Occupation in 2-6 Pictures (2): Strahinja Janjić – a traitor’s traitor
On July 28th 1942, 36 year old Strahinja Janjić was taken to the infamous Banjica camp, on the charge of planning to assassinate Milan Nedić, the head of the puppet government that was helping the Germans control “German occupied territory of Serbia”. Banjica, ran in tandem by the Gestapo and Nedić’s government, claimed more than 3,800 lives and was the place where anti-fascist Serbs, Jews … Continue reading Occupation in 2-6 Pictures (2): Strahinja Janjić – a traitor’s traitor
Pokretači #123 Monika Lang o ilustracijama, stvaralačkom putu i stranputicama
Monika Lang je jedna od najboljih ilustratorki u ovom, sve boljem, polju u Srbiji. Pričali smo o njenom stvaralačkom procesu ali i putu koji je sama krčila kao free-lancer do nekih od najboljih grafičkih rešenja u proteklih par decenija kod nas. Beleške Džef u Veneciji, smrt u Benaresu – Džef Dajer Intervjui sa pokretačima Majstora i Margarite i Zaokreta (Monikini više nego zadovljni klijenti!) Suveniri … Continue reading Pokretači #123 Monika Lang o ilustracijama, stvaralačkom putu i stranputicama
Returning to the wild side: Ten years of exploring the Piva, Plužine and Foča
The mountainous wilderness around the river Piva always had a magical draw from my family. Ever since I was a boy I heard about my grandfather’s long fishing expeditions there from his native Nikčić and his strong opposition to the construction of a massive hydroelectric dam Martinje, which eventually did flood his old stomping grounds, albeit a few years after his untimely death. On top … Continue reading Returning to the wild side: Ten years of exploring the Piva, Plužine and Foča
Enjoying the sweat of your brow: Belgrade’s top spas
Ever since I came back to Belgrade in 2016, I put myself through countless arduous tasks in order to bring you the knowledge, dear Reader, of the best ways to spend time in my beloved hometown. This promethean striving led me to run, eat and listen to music, but no task was harder than trying to figure out what the best places are to spend … Continue reading Enjoying the sweat of your brow: Belgrade’s top spas
Hidden Belgrade (64): The Cursed Ghost Ship
Having been in a bit of a wedding frenzy over the past few days, I thought about the history of what I thought was one of the most beautiful and doomed wedding presents in Serbia: the “Dragor” river yacht, which I once read was a belated gift of the Romanian royal family to their daughter Marija on the occasion of her marriage to King Aleksandar … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (64): The Cursed Ghost Ship
Coffee in Belgrade: the first 500 years
During the first year of his reign, in 1521, Suleiman the Magnifient decided to out-do his great predecessor, Mehmed the Conqueror by trying to take two major bastions standing in the way of Ottoman expansion. The first was the island of Rhodes, then held by the Knights of St John, and the other one was Belgrade, a major fortress protecting Central Europe, held by the … Continue reading Coffee in Belgrade: the first 500 years
Darkness of “Enlightened”
Just as I was modishly repeating Red Scare-induced pieties that truly great pop culture is dead, the White Lotus hit HBO. Nuanced and openhearted as truly great satire should be, it brought back hope that there can be incisive social commentary that does not want to be didactic, but leaves the viewer to assess and re-assess their views of class and personal relationships. This of … Continue reading Darkness of “Enlightened”
Vrnjačka Banja: Remembrance of Things Past
Driving down to Vrnjačka Banja, on a hot July day without a working AC in my car, like we did in our Lada in 1990s, was my Madeleine moment. I was there only once before – with my maternal grandparents in May 1990 – when they decided to christen me on the sly to avoid my atheist father’s protestations, which made that trip have an … Continue reading Vrnjačka Banja: Remembrance of Things Past
Pokretači #121 Stefan Tošović o akcijanju i akciji u sportu i medijima
Stefan Tošović je čovek iza Akcijanja u akciji, jednog od najboljih novih medijskih projekata koji približavaju sport, fitnes ali i druge discipline gledaocima. Stefan, inače bivši urednik Men’s Healtha Srbija, je podelio i svoje uvide u svet fitnesa i medija, dve industrije koje su se ozbiljno promenile u protekloj deceniji. Beleške: Stefanov osvrt na sport tokom pandemije Intervju sa Stefanom Kneževićem Stol kod Bora Pratite … Continue reading Pokretači #121 Stefan Tošović o akcijanju i akciji u sportu i medijima
Hidden Belgrade (64): Community spaces
I only noticed Romansa, a Dorćol institution, when a friend of mine casually said it is where her mum likes hanging out with her neighbours. I probably ran and cycled past it hundreds of times – my wannabe yuppie fitness fervour very much at odds with the languor of its patrons, who, no matter the time of day, hung out in its pleasant tiny overgrown … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (64): Community spaces
From biosphere reserves to industrial boom towns: Where to go in Serbia in 2021
Although travel destination listicles are traditionally made at the start of the year, I do thing differently… and these times are different, as at the start of the year we had little idea of how much we could go around at all. So here it is, the ultimate list of places you have to see in Serbia this… or else… Kragujevac Modern Serbia’s second capital … Continue reading From biosphere reserves to industrial boom towns: Where to go in Serbia in 2021
Bor u Veneciji, Moderni u Beogradu
“Osmi kilometar” je postavka koja predstavlja Srbiju na ovogodišnjem Bijelanu Arhitekture u Veneciji, i koja se bavi jedinstvenim nasleđem grada Bora, ali i izazovima sa kojima se on susreće. Autori postavke su Moderni u Beogradu, grupa arhitekata entuzijastičnih da predstave naše modernističko nasleđe, i sa Snežanom Zlatković i Daliom Dukanac sam razgovarao o Boru, Veneciji, ulogom i promocijom arhitekture i zašto entuzijazam ima limite. Podržite … Continue reading Bor u Veneciji, Moderni u Beogradu
Miločer and I
After Serbia came out victorious from the very bloody WWI in 1918, it came into possession of the southernmost parts of the Austro-Hungarian empire, its vanquished foe, which comprised the wonderful collection of bays and coves on the Adriatic, south of the bay of Budva, which were ruled by the Paštrović clan, since the medieval times. A bit more than a decade later, the victorious … Continue reading Miločer and I
Homosexuality in Serbia through the Ages
One of my first encounters with the concept of other sexualities was when, as kid visiting my grandmother`s tiny summer house in Montenegro I was walking around the yard and pointed to a far-away house on a land neighbouring ours and asked who lived there. „That was cousin M.`s house…“ she said, somewhat darkly, unlike her eager explanations of who else lived in the 20km … Continue reading Homosexuality in Serbia through the Ages
RETVRN: Remembering the Serbian Middle Ages
One of the most commonly heard, yet, as it often happens, misattributed, Churchill quotes about the Balkans is that its nations „produce more history than they can consume“, always irritated me for both of its condescending and exoticizing attitude. What is that makes Balkan history so indigestible? Isn’t it the case that it is hardly only the Balkan people’s who shaped this region’s history (and … Continue reading RETVRN: Remembering the Serbian Middle Ages
Идентитетска економија
Свако ко бира да своје ограничено време на Земљи проводи пратећи дискусије у традиционалним и друштвеним медијима о култури и политици у Србији и суседству, а поготово на Западу, није могао да избегне пораст у броју, али и жару дискусија о идентитетима – етничким, полним, сексуалним – то јест о ”политикама идентитета” (Identity politics). Плодне за изношење најразличитијих ставова јер сви имамо по нешто да … Continue reading Идентитетска економија
Brussels: Belgrade of the Benelux
For a long while I only considered Brussels as a transit city, a sort of a non-place that no one really stays in, and thus not exactly offering anything to a visitor. My first, very brief, visit was on a post-high school tour of Europe, as my friends and I were visiting storied cities that “we should not miss” – actual destinations like Florence, Rome, … Continue reading Brussels: Belgrade of the Benelux
Pokretači #116 To Ginfinity and beyond
Tijana i Boris Faćol iz Subotice su jedni od prvih proizvođača zanatskog džina na sve “uzavrelijem” srpskom tržištu. Pričali smo o njihovom putu od rakije do džina, nagradama koje su osvojili sa svojim sjajnim kreacijama kao i o Subotici, vrlo jedinstvenom i divnom gradu, koji je sve više na preduzetničkoj mapi. Beleške:Ginifinity sajt (ginfinity.rs/) i instagram (www.instagram.com/gin_finity/)O Subotici: thenutshelltimes.com/2020/03/03/whe…erbia-in-2020/Još jedan Subotičanin pokretač : thenutshelltimes.com/2018/10/30/pok…grad-subotica/O Rakiji: thenutshelltimes.com/2020/11/09/pok…anom-radomanom Pratite Pokretače … Continue reading Pokretači #116 To Ginfinity and beyond
Death in the Boomer-world
One of the last fights I had with my Mom was because she did not want me to be „inconvenienced“ by her illness. As any caring Boomer parent, to her last day, she wanted to pretend that I, her only son with very little in the way of other obligations during a coldish COVID spring, should actually be unfazed by her rapidly progressing fatal illness … Continue reading Death in the Boomer-world
They don’t (re)make them like they used to: Yugoslav covers of foreign hits through the ages
Although the now globally ubiquitous charges of “cultural appropriation”, have been a staple of inter-ethnic relations in the Balkans since times immemorial (especially when nations insist on their protochronism), they have never stopped the willingness of local musicians to draw from foreign music to create local hits which became treated as local folk songs. This phenomenon was best described in a 2003 Bulgarian documentary, “Whose … Continue reading They don’t (re)make them like they used to: Yugoslav covers of foreign hits through the ages