Stories about Arts & Culture from May, 2006
User-built dictionary of English idioms
Jamaican Simone Champagnie links to What does That Mean, “a free, user-built dictionary of English idioms, buzzwords, and catch phrases from around the world”. The site includes entries from North America, the British Commonwealth, Italy, Japan and South Korea.
Caribbean: Lists
On his freshly launched blog, Jamaican novelist Marlon James weighs in on the New York Times “Top Twenty-Five American Books”. Barbadian blogger Titilayo singles out a few notables from TIME magazine's “list of “100 men and women whose power, talent or moral example is transforming our world”.
China: Don't learn Chinese for business opps, learn it for this book
For unavoidable reasons known to all, or at least presumed, Lifeweek editor Wang Xiaofeng, one of China's most entertaining bloggers—known to many for a hoax [#026] pulled in March this year which brought many bloggers’ scorn—mysteriously killed off his widely-read Massage Milk (also known as Wears Three Watches) in early...
Hong Kong: Bus Uncle and Chief Executive
The Bus Uncle video (a video taken on a mobile phone of a young man and older man arguing on the top of a bus) has spread from the internet BBS and blogsphere to the mainstream media. ESWN has a full collection of all the internet products related to the...
Czech Republic: Wedding Tradition
David of Prague Blog writes about a fun wedding tradition that the Czechs seem to observe: “After the wedding ceremony, and before the reception, the best man “kidnaps” the bride and takes her to a pub. […] They drink whatever they want, and the groom goes searching for them. If...
China: Pop psychology online
Pop psychology has reached China, or so says a Virtual China post from Jason Li in which fans of Chinese star search show Super Girl have their motivations analyzed.
Slovenia: President's Book Review
AlesS of A Little Blog For a Restless Mind reviews a book written by Janez Drnovsek, Slovenia's president: Thoughts on Life and Awareness. “To me the president with this book seems like a freshman that hasn't even yet passed the first grade of buddhism, yet already wants to teach (preach...
India: films, cricket and monsoons and more…
This was yet another hectic week in India...bloggers wrote about films, cricket, monsoons etc, etc...
Japan: Radio station webcast
from the inside, looking in blogger Shinichiro Fukushige links in a post today to the announcement of one of Tokyo's most popular radio stations’ long overdue internet broadcast.
Vietnam: Cultural Differences
Wanna, a Cambodian student in Vietnam visits his Vietnamese friend's house for dinner. Wanna makes some interesting observation on cultural difference between Cambodia and Vietnam.
China: Destitution inspires art
Guangzhou-based Supernaut artist-blogger Frances D'Ath finds inspiration for her death-themed works in the killings and violence which have taken place over the past year in clashes between villagers and Communist authorities in several small villages around southern China's Guangdong province in her post ‘云浮, 汕尾, 太石 and other holiday places.’...
Haiti: Mother's Day
“In Haiti May 28 is a day of celebration of Haitian mothers,” says blogger (Fr) AyitiCherieConnexion. “I'd like to say: Happy Mothers’ day to all the women of Haiti, whether they are rich or poor, whether they are from the countryside, from the cities or from the mountains. After all,...
India: Art and Fear
The proposed exhibition of MF Husain's paintings in London has caused a security fear. Pickled Politics on the threats of fundamentalists. The comments space yields an interesting debate and discussion.
Romania: Sarmalele Reci
Romerican writes about a Romanian band called Sarmalele Reci: “Sarmale is a traditional Romanian dish. Basically, it’s rice, pork, and spice rolled into cabbage leaves and baked. We can haggle over recipe details another day. Sarmalele is the articulated plural form of sarmale, yet they are pronounced the same way....
Ukraine: Books on Ukraine
Dan McMinn of Orange Ukraine has started a Ukrainian book section of his blog: “[…] a list of good (or at least popular) reading material about Ukraine or involving Ukraine. The section includes a number of useful links and things for each book, and categorizes the books a number of...
China: Photos of churches
For a country ruled by Communists, China has its fair share of churches—eleven in the Southern Chinese city of Guangzhou alone, as photoblogged today at Frances D'Ath's Supernaut: “Guangzhou is home to at least eleven notable historic churches, built between 1850 and the early 20th century, but of these, 石室圣心教堂...
South AFrica: CD/DVD piracy
Singing South Africanness comments on the rampant DVD and CD piracy that takes place in South Africa and asks why the original disks are so expensive and beyond the means of most SA…”if some people can produce pirated CDs and DVDs at such low prices, why can't the originators of...
DRC: Coup Attempts and More Questions on the Upcoming Elections
Free and Fair Elections? Joseph Kabila, the founder of the PPRD (the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy), has overseen an interim administration established by the 2002 peace agreement. The Democratic Republic of the Congo's first post-conflict presidential elections are set to be held on July 30th after months of...
Iran: Syriana in Iran!
Hanif Mazroi, Iran based blogger & journalist, says George Clooney's Syriana was broadcasted on Iranian Channel 3. Mazroi, who had already seen movie in English version, adds that in Persian version, dialogues have been changed so much that we thought Clooney and others are playing a new script written by...
Argentina: Music and Misinformation
This week, Argentinean newspapers informed readers that some Internet users had reached an agreement with CAPIF, the company that represents record companies in Argentina, to pay an amount of money as a compensation for the songs they had illegally downloaded from the Internet. The news coverage shows clear differences between...
