Entries Tagged 'Uncategorized' ↓

I spent my Remembrance Day checking out the Holodomor Exhibit at the North York Civic Centre.  Here are some photos:

Last Thursday, the Alberta Legislative Assembly met for one bill only, Mr. Zwozdesky’s Bill 37 the “Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day Act”.  In that one sitting the bill went through all three readings and the Committee as a Whole with no debate.  The last step is the Royal Assent - which officially declares it law.

From the Barrie Examiner:

Barrie will be caught up in a whirlwind of festivity and entertainment at the ninth annual Ukrainian Festival.

The festival, which began in 1999, began with just 100 people crowded into St. Mary’s Church and has grown in size in recent years. This year, the festival takes place on Oct. 19 at the W. A. Fisher Auditorium in Barrie Central Collegiate.

“Every year the crowd gets bigger and people from all over Ontario attend,” says Diane Lubinski, festival co-ordinator.

The festival is the largest indoor Ukrainian festival in Ontario. It will include numerous kiosks filled with various items, including embroideries and pysanky. Pysanky is the traditional name for decorated eggs. The meal will have many favourite dishes, including perogies and kapusta, which is like Kraut, yet very Ukrainian.

The 9th Annual Ukrainian Festival of Barrie, Ontario:
Sunday, October 19th, 2008 - 11:30 am to 4:30 pm.
Barrie Central Collegiate at 125 Dunlop St. W - Barrie, Ontario.

From CBC:

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko abandoned the search for a functioning governing coalition on Wednesday, dissolved parliament and called the third election since his “Orange” revolution swept to power in the 2004 vote.

“I hereby declare the activities of … parliament to be suspended and call an early parliamentary election,” Yushchenko said in a recorded television address.

“The vote will take place in democratic and lawful fashion.”

Sorry, not feeling so well this week.  See you Monday!

BlogTO has put up their photos from the event.

• Remember Russia’s accusations of Georgia committing “genocide” in South Ossetia to justify invasion?  Turned out to be a big fat lie:

Russian-backed leaders in South Ossetia have said that 2,100 people died in fighting in Tskhinvali and nearby villages. But a doctor at the city’s main hospital, the only one open during the battles that began late on Aug. 7, said the facility recorded just 40 deaths.

That explanation, that Russians were saving South Ossetians from total annihilation, undergirded Moscow’s rationale for the invasion.

A senior member of Russia’s parliament, Konstantin Zatulin also said that the Russian government intended to spend some $100 million on building a “Moscow district” in the city (Tskhinvali, Georgia); he did not explain what that would entail.

Georgia’s leadership maintains the war was launched by the Kremlin because of longstanding resentment about the former Soviet republic’s close ties with the West.

Of course it’s not like they haven’t lied before.

• Russia has been accused of handing out its passports to residents in Crimea to stoke another separatist movement.
• President Yushchenko has accused Prime Minister Tymoshenko of high treason by not speaking out against the Kremlin in the conflict and plotting to use a deepening crisis with Moscow to take over as president.
• Ukraine is ready to make its missile warning defence system available to Europe.
• A lady in Glenside, PA has grown a 9-foot tall sunflower to be the the symbol of her graduate Holodomor class at Kean University in Union, N.J.
• The 36th annual Ukrainian Festival was held in Irondequoit near Rochester, NY on Saturday as well as the 33rd annual Ukrainian Festival in Middletown, NY.
• Ukraine has propped itself up to 10th place with a slew of medals, including Oleksandr Petriv setting an Olympic record in men’s 25-metre rapid fire pistol.
• Remember how the Orthodox church said it didn’t want to get political?
• Madonna’s 50th birthday apparently quite the news in Ukraine.
• ‘Hutsul’s Year‘ a much talked about play in Edinburgh had to be cancelled after the lead actress was knocked down and seriously hurt.  ‘Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors‘ will air at the Nairm film festival.

From Cracked:

The Hollywood Version:

During World War II, a group of Allied prisoners that included the unlikely trio of Pele, Michael Caine and Sly Stallone (who was between Rocky II and First Blood) spent their time in a Nazi prison camp playing soccer. The Nazis, being the clever bastards they were, came up with a can’t-miss propaganda extravaganza in which a team of their best and brightest would take on this Allied side, clearly having never heard of Pele.

The Allied team accepts, hoping to use this match as a means of escape. However, once they get their perfect opportunity to escape during halftime, they choose instead to return to the pitch and try to beat the Nazis thus winning respect, rather than their freedom. It should be noted that they were relying on Stallone as their keeper. After a miraculous save by–you guessed it–Stallone, there was much rejoicing, and the Allies escape during the ensuing chaos.

In reality …

Well, for one thing, there was no Allied team. That means no random Brazilian like Pele, that means no cheeky Brit like Caine, and that certainly means no out of place palooka like Stallone manning the net. Instead, this story is inspired by a group of Ukrainians who were forced into playing the Germans while their country was occupied during WWII.

The Nazis lost to the upstart club miserably and repeatedly, with the Ukrainians destroying them in the final match by a decisive and wholly embarrassing 8-0 score. So that’s pretty inspiring, right?

Well, shortly thereafter, the Gestapo found various reasons to arrest and then torture several members of the Ukrainian team. After all, the Gestapo were
assholes like that. One player died during the torture process, while
the rest were shipped off to a work camp. And, well, executed.

God, that’s depressing. And that’s precisely why Hollywood chose to Stallone the shit out of it.

I’ll be away for the next two weeks returning Monday July 21st. While I unfortunately won’t be able to cover the Holodomor Flame or the Vegreville Pysanka Folk Festival I hope my fellow bloggers will. Stay on top with Ukemonde’s Favorite Blogs list. Enjoy!

A quick look at some of the Ukrainian festivals happening around Canada this summer:

Vegreville Ukrainian Pysanka Folk Festival: July 4-6 (THIS WEEKEND) - Vegreville, Alberta

Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival: August 1-3 - Dauphin, Manitoba

Montreal Ukrainian Festival: Sept 6 - Montreal, Quebec

Toronto Ukrainian Festival: Sept 12-14 - Toronto, Ontario (Back at Bloor West Village!)

Edit:  Also this Fall is the 8th Annual Ukrainian Festival: Oct. 25 - Barrie, ON.