Archive for 'Culture'
Gangnam Russian Style Posted by yelena on Jan 24, 2013
The only way you would not have heard PSY’s “Gangnam Style” is if you с Луны свалились (fell off the Moon). Otherwise, by now you’ve probably heard the song one time too many. But as a another well-known (Russian) song goes, “эх, раз, да ещё раз, да ещё много, много раз!” (once, and once more and…
5 Russian Stereotypes Other Than Winter, Vodka and Bears Posted by yelena on Jan 17, 2013
In the middle of the winter, a group of young foreigners travels across Russia searching for Russian women, Russian vodka and Russian bears. Nope, this is not a sequel to Особенности национальной охоты (Peculiarities of the National Hunt) movie. Instead, it is this year’s Cinetrain documentary project. The twenty four filmmakers participating in it are…
“So the lady says to the talking margarine…” (Participles and dumb TV ads) Posted by Rob on Jan 16, 2013
The title of the post is drawn from a list of “Stupid TV Commercial Cliches” that I found on a Russian humor site. I got a kick out of it because “idiotic advertising” has been a staple of English-language humor for generations, but in Russian, poking fun at consumerism is mostly a post-Soviet development. Apart…
Happy New Year of the Black Snake! Posted by yelena on Jan 3, 2013
Image Source: Tobyotter via Flickr! Happy New Year! С Новым годом! Have you had a chance to try a real салат Оливье (Olivier salad) this year? To be honest, I wasn’t going to make it this year. I mean, after so many New Years in a row featuring this dish, this salad simply приелся (became boring). But…
Vital vocabulary for (not) talking about religion Posted by Rob on Dec 26, 2012
Накануне Рождества (“on Christmas Eve”), I did my once-a-year attendance of a богослужение (“worship service”), more specifically a месса (“[Catholic] Mass“) — not out of personal religious sentiment but because my parents were visiting from Arizona. Also, being a неверующий (“non-believer”) who was not expected to kneel or креститься (“to cross oneself”) when everybody else…
A Russian fairy-tale with no moral whatsoever? (Plus: Bonus “Santa horror”!) Posted by Rob on Dec 18, 2012
Last week, I briefly mentioned a classic сказка called Два мороза (“The Two Frosts”) — in which the Frost Brothers (one with a blue nose, one with a red nose) attempt to freeze a барин (“rich man”) who’s dressed in furs and a мужик (here: “male peasant”) with a thin coat. (It turns out that…
Sweet Tooth and Sweet Table Posted by yelena on Dec 6, 2012
The New Year is не за горами (not far away). Have you put together your holiday menu? If not yet, then how about having сладкий (sweet) стол (table)? Don’t worry, you won’t need to perform miracles of confectionery mastery crafting a table out of sugar or covering your tabletop with ganache. What сладкий стол means is…