Grigory Ryzhakov's Blog, page 8

Size Matters or… Does the Word Count Speak Volumes About a Book?

 

I’m a slow reader and I prefer reading short books. I often find long books associated with poorly structured stories, with muddled middles, containing pages and pages of impenetrable narrative.

It is extremely hard to write cohesive long stories without succumbing to one or the other sins of fiction.… Read the rest

Modern Russian Books: Victor Pelevin and Russian Postmodernism

 

Victor Pelelin is probably the most influential  modern Russian writer. In his post-modernist stories Pelevin eclectically combines elements of esoterics, theology, philosophy, pop culture, psychology and politics. His writing is multilayered, rich in symbolism and references to the world culture and history. … Read the rest

Franzen’s Wrath Or Is The World Lethally Poisoned with Techno-consumerism?

A big chunk of this week’s popcorn entertainment comes from the writer Jonathan Franzen and his wrath Guardian rant on perils of techno-consumerism as it’s summarised in the latest  Ether. Franzen mentions the perils -

…And meanwhile the overheating of the atmosphere, meanwhile the calamitous overuse of antibiotics by agribusiness, meanwhile the widespread tinkering with cell nucleii, which may well prove to be as disastrous as tinkering with atomic nucleii.

… Read the rest

Seven Films To Thrill Us This Fall

Gravity (out 4th of October)

Alfonso Cuarón created this gripping sci-fi drama starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. What happens when the space station is destroyed and you are left adrift in the outer space. What do you do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doLizp4PJmc

 

Carrie (18th of October)

Chloe Moritz and Julianne Moore star in this terrifying film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel Carrie.… Read the rest

Russian Scifi. Sergei Lukyanenko

I was brought up on classical literature, there wasn’t much else in my parent’s library, save for some detective stories that never appealed to me since I considered Crime and Punishment was the way to write a detective story. When I moved to Moscow to study at the university I discovered sci-fi and fantasy genres.… Read the rest

A feel good film: The Way Way Back. Who Can Make You A Better Person?

The Way Way Back will ‘put a smile upon your face’ on a rainy day. There is something very likeable about this film, reminiscent of the feeling I had when watching Little Miss Sunshine.

The main character, Duncan, is a shy fourteen year old teenager.… Read the rest

The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology and the Origin of Life

I often see searches within my blog about the basics of molecular genetics, DNA, etc. So I decided to talk about the molecular ‘brain’ of the fundamental biological entity called cell.

Life on Earth is enabled through a molecular machinery reading the genetic code, which executes replication of nucleic acids and translation of their protein coding sequences into polypeptide chains as it is shown on the figure above.… Read the rest

Ecology and Literature

As a scientist I have always been more interested in the fate of our planet rather than the mankind. When I was a child I wanted to be an inventor, so the machines would do the job with more efficiency and less pollution.… Read the rest

Sci-fi Flick: Elysium. Overpopulation and Immigration

In ancient Greek mythology, Elysium is an afterlife place of happiness where the few chosen including heroes end up after they die.

In Neil Blomkamp’s latest sci-fi film of the same title, Elysium is a paradise, an artificially created world in the space near Earth, where everyone  can live forever and any diseases can be cured.… Read the rest

Vladimir Sorokin. Modern Russian Master of Word

Vladimir Sorokin is often called L’Enfant terrible of the Russian literary establishment.Yet mostly this is envy, as Sorokin’s word-wielding skills got him a reputation of the master of prose and put him on the same level with Russian masters. Sorokin’s command of style is virtually limitless, it seems there is nothing he cannot achieve as a wordsmith.… Read the rest