Next year's Kozak Wars event will be April 14-15 (2007) at Four Winds Ren Faire in Tyler Texas!
I first heard about this amazing event last year and posted the details here . It was really a re-enactment of the 1648 Bohdan Kmelnitsky battle. And according to a recent press release, they'll be doing it again!
This year, the event will include Live Blade sabre fighting, a live reenactment of a War of Liberation battle (Circa 1648) with Winged Hussars, Kozaky and Cannon!
There will also be a Kozak Games section, with period wrestling, the National Live Blade Sabre Championship (17K), Spear throwing, and more!
Another big attraction this year will be the great Kobzar and Bandrurist Andrij Kytasty.
I understand there will be a blog about it fairly soon, so stay tuned!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Good use of radio
What to make of this article?
Chicago Sun-Times Columnist Richard Roeper feels that while Talk host Mike Gallagher’s heart was in the right place, he was wrong to turn over 55 minutes of his radio show to leaders of the Westboro Baptist Church in exchange for their promise not to picket the funerals of the five Amish girls who were gunned down inside their Pennsylvania schoolhouse.
Members of the church are infamous for showing up at the funerals of soldiers and claiming those soldiers have been killed because of God’s hatred of homosexuals. ...
Roeper believes that Gallagher’s “well-intentioned but misguided” offer of airtime is essentially ... “giving in to spiritual terrorists.”
After reading Roeper's article, Road To Hell Paved With Good Intentions, and checking out that church's website, I'd be inclined to agree with Roeper. I have my doubts God appreciates such vicious, vitriolic and hateful advocacy in His name.
Still, I can't completely agree that Gallagher was necessarily "misguided." On the one hand, I agree that he "gave in to spiritual terrorists" by giving those Westboro wackos airtime on his program. But on the other hand, he did what he could to shield the grieving Amish community from a hateful spectacle by self-serving louts.
As a radio host and a writer, I understand both positions. But as a Christian and a human being, I'd have to side with the radio host, because his was a direct demonstration of human compassion rather than just another social statement.
Chicago Sun-Times Columnist Richard Roeper feels that while Talk host Mike Gallagher’s heart was in the right place, he was wrong to turn over 55 minutes of his radio show to leaders of the Westboro Baptist Church in exchange for their promise not to picket the funerals of the five Amish girls who were gunned down inside their Pennsylvania schoolhouse.
Members of the church are infamous for showing up at the funerals of soldiers and claiming those soldiers have been killed because of God’s hatred of homosexuals. ...
Roeper believes that Gallagher’s “well-intentioned but misguided” offer of airtime is essentially ... “giving in to spiritual terrorists.”
After reading Roeper's article, Road To Hell Paved With Good Intentions, and checking out that church's website, I'd be inclined to agree with Roeper. I have my doubts God appreciates such vicious, vitriolic and hateful advocacy in His name.
Still, I can't completely agree that Gallagher was necessarily "misguided." On the one hand, I agree that he "gave in to spiritual terrorists" by giving those Westboro wackos airtime on his program. But on the other hand, he did what he could to shield the grieving Amish community from a hateful spectacle by self-serving louts.
As a radio host and a writer, I understand both positions. But as a Christian and a human being, I'd have to side with the radio host, because his was a direct demonstration of human compassion rather than just another social statement.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Freedom of speech selective on radio
Another article about the rot in mainstream media. Obviously, it starts at the top.
Longtime WLUP-FM Chicago personality Cara Carriveau has been fired ... after comments she made about the state of the radio business ... in the Chicago Sun-Times
Carriveau wrote, 'It's unbelievable how many Chicago radio icons are not currently on the air in this town. ... My heart goes out to those talented personalities, and I am empathetic to the many disappointed listeners. This situation is sad. Very, very sad.'
[The station's vice-president said] called Carriveau's comments 'the last straw' and added, “I don't think Cara is a fan of what's happening here. I want to have people here who believe in our industry and believe what we're doing is right.'
One deejay who will be getting a shot at some of Carriveau’s weekend/fill-in shifts at The Loop is former Mancow sidekick Jeff 'Turd' Renzetti. Nyren said, 'I'm a big fan of Turd.”
In a message to fans, meanwhile, Carriveau questioned whether free speech exists in her industry. ...
It would appear not... unless perhaps you're an advocate of scatological and other trash talk. Since it pulls in big bucks these days, there's lots of "freedom" for that on the air.
Longtime WLUP-FM Chicago personality Cara Carriveau has been fired ... after comments she made about the state of the radio business ... in the Chicago Sun-Times
Carriveau wrote, 'It's unbelievable how many Chicago radio icons are not currently on the air in this town. ... My heart goes out to those talented personalities, and I am empathetic to the many disappointed listeners. This situation is sad. Very, very sad.'
[The station's vice-president said] called Carriveau's comments 'the last straw' and added, “I don't think Cara is a fan of what's happening here. I want to have people here who believe in our industry and believe what we're doing is right.'
One deejay who will be getting a shot at some of Carriveau’s weekend/fill-in shifts at The Loop is former Mancow sidekick Jeff 'Turd' Renzetti. Nyren said, 'I'm a big fan of Turd.”
In a message to fans, meanwhile, Carriveau questioned whether free speech exists in her industry. ...
It would appear not... unless perhaps you're an advocate of scatological and other trash talk. Since it pulls in big bucks these days, there's lots of "freedom" for that on the air.
Understatement of the week
This is a clear illustration of the rot at the core of the mainstream media:
KNDD Seattle midday host “DJ No Name” has apologized for playing Weird Al Yankovic's 'Amish Paradise' – a parody of Coolio's 'Gangsta's Paradise' – this week following the fatal school shootings at an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania.
[Station management] said No Name had been 'less respectful of the event than he should have been,” and added, “We are dealing with it internally."
OK, which do you think is the more lame statement?
"Less respectful than he should have been" ...?
or
'We are dealing with it internally" ...?
KNDD Seattle midday host “DJ No Name” has apologized for playing Weird Al Yankovic's 'Amish Paradise' – a parody of Coolio's 'Gangsta's Paradise' – this week following the fatal school shootings at an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania.
[Station management] said No Name had been 'less respectful of the event than he should have been,” and added, “We are dealing with it internally."
OK, which do you think is the more lame statement?
"Less respectful than he should have been" ...?
or
'We are dealing with it internally" ...?
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Billionaires wrecking Ukraine
Pity the poor hack who had to cover this pathetic spectacle in Ukraine. Talk about adopting the worst of the worst!
As the writer of this article put it, "If this is modernity, Ukraine may be better off without it."
Hear, hear. Some excerpts:
... The Ukrainian [billionaire] businessman Viktor Pinchuk ... is the proud possessor of a sculpted pile of tin mugs, some mobile vinyl tufts that dance when you switch them on, and a cuckoo clock whose innards - a set of bright yellow-and-scarlet wheels - are visible outside. The mugs, the agile sprigs of vinyl and the jokey clock have been deposited in the Pinchuk Art Centre, which opened above a Bentley showroom and a branch of Villeroy & Boch in Kiev in mid-September. ...
On the walls, models romp in baths of volcanic mud and treat an abandoned mine as if it were the back room of a sex club; video wraiths cavort on the white walls....
Boris Mikhailov's photographs of football, shot in Germany, show sport to be an alibi for sexual aggression and fascist belligerence. Vasiliy Tsagolov's painting Orgy peers towards the far limit of a drug-befuddled Hollywood, where Sylvester Stallone smokes a hookah, John Travolta clambers on to a prostrate starlet, and Quentin Tarantino rolls on the floor in a blissed-out stupor. Navin Rawanchaikul's Art or (M)art? mocks the profiteering of his colleagues in a gigantic parody of Veronese's Marriage at Cana. The painter himself, posing as Christ, evangelises over sacred texts on contracts and marketing strategy. At the launch, two of the art stars of Rawanchaikul's satire stepped down from the wall and drifted around the gallery ...
[T]he opening party ... was a boozy scrum in the courtyard below his gallery, with raucous rock bands and dancers writhing in cages. ... At the height of the festivity, a symbolic wall of plastic was tugged down, and some equally symbolic fireworks ignited behind it. The combination of polyester and pyrotechnics had a quite foreseeable effect. Flames shot into the air, Pinchuk's battalion of beefy goons manhandled diminutive canisters of foam, and the guests fled.
... "We now have civic values," said Pinchuk, surveying 15 years of Ukrainian independence. "We know how to be civil. What we must do is show the west that we are civilised."
If this is the best show you can put on, Vic, then you've a long way to go.
Give me"peasant' culture any day. It has a quality of integrity, depth and class that money just can't buy. And the more the (literally) filthy rich scorn it, the more valuable ... and [ahem] cultured, it is.
As the writer of this article put it, "If this is modernity, Ukraine may be better off without it."
Hear, hear. Some excerpts:
... The Ukrainian [billionaire] businessman Viktor Pinchuk ... is the proud possessor of a sculpted pile of tin mugs, some mobile vinyl tufts that dance when you switch them on, and a cuckoo clock whose innards - a set of bright yellow-and-scarlet wheels - are visible outside. The mugs, the agile sprigs of vinyl and the jokey clock have been deposited in the Pinchuk Art Centre, which opened above a Bentley showroom and a branch of Villeroy & Boch in Kiev in mid-September. ...
On the walls, models romp in baths of volcanic mud and treat an abandoned mine as if it were the back room of a sex club; video wraiths cavort on the white walls....
Boris Mikhailov's photographs of football, shot in Germany, show sport to be an alibi for sexual aggression and fascist belligerence. Vasiliy Tsagolov's painting Orgy peers towards the far limit of a drug-befuddled Hollywood, where Sylvester Stallone smokes a hookah, John Travolta clambers on to a prostrate starlet, and Quentin Tarantino rolls on the floor in a blissed-out stupor. Navin Rawanchaikul's Art or (M)art? mocks the profiteering of his colleagues in a gigantic parody of Veronese's Marriage at Cana. The painter himself, posing as Christ, evangelises over sacred texts on contracts and marketing strategy. At the launch, two of the art stars of Rawanchaikul's satire stepped down from the wall and drifted around the gallery ...
[T]he opening party ... was a boozy scrum in the courtyard below his gallery, with raucous rock bands and dancers writhing in cages. ... At the height of the festivity, a symbolic wall of plastic was tugged down, and some equally symbolic fireworks ignited behind it. The combination of polyester and pyrotechnics had a quite foreseeable effect. Flames shot into the air, Pinchuk's battalion of beefy goons manhandled diminutive canisters of foam, and the guests fled.
... "We now have civic values," said Pinchuk, surveying 15 years of Ukrainian independence. "We know how to be civil. What we must do is show the west that we are civilised."
If this is the best show you can put on, Vic, then you've a long way to go.
Give me"peasant' culture any day. It has a quality of integrity, depth and class that money just can't buy. And the more the (literally) filthy rich scorn it, the more valuable ... and [ahem] cultured, it is.
blogger slaps media
A huge snub to the mainstream media at this blog: StopSexPredators
The blogger makes an interesting point about hypocrisy in the media frenzy surrounding the Senator Foley scandal in the US ... namely that if the media had cared a whit and been doing its job, this would all have been exposed ages ago.
In predictable fashion, the MSM is now doing its best to discredit the blogger. Here's a report from CNN.com which took a direct hit on the chin. (Can't have those pesky bloggers scooping the MSM now ... isn't that called "rate busting" or some such?)
Then again, the Drudge report has come up with this interesting conspiracy theory which American Thinker seems to think has merit.
It sure is a dog-eat-dog world out there. Hard to know who to believe nowadays!
(Cross-posted at the Natashas.)
The blogger makes an interesting point about hypocrisy in the media frenzy surrounding the Senator Foley scandal in the US ... namely that if the media had cared a whit and been doing its job, this would all have been exposed ages ago.
In predictable fashion, the MSM is now doing its best to discredit the blogger. Here's a report from CNN.com which took a direct hit on the chin. (Can't have those pesky bloggers scooping the MSM now ... isn't that called "rate busting" or some such?)
Then again, the Drudge report has come up with this interesting conspiracy theory which American Thinker seems to think has merit.
It sure is a dog-eat-dog world out there. Hard to know who to believe nowadays!
(Cross-posted at the Natashas.)
Canadian film on Ukrainian and multicultural theme
A new Canadian feature film, Acts of Imagination, recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Andrij Makuch, who took it in, reviews it here:
Katya and Jaroslaw (Slawko) are relatively recent Ukrainian immigrants living in Vancouver’s east end. The area is gritty, but slowly gentrifying. When the warehouse in which Slawko works is sold for a condo development, he loses his job. ... Katya, meanwhile, is plagued by the memories of the loss of her “nationalist” parents. ...
Acts of Imagination is a respectably well-done production. Though, like most Canadian films, it is not likely to be noticed by most of the world. One thing that does set it apart is that it is the first Canadian feature film in a very long time to have Ukrainian protagonists, rendering it of some interest to a Ukrainian-Canadian audience. This is all the more true since the “Ukrainian” aspect of the leads’ lives is significant: these are not incidental Ukrainians.
Notwithstanding its generally sympathetic treatment of the Ukrainian immigrant experience, the film has some difficulties in dealing with this subject. The most obvious is the matter of accents ...
Oddly, the film portrays the protagonists as decidedly working-class folk. ... This is out of the reality of most immigrants coming to Canada from Ukraine today. While they may end up working in low-end jobs for a certain period, they tend to be highly qualified and well educated. The film hits a wrong note by not bringing this up at least nominally.
All the same, the “old-country” aspect is a real factor in Acts of Imagination. The film incorporates Ukrainian music and themes, and is an interesting and legitimate effort that is worth checking out.
Acts of Imagination ... still awaits a Canadian distribution arrangement. It ... is scheduled to be screened at the film festival in Vancouver (October 2 and 12) and Edmonton (October 5).
More information on the film is available here.
Katya and Jaroslaw (Slawko) are relatively recent Ukrainian immigrants living in Vancouver’s east end. The area is gritty, but slowly gentrifying. When the warehouse in which Slawko works is sold for a condo development, he loses his job. ... Katya, meanwhile, is plagued by the memories of the loss of her “nationalist” parents. ...
Acts of Imagination is a respectably well-done production. Though, like most Canadian films, it is not likely to be noticed by most of the world. One thing that does set it apart is that it is the first Canadian feature film in a very long time to have Ukrainian protagonists, rendering it of some interest to a Ukrainian-Canadian audience. This is all the more true since the “Ukrainian” aspect of the leads’ lives is significant: these are not incidental Ukrainians.
Notwithstanding its generally sympathetic treatment of the Ukrainian immigrant experience, the film has some difficulties in dealing with this subject. The most obvious is the matter of accents ...
Oddly, the film portrays the protagonists as decidedly working-class folk. ... This is out of the reality of most immigrants coming to Canada from Ukraine today. While they may end up working in low-end jobs for a certain period, they tend to be highly qualified and well educated. The film hits a wrong note by not bringing this up at least nominally.
All the same, the “old-country” aspect is a real factor in Acts of Imagination. The film incorporates Ukrainian music and themes, and is an interesting and legitimate effort that is worth checking out.
Acts of Imagination ... still awaits a Canadian distribution arrangement. It ... is scheduled to be screened at the film festival in Vancouver (October 2 and 12) and Edmonton (October 5).
More information on the film is available here.
fighting sleaze at yahoo
Over at the Natasha's blog, I've been chronicling my fight with yahoo over the sleazy ads they placed on the UkrCdnBroadcasters list-serv website, which I moderate.
They've responded favourably, promising to remove the offending ads.
I'm not sure how well they got the message, though. I have no doubt they'll just pop up somewhere else ... on a more "appropriate" site.
Anyway, if you're interested, go check it out here. And please let me know your thoughts. (Maybe I over-reacted?)
They've responded favourably, promising to remove the offending ads.
I'm not sure how well they got the message, though. I have no doubt they'll just pop up somewhere else ... on a more "appropriate" site.
Anyway, if you're interested, go check it out here. And please let me know your thoughts. (Maybe I over-reacted?)
net neutrality
If you're following the net neutrality wars, here's news from the Norwegian front, via internet and technology law guru Michael Geist.
It's an uphill battle for the would-be internet oligarchs, what with the cannon fodder backfiring every now and again ...
It's an uphill battle for the would-be internet oligarchs, what with the cannon fodder backfiring every now and again ...
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
National anthem no laughing matter
I've long thought that it's time to change the title and lyrics of Ukraine's National anthem.
This ZNet article illustrates why:
It has recently come to my attention that the title of the Ukrainian national anthem is 'Ukraine Is Not Dead Yet.' (Seriously, it is.)
The same could be said of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's ongoing prosecution of Vice President Cheney's former aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby: The case -- involving charges of perjury, false statements, and obstruction of justice ... -- is not dead yet, nor is it even ailing. U.S. v. Libby is not only alive and well; it is also set to begin ...
According to this site, the lyrics were modified somewhat in 2003, but (obviously) not enough to dispel the negative, defeatist perception that comes through in the translation.
The current lyrics still convey the picture of a people that are under seige ... merely surviving (notwithstanding that that's a miracle in itself) rather than growing and thriving.
I mean, the reason Ukraine hasn't died yet is because she survived centuries of ongoing attempts at obliteration. So why not call a spade a spade and stop letting the foiled would-be obliterators off the hook?
There has to be a positive way to say "they haven't killed us yet" ... or even better, maybe they can just come up with a different phrase altogether, one that is more positive and dignified.
This ZNet article illustrates why:
It has recently come to my attention that the title of the Ukrainian national anthem is 'Ukraine Is Not Dead Yet.' (Seriously, it is.)
The same could be said of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's ongoing prosecution of Vice President Cheney's former aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby: The case -- involving charges of perjury, false statements, and obstruction of justice ... -- is not dead yet, nor is it even ailing. U.S. v. Libby is not only alive and well; it is also set to begin ...
According to this site, the lyrics were modified somewhat in 2003, but (obviously) not enough to dispel the negative, defeatist perception that comes through in the translation.
The current lyrics still convey the picture of a people that are under seige ... merely surviving (notwithstanding that that's a miracle in itself) rather than growing and thriving.
I mean, the reason Ukraine hasn't died yet is because she survived centuries of ongoing attempts at obliteration. So why not call a spade a spade and stop letting the foiled would-be obliterators off the hook?
There has to be a positive way to say "they haven't killed us yet" ... or even better, maybe they can just come up with a different phrase altogether, one that is more positive and dignified.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
pirated cds destroyed in Ukraine
Ukraine's Channel 5 reports that Ukrainian polic are cracking down on technology pirates.
Nearly one million pirated CDs and cassettes have been confiscated by authorities since the beginning of the year. On Wednesday, 44,000 illegal discs and tapes were demonstrably destroyed in the capital in accordance with a court order.
In 2005, Ukraine was rated the second worst country for pirated media in the world. This year, it [is] seventh worst in the world. Ukrainian law provides for fines between 4,000 and 15,000 hryvnia and sentences between 2 and 6 years imprisonment for crimes violating intellectual property rights.
About the same penalties as human traffickers face, I'll wager... only with more prosectutions. In either case, it's the same old story:
... police say that the crime is difficult to fight, because it is so profitable.
Nearly one million pirated CDs and cassettes have been confiscated by authorities since the beginning of the year. On Wednesday, 44,000 illegal discs and tapes were demonstrably destroyed in the capital in accordance with a court order.
In 2005, Ukraine was rated the second worst country for pirated media in the world. This year, it [is] seventh worst in the world. Ukrainian law provides for fines between 4,000 and 15,000 hryvnia and sentences between 2 and 6 years imprisonment for crimes violating intellectual property rights.
About the same penalties as human traffickers face, I'll wager... only with more prosectutions. In either case, it's the same old story:
... police say that the crime is difficult to fight, because it is so profitable.
Jews finding religious freedom in Ukraine
It's nice to read heartwarming stories like this about Jews in Ukraine ... and I suspect this sort of thing is closer to the truth than a lot of written (and audio-visual) works have led the public to believe.
Michael Kruk, a cantor at a Miami-Dade County synagogue, left Ukraine almost 30 years ago because he wanted religious freedom.
Living in the communist country forced him to hide his ''Jewishness.'' The government restricted his ability to pray at synagogues, study the Torah and converse with other Jews.
When his feet touched the ground in Ukraine a few weeks ago ... Kruk wanted to see signs of religious freedom in his homeland. He saw signs of hope inside the four walls of Progressive Judaism Community Temple in Lutsk, a small Ukrainian town. The 200-family synagogue chanted Hebrew prayers, met for Shabbat services and expressed Jewish tradition through colorful art. ...
Full article here.
Michael Kruk, a cantor at a Miami-Dade County synagogue, left Ukraine almost 30 years ago because he wanted religious freedom.
Living in the communist country forced him to hide his ''Jewishness.'' The government restricted his ability to pray at synagogues, study the Torah and converse with other Jews.
When his feet touched the ground in Ukraine a few weeks ago ... Kruk wanted to see signs of religious freedom in his homeland. He saw signs of hope inside the four walls of Progressive Judaism Community Temple in Lutsk, a small Ukrainian town. The 200-family synagogue chanted Hebrew prayers, met for Shabbat services and expressed Jewish tradition through colorful art. ...
Full article here.
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