the album + revisit our tribute here: album.ink/REMoutoftime

Close-up of a stone altar featuring the bust of Luna with a serene facial expression, and draped cloak. Perforated crescent moon above her head.

Close-up of a stone altar featuring the bust of Sol with long curly hair, serene expression, and draped cloak. Perforated radiant above his head. The upper part of the altar is missing.

Two perforated altar reliefs from the Mithraeum at Mundelsheim. One depicts Sol, the sun god, with the radiant. the other shows Luna, the goddess of the moon, with the crescent.

In Roman times, they were illuminated from behind, creating a striking play of light and shadow that must ...🧵1/2

6th century mosaic of a child playing chariot racing from the Great Palace at Constantinople. Pushing wheels on sticks represents the chariot and four horses. Part of the collections at the Great Palace Mosaic Museum in Istanbul. 📸 My own. #MosaicMonday

The photo shows a black and white mosaic depicting a lying large guard dog chained to a double-winged door.

For today's #MosaicMonday a #Roman guard #dog chained to the door, a detail from a mosaic at the entrance of the House of Paquius Proculus in #Pompeii.
Dating 1st century AD.

Cave canem - Beware of the dog 🐶🐕🦮🐕‍🦺🐩

📷me
🏺 #archaeology

🇬🇪Georgia is sliding into a legal dictatorship. Not overnight. Step by step. Each protest is met with a new tailored law.
Each law designed to exhaust, criminalize, and isolate society until resistance itself becomes illegal.
Here is how the latest law changes everything.
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A 2016 civil lawsuit found in the Epstein files alleges that Trump raped a 13-year-old girl at parties hosted by Jeffrey Epstein in NY. Epstein raped her too.

For anyone wondering why the victim dropped the case…

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Wet Dress Rehearsal Countdown Progressing for Artemis II - NASA NASA continues to press ahead through the countdown for the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal – a fueling test of the SLS (Space Launch System)

Aggiornamento dalla NASA: la prova generale del lancio della missione Artemis II verso la Luna procede. Conclusione prevista quando in Italia saranno le 3 di notte. Se tutto andasse bene si potrebbe lanciare la sera dell'8 febbraio (prime ore del mattino del 9 in Italia)
www.nasa.gov/blogs/missio...

New discovery: A wooden structure, identified as river bank protection of the #Roman harbour, has been unearthed in Cologne.

www.stadt-koeln.de/politik-und-...

#RomanArchaeology #archaeology 🏺

Overhead view showing the mosaic in its triple-apsed hall, a unique architectural style in Roman Britain. The visitor would have entered the hall from an antechamber bottom right, onto the lower half of the mosaic with 4 geometric flower motifs bordered by panels showing canthari (wine cups) flanked by panthers, sea-panthers and dolphins. An unusual zig-zag panel marked the transition to the upper part of the mosaic, probably representing a pool of water (maybe the 'pool of memory' in Orphic cosmology). The circular Orpheus group in the upper part is framed by the 3 apses, each containing a shell motif. The circle has Orpheus at its centre, playing his lyre, accompanied by a leaping dog (good boy). The 4 quadrants around Orpheus contain goddesses and beasts: Venus and a deer; Nemesis and a panther; Ceres and a bull; and Proserpina with a goat. The animals race round anti-clockwise at full gallop while the goddesses stand (?dance) in front of them. Photo (c) Wilts & Swindon History Centre

The animals wheel around Orpheus. A deer and Venus (holding a mirror) are shown in the nearest panel.

Proserpina holds out a hand to her mother, Ceres, in the panel to the left, symbolising her descent alone into the underworld bringing death and winter. A spindly-legged goat gallops round behind her.

#MosaicMonday
The Orpheus mosaic from Littlecote #Roman Villa in Berkshire. Its obscure iconography has been seen as evidence of the pagan revival in late C.4th #RomanBritain, as Orpheus charms circling animals, seasons & goddesses with his music. Much restored, the floor has significant wow factor.

Murder. Shot in the back three times.

Don’t turn away. Please share.

Chiharu Shiota al MAO, il Museo d'Arte Orientale di Torino, con la mostra "The Soul Trembles".

Russia will condemn this unprovoked aggression and say that international law must be respected.

For #FrescoFriday, fresco fragments from Palestrina, #Rome.
1st century BCE, currently on display at Museo Archeologico di Palestrina.
#archaeology #history

The Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia is a sacred complex dedicated to the goddess Fortuna in the city of Praeneste (Palestrina, #Rome). It is one of the greatest examples of Late Republican architecture in ancient Italy. It was built at the end of the 2nd century BCE. Pictures from yesterday’s visit.

Pulp’s ‘More’ is ranked #6 in our list of the 50 BEST ALBUMS OF 2025 | Explore the complete list here: album.ink/BestAlbums25

Camera con vista
(Sanremo - La Pigna)

👇

George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" from 'All Things Must Pass' hit #1 on the US singles chart 55 years ago on December 26, 1970 | Discover where the album ranks in our Beatles solo album readers' poll here: album.ink/BtlsSoloPoll

Russia is attacking Kyiv’s power plants with drones and missiles. There are also multiple hits on residential buildings.

Relief with a Tauroctony scene and a dedicated inscription to Sol Invictus.

Emperor Aurelian dedicated a temple in Rome to Sol Invictus, the unconquered Sun, #OnThisDay in AD 274. Sol Invictus became an increasingly important deity, with his festival day occurring on the 25th of December.

Il giardino d'inverno
(Nucetto - Piemonte)

American social media platforms are banned in Russia. Have you noticed Donald isn't sanctioning anyone over that?

Pulp's 'Different Class' (1995) celebrated its 30th anniversary earlier this year | Rediscover the album here: album.ink/pulpDC

Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a set of Celtic chess pieces.

Zugzwang [TSOOK-tsvahng]
(n.)
- A disagreeable position in which a chess player must make a move but cannot do so without considerable disadvantage.

I don't know where these once led ... #staircasesaturday at Ightham Mote NT in Kent