# Forum General General Discussion  Russia! New English-language mag about Russia

## chaika

I'm copying the whole article here because in a couple of days it will be viewable only by subscription. Has anyone here seen the first issue? Any comments on it? 
Spreading the Word 
A new glossy magazine about Russia appears in North American bookstores. 
By Masha Rumer
Published: March 30, 2007 
Do Russian women shave their legs? What's the deal with homosexuality in Russia? These are among the questions tackled in a new glossy magazine whose debut issue appeared last month in U.S., Canadian and British bookstores. 
Russia!, an English-language quarterly with an initial print run of 20,000, aims to serve as a reality check to Western conceptions of Russia as a place populated with spies, vodka-guzzling chess players and mail-order brides. Its target reader is the Westerner who may not know much about the country but is interested in it, said Michael Idov, main editor of the next issue. 
Idov, together with the magazine's publisher, Ilya Merenzon, met with a reporter near Union Square in New York, where Russia! has its editorial offices. Both Idov and Merenzon stressed that the magazine is largely apolitical and has no Kremlin ties -- something they are often asked. 
"It's so unaffiliated with the Kremlin, in fact, in the second issue there's going to be some anti-Putin material, if I have anything to do with it," said Idov, who was born in Riga and also works for New York Magazine as a contributing editor. 
Russia! is co-owned by Press Release Group, a New York-based company headed by Merenzon, and New Century Bold, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands and headed by Andrew Paulson, the U.S. expatriate businessman best known for founding the Afisha publishing house in Moscow. 
In its first issue, the 132-page glossy serves up the edgy sensibility of a Lonely Planet travel guide with a sampling of modern culture, as well as a healthy dose of humor. Heavy on design, it includes a number of photo spreads that illuminate various aspects of day-to-day Russian life, from kitschy Soviet hiking gear to the crammed interior of a Moscow apartment. In "Dacha," a tongue-in-cheek fashion spread, overdressed Russian girls in gaudy makeup chop wood or languish against a rustic backdrop. (Their wardrobe was all made by Russian designers.) 
The magazine boasts Artemy Lebedev -- perhaps Russia's best-known designer -- as its art director. Other contributors include Moscow gallery guru Marat Gelman, credited as the arts editor; author Boris Akunin, with an excerpt from his novel "The Winter Queen"; and Olga Sergiyenko, a former sex columnist for Bolshoi Gorod who is touted as Russia's answer to Candace Bushnell. 
The editorial team chose content for the first issue by asking students at Western universities what they wanted to know about Russia. The magazine has also used creative marketing: Its first 100 subscribers got canned air from St. Petersburg and chocolates as freebies, Merenzon said. 
Born in Chelyabinsk, Merenzon holds an MBA from New York's Pace University and is the founder and CEO of Press Release Group, a market research and public relations firm specializing in the Russian-American market. Its projects include RUXX, an index that tracks the performance of Russian stocks on foreign markets, which the company maintains with RIA-Novosti, the Russian state news agency. Merenzon has also edited Metro, a Russian-language entertainment magazine in New York. 
Merenzon's latest venture into publishing follows the launch of several other English-language media outlets designed to inform Westerners about Russia. In 2005, RIA-Novosti created Russia Today, a satellite television channel, and began publishing Russia Profile, a monthly magazine. The latter is published in conjunction with Independent Media Sanoma Magazines, the parent company of The Moscow Times. 
Most recently, RIA-Novosti announced in February that it would target the expat market by financing a major remake of the Moscow News, the sister newspaper of the Russian weekly Moskovskiye Novosti. RIA-Novosti plans to double the newspaper's size from 16 pages to 32 and to increase its print run. 
But unlike those publications, Russia! generally steers clear of politics. The most political article in the first issue is an interview with Nina Khrushcheva, the granddaughter of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, in which she discusses freedom of speech in Russia. 
Merenzon denied that Russia! has propagandistic goals, saying that it may eventually run stories about military conscription -- "what happens to people in the army and how shitty their life is" -- as well as tales of doing business in Russia. 
"We're not going to edit it for political reasons," Merenzon said. "Relationship with advertisers is important, but we're a business venture." 
Many of the ads in the first issue of Russia! are from high-profile Russian brands such as Aeroflot, Baltika beer and Rambler.ru. Most of those advertisers are clients of Press Release Group, Merenzon said. 
Merenzon also said that despite their identical names, the magazine has nothing to do with "Russia!", the mammoth exhibition of Russian art at New York's Guggenheim Museum whose 2005 opening was attended by President Vladimir Putin. 
So far, Russia! can only be bought in small independent bookstores. One of them is St. Mark's Bookshop in New York, which has been selling just over a dozen issues per week since mid-February. Margarita Shalina, a bookstore employee who is of Russian origin herself, said most of the buyers were trendy professionals in their 20s and 30s. She called the magazine "cool" and "clever." 
Eventually, Russia! will hit the shelves of giants like Barnes & Noble and Borders, Merenzon promised. "We feel we are on the right track," he said. "We now have to fine-tune our project." 
Alexander Osipovich contributed to this report. 
Copyright © 2007 The Moscow Times. All rights reserved.
URL of this page: http://context.themoscowtimes.com/story/175551/

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## kalinka_vinnie

Cool, I wouldn't mind subscribing to it for a while to check it out!

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## Rtyom

Another unbiased material.  ::

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## kalinka_vinnie

We are practically drowning in unbias!   ::

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## DDT

Hmmm... I'll have to go look for it. But I am not sure that I will like it.

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## capecoddah

Interesting... http://www.readrussia.com/
US $15 a year, Canada $25, other $35
Pretty steep for 4 issues, but the price includes a free can of air from St Petersburg for the first 100 subscribers !   ::

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## fortheether

So I'm dying to know: 
Do Russian women shave their legs?

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## Rtyom

> So I'm dying to know: 
> Do Russian women shave their legs?

 What for? Siberian winters are cold.

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## kalinka_vinnie

Actually they grow it long and they have special beauty parlors where they make mini-hairdos for the legs. It is pretty chique. 
I think there was a topic about this 1.3 years ago. Do a search and you will find  ::

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## Бармалей

> Actually they grow it long and they have special beauty parlors where they make mini-hairdos for the legs. It is pretty chique. 
> I think there was a topic about this 1.3 years ago. Do a search and you will find

 +15 points for using the figure "1.3 years." Who does that?   ::

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## charlestonian

I would not trust a Russian Jew named Merenzon...

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## Basil77

> I would not trust a Russian Jew named Merenzon...

 Так ты ещё и антисемит?   ::

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## charlestonian

> Originally Posted by charlestonian  I would not trust a Russian Jew named Merenzon...   Так ты ещё и антисемит?

 
YEEEEESSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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## Оля

И кто-то говорит, что на этом форуме слишком много цензуры...   ::

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## Rtyom

> И кто-то говорит, что на этом форуме слишком много цензуры...

 Таких уж нет...

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## Lampada

> И кто-то говорит, что на этом форуме слишком много цензуры...

 Олечка, а что, по твоему мнению, нужно было вытереть?  Как по мне, так пусть все знают, что Чарлестониан гордится своим антисемитизмом.  Я не удивлюсь, если он и расизмом своим гордится и, наверняка, своих соседей терпеть не может.  Очевидно, что бедняга полон нелюбви к миру.

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## Ramil

На самом деле, пока человек открыто заявляет "Я не люблю ... _(вставье нацию, убеждение или любую другую категорию людей)_" - ничего страшного не происходит - это свобода слова и цензуре не подлежит. Даже когда он говорит "Я ненавижу...".
Вот когда человек говорит - "Я не люблю тех-то, поэтому давайте их убивать" - это уже пропаганда и призывы к насилию, розни и т.д. - это нужно фильтровать. Если корректно - то charlestonian может говорить о своих "убеждениях"  ::

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## kalinka_vinnie

Я не люблю китов, давайте мы их убываем!   ::

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## Ramil

> Я не люблю китов, давайте _ их убивать!

 What is it about whales that makes all the Norwegians go crazy about killing the poor beasts?  ::

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## BappaBa

> Я не люблю китов, давайте мы их убываем!

 They commit suicide from this dislike =(

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## Rtyom

> Я не люблю китов, давайте мы их убываем!

 Киты --- не нация. Провокация не удалась.   ::

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## charlestonian

Hey, y'all have your opinion, and I have mine. To each his own. Live with it!

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## kalinka_vinnie

> Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie  Я не люблю китов, давайте _ их убивать!     What is it about whales that makes all the Norwegians go crazy about killing the poor beasts?

 they smell funny   ::

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## charlestonian

[quote=kalinka_vinnie] 

> Originally Posted by "kalinka_vinnie":1wq04t4j  Я не люблю китов, давайте _ их убивать!     What is it about whales that makes all the Norwegians go crazy about killing the poor beasts?

 *they smell funny*  :: [/quote:1wq04t4j] 
Then, don't stick your nose up their ass!!!!!

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## kalinka_vinnie

[quote=charlestonian] 

> Originally Posted by Ramil        Originally Posted by "kalinka_vinnie":390xoc5f  Я не люблю китов, давайте _ их убивать!     What is it about whales that makes all the Norwegians go crazy about killing the poor beasts?    *they smell funny*

 Then_ don't stick your nose up their ass!!!!![/quote:390xoc5f]

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## capecoddah

OK, I asked my brother to look for a copy in Wash DC, a late birthday present . I'll keep you posted.
[url=http://www.readrussia.com/]RUSSIA![/alt]
Svetlana and Yulia look good with the colored legs !

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## kalinka_vinnie

Well, I got my copy in the mail. Haven't had time to read it yet, but skimmed through it and it looked interesting. Nice, big pictures and what seems to be intersting articles with some Russian words here and there... Even a pictionary of food you can buy on a train! The recipe for Golubtsy might come in handy too!  ::  All in all, worth the 5 dollars I had to pay for it and shipping... I bought it off their web site  ::

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## Rtyom

Tells us about the most interesting things when read.

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## DDT

Well, this article was sort of funny.  http://www.readrussia.com/a_1_2007_10.htm

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## JB

What we Americans consider "folk" medicine is alive and well in Russia. I have devised several self protection ploys to save myself from well meaning relatives armed with cures and treatments (just the thought of some of these scares the illness right out of me!). Most families have on hand; mustard plasters to burn the skin off your chest if you catch a cold, a set of small jars for cupping, iodine to be gargled for sore throat or poured on any cut for any reason(also used for soaking bruised body parts), a bright bluegreen paint/cream that is applied to bug bites and cuts (even on the face and neck), raw garlic is eaten as protection against grip, honey and honey comb are eaten as both prophalaxis and cure for everything, hot compresses and multiple warm wraps are applied to the neck and throat to cure sore throat (gorla) and sore neck (shea) which are considered illnesses and not symptoms, and various creams made out of bee's byproducts which are used to cure just about everything. Of course the all time favorite cure is red pepper vodka which actually does make you feel better  ::  !

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## charlestonian

> На самом деле, пока человек открыто заявляет "Я не люблю ... _(вставье нацию, убеждение или любую другую категорию людей)_" - ничего страшного не происходит - это свобода слова и цензуре не подлежит. Даже когда он говорит "Я ненавижу...".
> Вот когда человек говорит - "Я не люблю тех-то, поэтому давайте их убивать" - это уже пропаганда и призывы к насилию, розни и т.д. - это нужно фильтровать. Если корректно - то charlestonian может говорить о своих "убеждениях"

 Thank you.

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## charlestonian

> OK, I asked my brother to look for a copy in Wash DC, a late birthday present . I'll keep you posted.
> [url=http://www.readrussia.com/]RUSSIA![/alt]
> Svetlana and Yulia look good with the colored legs !

 I bet if they shave their legs and their backs, they will look even better!

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## charlestonian

> What we Americans consider "folk" medicine is alive and well in Russia.

 You??? An American???? Give me a break!!!

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## chaika

I thought raw garlic was against vampires!

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## charlestonian

Here we go again... My posts are being blocked... Freedom of speech, huh?

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## charlestonian

> I thought raw garlic was against vampires!

 Hey, what do you do in Chapel Hill, NC? I am in SC, practically, a neighbor.

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## Lampada

> Here we go again... My posts are being blocked... Freedom of speech, huh?

 Ну, надоел!  Да пиши, что хочешь, никто тебя не трогает.  У тебя глюки какие-то.

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## Lampada

> Originally Posted by JB  What we Americans consider "folk" medicine is alive and well in Russia.   You??? An American???? Give me a break!!!

 Да, тут только ты американец, все остальные хорошо притворяются.   ::

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## charlestonian

> Originally Posted by charlestonian        Originally Posted by JB  What we Americans consider "folk" medicine is alive and well in Russia.   You??? An American???? Give me a break!!!   Да, тут только ты американец, все остальные хорошо притворяются.

  Whatever....

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## charlestonian

> Originally Posted by charlestonian  Here we go again... My posts are being blocked... Freedom of speech, huh?   Ну, надоел!  Да пиши, что хочешь, никто тебя не трогает.  У тебя глюки какие-то.

 Chill out woman, chill out...

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## gRomoZeka

> Originally Posted by charlestonian  Here we go again... My posts are being blocked... Freedom of speech, huh?   Ну, надоел!  Да пиши, что хочешь, никто тебя не трогает.  У тебя глюки какие-то.

 Да он, небось, ничего и не пишет. Просто придуривается. 
Гнусная провокация, можно сказать.   ::

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## charlestonian

> Originally Posted by Lampada        Originally Posted by charlestonian  Here we go again... My posts are being blocked... Freedom of speech, huh?   Ну, надоел!  Да пиши, что хочешь, никто тебя не трогает.  У тебя глюки какие-то.   Да он, небось, ничего и не пишет. Просто придуривается. 
> Гнусная провокация, можно сказать.

 No sh!t sherlock???????

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## Rtyom

> Originally Posted by gRomoZeka        Originally Posted by Lampada        Originally Posted by charlestonian  Here we go again... My posts are being blocked... Freedom of speech, huh?   Ну, надоел!  Да пиши, что хочешь, никто тебя не трогает.  У тебя глюки какие-то.   Да он, небось, ничего и не пишет. Просто придуривается. 
> Гнусная провокация, можно сказать.     No sh!t sherlock???????

 А как докажешь?!   ::

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## charlestonian

> Originally Posted by charlestonian        Originally Posted by gRomoZeka        Originally Posted by Lampada        Originally Posted by charlestonian  Here we go again... My posts are being blocked... Freedom of speech, huh?   Ну, надоел!  Да пиши, что хочешь, никто тебя не трогает.  У тебя глюки какие-то.   Да он, небось, ничего и не пишет. Просто придуривается. 
> Гнусная провокация, можно сказать.     No sh!t sherlock???????   А как докажешь?!

 I don't have to prove a damn thing!

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## Rtyom

[quote=charlestonian] 

> Originally Posted by charlestonian        Originally Posted by gRomoZeka        Originally Posted by Lampada        Originally Posted by "charlestonian":19r5zj8n  Here we go again... My posts are being blocked... Freedom of speech, huh?   Ну, надоел!  Да пиши, что хочешь, никто тебя не трогает.  У тебя глюки какие-то.   Да он, небось, ничего и не пишет. Просто придуривается. 
> Гнусная провокация, можно сказать.     No sh!t sherlock???????   А как докажешь?!

 I don't have to prove a damn thing![/quote:19r5zj8n] 
Конечно, крыть-то нечем.   ::

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## charlestonian

[quote=Rtyom][quote=charlestonian] 

> Originally Posted by charlestonian        Originally Posted by gRomoZeka        Originally Posted by "Lampada":3jcoyq4h        Originally Posted by "charlestonian":3jcoyq4h  Here we go again... My posts are being blocked... Freedom of speech, huh?   Ну, надоел!  Да пиши, что хочешь, никто тебя не трогает.  У тебя глюки какие-то.   Да он, небось, ничего и не пишет. Просто придуривается. 
> Гнусная провокация, можно сказать.     No sh!t sherlock???????   А как докажешь?!

 I don't have to prove a damn thing![/quote:3jcoyq4h] 
Конечно, крыть-то нечем.   :: [/quote:3jcoyq4h] 
Мальчик, отойди от компьютера - поломаешь!!!

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