Quoted: Set aside for a moment images of Provence’s lavender fields, the Riviera’s beaches and Marseille’s bouillabaisse. The southeastern swath of the country seems as crammed with ancient Rome as Rome itself: temples, theaters, amphitheaters, aqueducts, roads, arches, monuments, mosaics and every sort of object from daily life.

Quoted: Search through the cultural collections of Europe, connect to other user pathways and share your discoveries

Quoted: Driven by rising demand, record high oil and natural gas prices, concerns over energy security and an aversion to nuclear energy, European countries are expected to put into operation about 50 coal-fired plants over the next five years, plants that will be in use for the next five decades.

It's impossible to remain indifferent to the controlled ferocity of Haneke's films. An in-depth article on the director from the Times with a slide-show commentary.

Quoted: "I like to show my students ‘Triumph of the Will,’ by Leni Riefenstahl, then something by Sergei Eisenstein — ‘Battleship Potemkin,’ for example — and then ‘Air Force One,’ the movie in which Harrison Ford plays the U.S. president. Each of these films has a distinct political agenda, but all make use of exactly the same techniques, all have a common goal — the total manipulation of the viewer. What’s terrible about the Harrison Ford film, though, especially terrible, is that it represents itself as simple entertainment."

They look like such nice people... includes a slideshow.

Quoted: they realized they had a scrapbook of sorts of the lives of Auschwitz’s senior SS officers ...rather than showing the men performing their death camp duties, the photos depicted, among other things, SS men singing cheerily to the accompaniment of an accordionist, Höcker lighting the camp’s Christmas tree, a cadre of young SS women frolicking and officers relaxing, some with tunics shed, for a smoking break.

Saw this Fellini movie for the first time a week ago. It slows noticeably after the humour and verve of the first 75 minutes. Not for everyone. Highly recommended.

Quoted: A statue has become a blazing symbol of Italy’s legal and moral battle against foreign museums and private collectors.

Quoted: In Krakow, a new generation of non-Jewish Poles is rediscovering a culture that was nearly annihilated by the Holocaust.

I suppose this is one way to come to terms with a ghastly past.