Russia wins gold in junior tournament...celebrate in typical fashion.

Every year the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) hosts international tournaments for U20 and over 20 players. The adult tournament usually occurs towards the beginning of summer, when regular seasons are over, and the youth tournament happens in December. This past tournament was a memorable one held in Buffalo, New York. A heated rematch between last year's silver (Canada) and gold (USA) medal winning teams was expected but the Russian team decided to give them a run for their money.

After losing to Canada in the preliminary rounds 6-3 nobody anticipated Canada to route the USA 4-1 to send the USA to the bronze medal match against Sweden and lead to a gold medal game between Russia and Canada.

The game started with total domination by Canada. The first period ended 3-0 and had the Russians sweating. By the end of the game, though, Russia had fought back to win it 5-3. Lots of crazy yelling ensued especially since the game was being broadcast on a national station in Russia. After all the excitement, the players celebrated like any athletes do...lots of drinking. They actually were kicked off of their flight back to Russia because of unruly (read: drunk) behavior. I want to party with those kids. They clearly know how to have fun.

The Olympic Games - 2014

Good news! Russia has announced its mascots for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, according to ESPN. They are:

1. A snowboarding leopard
2. A figure skating bunny
3. A polar bear (I guess he doesn't get to compete in a sport.)

The unusual decision to have three mascots was announced by the Sochi organizing committee. Viewers could vote from among nine candidates by phone calls and text messages. More than 1 million votes were cast, according to the program.

AP Photo/Sochi 2014 Organising Committee

Read the full article here.

Prokofiev Loves His Three Oranges

This unit around we will visit one of our favorite little Russian Geniuses, Sergei Prokofiev (OK fine he was technically Ukranian, but most music historians still consider him to largely be an important Russian composer), and talk about his most famous opera, “The Love of Three Oranges”. This work of art is charming as it is witty in making fun of the government officials without being outright scandalous.
Although the opera pokes fun at that powers that be in Russian it is important to make the distinction that this Opera was written originally in America for a Chicago audience. In 1918 Prokofiev was allowed to travel to the USA in hopes that he would spread the word about the success of Russian art in America. Needless to say this trip went swimmingly. After presenting a recital including the famous Piano Concerto No. 1, performed by the composer himself, Prokofiev caught the eye of Cleofonte Campanini(principal conductor and general manager of the Chicago Opera). He awarded Prokofiev a commission to compose a new opera for the company and thus the work in progress Prokofiev had in his repertoire was completed, “The Love of Three Oranges”. Although this opera does have a Russian libretto, it would have been quite inappropriate to present a Bolshevik themed opera in the Russian language to an American audience, thus the libretto was translated and premiered in French.
The plot of this opera by nature makes little sense at is more importantly meant to entertain through the use of satire. Just FYI, it is based on an old Italian Fairy Tale. Well here goes...

Act 1:
The King of Clubs and his adviser Pantalone are worried about the health of the Prince, a hypochondriac whose symptoms have been brought on by an indulgence in tragic poetry. Apparently his ailment can only be cured with laughter, so Pantalone summons the jester Truffaldino to arrange a grand entertainment, together with the (secretly inimical) prime minister, Leandro.
The magician Tchelio, who supports the King, and the witch Fata Morgana, who supports Leandro and Clarice (niece of the King, lover of Leandro), play cards to see who will be successful. Tchelio loses three times in succession to Fata Morgana, who brandishes the King of Spades, alias of Leandro.
Leandro and Clarice plot to kill the Prince so that Clarice can succeed to the throne. The supporters of Tragedy are delighted at this turn of events. The servant Smeraldina reveals that she is also in the service of Fata Morgana, who will support Leandro.
Act 2:
All efforts to make the Prince laugh fail, despite the urgings of the supporters of Comedy, until Fata Morgana is knocked over by Truffaldino and falls down, revealing her underclothes — the Prince laughs, as do all the others except for Leandro and Clarice. Fata Morgana curses him: henceforth, he will be obsessed by a "love for three oranges." At once, the Prince and Truffaldino march off to seek them. Yeah really...
Act 3:
Tchelio tells the Prince and Truffaldino where the three oranges are, but warns them that they must have water available when the oranges are opened. He also gives Truffaldino a magic ribbon with which to seduce the giant (female) Cook (a bass voice!) who guards the oranges in the palace of the witch Creonte.
They are blown to the palace with the aid of winds created by the demon Farfarello, who has been summoned by Tchelio. Using the ribbon to distract the Cook, they grab the oranges and carry them off into the surrounding desert.
While the Prince sleeps, Truffaldino opens two of the oranges. Fairy princesses emerge but quickly die of thirst. The Ridicules (Cranks) give the Prince water to save the third princess, Ninette. The Prince and Ninette fall in love. A body of soldiers conveniently turns up and the Prince orders them to bury the two dead princesses. He leaves to seek clothing for Ninette so he can take her home to marry her, but, while he is gone, Fata Morgana transforms Ninette into a giant rat and substitutes Smeraldina in disguise.
Act 4:
Everyone returns to the King's palace, where the Prince is now forced to prepare to marry Smeraldina. Tchelio and Fata Morgana meet, each accusing the other of cheating, but the Ridicules intervene and spirit the witch away, leaving the field clear for Tchelio. He restores Ninette to her natural form. The plotters are sentenced to die but Fata Morgana helps them escape, through a trapdoor and the opera ends with everyone praising the Prince and his bride

I warned you...

Anyways Below is a recording of one of my personal all time favorite compositions, the “March” from “The Love of Three Oranges”!

Unit 7 Blog Post-Russian Cartoon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAC4opVsSeo&feature=related

Russian pets

Russia has no laws protecting animals or limiting the amount of pets in a household when there should be. If you have so many pets, it's hard to give enough and equal attention to every single one of them. It's also hard to make sure that they're all healthy enough and that they're getting enough to eat. You shouldn't keep 130 cats in a small room. Cats need to roam and have enough room to do so. You also shouldn't feed cats like chickens! It's just sad.

Russia Finally Classifies Beer as an Alcoholic Beverage

Apparently, beer is widely considered in Russia to be a "soft drink". In the country where an estimated 500,000 people die annually from alcohol-related causes and the average life expectancy of a man is about 60, it is "not uncommon to see men swigging a can of beer on their way to work or teenagers downing a swift lunchtime beer or two in the park". Officially classified as a foodstuff, it is not regulated in the manner of hard liquor and wine, allowing it to be sold at any hour and in any quantity. This is changing, according to London's Daily Telegraph, as President Medvedev attempts to combat the national drinking problem. A bill is moving through the Duma that would reclassify beer as an alcoholic drink, requiring stricter regulation of its sale. As a cheap alternative to the more popular vodka, beer consumption has tripled in Russia since the 1990's. The country is the third biggest consumer after the U.S. and China (despite having only half the population of the U.S. and a ninth of the population of China). On the whole, Russians drink double the maximum recommended amount of alcohol, as determined by the World Health Organization, - more than 32 pints of pure alcohol per person per year!

Article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8342920/Beer-to-be-classified-as-alcohol-for-first-time-in-Russia.html

The "Yuk" Factor

What do these five words have in common: скверный, скаредный, скупой, скудный and скудоумный? (it's not a trick question!) Yep. They all begin with "ck." It seems that the "ck" sound in Russian is equivalent to something like "yuk" or "ew" in English. Hence, Скверный (nasty), Скаредный (cheap), скупой (stingy), Скудный (pitifully small), and скудоумный (unintelligent). So the next time you see a "ck" word, it may be safe to assume a negative connotation.

Some useful "ck" expressions:
Он скуден умом (He's poor in brains)
Он не глупый, но он скудоумный (he's not stupid, but he's limited)
скупой начальник (stingy boss)
скупой на слова (quiet, or stingy with words)
скупой на похвалу (begrudging praise)
Скупой платит дважды (a miser pays twice)

Source: здесь

Bored?

Let's say you're in Russia. Let's also say that you're bored because all there is to do is watch large circuses or ballets or go to museums. Yawn. So what do you do? PARKOUR. Well. If the videos I've watched is any indicator, I'd say that 90% of Russian architecture is dilapidated urban areas. The perfect place to either climb outrageously high or to jump off of things! Here are a few videos I've found of Russians doing parkour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkn1eeG8QYo&feature=fvwrel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib4YPtTatF4 (This one has cool Russian rap behind it.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvRnf8_-Duo (Almost a documentary on the sport in Russia)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoxKEXfFkw0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRDhxaG80qg&feature=related

Mstislav Rostropovich

A video of two Croatian cellists (see below) has been steadily gaining popularity over the past few weeks, so, in honor of that, I decided to focus upon a particular Russian cellist in this unit's blog post...

Mstislav Rostropovich, who passed away almost four years ago, was considered to be one of the greatest cellists of all time. He gained popularity during World War II and the subsequent Cold War period of Russia.
In fact, he first won an international Music Award at the age of twenty, which was followed by a Stalin Prize at the age of twenty-three. The latter was, at the time, considered to be the highest distinction in the Soviet Union.
Despite this, Rostropovich found himself harassed by the Soviet regime for promoting democratic values, freedom of speech, and "art without borders." At the age of twenty-one, his instructor at the Moscow Conservatory was dismissed because he was labelled as a "formalist composer;" Rostropovich subsequently dropped out in protest, as well. Much later, in 1970, he sheltered Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, an outspoken Soviet author, and found himself officially disgraced in the Union. As a result, he was even restricted from performing abroad, and was sent on a tour to small towns in Siberia.
By 1974, Rostropovich had decided to leave the Soviet Union in favor of settling in the United States (this was actually the same year that Solzhenitsyn was exiled from the USSR, as well). His Soviet citizenship was revoked in 1978 because of his opposition to the country's restriction of cultural freedom, and he did not return to Russia until 1990.
After moving to the United States, Rostropovich served as the musical director and conductor of the U.S. National Symphony Orchestra from 1977 to 1994. He also founded the Rostropovich Music Festival, and performed quite often at the Aldeburgh Festival in the Unuited Kingdom. The cellist even gained international fame during the fall of the Berlin Wall, due to his impromptu performance in front of the structure.
Finally, Rostropovich and his wife formed a valuable art collection that included over four hundred pieces. In order to preserve the collection, and to bring it to Russia, a billionaire named Alisher Usmanov purchased all of the works for a price "substantially higher" than ₤20 million.

Random Fact: He was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery on April 29, 2007. His friend, Boris Yeltsin, was buried in the same cemetery on April 25, 2007.

(Smooth Criminal Cover - Stjepan Hauser and Luka Sulic)


Also, here are the same two cellists performing a piece by another Soviet composer, Dmitri Shostakovich:

David and Tito's recordings

http://soundcloud.com/d_k217/r-d-6

Also, somebody commented this on my unit 2 dialogue:

"This is the most amazing fucking bullshit I've heard in years!!! Атлычна!!! )))"