week 26

 

Mon: “Xenius” makes the case for the international metric system as the standard for measurement units in everyday life. But, still, those recalcitrant anglo-saxons do not get it, not even after a NASA satellite engineering contractor screwed-up.

Tue: “360 degrees” report on the pomegranate real and symbolic value for the economy and societal well-being of the entire Armenian society. We get to meet the peasants at the Nrnadzor village taking their harvest to the central market of Meghri braving the unpaved roller-coaster road along the left bank of the Aras river facing the Iranian border located just across the water.

Wed: Amateurish black and white footage from the “cote d’azur” tournee in 1931 of Klaus & Erika Mann, the son and daughter of Nobel laureate writer Thomas Mann, gives a chilling sense of the people obliviousness to the economical debacle of 1929 morphing into the 1939 beginning of WWII.

Thu: “Les premieres dames du Kremlin” aimed at making sense of the role of the leader’s spouse in society. From the head strong Nadezhda Krupskaya (wife of Lenin) to the divorcee Putina, via the suicidal Nadezhda Alliluyeva (Stalin’s second wife) or the soon to die of natural causes Gorbacheva, it is clear that, for at least the last century, Russian politics and family do not go together.

Fri: Dagestan nature preserves, covering reptile infested inland sand dunes, bird sanctuaries along river estuaries on the Caspian sea and, bears and goats filled mountain forests of the lesser Caucasus, have plenty to offer for the wandering traveler.