Between Reality and Poetry

Comparing what is said, what is speculated, what is criticised, what is suffered...Actually, everybody is living the catastrophe through their own eyes. If you have a look to the reality, near the fires, it may look like that http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/08/russian_wildfires.html. But if you live in Moscow, my friends and I saw some amazing things that explain the frivolous attitude of the moscovites (even in a catastrophic situation): people wearing a mask in an air-conditioned car, senior people having a beer outside the metro asking you for a lighter, stopped cars spitting gaz emissions with children playing behind, people having dinner on terrasse...

Still, worth having a look to that very nice video - a love hymn to the smoked city of Moscow.

Street Marketing

First time that discipline deserves so well its name. This year, a new media appeared in Moscow (well, you've got to find some other solutions as everything is already quite busy). Just as simple as tagging the pavement. Not a bad idea at the moment when you see barely your feet in the smoke.

But as always, a simple idea got completely crazy and everybody wanted to draw its fingerprints everywhere: brands for youth, little shops around the corner, announcement of concerts and events (as the tag is permanent, few of them seems quite outdated), navigation path to find restaurants, websites...and even companies proposing professional tagging for your brand. The situation became ridiculous with not less than 20 tags at each metro exit.

I'm sure Moscow will find something to go to the next level for next year. And in the winter, perhaps, we can paint the snow (if somebody feels interested, I can sell the patent).

(Photos: Dirrty Frank, one step after another)

Silent Hill

It's in the Bag

Far from Carrie Bradshaw's show that any people would imagine in the upscale streets of Moscow, there is another trend going on, much stronger and touching the majority of the population. This is all about the plastic bag. Easy, seasonal, premium, even chic.

You can't imagine how far the people go to chose or to handle the right plastic bag to look a bit posh. Of course, it's not always on purpose. When you buy something in the streets or in the tunnels, you have to buy the wrapping bag. And then, it's a collection of different styles flashing to your eyes: famous brands, colorful flowers, travelling style, foreign names with a lot of mistakes, poetry in French that does not mean anything...All of them convey something about you. And I can tell you, in Moscow, it's bloody important.

(Photos: Dirrty Frank, trying to sell some Fnac bags for 3 euros)

War Games

Few days ago, Russia was celebrating the Defenders of the Motherland...like every year actually. No comments. Just pics.

(Photos collected by Pierre Emmanuel)

Moscovite Resident Evil

That's terrible. Villages are burning all around Moscow, forests are devastated, Moscow is drown in a wave of smoke that creates a dull video-game environment. 2012 will occur in 2011? And of course, Russian people try to handle with jokes (playing with fairy tales or with one of the most famous TV news host). As usual.

(Photos: Dirrty Frank, gorilla in the mist)

Me-Too Sub Products

Russia is a mistery for that. Most of the ideas are stolen from other countries, but contrary to China for example, to talk about it is really a tabu. That's quite ridiculous when you think that globalization of ideas sharing make everything easier to track, some people here are still thinking they're protected by a kinda curtain (no historical mention here) that would allow them to imitate without any shame. I've already shown you that nice homage-video clip

http://brisonslaglace.blogspot.com/2010/05/homage-or-bad-copy.html. This is another one that is quite obvious. Yes, this clip made some buzz but far to be a best-in-class production. Even more if you remove the 'happening' that was generated at that time.

And then, we can talk about many other things like Vkontakte.ru/Facebook, series like Scrubs or Desperate Housewives (see photos), some food chains like Pret a Manger/Prime Star or some numerous local me-too products. To be fair, we can't say that Russian people lack of imagination (all the contrary) but they hate risks. That's why they prefer to develop something that was done successfully somewhere else than to invest in the unknown

(Photos: Dirrty Frank, the one and only...so far)