Behind the curtain - retro Russia

August 31, 2003 11:32 PM

Mimosais a retro look at Russia through engaging and often playful snapshots - it has all the feel of rummaging through a box of photos in an attic. Communist Store Windows offers another, more recent glimpse behind the iron curtain. Both galleries are like shots of peppered vodka.
posted by madamjujujive (15 comments total)

What great time spent. My favorite.
posted by troybob at 12:40 AM on September 1, 2003

Delightful collection of pictures.
posted by tonelesscereal at 1:00 AM on September 1, 2003

I love old family photos and vintage window dressing--and now a vast, ad hoc museum of a great failing utopia: sweet and bittersweet with ironies.
Valeri has new vehicle!
New Hungarian Socialist Peoples Breast Pump!
Wonderful postage, madamejj.
posted by y2karl at 1:09 AM on September 1, 2003

awesome mj
posted by condour75 at 2:18 AM on September 1, 2003

For more, see Dziga Vertov's Man With a Movie Camera, an avant garde silent film documenting the everyday life of a the Russian citizen. Recently redone with a new score from Cinematic Orchestra.
posted by iamck at 2:37 AM on September 1, 2003

I'd say you should try to see Man With A Movie Camera without the Cinematic Orchestra's godawful jazz-funk lite stylings. I saw them soundtrack the film live a couple of times last year, and they damn near ruined it with a clunkingly unsubtle interpretation. (The Michael Nyman score is better, and best of all is the Alloy Orchestra's based on Vertov's own notes).

Sorry, that was blindingly off-topic - great links madamjujujive!
posted by jack_mo at 5:37 AM on September 1, 2003

so, what's so funny about the pictures in "catch the humour?" Or is that the joke? great find, juju.
posted by crunchland at 5:41 AM on September 1, 2003

Great. Thanks mjjj.
posted by plep at 6:10 AM on September 1, 2003

wonderful : >
posted by amberglow at 6:53 AM on September 1, 2003

...
posted by clavdivs at 10:17 AM on September 1, 2003

Wow, cool find!
posted by volk at 12:15 PM on September 1, 2003

This is wonderful. There's still a great deal of nostalgia for these days, now that eastern European cities are awash in neon lights and billboards for things like delicious, ice-cold Pepsi Blue^tm.

What I mean is that even though most people are wealthier now, and drive something a bit better than the lawn-mowers of yesteryear, you'll still find a lot of people who speak fondly of these days of deprivation. They don't want to go back to communism, but they don't necessarily regret it either. Individual results vary, of course.

Also: I don't use the word "hero" very often, but madamj³ is the greatest hero in Metafilterian history.
posted by Ljubljana at 1:31 PM on September 1, 2003

Wow. Very cool. Did anyone think this one was kind of creepy?
posted by elwoodwiles at 2:21 PM on September 1, 2003

I am reminded of this, which is also very cool and is even topical.
posted by funkbrain at 1:58 PM on September 2, 2003

That is one excellent link, funkbrain, and I hadn't seen it before - thanks for posting it!
And iamck, thanks for the pointer - that's new to me too.

...awww, Ljubljana, you are sweet! / blushes
posted by madamjujujive at 4:34 PM on September 2, 2003