I apologize to anyone else who suffered through studying Wallace Stevens in high school. But I found this post on EnglishRussia, sort of a history of ice cream in a nutshell, with a focus on Soviet ice cream. Ice cream appeared in the USSR in 1937, and was actually made on American equipment. "Quite exciting, this frozen-dairy magic," thought the USSR equivalent of the FDA at the time, and demanded ice cream be mass-produced and sold at reasonable prices to the citizenry. A state standard for ice cream was created in 1941--one of the strictest in the world, even compared to today's standards--and Soviet ice cream became popular both inside and outside of the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, by 1980, they had changed to the trade standard, producing a lower-quality product. They started importing ice cream in 1990, and this was of an even lower quality. The article also mentions that some regions had some...special ice cream flavors. Tomato ice cream in the Urals, and Muscovites enjoyed themselves some wine ice cream.
The article, as per usual for EnglishRussia, is full of neat pictures from the early 20th century--snapshots and posters advertising ice cream. I can't tell if they're advertising specific brands or just the concept of ice cream; both of them seem equally likely for the USSR. My favorite snapshot is this one, though. Never too cold for ice cream!
In honor of the great composer Tchaikovsky I am choosing to write this blog entry on one of my personal favorite operas (sung in the beautiful Russian Language) Eugene Onegin!
The Plot: The opera opens on the Larin Country Estate and focuses on the two daughters of the house, Olga and Tatyana. Tatyana, the elder daughter, is engrossed with a romantic novel but when she speaks of it she is chided by her mother and sister who tell her that real life is nothing like the book. Soon after, Olga's love sick fiancé Lensky (tenor), a young poet, and his friend Eugene Onegin (baritone), a world-weary St Petersburg 'drawing-room automaton arrive and Lensky promptly begins to serenade his undying love for Olga... too bad the feelings do not seem to be completely mutual. Onegin, on the contrary, seemingly falls smitten with the introverted and dreamy Tatyana and thus the drama begins. Later Tatyana is with her personal nurse when she professes that she has fallen irreversibly in love with the dashing Onegin. She has decided that she must marry him or she will simply die of longing. Despite the nurse's warnings (because since when does a crazy teenager listen to the voice of reason) Tatyana chooses to write a long and thoroughly damning confession to Onegin and demands that the nurse take her letter to the church the following Sunday to give it to the object of her affection. Not surprisingly, Onegin receives the letter and rather gently rejects her claiming that he is unsuitable for marriage. Obviously Tatyana is embarrassed and unable to respond. In the next act, a party is thrown for Tatyana's name day and all the villagers are in attendance. Onegin and Lensky are also present although Onegin becomes increasingly irritated by the party goers who all seem to be trading rumors over his behavior towards Tatyana. In retribution to Lensky, who he quite unfairly blames for dragging him to this mockery, Onegin dances with Olga who flirtatiously obliges him. Lensky absolutely loses it and challenges Onegin to a duel. The long in short of it: Neither actually wants to go through with the match but since both men are too stubborn to back out Onegin ends up killing Lensky. He flees to escape the guilt. A little while later Onegin finds himself at a nobleman's house. At this point he his racked by remorse and ruined by his past. It therefore comes as quite a shock to him when the Prince walks in with his bride who happens to be none other than the ravishingly attractive Tatyana. In a desperate attempt to regain her affections, Onegin writes her a letter and eventually finds himself in a room with her alone. Tatyana suspects that he only loves her for her social status but Onegin vehemently claims that his love for her is sincere. In tears, Tatyana admits that she still has feelings for him but that he is too late. She is married and she will not be unfaithful to her husband. Talk about Karma!
The letter scene is one of the most famous moments of the opera. Below is a recording of Tatyana's aria. Enjoy!
For my last blog entry (sob) and in honor of Russian being chosen for the 2018 World Cup, I thought it would be fun to explore the history of the Russian national soccer team. Since they are hosting the tournament they automatically qualify to play. They hold the ninth spot in the FIFA rankings, beating out England, Portugal, Ukraine, and the United States. The team played their first international game in 1912 where they lost to Finland 2-0 and a devastating loss to the Germans, 16-0 (no doubt forshadowing the bloodshed to come). After the rise of Communism, Russia continued to play soccer even erecting pitches in Red Square for May Day. The Soviet Union joined FIFA (the world organization for soccer) in 1946. During the Soviet era the team consistantly made the quarter finals and regular appearences in European championships. Thier greatest triumph came in 1972 when they made it to the finals, but lost to East Germany 2-0 (those damn Germans!). After the breakdown of the Soviet Union Russia entered on its own. They were good, but they suffered a humilitating defeat in 2002 against Japan. Today Russia remains a powerful force in European soccer. They are currently first in their division in qualifying for the 2012 European Cup. Their best offensive threats are Alexander Kerzhakov and Pavel Pogrebniak. Overall, Russia has a very good team, and they should be worth watching when 2018 rolls around.
Russia is going to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Igor Shuvalov, the deputy prime minister, accepted the World cup trophy on behalf of the Russian administration. Shuvalov celebrated Russias win by saying "You have entrusted us with fifa world cup 2018 and I just can promise, we can all promise you will never regret. Let us make history!"
Taking old World War II photos, Russian photographer, Sergey Larenkov carefully photoshops them over more recent pictures to make the past come alive. There are pictures of places like Berlin, Prague, and Vienna that are captured in ways we could have never imagined. It gives a new appreciation to history.
The BBC is reporting that a Russian staff person working in the office of Member of Parliament Mike Hancock (pictured) has been deported after claims purported that she wasa spy. MI5, Britain's counter-intelligence agency, arrested катя затуливетер, claiming her "presence" was "not conducive to national security". According to the Sunday Times, this is the first accusation of Russian spying in Parliament since the fall of the Soviet Union. MP Hancock defended his aide, saying she did nothing wrong and would appeal the deportation order. The article can be found here.
The Russian Army is notorious for being crazy manly and killing tons of dudes all the time every day. But sometimes they dance. Here's a video of that second thing.
Personally this reminds me of the scene from Pinocchio with the dancers.
Original Dialogue with Josh : http://www.box.net/shared/16q1738i86 Book Dialogue : http://www.box.net/shared/omf2ni048i
This is for Rachel, because I feel like you would appreciate quite a few of these little traditions. 1. If you invited a girl or a woman somewhere be prepared to pay for her everywhere. If you invited a man, he’ll pay for himself, and there's a good chance he'll pay for you as well without telling you about it. 2. When you are invited to the party bring something with you - beer is usually accepted with pleasure. 3. Men should be strong and assertive and women should be smart and beautiful. That's just one of our stereotypes. 4. We believe in magnetism. The thing is, that every so often the sun sends some electro-magnetic signals and this affects the whole course of events on the earth, including our mood and feelings. So, if you see two housewives discussing how bad their day went because of the electro-magnetic storm that happened in the afternoon - don't think they are adepts of some sort of new age philosophy, it's completely normal here. 5. We like all things fancy. But our understanding of it is very original. You will often see men in suits or tucked-in shirts and office trousers (even in clubs on Friday night), while women prefer noticeable and sexy outfits. The colors for men are usually dark or grey, while women like light and white colors. This is a generalization and of course you'll see a lot of different people and outfits.
All of this information (and more!) was found at : http://www.waytorussia.net/Practicalities/Traditions.html
The Kontinental Hockey League (Континентальная Хоккейная Лига), or KHL, is the strongest organized hockey league in Europe. It's 23 teams come from Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Latvia, though most reside in Russia. Due to money problems within the league and teams, the fate of the league (like it's multiple predecessors) is constantly on the forefront.
Started in 2008 after the collapse of the Russian Super League (Чемпионат России Суперлига) that controlled European hockey from 1999-2008, the KHL is the second largest league in the world. The National Hockey League in North America is the only competition.
Though playing professional ice hockey (on any level) is impressive, even KHL players aspire to play in the NHL. High level players get a hefty salary and tend to receive benefits such as homes and cars paid for by the league, but would gladly give them up for the NHL. Playing for certain KHL teams also counted towards young men's required military service.
At the end of regular season play, a 16-team playoff occurs. The winners receive the Gagarian Cup (yes, named after the cosmonaut) and are referred to as the 'Champions of Russia.'
Some of the most recognized teams include Dynamo Moscow, AK Bars Kazan, and SKA St. Petersburg. Some of the biggest names in the NHL, including Ilya Bryzgalov, Pavel Bure, Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuck, and Valeri Kharlamov.
A rather entertaining website, called Hot Ice, is run about the league.
