August 18, 2017

Zombies, a Swampy Lake, and a New Shirtless Challenge


Zombies, a Swampy Lake, and a New Shirtless Challenge
Sweets, Brains, and Plaque

1. A sweet treat for Kazakhstan? Perhaps weary of finding the exact spot demarcating the country border in the middle of a lake, Russia has transferred the entire Lake Sladkoe (meaning sweet) to the government of Kazakhstan. But don’t go calling it a gift: Kazakh officials noted that the lake formerly belonged to Kazakhstan, while the Russian government said that the “half-lake, half-swamp” has no fish, and its transfer will not economically impact Russia.

2. Moscow’s Metro is not only pretty: it’s a great defense against a zombie apocalypse. A Russian illustrator has created detailed drawings to diagram what life (and death, and the undead) would be like in the Moscow subway system if zombies went on the loose. The artist’s careful mapping and survival advice shows that he’s thought a lot about the possibility; a Moscow subway expert even confirmed that it would be possible to survive a zombie attack underground. The biggest problem: the smell.

3. The “Last Address” project, which memorializes victims of Soviet repression by installing plaques at the homes where these people were arrested, is facing repression of its own. After installing a plaque on an old wooden house in Arkhangelsk, a Last Address activist was fined for damaging a historical site – even though the house was slated for demolition. It’s hard enough getting homeowners to agree to the installation, as many fear undue attention, and this event will likely cause new difficulties for the memorial project. Like dentists say, plaque can be dangerous.

In Odder News
  • Last week, President Putin’s bare-chested fishing trip turned heads. The response: the #PutinShirtlessChallenge, democratizing shirtless shots for Russian men everywhere.

  • The Moscow zoo has acquired a baby hippo, its first in 40 years. Is it just us, or is it doing the #PutinShirtlessChallenge?

  • Discover Izborsk, a former fortress on the Russian-Estonian border. There’s an ancient city, clear waterfalls, and...ostriches?

Quote of the Week 

“The smell would be monstrous, if the generators broke down and the ventilation failed. Sooner or later, the survivors would have to move to another location, after gathering their strength.”
—Max Degtaryev, an illustrator of the zombie apocalypse in Moscow’s metro system, reporting a subway expert’s assessment of the possibility of survival underground.

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

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.
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.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
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.
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 Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
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.

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