· September, 2008

Stories about Arts & Culture from September, 2008

Bangladesh: Significance of Eid ul Fitr

  30 September 2008

Depending on geographic location, muslims around the world will be celebrating the Eid ul Fitr Festival either on Tuesday (30th September) or Wednesday (1st October). Inspirations and Creative Thoughts discusses the significance of the Eid day which follows the month of Ramadan.

India: The Kolu

  30 September 2008

Blokesablogin writes in Desicritics about the Kolu: “While the Bengalis begin their Pujo, many of us in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, set up ‘steps’ and have a dolls exhibition, many of them themed after stories from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Shrimad Bhagavatham.”

Dominica: Independence

  29 September 2008

Dominica Weekly posts photos from the opening ceremony of the island's 30th anniversary of independence.

Japan: The psychology of prostitution, and why it should be legalized

  29 September 2008

id:fromdusktildawn delves into the the roots and social context of prostitution [ja], arguing that by looking down on women who work in the sex industry, men offload feelings of guilt about their lust for prostitutes onto the prostitutes themselves. The blogger claims that by legalizing the 5 trillion yen prostitution...

Korea: Ceremonial Expenses

  29 September 2008

What is your biggest expense? A website, www.career.co.kr, did a survey of 1,676 employees, and asked them which of their expenses they consider worthless. The highest percentage answered drinking and the second highest was for payment of other peoples’ ceremonies. The top answer could be understood anywhere. Then, what do...

Egypt: National Theater on Fire

  28 September 2008

It seems that the Egyptians have succeeded in bringing Nero back to life. And the Egyptian Nero has a long list of places to burn. He started with the Egyptian Parliament a few weeks ago, and now it's time for the Egyptian National Theater.

Taiwan: The Return of Local Cinema

  26 September 2008

This summer, Taiwanese cinema is not only celebrating a comeback, but is also shining like the sun. No matter how strongly the typhoon hits Taiwan, movie theaters are witnessing hundreds, if not thousands, of people waiting in line just for the new film, “Cape No.7“. The movie became a blockbuster...

Ethiopia: Let's talk about theatre

  26 September 2008

Ethiopian blogger, Arefe, writes “An Ethiopian actor who paid for Iago’s sin”: “The late Laureate Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin was the leading Amharic Shakespeare translator and his translation of Othello has been a popular item in the Addis Ababa theatrical repertoire.In the article, “Shakespeare in Ethiopia”, Prof.Richard Pankhurst relates the public’s reaction...

Japan: Kiki's Atashi Kanojo

  26 September 2008

Blogger Akihito Kobayashi at the Shirokuma Blog reports on his experience [ja] reading the winning work in this year's keitai shosetsu awards: “Atashi Kanojo” (あたし彼女) by 23-year-old writer Kiki. Although the short story has all the elements of the genre — sex, pregnancy, abortion, and many one-word sentences — Akihito...

Armenia: Cultural Control

  25 September 2008

Unzipped says that there is a link between the decision to remove the screening of a film by well known director Tigran Khzmalyan from the programme at Yerevan's main cinema and his political activities. The blog also says that Khzmalyan and other academics have also been dismissed from their positions...

Pakistan: “Hey! Why is Google ignoring us?”

  25 September 2008

Pakistanis are using blogs as a medium to raise their voices about an important issue regarding the biases of technology giant Google. The issue we are talking about is Google Doodles for Pakistan. Google Doodles refers to the Google's logo designs project that Google displays occasionally. Google celebrates and pays...