The "Soviet" housing project that didn't work in the US/The Pruitt-Igoe

[Ooooops]

We have been together over 30 years, I was a teen when I met him.

Very happy for both of you!   

[Boethius]

Thanks.    Our lives were not easy, but they were interesting.  Now, we're just a boring middle aged couple with teens who believe I'm an idiot, but their father is brilliant.

[Anotherkiwi]

Thanks.    Our lives were not easy, but they were interesting.  Now, we're just a boring middle aged couple with teens who believe I'm an idiot, but their father is brilliant.

Have you left it too late to swap the roles of "good cop, bad cop?" 

[Ooooops]

Our lives were not easy, but they were interesting. 

Have you seen "White Nights"? 


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090319/

[mendeleyev]

Our lives were not easy, but they were interesting.  Now, we're just a boring middle aged couple with teens who believe I'm an idiot, but their father is brilliant.

Bo, take heart as that will change as they grow and mature. In 2011 I stepped off a Metro wagon and badly twisted my ankle while changing lines. I phoned Mrs M that I was painfully hobbling to my next platform and upon arrival at our stop I'd grab a taxi instead of the bus to make it home. She was on the other side of town but told me to wait until she arrived because maybe we should see a doctor before driving all the way home in the outskirts of Moscow.

I was in agony and although in rush hour some young people stood up and asked me to sit at their spot in the next wagon. When I arrived at our home stop I expected to hobble off the platform, try to make my way down a long transitional hallway and then up the stairs to the exit where I would wait.

No sooner than stepping off the wagon I was surprised when two familiar arms wrapped around me and a precious young feminine voice firmly ordered me to give her my bag with camera and recording things. To the left I felt the welcome presence of my (now) son-in-law who supported me and became a crutch as we slowly walked. The young lady to my right, who had off and on fought me tooth and nail as a preteen and early teen, was the one who knelt on the ground outside and gently examined my ankle and the swelling. If ever there was a time when as a parent you feel loved...

There is hope as they become adults, my friend.

[mendeleyev]

For those who've not been inside a communal apartment, here is a good resource. Click on the "English" and you'll see links to videos, too.


http://kommunalka.colgate.edu/

[Muzh]

In another forum where RP living in the US exchange their memories about their life in the Soviet Union the loudest ones screaming about how terrible the USSR was are the people that confess that long time ago, in the USSR they were the most talented speakers/leaders of the pioneer organization and comsomol,  and how great that was to travel everywhere for free , the only work you had was giving amazing  communist speeches from the tribunes, and that if the USSR hadn't fallen apart they would have made   amazing careers and would have joined the Communist party, but alas, now they are US managers or something

Eerily similar to: "How bad things are with AW now and they want to go back to when they were more traditional, bla, bla bla."

[Boethius]

Have you seen "White Nights"? 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090319/

No.    Why?

Bo, take heart as that will change as they grow and mature. In 2011 I stepped off a Metro wagon and badly twisted my ankle while changing lines. I phoned Mrs M that I was painfully hobbling to my next platform and upon arrival at our stop I'd grab a taxi instead of the bus to make it home. She was on the other side of town but told me to wait until she arrived because maybe we should see a doctor before driving all the way home in the outskirts of Moscow.

I was in agony and although in rush hour some young people stood up and asked me to sit at their spot in the next wagon. When I arrived at our home stop I expected to hobble off the platform, try to make my way down a long transitional hallway and then up the stairs to the exit where I would wait.

No sooner than stepping off the wagon I was surprised when two familiar arms wrapped around me and a precious young feminine voice firmly ordered me to give her my bag with camera and recording things. To the left I felt the welcome presence of my (now) son-in-law who supported me and became a crutch as we slowly walked. The young lady to my right, who had off and on fought me tooth and nail as a preteen and early teen, was the one who knelt on the ground outside and gently examined my ankle and the swelling. If ever there was a time when as a parent you feel loved...

There is hope as they become adults, my friend.

Thanks, Mendy.

[Muzh]

Have you seen "White Nights"? 


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090319/

I have.

It was filmed in Finland. My ex was an exchange student there and she would point out some places where she was.

[Ooooops]

No.    Why?

Just an example of "life not easy, but interesting".   Choreography is great too.   

An expatriate Russian dancer is on a plane forced to land on Soviet territory. He is taken to an apartment in which a black American who has married a Russian woman lives with her. He is to become a dancer for the Bolshoi again, but he wishes to escape, but can he trust the American?

[Ooooops]

I have.

It was filmed in Finland. My ex was an exchange student there and she would point out some places where she was.

Finland?   Interesting...   Well, I guess Helsinki can pass for Leningrad with it's architecture...   

[OlgaH]

It was filmed in Finland. My ex was an exchange student there and she would point out some places where she was.

Finland?   Interesting...   Well, I guess Helsinki can pass for Leningrad with it's architecture...

not only in Finland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Nights_%281985_film%29

[Ooooops]

not only in Finland

That movie was released in 1985 which means that it was in production in 1984 - time when Andropov was behind the wheel.   I seriously doubt that any of that movie was shot in USSR as Wiki says... 

[OlgaH]

That movie was released in 1985 which means that it was in production in 1984 - time when Andropov was behind the wheel.   I seriously doubt that any of that movie was shot in USSR as Wiki says...

I thought about it, could not find any information about the shooting in USSR.

only wiki: " For White Nights, a team of travelogue filmmakers from Finland, who previously had done work in the Soviet Union, were hired to film a number of locations in Leningrad, such as the Kirov Theatre and the Lenin monument, as well as a Chaika state-limousine. These scenes were then inserted into the movie, some being in-car scenes"

______________

it was trick photography

I like this
И чайный гриб в трехлитровой банке!!! Да, ради него можно простить фильму все мелкие огрехи.   

http://zanuda-32.narod.ru/DUB2/WHITENIGHTS/whitenights.htm

[SANDRO43]

Well, I guess Helsinki can pass for Leningrad with it's architecture...

You mean for some of  its rather drab downtown buildings ?

It was never explained to me why one of its most imposing buildings should be its centrally located Anglican Cathedral - does anybody know?

[Ooooops]

only wiki: " For White Nights, a team of travelogue filmmakers from Finland, who previously had done work in the Soviet Union, were hired to film a number of locations in Leningrad, such as the Kirov Theatre and the Lenin monument, as well as a Chaika state-limousine. These scenes were then inserted into the movie, some being in-car scenes"

Ah, I see...   

[Ooooops]

You mean for some of  its rather drab downtown buildings ?

Something like that...       "Moscow on Hudson" (another great movie about defectors) directors found those in Bavaria.   

After considering many locations for the Moscow portion of the film, Mazursky settled on Munich, based on the flexibility Bavaria Studios offered him with full control over an authentic "Eastern European street."

[OlgaH]

I like this moment Baryshnikov dancing to Vysotsky's song "Capricious horses"

I also think his kneeling dancing is very symbolic.



By the edge, near the cliff, at the very, very limit
I am beating at my horses with my arm, a whiplash in it.
I'm not getting enough air - drinking wind, the fog imbibing,
And I scent with deadly rapture: I am dying, I am dying!

Just a little slower, horses, little slower now!
Do not listen to the sharp whip, it is wrong!
But the horses that I got are capricious ones
I can't live to the end, I can't finish my song.

I will let horses drink - the couplet I will sing
For a little bit more I will stand on the brink...

I will vanish - like a piece of dust by wind I will blown,
In the morning they will drag me in the sleigh through the snow,
O my horses, walk some slower, show a bit of moderation
Just a little bit, prolong my way to final destination!

Just a little slower, horses, little slower now!
Do not listen to the sharp whip, it is wrong!
But the horses that I got are capricious ones
I can't live to the end, I can't finish my song.

I will let horses drink - the couplet I will sing
For a little bit more I will stand on the brink...

We are here: nobody comes late here to greet the Lord of Heaven -
Then, why do the angels sing with voices so angry and heavy?
Or the bell does shake from weeping, weeping gently, weeping deeply,
Or I'm shouting to the horses that they do not run so quickly?

Just a little slower, horses, little slower now!
I pray to you don't hurry along!
But the horses that I got are capricious ones
I can't live to the end, I can't finish my song.

I will let horses drink - the couplet I will sing
For a little bit more I will stand on the brink...

(Translation by Ilya Shambat)

[Boethius]

I've never been a big fan of Baryshnikov.  I saw some choreography of his once, and thought he was a better choreographer than dancer.  Then, after the collapse, for days on end, an arts channel played clips, very late at night, from the Kirov.  It was outstanding stuff, really innovative, all original choreography.  I also watched for the superb dancing.  All of Baryshnikov's original "choreography" was almost step for step from this.  I can't recall if it was Vinogradov or Eifman who choreographed it, and I haven't been able to locate it since, but it was absolutely superb.


Here are some comparisons.  I would say Vasiliev comes out the best here.  Baryshnikov is very young, showed promise, but I don't think he grew as a dancer after this.