October 03, 2019

Beer, Balloons, and (GMO) Babies


Beer, Balloons, and (GMO) Babies
Expect more of this in the next recession. Annen Stuckart via Flickr

Quote of the Week

“You have a silver tongue.”

— Elon Musk, in response to a slickly produced invitation video to a business forum

The Elon (and Economy) Strikes Again

1. Trying to predict the next recession in Russia? One researcher suggests tracking illegal homebrews. “With an increase in economic difficulties, the population tries moving from expensive legal alcohol to cheaper self-production or black market alcohol,” explained researcher Alexei Zubets. The observation was simple, but it launched a vigorous debate. One economist argued that actually, homebrewing is an expensive hippie hobby, so it’s the other way around. A news site accused Zubets of furthering “institutional Russophobia.” Zubets ended up walking back his observation as a joke. (Maybe you had to be drunk to get it?)

2. Russians have long been enamored with Elon Musk, but he hasn’t always returned the favor. Earlier this year, after months of what everyone thought was banter, Musk threatened the head of Roscosmos with a rap battle. Still, some Krasnodar entrepreneurs made a plan to win him over. The entrepreneurs bought a billboard near SpaceX and displayed a QR code that linked to this video. Three minutes long, the video features an ode to Elon Musk (including a Musk balloon) and invites him to their annual forum. Sadly, Musk responded ambiguously, but if it’s any comfort, he did so in fluent Russian.


The most slickly produced love letter ever made. / Форум Дело за малым
 

3. Since a Chinese scientist announced the birth of genetically modified twins last June, scientists have been debating how to regulate human genetic modification. But while most debate in public, some Russian scientists took the debate to endocrinologist Maria Vorontsova. Vorontsova is no ordinary doctor — she’s rumored to be Putin’s daughter. Reports have it that she’ll convey their opinions to Putin, who will make the final decision. Vorontsova didn’t commit to either side, but if Putin agrees to greenlight genetic modification, it could be the first step to literally remaking Russia in his image.

In Odder News

  • A Russian Arctic explorer serenaded walruses with an accordion song.

Appropriately, the song was from the movie “My Sweet and Tender Beast.” / ParaWorldAerial
 
  • The latest Moscow art trend: Covering up parts of metro station names to create new (funnier) words.
Kotiki
Kotelniki becomes Kotiki (cats). / Pikcher via Vkontakte
  • Last week, Russian Instagram saw the rise of a hashtag, #СоМнойВсеТак, to talk about body positivity. Read some Instagrammers’ reflections on beauty standards and personal growth.

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.

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Some of Our Books

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.
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.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

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.
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.
White Magic

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.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
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.
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.
How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

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.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

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.

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.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

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.

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.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

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.

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