Stories about Arts & Culture from May, 2007
Bangla Blogs: Breaking Taboos and a Debate
The Bangla blogging platform Bandh Bhanger Awaaj is buzzing with discussions, debates, memes and literatures. Hundreds of bloggers and thousands of readers are keeping this space lively. It is generating...
Japan: B-guy
Mari blogs about the changing preference of Japanese women's choice towards their boyfriends from IKEMEN (nice looking guy) to B-otoko (B class guy).
Peru: The War Between Gisela and Magaly
Peruvian television has a colorful cast of characters. Among them are Gisela Valcárcel, the former "queen of daytime television" and wife of a top executive at one of Peru's main television stations, and Magaly Medina, who has a popular celebrity gossip program on a competing channel. They also both publish gossip magazines about Peruvian celebrities. The two women have a long-standing feud and have clashed over the years and Peruvian bloggers analyze this battle.
Russia: Documentary on Litvinenko at Cannes
Sean's Russia Blog writes more on the Litvinenko case – and on the documentary on the subject to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Mostar
Wu Wei visits Mostar (among other things, the unofficial capital of Herzegovina) and learns what Bosnia & Herzegovina has in common with Trinidad & Tobago: “At our meeting in Mostar,...
Bulgaria: International Museum Day
Sofia's Hidden Beauty reports on the International Museum Day celebration in Bulgaria's capital.
Bulgaria: '80s Hair Metal Bands
Petya explains “the Bulgarian enthusiasm for '80s hair metal bands.”
Serbia: Homophobia
Belgrade 2.0 writes about Serbian homophobia: “[…] Some Serbs consider being gay completely ok and there’s nothing wrong with it, but are absolutely against gays adopting kids, because kids can...
Slovenia: “Best of the Slobs”
The Glory of Carniola publishes a new “Best of the Slobs” digest of Slovenian blogs.
Ukraine, Hungary: Sziget
Two bands from Ukraine – and Gogol Bordello – will play at Sziget music festival in Budapest August 8-15, uaMuzik reports.
Barbados: Conversations about Culture
“…In countries that have no culture or are afraid they may have no culture, there is a Minister of Culture.” Jamaica Kincaid's essay on Antigua hits home for Barbadian blogger...
D. R. Congo: Park Rangers Attacked, Flying over Katanga, Music meets Social Activism, and Ants 2 – Brian 0
Access to the Internet in the Democratic Republic of Congo is gradually improving (World Bank figures suggest there are already over 6 million users), but will remain prohibitively expensive as long as service providers are dependent on satellite connections. In such a context, it should come as no surprise that there are only a handful of Congolese bloggers. Chatrooms and instant messaging are very popular, however, and with the influence of the Diaspora, it’s easy to imagine that many more young Congolese people will soon be following the footsteps of pioneers like Cedric, perhaps blogging in Lingala, Luba, Kikongo and Swahili as well as French.
Russia: “How to Get Your Plumbing Fixed in Russia”
The Turkish Invasion returns to Moscow from vacation and finds himself locked out: “All my attempts to get into my flat was vain because of a non existent door handle...
India: We are talking Bollywood
If you can't beat them, join them appears to be the motto of Eros, which distributes Bollywood films outside India. Eros has decided to partner with YouTube and has created...
What is your blood type?
What is your blood type? That's a big deal in Korea. Why? Your personality can be inferred from your blood type at once. lyh809 is one of the most serious...
French Polynesia's Beauty Pageant Fever
In May, French Polynesia, where even the smallest island communities host their own beauty pageants, choose a new Miss Tahiti, a Miss Pirae, and a Miss Dragon. The islands have...
Russia: “Broken Slav-O-Meter”
Moscow-based Darkness at Noon writes about foreigner detection skills: “In a country that was trained for 70 years to view foreigners with skepticism, it's no wonder they're good at rooting...
Russia: Chechnya Documentary
A Step At A Time links to a Zarema Mukusheva’s Crying Sun: The Impact of War in the Mountains of Chechnya documentary on Google Video.
Poland: Roma Photo Exhibit
“Strolling through the Saski Park in Warsaw this morning, by pure accident, I came across wonderful open air photo exhibition on Polish Roma,” writes Olia Yatskevich of TOL's Romantic and...
Kuwait: No bookstores in Malls
Q at Kuwaitism argues that despite the surge in the number of shopping malls in his country, there is yet a bookshop to open in any one of them. “I...
Colombia: The First Blogger Meetup in Medellín Results in Mixed Reviews.
Bloggers in Medellín Colombia comment on Medallo Bloguero, the first Blogger round table- meetup which took place on May 16th during National Internet Week.
