Friday, December 31, 2010

С Новым Годом! Happy New Year!

Дорогие друзья и читатели!

Поздравляю Вас с Новым 2011 Годом! Удачи, улыбок, успехов, умиротворения Вам и Вашим близким! Пусть этот год принесёт в Ваши дома доброту, мягкость и пушистость! :))) И да пребудет с Вами кролик... или кот!

Happy New Year, dear readers and friends! I hope 2011 will be successful and prosperous for all of you. Best of luck! May The Cat, or The Rabbit, be with you!

В заключении, презентую Вам новогодние пожелания нано-президента Медведева. Хорошо читает, с выражением... как у доски. Только почему-то очень щурится.

Если cпросите откуда видео так рано, отвечу анекдотом: "Ура, конец света не сегодня! На Дальнем Востоке уже наступило завтра!" Видео:

Monday, December 27, 2010

Dishes for Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, dear friends and readers! I wish you luck, prosperity, and joy! I hope you have received great presents, and have indulged great dishes over the last week-end, as I have.

This year my wife, Diana, and I decided to stay at home for Christmas and to treat ourselves with lots of goodies. And that was what we cooked last Friday:




to be honest, we had prepared so much we couldn't eat it all at once - the left-overs came in handy on Saturday and on Sunday.







Here is the list with photos:

 
Cat-Salad (no worries, there's ham, carrots, potatoes, onion, and mayo in it, but no cat). The upcoming new year is the year of either a rabbit or a cat, depending on the calendar. We chose to give the salad a form of the latter to honor our Filka.






That's him - safe and sound! :)))









The next ones on the list: deviled eggs (stuffed). Great appetizer for any occasion. A unison of zestiness and texture from the combination of mustard, horseradish, mayo, egg, bacon, and green onion will perfectly prepare your palate for more.



I can't imagine Christmas without a roast. It's a given, right!.. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the rack of laaaaamb!
Coat it with garlic in olive oil, herbs and bread crumbs to taste, and stick it in the oven (375 degrees F) for twenty minutes. Voilà!






Oh, mon Dieu! C'est Ratatouille délicieux! Click for recipe.








Cherries-in-cream pie. Topped with grated chocolate.






My dad always says: "I like to have fun - especially, to devour!" :))) I can't agree more! Now, tell me what you have cooked for Christmas.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The Russian Academy of Sciences Bad Translation Unveils a Mysterious Squirrel Institute.

I saw another funny thing. I found it on the website of the Russian Academy of Sciences, under the Institute of Protein Research. In a category of the ridiculous, it would take the iconic first place.

For some time, the institute's English-version page stated that you were visiting “Squirrel Institute" - poor translation of the word "belka," which was Russian for both a protein and a squirrel. The mistake has been later removed from the website. However, its screenshot still exists here.
Make no mistake, squirrels deserve to be researched. But the Academy members deserve an excessive butt whooping for such a public disgrace. Shame on them! Peter the Great and his "cudgel" pedagogy would come in very handy now.

What Grinds My Gears. Part 2.

I saw a TV show on History the other day - a foreign person spoke. An interpreter translated dubbing the speech with a voice-over. However, the interpreter was also trying to simulate an accent! Here is the video.
 
That was preposterous to me. Why would anyone translate a speech of a foreigner into English with an accent?! It didn't make sense.  

First of all, the interviewee spoke WITHOUT AN ACCENT, because he spoke his native language! Second, the accent-enhanced translation sounded nothing like the original. The interviewed man was Russian. I am Russian too. I can tell the difference...

Here's my scholarly take on it: an experiment. My wife and I talked in Russian for some time, allowing our English-speaking friends to listen to our speech. Then, I showed them the above mentioned video and asked if we had sounded anything like the copied accents. Out of six interviewed people, five answered “no.”

What I have described here is frequent on American TV. Simply, pay attention while watching it next time... I suppose, the simulation of the accent may have been used for entertainment purposes. However, I am convinced it misinterprets the language patterns and misleads the perception of an important cultural element.

And this, my friends, is what grinds my gears!

 

Friday, December 3, 2010

Вот такую рекламу делают в Красноярске по заказу верных путинцев!

Слов нет - одни матюги на ум приходят от созерцания такого "творчества". Ссылка к видео.



А ведь, как сообщает newsru.com, за создание и размещение роликов в сети из краевого бюджета заплатили полмиллиона рублей. Что-то маловато распилили, ЕДоРасы! Не тот калибр?

Thursday, December 2, 2010

ЧМ-2018 по футболу пройдет в России! Russia to Host FIFA World Cup 2018 for the First Time!

В четверг вечером в выставочном комплексе "Мессе Цюрих" прозвучали имена двух стран, которые в 2018 и 2022 году примут чемпионаты мира по футболу. Сообщает newsru.com.

Предпочтение было отдано заявке российского оргкомитета. В финальной стадии голосования Россия победила серьёзных соперников в лице Англии, тандемов Испания-Португалия и Бельгия-Нидерланды. Несмотря на очевидное преимущество конкурентов в готовой футбольной инфраструктуре, самая большая страна в мире получила Чемпионат-2018.

Дело в том, что текущая политика ФИФА, с подачи президента этой организации, Йозефа Блаттера, подразумевает активное распространение этого вида спорта по всему миру. Поэтому, правом проведения мундиаля наделяются, в первую очередь, страны, в прошлом не имевшие такой возможности (за примером отправляемся в Южную Африку).

Я поздравляю всех соотечественников с историческим событием и надеюсь, что данное мероприятие положительно скажется на развитии футбола в России. Может, наконец-то, и у нас появятся супер-стадионы, супер-поля и супер-игроки! 



Russia, for the first time in history, will host the FIFA World Cup in 2018. Russia outbid England, and tandems Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium. The 2022 Championship was given to Qatar. The decisions echoed the latest FIFA initiatives of promoting soccer around the globe, and awarding the Mundial's hosting rights to countries, which had never had it before.

Congratulations to Russia and Qatar!