MetaFilter posts tagged with soviet

In Soviet Russia, equations solve you

twoleftfeet — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:36:57 -0800

The strength of post-Soviet math stems from decades of lonely productivity. Russian math.

Kalinin K-7: the giant plane that might have been

Joe in Australia — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:58:54 -0800

The Kalinin K-7 was a giant flying fortress that might have redefined aerial combat in the 1930s. The hugely expensive and trouble-prone prototype was scrapped by Stalin and its designer was later executed. Here are some renderings of the planes that might have been, with spacious lounges, battleship-sized cannons, and the ability to defend us from UFOs.

Comrade Draper, we have a new account from Acme Caviar.

grumblebee — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:23:47 -0800

Mad Men: Soviet Style. Beautiful advertising posters from the USSR.

After the Wall

vronsky — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:12:29 -0800

After the Wall: Traces of the Soviet Empire

Everyday life in the USSR

Rumple — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:50:06 -0800

Real USSR is a blog containing commentaries on everyday life in the former Soviet Union. The liberal use of family and other amateur photos provides unusual insight into the daily experience of Soviet life. Topics range from 1940s homemade double-exposure photography to queueing to USSR - the birthplace of feminism. via

Hair Metalski

DecemberBoy — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:24:15 -0800

70s/80s Soviet album covers. Until today, I had no idea Soviet hair metal existed. Prepare for keytars, mall hair and proof that 80s cheese was not solely a product of degenerate kepitalist decadence.

Proletarians of All Lands, Unite!

madamjujujive — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 07:01:23 -0800

Peasant! Free your pregnant wife from work, don't allow her to pick up heavy items since this will harm her and the child. An excellent collection of vintage soviet propaganda, public health, and infographics posters from 20s to 30s, many with full translations.

hatchink fiendish plan to catch moose and squirrel

shothotbot — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:14:05 -0800

Interested in Soviet era spying by the KGB in the United States? Bummed that you cant get into the KGB archives? Well it turns out that someone copied all the good stuff already, and you can take a peek. Alexander Vassiliev was a KGB officer who turned to journalism in 1990. From 1993-96 he had access to the KGB archives for the 1930s to early 1950s to write notes for a book project on Soviet spying in the Stalin era. His original notebooks - including extensive verbatim transcriptions - were left behind in Moscow when he moved to London but smuggled out via an elaborate plan. There are eight notebooks, on the Cold War International History site there are scans, transliterations and translations of each notebook, free for nothing. Vassilev assisted in the transcriptions and transliterations. The whole story is in Alexander Vassiliev’s Notebooks: Provenance and Documentation of Soviet Intelligence Activities in the United States (pdf). "Since the KGB’s archives remain closed, Vassiliev’s notebooks are as close as we are likely to get to the actual documents for many years, likely decades"

Old school breakdancing

swift — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:48:15 -0800

Soviet Army dance ensemble + Run DMC = the invention of breakdancing in the mid-1900s. (slyt, via kottke)

Glorious Soyuz Uterus.

squalor — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:16:43 -0800

"This is a regular Russian school biology textbook owned by some Russian school. He has modified some illustrations so now it’s hard to say sometimes what was there originally and what has appeared as a result of his imagination."

We don't care, we don't care, we'll get braver, and more courageous than the lion

filthy light thief — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:47:45 -0800

"I am Russian so, obviously, I like this film. It has typical Russian humor, it is a farce, so do not look for higher meanings in the jokes, it makes fun of the social standards of the Soviet regime as well as the people who served it so well. It features some of the best Russian actors that we love seeing and acting; they sing in the movie and it is lovely as well. If you are a tough judge of movies, then please make sure you know Soviet history a bit and understand that the humor differs from what you see in American movies before you call it crap." The story is simple enough - a story of jewel smuggling and mistaken identities, something which could be played beside The Pink Panther if you're looking for a cultural mix. Directed by the maestro of Russian comedy, Leonid Gaidai, The Diamond Arm (Russian: "Бриллиантовая рука", translit. "Brilliantovaya ruka") is something of a cult hit abroad. Oh, and it is one of the most-viewed movies at the Soviet box office with over 76.7 million admissions in its homeland, the film was a box-office leader in 1969 Soviet cinema , and is still considered to be the number one comedy in Russia. The songs are well known to many, and are covered (and karaoke'd) quite often. Not exactly a common sight in shops outside of Russia, it can be found with English subtitles on google video (or in 10 parts on YouTube), though some scenes are uncharacteristically quiet. If you know Russian, or wish to sync audio from one video to another, the non-subtitled video sounds a lot better.

Nu, Zayats ...

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:12:43 -0800

In 1969, Russian animation studio Soyuzmultfilm released Nu, Pogodi! (Well, Just You Wait!), a series that followed the multitalented and comical Wolf in his quest to capture the Hare. Having very little dialogue but considerable music, it was an international hit across eastern Europe. Most who followed the show will tell you that despite attempts to portray Wolf as anti-authoritarian and decadent, Wolf had a much greater fanbase. Why else would the Nu Pogodi game be based on him, and not Hare?

DEAR COMRADE!

tellurian — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:38:16 -0800

Soviet Music "You are browsing a resource which is devoted first of all to the history and culture of the Soviet Union, the country which the West for a long time usually named as "The Empire of Evil", the country to which some people in the West perceive as "something big and snowy". I offer you to try to look outside the frames of usual stereotypes, to try to understand life of a unique country, with its interesting history, beautiful culture and miraculous relations between people. The music submitted on this site - is an evident sample of a totally new culture, which completely differs from all that, with what Hollywood and MTV supply us so much. This culture, being free from the cult of money, platitude, violence and sex, was urged to not indulge low bents of a human soul but to help the person to become culturally enriched and to grow above himself." I am liking for one "To be first in labour and in fight you should be a sportsman" [this link can break any second].

Solzhenitsyn dead at 89

sien — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:18:04 -0800

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has died. ( BBC ) The great author and opponent of totalitarianism lived to see the end of Communism in the Soviet Union and almost everywhere else. He survived WWII as a commander in the Soviet army before being put into gulags where he spent 20 years. He went on to write the Gulag Archipelago and win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970.

Soviet Jazz

StrikeTheViol — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:54:48 -0800

When people think of Soviet culture in the Stalin era, jazz usually isn't the first music to come to mind. But it was there, and some of it was pretty good, whether adapting Western standards, partying with a Russian twist, or just being adventurous. If that's a little too old-school for you, try some Soviet funk.

Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия

fearfulsymmetry — Sun, 11 May 2008 07:50:06 -0800

Comrades! Glory once again in the display of ~~Soviet~~ Russian military might at the revitalized ~~May Day~~ Victory Day Parade!

Lemon Ades You?

interrobang — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:56:49 -0800

Soviet Lemonade Labels

Screw it!

phrontist — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:00:15 -0800

In soviet russia... screw drives you! (via)

Armenia declares state of emergency

k8t — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 14:35:48 -0800

On February 19, Armenia hosted a presidential election. The winner with 52% of the vote was (as expected), current Prime Minister and BFF to the current president, Serge Sargsyan. The runner-up with 21.5% of the vote was former president (taken out by the current president in 1997), Levon Ter-Petrossian. The elections were flawed, lots of people protested over the past week, the protests have gotten violent, LTP is under house arrest and the government has issued a 20 day state of emergency. At least 3 (including a police officer) have been killed. BBC story, NYTimes story, ArmeniaNow (Western trained journalist, British and American editor, local reporters, UnZipped, a local English language blog, OneWorld Armenia, a British photojournalist's blog, Armenian Observer blog does an excellent job summarizing the Armenian and Russian language blogospheres as well as reporting his own material in English with text, videos and photos, although it is worth noting that he is not a fan of either candidate. There are many LiveJournal bloggers blogging as well, but Armenian Observer will likely summarize them. Armenian Observer has an excellent summary of the past week here. Here are some highlights: "The opposition protest, peaceful as it was, was held with violations of the RA Law on Gatherings and Peaceful protests. Usually, during the day, there would be from 20-40,000 opposition supporters gathering for the rally. The number tripled at least on one occasion, on February 26th, when people forcibly brought to the Republic square in Yerevan to support the pro-government candidate Serzh Sargsyan went over to join the rally in support of Serzh Sargsyan’s opponent - Ter-Petrossian." "Despite numerous warnings from police, the President - the protesters stayed in the Liberty square day and night, sleeping in tents put up in the square and burning bonfires to get warm. During the 9 days of the protests, authorities launched a massive propaganda campaign against the Ter-Petrossian supporters, portraying protesters as armed rioters, drug addicts, alcoholics and homeless. Meanwhile a number of arrests of vocal opposition figures as well as Yerkrapah members (a union of former Karabakh war freedom fighters) were carried out. A case was reported, when State Security servicemen had joined the rally disguised, and tried to provoke the peaceful protesters for more aggressive actions, but had been prevented from doing so by organizers of the opposition rally." "Today, after police strike, violence was reported, the opposition supporters tried to resist with stones and sticks. From what I know around 31 people have suffered so far, 6 of whom have been police officers. At the moment the Liberty square is chained by police forces." "Police are claiming, that they had evidence about preparations by the opposition forces to distribute weapons and start violent actions. However, this morning during, and after the police attack on protesters, journalists were prevented from taking photos and videos, the camera of a Yerkir-Media TV operators was broken. Later, the police footage shows various types of weapons found in the Liberty square after police had cleared the place of the protesters, however, considering all the propaganda and dirty methods of police action we have seen so far, it is hard to believe, that this is not fabricated evidence." "From various media reports we learn, that the police violently beat up those in the Liberty square and chased them down several streets. By 12 o’clock when I was near the French embassy, there were riot police forces blocking the area, with crowds of angry people squeezed between the police forces in front of the French embassy on Grigor Lusavorich street."

Тхундербирдс являются дороге!

Artw — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 08:28:50 -0800

Russian cold war bombers - The Tu 95 Bear and Tu 160 Blackjack, based in central Russia, which resumed long range patrols in August.

Vintage Soviet Christmas Cards

Jimbob — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:06:33 -0800

Vintage Soviet-era Christmas Cards. They're certainly cheerful! (via)

Shooting Range

TrialByMedia — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:25:30 -0800

Out of work? The Shooting Range is hiring. No, not the Firing Range. The Shooting Range.

known mostly as a place for political prisoners and for repressing political opposition

nickyskye — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:39:46 -0800

GULAG: Soviet Forced Labor Camps and the Struggle for Freedom. An online exhibit which includes photographs of work in the gulag, women in the gulag, living in the camp, what were their crimes, Perm-36 Gulag Camp, the history of the gulag system, the inspiring stories of dissidents and what happened after the fall of the Soviet Union. Samizdat was the name for underground literature that opponents to the Soviet government secretly wrote and distributed within the Soviet Union. It was the internet of the gulag years. About one of the greatest monsters in history, Joseph Stalin, on Wikipedia, "Early researchers attempting to tally the number of people killed under Stalin's regime were forced to rely largely upon anecdotal evidence. Their estimates ranged from a low of 3 million to as high as 60 million." The Gulag entry on Wikipedia.

Space: 1989

dersins — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:20:46 -0800

Some photo galleries (and youtube video) of Buran, the USSR's space shuttle program (previously) from the 1980's, long since abandoned. Bonus: A comparison between Buran and the US space shuttle. Double Bonus: More on Buran from russianspaceweb.com, which is awesome. Combo breaker: An official page with NASA's take on Buran, (and their photos), frozen in time a decade ago.

Life imitates propaganda

TrialByMedia — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:33:16 -0800

Recently deceased Leona Helmsley left $12 Million to her dog, as predicted by Soviet propagandists in 1963. Other predictions have been less than accurate.