Around the World in 18 Sleuths
Traveling in my armchair through detective fiction, songs, movies, food, and crafts
Most of you are probably familiar by now with the unusual career of Ukraine’s current president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Many streaming services and TV channels recently took on his immensely popular satirical comedy series “Servant of the People” (“Sluha Narodu” / “Sluga Naroda”). It feels like more than just a funny relic from his past, it…
With open ears I’m listening through all kinds of music from Ukraine and exploring its musical history. In doing so, I curate a Spotify playlist with my favorite discoveries. This playlist follows only two rules: I include artists from or strongly connected with Ukraine and I include a maximum of two songs by the same…
Cats were important to ancient Egyptian culture. There’s a huge number of cat-shaped decorations and even cat mummies that were found during expeditions and excavations. Many deities were depicted as cats, cats were thought to protect the Pharaohs, not least because they killed venomous snakes. I wish I had a cat (and I can’t even…
Sweet Country of Mine, “Helwa Ya Baladi”, is Dalida’s 1979 homage to her birthplace, Egypt, sung in arabic. This is the original 7 inch single, which I was extremely lucky to get my hands on at a fleamarket some years ago. Yes, you guessed it, I’m a huge Dalida fan, and I’ve stalked her stomping…
What had been a source of comfort the past few months, has really brought me down this week. Instead of feasting on the many wonderful memories from past trips, looking through the photos from my trip to Istanbul in 2010 made my heart heavy. I wanted to doodle something on one of those photos, but…