This is the website of Ilya Yablochnikov.

Summer Of Soccer

Somehow I found myself immersed in soccer this last week. There is now a pick up game 4 times a week for me: Wednesday evening and Saturday morning at Summit Park Elementary, and Thursday and Sunday evening at Northwest Park. I am still playing in the indoor league on Fridays. I am hoping to get in good shape by the end of the summer at this rate. Though I haven't played the Saturday game yet, I find myself sleeping past 10 on Saturday lately.

In addition to that there was the Confederations Cup tournament where US surprised everyone and advanced to the final and almost defeated Brasil. I didn't watch it but I got swept up in the excitement. All of this reminded me about Baltimore's own professional soccer team - Crystal Palace USA. They play in the USL-2 league, the lowest level of US professional soccer. Their season is in full swing and I decided to attend a game on Monday evening.

The home games are held at UMBC stadium. Tickets are a little pricey at $16 but at least you can bring your own food and beverages. There wasn't a big turnout - I'd estimate no more than 200 people at the peak. The few fans for the opponents - Real Maryland from Rockville - were louder than the home crowd and had those annoying air horns. The game lacked excitement in the first half aside from a bunch of yellow cards. I really missed instant replay and commentators because I couldn't figure out what the cards were for most of the time. A lot of the fouls happened away from the ball. In the second half Real scored and Crystal Palace were pushed into action. They finally started putting shots on goal. An ejection of two Real players helped them create more chances and there were a couple of really close ones. At one point a header from 20 feet, in front of an open goal, bounced off the ground and went over. The game finished 1-0 and we left a little disappointed.

Arguably the biggest soccer event to hit Baltimore is coming July 24th when European giants Chelsea and AC Milan will face off in a friendly at M&T Bank Stadium. At first I wasn't going to go because I didn't think a no-stakes friendly game would be that exciting but the match could be an important part of pre-season preparation and where else will I see stars of such caliber? I still have a problem of who to support. I hate both clubs. Chelsea are the Yankees of the Premiership - buying up stars to win the championship. This is done with the ill-gotten gains of a Russian oligarch in exile. AC Milan has been demoted and fined for referee bribery and other violations and are owned by Berlusconi, the corrupt Italian prime minister and media magnate.

Posted at: 07/01/09 09:25

Maryland Film Festival Review

The 11th installment of the Maryland Film Festival took place May 7th - May 10th. The festival keeps growing and this year was marked by the addition of many foreign films. The festival had a tradition of bringing the filmmaker to each screening but they were willing to sacrifice that for a wider selection of films.

I volunteered this year and I would highly recommend it. It felt like I got more out of it than the festival. Volunteers get a free t-shirt, a voucher good for one ticket to a screening and more. Joining the Friends of the Festival is also a good idea. For only $50 a year you get the chance to see about 30 films a year for free before they are released to the wider public, and help the festival.

Now on to the films I saw.

Posted at: 05/14/09 10:12

Bring back the BMA Film Series!

For a couple years every first Thursday at the Baltimore Museum of Art a film was screened as part of a film series run by Eric Hatch. The focus was 60's and early 70's films (both foreign and Hollywood) as well as new films that were influenced by them or had the same spirit. Many films were not available on DVD. I attended many screenings and though many left me scratching my head, I looked forward to each one and liked the challenge. You can find the list of films on the petition page. Last year the BMA canceled the series. Justin Blemly, webmaster of Beatbots, started an online petition to draw attention to it. Even if the BMA does not pick the series back up it may at least arouse interest from another venue. Please sign the petition. But use an e-mail address you don't care about. It seems that the website may sell your information to third parties.

Posted at: 01/20/09 08:57
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Contact Info: my e-mail address is ilya at ilyay.com. I have AIM but you should email me first.
I would love to hear from you if you have any additional information about any of my interests (Hackers, eXile, California etc.) or just feedback in general. I am pretty lazy so I tend not to do much research, most of the information is from my memory.