Similar to its preparations for the Beijing Olympics, China plans to polish the image of eastern province town Gaomi for international attention following Mo Yan's Nobel prize announcement.
+100 million USD will go a long way in turning this corn-producing town into a "Mo Yan Cultural Experience Zone." Some of Mo Yan's stories are set in Gaomi, which will probably give this town a boost in both domestic and foreign visitors.
Ever noticed how so many motels in the US are owned by Indian-Americans? Pawan Dhingra's new book, LIfe Behind the Lobby, reveals how Gujaratis came to the American hospitality industry by accident in the 1940s-50s, taking the places of European-Americans and Japanese-Americans who were looking to change career paths. Consider this:
- At least 1 out of 2 motels are owned by Indian-Americans.
- Out of those Indian-owned motels, 70 percent are owned by Gujaratis, people with roots in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
- Of those Gujaratis, three-fourths share the last name Patel. There's even a name for these overnight establishments: "Patel Motels."
I love stories about the American dream, especially when it comes to different ethnic groups and their divergent, hardworking paths. Not only is the historical context fascinating to apply to daily life today, it's also hard not to admire the how so many Americans earn their living in unlikely circumstances. For instance, Greek-Americans in the casual restaurant business, or Iranian-Americans in the gas station industry…there's so much more. All part of the Amercian--I mean American--dream.
This image isn't from a 1970s James Bond* film, it's North Korea's space agency's General Launch Command Center.
Guess we'll have to hold our breaths for the next 48 hours as North Korea's "observation satellite" launch was thwarted, at least for the time being, due to poor weather.
This Sunday, April 15, marks the centennial of Kim il-Sung, the country's founder. North Korean officials have informed international organizations that the launch will occur sometime between today and Monday, from 7am to noon, local time.
If and when the launch finally happens, I think the most important aspect of the situation is that the world will finally be able to ascertain the mysterious country's current technological capacity. We all know very well that ordinary citizens continue to live impoverished lives or simply starve under the harsh regime. But the DPRK's true ability in long-range missile testing remains a relative mystery since their last attempt about three years ago, something they should be well aware of.
If you're into reading multiple books simultaneously, these two are wonderful complements on the subjects of globalization, poverty, and economics.
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DOUBLE STANDARDS: China blames foreign journalists for its negative image abroad.
HIPSTER: Indie music and bikinis take over the style of this year's SI Swimsuit issue.
CELEBRATION: How Libyans are commemorating the anniversary of Gaddafi's overthrow.
SCRAMBLE: Foreign law firms are rushing into South Korea in order to take advantage of recent FTAs.
SPORTS: Guess where Saudi Arabia's women athletes are not allowed to compete?
UNREST: The Maldives' tourism industry is set to lose +$100 million due to new travel cancellations thanks to the political unrest (though prices have yet to drop at all).
BREAKAWAY: PM David Cameron does not want Scotland to become independent outside of the UK.
RIP: Foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid has died in Syria of an asthma attack.
London's about to get some major global cultural kudos in 2012. Hip hop, Maori and sign language aren't really things one would automatically expect to be a part of the upcoming Globe to Globe festival (which is a part of the city's World Shakespeare Festival and "Cultural Olympiad" for next year's Olympics), but times are evidently changing.
People the world over already travel to the UK for this Shakespearean experience but this time much more attendees will be able to personally participate because the focus isn't on the mere beauty of Shakespeare's works, the city of London or even the UK itself. Instead of glorifying the mere local setting of the event, this time the artistic direction encompasses a very international sensibility (quite fitting for London).
From Chicago-based hip hop acting group Q Brothers (you might recognize them from a recent Lollapalooza tour) performing their urban take on Othello, to a special theater group from the newly independent South Sudan performing Cymbeline (the group actually sent a 20-page document requesting to participate in the festival!) the world of Shakespeare will be interpreted by different cultural perspectives that are uniquely un-British.
An impressive aspect of this daily 6-week event is how each Shakespearean work will be performed in so many different languages other than English. In order to maximize the viewership/participation, official Globe "ambassadors" will venture out to various local communities (the South Korean community in Kingston-upon-Thames; Brazilians in Stockwell, etc.) to encourage ex-pats to experience these plays in their own languages. To my knowledge, this hasn't ever been done before.
Most festivals or exhibitions of this scale just use the same boring templates done by so many before them, and expect the masses to simply come. The public "ambassador" effort to attract new communities strikes me as thoughtful, effective and progressive -- characteristics that too-often get lost in the shuffle of large-scale events.
The biggest social profit of the festival's inclusion of so many foreign communities? The agency of large-scale cultural experience vis-a-vis the realities of today's globalized world. Art in general is much less relevant without this context now, though this might be news to many art world characters even in 2011.
The notion that the US and UK are both currently riding a downward spiral of cultural cogency is something I've heard rather often lately, mainly in casual but robust conversations about globalization and the unavoidable balancing game that occurs with this idea. I think such an assertion is definitely premature right now, but I see where this claim comes from. It isn't too hard to notice that the leaders of the Western-dominated 20th century have a very different status in the international arena today. But come next April, London is probably going to be quite an exciting and dynamic place to be.
Lots more information here!
"This is not an apology tour. It's the book of a proud conservative. He's not looking to kiss and make up with the New York Times set, or for that matter, some of his former Bush adminstration colleagues," says a source close to Cheney.
The former VP's personal memoir comes out on August 30. Apparently he concedes a lot of failures during the Bush years.
But the bigger question is...wonder what the sharp shooter thinks of this???
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TICK-TOCK: Will lawmakers stay focused on cutting the deficit or vote on competing proposals to raise the debt ceiling by August 2?
ON STAGE: A collaborative play called Odd Couple gives an Islamabad audience food for thought between US-Pakistani relations.
SOUTH KOREA: The recent adventures of US Ambassador to Korea Kathleen Stephens on the Korean peninsula gives experts reason to push public diplomacy as a formal facet to governing.
STUCK?: Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has apparently accepted a teaching job at the Berlin University of the Arts--the question is, will he be allowed to leave China?
TWEETHEARTS: US Ambassador to Thailand Kristie Kenney, along with American embassies in Southeast Asia, are "leading the pack" in terms of social media.
READ: David McCullough's latest book, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, shows how influential Americans brought their Parisian experiences back home to the US.
ECO-CELL: The world's first fully compostable swimsuit debuts at South Beach's "Swim Week."
DUMB: Fox News' talking head Eric Bolling doesn't remember "any terrorist attacks on American soil" between 2000-2008.
Power: Reuters reports that Hillary Clinton wants the World Bank presidency; her spokesman indicates otherwise.
"Elite": A look into the rigid lives of North Korean waitresses who work in government-run eateries across Asia.
Wow/Lol/Diplomacy: With surging worldwide popularity of black metal music, Norway's diplomats have been given crash courses on the genre.
Thaw: California's Oakland International Airport has been authorized to offer nonstop flights to Havana, Cuba.
Strategy: China is "doing the catch up" to the US on public diplomacy, according to statesman Zhao Qizheng at a visit with US Senator Richard Lugar.
Lifestyles: A slideshow of the world's happiest countries based on employment, disposable income, educational attainment, life expectancy and work hours.
Public Lease: Control of iconic land art "Spiral Jetty" still in dispute.
iPad: An app for +60,000 19th century works of British literature.
Until recently I had nearly forgotten about Korea's missing Oegyujanggak books, which are Korea's 14th-19th century texts and records that were stolen by France when they invaded Korea in 1866 -- the very first armed conflict between Korea and a Western state.
(Keep signing, boys!...)
Interestingly, these stolen volumes had been sitting snugly as the core of France's National Library Korea collection until 1975, when a Korean librarian discovered that the books actually still existed! With their silk covers, deluxe binding/papers and exotic illustrations, even though the French didn't read Korean they still considered these items to be desirable things worth taking.
The formal legal battle to regain the documents began in the early 1990s and was unsurprisingly met with fierce resistance in Paris. Eventually former President Mitterand offered a deal that soon went sour -- in exchange for France to win the export bid for Korea's future high speed train, France would return the books. They later won the bid but offered to "loan" Korea back the books.
After more legal battles that continued until just a couple of years ago, President Sarkozy pledged to return the books -- long deemed "French national property" -- at last year's G20 summit.
The first shipment of books returned to Korea last month and the rest are anticipated to arrive in weeks. Wars and invasions always end up in stolen artifacts and other properties, and with the Korean War as well as Japan's colonial assault, this is a decent and hard-earned first step for Korea to regain its rightful cultural assets.
Seems like European countries sure are engaging with Asia in a new tone these days.
