· March, 2008

Stories about Arts & Culture from March, 2008

Japan: Views on Yasukuni, the movie

A documentary film about the controversial Yasukuni shrine, shot by a Chinese filmmaker through funding by a Japanese government agency, has sparked debate and discussion after a group within the ruling LDP party convened a screening to assess its "neutrality". Bloggers offer differing views on the move and on the idea of their government subsidizing what some see as a "political" film.

31 March 2008

Lebanon: Banning “Persepolis”

“Marjane Satrapi’s ‘Persepolis’ [the movie] is the latest victim of our very “intellectual” General Security Censorship Department,” writes Bachir Habib

30 March 2008

Armenia: Sevan Museum

Robert Dietrich posts photographs of some of the treasures he recently discovered at a small museum outside of the capital. The Peace Corps Volunteer says he was overwhelmed by the...

30 March 2008

Armenia: The Little Prince

The Armenian Patchwork posts photographs of preparations and a performance of The Little Prince in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. The blog seems impressed with the organization of the play for...

30 March 2008

Lebanon: Facebook Suicide

SLH shares this letter that he sent to his “facebook friends” explaining the reasons behind his decision to leave Facebook forever and to “rejoin real world interaction”.

30 March 2008

Jamaica, Cuba: Poetry in Motion

Jamaican Geoffrey Philp blogs about MiPOesias Magazine's newly released issue, which he says “showcases the work of poets of Cuban descent who live in the U.S…no matter the subject, these...

28 March 2008

Armenia: Eurovision Betting Odds

Heckler Spray takes an albeit irreverent look at Armenia's entry in this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Nevertheless, the blog says that the song by local singer Sirusho is one of...

27 March 2008

Burkina Faso: Home of black bags, baobabs and cute kids?

This roundup will begin with some old business. From Stephen Davis of Voice in the Desert: His book Sophie and the Albino Camel is up for the Norfolk Shorts shortlist of books under 150 pages. While he won’t know the outcome until April 16, he did expound on why he loves writing short fiction.

27 March 2008