Awesome Russia

We’ve spent some time hooning about on the ice in high-powered sports cars, but these guys in Russia show that it doesn’t take a big budget to enjoy ice driving. With tiny studded tires and some 250cc engines, ripping around on a frozen river in go karts looks like a massive amount of fun.

Timelab.pro presents an absolutely stunning montage of aerial photography it captured around Moscow. The ultra high-def video – shot with a DJI Inspire 2 drone – is flooded with detail, contrast, and color, and reflects both the new and old sides of the Russian capital.

With its twangy mouth sounds, Jew’s harp (aka “jaw harp”) is one of the stranger instruments out there. For the most part, it’s an instrument that’s played by one musician at a time, but this ensemble of 30 or so harp players in Russia occasionally gets together to perform as a group, and the layered sound they make is wild.

Pianist Pavel Andreev performs in one of the most exclusive venues we’ve ever seen – on a man-made floating square island in the middle of the lake in Karelia, Russia’s stunning marble canyon. They had to lower the piano on a crane from above, then floated it into the lake.

What goes up, must come down, even in Russia. Musician Leonid Vorobyev and his bandmates crank out a fantastic cover version of the Blood, Sweat & Tears R&B classic Spinning Wheel, complete with the big, vibrant horn section that makes the original so damned good.

A charming performance by ballet dancer Oleg Chernasov, as he performs the parts of two smaller characters fighting each other. While the costume is definitely a big part of the illusion, it’s his agility and choreography that really make it work.

The Mercedes G-Class (aka the “G-Wagon”) is a boxy and rugged military-style vehicle. We’ve seen lots of them over the years, but never one quite like this – a fully-drivable vehicle with a body made out of ice. The frozen ride was made by Garage 54 of Novosibirsk, Russia.

The European Space Agency shared this stunning time-lapse footage captured from the vantage point of the International Space Station, as astronaut Alexander Gerst watched a Russian Soyuz rocket take flight and head towards the ISS with fresh supplies.

Watch as a Russian off-road vehicle called a Sherp rolls effortlessly over a partially-frozen lake, seemingly defying physics by not sinking through the softened ice. Apparently it has something to do with the vehicle’s paddle boat tires. See more Sherp antics here.

Among its many tests of strength and testosterone, Russia’s Sarychev Power Expo includes an unusual competition – a contest to see who can slap the hardest. It looks ridiculous and incredibly painful, and that’s why we’re spectators and not participants.

A surprisingly well-priced nixie tube clock, with a bright, easy-to-read display made from vintage soviet front-facing tubes. Each one is handmade with a solid wood case, and features a 7-day alarm capability. Available with or without RGB LED backlighting.

Russian musician Vladimir Cauchemar pops up all over the place to warm the world with the soothing and hypnotic sounds of his recorder. Kudos to director Alice Kunisue for one of the most entertaining and WTF things we’ve watched today.

In Russia, there’s a dashcam in just about every car these days. Dmitrii Kalashnikov’s intense documentary is assembled entirely from dashcam footage, which captured everything from a meteor crashing to Earth, to gas station fires, to some of the craziest road rage ever.

Berezka (“Birch” in English) is a Russian folk dance troupe who performs with an unusual style – its dancers move with such tiny and smoothly-executed footsteps that it appears they’re on wheels. Of course, their dresses are so long that they very well could be.

We hate trying to clean the sticky mess off of our windshields when bugs smack into them, so we can’t imagine how much time it took to scrub the bug debris off of this truck after it ran into a massive swarm of locusts on a road in Dagestan, Russia.

“Well I find myself in trimes of travel…” A so-bad-it’s-good cover version of The Beatles’ 1970 classic, as performed by a choir of Russian sailors, highlighted by the marble-mouthed vocal stylings of their lead singer, and an ample dose of hat waving.

A team of guys in Russia show off the build process behind their own homebrew tank. We’re assuming the plywood bits at the start were an earlier prototype, as the finished MS-1 tank appears to be made from sturdier materials like metal and rubber.

While we don’t know if it’ll be shown outside of Russia, this X-Men style superhero flick looks like it could be fun. The film is set in an alternate Soviet Union where mutant superheroes band together to protect the country from supernatural threats.

It’s good to know that folks in Russia love cosplay just as much as we do here in the States. This great video from Mr. TVCow shows off some of the impressive costumes and makeup at Comic Con Russia 2015. Is it just us, or are all the women in Russia gorgeous?

A man in Russia shows off some cold war era playground equipment that seems more like something the KGB would use for interrogations than something kids should be playing on. Even if the guy fit better, the rides still look awful.

This video of an idiot trying to hitch a ride behind a snowmobile could have ended tragically, but the fact that the snowmobile didn’t end up shredding his legs like the wood chipper in Fargo makes us feel a bit more comfortable laughing at him.

This flyover of Russia’s Central Air Force Museum provides a unique perspective on these retired Russian airplanes and helicopters parked in the snow. The Concorde’s cousin Tupolev Tu-144 on the far left side is our favorite.

We have no idea what prompted the violence, but the guy who received the beatdown from Mickey Mouse, Spongebob Squarepants, Scrat the Squirrel and some elephant is going to be nursing his bruised ego more than any physical injuries.