The Fourteenth Earl of Gurney

2007-06-09T10:19:00.000-05:00

2006-11-02T16:33:00.000-05:00

Sweden

2006-11-02T14:53:00.000-05:00

Petersburg, Moscow, Helsinki, Stockholm, & Kizhi

2006-10-18T06:04:00.000-05:00

Двор Филфака

2006-08-20T13:22:00.000-05:00

The Exhibition

2006-06-10T09:48:00.000-05:00

PSOY!

City of Tiny Lights

2005-12-14T08:40:00.000-05:00

2005-10-09T13:43:00.000-05:00

Hannibal & Muhammed

2005-08-16T09:31:00.000-05:00

Tokyo, Feb 2004

2005-02-27T13:18:00.000-05:00

Last week I was watching a classic of Japanese cinema (2LDK, courtesy of Stephen Q. Plaza) when suddenly, during a lull in the carnage, I realized that at the same time last year I was in Tokyo, packing my bags with 'sake' and 'hentai' for the trip back St. Petersburg. Then I didn't realize how much I'd miss the Imperial Palace that's off-limits to tourists, the surrounding "Imperial Gardens" (the field of dead grass pictured below), the karaoke, the silly Japanese cemetaries, the whale blubber. Relive the memories with me, won't you?

محمد ابو العلا

2005-02-22T22:44:00.000-05:00

I wrote this for Arabic class last week and I'm still riding the crest of an ego trip. Professor Bariun interrupted me several times with outbursts of ecstatic praise and the whole class applauded as the final syllables resounded in our little cupboard of a classroom in the Frieze Building. Today, pointing to the adroit turns of phrase, the rich vocabulary, and the Ciceronian power of my oratory, a fellow student refused to believe that I had never studied Arabic before.

I was accused of being a CIA mole.

Clearly this composition has acquired a power of its own, far greater than that which the author could have consciously bestowed upon it. To keep it from the public would be unconscionable. Behold!

(There's this guy on the Arabic 101 DVDs, Muhammed Abu al-La'ila, and in every chapter we find out something new about him or his family, and the point of this assignment was to take all the details of his biography and write a formal introduction, as if we were presenting him to some anonymous 'ladies and gentlemen' who are very nosy.)

هذا الرجل من مدينة القاهرة في مصر. حصل على المجستير من جامعة القاهرة ثم حضر إلى امريكا وحصل على الدكتوراه في الأدب المقارن من جامعة كاليفورنيا في سانتا باربرا. يعمل الآن مترجما من وإلى اللغات العربية والإنجليزية والفرنسية في الأمم المتحدة. سيداتي وسادتي أقدم لكم والد مها محمد ابو العلا. - روبيرت

There it is, the full flowering of my genius. It took hours.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2005-02-14T18:37:00.000-05:00

Meow!

Мяу мяу!

Над Петербургом

2005-02-09T10:05:00.000-05:00

Эти фотографии были сняты прошлым летом, за день до того, как я улетел на родину. Хотя я не принял душ в тот день, несмотря на то, что мы с Аней залезли на крышу прямо из помойки, где мы кстати нашли очень прикольные сувениры, все равно я безумно красив в фото ниже.

Аня, кстати, тоже ничего, излишне сказать.

Этот день очень памятный для меня. Из-за того, что он был мой предпоследний день в России, или из-за того, что я в первый раз стоял на крыше, не знаю. А может быть это столь сильное впечатление произвела помойка...

На самом деле Аня, пожалуй, гораздо красивее меня.

انا اسمي روبيرت

2005-01-15T16:31:00.000-05:00

آدرس اللغة العربية في جامعة ميشيغان في امريكا

Downtown Chicago

2005-01-14T21:20:00.000-05:00

Killer Snow Goon

2005-01-10T23:51:00.000-05:00

North Carolina again. This hill was originally cleared for sheep-grazing, when it was serendipitously discovered that there is an incredible view of five states from the top of it. Now volunteers have replaced the sheep, tirelessly munching grass and twigs year-round, that you and I may enjoy it.

Опять Мухаммед, то есть محمد

2005-01-09T21:48:00.000-05:00

حذا هو محمد

Greetings from North Carolina

2005-01-09T21:16:00.000-05:00

Fat Man & Little Boy

L'Ennui

2005-01-09T21:02:00.000-05:00

Мурка

Правописание

2004-12-19T01:28:00.000-05:00

Blogger.com's spell-check function doesn't recognize 'blogging' as a legitimate English word. It suggests 'flogging' instead...

Мухаммед

2004-12-16T21:45:00.000-05:00

Muhammed