New Trams, Old Memes, and New Monuments for Old Villages

In this week's Odder News: environmental catastrophes, strange TV ads, and video memes. Buckle up!

A massive power plant leak dumped 20,000 metric tons of diesel fuel into Siberian rivers, causing more than $76 million in damages and untold harm to the environment, which is just what we need in the midst of zombie wildfires.
It's now easier than ever to see where granddad worked the plow. In Tatarstan, 39 extinct villages are getting monument stelae to mark their former locations as well as record the families that inhabited them.
Don't feel bad if you have stage fright: Putin's "mirror," a giant screen that reflects his image while videoconferencing, was spotted this week. Apparently videoconference anxiety is pretty much universal.
Some good news: Russia's first all-aluminum tram is under construction, and is set to enter service in St. Petersburg later this summer. So, you know, there's that.
Russia isn't known for its liberal stance towards LGBTQ issues. This political TV ad isn't helping the case, in which an orphan boy in "2035 Russia" is adopted by a gay couple who drive a Mini Cooper. The release of the advertisement, which was created by a conservative political group ahead of a looming constitutional referendum, has not been without controversy.
A Moscow building used for the storage of film gear recently caught fire, destroying our hopes of seeing a "Serf 2" this summer.
YouTube channel "Veskercon Live" is doing God's work: restoring and republishing old Russian video memes. The clips, typically bizarre videos from the early- and mid-2000s, can now be viewed in high-def and in 60 fps, and remind us of a simpler time.

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Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

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.

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.

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.

Jews in Service to the Tsar

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