Over the past six months we’ve featured photos from filmmakers Stuart McBratney and Julia Nalivaiko, who’ve been gallivanting around Russia and Ukraine filming Back in the Soviet Bloc. They’ve finally released a trailer, and it’s amazing to see these images come to life. Check it out on their Kickstarter page, and order a DVD to help them complete the project.

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A month ago we posted stills from Back in the Soviet Bloc, a TV series about present-day life, culture and food in former Soviet states.

Filmmakers Stuart McBratney and Julia Nalivaiko have been shooting in Russia and Ukraine for two months, uploading stills to their Facebook page throughout. They’ve wrapped production of Series 1, so feast your eyes on another serving of Eastern goodness. And, of course, you can Like their page for updates.

From the ‘are we serious’ files comes this remarkable Sex Doll race held on the Vuoksa River Rapids, just out of St. Petersburg. Around 800 people turned up to watch the proceedings in which competitors raced each other on their dolls in a three minute dash for fame, glory, and all the attention that an admiring gaggle of plastic dolls could muster. [photos via dimoxod.livejournal.com]

Since leaving her Ukrainian homeland 14 years ago, Julia Nalivaiko is often asked, ‘What’s it like?. To answer the curious masses, she’s returned to Ukraine and Russia with Australian filmmaker Stuart McBratney to document the people, culture and food. They’re currently halfway through their 8-week shoot, and are posting video stills from the road. Here’s a sneak peak. For more pics, check out their Facebook page, and click “like” to receive updates.

Mainstreamers are two guys, Luka and Nootk, based in Moscow, Russia. They started out in 2007 doing graffiti, moved onto decorating murals, and are now involved in all sorts of creative activities. Mainstreamers follow one common path of creating characters out of objects and letters. Their colour pallets are always precisely chosen and work well with the themes.

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Check out these brilliant origami-inspired Green Berry Tea bags from Russian-based designer Natalia Ponomareva. While the tea seeps, the bag gradually expands into a poetic and delicate paper crane. The design hasn’t made it to store shelves yet but the concept is so impressive that it deserves sharing.

Russian political science professor Igor Panarin recently caused a bit of a stir, predicting that the US will break apart in 2010, when the current financial crisis will have resulted in social crisis big enough to tear the Union into six pieces. Kevin Kelly, Editor-At-Large for Wired Magazine, has posted a discussion on the likelihood of Panarin’s prediction coming true.

I grew up hyper aware of the expectations that people might have of me based on my ethnicity and I always strived to defy them, which is why I decided to suck at math and I refused to go to the kung-fu school they make us all go to when we’re kids. When I see people reveling in their stereotypes, it just makes me feel like giving up and chowing down on a cat.

Russian artist DOU creates beautiful C-print images, most 100cm by 100cm, that are coated with DiaSec, a silicone coating and mounting process that is common overseas to give extra depth and crispness to colors. Not much personal information has been found about DOU, adding to the enigma and general weirdness factor.

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What is it with these big fake islands that look like things from the air? We’ve had palm trees, a map of the world, and now an island that looks like Russia! Particularly annoying is that these edifices are only appreciated from above, and maybe in the sales pitch, but certainly not as you approach. This time a very accomplished Dutch Architect, Erick van Egeraat, is the designer and one wonders how he became involved in this seemingly unoriginal and ridiculously opulent gesture. Anyway, it’s called Federation Island and is a 330ha artificial archipelago in the shape of Russia, to be built in the Black Sea near Sochi and completed in time for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Apparently Vladimir Putin inquired about technical details and construction time. Erik van Egeraat assured him that the Dutch, more than anyone else, knew how to reclaim land from the sea. The question is why?

Wondering what the latest architecture being built in the new Russia is like? One of the major trendsetters that led to today’s architectural modernism, Russia is having a real spurt of building. The construction above is example of a proposed hotel in New Holland, St Petersburg. The hotel features a large courtyard with a waterway, once used for ship building. The central building is a raised glass promenade elevated above the court. Within the glazing sits a 700-seat concert hall. Ironically, and somewhat regrettably, this new Russian building has actually been designed by an American architect, Eric Owen Moss.