Photographer Alexey Shestakov

Fantastic landscapes of Demerdji make me think, that I have falling asleep

and awakening in this dream. So now I am able to hover in the clouds together with
magic dragons, 

hover and admire with this mystic beauty.

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Sevastopol Paintress Elena Melkova

You need a considerable skill to show with the oil-paints

the transparency of vine in the glass goblet, roughness of garnet’s skin and gloss grape-peel.

I think, Elena has this skill!

Information Supermarket The Atrium

Interview with Yuri Volodin, PR/event-manager

Before making an interview, Yuri Volodin and I had visited an interesting presentation: “Social FormArt” by Andrew Vasilenko – an exhibition, installation, research – all-in-one. Yuri, as a PR/event-manager has a professional interest, and I was just a curious spectator. This exhibition made a great impression for me, so I will describe it in my next review.

And our topic for today is the Personality. The Personality and the Place. And some delicacy in the end. 

The Personality.

Yuri, we know each other for a long time. But tell about yourself to our readers.

Yuri Volodin, PR/event-manager of the Information Supermarket “The Atrium”.

My way, or how it is called now “lifestyle”, can be described in two words “Zen and Ken”: Japanese fencing with the Buddhism in its soul. These two things have a great importance at all my life and also at my professional realization. They form, first of all, the discipline, the inner attitude to the very fundamental things like life or death, like the possibility of “victory” and “defeat”. What is more important for you: how many times have you fallen down or how can you rise you up? What is your attitude to the things which should be over inevitably? Realizing of this inevitability in your life helps you to feel the real taste of life, how bright and colorful life is, to evaluate the importance of every day of it. And you clear understand that every day should be filled with action and progression, self-knowledge and self-evolution. Zen motto for the Iaido: “Always being on the Path”.

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Happy Birthday!

Needlework From Olga Solodukha

No, this grey cat is not unhappy!

This is a smoke beaut-cat, poet-minstrel and dreamer.

And its’ dreams became true: tender loving hands keep it!

Let’s rejoice at his happiness!

Café-gallery “MadTea-party”

Are you ready for retro-party? Have you prepared your silk dress and flower-decorated hat? The last detail to your image: a piece of chocolate-cream delight “Franch silk” cake!

S O L O

Marching with the brass band.

In the middle of June Sevastopol celebrates its anniversary. This year it will be 229^th city’s birthday! It is quite natural, that for its long history the city gains a lot of different customs and traditions. But we are not going to stop at these achievements! We will continue to expand our habits and good practices. For example, this year at third time we have a very special festival for our citizens and guests, which arrived at the city’s birthday: "Sevastopol Military Tattoo" fest. This is a number of performances of the military bands from different countries.

 

Just imagine the picture: sea, lines of ships at the roadstead, and on the landing stage plays the military brass band. Handsome military men in the neat uniform, the winds, shining with golden light, and military marches, rhythmic and bravura - something inside hit you to spread your shoulders and go marching!

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S O L O

I say very often to my non-Sevastopol friends and familiars: it is impossible to live in Crimea and to be ignorant in vines. In our Crimean peninsula winemaking, its culture and specialties has a long history: more than 2 thousands years starting from first Greek colonists. That meant you simply couldn’t skip over acquaintance with this culture and wines.

Therefore during last 10-15 years I have studied carefully the main assortment of wine cellars in biggest Ukrainian (or Crimean) wineries – Inkerman, Massandra, Sun Valley. I have my own favorites in every of it. But there’s always something new to learn, I think, so let’s expanding our horizons!

During last years in Crimea small private wineries are developing. More and more companies entering wine market. And they products are interesting due to its originality. Wine specialists says: every wine is a product of its own area and technologies applied. In this way, every bottle of wine from different Crimean regions has a small discovery for its explorer. Would you like to be the one?

The bar-shop “Wine cellar” yesterday provided us possibility to be explorers. I hardly could call the yesterday event “wine sampling”, it more looked like very intimate get-together of the very special affinity-group.

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Café-gallery “MadTea-party”

What is “Browny”?

Browny is Browny – you can’t add nothing to it.

Browny is the chocolatey chocolate, covered with whipped cream.

And this is also the Café-gallery “Mad Tea-party”!!!

Sevastopol Academic Russian Dramatic A.Lunacharsky Theatre

Now I try to realize my very old idea: to create series of materials about the very details of theater life. This behind-the-scene stories will came from the source: from our theater personalities. So, let me introduce Dovgan' Tatyana Alexandrovna.

Since year 2000 she is a manager of the literature department in our Sevastopol Academic Russian Dramatic A. Lunacharsky Theatre. What is the work of the manager of literature department consisting of? On the official web-page of the Theater you can read: "…she is responsible for preparing of historical and culturological materials for Theater's performances, makes press-conferences and communicates with mass-media. Together with the art-director she determines the repertoire and keep contacts with contemporary playwrights". But what does "preparing of historical and culturological materials" mean?

Tatyana Alexandrovna told me about it shortly and I try to write here this story. Theatre has a new premiere in a 2 days, everything and everyone is in a hurry now, so we couldn't make a normal interview.

When coming to the performance we are used to see spectacle for 1,5-2 hours, not longer. But have you ever think, that original plays are 4 or even 6 hours long!!! Tatyana Alexandrovna makes a huge work over the texts in order to get into the performance's timetable and keep for us all cause-and-effect relations, all intrigue and let's say the very heart and soul of the original.

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Sevastopol Paintress Elena Melkova

The tea-party with the joyful spring cup, with lemon-yellow tea-spot and with some nice muffin or cake… Just imagine: a table covered with a green cloth, parti-colored cups, tea-spots and saucers and a variety of small vases with wild flowers. This is so nice, isn’t it?!

Solo

An old Crimean legend says:

‘Have you ever been in Crimea? Everything you can find here: you can find sea, you can find mountains, you can find steppe. Ascend the mountain, look around and regret about those, who have never been here. It is so beautiful around. Behind the mountain the sea and the sky are together, both of them are blue, even hard to say what has the deepest blue. The man from Crimea can travel a lot of lands but at the end he says: the best place of the world is Crimea. This is our land. A good place to live, no need to die…’

I am completely agreed with this legend. Agree and ready to vote for it, to sign for it and will always repeat it. In order to make my repeats not too much monotonous I will include in it short stories about different places of our unique Crimea.

Story #1. Ilias-Kaya Mountain.

In case you are a local Sevastopol citizen, trip to Ilias-Kaya Mountain can be some kind of week-end hike-tour for you. Really, it is not too far, and the route is not requires special tourist skills from you.

Preliminary part of this trip can by made in scheduled bus or in own car by “Sevastopol-Yalta” road right to the turn to Laspi Bay. A good orienteer is a roadside café “Myth”.

Now imagine, that we are just descend from the rout-bus and looking around. If we turn to the sea, on the right will be blue Laspi Bay, framed with green pine forests, and Cape Kush-Kaya at the horizon. Mountain ridge of Baydarskaya Yayla arising behind us. It looks so sublime and inaccessible! And on the left it is a good view of Ilias-Kaya massif. Covered with morning dove-colored mist it looks very similar to a gigantic frog on the green hummock. Behind this frog arises predatory shark’s fin. This fin is our destiny point: top of Ilias-Kaya Mountain (681 meter)… O, please, don’t panic! It is not too far and too high. The devil is not so black, as painted. And you never know what you can do till you try!

Author and photographer - Yevgeniya Solovjova as known as Solo :)

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Photographer Alexey Shestakov

This is not Sevastopol, this is Bakhchisaray, but the author of these photos – is our citizen!

Being in Venice I was impressed by the fact that aged and ragged local houses, suffering from tides and dampness, both – at the photos and in reality, looks so romantic.

And I have a thought: “Why do our houses never look romantic, but aged and ragged?!” 

Well, Alexey has an ability using his camera show us old houses and narrow streets of Bakhchisaray as a real antiquity – romantic and marvelous.

A talent is necessary here!

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Needlework From Olga Solodukha

Riding on the star…

the Moon-hare after his star-astride could tell us a number of mystic stories!