Happy b-day, Google

Posted by mzia.kupunia in Various | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment
28September2011

Everything can be googled!

Georgian national proverb

Google's 13 nowI don’t remember when I wrote my first query in Google search window. It probably happened 8-9 years ago, at one of the antique computers in Tbilisi State University. Since then my life has never been the same. Frankly, I don’t remember what life was like before I discovered Google for myself. It was much harder for sure than it is now.

Google has turned 13 today. He/she’s a teenager now – the most successful teen ever on the planet I suppose. Google is admired and hated. Both admirers and haters of the search giant have their justified reasons for loving or detesting it. Frankly, I feel a bit uncomfortable at times realizing that Google possesses so much information about me, however this does not stop me from using its search service at least 10 times a day.

Google is no more just about search. It is about pretty much everything – started from electronic mail ended with a newly introduced social networking site Google +. Critiques argue that the company has been extended to scary sizes. Yes, indeed Google has left almost no chances for competitors to compete. Whether it is good or not, is a subject of discussion between monopolists and anti-monopolists.

I just say: happy birthday Google. Keep my data safe and intact. (I know you won’t!)

Photo from: www.google.com

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Ghosts in the Georgian Parliament

Posted by mzia.kupunia in Various | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments
1July2011

I’m not good at maths but my poor knowledge is enough to know that when 83 Parliament Members are attending a session and a bill is passed with 103 votes against 1 there is something wrong out there. I’m not making up an example, this is what happened in the Georgian Parliament today, at least this is what a quite reliable news agency Interpressnews reported.

Interpressnews reporter said that nobody protested against the fraud, because there were no opposition MPs in the hall where voting took place. So, two problems at once – arrogant ruling party MPs and irresponsible opposition.

Anyway, 83 MPs passed the amendments to the constitution on moving the Georgian Parliament to Kutaisi with 103 votes against 1. Over 34 million dollars are being spent to construct a new building to move [irresponsible and arrogant] MPs to Georgia’s second biggest city as an attempt to achieve “more engagement of regions in western Georgia in constitutional-legal processes.”

Sorry guys but I have some doubts that genuinely “constitutional-legal processes” are taking place in the Parliament. Forgive me my skepticism but facts are facts. Frankly  I would have been skeptical about media reports on vote fraud in the Parliament. It is hard to believe in something that you have not seen with your own eyes. But unfortunately [for our MPs] a video shot at the Parliament session in Georgia went viral on Youtube a couple of days ago. It shows how ruling party MPs are voting from the voting devices instead of their colleagues.

Sorry again, but I am not paying money to the MPs from my [poor] pocket to see vote fraud taking place in the Parliament. Shame on you guys. BTW, dear lawmakers vote fraud is a criminal act. At least so I think.

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He’s back!

Posted by mzia.kupunia in Various | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
30June2011

Renny Harlin posing for photographers at 5 Days of August premiere, Tbilisi, Georgia

If you had no chance to see a Hollywood-based Finnish film director Renny Harlin in Georgia early in June, when he presented his much criticised movie 5 Days of August to the Georgian audience, you have one more chance to take a glance at him. All you have to do is take a walk in downtown Tbilisi or turn on one of local pro-governmental TV channels. Yes, he’s back!

He’s back to buy a three-room apartment in Georgia’s sea resort town of Batumi, Imedi TV announced proudly in an almost 10 minute report dedicated to one of the most criticised movie director in Georgia lately. (Some evil people have said the authorities have gifted him a flat in Batumi actually. But I don’t believe in rumors! I trust Georgian TV channels!)  Imedi TV reporter mentioned that “part of the society” has been critical about Harlin’s latest piece. This is the case when i feel myself as a “part of the society.” But there’s been so much said and written about 5 Days of August, that I feel reluctant to add my criticism to a vast number of critical articles.

Sharon Stone at 5 Days of August premiere, Tbilisi, Georgia

I’m good at observing people. Let me prove that with my observation on Renny Harlin’s old and new behaviour. In the beginning of June, before a premiere of the movie, Harlin showed off his eccentric character by showing funny faces in front of cameras. In the end of June he looks a bit less excited and charismatic. Walking calmly with his pretty girlfriend in renovated old district of Tbilisi. Did the pressure of criticism influence him? If  yes, I respect him much more than the Georgian authorities and producers of the movie, who keep saying that 5 Days of August is a good movie.

Last time when Renny Harlin, Andy Garcia and Sharon Stone arrived to Tbilisi, they managed to overshadow people’s anger over police’s crackdown on protesters in the center of Tbilisi on May 26. I have some evil thoughts about the goal of Harlin’s yet another visit to Georgia – to overshadow people’s anger over changed waste collection fees or distract the society from thinking about troubled electoral environment. Ok, kidding! (Maybe not?!.)

Andy Garcia, Renny Harlin and Sharon stone at 5 Days of August Premiere, Tbilisi, Georgia

Harlin said he’s planning to shoot another movie in Georgia. Probably by the seaside in Batumi. Hopefully this time I won’t have to pay money for posh red carpet premieres and after parties from my pocket. And if I’ll have to, please Mr. Harlin shoot at least a fair one.

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Goodbye Stalin!

Posted by mzia.kupunia in Various | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment
1June2011

A house where Stalin spent his early childhood

About a month ago me and my friend visited Georgia’s small town of Gori, about an hour’s drive from capital Tbilisi. There is nothing significant about this town except the fact that an (in)famous Soviet leader Stalin (Ioseb Jughashvili) was born in this tiny place and spent a couple of his early childhood years in a really proletarian house in Gori.

In August 2008, during a brief war with Russia, Gori was badly bombed by Russian forces. Main square of the town, famous for its only remaining Stalin monument in Georgia, was shelled from Russian (maybe soviet-era) planes, killing several civilians. Two years after those tragic events, Stalin’s statue was removed, causing indignation of part of Gori residents, mainly elderly people. So for now the square is empty, waiting for a new monument dedicated to August war victims to be erected some time soon.

So let’s go back to where we started from – to a tiny boring town of Gori. After seeing a Stalin museum, which unfortunately closes at 5 pm, there is nothing else to see. There is only one main street – Stalin avenue. Yes, Stalin Avenue. We were surprised to see that after removing Stalin monument, the street name had remained unchanged. At some point we thought it was a touristic trick, but locals confirmed that the street iwas really still named after the Great Generalissimo.

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Another day – another rally

Posted by mzia.kupunia in Various | Leave a comment
29May2011

Up to 2 thousand people gathered today on Rustaveli avenue in the center of Georgian capital Tbilisi to protest against the violent crackdown of police on anti-government demonstrators on May 26. Although it has been generally accepted that the authorities had a legitimate right to disperse Thursday’s rally as the sanction for the demonstration had already expired, human rights groups both in and outside Georgia have slammed the government for using excessive force during the dispersal. Two people died Thursday morning, when an opposition motorcade, leaving the site hastily hit several demonstrators and policemen, killing two, as said by the Interior Ministry. Two more bodies were found on Friday on a shop roof near the crackdown site. It is not immediately clear if their death has anything to do with the crackdown on demonstrators, although one of the dead persons is believed to be an opposition party activist.

On Saturday over 3 thousand demonstrators came out in the streets of Tbilisi to denounce excessive usage of force and to demand punishment of the policemen guilty of exceeding their rights. The organizers of the rally – representatives of various NGOs and human rights groups claimed the demonstration was politicians-free.

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