Sen Noci Svatojánské (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) (1959) Dir. Jirí Trnka “In The Past, Just As

Tried to do my makeup like the advertising picture, haha.

Mathilde Kschessinska (31 Aug 1872 – 6 Deb 1971)

Mistress of: Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, among others. Tenure: 1890 - 1894. Royal Bastards: None (Disputed). Fall From Power: The tsar got married.

Mathilda-Marie Feliksovna Kschessinskaya, later Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya, was a ballerina of Polish origins and the mistress of the future Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. She was born into a family of performers and made her debut in a pas de deux during a graduation performance in the spring of 1890, attended by the imperial family, including Emperor Alexander III and his heir Nicholas. She was a “small, vivacious” girl of seventeen with a “supple body, full bosom … dark curls and merry eyes” who immediately piqued the interest of the tsarevich, which Mathilde noticed. After that chance encounter, Mathilde made sure to put herself in Nicholas’ line of sight as frequently as possible, strolling past the Anitchkov Palace where Nicholas and his sister Xenia often stood at the balcony watching passers-by. By summer, she was conveniently selected to join a group that danced for offers at Krasnoe Selo, where Nicholas was on duty with the Guards. He came to watch her every day but it did not go beyond flirtations until late October, when they were finally able to be alone.

Both Nicholas and Mathilde kept detailed diaries, which record their growing affection for one another; Nicholas admitted that he “liked her very much” and that he was “under her spell” while Mathilde wrote that “he had such beautiful eyes, I’m just going crazy.” Nicholas began to give her gifts of bouquets of flowers and jewelry, including a gold bracelet with diamonds and a large sapphire, at her rehearsals. Mathilde made sure to wear stunning dresses when she expected a visit, in the hopes that he would remark upon their beauty (he usually did). The relationship continued until Nicholas’ betrothal to Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt; he made no secret in his interest in the princess and the hope that they would one day marry, much to the distress of Mathilde. She lamented in her diary that no one will love Nicholas as much as she did, and that he will probably forget her when he is married. Her jealously also emerges in her writings, envious of his bride-to-be. The pair said their final goodbyes in 1894 at a highway rendezvous, “she seated in a carriage, he astride a horse.” For months after, Mathilde went through “terrible boundless suffering” of losing Nicholas before being intimately consoled by the Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich. He bought her a cottage that overlooked the sea but she was not in love with Sergei, though she did enjoy his company, and pursued his cousin, Andrei Vladimirovich, as well. Their affair began in mid-1900 and she enjoyed a relationship with both men for the better part of two decades – Sergei and Andrei were cordial in public, but tried to avoid each other whenever possible. Matters were complicated further when Mathilde gave birth to a son, Vladimir, in 1902, and no one was quite sure who the father was.

Mathilde continued to use her connection to the tsar and the imperial family to amass valuable property and further her career on stage. Mathilde was extraordinarily gifted as a dancer and obtained the rank of Prima ballerina in 1896 and commanded top billing in theater programs and posters. After the Russian Revolution, Mathilde ended up in exile in Paris. She later married, in 1921, her former flame Andrei, who was devoted to both Mathilde and her child, despite the question of his paternity. The couple enjoyed gambling, though Mathilde squandered their reaming wealth – including her valuable jewelry collection – at the gambling tables of Monte Carlo. Mathilde opened up her own ballet school as a means to earn some much needed income. The school flourished, providing for a comfortable, yet modest lifestyle. Mathilde last performed at the age of 64, for a charity event at Covent Garden in London. She died in Paris, eight months shy of her 100th birthday, and was buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois Russian Cemetery, which she shares with her husband and son.

Rumors have persisted that Nicholas continued to meet Mathilde in secret after his marriage, though most historians agree that this is completely untrue. Some accounts do seem dispute this; however, and there are further claims that Mathilde even had a child with the Tsar in 1911, who was later adopted by her bother.

Sources

”Mathilde Kschessinska as Princess Aspicia from the ballet The Pharaoh’s Daughter”, photographic postcard from the book “The Great Russian Dancers” by Gennady Smakov, c. 1898 (left image).

”Mathilde Kschessinska in costume for a Spanish dance” by unknown, 1900 (right image).

Massie, Robert. Nicholas and Alexandra: The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty. Random House Trade Paperbacks (2000). ISBN: 9780345438317.

Hall, Coryne. Imperial Dancer: Mathilde Kschessinska and the Romanovs, Sutton Publishing (2005). ISBN: 9780750935579.

Strategy List (Part I)

For those that have zero knowledge of strategy, this is where I recommend starting.

Continua a leggere

Cravat-a-licious! This is a word that exists out there, right? It has to…

Versailles + Monsieur Philippe d'Orléans [ep1]

List of french films

Here are just a few french films you can watch to improve your language skills:-)

Films : - 120 battements par minutes (2017) - Grave (2016) - Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (2015) - Comment c’est loin (2015) - La tête haute (2015) - L’étudiante et monsieur Henri (2015) - Réparer les vivants (2015) - Respire (2014) - Yves Saint Laurent (2014) - La vie d’Adèle (2013) - Jeune et jolie (2013) - De rouille et d’os (2012) - Intouchables (2011) - L’amour dure trois ans (2011) - Polisse (2011) - Gainsbourg, vie héroïque (2010) - Le premier jour du reste de ta vie (2008) - Je vais bien, ne t’en fais pas (2006) - Jeux d’enfants (2003) - Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (2001) - La haine (1995) - 37.2 le matin / Betty blue (1986)

Animated movies :  - Ma vie de courgette (2016) - Persepolis (2007) - Princes et princesses (1999) - Kirikou et la sorcière (1998)

if you have any question, feel free to ask me : http://mi2kle.tumblr.com/ask

Cultural Dark Academia

After my last post about the lack of representation in academia, I felt it neccessary to provide some examples of what I’m talking about. Obviously there are more countries in the world than I can list and provide books for, so for a quick list this is what I got. !! Keep researching !! If you have any more books by POC please reply them !! If a country isn’t listed, that doesn’t mean it’s not important, this is just what I could get together real quick. If I made any mistakes, please let me know, we’re all learning. We need to help each other end eurocentrism in academia, so value representation and educate yourselves 💓💓💓

Chinese:

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Dream of the Red Chamber

The Water Margin

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

The Journey to the West

The Scholars

The Peony Pavilion

Border Town by Congwen Shen

Half of Man is Woman by Zhang Xianliang

To Live by Yu Hua

Ten Years of Madness by agent Jicai

The Field of Life and Death & Tales of Hulan River by Xiao Hong

Japanese:

A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oë

Pakistani:

Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid

Ghulam Bagh by Mirza Athar Baig

Masterpieces of Urdu Nazm by K. C. Kanda

Irani/Persian:

Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji

Savushun by Simin Daneshvar

Anything by Rumi

The Book of Kings by Ferdowsi

The Rubiyat by Omar Khayyam

Shahnameh (translation by Dick Davis)

Afghan:

Earth and Ashes by Atiq Rahimi

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Indian:

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Aithihyamala, Garland of Legends by Kottarathil Sankunni

The Gameworld Trilogy by Samir Basu

Filipino:

Twice Blessed by Ninotchka Rosca

The Last Time I Saw Mother by Arlene J. Chai

Brazilian:

Night at the Tavern by Álvares de Azevedo

The Seven by André Vianco

Don Casmurro by Machado de Assis

Colombian:

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Delirio by Laura Restrepo

¡Que viva la música! by Andrés Caicedo

The Sound of Things Falling by Jim Gabriel Vásquez

Mexican:

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolf Anaya

Adonis Garcia/El Vampiro de la Colonia Roma by Luis Zapata

El Complot Mongol by Rafael Bernal

Egyptian:

The Cairo Trilogy by Nahuib Mahfouz

The Book of the Dead

Nigerian:

Rosewater by Tade Thompson

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Malian:

The Epic of Sundiata

Senegalese:

Poetry of Senghor

Native American:

The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King

Starlight by Richard Wagamese

Almanac of the Dead by L. Silko

Fools Crow by James Welch

Australian Aborigine:

Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe

First Footprints by Scott Cane

My Place by Sally Morgan

American//Modern:

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Internment by Samir’s Ahmed

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurtson

Rivers of London Series by Ben Aaronovitch

One day, I'm gonna travel the word doing concerts, visiting your country. You're gonna hear my music from your local radio station

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– list of historical films –

– 1500s–1600s –

1. the other boleyn girl (2008)

2. elizabeth (1998)

3. elizabeth: the golden age (2007)

4. anonymous (2011)

5. shakespeare in love (1998)

6. the libertine (2004)

7. the three musketeers (1948)

8. lady jane (1985)

9. stage beauty (2004)

– 1700s –

1. the duchess (2008)

2. marie antoinette (2005)

3. pride and prejudice (tv, 1995)

4. sense and sensibility (1995)

5. becoming jane (2006)

6. the madness of king george (1994)

7. perfume: story of a murderer (2006)

8. a little chaos (2014)

9. girl with a pearl earring (2003)

10. belle (2013)

– 1800s –

1. young victoria (2009)

2. mrs brown (1997)

3. victoria and abdul (2017)

4. jane eyre (2011)

5. mr. turner (2014)

6. wilde (1997)

7. dorian gray (2009)

8. the woman in black (2012)

9. anna karenina (1948)

10. the importance of being earnest (2002)

11. bright star (2009)

12. viceroys house (2017)

13. miss potter (2006)

14. creation (2009)

15. the invisible woman (2012)

16. from hell (2011)

17. the limehouse golem (2016)

18. hysteria (2010)

19. effie gray (2014)

20. great expectations (2012)

21. far from the madding crowd (2015)

– 1900s –

1. maurice (1987)

2. brideshead revisited (tv, 1981)

4. suffragette (2015)

5. the englishman who went up a hill but came down a mountain (1995)

6. enid (tv, 2009)

7. sunset song (2015)

8. finding neverland (2004)

9. war horse (2011)

10. a dangerous method (2011)

11. another country (1984)

12. jimmy’s hall (2014)

13. the edge of love (2008)

14. their finest (2017)

15. gosford park (2001)

16. glorious 39 (2009)

17. easy virtue (2008)

18. dunkirk (2017)

19. the danish girl (2015)

20. atonement (2007)

21. queen & country (2014)

22. private peaceful (2012)

23. the book thief (2013)

24. testament of youth (2014)

25. boy in striped pyjamas (2008)

26. the others (2001)

27. anthropoid (2016)

28. zoo keepers wife (2017)

29. the royal night out (2015)

30. a united kingdom (2016)

31. another mother’s son (2017)

32. the woman in gold (2015)

33. the king’s speech (2010)

34. the monuments men (2014)

35. the wind that shakes the barley (2006)

36. the man who knew infinity (2015)

37. suite française (2014)

38. the theory of everything (2014)

39. the imitation game (2014)

40. the railway man (2013)

41. the magdalene sisters (2002)