Stories about Arts & Culture from March, 2011
Lebanon: Exploring the Video Artistic Scene, Featuring Ziad Antar
What's happening on the Lebanese art scene? The directors of a web-documentary on this topic are offering some previews in the form of portraits of contemporary artists.
Colombia: Fractal, a Sci-Fi event in Medellín
Juan Diego Gómez posts in his blog about Fractal'11, an event about fiction, art, science and technology that will take place in Medellín, Colombia, on April 8-9, 2011. Juan Diego introduces [es] some of the speakers: awarded Science Fiction writer Kij Johnson (@kijjohnson), cyborg anthropologist Amber Case (@caseorganic), researcher Johanna...
Russia: Real Life Super Hero From Chelyabinsk
Metkere.com shares [ru] a video-address of a real life super hero calling himself “The Avenger.” (see his Vkontakte fan group [ru]) The avenger, a man in a black costume with a green letter “M” (apparently M for Mstitel’, the ‘avenger’ in Russian) on it and a black mask, says he...
Bolivia’s Conflicting Stance With the USA on Coca Chewing
The 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs ordered the elimination of chewing coca leaves within 25 years of the treaty going into effect. Bolivia has again resurfaced as a proponent to eliminate this UN ban. The US moved to block Bolivia’s request, further citing that an amendment to the article shows Bolivia’s lack of cooperation in the fight against the drug trade.
Greece: Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Succeeds in Hard Times
The week-long 13th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival presented a line up of approximately 220 films from around the world from 11-30 March, 2011, in Thessaloniki, Greece. Themes included regional retrospectives (this year focusing on the Middle East and Africa) and tributes to Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa and Czech Helena Trestikova.
Trinidad & Tobago: Carnival is Over
Trinidad Carnival Diary offers tips on how to “fill the void between now and another Carnival…”
South Korea: Application for Radiation Levels Checkup
As minuscule amounts of radioactive iodine and cesium have been detected in South Korean atmosphere, intensifying the already heightened fear over Japan's nuclear crisis, South Korean web developers debuted an Android application enabling citizen to check updated information on radiation levels in the country. Wiki Tree posted [ko] screenshot images...
China: Porcelain Artwork Banned from Shipping out
Bigfools.com posts a picture of a piece of porcelain artwork which has been banned by the Ministry of Culture from shipping out to South Korea's Asia Art Exhibition because it would create a image problem for China.
Poland, Lithuania: “The End of the Romance”
Polandian offers “a quick review” of the Polish-Lithuanian relationship over the centuries and notes on the recent changes.
Ukraine: “A War of Monuments”
Back in February, Uilleam Blacker of Memory at War: Blog wrote about “a war of monuments” in Ukraine.
Pakistan: Paint Lahore Red
S A J Shirazi at Doodh Patti writes about a street painting competition in Lahore. Around 250 walls were painted in order to raise awareness among the masses about the issue of wall chocking.
Trinidad & Tobago: Soca Stereotype?
Outlish looks at the impact of Chutney Soca music “on people's perception of Indo-Trinidadians.”
China: Opinion Battle on Baidu's Copyright Infringement
More than fifty Chinese writers have formed an alliance protesting against copyright infringement by the Baidu Wenku platform, a Chinese version of Google Books which allows users to read, share or download books for free.
Puerto Rico: The art of Aslan
The collective blog El Faktor, dedicated to showcasing unknown and underground artists, features the art of Aslan [es].
Macedonia: A Proofreaders’ Five Commandments
Biserka Velkovska of the Lektor blog writes [MKD] about five most common mistakes when writing in the standard Macedonian language, and how to correct them.
Macedonia: No to Violence Against Women
Gordana Angelichin writes on Mladi!nfo about how she and two friends organized the V-Day Macedonia campaign from October 2010 to March 2011, as part of the global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls.
Egypt: Football Before and After the Revolution
In the past years, football (soccer) used to be the main source for joy for the Egyptian people. However it seems that the recent revolution that took place in Egypt has revolutionized all this. The loss of Egypt's national team to South Africa was even cheered by some.
Russia: BBC Russian Service's Last Broadcast
Christya Riedel writes on Foreign Policy Association's Russia blog that on March 26, “the BBC Russian Service ceased its radio broadcasts after 65 years on the air because of drastic budget cuts implemented by the British government.”
Macedonia: Critique of Video for Eurosong 2011 Entry
Karro compares [MKD] the video (but not the song) of the Macedonian entry for this year's Eurovision festival, “The Russian Girl” by Vlatko Ilievski, to the video of “The Only Exception” by Paramore (clips embedded in the blog post).
Brazil: More Poetry, Less Money
Following the discussion on The Cost of Financing Culture in Brazil, blogger Paulo Rená introduces [pt] a new project – “More Poetry, Less Money” (@maispoesia) – where “any person can pick up a poem, record it for a video platform” and post it using the hashtag #MaisPoesiaMenosDinheiro.
Côte d'Ivoire: Where Are the African Personalities When They Are Needed?
A few months ago, Marième Jamme asked Bono and Bob Geldof to take less prominent roles as speakers for Africa in the media and leave space for Africans to speak for themselves. Today on the Africa Rising blog, bloggers wonder where have the African personalities gone when they are actually needed to get the world's...
