September 26, 2019

Save Russia by Air, Land and Sea!


Save Russia by Air, Land and Sea!
Now “I am the Walrus” sounds like a veiled Cold War era threat…  Leonid Kruglov | Russian Geographical Society 

Quote of the week

“Yo Gai-gui, save Russia!”

– A push notification sent to users of Moscow metro free wifi. Who sent it? Unknown. Who is Gai-gui? Unknown – maybe something in a southern Russian dialect for a boisterous holiday – but now it is temporary promocode to get ad-free wifi on the metro. 

 

Gotta Walk the Walk (on Thin Ice)

1. NATO, you taking notes? A female walrus attacked and sunk a Russian naval vessel. She was enjoying life on a Far North nature sanctuary with her young calf when she was disturbed by an expedition retracing the path of nineteenth century explorers. Probably fearing for her baby’s life, she attacked a rubber blow-up landing craft (not the main vessel) and successfully caused it to sink, while the crew made a quick escape to safety. No walruses were harmed in the making of this story. 

Caption: Now “I am the Walrus” sounds like a veiled Cold War era threat… / Leonid Kruglov | Russian Geographical Society 

2. Siberian shamans keep trying to exorcise Putin from Russia. In March a shaman from Yakutia set off on foot to Moscow – a two year journey – to banish the “evil spirit” Putin from the Kremlin, and was recently detained in Buryatia on charges of religious extremism. He was joined by a few dozen followers, whom he recommended pause the journey as he goes through the apparently perfectly pleasant and fair legal process. They refused, and continue to march on Moscow with a new shaman leader, seemingly in good spirits. 


The original shaman and his followers camp for the day near Lake Baikal shortly before he was detained. / Aleksandr Gabyshev Shaman | Youtube

3. Russia has officially ratified the Paris Climate Agreement three years after signing it. The announcement coincided with the UN summit on climate change on September 23. According to Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Gordeyev, Russia will adopt laws with concrete measures to reduce emissions above and beyond the Paris Climate Agreement by the end of the year. The country might be a little hot and cold on fighting climate change – on the plus side, new Arctic sea passage; on the downside, fires in Siberia – but with this ratification and promises of further legal action, it seems that Russia has definitively warmed on the idea. 

 

In Odder News

Horse trying to board bus in Russia
Get off your high horse, Voronezh (and bus driver, for refusing an unconventional passenger). Dima Bredov | Vkontakte 
  • You might be now allowed to take your pets on the Moscow metro for free, but please, hold your horses. An unaccompanied horse tried (unsuccessfully) to board a bus in St. Petersburg. 
  • Putin ate bread with sweetened condensed milk. Yes, that was a headline
  • In a shocking upset, St. Petersburg is only the second most arrogant city in Russia. The top place actually goes to Voronezh. (Moscow is in a pitiful 7th place!) 
     

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The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

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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.

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Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

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Survival Russian

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Moscow and Muscovites
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Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

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