British Invasion № 8, 18.04.2011 The Voice of Invasion Trends of the Galaxy Dear readers, friends and those who simply care! What’s in your head? Zombie, Zombie, Zombie. We are sorry that you had to wait so long for our new issue (well, yes, we hope that you waited). It What does the expression “work of art” mean to took so much strength to recover from that long you? You probably imagine paintings, sculptures winter! But we are here to impress, inspire, enlight- or music written by Beethoven (if it’s possible to en and scare you. imagine music). But the proverb “Other times, other This spring was quite weird and even sad. The trag- manners” is certainly true even for the masterpieces. edy in Japan sent the whole world into mourning. Some people are born to be geniuses, they can create magnificent things. That’s the way it should be. But it is It was so astonishing and unbelievable that such even more interesting when a person makes his life a real things can happen. Of course natural disasters have piece of art. We remember that Lord Byron lived the life been forever. But times change…We got used to the of a romantic hero despite his rank and status. We’re not comfortable and full existence until once all that we going to compare, but modern time heroes are in some built, took care of and liked turned into debris and way the same. One of them is Rick Genest, a male mod- ruins, into nothing. But that’s the way of life, and el. He was brave enough to tattoo his entire body, and it we hardly can do anything about it. was not an attempt to get into the Guinness Book of Since the whole world became a mess, our new World Records. issue isn’t dedicated to any particular theme. It’s He just wanted to just about the variety of life. You can make yourself turn himself into a a work of art, you can find the place where you zombie, because belong and it may be the circles of glamour or intel- zombies have al- ways been his fa- ligentsia , and you may take a deep sigh for all the vorite creatures. humanity (the excerpts from Radiohead newspaper People may call perfectly correlates with our mood). him a freak or lu- The sigh is probably the main metaphor of all that is natic, but fashion happening in our lives. We see terrible things. Some designers either of us believe that we can do something about it; disapproved of it some believe that we can’t. But all of us are human or flatly liked it. beings who understand what mercy is. But the only Rick Genest has been discovered by Nicola Formichetti, thing that we are able to produce is a universal sigh the creative director for Thierry Mugler, and since that for the whole world. moment this strange zombie-boy turned into a fashion model and legend. He was featured in the new Thierry Mugler Autumn/Winter men’s collection, and then Lady Gaga hired Genest to appear in her “Born This Way” video. What makes Genest unique is, of course, his appearance. It’s truly inspiring how he made himself a complete statement, a story to tell (...to scare children). Maybe it was just a stubborn act of nihilism, but we’d like to think that it was the greatest renunciation of everything trivial and normal. Even renunciation of his own human form.

■ Julia Krasilnikova ■ Julia Krasilnikova A tea party with the Urban Dictionary *sigh*-(n) a symbolic word used in online conversations to express frustration -I tried to impress them by reciting Chaucer from memory. But I just forgot that they were punks... *sigh* -My friends are boring. The weather is terrible. I don’t even have any superpowers. *sigh* http://www.urbandictionary.com ■ Julia Krasilnikova It may seem quite depressing at first sight, but Cultural Pearl it is like a mixture of all the ghosts in your head, all the deep fears coming outside and mak- ing explosions in the sky, all the thoughts What are you sighing about? that you have late at night – and at the same time it is the lozenge of the variety of life. After the long-expected release of the album There is no other way to find out whether I am right King of Limbs on 18th February (a day ear- or not, except to read it yourself. So «Open your lier than it was expected), the famous alterna- mouth wide/The universal sigh» tive band Radiohead turned out to have one more pleasant surprise for all devoted fans. P.S. The fans from Mos- cow and Novosibirsk are On the last days of March a mysterious newspa- going to get the free cop- per began to spread in different cities all over the ies of the newspaper as world. This ink-and-paper handout was called the problem connected “The Universal Sigh” and was created by Radio- with the Russian customs head and a well-known artist, short story writer office will be solved. and a good friend of the band Stanley Donwood. The question ■ Masha Barulina is what are they sighing about? OK, “British Invasion” likes to prove everything with we can say good examples. That is why we would like to pub- lots of com- lish several excerpts from “The Universal Sigh”. mon things, that are usu- Frozen ally really Everything was normal and as it should be until plain to speak about. So, let me share my own im- one day I woke up and there was something wrong. pression that I have after reading this fantastic (hard- I didn’t know what it was, but it was a kind of ly can describe it in a different way) newspaper. persistent thing that I couldn’t quite ignore. Some- I downloaded the PDF file a few days after I first saw thing was cold and it was like a place where some- the news about it. I was not sure about the feelings one had poked me with an icicle. A splinter of winter. I had after listening Radiohead’s new album. So I The days passed like they do and I just got cold- put King of Limbs on my media player to gain an er. The cold spread until I was like a sculpture of appropriate atmosphere to read and began at last. ice. I didn’t sneeze any more, and I couldn’t cry The first thought that came to my mind was «amaz- and if I tried to come it was like a tendril of porce- ing». And it is really amazing, guys, really inspiring. lain. I was a solid man. You could throw rocks at The newspaper consists of several stories, some po- me and it didn’t hurt at all. I just splintered a little. etry and marvelous pictures. If you have once read Perhaps fortunately, no-one noticed and everything car- Stanley Donwood’s stories and liked the style of them, ried on being normal and as it should be, all around me. you will certainly fall in love with The Universal Sigh. But I was frozen. Out of it, in it, out Haunt of it.

Walk up a long ago road covered with moss into Desire company, lack self-es- the woods. There is snow forecast. I want to lose teem and want to prove self. myself in a blizzard. No snow here though. Just Feel the disappointment and unhappiness what distant traffic and birds speaking to one another. was present in childhood cannot understand what is Sit on a dead tree. Grey sky. Grey feathers wrong. Irritable and dissatisfied. Friendly and open, spread across the moss. A beak: bloody flesh still yet feel that nothing is rift. Restless, dislike routine, attached. Red against pale green. A siren, far off. need simulation and have trouble getting up in the All around the crows shout about me. morning. React badly to shock and have intense fears, Snagged by brambles. Whipped by thorns. especially of being in a crowd, and dislike going out. I dread other humans. Tiny flakes fall. Cold Spend hours frantically sorting things out, dead skin. Push through spiny undergrowth. A but tend not to accomplish much irrita- muddy plateau. Frozen ruts. The sound of traf- ble, nervous, restless and hard to please. fic and aeroplanes. Hard to think. Leaning against Restless, hopeless, morose and have a morbid imagi- barbed wire. Two flocks of birds, above the bypass. nation. No matter how ill, deny that anything is wrong An unattended fire dying. A circle of hot grey ash. and refuse to see a doctor. Prefer to be left alone. A bird dips then plummets. A cold east wind. Fit and healthy, strong, energetic mind and body Into the woods. A snowy path. Walk into an abandoned lively and entertaining when ill, become violent and quarry. Caves everywhere. Warm air what smells of obstinate. May hit, bite or kick. Illness characterized blood drifts out and I’m too scared to go very far in. by restless, agitated behavior, with extreme sensi- tivity to light, noise, movement or being touched. Set high goals driving ambition leads to worka- holism. An excessive sense of duty, always feel as if haven’t done as well as should. Sensitive to oth- ers’ opinions and easily hurt. May become despair- ing. Can lead to clinical depression and suicide. Very materialistic. See life as a struggle for financial security. Great fear of poverty even if financially successful. Clean-living, critical, meticulous, relia- I lose my way. Emerge blinking from the ble. Fear the supernatural, prefer daylight to dark- woods. A golf course. I’m hungry and I ness, have very fixed ideas. know I am far from food. I wish would snow. A dark public thicket in the crotch of a beech. To see the whole A ruined house. A sign; private woods no access. version of “The Branches glow in the sunlight. Look out at the sky Universal Sigh” from the top of this hill. I think I’m surrounded by visit http://ripitup. blizzards. One swoops over. Walk into it. the sun still co.nz/contentitem/ out. My shadow clear as summer but Snow down my news-look-inside- neck. Watching valleys full of snow blow towards download-radio- me. No shelter eyes watering from the cold wind. head-s-the-univer- Snow faster and faster, tapping on my sal-sigh-newspa- coat. Falling fast. Hypnotic. I’m becom- per/1903 ing a snow man. Hands too cold almost. Sun in the distance. This will be over soon. The cloud departs: a trailing ghost. That was the time when the British were at the We Will Be The Victorians! top of the world, and it may be called the Golden Age of the British Empire. Not only the Brit- Some time before I heard a radio program on an ish Empire, though. It was the heyday of Western intriguing subject. It told the listeners about a new civilization, and you must not forget that Rus- subculture which was not well-known at that time. sia then used to be one of the most important ‘What is he talking about?’ you may ask. And my an- countries. Lots of great artists, writers, compos- swer will be, ‘I’m talking about the New Victorians’. ers and scientists lived and worked at that time. The New Vics reckon that this state – the state of The New Victorian subculture is believed to have Golden Age – should be natural for humanity. That’s appeared in America, and its ideas were first out- why those who want to live in a beautiful world have lined in the New York Observer article by Lizzy to strive for it. Joseph Brodsky once said, ‘Why do Ratner. However, after reading that article I thought we need the 20th century when we have the 19th?’ it was really boring and not inspiring at all. Thus, And New the Vics’ motto goes, ‘Towards the 19th!’ I have decided to speak about what I previously We have been told many times that we live in a found out from the radio program. You may not be- world of consumption, where you always have to lieve my words or take them seriously because I’m keep up to date with what’s going on around you. just going to share my own view on the subject. Imagine that you have bought a gadget or a com- puter. A month or two will pass, and it will no longer be considered modern. As a result, nobody tries to make something that could serve and remain reliable for a long time. The worst thing is that this might be applied to all areas of life. As you may assume, this is not true about the New Vics. A well made item is better than a poorly made one, is it not? If most people do not suppose so, there’s always a place in the Universe for those who have a different opinion. If you look carefully at what is happening, for exam- ple, in cinematography and music, you will notice that there are certain trends towards using some ele- ments of the culture of past centuries (not necessarily the 19th). Just listen to the music of The Irrepressibles or Belle and Sebastian. Watch ‘The King’s Speech’. There is also a whole style in literature and art called ‘steam punk’. It has its roots in the Victorian age. As I have said, people are not quite familiar with In conclusion, I would like to say that the the New Victorians (or New Vics). This may be world we live in is worth loving. There- put down to the fact that New Vics do not tend to fore, we should treat it with respect. show off and advertise their way of living. Never- theless, they do differ from the other people because ■ Nikolay Shiryaev they seem more confident and content than others. Ideally, they also wear smart and beautiful clothes. To learn more visit http://thenewvict-rians. com/ , a blog inspired by the new Vict ri- ans subculture. You can also try game Yet there is a question: Why ‘the New Victorians’? The Victorian Period (http://www.mc- What is meant by these words? Those who are in- cord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/games_jeux. terested in history should know the answer. When php?Lang=1&id=17&full%3Cbr%20/%3E ) we say ‘Victorian’, we mean something connect- that will teach you some Victorian manners and ed with the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). rules of etiquette. So it was in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, in the late A Tower Of Brainpower 1830s, when newspaper editors enjoyed inventing fanciful abbreviations, like “WOOOFC” for “with Why “OK” Has Conquered the one of our first citizens” and OW for “all right”. World? Needless to say, neither of these found a perma- nent place in the language. But they provided the The word OK is internationally known, but what do unusual context that enabled the creation of OK. we know about this peculiar word? On 23 March 1839, OK was introduced to the world on the second page of the Boston Morning Post, in “OK” is one of the most frequently used and recog- the midst of a long paragraph, as “o.k. (all correct)”. nized words in the world. How this weak joke survived is a mat- It is also one of the oddest expressions ever invent- ter of lucky coincidence involving the ed. But this oddity may in large measure account American presidential election of 1840. for its popularity. One candidate was nicknamed Old Kinderhook, and there was a false tale that a previous Ameri- It’s odd-looking. It’s a word that looks and sounds can president couldn’t spell properly and thus like an abbreviation, an acronym. would approve documents with an “OK”, think- We generally spell it OK - the spelling okay is ing it was the abbreviation for “all correct”. relatively recent, and still relatively rare - and we Within a decade, people began actually mark- pronounce it not “ock” but by sounding the names ing OK on documents and using OK on the of the letters O and K. telegraph to signal that all was well. So OK had found its niche, being easy to say or write and also distinctive enough to be clear. Visually, OK pairs the completely round O with the But there was still only restricted use of OK. completely straight lines of K. The misspelled abbreviation may have im- plied illiteracy to some, and OK was gener- So both in speech and in writing OK stands out ally avoided in anything but business contexts, clearly, easily distinguished from other words, and or in fictional dialogue by illiterate characters. yet it uses simple sounds that are familiar to a mul- titude of languages. Indeed, by and large American writers of fic- tion avoided OK altogether, even those Almost every language has an O vowel, a K conso- like Mark Twain who freely used slang. nant, and an A vowel. So OK is a very distinctive But in the 20th Century OK moved to the combination of very familiar elements. And that’s mainstream, gradually becoming a sta- one reason it’s so successful. ple of nearly everyone’s conversation, and OK stands no longer looked on as illiterate or slang. apart. Its true origin was gradually forgotten. OK used Ordinarily a such familiar sounds that speakers of other lan- word so odd, guages, hearing it, could rethink it as an ex- so distinctive pression or abbreviation in their own language. from others, wouldn’t be But what makes OK so useful that we in- allowed into corporate it into so many conversations? a language to It’s not that it was needed to “fill a gap” begin with. in any language. Before 1839, English As a general speakers had “yes”, “good”, “fine”, “ex- rule, a lan- cellent”, “satisfactory”, and “all right”. guage allows new words only when they resemble familiar ones. What OK provided that the others did not was Clever neologisms may be laughed at and enjoyed, neutrality, a way to affirm or to express -agree but hardly ever adopted by users of the language. ment without having to offer an opinion. Consider this dialogue: ”Let’s meet again this after- called «Iintelligentsia and Glamour » written by noon.” A. Maksimov. Actually it is neither a romance nor Reply: “OK.” a science fiction; it is quiet a new genre called, as Compare that with: “Let’s meet again this after- the author declares, «intelligentsia and glamour». noon.” But what does it mean? And is it a new genre at all? Reply: “Wonderful!” or “If we must.” From my point of view it is more like a conversation between the author and the reader, in which the first OK allows us to view a situation in is trying to arouse a lot of difficult questions, or, let us the simplest terms, just OK or not. say, “problems”. The author explains them to the im- And yet, despite its conquest of conversa- aginary reader, who is also here in the book and is asks tions the world over, there remain vast areas questions waiting for the explanation, since the nar- rator’s favorite word is « and now I am explaining ». of language where OK is scarcely to be found. So let’s try to You won’t find OK in prepared speeches. Indeed, understand most formal speeches and reports are free of OK. what this Modern English translations of the Bible re- book is main almost entirely OK-free. Many a pub- about and lished book has not a single instance of OK. why the nar- But OK still rules over the most part of the conversation. rator is so in- terested in ■ Elena Shirokova explaining something. Right in the first chapter we can see the introduction of the first main term « If you are interested to get more information about glamour » - « glamour - is the philosophy of life this amusing abbreviation you may read a recently which had little by little conquered our country and written book OK: The Improbable Story of Ameri- had done it very unnoticeably ». This philosophy is ca’s Greatest Word by Allan Metcalf (you can down- pretty very much clear and simple. It’s not the kind load it here http://www.twirpx.com/file/341714/) of philosophy we can study for years and never un- derstand; it’s a philosophy we can live by, the only Intelligentsia VS Glamour: Who Is criteria of it is as follows «every person lives with the sole aim (for one purpose) to be rich and fa- More Likely To Win? mous». The power of the glam is in their ability to I would like to speak about a novelty which ap- make everything simple! And because of this it had peared recently in the book market. It is the book conquered the hearts of many common people. If we ask one of the glam the eternal question about the meaning of life in general he or she will say « the meaning of life is - luxuries and fame ». It’s so short and understandable. So we have the glam with their simplicity on the one hand and the next term – intel- ligentsia on the other. « Intelligentsia is a woman! » now I will try to explain what this “woman” according to Maksi- mov’s thoughts is. She visits theatres (but rarely cinemas) and talks about different tendencies. This woman attends exhibitions and speculates about artistic processes. She reads books and sighs with pain. She writes books, stages perfor- mances, makes films and discusses all of this pas- sionately with the company of people who are in- cluded in the circles of intelligentsia. She studies various difficult sciences. Under the inspiration of our motherland she composes and plays music, quite often being very far from the object of in- If he doesn’t want to feel sorrow for aimless- spiration. She criticizes the economic course. She ly spent years he should first do everything feels pity for those who are in prison and it does to become rich and famous and then live». not matter for her for why the person is in pris- on. She never trusts any political authority. She ■ Paulina Artemieva watches football on TV screens and drinks alco- hol a lot (but without any pleasure and even wear- ing a tragic expression on the face). She likes feel This Is Actually Happening nostalgic for the past and to hope for better future. She hates the present because feels defrauded by present times. And she is responsible for nothing! Japan Tragedy Marks an Imprint on The main conclusion here is that the intelligentsia is the World’s Imagination History is full of events that leave a strong impres- sion on the world’s imagination and bring peo- ple of different languages and cultures together. Japan’s tragedy is doubtless among them. This event affected almost all spheres of life – policy, economy, even philosophy - and softened hearts all over the world. “This event has the potential to be the most globally disruptive natural disaster in modern times,” said Rob Verchick, a disaster expert at Loyola University in New Orleans. “And it may just be, in the context of globalization, of all time.” Let British Invasion carry you back to responsible for nothing! She thinks that glams March, 11, 2011 are bad, that they spoil everything… but when Japan was she does nothing to improve the situation. rocked by the first Now that we have more or less adequately under- earthquake tremors, stood the intelligentsia, lets turn to glamour itself. which caused the It has its mother in the Soviet authority! (though tsunami. The Inter- from my point of view it’s a very debatable ques- net was exploding tion). After 1991, when the USSR had collapsed, with messages of people did not know how to start a new life, how to grief. The little peo- understand the new reality and what moral princi- ple of the world feel ples to have. One only knew that in the USSR eve- for the Japanese and rybody was almost the same without any noticea- try to invite attention to this problem. For that ETO- ble differences and now everybody is dog tired of DAY published people’s posters devoted to this cat- being, without any noticeable differences. Each aclysm, which caused a death toll of 7,197 (the list wants to be unique, bright and not like others, to of unaccounted people is coming to 10,905). be a person about whom everybody would speak! And here, while the intelligentsia was struggling Pray for Japan. for power in the new country and paying no at- http://www.etoday.ru/2011/03/slezi-japonii.php#more tention to anyone, glamour came with its philoso- phy and explained its ways of life to people. The glam said quiet openly (according to Maksimov`s point of view) « life can be given to a person only once, and a person should use it in that way as not to feel sorrow for aimlessly spent years. ■ Tatiana Gumenuik Beginner’s Guide To… High School Movies Heathers (1988)–It’s one of This genre (and we’d like to call it a genre) is perhaps the most psyche- one of the most controversial. High school times delic movies of were the best days for some and the last days of hell this genre. The for others. The same goes for movies. They hardly main character ever tell us about studying and stuff like that. In such belongs to a group of the most movies high school times are the times of teenage famous high wasteland, unrequited love and other things which school girls. She were sung by Nirvana, Placebo and other cool kids. tries to be cool Though the and nice, but in themes of her diary she such movies writes “I want to are practical- kill”. Then she ly the same, meets a rebel who teaches her a brutal way to play the aspects social politics. Plot Keywords: suicide, murder, di- are quite dif- ary, psychopath, popularity. ferent. For example, the Dead Poet’s Society (1989) - One of the most aes- main charac- thetically beautiful movies. English professor John ter suffers from his parents misunderstanding. By the Keating inspires his students to love poetry and to way, parents in high school movies are usually por- seize the day. trayed as caricatures of people who can’t see the ob- They get involved vious and whose heart dies when they grow up (ac- in the best exam- cording to “The Breakfast club”). ples of literature, But not only parents are cruel to fearful and angry but even love of adolescents. Not only does society deprive you Shakespeare of enough opportunities to express yourself and doesn’t make you kills the best in you. Hypocritical teachers (though happy and willing fortunately some of them are the best friends of a to live. Plot Keywords: dedicated teacher, classic lit- teenager) aren’t the only ones who always go by erature, philosophy, carpe diem. the rule book. No, peers have the greatest impact Donnie Darko (2001) – A very thought-provoking on a main character. And they force him or her movie. A troubled teenager is plagued by visions of to be angry and uncontrollable and even to burn a large bunny houses and kill people. So Nirvana lyrics suits rabbit that ma- this list the best “Won’t you believe it, It’s just my nipulates him luck///No recess, You’re in high school again”. to commit a series of Must See Movies crimes, after The Breakfast Club (1985) – Five high school narrowly es- students, all different stereotypes (the Jock, the caping a bi- Brain, the Criminal, the Princess and the Kook), zarre accident. meet in detention, where they pour their hearts But this movie is not that simple – everything is out to each other, and discover how they have based on the sci-fi system of time travelling. Plot a lot more in common than they thought. Plot Keywords: fantasy life, parallel universe, supernat- Keywords: one day, student, conversa- ural power, tragedy. tion, marijuana, rejection, peer pressure. ■ Julia Krasilnikova Inspiration for Creation We believe that you express yourself in many dif- ferent ways and have some hobbies. Maybe you collect stamps (it’s so trivial but I have never met anyone who does it), maybe you dance tectonic or play videogames. As far as we can we try to pro- vide you with loads of inspiration. Let’s use it.

Fashion bloggers deserve to be loved for sev- eral reasons. One of them is that they give us use- ful tips how to look like a fashionista. And the second important reason is that they share with us their hand-made ideas: how to make a won- derful collar or leather clutch, so you can spice up your wardrobe without spending any money. Specially for you we chose some one-pic- ture tutorials from truly amazing blog http://psimadethis.com/ ■ Julia Krasilnikova

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▲▲“British Invasion”, №8, апрель 2011 При подготовке номера использованы материалы Некоммерческое издание, подготовленное сетевых изданий: студентами Института филологии и журналистики www.urbandictionary.com СГУ им. Н.Г. Чернышевского в рамках деятельности www.wikipedia.org Совета студентов и аспирантов. www.imdb.com Главный редактор: Красильникова Юлия www.kinopoisk.ru Корректор: Molly Exten www.tumblr.com Журналисты: Артемьева Полинa, Барулина Мария, и другие источники, указанные непосредственно. Гуменюк Татьяна, Красильникова Юлия, Широкова Елена, Ширяев Николай. Верстка и коллажи: Красильникова Юлия, Юров Павел