Popadanets -- Russian pulp propaganda

Click any image to enlarge

Popadanets (попаданцы) is a popular genre of Russian pulp literature. It features time travelers, usually military types, who journey to important historical times where they can use their superior 21st century brains to alter events for the glory of the Motherland. It's sort of like Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee in King Aurthor's Court, only instead of cornpone Yankee ingenuity you get soldiers looking to restore Stalin's U.S.S.R.

Above you can see one of their covers which features a demolished Statue of Liberty after the time traveler helped free the U.S.A. from the running dog capitalists. Below we see Comrade Hitler, after the time traveler salvaged the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, assisting the Soviets in defeating England (I never thought I would see Hitler as an action hero, but then again, I also never thought I would see Edison invading Mars). 

We then, still on the England theme, have the time traveler helping Russia win the Battle of Trafalger (!) and Josef Stalin piloting his star fighter in an outer space battle. There's even more tomfoolery after the jump. 

The style of the illustrations is old-fashioned. Maybe their cover artist is a time traveler from the 1940s. I was also struck by the lack of buxom babes adorning the covers. Methinks that the ultra-nationalistic, yearning for the good ol' days of Stalin's U.S.S.R. patriotic readers need to work on getting their priorities straight. Although, come to think of it, maybe the two rather fey looking time travelers taking a selfie of themselves (image after jump) goes a long way to explaining that lack.  

I walked, I walked

A while back I posted a song called Djelem Djelem. This song, Gelem Gelem (I walked, I walked) by Esma Redźepova is actually the same song, although if you listen to them back-to-back they sound considerably different. 

It was composed in 1949 by Žarko Jovanović and is considered the anthem of the Romani (Gypsy/Travelers) people. They're originally from Northern India, but they've spread widely through Eastern and Western Europe and have no homeland. His lyrics are below.

I went, I went on long roads
I met happy Roma
O Roma, where do you come from,
With tents happy on the road?

O Roma, O Romani youths!

I once had a great family,
The Black Legion murdered them
Come with me, Roma from all the world
For the Roma, roads have opened
Now is the time, rise up Roma now,
We will rise high if we act

O Roma, O Romani youths!

Open, God, White doors
So I can see where are my people.
Come back to tour the roads
And walk with happy Roma

O Roma, O Romani youths!

Up, Romani people! Now is the time
Come with me, Roma from all the world
Dark face and dark eyes,
I want them like dark grapes

O Roma, O Romani youths!

Redzepova changed the first and third stanzas to:

Little tent roams the world
Like a bee from flower to flower
The tramp of horses is heard far away
But the song echoes even farther

It makes the song more cheerful, but it strips meaning from it. The Black Legion who murdered them refers to the Nazi's rounding up the Romani during the holocaust. Like the Jews, they were a stateless people slated for extermination.

The film clips used in the video are from the 1975 Soviet film Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven. 

 

Ekranoplans

During the Cold War the soviets worked on a series of ground effects crafts, called ekranoplans, that were neither ship nor plane, but a hybrid between the two.  

Below, from La Boite Verte, are pictures of the Lu from both today and when it was active. It is a missile firing variant that was the last of the Soviet ekranoplans built.

 

Valery Barykin's faux Soviet pin-ups

Click any image to enlarge

Valery Barykin is a contemporary Russian artist who blends the Soviet era propaganda poster style with Western pinup art from the same period. He says it was from his time in the Soviet Army when he was exposed to both Soviet propaganda posters and Western pin-ups. He blends the two, sometimes as a montage sometimes redrawn, to create his works. In fact, I recognize the one immediately below of the woman in a low cut blouse serving hotdogs as a piece of American art that he repainted.

The information and images are from a post at Все интересное в искусстве и не только (Everything is interesting in art and not only). It has more samples of his work. 

Valery Barykin

Soviet bus stops

Click any image to enlarge

These images of old Soviet era bus stops are from the Christopher Herwig book Soviet Bus Stops. He traveled through 13 countries of the old Soviet Union to find these bus stops.

I've posted about them before at Old Soviet era bus shelters. These images are from the Messy Nessy article This is Not Burning Man, These are the Soviet Bus Stops of Siberia. It has more images as well as details of his trip to photograph these isolated remnants of the Soviet era.

The salvage of the Murmansk

Click any image to enlarge

The Murmansk was a Soviet light cruiser. In 1994 she was sold to India for scrapping. Enroute to India she ran aground off the coast of Norway. It was thought that she would break up in the harsh weather, but she stayed together as she turned into a rusted hulk.

By 2009 enough money was raised to begin salvage work. She was in too bad of shape to be refloated, so it was decided to build a breakwater and drain where she say so she could be disassembled. The salvage was completed in 2013 (via Deserted Places).  

Soviet motorhead nostalgia

Click any image to enlarge

These are pictures and those after the jump, are via Vintage Everyday's article 50 Vintage Pics Show Cars of the Soviet Union From Between the 1950s and ’70s. There are many more pictures at the link.

I chose ones that were in color and appeared to be pictures used in advertisements. The themes are familiar, although oddly different all the same: shiny cars, upscale locales, pretty girls and destinations the cars will take you to.

Starting a WWII Soviet T-34-85 tank

The above video shows a 1944 T-34-85 being started after it sat in a barn for a while. It is powered by a 38 litre V-12 diesel. Below is more video of the tank, including shots of the interior of the turret and hull.