Saturday, November 27, 2010

Putin... Fierce, but Cuddly

Here we see an adorable, cuddly rare creature, along with a tiger in a basket.

This Month, Putin hosted a tiger conservation summit in St. Petersburg. There, the thirteen countries with wild tiger population worked out a way to save the endangered animal, whose population in the wild is only about 3500. They want to double the population of tigers within the next 20 years, but using new conservation techniques, and by insuring that existing laws to protect the tigers are enforced. In order to pay for these measures, World Bank has pledged $100 million to combat poachers. American actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who attended the conference for some reason, has pledged $1 million of his own funds.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Alexander Nevsky

Considered to be one of the greatest heroes of medieval Russia, then known as Rus, Alexander Nevsky served as the Grand Prince of Novgorod and Vladimir in the 13th Century, and was later canonized for his military victories.
Alexander, born in 1220, was the fourth son of the prince of Vladimir and therefore seemed to have little chance to inherit the throne. However, he was elevated to the status of prince for Novgorod and served as their military leader against several invasions by Swedish, German and Muslim forces. In 1240, he routed the Swedish army at Neva and gained the name "Nevsky" (literally, of Neva), but was soon required to leave Novgorod for political reasons.
Less than a year later, he was summoned yet again by the leaders of Novgorod and sought to defend the region from the Livonian Knights, a branch of Germany's Teutonic Knights. Nevsky managed to do so, defeating an army of heavily-armored knights with his own forces comprised largely of simple foot soldiers.
By 1251, Alexander had sent envoys to Norway to secure a peace treaty with the nation and, within the next five years, managed to defeat the Swedish army in Finland.

Now, it must also be noted that virtually all of this occurred during the period of Russia's occupation by the Mongolian Golden Horde, with whom Alexander had a fairly good relationship. In fact, it was largely a result of his friendship with Sartaq Khan, a great-grandson of Genghis Khan, that he acquired the position of Grand Prince of Vladimir. Khan and Nevsky eventually became sworn brothers (or "anda"), while Batu Khan actually adopted Nevsky as a son.

"Fun" Fact: Nevsky's cousin, once-removed, was married to Sartaq's daughter Theodora. Their descendants include Ivan IV.

Unit 5 Recording:
Игровые Ситуации from Page 151, 5-16, Number 3 (with Collin Dougher)

Monday, November 22, 2010

Unit 4 Russian Recordings

http://soundcloud.com/d_k217/russian-dialogue-unit-4

Sorry for the delay.

David Kincaid and Tito Feliciano.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Unit 4 blog post, Samovar Song :D

I found a thing! On the Internet!



It amuses me greatly. I found the video posted on this blog [link], which I have since bookmarked because I love me some Russian cuisine.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

i'll give anyone who correctly guesses which t-shirt i just bought TEN KOPECKS!

Russian criminal tattoos as fashion designs

Roman Belenky is the proprietor of MIR, a Russian criminal tattoo fashion company

Screen Shot 2010-11-19 At 4.50.33 PmRussia is a country where every third man has either done time or been through the camps during the Soviet era. The "Bosses" and "God-Fathers" in the Kremlin knew the value of free labor. So it's not surprising that some of my own family had been through the Soviet prison system. Its also not surprising that when we went to the beach in Russia, prison tattoos were abundant. I remember looking at the tattoos as a young child, images of religious icons, cathedrals, devils, cats, etc. I was fascinated, I must been like 7 or 8. I didn't even know they were called criminal tattoos. That name didn't come to mind until the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia came out. In Russian they were called simply, nakolki, a slang word for tattoos.

 

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The New Russian "Autocracy"

I'm loathe to call it an autocracy by any means, but it was an interesting video I stumbled upon with a few examples of how Russia has changed since the chaotic 90s.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/9196714.stm

Anna Netrebko- Unit 4




Anna Netrebko is the latest great soprano to come out of Russia. This 39 year old singer was discovered by the Russian conductor Valery Giergiev whilst she was cleaning the floors of the Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre at the age of 22. She's gone on to be one of the leading ladies of opera for her generation. Possessing a powerful voice with sensuous control. Not to mention she's absolutely gorgeous, so she's one of my favorites :).

Here she is singing the aria "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Unit 4 Russian Billionaire's Amazing Yacht



Recording:
http://vocaroo.com/player.swf?playMediaID=vwRKOsL7GW83ESKN4&server=m1.vocaroo.com&autoplay=0"> src="http://vocaroo.com/player.swf?playMediaID=vwRKOsL7GW83ESKN4&server=m1.vocaroo.com&autoplay=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="148" height="44">

Russian KGB

The Russian KGB, most known for its espionage and fear tactics, was a secret police and intelligence agency in existence during the Soviet Russia era. Created in 1954, the KGB was responsible for gathering information about foreign countries and for quelling any domestic anti-communism sentiment. Although the KGB was decommissioned in 1991, little is known today about the actions of the organization, and many related files are still marked as classified. However, they have been known to use both legal resident and illegal resident spies to infiltrate their targets, and have often been referred to as the world's most effective information-gathering organization. Although they no longer publicly exist, I doubt that such talent would go to waste, and in my opinion, they are probably still conducting espionage on a much more secretive level.

Russian Nightlife: The Hungry Duck Unit 4

When you think of clubs, especially European night clubs, you tend to think of young people dancing into the late hours of the night and loud music that carries the mood into the early hours of the morning. This was not the case for Moscow in the 1990's. The famous Hungry Duck in Moscow, where young people go to have a good time today, was once a more subdued and oppressed place because of the rich cliental that would frequent the location. It more resembled a gentlemen's club in the 90's.
Now the tables have turned, the Hungry Duck has gone transformed into a full blown night club where the youth go to have a good time. There are scantily clothed employees and apparently dancing/stripping on the bar is encouraged. When interviewed, many new age residents expressed their gratitude that the Hungry Duck had transformed into an actual night club. They expressed the want to get away from aristocracy. However there is a group of people who are discontent with this drastic change in the Hungry Duck. The upper class that used to enjoy frequenting the establishment now feel obligated to construct beer halls for themselves and people like them to enjoy a drink or two without the fear of it being contaminated and without having to be harassed by belligerent youth.
Although the Hungry Duck seems to be encountering major success with the upcoming population, there is speculation that it really isn't making that much money compared to its revenue with the upper-class. It is speculated that the beer halls being established may become more profitable than the night clubs around Moscow because they offer a more relaxed atmosphere and there is less risk involved.

Propaganda at its Best!

If legendary film director Sergei Eisenstein’s depiction of the mutiny aboard the Battleship Potemkin had been accurate, the Russian Revolution must have happened in 1905 instead of 1917. The 1925 silent film depicts the uprising aboard a battleship, belonging to the Imperial Russian Navy, during the politically unstable events in the timeframe of both the 1905 Revolution and the Russo-Japanese War. Eisenstein’s film begins with the oppression of proletariat sailors by the bourgeois officers under horrid conditions and ends with a Soviet fan fair depicting the glory of the entire event and leads viewers to think the revolt was the single event to topple Tsar Nicholas II.

Battleship Potemkin is clearly a propaganda film with the complete intention of showing the justified and righteous nature of the Soviet regime and demonizing Tsarist Russia. From the onset, the audience knows who the heroes (proletariats) are and who the villains (bourgeoisie) are. Each event from the serving of meat with maggots to the mutiny to the massacre on the Odessa Stairs by the Cossacks was designed to create loyalty to the soldiers who would presumably lead the revolution in 1917. Even the cinematography and soundtrack create intensely dramatic shots and scenes that must have been breathtaking for audiences at the time.

Battleship Potemkin is not a historical account of the actual 1905 mutiny, but rather an idealized and whitewashed version provided by the Soviet government. Nevertheless, the film depicts the anger and frustration felt by some Russians during the unstable years before the 1917 Revolution. Eisenstein’s film was critically influential to filmmaking and is a prototype of propaganda as an art form that was used not only by the Soviet Union, but Nazi Germany and other regimes.

Unit 4 Recording: http://www.box.net/shared/sl1gtxd36i

Leo Tolstoy- Russian Philosopher and Writer

Leo Tolstoy was one of the greatest Philosopher and Writer of his time. He, at a young age, denounced his religion for he thought that it was pointless. He wrote many great novels and short stories like the Confession and The Death of Ivan Illich. Throughout his life he was searching for the answer to what is the meaning of life? The last few weeks of his life he came up with the answer that it is in God and Life its self, there is no true answer, just what each person believes in.

Russian Online Radio Website

http://www.101.ru/

This is a great website full of different types of online russian radio stations It's all in Russian, but радио isn't all that hard to figure out, now is it? :P

Also, my recordings are with David K's post.

Russian Flag


The Russian flag is a tricolor (Триколор) flag that contains three horizontal strips of equal size with white on the top, blue in the middle, and red on the bottom. The colors on this flag are often refereed to as Pan-Slavic colors. Pan-Slavic colors are said to represent countries that have a common history of Slavic people, and are also said to represent Slavic independence. This flag became the official flag of Russia in 1896. However the flag was being used before 1896 as a flag for merchant and war ships. In 1923 Soviet Russia adopted a red flag with a hammer, sickle, and star on it. After the collapse of the soviet union in 1991 the tricolor flag was adopted again as the new flag for the Russian Federation.

Virgin Land Campaign

During Soviet rule under Nikita Khrushchev, he opened up an area of land that was called the virgin lands. These lands were Steppes in Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. At the first harvest, the virgin lands were a success. They grew wheat and produced twice as much wheat than the Western world did in 1956. However these lands started to lack sufficient nutrients for the wheat since all of the nutrients were taken out of the soil. Eventually the virgin lands program failed in 1965 and the USSR was forced to buy 20 million tons of wheat from Canada to avoid famine.

Monday, November 15, 2010

чебурашка

чебурашка is a funny little creature, unknown to science. He gets his name from a grocery store clerk who accidently gets him in his crate of oranges. чебурашка has a bear like body, with large round ears. He is mostly seen with his friend Crocodile Gena, who works in the zoo as a crocodile. Together they embark on many adventures which are made difficult by a mischievous old lady, Old Lady Shapoklyak (старуха шапокляк) and her prank playing ferret.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sICgWJ46_4E

Russian Dancers: The Awesomeness of Baryshnikov

Mikhail Baryshnikov (1948 - )is a Soviet-born Russian American dancer and choreographer who is considered one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. Born in Riga, Latvia in the USSR, he had a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad). He defected to Canada in 1974 for more opportunities in western dance, eventually joining the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer to learn George Balanchine's style of movement. He later moved to New York to dance with the American Ballet Theatre, where he eventually became artistic director.

Baryshnikov is associated in particular with promoting modern dance and premiered dozens of new works, including many of his own. He has also had success as a dramatic actor, which has helped him become the most widely recognized contemporary ballet dancer.

The Kennedy Center Honors Mikhail Baryshnikov


Dialogue with Keri Dillet

Russian Children's Show



Only because I absolutely love children's shows. Here's a great one :)

The History of Early Russian Music: A Research Paper by Courtney Van Cleef


*Since I spent so much time on this paper I figured it would be a good idea to post it on the blog. DISCLAIMER: I did not include my bibliography in this blog post nor are the sources cited. Although I compiled the research and wrote it in a cohesive manner, I am not the original author of the information presented.

The History of Early Russian Music
Courtney Van Cleef
Quite unfortunately, Russian music before the 19th century is often overlooked due to its so called lack of development. The truth, however, is that the Russian culture is rich in its music history with ancient pagan and spiritual traditions. Much of these assumptions can be blamed on the fact that many of the early folk songs were not written down until the reign of Catherine the Great in the 18th century but certainly a lack of notation is not equivalent to a lack of material. Furthermore the rise of the Orthodox church influenced many development in liturgical music practices that are comparable to their western European counterparts. This paper aims to explore Russian music history from its origins and throughout its medieval times.
In its early history there is much evidence that Russians employed music in many of their day to day activities. The Obryadovye, or ritual songs were full of symbolism that imitated work. Ritual songs that represented the harvest were called Zazhynky and ritual songs that celebrated the completion of the work were referred to as Obzhynky. The idea was that if music simulated work tasks such as reaping and sowing it would “promote productivity”. Women would commonly join in singing together when they met to spin in the winter.
Young people especially enjoyed performing Khorovod or dance songs. Such songs would be entirely vocal and would cover tales of romance between royalty. People of all ages were also fond of singing Starina meaning “what is old”. These epic songs would tell the achievements of heroes real and fictional. This form of song was a lasting tradition and when Moscow became the center of Russian culture by the 16th century, many Starina were rewritten to include figures in the big city. In the 1830's the Starina was given a new name, Bylini, meaning “what has happened”; however, peasants continued to call it by it's old name.
Games and songs of all kinds varied with the seasons. For example, in the spring “dance songs often featured pastoral deities like “Did Lado and Lei”. Vesnjanki, another kind of spring song, was sung to call the birds back from their migration. Haivky represented songs in the form of a game that was commonly played in the spring. In the winter, a particularly interesting tradition is that of the Kolyada. Much like Christmas caroling, bands of young people would go from household to household on the winter solstice and ask to sing their Kolyada songs. The songs would be a narrative, first telling the story of them finding the home, then offering the family blessings, and finally asking for food. Depending on the quality of the food singers would then continue to either praise the family for their generosity or “give comic abuse and promise misfortune.”
Russian peasants were superstitious and once again music played an important role in their various traditions. Fortune telling songs called Podbliudnyia ("under the plate songs") were sung on New Year's day by women. The women would place their rings in a bowl of water that was concealed with a plate and then sing a song with themes ranging from marriage to death. A ring would then be selected at random and the owner of the ring would have the fortune of whatever song had just been sung.
An important characteristic to notice in early Russian music is its use of heterophony. Heterophonic music is a type of polyphony where two or more performers produce essentially the same melody with slight modifications on the parts. Heterophony suits Russian music in that the rules that govern its form are vague and allow for the performers to have some freedom to choose interesting tonalities without making any one voice more prominent than another. There would however be a leader singer called a Sapevala. The Sapevela would start the piece by singing the melody as a solo, thus directing the general course of the music. The rest of the ensemble would then join in, splitting suddenly into separate parts that eventually converge into a unison ending. Concerning tonality, most Russian folk music contains a dubious tonic and the performers were never queasy when it came to employing parallel 5ths, octaves, and other dissonant parallel intervals. The problem with this wide use of heterophony is that its nature makes it difficult to notate, thus contributing to the lack of records of early Russian music.
The fact is that the majority of Russian music was meant only to be vocalized. Very likely, the reason for this lack of music instrumental repertoire was the lack of money to buy musical instruments. Many Russian peasants lived in poverty making vocal music a much more practical way to participate in the art. As a result, many of the old Russian instruments that music historians are aware of are simple in build and can in fact be constructed by the performer. One such instrument is the 2-stringed Domra of oriental descent. It is widely believed that the Domra was delivered to Russia in the 12th or 13th century by Mongolians who were ruling Russia at that time. With a body not unlike the lute, it is either strummed or plucked to produce sound. The Domra would later give rise to the three-stringed Balalaika in the 17th century. The Balalaika is particularity prominent in Russian music history because a brand of street musicians known as, Skomorokhi commonly used it in their performances where they frequently made jokes concerning the Tsar and the Orthodox church; this eventually led the Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich to order a public burning of all instruments under the rather severe penalty of death.
Another popular instrument in traditional Russian music is the Bayan or, more commonly, the button accordion. Before the 19th century the Bayan would be called a Garmonika which derives from its Asian ancestor called the Shen. It is likely that the Garmonika was introduced to the Russians by the mongols in the mongol invasion of the 10th- 13th centuries. Originally it was made with a single row of buttons and large bellows up to two meters long.
Other instruments of old Russia include an array of percussive instruments. For example the Treschyotka is a rattle constructed of wooden slats threaded together on a string. This instrument is played by stretching the string and then constricting the slats together. The Treschyotka would often be used in ceremonial occasions such as weddings. The instrument could be decorated with ribbons and bells to give it a more festive look. Evidence stemming from its construction and use in weddings also points that the Treschyotka may have been believed to play a role in protecting newlyweds from evil spirits. Another percussive instrument whose origins are traced back to the early Slavic people is the Lozhky or musical spoon. The spoons would be made of thick wood with longer handles and a polished surface. Sound was produced by clanging the spoons together and different pitched could be obtained from variations in size. Russians also used their version of the tambourine called the Buben. The Buben was also a popular instrument used by the Skomorokhi.
All Russian wind players were referred to as Svirels which covers a variety of pipe instruments made from hollow reeds and branches. In particular, a double pipe consisting of a whistle and three holes per pipe is recognized to most likely be the traditional Svirel. Although the origins of these instruments are unclear an archeological excavations of the Old Novgorod in 1951-1962 yielded two pipes that suggest they precede the eastern slavic community. One of the pipes dates back to the late 11th century with four finger-holes while the second pipe dates back to the early 15th and has only three holes.
The Gusli is the most ancient of Russian instruments with it's origins in the sixth century. The Gusli of the 12th century resembled a harp with it's five strings attached to a long board. The Gusli is played by using a play stick to press down on the open strings. If a string was not to be played, it could be muted with the left hand. Although the Gusli could be played as a solo instrument, it was widely employed as an accompaniment to a song.
Russia throughout history has remained a largely isolationist country. The separation from the rest of Europe dates back to the fall of the Roman Empire. Whereas the western European countries then turned to the Catholic Church, Russia inherited the Byzantine civilization and the practices of the Greek Orthodox Church. At the end of the 10th century when Vladimir I came to power in Kiev he made it his priority to convert his subjects and also to bring in priests along with their choristers. This led to a huge revolution in Russian music; the shift from the old pagan traditions to a world of christian music. In truth, music in the ceremonial part of church began in the Byzantine Empire where vast amounts of poetry were written to be set to music and spice up the liturgy. The Byzantine Chant was almost entirely vocal without instrument accompaniment. It is from the Byzantine chant that the Russian Znamenny chant evolved.
Znamenny chant at its inception was sung in Greek but over several hundred years it eventually was sung entirely in Russian. Znamenny chants were written in Kruik, a musical alphabet derived from Neume notation of its western counterparts; however, there were quite a few differences between the notational systems which makes it difficult for historians to know exactly how the music would sound. The positive is that liturgical music was written at all, making it much more accessible to historians than the unwritten folk songs. Instead of being written in an echoi, Russian tonality in Znamenny chant is based on glassy. Each glas may contain up to 90 melodic patterns that distinguish one glass from another. A glas is less like a mode built on a series of whole and half steps but rather it is more like a set pattern that the people chose to standardize. The rhythm of the Znamenny chant never included eighth notes or lesser value but rather it used whole and half note values to make the text particularly easy to understand.
Unlike the western church, Russian church music forbids the use of any musical instruments including the organ. Only a series of wooden boards called a Semantron could be struck with hammers to produce a percussive rhythmic accompaniment; however the Russians hardly considered the Semantron to be recognized as a musical instrument considering the sound that it makes is not much different from any of the normal sounds of daily life. Furthermore the vocal parts are almost entirely monodic with subtle polyphony only occasionally in the form of a drone.
When the Znamenny chant eventually began to see changes in the form of innovations such as elaborate coloratura passages, the Tsar became distressed that it would lead to corruption of the text. Thus when Ivan III came to power in 1462 a school was erected to train young musicians the proper way to perform liturgical music. These young men (women were not yet eligible for school) were known as “The Tsar's Singing Deacons” and their primary role was to prepare and perform the Divine Liturgy at the Imperial Chapel.
The composers who wrote the Znamenny chants are elusive of identity because generic patterns were given and the performer was expected to use and tailor the patterns appropriately to fit any new words (for glorifying new saints or celebrating other church occasions). Thus the performers can be thought of as the composers too. The first composer of the chants that can be clearly identified by name was the Tsar Ivan VI. During the mid 16th century he is credited with writing two Stichera (collections of more elaborate canticles) at the ripe age of seventeen. Furthermore, the fantastic singers whom he attracted played a key role in identifying classic master in Russian church singing. Now the Gospel Stichera (the morning resurrection hymns) was identified as being composed by the Byzantium Emperor Leo VI in the 10th century. Also the commonly sung Christian chant was connected to the Pope Feodor (surname Christian). Although it is unconfirmed as of yet, the famous musicologist Maxim Brajnikov hypothesizes that Feodor was also responsible for the creation of the Greater Chant and more importantly is responsible for injecting folk song patterns into the liturgical repertoire. This is particularly important because should his theory be valid it could prove that Feodor was also proficient in folk singing and that the arts of folk singing and church singing are more closely related than previously thought.
A curious phenomena during the age of the Znamenny chant is the complete lack of a secular counterpart. Unlike the west which had madrigals and allowed artists to explore music outside the domain of church, the strict policies of the Orthodox church prevented any secular art song form from taking root. The church was especially against the folk songs sung in households that represented the old pagan views. Nevertheless, a strong attachment of the Russian people to their traditional songs at least allowed a class of musicians known as minstrels to continue performing them. Since the clergy were strict on banishing these wandering performers from the big cities, minstrels generally stuck to Russia's river banks so they could move more easily between smaller towns. The early minstrels were welcomed by the people as a relief to the pressures placed on them by the church. In fact, aristocratic homes would often invite minstrels to perform in their homes on special occasions. Unfortunately the minstrels never achieved a high status in society unlike their counterparts in the west such as the great Troubadours in France. The church eventually managed to root them out almost completely leaving only a few desperate performers who often sang vulgar songs and stole from the villagers
Another refreshing example of bending the strict rules placed on Russian Music was the art of bell ringing highly developed in Novgorod. As previously mentioned instruments were largely forbidden from church ceremonies; however, the practice of casting the brass bells in the city led church leaders to allow bell ringing to be an important part of the church practices in certain large cities. People appreciated the aesthetic differences between the bell and the percussive Semantron. Since the ringing of bells was often used to signal the beginning of church and also certain patterns were recognized to begin various parts of the service, people associated the bells as something positive. The sound of bells meant a pause from the hard labor of their day to day lives.
The so called polyphony of the Znamenny chant began to appear in the 16th century when suddenly as many as four lines of neumes were written per line of text. The debate lies in whether or not all these lines were meant to be sung together simultaneously. A larger half or Russian theorists including Odoyevsky in the year 1867 believed that it out of the question to sing the lines simultaneously. The main argument to support this theory points to the fact that the lines do not seem to have any harmonic relationships and that extensive use of successive parallel fifths and seconds make it nearly impossible to sing. Others including the theorist Smolensky in1888 argued that the seemingly rough harmonizations are simply derived from the heterophonic music of the folk songs. The idea is that Russian music is not governed by the same rules and modes observed by the western church composers such as Palestrina, thus the sound is merely something different that what the western ear is used to.
When studying music history it is often important to take into account the politics that surround the era being covered. For example, unlike the western European countries who left the medieval times and entered into a great renaissance due to vast innovations, Russia was ravaged by the Mongol invasions and thus remained stuck in its dark ages for several more centuries. Old systems of hierarchy with the barbaric levels of serfdom had long left the west but remained in tact in Russia; thus the development of new ways of thinking was often hampered by the Tsars or the powerful leaders of the Eastern Orthodox church. Important to note, however, is that despite the mongol occupation of Russia from the mid-thirteenth century until the 15th century, little about the culture was actually changed in Russia. The mongols only wanted to dominate Russia, not necessarily rule it, thus the Eastern Orthodox Church and its practices were left untouched.
There is no doubt the history of early Russian music is obscure for a variety of reasons. The total lack of written forms of the early folk songs and indeed the heterophonic forms of the music itself makes it difficulty to identify the traditional music of pre-Eastern Orthodox Russia. The situation was little improved when the byzantine church came to power with the use of the archaic Kruik music alphabet that differs enough from the neume notation of the west to cause a fair amount of uncertainty in the performance of Znamenny chant. Furthermore, the tight hold that the Clergy and the Tsar kept on any developments in secular music, instrumental accompaniment, and real polyphony add to the myth that Russian music before the late 18th century was largely negligible; however, through careful research and surviving documents that have been unearthed fairly recently, music historians can factually support that Russia indeed had very unique and specific developments in its music from its origins and through its dark ages. The much appreciated music compositions of Russia's later centuries may have borrowed many traditions of the western European nations, but its distinctly Russian qualities with origins in the homeland are what separate works of Russian art from those of any other country.

Why you should be terrified of the Russian Government: Unit 4 Blog Post

A few clips of Russian Systema, or Russian Martial Arts. Apparently Systema was created around the 10th century when Russian knights had to defend themselves from countless invaders. It combined aspects of combat, strategy, and the Orthodox faith. It utilizes the traditional punches, kicks, and throws but also combines it with internal ideas such as proper breathing, psycology, and internal strategy. With the rise of Communism Systema lost its ties to the Orthodox Church and was nearly banned. However, the government realized that Systema was a usefull tool to train the elite members of its military. Systema became the martial art of the Red Army and is still practiced by the Spetznaz special forces. Below are two videos. The first is a clip of Systema's grand master: Mikhail Ryabko talking about the principles of Systema (thankfully they are translated into English). He was trained by one of Stalin's bodyguards and serves in the Russian military as a Spetsnaz colonel. The second clip is set to music (rather poorly) and shows other Systema techniques from Ryabko, his best student Vladamir Vasilev, and two soldiers named Vadim Starov and Val Riazanov.



and in honor of Putin appreciation day (Rachel) here's a video of Putin practicing judo, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Putin is manlier than any of us. Apparently, during his KGB days he rose to the rank of black belt and was the judo champion in his home of St. Petersburg. Yet despite all this he is still modest about his achievements. A quick note: the video claims judo translates as "the soft way". That is entirely untrue seeing as how judo is anything but. A more realistic translation would be "the flexible way"

All Saints Day- UNIT 4


Implementing a proposal of Archbishop Vikenty Morar of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye, the MP shall have a new all-Church holy day on its calendar, the feastday of the Assembly of All Saints of Yekaterinburg. Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias blessed the celebration of the new holy day on the same day that it’s celebrated in the Diocese of Yekaterinburg at present, 11 February, according to a release from the patriarchal press office on Friday. The list of saints for this feast includes 63 holy ascetics and martyrs of the 17th to 20th centuries with a direct connection to the Diocese of Yekaterinburg. For the first celebration of the feast next year in 2011, a new icon of the Assembly of All Saints of Yekaterinburg was painted. (shown on left)

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Putin and Pup


Урок 4 Recordings

Collin's Unit 4 Post (Putin is Awesome)

To go along with Putin on a motorcycle I thought I'd post about other ridiculous things Putin does in his spare time. Like drive Formula 1 cars (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvINFJXko7g). A bit of text that I found with this video noted that it was one of the few instances where Putin speaks English (even though I only caught him saying "yeah"). But he does get all of his instructions in English and obviously understands them very well. Putin was also rumored to have flown a plane, breaking the sound barrier (http://siberianlight.net/vladimir-boom-boom-putin/). Other activities Putin likes to partake in are fishing topless (http://siberianlight.net/putin-goes-fishing/) and diving to the bottom of lakes (http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090801/155697205.html). I think Obama should get out once in a while and do some cool stuff like Putin.



Dialogue from the Book: http://www.box.net/shared/k5z2reun4t

Original Dialogue: http://www.box.net/shared/7no2e2jbvb

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Vladimir Putin... on a Harley

For some unknown reason, I have yet to report on this story... In July, Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appeared at a motorcycle rally in Ukraine on a HARLEY DAVIDSON trike. He was quoted, "Bike is the most democratic transport vehicle. Bike is the most daring, challenging as it gives its owner the tempting feeling of freedom, that is why one can say without any exaggeration, bike is a symbol of freedom."

Friday, November 12, 2010

Living in the Shadow of a Superstar


Evgeni Malkin (Евгений Малкин) is the 24-year-old second-line center for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was chosen second overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, but did not start his career until the 2006-2007 season in which he won the Calder Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the league's best rookie. In 2008, he helped his team beat the Detroit Red Wings to win the coveted Stanley Cup.
Malkin came from a family of hockey players. His father, Vladimir, was a defenseman for Metallurg Magnitogorsk (the same team he played his Russian Superleague seasons with) and his brother played in a farm league.
When the 2006-2007 season started, Malkin was stuck in a legal bind with the Russian Superleague which he later side-stepped and signed an entry-level contract with the Penguins. In his first pre-season game, on September 20th, he collided with his own teammate, which dislocated his shoulder and delayed his official debut until October 18th. During that game, he scored his first NHL goal against the New Jersey Devils and became the first player since the 1917-1918 season to score at least one goal in each of his first six games.
In 2009, he became the second Russian-born player (behind Ovechkin) to win the Art Ross Trophy which is awarded to the player who leads the league in scoring points. He had 113. Though he lives in the shadow of Sidney Crosby, the reining Canadian superstar in the NHL, he is well-known for his rumored feud with Ovechkin, who reportedly punched Geno's manager in a Russian night club (Even though they seem to be friends HERE).

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Unit 4 Post: Tunnel of Death (Lefortovo Tunnel, Russia)


This tunnel is the longest tunnel in all of Europe. As seen in the video, this tunnel is very dangerous. A river flows over this bridge and in the winter water leaks and this road freezes. It is one of the deadliest roads in all of Russia. This clip was taken from video shot in only one day.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Russian recordings

These are the recording for unit 3. I forgot to upload them, it's myself and Tito Feliciano.
http://soundcloud.com/d_k217/sets/russian-dialogues-unit-3

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Vladimir Putin: Epic as always

Apparently, Putin has a new passion: going fast and turning left.

In his latest publicity stunt aimed at proving, once again, that Vladimir Putin is more of a man than you'll ever be, the Russian Prime Minister drove a Formula 1 car at 149 mph. This drive, which took place on a track in the Leningrad oblast, lasted several hours.

After this drive, Putin signed an agreement to bring Formula 1 racing to Russia in the next 3-9 years.

Despite his near inhuman-awesomeness, Prime Minister Putin did not know how to drive a race car automatically, and was given some preliminary instruction before being turned loose on the track.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Александр Петров

Aleksandr Petrov is a world famous Russian animator. Born in 1957, he studied at the All-Union Institute of Cinematography in Moscow, one of the premier film schools in Soviet Russia. Petrov is notable for his use of the animation technique known as pastel oil paintings on glass. He carefully paints each of the thousands of frames in his animations on large glass sheets. The artist and his method gained international acclaim in 1999 when his adaptation of Ernest Hemmingway’s The Old Man and the Sea won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Though considered one of Russia’s most accomplished post-Soviet animators, Petrov has fallen on hard times. In 2009, he announced he was unemployed, could not find funding for any new films, and was nearing the end of his life savings.

This is the first half of The Old Man and the Sea.

The second half:

Rasputin

I was attempting to learn a bit more about how Rasputin was actually murdered, since there are an insane amount of rumors about the subject, and found a few paragraphs that explain his name.

I wouldn't have thought anything of this, but apparently there are also rumors that Rasputin means "licentious," so I figured it might be fun to read a bit more. In Russian, there is a similar adjective, rasputny (распутный) which actually does mean "licentious," in addition to the corresponding noun, rasputnik (распутник). Some also say that this means "dissolute." However, there are also two possible root-words: put or "way," and rasputye or rasputitsa (распутица), which can refer to a place where the roads converge or "muddy road season."

On the other hand, some historians argue that Rasputin refers to a geographical location, in that it can also refer to a place where two rivers meet. Rasputin's family originated from an area that can be described as such.

A third possibility is that the aforementioned put, or "way," may result in the verb putat ("to entangle") and its antonym rasputat ("to disentangle").

Finally, the most popular explanation is that the word is a deviation from the old Slavic name "Rasputa" that dates back to at least the 16th century. This term generally means "ill-behaved child," or one whose ways are against the actions of parents.

As a side note, it is mentioned that Rasputin tried to have his name changed to Novykh (Новых) after his first pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Novykh, from the adjective for "new," implies "novice."

Recording for Unit 4 (with Collin Dougher):
Dialogue from Page 112, 4-9, Number 1

Friday, November 5, 2010

Photoshop: Soviet Style!

Just happened to stumble across this and thought it was pretty interesting. The site's description of the video dates it at 1987--"three years before the first Adobe Photoshop program hit the shelves". I think the program is quite impressive for its time, and some of the photographs are actually significantly improved.

Also, this narrator's voice sounds very similar to the narrator in the Soviet-era Winnie the Pooh video we watched... Or maybe, that's just the generic sound of a Soviet narrator. Either way, it's an interesting video. Click here to check it out!


~Эзра

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Catherine the Great



Catherine the Great (Catherine II) had never accepted this title during her lifetime. She said that: "I leave it to posterity to judge impartially what I have done." She has earned this title through her many accomplishments from when she ascended the throne to the day of her death.

Catherine was born on April 21, 1729 in Stettin, Germany (now Poland) as Sophia Augusta Frederika of Anhalt-Zerbst. Her father, Prince Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst was a high ranking officer in the Prussian army and a minor princeling in Germany, who married her mother, Princess Johanna of Holstein-Gottorp. Johanna's brother was supposed to marry Princess Elizabeth Petrovna, the daughter of Peter the Great, but he died of small pox before the wedding could take place which left the Princess heartbroken. Her sister, Anna, married the Duke Karl Fredrick of Holstein-Gottorp and three months after giving birth to Peter Ulrich, she died of tuberculosis. When Peter's father died, the claim to Sweden's throne passed to the son. After Princess Elizabeth (now Empress) declared Peter Ulrich, her nephew, the heir to the throne.

On January 1st, Empress Elizabeth sent a courier to Anhalt-Zerbst, inviting Johnna and her elder daughter to St. Petersburg. When Sophie first met Peter she thought him childish and frail because he was easily prone to all illnesses. Peter hated Russia and loved Prussia; King Fredrick was his hero.


On June 29th, Sophia was officially bethrothed to Peter and she became Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alexeyevna, now the second most powerful woman in Russia. Soon after the betrothal ceremony, Peter contracted the measles and then small pox. The Empress herself spent everyday with him, nursing him back to health. After many postponements, the wedding took place on August 21st, 1745 in the Cathedral of Kazan.


After years of no heir in sight, the Empress ordered an examination. A small surgical intervention allowed Peter to have normal marriage relations. After this was done, Catherine gave birth to Paul (which the Empress named) on September 20th, 1754. The Empress took Paul away to her apartments and for months, Catherine wasn't allowed to see him.


In 1761, the Empress Elizabeth died on Christmas Day. Tsar Peter III ended the Seven Year War and restored lands back to Prussia and even tried to force the Russian Army to wear Prussian uniforms and their disciplines. Rumors flew that Peter intended to dispose of Catherine and make his mistress his wife and new Empress. Catherine did not want that, so after many weeks, she conspired with the Orlov Brothers.

On June 29th, 1762 Peter signed the act of abdication, making Catherine the only ruler of Russia. Six days later, Peter died because he argued with his guards.

During her reign as Empress, Catherine improved agriculture practices, mining, art, education, and health.

http://nevermore.tripod.com/CGREAT.HTM (Information)

http://asukamaxwell.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/catherine_the_great.jpg (Picture)

Monday, November 1, 2010

Chopin Piano Concerto Results

It appears a Russian has finally won the competition.

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky was once one of the finest composer/director Russia had to offer to the world. He and his many compositions wowed the world with its complex harmonic and melodic structures within the music. One of his most famous piece was the Firebird Suit. This piece was used in the Disney movie Fantasia which made it more popular to the world. He has done many compositions but none of them were as brilliant as the Firebird Suit. In this blog are only two of the movements in the piece, two which are most popular to listen to.

Adam Brink & David Bell Recording- Pg 76 # 1

Adam Brink & David Bell Recording- 3-7 # 3

Russian Names

This is just something interesting I happened across. It's a website with a collection of popular Russian names (and some variants), and their etymologies. I love learning about etymology, and it's fascinating to see where some of these names come from. At a glance, it seems that many of what we think of as "traditional Russian names" are of a Greek origin.

http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/rus.php

~Эzra