arts & cultures

BBC Reports:

Marley statue unveiled in Serbia

A statue of late reggae legend Bob Marley has been unveiled in a small
Serbian village during a rock festival as a token of peace in the
Balkans.

Musicians from Croatia and Serbia were joined by rock fans for the midnight ceremony in Banatski Sokolac.

Organisers said Marley, who died in 1981, "promoted peace and tolerance in his music".

Serbia recently erected a statue of iconic film character Rocky, while Mostar in Bosnia has one of Bruce Lee.

Another Serbian village put up a statue to actor Johnny Weissmuller, best known for his depiction of Tarzan.

Tarzan, Rocky, the Dragon and the Rastaman.  Sounds like peace to me.

No Slobo, No cry?

 

I was going to get a cello but I think I'll go with a saxophone instead..

the first minute or two is awesome. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz6cCVGURQE&feature=related

 

It's night, the
tepid tincture of
the valley invites
me to escape
near the sound
of a woody recall,
and this in your
delicate sign, the
second degree
of a beautiful kiss...

Francesco Sinibaldi

The UK Government wants to reclassify cannabis - yet again! - this time upgrading it from a Category C to B drug, in order to 'send a message' that drugs are bad. The reclassification is not to warn us off becoming degenerate hippies and dropouts though - it's for the sake of our mental health. Is this a reasonable argument for greater restrictions, or should we be free to choose our own poison, whatever its ill effects? At our next Club Night, we will interrogate the rights and wrongs of the drugs debate. Are drugs a means to expand our horizons and experiences, or a harmless recreational choice? Should politicians use the law to send a moral message?Speakers include:Swaran Singh, Professor of Social & Community Psychiatry and Consultant Psychiatrist, Health Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical SchoolMarcus Roberts, Director of Policy at DrugScope, the UK’s leading independent centre of information and advice on drugs. He is the author of a number of reports and briefings for the Beckley Foundation Drug Policy Programme, and Nacro’s report ‘Drugs and Crime – From Warfare to Welfare’, as well as the report of the Independent Inquiry on Drug Testing at Work (funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation).Jamie Douglass, a contributing editor of Profile magazine, who previously conducted postgraduate research into drug cultures and has written for the Independent, Guardian and spiked. Date: Thursday 26 JuneVenue: Old Queen's Head (Upstairs), 44 Essex Road, London N1 8LN. Time: doors open 7pm; debate begins around 8pmCost: free to Club members; £5 non-members (pay on the door).

Got rather interested in an installation that was set up in London a few days ago, on South Bank. Basically it was a dome with cameras all around it, facing outwards, taking panoramic pictures every minute - for two days.

America.... a good or bad infleunce for the world?

I just heard on the news that Charlton Heston passed away this evening. For anyone who went to the movies in the l950's and l960's, he was one of the must sees. I saw him on the London stage a dozen years ago in a production of The Caine Mutiny. He played the Queeg part. He was great. I went to the back stage with my friends after the performance and got his autograph. He was a very kind gentleman.

An art of piece is according the post-modern artist no longer to be considered as a product that is standing in a particular art tradition, and having to add something to that, by having meaning for the present. Post-modern art does not value progress or development, because these notions remind of ideology. For the post-modern artist the time of the “grand narratives” is over, since the new motto is “anything goes” Rules are out.

Black Gold is on More 4 tonight at 10 pm

it follows one mans fight for justice...

"Nestlé - one of the "big four" roasters - has been known to enjoy profit
margins of up to 26% on some coffee brands. Oxfam has estimated that 3,900

Britain is not exactly a 'police state' as some on the left of politics would like to suggest - indeed, I would argue that such propositions say far more about the people who espouse it, than it does about the state of freedom in contemporary Britain. However, when it comes to evaluating the extent of artistic freedom in Britain today, the charge of 'police state' is not entirely that wide of the mark.

At the end of last year BBC Radio 1 provoked widespread derision for its decision to bleep the words 'slut' and 'faggot' from the Pogues' Christmas hit, 'Fairytale of New York'. Within hours the song could again be heard uncensored, a decision justified by the BBC on the basis that there was no 'negative intent behind the use of the words'.

At our next club night, we have invited a range of commentators to make their case for freedom of expression - artistic and otherwise. There will also be examples of art and literature that has been banned over the past century.

For all the lampooning of Radio 1, we seem increasingly confused about what kinds of expression - creative or not - contemporary society is prepared to allow. Of course, there are many countries around the world where freedom of expression is limited, and there are many historic examples of attempts to ban and censor art and literature. But we seem equally confused in the UK in 2008. Few have spoken out in opposition to Brighton Council's decision to introduce a city-wide ban on all music with homophobic lyrics. And there has been little said in public in defence of Samina Malik, the self-styled Lyrical Terrorist who was sentenced to a 9-month suspended sentence for penning jihadist poetry. Of course, it's difficult to defend the artistic merit of Beenie Man's rapping of a 'New Jamaica' after the 'execution of all gays'; still less, perhaps, Malik's nihilistic scribbling. Does freedom of artistic expression mean freedom even for bad poets, homophobes and nihilists, or is this a moral cop-out? Should people who have obnoxious thoughts be challenged legally as well as morally? Are there any limits we should set on what can or cannot be said or written?

Beauty in Morocco: In the Eyes of Religious Men (Study)

Elias Morocco

INTRODUCTION

² Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder ² as the saying goes. Despite the fact that people differ in the way they judge beauty, they all agree that beauty plays an important part in their lives. As little attention has been given to “religious men” to give their opinions about beauty, I will conduct this research to explore all areas that make up true beauty from the perspective of a sample of ² religious men ². In this study a religious man is defined as a person whose heart is ²clean and healthy ². It is cleansed from any passion that defies God’s commands; moreover, his utterances, thoughts and actions are obedient to God. Therefore, it is improper to assume that a good Muslim is limited to physical appearance such as growing beard and letting the clothes hang down before the ankle .There are many hadiths by the prophet may peace be upon him that support this meaning. Al Bukhari narrated that Abu Hurayra said that some people asked the prophet “Who is the most honourable among people. He replied the most honourable among people with Allah is the one who has the most taqwa.” Given this hadith, one should mention that righteousness does not lie in the performance of ritual prayers, but it extends to include good behavior, ethics, fear of God with all actions. As people are judged by their actions, I will limit my sample to preachers, ²Imams² and students at ²Dar Al Hassania² to avoid any ambiguity that the definition of ²religious men² inevitably generates.

I am inviting you to share with me this poem and all whose pride are hurt .Do not be naive or love with out knowing well the woman or the man .Do not betray your principles or accept humilation.sorry if you keep on hurting mesorry if you don't like the things i say or dosorry if with you always start a fightsorry i f i do anything rightsorry if you think my excuses are liessorry if u compare me to thievessorry if my decision is wisesorry if you hurt my pride more than twice.sorry if you are not too understandingsorry for all the headaches and pain you bringsorry if often it's hard for me to swallow mypridesorry if often you too blinded anger to seeyour sidesorry you keep making me feel frustratedsorry i can't fight back the tearssorry if you keep me away from my peerssorry if i always complain about you not meetingmy expectationssorry if i seem like a joke to yousorry if you don't appreciate all those sweetthings i dosorry if you keep on repeating the same mistakessorry you say stupid things and you can't find thebreaks

The year 2008 and so many talk about GLOBAL economy and geo politics and how democracy works in many areas and there has been much investigativejournalism!! ....And--- IT IS NEEDED or why have a media if it is not free!!However most of the BEST INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM is now comingfrom independent sources especially on the internet such as Open Democracyor on special tv programing where the REAL STORY is allowed to be told and also on some public radio programs!! This means ofcourse that many of the best journalists and investigative journalists and scholars are not allowed to write orair their stories in major print publications or on MAINSTREAM TV and RADIO !!The reasons are two-fold!! In the United States the Federal Communcations Commission now allows a company--if it has the money, to buy and control numerous radio and/or tv stationsin one market or many markets and now also print as well!!This is as we all know market control or monopoly.............And the same is happening in other countries!!Also we must remember that the government in the U.S.

Computers are taking over the world, and over our senses ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGhyGoPmGNc

"Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved."