In continuation with various translations of Russian poetry, here is an amazing example of work by Innokenty Smoktunovsky. In 1982 he recorded a TV programme dedicated to Alexander Pushkin, and this p...
I‘ve just come back from the screening of “Social Network” in one of the central cinemas in Moscow. By the look of it, Moscow bloggers, the users of Vkontakte.ru and Loveradio listen...
Wait For Me is not just a war-time poem; even in normal, peaceful life there are plenty of chances to fight, to struggle and to survive....
An application of the dog-rubbing luck charm A couple of years ago I read in someone’s Russian LiveJournal about the custom among the Muscovites: to touch, rub and sometimes even kiss a sculptur...
There’s another reason for me to be proud of studying at the First Humanities Building. Near the entrance there now stands a monument to Walt Whitman who has always been greatly admired by the R...
First Humanities Building, Lomonosov Moscow State University This is a true story. Around September 1996 I had a dream in which I saw a modern-looking building decorated with a plaque with carv...
I don’t always go back and republish the posts but now and again I simply have to draw the reader’s attention. I have just discovered Mina’s cover of Love Me Please Love Me that we m...
Had John Lennon not been walking home on that fateful December night, he’d have turned 70 today. For his fans all over the world he is turning 70 anyway. We’ve been ridden of the necessity...
Thursday was the kind of day that starts well, begins to fall through in the middle, and then takes off again towards the evening, to reach a happy climax at night. I had a good meeting in the morning...
Actually, you don’t have to tell me – this was the question I was asked recently by someone. What do you dream about? There is, of course, hell of a difference between dreaming and not doi...