Showing posts with label Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. Show all posts
[caption id="attachment_10480" align="alignnone" width="497"]
A Cossack horsewhips one of the members of the band Pussy Riot. From the video.[/caption]
This morning The Province newspaper had a story straight out of the history books; apparently Cossack militia (also known as "thugs") attacked the anti-Putin agit-punk group Pussy Riot with horsewhips on Wednesday in Sochi, Russia, for trying to play their music in public under a sign advertising the Sochi Olympics.
Cossacks? Horsewhips? Wow! Russia really does still have one foot firmly planted in the 18th Century. But their other foot is on the gas pedal of a brand new Beemer and they also have the latest model iPhones and high-speed Internet.
So hours before I saw The Province I had already seen what I took to be smartphone footage of the attack in the music video Pussy Riot put out on the Internet this morning for their very excellent song "Putin Will Teach You to Love the Motherland."
Singer Madonna, a vocal supporter of Pussy Riot, posted a still of a Cossack swinging his whip at one of the band members to accompany her amazed tweet this morning:
Madonna also included a link to an International Olympic Committee spokesperson describing the pictures and the video as "very unsettling."
I agree with the IOC flack that the pictures are unsettling and with Madonna about Pussy Riot being fearless. And while I do not love the Motherland I do really like the song.
A Cossack horsewhips one of the members of the band Pussy Riot. From the video.[/caption]This morning The Province newspaper had a story straight out of the history books; apparently Cossack militia (also known as "thugs") attacked the anti-Putin agit-punk group Pussy Riot with horsewhips on Wednesday in Sochi, Russia, for trying to play their music in public under a sign advertising the Sochi Olympics.
Cossacks? Horsewhips? Wow! Russia really does still have one foot firmly planted in the 18th Century. But their other foot is on the gas pedal of a brand new Beemer and they also have the latest model iPhones and high-speed Internet.
So hours before I saw The Province I had already seen what I took to be smartphone footage of the attack in the music video Pussy Riot put out on the Internet this morning for their very excellent song "Putin Will Teach You to Love the Motherland."
Singer Madonna, a vocal supporter of Pussy Riot, posted a still of a Cossack swinging his whip at one of the band members to accompany her amazed tweet this morning:
"Are you kidding me? Are the police in Russia actually whipping Pussy Riot for making music on the streets? Is this the dark ages? GOD bless P.R. They are fearless!" she wrote on Twitter.
Madonna also included a link to an International Olympic Committee spokesperson describing the pictures and the video as "very unsettling."
I agree with the IOC flack that the pictures are unsettling and with Madonna about Pussy Riot being fearless. And while I do not love the Motherland I do really like the song.
[caption id="attachment_10282" align="alignnone" width="497"]
Vancouver's Olympic Cauldron looks a lot like this arrangement of drinking straws.[/caption]
Apparently the big story today is how the Calgary Flames beat Vancouver. But this isn't a story about ice hockey it's a story about Olympic legacies and keeping them alive.
Vancouver's Olympic Cauldron is so far not being lit during the current Sochi Winter Olympics. That was the lead story in The Province newspaper this morning.
In contrast, the Canadian city of Calgary, Alberta, which hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics, has lit their Olympic Cauldron. And on February 1, Lake Placid, New York, relighted the Olympic Cauldron from their 1980 Winter Olympics, to celebrate both the current Olympic Games in Sochi as well as their own Olympic legacy.
Vancouver hosted the previous Winter Olympics in 2010. Its Olympic Cauldron is located downtown on the waterfront at Jack Poole Plaza, adjacent to the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Vancouver's Olympic Cauldron looks a lot like this arrangement of drinking straws.[/caption]Apparently the big story today is how the Calgary Flames beat Vancouver. But this isn't a story about ice hockey it's a story about Olympic legacies and keeping them alive.
Vancouver's Olympic Cauldron is so far not being lit during the current Sochi Winter Olympics. That was the lead story in The Province newspaper this morning.
In contrast, the Canadian city of Calgary, Alberta, which hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics, has lit their Olympic Cauldron. And on February 1, Lake Placid, New York, relighted the Olympic Cauldron from their 1980 Winter Olympics, to celebrate both the current Olympic Games in Sochi as well as their own Olympic legacy.
Vancouver hosted the previous Winter Olympics in 2010. Its Olympic Cauldron is located downtown on the waterfront at Jack Poole Plaza, adjacent to the Vancouver Convention Centre.
[caption id="attachment_10233" align="alignnone" width="497"]
This pinko Commie bear has nothing to do with the Capitalist Olympic Games in Sochi.[/caption]
Unlike the dog-eared and bedraggled pink teddy above, the Russian bear has cleaned itself up and is fairly resplendent in full rainbow colours -- all the better to wow the rest of the world and steal the thunder from any pesky gay rights advocates.
The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics are in full swing and by all accounts the tribute to Vladimir Putin's one man rule is packing them in. Someone even hijacked a plane to get there; unfortunately they ended up in Istanbul and completely missed the opening ceremonies.
The superficial aspects of venues and spectacle change every two years but the underlying mechanism of the Olympic machine seems to runs like a turn-key operation from one country and one season to another. So it's interesting to note that Russia does bring something unique to the Olympic mix: an unparalleled expertise in, among other things, counter-propaganda.
This pinko Commie bear has nothing to do with the Capitalist Olympic Games in Sochi.[/caption]Unlike the dog-eared and bedraggled pink teddy above, the Russian bear has cleaned itself up and is fairly resplendent in full rainbow colours -- all the better to wow the rest of the world and steal the thunder from any pesky gay rights advocates.
The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics are in full swing and by all accounts the tribute to Vladimir Putin's one man rule is packing them in. Someone even hijacked a plane to get there; unfortunately they ended up in Istanbul and completely missed the opening ceremonies.
The superficial aspects of venues and spectacle change every two years but the underlying mechanism of the Olympic machine seems to runs like a turn-key operation from one country and one season to another. So it's interesting to note that Russia does bring something unique to the Olympic mix: an unparalleled expertise in, among other things, counter-propaganda.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)