April 25, 2019

17% of the Earth Day


17% of the Earth Day
Playing limbo without limbs works pretty well. teamrussiamascots / Instagram

Dodging sanctions, Saturday work, and penalties for picking up moss

1. How do you prevent your Olympic team from kneeling before its competitors and the problems that have plagued it in recent years? Well, your mascot can’t kneel if it doesn’t have knees, said Artemy Lebedev’s studio, which designed Team Russia’s 2020 Summer Olympics mascots: a knee-less bear and a two-legged [grumpy] cat, representing some of Russia’s most iconic wild animals. The team isn’t dodging tough issues like doping, scandals and sanctions. In fact, the studio released an official video of the mascot bear actually, roly-poly style, dodging doping, scandals, and sanctions. Over the next few weeks Russians will vote on the mascots’ names. Please, Russia, anything but Misha. 

2. From serfs to Stalin to subotniki – work on Saturdays – Russia has a history of forced labor that may finally come to an end. Springtime means it’s time to get outside and take care of the city and parks, such as fulfilling that unique Eastern European tradition of whitewashing trees (or not anymore). However, a lawyer argued that the common practice of municipal administrations requiring their employees to perform “volunteer” work around the city is illegal, and the head of the Duma Labor and Social Politics Committee agreed. Of course, he added, employers are encouraged to invite participation in subotniki, where one can chat with colleagues while enjoying the fresh air and doing something good, such as helping to plant millions of trees.

3. “Friends, very soon we will make most important changes in Oblast law,” said a deputy of Sverdloskaya Oblast. “Now we have access to moss, forest floor, reeds, and grasses.” The recently accepted law allows people to gather these woodland raw materials. This summer, be on the lookout for babushki in elektrichka suburban trains with buckets full not only of berries and mushrooms, but also… reeds. Which are apparently also edible. According to an opinion piece in Novaya Gazeta, it’s a concerted effort by ruling party United Russia to make easy, small concessions: share the reeds, not the oil. Whether or not you want to reed that much into it, to someone, probably, it is actually “mosst important.” 

In odder news

  • In Chelyabinsk a woman yelled after someone stealing her bike. A person in a cat costume interpreted this as a cat-call for help and caught the thief red-pawed.
cat catches bike theif
Komsomolskaya Pravda / Vkontakte
  • A St. Petersburg artist reacted to the fire at Notre Dame with street art he called a fresco. 
Fire notre dame russian art
Oleg Lukyanov / Vkontakte 
  • A giant diamond of almost 119 karats was mined in Yakutia. It sure rocks for Alrosa, the company that found it. 

Quote of the week

"Barvikha-Barvikha-hoo Barvikha-Barvikha-hoo Barvikha-Barvikha-hoo Krasnogorodskoye boulevard!”

– Lyrics of a rap song by candidates for the Council of Deputies of the Moscow region, inviting residents of towns such as Barvikha to vote. 
 
Russian rap voting invitation
oinfo / Instagram

 

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

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.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

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.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

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.

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

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.

Woe From Wit (bilingual)
June 20, 2017

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.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

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.

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