N and I are settling down to watch a recently released Russian movie. The opening credits say, “Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.”

“Ah!” N says. “This will be another piece of religious propaganda with crosses, prayers and priests in every scene.”

He was absolutely right. Religious imagery was spilling out of every scene in a very jarring way. This happens in every other Russian film that gets released nowadays. It is especially funny to see movies where Communist leaders and party apparatchiks all wear crosses and pray every fifteen minutes in the breaks between party meetings. I’m still waiting for a flick that will show Lenin as a crypto-Christian but I won’t be surprised when it comes out. Why not if Stalin’s supposed religiosity has become a commonplace in every recent biography of his.

It is very curious that the Russian government sponsors this endless religious propaganda in a country where only 2% of people actively practice Christianity.

N. and I stick out like sore thumbs in this region. Everywhere we’ve been yesterday (the spa, the grocery store, the restaurant), we heard, “Wow, you are the first live Russians I’ve ever seen!” Which sounds like the person saying this is in the habit of seeing lots of dead Russians everywhere.

This is an area where you can’t even find a Hispanic person, let alone a Russian-speaker. It’s a little weird to be treated like a very exotic creature everywhere. I mean, everybody is super nice to us but feeling this special gets a little annoying.

A very stupid person arguing that barring corporations from purchasing elections would somehow prevent them from exercising their freedom of speech. What is it with people’s fear and hatred of dictionaries? Why can’t one just find out the meaning of the word “speech” before publishing garbage?

A survey on the exploitation of the contingent teaching faculty. This is what we should be protesting instead of rising up in arms over the firing of some useless paper-pusher administrator. Her drama is that she can’t keep making hundreds of thousands, what a poor victim. These people’s drama is that they can’t pay for basic living expenses and medical care. Let’s show solidarity with them, not with some suffering administrator du jour who has been deprived of yet another palace and a fleet of limousines.

Is this the death of Ukrainian soccer?

“Republicans are the bad guys, but it is beyond frustrating, it is … infuriating and tragic that Democrats allow themselves to be led step by step, cut by cut, through the Republican agenda. Republicans up the ante, Democrats push back a little. They don’t give up everything. But the next time around, the cuts that last time represented upping the ante are now somehow the starting point”

A great series of posts titled “Books I’m Glad I read Before Age 30.” Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. I now want to write something of the kind, too.

Remember Sarah Palin? I know, who cares any more, right? But there are people who are still as passionate about the shape of her son’s right ear as ever. The right ear isn’t a metaphor of any kind. They are actually obsessed with the kid’s ear. I’ve been following the story of these crazy Palin fans for a while and it is fascinating.

Montreal prostitution in the 1940s.

People were wondering why I don’t read Amanda Marcotte. This article is a perfect example of why I find her extremely annoying. She takes a very rich and promising topic and drowns it in saccharine trivialities. No wonder she is so famous.

Another academic uses translation for therapeutic purposes. It’s great to know I’m in such good company.

Finally, somebody says something useful about gender: “Compulsory gender is often oppressive, whatever someone’s sex. Compulsory gender roles are oppressive. But I think it is the socialenforcement of gender – in particular the arbitrary and discrete attribution of aspects of human gender to binary sex – that is oppressive, not gender itself. In other words, women can express femininity without being oppressed. And men can do so too without being oppressive.” A very good post.

Combating prison rape is “too expensive.” What some people seem to forget is that condemning inmates to rape constitutes an egregious instance of cruel and unusual punishment.

And the post of the week: a brilliant young woman shares her journey away from Conservatism.