June 22, 2017

Soccer, Sci-Fi, Snipers, and Tsoy


Soccer, Sci-Fi, Snipers, and Tsoy
Sports, Strugatskys, and Punk-Rock Songs

1. From June 17 to July 2, Russia is hosting the Confederations Cup – essentially a dress rehearsal for next year’s World Cup. Preparations for the international football tournament have been mired in controversy, from difficulty selling tickets and worries about security and hooligans to scandals around stadiums. In particular, the Zenit stadium was completed behind schedule and over budget, with allegations of poor conditions (or worse) for the workers who constructed it. On the bright side, Russia won its first game of the tournament, defeating New Zealand 2-0.

2. Fans of sci-fi and the Strugatsky brothers have had a year of ups and downs, with plans for a TV adaptation of Roadside Picnic being picked up and then dropped – much like the planet Earth is visited by aliens and then abandoned like a haphazard picnic spot in the novel. But the supernova has a silver lining. First, the concept art, designed by Alexei Andreyev, lives on (check out his sketches). Second, the producing studio is shopping around for another outlet. Finally, if you’re really craving a dose of Strugatsky weirdness, go watch Stalker, Andrei Tarkovsky’s film adaptation of the same novel.

3. “Tsoy lives” is a favorite refrain of fans of the 1980s rock group KINO and its lead singer, Viktor Tsoy. Unfortunately, Tsoy died in a car crash in 1990 at age 28, but had he lived, June 21st would have marked his 55th birthday. During the Perestroika era, Tsoy and his music shattered norms and captured a generation’s desire for change. In honor of his birthday, read up on the Russian rocker’s cult status, vote for (and listen to) your favorite KINO song, or check out photos of young Tsoy.

In Odder News
  • Get to know famous female snipers who are little-known champions of WWII. Almost as good as their shooting are their nicknames, including “Lady Death” and “the Invisible Horror.”
  • In last week’s televised “Direct Line,” President Putin answered 70 public questions over nearly 4 hours. See some of the uncensored questions that probably weren’t supposed to show up on national TV.
  • What do you get when you cross motorcycling and soccer? It’s not a joke: it’s a dangerous and expensive sport called motoball. Maybe that’s why the Confederations Cup hasn’t sold many tickets.

Quote of the Week

"I am ready to take a blood oath that not a single person in attendance knew what sort of change he wanted, yet there was no one who did not want it…It’s problematic, of course, to yell ‘Change!’ without knowing what exactly you want.”
—Sergey Solovyov, director of the film Assa starring Viktor Tsoy, on the final scene of the movie, in which a crowd of thousands cheered and sang along as KINO performed their song “We’re Waiting for Change.”

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.

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. 
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.
Moscow and Muscovites

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. 
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.
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 Latchkey Murders

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...
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Russian Rules

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.
Murder and the Muse

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.
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.
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.

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