culture

Le Clézio's Nobel prize – so French culture isn't dead after all!

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:21:19 +0200

Le Clézio during a trip to Guadeloupe in October 2007. Posted on Flickr by "Le crédit voyage".

French writer Jean-Marie Le Clézio has just received the Nobel Prize for Literature. For blogger Guillaume Thouroude, the award is proof that despite "American sniggers", French culture is not dead after all.

"Phoque" or "fuck" - when it comes to culture, Canadians don’t speak the same language

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:44:01 +0200

Language gaps and cultural misunderstandings are an integral part of daily life for Canadians dealing with their fellow countrymen from the other side of the French - British divide. This rather amusing sketch about the issue is also a serious warning about the future of Canadian culture, which according to the clip, faces near-extinction.

Under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Canadian government has cut 45 million euros worth of funding for cultural programmes over the past six months. Around fifteen programmes, considered out-dated or misused, have been axed. The latest blow came on 8 August when it was announced that two major funds would be withdrawn, leaving the cultural scene in Canada looking fragile.

However, investing in culture is a lucrative business. At least that's the message a group of Canadian celebrities are trying to get across. Since singer Michel Rivard, comedian Benoit Brière and humorist Stéphane Rousseau posted this video on YouTube 19 September, its been watched almost a million times.

The film tackles the great linguistic divide in Canada, something that both sides, despite frustrations, find rather funny. The video is a massive online hit, and arrives in time for the 14 October national party elections. Our Canadian Observers react to the sketch.

Posted on YouTube on an account called "Culture en péril" (culture in peril), and translated by "Tupperfan".

Brendan O Neill

Brendan O Neill — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:35:52 +0200

Nom

O Neill

Prénom

Brendan

Blog ou Site web

Spiked

Centres d'intérêts

Date de naissance

Description

I run a blog called "Sp!ked". Spiked is an independent online phenomenon dedicated to raising the horizons of humanity by waging a culture war of words against misanthropy, priggishness, prejudice, luddism, illiberalism and irrationalism in all their ancient and modern forms. spiked is endorsed by free-thinkers such as John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx, and hated by the narrow-minded such as Torquemada and Stalin. Or it would be, if they were lucky enough to be around to read it.

langue

English

Profession

Radical blogger

David Valentine

David Valentine — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:50:18 +0200

Nom

Valentine

Prénom

David

Blog ou Site web

Mediashed/ Video Sniffin'

Centres d'intérêts

Date de naissance

12/11/1970

Description

I'm a British filmmaker. My work in CCTV has been exhibited around the world in a variety of environments such as galleries, film festivals, music festivals, nightclubs and shopping centres.

Websites:
www.mediashed.org/videosniffin
www.daveonzo.com
www.youtube.com/daveonzo

langue

English

Profession

Filmmaker

Richard Wright

Richard Wright — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:46:53 +0200

Nom

Wright

Prénom

Richard

Blog ou Site web

Future natural

Centres d'intérêts

Date de naissance

09/06/1963

Description

I'm a visual artist whose work includes many early pioneering digital animated films and interactive pieces. I hold a PhD in the aesthetics of digital film making and has published nearly forty book chapters, essays and reviews.

langue

English

Profession

Artist and animator

The Buns and Guns café

Ségolène Team Observers — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:18:02 +0200

In Beirut, the restaurant "Buns and Guns" markets its sandwiches by giving them questionable names. Why don’t you try a Kalashnikov burger served on terrorist pita bread? In Lebanon, nobody seems to find the trend shocking or offensive.

This small fast food place opened early June in Dahiyeh, a suburb south of the Lebanese capital. The neighbourhood, heavily targeted during the 2006 war against Israel, is a stronghold of Islamic activity. The restaurant’s owner uses war and dark humour as marketing tools. After crossing a barricade of rice bags in front of the store, the customer sits in a camouflage-printed room and eats to the sound of dropping bombs. The menu, illustrated with photos of weapons, offers a wide array of choices, from a “B-52” to a “Magnum 357” (see video). The restaurant’s motto is “A sandwich to die for”. It’s a successful concept – the restaurant is always full – and Lebanese people don’t seem overly shocked by it.

Report aired on June 12 2008 by Hezbollah's television channel, Al Manar TV. It was transplated and posted on Memri TV, an organisation that depends on the American Middle Eastern Institute.

Chavez has a go at filmmaking

Julien — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:03:43 +0200

Written with help from our Observer in Argentina, Johana Kunin.

“Miranda regresa” (“Miranda Returns”) is the first major film produced by President Hugo Chavez’s state-run production company. A historical saga, it depicts the life of Francisco de Miranda, leader of Venezuela's independence struggle against Spanish colonialism at the turn of the nineteenth century. Miranda dreamed of creating a republic called Colombia that would have covered a large chunk of South America.

The motion picture was produced with a budget of 2.3 million dollars by the state-run cinema production company, which Chavez founded in 2006. Over 1,200 extras were hired for the film, shot in Venezuela, Cuba, and The Czech Republic. American actor Danny Glover, a supporter of Chavez, plays a minor part.

The movie’s title, “Miranda Returns”, is the subject of much discussion and interpretation at home. Many wonder whether Chavez is attempting to cast himself as a reincarnation of the Venezuelan hero. The president has depicted the project as an effort to counter Hollywood's global domination, slamming American blockbusters like Superman and Batman as “excrement” and a “source of counter-values”. "There is no revolution if we don't recover our culture, our own values. It is part of the fight against [US] imperial hegemony,” he declared.

The film’s premiere was held in a military fort. Among those present were Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s president and a key Chavez ally. The motion picture is screened in 40 mainstream cinemas throughout the country.

Bush - from "alcoholic bum" to world president

Ségolène Team Observers — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:48:22 +0200

Oliver Stone has dedicated his latest film to the rise of the Bush family ugly duckling, George W. Three months before the film comes out, the trailer for "W" has already received over 400,000 hits in less than 48 hours. Stone is planning to release the film on 17 October, just three weeks before the American presidential election. Controversial?

Stone never made a point of hiding his dislike for the Bush administration, especially when it came to politics. He insists however that he'll tackle the subject in the same manner as the biographies he's done until now, and denies trying to influence November's election. He told the press that he just wanted to find out "how did Bush go from an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world?"

Arriving in the midst of the presidential campaign, the film has attracted plenty of criticism for its supposed intentions, on both sides of political America. While some worry that the film will create sympathy for the president, others say that its sole purpose is to bring down the Republican Party in time for 4 November.

Julie Fradette

Julie Fradette — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:14:39 +0200

Nom

Fradette

Prénom

Julie

Blog ou Site web

http://juliefradette.blogspot.com/

Centres d'intérêts

Date de naissance

Description

Julie Fradette is a blogger, she lives in Montréal

langue

French, English

Profession

New Radiohead clip is online sensation

Ségolène Team Observers — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:23:15 +0200

The music video for Radiohead's latest single "House of Cards" was yesterday the most watched clip on the web. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, but technologically mystifying too - it was filmed without a camera.

It's only been online since Monday (14 July), but the latest clip from Oxford's finest musicians has already received 1,277,013 hits. This, along with the fact that Radiohead is the biggest rock group in the world, is largely due to the fact that critics went into rapture over the new album, "In Rainbow". But equal praise is reserved for director James Frost, whose technical prowess, also having served the likes of Coldplay, Stereophonics and Norah Jones, reached new heights on the project.

The short film is made using an experimental animation technique that employs neither lights nor camera, but is shot in real time. The contours of singer Thom York's face are not reflections but the mathematical harnessing of his movements. Followed by 64 revolving lasers and scanned by a clever device made by Geometric Informatics, every move he makes is registered by the reaction speeds of laser beams.

And to boot, never missing the chance to get their fans involved, the group put a page on Google to let people try out the technique. Once finished, there's a group on YouTube waiting for your attempt.