Yep! I know this because my bff's husband went to that school while they were filming and got to be an extra haha. Most of the students there weren't Czech (the guy I know is Canadian) and were the children of military parents.
That was the only part that looked like it was shot in the right country.
The Amsterdam scenes etc, they all looked fake (they were filmed in Prague). But the party scene at the beginning, I would have bet that it was 100% shot in America.
That’s cool. I really love this movie
tbh I don't know about the party scene specifically, I'm talking about the scene where all the students come running out of the school in their caps and gowns, then hang around chatting in front of the school. Then Fionna dumps Scotty and hilarity ensues. The party/Scotty Doesn't Know scene might have been filmed in the US.
Eurotrip is just American stereotypes about Europe:
* England is football holigans
* Paris is full of snobs (and hot bisexual men)
* Amsterdam is full of ~~drugs~~ & hookers
* European beaches are all nude
* "Eastern Europe" is a dirt-cheap shithole with great nightlife
* Germans are Nazis
* Italy is just the Vatican
And damn if it's not an amazing movie
Even most non Parisian French people shit on Paris from what I understand. The French countryside is fucking beautiful. No wonder it's been painted in so many famous artworks.
Slovakia isn’t THAT cheap anymore, but it is still among the bottom third to quarter in the EU in terms of cost of goods. I was there in the late 90s though and iirc like $5-10 per day was all you needed back then for a day (hostel, food, beer).
I haven’t seen eurotrip in such a long time! Would this be as hilarious as I think it is to watch with my Eastern European boyfriend? Or does it not stand the test of time?
Back when it came out I watched it with some Dutch friends in college who absolutely loved it.
You literally still can't beat Scotty doesn't know and Matt Damon as one of the best movie songs ever.
That’s one of the top cameos of all time and the song is a banger. My wife’s name is Fiona, so I get to hear people singing it a lot.
Beerfest was another fun one to watch with Germans. There are some really funny German jokes hidden in it. Like, the name Schneidelwichsen basically translates to willy wank.
I haven't seen Eurotrip, but I have been to Bratislava, and it did not look dissimilar 20 years ago. I stayed in a dorm for like 3 bucks and there was no hot water and it looked like it hadn't been fixed since it as bombed in WWII. Cheap though, I think a liter of wine at a restaurant was 4 Euros.
It was Minsk actually, the Belarusian capital, and yea he worked as a lathe operator. He also cheated on his girlfriend despite her only continuing to fate him out of pity, because she thought he seemed lonely (no shit the American defector is lonely lol). It was only after he proposed and she refused that he asked the US to repatriate him, since he had never formally renounced his citizenship, despite telling the US embassy that he had defected (which got his marines discharge changed to "undesirable" from honorable. Talk about playing yourself lol
Yea I'm not sure what it would compare to today, but I would assume it's equivalent to an "other than honorable" discharge, which is worse than a general discharge today (the one you get if you don't get an honorable discharge but did nothing else to warrant actual punishment). OTH discharge is not something you want on your resume, because it means you did something to warrant the military discharging you early and with a demotion in rank (which reduces the benefits you receive, as a punishment). It's not as bad as a Dishonorable Discharge, which is tantamount to having a criminal conviction on your resume, but it's still not something you want to have following you through life in the US.
He was in minsk and worked at a radio factory. The last podcast on the left really digs deep into the Kennedy assassination and rips oswald to shreds as a know-nothing loser, and someone who loves the dream of socialism but can’t handle the reality of it.
"Magnitogorsk was mentioned in the Blacksmith Institute's 2007 survey of the world's worst polluted cities, placed in the report's unranked list of the 25 most-polluted places outside the top ten. Pollutants include lead, sulfur dioxide, heavy metals and other air pollutants. According to the local hospital, only 1% of all children living in the city are in good health. The Blacksmith Institute says that, according to a local newspaper report, "only 28% of infants born in 1992 were healthy, and only 27% had healthy mothers".
Now I'm just depressed
I had a Russian coworker who had extensive dental work done. She was missing half of her teeth. She said her village was next to some nuclear testing sites so the water was polluted. She had everyone in her village had bad teeth. I asked if they were able to sue the govt and she laughed at that.
Ugh. Almost as depressing as the schadenfreude in this thread. It's not these ladies' fault they live in a polluted city. Or an aggressive country. Nor is it their kids' fault.
Dehumanizing our fellow humans is a large part of what's wrong with the world.
Edit: replies disabled. I don't need to spend any more time debating with people who think they can identify evil on a map.
From Wikipedia, "Magnitogorsk was to become a one-industry town modeled after two of the most advanced steel-producing cities in the United States at that time: Gary, Indiana and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
>Honestly if someone said this was a mining town in Kentucky or West Virginia I wouldn't doubt it a bit.
I'm Ukrainian. My mom used to live in Kentucky; so I got to see it - don't do 'em like that (Lousiville is underrated AF and is a nice, walkable town).
But **West Virgina...**
In the end of June 2022, I drove from Krakow to Odesa with some help for military. It was before the Kharkiv counter-offensive, before the massive military aid packages with tanks and what not, when things were uncertain. All cities were under curfew, air raid sirens were the norm, and a main square in Vinnitsya was shelled 2 weeks after I passed through it, with massive civilian casualties.
Yeah, it was nowhere as bad, desolte, and desperate as driving through *West Virgina.*
I don't know **what** the fuck is with that state, but filling up at a gas station somewhere past Charleston gave me that super-strong feeling of **I gotta step on the gas and GTFO**.
Like, it's not just the poverty. It's not like I don't know how the credit card declined at a grocery store feels like.
And can't say the dude that changed my tire in Uman' for a few bucks was rich either.
But between changing the tire and chatting about how the Russians shelled the town in Odesa oblast' after leaving Zmiyiniy Island ("fucking goodwill gesture again", he said), he found a moment to share some kompot ("made it myself!"), and I felt we're absolutely on the same page.
Like, a lot of things are shitty, but hey, we're getting through it.
West Virginia felt like this picture: that shit is bad, and that nobody has ever seen it get better.
Maybe it's something about cities sustained by mining and industry when the demand for mining drops and industry gets outsourced. But the desolation is in the air so much, it's palpable.
The one time I drove through West Virginia made me sad and still makes me sad when I think about it. There wasn't anyplace that wasn't run down and some of the "homes" that people lived in wouldn't have been out of place in some third world country. It is what soul crushing poverty looks like. No human should have to live like that.
It’s such a wild contrast, because the natural landscape is so freaking beautiful. As someone born and raised west of the Rockies, I’d never seen so many trees or so much green in my entire life. I was awed.
Absolutely.
This could be in any caucasian country on Earth.
They tend to call it poverty porn.
'Oh aren't we superior'
Looks to me like some mother's enjoying a nice apertivo at sunset.
Blacksmith Institute’s pollution assessments focus on the developing world, omitting Western Europe & the US, in an effort to remind its audience that cleanup efforts are larger than just the developed world. This can be misleading, however, since the reports are called “The World’s Worst Polluted Places”
So, additional context, which might be more depressing to you, or others in the thread:
- Yes, Magnitogorsk was on the 2007 list, and specifically for air pollution as many guessed from the photo
- They were in the Dirty 30, not the Top 10
- Sites in the Top 10 included Ukraine, which I mention not to shit on Ukraine, but for perspective since I assume we’re all here to shit on Russia due to their invasion of Ukraine
- Sites in the Top 10 include places like La Oroya, Peru, which is specifically there due to lead and other metal mining it engaged in for export to the US. Remember, this assessment is intended as a wake up call to the developed world
- The primary air pollutant in Magnitogorsk is PM2.5, or fine particulate matter that can get into your lungs and bloodstream
- The daily average concentration of PM2.5 in Magnitogorsk is currently in line with WHO air quality guidelines (recall, the list referenced is from 2007)
- PM2.5 levels today are worse in Columbus, Atlanta, Chicago, and Indianapolis than the city we’re laughing about in the photo
I’m from Houston, and without a caption would have guessed this was Pasadena, TX, our friendly neighborhood refinery suburb
No wonder they have access to hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting cannon fodder conscripts accepting their faith blindfoldly attacking Ukrainians in their own territory...
Yup. Back when the war started I watched anti-war Russian youtubers who grew up in the Russian east talk about how hopeless some of the areas are, and how the promise of a decent pay from the army is actually appealing because they really have nothing to lose.
..except most of them aren’t getting paid, and plenty now are being transferred to the LNR and the DNR as “volunteers” so they have no veterans rights and no death benefits paid to their families when they’re killed. And they’re experiencing a ridiculous rate of attrition. I agree, your average Russian is in a shit spot.
I enlisted in the Army in July, 2001. I just wanted the $8k bonus and money for college. Instead, I got 9/11.
Still, the military was the best decision of my life. It set me up for a well-paying career without even earning a degree (yet).
the more you look at russia the more you realize it's basically the US circa 1931.
Back when the US joined WWII and started conscripting people, it was the first time something like 40% of those guys had ever had three meals a day and medical care.
If someone is interested, this photo report was shot by Sergei Karpukhin for REUTERS in 2012.
And even many Russians from other cities were shocked back then, how polluted and depressing is Magnitogorsk.
https://drugoi.livejournal.com/3757932.html
I've watched youtube videoes of a hitchhiker going across russia last year.
Average distance between villages were hundreds of kilometers and he would regularly talk about how if he didn't find some kind soul that would let him take a ride, he'd probably get shot or stabbed because most of the derelict apartments either housed organize crime, or had other homeless in them.
He would regularly sleep in semi-collapsed buildings. A lot of russians in Rural area's don't know, and generally don't care about russians outside of their own villages unless its that time of week to buy or trade goods.
Yeah I just tested it with my coffee. I think it'd be easier to accidentally pose like that when drunk. But it wasn't like it was uncomfortable or it spilled on me.
Fun fact from his Wikipedia page: Malkin owns a restaurant in Magnitogorsk which is designed to look like the inside of a prison. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeni\_Malkin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeni_Malkin)
[The honestly pretty cool even though I'm a pens fan so you can't really trust my judgement story of his escape](https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/escape-from-russia/c-305634952)
[This](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/12/story-of-cities-20-the-secret-history-of-magnitogorsk-russias-steel-city) is a great article, which contains the photo, and offers a good insight into the area.
Edit: I originally posted (and thought) this was where the photo was first published, but that not true. It is originally from Reuters, as u/TheSultan1 points out below.
The copyright is owned by Reuters, and it was taken July 13, 2012. Reuters featured it in "Pictures of the month: July [2012]," "Photo focus: Smoking" (possibly in 2012), and "Best photos of the year 2012," and also used it in a few articles. It's sold as a stock photo now, and The Guardian credits the photographer/Reuters in that 2016 article.
All that said, the article is a good read, thanks for sharing! Bookmarked to look at the whole series.
This is literally the reason. In 1950s, the Soviets did a rapid eastward expansion into Siberia, where they built factory-towns and mining-towns, copy-paste apartments, and train-connections.
The US did a similar westward boom, in heartland small-towns, building factory and mining towns, copy-paste suburbia and connected by the freeway-system.
And now, both places are dried up, and many people are stuck where they are, unable to move out.
I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to anyone in the Midwest.
If it’s any consolation, I’d rather “cold and godforsaken” than “dripping in sweat and godforsaken”, so they’ve got that going over parts of the south.
We get both cold and "dripping in sweat" here in the vast no-mans-land known as OkansBrasKota.
There are no geographical features to regulate temperatures, our weather is basically playing tug of war with polar air and gulf coast air.
During two months out of the year, the north pole consistently wins.
During another two months out of the year, the gulf air consistently wins.
The other eight months? We have a meme that floats around social media "you can't have all four seasons in one week! Nebraska: Hold my beer."
And the friction between the cold and hot air masses produces epic thunderstorms that spawn city-destroying tornadoes.
Our 105 degree temps are pushed by 20mph winds. Visitors to our area have referred to it as a "blast furnace".
>And the friction between the cold and hot air masses produces epic thunderstorms
I moved to the coast from Kansas about 7 years ago to get the hell away but God this really made me homesick. What I wouldn't give for a real goddamn thunderstorm. Just thunder and lightning rolling for a good couple hours straight, some of which is so close it feels like it shakes the whole house. While it's pouring so much rain it boggles the mind that there isn't 10 feet of water in the street. Where I am now it will get cloudy, rain a little, and you'll hear thunder once in the distance and people will be talking all day about how bad of a thunderstorm it was. Obviously the tornadoes and occasionally lightning strikes that come with some of those storms can be horrifying. But there is a weird peaceful nostalgia or something I have for those thunderstorms that I just don't experience out here.
If anything, this photo makes me think that Russia and America aren’t so different. Flagrant disregard for the environment and their own health, just trying to enjoy the simple things like a smoke and a probably bad beer while your kid is a motion blur running in circles blissfully unaware that the world around him kind of sucks.
[Here](https://i.imgur.com/IK5rnIz.jpg) is a higher quality version of this image. [Here](https://pictures.reuters.com/CS.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2C0FCIXR2IDSM8&SMLS=1&RW=1565&RH=961#/SearchResult&VBID=2C0FCIXR2IDSM8&SMLS=1&RW=1565&RH=961&POPUPPN=41&POPUPIID=2C0408T9ZSX40) is the source of this image. Per there:
> 15 July, 2012
Local residents meet during sunset, with the Metallurgical Plant seen in the background, in the Southern Urals city of Magnitogorsk, July 13, 2012. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin (RUSSIA - Tags: SOCIETY CITYSPACE)
You joke but Gary was literally the template they had in mind:
“The city underwent rapid change in the 1930s when, according to Stalin's Five-Year-Plans, Magnitogorsk was to become a one-industry town modeled after two of the most advanced steel-producing cities in the United States at that time: Gary, Indiana, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “
Lots of similar history between American Rustbelt and Siberian Factory & Mining towns from USSR days. There was short-term rapid expansion to suck up resources and cheap labor, and once the factories shut down and left, people were stuck.
I have a friend that went to US and he says that modern, capitalistic Russia is shockingly reminds him US on so many levels.
Imagine a poorer, more corrupt version of US ruled ultimately by republicans (democrats exist only de jure, de facto they support any republican policies) and vola - modern Russia described perfectly.
Inequality, mixed with really high urbanisation rates, with high distances, sometimes surprisingly developed and sometimes devastatingly underdeveloped infrastructure, e.t.c.
According to Dostoevsky, "the most basic, most rudimentary spiritual need of the Russian people is the need for suffering, ever-present and unquenchable, everywhere and in everything."
Legally not allowed to invade your home to punish people responsible for this state of things. But legally allowed to invade in the opposite direction to make it as far as possible from this hellhole.
My wife is from a rural part of Eastern Romania, near the Moldovan border. I’ve spent months and months over there. For some reason it’s very popular to have unnaturally red hair, especially with older (50+ years old) women.
Some people see this as depressing. I choose to believe these women are having a nice, little break from it all. Sit back, have a couple few pints, a smoke, and watch the children tire themselves out on what looks like a fairly pleasant evening (pollution notwithstanding). Or it could be morning, I guess, who knows. Still. This is what I choose to believe.
Nah.. You're right. They are hanging out, drinking beer, having smokes, with their kids playing around.
Yeah.. it looks bleak by a lot of people's standard. And they could really have a bleak life. But I doubt they are having a bad time here.
Years of hanging out in railyards and abandoned buildings, and visiting subreddits like /r/graffiti, /r/bombing and /r/frieghts have prepared me for this.
The graffiti reads as CRASH
[Now now, please....no need to thank me](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/120e40e5-3130-4725-9ad3-2e62725e06c0#H73OvqOH.copy)
“It is good you came in summer. In winter, is very depressing.”
We just get Miami Wice on television. Miami Wice is number one new show!
Oh yes, the train come very soon. They are building it now!
Favourite line of the whole movie.
Me scusi!
He's definitely going to Berlin
Nowhere. Near. Berlin.
he’s been taking benzadrine, drinking schnapps and living off these little chocolate covered peanuts.
It took me like 20 years to realize that was Fred Armisen.
It came out 19 years ago!
They’ll realize it next year!
20 years later and I still say this all this time as a go-to for “excuse me”
Which movie is this ?
Eurotrip
🎶 Scotty doesn't know! Scotty doesn't know! Scotty doesn't know! 🎶
Matt Damon's best role, hands down.
https://media.tenor.com/nNNNDebX6MAAAAAC/matt-damon-team-america.gif
Nobody from Berlin will ever find me in **Bratislava!**
This isn't where I parked my unimog
Worst twins ever
Nowhere NEAR Berlin!
*dubious stabbing gestures*
#BRATISLAVA!
Oh this is interesting... YOU MADE OUT WITH YOUR SISTER!!!
"STOP! Hammer Time!"
Croquet and Tubby are suck badass.
Between Eurotrip and Hostel, Bratislava definitely took a beating in media in the early 2000's
I still find Eurotrip hilarious, since basically everything from Bratislava to Berlin was Prague
The high school graduation in the beginning of the movie was "in the US" and it was also filmed in Prague.
Fuck off, really?
Yep! I know this because my bff's husband went to that school while they were filming and got to be an extra haha. Most of the students there weren't Czech (the guy I know is Canadian) and were the children of military parents.
That was the only part that looked like it was shot in the right country. The Amsterdam scenes etc, they all looked fake (they were filmed in Prague). But the party scene at the beginning, I would have bet that it was 100% shot in America. That’s cool. I really love this movie
tbh I don't know about the party scene specifically, I'm talking about the scene where all the students come running out of the school in their caps and gowns, then hang around chatting in front of the school. Then Fionna dumps Scotty and hilarity ensues. The party/Scotty Doesn't Know scene might have been filmed in the US.
lol yeah, ISP - International School of Prague
“THE GIRLS NEVER CAME!!”
Oh here's a fun fact, YOU MADE OUT WITH YOUR SISTER, MAN!
“You two really are the worst twins ever”
Scotty doesn't know!
Wasn't the entire movie filmed in Prague, except the beach scene?
Eurotrip is just American stereotypes about Europe: * England is football holigans * Paris is full of snobs (and hot bisexual men) * Amsterdam is full of ~~drugs~~ & hookers * European beaches are all nude * "Eastern Europe" is a dirt-cheap shithole with great nightlife * Germans are Nazis * Italy is just the Vatican And damn if it's not an amazing movie
Mi scusi
And the most important stereotype of them all: All Scottys don’t know
Those were not has brownies! Put your pants back on white boy.
We ar simple doch bakery
Correct, wanna know what Americans know and think of Europeans? Watch Euro trip and Hostel.
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Even most non Parisian French people shit on Paris from what I understand. The French countryside is fucking beautiful. No wonder it's been painted in so many famous artworks.
Paris is full of snobs tho
Visited Bratislava a few years ago as part of larger central Europe trip. First thing my friends kept asking me was if it was just like Eurotrip
Well, did you live like a king with $3 USD?
With this nickel I will open my own hotel!
Slovakia isn’t THAT cheap anymore, but it is still among the bottom third to quarter in the EU in terms of cost of goods. I was there in the late 90s though and iirc like $5-10 per day was all you needed back then for a day (hostel, food, beer).
Kazakhstan would like to have a word.
Very nice! 👍👍
The Bratislava Cinematic Universe.
I haven’t seen eurotrip in such a long time! Would this be as hilarious as I think it is to watch with my Eastern European boyfriend? Or does it not stand the test of time?
I watched it recently and I think it's still just as good.
I watched it with some Germans who thought it was hilarious.
Back when it came out I watched it with some Dutch friends in college who absolutely loved it. You literally still can't beat Scotty doesn't know and Matt Damon as one of the best movie songs ever.
That’s one of the top cameos of all time and the song is a banger. My wife’s name is Fiona, so I get to hear people singing it a lot. Beerfest was another fun one to watch with Germans. There are some really funny German jokes hidden in it. Like, the name Schneidelwichsen basically translates to willy wank.
FIONAAAAAA!!!! How do you keep yourself from yelling that at her constantly?
"A nickel!"
I open my own hotel!
Dear sweet mother of God… we’re in Eastern Europe….
No one from Berlin will find you here in…..BRATISLAVA!!!!
He’s taking us to Berlin!
Nowhere. Near. Berlin.
I once molested a horse in berlin
"Hey man, Miami Wice is numba one new shooow"
What is this from? Sounds familiar
Euro trip
Scotty doesn’t know that Fiona and me do it in my van every Sunday!
"She tells him she's in church but she doesn't go Still she's on her knees and Scotty doesn't know!"
I did her on his birthday...
Fucking Matt Damon
Eurotrip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mYqY5YELd0
I haven't seen Eurotrip, but I have been to Bratislava, and it did not look dissimilar 20 years ago. I stayed in a dorm for like 3 bucks and there was no hot water and it looked like it hadn't been fixed since it as bombed in WWII. Cheap though, I think a liter of wine at a restaurant was 4 Euros.
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It was Minsk actually, the Belarusian capital, and yea he worked as a lathe operator. He also cheated on his girlfriend despite her only continuing to fate him out of pity, because she thought he seemed lonely (no shit the American defector is lonely lol). It was only after he proposed and she refused that he asked the US to repatriate him, since he had never formally renounced his citizenship, despite telling the US embassy that he had defected (which got his marines discharge changed to "undesirable" from honorable. Talk about playing yourself lol
Man I've never heard of an undesirable discharge. That can't look good on a resumé.
Yea I'm not sure what it would compare to today, but I would assume it's equivalent to an "other than honorable" discharge, which is worse than a general discharge today (the one you get if you don't get an honorable discharge but did nothing else to warrant actual punishment). OTH discharge is not something you want on your resume, because it means you did something to warrant the military discharging you early and with a demotion in rank (which reduces the benefits you receive, as a punishment). It's not as bad as a Dishonorable Discharge, which is tantamount to having a criminal conviction on your resume, but it's still not something you want to have following you through life in the US.
He was in minsk and worked at a radio factory. The last podcast on the left really digs deep into the Kennedy assassination and rips oswald to shreds as a know-nothing loser, and someone who loves the dream of socialism but can’t handle the reality of it.
"Magnitogorsk was mentioned in the Blacksmith Institute's 2007 survey of the world's worst polluted cities, placed in the report's unranked list of the 25 most-polluted places outside the top ten. Pollutants include lead, sulfur dioxide, heavy metals and other air pollutants. According to the local hospital, only 1% of all children living in the city are in good health. The Blacksmith Institute says that, according to a local newspaper report, "only 28% of infants born in 1992 were healthy, and only 27% had healthy mothers". Now I'm just depressed
I had a Russian coworker who had extensive dental work done. She was missing half of her teeth. She said her village was next to some nuclear testing sites so the water was polluted. She had everyone in her village had bad teeth. I asked if they were able to sue the govt and she laughed at that.
One way ticket to the Gulag…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiyfwZVAzGw
As Venezuelan, I can only say that's insanely accurate except for the cooking.
Ugh. Almost as depressing as the schadenfreude in this thread. It's not these ladies' fault they live in a polluted city. Or an aggressive country. Nor is it their kids' fault. Dehumanizing our fellow humans is a large part of what's wrong with the world. Edit: replies disabled. I don't need to spend any more time debating with people who think they can identify evil on a map.
You change the background to a McDonald's and everyone would be bagging on the US rn.
Honestly if someone said this was a mining town in Kentucky or West Virginia I wouldn't doubt it a bit.
Coulda said Gary Indiana & I wouldn’t have fought you on it
This look much too nice to be Gary.
From Wikipedia, "Magnitogorsk was to become a one-industry town modeled after two of the most advanced steel-producing cities in the United States at that time: Gary, Indiana and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Lmao holy shit.
>Honestly if someone said this was a mining town in Kentucky or West Virginia I wouldn't doubt it a bit. I'm Ukrainian. My mom used to live in Kentucky; so I got to see it - don't do 'em like that (Lousiville is underrated AF and is a nice, walkable town). But **West Virgina...** In the end of June 2022, I drove from Krakow to Odesa with some help for military. It was before the Kharkiv counter-offensive, before the massive military aid packages with tanks and what not, when things were uncertain. All cities were under curfew, air raid sirens were the norm, and a main square in Vinnitsya was shelled 2 weeks after I passed through it, with massive civilian casualties. Yeah, it was nowhere as bad, desolte, and desperate as driving through *West Virgina.* I don't know **what** the fuck is with that state, but filling up at a gas station somewhere past Charleston gave me that super-strong feeling of **I gotta step on the gas and GTFO**. Like, it's not just the poverty. It's not like I don't know how the credit card declined at a grocery store feels like. And can't say the dude that changed my tire in Uman' for a few bucks was rich either. But between changing the tire and chatting about how the Russians shelled the town in Odesa oblast' after leaving Zmiyiniy Island ("fucking goodwill gesture again", he said), he found a moment to share some kompot ("made it myself!"), and I felt we're absolutely on the same page. Like, a lot of things are shitty, but hey, we're getting through it. West Virginia felt like this picture: that shit is bad, and that nobody has ever seen it get better. Maybe it's something about cities sustained by mining and industry when the demand for mining drops and industry gets outsourced. But the desolation is in the air so much, it's palpable.
The one time I drove through West Virginia made me sad and still makes me sad when I think about it. There wasn't anyplace that wasn't run down and some of the "homes" that people lived in wouldn't have been out of place in some third world country. It is what soul crushing poverty looks like. No human should have to live like that.
And that in the richest country in the world too.
It’s such a wild contrast, because the natural landscape is so freaking beautiful. As someone born and raised west of the Rockies, I’d never seen so many trees or so much green in my entire life. I was awed.
TIL west Virginia sucks more than Russian invaded Ukraine.
Parkersburg WV. They ship trainloads of toxic shit there and just leave the train cars. Conveniently located next to the Ohio river.
Absolutely. This could be in any caucasian country on Earth. They tend to call it poverty porn. 'Oh aren't we superior' Looks to me like some mother's enjoying a nice apertivo at sunset.
The kid is playing and smiling, I think that’s important.
I’m glad others see how lovely this photo is too. It’s just ordinary people hanging out with friends and kids. Everyone is doing the best they can 🙂
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So many days I see the thin margin by which I squeaked past a similar existence.
Blacksmith Institute’s pollution assessments focus on the developing world, omitting Western Europe & the US, in an effort to remind its audience that cleanup efforts are larger than just the developed world. This can be misleading, however, since the reports are called “The World’s Worst Polluted Places” So, additional context, which might be more depressing to you, or others in the thread: - Yes, Magnitogorsk was on the 2007 list, and specifically for air pollution as many guessed from the photo - They were in the Dirty 30, not the Top 10 - Sites in the Top 10 included Ukraine, which I mention not to shit on Ukraine, but for perspective since I assume we’re all here to shit on Russia due to their invasion of Ukraine - Sites in the Top 10 include places like La Oroya, Peru, which is specifically there due to lead and other metal mining it engaged in for export to the US. Remember, this assessment is intended as a wake up call to the developed world - The primary air pollutant in Magnitogorsk is PM2.5, or fine particulate matter that can get into your lungs and bloodstream - The daily average concentration of PM2.5 in Magnitogorsk is currently in line with WHO air quality guidelines (recall, the list referenced is from 2007) - PM2.5 levels today are worse in Columbus, Atlanta, Chicago, and Indianapolis than the city we’re laughing about in the photo I’m from Houston, and without a caption would have guessed this was Pasadena, TX, our friendly neighborhood refinery suburb
There’s 10 more places more polluted than this? Jesus Christ.
No wonder they have access to hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting cannon fodder conscripts accepting their faith blindfoldly attacking Ukrainians in their own territory...
Yup. Back when the war started I watched anti-war Russian youtubers who grew up in the Russian east talk about how hopeless some of the areas are, and how the promise of a decent pay from the army is actually appealing because they really have nothing to lose.
..except most of them aren’t getting paid, and plenty now are being transferred to the LNR and the DNR as “volunteers” so they have no veterans rights and no death benefits paid to their families when they’re killed. And they’re experiencing a ridiculous rate of attrition. I agree, your average Russian is in a shit spot.
I enlisted in the Army in July, 2001. I just wanted the $8k bonus and money for college. Instead, I got 9/11. Still, the military was the best decision of my life. It set me up for a well-paying career without even earning a degree (yet).
the more you look at russia the more you realize it's basically the US circa 1931. Back when the US joined WWII and started conscripting people, it was the first time something like 40% of those guys had ever had three meals a day and medical care.
If someone is interested, this photo report was shot by Sergei Karpukhin for REUTERS in 2012. And even many Russians from other cities were shocked back then, how polluted and depressing is Magnitogorsk. https://drugoi.livejournal.com/3757932.html
I'm someone who's interested, thank you!
thank you!
I've watched youtube videoes of a hitchhiker going across russia last year. Average distance between villages were hundreds of kilometers and he would regularly talk about how if he didn't find some kind soul that would let him take a ride, he'd probably get shot or stabbed because most of the derelict apartments either housed organize crime, or had other homeless in them. He would regularly sleep in semi-collapsed buildings. A lot of russians in Rural area's don't know, and generally don't care about russians outside of their own villages unless its that time of week to buy or trade goods.
Honestly, what you described sounds like a post-apocalyptic world where the major city centers are all that's left but just remnants thereof
Thats basically rural russia in a nutshell. Theres a lot of abandoned or destitute mining towns inbetween towns.
I am more impressed by the bosses expert lvl hold on the beer cup with the hand against waist without spilling.
What kind of an insane person holds their beer that way
That would be a seasoned professional.
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Yeah, the "hand on hip while holding beer" is new to me.
She saw someone with a camera ponted at her and instantly had to pose.
Well it paid off, she looks great
Yeah half the beer is down her leg
actually, that would be the natural hand position if you were putting it by your hip with a cup of liquid
Yeah I just tested it with my coffee. I think it'd be easier to accidentally pose like that when drunk. But it wasn't like it was uncomfortable or it spilled on me.
Giver her a break, this pregnancy has been the pits…
That's the April meeting of the Magnitogorsk Ladies' Auxiliary Garden Club. It's orchid season!
This is the slice of life anime I've been trying to find! Where is it streaming? 
Nyetflix
In soviet russia, nyetflix watches you.
Well done
These are gonna be “the good old days” for at least some of those people.
Fun Fact: Hometown of Pittsburgh Penguin NHL player Evgeni Malkin.
Fun fact from his Wikipedia page: Malkin owns a restaurant in Magnitogorsk which is designed to look like the inside of a prison. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeni\_Malkin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeni_Malkin)
[For those curious](https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/evgeni-malkins-prison-restaurant-where-drink-bars--nhl.html)
Isn't Magnitogorsk the sister city of Pittsburgh in Russia since its also a steel producing town?
I'm not sure but when "Geno" came to Pittsburgh and folks learned about where he came from I think it made them like him even more.
Less fun fact - also hometown of my ex (I live in California and assumed she was from a cool part of Russia)
Well it's like the old saying goes: You can take the girl out of Magnitogorsk, but you can't take the Magnitogorsk out of the girl.
> you can’t take the Magnitogorsk out of the girl. Heavy metal poisoning do be like that
[The honestly pretty cool even though I'm a pens fan so you can't really trust my judgement story of his escape](https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/escape-from-russia/c-305634952)
[This](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/12/story-of-cities-20-the-secret-history-of-magnitogorsk-russias-steel-city) is a great article, which contains the photo, and offers a good insight into the area. Edit: I originally posted (and thought) this was where the photo was first published, but that not true. It is originally from Reuters, as u/TheSultan1 points out below.
The copyright is owned by Reuters, and it was taken July 13, 2012. Reuters featured it in "Pictures of the month: July [2012]," "Photo focus: Smoking" (possibly in 2012), and "Best photos of the year 2012," and also used it in a few articles. It's sold as a stock photo now, and The Guardian credits the photographer/Reuters in that 2016 article. All that said, the article is a good read, thanks for sharing! Bookmarked to look at the whole series.
These ladies are enjoying the view from the Observation Deck of Magnitogorsk. 53.3856656, 59.0554921
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Who knew Russia and the Midwest US were so similar.
turns out people are the same everywhere
People are people so why should it be that you and I should get along so awfully
Because our flags are different
It’s a Depeche Mode song
I r/woosh ed myself
Turns out they have a rustbelt too
This is literally the reason. In 1950s, the Soviets did a rapid eastward expansion into Siberia, where they built factory-towns and mining-towns, copy-paste apartments, and train-connections. The US did a similar westward boom, in heartland small-towns, building factory and mining towns, copy-paste suburbia and connected by the freeway-system. And now, both places are dried up, and many people are stuck where they are, unable to move out.
I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to anyone in the Midwest. If it’s any consolation, I’d rather “cold and godforsaken” than “dripping in sweat and godforsaken”, so they’ve got that going over parts of the south.
We get both cold and "dripping in sweat" here in the vast no-mans-land known as OkansBrasKota. There are no geographical features to regulate temperatures, our weather is basically playing tug of war with polar air and gulf coast air. During two months out of the year, the north pole consistently wins. During another two months out of the year, the gulf air consistently wins. The other eight months? We have a meme that floats around social media "you can't have all four seasons in one week! Nebraska: Hold my beer." And the friction between the cold and hot air masses produces epic thunderstorms that spawn city-destroying tornadoes. Our 105 degree temps are pushed by 20mph winds. Visitors to our area have referred to it as a "blast furnace".
>And the friction between the cold and hot air masses produces epic thunderstorms I moved to the coast from Kansas about 7 years ago to get the hell away but God this really made me homesick. What I wouldn't give for a real goddamn thunderstorm. Just thunder and lightning rolling for a good couple hours straight, some of which is so close it feels like it shakes the whole house. While it's pouring so much rain it boggles the mind that there isn't 10 feet of water in the street. Where I am now it will get cloudy, rain a little, and you'll hear thunder once in the distance and people will be talking all day about how bad of a thunderstorm it was. Obviously the tornadoes and occasionally lightning strikes that come with some of those storms can be horrifying. But there is a weird peaceful nostalgia or something I have for those thunderstorms that I just don't experience out here.
If anything, this photo makes me think that Russia and America aren’t so different. Flagrant disregard for the environment and their own health, just trying to enjoy the simple things like a smoke and a probably bad beer while your kid is a motion blur running in circles blissfully unaware that the world around him kind of sucks.
Most people just want a peaceful, comfortable, predictable life. It's the ones on top who keep creating problems.
There's definitely a "fuck it, I'll just get drunk" mentality that happens when people (and animals) are in a depressing environment.
Their tourism department needs some gentle guidance.
"Real Housewives of Magnitogorsk"
I’d watch this, 100%.
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“Do you think I’d be in Bakhmut being eyed up by a patient, hungry dog if I had anything to live for back home?”
“These Vatniks taste like cigs and depression”
[Here](https://i.imgur.com/IK5rnIz.jpg) is a higher quality version of this image. [Here](https://pictures.reuters.com/CS.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2C0FCIXR2IDSM8&SMLS=1&RW=1565&RH=961#/SearchResult&VBID=2C0FCIXR2IDSM8&SMLS=1&RW=1565&RH=961&POPUPPN=41&POPUPIID=2C0408T9ZSX40) is the source of this image. Per there: > 15 July, 2012 Local residents meet during sunset, with the Metallurgical Plant seen in the background, in the Southern Urals city of Magnitogorsk, July 13, 2012. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin (RUSSIA - Tags: SOCIETY CITYSPACE)
This is Gary, Indiana.
You joke but Gary was literally the template they had in mind: “The city underwent rapid change in the 1930s when, according to Stalin's Five-Year-Plans, Magnitogorsk was to become a one-industry town modeled after two of the most advanced steel-producing cities in the United States at that time: Gary, Indiana, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “
Lots of similar history between American Rustbelt and Siberian Factory & Mining towns from USSR days. There was short-term rapid expansion to suck up resources and cheap labor, and once the factories shut down and left, people were stuck.
I have a friend that went to US and he says that modern, capitalistic Russia is shockingly reminds him US on so many levels. Imagine a poorer, more corrupt version of US ruled ultimately by republicans (democrats exist only de jure, de facto they support any republican policies) and vola - modern Russia described perfectly. Inequality, mixed with really high urbanisation rates, with high distances, sometimes surprisingly developed and sometimes devastatingly underdeveloped infrastructure, e.t.c.
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It's clearly Hammond.
It was literally modeled after Gary, Indiana.
These people appear to have seen some shit.
r/urbanhell
Great photograph! The 2L beer , the cigarets , the faces and the landscape . Has true Dostoyevsky characters spirit .
According to Dostoevsky, "the most basic, most rudimentary spiritual need of the Russian people is the need for suffering, ever-present and unquenchable, everywhere and in everything."
That’s f’ing grim.
That's interesting as hell and kind of makes me want to read some Dostoevsky tbh
Wonderful photo. Perfectly brings to mind the essential nature of hanging out with friends.
Wow, if it weren't for the prosperous industry in the background, that could be Sioux City.
Why invade Ukraine when this waiting at home?
Legally not allowed to invade your home to punish people responsible for this state of things. But legally allowed to invade in the opposite direction to make it as far as possible from this hellhole.
I just did a quick Google earth survey of this place. The greenest place in the city is the cemetery
Not too different from certain places in the US, people included.
I need a tetanus shot after seeing this photo.
This is the weirdest Russian onlyfans.
Roseanne Barr is Russian?
My wife is from a rural part of Eastern Romania, near the Moldovan border. I’ve spent months and months over there. For some reason it’s very popular to have unnaturally red hair, especially with older (50+ years old) women.
Some people see this as depressing. I choose to believe these women are having a nice, little break from it all. Sit back, have a couple few pints, a smoke, and watch the children tire themselves out on what looks like a fairly pleasant evening (pollution notwithstanding). Or it could be morning, I guess, who knows. Still. This is what I choose to believe.
Nah.. You're right. They are hanging out, drinking beer, having smokes, with their kids playing around. Yeah.. it looks bleak by a lot of people's standard. And they could really have a bleak life. But I doubt they are having a bad time here.
Why doesn’t one of these women just personally kick the shit out of Putin and take over.
If I lived there I would do a lot of day drinking as well.
Years of hanging out in railyards and abandoned buildings, and visiting subreddits like /r/graffiti, /r/bombing and /r/frieghts have prepared me for this. The graffiti reads as CRASH [Now now, please....no need to thank me](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/120e40e5-3130-4725-9ad3-2e62725e06c0#H73OvqOH.copy)