October 17, 2019

Things to Avoid After Drinking Vodka


Things to Avoid After Drinking Vodka
Fall has fallen! tinaborovykh

Quote of the Week

“How can I make this my ringtone?”

— A Youtuber reacting to a Saudi marching band obliterating the Russian national anthem

Raise a Glass to Ruining the Russian National Anthem

1. There are many ways to celebrate the start of fall: fall-themed parties, fall-themed poems. But the city of Yekaterinburg went one step further and painted a fall-themed crosswalk. The crosswalk has “cutouts” of leaves, with white leaves drifting away from the stripes. Probably even better than the crosswalk, though, was the RuNet’s reaction. One user quipped that “A hungover street sweeper will lose his mind here.” Another joked that in Moscow they have the same thing, posting a picture of a scratched-up crosswalk; a third (more favorably) compared the art to Banksy. Leaves may fall in autumn, but beauty is evergreen.

2. A meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman began on a discordant note. After Putin arrived in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi marching band played the Russian national anthem for him. It went all right, until they got to the chorus and… to put it mildly, Putin was definitely trying not to laugh. Fortunately, Russia got its revenge when it gifted the crown prince a falcon that defecated on the carpet. (Actually, according to the Tweeter who posted the video, a bird pooping is a good luck sign in Russia. Then again, we’ll never know if the Saudis believed that or called Putin on his birdcrap.)


The Saudi marching band attempts the Russian national anthem. / Meduza
 

3. Last Thursday, Russia’s favorite alcohol allegedly marked its 516th birthday. According to one legend, vodka was invented by monks trying to find the perfect disinfectant, though they didn’t drink it (they said the next morning, discombobulated). As is appropriate for an alcoholic drink, though, no one really remembers how (or when) it started. Another legend traces vodka to a kind of distilled wine introduced by Genoese traders to Russians. Yet another legend (since debunked) credits Dmitri Mendeleyev with finding the perfect proportion of alcohol to water. No matter the occasion, there’s always a reason to raise a glass to vodka.

In Odder News

  • On Friday, Alexei Leonov, the first man to walk in space, passed away. Leonov was more than a cosmonaut; he was also an artist who painted pictures and designed stamps. Take a look at five of his most noted drawings at the Tretyakov Gallery.
Leonov's painting
Leonov’s painting Near the Moon (1967). / Wikimedia Commons
  • Need a tooth implant? Russian scientists are developing a new stem cell treatment that may let you skip the surgery and just grow a new tooth.
  • Beanpole, a harrowing film about postwar Leningrad, is captivating Russian audiences and was nominated for the Oscars last week. To understand the hype, start with The Guardian’s review here.
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Some of Our Books

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.
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.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
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.
A Taste of Russia

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.
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.
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.
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.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

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