December 08, 2016

Cartoons, reality TV, and other art forms


Cartoons, reality TV, and other art forms

Of Cereal and Censorship

1. If a little girl and a bear can live in a forest together, who’s to say they can’t dominate the tech world, too? An episode of the cartoon Masha and the Bear has topped 1.8 billion views to become the sixth most watched video in YouTube’s history. That means more people want to see the toddling Masha try to dispose of an overflowing pot of cereal in innovative and occasionally explosive ways than want to watch Adele sing “Hello.” Not bad. To boost the number, watch here.

2. Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov is perhaps the only government leader to star in a reality TV show and be hospitalized for a boxing injury in the same week. The show was a competition for a spot in Kadyrov’s administration. The German-born, U.S.-educated winner might seem like a strange choice in a mainly Muslim region, but some say the show aimed to showcase Kadyrov’s leadership and Chechnya’s tourism potential rather than reach its citizens. As for the injury, thanks to Chechnya’s doctors, he’s on the mend.

3. Putin met with representatives from Russia’s art community and reassured them of the government’s belief in artistic and creative freedom. At least, that was the first part; he also said that it’s the artist’s job to “take responsibility” not to create insulting or provocative works. Does finding the fine line mean compromising creativity, or is it the best way to avoid bigger problems?

In Odder News

    rbth.com
    • Ever wonder how to catch a spy? Read the blow-by-blow of how a Russian operative on Wall Street was identified, followed, and arrested.
    • Is MMA (mixed martial arts) as dangerous as it sounds? Sure, it landed Ramzan Kadyrov in the hospital, but he also set up his own sons to fight. Get in on the debate.

    Quote of the Week

    “[The show is] a gift to a man who has everything.”
    —A TV critic on Komanda ("Team"), the reality TV show in which participants compete for the post of "strategic development advisor" in Ramzan Kadyrov's administration. Typical challenges include boxing, firing crossbows, and cooking shashlyk.

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    Some of our Books

    Marooned in Moscow
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    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.

    Moscow and Muscovites
    November 26, 2013

    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. 

    The Latchkey Murders
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    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...

    The Little Humpbacked Horse
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    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.

    White Magic
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    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.

    Bears in the Caviar
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    Bears in the Caviar

    Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

    Jews in Service to the Tsar
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    Jews in Service to the Tsar

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    Fish
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    Fish

    This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

    A Taste of Russia
    November 01, 2012

    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.

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