"Meanwhile, in [X]" started off as an image macro series back in the earliest, dark days of the internet, spawned somewhere in the seething vitriol and sarcasm of the internet's favorite cesspool, 4Chan. Each picture was meant to evoke some silly stereotypes about the place that it depicted. For instance, you might see an upside-down picture of something ordinary with the caption, "Meanwhile in Austrlia," because it's on the upside-down portion of the earth, you see? Very high-concept stuff.

Russia was certainly included in a lot of these macros, but as videos and other pictures began to emerge out of that country, they stood head and shoulders above the rest of the world in producing stuff that was truly bizarre, and usually truly violent. Since Russians are renowned for their love of vodka, and their bitterly cold environs, it makes sense that the emotional and psychological internet exports are just a little bit crazier than everywhere else. "Meanwhile in Russia" celebrates their unbelievable, dangerous, and downright inexplicable exploits.