Eastern Europe and Russia

[TesticleMilkshake]

For the past month, I've been working on a paper detailing the social and culinary history of Eastern European Jews. I've had to learn a lot about Russia, Poland, the Ukraine, etc. I'm interested now, Russia specifically seems like an insane country, lots of contrasts between wealth and poverty, but an emerging middle class. Discuss?

You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&fe...&v=qC78h91BKcs

This made me rage (Oksana Makar)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1387632.html

But FEMEN is freakin' awesome (Ukrainian Topless Protestors)

You Tube

You Tube

[Siguros]

all i can tell you is they are smoking hot with that bone structure.

[TesticleMilkshake]

Originally Posted by Siguros

all i can tell you is they are smoking hot with that bone structure.

I agree

[Felix Neumann]

Putin: "If you do not like my elections, you can go to my court"

[drew_drummer]

They all love anal sex with gearshafts.

[Funky Animal]

Know and pay the right people. That's still the nr.1 rule in those countries.

[Siguros]

Originally Posted by drew_drummer

They all love anal sex with gearshafts.

LOL

[xFkx]

well, a long time ago in yalta a psychopath and a drunk put us on the wrong side of the border, so yay.

Anyway, i'm all for discussion but I fail to see a good subject: extreme contrast between wealth and poverty ? That's like 80% of the world

[Mutant]

Originally Posted by xFkx

extreme contrast between wealth and poverty ? That's like 80% of the world

Including good ole US of A


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ncome_equality

[Mutant]

Originally Posted by Siguros

all i can tell you is they are smoking hot with that bone structure.

A lot of westerners tell me that Polish women are very hot, and i am like "yeah ok" - thinking women here are kinda averagely normal and nothing special.

I think thats because slavic women are kinda exotic but not as exotic as asians to them.

A typical slavic woman has a face that many will find more feminine than a face typical western, germanic, nordic woman has - slightly bigger eyes, less square and more rounded triangle jaw/chin, generally smoother facial features.

If you like white women most then you'll be in heaven here because the pool of white women is close to 100% in Poland - honestly in my whole life i don't think i saw more than maybe 200 black, latin, or asian women here in a city with MANY university/high academy educational centers.

And last thing... the obesity... hehehe much lower % here than in America so the pool of good looking women doesn't get much smaller because of that.

[sprack]

That works in every country.

Originally Posted by Funky Animal

Know and pay the right people. That's still the nr.1 rule in those countries.

[TesticleMilkshake]

Originally Posted by xFkx

well, a long time ago in yalta a psychopath and a drunk put us on the wrong side of the border, so yay.

Anyway, i'm all for discussion but I fail to see a good subject: extreme contrast between wealth and poverty ? That's like 80% of the world

I'm talking outside of Slavic majority Russia, i.e. White Russia and major cities., like Chechnya and the Oblast states. And yeah, that is definitely true for 80% of the world, but I'm also thinking standards of living (for the upper and upper middle class) that are comparable to the the West. And the lowest levels of poverty being like, drug cartel Latin American states.

Okay, I'm gonna get back to this paper, but then I'm gonna post shitz

[TesticleMilkshake]

http://news.yahoo.com/ukraines-tople...8452--sow.html

Femen is out again.

[plague_rider]

You Tube

[ArnaudM]

Russia is fascinating.
On an artistic level, their story is just incredible. Note that, in the beginning of the XIX century, there was nothing remarquable. 70 years later, there were Rimky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Tchaïkovsky, Borodine, Rachmaninov, then Prokofiev, Chostakovitch, Stravinsky... The soviet revolution seems to have sterilized this creative power (Prokofiev and Chostakovitch were born and were also accomplished musicians before the URSS)

As a litterature teacher, I have studied and read a lot of russian masterpieces. I'll always thank Russia to have given birth to Fedor Dostoïevsky. I've leared far more in "The Karamazov brothers" than studying philosophy for 4 years hehehe.

[John_C]

Originally Posted by ArnaudM

The soviet revolution seems to have sterilized this creative power (Prokofiev and Chostakovitch were born and were also accomplished musicians before the URSS)

Shostakovich was 11 at the time of the revolution, as far as I know all his major creative work was done in (and about... and for) the USSR. Also, don't forget Schnittke, part Russian and lived in the USSR for most of his creative life.

[ArnaudM]

Indeed, it is a bit systematic, you're right BUT Chostakovitch began studying music very early. Chosta suffered a lot from the Regime, even if all his work says the contrary (it was not possible to be against it btw).
There were also a couple of interesting poets during the Soviet period, but absolutely nothing to be compared to Puchkine, Dostoïevsky or Tolstoï. The major texts were written by Chamalov, Soljenitsyne & Bulgakov...

I think it is maybe more difficult to be truly ceative when you imagination has to grow between the boundaries of ideology. Today, it is a bit the same with the kind of immanent turbo-liberalism which constitutes the planetarian ideology, you know what I mean. It doesn't mean ideology-oriented artist are all bad ones (I would name Kurt Weil, for instance), but the ground is maybe a bit less fertile when the politburo is controling your creativity.

[TesticleMilkshake]

Originally Posted by ArnaudM

Russia is fascinating.
On an artistic level, their story is just incredible. Note that, in the beginning of the XIX century, there was nothing remarquable. 70 years later, there were Rimky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Tchaïkovsky, Borodine, Rachmaninov, then Prokofiev, Chostakovitch, Stravinsky... The soviet revolution seems to have sterilized this creative power (Prokofiev and Chostakovitch were born and were also accomplished musicians before the URSS)

As a litterature teacher, I have studied and read a lot of russian masterpieces. I'll always thank Russia to have given birth to Fedor Dostoïevsky. I've leared far more in "The Karamazov brothers" than studying philosophy for 4 years hehehe.

Ahhhh!!!! I've recently been learning so much about Russia, I actually just picked up a book on 19th century Russian poets. Next semester, I think I will be enrolling in Russian language courses.

Masters thesis will be on one of two topics: Chernobyl and its effect on Jewish immigration and Jewish-founded charities of the Post-Soviet Era.

-or-

Jewitches: Women's Liberation, Paganism and the revival of The Divine Feminine in Judaism

[ArnaudM]

Deep subjects. Not easy. Dangerous maybe. Passionating, in both meanings of the word.

[John_C]

Originally Posted by TesticleMilkshake

Next semester, I think I will be enrolling in Russian language courses

Have fun with that. I thought that was a good idea, turns out russian is HARD!

[ArnaudM]

Hey, here is something russian and amazingly interesting, fun to practice and efficient. It's called "Systema" and is the russian martial art the spetnatz practice in the russian army, especially the ones bound to work as bodyguards or commando units. I did a couple of seminars and it's truly great. Far more intelligent than average close combat or military oriented martial arts. "Russian Martial Art - "SYSTEMA" is a military fighting art based on the training of the Elite Russian Special Forces. This practical form of combat combines an individual's strong spirit with extremely clever and versatile tactics that will work in any circumstances and against any enemy. All tactics employed within "SYSTEMA" are based upon instinctive reactions, individual strengths and limitations of human body, and are specifically designed for fast learning. The Russian fighting system makes no distinction between blocks, strikes and holds, believing that every movement is multifunctional." There's a group in NYC I think.
Here's a cool video about it :

You Tube

Here the website : http://www.fighthouse.com/systema/systema.html

[ArnaudM]

Russian is indeed very hard. Even metal sometimes. And extreeeeeme !

[TesticleMilkshake]

Originally Posted by John_C

Have fun with that. I thought that was a good idea, turns out russian is HARD!

No worries! I studied Mandarin for 4 years and am nearly fluent. Russian would be my fifth language.