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.

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Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
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. 
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
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.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

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.
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.
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

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

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