Snackwaves, sarcasm and survivalists: meet Russia's most popular YouTubers
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/06/youtube-russia-top-channels Version 0 of 1. Kate Clapp 2,185,508 subscribers Kate Clapp (real name Katya Trofimova) is an entertainment YouTuber from Moscow. Her short, funny videos range from chats about Justin Bieber and the Twilight Saga, to rapping and giving advice to school kids about the importance of staying true to yourself. She’s 21 but she follows Tumblr trends typical of a teenager: she says she’s a social phobic, addicted to the internet and obsessed with cats and dogs. She’s also a part of the online “snackwave” phenomenon, which features young women and teenage girls sharing their obsession with snack foods, with Clapp regularly singing her praises of pies and her grandmother’s dill pickles. Ruslan Usachev 637,646 subscribers St Petersburg-based Usachev has vlogged since 2010, specialising in gadgets, gaming and films. Usachev also happens to be one of the most politically oppositional vloggers in Russia, frequently expressing his own opinion and commenting on the news. In addition, he has created and hosted a four-part documentary film, Insulting Religious Feelings, named after a recently approved criminal offence clause of the same name. The documentary, which addresses the issues of the relationship between the state and church in Russia, was crowdfunded through Boomstarter and is available on YouTube. Elena Krygina 345,893 subscribers Dubbed the “Make-up Artist of Moscow and All Russia”, Krygina, from St Petersburg, may have fewer subscribers than the rest of the vloggers on this list but her fame is undoubted. A make-up pro, she is also trying to solve a long-running internet mystery with her video about why Russians finish their sentences with closed parentheses online. She is sarcastic and funny, and her make-up tutorials are clear and to the point. Advocat Egorov 176,518 subscribers Advocat Egorov (real name Maxim Egorov) is a lawyer and pretty much the only adult with a serious, full-time job on the Russian YouTube scene. He makes post-apocalyptic survivalist videos about DIY, building, fishing and gardening. Most of them are shot outside, with the author explaining how to catch fish with your bare hands, make cords and ribbons from plastic bottles and knives and axes from everyday objects. CrazyRussianHacker 3,459,130 subscribers Taras Kulakov is one of the few Russian YouTubers to make videos in English. In fact, many of his viewers aren’t even sure if he is in fact Russian. RT has suggested that he’s faking his (very strong) eastern European accent to give his channel an exotic allure. Kulakov’s videos range from life hacks with typical click-bait headlines such as “You’ve Been Eating Shrimp Wrong” and “10 New Life Hacks That Will Change Your Life”, to curious science experiments like “How to Cut Wood With Water” and “Self-Freezing Coca-Cola”. He also has a series of zombie apocalypse survival tips – and other videos about cooking bacon, the internet’s favourite pizza, and pranking your friends using air horns and expanding styrofoam cups... Roma Acorn 518,520 subscribers Roma Acorn (real name Ignat Kerimov) is an 18-year-old YouTuber-turned-pop singer from Moscow. He might also be Russia’s most hated vlogger, with a reputation as a wannabe Justin Bieber, ever since other YouTubers and fans made fun of him for trying to imitate the Canadian singer. Acorn even participated in Bieber’s Russian tour as one of the support acts, taking a share of the star’s teenage fandom, the “Beliebers”, and coming up with a name for his own fans — the “squirrels”. Acorn’s own debut album was released in June 2014 and went straight to the top of the Russian iTunes in the pop category. While his YouTube channel mostly consists of vlogs, there also are more controversial videos, for example ones where he makes fun of fat people and simultaneously shares a milkshake recipe. Another of his videos, which features clips of children and teenagers licking Chupa Chups lollipops taken from the brand’s online campaign, was criticised for its lewd commentary. Max +100500 5,702,458 subscribers Maxim Golopolosov is one of the first Russian internet celebrities. Since 2010 his videos have been compilations of funny and viral internet videos accompanied by his humorous and explicit comments. But Golopolosov is often criticised for being unoriginal and copying American vlogger Ray William Johnson, who has had a YouTube channel of a similar format since 2008. Following his internet fame, Golopolosov has recently started appearing on TV and collaborating with celebrities, including the infamous Ivan Okhlobystin (an actor and TV presenter known for his nationalist and homophobic views) and Nikita Dzhigurda, an actor and media personality. This Is Khorosho 4,607,416 subscribers Max +100500’s main competitor is This Is Khorosho (This is Good), a Latvian channel in Russian run by host Stas Davidov and his partners Vitaly Golovanov and Sergey Fedorenko. Similar in style to +100500, their videos usually consist of an overview of the latest viral videos with Davidov hosting and commenting. Curiously, and unlike +100500, This Is Khorosho is one of the very few Russian-speaking channels that doesn’t have any swearing. The channel has several RuNet awards and was featured on major Russian TV channels, including Ivan Okhlobystin’s show. A version of this article first appeared on The Calvert Journal, a guide to creative Russia |