November 2012 - Page 2 of 2 -

Politics of (Russian) Pop: Election Edition

Towards the end of my undergrad, after I’d studied abroad and achieved a reasonable level of linguistic skill, I started collecting Russian pop songs that seemed to reflect political and cultural attitudes. Songs about AIDS, or Saddam Hussein, or army service. For today I want to share a clip from a Russian movie — a musical of sorts, which follows a group of musicians on a campaign cruise with a candidate, putting on concerts and getting out the vote in various ways. One of the first songs is sung by Shnur, the irreverent and generally foul-mouthed lead singer of the ska band Leningrad, and in the end it’s a farce – they get the guy elected, only to realize they’ve been in the wrong district the whole time. (If you want an overview of Russian music styles, search youtube for “день выборов” (election day) or “день радио” (radio day), both musical films by the same group lampoon a wide variety of Russian music genres.) Read More →

The Kitten of the Baskervilles

Evil, evil kitty!

It’s November again and I am Nanowrimoing my little heart out, so I’ll be reposting a few things from way back when, and concentrating on the new novel climbing out of my head.

We’ll start off with this excitement from 2007.

A Halloween Tale (Tail?)

Last week, on Halloween night, between parties, I found a glowstick bracelet and took it with me. Upon getting home, I gave it to the kitten, as I often do with smallish objects that can be batted about on the carpet. It was late, beer had been drunk, exeunt humans unto bed.

…

6:30:00 am. Hearing a somewhat odd noise, I stir from sleep. There are flecks of glowing foam flying through the air and a distressed kitten ricocheting about the bedroom.

6:30:10 am. I leap from bed and begin trying to catch the cat while cursing and calling upon various deities to have mercy on the poor beast. Boyfriend wakes up, is confused and annoyed at the early wake up call. Assumes I am berating the cat for playing with some inappropriate item.

6:30:45 am. I hold the cat down in the sink and rinse out her mouth, since she is foaming at the mouth, and the spittle is glowing.

6:31 am. Boyfriend is awake and discombobulated. I am wet and concerned. Kitten is wet and unhappy.

6:33 am. Offending glow bracelet located in the hallway, with small puncture wound, leaking glowing chemicals onto carpet.

6:35 am. Boyfriend checks the interweb and determines that a) the chemicals are only mildly toxic, b) they taste really nasty (hence the leaping and foaming), and c) many cats before have had similar experiences.

6:37 am. Feed kitten some crunchies to help get the taste out of her mouth.

6:38 am. Everyone calms down and goes back to bed.

Apparently cats chewing on glowsticks and then being very sorry is not uncommon. You can get more info here.