Category Archives: Culture

View: A Cultural Road Trip Through East Germany

DW Euromaxx – It’s time to head east on the Meet the Germans road trip. Rachel digs into local cuisine, culture and language and finds out just how much the region has been influenced by its relatively recent past as part of the German Democratic Republic.

Video timeline: 00:00 Intro 00:41 Berlin 02:01 Saxon Dialect 03:02 Division Between East And West 04:25 A Brief History of Eastern Germany 04:55 Bauhaus & Architecture 06:05 Cultural offer 06:22 The Sorbs 08:22 Food 08:42 Natural Beauty Spots 09:21 Outro

Canada Views: The Walrus Magazine – December 2022

The Walrus – December 2022 Issue:

Will John Irving’s The Last Chairlift Stand the Test of Time?

For decades, the celebrated author ruled the public’s imagination. But times change—how will he be read now?

Is There Such a Thing as a Universal Human Experience? Author Marie-Claire Blais Says Yes

In her new novel, Songs for Angel, Blais proves that the twenty-first-century heir to modernism is a francophone octogenarian living in Florida

Views: A Cultural Tour Of Weimar, Germany (DW)

Weimar is world-famous. A number of important philosophers, musicians, and literary figures used to live here – including renowned poets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. Weimar Classicism attracts tourists even today. But the city of Thuringia is also home to a dark chapter of German history. There, the Nazis built built one of their largest concentration camps, Buchenwald, where a total of around 266,000 people were imprisoned.

Views: The New York Times Magazine – Nov 6, 2022

Inside the 11.6.22 Issue:

The Democrats’ Last Stand in Wisconsin

With the G.O.P. in control of a majority of statehouses, Democrats are fighting for seats in battleground states. Is it too late?

The Untold Story of ‘Russiagate’ and the Road to War in Ukraine

Russia’s meddling in Trump-era politics was more directly connected to the current war than previously understood.

A Championship Season in Mariachi Country

Every year along the Texas border, high school teams battle it out in one of the nation’s most intense championship rivalries. But they’re not playing football.

Culture: The New Review Magazine – Nov 6, 2022

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Inside the November 6, 2022 Issue:

TS Eliot’s women: the unsung female voices of The Waste Land

Dylan: The Greatest Thing I’ll Never Learn review – messy, punky pop thrills

The week in theatre: Tammy Faye; Hamlet; Marvellous – review

The best recent crime and thriller writing

The best recent crime and thriller writing

Covers: The NY Times Style Magazine – Nov 13, 2022

Inside the Mezquita in Cordoba, with its 800-odd columns: a church that was once a mosque.

Three writers go searching for echoes of a vanished culture — or a resurrected one.

– SpainIn the country’s churches and streets, the remnants of eight centuries of Islamic rule are hiding in plain sight.

– Singapore: Cuisine is one of the few ways to define Peranakan culture, a hard-to-pin-down blend of ethnic and racial identities.

– TajikistanWhile the nation’s history is being hidden behind glimmering new facades, its artisans hold on to tradition with quiet determination.

Covers: Country Life Magazine – Nov 2, 2022

Country Life Magazine – The November 2022 issue looks at what London would look like if the wrecking ball hadn’t held sway in the 20th century, the pros and cons of an open fire versus a wood-burning stove, and follows in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg — plus, it includes our annual Gentleman’s Life supplement.

Travel Guides: Culture & Food In Montreal, Canada

Attaché – Our Montreal travel guide! What a place. It really feels like Montreal shouldn’t exist, it’s such a strange confluence of cultures. But I am so glad it does. And I finally got to experience my Montreal food unicorn – poutine. Glorious, wonderful, Montreal poutine. Absolutely worth waiting 43 years for! Montreal, you have my heart…despite the clogged arteries.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Intro 01:07 – Transport 04:33 – Sponsor 06:01 – Food 10:39 – Money

Preview: France-Amérique Magazine – November 2022

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EVERYONE SPEAKS ENGLISH

Or Do They?

France and the French can remain globally relevant only in English. Or so says British journalist Simon Kuper in one of a series of articles published recently by Le Monde. According to him, French is losing its utility, while English reigns supreme.

BERNARD CERQUIGLINI

“The French Language Is Doing Just Fine, Thank You!”

Who better than this jovial linguist to champion the French language? Bernard Cerquiglini holds a doctorate in literature, formerly directed the Center for French and Francophone Studies at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie, and has been the vice-president of the Fondation des Alliances Françaises for the last two years.

Preview: The Burlington Magazine – Nov 2022

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The Parthenon sculptures

It is now forty years since Melina Mercouri, the Greek Minister for Culture from 1981 to 1989, famous also as a film star and singer, addressed UNESCO’s World Conference on Cultural Policies to draw international attention to the campaign with which she would be identified until her death in 1994, the repatriation to Athens of the Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum. ‘We are not asking for the return of a painting or a statue’, she said: ‘We are asking for the return of a portion of a unique monument, the privileged symbol of a whole culture’. 

The Painters of Pompeii

As images, ancient Roman wall paintings command attention for their bold compositions, vibrant and saturated colours, convincing naturalism and the fantastical mythologies they depict. As objects they also captivate for the dramatic circumstances surrounding their near- destruction, the miracle (or rarity) of their survival and the alchemical nature of lime plaster and pigment.