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1. What was the name of the country in the south of Europe that fell apart in 1991?
a) Yugoslovakia,
b) Yugoslavia,
c) Slovenakia.

2. What was the name of the inhabitants of that country?
a) The Yugoslavs,
b) the Mungoslavs,
c) the Slavoyugs.

3. Where do these people, whose country has disappeared, live now?
a) They are no longer alive,
b) They are barely alive,
c) They have moved to another country.

4. What should people who have moved to another country do?
a) They should integrate,
b) They should disintegrate,
c) They should move to yet another country.

Transylvania

At the lake Bâlea, atop the Făgăraș Mountains
Carpatians, Romania

A leave taking

A video announcing A leave taking, the debut solo album by Bill Ryder-Jones (2011). The forthcoming album was inspired by Italo Calvino's novel 'If On A Winter Night A Traveller'.
In order to listen to 'A Leave Taking Soundrack', press here.
The above video is directed by the very same young photographer/video artist whom Gem showcased here a year or so ago: Adeline Mai.

A soundtrack to a weekend

A music video for 'A Thing For Me' by Metronomy: the band from Devonshire (UK) behind the Mercury Prize nominated album 'The English Riviera' of this year.
The song above is from 'Night Out', Metronomy's preceding album described by the band as 'a soundtrack to a tumulous weekend' (2008).

Li Lately

This is the latest in the series of videos by Lykke Li.
The song, Sadness is a Blessing, is from her recent 'Wounded Rhymes' album.
The man appearing in the video is Stellan Skarsgård, an well known Swedish actor.
Directed by Tarik Saleh.

Songsmiths

Tu Fawning's 'Heart on Holds'(2010) is a project album by two Portlanders: Joe Haege of the '31 knots' and Corrina Repp. The song here featured is 'I know you now'.

Juffrouw Jo

On a lucky day, you may come accross Miss Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse on her stroll through Amsterdam. It is easy enough to spot her. Always and everywhere, she wears period clothing from the 1930s and 1940s (see for yourself in her photostream).
Juffrouw Jo is not alone: there are 80 members and counting in her Club Interbellum.
Jo's years long passion for this historical period eventually led her to invent a dream job for herself. For 10 years already, Jo has been advising clients - film producers, theatres, museums, schools... - on how to visually and otherwise correctly recreate this historical period.
The above photographs feature the interior of Jo's Advising Buro 30-45 that can be found in Amsterdam (Oost) at Tweede Boerhaavenstraat 71-2. The buro also doubles as a WW2 apartment (still in the works): before it is finished, it can be rented as a film location at a reduced fee. The Amsterdamse School furniture originates from the 1920s, the radio from the 1930s, and the magazines from the 1940s.
In the apartment, it is still war.
The year is 1943.