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#goncharov cookbook
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A Little Goncharov for Thanksgiving
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I learned about Goncharov the way I learn about most memes and pop culture, from my teenagers. In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, we had a group chat spring up on Discord that included two family friends who were going to be joining us for the holiday from out of town. One of the topics of conversation turned to Goncharov, the imaginary film around which an active Tumblr fan community had sprung up, as if it had been a real, little-known cult classic from 1973 made by Martin Scorsese. 
It became a fun creative exercise—in the middle of the day, one of the kids would send a question about Goncharov: “What do you think about the relationship between Katya and Sofia?” or “What did you make of the clock tower imagery?” or “Goncharov… iphone or android guy?” To which someone else would playfully answer. 
This same kind of thing was happening on a massive scale on Tumblr, where artists created movie posters and promotional materials, composers posted songs and soundtracks, people posted deleted scenes and script fragments. There are reviews and academic papers, fictitious Wikipedia and IMDb listings, and A LOT of fan art.
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Lynda Carter posted a photo on her Tumblr with Henry Winkler that she captioned, “Me and ‘The Fonz’ at the premiere of Goncharov (1973) at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.”
Discussions popped up about the characters and who would play them in the reboot. Posts were shared hundreds, then thousands of times. A Goncharov (1973) Lore Google Doc and Discord server were created to help keep the content organized.
Our family’s fan-favorite character was Ice-Pick Joe, so I wrote “Musings on Ice-Pick Joe” in between chopping veggies for stuffing and waiting for the sweet potatoes to roast, complete with some AI-generated art. That was four days ago, and the post has been liked and shared more than I anticipated, and I keep thinking about why that is.
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Conversations around Goncharov have continued, and I find myself wondering what it is about this moment in time and this type of activity that continues to capture so many people’s imagination and engagement?
Tumblr is a hub for public fandom culture and community in a way that the other social media platforms are not. It’s where you can find discourse and fanfiction/fanart for almost anything.
Still, this is a little different and on a much larger scale. At a time when people are looking for Twitter alternatives, with the stress and joy of holidays approaching, what is drawing so many people in?
We talked about this over Thanksgiving: the way Goncharov allowed people low-stakes permission to create, to play to their particular strengths, to connect with other people, to escape reality for a moment, to build a new community. We talked about the shortcomings and challenges we saw: power dynamics, issues of race, etc.
It’s an evolving experiment, and as such, it has been shaped by the many variables involved and course-corrected each time someone notices a gap or opportunity: What would a musical look like? What if some of the actors had gone on Sesame Street or the Muppet Show? What if Gonzo played Goncharov and Miss Piggy played Katya? What would the remake look like set in 1980s NYC? What recipes might be created for the Goncharov cookbook? (I remember how much fun we had making the Forking Good cookbook.) There really is no end to what people can come up with. I’m waiting to see if Goncharov gets a Tom Gauld comic or a mention on Saturday Night Live. 
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It seems relevant that role-playing games, both online and tabletop, have recently increased in popularity. Dungeons and Dragons was the cornerstone of Stranger Things, and 50,000 people attended Gen Con (tabletop game convention) in 2022. It’s not my world, although I’ve watched the joy my kids take in it. My energy goes into writing, but I can absolutely appreciate the fun of playing together. 
As a writer, I walk around with worlds in my head, but I don’t get to share them until they get published. Something like Goncharov, which was not an intellectual property “owned” by anyone, gives people permission to imagine and play.
I think it speaks to a need we have an human beings to experience connection, joy, wonder, and hope. We've always had those needs. People have been gathering around fires or tables, telling stories, for thousands of years.
Today, the hearth may be a computer or a phone, but the desire is not that different. My November began with the publication of Mother Christmas, my graphic novel, the secret origin of the Santa Claus story which is rooted in the ancient Muses, whose gifts inspire humanity. One of the questions my story attempts to answer is: Where does inspiration come from?
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If we look at Goncharov we can see that inspiration comes from so many places. So much is possible when people given themselves permission to play, to shrug off the inner critics and outer trolls, and to imagine for a moment a different world that they have a part in creating. That is such a powerful and compelling idea.
Stories remind us that we are not alone, that we share struggles, and that we can overcome obstacles. There are so many challenges in the world right now.
Maybe Goncharov is a lens through which people are seeing themselves and each other, reminding us how much fun it is to make-believe and how powerful it can be to have a shared image of the world.
The first step in creation is imagining. Exercising that muscle, allowing ourselves to play and tell stories and make art is a worthwhile one, and I think it's one that we need to survive.  The Goncharov phenomenon gives me hope, because if we can have this many people put their energy into creating a whole world around Goncharov, just imagine what else is possible?
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cxtnd · 1 year
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hey I want to put together a goncharov themed fan cookbook! pls send your best recipes inspired by goncharov (e.g. the borscht in the kgb scene or katya's sardine risotto) and I'll compile them in a pdf :)
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otto-von-stirlitz · 1 year
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The food (history) of Goncharov
So im not a movie buff (just an amateur food historian), but with Tumblr fandom renaissance of the mafia classic Goncharov (1973), i just had to mention something. The short scene where Katya is cooking, and why its interesting from a modern food history angle.
It’s obvious from the tense dinner scene, that Katya Goncharova is serving her husband, among other dishes (run-off-the-mill italian classics, not much to talk about), a red sauce pasta dish. What is interesting is that in the earlier cooking scene she is shown adding a hefty glug of Russian vodka to a pan. Obviously it’s to show how she has ~a Russian soul~ all the way through, movie-language wise. For food history it’s interesting because it is the first recorded appearance of “red-sauce with vodka pasta” in culture, a whole year before Ugo Tognazzi cookbook recipe for “pasta all'infuriata” (in which he calls for Polish, not Russian vodka). IMO the sauce in the scene is too vibrant-red to look like modern penne alla vodka sauce where cream is essential (and the long pasta is not penne) , but i would still call it a likely predecessor to the 1980s discotheque (yes, it was a popular disco dish!) classic. Also, with penne alla vodka being popular both in Italy and the States, I wonder if its presence in the film comes from (Italian-)American influence of the producer, actors and one screenwriter, or from Old World Italian-raised director. So there are still questions about the exact origin of the dish that only the crew can answer, but Goncharov is still an interesting lead in the history of one popular recipe.
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also, enjoy photos of penne alla vodka (the modern creamy version) i cooked a while ago, I deserve a cooking humblebrag.
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coffeegleek · 1 year
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Share some good things from this year (2022):
1. A new song or artist you enjoyed 🎶🎤🎸
2. A new ship you climbed aboard 🛳⛵️🚣‍♀️
3. A show you made someone else watch because you liked it so much 📺🎥🎬
4. A hurdle you made it over (even if you tripped over it) 🏃🏼🪨
5. A book that made you go ☺️
6. Favorite meme?
7. Blorbo of the year? 👑
8. Favorite thing you gifted to yourself? 💐
9. Favorite thing you gifted to someone else? 🎁
10. Number of times you changed your hair (style or color)?👩🏻‍🎤💇‍♀️🧑🏻‍🦲
This year has been such a stress fest that at first I was coming up blank. If some of these actually happened last year, then I appologize.
Share some good things from this year (2022):
1. A new song or artist you enjoyed 🎶🎤🎸
Mika, thanks to my non-U.S. friends posting about Eurovision. They had all heard of Mika for a long time, but I hadn't. Or rather, I think I'd heard one of the songs, but didn't know the artist. I'm really bad at song titles and artist names in the first place.
2. A new ship you climbed aboard 🛳⛵️🚣‍♀️
I don't think there was one. I thought at first it might be Isaac & Nigel from Ghosts (American version) but that might have begun in season 1.
3. A show you made someone else watch because you liked it so much 📺🎥🎬
I don't think I ever did get anyone into Snowpiercer (the TV show,) so I'll have to say Ghosts and So Help Me Todd. Hub (@avengerco) has started watching them with me when he comes home from work.
4. A hurdle you made it over (even if you tripped over it) 🏃🏼🪨
The emergency kitchen renovations and the death of my first ever and much beloved dog, Crichton. I love everyone here who supported me through it. You don't know how much that helped and was appreciated.
5. A book that made you go ☺️
The only book I read (re-read) this year was the same as I have the past 2 years - "Victory Cookbook: Nostalgia Food and Facts from 1940-1954" by Marguerite Pannet OBE. It's been a better resource than my vegetarian cookbooks to help me deal with our annual farm share.
I also did a fuck ton of research for all the components of the kitchen reno because I did the majority of the work myself with help from hub when I needed it. (Some things simply require 2 people and an octopus.)
6. Favorite meme?
Goncharov, no question about it. Is it really a meme though? It was fun. It brought me a lot of great joy.
7. Blorbo of the year? 👑
They're all from Snowpiecer: Andre Layton (played by Daveed Diggs,) Ruth Wardell (Alison Wright,) Bess Till (Mickey Sumner,) and Sam Roche (Mike O'Malley.)
I enjoyed some of the characters from the seasons of West World that are available on Netflix dvd too.
8. Favorite thing you gifted to yourself? 💐
I splurged on more tomboyx undergarments and clothes, bombas socks, and a cute rainbow paw print coffee mug from a tumblr artist that I blogged about. Oh, and I bought tumblr checkmarks and shoelaces because why the fuck not? Tumblr makes me happy. Oh, and the jam advent calendar that I've been having fun participating in Jamvent with friends. I'm loving that. <3
9. Favorite thing you gifted to someone else? 🎁
It's a "humor only we would get" kind of thing between hub and I. Hub has been my beta and proofreader for 30 years. In my Empty Nest verse, Carole goes all out with the appetizers at New Years. Hub has since declared that the inexpensive cheese, cracker, and meat trays/platters that you can buy at the grocery store are Hummel platters. For Thanksgiving I did the grocery shopping on my own and I brought one home just for him and he absolutely loved it and laughed.
10. Number of times you changed your hair (style or color)?👩🏻‍🎤💇‍♀️🧑🏻‍🦲
Sadly, none. I really wanted to go back to dying my hair purple and fuchsia but by the time I remembered that I wanted to, I had already repainted the bathroom white. :( Maybe once we finally get a working shower with actual shower curtains, I will.
Um, I bought a new fleece hat (beanie) from Lands End that was exactly what I was looking for to wear around the house and to sleep in. It's different than my other knit hats in that it's smaller and lighter weight. :D
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potterpasta · 1 year
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was rewatching goncharov with my gf the other night (she hadn’t seen it before but i swear the only pre-2000 movies she’s seen are like. evil dead and evil dead 2) and i noticed a something i hadn’t really picked up on the first time
did anyone notice that cookbook that’s in like. almost every major scene? it’s usually off to the side or in the bg, never in the main focus area. is that some kind of symbolism? i’ve never really been good at this analysis stuff but it feels like it’s supposed to mean something. it was in the poker scene, the anchovy scene, they even managed to throw it into the boat scene somehow! i’ve been thinking about this probably minor detail way too much, probably gonna rewatch again tonight so i can try to find every scene it’s in
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messenthral · 1 year
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Look, all I’m saying is, if this site wants money, it can do a cookbook based on all the incredibly stupid memes that this site conjures on a daily basis-
Hot Leg Fried Egg and Sausage Breakfast
Presidential Shoe Lace Spagetti
Goncharov’s Gangster Borscht
Horse Plinko Spicy Pasta 
The “In front of my salad?” Salad
And yes, they’d be better off paying some royalties to do the official Horsepussy drink, but that’s money well distributed if you ask me.
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