Saad bin Mohammad talks about art, life and philosophy. He boasts an easy confidence that may easily perturb you. However, amusingly, the man possesses the prudence of a mystic allaying all foolish jitters.
The Bidoun Library, a project by the nonprofit Middle Eastern culture magazine, Bidoun, is a traveling collection of books that has been installed in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai, New York City, Cairo, Beirut, and now, London.
Demonstrating its long-term commitment to the Arabian audience in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Cartoon Network launched a free-to-air Arabic language channel last year, known as “Cartoon Network Arabic.” It broadcasts a line of its own shows dubbed in Arabic. It’s a free alternative to the subscription-based Cartoon Network channel offered in the Middle East via the Orbit Showtime Network, despite the varying differences in programming and available languages.
NAIROBI, Kenya: A new, first-of-its-kind book is giving an inside look at the lives of Somali pirates.
‘Islamic Science Rediscovered’ also known as ‘Sultans of Science’, the global traveling exhibition created by Dubai and Cape Town based, MTE Studios returns revamped to United States due to popular demand.
NEW YORK: Winter nights are long and cold in Stockholm. Their chill permeates some recent Swedish fiction.
TOKYO: The high point of life for a group of aimless Japanese men in their 20s is singing pop songs, eating beef jerky and watching a female neighbor undress — until one, for no reason, kills a middle-aged woman. The woman’s death galvanizes her group of friends --divorced, fiercely independent “obasans,” or aunties, in their late 30s — who plot revenge against the men, violence that escalates hilariously as the two groups pick each other off.
‘Islamic Science Rediscovered’ also known as ‘Sultans of Science’, the global traveling exhibition created by Dubai and Cape Town based, MTE Studios returns revamped to United States due to popular demand. The highly interactive exhibits will be showcased at the world renowned The Tech Museum from Sept. 3, 2011 until end of February 2012 after its successful premiere at Liberty Science Centre in New Jersey. The exhibition was also hosted by Ontario Science Centre and The TELUS World of Science in Canada.
NEW YORK: Her friends’ Lucite-and-white kitchens were far more inviting than the outdated, psychedelic wallpaper and avocado-colored appliances that greeted Jeannine Anckaitis at home during the late '80s.
SYDNEY: Philip Roth, the American author of the 1960s cultural touchstone “Portnoy’s Complaint” and more than two dozen other novels, was named Wednesday as the winner of the Man Booker International Prize for fiction.
MADRID: The London-based Royal Society science academy has won one of Spain’s prestigious Prince of Asturias award for its contribution to world knowledge.
Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, left, Russian Minister of Culture Aleksandr Avdeev and Director of the State Hermitage museum Mikhail Piotrovsky open the exhibition "Roads of Arabia: Archeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia" at the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, on May 16, 2011. (AP)
NEW YORK: A decades-long dispute between Russia and an Orthodox Jewish group over ownership of holy texts collected for centuries by influential rabbis and seized by the Soviet Union has jolted the US art world, threatening an end to major cultural loans between the two countries.
Language is an expression of culture and part of it. It is an expression of shared assumptions and transmits implicit values. Syed Neaz Ahmad examines the attitude toward women held by some members of society which unfortunately becomes part of the experience of all.
The Salwa Zeidan Gallery will be holding its next trio exhibit, “Truth” with the support of Sheikh Mohammad Bin Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan on May 17. The exhibition will be from 7 p.m. till 9:30 p.m. The artists featured are Iraqi-Dutch Nedim Kufi, British-Iranian Kourosh Salehi and Emirati Fatema Al Mazrouie.
“The Sandalwood Tree” (Atria Books), by Elle Newmark: If you like your love stories sweeping and wrapped in history, “The Sandalwood Tree” by Elle Newmark has it all.
— 'Edge of Arabia' Group makes $1 million
— Money raised will go to art workshops in Saudi Arabia
— 42 Auction records broken
NEW YORK: A new widely anticipated six-volume cookbook with 1,500 recipes and a $625 price tag has won rave reviews but also a dose of skepticism.
In Al-Andalus, gardens had more than just an aesthetic role. The orchards grew aromatic plants, fruit trees and vegetables not only to please the senses of sight and smell, but also for agricultural purposes. This aspect introduces the contribution of the era to not only religion but also to enrichment of natural resources and food sources.
LOS ANGELES: Mega-selling mystery author Dan Brown has taken over writing duties on the film adaptation of "The Lost Symbol."
ROSEVILLE, California: Fire officials say a Northern California mall was evacuated after nearly 5,000 holiday revelers showed up for a "flash mob" organized by a local choral society.
NEW YORK: Police stopped a driver for running a red light and discovered more than 500 pounds of marijuana inside his minivan, authorities said on Monday.
The boundaries between professional historiography, moral commitment and fiction have been re-examined in new publications on the troubled land of Israel and Palestine. Professor Ilan Pappe, an acclaimed political historian from the University of Exeter and expert on Palestinian-Israeli relations, has recently published four challenging books.
George Haddad represents one of the few stories that mark true struggle, the determination to follow passion, and making it last. The first thing you notice about him is his fanaticism for life. He incorporates the passion for life with photography and other arts, like kite surfing, playing music and yoga.
The book answers yesterday’s thoughts and tomorrow’s wonders. The present work by Muhammad Mustafa Al-Azami is significant in that it is also a comparative study with the Old and New Testaments.
A broom used to clean the Kaaba, maps of the Arabian Peninsula, a plan of the city of Makkah and a telegram from Bahrain to England dating back to the spring of 1938 have all been on display at London’s Royal Geographical Society for the past month.
The first British Muslim woman on record to have visited the Holy Cities of Madinah and Makkah
Mesaharati is a 30-day job created especially for Ramadan that requires a man with a special drum to go around his neighborhood early in the morning to wake up people to eat suhoor (starting of the fast meal) before Fajr prayer, signifying the start of the day’s fast.
Haji Noor Deen Mi Guangjiang is a Chinese calligrapher extraordinaire who has been producing Chinese-Arabic calligraphic art for over a decade. Born in 1963 in Yucheng, Shadong province of China, Haji Noor Deen was the first Chinese national conferred with the honorable Certificate of Arabic Calligrapher in Egypt in 1997.
Abdullah Bahadi believes history is priceless. That’s why Bahadi, a photographer, aims to document old Jeddah to present a proper perspective. His goal is to keep the memory of his ancestors alive through images, especially now that people are taking the old historical area for granted even though it’s falling apart.
After six eventful decades of high drama of soaring hopes and profound disappointments India remains, more united than ever, the world’s largest democratic nation, a unique model of a working democracy, and the experiment goes on. Guha magnificently tells that riveting story of the most plural democracy in his monumental works, India After Gandhi and Makers of Modern India.
Raja Alem is a writer of many genres with a rich way with words. When reading her thoughts, whether through her stories, published letters or prose, we receive vivid imagery of the scenes she imagines and remembers. Most of these come from her home city of Makkah, a place that retains great global spiritual significance and which has drastically changed since her childhood.
Edge of Arabia began with a focus on artistic exchange between Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.
Since its first exhibition in 2008, the foundation has taken its show to Berlin, Venice, Dubai, Sharjah and Istanbul.
Saudi Photographer AbuBaker Balfaqih has made it to the people category finalist at the National Geographic 2010 photography contest. The photographer did not win the contest , but being chosen as one of the finalists was enough for him.
T H E S H O P, Jeddah’s funky vintage boutique, has other treasures besides 1970’s Dior sunglasses and padded jackets from 80s. Tucked behind Ligne Roset on Al-Rawdah Street, T H E S H O P is also an underground art gallery, displaying emerging talents that have yet to sell out and go mainstream!
DHAHRAN: Saudi Aramco is hosting a nine-day Eid festival, beginning from Wednesday, with a variety of cultural, educational and entertainment programs as part of the oil giant’s social responsibility.
