Stories from Quick Reads and Croatia
Kosovo: “Cinematic Darkness Knows No Nation”
At Kosovo 2.0 blog, Belgrade-based journalist Dušan Komarčević writes – here and here – about his July 2012 trip to Prizren, Kosovo, to attend the DOKUFEST International Documentary and Short Film Festival: […] The cinemas were filled with movie lovers from Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia,...
Croatia: Promoting Solar Energy at Terraneo Music Festival
UNDP's Voices from Eurasia blog reports on the ecological education program of this year's Terraneo music festival in Šibenik, where guests, among other things, could “test-drive Croatia’s only solar-powered car and bicycle.” In charge of the festival's “solar booth” were Marko Capek and Robert Pašičko, who “also sang songs about...
Croatia: Anja Mutić's “Local Voices Croatia”
Back in April, Anja Mutić of Ever the Nomad (blog; Facebook page) launched the Local Voices Croatia series, which now has eleven interviews with “people who are making a difference, the masterminds behind interesting places, projects and events” – “local “artists, visionaries, foodies, adventurers, nature enthusiasts… The creative cream of...
Croatia: 2.8 Million “Inappropriate” Books “Purged” During the 1990s
In “Libricide,” Ante Lešaja has documented the process of “purging” of “unsuitable” books from Croatian schools and public libraries by the right-wing HDZ government in the 1990s. According to a Jutarnji List interview [hr] with Lešaja, the “purging” was based on ideological and ethnic criteria and affected books “written in...
SEE: Social Media Use Study
Growth in social media activities has slowed down, indicates the research of Wave6 [sr; en], which surveyed active Internet users in 62 countries: Macedonia and Croatia are more involved in the social media than Serbia, where watching video clips is the most popular activity (91%). For the first time, there...
CEE: “Spotted by Locals”
Spotted by Locals: Experience cities like a local features a few dozen locations, including CEE cities of Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Krakow, Ljubljana, Prague, Riga, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius, Warsaw, and Zagreb. A random sample post from Zagreb, Croatia: Hrelić Flea Market – The Aleph of Zagreb; from Bucharest, Romania: The Haunted...
Macedonia: Ajvar, Glorified
Jovana Tozija wrote lovingly about making ajvar, a traditional favorite winter provision in Macedonia and some other post-Ottoman countries.
Croatia: Relations With the EU
Croatia Online examines some of the past and present hopes and concerns related to Croatia's plans to join the EU in July 2013.
Croatia: Alcatraz of Yugoslavia
Bill Kralovec of Bill's Blog recounts the story of the Adriatic prison island of Goli otok – the Alcatraz of Yugoslavia – where Yugoslavia held its political prisoners during the reign of Tito.
Croatia: Court Forbids Homophobic Priest From Blogging
Serbia Insajd, a Hungarian blog about South-Eastern Europe, reports [hu] that the Rijeka Court has banned Franjo Jurčević, a Kastav-based Catholic priest, from writing homophobic blog posts [Jurčević's blog, hr: http://zupnik.blog.hr/]. The court has also ordered Jurčević to publish the court decision in two national dailies at his own expense.
The Balkans: Homophobia
Alan Jakšić of Balkan Anarchist writes about LGBT and homophobia in Serbia, Croatia and elsewhere in the Balkans.
Croatia: The Largest “Welcome” in the World
Benita Hussain of Matador Network interviews Daniel Lacko, “a sponsored outdoor adventurer writing the largest ‘WELCOME’ in the world while exploring the Croatian coastline”; Lacko's travel blog is here.
Croatia: Top 5 Holiday Islands (+5 More)
Croatia Travel Blog links to an article about “Croatia's top five holiday islands,” which appeared in The Guardian earlier this week, and adds five more islands to this list.
Croatia: “Peka Time!”
Zagreb Diaries writes about peka, a Croatian way of slowly baking food “in a cast iron pan that is covered with a cast iron lid, and then covered in hot coals.”
The Balkans: History, Politics and Ethnic Identities
At OpenDemocracy.net, Milan Marinkovic writes about history, politics and ethnic identities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At Balkan Anarchist, Alan Jakšić writes about his own Croatian Serb identity and some of the political issues related to it.
The Balkans: Travel Blogs
At Balkan Travellers, Sarah Hucal writes about Yugo Yoga performance that took place on a makeshift stage at Belgrade's Museum of Yugoslav History in July 2011; more of Hucal's Balkan travel writing and photos are at her blog, Solo in the Balkans. Jana Orsolic's Istria Week travel photos and journal...
The Balkans: Trials of Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić
At OpenDemocracy.net, Eric Gordy writes on what there is to expect from the upcoming ICTY trials of Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić.
The Balkans: Most Influential ex-Yu Twitter Users
Dragan Varagić published his analysis of the most influential Twitter users [sr] from Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Montenegro, done through manual selection and consulting ratings services.
Balkans: Ceca and Other “Unwelcome” Singers
Belgraded posts a list of Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian singers who are “unwelcome in former enemy countries.”
Croatia: Google Flees Red Tape
Viktor Markovic/@Belgrade reports: “Google fled Croatia because of red tape http://www.croatiantimes.com/index.php?id=17021.”
The Balkans: Turbo-folk and Rock Mashups
Mashup clips by YouTube user apostolski, which combine video footage of Coldplay, U2 and Queen with Serbian turbo-folk songs are poised to become the next big viral hit among Balkan social media users and bloggers [MKD]. Some have already “spilled over” into traditional media like TV call-in show Jadi burek...
