Marina Galperina

Unfortunate Profile Pictures, Slavic Style

Though making an ass out of yourself on the internet is not culturally exclusive, let's gander at the Slavic strain of the phenomena, distinguished by a joyous lack of judgement, heavy abuse of photoshop, and an abundance of wall carpets.

This feature is of no aesthetic or technical value. If that's what you're looking for, then proceed elsewhere. We suggest this most incredible photo essay on the post-Chernobyl town of Slavoutich by Guillaume Herbaut. For the rest of us internet-trash-scouring philistines, we present a harshly filtered selection of photos from the totally NSFW and tasteless LiveJournal ru-community shkola_urodov, dedicated to inappropriately toned discussions of various unfortunate persons' social networking profile pictures, Slavic style.

"Abundance of wall carpets"

Irina, 25 (according to her profile) is umbrella-ready, lest the beach furs get rained on.

Lena has perfected the Barbie doll stare.

Marina from Odessa is still working on it.

Ivan is very cool.

Photoshop - the virtual compensator.

Straight-edge through nuclear war - these guys sure are determined.

Yura from Belarus makes an error in judgement. Then makes it official on Russian Facebook.

Varvara from Moscow abuses her authority, our eyes.

Searching for a soul mate.

Soul mate found?

Olga, the more subtle of the love-seekers/accidental performance artist.

The not-very-subtle love-seeker.

Emo teens make fun of closely situated toilets.

Sergey - romantic, passionate, loyal.

Sergey is also available in cat-hatted.

VLADIMIR knows the power of branding.

Anton the lonely Russian steampunk.

Svetlana the mystical mermaid.

Nikolay the Awesome. He wins the internet.

RUSSIA! LiveJournal community usually posts respectable and inspiring photo features every Monday. Obviously, not this week. Fellow LJ bloggers, however, derived some cultural significance from this myriad of embarrassments:

zenedi: "What is with the whole rug on the wall thing? Just curious."
fiquet: "It's a traditional feature in many Russian homes to have rugs hung up on the walls. This is very much an Eastern influence; rugs also adorn the walls of many houses in countries such as Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, etc. They are functional as well as decorative; the thick weaving acts as insulation and keeps the walls warm, particularly in winter when cold drafts are all-permeating."

And there you have it — a lesson and a show. You're welcome.


Login or Sign up to leave a comment

uty ret
July 9, 11:39 PM
wow, these are really scary ones! Should they be put to a research paper service hall of shame ? ;)
Katrina Underwood
July 21, 8:53 AM
just funny.....[URL="http://www.online-sport-betting.org/"]bet on sports online[/URL],
Katrina Underwood
July 21, 8:53 AM
research paper

Bookmark or Share

Relevant Links, According to Google

Related Articles

Sidecar on the Rocks

This issue’s icon: the perfect getaway vehicle for you and a sidekick

Deep-Sixing Boredom

Meet Morskoi Boi, the Soviet Union’s first successful experiment in fun simulation

Optimus Pride

Art Lebedev’s luminous, $1,500 keyboard emerges from the vapor

Related Blog Entries

Kill Hill: The Trolololo Adventures in the Afterlife

 by Tatyana Bokova-Foley
We will not even attempt to further comment on the meme and will simply bring you an updated list of the Trolololo remixes. Enjoy!

One Cup to Rule Them All

 by Chris Ross
When a greedy capitalist slips a few coins into a vending machine, he arrogantly expects his own individually prepackaged soda. But the citizens of the U.S.S.R were prepared to share—everything from public housing to sidewalk soda pop. Behold, the sacramental chalice of Soviet carbonated beverages.

The Soviet Scooter

In 1953, a year when Dwight Eisenhower became President, Soviet engineers produced something quite outstanding: the scooter. Just like almost everything else in the USSR, the scooter was initially a brick in the propaganda wall -- it was supposed to become the means of transportation which your typical Soviet citizen could buy for their average two-month paycheck (just like Lenin promised.) And the engineers delivered, by accidentally producing a masterpiece.
Tags