Green Washing

Who would believe that? Russia is becoming a first-class supporter of eco-friendly behaviours. Well, let's not be so fast but the same country that hosts SUV drivers with the sticker 'Fuck Fuel Economy' on their trunk is about to launch their first green vehicle http://inhabitat.com/first-russian-hybrid-car-coming-in-2012/ . And I'm sure that investigating a bit more Runet will give you some hints about a more responsible future. We're far to be living in Luxembourg but everything seems to go in a good direction. The supermarket chain Perekrostok is opening some 'green' stores and McDonald's does not see any problem to import their new concept on the Russian territory. Even Giant Gazprom is making an effort http://www.gazprom.com/press/news/2010/november/article105959/. Reality or manipulation. Russian style anyway.

No translation

Training for Sotchi 2014

Happy Soviet Year

It is official and very serious. For New Year's Eve, the Kremlin is organizing a party 'Back in USSR' (in English on the invitation). The ceremony will be held in an official residence of the government, outside Moscow, and will be presented by a look-alike from Brejnev. It will gather not less than 350 guests. Another look-alike from Alla Pugatchova (famous soviet star, still very famous and visible now) will be there - I've got one question, why not to pay the real one to come?

Apparently the main host, playing the ex-General Secretary of the Central Comitee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, will inspire himself with some soviet speeches to spread some gifts to the winners of a kind of lottery during the evening.

Well, what to expect now for next year? Staline kissing the employees' children?

Mad Maxim

GTA � Moscou - Video

Riot Act

Revolutions used to occur in summer. Forget about it. A wave of violence took over Europe in the last few weeks, at the middle of a snowy winter, even coming to the center of Moscow. After (in random order) London and its hungry students, Italy and its hungry anti-Berlusconi or classic France with its hungry French, here comes Russia and its hungry everybody. In a country where the riots are rare and often violently controled by the police, the last week was quite a big deal for moscovites.

After the death of a Spartak fan last week, killed by Caucasian origins lads, a terrible street fighting started to be organized between Russian fascits and Caucasus natives. After last week-end fight on Manezhnaya Place (near the Kremlin, 30 injured people), we saw again a serie of provocative clashes between ethnic minorities and ultranationalists near the Kievsky Station.

Poutine, not far from a little word of propaganda, had tough talk about 'bacillus of nationalism' and wanted Russian people to thank the police to protect them so well. Funny...not really actually.

Smack my Bitch Up (Russian Version)

Fast Company

Something freaks me out about Russia. There is a lot of things to invent here, mainly concerning services. This field is still under-invested (the sense of service is still something difficult to fully get for Russian people). But still, Moscow is a booming city, so what is the result? People are just developing some stuff which are already crowdy and with a lot of players. You see appearing everyday some me-too offers, without communication and product differentiation.

Look at that paying machine (where you can put cash on your phone, your Internet and other services). These are the brands delivering Internet connection. I let you counting them, but really, it does not make sense. Dudes, try to invest in something innovative for once.

(Dirrty Frank, looking for his provider since 3 minutes)

We Are (not yet) The Champions

A first victory for Russia, it's going to be the first time that the country will organize the FIFA World Cup, in 2018 for those who were sleeping this afternoon. Noit much to say after all the limbo created by the English campaign director, after the personal involvement of Vladimir, after all the stories about the country ability to receive a so big-scale event. Actually, I just want to show you how difficult it was when you see the communication and the accent of the Minister of Sports. Russia is getting international...little by little.

WikiKremlin

I would not report exactly what was disclosed by the Wikileaks few days ago about many important people in trhe world. I would not say here that Medvedev is considered as useless, Poutine as a dominant male and Russia as a mafia-ruled state by the US diplomats. I would like to share with you that clouding done by Fast Company. The bigger the word, the more repeated in the messages that were discovered. I was quite surprised to see Russia in a second position, even without cold war or evident threats. For sure, Russia is still a big topic for Americans.

Synchronized Swimming

Silence for the Kids

This place, Mayakovskaya, is famous to receive any type of manifestation. Of course, under high control from the police. Anyway, each time, a movement or an association wants to shout something to the government, everything is organized to let them do it in that place of 50m2. But since few months, a fence blocks the access to that place, officially for reperation but the antis are talking about a conspiracy to shut the mouths and live a peaceful end of the year. Just to make it nice, the Moscow city put on the fence some photos for a kids' association, just to make them swallow the bitter pill in a friendly way.

(Photos: Dirrty Franck, power to the kids)

In the Pipeline

Reading the Future

While the iPad was launched few weeks ago only, Russian people did not wait for Steve to start using digital reading devices. I remember my first post of this blog, highlighting the fact that people in Moscow were handling books a lot in transport. Few years have passed and they obviously took the trend on their side. But using some other devices then the worldwide blockbusters (iPad, Kindle, Samsung). You can see mainly some chinese or asian brands delivering a black/white/grey blurry enjoyable reading experience. Nevertheless, reading stays the great escape the gloomy environment over here

(Photos: Dirrty Frank, fully Mac equiped)

Dirty Dancing

Moscovite Diversity

Nobody would be surprised that the last census showed that 12% of Russians consider themselves as Muslims. In a country with so many cultures, so many origins and so many people, that's a normal fact. The big thing is that we don't give to the people the necessary places to follow their faith or at least to be in peace with their beliefs. You would argue that Kazan reveals one of the most beautiful mosque in Eastern Europe and that Russia built a brand new one near Prospekt Mira. But as usual in Russia, does it sound like enough to integrate those people into the society? What do you think conservative Russian people would think seeing those pictures on the web? And, of course, what would be their reaction, seeing that and relating them to the numerous bomb attacks in the country? I'm not saying Europe is doing better but there is a big room for improvement to ease integration and avoid racism/xenophobia which are still very strong here.

Got Moloko?

La Voix de son Maître

Un des gros buzz du moment: Poutine a reçu un chien en cadeau. On le savait déjà amoureux des animaux mais là, les sources officielles ont confirmé 'qu'il avait embrassé le chien quand on lui a offert. Certains journalistes présents ont même affirmé qu'ils l'avaient embrassé deux fois'. Sur Internet, les bloggers s'entre-tuent pour donner un nom au pauvre chien qui devra vivre avec Connie, le labrador officiel du Premier Ministre.

Je vous promets d'avoir des infos plus importantes dans mon prochain post.

Well...

Octopussy Trailer

Definitely on the Go

Bloody hell, where are the shitty kiosks where we were buying our warm beers at 4am or our outdated kebab after a long working day. If somebody knows where they disappeared, please mention it in the comments. Hundreds of them disappeared in the center of the city in the last few days. I'm really worried...

(Photo: Dirrty Frank. Who made that decision? The new ghost mayor?)

Flower Power

I've never seen a country with so many florists than Moscow - even Paris is not at that level. I can't explain the success of it apart of the intent from Russian people to put romantism at the core of their life. It's not rare to see people with flowers at the train station, at the restaurant for friends or beloved, for birthdays, for colleagues...

Well, there is always a limit. How many guys I've seen in the metro, dead drunk, falling asleep or ready to bring up, obviously late to get to home, with a ridiculous rose that would help them to get forgiveness from their wives. Romantism is where you want to find it.

(Photos: Dirrty Frank, always a rose crossing his smile)

Smile of the Month

Census on TV

This is the national census in Russia at the moment. Everybody is asked to deliver all the information necessary to understand the status of the population. But when the Prime Minister and his wife are doing it, it becomes a real event. And a real bunch of jokes on Internet http://radulova.livejournal.com/1969461.html

Echec et Math

Perelman n'est pas un nom très connu, un peu plus à Moscou mais bon. On ne peut pas être très surpris, le gars se refuse à la renommée qui lui tend les bras. Il vient de refuser deux prix internationaux pour récompenser son génie en matière de mathématiques, chacun devant lui apporter 1 million de dollars. Putain, il comprend rien aux chiffres ou quoi. La raison n'est pas simple. Il est juste socialement inapte, enfin, bon, en gros, il vit sur une autre planète et ne comprend pas pourquoi on vient leur faire chier dans sa vie bien calculée.

Alors quand les Ukrainiens s'en mêlent, rien ne va plus. Alors que se déroulent des élections à Kiev, un parti politique a fait une campagne d'affichage avec un mec à la ramasse qui dit de façon cynique pour dénoncer le parti opposant 'ma pension de retraité a augmenté de 7 hryvnia, je vais voter pour le parti XXX'. En gros, humour noir et provocation. Mais quand l'agence de pub ou le parti lui-même cherche la photo d'un loser, ils vont sur Google et prennent une photo de...Perelman. Pas de bol.

Pour l'instant, tout le monde en parle, lui continue de tourner en rond. Si j'étais lui, je demanderai 2 millions de dollars, histoire de se refaire.

I Shot Myself Today

I've created an international project called Ipeka, a artistic collective that destroys boundaries between discipline and focused on storytelling. This is one of our first projects, completely driven from Moscow but with an international cast. You can follow us on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/IPEKA/101264169925374?ref=search . See you soon.

Make Love, Not Worm

The longest conversations in Moscow these days are about the 'Kremlin Worm'. Found in his plate by Dmitry Zelenin (governor of Tverskaya region) during an official lunch at the Kremlin, that little animal is raising interest until the highest level of the Russian political hierarchy. Actually, the modern Zelenin put that photo on his twitter and created one of the most incredible scandals (he removed the photo since then, understanding his unfortunate provocation). Medvedev wanted to fire him, a lot of blogs mentioned him, jokes are already circulating, foreign press is making fun about him...and our little friend has got even his own twitter now http://twitter.com/KremlinCherv.

You don't have to be fat and impressive to succeed in Russia. A star is born.

Liver Pooh

It's a fact. Russian people take care of their livers. Actually, you can find a lot of reasons for that and they're not really linked to liver concerns: raise in prices on the beer market (confirmed by a chat with a Baltika person yesterday), year of health (another stupid advertising campaign done by the government)...

All those efforts to make your liver get better were encapsulated in a small-scale city formats billboards campaign that was planned to generate PR but...did not. So I'm doing my job here and I share with you the visual where you see a lot of garbage captured in the ad device and saying 'be careful to what you give to your liver'.

Not really sure it raised people awareness but at least they found a place where to put the extra garbage that you find everywhere in that city's streets.

(Photo: Dirrty Frank, dying for Big Mac + Heineken + Skittles)

Dirty Job

Visa Land

All the expats are upset with the visa process. True that it becomes quickly a nightmare for most of the people to go to Russia (actually, the people complaining the most are those completely taken in charge by their companies...no big deal then). But who is thinking about our fellow Russian friends? It's a nightmare when times come to organize their vacation or business trips.

Most of the countries ask for visa to Russian citizens (at least more countries than EU people). That's why some of them acted well by opening their borders to Russian new habits of travelling a lot. The clever guys are mainly Egypt, Turkey, Vietnam, Cuba (what a surprise) and few others. They do most of their business out of that.

Easy to understand: light green - no visa, dark green - visa at the entrance, yellow - visa but easy, grey - conditionnally no visa (don't understand), blue - visa for sure, visa for you a bit less.

(Photo: Dirrty Frank, soon on vacation in a no visa country but far away)

Alors Tu Danses

Back in the USSR

Well, those two words were not famous to be associated cleverly in the Soviet times. Today, John Lennon would be 70 years old and he left us a great heritage of music, creartivity and peace messages. Apparently, his early years in the Beatles were not appreciated by the Soviet journalists. Look at that article that is describing the band as absolutely stupid, with no future, bad singers with idiot fans screaming. And obviously that nobody will remember them nowadays. I'm afraid it happened to sovietism but not to the Beatles and John. Give peace a chance.

Happy Birthday to Pou

To celebrate Poutine's birthday yesterday, some nice students in the journalism department of MGU, the most prestigious university in Moscow, prepared a little surprise. A calendar full of sensuality and sweet support. Quite hot calendar. To discover entirely on http://krispotupchik.livejournal.com/92592.html

Some students from the same department don't seem to enjoy the Prime Minister. The prepared a calendar, with a different angle I would say http://sasha-utkin.livejournal.com/147833.html

Then, we can discuss the links between power and information. A difficult love affair for sure.

Real Football Fans

When you're a football fan, you are a real fan. Whomever you support.

Russian Beast

Fyodor, whenever you want, wherever you want...just joking.

You've got a Message

Come on, guys. A bit of respect for the billboards. Stop putting your shitty stuff about credits, immigration cards and english lessons for mute people. Thanks in advance.

(Photo: Dirrty Frank, waiting for your mails tomorrow)

Forest Pop Star

Leningrad band was upset to see all those pop stars, climbing the stages to defend the Khimki forest (I was promising to write a post about that problem since a long time but I want to understand better the situation to give you the full picture - in few words, eco-friendly people would like to save that forest in the North of Moscow where a highway to St Pete is supposed to be built). All kind of personnalities raised their voices to defend nature but a lot of people believe as well that this publicity helps them to sell more music and come back in the limelight. Realistic or jealous? Now, Sergey Shnourov (Leningrad leader) has got his piece of cake as well.

Best Enemies

(Photos: Dirrty Frank, which one to chose?)