It's been a good week for ...
modern architecture
Protesters have formed a human chain around a Macedonian shopping mall in a bid to prevent it being given a makeover. The government has earmarked the GTC centre in Skopje for a "faux-baroque" facelift, but fans of the 1970s building think it should be preserved as it is. Campaigners surrounded the mall in a "symbolic embrace", calling for it to be protected. Plans include cladding the facade with classical columns and topping the building with statues and domes.
Macedonia's government has given the capital city a major revamp in recent years, erecting neoclassical statues and fountains, and adding baroque embellishments to existing modernist concrete buildings. I reckon the Carbuncle Awards will have to introduce a new international category for the next Plook On The Plinth extravaganza.
It's been a bad week for ... jewellery
A fashion label is hoping to appeal to Vladimir Putin fans by selling rings and clothing adorned with the Russian president's face.
The Moscow-based brand is called Putinversteher - a German word meaning "Putin sympathiser" - and its first product is a silver ring topped with the president's head.
Designer Gleb Krainik wants the label to become popular outside Russia, and says a German name was chosen in order to "engage people in a dialogue".
It is reported that Krainik sees the fashion range as part of a worldwide "information war" in which Russia and especially Putin are often depicted in a bad light. "The aim is to make it easier for the world to understand Russia," he says.
Putin, however, seems to be doing pretty well on his own in raising his profile. In a 2014 Gallup poll asking Americans to name the living man or woman they most admired, Putin tied at 10th place (with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu) after being named by 1% of respondents and earning more votes than US vice-president Joe Biden, two ex-presidents (Jimmy Carter and George W Bush), George Clooney and the Dalai Lama. Oh, and Bono.
So the Vlad fashion line might prove popular after all. All 100 of the silver rings already made have been sold. One of them was bought by Sergei Maksimov, who said: "I'd love to be just like Vladimir Putin. He's very manly and strong."
Presumably medallions will be next in the Putinversteher range.
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