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.

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

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

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)

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