Diversify!
Lakhta Center on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg under construction from the window of a passing elektrichka commuter train (2018)
Politics & Culture
Ed Rubin’s Useful Links – “useful and/or interesting links for research/productivity/fun” and the inspiration for this website
The Calvert Journal – explore post-Soviet culture through music, art, literature, photography, and architecture
Bear Market Brief –list-serv for your daily dose of Russian politics
The Bell – more Russian news/politics delivered to your inbox
The Moscow Times’ Michelle Berdy Exploring the Russian Language – the ins-and-outs of Russian speech
The Village (in Russian) – what is going on in your favorite Russian city? today? tomorrow? this weekend?
Soviet Jokes Collected and De-Classified by the CIA – government-endorsed laughs
SF Eater – where to eat in SF-Bay Area-Berkeley-Oakland
Imperfect Produce – reduced price veggies
The Graphic Arts Loan Collection at the Morrison Library – rent artwork at Berkeley
“Tips for talking about your work with people you run into in the hallway at conferences” – how to share your work with others by Hakeem Jefferson
Current Reads
Cable News for Young People: TikTok Politics
Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West by Catherine Belton (2020) (Review) (Review) (Review)
“Russian Internet Memes: The Short Course” by Eliot Borenstein, NYU Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies (2020) – Intro on the NYU Jordan Center YouTube Channel
Russia Z: Celebrating the voice and vision of a new creative generation
Пранк – Портрет Путина в Лифте – Жители подъезда в шоке – video
Between Two Fires by Joshua Yaffa Review – How Putin Rules Russia
Congratulations, You’re an Elected Russian Opposition Official! Now What?
Genya Turovskaya’s “The Breathing Body Of This Thought”
How Mikhail Mishustin Rose to the Top: Old Ties, Savvy and a Knack for Systems
Russia’s Role in Producing the Taxman of the Future
The Full Chernobyl Thread from Slava Malamud on Twitter (2019)
If God Is Dead, Your Time Is Everything (A Review of Martin Hägglund) New Yorker, May 2019
Khlebnikov, Tatlin, and the Utopian Geopoetics of the Russian Avant-Garde by Harsha Ram (17 January 2019)
Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s Dau has become one of the world’s most eagerly awaited and controversial film projects. Now the maverick director’s “experiment” has finally been unveiled in Paris, it’s time to ask: was it worth the trouble? from The Calvert Journal
Russian Youth: How Are They Different from Other Russians? by Maria Lipman & Denis Volkov (18 January 2019)
Фильм Андрея Лошака “Возраст несогласия” (все серии) LiveJournal
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Review
European Party System Positioning data visualization from The Economist [December 1, 2018] with Chapel Hill Expert Survey data
The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution by Yuri Slezkine (2017) Review
The Cold War, Post-Cold War, and the Academy: An Oral History of Russian and Eurasian Studies on the Harriman Institute and multiple generations of Russian and Soviet historians and political scientists
Back To The Soviet Future collects the sci-fi covers of Soviet engineering magazine Technika Molodezhi
How Democracy Died in Hungary from Zack Beauchamp at Vox paints a vivid picture of a stark political reality
“What Identity Demands” in The New Yorker (September, 2018) problematizing Francis Fukuyama’s “thymos”
The European University at St. Petersburg is back in the pages of the New York Times “even after President Vladimir V. Putin signed three resolutions ordering officials to support the school” i.e. a wayward case study of ‘bureaucratic-authoritarianism’
Russia’s online prodigy female rapper Monetochka navigates post-post-modernism and issues a manifesto of metamodernism
Dressed Up for a Riot: Misadventures in Putin’s Moscow by Michael Idov
A Terrible Country by Keith Gessen
Music & Lyrics
NPR Tiny Desk – discover new live music or listen to your favorite artists navigate the acoustic world! - Mumu Fresh Feat. Black Thought - Saba - Tom Misch - Common - Noname - Gallant - Goldlink - Lianne LaHavas - Chick Corea and Gary Burton - Gary Burton and Julian Lage - Stephane Grapelli - Goat Rodeo Sessions - Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (2015) - Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (2018) - Chance the Rapper - Anderson .Paak and The Free Nationals - Mac Miller - Leon Bridges - Punch Brothers - Alicia Keys - Roy Hargrove Quintet - Fakear - FKJ (2014) - FKJ (2019) - Bon Iver - Rhye - Jorja Smith - Elder Island - Lizzo - Hadestown - Nicki Nicole
BBC Radio 1Xtra – the UK is where radio is still alive and thrives
COLORS – “a unique aesthetic music platform showcasing exceptional talent from all around the globe, focused on promoting the most distinctive new artists” - James Vickery - Dennis Lloyd - Angèle - Parcels - Masego (2017) - Masego (2019) - Sampa the Great - Snoh Aalegra - Mahalia - Jaz Karis - James Vickery - Parcels - Angèle - Angèle feat. Roméo Elvis - Maggie Rogers - Vulfpeck - Luedji Luna
Music & Literature – formally post-modern scholarship on the intersections between music and literature
PennSound – find your favorite or an obscure poet read and discuss their work
Jacket2 – keep the pulse on modern and contemporary poetry and poetics
George Lakoff’s Blog – George Lakoff on cognitive science, linguistics, and the “moral politics” of the day
Lazarus Text Mixing Desk – paste in your text and let modernism do the rest