What's good (and bad ) about Russia?

[willedoo]

On the subject of movies, I've watched quite a few Russian and Soviet movies over time. Last week I watched a military action movie which is the first I've seen involving Americans in the plot. The film translates to 'Incident at Map Grid 36-80',set in the early 80's (released 1982) and was about an incident with a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine malfunctioning and risking a nuclear meltdown.

 

Involved in the plot were Soviet naval aviators flying Tupolev Tu-16 bombers. Some good real flying scenes shot from inside the Tu-16's, and all the Soviet flight gear was correctly well done for a change. The interesting thing was their portrayal of the Americans. A lot of American movies portray the Russians as a combination of bad and dumb with some very bad attempted Russian accents. This was exactly the same but the other way round.

 

The U.S. submarine crew and their commander were portrayed as complete morons. We all know that you need to be well above moron level to get a job on one of those subs, but that point was overlooked by the movie makers. They portrayed the U.S. flight crews much better, but their flight uniforms were comical; dressed up like Thunderbird puppets. The Russian actors playing Americans were speaking English ( if you describe what the Yanks speak as English) with a delayed Russian dubbed narrative in the background. Their American English accents were far worse than the American attempts in reverse. Very interesting to see the shoe on the other foot.

 

 

[Marty_d]

We got Stan recently so have started watching The Great (about Katherine the Great).  Bloody funny.  All the "Russians" are English actors with English accents, including the emperor Peter who keeps saying "Huzzah!" when he's happy, which is usually when shagging his mate's wife, shooting at things (badly) or drinking vast amounts and making his generals dance.

[willedoo]

I forgot to mention about the above Incident at Map Grid 36-80 movie, the American sub had an African/American crewmember who was a Russian white actor with his face painted black. Reminded me of Al Jolson.

[willedoo]

This is an unusual bit of marketing. Sukhoi have their mock up of the new Su-75 Checkmate single engined fighter at the Dubai airshow. To mark it's international debut, a perfume company has made a perfume in honour of the aircraft. It's meant to smell like a fighter jet and they say they've used scents of glass, leather and metal (didn't know glass had a smell). Seems to me if you want to smell like a fighter jet, you could just splash a bit of kero over yourself. Much cheaper.

 

The perfume is called 'The Checkmate'. Don't know how patent laws would affect it as there's already a perfume by one of the french makers called 'Checkmate'. I seem to remember there was a brand of condoms by that name.

 

 

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

1 hour ago, willedoo said:

…The perfume is called 'The Checkmate'. Don't know how patent laws would affect it as there's already a perfume by one of the french makers called 'Checkmate'. I seem to remember there was a brand of condoms by that name.

The two products might be marketed together as a kit; makes sense.

[facthunter]

If you choose to smell like a jet fighter you don't need a condom. Everything will be in hand.  Nev

[Marty_d]

"Never ask a man if he's a fighter pilot.  If he is, he'll soon let you know.  If he's not, don't embarrass him!"

 

- Flight of the Intruder

[willedoo]

14 minutes ago, Marty_d said:

"Never ask a man if he's a fighter pilot.  If he is, he'll soon let you know.  If he's not, don't embarrass him!"

 

- Flight of the Intruder

That's a bit like the old joke -

Q. How do you recognise a pilot at a party?

A. He'll tell you.

[willedoo]

On a more serious note, it will be interesting to see how this new light fighter progresses. Digital design looks set to shake up the traditional time frames from concept to production. This one is expected to have the first prototype flight next year. To be fair, it has the luxury of using common systems borrowed or adapted from the Su-57 stealth fighter which took quite a few years to develop. I seem to remember the Americans are designing a new one  as well using digital design. It will certainly be a change from taking 15 or 20 years to bring a design to maturity.

 

The short time frames are harking back to the old MiG-15. From the time Stalin signed off on the proposal to first prototype flight was about 12 months. Helped along from previous technology in the MiG-9 etc., and also a big jump on the engine by suckering some people into giving them RR Nenes. But still a quickly developed aircraft.

[facthunter]

Didn't they call those blokes "knuckleheads"?  Nev

[facthunter]

 It's also the name tor the  61 inch Harley OHV Vee Twin Motor. that came out in the mid 30's. Nev

[willedoo]

I find some of these engineer vehicles fascinating (if you're into big toys, that is).

 

This is the newish UBIM multi-purpose armoured engineer vehicle, designed to replace a variety of older types. A similar format to the Swiss Kodiak, Canadian Wisent 2 and others. Weight is around 55 tonnes and is based on a T-90 main battle tank chassis. It has the same 1,100 HP engine.

 

It's equipped with a front blade which can also operate as a V blade. It also has a digger bucket with rock grab, a rear mounted hydraulic jackhammer and recovery winch. It can also be fitted with a mine clearing blade. It has a two man crew and is equipped with a remote control 12.7mm heavy MG with television and thermal imaging channels, and a laser rangefinder. The tubes on the front LH side, I think are smoke grenade dispensers.

 

I remember once seeing a Youtube video of it working in an open field of soft ground. They had the V blade on full tilt digging long trenches. In that situation, the speed at which they could lay a trench for infantry was quite impressive. Main role naturally is route clearance and provision. It would be a nice toy to have.

 

 

[willedoo]

Sukhoi playground:

 

 

[spacesailor]

Now thats very good !.

I thought the ' Suduku ' was a game ?  ( for adults ).

spacesailor

[onetrack]

Spacey, you've got your Sukhoi's and Suduku's mixed up!

[pmccarthy]

I think Paul Keating pronounced it Suckhole.

[willedoo]

So much for sanctions. U.S. Census Bureau figures show American companies have imported 7,700 tons of Russian ammunition worth 158 million USD in the first ten months of this year. They are using a loophole that enables them to get a two year license to purchase until 2023.

[willedoo]

Due to concerns over possible American sanctions, Indonesia has dropped plans to purchase Sukhoi Su-35 fighters to replace their fleet of F-5 Tiger jets. The U.S., with the 2017 Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, have threatened economic sanctions on countries who purchase Russian military equipment. The Indonesians have instead decided to buy the American F-15EX Eagle 2. Biden one, Putin nil,

[willedoo]

This is a rather silly PR video for the new T-14 Amata tank, showing it doing wheelies accompanied by a WW2 T-34 and a Current T-90 main battle tank. It's the first time I've seen the new tank beside a T-90, and hadn't realised how much smaller it is. It's not much bigger than the old T-34. I guess new technology drives smaller component sizes.

 

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by willedoo

[Old Koreelah]

On 16/12/2021 at 4:52 PM, willedoo said:

So much for sanctions. U.S. Census Bureau figures show American companies have imported 7,700 tons of Russian ammunition worth 158 million USD in the first ten months of this year. They are using a loophole that enables them to get a two year license to purchase until 2023.

But that’s Ok; they’re probably all true Ultra-Right Republican Patriots, preparing for the coming civil war against all those liberals and blacks.

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, Old Koreelah said:

But that’s Ok; they’re probably all true Ultra-Right Republican Patriots, preparing for the coming civil war against all those liberals and blacks.

My guess is that the majority of it would be 7.62x39 Russian rifle rounds. There's a huge amount of privately owned semi auto AK's in the U.S.; they have a real following. Also a few American made rifles chambered for the Russian round, like the Ruger Mini 30, used by farmers, hunters, law enforcement, etc..

It would be mind boggling to see the amount of private ownership ammunition sold there annually.

[Jerry_Atrick]

1 hour ago, willedoo said:

There's a huge amount of privately owned semi auto AK's in the U.S.

What's not so good.. and bad about the US?

[willedoo]

A new movie set for release in March might be worth a look. 'First Oscar' is the story of the making of the 1943 Russian documentary 'Moscow Strikes Back', the world's first documentary to win an Oscar. The original documentary was filmed by students who refused to evacuate and instead went to the front line to film the war effort. 'First Oscar' is directed by Sergey Mokritskiy, the director of the film ‘Battle for Sevastopol’ which tells the story of famed female sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko.

 

The battle for Moscow was one of Hitler's biggest mistakes. The Germans almost had Moscow when Hitler ordered a considerable amount of forces to withdraw to support the siege of Leningrad and that of Stalingrad. If he'd kept the attack on Moscow full strength, the capital would have fallen and the Soviet war effort would have crumbled. Hitler's blunder bought the Soviets time to consolidate and organise forces, logistics and materiel.

 

 

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, willedoo said:

the world's first documentary to win an Oscar.

Bad propaganda, Willedo. In 1942, documentary features and short subjects competed together for Best Documentary. Four special awards were bestowed among the 25 nominees. The four winners of Best Documentary were:

 

The Battle of Midway – United States Navy

Kokoda Front Line! – Australian News and Information Bureau

Moscow Strikes Back – Artkino

Prelude to War – United States Army Special Services

[willedoo]

Well spotted. Equal first it appears to be, not individually first. Looking it up, I see all subsequent years have only one winner. I wonder if they awarded four to promote the category, or whether it was hard to pick one winner in such a large field of nominations in the first year.

Edited December 28, 2021 by willedoo