Stories about Arts & Culture from April, 2009
Bangladesh: Value Achievements Not The Ancestry
Citing the example of Dr. Atiur Rahman, the newly appointed governor of the central Bank of Bangladesh who made a life out of nothing, Shada Kalo urges Bangladeshis to stop the practice of “inferring the quality of a human being based on his or her family background.”
Morocco: Praising Al Jazeera
Cinema and Movies praises Al Jazeera for its excellent documentary on Ahmed el Marzouki, a former prisoner in Tazmamart, and the author of the memoir Tazmamart: Cellule 10.
China: Mash-ups in history
With ‘Socialism with Chinese Characteristics’ as one of the more prominent examples, Jeff Wasserstrom at The China Beat delineates mash-up culture in China, and don't miss out on the Confucian Blues.
Hong Kong: SexyPhotoGate uploader sentenced
Just over a year since photos of Edison Chen in bed with his Hong Kong celebrity friends appeared online, computer technician Sze Ho-chun has been found guilty of uploading the 1,300 images, blogs an anonymous The Dark Side blogger.
Israel: ‘Slumdog’ Star Films Movie About Palestinians and Israelis
Frieda Pinto, the female star of Slumdog Millionaires, is in Israel preparing for a film about the interconnected lives of Palestinian and Israeli women from the founding of Israel through modern times. Checkpoint Jerusalem has the story.
Israel: Praying for War No More
Israeli blogger David Bogner of Treppenwitz reflects on the nation's Day of Remembrance. “Israel’s national anthem… is called ‘HaTikva’- literally, ‘The Hope’… The words speak about 2000 years of longing to live as a free nation in our homeland. As an Israeli, and as a father, I can’t promise… but...
Israel: Teaching Compassion to Your Children
Hannah Katsman of A Mother in Israel offers advice on how to teach compassion to your children.
Israel: Arab and Jew Represent Israel at Eurovision Contest
Israeli Arab Mira Awad and Israeli Jew Avinoam Nini will represent Israel in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest with “There Must Be Another Way,” sung in Hebrew and Arabic. Awad's performance will be the first time an Israeli Arab has represented Israel in the Eurovision contest. Daniel Lubetsky of the...
Antigua & Barbuda, U.S.A.: Kincaid Honoured
Repeating Islands learns that Antigua-born author Jamaica Kincaid “is among the 231 new members chosen to join the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009.”
Jamaica: Calabash Countdown
“The line-up looks yummy”: Life, Unscripted, on the Rock begins the countdown to Jamaica's Calabash Literary Festival.
The News of Bantu Mwaura's death shocks Kenyan bloggers
The news of Bantu Mwaura’s death have caught many with absolute shock. Bantu Mwaura, an award winning Kenyan performing artist, director, playwright, storyteller, poet and university lecturer is dead.
Ukraine, Russia: Tymoshenko-Pugacheva Duet
Ukrainiana writes about a Yulia Tymoshenko-Alla Pugacheva duet.
Hungary: Péter Esterházy
Hungarian Spectrum writes about Péter Esterházy, a Hungarian writer.
Czech Republic: Blog Roundup
A Czech roundup: Czechmatediary – on the new translation of the Bible into contemporary Czech and on Albert Einstein's Prague connection; CzechFolks.com – on xenophobia, job market, and the Brno Expats Forum online community; The Journeys of Captain Oddsocks – on bone churches and the liberation of Plzeň 64 years...
Ukraine: Art Exhibits; Kyiv Pics
IZO writes about some of Kyiv's current art exhibitions, and posts a few random pictures from the streets of the Ukrainian capital: “The place is rich in facture, people don't seem to mind your taking them, and you don't feel you're going to be asked to desist, or worse, by...
Macedonia: Celebrating Sakura Becomes a Tradition
Sakura, the annual celebration of cherry blossoms through display of elements of Japanese culture, took place in Skopje, Macedonia, this weekend: somewhat later than last year, because the organizers did not want it to overlap with the Catholic and Orthodox Easter celebrations during the previous two weekends.
Africa: Africa's Best Blog Design
What is Africa's best blog design?: Africa is online. The number of bloggers continues to grow daily, inspiring readers all over Africa and all over the world. We are looking for the best blog designs from the continent.
China: Brutal film on brutal history
Lu Chuan‘s retelling of the Nanking Massacre, City of Life and Death, is in theaters now; according to the people at China Film Journal, “it's a hard, brutal film to watch.” Bullogger blogger Garbled Text won't be [zh] going to see it, lacking trust in Lu following mistreatment of animals...
Kenya: Kenyan award winning poet found dead
Kenyan performing artist, director, playwright, storyteller, poet and university lecturer, Bantu Mwaura, was found dead outside his gate at the Sunlight estate in Nairobi’s Lang’ata area, on Monday (today) morning., KenyanPoet reports.
Russia: A Chechen Folk Tale
Just A Mon translates a Chechen folk tale about Beksolta who could catch three lions in one swoop and posts it at Sundry Translations and Other Tangentialia.
Japan: The “anime” business
Hiromichi Yasuda (増田弘道), production director of the anime production company Simple d'essai [ja] and author of Anime Bijinesu ga Wakaru (アニメビジネスがわかる, lit. Understanding the Anime Business), constantly updates his blog [ja] with news and reviews of books about the anime business world in Japan.
