Visit: Bolstering Pak-China cultural relations

ISLAMABAD:
In a bid to foster Pak-China cultural ties, a 37-member delegation of National Defence University (NDU) China visited Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) here on Wednesday.
The Chinese representatives were invited by National Defence University (NDU) Pakistan to showcase Pakistan’s soft and enlightened image through visual and performing arts.
The delegates were taken on a tour to the National Art Gallery where paintings by some of the legendary artists including Sadequain were on display.

Art show: Bold strokes, soft colours, big impact

Hajra Mansoor’s paintings at Nomad Gallery, depicting feminine beauty, are breathtakingly beautiful.
Mansoor, who has been painting for 40 years and is a renowned artist, was recently awarded the special title of Safir-e-Mashriq (ambassador of the east) in addition to a Pride of Performance national award. She is known for painting diverse genres such as classism, oriental formalism and neo-romanticism.
The gallery showcases 40 pieces painted in soft pastel colours. At times her work, depicting doe eyed female characters, seems like an abundance of perfection until she shifts to more serious issues, portraying a female domestic violence victim, morally and physically abused by her husband. Instead of using harsh, abrasive colours to depict socially unjust situations, her work achieves the same impact with softer colours

Orlando Bloom: The traditionalist actor

LOS ANGELES: British actor Orlando Bloom, who will be seen in Paul WS Anderson’s The Three Musketeers, says, “I’m old-school English, so I suppose I’m quite protective, especially of time. Now that I’m a father, every moment is precious,” said The Lord of the Rings actor who has a 10-month-old son Flynn, with supermodel wife Miranda Kerr.
The actor started his career with television but tasted success as Legolas in The Lord of the Rings. In a decade long career, Bloom has been part of many good projects like Pirates of the Caribbean, Troy and others. The actor is now excited about his new film The Three Musketeers where he plays the Duke of Buckingham.

Ghazal loses its voice

From tiny living rooms made entirely of floral cotton tapestry to large drawing rooms with striped silk curtains, the voice of Jagjit Singh cut across the middle- and upper-class barrier in India during the '80s and the '90s.

As the sun set, the first bars of Jagjit and his wife Chitra's music started wafting across neighbourhoods in small towns and bustling metros. Woh kaagaz ki kashti, they sang nostalgically, woh baarish ka paani.

On Monday morning, Jagjit Singh, now 70, breathed his last. He had been in hospital since September 23, when he suffered a sudden brain haemorrhage a few hours before he was due to perform with compatriot Ghulam Ali at Shanmukhanand Hall.

Two surgeries were performed over the next couple of weeks but doctors could neither save him, nor revive him from a coma. There was some improvement over the last three days, but a cardio-respiratory arrest on Monday morning was the last straw. "Our efforts to revive him failed," said Dr Nitin Dange, a neurosurgeon at Lilavati.

BlackBerry reports problems in Europe, Middle East

BlackBerry customers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa are experiencing problems, the smartphone's maker said in a brief statement Monday.
Research in Motion Ltd. gave few details about the issues, but telephone companies whose customers use the company's smartphones said that Internet access and BlackBerry's popular messenger service appeared to be affected.
T-Mobile UK said in messages posted online that there was an "issue with sending and receiving via the BlackBerry Messenger service as well as using BlackBerry Internet services." Vodafone UK and other phone companies left their customers similar messages.

Jagjit Singh`s ghazals transcended boundaries: Pakistani daily

Islamabad: The talent of Jagjit Singh crossed cultural and national boundaries, said a Pakistani daily Tuesday, paying rich tributes to the renowned Indian ghazal singer who died in a Mumbai hospital.
Singh, 70, known as much for his ghazals and bhajans as for his work in Hindi cinema, died after a brain haemorrhage Monday. He had a loyal following in Pakistan.
The News International editorially said that the ghazal singer`s death has "saddened his admirers across the subcontinent, and indeed, the world".
Describing him as the pioneer of the modern ghazal, the editorial said that Singh "brought the dying tradition alive in India - adding to the traditional repertoire of love songs with more philosophical verses, which touched on many aspects of human life: the brief beauty of childhood, the suffering caused by loss and the doubts which confront us in life".

THE AVENGERS: THREE NEW IMAGES NOW AND THE TRAILER HITS NEXT WEEK!

Earlier this week, we brought you a gallery of images from director Joss Whedon’s forthcoming Marvel Studios film The Avengers, featuring Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson),

Mexicans help keep Cuban dance alive

 

 Down through the centuries, a Cuban dance which harks back to the elegance of European royal courts has survived among Latin America's tropical, pulsating rhythms with help from fans in Mexico.

Break up fears for New Zealand oil slick ship

  
New Zealand said it was preparing for an environmental disaster Friday as a container ship stranded off the North Island threatened to break up and spill oil into the pristine Bay of Plenty.

Swedish poet Transtromer wins Nobel in literature

STOCKHOLM: The 2011 Nobel Prize in literature was awarded Thursday to Tomas Transtromer, a Swedish poet whose surrealistic works about the mysteries of the human mind won him acclaim as one of the most important Scandinavian writers since World War II.

Steve Jobs legacy reaches far beyond Apple

SAN FRANCISCO: Steve Jobs was once known as the man who saved Apple computers. He will be remembered as one of the rare few who changed the world.