Last week, we reported that Pyotr Verzilov, a member of Russian punk band/art collective Pussy Riot, had fallen mysteriously ill after a court appearance stemming from the group’s on-field World Cup protest earlier this summer, with the group reporting that doctors believed Verzilov—who had quickly become unable to…
Earlier this summer, four members of Russian punk band/protest art collective Pussy Riot were arrested after they jumped onto the field during the World Cup final. After being denied access to a lawyer, all four of them were sentenced to 15 days of “administrative arrest” and were banned from attending sporting. In a…
In what’s either a massive over-estimation of the U.S. public’s ever-waning tolerance for Steven Seagal—or just a savvy way to get him out of their country for a minute—the Russian government today announced that the doughy silk robe enthusiast/alleged professional creep/person accused of sexual assault by at least 2…
When last we wrote about the insane, hilariously complex number of in-jokes in the opening credits to HBO’s Silicon Valley, we hoped the ill-fated Juicero would make a cameo in the season five intro. The good news: It did! The better news: It wasn’t even the best new joke to be found.
In January, we reported that a Russian arthouse theater had defied the country’s Ministry Of Culture by screening Armando Iannucci’s Cold War satire The Death Of Stalin despite it having its distribution certification revoked for—essentially—making fun of Russia’s history. Police showed up to a screening at Moscow’s…
Veep creator Armando Iannucci’s latest film, the Cold War-era satire The Death Of Stalin, has been getting rave reviews pretty much everywhere. Except for Russia itself, of course: the country’s Ministry Of Culture recently revoked the film’s distribution certification, citing its alleged efforts “to distort our…
Despite being down two jobs at this point—three, if you count his dried-up Hollywood career—Steve Bannon is in high demand on Capitol Hill. CNN reports the unkempt lump that briefly served as chief strategist to the disheveled heap that’s still president was called before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday to…
We’ve unfurled ourselves from the fetal position we’ve been in since Trump revived his threats of nuclear war on Twitter yesterday to bring you the news that the belligerent old kumquat has released an official statement in which he claims it’s actually Steve Bannon who’s lost his damn mind.
In news that Donald Trump will probably have something to say about—assuming it’s covered on Fox And Friends, that is—The New York Times reports that the international Olympic Committee has barred Russia from competing in next year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. That’s part of a series of penalties the…
Former national security advisor Michael Flynn will plead guilty to one count of “willfully and knowingly” making “false, fictitious and fraudulent statements” to the FBI, CNN reports.
Following a first act that involved having his home raided by federal authorities, the inevitable political thriller based on Paul Manafort’s alleged money laundering and tax lobbying schemes reached its second phase with the former Trump campaign manager surrendering to the FBI Monday morning. As …
Although “troll factory” evokes the image of some hardworking, if not comely, creatures from Norse and Scandinavian folklore punching a time clock, it’s actually a term used to describe the cottage industry of online provocateurs that sprang up Russia around the time the 2016 presidential campaign got underway. These…
At this point, it’s abundantly clear that Russia—or at least people in Russia—organized an endlessly elaborate scheme to influence the presidential election, partly by purchasing misleading and manipulative ads on Facebook and Google. Now, a report from CNN has revealed that the endlessly elaborate scheme was somehow…
Last week, the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed Russia had interfered with the 2016 election through various means, including ad buys on social media sites like Facebook. Like the ill-informed among us, the political ads helped spread disinformation, the effects of which are still being studied by Special…
As we stand on the brink of war(s) and a gutted healthcare system, it’s clear who’s to blame for all of this: celebrities. Well, really just Donald Trump. But the C-lister rallied nearly 63 million Americans who were either taken with his nationalist policies or his gold-plated residence, and now here we are, watching…
One of Donald Trump and his administration’s most glaring issues is a dangerously faulty memory. Most days, it seems like nobody who works in that White House actually has any comprehension of what happened the day before, last year, or in the lead-up to the World War II. This wouldn’t be a big deal if everyone in the…
Meanwhile, in the Kremlin: Deadline reports that the Russian government has arrested avant-garde filmmaker and actor Kirill Serebrennikov on charges of embezzlement. The Investigative Committee of Russia has accused Serebrennikov, who won a special prize at Cannes last year for The Student, of “scheming to embezzle…
Despite the dwindling number of journalists, you won’t catch the Russian media falling asleep on the big stories, like fidget spinners. As The New York Times reports, the state-owned news channel Russia-24 is launching a full-scale investigation into why Russian kids are so into these things, and just what external…
Despite being hilarious, Burn After Reading is one of the Coen brothers’ darkest, most unforgiving creations. In it, a pair of aging gym rats stumble upon a CD containing the memoirs of a former CIA analyst; it’s worthless, but, being very, very dumb, they think it contains “secret spy shit.” Their journey eventually…
Stephen Colbert has returned to American shores after his jaunt to Russia, where he made a crack about mounting a presidential campaign and apparently was followed by intelligence personnel. “You know who did know I was in Russia? Russian intelligence,” he said during his monologue on The Late Show last night.…
