Monday, November 16, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Song of the Arctic Pilots
Слова и музыка Александра Городницкого
Песня полярных летчиков (послушать)
Кожаные куртки, брошенные в угол,
Снегом запорошенное низкое окно.
Бродит за ангарами северная вьюга,
В маленькой гостинице тихо и тепло.
Командир со штурманом мотив припомнят старый,
Голову рукою подопрет второй пилот.
Подтянувши струны старенькой гитары,
Следом бортмеханик им тихо подпоет.
Эту песню грустную позабыть пора нам,
Наглухо моторы и сердца зачехлены.
Снова тянет с берега снегом и туманом,
Снова ночь нелетная, даже для Луны.
Лысые романтики, воздушные бродяги!
Наша жизнь — мальчишеские вечные года.
Прочь тоску гоните вы, выпитые фляги,
Ты, метеослужба, нам счастья нагадай.
Прочь тоску гоните вы, посадочные флаги,
Ты, метеослужба, нам счастья нагадай.
Солнце незакатное и теплый ветер с Веста.
И штурвал послушный в стосковавшихся руках.
Ждите нас невстреченные школьницы-невесты
В маленьких асфальтовых южных городах.
Кожаные куртки, брошенные в угол,
Снегом запорошенное низкое окно.
Бродит за ангарами северная вьюга,
В маленькой гостинице тихо и тепло.
1959
Words and music by Alexander Gorodnitsky
Song of the Arctic Pilots (listen)
Leather jackets, tossed into a corner.
A low window, powdered by snow.
Behind the hangars the Northern blizzard roams,
It is quiet and dry in a small hotel.
The captain and the navigator will recall an old song,
The first officer will listen head in hand.
The flight engineer will quietly join them,
Having tuned the strings of an old guitar.
It's time we forget this sad song,
Our engines and our hearts are thoroughly covered up.
Yet again, fog and snow are pulling inland,
Yet again, the night is non-flying, even for the Moon.
Round-headed romantics, airborn tramps!
Our childhood lasts throughout life.
You, empty flasks — send away the anguish,
You, weather service, fortune-tell some joy.
You, runway flags — send way the anguish,
You, weather service, fortune-tell some joy.
The Sun that never sets and the warm Western wind.
And the agreeable yoke in yearning hands.
Wait for us, the unmet girlfriends-fiancées,
In small Southern towns made of asphalt.
Leather jackets, tossed into a corner.
A low window, powdered by snow.
Behind the hangars the Northern blizzard roams,
It is quiet and dry in a small hotel.
1959
Translation by Andrei Soroker
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Agu (with Zhenya Kogan)
Words: Andrei Soroker
Music: Andrei Soroker and Zhenya Kogan
Агу (послушать)
Когда мы поуменеем,
Мы будем понимать.
Мы будем осторожней,
Мы будем выбирать.
А пока мы молодые,
Пока мы можем все,
Судьба нам несомненно
Удачу принесет.
Мы верим в робинзонов
В героев и в любовь;
Не верим в расстоянья
И в пролитую кровь.
Мы видим неизвестность
И мы в нее идем;
Шагаем мимо слабых
Нехоженным путем.
Морозным ранним утром,
Когда еще темно
Заводим самолеты,
Взлетаем как в кино.
Мы маленькие дети,
Нам хочется играть;
Нам страшно не бывает
Нам трудно выбирать.
3 сентября 2001
Припев
На крыльце мы сидим.
Город спит — мы гудим.
11 июля 2009
Agu (listen)
As soon as we wisen up,
We will understand.
We will be more cautious,
We will learn to make choices.
But while we are young
While can do anything,
The fate will undoubtedly
Bring us luck.
We believe in castaways,
In heroes and in love.
We don't believe in distances,
We don't believe in bloodshed.
We see the unknown,
And travel straight to it,
Passing up the week ones,
Via an unwalked path.
In the cold early morning,
While the air is still dark,
We start our airplanes
And take off, like in the movies.
We are small children,
We want to play.
We fear nothing,
It's hard for us to choose.
3 September 2001
Chorus
We're sitting on the porch.
The town is asleep — we are humming.
11 July 2009
Music: Andrei Soroker and Zhenya Kogan
Агу (послушать)
Когда мы поуменеем,
Мы будем понимать.
Мы будем осторожней,
Мы будем выбирать.
А пока мы молодые,
Пока мы можем все,
Судьба нам несомненно
Удачу принесет.
Мы верим в робинзонов
В героев и в любовь;
Не верим в расстоянья
И в пролитую кровь.
Мы видим неизвестность
И мы в нее идем;
Шагаем мимо слабых
Нехоженным путем.
Морозным ранним утром,
Когда еще темно
Заводим самолеты,
Взлетаем как в кино.
Мы маленькие дети,
Нам хочется играть;
Нам страшно не бывает
Нам трудно выбирать.
3 сентября 2001
Припев
На крыльце мы сидим.
Город спит — мы гудим.
11 июля 2009
Agu (listen)
As soon as we wisen up,
We will understand.
We will be more cautious,
We will learn to make choices.
But while we are young
While can do anything,
The fate will undoubtedly
Bring us luck.
We believe in castaways,
In heroes and in love.
We don't believe in distances,
We don't believe in bloodshed.
We see the unknown,
And travel straight to it,
Passing up the week ones,
Via an unwalked path.
In the cold early morning,
While the air is still dark,
We start our airplanes
And take off, like in the movies.
We are small children,
We want to play.
We fear nothing,
It's hard for us to choose.
3 September 2001
Chorus
We're sitting on the porch.
The town is asleep — we are humming.
11 July 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Surprising Proverbial Congruences in English and Russian — № 1
English: Catch old birds with chaff, you cannot.
Russian: Стреляного воробья на мякине не проведешь. (You can't trick a sparrow that survived a shooting with chaff.)
The Russian version incorporates another saying — стреляный воробей (a sparrow that survived a shooting) — which means old hand in English.
Man from Kemerovo — Translation
Man from Kemerovo
Words by Boris Grebenshchikov
Music by Aquarium
Translation by Andrei Soroker
I had some problems;
I took things a little too far;
The lowest bottom of the most-remote hell
Appeared not terribly far.
I called my mother,
And my mother was right —
She said: "Immediately, you must call
The man from Kemerovo".
He uses words sparingly, like De Niro;
One must be mentally ill to argue with him.
Catch him with chaff, you cannot,
He knows how to move underground.
The sky will collapse on the ground,
The grass will cease to grow —
He will come and silently fix everything,
The man from Kemerovo.
Adam became a refugee,
Abel got caught in a mobile web,
Noah didn't finish what he was building
Got drunk and fell face-first into mud;
The history of humanity
Would not have been as skewed,
Had they had the wisdom to connect
With the man from Kemerovo.
They called me from Kiev,
They called from Kathmandu;
They called from the start of the plenary session —
I told them I will not attend.
It is imperative to drink two liters of water before bed,
So my head remains whole the next day —
Because tonight I'm planning on drinking
With the man from Kemerovo.
Hear cover by yours truly
Words by Boris Grebenshchikov
Music by Aquarium
Translation by Andrei Soroker
I had some problems;
I took things a little too far;
The lowest bottom of the most-remote hell
Appeared not terribly far.
I called my mother,
And my mother was right —
She said: "Immediately, you must call
The man from Kemerovo".
He uses words sparingly, like De Niro;
One must be mentally ill to argue with him.
Catch him with chaff, you cannot,
He knows how to move underground.
The sky will collapse on the ground,
The grass will cease to grow —
He will come and silently fix everything,
The man from Kemerovo.
Adam became a refugee,
Abel got caught in a mobile web,
Noah didn't finish what he was building
Got drunk and fell face-first into mud;
The history of humanity
Would not have been as skewed,
Had they had the wisdom to connect
With the man from Kemerovo.
They called me from Kiev,
They called from Kathmandu;
They called from the start of the plenary session —
I told them I will not attend.
It is imperative to drink two liters of water before bed,
So my head remains whole the next day —
Because tonight I'm planning on drinking
With the man from Kemerovo.
Hear cover by yours truly
Friday, June 26, 2009
Justice Served
Yesterday on my ride from work I see a guy feverishly riding a bike in high gear and a dude with blond dreadlocks running after him screaming "Stop than man! Stop that man!"
I think for about five seconds whether I should follow the bike or pretend it's not happening. I figure I'd catch up with him and ask him why there is a man running behind him suggesting that he be stopped. The biker sees me and turns onto a four-lane one-way street against moving traffic. I follow him, but stay in the empty bus lane, watching him cross in front of several cars. Then I hear a boom sound and see him flying over a blue Toyota Tercel with a busted windshield.
Dreadlocked man catches up with the scene and picks up the bike with a cut cable lock wrapped around the handlebar and a deformed front wheel. The bike thief -- a troll man with bloodless skin and bruises for eyes -- is alive and is trying to walk away, but he is forced to stay still by a very tall pedestrian who happens to be a doctor. "Hold on, let me check you eyes," he says. The driver of the Tercel hands me a pen and an envelope from a bank statement asking to write a note explaining what happened. I try, but my hands are shaking. I leave him a voicemail instead.
I think for about five seconds whether I should follow the bike or pretend it's not happening. I figure I'd catch up with him and ask him why there is a man running behind him suggesting that he be stopped. The biker sees me and turns onto a four-lane one-way street against moving traffic. I follow him, but stay in the empty bus lane, watching him cross in front of several cars. Then I hear a boom sound and see him flying over a blue Toyota Tercel with a busted windshield.
Dreadlocked man catches up with the scene and picks up the bike with a cut cable lock wrapped around the handlebar and a deformed front wheel. The bike thief -- a troll man with bloodless skin and bruises for eyes -- is alive and is trying to walk away, but he is forced to stay still by a very tall pedestrian who happens to be a doctor. "Hold on, let me check you eyes," he says. The driver of the Tercel hands me a pen and an envelope from a bank statement asking to write a note explaining what happened. I try, but my hands are shaking. I leave him a voicemail instead.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Wow, I've just used $400 of self-bailout money to pay down my mortgage!
For the last 28 days or so I've been playing some homemade music on my website — the website invites the visitors to help buy a little part of my house.
About $620 in contributions from friends and family served as a major source of fuel for my journey to date — thank you very, very much for your support and endorsements.
I have to pay some of that money to taxes (to support socialism), so for now $400 went to the bank. It was by far the hardest-earned $400 in my life.
I would also like to thank everyone who mentioned my website in your blogs, tweets, and facebooks.
I would also like to thank everyone who provided feedback regarding the UI, copy, recordings, and functionality of the website.
I'm switching to a weekly recording schedule for now — I have to concentrate on my work that is actually paying our bills.
If you feel like supporting this project nonfinancially, there are a few options:
— Link to http://pleasehelpmepayoffmyhouse.com from your website or blog.
— Visit my YouTube channel, and give great ratings to songs you like. Also leave comments.
— Digg it
— Let me know of others who are doing something other than waiting to see what happens about their upside down homes — a group of insane lunatics is always more appealing to journalists than just one insane lunatic.
About $620 in contributions from friends and family served as a major source of fuel for my journey to date — thank you very, very much for your support and endorsements.
I have to pay some of that money to taxes (to support socialism), so for now $400 went to the bank. It was by far the hardest-earned $400 in my life.
I would also like to thank everyone who mentioned my website in your blogs, tweets, and facebooks.
I would also like to thank everyone who provided feedback regarding the UI, copy, recordings, and functionality of the website.
I'm switching to a weekly recording schedule for now — I have to concentrate on my work that is actually paying our bills.
If you feel like supporting this project nonfinancially, there are a few options:
— Link to http://pleasehelpmepayoffmyhouse.com from your website or blog.
— Visit my YouTube channel, and give great ratings to songs you like. Also leave comments.
— Digg it
— Let me know of others who are doing something other than waiting to see what happens about their upside down homes — a group of insane lunatics is always more appealing to journalists than just one insane lunatic.
Turtle Tower Vietnamese Restaurant in SF
http://www.yelp.com/biz/turtle-tower-restaurant-san-francisco
Cheap and spicy (дешево и сердито). Recommend.
The experience is amplified by all the amazing faces of the neighborhood.
Cheap and spicy (дешево и сердито). Recommend.
The experience is amplified by all the amazing faces of the neighborhood.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
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