Stories about Arts & Culture from February, 2013
Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe Make Music
Until March 1, 2013, Pantalassa, a cultural association working with Portuguese language countries, is organizing a multidisciplinary program of artistic residences in the “marvelous islands” of São Tomé and Príncipe, together with CACAU. The mutual sharing of experiences and affections is presented in a photo-album, which is being updated throughout the...
Kallun: A Platform of Angolan Slang
The Plataform KALLUN (meaning slang), founded by Leocarpo Mário, is a recent collaborative project with the ultimate goal of gathering in just one place all the slang with Angolan origins. Kallun enables interactive search of terms and their meanings.
Why Are Tourists Not Wanted at French Carnival?
A video featuring a group of masked Carnival revelers in Dunkirk, France chanting "we don't like tourists" has some web users ruing the flood of visitors who come year after year unprepared for the festival's madness.
#Wikimodernism: Catalan Modernism, from the Classroom to the Web
The mystery behind the dreamy aesthetic of Barcelona's fantastic architecture is only a click away. Art history students in Barcelona are trading in traditional homework to share their learning about Catalan Modernism with the world.
Being Fat, Talking Fat in South Korea
Many reports have been made about South Koreans’ obsessions with body image, some with shallow understanding of Korean culture. Youtube user durkeeinkorea in this video shares his experience in Korea where people are very ‘open about talking others weight’ and ‘calling someone fat’ in public happens frequently, with no harms intended.
After Ang Lee's Oscar Win, China Imagines Cinema Beyond Censors
Looking to Taiwanese-born director Ang Lee's Oscar win for Best Director with pride and envy, mainland Chinese web users frustrated with China's tight grip on the film industry are wondering about their own country's cinematic potential.
African Nations Cup Anthem Celebrates Peace
On Afrik.com, Mansour Loum discusses “Sela Sela”, the song that was selected as the official anthem of the 29th edition of the 2013 African Nations Cup. The cup took place in South Africa, from January 19 to February 10, 2013. Loum explained that [fr]: With lyrics in English and Bantu,...
Defying the Government, Chinese Families Resurrect Graves
Scores of families have fought back against a controversial campaign in China's central Henan province to raze millions of graves for farmland by re-erecting their ancestors' resting places during the Lunar New Year.
God Exists and He Serves the Kremlin
Though the Pussy Riot trial is over, the culture war it launched in Russia drags on unabated. Pope Benedict's abdication sparked the latest conflagration, when political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky addressed the Catholic leader's decision, calling it a path the Orthodox Patriarch ought to follow. In response, Parliament members have asked federal investigators to consider a criminal case against Belkovsky.
Trinidad & Tobago's Take on The Harlem Shake
The latest Internet meme craze, the Harlem Shake, in which people dance to the song "Harlem Shake" by Baauer, has now taken Trinidad and Tobago – the other side of the world from where the meme began, in Queensland, Australia – by storm. This post checks out a few of the videos...
Senegal Balks as President Recycles Predecessor's Pal
The president of Senegal's decision to appoint a local architect, renowned for his work but notorious for his political schmoozing with previous regimes, as the head of a proposed Senegalese cultural house in New York has come under fire.
North Korea Breaks YouTube Rules Again
It's been less than a month since a video uploaded by the official North Korean account Uriminzokkiri was removed from YouTube on grounds of copyright infringement. Now another propaganda video has been removed for using the soundtrack of a video game without consent. North Korea Tech explains in detail about...
Trinidad & Tobago: Suggestions for Carnival
Mark Lyndersay offers some suggestions to the National Carnival Commission Chair, Allison Demas, after her first Carnival in office.
Brazilian Artists Idealize their Mona Lisa
Digital arts gallery Urban Arts and It’s Noon launched an online challenge that has attracted artists from all over Brazil: If you were Leonardo da Vinci, what would your Mona Lisa look like?
Bengali Language History Not Lost on Youth
Farah Subhan at Amader Kotha highlights how Bangladeshi youth feel about 21 of February, the day commemorating the martyrs of the Bengali language movement, also known as the The International Mother Language Day.
Are Korean Drivers The Worst?
Asians have often been pegged as bad drivers. ROK Drop blog debunked this ‘Bad Asian Drivers’ stereotype with statistics.
Japan's Porn Law is Strangling Artists
World renown Fashion photographer Leslie Kee was arrested for selling obscene images at his latest exhibition in Tokyo. But is his work art or porn? In this post we look at the regulation of 'offensive' artistic expression in Japan.
Crowdfunders Empty Pockets for Catalan Independence
‘L'endemà. Respostes per a decidir‘, a documentary project about Catalonia's potential independence from Spain, produced by Isona Passola [ca], earned a record-breaking €150,000 on the crowdfunding platform Verkami on February 15, 2013. Passola, who produced the award-winning film Pa Negre [ca], hoped to reach that amount in 40 days, but reached that goal in just eleven....
Memorable Moments from the Brazilian Carnival
The importance of Carnival in Brazilian culture cannot be overplayed. Love it or hate it, the Party has bestowed joy on its anonymous masses, fired up those with an opportunistic unbridled penchant for the pursuit of fame, and destroyed the reputation of public figures who have lost all reason and personal boundaries. Check out the following for some magical, shameful, irreverent, controversial and entertaining flashbacks from this important Brazilian extravaganza.
Does Pope Benedict XVI Read Science Fiction?
GV Author Filip Stojanovski, in a post on his Science Fiction Observer blog, highlights the work of Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, which is somewhat relevant for the recent resignation of Pope Benedict XVI: In 1995, I predicted next Pope would be Benedict XVI. In 2000, I predicted...
