November 11, 2021

Spider-Man, Siberian Tigers, and Sputnik V


Spider-Man, Siberian Tigers, and Sputnik V
In Odder News

In this week's Odder News, Russia eats too many burgers and fries, leaders get COVID-vaccinated six times, and a Chechen boxer has a magic touch.

  • Spider-Man is on the loose in Moscow – specifically, in the metro system. Though typical in cities like New York, buskers hanging from subway poles and flinging their legs inches from unsuspecting riders' faces is not normal in Moscow, although, apparently, increasingly common.
  • Fast food narod? This week, Komsomolskaya pravda bemoaned the fact that the pandemic has made Russia a country that consumes massive amounts of fast food. The "big three" are McDonald's, KFC, and Burger King. (Sadly, Russian KFCs do not sell bowls of mashed potatoes and gravy. What a waste!) There is no denying that fast food – especially when it is delivered right to your house – has helped some people get through the pandemic. Meanwhile, the pandemic hit traditional "sit down" restaurants hard, with a 52% collapse in the industry's profits in the first half of 2020. The number of purely takeaway joints has risen two and a half fold. The KP journalist writes with regret: "We're turning into a fast food country."
  • "Give him an Oscar!": At a boxing tournament in Grozny, Chechen boxer Abdul-Kerim Edilov defeated his opponent practically just by touching him. Boxer from Ghana Richard Larty lost "artistically and improbably." Edilov barely hit Larty, who fell to the mat and surrendered, leading to calls online to "Give [Larty] an Oscar!" for his acting performance.
  • An Amur (Siberian) tiger is on the loose near a village in the Khabarovsk region. Family dogs are especially under threat as Amur tigers have an "inexplicable craving for dogs." A tiger will watch a dog and its owner for hours and then strike as soon as the owner is no longer near the dog. Keep your dogs hidden and with you at all times, and call 112 (the Russian 911) if you see an orange blur.
  • The head of Russia's Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug got six Sputnik V vaccinations against COVID-19 as part of an "experiment." She got vaccinated back in March 2021 and yet, somehow, was pretty sick with COVID in October 2021. Apparently quantity does not change the likelihood of getting infected. LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky also reported getting six jabs since vaccines became available in Russia.

You Might Also Like

Russia's Restaurant Boom
  • May 01, 2018

Russia's Restaurant Boom

A vibrant cuisine is testing the limits, fusing with other national cuisines. How is this happening in Russia?
A Big Win for Big Cats
  • September 06, 2021

A Big Win for Big Cats

Big cats can rest easy knowing that both the Amur Tiger and the Amur Leopard have been declared safe from the possibility of extinction. 
Sinfully Good Burgers
  • August 13, 2021

Sinfully Good Burgers

A Russian woman is suing McDonald's for producing advertising so effective she gave up on Lent.
Printing Nuggets
  • July 24, 2020

Printing Nuggets

A Russian company is partnering with KFC to produce a new type of nugget.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

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. 
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
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.
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.
Marooned in Moscow

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.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
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.  
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. 
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.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
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.

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