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October 20, 2014 Rhett Jones

The St. Petersburg-based artist who nailed his scrotum to the ground at Red Square last year, just pulled a Van Gogh as part of a new political protest in Moscow. Petr Pavlensky climbed the wall of a psychiatric institution on Sunday and proceeded to cut off his earlobe. Pavlensky was taken to a hospital by police and […]

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October 14, 2013 Backdoor Pharmacist

“Krokodil” is the street-name for a concoction of gunk to democratize opioid-making. It’s in the news again because it made it to America and, allegedly, New York. We have the “Heroin Highway,” so why bother? Why try for yourself, when every news report is showing the stuff melting limbs? Why does Krokodil specifically cause people to rot? Chemically, we’re […]

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October 11, 2013 Marina Galperina

Krokodil! It’s that drug you cook from cheap dirty opiates, gasoline and rubber, and then you inject it, and you feel like you did heroin sort of, and then your skin rots off, Vice films you, and then you die in Russia! Or is it… New York’s hottest new club drug? Reasonably, the DEA does not […]

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October 1, 2013 Marina Galperina

Toxicologists at the Banner Good Samaritan Poison Control Center in Phoenix say that they “spotted symptoms consistent with krokodil” OH FUCK NO NO NO PLEASE NO. Until now, krokodil was just a disgusting Russian meme, Reddit fodder, Vice doc topic de jour, etc… If you were one of the 5% of drug users in Russia who […]

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September 17, 2013 Marina Galperina

That 10-ton meteorite that crashed into a lake in Chelyabinsk at 30,000 mph is still at the bottom of that lake until September 25th, when it will be removed for scientific purposes… unless founder of the Church of the Chelyabinsk Meteorite Andrei Breivichko can stop it. Breivichko says that the “celestial body” should only be removed by the “psychic priests” […]

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September 11, 2013 Marina Galperina

Allegedly, the notorious topless protesting feminist collective Femen was “started” by a man. Come again? When I first interviewed the now-internet-infamous topless protestors of Femen almost two years ago, Inna Shevchenko and Jenya Krayzman made their views on sex work very clear. Because of the regular abuse and exploitation of women in Ukraine, they don’t believe in […]

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August 23, 2013 Marina Galperina

Please enjoy this video of the Russian Army Choir’s performance on a morning television show in which they sing the “Skyfall” song from James Bond 007 BETTER THAN ADELE. That lead tenor though. OH MY GOD. And the choir “[pum pum pum] I kno / I never be wizout security.” THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL. Because Russia’s Big […]

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August 2, 2013 Marina Galperina

Today is Russian Airborne Troops Day, an annual military pride celebration which traditionally involves gaggles of soldiers spilling into public square for merriment, flag waving, wallowing in public fountains and miscellaneous public drunkenness. This year, they have a new hobby. If anyone has any confusion about what Russia’s recently-adopted anti-gay laws do to its public, let me […]

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July 23, 2013 Marina Galperina

If you’re planning to go to Russia — say, for the 2014 Winter-clusterfuck Olympics in Sochi — don’t. If you do, don’t be gay. Try not to do anything gay either. No rainbow flags. No holding hands. If you do pull any public gay, lesbian or “pro-gay”/gay-affirming/non-homophobic faggotry of any sort, you can be detained by the police and […]

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July 15, 2013 Marina Galperina

Glory to Sergey Merkurov! People’s Artist of the USSR, Soviet Academy of Arts alum, director of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and all the rage of pre-1950s Soviet Union! One of the leading figures of the Giant Ass Statues of Soviet Leaders Art Movement! He sculpted and erected a huge number of these monumental statues, […]

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