The Caspian Legacy Trailer

 

 

It was back in summer ’07 when my brother and I where creating the ZwyerCaviar trailer, showing our family’s origin (and the filmgeeks we are…). Since then – over 500 people enjoyed this beauty on Youtube and a lot more on the corporate website.

For the ones who havent seen it already, I invite you to check it out. After all the compliments we got, surely there will be another one in the future.

Comments are welcomed.

BTW: The responsible animation studio, which executed this trailer based on your script where the guys from Fat Man Collective.

“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!”

 

Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun , and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial appearing in the paper on the 21st of September 1897 – 111 years ago! Since then it became history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial.

 

 

 

 

The Editor Francis Pharcellus Church replied:

 

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism
of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing
can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia,
whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours,
man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless
world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole
of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity
and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest
beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus!
It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike
faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have
no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood
fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might
get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch
Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that
prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus.
The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.
Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof
that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are
unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside,
but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man,
nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived
could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside
that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond.
Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else
real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever.
A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times
10,000 years from now, he will continue
to make glad the heart of childhood.

 

 MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

 

25 Years Jubilee – the St. Moritz Design Gallery

The Cartier Polo World Cup on Snow is not only a highly prestigious event but also a jubilee. In 2009 it celebrates its 25 years anniversary with a bang.

Besides the presence of Mongolia as guest country (as mentioned previously), the committee will exhibit pictures of this events legendary past. The flashback of the last 25 years can be visited at the St. Moritz Design Gallery between sometime after the 5th of December until somewhere in May 2009.

The Mongols invade St. Moritz

It is debatable if the King of sports and the sport of Kings originates in Persia – or Mongolia. Sure is, that polo was populaar during the time of the great Genghis Khan and even before that. It is believed that the Mongols enjoy polo since 600 B.C.

 

Polo carries a similar weight of legends and prestige as does caviar. For the 25th anniversary of the Cartier Polo World Cup o Snow in St. Moritz, the events guest country will be Mongolia.Its culture will be presented in form of a VIP-tent (a so called ‘yurt’) with a traditionally decorated lounge, Mongolian music and vodka and the entire VIP-Marquee comes in a Mongolian style too. There will be traditionally dressed Mongolian ladies for the prize giving and before the games Mongolians dressed as warriors present the teams. Rumors has it, that the president himself or Prime Minister will attend the event.

 

Back in August 2008 a delegation of St. Moritz Polo AG visited Mongolia. During their stay members of the St. Moritz Polo Club competed against a native polo team – and won! The fruits of this undergoing is a new partnership between the St. Moritz Polo AG and the Mongolian Polo Federation with the objective to promote future cultural and polo events. Sure two countries with huge cultural differences, but united through the sport of polo!

The Caviar lifetime: From ordinary to luxury

Not every fairytale starts as bright and shiny as it ends. The world’s most extravagant and highly valued delicacy also has its story. For those of you with special impulse to the word caviar, we recommend a frozen glass of Champaign and a time to relax with the legendary dish in the history.

The Medieval times mark the first trace of caviar consumption, served to the Mongol‘s Batu Khan when conquering the region around Moscow. This first mentioning of caviar feast dates back 1240 and it happens just half a century prior the official sanctioning of caviar, sturgeon, and other fishes as acceptable by the Russian Orthodox Church during the long periods of fasting. During this historical period the consumption of caviar was related to the rules of the influential institution of the Church. Everyone from the common peasant to the aristocracy member would have to follow the strict fasts and prevent themselves from enjoying any meat for more than half a year. During the 13th Century sturgeon was preferred by many Russians as the best substitution of meat, which resulted in an exceptionally high price, not affordable for the lower social classes. In order to remain faithful followers of the Orthodox Church the poor started to include the roe of the sturgeon to their fasting meals.

Caviar was considered the food of the masses, until one day during the reign of Peter the Great, his wife Catharine the Great served it as a festivity food at one of the banquets she hosted. This was the end of the caviar’s miserable life; it has been introduced to the Russian court and welcomed to the world of abundance, extraordinary luxury, and fabulous aristocratic future.  Peter the Great also played an important role for the popularization of the most scarce and delicate food in the Western world. He offered a taste of caviar to King Louis XV of France, whose first reaction to the fish roe was more than unpleasant. Spitting out the black beads on the carpet of the Versailles Palace didn’t change the destiny of caviar to become the most desirable, expensive and rare food, which only rich and influence enjoy.

The 19th Century’s technological achievements allowed caviar to enter the elegant and stylish homes of Europe. Royal families and nobilities in Western Europe, highly influenced by the exotic and mystic lifestyle of the Russian aristocracy, recognized caviar as the most exclusive dish to be served on their tables.

Caviar became a social status barometer. Respectfully, its price rose up and lined it up as the most expensive food one can order. Many fisheries have been established along the Russian and Iranian Caspian Coast, in order to satisfy the demand for the black gold. Experienced, just few centuries ago as a food for everyone in Russia, caviar became the King’s food, which only selected people can taste and indulge in.

2500 years of caviar history

Sturgeon are one of the world’s oldest species going back 250 million years, having survived the dinosaurs. Instead of scales, five rows of large bony plates or shields (called scutes) cover the Sturgeon’s leather-like skin. The scutes provide protection against predators and add to the fish’s primitive appearance. Sturgeon are one of the most ancient groups of bony fishes, a relict from the Mesozoic era. These characteristics are known from fishes present during the Devonian period, which occurred 360-408 million years ago.

The best-known Sturgeon, the Beluga with its home in the Caspian Sea, is the largest known freshwater fish (the largest one on record weighed in at 2,175kg). The first written record of caviar can be found in the journals of Batu Khan (Ghengis Khan’s grandson) dating back to the 1240s.

Noticing the decline of this valuable resource, the old Soviet Union imposed very strict controls on caviar and learnt how to spawn Sturgeon in the late eighteen hundreds, releasing the fingerlings back into the Caspian Sea. Unfortunately most of the eggs of the mature Sturgeon in the Caspian Sea are now non-fertile due to genetic malformation directly attributable to the high pollution levels.
It took 20 years of research, but in the early 1990s science finally found a way to successfully farm 2 smaller species of Sturgeon: a native of Siberia (acipenser baeri) in France and, in America, the native white Sturgeon (acipenser transmontanus). Farming enables complete control over the fish’s lifecycle and harvesting of the roe at the optimal time, guaranteeing a consistent quality and, best of all, without endangering the already depleted wild Sturgeon population.

The acipenser baeri is the only species of Sturgeon capable of feeding on food in suspension, whereas all other Sturgeon are bottom feeders. Farming Sturgeon for caviar is a risky and expensive business demanding lots of patience as it takes 2 years before the young fish’s gender can be determined and after separating the males from the females (the males for meat and the females for caviar and meat) it takes a further 6 years for the female to carry her first set of eggs.

Esturiones Del Rio Negro is so far the only Sturgeon farm in the southern hemisphere. It was built by Walter H. Alcalde Dayviere in Baygorria, the pristine lake of the Rio Negro Hydroelectric Scheme, with the help of the Russian Government (who identified this pristine and perfect breeding location by using satellite technology). The Russians assist with technical advice and farming techniques and supply personnel and Russian Sturgeon breeding stock (imported from the Lena and Ob rivers in Siberia). Esturiones Del Rio Negro utilises pontoon-floating cages at the edge of the fastest flowing water in depths of up to 10m.

ZwyerCaviar delivers to you the highest quality caviar on the planet, fresh from the virgin waters of Rio Negro.