The Porcupine by Julian Barnes

What a great visionary book, Julian Barnes’ 1992 novel feels like a gulp of fresh air today, 30 years after it was published. A not-so-black-and-white story of decommunization and search for justice, justice that could only be obtained by lies or compromise, justice somewhat tainted by them. I definitely need to read more of Barnes, that and The Noise of Time were some of the best books I read in the last decade.


Performers by Irvine Welsh and Dave Cavanagh

A tiny play about a couple of neighborhood hard-men inadvertently auditioning for Don Cammell and Nick Roeg’s Performance movie in 1968. Welsh, as usual, is the master of lowlife poorly educated street folk dialogue, and it is exactly this, a chit-chat with a twist and a bit of blackmail and nudity. Funny, eh


Liquid Memory: Why Wine Matters by Jonathan Nossiter

Jonathan Nossiter’s candid and passionate travelogue and a book of reflections about authentic wines was published about five years after his famous documentary, Mondovino, polarized the wine world.

An ardent proponent of true and unadulterated, of artisanal and not mass market, of historic terroir and not a rootless invented brand name, Nossiter, who previously brought forward his message via a brilliant documentary (and the series), immortalizing Hubert de Montille, Aubert de Villaine and Aimé Guibert, and mockingly demonizing Robert Parker, Michel Rolland, and the likes, now takes a huge step forward, changes his smiling grin for a displeased smirk of indignation, and braces for a huge spat of poisonous words of wisdom.

A crusader against all he sees as artificial and superfluous, against US and Spanish preudo-artisanals and against the motley crew of international wine critics, he nonetheless recognizes that tradition is not something inmutable, cast in stone and not subject to any change. Nossiter shares a glass of wine and his thoughts with Burgundy’s undisputed wine stars like Christophe Roumier, Dominique Lafon, and Jean-Marc Roulot, vignerons who brought fame and fortune to their domaines well above that of their fathers, but who took it with dignity and humility of those entrusted to behold great historic tradition and modestly innovate but not forsake it.

A brilliant book for those in love with good wines, but it requires a certain foundation, a bias for understanding – as it openly despises quite a number household brand names and commercially ultra successful winemakers, producers of sweet sugary alco-driven fruit bombs. It can be eye opening, but if you haven’t watched Mondovino before, this is where you should start.

P.S. … and it it full of fantastic quotes, I wanted to copy every page here – but then I thought better of it.


Tasting Victory by Gerard Basset

I was long overdue with writing a short summary of my thoughts about Gerard Basset’s posthumous autobiography Tasting Victory, yet watching a part of the Best Sommelier of Russia 2020 yesterday as YouTube live stream reminded me that I owe it to one of the greatest wine professionals. 


Mr. Basset, likely the most known sommelier of all times, holder of both Master of Wine and Master Sommelier titles, the winner of the Best Sommelier of the World and multiple winner of the Best Sommelier in the UK, was a humble but determined Frenchman, who moved to Britain in his youth, accepted his new homeland and embraced his wine profession, and strived to become best in business, in service and in competition. While I initially hoped that the book would have a bit on his wine knowledge and wine travels, like Kermit Lynch or Neil Rosenthal s books are – well, it has none of that. This is a book of determination and achievement, of setting targets and milestones to get there, be it wine or something else. No stories of fraternizing with top Burgundy vignerons, or getting drunk with Gianfranco Soldera. Sadly. 


Yet, the Russian competition yesterday and its panel of top contenders, all three already retired from the actual sommelier work, forced me to put a quote here. Here it goes, from the man himself, and not me. 


Following the test, I talked a lot with Nina, and in her very rational manner she reassured me about my sommelier ability. We came up with the idea that for the last two months I would work “on the floor” at TerraVina and be the sommelier. From the opening of Hotel TerraVina I had always been involved with the wine service, but rarely fully, as I had some talented sommeliers working for me. Indeed, my role was to greet the guests and work with Nina to supervise the overall service. 


Therefore, I told my two sommeliers, Laura and Laurent, that each evening I would do the wine service at Hotel TerraVina and they would be there just to back me up during very busy periods in a reversal of the roles. It turned out to be a great idea, as I put myself under a lot of pressure. Regular guests wanted to talk to me, but I had to find polite ways to keep the conversations with them short and not get behind, in order to accomplish the wine service with minimum help from Laura and Laurent. On the whole I managed well, and in fact I really enjoyed it. 


In addition, I did two very short stints in top restaurants. Diego Masciaga, the managing director of the three-Michelin-starred Waterside Inn, the restaurant owned by Michel and Alain Roux in Bray, kindly let me spend two days working as a commis sommelier there. I explained to Diego that it was important that I was treated no differently from any of his employees. Those two days were extremely beneficial as I was serving at the top end of fine dining, which I had not done since working at Chewton Glen. 


Кан-Кун: Отчёт об одном уходе Александра Бренера

Записки из андерграунда.

Неожиданно для себя я вдруг обнаружил, что Саша Бренер, один из главных арт-хулиганов конца 90-х, водивший голого Кулика на поводке и отсидевший за вандализм над картиной Малевича в Голландии, активно пишет и публикуется. Все труды, правда, выходят микроскопическим тиражом 500-1.000 экземпляров, не больше – не жалует публика Сашу и его закадычную подругу Варвару/Барбару Шурц – а я жалую и всё, что нашёл, всё и купил.

Надо признать, что последний раз я читал Бренера давно, лет 10 назад, и мне было страсть как интересно посмотреть, изменилось ли что-то в его хулиганском письме и бесшабашной манере за эти годы. Ну, не особо много.

Как-Кун – это короткий экскурс в скитания Бренера по Европе, сквоттерство и бродяжничество от Лондона и Цюриха до Стамбула, эдакий Эдичка конца 10-х, но без революционного пафоса, а с пафосом самопровозглашенного аскета и отшельника от культуры. Ну, не без толики хулиганства, конечно – хотя акционист без инстаграмма и без followers, это, правда, в наши времена редкость.

Но, главное, Кан-Кун – это все же такое окошко в философию Бренера, манифест отказа, ухода, отречения, желания не быть как кто-либо еще, ни лидеры арт-подполья, ни левые философы, ни звёзды мирового искусства, хочется быть как никто и именно так кануть в Лету.

Забавная книга не для всех. Точно буду читать остальные.

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К категории «ужасающих сообществ» относятся художественные сквоты. В Париже мы побывали в одном таком доме, захваченном студентами Высшей Школы Изящных Искусств и приспособленном для жилья и студий.

В пустых комнатах были установлены арт-объекты, инсталляции, видео, живопись. Мы поднимались с этажа на этаж и смотрели на эту эстетическую продукцию, ничем не отличающуюся от обычных галерейных экспонатов. Современное искусство в своём среднем эшелоне – халтура, повторяющая себя до бесконечности.

И вдруг видим: какие-то лощёные дамы и господа ходят по дому в сопровождении молодёжи. На вид типичные кураторы и галеристы – в чёрных пальтишках, дизайнерских шмотках. А юные дарования угодливо показывают им свои творения. О, до чего же поганая сценка в якобы освобождённом пространстве!

Нам захотелось разрушить это наваждение.

В обнимку, как два пьяных матроса, вклинились мы в артистическую толпу и нагло встали перед кураторами, заслоняя им какое-то видео. И схватились за свои причинные места, и скорчили дикие, дегенеративные рожи, и издали пердящие, претящие гладким менеджерам, звуки. И стали ухать и охать, бухать и грохать – да так, что не на шутку испугали одну изящную мадам и одного изысканного месье, а заодно и всю золотую сквоттерскую молодёжь. Они пасти разинули от нашего плебейского скоморошества.

Но когда мы совсем распоясались – спустили штаны и показали им волосатые гениталии – то, разумеется, нашлись и среди мирных художников воинствующие укротители и полицейские заместители. Ловко, квалифицированно схватили они нас и потащили на улицу.

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Напоминает The Square Рубена Остлунда, а?


Командировка Аскольда Акиншина

Короткая футуристическая зарисовка, однако. Этюд.


3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man by Matt Kindt

Matt Kindt’s short and very poetic story of a modern life Gulliver, a fictitious gentle ever-growing giant lost in the post-war 50s, 60s and the 70s in the US is very nostalgic, melancholic and even somewhat sad. A tale of three women – his single mother, widow of a WWII vet, his wife, shrinking and diminishing by the day, locked in a tower of glass and steel, and his daughter who grew fatherless – all of whom eventually lost him, gave up on his deformity – or rather, they were finding ways of coping with it, which included, inter alia parting ways. 

Beautifully scripted and drawn, it requires a certain slow-food like approach, savoring it bit by bit – otherwise you speed though those bare 200 pages, chew on them and digest, and zas, the story (well, the third story) ends. Don’t rush. 


Нью-Йоркская азбука Александра Флоренского

Одна из одиннадцати книг питерского художника Александра Флоренского в серии Азбука, его карандашно-угольно-графические зарисовки-травелоги из разных городов. Нью-Йорк близок моему сердцу, раз два лета (2017 и 2019 я провёл там) – хоть и не со всеми выборами букв у Александра я согласен. 

А “W” так вообще повеселила страшно. Не знаю как в 2015 году, а в 2019 Williamsburg could easily be called Hisptersburg.

 


Индейское лето Мило Манара и Уго Пратта

Краткая и немного пустая книга от Мило Манара и Уго Пратта, жестокое повествование о резне поселенцев и индейцев в 16 веке, о промискуитете и инцесте, о странной жестокости во времена ранних колонизаторов Америки. The story of Scarlett Letter, адаптированная и сокращённая.

Типический итальянский комикс из 80-х – несмотря на легкую эротику, как-то без особых восторгов. 


Akira volume 1: Tetsuo by Katsuhiro Otomo

Katsuhiro Otomo’s volume 1 of Akira series is all about action and adventure. Not really something that I look for in comic books and manga, but it is worthwhile to flip though such classic pieces of the genre every once in a while.