Listener Mail: The Braid of Nastenka

Nick says, I'm catching up on some of the Stuff to Blow Your Mind backlogged episodes, and I just finished your second episode about crabs and food. My brain connecting crabs and food? Why not cookie dough crab? This a little confusing, but but he makes sense of it. Nick says, a few months ago, this picture of a sponge crab came across my feet and it took me the better part of the morning to determine if it was a crab that looked cookie dough or if someone made a

cookie that looked like a crab. Either way, delicious regards Nick uh Nick, I would be really impressed if this was actually cookie dough. This does look like a real decapod. Crustacean to me, But I see exactly what you're saying, because you're dead on the text you're covering this animal looks exactly like we're all cookie dough. And I can't tell because I don't know what species this is. This

is just an image from the internet. It does look real, not faked, but I can't tell if this is like an animal with wet sand stuck to it, or if this is just what the carapace of this crab species looks like. Well then the end, they are also a number of different types of sponge crab. I'm kind of stand but I do remember when this was making the rounds Initially. I think one of the things that jumped out to me the most is that the crab essentially looks like the ginger dead Man from the two thousand

five Full Moon picture starring Gary Busey. That is a very unfair comparison to make to this this beautiful Arthur pod. But yeah, I want to know more. Is this sand or is it not sand? Could it really be that the crabs shell looks like that has that kind of wet, granular, cracked appearance seems too perfect? Yeah, Yeah, I mean I think they have like a spongy looking shell, but we have don't think we've actually looked at them like covered

them on the show before. We've covered a number of different types of crabs, so who knows, we'll have to come back with with more crab content in the future. All right, A speaking of other organisms that we have covered on the show, here's a bit of listener male from Sarah the subject ditch which this areas of course,

responding to our episodes on the tumbleweed. Hi, guys, I recently listened to your episode about the tumbleweed or ditch which I found the information about the possible origin of some of the plants commonly known as tumbleweeds very interesting. I am ascended it from and live in an area of Kansas settled by Volga Germans or Germans from Russia who immigrated to the Great Plains in the late eighteen hundreds. Due to its similarities to the Russian steps. There are

also communities of Volga Germans in South Dakota. I find the theory about the Russian thistle seed being unintentionally introduced by contaminated grain plausible. I know that many of these immigrants brought other plants seeds with them on purpose. For example, a berry of the nightshade family called schwartz barren uh,

commonly called blackberries. This berry is not well known outside of Volga German communities, but I have fond memories of picking buckets of them in my grandparents backyard and eating delicious pies and kutchins made by the family. In performing genealogical research, I have found that this berry is also found in Volga German communities. In South Dakota and elsewhere. The Russian thistle and other tumbleweeds are very well known here in my rural area, high winds and tumbleweeds are common.

But about a month ago we had a windstorm that was out of season and had win ends up to almost a hundred miles per hour in some places. Many areas lost power due to the winds, and anything not held down disappeared from yards and lots. The day after the storm, I had to travel for work, and it was incredible how many tumbleweeds were caught in the miles

and miles of barbed wire fences. It sounds hyperbolic, but they were so thickly pushed into the fences and piled so high on top of one another that you could not see through the fences. Being used to running over the occasional tumblewheed on the highway, I can't imagine what it would have been like to drive through the windstorm. Anyway, Thanks for always providing such a great show, and keep

up the great work, sincerely, Sarah. Oh, thanks Sarah. Well, but now I want to know or the schwartz speer, and so you say they're not well known outside of these communities, so that makes me think they're different than other blackberries. They're just a different fruit also called blackberries. I don't know if you know anything about schwartzpeer and I do not. This one is a new one on me. But just quick sir on the subject seems to seems to back up the claim here. Okay, I just looked

them up. Yeah, they look more like kind of more like blueberries. Yeah, I if I saw them, I might be afraid to eat them, because they don't look like blue blueberries I'm used to eating, you know, But they look they look edible in the dangerous way to me, like like it looks like I could eat them, so I probably should not. But unless, of course, someone said these are safe to eat, you may eat of them,

and then I would say, yes, okay, I will have some. Well, actually, I'm gonna say that this is a fruit that appears to have thoroughly confused Google image search, because if you do a Google image search for it, you get results that are clearly blueberries, and results that are clearly the commonly known blackberries, and then also these other things that look sort of like blueberries. Well, I just ran across a whole page about them on recipes from a German

grandma on online, So that seems to check out. Well, isn't that nice? Well, yeah, I'm not. Who are you gonna doubt somebody's German grandma? No, I would never I would never doubt your berries. All right, I'm gonna read this next message from Owen, also about Tumbleweeds and says, hey, guys, I love the first episode on Tumbleweeds, and oddly enough,

I'm super excited to hear more. I live in Utah, and although tumbleweeds don't seem especially common here, I did have a sort of wonderful moment with one last year. I live in a valley and my house sits right up against the mountain. Side atop a series of mild hills overlooking the main part of a city. Anyways, I was walking up the road to my house on a blustery winter day when I saw a tumbleweed ambling toward me. I don't know why, but I couldn't take my eyes

off it. Maybe it was that unpredictable bouncing, but it was, as you mentioned, almost like an animal. I watched it as if it were a fox, moving toward me, then slowly away. I watched it until it turned to bend and was out of sight. I been the rest of the walk home in awe. They may be a problem, but they are certainly a natural beauty in my eyes.

On a more comedic note, there's a scene in the movie The Ridiculous Six where Adam Sandler sort of transforms into a tumbleweed in order to sneak past a group of men. Certainly bizarre, but I loved it. Here's a link to the clip. I went and to watch this clip.

I all the best with whatever movies you like, but I I have to note that he's making the you know, the infamous Adam Sandler noises while he rolls in tumbleweed form, so he's you know, Abby Dubie, and all the way past the guards, he does look like he just trying. I'm watching the clip now on mute and um so I'm not getting to hear this wonderful soundary describing. But he does appear to transform magically into a tumbleweed. Yes, and then Owen Wilson's brother is there to watch him.

So how would you how would you describe the Adam Sandler vocalization. It's like it's like angry baby. Yeah, there is kind of an intentionally uh like you know, in juvenile kind of silliness, uh, you know to the voice. Um, I guess it's one of those those things that that kind of took on a life of its own. Like I don't know if he could stop doing it if he wanted to write right, Yeah, now he just is the Adam Sandler noise and and his body belongs to it. Yeah. Though,

I mean credit to Adam Sandler. He was really good in that movie Uncut Jim's a couple of years back. Oh man, that was a good one. Yeah, depressing, not not not a feel good movie, but that he was. He was quite good in it. Not a comedy. It had some funny parts. Though, Yeah, but I agree, very good in that. Oh but I gotta say also, Owen includes another movie reference. I haven't seen either of these movies. Uh so the first one is that Adam Sandler movie.

The second is the latest SpongeBob movie. He says it was oddly funny, but he says there's a scene that's oddly funny where Keanu Reeves is a tumble weed that gives advice. Uh, though it seems to be implied that he's made out of sage brush. Uh. And I found one link of this scene that's one of those looped for ten hours videos. I don't know somebody did that, but they did well. This is this is actually very well executed. I'm not current on my SpongeBob, so I

was just expecting the standard animated format. But this is computer generated and with a real life Kanu Reeves inside of this kind of beautiful tumbleweed looking structure. Very well executed. So, I gotta be honest, I don't know if this is a good thing to loop for ten hours. Something that's a ten hour loop has to have a certain inherent loop nous to it, like the ten hour Hipno Toad. I think is my ideal. It's the platonic form of

the ten hour loop video. I mean, I guess at this point you just you just probably create a lot of ten hour videos of just about everything and just throw them. Throw him on the wall and see what sticks, see what takes off. Oh, I just thought of one. I don't know. If it exists, you would be good. It would be a ten the hour loop of uh ned rein Jurassic Park going. Ah, you didn't say the magic word. Uhh. I mean I'd be surprised if it

doesn't exist already. Anyway, thanks for getting a touch owen Rob. You want to do the next one? All right? What do we have? Uh, it's a duck episode. It's a duck email. Now it's a tumbleweed one. It's titled Duck a tumblewheed Um. This is from Meg. Meg writes as asked a New Mexico voice, but maybe not with answers to your questions as a transplant from Cleveland. I loved your opening discussion about driving and the tumbleweed onslaught bilemma do I hit the big one or the bigger one?

I still recall moving here and seeing my first real tumbleweed roll in front of me and having the holy crap, it's real moment, and it has never left. I regularly pause class to point out one rolling by the window, and recall odd moments in lacrosse coaching when I had to pause practice until the tumbleweeds rolled across the field. Spring is crazy windy in Avluquerque. If you're ever passing through again at Christmas time, right near the Big Eye

where I fort cross, there is a huge tumbleweeds snowman. Okay, I think I'd seen stuff online about tumbleweed snowman. I don't think I saw one when I was there, but I was in this area anyway. Meg continues another thought. Road runners, another Southwest thing that still makes me stop and pause. Watching them hunt in my front yard is so cool. You really cannot but see micro raptors stalking their prey. They have I have had many a clever girl moments. As one slowly approaches me cox its head,

looks at me, clicks and runs away. I know it's thinking if only it was bigger, it could attack. If you haven't done a podcast on the continuation of Avian dinos into birds, that would be cool. Oh thanks, meg uh I don't know if that's ever been the subject by itself of a podcast, but it comes up all the time. But road runners, j oh, they are dinosaurs that like, they are the dinosaurs that did not die out at the at the KPg extinction. I sadly only

have one verified road runner siding to my credit. And it was one of these situations where I saw it and then I described it to someone and I was like, was that a roadrunner? And they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, that was probably a roadrunner. So I didn't really get to appreciate it in the moment so much. The real clue is when it paints a tunnel opening on a on a cliff face and then you run into it. Yeah.

I mean that's that's probably what was the confusing thing about it is they don't really look like the cartoon road runner. Uh they do? They look more like dinosaurs, um and uh. And I guess that the one I saw it, it seems it looks like scraggier than the ones I see in pictures. I don't know, maybe they just had a run in with a dynamite laden coyote or something. I know what you And I guess Meg

was saying the same thing. I know what Meg and you are saying about them looking like dinosaurs, though, folks, have you never seen a road Runner? Look one up? They they look like an illustration from one of the more current dinosaur books. Yeah, speaking of avian dinosaurs, um

my mind. That turns back to our previous discussions on on the basilisk, which in some incarnations, you know, are artistic representations they look like avian dinosaurs, you know, or they look more they end up looking more like chickens, I guess. But I have to say the second season of The Witcher, which which we finished, uh, it has some some basilists show up in the final episode, and they really brought them to life in an interesting way.

They essentially look like big dinosaurs without looking too much like dinosaurs. Very cool feathered monsters. I know. For some reason, I see my future. I'm breaking down on this. At some point Rachel and I are going to end up watching this Witcher show or we you know, like I said, like actually watching it instead of just like briefly glazing at the first episode. Yeah, I've I've enjoyed it. It's

um you know, it's uh, it's The Witcher. Um, so you know, you gotta go into a certain expectations, but I don't know. I've I've I've got into it. It's got some good magic, some good monsters, and uh and ultimately I think it does some good character stuff. You know. I hate to be the person who has a weird

plausibility nitpick with the show that's full of fantasy and magic. Anyway, the one thing that always gets me about the Witcher, this is there in the video games too, is dude he has he carries his long sword in a thing on his back. You know, you your arm isn't long enough to pull it out of a scabbard on your back. That's why people keep the scabbard on their side. I mean, like,

just imagine trying to do that yourself. Like the blade is too long, it's longer than your arm is, so you can't actually get it out of the holster if it's on your back. True. Yeah, yeah, I mean I I do find myself pausing at times and thinking about that. That's sort of kind of like a guitar case on his back swords in it, which seems to imply not not like a quick draw Situa should have been more of like I'm a professional. I ever now arrived at the scene. I will now prepare my weapons and kind

of go in. I don't know, Oh, well, that makes sense I'm thinking about. I guess maybe it's different in the show and the games. He just wears them like a person would wear, you know, like he can draw them quickly from the scabbard, but they're on the back. I don't know why that drives me crazy. I don't know. I I'd have to have to rewatch some of the

episodes to really weigh in on that. I don't I don't remember exactly exactly how he pulls out his swords, but once he does, he just really slings them around. Maybe maybe that's magic too, it is a magic scabbard. Anyway, cool, basilis I recommend the bast Okay, Well, I look forward to seeing them all right, Well, I think maybe we should jump ahead to a response. We got to our Weird House Cinema episode on Jack frost Ak a Moro's co the the Russian fairy Tale Christmas Time Movie, and

this was a message we got from Natalia. It was a really excellent letter that was very long, so I had to edit it down A good bit are you ready, Rob, I'm ready, let's do it. This is a this is a great emo. I really enjoyed this one. Yeah, so I'll say I'll summarize a bit at the beginning on Natalia starts off by saying some very nice things about the show, and she introduces herself as Natalia from a city in Russia called Kazan, Kazan or Kazan. I think

I've seen it pronounced both ways, um, but anyway. She gives some personal background, saying that she has the Russian equivalent of a PhD in biology and once worked in BioResearch, but then later in life got interested in English, which she now teaches professionally. And she says she's been listening to the show for a while but finally had to write in after our episode on this very familiar movie, because she says she's fifty years old now and grew

up watching Morosco at least once every year. Apparently our episode gave her the idea to use Russian movies dubbed into English in her English classes. And if I understand right, it sounds like she she's saying that she developed a multimedia lesson in her classes involving a dubbed version of moros Co and our Weird House Cinema episode which she says, as she says, was a hit with her students ages sixteen to thirty two. And if that is true, that

that is so nice to hear. But from here, I'll just go into the text to the email where she shares some Russian cultural insights on questions that we had about the movie. There's there were some things where we were like, I don't know if this is like a historical Russian thing or if this is just a weird thing about this movie on its own. Yeah, Like is this something isolated to a folk tale or is this something that is indicative of of a larger reality and

Russian culture? Yeah? Uh so? And I tell your rites. As a gesture of appreciation, I'd like to make some comments. Not sure you'll find them useful, but you wondered in the episode, and this is the least I can do. First of all, regarding hair now as a as a bit of explanation, Remember there is a lot of attention paid to hair and braids in Morosko. For example, the wicked stepmother is often threatening some kind of violence to Nastia's braid, so like, she's she'll threaten to cut off

her braid as some kind of dire warning. Yeah, or especially the step sister really wants Mama to cut off that braid. Cut off her braid, Mama, that you And she's like, well, what will I pull her by? Then? Right to cut off the step sister's braid. Yes, steps cut off the stepsister's braid. Yeah, it's it's too beautiful, so to tell your rights. The tradition of particular respect to hair goes back to pagan times. Our ancestors believed that one who held your hair held your destiny in

their hands. That's why cut or combed out hair was never ever thrown away. Hair was thought to be a source of wisdom and strength, and hair style was very informative than men and women. I read that Russian warriors used to shave their heads, leaving a single strand on

the top, which they braided, supposedly pulling that braid. A Slavic god uh Svarog either took the luckiest sons of his from the battlefield or transported the deceased heroes to the other side, although in most pictures warriors simply have long hair. And then she goes on to explain some of the traditions about what you were supposed to do with your hair in these older times. She says that girls started growing hair approaching their teenage years. Girls should

always wear their hair in a single braid. If a young maid was engaged, she changed the way of weaving a ribbon into her braid. Married women wore two braids a symbol of tuneness and covered the hair completely. For showing your hair in public was a dreadful shame and nearly a deadly sin. Spinsters were not allowed to have

two braids, no matter the age. Widows cut their hair and large the hair and braid was not only the sign of physical health, but the main asset of a bride, and a groom had to pay for it a separate charge to the family. Losing a braid was a real disaster and shame, and the girl or woman had to stay at home until it grew back. Cutting off the

braid was one of the severest punishments. M uh, and this is interesting in a lot of this kind of reminds me of traditions that we talked about, you remember, Rob in our episode on on nail trimmings, We got into that history of Religions paper by Bruce Lincoln, the religion scholar, about about lots of different traditions from widely disparate religions, about how you're like all this special care taken to properly dispose of cuttings from people's hair and

their fingernails or toenails, and that he there were a number of different explanations for for these traditions, but Lincoln's idea was that it went back to the creation myth of the Proto Indo European religion that had something to do with a person being killed and then their body turning into the earth, so that the vegetation of the earth was the growing of of this dead body's hair, and thus like, in order to sort of live your life according to this sacred myth, you had to take

special care about what happened to your hair because in a way it was a symbol of the fertility of the earth itself and the crops. M hmmm, yeah, yeah, that was That was a fun episode. And you're getting into also the uh, like fingernail ships and all the myth. Oh yeah, yeah, that's a good one. But of course she doesn't just share information about about braids. She also gets into the sleeping arrangements in the movie, which we had some questions about. And uh and this this was

very insightful as well. Oh yeah, that's right. So to tell you it goes on. She says, you were absolutely right about Marfushka's bed. Remember, Marfushka is the mean step sister who sleeps in this weird thing that looks like a crib. And we were like, to people actually have beds like that or is that saying like she's just a spoiled baby or something. So Natalia says, you're absolutely right about Marfushka's bed. It is a fictional feature, I would say, put in the scene exactly to emphasize her

over indulged attitude. Teens did not sleep in cribs. In fact, you probably noticed that Marfushka's mother also has some fancy wooden bed with a carved headboard, whilst her husband sleeps on the quote Russian stove. Those are also signs of the family hierarchy and privileges. But in general, a long time ago, kids and elderly people in Russian villages slept either on the back of the Russian stove or on the huge shelves high up under the ceiling, usually adjacent

to the stove called. Um. I'm not sure I'm saying this right, but I think polotty I guess in English transliteration p O L A t I. But she says those were the warmest places in a hut. And then she attaches and an image that shows a more modern house that's sort of a recreation of of the format of an old Russian hut that would have this big I guess stone or earthenware stove that would probably get

warm and stay warm throughout the night. And then right next to that there's like a bunk for sleeping that's up near where the ceiling is. Yeah, now this is interesting. UM. I remember when we did I guess this is the invention episode we did on beds. At one point we talked about some similar approaches to sleeping arrangements that you encountered in UM, in Chinese culture certainly, and I think

maybe more than northern climates. UM don't recall off hand, Uh, but yeah, that this idea of like a bed stove, which which ultimately makes a lot of sense when you're especially when you're imagining and a more traditional living environment where you have this this uh, this stove, this uh this this engine, this place of heat that you've invested resources into. Um. You know, of course you want to sleep next to that or on top of that, if if,

if possible. Uh So that's interesting. And I love this picture that she included of of of the the Russian hut, the traditional Russian hut situation with the Russian stove. Yeah, yeah, this is really interesting. So I would say everything about the sleeping arrangements in the movie then is realistic, except for the fact that Marfushka is in a crib. I think that's just because that's because like she's like weird and messed up. Yeah. And then finally Nasalia says, it

can't be helped. I'm going to recommend you yet another couple of Russian movies. One of them stars in a Churakova, whom you're familiar with already. Inaturakova was the act the actress who plays Marfushka. Uh. Natalia says. Both movies were directed by the tremendously successful and very popular film director Mark Zakharov. The movies are the very same Munchausen and the House that swift built. I thought you might like them, although I'm not sure if her dubbed copies. And then

she provides a couple of links. In the end, she wraps up by saying, I wishing nothing but the best, fondest regards, and I tell you so anyway, thank you so much for this excellent letter. I am so happy to hear our episodes have been useful in teaching English. So it's funny that's not the first time we've had

somebody say that. At least one other person has written in before saying they were using our episodes in UH English as a foreign language classes, and and that always gives me a slight chill because I'm wondering what bad language habits of mine I'm accidentally passing on right right right now, I feel the same way. I want to say it was somebody teaching English as a as a foreign language in um in part of China. I could be mistaken on that. Yeah, we did hear that at

least once, and certainly thanks for the movie recommendations. We're always always delighted to discover and explore new motion pictures just in general, but also a fair weird house. I know that we have at least a couple, probably more than a couple of Russian films on the to watch list. I know there's a there's a horror film in there, and then various science fiction features. Yeah yeah, but I guess the list of Russian films is getting larger because

we'll have to add these two to it. Yeah, I mean anytime as a shot at a mooch house in film. That sounds fun. Yeah. All right, Well, we're gonna go ahead and close the mail bag for today, but certainly go ahead right into us. Let us know if you have any thoughts, feedback um expertise to share regarding anything we've covered on the show. Core episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind there are listener mail episodes, are are artifact episodes on Wednesdays, or of course our weird House cinemas.

All of it is fair game right in and we will read what you have to say. You can get all those episodes, by the way, in the Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast feed, which you'll find anywhere you get your podcast. That's right, big, thanks as always to our excellent audio producer sethnic Cholis Johnson. If you would like to get in touch with us with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest topic for the future, or just to say hello. You can email us at

contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.