Category Archives: Culture

Heritage: WWII Concrete Bunkers, Western France

FRANCE 24 English (April 3, 2023) – Eight decades after World War II, the Atlantic Wall is still breaking up. Along the coast of Brittany, in western France, lie more than 1,000 bunkers. Most of these vestiges of German occupation are abandoned, but some have been given a new lease of life.

The submarine base of Lorient has become an ideal location for manufacturing carbon masts for yachts. Further west, on the tip of Finistère, a bunker has been transformed into a museum on the war.

Finally, on the Crozon peninsula, a young entrepreneur has decided to transform a network of tunnels built by the Allies into a brewery.

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – April 10, 2023

A pitcher prepares to throw the ball while the batter the umpire and the catcher all look at their own clocks.

The New Yorker – April 10, 2023 issue:

The Christian Liberal-Arts School at the Heart of the Culture Wars

Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher walking together in Hillsdale College gear.

Conservatives like Ron DeSantis see Hillsdale College as a model for education nationwide.

By Emma Green

Conservative movements to reform education are often defined by what they’re against. At a recent public briefing, the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, decried the imposition of critical race theory and mandatory diversity-and-inclusion training at the state’s schools.

The Trump Show Moves to a Courtroom

The Trump Show Moves to a Courtroom

The former President’s campaigns against officials investigating him have supplied Joe Biden with a favored theme: the need to fortify democratic institutions.

By Benjamin Wallace-Wells

Events: ‘Il Ballo del Doge’ Masquerade Ball In Venice

CBS Sunday Morning (April 2, 2023) – The opulence of a masked ball in the Italian city of Venice during Carnival must be seen to be believed. Correspondent Seth Doane joins revelers, including a couple who traveled from Florida to attend a lavish costume party, “Il Ballo del Doge”; and talks with designer Antonia Sautter, who has created ever-more extravagant costumes for this Venetian tradition dating back centuries.

Culture: The New Review Magazine – April 2, 2023

Image

The New Review (April 2, 2023) – How running helped me navigate the strange terrain of grief An extract from @drrachelhewitt’s memoir, In Her Nature @ChattoBooks.

Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad review – drama in the West Bank

The West Bank town of Jenin: ‘what could offer a more febrile union of the personal and the political than Palestine?’

An actor returns to Palestine and joins a local production of Hamlet in this richly layered and elegant examination of memories and oppression

The West Bank town of Jenin: ‘what could offer a more febrile union of the personal and the political than Palestine?’ Photograph: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP/Getty Images

Arts & Culture: Aesthetica Magazine – April/May 2023

Aesthetica Magazine (April/May 2023) – Inside this issue, we consider identity, relationships and the impact of technology. We discuss the persistence of images and their ability to embed themselves in collective memory in Thomas Demand’s retrospective, 

The Stutter of History. Refik Anadol speaks to us about the relationship between humans and machines, exploring the influence of art and creativity, as we rely more and more on AI to guide us through our lives. What does the future look like in this new world? Should we embrace it or fear it? Also, I am pleased to bring you an overview of this year’s shortlisted artists for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2023.

Memory Investigated

Thomas Demand highlights the fiction beneath attempts to document the truth, questioning the power and responsibility behind art and its maker.

A Sense of Wonder

Gareth Iwan Jones’ fascination with woodland ecocystems inspired enchanting scenes that document the beauty and mystery of forests.

Culture: New York Times Magazine – April 2, 2023

Image

The New York Times Magazine – April 2, 2023: In this week’s issue: Jeneen Interlandi on the necessity of tallying every birth and death for a country’s public health, Jaeah Lee on the adults caring for both their parents and childrenDevin Gordon on the fate of umpires under baseball’s new rules and more.

It’s a Really Weird Time to Be an Umpire

A photo illustratio of an umpire with sweat beads coming out of his face and a camera facing him in the background.
Credit…Photo illustrations by Rui Pu

With replay cameras watching every call, it has become an increasingly stressful job — and baseball’s new rules will just make it harder.

Can the U.S. See the Truth About China?

Just like relationships between people, relationships between countries can all too easily be built on a foundation of unintentional misunderstandings, faulty assumptions and predigested truths. In her forthcoming, at times provocative and disquieting book, “The New China Playbook,” Keyu Jin, a professor at the London School of Economics and a board member at Credit Suisse, is trying to rework the foundation of what she sees as the West’s deeply flawed understanding of China’s economy, its economic ambitions and its attitude toward global competition.

The Agony of Putting Your Life on Hold to Care for Your Parents

Randi Schofield is the sole provider for an ailing father and, at the same time, for her own children — a situation now common among Americans in their 30s and 40s.

CULTURE: FRANCE-AMÉRIQUE MAGAZINE – APRIL 2023 Issue

couv-cover-france-amerique-magazine-avril-april-2023
Opens profile photo

France-Amérique Magazine – April 2023 – Ahead of Earth Day, April 22, we profiled five Gallic startups based in the United States and helping biodiversity, fighting against food waste, and curbing global warming. We also sat down with Tristan Grimbert, the French CEO of EDF Renewables North America, one of the leaders on the green energy market in the United States and Canada. Also in this issue, read about the 15-Minute City, a model born in Paris and advocating for livable, sustainable urban centers; discover our profile of Gérard Araud, the former ambassador of France to the U.S. and a sharp observer of international relations; and read our interview with William Christie, the American conductor who has done more than anyone else for the revival of French baroque music.

“French Classical Music Owes a Lot to American Universities”

American harpsichordist and conductor William Christie has arguably done more than anyone else for the global revival of French baroque music. He now lives in France, but on April 25-26, he will bring his ensemble Les Arts Florissants to Carnegie Hall.

Table of contents

FROM THE NEWSDESK

France Rethinks, Once Again, Its Relationship with Africa. By Anthony Bulger

COME ON OUT

French Cultural Events in North America. By Tracy Kendrick

EDITORIAL

Wokeness Dividing the (French) People. By Guy Sorman

INTERVIEW

Julie Taymor: “The Lion King Makes People Laugh from Paris to New York.” By Guy Sorman

THE OBSERVER

Why the 15-Minute City May Be Your Next Home. By Anthony Bulger

BUSINESS

Five French Entrepreneurs Caring for the Planet. By Benoît Georges

Politics: The Guardian Weekly – March 31, 2023

Image

The Guardian Weekly (March 31, 2023) – This week sees an important moment in the history of the Guardian with the launch of Cotton Capital, a series revealing the links between the 19th-century Manchester founders of the newspaper, the transatlantic cotton industry and the enslaved labour upon which the trade was built.

In France, national protests against the proposed increase to the pension age have become so inflamed that a state visit by Britain’s King Charles had to be postponed. Kim Willsher reports on a wave of anger and how women are at the forefront of the demonstrations.

As if life wasn’t pressurised enough already for top-level football referees, the advent of video assistant technology only seems to have made the job even harder than ever, leading to a slew of controversial decisions. From hotel breakfasts to being holed up in front of TV monitors, William Ralston goes behind the scenes with the men and women in black.

On the Culture pages, there’s also a great interview with the indie supergroup Boygenius, whose band members Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker talk to Laura Barton about songwriting, friendship and group therapy.

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – April 3, 2023

A woman drinks coffee and sits on an armchair that is stacked on another chair and a table in order to reach rays of...

The New Yorker – April 3, 2023 issue:

The Data Delusion

A threedimensional pattern of books turning into transistor boards.

We’ve uploaded everything anyone has ever known onto a worldwide network of machines. What if it doesn’t have all the answers?

How Christian Is Christian Nationalism?

An American flag concealing a cross underneath it.

Many Americans who advocate it have little interest in religion and an aversion to American culture as it currently exists. What really defines the movement?

The Wild World of Music

The illustrated head of musician and scientist David Sulzer sits at the center of a network of symbols for the brain...

What can elephants, birds, and flamenco players teach a neuroscientist-composer about music?

Travel & Culture: Journey Through Cities Of China

Stef Hoffer (March 24, 2023) – China is one of the world’s most fascinating and complicated countries, and its cities seem to get bigger every year. Considered a rural society just a few decades ago, China today is home to the world’s largest urban population.

In this travel documentary, I take you on a journey through some of the country’s most interesting cities. While many city centers are filled with modern skyscrapers, we also search for more traditional neighborhoods, historic sites, tranquil parks, special events, and cultural activities.

We look at the rapid changes China is undergoing in its urbanization process, and mention some of the challenges the country is facing. From the modern megacities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou we travel to the ancient centers of Beijing and Xian. We visit the popular Summer holiday beaches of coastal Qingdao, and the exciting Winter festivals of Harbin.

From the streets of fusion cities like Hong Kong and Macau we continue our journey to Tibetan Lhasa, located on the Rooftop of the World. We also take a look at the disappearing alleys of old Kashgar, in the controversial Xinjiang region, and the empty streets of Ordos, China’s best known ghost town. And we explore the expanding urban centers along the Yangtze river, including Wuhan and Chongqing, all the way to the fast paced metropolis of Shanghai.

I traveled through China independently for more than a decade, on several occasions. The footage in this video was shot between 2010 and 2019, and is accompanied by background information. For more in-depth information on each place, I recommend to read, watch, and listen to as many different sources as you can.