Wednesday, 31 October 2012

Khorhrdaktsoutyounner RAK Kentronakan Yev Hanrapetakan Varchoutyounneri Mijev

An Open Letter To My Fellow American-Armenian Brothers And Sisters By Dr. Ani Kalayjian

An Open Letter To My Fellow American-Armenian Brothers And Sisters

Dr. Ani Kalayjian, Cliffside Park, New Jersey, U.S.A

Aleppo now

My cousin, a 60 years of age diabetic male, has been kidnapped from his own mechanic shop in Aleppo, Syria, by the Syrian opposition. For the last five months the opposition has been targeting the Armenian Christian minority in Aleppo, Damascus, Azez, and Der Zor. They have systematically destroyed Armenian churches, Armenian schools, nursing homes, and Armenian neighborhoods.

RAG Getronagan Varchoutyan Badviragoutyan Hantiboum-ue Amenayn Hayots Hayrabed-in Hed

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT IN

YEREVAN, ARMENIA

ԵՐԵՒԱՆ-Ի (ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆ)

ՄԵՐ ԹՂԹԱԿԻՑԷՆ

2794th ANNIVERSARY OF EREBOUNI

ATTENTION!!!!!!!! ATTENTION!!!!!!!!!!!

CELEBRATION

For the 2794th Anniversary of the Founding of the Armenian Capital former EREBOUNI present YEREVAN

SUNDAY 18TH NOVEMBER 2012 - 2.30 to 6.00pm

Sudbury Golf Club Bridgewater Road Wembley Middx HAO 1AL

(wheelchair friendly and one mile from Hanger Lane and Alperton)

Bus Number H17 and Number 487

Ample parking available and also permitted on single yellow lines

Three course hot meal - Coffee or Tea

Singalong, music, fun, dances and NO RAFFLES

Tickets priced at: £24.00 for adults and £12.00 for children under 12 year of age - Payable at the door

ALL ARE WELCOMED

For reservations before 16th November please call:

Ani: 0208 876 2836

Anna: 0208 997 7563

Flora: 0208 997 2946

Mona: 0208 567 9319

Odette: 01494 816 757

Socie : 0208 847 2014

Sylva: 0208 864 9216

The ANAHID ASSOCIATION

Please attend our celebrations if at all possible forward this email to friends and family and print to distribute.

THANK YOU

Odette Bazil

Tuesday, 30 October 2012

Aleppo’s St. Kevork Church Set Ablaze

This email was sent for the attention of Seta's Armenian blog

http://asbarez.com/106138/aleppo%E2%80%99s-st-kevork-church-set-ablaze/

Please respond if you can, by sending donations to the Armenian Church in Manchester
or London...Any amount will be a help for our fellow Armenian's in Aleppo!
We are Armenian's and we know about advercity, as a diaspora comunity.
We have faced Genocide and that did not stop us!
We go on strength to strength steadfast and stronger than ever before.
Nothing can stand in our way, menk Hay enk!

Thank you

FATHER FRANK’S RANTS - Skyfall

Rant Number 512 30 October 2012

‘Think on your sins’ intimates online the terrorist hacker to Bond’s boss, sweet wrinkly Judy Dench. Sins indeed. Yet, Skyfall’s faults are not so much theological but cinematic. The tedium of those perfunctory, unreal car chases! As to Daniel Craig’s metallic, hard-faced and tight-assed acting, it is humourless, unsubtle – it palls. Still, James Bond is not boring to the priest. An old addiction. One he is happy to share with millions worldwide. Why, despite the flaws, Bond’s endless fascination? Hhmmm....Licence to kill and to love – Don Juan and St George, man the lover and man the slayer. A duality that did not seduce Schopenhauer: ‘Life begins in the lust of the flesh, the madness of carnal desire – it ends in the rot and stench of the grave’. Nonetheless, Eros and Thanatos are the primeval polarities around which human, animal existence must revolve. 007 embodies both, hence, arguably, his undying appeal.

However, in The Bond Affair the prolific Italian semiologist Umberto Eco nearly killed off our hero for good. The grave charge, the unforgivable sin imputed to Bond was racism. Based on an examination of Ian Fleming’s fine novels. (Damn it, I remain a fan.) Eco maliciously but correctly observed how all of 007’s villains are foreigners. Dr No, Mr Big, Blofeld, Emilio Largo, Le Chiffre, Hugo Drax, Goldfinger, Count Lippe, Rosa Klebb, Red Grant, Scaramanga and now Raoul Silva – none of them is British. Thus, evil=foreigner? Huh!

Actually, Eco mixed up two related but distinct categories. Xenophobia and racism are not quite identical. Many peoples and nations dislike foreigners. Preferring people of one’s own kind, isn’t that natural? On the other hand, racism of the skin colour variety, aimed particularly at blacks, is what upsets right-thinking white people. (Curiously, racism does not figure amongst sins in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.) But notice that, out of the rogues’ gallery, only Mr Big – ‘the first great criminal genius of his race’ – is black. Dr No is Eurasian, all the rest are as white as the driven snow. Blofeld is Greek-Polish, Largo Italian, Le Chiffre French, Drax German, Klebb Russian, Grant Irish. Few are of imprecise nationality or origin – Lippe’s eyes suggest a dash of Chinese blood - but, whatever they might be, black-skinned they are not. Instead, each exhibits some disturbing, small or large physical defect, from Drax’s dental diastema to Silva’s horrible synthetic mouth. Nice semiotic symbolism, illustrating the bearer’s inward, sinister oddness. Point made: Bond’s enemies are alien monsters, moral as well as physical. Crude but effective.

Pace Eco, Ian Fleming’s Bond is not a skin racist. Because he is very much an English gentleman and a gentleman is not a racist. (Fleming was dismayed when he saw Connery cast as Bond – a working-class Glaswegian!) At least taking as a benchmark Cardinal Newman’s famous definition: ‘A gentleman is someone who never knowingly causes pain’, as racism obviously must do. Nor does Bond hesitate in bedding girls of the whole colour range. Nonetheless, in his aversion to outsiders 007 is very British. A paradox, surely, as Britain is perhaps the most welcoming, hospitable and generous nation on earth to foreigners. Tolerance and xenophobia, it seems to me, can be easy bedfellows. Britain proves it. So does Bond.

Alas, of another sin, anti-Semitism, the literary Bond is less innocent of. Goldfinger’s ungainly physique suggests some ‘Jewish blood’ and people whose names end in ‘ski’ and ‘stein’ are not always the most ‘respectable’. Only a few hints but enough to arouse suspicion, methinks. Of course, the cinematic Bond shows no trace of such prejudice. Wise career move. An anti-Semite would not thrive in Hollywood.

Like God, 007’s creator is a master of his craft. A daring writer, too. Which author would risk making a popular novel end unhappily? In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Bond and Tracy (surely wedding a ‘Tracy’ means Bond can’t be a snob) have finally got married and drive off blissfully into their honeymoon when Blofeld’s Maserati screams past, a gun roars and Bond’s beautiful, newly-wed wife is shot dead. Superb! A finale that would have pleased Nietzsche: a love story’s predictable happy ending is something mawkish, false and Christian. Yet, the public demand it. Fleming showed real guts in defying his readers’ bourgeois expectations.

Ian Fleming, a naval intelligence officer, lived through WWII and the 1956 Suez debacle. It meant Sunset Boulevard for the British Empire. It was also the right time for 007 to issue forth from his creator’s pen, as Athena sprang out of Zeus’ brain in Greek mythology. As British power and influence in world affairs waned, the Bond cult arose. Brits, humiliated by their famed espionage’s dismal failure at spotting Soviet spies like Philby, Burgess and Maclean, craved fictional consolation. 007 provided it. Bond might suffer setbacks but he always got his country’s foes in the end. ‘Never go a bear of England’, he bullishly warns the dastardly, Hebraic Goldfinger, while also seducing lesbian Pussy Galore. False as a three pound note of course but people loved 007. They still do.

Where Skyfalls scores highest is with the villain. True, I usually tend to prefer the bad guy to the good one – the Nietzschean streak in me - but Javier Bardem’s Silva really upstages Bond. The man’s twisted ego conveyed by vanity evident in the tinted blond hair, his suave malignity suffused with campness, the natural Spanish accent: features that nicely emphasise the essential foreignness of another of England’s eternal enemies. The only mistake was to give Silva too obvious personal reasons for his grudge against Dame Judy. A genuine Bond villain’s psychology is best rooted in a wider, freakier, almost metaphysical lust for power and supremacy. The fault, I surmise, must be partly directorial. Sam Mendes’ insecurity with a Bond movie is apparent when he veers wildly from the tiresome trickery of explosions and superhuman stunts to the cheap pseudo-psychology of a bisexual Bond. Give me a break, man!

007’s latest avatar illustrates the myth of the eternal return. Cyclical, well-nigh eternal, Bond will always springs back, like a lethal, libertine jack-in-the-box. Maybe the next incarnation will give us a black 007. Well, why not?

Revd Frank Julian Gelli

Monday, 29 October 2012

OBITUARY FOR ARA VOSGIAN ՄԱՀԱԳՐՈՒԹԻՒՆ ԸՆԿԵՐ ԱՐԱ ՈՍԿԵԱՆԻ

OBITUARY FOR ARA VOSGIAN

ՄԱՀԱԳՐՈՒԹԻՒՆ ԸՆԿԵՐ ԱՐԱ ՈՍԿԵԱՆԻ

Austrian MP Ewald Stadler to Turkish Ambassador: "People are Sick and Tired"

Sent by M Nicols

http://youtu.be/ThQ61K04Sbo - Copy and paste...

Please share:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThQ61K04Sbo

A comment will follow shortly!

Meanwhile share this too...

http://youtu.be/oY7FL0LgIrA

Sunday, 28 October 2012

Jamanagn e Aylev-ues Khosker-ue Yev Ajan Knnatadoutyounner-ue Antin Antsnelou By Sevag Hagopian

ARTICLE BY SEVAG HAGOPIAN

BEIRUT, LEBANON

ՅՕԴՈՒԱԾ ՍԵՒԱԿ ՅԱԿՈԲԵԱՆ-ԷՆ

ՊԷՅՐՈՒԹ, ԼԻԲԱՆԱՆ

Saturday, 27 October 2012

Seminar: Armenian Schools in the Middle East

Oxford Armenian Studies
The Oriental Institute, University of Oxford

Michaelmas Term 2012

CONTEMPORARY ARMENIAN CULTURE, SOCIETY, POLITICS SEMINAR
Dr Hratch Tchilingirian, Associate Faculty, Middle East and Armenian Studies

6:30 - 8:00 PM, Oriental Institute, Lecture Room 1

Tuesday, 30 October (Week 4)

ARMENIAN SCHOOLS IN THE MIDDLE EAST: THE CASE OF LEBANON
An overview of Armenian schools in the Middle East with a particular focus on the schools in Lebanon, one of the largest and significant communities in the region. The seminar will highlight some of the internal and external problems facing the schools and "Armenian education" in the Middle East in general.

Friday, 16 November (Week 6)

CULTURAL PRODUCTION AND PRESERVATION IN THE DIASPORA:
METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS AND CONCEPTUAL ISSUES
In addition to language, preservation of culture is a significant component in the discourse of hayapahpanum [‘preservation of Armenianness’ ] in the Diaspora. The seminar will raise some methodological and conceptual questions for further exploration and discussion.

Hilary Term 2013

CULTURAL PRODUCTION AND PRESERVATION IN THE DIASPORA II:
WHAT IS "ARMENIAN" ABOUT ARMENIAN CULTURE?
The session will build on the key points of the last seminar in the Michaelmas Term and expand the discussion particularly on the "Armenian" aspect of "culture".

----------------------------------------------------------------
For further details about the seminar please contact Dr Hratch Tchilingirian: hratch.tchilingirian@orinst.ox.ac.uk
or Prof. Theo van Lint, Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of Armenian Studies: theo.vanlint@orinst.ox.ac.uk

Hilary term

Hilary Term is the second academic term of the Universities ofOxford^[1]^[2] and Dublin^[3] academic year. It runs from January to March and is so named because the feast day of St Hilary of Poitiers, 14 January, falls during this term. All terms are dated from this day in the following way:^{[citation needed]}

Michaelmas term — 13 Sundays before to 5 Sundays before the feast day of St Hilary
Hilary term — 1 Sunday to 9 Sundays after the feast day of St Hilary
Trinity term — 15 Sundays to 21 Sundays after the feast day of St Hilary

The term originated in the legal system. The Courts of England and Wales divide the legal year into four terms: Hilary, Easter, Trinity and Michaelmas.

At the University of Oxford, following the resolution made by Council on 8 May 2002, Hilary Term begins on and includes 7 January and ends on and includes 25 March or the Saturday before Palm Sunday, whichever is the earlier.^[2] In Hilary Term, as in Michaelmas Term and in Trinity Term, there is a period of eight weeks known as Full Term, beginning on a Sunday, within which lectures and other instruction prescribed by statute or regulation are given.^[2] The dates on which each Full Term will begin and end in the next academic year but one are published by the Registrar in the University Gazette during Hilary Term.^[2]

Friday, 26 October 2012

An Evening with Ara Dinkjian

Armenian Institute Presents

Ara Dinkjian
Venue:
Nevart Gulbenkian Hall
Iverna Gardens
W8 6TR

On: Monday 19th November 2012

At: 7:30pm

Admissions: £10

The day after his London Jazz Festival show at London's Southbank Centre. On the 18th November Ara will perform with the Ara Dinkjian Quartet, the Armenian Institute is delighted to welcome the great instrumentalist and composer. Dinkjian will share his thoughts on his approach to music, composition and performance and the influences on his very distinctive style, with illustration on the instrument with which he is most associated - the Oud. Ara Dinkjian has worked with a vast number of performers from many countries and his compositions have been sung in 13 languages including at the closing Ceremony of the Athens Olympics.

This will be a unique chance to meet Ara Dinkjian in an informal setting, to be able to get closer to the work of an influential musician of Armenian heritage.

We expect this special event to be well-attended and seating will be on first-come-first-served basis.

Wine, refreshments and nibbles to follow.