Ali Bastian: “the epitome of an English rose” of Armenian and Russian descent

I knew Ali Bastian as Becca from a popular Channel 4 TV soap Hollyoaks. I never knew her real name. Watching yesterday BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special, where 6 celebrities compete in an “end of year dancing extravaganza”, it suddenly occured to me that her surname is “ian”. I know, it’s probably genetic, when each time hearing -yan/ian on a non-Armenian TV or event or a news item, our heart beat increases and we start looking for an Armenian heritage and so on and so on :) Yes, I accept this, and that’s exactly what I did. Quick search on Google brings me to this source that Ali Bastian is of Armenian and Russian descent. She is gorgeous and sexy. BBC describes her as “the epitome of an English rose”.

Originally hailing from Windsor, Ali is the epitome of an English rose. She made her first forays into TV with quintessentially English dramas such as Jane Eyre (when she was 10 years old) and A Touch Of Frost.

Ali is best known for playing Becca Dean in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks from 2001 to 2007. Becca's most controversial storyline in Hollyoaks saw her fired from her teaching job and sent to prison after having an affair with one of her students.

She did not manage to pass through to the final for Strictly Come Dancing 2009 competition. She was dancing in pair with Brian Fortuna, a professional ballroom dancer and choreographer from the US. Apparently, they are an item too.

[...] But just a week after they were controversially voted off Strictly Come Dancing during the semi-final, Ali Bastian and Brian Fortuna have finally confirmed they're an item.

After leaving the BBC show where they met, the couple journeyed to Paris for a romantic city break in the snow.

In an interview with the new issue of Hello! magazine, the couple said they are finally ready to go public with their romance.

In fact, they're getting so serious about each other Brian, 27, has bought Ali, 26, flight tickets to join him at his parents' home in New Jersey for Christmas. [...]

Before finding love with Brian, Ali dated London Irish rugby player Nick Kennedy and her Hollyoaks co-star Kevin Sacre.

But yesterday... she won the ultimate festive Christmas edition of the programme with all judges awarding the highest 10 score + being voted the highest by the audience.


Ali Bastian & Brian Fortuna dance the Viennese Waltz to Please Come Home For Christmas.


The Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special 2009 Champions are crowned.


*picture - via Ali Bastian fan site

Quote of The Day (in Armenian)

Highly recommend reading today's article by detained for his political views opposition editor Nikol Pashinyan. His trial is currently underway in Yerevan and Nikol is facing up to 8 years imprisonment. Below is what I consider truly a Quote of The Day (in Armenian):

"[...] Եթե իսկական Եղիշե Չարենցից վերցնենք մտքի ազատությունը, ըմբոստությունը, արդարամտության զգացողությունը, հանուն գաղափարի զոհվելու պատրաստակամությունը, ամենադառը ճշմարտությունն ասելու ուժն ու խիզախությունը, դրան ավելացնենք մի քիչ վախկոտություն, հարմարվողականություն, ամպուտացիա անենք այդ Չարենցի ողնաշարը, կստանանք մի... այնպիսի Լեւոն Անանյան, որին նույնիսկ օրիգինալը կնախանձի: Սրանում է մեր իրականության ողբերգական առանձնահատկությունը. բանաստեղծները ուզում են Չարենց լինել, բայց շողոքորթել իշխանություններին, հոգեւորականները ուզում են Հիսուս լինել բայց չխաչվել, գիտնականներն ուզում են Ջորդանո Բրունո լինել, բայց չայրվել խարույկի վրա, նկարիչներն ուզում են Վան Գոգ լինել, բայց գլուխ չունեն ածխահատների գործադուլային շարժման հետ: [...]"

Read the article in full here: ԼԻՆԵԼ, ԲԱՅՑ ՉԼԻՆԵԼ. ԱՅՍ Է ԽՆԴԻՐԸ

My New Year resolution for the Armenian Cause

Aram Hamparian of the Armenian National Committee of America tweeted the other day:

#anca is interested in your New Year's resolutions for the #Armenian Cause.
@ANCA_DC

Well, here is mine: to make, however small, but personal contribution to evolve Armenia into a democratic state where human rights are not simply words but a reality. Everything else will follow.

To readers of my blog: BIG THANK YOU for reading my blog, for being in touch, for inspiring me. Whether it’s global, or very personal/intimate, whatever your dreams are, I hope and wish that at least some of them will come true in 2010. Have a very happy one!! x

Yet another report on alleged brutalities and human rights violations in the Armenian army

Not your usual festive story before Christmas and New Year, but yet another depressing and tragic story on alleged brutalities and human rights violations in the Armenian army (in Armenian, video - via Gyumri-based GALA TV station). This case is currently under investigation.

Mrs Armenia Gohar Haroutyunyan - new Mrs Globe 2009 (!)

Mrs Globe 2009 (*via Newscom, via Fotoglif)

2009-12-13, Bratislava, Slovak Republic: Mrs. Armenia and new Mrs. Globe 2009 Gohar Haroutyunyan poses after she won world final of a beauty contest for mothers and married women Mrs. Globe 2009 on December 13, 2009, in Bratislava, Slovakia. (many thanks to bsw_am for the info; also moon_lusin)

Mrs Globe 2009 (*Facebook)

Mrs Globe 2009 and Mrs Globe 2002 (*Facebook)

Cute Christmas tree :)

I was passing by this Christmas tree by Benetton in London and find it charming :)

First ladies of Latvia and Armenia at the Cafesjian Centre for the Arts in Yerevan

The Cafesjian Centre for the Arts reports that first ladies of Latvia, Mrs. Lilita Zatlere, and Armenia, Mrs. Rita Sargsyan, toured the Centre’s exhibition galleries on 11 December 2009.

Some people suck. Big time (re yet another video scandal in Armenia)

This video scandal (+ here) was just another reminder why I could never stand Hrant Tokhatyan & co. They suck. Big time.


*source of picture

Armenia: Free ALL political prisoners

10 December - Human Rights Day

Armenian opposition will march on 10 December (authorised by Yerevan city hall) to demand release of all political prisoners.

*I found this T-shirt via google search - "armenian political prisoners" 

The power of bloggers and state of human rights in Azerbaijan

#EminAdnan - 10 December Human Rights Day

Picture of the Day (source)

World AIDS Day 09, Yerevan, Armenia (Picture of the Day)

*picture - by Lara Aharonian
**More about the events - here
***video

"I received flowers today"... ("Այսոր ես ծաղիկներ ստացա"...)

*via Women's Resource Centre Youtube channel:

from the candle lighting ceremony on November 25 to end violence against women. Elvira Meliksetyan from the Women's Resource Center is reading a poem [in Armenian] on domestic violence by an unknown author. 

WTF?! - ‘Hayastanci: Anti-Russia’

After reading this IWPR report and glancing at this so called group’s so called website, my only reaction was - WTF?! They look like a group of hackers playing with others’ nerves, hoping for publicity and having fun. Mentally disturbed people with sick agenda.

A burst of anti-Russian [Unzipped: not only anti-Russian] emails and text messages, supposedly sent from an Armenian activist group [Unzipped: I do not think it’s an ‘Armenian activist group’], has left Armenians baffled as to who’s behind it and what their motives are.

The emails and text messages originate from an organisation calling itself Hayastanci: Anti-Russia, and thousands of Armenians have received them. More...

Armenia: Scandal of the Day - ‘party’ in prison - Picture of the Day

When I first looked at this picture, it never crossed my mind - until I read the accompanying text - that I am looking at prison here...

Armenia -- Artyom Khachatrian (R), editor of the pro-government ''Azatamtutyun'' daily, pictured with three men serving life sentences for politically motivated murders in Yerevan's Nubarashen prison on October 5, 2009. Photo courtesy of ''Haykakan Zhamanak. (RFE/RL)

Justice Minister Gevorg Danielian ordered an inquiry on Thursday after the publication of a revealing prison photograph that shows the editor of a pro-government newspaper in the company of three men serving life sentences for politically motivated murders.

The photo, which appeared on the front-page of the pro-opposition daily “Haykakan Zhamanak,” shows Artyom Khachatrian of the “Azatamtutyun” newspaper and one of his aides drinking coffee and soft drinks with the convicts at Yerevan’s Nubarashen prison.

All five men smiled as they had their picture taken by an unknown photographer. Two of them, Derenik Bejanian and Eduard Grigorian, were among the gunmen that had burst into Armenia’s parliament in October 1999, killing its speaker Karen Demirchian, Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian and six other officials. They share their prison cell with Arsen Ardzruni, a former member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation convicted of being a member of a death squad that had allegedly operated in the early 1990s.

“Haykakan Zhamanak” called the photograph scandalous, saying that Khachatrian’s joint appearance with the convicted assassins was a serious breach of prison regulations. “What common things do they have to discuss and to do?” it asked in a dig at the editor who is reputed to have close ties to the government. More...

Armenia: violence against women (posters, part 1)

For part 2 - see Unzipped: Gay Armenia

Look at these posters. Difficult, I know. Chilling, I know. ...But do not turn away. Let’s face up these real life stories of violence against women still happening in our society.

These posters will be translated into Armenian, and used throughout the country as part of the campaign by Women’s Resource Centre to stop violence against women.

On November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Women’s Resource Center in Yerevan will mobilize community members and other NGOs to protest gender violence. The events planned for November 25th will mark the beginning of 16 days of activism to end violence against women and girls, which will include an exhibition and film screening at Kino Moscow in December. This will be the fourth year that the Women’s Resource Center has joined countries around the world in organizing events on November 25th to raise awareness about the issue of gender violence.

*posters by zArt - Araz Artinian

Ghost Forest, Trafalgar square, London

Pretty surreal view in London's Trafalgar square this week (ends Sunday 22 November).

This is a project by Angela Palmer - Ghost Forest Art Project - "to raise public awareness of the connections between deforestation and climate change. It involves taking a series of 10 rainforest tree stumps, most with their buttress roots still attached, from a regulated, commercially logged tropical rainforest in Ghana."

The tree stumps - the installation of “ghost forest” - will then move to Copenhagen (7-18 December 2009) to coincide with the UN Cop15 Climate Change Conference in December.

Junior Eurovision 2009: The Netherlands won, Armenia did pretty good - No. 2-3

Was watching Junior Eurovision live on their official website. That was such a mistake. Well, I did not have much of the choice, really, as I am in London now, and they do not show it here. Commentators at Junior Eurovision website were so annoying. They were speaking, making their comments during children’s performance (!). For example, when Armenia entry was performing, they started interviewing Serbian children; then camera failed to show Luara’s actual performance on stage, but rather other parts of the auditorium under the accompaniment of her voice. How ridiculous. And this happened not only during Armenia entry but most of the other entries too. Anyway.

There were 2 Armenians in this year's Junior Eurovision: Luara Hayrapetyan from Armenia and Andranik Alexanyan from Ukraine.

Just watched some of the performances on YouTube (as I said above, the online broadcast I was following was horrible).

Luara is such a cool girl. I am not a big fan of that particular song (song-wise I preferred Ukraine one) but Luara did really a great job performance-wise. I quite liked the Netherlands (the winner), Belgium and Russia too.

Oh, and I loved "Bari ereko, Hayastan" greeting at the very start of Junior Eurovision. Sounded cute :)

Armenian Genocide themed film at Kurdish Film Festival in London

21 November 2009, Birkbeck Cinema, London
AZAD
Director: Nicolas Tackian
France / 2009 / 60mins/ French with English Subtitles / PG
Cast: Jacques HERLIN, Virgile BRAMLY, Alexandra BIENVENU, Jacky NERCESSIAN, Anne SUAREZ

6th London Kurdish Film Festival takes place 20-30 November at various venues in London. Within the programme of the festival, there is also this new (2009) award winning Armenian Genocide themed film “Azad” (made in France; written and directed by Nicolas Tackian). It will be shown at the Birkbeck Cinema this Saturday 21 November at 3pm.
***

Mayak is a young Armenian man and part of the underground cartoon world. He dedicates himself to creating a graphic novel: 'Azad' (which means freedom both in Armenian and Kurdish), a project that looks back to 1915 when his grandfather tried to escape the Armenian genocide. He puts together this project by listening to his grandfather’s memories and it becomes a chance for him to get back in touch with his roots and build a better relationship with his family. However when Mina, a young Kurdish girl enters his life, he is forced to question his beliefs. Mayak convinces himself that she is denying the memory of the Armenian people and accusing the Kurds for also taking part in the Armenian genocide. This leads to a crisis of identity. (LKFF)
***
Named for the Armenian term for liberty, ‘Azad’ concerns a grandfather’s recollection of the genocide of 1915 to his illustrator grandson, Mayak. Set in Paris, it manages to be light-hearted, yet sombre, dealing with Mayak’s discovery of his roots and reconnection with his family. However, when Mina, a Kurdish woman moves in, Mayak is forced to question his own identity. (by Sabrina Bangladesh, Time Out London)

Azerbaijan cultural weekend in London

This weekend-long festival “Azerbaijan: an untapped cultural melting-pot” is organised by The European Azerbaijan Society.

Below is a quote from the festival’s leaflet:

“Located on the threshold of Europe and Asia, Azerbaijan, formerly part of the Silk Road, has an unique heritage, taking influences from both Persian and Russian Empires, Islam, Judaism and Christianity. The Azerbaijani Cultural Weekend is your opportunity to explore the many facets of this vibrant and diverse culture.”

The events will take place at London’s Cadogan Hall on 21-22 November 2009. Full programme: Day 1; Day 2.

Little Armenia: In Search Of Kim Kardashian (@LaCoacha)

Hilarious! :)