Stories about Arts & Culture from April, 2009
Trinidad & Tobago: Summit Thoughts
From Trinidad and Tobago, The Undisputed Truth claims that “even Fidel Castro thinks the Summit was too expensive”, while Barbados-based B.C. Pires is experiencing the “post-Summit blues”.
Japan: An Oscar to “Okuribito” (Departures)
For the first time a Japanese movie, Okuribito (or Departures), has been awarded the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, over the French “The Class” and the Israeli animated documentary “Waltz With Bashir”. Directed by Yôjiro Takita, Okuribito is based on the novel Nôkanfû Nikki (納棺夫日記, lit. Diary of an undertaker)...
Russia: Hyde Park; WinRAR; Hot Water; etc.
A few links to recent posts at IZO: president Medvedev “to create a Russian Speaker's Corner, based on Hyde Park”; a Russian ad agency shows “how the WinRAR data compression utility shrinks files” – “bad idea, badly executed”; a useful link for Moscow-based readers who'd like to know when there'll...
Czech Republic: “Kuličky”
The Reference Frame writes about the Czech movie “Marbles” (Kuličky), screened at the 22nd Festival of Czech Films.
Ukraine: Ceramics Museum; Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
The Uncataloged Museum reports on a trip to the National Museum of Ukrainian Ceramics in the village of Opishne, in the Poltava region. Chernobyl and Eastern Europe posts a 2006 video from a Pripyat.com editor's trip to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
Ukraine: Cleaning Up and Littering Down
Observations on the “public, private and personal space” in Kyiv – at The Uncataloged Museum. Photos and video of the damage done to Kyiv's environment during this year's Easter holidays – at Ukrainiana.
China: More on Jackie Chan
Kai Pan from CNReview translates Jackie Chan's comment on “Chinese need more control” with more semantic analysis of the context. Imagethief wonders where exactly should we place the context then?
Mexico: Theater Documentary Recounts Testimonies of Relatives of Women Killed
Women of Sand is a theater documentary that chronicles the testimonies of relatives of victims of the feminicides of Juarez, Mexico and has been performed by more than 30 groups worldwide writes Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa [es].
India: Importance Of Mother Tongue
Manasa Pamaraju at Desicritics states that many of the 22 official languages of India are losing the race to English or other dominant languages. The blogger comments: “what pains me is that that today’s generation doesn’t even know how to pronounce the language right. I have met scores of parents...
Bangladesh: The Power Of One String
Bengali folk Music has survived many centuries and Ektara, the single-stringed musical instrument had a significant role to play. More at The Mango Diaries.
Bahamas: The Economics of Culture
“It is not foreign investment that economists and development agencies are suggesting is the engine of economic development in the 21st century; it’s culture”: Nicolette Bethel thinks that the Bahamian government's apparent postponement of the Caribbean Festival of Arts is “a terrible idea”.
Global Health: Twitter Face-Off To Fight Malaria
This past week Twitter became the newest weapon in the fight against malaria when American actor Ashton Kutcher challenged news network CNN to a race to get a million Twitter followers. The winner of the competition vowed to donate mosquito bed nets in time for World Malaria Day on April 25.
Jackie Chan: Chinese need control
“I'm mot sure if it's good to have freedom or not, I'm really confused now. If there is too much freedom, like the way Hong Kong is today, it is very chaotic; Taiwan is also chaotic. I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled.” – Jackie...
Latin America: Pride on Local Musicians in YouTube's Symphony Orchestra
Latin American bloggers have been writing about the YouTube Symphony Orchestra's debut at the Carnegie Hall, where the winners of a world-wide online contest where were flown into New York to participate in this collaborative orchestra. Following, some of the winners selected to play at Carnegie Hall, and how some of them weren't able to make their dream come true.
Japan: The SHADO Collective
Photoreporter Noriyuki Aida (会田法行) presents the SHA-DO Collective (写道・写真家集団). The group comprising Aida-san and other four photographers based in Tokyo — the Japanese Yasuhiro Ogawa, the Greek Androniki Christodoulou, the Spanish David Coll Blanco and the German Eric Rechsteiner — intends to provide “five specific photographic approaches focusing mainly on...
Morocco: On “Jewish Morocco”
Morocco has a long relationship with Judaism; during the spread of the Roman empire, a number of Jews settled in what is modern-day Morocco. Over time, relations between Morocco's majority Muslim population and its small Jewish population have ranged from very good to heavily strained. Following the creation of the state of Israel, the vast majority of Morocco's Jews emigrated (approximately 15% of Israeli Jews are in fact of Moroccan descent), however, approximately 7,000 Jews reside in Morocco today. Moroccans are often quick to point out that the king's top adviser, André Azoulay, is Jewish.
Egypt: Filmmaker's struggle finally pays off
Egyptian cinema-goers will finally be able to watch Ibrahim El Batout’s film Ein Shams [Ar] (Eye of the Sun) as an Egyptian movie at the end of this month - after a long drama with censorship. Nermeen Edrees brings us the story.
Caribbean: 5th Summit Begins
As the heads of member states of the Fifth Summit of the Americas gather today in Trinidad and Tobago, bloggers Caribbean-wide are eager to discuss the pros and cons of the event.
Martinique: Homage to Aimé Césaire
Today, Martinique celebrates its greatest personality, the self-entitled “Nègre Fondamental”: the late author and politican, Aimé Césaire. Montray Kréyol [Fr] publishes three posts about his life, accomplishments and homages paid to him.
Israel: Reflecting on Israeli-Palestinian Relations
The mood in the Israeli blogosphere is contemplative. Perhaps it is the conclusion of the Passover holiday that celebrates freedom from oppression or just that Israelis have had quiet time to spend with their families, but a number of posts about relationships between Israelis and Palestinians have recently dotted the blogosphere's landscape.
Global: Hijablogging Fashionistas
In March, we caught up with a new crew of “hijabloggers” - women who wear the hijab and blog about it. Such bloggers span the globe, blogging about a wide variety of issues from parenting to fashion to travel to politics. In this post, we will re-visit the “hijablogosphere” to see what's new.