World Entertainment: Russia
Entry posted by newbloodmoon in Entertainment ·
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Okay, okay, before the animosity towards anything Russia due to the war in Ukraine for the past year, hear me out. Since this is a blog on entertainment and not a commentary on any particular country’s current geopolitical views lets not lose focus and flush ourselves down the current toilet bowl that is Russian politics.
Lets start off with literature as this was my one and only attempt at reading a Russian classic due to it being a coworker recommended read. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy that was published in its entirety in 1869. This book of history/philosophy/ mixed in a fictional narrative was to say the least less enjoyable than playing kick the dinglebag of a grizzly and see if you survive game. Well I imagine the later would have less chance of actually killing me by choking hazard or boredom.
With that out of the way I will discuss some music/ballet I have enjoyed. First off peter and the wolf.
wiki: Peter and the Wolf (Russian: Петя и Bолк, tr. "Pétya i volk", IPA: [ˈpʲetʲə i volk]) Op. 67, a "symphonic fairy tale for children", is a musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a children's story, while the orchestra illustrates it by using different instruments to play a "theme" that represents each character in the story. It is Prokofiev's most frequently performed work and one of the most frequently performed works in the entire classical repertoire.
I remember seeing an animated version as a kid in the 70’s, I’m pretty sure (well as reliably so from a memory a long, long time ago) that there wasn’t any narration in this. The visuals and the music told the story quite well and I remember enjoying the fact that each character was represented by a different instrumental theme. If I can find it I will post a clip below. (Note: found the cartoon on youtube, narrated by David Bowie. The cartoon I remember just not being narrated)
Another Russian composer I enjoy is Piotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) and am rather partial to the 1812 overture and symphony #5. There are others I have enjoyed but the above two are my stand by songs.
And now Russian cinema, the good, bad, and horribly mediocre but still better than sparkling vampires in the twilight franchise.
Cosmo Ball is sci-fi movie where teams compete on television in a game of, you guessed it Cosmo Ball.
Guardians is the russian equivalent of the American comic book move. The movie revolves around a team of heroes with super powers who have to fight the evil menace. For not having a comic book history to speak of this movie was quite good and the special effects were pretty decent. Not up to the standards of the phase one Marvel universe but it did well for itself.
Night Watch 2004, Day Watch (2006), Dusk Watch (unfilmed) is an intended trilogy that is an urban fantasy, supernatural thriller. I enjoyed the first two movies and hope they complete the series.
I am Dragon. A fantasy movie with a very strong opening even if it is the cliched sacrifice the girl to the dragon to save the village. It then turned in to a hokey love story but at least the dragon doesn’t sparkle. I can’t in the name of humanity share a clip of this movie and will leave it up to you dear reader to find it. May the cosmos have mercy on you.
Russian adjacent.
Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs is a biography I had read some years back and found it to be quite interesting. I believe the title speaks for itself in what’s contained in its pages.
The following is a song about the mad mystic.
Edited by newbloodmoon
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