shopping in russia

[costumier.livejournal.com]

i have a friend going to russia in february, and she has agreed to buy me a cd or two if i give her the money. how much does a non-bootleg cd go for in russia?

are there any russian film titles worth getting? or even russian version titles? (i heard Звездные войны: Эпизод 1 is an experience in and of itself :-p ) ultimately i'm just looking for something that will further expose me to SPOKEN russian (i'm not ready just yet to buy the "teach yourself" tapes/cds).

i'm also hoping she can find Русский язык в упражнениях by С.А.Хавронина and А.И.Широченская... i talked to an american guy who worked in russia for about two years teaching english, and he said that the better books on learning русский язык actually come directly out of russia...go figure :-)

sorry....i didn't know where else to post this :-X

thanks for your replies and patience.

Comments

[corriel.livejournal.com]

Звездные войны is Star Wars (in case u wouldn't know). A friend of mine got episodes 4, 5 and 6 in Moscow, "dubbed" (voiced over is a better term) in Russian, it's quite hmm "interesting" (Erdva Dedva power!). ^_^

Otherwise bootleg CDs in Russia are usually alright and way cheaper than non bootleg ones.

I'd advise u to get this movie "Zamri, Umri, Voskresni" (sorry I haven't anything to type in Cyrillic installed on my computer right now).

[costumier.livejournal.com]

yeah, i know that's cyrillic 'star wars'; AND
i am fully aware of the russian version of the trilogy :-D : theForce.net - Russian VHS (http://www.theforce.net/rouser/reviews/russianvhs.shtml)

Zamri, Umri, Voskresni
Замри, Умри, Воскрезни? what's it about?

[romikchef]

Non-bootleg CDs goes usually for 4-10 US dollars.
Which genres you like?

From film titles i'd advice old "soviet school" titles. 70-80's was really golden age in russian film-making.
For example - Oscar winning movie "Москва слезам не верит". ( http://imdb.com/title/tt0079579/ )
Also, any Эльдар Рязанов's film. ( http://imdb.com/name/nm0752922/ ) - his films are really nice.

About russian versions.
Ghmmm. If you wanna hear 100% exact translation - take a look on Goblin's translations. He translates every joke and every detail, even in vulgar language. Russian equivalents to english insults are prohibit in movies, but Goblin translates them "as is". His translations are only bootlegs by definition and you can buy them everythere :-)
But! Goblin does not add a word from himself. If Vincent Vega says "F**k" - Goblin says it in russian. If Man with No Name (For a Fistfull of Dollars) does not say a vulgar word - Goblin does not say it too.
The only exception - his... errr... "funny" translations of "Lord of the Rings". It is not really translation but completely joke.
Here is an Observer article about him.

Ooof. Hope it would be useful for you.
You have nice journal! Mind if I add you to friends?
I've been in Singapore once. It was amazing!

[costumier.livejournal.com]

"soviet school"...i feel VERY educated now. this is the sort of information i want to know. i have this fascination with russia and it's language, but i really don't know that much. :-( i suppose if i just read or took the time i could be an expert, but alas...

i want a Гоблин!! i'm not really a fan of lord of the rings, but i'll get his version just because. he sounds so interesting... the observer article said he might be working on something similar with star wars...now THAT i would definitely need to have.

i checked amazon.com and found ALOT of russian titles...i'll probably just pay the rediculously high price, and have my friend just try to find Гоблин translations.

genres of music i like? well, however you classify тату...i can't get enough of them :-X but otherwise, i go for ambient type stuff, or techno/dance even...

thanks for the compliment on my journal. :-) what's so great about it? when were you in singapore (i'm not singaporean by the way)??

[bohemienne.livejournal.com]

I was in Russia all summer and kept hearing all about this Goblin fellow, but the only thing of his I could ever find was that horrid Lord of the Rings thing where they all have sunglasses on the video cover. Yeesh.

[quasar3c273.livejournal.com]

I am not sure about Ryazonov films as they have very specific SOVIET humor... IMHO, you need to understand a lot in our (russian) lifestyle to get into jokes...

I'd suggest films by Tarkovsky (http://imdb.com/name/nm0001789/) or Mikhalkov (http://imdb.com/name/nm0586482/).

[donotkillme.livejournal.com]

If you want to get a real true about Russia and russian present days, you need to buy new russian film like «Бумер» («Bimmer», 2003) and something like «Брат» («Brat» (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118767/), 1997). Very real movies :-).

[notanaccount.livejournal.com]

russian cds? or non russian?
nonrussian nonbootlegs seem to cost as much as anywhere else.
while russian nonbootlegs (i don't think i saw russian bootlegs) were about 100 roubles. ie. aprox $3
nonrussian bootlegs (exactly the same as the cd except you don't get a fulll booklet) were $2-3

this was last summer in st. petersburg

[costumier.livejournal.com]

WOW!! so cheap!

i'm really only looking for russian music. like a few тату remix albums or some other russian techno or ambient type things ("российский текно"...is that right?). any suggestions?

[notanaccount.livejournal.com]

ppk?
uh... i don't know how to make cyrillic letters.

the only russian album i bought was a ppk album, i wish i'd bought more though
but yeah. it'll cost about 100 roubles (just over $3 i believe)

[costumier.livejournal.com]

ppk... ррк. what does that stand for? what sort of music is it?

(i don't know about xp or 200, but for windows 98, to add a language setting to your computer, you just go to the control panel, double-click "keyboard", and hit the "languages" tab...the rest is pretty obvious. hope this helps...)

[costumier.livejournal.com]

"....know about xp or 2000..."

[notanaccount.livejournal.com]

I don't know the russian keyboard layout. shrut.

Russian electronic dance music project PPK, based on the names of their original members — DJ/producer and radio celebrity Sergey Pimenov, composer/sound engineer and ex-Nazaretov Jazz Music School member Alexander Polyakov, and DJ Korzh — debuted live on February 21, 1998, in a local festival followed by a live performance at the KaZantip 1998 before issuing their first record, Feel Insomnia. Even when DJ Korzh decided to pursue a solo career, Pimenov and Polyakov kept working together. In 2000, PPK released "I Have a Dream," an experimental track with samples from the historic speech by Martin Luther King. That same year, "ResuRection" became a local hit.British DJ/remixer/producer Paul Oakenfold picked "ResuRection" in 2001 and signed the Russian outfit to release the song through his own label, Perfecto Records.

[costumier.livejournal.com]

[costumier.livejournal.com]

^_^

[donotkillme.livejournal.com]

Ouuh! It looks like a keybord under my fingers :-)

[costumier.livejournal.com]

ha! :-D i WISH i had a keyboard like that.

[costumier.livejournal.com]

so does that mean that they now operate from a UK-based label??

[notanaccount.livejournal.com]

they had a hit in britain a while ago (how i heard about them, despite not living in britain...)
so you can buy their albums outside of russia, but um, they'd cost a lot. and you can just buy legit versions in russia

[costumier.livejournal.com]

gotcha... i just downloaded "resurrection" by them...pretty good. thanks!

[notanaccount.livejournal.com]

you're welcome

[sasha-pervaya.livejournal.com]

I spent some time in Irkutsk late in the summer, and American, non-bootleged CDs seemed to cost aroun $3. It's still because of the bootlegging, of course - since cheap bootlegs are so rampant, you can't charge that much for the real thing.

I dunno if it's different in different parts of the country, though.

[margorand.livejournal.com]

Heya Sasha ;)

Don't be so sure those CDs we bought weren't pirated. Exceptionally high-quality bootlegs (both in terms of recording and packaging) are on the market these days, and a number of things lead me to believe the non-Russian CDs I bought were pirated. Many of the CDs I saw were compilations of two albums on one disc or rather dodgy-looking 'Best Of' comps. Also, none of the non-Russian CDs I bought have SID codes (the short numerical codes printed around the inner ring of the CD, indicating where it was manufactured)--that's pretty much a sure sign of piracy. The Russian CDs I bought, though, all had SID codes and were probably legit. Both types of CDs I bought, non-Russian as well as Russian, cost around 90-100 rubles each.

If those non-Russian CDs I bought are indeed pirated, then I have to say I'm very impressed: they look and sound like the real thing.

[notanaccount.livejournal.com]

I read an article last year about bootlegging in the ukraine, and how the major north american musical companies sell their cds at the same price as in other countries.
why? because they're scared someone will buy up like several thouasand legit cds in russia, and then drive to the uk and sell them for supper cheap.

And one day in st. petersburg i walked into a store that had a larger selection then most, and i was going to buy ltos of cds until i saw that they cost $15 or $20 each. and i'm like "yeah. i'll just buy bootlegs"

however native russian cds only cost about 100 roubles, because they have to competet with the bootlegs of foreign albums.

[costumier.livejournal.com]

well, my friend is going to the basic tourist stops...you know, st. petersburgh and moscow. it should be about the same, right?

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Moscow and St.Pete, that's about the same. you're right (St.Pete slightly cheaper.)
Make your friend go to Gorbushka while in Moscow, this is The Place for buying all kinds of music, bootlegs or not bootlegs. It's about 500 or 1,000 music stores under one roof (an once abandoned industrial facility) near Bagrationovskaya sub station (blue line, direction west, the ride is about 20 minutes from downtown.) There are also hundreds of electronic equipment stores in two equally large buildings nearby, where you can buy any equipment at a pretty low price.

[costumier.livejournal.com]

:-\ wow. you may as well have walked me there! :-D THANKS!!!

[bohemienne.livejournal.com]

Tell your friend that definitely the cheapest movies are to be found in the Izmailovsky Souvenir Park (on the metro blue line, at the Izmailovskaya station, I believe--whichever of the Ismailov*** stations has men with big rifles!). They come in sleeves instead of hard cases, but are cheap and generally of good quality. Heck, that souvenir park is the cheapest source of typical Russian souvenirs you can find, and you get to haggle/торговать with the locals too :)

My all-time favourite Russian language movie is The Cranes Are Flying/Летят Журавли. Don't have many other suggestions though.

[costumier.livejournal.com]

thanks :-)

[welgar.livejournal.com]

It's near Izmaylovsky Park (Измайловский Парк) station.
However, I'm not sure if they have a good choice of movies. I haven't been there for ages...

[lunaqueen.livejournal.com]

The Khavronina's exercise book isn't sold only in Russia. I study Russian in Italy at the University and use that book. Here it is sold in University libraries and Cultural Associations (costs around 14 EUR).