RUSSIA!

 Hi all, we all love LiveJournal, but Russia! also has a Facebook page, so if you have an account there, check it out! 

Love,
Your grandmother

Outskirts of Moscow, Kuzminki area (about 45 minutes by subway from Red Square. A sad yet tender photo essay byaspmaster : 

The days of hunting down herring and bargaining for tangerines may be long gone, but, in the Russian mind, this is still what the perfect New Year’s Eve table looks like. S novym godom!



1. Seven-string guitar – perfect for playing Petr Nalich
2. Bread – not fancy enough to be on the table, yet indispensable
3. Moroccan tangerines – a very special midwinter treat
4. Mors – homemade cranberry drink
5. “Soviet Champagne.” After extensive litigation by the actual Champagne winemakers, it was renamed Soviet Bubbly
6. Cheese salad – originated somewhere in the Baltic Republics. A tasty mix of grated cheese, garlic and carrots
7. Cold cuts – the presence of imported Hungarian salami highlights the importance of the holiday.
8. Pickles (left to right): garlic, cabbage, cheremsha (pickled garlic greens), gherkins, and tomatoes. No fresh vegetables this time of year.
9. Sliced lemon – to garnish Cognac glasses!
10. Olivier salad – neither French nor much of a salad, this is a mix of chopped ham, potatoes, eggs, canned peas, and other winter ingredients bound by another French impostor – mayonnaise Provencal
11. “Herring in a fur coat” – herring, as the name implies, all snug in a coat of beets and pickles. Inedible without a shot of vodka
12. New Year Tree – not to be confused with a Christmas tree. This one is a non-denominational joy
13. On TV: An Irony of Fate, a New Year classic. The film is in color; it’s the TV set that’s black and white.

===============  THE POST IS SPONSORED BY ST PETERSBURG:)) ================= 

A LIMITED EDITION ART PRINT BY RUSSIA! MAGAZINE. A MAP OF RUSSIA'S
LITERARY CAPITAL MADE FROM QUOTES ABOUT IT. FEATURED IN THE NEW YORKER.
WILL ARRIVE NUMBERED. THERE WILL BE ALSO A VINTAGE NEW YEAR CARD FROM US.

 
 

For those who were born during the last years of the Soviet Union, there are few archetypal objects which make their eyes water. With so few products available, every Russian child played with the same kind of doll; every apartment had the same furniture and every person red the same edition of Alexander Dumas novels. Same with cars, milk cartoons, post stamps and more. Some of them were horrible, and some -- ingenious. We took on a task to catalog these forgotten and unheralded objects of Soviet industrial design. Soon, there will be a book, but for now, here is the list of excellent items, MADE IN RUSSIA. 

Red Moscow Parfume 


Soviet Scooter


The Twelve-sided Glass


Morskoi Boi Arcade game




*** THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY RUSSIA! LIMITED EDITIONS ***

SEVERAL A/P PRINTS LEFT OF THE CITY OF WORDS LIMITED EDITION PRINT.
THE MAP OF ST. PETERSBURG, MADE OF QUOTES ABOUT THE CITY.
THIS PRINT IS PART OF THE RUSSIAN DESIGN MUSEUM COLLECTION.
$35 INCLUDING SHIPPING IN THE US


 

 I Consist of Frogs or Rabbits or Birds. 

Hi all, we just wanted to let you know about this limited edition print series by Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva. Being an established artist and all, she was part of major exhibitions in Russia and around the world, and her work appeared in virtually all major publications, but we like her because we think that she represents the unique Russian school of illustration, both technically superb and philosophically and emotionally charged, kind of. 

So, the prints: Each in limited edition of 100, printed on 100lb archival paper, 12x18 with 1" borders to allow for framing. All prints are numbered. Price is $35 per print, including shipping in the US and Canada. $7 for international shipping. The prints will arrive unframed in the special art-print sleeve. It takes about 5-7 days for prints to arrive, but most likely sooner. 







More info: http://readrussia.com/store/

The Russian blogosphere conveniently, if bafflingly, revolves around LJ. Each week, RUSSIA! scans the chatter and brings you the top five topics.

• To start—a photo essay. Blogger murlonio  presents: Russia's oil capital—a real shit hole. The freezing, dilapidated, insect-swarming little town of Nizhnevartovsk produces millions of tons of oil and natural gas a year and, like a good indentured peasant for its master Moscow, rots obediently as it keeps Mother Russia alive. Commenters come to patriotic defense, grumbling that certain Russian metropolis' parts suck also. [Нефтяная столица России!]

• Blogger avmalgin  passes on a gallery of anti-Soviet tattoos, scribbled in a uniform style onto incarcerated felon's backs and asses, featuring anti-communist, anti-semitic, misogynistic stupidity of all kind with motifs of hammers, sickles, skulls and elephantine genitalia, as well as many-faced devils, Stalin, Jesus, a naked-broad-pulled plow and pigs with tits. Such heart! Some of these were forcibly removed by prison doctors. Commenters don't like the tattoos either. Neither will you. ["Мочи господ коммунистов!"]

• Traffic in Moscow is so bad, officials want to build an underground Moscow-double directly below. It will mimic the city grid so Muscovites can finally walk to work. Response: "Just wait until it sinks by itself and build over it!" (Cue Futurama theme song.) Until then, main Moscow streets are being seeded with intentionally mutated tree breeds. True story. [Феерия] [После кризиса Тверскую и Садовое засадят деревьями-мутантами ]

• In dork news: Miss LiveJournal is finally crowned, out of all these eager ladies. Also, "Righteous Russia" Party leader Igor Zotov damns designer/Russia's most popular blogger/our sometimes collaborator Artemy Lebedev as a rude disgrace to the country's image. Why? Because of "Boobs Saturday?" [Главная красавица ЖЖ!] [Политики хотят «помочь» Теме Лебедеву прославиться - сделают его невыездным! Вот это да!]

• The governor of Perm Region Oleg chirkunov  now fights corruption via daily LiveJournal posts. Seems that for Russian youth, it's cool to be righteous again. Chirkunov spreads the word about certain "clubs" capitalizing prettily on the trend and charging $116 to inaugurate the little chumps as policemen helpers with special titles. Haw-haw! [Моя ночная работа]

At RUSSIA!, we've known about Medvedev's little hobby for a long time now. This week we've been tipped off by LiveJournal to share a gallery of Medvedev's photography from his personal site, with our favorites up front. Never mind our sparse side comments. Let's hear yours!

In celebration of the Moscow's 862nd Birthday, here are photos from drugoi , shot about the city as it celebrates itself. They are pretty damn nifty.



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The Russian blogosphere conveniently, if bafflingly, revolves around LJ. Each week, RUSSIA! scans the chatter and brings you the top five topics.

• Blogger artem68  catches Medvedev in a series of awkwardly enthusiastic facial spasms, grinning and grimacing at some champion sportswomen at an official celebratory function. Watch as Medvedev bestows flowers, blushes, admires the medals pinned to chests of tall ladies in suits and makes strange faces, over and over. And over. [ Исинбаева засмущала президента]

• In a video posted by rovego , philosopher Alexandr Dugin disapproves of Medvedev (who recently got himself a blog) for participating in that horrid blog world. As "the president of bloggers," of "young pimpled monstrous cretins" who "fall out of context and live a simulated, demonic life," Medvedev did ba-a-ad. And so, bloggerrovego  digs up another little interview, where the heavily-bearded Dugin discusses his historically-oriented treatise on beards. Apparently, Peter the Great castrated the Russian people by making them shave the beards, the church condemns the beardless to hell, beardless people aren't very Russian and are basically gay and "a man without a beard is a man without pants." [Блогосфера]

• This past week, LiveJournal celebrated its 10th birthday. One of the celebrities to videoblog and wish LJ a happy BD was Ilya Lagutenko, lead singer of Russia's biggest rock band, Mumiy Troll. Wearing a sock-like hat, the charming goof gushes a bit and promises a special, unreleased song-present... it's a few seconds of a loud, faux drum solo. And everybody gushes back "we love you." Let's see Bono do that. [Илья Лагутенко поздравляет ЖЖ]

• Blogger pitasha  posts the results of her self-posted thousand-people Lj-poll. Among her readers, the top most popular Russian first names given to baby newborns of 2008-2009 are Mihail, Alexandr, Ivan, Maxim and Artem for boys and Sofia, Maria, Alisa, Polina and Anastasia for girls. Commenters take "statistics" seriously, complain about the lack of Tatianas. Oh, brave new world. [статистика имен 2008-2009 (результаты, ОБНОВЛЕНИЕ)]

• It's matrimonial rumor time for Russian pop stars that's got the bloggers all flustered. Plenty gossipin' folk are huffing about songstress Zemfira rumored elopement with actress/director/screenwriter Renata Litvinova ("She never said she's gay!"), then puffing about Eurovision champion Dima Bilan's rumored upcoming wedding to model Elena Kuletskaya ("But he's Gay Gayovich!"). At least one commenter's got the right idea: "Don't envy others' happiness. It's a sin." [Билан через неделю женится.] [Земфира и Рената Литвинова обручились?]