Stories about Arts & Culture from March, 2010
Guyana: I & I
Guyana-Gyal has a theory about “how tongues all over the world latch on to the I-Talk.”
Global: Furs And Fashion
Last month the fashion world went literally “wild” during the unveiling of fall collections. They had models strutting the catwalk in so much fur, it was scary enough to make animal rights activists and environmentalists jump out of their skins.
St. Lucia: Literary Festival
Caribbean Book Blog is excited about St. Lucia's upcoming WORD ALIVE International Literary Festival, “the first full-scale international literary event of magnitude to be held in the island.”
Blogging about the Caribbean's Repeating Islands
An interview with Ivette Romero-Cesareo and Lisa Paravisini-Gebert, the scholar-bloggers behind Repeating Islands, a blog that covers Caribbean literature, art, and culture and cuts across the region's language barriers.
India: The Rich Culture and unity of Mizoram
Musings of a Chakma informs that a total of 10,378 Mizo dancers performed “the largest and longest bamboo dance” in the world for eight minutes – a Guinness world record.
Trinidad & Tobago: Issues with the Academy
KnowTnT.com links to “a report entitled The Tragedy & The Hidden History of NAPA” and comments: “I'm hoping that the accusations are fully investigated and that, if they are true, that the powers that be are stung into changing their reprehensible treatment of our artists.
Serbia: A Local Craftsman, Former Refugee
A Yankee-in-Belgrade post a photo and writes about Stevo Radelic – “a Serbian refugee who has been living just outside of Belgrade now ever since he lost his home in Croatia at the beginning of Yugoslavia's break-up”: “He's made a new life for himself, although a difficult one, creating works...
East Timor: Portuguese Language Under Attack
In what is a dramatic reversal of official position Timor Hau Nia Doben reports that the President of the National Parliament agrees with recent statements by General Taur Matan Ruak that Portuguese language should be removed from Timor-Leste. [Addendum 16 March: a reader very correctly point out an error, Ruak...
Egypt: Will Skype be Blocked!?
There are rumours that the Egyptian government is going to block Skype. Bloggers react to the unconfirmed news in this post.
Georgia: Mock news report causes panic
A mock news program broadcast on television reporting that Russia had once again invaded and that the president was dead caused panic in Georgia this weekend. Bloggers react.
Bahrain: Ferrari Fans Rejoice as Alonso Wins Bahrain Grand Prix
The first race of the 2010 Formula One season is over and the dust may have settled on the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir desert but the buzz continues online.
Russia: Thoughts on March 8, Feminism
Thoughts on March 8 and feminism in Russia and Ukraine – at Poemless, Global Comment, and Sean's Russia Blog.
Serbia: Writers and Politics
Richard Byrne of Balkans via Bohemia pays tribute to Serbian writer Mihajlo Mijhajlov, “a prominent former dissident to both Titoism and nationalism,” who died recently at the age of 76. Sladjana Lazic of A Slice Of Serbian Politics muses on whether “the political engagement of artists can degrade their work,”...
The Balkans: Byzantine Nostalgia
Similar to Yugo-nostalgia, the nostalgia for the common Byzantine past can sometimes transcend some of the barriers erected through modern nationalism and racism in the Balkans.
Global Voices Authors Speak Out Against Censorship
Today marks the World Day Against Cyber Censorship, an initiative promoted by global NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in support of a single Internet that is unrestricted and accessible to all. The day will hopefully inspire Internet users to increase their own awareness of online censorship, which is something that many Global Voices authors know all too well. In this post, GV Authors speak out.
Russia: Photos of Khrapovitskiy Estate
Blogger vadych posted photos of ruins of the magnificent Khrapovitskiy estate, the only Russian estate built to compete with classic French mansions. Under Bolsheviks, the estate experienced nationalization, transformation to public college, then dormitory, fire and now it is close to complete destruction.
Russia: Soviet Singer Becomes Internet Meme
A wordless song “I'm Glad I'm Finally Returning Home” performed by Soviet singer Eduard Hill became the recent Internet meme on English-speaking blogosphere. The Youtube video for the song counts about 2 mln. views, 13 thousand comments and 96 video replies.
Japan: Most visited 50 websites
Two different lists of the “most visited websites in Japan”. One by the Tokyo Ogilvy Digital Influence team and one by Authority.jp [en].
Bahamas: Staying Power?
Bahamian Nicolette Bethel questions the staying power of a Ministry of Tourism marketing campaign which commissioned 14 films from British filmmakers. Here's what peeves her: “It’s the idea that lies at the heart of the way in which the Bahamian government spends its money: ‘their output is likely to be...
Jamaica: Remembering Watson
The blog of the National Gallery of Jamaica pays tribute to the late painter and sculptor Osmond Watson.
Macedonia: Most Popular Pop Songs on YouTube
Igor Mihajlovski published [MKD] an interesting analysis of number of views of Macedonian pop songs on YouTube, sorting them by time periods (1945-1979, 1980-1999, 2000-2010). He included videos of the late international star Toshe Proeski, whose interpretation of folk song “Zajdi zajdi” is the ‘winner’ with almost 4 million views....
