English-language blogs look at Russia's many different faces - the good, the bad and the worse.

""We genuinely consider ourselves Russian-Africans,"" write the hunters and trackers at www.zebraskins.ru.

Richard Wagner's opera ""Lohengrin"" is staged in Moscow for the first time in over 70 years - and Novaya Opera's production is a resounding success.

Namosh brings his energetic performance to Shestnadtsat Tonn.

Sofka Zinovieff records her Russian grandmother's extraordinary adventures in war, politics and love.

President Putin brings Alexander Griboyedov's ""Gore ot Uma"" into the spotlight.

A film by Russian-born director Irene Langemann looks at the many different sides of life on Rublyovka.

The Mariinsky Theater brings Janacek's rarely seen opera ""Jenufa"" to Moscow.

Luigi Pirandello's ""Man, Beast and Virtue"" and Natasha Shaposhnikova's ""Waiting Room"" explore attempts to uncover -- and hide -- identities.

The Archstoyanie architecture and art festival is dedicated to works built from natural materials.

Polina didn't say how much pocket money she gets now, but it was enough to buy a publishing house.

Two ministries are caught in a struggle, and it doesn't matter who wins. Either way, merchants and shoppers will end up the losers.

Zavist' in Russian is a nasty and evil emotion. The verb zavidovat' (to envy someone) is related to the word vidat' (to see -- videt' in contemporary Russian) and seems to have been first associated with durnoy glaz (the evil eye). If someone looked enviously at you, he could hex your success. Later under Christianity, this black magic became one of the seven sins.