Ryan tests his co-hosts' knowledge of Russian car history.  Learn about famous Russian cars like Zhiguli, Kopeika, Lada, why you would walk 30 min to your car garage, and what offends Russian drivers the most. 

Hosts discuss the movie K-19: The Widowmaker,  a 2002 historical submarine film directed and produced by Kathryn Bigelow. This movie has everything:  crazy accents, nuclear almost-meltdowns, Harrison Ford, a bunch of counting, and Liam Neeson's guns that are too big to fit in the submarine. 

The hosts talk about a classic Soviet comic science fiction film Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Occupation (Иван Васильевич меняет профессию) directed by Leonid Gaidai in 1973. 
The film has a time-travel machine, singing horses, Ivan the Terrible in modern times, as well as a thief and a building manager from Soviet union times ruling Russia back in the 1500s. This movie crazy and we loved it. 
You can watch this Soviet classic here with English subtitles: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a50qT9bW2Qo

If you call yourself a milk mushroom, get in the basket! and other Russian proverbs. 

Hosts discuss Russian Eurovision participants over the years- including creepy sisters,  babushkas with a dancing oven, Dima Bilan, and Dima Bilan again. Learn about Russian's successes and failures at the beloved (by some) European music contest.
Links to the Eurovision performances discussed in this episode:

Alsou, 2000  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw_Yg7j7ocs

Olsen Brothers (winners of the year 2000) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C76xn52ZbhA 

TaTu, 2003 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bbGao-OxOU

Dima Bilan, 2006 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA9VdXSsneo

Dima Bilan, again, 2008 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-72s4WzUcKI

Buranovskiye Babushki, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgUstrmJzyc
 
Lordi, Winner of 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAh9NRGNhUU

Dina Garipova, 2013  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHNwk3Oez8U 

Tolmachevy Sisters, 2014  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7HKBlAzN5I

Polina Gagarina, 2015  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2gbKglCL5s

Sergey Lazarev, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXKcFvqaOlg

Sergey Lazarev, 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhk6rzBqW_c

Little Big, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5TJXI_Y2-Y

Serduchka, Ukraine Submission, 2007 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfjHJneVonE

Hosts discuss 2019 Russian movies. Most of them involve tanks, some kind of war, and a mashup of animated movies. You can watch the trailers of the movies discussed below:

ПИКОВАЯ ДАМА: ЗАЗЕРКАЛЬЕ/Queen of Spades
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4puHTUU-as 

Breakaway/Otryv
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOFunu19cWI

Loud Connection/громкая связь
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlKA6Gccn0U

Saving Leningrad/ Spasti Leningrad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF3YJUrEj4Y

T-34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1UDvi5xL9w

Beanpole/ Dylda
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfWhQXg4GrA

Billion/ Milliard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO55ENC2uBo

Sober Driver/ Trezvyi Voditel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG3pq8P021Y

The House Elf / Domovoi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRjUfaE6HDI

How I became a Russian (full film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlGi47LjpNw

Sheep and Wolves 2: Pig Deal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ILERsIIwp0

Quiet Comes the Dawn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMXIqbOshQw

Guests/Gosti
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhBvB6qys7k

Seven Dinners
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU2nyumwpvw

Mistresses
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY2ErP7zXCM

Hosts tell each other Russian jokes (called anecdotes by Russians) about Russian circus, animals, Vovochka, and the Soviet Union. Lean our favorite jokes about talking cows, swimming green turds, and dick wallets. 

The hosts discuss quarantine measures and how they are handling the lockdown in Russia and the US. We talk horse meat, distancing in Russian grocery stores, and why Leysan can't figure out Russian online ordering. 
Russia closed its borders on March 30 to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The measure came into force at all vehicle, rail and pedestrian checkpoints, and applies to Russia's maritime borders. Russia has also enacted region-wide stay-at-home orders for residents. 

Answering riddles or bribing your way to your bride, kissing as guests yell "Bitter!" and other Russian wedding traditions. Amie and Ryan try to tackle some of the Russian riddles to find out that the answer is almost never "communism". 

Ryan, Amie, and Leysan talk about different games and toys that children in the Soviet Union enjoyed in late 80s and early 90s. 

We are back from a very long break! We are sorry for being away for so long and hope this episode about very strange Russian idioms will make up for our long absence. 
When does a lobster whistle on a mountain? Is a toad strangling you? Follow Amie and Ryan as they try (and fail) to decipher the meaning of Russian idioms  Try to play along and see if you can guess any of the idioms correctly!