Sunday, October 25, 2009

Real Places Behind Famously Frightening Stories

’Tis the spectral season, when darkness approaches sooner, and chilly temperatures bring folks around hearths--literally and figuratively--to tell ghost stories. Light your pumpkin and read about the real places behind some of the world’s classic spooky tales. PICTURES HERE.

By Robin T. Reid
Smithsonian.com, October 16, 2009

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Vintage costume photos in celebration of Halloween

Vintage costume photographs Fr the collection of Bob Bragman

Vintage costume photographs MORE HERE.

A Guide to the Chuseok Ancestral Memorial Service

The ancestral memorial service is the central event of Chuseok, Korea's most important holiday. It's a complex affair, and many Koreans are unsure about the principles for setting out the Chuseok ritual table or the procedure for the service and just follow what others do. Here, the Chosun Ilbo explains the correct procedure in easy-to-follow steps. MORE HERE.

Yoon Do-hyun Poised to Conquer U.S.

Celebrated rock band YB will make their U.S. debut early next year on the Universal label. A documentary of their recent U.S. tour will be aired on PBS as well. "I'm studying English like crazy," lead singer Yoon Do-hyun told the Chosun Ilbo on Wednesday. MORE HERE.

Congress extends hate crime protections to gays

Thursday, October 22, 2009

(10-22) 15:00 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

Physical attacks on people based on their sexual orientation will join the list of federal hate crimes in a major expansion of the civil rights-era law Congress approved Thursday and sent to President Barack Obama.

A priority of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., that had been on the congressional agenda for a decade, the measure expands current law to include crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. The measure is named for Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming college student murdered 11 years ago. MORE HERE!

Versailles get dolled up for visual-kei fest

Special to The Japan Times

With dozens of Japanese bands trying to crack the West over the last 20 years, whoever would have guessed visual-kei would be the first genre to truly succeed? MORE HERE.

News photo
All dressed up: The members of Versailles (clockwise from top left: Kamijo, Hizaki, Teru and Yuki) say their sense of fashion is just as important as their music.
News photo

The age of listless, wary, anxiety-ridden and insecure young men

Pity the young Japanese male. For him, it’s shock piled upon shock. No wonder he’s reeling.

The monthly magazine Nikkei Woman (November) lists what career-oriented men have had to contend with over the past 20 years. 1990 brought the bursting of the so-called bubble economy, the beginning of the end of opportunity as we knew it. 1993 saw in the “hiring ice age”—firms hit by the recession froze hiring, condemning all too many college grads to drudgery as part-time “freeters.” One glimmer of light over the next few years was the venture firm Livedoor, fronted by flamboyant celeb-entrepreneur Takafumi Horie, aka Horiemon, symbol of commercial imagination and path-breaking derring-do. His arrest on fraud charges in 2006 doused the flicker of hope he represented. Then in 2008 came the Lehman shock. Japan’s economy didn’t quite die, but doesn’t quite live either. MORE HERE.

Ultimate Sunday morning toaster grills your bacon as well as your bread

By Beth Hale
Last updated at 8:13 AM on 23rd October 2009

It's the perfect answer for anyone in need of a speedy breakfast - a toaster which can also grill a couple of rashers of bacon.

The device, called the Toast N Grill, has a normal toaster-style slot along the top for two slices of bread.

But it also has a mini-oven compartment underneath, in which the user can grill a slice of bacon and then keep it warm while preparing the toast. MORE HERE.

Enlarge Tefal

Tefal launches all-new Toast N Bacon device to create the perfect bacon butty in minutes

FFRF sues IRS, Geithner and California over 'Minister of Gospel' tax benefits

October 20, 10:08 AMAtheism ExaminerTrina Hoaks

The national Freedom From Religion Foundation, along with 21 of its California members, has filed a nationally-significant federal lawsuit in Sacramento, challenging tax benefits for "ministers of the gospel," commonly known as "the parsonage exemption." MORE HERE.

What Happened To All The Ferocious Female Punks?

By Rae Alexandra

Posted on 10/21/09 at 03:43:41 pm

In ‘Never Mind The Bollocks: Women Rewrite Rock’ - Amy Raphael’s 1995 examination of women in rock subcultures - Huggy Bear bassist, Niki Elliott, announced: "True punk rock feminism will never die."

"Of course it won’t!" we all thought, high on the empowerment and political discourses that riot grrrl had brought us dissatisfied, alternative girls. "Revolution Girl Style Now!", Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna screamed at us over and over again. MORE HERE.

Friday, October 23, 2009

'Jesus's face' spotted on the toilet door in Ikea Glasgow

By Tom Chivers
Published: 11:16AM BST 19 Oct 2009
Jesus's face spotted on the toilet door in Ikea Glasgow
Jesus, or possibly Gandalf, as spotted on the door of the gents' toilets in a Glasgow branch of Ikea Photo: JOHN GUNION - THE SUN

A bearded face, with long flowing hair, is plainly visible on the wooden door of the men’s toilet in the Braehead outlet of the Swedish furniture and meatballs giant. MORE HERE.

Fry & Hitch v the Catholic Church

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Last night, I went along to the Intelligence Squared debate on whether "the Catholic Church is a force for good in the world" at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster. It was a fairly grand affair, not least because of the impressive venue, and Intelligence Squared had assembled quite a panel to thrash out the issue. Speaking for the motion were Archbishop John Onaiyekan, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria and Anne Widdecombe, the Conservative MP and outspoken Catholic convert. Speaking against the motion were Christopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great, and Stephen Fry, who is well known for his humanist views (in fact, Laurie Taylor interviewed him about this in New Humanist a few years ago). The debate was chaired by the journalist Zeinab Badawi. MORE HERE.

New Conservative Bible will eliminate 'liberal' text

Version removes adultery story

By Bob Smietana • THE TENNESSEAN • October 18, 2009

If Andy Schlafly has his way, there will be no socialists or snake handlers in the Bible. No woman caught in adultery. And, definitely, no Stephen Colbert.

Schlafly, founder of Conservapedia.com, wants to save the Scriptures from liberals with his latest venture, the Conservative Bible Project. He says translations like the New International Version have added socialist ideals to the Good Book. But his rewrite of the Bible has drawn criticism from biblical scholars, liberals and conservatives. MORE HERE.

The Bone Collectors

It's time to bring relics back to the Catholic Church.

Cross. Click image to expand.Some believe that listening to heavy metal and soaking in its sometimes faux macabre culture can lead to the devil. It led me instead to a fascination with holy relics. I was perhaps the only teenager in my suburban Los Angeles town who yearned to see bones and other pieces of sanctified stiffs encased in glass. That was what drew me to ask an ancient woman at my Catholic church's administration office what relic was housed in the church's altar—a simple question, I thought. She admitted that not only had she never been asked that question, but she had no idea and called in Father Dennis. He was equally in the dark. MORE HERE.

Controversial Christian zoo skinned tiger Tira and stored her head in freezer

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:52 PM on 19th October 2009

A Christian zoo decapitated a dead tiger and cut off its paws before it dumped the carcass on farmland and stored the head in a freezer, an investigation has revealed.

The female Bengal tiger called Tira was skinned after she died of natural causes and then buried in a black bin bag at Noah's Ark Zoo Farm.

Investigators also discovered she was on loan from the owner of the Great British Circus - one of the last big top shows in Britain to use live tigers in performances. MORE HERE.

Tira the Bengal tiger, who was decapitated after her death

Natural causes: Tira the Bengal tiger, who was decapitated after her death

Monday, October 19, 2009

Hiroyuki Sanada to appear in final season of 'Lost'

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Hiroyuki Sanada to appear in final season of 'Lost'

Hiroyuki Sanada

TOKYO —

Actor Hiroyuki Sanada, 49, will be appearing in the 6th and final season of the popular American TV series “Lost.” He will play “Dogen,” an important character that holds the key to the story of the final season, producers said, adding that the part has been especially written for Sanada.

The 6th season will air in the U.S. from early 2010 and be shown on pay TV in Japan next summer.

Nigerian Children Deemed Witches Tortured

Thousands of Youngsters Denounced by Renegade Churches as Practicing Witchcraft Have Suffered, Died From Exorcisms

(AP) The nine-year-old boy lay on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling with ants, staring blindly at the wall.

His family pastor had accused him of being a witch, and his father then tried to force acid down his throat as an exorcism. It spilled as he struggled, burning away his face and eyes. The emaciated boy barely had strength left to whisper the name of the church that had denounced him - Mount Zion Lighthouse.

A month later, he died. MORE HERE.

  • Accused child witches Jane (left) and Mary (right), standing with other children accused of witchcraft, at the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network in Eket, Nigeria on Aug. 18, 2009. Jane's mother tried to saw off the top of her skull after a pastor denounced her. Mary, 15, is just beginning to think about boys and how they will look at the scar tissue on her face caused when her mother doused her in caustic soda. Photo

    Accused child witches Jane (left) and Mary (right), standing with other children accused of witchcraft, at the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network in Eket, Nigeria on Aug. 18, 2009. Jane's mother tried to saw off the top of her skull after a pastor denounced her. Mary, 15, is just beginning to think about boys and how they will look at the scar tissue on her face caused when her mother doused her in caustic soda. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)


Albino victim evicted from safe-house

By Erick David Nampesya
BBC Swahili service, Ngara, Tanzania

mariam an albino in Tanzania
Mariam Staford Bandaba is too scared to return to her home village

One year ago, Mariam Staford Bandaba, an albino woman living in Tanzania, was viciously attacked by a machete-wielding gang who tried to kill her and sell her remains for witchcraft.

She escaped with her life, but only just. MORE HERE.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Musician Kazuhiko Kato found hanged at Karuizawa hotel

NAGANO, Oct. 17 KYODO
Musician Kazuhiko Kato found hanged at Karuizawa hotel
Musician Kazuhiko Kato (file photo taken in October, 2006), founder of the Sadistic Mika Band.

Musician Kazuhiko Kato, founder of the Sadistic Mika Band which was internationally successful in the 1970s, was found hanged at a hotel in the resort town of Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture on Saturday, police said. MORE HERE.

If God Had Wanted Me To Be Accepting Of Gays, He Would Have Given Me The Warmth And Compassion To Do So

I don't question God. The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall put none above Him. Which is why I know that if it were part of God's plan for me to stop viciously condemning others based solely on their sexual preference, He would have seen fit—in His infinite wisdom and all—to have given me the tiniest bit of human empathy necessary to do so. MORE HERE.

Stop abstinence education from being funded in health care reform

Last week, the Senate Finance Committee passed an amendment by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) that authorized $50 million dollars for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in the Baucus' health care reform bill.

The good news is that abstinence-only programs are not funded in any other health care bill in the House and Senate, and President Obama has clearly stated that he does not want these sex education programs to be funded.

The bad news is that the Secular Coalition has learned that many Senators on both sides of the aisle are afraid of opposing these failed sex education programs because they don't want to offend their religious and socially conservative constituents. MORE HERE!

Maze of underground caves could be the original site of the ancient Greek Labyrinth

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:39 AM on 17th October 2009

An elaborate network of underground tunnels topped by a stone quarry on the Greek island of Crete may be the original site of the ancient Labyrinth – the mythical maze where the half-bull, half-man Minotaur lived.

The site, located near the town of Gortyn in the south of the island, is believed to have as much claim to be the Labyrinth as the Minoan palace at Knossos, 20 miles away.

Knossos, which was excavated a century ago had largely been heralded as the home of the legendary King Minos, who commissioned the Labyrinth to contain the Minotaur, a terrifying hybrid born of a union between his wife and a bull. MORE HERE.


An 1821 illustration of the Labyrinth at Gortyn

An 1821 illustration of the Labyrinth at Gortyn


Take That, Dick Cheney!

Last week, in his first successful piece of legislation, freshman Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) persuaded the Senate to approve a measure banning federal contracts with defense companies that use mandatory binding arbitration clauses in employment contracts that prevent sexual assault victims from suing. The measure not only proves once again that elections matter, but it also comes as a major rebuke to none other than former Vice President Dick Cheney. MORE HERE.

Rape case to force US defence firms into the open

Senate passes measure prompted by case of woman prevented from suing over alleged rape by Halliburton/KBR colleagues

Jamie Leigh Jones

Jamie Leigh Jones testifying in Washington in 2007. Photograph: Greg Nash/AP

US defence firms are to be barred from lucrative government contracts if they refuse to allow employees access to the courts, after a woman working for a Halliburton subsidiary in Iraq was prevented from taking legal action over an alleged gang rape by fellow workers. MORE HERE.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Lee Jun-ki turns waiter in drama "Hero"

Korean actor Lee Jun-ki as waiter in TV series "Hero" [MBC]

Photographs of Hallyu star Lee Jun-ki playing a nightclub waiter in upcoming TV series "Hero" were released on Friday. MORE HERE.

Japan's new hi-tech 'graveyards'

Relatives visiting the graveyard facility
Relatives can come and visit the ashes of their loved ones in the hi-tech grave

By Roland Buerk
BBC News, Tokyo

It is a problem faced by everyone in the end or by their relatives left behind - finding a place to spend eternity. MORE HERE.

Ridiculous Study Blames Feminism for Non-Existent 'Happiness Gap' Between Men and Women

By Barbara Ehrenreich, Tomdispatch.com. Posted October 14, 2009.


Much-discussed study claims that women are more depressed relative to men in recent decades, when it actually suggests that neither marriage nor children make women happy. MORE HERE.

Republican Senate Sex Scandals Point Back to Secretive Conservative Christian "Family"

By Bill Berkowitz, Religion Dispatches. Posted October 12, 2009.


It was a hot summer full of sex scandals for GOP members of "The Family," the exclusive conservative Christian group with designs on DC power.

cstreet
The C-Street house in DC.

Before the Tea Party Express brought tens of thousands to protest in the nation’s capital, and before town hall meetings about health care devolved into shout downs, there was the story of the boys of C Street. MORE HERE.

Morals Without God

Without God, we will live like animals!

After listening to the debate between Bill O'Reilly and Richard Dawkins, it struck me again that the resistance to evolutionary theory largely stems from the illusion that without God there can be no morality. Some believers feel threatened by evolutionary theory not because the theory is right or wrong -- the evidence doesn't seem to matter much to them -- but because accepting it would mean accepting that we have been created by natural processes including our morality. The final part is what bothers them the most. MORE HERE.


Monday, October 12, 2009

Reconsider Columbus Day

Saved from the sea, the secret Tudor hoard of the Mary Rose on display for the first time

By Beth Hale
Last updated at 7:24 PM on 12th October 2009

She was the pride of Henry VIII's fleet.

After 34 years at sea and three wars, the Mary Rose was regarded by many as invincible.

But on July 19, 1545, as she defended England from a French invasion force, she sank - taking 500 men and a vast treasure trove with her to the seabed.

The ship was painstakingly recovered from the Solent in 1982. Yet only a fraction of her 19,000 artefacts have been displayed - until now. MORE HERE.


A tankard used by sailors to drink their daily ration of gallon of beer (left) and a gold half sovereign dated 1544 and bearing the image of Henry VIII. It represented a month's pay for a sailor at the time


Pigs Use Mirrors to Find Hidden Food

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In just five hours, an average farm pig can learn how to interpret an image in the mirror and use it to find hidden food.

Scientists consider the ability to use a mirror a sign of complex cognitive processing and an indication of a certain level of awareness. In addition to humans and some primates, dolphins, elephants, magpies and a famous African grey parrot named Alex have all been known to retrieve objects or remove marks on their body using a mirror. Now it looks like pigs should be added to the list of clever critters that can master a mirror: After spending five hours with a mirror in their pen, seven out of eight pigs could use the reflection to find a hidden bowl of grub. MORE HERE.

Kimura says "Rain" co-star Lee is strict on himself

Japanese actor Takuya Kimura [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

Japanese actor Takuya Kimura said his co-star Lee Byung-hun of "I Come with the Rain" is kind toward others but strict with himself.

Kimura made the comment during a press conference on Friday for his thriller invited to show at the Gala Presentation category of the 14th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF).

The pic, helmed by Vietnamese-French filmmaker Tran Anh Hung, the 1995 Venice Film Festival winner for "Cyclo" is set for release on October 15. MORE HERE.

Lee to do best to impress "Rain" co-stars

South Korean actor Lee Byung-hun [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

Korean actor Lee Byung-hun said he will do his best to leave a good impression of South Korea on Hollywood actor Josh Hartnett and Japanese actor Takuya Kimura -- co-stars of their film "I Come with the Rain".

The 39-year-old actor made the remark on Friday during a press conference for their film "Rain" officially selected to show at the Gala Presentation category of the 14th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF).

The pic, helmed by Vietnamese-French filmmaker Tran Anh Hung, the 1995 Venice Film Festival winner for "Cyclo" is set for release on October 15. MORE HERE.

Heartthrob Trio Takes Busan by Storm


From left, “I Come With the Rain” co-stars Takuya Kimura, Lee Byung-hun and Josh Hartnett appear before fans Saturday at the 14th Pusan (Busan) International Film Festival (PIFF). / Courtesy of PIFF

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

BUSAN ― An international trio of heartthrobs ― Hollywood's Josh Hartnett, South Korea's Lee Byung-hun and Japan's Takyua Kimura ― stormed through Asia's largest film festival this weekend. MORE HERE

Sunday, October 11, 2009

"Sell The Vatican Save The World": Sarah Silverman's Campaign To End Hunger (VIDEO)

Columbus' Confusion About the New World

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus carried ideas that boded ill for Indies natives.

The Gallery Collection / Corbis

The European discovery of America opened possibilities for those with eyes to see. But Columbus was not one of them- More here.

  • By Edmund S. Morgan
  • Smithsonian magazine, October 2009

Saturday, October 10, 2009

God is not the Creator, claims academic

The notion of God as the Creator is wrong, claims a top academic, who believes the Bible has been wrongly translated for thousands of years.

Professor Ellen van Wolde, a respected Old Testament scholar and author, claims the first sentence of Genesis "in the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth" is not a true translation of the Hebrew. MORE HERE.

The past and present of bands tearing up Japan's underground scene

Friday, Oct. 9, 2009

News photo
Then and now: Yolz in the Sky formed in a music scene created in large part by artists such as Phew. JAMES HADFIELD PHOTO

Special to The Japan Times

Old school: Notable for Koichi Makigami's distinctive, Kabuki-influenced vocal style, Hikashu were, alongside P-Model and The Plastics, one of the defining bands of Japanese new wave and technopop, although from their poppy debut they quickly tacked in a more experimental direction. At Drive to 2010 they are notable for being one of only a handful of artists to perform at all three "Drive to . . . " events. MORE HERE.

Friday, Oct. 9, 2009

All aboard for Drive to 2010

J-Punk's ultimate bash celebrates 30 years


Special to The Japan Times

It's Aug. 28, 1979, and the audience dutifully files into the old Shinjuku Loft livehouse to take their places, seated on the floor in preparation for another night of quiet musical appreciation. This time, however, something strange starts to happen. People keep coming in, the audience have to shuffle forward, it starts to get tighter, a few people stand up. Soon, for the first time in Japan, a packed crowd of 300 people are standing to watch leading lights of the Japanese punk scene like Friction, Lizard and The Star Club blaze a trail out of the 1970s and into the uncertain world of the new decade. More HERE.


Taking the pill for past 40 years 'has put women off masculine men'

By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 4:33 PM on 08th October 2009

It ushered in the 1960s sexual revolution and gave women control over their own fertility.

But the Pill may also have changed women's taste in men, according to a study.

Scientists say the hormones in the oral contraceptive suppress a woman's interest in masculine men and make boyish men more attractive. Although the change occurs for just a few days each month, it may have been highly influential since use of the Pill began more than 40 years ago. MORE HERE.

50s

Classic men: In the Fifties, more masculine men like Burt Lancaster and Kurt Douglas were considered attractive


This article is bullshit - the pill has nothing to do with it. All the women I know who like pretty & boyish men were 1) never on the pill. 2) on the pill well after they had made up their sexual preferences.


New Jack the Ripper suspect was mortuary attendant who killed two more women

y Graham Smith
Last updated at 6:36 PM on 05th October 2009

An historian claims to have uncovered the identity of Jack the Ripper by using modern police forensic techniques.

Mei Trow also believes that the notorious Whitechapel murderer was responsible for the deaths of an additional two women.

He has concluded that Robert Mann, a local morgue attendant, was the killer who terrorised east in 1888 and who was officially credited with dismembering five prostitutes. MORE HERE.

Jack the Ripper attacks a woman

Another suspect: Historian Dr Mei Trow has claimed that Jack the Ripper was mortuary attendant Robert Mann and that he killed seven - not five - women

David Bowie to “Dance” as “LEGO Rock Band” Avatar

10/7/09, 2:36 pm EST

David Bowie will join his Lust for Life cohort Iggy Pop as an avatar in the upcoming LEGO Rock Band game, the singer’s official Website writes. An oval-headed, clasp-handed and all-around polygonal version of the Thin White Duke will appear in the game when the player performs Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.” It was previously revealed that a bare-chested, LEGO-ified Pop will sing “The Passenger” in the family-friendly version of the Rock Band franchise, as well as provide tutorials for the amateur rockers playing at home. The Guardian has footage of LEGO Bowie in LRB, and sadly, this is likely the closest we’ll get toward seeing David Bowie performing onstage any time soon. MORE HERE.

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Yoon Returns to Stage as Hedwig



The poster for the musical “Hedwig,” which begins its run in Seoul on Nov. 14.
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter

Celebrated rocker Yoon Do-hyun will return to the stage for the first time in 10 years in the musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." MORE HERE!

Stiletto Stoners

Stiletto Stoners

They've got killer careers and enviable social lives. They're also major potheads. Why are so many smart, successful women lighting up in their off-hours?

Photo Credit: Andrew McLeod

Macho behaviour is not so much testosterone fuelled as oestrogen fuelled

Men with higher levels of the female sex hormone oestrogen are more macho, a study shows.

Daniel Craig in Casino Royale: Macho behaviour is not so much testosterone fuelled as oestrogen fuelled
The new findings suggest hardmen like 007 star Daniel Craig may have their feminine side to thank for their enduring appeal to women - MORE HERE.

Children's book at top of US banned books list races up Amazon charts

And Tango Makes Three, the story of male penguins raising an orphaned chick that topped the US banned books list, experiences a huge surge in sales

Tango excerpt

An image from And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. Photograph: Simon & Schuster Children's Books - MORE HERE!

First ape woman suggests human ancestors may have started walking in pursuit of sex

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:43 PM on 02nd October 2009

She lived at the dawn of a new era, when chimps and people began walking (or climbing) along their own evolutionary trails. This is Ardi - the oldest member of the human family tree we've found so far.

Short, hairy and with long arms, she roamed the forests of Africa 4.4million years ago.

Her discovery, reported in detail for the first time today, sheds light on a crucial period when we were just leaving the trees. Some scientists said she could provide evidence that our ancestors first started walking upright in the pursuit of sex. MORE HERE & HERE!!

skeleton
humanoid
Ardi's skeleton (left) revealed she was 4ft tall and weighed 7st 12oz

Lee Byung-heon to Return to TV as Spy

Actor Lee Byung-heon is to return to the small screen as a secret agent in the huge-budget drama “Iris” after he gained global recognition through the Hollywood film “G.I.Joe.”

The drama is a spy action thriller dealing with the love and betrayals of South and North Korean secret agents. More HERE!

Origami insects and fish by Sipho Mabona

Praying mantis, wet folded form one uncut square of paper

A female praying mantis sits on a leaf...MORE HERE!!

V-ROCK FESTIVAL '09

V-ROCK FESTIVAL09 MOREHERE!!

Making sure nothing is lost in translation

Special to The Japan Times

"The Coast of Utopia" a 10-hour-long trilogy of plays — comprising "Voyage," "Shipwreck" and "Salvage" — was originally written in 2002 by Tom Stoppard for the National Theatre in London. An award-winning English playwright, Stoppard first shot to fame with "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead" in 1966 and was knighted for his accomplishments in 1997. More Here.

News photo
Russian realism: Hiroshi Abe as Alexander Herzen, "the father of Russian Socialism," hands his book "From the Other Shore" to his son Sasha played by Jun Sakaguchi, in "The Coast of Utopia" by Tom Stoppard. ©MASAHIKO YAKOU

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