Global Voices Online » Arts & Culture

Trinidad & Tobago: Film on Minshall

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:05:34 +0000

Keith in Trinidad is excited about a soon-to-be-released film on “Peter Minshall, the greatest band leader in modern Carnival. Ever.”

Russia: Trenches of Russophile-Russophobe ecclecticism

Vilhelm Konnander — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:38:11 +0000

Sublime Oblivion takes on the complex problem of Russophilia vs. Russophobia, with a very interesting and thoughtful discussion, attempting to schematically categorize bloggers and analysts, but in the process - possibly - raises more questions than providing answers, due to the very ecclectical character of the issue on various practical and theoretical levels.

China: Uyghur Muslim Minority

Oiwan Lam — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:49:14 +0000

A youtube video produced by Stanley Foundation on Uyghur Muslim minority in China.

Russia: Why Medvedev was drowsy at G8 summit

Vilhelm Konnander — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:43:48 +0000

LJ user supehero gives his very own explanation [RUS] to why President Medvedev looked so drowsy at the G8 summit in Italy.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Mass grave exhibition

Vilhelm Konnander — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:29:30 +0000

Srebrenica Genocide Blog reports about the opening of a mass grave exhibhition at the Sarajevo museum.

Trinidad & Tobago, Grenada: Happy Birthday “Birdie”

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:37:45 +0000

Repeating Islands marks the occasion of “the King of Calypso Mighty Sparrow’s 74th birthday.”

Nigeria: Interview with Nigerian digital artist

Ndesanjo Macha — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:35:14 +0000

Read an interview at Black Looks with Nigerian digital artist, Kenneth Shofela Coker.

Kenya: Kenyan poet fears for his life

Ndesanjo Macha — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:44:02 +0000

Kenyan Poet, singer and actor Grand Master Masese fears for his life after a series of bizarre phone incidences in the past week.
On Friday night, he received an SMS threatening his life. It read: “Umekua ukijifanya mjanja but mwisho wako umefika” (You think you are clever but your end is here).”

South Africa: Drumming to freedom

Ndesanjo Macha — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:26:20 +0000

cueTV interviews a dance collective from Mauritius, Reunion and Madagascar about the dance, Ma Ravan', a ritual and a performance, and paying homage to slaves and freedom fighters performed at the Grahamstown Arts Festival in South Africa.

South Africa: Jesse Clegg at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival

Ndesanjo Macha — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:20:38 +0000

cueTV speaks to Jesse Clegg, the son of music legend Johnny, at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival.

India: Gogola.in

Rezwan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:53:49 +0000

Dina Mehta at Conversation with Dina posts a picture of an advertisement in Bandra, Mumbai. The ad of Gola (ice slush) is styled as an imitation of the Google Homepage and logo: “the search bar says ‘Golas made from mineral water ice'; the address bar ‘httt://www.gogola.in/'. Even the status bar at the bottom isn’t spared”.

Mexico: Voters Share Their Null Ballots on Twitter

Issa Villarreal — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:42:43 +0000

Twitter users in Mexico showed discontent with the political system of the country by participating in the recent Null Vote campaign for the July 5 elections. Following their vote, they took their cellphones and cameras to polling places and photographed their null votes. Opting out of the secrecy of the vote, some Mexican citizens shared their protest ballots through the web.

Although photographing votes is a federal crime to prevent frauds as Mexican newspaper Milenio warned [es], "creative" ballots were shared publicly using the tags #votomx and #anulArte (wordplay on "null" and "art"). However, in Twitcaps -one of the services that helps Twitter to publish photos using microformats for links- is where the mosaic of null votes can be fully appreciated: ballots crossed out, Twitter's icon Failwhale, ballots in support to the satirical campaign of Dr. Mono as promoted by the Bunsen blog [es], several obscene drawings of penises and curse words, and even Shakespeare's allusions scribbled in crayons.

Priscilliana uses the famous Twitter icon Failwhale [es] in her ballot, suggesting what other users call “an Epic fail for the system”:

Image taken from http://twitpic.com/9el5l

Hernandezz voted in favor of Dr. Mono [es], a character from an online comic strip [es] that parodies Mexican political candidates:

Image taken from http://twitpic.com/9f5ww

“Todos con Dr. Mono!!1 (O una prueba de que tengo pésimo pulso)”

“Everyone with Dr. Mono!!1 (Or proof that my hand shakes)”

Hgsantarriga goes for a straighter message in his ballot, with a figure that resembles a Zapatista rebel:

Image taken from http://twitpic.com/9ekc7

Aquí comienza la revolución.

The revolution begins here.

These null ballots had media coverage in several national newspapers such as Milenio [es], El Universal [es] y Reforma, such as the following published by Jordi of a paper ballot that someone sent to him [es], whose author is unknown yet his message is quickly understood:

Image taken from http://twitpic.com/9ex9j

Arab World: Good Bye Michael Jackson

Amira Al Hussaini — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:50:53 +0000

Bloggers from across the Arab world bid King of Pop Michael Jackson farewell today as millions of fans tune into the silver screen to watch live coverage of his memorial ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Here is a snapshot of reactions from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia:

Jackson's ‘public' death conjures so many raw emotions in Saudi Sarah Mattar, who writes:

الموت العلني يخيفني، يجعلني أتواجه مع كل الحقائق التي لا أحب أن أتأكد من واقعيتها، حينما استيقظت على خبر وفاة المطرب العالمي ( مايكل جاكسون ) فعلت كما فعل معظم الناس في العالم، حرّكت الرموت كنترول على معظم الفضائيات، أبحث عن صورة أخيرة لهُ، عن حقيقة لا افهمها، عن قصة تعيد لي حياته التي تلاشت في غضون دقيقة، لكن لا شيء يبّشر بالخير، لا شيء يدفعني إلا لقضم أصابع التعب والألم، لقد شعرت بالضيق لأجله، ولأجل كل الذين يموتون بالعلن أمامنا، ونتحضر نحن لكل تفاصيل موتهم الذي يأتي مفاجئاً لنا. هم يرحلون دون أن يشعروا بأنهم خلفوا في داخلنا فراغاً كبيراً من الألم لأجلهم، حينما يرحل الأموات، فهم لا يتمسكون بنا، نحن فقط من نمد أصابعنا العشر نلاحق ضبابية وجودهم من جديد في حياتنا!!

Public death scares me. It makes me face all the realities I hate to acknowledge. When I woke up to the news of Michael Jackson's death, I did what most people around the world did. I hit the remote control, flicking through channels, searching for his last images and a reality I don't understand. I was looking for a story which relives his life which came to an end in a mere 30 minutes. But there were no good omens and nothing except stress which made me bite my nails in futility and agony. I felt upset for him and for all those who die in public in front of us as we register all the details of their passing, which comes as a surprise to us. They leave without feeling that they have left behind a huge vacuum in our souls for their pain. When the dying leave, they don't hold on to us for we alone are the ones extending all our 10 fingers chasing their ghosts back into our lives!!!

Kuwait:

From Kuwait, Loft965 writes:

Who know that Beyonce and I have the same favorite MJ song? This death is bringing people together […] This is heartfelt. The part are she says MJ’s name in the song again and again is wrenching.

Still in Kuwait, Maze of Thoughts adds:

7500 fans were given the chance to attend the memorial service that will take place this morning. Around 1.6 million fans worldwide tried to purchase tickets to attend. It’s going to be a sad day for all MJ fans. The KING will always live in the hearts of millions.

And 4thringroad reports:

Now i know lots of people are fed up with all the michael jackson news, i dont know about you guys but i sure am however i must say while doing my routine morning web surfing i read a weird article talking about how MJ will be buried without his brain in order to conduct more examinations to find out the exact reasons behind his sudden death..

Bahrain:

Bahraini Suad comes to Jackson's rescue and notes:

كشأن جميع المشاهير انقسم الناس في رأيهم حول شخصية مايكل جاكسون فمنهم من رأى انه ضحية المجتمع الامريكي والشهرة والاضواء التي قد تكون وبالا على الانسان ومنهم من رأى انه كان ضحية نفسه وضحية ضياعه وتنكره للونه وآدميته

Like with many celebrities, people are divided in their opinion of Michael Jackson's personality. Some of them see him as a victim of American society, fame and how being under the spotlight could impact a person's life while others see that he is a victim of his own making, a victim of his loss and his giving up on his race and humanity.

And our final stop is with American Um Naief, who is married to a Bahraini and blogs at Hypnotic Verses. The blogger explains how it took time for her to come to grips with Jackson's death:

Wow… was shocked to learn of Michael Jackson's death. Knew he was a drug addict long ago, but you never want to imagine it being as bad as it was. Looks like they've come across bags and bags of drugs inside his home, so it's only a matter of days before the world finds out what was hidden in his closet.

Sad that he'd die like Elvis and was married to his daughter.

I felt unmoved by the news at first. Took several days for it to sink in and after watching many a show and reading articles on the net, I feel very saddened, but feel, like many, that he's free of his demons now.

Jamaica: Who's “Bad”?

Janine Mendes-Franco — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:42:18 +0000

Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp writes about “bad” words and the art of storytelling.

Russia: Kremlinostalgia

Vilhelm Konnander — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:23:56 +0000

English Russia writes about the history of the Moscow Kremlin and posts pictures to illustrate the story.