I joined BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, with Catherine Bray of Film4.com, to discuss Hollywood's spate of films portraying the White House under terrorist attack.
What's going on? "There's this perpetual 'culture of fear' --- even when America thinks it has won, from the end of the Cold War to the killing of Osama bin Laden."
On Monday night, three Libyan authors will be reading from their work at the Birmingham Book Festival in the United Kingdom.
Ghazi Gheblawi, Giuma Bukleb, and Mohamed Mesrati will talk about life for writers under the Qaddafi regime and their visions of the "new Libya". The readings begin at 7 p.m. at the Bayleaf Restaurant in The Custard Factory.
Photo: ReutersMitt Romney appeared more committed and convincing when explaining his solutions to America's economic woes. Those ideas may appear to be nothing more than wishful thinking when the answers are dissected, but the perception Romney gave was that he has a coherent plan to restore US fortunes. The bottom line to take from the debates was that Mitt Romney appeared Presidential; the actual president less so.
Will that be enough to shift the polls in Romney's favour?
In 2008, just before the launch of EA WorldView, I discovered Matt Harding, a young man from Seattle, Washington, who decided to film himself dancing with people around the world. In the middle of the tragedy of the Israeli war in Gaza in January 2009, I needed an alternative to the images of destruction so I posted his first video:
For me, that video was a life-affirming moment which has lasted. Harding followed up, "Where the Hell is Matt?" with sequels, including one in Gaza. Then this week, as we covered the bloodshed in Syria, I came across his latest film, complete with this recollection from Harding about one special location where he danced....
Maher Zain, with Fadly 'Padi', sings Insha Allah live on Indonesian television
Zain's songs clearly reflect a wide-spread feeling of discontent and a desire for a different future among Islamic and secular activists in the Arab world. His awareness of that discontent and of the need for hope is an element of his popularity—epitomized by an Egyptian fan who stated at his Cairo concert in March 2010 that she loved the "revolutionary" feel of his music, which was neither materialistic nor in line with classical religious sermons.
Zain tapped into this same feeling of discontent and the need for hope in the first song he released after the start of the Arab Spring, "Freedom." He premiered the song, which is entirely in English, in Malaysia in February 2011. The song thanks God for giving friends and neighbors the strength to hold hands and demand an end to oppression. It presents a vision for a new Arab Muslim society in which people will no longer be prisoners in their homes or afraid to voice their opinions in public. While Zain acknowledges that the dream of a new Arab society has yet to be fulfilled, he promises his listeners that they are on the verge of achieving it, that God is with them, and that he will not let them fail. In the background as Zain sings, there are images of Arab flags and protestors of all ages peacefully challenging their governments in the Arab World.
When a state --- be it Bahrain, Israel, Syria or China --- needs to stoop to the level of paying citizens to fight its public relations wars, it has already lost.
A new benefit album has been released to highlight the plight of Palestinian children jailed by the Israeli regime.
The CD was spurred by the case of Mohammad Sameh Hashash. In 2005, Mohammed was en route to tour Scotland, Ireland, and England with Aidoun, a Palestinian youth theatre company from the Balata Refugee Camp in the West Bank. Detained at the crossing to Jordan, Mohammed was interrogated for two months before being charged with "conspiracy against Israel and associating with 'wanted' persons". He is scheduled for release next year.
An EA reader sends the message, "Expect this to be viral by the time the day is out", leading us to a video of Kim Jong Il and his armed forcesstrutting to LMFAO's "Party Rock".
Yes, but we were there first --- a flashback to EA on 5 September 2010, "Funking It Up With the Axis of Evil":
After seeing Hitchens at this debate, I fear his thoughtful moments will be rare. "The Hitch" is no longer an activist, no longer a participant in the real debates about power and who wields it, no more a source for thought. No, he is an industry, posing in trench coat with a cigarette dangling from his top lip, hailed as "one of the few remaining practitioners of the five-hour, two-bottle lunch". And, naturally, the most profitable industry is a monopoly. So he packages himself, surreally, not just as a policeman but the only policeman of "a radical left that no longer exists".
Monday, April 15, 2013 at 16:20
I joined BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, with Catherine Bray of Film4.com, to discuss Hollywood's spate of films portraying the White House under terrorist attack.
