leisure
Chapters: 3
In Mid-April
Spring 1994. After the shooting, Roman returns to ordinary life and swaps Verochka for Marianna.
January Turned Out to Be
January 1994. Roman combines work at Proma Impex with the winter exams, and after them meets Alina at the Terem.
Woken by a Command
April 30, 1996, Tuesday, 10:00 a.m. Zhorik meets Roman on a yacht off the coast of Nice. Roman is to play a silent investor.
Notes: 21
Golf Clubs: A Note on the Word "Driver"
A driver is the type of golf club built for the most powerful, longest-distance shot. In the 1990s, 1997 included, the driver was a symbol of a…
Jurassic Park
The 1993 Spielberg blockbuster that hit Russian VCRs, mostly via pirated tape, as a genuine window onto Hollywood's new special-effects age.
Magmafilm: a German Erotic-Film Studio
In the early 1990s, the company Magmafilm was one of the best-known European studios producing adult films. Founded in 1988 in Germany under the…
Manhattan Express: the club that redefined Moscow nightlife in the 1990s
The history of one of Moscow's most iconic 1990s nightclubs, built as a faithful copy of a Manhattan club by the Rossiya Hotel.
Minesweeper
The Windows 3.1 puzzle game that, in 1993, doubled as unofficial mouse-training software for a country only just discovering the graphical desktop.
MoMA: where Roman finally sees the originals behind his childhood reproductions
MoMA: the museum that shows Roman what his Soviet-childhood reproductions had been hiding all along.
Night Flight: the Tverskaya club where Zhorik took the provincial directors
The history of Night Flight, the legendary Soviet-Swedish nightclub that opened on Tverskaya Street in October 1991 and became a fixture of 1990s…
One Night Stand: the phrase behind Jeff's pointed question about the night before
The 1990s Russian import of the phrase "one night stand" -- its theatrical origins, the gendered double standard it carried into post-Soviet culture…
Party Animal: the mid-1990s subculture Roman watches from the sidelines on Ibiza
The rise of the "party animal" subculture in the mid-1990s, its hierarchy, economics, fashion, and Ibiza as its capital.
Rocks and Collins Glasses: Mid-1990s Bar Culture
A rocks glass is a short, wide tumbler, also known as an old fashioned glass or lowball glass. A Collins glass is a tall, cylindrical glass with a…
Scoring the Pulka in Preferans
What "scoring the pulka" means in preferans. A complete guide to the card game's rules, terminology, and cultural significance in Russia.
Shalman: the Polysemy of a Russian Slang Word
A detailed article on the word "shalman": the history of the term, its dual meanings (drinking establishment and brothel), and its connection to the…
Sirena: the seafood restaurant that defined 1990s Moscow power dining
Sirena: Arkady Novikov's first restaurant, the seafood-and-power-lunch spot that defined 1990s Moscow status dining.
Solitaire, the Card-Puzzle Game
Solitaire is a card-based puzzle game for one player, originating in France in the 18th century. The goal is to arrange the cards according to set…
"Tetris" and "Lines"
The two computer games that colonized every idle office PC in early-1990s Russia — one a Soviet-made international sensation, the other a homegrown…
The Restaurant "Tri Peskarya" ("Three Gudgeons"): Fish-Course Luxury of the 1990s
"Three Gudgeons" was Moscow's first premium restaurant with live fish tanks, where guests could pick their own fish to be cooked. Its signature…
The "Hermitage" Club in 1993
Moscow's legendary, concept-free 1990s nightspot — no sign, no dress code, physicists and gangsters at the same table — where a new post-Soviet…
The Orion Club
The student club on the ground floor of MEPhI's dormitory building 1 — home to Friday discos that ran till five in the morning, the reason Saturday…
The Swings (Speedball): A Dangerous Mix of Stimulants and Opioids
The "swings" (English: speedball) is a combination of stimulants (cocaine, amphetamine) and opioids (heroin, morphine, methadone), taken together or…
Computer Games: Wing Commander and Civilization
The two PC games that defined unattainable Western luxury for early-1990s Russians rich enough to own a 486 — a cinematic space war and a strategy…
Клуб-казино «Утопия»
Club Utopia — the mid-1990s Moscow disco under the Rossiya cinema that later became the Shangri La casino