Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Superman Returns (Супермэн возвращается)




I just want to acknowledge the fact that Superman Returns opened yesterday. It's supposed to pick up where the second Superman movie left off, with Superman having taken a "leave of absence" (i.e. choosing his love for Lois Lane and desire to be with her as a normal man over having the responsibility of super powers and confusion of a double existence.

Я хочу Вам сообщить, что вчера стали паказывать в кинотеатрах кино «Супермэн возвращается». В этом фильме продолжается история Супермэна, более или менее с того, где остановилась во втором фильме в серии (больше 20 лет назад). Во втором фильме, Супермэн решил жить как нормальный человек, с человеческей женщиной, без его необычной возможности, и без трудности житии с двумя именни, Супермэн и Кларк Кэнт.


This weekend, with my friend John, we'll have a mini movie marathon and watch the first two movies with Christopher Reeves as Superman. Then in the later afternoon we'll go see the new movie at the IMAX.

На эти выходные, я пойду к друзям, где будет маленкий фильмовый маратон, посмотрим первый и второй фильм Супермэна, а потом пойдём в кинотеатр посмотреть новый фильм на большем экране.

I know Hollywood has its tendencies and formulas which often disappoint, but I'll admit, put a superhero on screen and I'll watch it. :-)

Я хорошо понимаю, что в Голливуде есть формулы и тенденция снимать дрянь (такие фильмы, которие считают, что будут получать большие денги). Хотя и всё это правдо, признаваю, что если появится на экране кинотеатра "суперскего героя", то я туда побегу.

Christopher Reeves as Clark Kent/Superman, 1978.

Кристофер Ривз в роле Кларка Кэнта/Супермэна в 1978 году.

Brandon Routh as Superman, 2006.

Брэндон Роут в роле Супермэна в 2006 году.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Land and Sea: DoDo Jin Ming

On the 10 of June, the Chicago Area Peace Corps Association (CAPCA) had it's annual Founder's Day Dinner in one of the exhibition spaces at the Loyola University Museum of Art. I had the chance to eat a delicious meal, talk with other RPCV's, and be surrounded by the photographs of DoDo Jin Ming. She sounds fascinating, was born in Beijing and studied classical violin, later playing with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Her life changed after seeing an exhibition of Joseph Beuy's drawings, and she abandoned music, turning immediately to the art of photography.

In her seascapes, one wonders how it is she manages to make you feel as if you were in the midst of a great storm, about to be engulfed by waves. The answer: she ties herself to a boat so she herself isn't swept away. Her land photographs, featuring sunflowers on the plains of the Dakotas, were taken during a roadtrip Ming took, shortly after first arriving in the U.S. She happened across an experiment where scientists had placed white cloth over some of the flowers. Probably beautiful in itself, after Ming's process the scene takes on a completely different tone. I was just amazed by this exhibition and hope these photographs, scrounged from the Internet, will create some of the same emotions in you.




Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Ukrianian Village Restaurant

For some reason my blog isn't letting me put pictures and text in the same entry, something Blogger has apparently been working on for SEVERAL WEEKS!! My original intention was to have the picture below appear with the "Resolution" entry but was forced to work around this difficulty.

I ate at this restaurant a few weeks ago and was a little disappointed. I thought the food seemed too "American", meaning the holupsi I ate didn't taste like Nadya's holupsi. They were also out of Ukrainian and Russian beer that day! However, they had plenty of framed pictures of Kyiv, President Yushchenko, and the Orange Revolution. I at least felt a bit like I was standing on Maidan.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Resolution или зарок

Just a few days ago, I decided to make a promise to myself and to some of my friends in Ukraine. That is, you will never again read the phrase "sorry I haven't written in so long" or any other similar phrase in any of my e-mails. This means that I will reply quickly, within a day or two, to all e-mails sent to me. There! It's been said.

Несколько дней назад, я пообещал себе и друзьям в Украине, что я больше не буду писать по электронной почте фразу «извини за то, что давно не пишу». Это обещание значит, что на каждый имэйл, который мне посилают, я буду отвечать за один-два дня. Вот и всё!!

Now I'll write a little update on my situation here in Chicago. First of all, I'm no longer a plague to my friend Katie, and I've found my own place. I found a guy online who was looking for a new roommate. The price was good (not too high) and when I met Nate, he seemed like a decent fellow. He also said he was rarely home, a quality many people find highly desirable in a roommate, since it creates the illusion (most of the time) that you live by yourself, while paying only half the rent. Another thing that caught my eye was the apartment's location. It's in the part of Chicago known as Ukrainian Village. This interested me for obvious reasons. I'll admit, I'm probably in the northwest corner of Ukrainian Village, barely in it, though there are a number of Poles, Russians and Ukrainians on my street. However, I'd say the majority of people in my little area are Hispanic, either from Mexico or Puerto Rico. Overall, I'm very happy with my new home. I'm also closer to a good friend of mine, Ryan. I'll be happier when I have more steady income.

А сейчас я Вам расскажу какие у меня новости, как моя жизнь в Чикаго изменилась. Важнее всего то, что я больше не живу у друга, Кати, как будто я ей какая-то болезнь. Нет. Я нашёл через Интернет парнья, каторый искал нового товарища по квартире. Арендная плата, написана в рекламе, была не очень высокая. И когда познакомился с Нэйтом, я понял, что он славный человек. Кроме того, он сказал мне, что он редко дома. Понимаете, многие люди считают, что это хорошо потому, что такое положение позволует человеку думать, что он живёт один. Можно так думать, и платить поменьше. Также меня интересовал район, где квартира находится. Она находится в этой части Чикаго, которую знают как «Украинская деревня». Очевидно, почему меня это интересовало. Но лучше сказать, что я едва в Украинской деревне. Мой дом стоит в самом северно-западном углу деревни. Есть на моей улице несколько поляков, русских, и украинцев, но большинство жителей из Мексики или Пуэрто-Рико. Вообще я довольно счастлив с том, как всё получилось. Теперь я ближе к хорошой мне знакомой, Раян. Буду даже счастливее, когда я буду получать регулярно больше зарплаты. ;-)


As far as the job search goes, I'm still looking, though it's looked a little more hopeful recently. Since moving to Chicago, I've volunteered some at citizenship workshops, where immigrants can come and get assistants with starting the application process of becoming U.S. citizens. At one of these, I met a woman who works with the AssociationHouse of Chicago, an organization that does a lot of work with the Hispanic immigrant community in Chicago. It's also located just a few minutes from my apartment. Well, this woman told me that there was an opening there and that she thought I would be very good in it. To make a long story short, this, in the end, did not work out, but it was still exciting to actually make a useful contact and apply for the position. I think she had been a bit misinformed, because I'm pretty sure the position had already been filled when I sent over my application. Oh well. My other bright news is that I had an interview with Rotary International. The position I appliеd for is as a Grant Coordinator. If I were to get that job, I'd be reviewing grants and helping people around the world successfully complete the grant-submission process in the area of disaster relief. The woman I interviewed with was very straight-forward in saying that the position is pretty much a "desk job" where you're pushing paper from one side of the desk to the other. Basically, I wouldn't be directly involved in changing the world which would be much more exciting and rewarding. BUT, this job could be a good starting point, or entry position, for someone like me who just getting involved in the non-profit sector. There's also a pretty good benefits package, including tuition reimbursement. We'll see. And I'll keep you updated. I left the interview with the impression that they will probably call me to schedule a second interview. Again, we'll see. In the meantime, I've come across two more open positions that look interesting to me. One is connected to the Art Institute of Chicago and the other is with the National Breast Cancer Organization in Chicago.

I hope all of you are doing well. Happy Father's Day!! I promise to post more soon, and I'll put up a Russian language version of this entry. Пока!!