Сталин на станции метро Курская

Сталина можно любить только по незнанию. Читаю в рунете восторги сталинистов: "Сталин - это Победа!" "Сталин провел индустриализацию!" "Где бы мы были без Сталина!" Аргументов, конечно, нет, зато есть бессмысленные заклинания. Строка "Нас вырастил Сталин на верность народу" - еще одно из них. Вера в Великого Сталина приятнее, чем чтение документов.
И конечно, возлюбившие Сталина не нарадуются, что досадили многим. Как они счастливы, что сделали кому-то больно - этим самым умным демократам и правозащитникам. Получили? Гы-гы-гы... При Сталине, наверное, тоже так радовались: вот, думал, что самый умный - инженер (писатель, композитор, архитектор, лингвист, генетик) - а сам в лагере сидит! Не сидит еще? Так мы напишем куда надо - и сядет! То-то! Понял, кто теперь самый умный?
Когда при Советах прятали документы о Сталине, можно было еще с натяжкой любить этого вождя (ну, совершив некоторое насилие над собственным мозгом) - но теперь, когда так много открыто об этом людоеде, говорить:  "Я это люблю" или "Нет, он убил не десятки миллионов, а всего два-три миллиона"...  Это еще худшее безумие, чем в 30-е, потому что теперь-то любить никто не заставляет.

Gogol tempted by demons-pyromaniacs

I finished that about 5 times and then added more strokes, so it's now almost pitch black

okay, this is an inverted copy of it - but will smb explain to me, WHY it looks SO much better than the original?

Waking game

the waking game is: you fall asleep in an unusual location and on waking up try to recollect where you are.
Yesterday I fell asleep at the office while typing smth on the computer. Then I wake up. I open my eyes, see the keyboard, don't recognize it, see the room, don't understand, where I am. Worse: I don't remember, who I am.  Panic! Just one thought in my mind: if I realize where, I'll recollect who. Slowly, like a computer restoring the system, consciousness returns: it's my office - then I am such and such... For a few moments my brain was absolutely blank. Perhaps, this is what crazy people feel all the time: fear and total disorientation.

Quizilla,

Theodor introduced me to an online quiz club, where real ppl have a daily quiz contest. By god, a fool may ask more questions... I don't know how high is Mount Sissy-Pissy. I don't care who won the MegaDick Cup in 1983. Ppl who got no idea who wrote Crime and Punishment easily outdo me on questions like "How fast does Ferrari MXQZ-4576GG accelerate to 60 mph". I don't know anything about life around me. And I don't want to. No TV, no sports channels, no football-hockey who beat whom, no fashion what's hot - what the hell? life is too short. Shall I spend another 100 hours answering questions like "Which city is closer to Equator: Tyrgu-Muresh or Fartsborough?" I'd rather do smth useful: throw stools out of the window or teach my dog to steal money for me.

The Grand Toilet of Moscow

A massive construction site, dozens of workers, an endless building stretching far away. What is it?
"Dear Muscovites! We are building a WC here" - says the poster on the fence. Okay, at least that explains, why they didn't finish it on time (April 2009)

Peasants, yum-yum

I went to a museum with my son and learnt a lot. On this window the sign clearly reads: "Early Crop Farming in the Moscow Region". Does it make sense to you? All I see is a ruined hut, old leaves and a bear.
Now, here is my version: "Early farming in the Moscow region failed, because farmers were frequently eaten by grizly bears."
It was The Darwin Museum, by the way :)

17 prominent Turkish gardeners

This board apparently commemorates chief gardeners in Alanya, Turkey. They kept their photos for at least one century! Fashions have changed. And faces, too. Hypnotizing. These guys are really enjoying their 5 minutes of fame out there. Biographies are not supplied, but you can easily imagine them just by looking at their faces.
  
Bigger picture under cut

Consumer goods

Crisis is here. People only buy what they can't do without
    
A loaf of bread, a portrait of the president and a small blue box.

been drawing it for months now

here we go, The Return of the Drunk Husband, a village scene.
Resketched it, added new layers of ink, spilt a glass of water on it (not intentionally) - finally, I'm done with it

  
this is a tomb of Vladimir Sofronitsky, a legendary Russian pianist. I had a map, but it took me 30 mins to find it, because it's hidden behind two thorny bushes - one above and one in front. The fallen leaves cover the letters, so it's a very reticent tombstone. My Mom wanted to come here for years, but the cemetery was closed since vandals broke a nose off the statue of Stalin's wife.

Врачи: Юрий Михалыч, давайте мы вам голову оторвем, а новую поставим.
Михалыч: Нет, постойте, мою еще можно починить!
Врачи: Да ну, сверлить-штукатурить, мы лучше новую поставим,  в сто раз красивее!
Михалыч: Стойте, я против!
Врачи: Да мы уже все согласовали и подписали...
(отрывают Юрию Михалычу голову и приставляют новую)
Новая голова: Эта шо! Теперь я Юрий Михалыч? Ачуметь! Так, тут же выписываю из Житомира мою тетю - будет главной по строительству. И эта-а, Батурину на фиг отправляю - зачем мне жена, если я жен... (осматривает себя) Ой! Я ж теперь мужик! Что ж вы сделали?! У меня ж теперь усы отрастут и кепка! Вы шо?!
Врачи: Ну не знаем, народу нравится.

stage 3

drawing a new pic, reworking the sketch, like it, don't want to spoil it, going slow :)
    
stage 1                                                                                                     stage 2

анатомия для художников

Спасибо, yoggurt, за хорошие ссылки, вот еще одна от меня на ту же тему.
Джордж Бриджман, Конструктивная анатомия
narod.ru/disk/9428371000/anat.rar.html
пароль: anatomy

Air France crash

A few hours before my flight I was watching TV and learnt about that Air France jet. The first suggestions were that it ran into a tropical storm. Then they added that it met with heavy turbulence AND got hit by a lightning. Now I'm reading that the Airbus got into an air gap due to the storm.
Can anyone explain to me: why-why-WHY do they keep flying INTO the storm at all? Haven't they got a weather report in front of them? Did any carrier lately cancel a single flight due to dangerous weather conditions? It appears that, good weather or not, they keep flying anyway.
I recall a similar accident with a Russian passenger jet: the pilot was trying to fly OVER the storm and crashed. He didn't want to turn away, because that would mean losses to the air company, wage cuts etc.

Лучше умереть стоя

...несчастный король (Георг III) в поисках покоя и забвения уединился в Уэймуте...
Представьте себе удивление его величества во время первого купания в море: не успела его венценосная голова показаться над волнами, как мини-оркестр, сокрытый в ближайшей из купален, грянул во всю мощь: "Боже, храни короля..."
Лорд-пэру Уэймута предстояло приветствовать гостя. Его предупредили, что, обращаясь к королю, следует опуститься на колени. К удивлению окружающих, в торжественный момент мэр остался стоять на ногах и приложился к королевской руке "обычным образом". - Потрудитесь преклонить колени, сэр! - прошипел разъяренный конюший. - Я не могу, сэр, - услышал он в ответ. - Но так делают все, сэр! - Простите, сэр, - в голосе мэра слышалось откровенное отчаяние, - но у меня деревянная нога!
(Генри В. Мортон. "По Англии и Уэльсу. Путешествия по Великобритании" М., СПб, 2008)

Rembrandt and the world economic crisis

"[In 1650] Rembrandt's finances were in good shape; his insolvency was not to come until 1656, after the international economic crisis of 1653" 

(from "Rembrandt's Etching Technique: An Example" by Peter Morse, www.gutenberg.org/files/26496/26496-h/26496-h.htm)
 

Anti-Crisis Job Pool

Been anywhere interesting lately? Moscow's Butyrka prison is hiring men and women, aged 18-39, for unspecifies jobs, with a salary of $400-600. The ad was placed in the Moscow subway. Applicants get social benefits (and a chance to meet a lot of interesting people). Note, the prison's got a website (I wonder if they allow webcams there)

Bad guys vs Good guys

Soviet artist's representation of a foreign spy: a villain in a prisoner's pea-jacket, ear-flapped hat and felled boots gets easily trapped by the border guards. Look at his knife, too! Dangerous fella.


That's from a Soviet Nursery Rhyme book. A small puppy picked up in the street became a Defender of our Motherland.


The preface says, children should learn about the Party and Lenin from early age.
    
and inside we find  a few poems about Lenin and a story: Lenin entertains children at a New Year party. A rather reluctant account written by one of the party apparatchiks. Luckily, this bullshit takes just around 2 per cent of the book.
  

Food and Drug

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?