Tik-Tok Goes the Progress Clock

Transgender marriage? Rap and roll!

1. Two transgender people got married in Kazan, Russia. The bride said that they encountered no problems because they had already changed their appearance to look like a traditional man and woman, and received new documents that reflect their gender identity. It is unknown whether this is the first case of transgender persons getting married in Russia, though the bride Erika said she has heard of others. First came love, when the couple met two months ago, then came marriage, and soon may come a baby in a baby carriage – the newlyweds are planning to stay in Kazan for now, but may later move to Europe and adopt a child. Shout out to the Russian media, which used their correct pronouns. 

2. The All-Russia People’s Front, an organization founded by Russian President Vladimir Putin, apparently counts teenagers as part of all Russian people. They demonstrated this by creating a TikTok account this week. So far, their focus seems to be on fighting use of snus – smokeless tobacco packets that are placed under the lip. They even enlisted the rapper Ptakh to help convince kids not to “waste their health on dangerous amusements.” The account only has about 500 subscribers so far, but there are eight million active users of TikTok in Russia, spending an average of 39 minutes on the video site every day. Tick tock goes the clock, the People’s Front is wasting no time modernizing.

3. Nothing says the Russian holiday season like rolling up to an office party with… sushi rolls? The food ordering and delivery app Delivery Club found that sushi was the most popular large advance order of the holiday season in Russia. They drew the same conclusion from March 8th Women’s Day orders. Clearly, sushi is on a roll in Russia. Just don’t expect the Japanese version: almost all Russian sushi is made with cream cheese, and some even includes chicken and mayonnaise. Continuing the trend of localized foreign foods, the second, third and fourth most popular orders were khinkali, kebabs and pizza. 

In Odder News

• A pine tree saved the life of a 16-year-old Russian girl, whose accidental fall from her ninth-story balcony was softened by the tree’s branches. Who needs birds and pears? The best Christmas gift is a girl in a pine tree. 
• No time like New Year’s to give yourself a present. One out of ten Russians is planning to treat themselves this holiday season. 
• A 97-year-old World War II veteran Alevtina Gruzdkova became a poetry-reciting and war-stories-telling Instagram star after she was robbed. She used her popularity to let Putin know she was robbed of justice after the crime. 

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