Russia – Content Catnip

10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet #63

Technology for the Youth, issue 2, 1959, illustration by B. Dashkov for the article 'What Would a Space Station on the Moon Look Like?'. Picture credit: The Moscow Design Museum (page 173). c/o Phaidon

In the 63rd edition of 10 Interesting things, we peer into a Russian spaceship, bear witness to interspecies tenderness, mysterious creatures, the sad closing of a Sydney shop with a whimper, and enjoy a surreal rendition of the Chinese zodiac in one epic painting. Hope you will stick around, with a click-bait intro like that,Continue reading “10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet #63”

10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet #47

Gloriously retro and rainbow coloured Soviet posters from the 1980 Moscow and Talinn Olympics

I hope you are sitting somewhere cosy and that you’re ready to have your senses delighted by this week’s interesting finds from the pelagic zone of the internet, where whale sharks and dugongs float by in Poseidon’s dreams… How to make flying dragons (1634) The flying dragon is somewhat troublesome to compose, it must beContinue reading “10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet #47”

10 Interesting Things I Found On the Internet #31

Tiny lizard shedding looks like he's ready for outer space

Here are some flotsam and jetsam that I found floating around the river earlier on, I’ve let it all dry out and it will make a nice wall display later… This cat that feels dejected and jealous of his cat friend Animals experience jealousy, anger, love, confusion, excitment in the same way that we do.Continue reading “10 Interesting Things I Found On the Internet #31”

The world according to Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov defied description with his writing. With his limber and sharp mind he was able to craft and bring alive 18th Century Russia in such a delicate, poignant and deeply emotional way that it will leave you breathless and gasping. To read his short stories is to be plunged into a completely different realm.Continue reading “The world according to Anton Chekhov”

Film Review: The Distant Barking of Dogs

Another film that featured at the New Zealand International Film Festival was The Distant Barking of Dogs. It’s the story of a young boy and his family who live on the Ukrainian and Russian border, on a slice of disputed land that is being fought over tooth and nail, for years. The people in thisContinue reading “Film Review: The Distant Barking of Dogs”

Classic Russian Animation: Hedgehog in the Fog

Hedgehog in the Fog is the Russian equivalent of Winnie the Pooh, Paddington or Beatrix Potter stories. This delightful cartoon was made in 1975 by Yuriy Borisovich Norshteyn and introduced the world to a hedgehog that becomes bewitched by different shapes obscured by thick fog. Yuriy Borisovich Norshteyn is one of the most respected animators inContinue reading “Classic Russian Animation: Hedgehog in the Fog”