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This week is all about the places where Russians and new cultural phenomena meet, for better and for worse.

This week goes intergalactic with a moon colony, two jedi masters, and several unhappy taxi drivers.

We have a trio of uplifting stories this week: a Russian rapper freed, a Russian beauty turned royalty, and a literal (and strange) military lift.

Even today, 165 years after his birth, Vladimir Gilyarovsky - journalist, poet and writer of prose - is widely revered, especially among Muscovites.

Fyodor Tyutchev (whose 115th birthday is today) was endowed with genius and good luck: a great Russian poet, he was not killed in a duel or in the Caucasus.  Nor did he rot in Siberia, but instead lived until he was 70 and died in his own bed. 

This week we’ve got sweet stories you’ll want as much as that second piece of pie: an injury-free minefield, Ryan Gosling, and dancing police.

On this day 345 years ago, Alexander Menshikov was born into a poor peasant family. No one could have predicted to what heights he would rise.

This week, the New York Times released a well-researched, well-produced series of three videos on Russian and Soviet disinformation activities against the US and the rest of the world. Every Russophile needs to watch them.

This week was a grab bag of jobs well done, tear-jerkers, and meta-scary stories. Buckle up!

Olga Ezova-Denisova explains in words and pictures the complex process behind making her special bear linocut prints for our New Russian Life project.

Everyone in Russia knows the great writer Ivan Turgenev, whose 200th birthday is today, and they make his acquaintance in three stages. 

An excerpt from First Love, which Turgenev called his most autobiographical novel, tells the story of a sixteen-year-old boy’s infatuation with an older girl.