Untranslatable

As a confident speaker of three languages, I must confirm that there are some untranslatable words in different languages. Sometimes when I speak without paying my full attention to the process of speaking, I notice that I utter some crazy mix of foreign words with my native tongue. I hope to learn more languages in the nearest future, so my speach will become richer (and even crazier) with some new untranslatable words, and my mind will get wider by acquiring new foreign concepts.

I would like to share with you a great article: 11 Untranslatable Words From Other Cultures

For my French students (if any of you read this blog), there is a word "Dépaysement" that we studied last week.

Comet ISON

I guess something special happend to me: I took some photos of the comet ISON during sunrise, November, 20, 2013. I was SO surprised to observe such a bright object in the sky! I'm not an astronomer, not even an amateur, so I can't tell. I already asked an astronomer's opinion whether it's ISON or not... waiting for the reply, but I'm pretty sure it is ISON!

It was pure luck, I didn’t have any intention to take photos of ISON. I was just taking photos of a beautiful sunrise. Apparently, “Comet Hunting” is a hobby for lots of people who like to observe celestial events. I am not one of them, I have another passion – I’m a “sky observer”! I prefer sunrise / sunset periods, but I also enjoy looking at the sky at any time of the day, or cloudless night. I have a blog dedicated to my sky-observing obsession: it’s called “Sky From My Window”. If you want to see my ISON photos visit my blog here.

While I’m waiting to know if it is ISON on not on my pictures, I will just keep taking pictures of the sky, as I always do.

Speaking of art...

I just came across a nice article. It's an interview with an illustrator / visual artist Brooke Weeber.
I would like to cite a little peice that I liked :

"Do you think people need to understand the artist's intention to appreciate the art?
Absolutely not. I think what's most important in art is when people are allowed to develop their own relationship with a piece and to see it's beauty in their own eyes. Perhaps eventually they'll be able to understand the artist's intention, or perhaps they'll create their own narrative and discover meaning based on personal life experience. That's what I find most paramount."

You can find the original article by following this link.

Loving Freezing Cold

I alsolutely LOVE winter, cold, snow, ice, frost, etc. 

I love the beauty of winter and the feeling of cold. 

Sounds weird? Apparently, I'm not alone in my admiration of winter.

My today's discovery: a book called "Cold: Adventures in the World’s Frozen Places" by Bill Streever. Here is a nice review of this book.  

Short stories from the 2013 Nobel Prize Winner

Well, Haruki Murakami didn't get the Nobel Prize in Literature this year. The winner was announced today. The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013 was awarded to Alice Munro "master of the contemporary short story". I've never read her short stories before, but now I will. Here is the link to read her short stories for free.

Etsy Art Inspiration

I'm a huge fan of handmade art! Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/) is great website for artists and for people who like unique peices of art. Personally, I've been visiting Etsy for several years already, and I always find something inspiring there.

Today I accidentally came across this short video about Etsy.

Etsy blog might be useful too. In this article they give some advice for creative people starting to sell their work.

How to be creative

"Cognitive Psychology is interesting" - I understood this in the process of writing my first Master thesis in 2009-2011. Since then I haven't been doing any special research in Psychology, but mind science still fascinates me. The notion of creativity is well explained in this great video by PBSoffbook. If you're interested you might want to subscribe to their YouTube channel. I already did! :-)