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Movies

• 02.15.09
  Padded doors
  Moskva slezam ne verit, Movies, Sluzhebnyiy Roman (0)

  What's the deal with these padded doors in Russian movies? Here's the door of the Director's office in Sluzhebnyiy Roman (Office Romance) a 1977 movie. And here's a door to an apartment, in "Moskva slezam ne verit", a 1979 film. And there are many others to be found. I have questions, assuming these types of doors were found in real life and not just in the movies. When did that style of door get started? What materials are used? Why have padded doors at all? Is that still a common style? If not, when did it end? Is/was it just ...
  
  
• 02.11.09
  Pipe organ = bad guys
  Alexander Nevsky, Miscellaneous, Movies, Sergei Eisenstein (1)

  On my ride home from work tonight, I listened to some of the book of Luke from the Russian bible I downloaded from the Faith Comes by Hearing site. Occasionally I listen to it while exercising on our elliptical machine, usually with a printed version of Russian and English to study alongside. Sometimes it takes me an entire 20- or 30-minute session to work my way through one chapter. Though when there's a Big Ten basketball game on TV, I usually watch that while exercising instead of working on Russian. But when there's no game on TV, I'll work on ...
  
  
• 02.10.09
  ASL vs Russian Sign Language
  Miscellaneous, Movies (0)

  I did make myself finish watching Strana glukhikh last night. It was not the ending I expected! But I got to wondering how Russian Sign Language relates to American Sign Language. Where is it in the taxonomy of sign languages? I don't know any sign languages myself -- I need the subtitles -- but I'm curious about things like that. I didn't find an answer to my question, but I did find this web page that tells about a Russian Sign Language/American Sign Language translator program. And some Russian Sign Language is used in the US: In ...
  
  
• 02.02.09
  Krylya
  Movies (1)

  We finished watching Krylya (Wings) tonight. That's a very good film, at least the first time through. Afterwards I looked for reviews with which to compare my reactions, and found this: She is unable to come to terms with her past nor with the present, in which she is the director of a high school and the mother of an adoptive daughter. Her attempts to compensate for her distraction all lie in the direction of appearing authoritative, but the students and her daughter, with the unerring instincts of the young, distrust and despise her. That wasn't quite my take on it. ...
  
  
• 01.11.09
  Industrious-Millinery Complex
  Movies (0)

  President Dwight D. Eisenhower (who gets a mention in several Soviet-era films, though not this one) warned about the rise of a Military-Industrial Complex. What we have in this screenshot is something a little different: An Industrious Millinery Complex. It's from Tot Samyiy Myunkgausen. Duke Herzog (not the major character) is the industrious milliner. He knows about tucks, seams, hems, and waists, and hates it when the proper duties of his position intrude. His aide has been trying to turn away the Baron Munkhausen's estranged wife who is waiting outside, saying the ...
  
  
• 12.21.08
  Insurance in the USSR
  Movies (6)

  Cute. Music reminiscent of Pink Panther beginning at 3:24. I've watched three YouTube segments of "Beware of the Car," which will be the 3rd Eldar Ryazanov film I've seen. When I saw this (in segment 2) I thought the guy on the left might be Ryazanov himself. But I guess it's not. The scene is in an insurance office, and the main character of the film (on the right) is an insurance agent. The guy on the left is his boss. I was taken aback by the idea that there was such a thing as property insurance in the ...
  
  
• 11.06.08
  Trial by jury
  Movies (0)

  I didn't know that Russia had trial by jury now. But here is a movie about it: "12" The little YouTube blurb said it's somewhat like "12 Angry Men." I haven't seen that movie, but I think I read the play script in high school. Or maybe I did see the movie way back. It sounds familiar, anyway. I googled for some information and learned that Russia adopted (or re-adopted) trial by jury in 1993. I picked this article as something to read, just for the sake of starting somewhere. It sounds ...
  
  
• 11.02.08
  RussianDVD.com
  Movies (3)

  This looks promising: Russiandvd.com I found it when looking for Mark Zakharov movies. Netflix doesn't have any, nor are there any on Ebay. But there are some here. Russiandvd.com not only sells DVDs but has a rental program, too. I'm starting to run out of Russian movies on Netflix. When I exhaust those, maybe I'll subscribe here. There is a problem, though. A lot of them do not have subtitles, which means I'll have to learn a lot more Russian before I can watch them properly. And even when I do, ...
  
  
• 08.23.08
  Social distance
  Movies (1)

  Yesterday we finished watching "Aguirre, The Wrath of God". Tonight I read about it on Wikipedia and elsewhere. It seems other people have a lot higher opinion of it than I do. It has its good points, but I'm going to ignore those and talk about something else. The puppet emperor in one scene is shown gorging himself on delicacies while the rest of the crew are reduced to rationing out the last few grains of corn to eat. (It's not in the scene in the above YouTube clip, though, even though it's the same character. ...
  
  
• 08.21.08
  Winter firewood
  Movies (0)

  I'm not keeping up with my movie-watching lately. But I enjoyed this segment of White Bim Black Ear. (And did I really call it Black Bim White Ear a few posts back?). Here are the parts I liked: I liked the winter scenes with effects you get with the mid-day sun low in the sky. Makes me wish I was there, almost. You can't do that kind of filming in California, even if you can get the snow. Ice fishing. But why was the guy fishing when he said he was going hunting? And ...
  
  

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