Ukraine's Got Talent, and Other Marvels of 21st Century Life

Alex Massie points us to a must-see:

Can't improve on Massie's description:

Perhaps you've already seen Kseniya Simonova's performance on Ukraine's Got Talent. But if you haven't, watch how she recounts the horrors of Ukraine's experiences during the Second World War. With sand.

As we hurtle toward the 20th anniversary of the world revolting against communism, it's worth taking a moment to reflect that in many of our adult lifetimes half of Eurasia, from Berlin to Kamchatka, was a darkened, mostly undifferentiated blob, where no country called "Ukraine" existed, Ukraine's Got Talent was more an observation in West Hollywood than a reality TV show in Odessa, and if there were any Ukranians with a gift for sand animation we almost certainly wouldn't know about it, let alone get to enjoy it on our computers.