There Will Come Soft Rains is a Soviet era animation made by Uzbekfilm and based on the 1951 Ray Bradbury story of post-apocalyptic desolation.A fully-automated household is shown going through the motions of a daily routine in the year 2026. Service robots, with “faces” vaguely reminiscent of gas masks [or Storm Trooper helmets], prepare breakfast and declare wake up time as usual to the ashen remains of their masters.
One of those visceral experiences that has stayed with me until today, this beautiful vignette portrays the aftermath of senseless atomic destruction and human impermanence almost as well as the story it’s based on. Though the loneliness of the Ray Bradbury piece doesn’t quite come across as acutely, this animation never, ever failed to make me cry and substantially furthered that childhood Bradbury addiction. Edit: if by some chance you haven’t already, might we recommend reading the original story prior to watching the animation? You can do so by clicking here.
Return from exile, 1994. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev.
Literature transmits incontrovertible condensed experience from generation to generation. In this way literature becomes the living memory of a nation. – Solzhenitsyn
Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize winner and Russia’s voice against Stalinist regime’s brutality, has died at 89. The caustic prose of Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich exposed his fellow countrymen to the truth about inhuman suffering in secret slave labor camps, stirred the nation and ultimately cost him his citizenship.
After 20 years spent in exile, Solzhenitsyn was living and working in Moscow again, remaining vocal about his strong political views well into old age. In his recent years he briefly had his own TV show and wrote several political works condemning communism, Russia’s rampant nationalism and war as a whole.
Solzhenitsyn’s death is a tremendous loss and his work deserves special attention here at some point. Until then I suggest you pick up all 3 volumes of this and tell us what you think.
Video of Putin awarding Solzhenitsyn an award last year; a rather strange event as even the reporter points out.
A short autobiography written for Le Prix Nobel books.
State Duma deputies, Public Chamber members and social conservatives have hammered out legislation aimed at heading off the spread of emo culture, which they describe as a “dangerous teen trend.” The Duma last month held a parliamentary hearing on a raft of proposed amendments contained in a document called “Government Strategy in the Sphere of Spiritual and Ethical Education,” a copy of which was obtained by The Moscow Times. Among other measures, the proposed legislation calls for heavy regulation of emo web sites and for banning young people dressed like emos from entering schools and government buildings. The bill also outlines what it calls a “spiritual and ethical crisis” facing Russian youth, including the high rate of alcohol abuse, teen abortions and “negative youth movements.” Emo ideology encourages and justifies drug use and sexual relations among minors, according to the bill, which also lumps emos and goths together with skinheads.
Update: Zo adds, “just wanted to supplement the post with this link submitted to me this morning by Apaniyam on Flickr. There is talk of curfews, a ban on body mods and more.
Under the new measures, schools would be prohibited from celebrating Western holidays like Halloween and St. Valentine’s Day, which are deemed inappropriate to “Russian culture.” Toys in the shape of monsters or skeletons would be banned as “provoking aggression.”
Bonus extended remix: compare and contrast to the Mexican government’s treatment of its young emo citizens. After violence against the subculture increased, government officials actually launched a campaign to promote understanding under the slogan “for the freedom of being young, live and let live.” Russia vs. Mexico: it’s on!
Figure B: Russia’s good kids [via]. The one with the asymmetrical bangs is about to be seized and removed from the scene.
Via Wurzeltod – Russian-born, London-based artist Vania Zouravliov has recently been interviewed at the Gestalten blog. Click here to read the interview. To my knowledge, this is Zouravliov’s first-ever interview on the web.
Fate
In the interview, Zouravliov discusses the symbolism in his artwork (the women usually represent him, while the men represent peril and fear), his working process (usually one drawing, start to finish, with no preliminary sketches), his parents (yep, they Made Him Weird), his inspirations (including artists as diverse as Sally Mann, Igor Bilibin and Franz van Bayros) and more. Zouravliov’s first book, Vania, comes out this fall.
Zouravliov currently doesn’t have his own website (his art site, unclevaniart.com, has been down for about a year), but you can still see a large collections at Big Active. Some of my favorite Zouravliov images, after the cut.
Also: in the same post that announces the Zouravliov interview, Wurzeltod also points to a new interview with our dear friend Madeline von Foerster at Beinart. Check it out!
If you can’t judge a magazine by its cover, it’s not doing its job. This month, major magazines work hard for the money:
Rolling Stone released a very iconic Barack Obama cover. Just him and his flag pin. No name, no slogan and no eye contact. Pure faith and devotion. Compare to their last Obama cover, which made him look like a wax dummy of a superhero.
Again Obama, this time as an illustrated character on the cover of The New Yorker, sporting his Al-Qaeda gear and giving his sidekick, Angela Davis Michelle, the fearsome terrorist fist jab. The best comment on the controversy surrounding this cover comes from Gawker: “this obvious and heavy-handed satire has enraged Democrats and liberal media critics because now they are pretty sure this nation of child-like imbeciles will believe it to be an un-retouched photograph from the FUTURE.”
Predictably, this cover of Psychology Today caught my eye. Some nice use of type, but guess what? She’s wearing the corset backwards. How could something like be allowed to happen in 2008?
See, we’ve been thinking about magazine covers a lot over the past few months. Deciding together as a group on the cover of Coilhouse Issue 1 was a very intensive process. That decision’s been made, but to help myself think about what makes for a good cover in the future, I’ve started compiling a personal list of favorite covers, which I now share with you. I’ve excluded the undisputed heavyweight champions (John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol in a Campbell’s Soup Can, etc.) from my list. It’s going to be a Top 9, with the first 3 being posted today as part of a series. Enjoy!
This cover of Russia! Magazine is sexy, sexy, sexy. It’s also a cheeky remix of a controversial banned photograph titled An Era of Mercy. Two of Russia’s top male models were employed for this shoot, with real spacesuits on loan from the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics. The hip new Russian culture magazine also does a great job with its cover lines: Issue 2 has a bear dancing with Marilyn Monroe on the cover and entices you with the promise of “Eight More Bears Inside.”
Glukoza‘s been spinning her high-pitched nasal rhymes since 2002, but it’s the video for her single Schweine [Pigs] that caught my eye, initially. A 3D animation like most of her videos, the story takes place in a world overtaken by Nazi pigs, where brave Glukoza stands up to their tyrannical ruler.
And the song itself? Incredibly catchy, actually. The lyrics are decidedly girl-power much like in the rest of her repertoire – refreshing against the slew of saccharine pop sluts plaguing Russia’s airwaves. You watch now:
“Vladimir Nabokov‘s final work — an unfinished manuscript scholars call The Original of Laura — was meant to be destroyed 30 years ago. When Nabokov died in 1977, he left instructions for his heirs to burn the 138 handwritten index cards that made up the rough draft”, reports NPR
However, once the beloved pervert kicked that bucked, the matter was out of his hands. Vera, the late novelist’s wife, didn’t carry out his final wish and now, years after her death, their 73-year-old son Dmitri Nabokov intends to publish the manuscript. Having agonized over this decision for 30 years Dimitri is now convinced it’s his gift to the world and his father would ultimately approve.
I’m inclined to believe that if a man requests something be burned, he means it. Nonetheless, whether publishing The Original of Laura is morally sound isn’t up to me to decide and I, undoubtedly with legions of ravenous fans, look forward to reading it. Sorry, Vlad! The choices made regarding editing should be interesting; whether the manuscript will be published as is or transformed into a cohesive novel is yet to be announced.
Are you sick of being victimized by the overly confident and spoiled women of America?
Are you intrigued by the exotic yet vulnerable women of Eastern Europe?
Do you want to feel like a Big Powerful Savior Daddy-Man?
If you answered “yes” to one of more of the above you are part of a growing demographic. A demographic that’s ever-expanding, cheerfully bubbling to the surface of the internet like a pot of boiling baby feces. Yes, legions of xenophiles are uniting in one common goal – to meet and wed a Russian Woman – the perfect blend of dignity and modesty wrapped up nicely in a blanket of historical misfortune. And they’re doing it on Russian Women: The Real Truth.
Here you are led by the brave American-born blog admin through the finer points of kindling Russian romance on the Web. He unveils the complex secrets of the Russian woman’s psyche, the way brute Russian men treat the ladies as a commodity and insightful tips on avoiding the scams of “mail order bride services”. How does he know so much about Russia, you might be wondering to yourselves. Well, that’s because he lives there now! Yes, living in Russia has granted him unique access to Russian intricacies the rest of you non-Russians aren’t privy to. Just look at the way he describes his inspiration behind the blog:
“Russian women are like heroic characters because they are always dealing with dirty situations and environments but somehow they still manage to stay beautiful and out of trouble. I am like most Americans in that I love a good underdog story where the hero faces incredible odds but still comes out as the champion. This is a labor of love because it is an opportunity to bring the true story of these women into the light.This is especially important since their own modesty would never allow them to do it themselves…Russian women are looking for manly leaders who have a clear direction and purpose in life and from a historical and survival perspective this makes a great deal of sense”.
Passions ignite at The Crucible foundry in Oakland, CA.
Down by the West Oakland Bart station, often late into the night, one may observe mysterious flickering lights accompanied by loud explosions. If it ain’t gunshots, you can be sure some welder, sculptor or pyrotechnics whiz at the Crucible foundry is burning the midnight oil.
Founded by Michael Sturtz in 1999, this nonprofit educational hub of fine and industrial arts has attracted a highly motivated group of artists, artisans and students from all over the country. “From cast iron to neon, and from large-scale public art to the most precise kinetic sculpture, The Crucible is fast becoming the best-equipped public industry & arts education facility on the West Coast.”
Ballet star Tina Bohnstedt cruises in a vintage Pontiac (Firebird, natch).
Photo by Gary Wilson
Last year, audiences were astounded by the collective’s incendiary production of Romeo and Juliet. Their second annual “benefit fire ballet”, a decidedly ballsy interpretation Stravinsky’s Firebird, opens tonight:
[A] unique fusion of classical ballet, aerialists, acrobats, fire performers, break dancers…paired with fire and industrial arts. It’s definitely ballet with an industrial edge provided by Crucible artisans, a cameo appearance by a Pontiac Firebird, and a ballerina’s graceful pas-de-deux with a motorcycle stunt rider.
The production’s running every night through the 12th, with additional shows on the 16th, 17th and 19th. Proceeds from ticket sales will go directly towards supporting the Crucible school. All shows are expected to sell out, so if you’re thinking of going (and I know folks as far away as San Diego and Portland are making the trip) get your tickets in advance.
Unicorn tank illustration by Roman Papusev. Larger here.
These steam-powered unicorn tanks belong to the world of “Black Ice Heart” a Russian novel-in-progress by Leonid Alekhin. The plot of the book is not yet fully known; Alekhin releases only snippets of scenes and dialogue on his journal. From what I’ve been able to translate, the story takes place on the fictitious continent of Akemon, which is devastated by technological revolution. The continent’s technology runs on a combustible mineral called Phlogiston, and its scientific secrets are based on the learnings of four ancient tribes. The inheritors of this knowledge became the houses of four different territories (Diamond, Emerald, Ruby and Sapphire), and each house developed its own pattern of technology as a result. The steam tanks belong to the Diamond territory, and they use it to defend themselves against aggression from the south (from the Ruby and possibly other territories).
Another take on The Unicorn by Boris Kharlamov. Larger here.
Most of the novel’s illustrations come from the talented Roman Papsuev. Here are the other illustrations from the story so far:
This looks like it’s going to be an interesting story! The atmosphere reminds me of what Philip Pullman created for the amazing His Dark Materials Trilogy, on which the film The Golden Compass was based. As Alekhin reveals more of the story, I’m really hoping to see some interesting female characters as well.
