August 31, 2017

Burger Bucks, Dyeing of Shame, and Flying Ballerinas


Burger Bucks, Dyeing of Shame, and Flying Ballerinas
Dollars, Dyes, and Summertime Snow

1. Burger King in Russia has launched its own cryptocurrency, titled the WhopperCoin. Working with the block platform Waves, Burger King issued one billion WhopperCoins, which burger eaters can get by scanning their receipt. The company expects the coins to work like a loyalty program at first, and eventually expand (just don’t push your luck trying to buy a Big Mac with a WhopperCoin).

2. If you don’t have enough green, just dye your face green. Apparently, two Khabarovsk taxi drivers forced two young women to do just that when they didn’t have enough money for their ride. The two drivers were fired after the taxi drivers’ union called for their dismissal, condemning their “medieval methods.” The bright green antiseptic, known as zelyonka, is not harmful, but is hard to remove. Reason enough to think twice before you try to bum a free ride.

3. Winter is coming. In fact, winter has already come to Sakha, Yakutia, and other regions of Siberia and the far north, which apparently decided to skip fall and head straight into a wintry wonderland. Yakutia’s northern reaches also got a dose of snow in mid-July, and regions around Russia have been experiencing severe storms and colder-than-average temperatures. Worst of all, the August snowfall fuels the stereotype of always-snowy Russia. What’s next, a barrage of balalaika-playing bears?

In Odder News

  • The history of salt. A single painting. Death. Check out Russia’s weirdest museums.
  • The first Sunday of every September, up to 10,000 reenactors recreate the Battle of Borodino. Learn about the important military history of this otherwise peaceful field of grass and wildflowers.
Quote of the Week

"The summer has not ended, and it's winter already."
—Alexander, a resident of Yakutia, on the snowfall that hit his region this weekend.

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

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.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
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.
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.
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.
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. 
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. 
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

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.

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