Mike has settled in Vancouver with his family and, apart from breaking his leg, is doing quite fine.
He keeps drawing - check out his site! Very cool stuff

picasaweb.google.com/pertsev

    
he does some teaching there in Canada, too. If I were anywhere near, I'd take a lesson or two :)

Oh My Cow!

Russian milk "My Little Cow". C'mon, the babe is not THAT fat.

Soviet Parthenon - Moscow subway

I noticed these in a Moscow subway station and thought: "Hey! that reminds me... " Are they really Soviet Army soldiers or Greek warriors from the Parthenon Frieze?  

        

Bisсuit Misprint

I've never before seen misprints on biscuits - but here goes one.

"Anyola" is a strange name for a girl or anyone. It should be "Alyona", of course, but the designer apparently mixed up right and left while doing the form. Also, these to A's at the beginning and at the end are misleading... So, we got this babe lost in the wood, with a strange name. It  appears that the biscuits never made it to the stores. Instead, they sent the whole stock to hospitals (patients - they got enough trouble; don't care for girls and their names...)

Vera Mukhina: respect

 
Quite by chance I came across an old Soviet edition of Vera Mukhina's drawings. They are admirable! I am posting a few here src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii187/botvinya/mu_2males.jpg" />          
And of course, a few sketches of her Worker and Peasant sculpture. Looked a bit different in first iterations, right?