October 17, 2019

Things to Avoid After Drinking Vodka


Things to Avoid After Drinking Vodka
Fall has fallen! tinaborovykh

Quote of the Week

“How can I make this my ringtone?”

— A Youtuber reacting to a Saudi marching band obliterating the Russian national anthem

Raise a Glass to Ruining the Russian National Anthem

1. There are many ways to celebrate the start of fall: fall-themed parties, fall-themed poems. But the city of Yekaterinburg went one step further and painted a fall-themed crosswalk. The crosswalk has “cutouts” of leaves, with white leaves drifting away from the stripes. Probably even better than the crosswalk, though, was the RuNet’s reaction. One user quipped that “A hungover street sweeper will lose his mind here.” Another joked that in Moscow they have the same thing, posting a picture of a scratched-up crosswalk; a third (more favorably) compared the art to Banksy. Leaves may fall in autumn, but beauty is evergreen.

2. A meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman began on a discordant note. After Putin arrived in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi marching band played the Russian national anthem for him. It went all right, until they got to the chorus and… to put it mildly, Putin was definitely trying not to laugh. Fortunately, Russia got its revenge when it gifted the crown prince a falcon that defecated on the carpet. (Actually, according to the Tweeter who posted the video, a bird pooping is a good luck sign in Russia. Then again, we’ll never know if the Saudis believed that or called Putin on his birdcrap.)


The Saudi marching band attempts the Russian national anthem. / Meduza
 

3. Last Thursday, Russia’s favorite alcohol allegedly marked its 516th birthday. According to one legend, vodka was invented by monks trying to find the perfect disinfectant, though they didn’t drink it (they said the next morning, discombobulated). As is appropriate for an alcoholic drink, though, no one really remembers how (or when) it started. Another legend traces vodka to a kind of distilled wine introduced by Genoese traders to Russians. Yet another legend (since debunked) credits Dmitri Mendeleyev with finding the perfect proportion of alcohol to water. No matter the occasion, there’s always a reason to raise a glass to vodka.

In Odder News

  • On Friday, Alexei Leonov, the first man to walk in space, passed away. Leonov was more than a cosmonaut; he was also an artist who painted pictures and designed stamps. Take a look at five of his most noted drawings at the Tretyakov Gallery.
Leonov's painting
Leonov’s painting Near the Moon (1967). / Wikimedia Commons
  • Need a tooth implant? Russian scientists are developing a new stem cell treatment that may let you skip the surgery and just grow a new tooth.
  • Beanpole, a harrowing film about postwar Leningrad, is captivating Russian audiences and was nominated for the Oscars last week. To understand the hype, start with The Guardian’s review here.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

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. 
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.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
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...
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.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Moscow and Muscovites

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. 

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