· September, 2007

Stories about Arts & Culture from September, 2007

Ukraine: The Language Issue

Victor Yanukovych's Party of the Regions is pushing for a referendum on granting Russian official status as a national language, in addition to Ukrainian. Below is a selection of views on the "language issue" from the Ukrainian blogosphere.

23 September 2007

Uzbekistan: A nation's great loss

On September 7, 2007, a sunny Friday morning, Tashkent and the whole country were struck with sad news. Mark Weil, the legendary artistic director of the famed Ilkhom Theatre was mugged to death. Tolkun reports from the blogosphere.

22 September 2007

Syria: What's on the Palate?

Perhaps because it's Ramadan, or because talking about the news is difficult, this week Syrian bloggers are focused on food. From the best recipes to those that make no sense at all, here's a roundup of this week's posts.

22 September 2007

Korea: Blood Type and Personality

Researchers at Yonsei University’s graduate school announced that they just finished a research program on how personalities differ by blood type. Based on 50 research projects on the patterns of...

22 September 2007

Japan: Axe Murder, School Days and a Nice Boat

In a bizarre twist of events, the shocking story of a girl who killed her father with an axe, believed to be motivated by her interest in manga, triggered TV networks to cancel airing of the final episode of School Days, a popular anime show. In its place, broadcasters aired a series of slow, meandering shots of castles, mountains, and... a nice boat. A meme was thus born that has spread like wildfire across bulletin boards and blogs, sparked various creative offshoots, and even inspired conspiracy theories.

21 September 2007

Japan: Personality Types By Region

Japan is divided into 47 regions, and local Japanese believes that each region has some distinctive personality traits. Ed Jacob has listed out some regional personality types in Quirky Japan.

21 September 2007

Serbia: A Store in Kosovo's Capital

Prishtine: Independence and Kanun posts pictures of a favorite store in Kosovo's capital: “‘ginger’ … when you have a need to feel suave, intellectual or just plain bourgeoisie, ginger is...

20 September 2007

Serbia: Noise

Belgrade 2.0 writes about the noise of turbo folk music: “It is designed to destroy brain cells more effectively than most advanced weapons today, without harming the natural environment, pretty...

20 September 2007

The Balkans: Music

The Balkan Yankee writes about Beirut, a band that blends “American Indie roots and the Balkan brass/Gypsy sounds that inspired them,” and about Foltin, a band that mixes “contemporary jazz...

20 September 2007