Once upon a time, eons ago, back when Al Gore invented the internet, cyberspace was an untold land of freedom. . .freedom from popups, freedom from spam. . .and acres of free webspace waiting to be settled upon. Yes, in this illustrious pre-commodified utopia, I (Nadia), dabbled in web design, for the resources were plentiful and my interest was piqued. We try not to remember any of these early endeavors, as they were graphically painful to look at, but still. . .

Anyway, I used to run a few websites, most of them pertaining to Russian history, but it was always my dream that I would some day create a small shrine devoted to the gloved one (Diane Keaton, for those not in the know). Unfortunately I never seemed to have the time, and just as I was getting ready to go to college (and move my web empire to a free server with practically unlimited space. . .yes, once upon a time such a thing existed), all notions of extra-curricular activities began to dissipate into the sulphurous unreality known as academia. Oh yeah, and capitalism finally took over the final frontier (the internet), crushing my dreams of that free server with unlimited space.

So the idea of a Diane Keaton page moved into the back part of my brain. It did not reemerge until I left college and found myself unemployed. Yay! About a year ago, during the course of my blogging adventures, I became aware of “fanlistings“. . .I daresay they’ve become quite popular lately so I decided to jump on the bandwagon and use this idea as my page’s mission statement. Thus, .+.Unstrung Heroine.+., was born.

Ummm. . .in case anyone was wondering, the title is a reference to the first feature length film Diane ever directed, Unstrung Heroes. . .but if you didn’t know that, then you should be ashamed of yourself and leave immediately.

As far as my Diane addiction goes, I’ve been a fan for as long as I can remember, but a more serious admiration was sparked when I saw Mrs. Soffel. . .I think I was hypnotized by both her and Gillian Armstrong (whom I LOVE). . .the portrait painted in that film was so honest and so full of a simple, restrained sort of passion, that I couldn’t help but feel humbled in the presence of such talent. Ever since that moment, I’ve become a devotee of all things Diane. :)

The current version, Louise Bryant * Queen of Bohemia, is based on Diane’s character from Reds. . .this is mostly due in part to the picture you see at left, which is one of my favorites ever taken of her. As some have noted, she has a very “patrician” profile (ten points to the fan that can name the film I nabbed that reference from!). Anyhoo, I took said profile and decided to turn the picture into a sort of old-fashioned post card. Or at least that’s what I attempted to do, in case you were wondering what my logic was.

So, with a little help from a virtually extinct version of PSP (why yes, I WILL accept a donated copy of Photoshop, nice of you to offer!), the lovely brushes at rebel-heart, and way too much time on my hands, I created what you see here. The fonts used are Kathleenie and Violation. Both of them were picked up somewhere along my many travels and so I regretfully cannot give proper credit to their creators. If someone knows from whence they came, drop me a line and I will acknowledge the authors tout de suite.

I’m not sure when I’ll get around to designing a new layout, or if ever, because my resources are tenuous, and there is always the possibility that I might acquire gainful employment. Moreover, as I have already stated, I really really really adore that image of Diane and don’t think I could ever tire of looking at it. However, I was ruminating over a version J.C. Wiatt * The Tiger Lady, so who knows. I’m improvident, don’t expect much.

.+.About This Webmistress.+.


This is a picture of me, trying to be profoundly artistic and failing miserably.

Um, right. I don’t know exactly why anyone would want to know about me, but I’ll try and satisfy the curiosity of any psycho stalkers reading this ::waves merrily::. My name is Nadia. . .or Nadya. . .or Nadja. . .or any other way you could possibly think of spelling it outside of Cyrillic.

I’m a 24 year old Vassar graduate with a B.A. in both Film and Russian Studies who has no idea what she wants to do with the rest of her life. Rock on.

Usually I enjoy stuff. Stuff like Nabokov’s Lolita, Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, all things Fleetwood Mac, writing, really good Greek food, really good vodka, really good friends, laughing, snowstorms, writing, the scent of autumn, conversations that matter, writing, everything historical, what’s left of humanity, optimism AND pessimism, photography, film, writing, traveling, daydreaming, sleeping, writing, tea, tarot, alliteration AND assonance, writing, Miffy, Beatrix Potter, Harry Potter, not capitalizing in emails, adventures involving the heart, writing, feeling, moving, breathing, literature, languages, national cinemas, hybridity, and did I mention writing?