Tag Archives: culture

Burma’s Lucky Bibliophile | The Irrawaddy Magazine

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When the Ministry of Information’s director general visited Ye Htet Oo’s library in 2010, it could have been disastrous. Ye Htet Oo, then a recent college graduate, was running his new library in downtown Rangoon on the sly, without approval from the former military regime, and was told he could face three months in jail for every book he lent without permission from the censorship board. Unable to get a library license from the government, which saw libraries as a way to spread subversive ideas, he fronted his operation as a bookshop but kept a collection of unapproved library books hidden in a back room. Then one day, unknown to the young bibliophile, the ministry’s director general—who has since become the deputy minister of information and President Thein Sein’s spokesman—entered the “bookshop” and walked straight into the secret room.

For the full article and Q&A with Ye Htet Oo see:  Burma’s Lucky Bibliophile | The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma's Lucky Bibliophile

Hello Kitty gets her first comic, launches fan-fiction contest | Hero Complex | Los Angeles Times

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Exclusive: Hello Kitty gets her first comic, launches fan-fiction contest | Hero Complex – movies, comics, pop culture – Los Angeles Times.

Japanese merchandising company Sanrio is making its debut at San Diego’s annual pop culture expo this year, complete with a Hello Kitty graphic novel, a fan hub and pop-up shop at Petco Park’s Comic-Con Interactive Zone, a fan-fiction contest, a booth on the convention floor, Comic-Con-exclusive collectibles and appearances by Kitty White herself.

Hello Kitty Graphic Novel

Internet Book Fetishists Versus Anti-Fetishists | The New Yorker

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A perennial topic of conversation among people who debate literature on the Internet is the relative importance of books as physical objects. Foremost among defenders of the printed book are those who extol the sensual pleasures of reading—the feel of the pages, the heft of the object, the smell of the paper—and maintain that it is impossible to experience those pleasures digitally. 

In a related, but separate, camp are those attracted not to the tactile pleasures of books but to their beauty as objects.

via Internet Book Fetishists Versus Anti-Fetishists | The New Yorker.

World Futurist Society: 20 Forecasts for 2013-2025 | Stephens Lighthouse

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World Futurist Society: 20 Forecasts for 2013-2025 | Stephens Lighthouse. Some intriguing hypothesized forecasts in this article including Smart phones help spur political reform in Africa, A handheld “breathalyzer” will diagnose diseases and the Amish Boom.

Readers around the world | Russia Beyond The Headlines

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Readers around the world | Russia Beyond The Headlines

Readers around the world

It would be interesting to see a comparison of genre popularity across the G20. Maybe I should ask my Russian friends if there is any meaning to the fact Russians love fantasy novels…spurred by Sputnik and utopian dreams??

You may also like: Russian science fiction and fantasy | Wikipedia and The Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko, which has been translated into English.

Oldest known complete Torah scroll discovered miscatalogued in Italy | Holy Post | National Post

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An Italian expert in Hebrew manuscripts said he discovered the oldest known complete Torah scroll, a sheepskin document dating from 1155-1225. It was right under his nose, in the University of Bologna library, where it had been mistakenly catalogued a century ago as dating from the 17th century.

The find isn’t the oldest Torah text in the world: the Leningrad and the Aleppo bibles — both of them Hebrew codexes, or books — pre-date the Bologna scroll by more than 200 years. But this is the oldest Torah scroll of the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, according to Mauro Perani, a professor of Hebrew in the University of Bologna’s cultural heritage department.

via Oldest known complete Torah scroll discovered miscatalogued in Italy | Holy Post | National Post – May 30, 2013.

Torah Scroll

If you are interested in religious texts and/or illuminated manuscripts I recommend the Sacred Traditions permanent exhibition at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland. This exhibition is much more rewarding than trying to view the Book of Kells among the masses at Trinity College. The Old Library is worthwhile but tourists are restricted to a very small area. 

Kickstarter Allowing Canada-Based Projects Beginning This Summer | TechCrunch

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Kickstarter just announced via its Twitter account that it will be opening up its crowdfunding platform for Canada-based projects as of “later this summer.” Thus far, that’s as specific as the company is getting, but anyone interested in finding out more can sign up at Kickstarter’s Canada launch page with their email and project category of interest to get an alert when things go live.

via Kickstarter Allowing Canada-Based Projects Beginning This Summer | TechCrunch.

You may also like: Funding Library Projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo | The Modern MLIS

Medieval book in unknown language contains message | Crave – CNET

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The Voynich Manuscript has eluded every attempt at deciphering. But new computerized statistical analysis suggests it has a genuine message and is not a hoax.

via Medieval book in unknown language contains message | Crave – CNET.

Voynich

50 Essential LGBT Films – Flavorwire

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Since June is historically LGBT Pride Month, it’s worth taking a look at the ways in which cinema has depicted queers and trans people on screen in comedies, dramas, and documentaries. While this is no definitive list of the best films to feature LGBT characters, themes, or icons, it is a collection of titles worth seeing…

via 50 Essential LGBT Films – Flavorwire.

The Enormous Opportunity In Educating And Empowering Girls | Co.Exist

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Giving young girls an education has such a huge impact in developing countries that you need to see it to believe it. A new film called Girl Rising shows how education affects nine girls from nine countries–with some help from Meryl Streep.

via The Enormous Opportunity In Educating And Empowering Girls | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation.

CNN will be broadcasting Girl Rising June 16 & June 22. Check out the Girl Rising trailer website.

10×10 (Educate Girls: Change the World) is “a global action campaign for educating girls.” There will be a companion curriculum launched on October 11, 2013, The International Day of the Girl. The curriculum will be free of charge and educators can fill out a form to be notified when the curriculum is available.

There is also the 10×10 Book Club with toolkits for book clubs for two specific books so far (they will be adding more), as well as young adult and middle grade toolkits.