February 21, 2019

Black Snow, Brown Bears, and Sore Losers


Black Snow, Brown Bears, and Sore Losers
Unfortunately, writing “white” in the snow does not make it so. olegga48

Throwback Thursday

Michael Romanov. / RBTH

On this day 506 years ago, this mild-looking fellow became Russia’s first Romanov tsar.

 

 

 

Life’s Good When You’re a Bear…But Not Ilya Ber

1. All’s fair in love, war, and Russian game shows. One “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” contestant took “phoning a friend” a bit too literally. According to show host Ilya Ber, last November veteran contestant Alexander Drouz called him and offered to split the winnings if Ber gave him the answers ahead of time. For his part, Drouz claims that it was actually Ber who bribed him, but he just “played along” to “find out how far this person would go.” The producers, meanwhile, have banned both Drouz and Ber from participating again. What’s the game show term for when everyone loses?

2. Black as snow? Siberia’s white winter landscapes are turning black. This is a problem not just for fans of snow, but also for people concerned about air quality. That’s right: local residents are pointing to coal plants emitting huge billows of smoke into the air, which aren’t just ruining the snow, but also making it hard to breathe. On the bright side, it turns out black snow can make great art. One creative citizen, for example, decided to write “white” into the black snow. Maybe this situation isn’t so black-and-white after all.

Bear hugging man
Mansur’s guardian really knows the meaning of a bear hug. / Andrei Ivanov

3. The bear necessities. Three years ago, vintage plane restorers in Tver found a lonely orphan cub wandering around on their territory. A local aerodrome took the bear under its wing (pun intended), and now the bear (named Mansur) is healthy and strong — he’s even best friends with a husky. But, as it turns out, bears (just like the rest of us) cost money to keep happy. To help them bear the cost of caring for “Air Bear,” Mansur’s guardian has created a crowdfunding campaign and a Youtube livestream where you can watch Mansur chill for eleven hours straight. We personally hope their campaign bears fruit!

Blog spotlight

In the summer of 1922, Ruth Epperson Kennell, a children’s librarian, left New York City for the far reaches of Siberia. She travelled with her husband Frank and 132 other ‘pioneers’ who were eager to establish industrial and agricultural communes to aid the ‘new Russia’. Read more in Julia Mickenberg’s January 30 article on Russian Life.

In odder news:

 

Quote of the Week

“I can talk with him [Viktor Sydnev, co-contestant] so that, you know, also, well you know, whatever you call it.”

— Alexander Drouz to Ilya Ber, allegedly while bribing Ber for answers on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955