WASHINGTON: “Arabia 3-D” made its debut on Tuesday at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History at a glittering movie premiere worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, attended by an impressive array of Washington diplomats, Middle East experts, and members of Congress.
Ever since Khaled Hosseini’s bestseller, “The Kite Runner,” descended into the minds of its readers, every kite has piqued our curiosity. Fortunately, Riyadh’s kite runners have given flight to a kite-flying carnival in the Kingdom.
Dubai is the ultimate destination. The best line of DJs, artists, singers, performers and entertainers are lined up just for you. So, it is time to give yourselves a minute and go through the list that might catch you by surprise.
Arab News will be your guide to the hottest destinations and events in the Middle East that will stun you beyond belief. Our first destination is to the Emirate capital, Abu Dhabi.
The subtitle of Michelle Shephard’s book, “Guantanamo’s Child: The Untold Story of Omar Khadr,” seems to be misleading. How can this be an untold story when news about the Khadr family has been splashed not only in Canadian media but also throughout the world?
LONDON: Spies complain that intelligence is often sketchy — and here’s the proof.
Artist James Hart Dyke on Monday unveiled a series of paintings and drawings he created during a year embedded with Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency — an uncharacteristic act of openness for the secretive organization.
Sultan Idress Al-Nasser is a 39-year-old artist who is on a mission to educate Saudis art and culture.
A growing interest in contemporary art in Saudi Arabia is creating a steady increase in the number of artists, which is slowly but surely going to put them at par with their international counterparts.
A large audience gathered at Dar Al-Hekma College on Jan. 19 and 20 for the 16th Senior Students’ Exhibition of its Interior Design Program.
The Changing Middle East: A New Look at Regional Dynamics” by Bahgat Korany is a response to the widely held opinion that very little is changing for the better in the Middle East. The Lebanese quagmire has spread to Iraq, Sudan and Somalia, and the Palestinian question still seems far away from a solution. However, this vision of the Middle East is only partially true; underneath the surface, a cauldron is boiling with discontent, disillusions and rage.
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.
PARIS: British rocker Peter Doherty, who is to make his acting debut in Paris this month, said he is taking dance lessons to prepare for his new role.
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.
French surgeon Dr. Maurice Bucaille (1920-1998) had a growing interest in studying Qur’anic verses in the light of science; consequently, he analyzed if they are compatible with modern science. Yet, he was not satisfied with the English and French translations of the Holy Qur’an that was available to him. Instead, he wanted to study the verses in their original language: Arabic.
No change in the Arabian Peninsula’s history has had so sudden and profound an effect as the revelation of Islam. Islam had a decisive and almost instantaneous impact on the material culture of Arabia as the archaeological finds from the Kingdom exhibited first in Paris and now in Barcelona show.
The Saudi Arabian exhibition, formerly at the Louvre, re-opened as Rutas de Arabia: Los tesoros arqueológicos de Arabia Saudí en España on Nov. 12 at La Caixa Foundation, Barcelona, Spain. It is open until Feb. 20, 2011.
Jonathan Safran Foer invites us to explore the truth behind our eating habits in his book, “Eating Animals,”— a best seller, which has been translated into 36 languages.
Prince Saud Al Saud is a young, enterprising 25-year-old self-professed photographer. A pioneer in his own right, he has provided the Kingdom with its first full-fledged photography production house for the purpose of raising the quality of photography in the Kingdom.
His print on canvas photographs were recently on display at the Young Saudi Artists Exhibition at ATHR Gallery.
For Maude Besancenot, wife of the French ambassador to the Kingdom, the Islamic Arts Exhibition that she is hosting at her residence in Riyadh is a cause for personal pleasure.
It’s the return of the Prodigal Son. Edge of Arabia, the nonprofit organization that is responsible for catapulting contemporary art from Saudi Arabia into the international art arena, is returning home.
Both the cover and back page of “The Punishment of Gaza” are dramatic. The front cover shows a man gazing at damaged buildings that suggest that they had been devastated by the fury nature’s earthquakes. Conversely, they in fact represent the cruelty of man — toppled by bombs that were dropped on populated areas and killing innocent civilians, or battered by shells and missiles. The author, Gideon Levy, is an Israeli journalist who chronicles this human tragedy. Levy had covered the Gaza Strip for the newspaper, Haaretz. He reports in the book’s introduction that Israelis never really let Gaza go: “The jailer pulled out of the jail and was now holding its prisoners captive from without. Yes, Gaza was and still is the largest prison on earth, a gruesome experiment performed on living human beings.”
Alain De Botton is a sharp observer of the way we live. He notices the smallest details and detects the slightest changes. His gift for analyzing and dissecting the truth is tempered by a remarkable ability to explain and summarize complex thoughts in a clear language.
For nearly three weeks next month, America’s most famed and busiest performing arts facility will be transformed into a high temple of India’s varied culture. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, will celebrate India with an extraordinary fare of classical, folkloric and contemporary masterpieces from the country.
Call him “the Picasso of India,” “the Sultan of Art,” or “the most controversial figure of majestic paintings,” Maqbool Fida Husain remains to be what he is. If art is architecture then he is the architect. If art would take form of a profound man, he is the only intellectual born to take shape of it — justifiably so.
A thousand words cannot do justice to the man, but only reflect his unblemished spirit.
Nasser Al-Salim, a young emerging painter with extensive training in the tholoth, farsi, diywani, jalidiywani and roqa’a scripts, used his unique skilled penmanship to produce his latest silk screen print on paper artwork called “Tarikh Al-Kaaba” (The history of the Kaaba), which was recently exhibited at the Young Saudi Artists exhibition at Athr Gallery.
Michael Steinberger’s “Au Revoir to All That: The Rise and Fall of French Cuisine” will please lovers and critics of French cuisine and good food aficionados as well. After discovering the pleasure of eating good food in France, Steinberger’s deception at the current culinary scene in France matches the high respect he has for French gastronomy. In this brilliant and entertaining book, he explains the origin and causes of the rise and fall of French cuisine.
Sitting alone on the shore and collecting whatever the sea throws nearby are what helps Lebanese artist Chucrallah Fattouh to disconnect from the world and paint.
It was a magical evening of a visual, sound and flavor festival, which combined traditional Islamic arts, music and cuisine.
More than 130 young artists are participating and presenting their artwork for the graffiti competition and exhibition, which is taking place at Jeddah’s Red Sea Mall since two weeks.
