Month: April 2022

Song: Nogu Svelo! “Generation Z”

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I wouldn’t call myself a die-hard fan of Nogu Svelo!, though I’ve known the band for many years, and quite a few of their songs have made it into my playlist. But Max Pokrovsky, the band’s frontman, really caught my attention when he joined the reality show “The Last Hero” and was one of the first to openly talk about how tough it actually was. (Well, there was also the ‘clown’ Nikita Dzhigurda, who bailed from the island in the first few days, ranting about how he had been deceived and that they really weren’t going to feed them—not just on camera but for real).

And now, during these wartime days, Max is one of the few who openly speaks his mind about what’s happening—including about Russians themselves. Opinions on his new song vary widely—some even call him a sellout imperialist, standing with one foot here and the other there. But the song is raw and honest, without embellishments. And for that alone, I’m grateful to Max.

Book: Ben Elton “Two Brothers”

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I haven’t written in my blog for a long time, but I’m returning with a book that has unexpectedly become highly symbolic of current events—when one country, under the pretext of “brotherly help,” wages war against another. And a third, also supposedly “brotherly,” sometimes helps the first, sometimes tries to stay on the sidelines. Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

Since childhood, I was taught that we must never allow the return of Nazism. I was psychologically crushed when, at around 12 years old, I saw the film “Triumph Over Violence“ (in Russian its title literally means ‘An Ordinary Fascism‘) on TV (I even felt physically sick from what I saw). For many years, I’ve continued reading and reflecting on how the dehumanization of entire nations and the transformation of people into monsters become possible. Documentaries, memoirs, and historical works are often far more terrifying than any fiction because with fiction, you can always think: “Well, this is just made up—things couldn’t have been that bad.” Even though you know they could. And they were. And now we see just how easy it is to “repeat it”—ironically, by those who, on a genetic level, should have carried an unshakable aversion to repeating it.

But sometimes, there are brilliant books on this very subject, and “Two Brothers” by Ben Elton is one of them. Perhaps because it is based on the real-life story of the author’s own family.

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