Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for France] 

The singer had jetted into Paris for the event having been in Milan in Italy earlier in the day.
As she left the event the singer let loose wearing her bright red locks in cherub curls which tumbled around her shoulders and down her back.
Earlier in the day, and in a different country in Milan, she was seen sporting a fishtail plait, a look fast becoming one of her favourites, as she spent time with her friend Roberta Armani.
The singer kept things causal in a blue striped shirt and a pair of cream trousers wearing a pair of gold aviators as she met up with her pal.
All white: Rihanna was dressed in a white tiered dress with crocheted detail at the beauty brand's event and wore her hair in cherub curls around her shoulders
Rihanna had taken to the stage the day before for the skincare company and performed her current single California King Bed in another angelic white frock.
The singer is on a jetting setting tour of Europe and after spending less than 16 hour in Milan followed by a brief trip to Paris and Rihanna flew into London for a show last night.
Quick break: Earlier in the day in Italy Rihanna had managed to squeeze some time in with her friend Roberta Armani before heading to Pairs
Why thank you! As the pair parted Roberta gave the singer an Armani Prive box
But it was just a quick trip to Britain’s capital and she was back on her plane heading to Paris again this morning.
Last night she tweeted: ‘Just did a private show in London, abt to eat a steak, and get back on my plane #G5jettin’
White dress code: On Thursday Rihanna had rocked the stage at a Nivea celebration in another demure white dress
Her white and demure outfits seen in the past few days are in stark contrast to her look worn at the star-studded Met Ball on Monday night.
source: dailymail

VIA Rihanna looks picture perfect in Paris as she stops off in France

• Filming Locations: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA 
• New Mexico, USA
• Paris, France
• Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Mexico

VIA [VIDEO Trailer] Colombiana (2011)

An informed source at the Center of International Legal Affairs in Iran’s Presidential Office said on Tuesday that an appellate court in Belgium’s eastern city of Liège, situated nearly 90 kilometers (55 miles) southeast of the capital, Brussels, has passed the final verdict in favor of the restitution of the Iranian heritage, IRNA reported.

The source, whose name was not revealed, praised efforts made by Iranian legal experts and officials at Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handcraft and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) for following up on the case.

The contents of the nine boxes were looted over the past years from a 3000-year-old ancient site near the village of Khorvin, situated 80 kilometers (49 miles) northeast of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Following Iran's demand, the Brussels court ordered the seizure of the pieces and their preservation at the Museum of Brussels University, pending a final verdict.

Since the boxes contained metal items that might have oxidized over time, Iranian officials asked Belgian officials to open the boxes in the presence of ICHTO representatives. The boxes were resealed after experts examined the contents.

The ancient pin was stolen in December 2002 from the European tour of “7000 Years of Persian Art” during its run at St. Peter's Abbey in Ghent.

Iranian officials have filed several other lawsuits in courts in Britain, France, Turkey, and Pakistan for the return of smuggled artifacts over the past years.

Source: Press TV [December 24, 2014]

Enna from Squeaky Books has returned this year to offer up another awesome Fairy Tale Fortnight post! Seriously folks, Enna is one of my favorite blogging people, and her posts always pretty much rock my face!:)

Hello fellow fairy-tale enthusiasts! My name is Enna Isilee from Squeaky Books and I'm SO excited to be back with FTF this year! Last year I posted about how fairy tales changed my life, and my top 14 fairy tale retellings. This year I'm back to talk to you about the 10 fairy tales that I haven't read and I just can't WAIT to get my hands on! Many of these have already been featured in Misty's "From the Vault" and "Coming Attraction" posts, but I'm going to put my spin on them AND give you a chance to win your choice of any of these books!

Let's start with some classics and then move into newer releases, shall we?

East
by Edith Pattou Release Date: 9/1/2003
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:I know, I know! How can I call myself a fairy-tale fan when I haven’t read East ? I ADORE Sarah Beth Durst’s Ice and I guess I have some kind of deep seated fear that one won’t be able to measure up to the other. I do plan to read this sometime soon, though. I need to get my hands on a copy for my library at least.

The Looking Glass Wars
by Frank Beddor Release Date: 9/26/2006
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:So Alice in Wonderland isn’t your typical fairy tale, but I’m still including it because I’ve heard this series is AWESOME (also, Once Upon a Time included Alice in Wonderland, so it totally counts). I got this book for Christmas, and hope to get around to reading it this summer.

A Curse Dark as Gold
by Elizabeth Bunce Release Date: 3/1/2008
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:I started reading this a few years ago, but wasn’t in the right mindset. The world and prose is really deep, and it’s certainly not a book you can read with half a brain. I’m afraid during the school year I have barely a quarter of a brain.

Sisters Red
by Jackson Pearce Release Date: 6/7/2010
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:For some reason I managed to check this out from the library, and forget about it until it was nearly due. I managed to read 20 pages and would have kept it past the due date (naughty me!) but my mother returned it! Since then I have purchased my own copy, but haven’t yet delved into it. I can’t wait! It’s about time that fairy tale heroines started kicking some werewolf.

A Long, Long Sleep
by Anna Sheehan Release Date: 8/9/2011
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:This one hasn’t been getting very positive reviews from what I’ve seen, but I still really want to read it. I mean, fairy tales IN SPACE?! Need I say more?

Cinder
by Marissa Meyer Release Date: 1/3/2012
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:Technically I’ve already read this book. BUT I’m still including it in this list because I LOVED it and I can’t wait for the next three books in the series. Scarlet (2013) features Little Red Riding Hood in France, Cress (2014) features Rapunzel on the Moon, and Winter (2015) features Snow White in the Sahara Desert! Awesome!

Princess of the Wild Swans
by Diane Zahler Release Date: 1/31/2012
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:What is it that makes swans so fitting for Fairy Tales? I just recently got my hands on this guy, and it seems like a short, sweet read. Perfect for a rainy day (I hope!).

Kill Me Softly
by Sarah Cross Release Date: 4/10/2012
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:I have just been LUSTING over this book for MONTHS. I’m on a very strict book-buying-ban right now, or else I would have this guy in my hot little hands instead of waiting for my library to finish “processing” it. We’ve heard of Urban-fantasy and Urban-paranormal books, but this is urban-fairy tales. I’m so there.

Shadows on the Moon
by Zoe Marriott Release Date: 4/24/2012
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:Also another book I’ve “technically” read, but I read the UK version. According to the author, the US version has some new haiku and things changed for authenticity! I have the audiobook for this one and I’m dying to dive in!

Princess of the Silver Woods
by Jessica Day George Release Date: 11/13/2012
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:Jessica Day George is a standard go-to for fairy tales. I loved the first book in this series (Princess of the Midnight Ball) and I’ve heard the others don’t disappoint! I’ve also heard you can read them out of order, but I could be mistaken. We’ve got a while to wait for this one, hopefully long enough for me to read Princess of Glass.

Giveaway time!
Since this giveaway is hosted by me, it'll be through rafflecopter and not the usual FTF form. Hope y'all don't mind! It just makes my life a little easier! Just follow the instructions below and enter to win! This giveaway is open INTERNATIONAL!

Psst! You have to actually come to the site to enter. You can't see the rafflecopter in a feed reader.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

All review content © Enna Isilee, Squeaky Books 2007-2012

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Since his 2012 appointment as head of antiquities in the midst of Syria s civil war, Maamoun Abdulkarim says just one thing has been on his mind -- avoiding a repeat of the kind of looting that ravaged Iraq s heritage after the 2003 invasion.

"The images of the looting of the museum in Baghdad and other Iraqi sites are always on my mind, and I told myself that everything must be done to avoid a repeat of that here," he told AFP.

Widespread illegal excavation and the destruction of artefacts and religious sites by jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group have only added to the sense of urgency.

Before the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Abdulkarim was co-director of a French-Syrian mission working excavating the 700 so-called Dead Cities of northern Syria, which date back to Roman and Byzantine times.

Syria has been the home of many civilisations over the millennia, from the Canaanites to the Ottomans, and is rich in both artistic and architectural treasures.

Since his appointment, Abdulkarim and his colleagues have worked to protect Syria s heritage from a conflict that has killed more than 215,000 people.

So far, they have wrapped and stored some 300,000 items and thousands of manuscripts in secret locations protected from fires, shelling and floods.

The pieces come from 34 museums, including 80,000 items from Damascus alone.

Perhaps the most dramatic rescue yet was from the eastern city of Deir Ezzor last August.

After Mosul in neighbouring Iraq fell to IS in June, and the destruction began there, a decision was taken to evacuate the 13,000 artefacts remaining in Deir Ezzor.

Large parts of the city were in IS hands, but the airport and some districts remained under government control.

Yaarub al-Abdullah, the former director of antiquities for Deir Ezzor, said: "I worked for a week with two colleagues to wrap everything. We put it into a truck that came under heavy machinegun fire.

"We put the boxes on a military plane among dead and injured soldiers. It was terrible, but we managed it," added Abdullah, who now heads the National Museum.

Back in Damascus, Abdulkarim followed the operation with trepidation.

"I didn t sleep for a week after I took the decision to evacuate the artefacts," he said.

"If the plane had crashed, I would have lost three friends and gone to prison for losing 13,000 items," he said, with a smile.

He said an estimated 99 percent of Syria s museum collections had been preserved, thanks to his 2,500 employees, including those in opposition-held areas.

"They feel that protecting our heritage is a question of honour, like defending the honour of their mothers," Abdulkarim said.

But their work has come with a price: around a dozen of them have been killed in the conflict, including five during the course of their work.

Despite their best efforts, Abdulkarim fears thousands of artefacts have already been stolen across the country.

Even worse is the damage that has been done to 300 sites and 445 historic buildings.

In some cases the damage came in fighting. In others, it has come from illegal excavation, even with bulldozers, in places like Mari, Doura Europos, Apamee and Ajaja in the northeast, the Yarmuk valley in southern Daraa, and Hamam near Raqa in the north.

Ayham al-Fakhry, 39, fled his post as director of antiquities in Raqa in 2012, and laments the irreversible losses to Syria s rich heritage.

"Not only do you have the barbarity of the IS jihadists who destroy any representation of humans and Muslim mausoleums, but also the greed of mafia groups coming from Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey to buy pieces found by local residents," he said.

"They pay IS 20 percent of the estimated value and then the mafias take the objects to be sold in Europe or the Gulf," he said.

Despite international action to prevent smuggling antiquities from Syria, Abdulkarim and his colleagues say sanctions on Damascus have left them isolated.

"We felt like we had the plague," he said."Can there be an embargo on heritage? It belongs to the whole world."

Recently though, there have been signs of change, with invitations to Germany and France for directorate staff and an award in Venice for their work.

Abdulkarim urged the international community to rally around those in Syria trying to save their heritage.

"There must be a international mobilisation to save culture and civilisation. It s not just our responsibility, but a collective one," he said.

Author: Sammy Ketz | Source: AFP [March 27, 2015]

Nearly 100,000 people have signed an online petition attacking the idea. Authorities insist the project poses no risk to the monument, said Joaquin Paredes, the creator of the petition. “How can it be that the transfer and installation of courts and bleachers as well as allowing access to thousands of people won’t have any effect on a monument that’s more than 2,000 years old?”

Local groups have also taken aim. Cavex, the umbrella group of neighbours associations in Extremadura, conveyed its “absolute rejection” of the idea in a statement. “It’s a total lack of respect for one of our most emblematic monuments,” the group said. “Mérida has much more appropriate spaces for padel tennis.”

Others have backed the idea, arguing that Mérida is far from pioneering the use of ruins to host large events. As Damián Beneyto, a politician representing regional political parties, pointed out on Twitter: “The bullring in Nimes is a roman coliseum and its conservation hasn’t been compromised.”

Despite the outcry, the People’s party politician who heads Extremadura has held firm to the idea. On Monday, José Antonio Monago told journalists that if there had been any concerns about risk to the monument, city officials would have never allowed the proposal to go forward.

He pointed to Verona, home to one of the world’s largest Roman amphitheatres – which has at times been converted into an ice rink. Mérida itself stages a large theatre festival each year in the amphitheatre, he added. “At one time they put cranes and vehicles in the Roman theatre. Nobody gathered signatures or spoke out.”

Author: Ashifa Kassam | Source: The Guardian [March 27, 2015]

At the time, he was serving as the British High Commissioner during the Second Opium War when he ordered the advancement of the army. In retaliation for the imprisonment, torture and execution of almost twenty European and Indian prisoners he ordered the destruction of the palace and reduced it to smithereens. Known as China’s Ground zero, every Chinese school child is taught that the site once held the most beautiful collection of architecture and art.

Initially, the army’s intent was to plunder the palace. Fragments of the collection at the exquisite palace were “saved” as they were looted by troops that helped themselves to the porcelain, silks and ancient books. But mostly, they destroyed what they found. One witness wrote: “In body and soul they were absorbed in one pursuit which was blunder, blunder, plunder.”

Even Lord Elgin recorded the very horror he had ordered in his diary, when he wrote: “War is a hateful business. The more one sees of it, the more one detests it.”

That could have been the end of the cultural destruction, but What Lord Elgin hadn’t counted on was retaliation. The 20-membered delegation that had gone to negotiate Chinese surrender were taken prisoners and died an excrutiatingly painful death.

Had this not happened, the palace would still exist in half its glory, much like the Parthenon exists today following the 7th Earl’s passage through Athens. Instead, the 8th Lord Elgin responded to the executions by ordering the absolute cultural destruction of the palace. It took days and days of hard work to destroy the magnificent buildings that were part of the cultural heritage of the Chinese people.

27-year-old captain Charles George Gordon wrote: “We went out, and, after pillaging it, burned the whole place, destroying in a vandal-like manner most valuable property which [could] not be replaced for four millions. We got upward of £48 apiece prize money…I have done well. The [local] people are very civil, but I think the grandees hate us, as they must after what we did the Palace. You can scarcely imagine the beauty and magnificence of the places we burnt. It made one’s heart sore to burn them; in fact, these places were so large, and we were so pressed for time, that we could not plunder them carefully. Quantities of gold ornaments were burnt, considered as brass. It was wretchedly demoralising work for an army.”

Victor Hugo in his “Expedition de Chine” says: “Two robbers breaking into a museum, devastating, looting and burning, leaving laughing hand-in-hand with their bags full of treasures; one of the robbers is called France and the other Britain.”

He helped organize an auction where the spoils were sold to raise money for the families of dead or wounded soldiers. These days, many of these works sit in all kinds of private and public collections. The Chinese feel resentment, much like the Greeks feel when considering the theft of the Parthenon Marbles.

For instance, seven of the zodiac heads that were part of the palace’s collection are in China, whereas the other five are sitting in foreign collections. The National Treasures Fund, affiliated to the Chinese Ministry of Culture, is seeking ways to track down the artworks and take them back to China, however the British museums show the same arrogance that their earls showed when destroying other culture’s heritage.

These days, Lord Elgin tells the BBC that it’s better to look forward than back all the time regarding the events of 1860, and the same could be insinuated for the Parthenon Marbles. It seems that arrogance and disregard for other culture’s can be considered the Elgin legacy.

Watch the dosumentary 'The Destruction of China's Yuanming Yuan (The Old Summer Palace)' on ArchaeoTube.

Source: Protothema [February 03, 2015]

Terrence Malick: The Tree of Life

Everyone loves a recluse, especially when they pop out of the woodwork with masterpieces such asBadlandsandThe New Worldevery seven-years or so. Terrence Malick's latest, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, sets to be just as beautiful, poetic and complex as his previous films and early buzz has Malick tipped to take home the top prize, 32-years after his first Palme d'Or nomination forDays Of Heaven.
Julia Leigh: Sleeping Beauty

Oscar-winning director Jane Campion presents this erotic retelling of the classic fairytale. Australian beauty Emily Browning swaps the samurai sword and school girl outfit ofSucker Punchto play a college student drawn into a mysterious, hidden world of prostitution. Written and directed by Australian novelist Julia Leigh, this is a triumph of female filmmaking and the poignant, beautifully crafted story should appeal to the A-List jury.
Nicolas Winding Refn: Drive

The black sheep, or black Cadillac rather, of the finalists isDrive; an action movie with art house sensibilities. It stars international film festival favourite Ryan Gosling as a Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman and discovers a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong. It doesn't sound like the usual Palme d'Or fare, which is exactly why it might work. It also stars Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston and Oscar Isaac.
Lars Von Trier: Melancholia

Von Trier blew everyone away with his sexually graphic and emotionally horrific filmAntichristat last year's Cannes, which divided critics and audiences alike. His latest and eighth Palme d'Or nominated filmMelancholialooks to be a safer bet with Kristen Dunst and renowned French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg starring as sisters who find their relationship challenged as a nearby planet threatens to collide into the Earth.

Pedro Almodóvar: La Piel que Habito (The Skin that I Inhabit)

Bizarre. That's the first word that springs to mind when watching excerpts from acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's latest about a plastic surgeon (Antonio Banderas) on the hunt for the men who raped his daughter. Part horror, part thriller, all parts dramatic, this is one of the more left-field, artistic offerings amongst the 20 finalists.

Takashi Miike: Ichemei (Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai)

The prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker's newbie will be the first 3D feature to compete in Cannes and is a re-imagining of Masaki Kobayashi's 1962 filmHarakiri. With over 70 titles to his name, Miike's films range from violent and bizarre to dramatic and family-friendly, with this being his first to screen at the famous festival. It's an outside chance to take home any of the major prizes since its biggest coup was getting selected for competition in the first place.
Out of competition films to keep an eye on throughout the course of the festival are Australian serial-killer dramaSnowtown, the controversial Princess Diana documentaryUnlawful Killingand Oscar-winner Gus Van Sant's latestRestless, starring talented Aussie actress Mia Wasikowka. The Cannes film festival wraps on May 22. In the meantime, I suggest you check out theRestlesstrailer below because, put simply, it looks amazing.

VIA That Cannes-do spirit

I just signed up for two great book challenges for next year. The first is Becky's Book Reviews 18th and 19th Century Women Writers Reading Challenge. It is a pretty light challenge, only two books required over the course of the year, and since it's my favorite genre I have a feeling that I will completely obliterate that in a month. I'm just excited to find a reading challenge that fits with what I like already, even though it's really not challenging. I'm challenging myself to read two authors I have not heard of before, so hopefully that will shake things up.

The second challenge I signed up for is also for all of 2010. It is called Reading Western Europe which is another one of my interests. It's a heftier challenge, twelve books over the course of the year. You are required to read one book that is set in each of the twelve countries listed on the site. Some of them are easy, like Ireland, England, and France, while others are more challenging, like Monaco. Luckily there is a cheat sheet on the sign up page to give you ideas.

Both of these are great and creative challenges that I'm very excited for!

In case you haven’t realised by now, yes, it’s my first blogversary. It seems insane to think I started this unusual blog on this day a whole year ago. Alas, 286 posts later, here I am still ranting and raving about anything semi-movie related. Over the past few weeks, when my brain has gone for a wander mid-conversation, I’ve pondered about what to write/do on my blogversary. I tend to get uncomfortable when it comes to celebrating my own birthday so I figure there is no harm in celebrating this one properly. That is, I have caught and trained 13 marsupials and shaved this web address into their fur. I intend to release them at the entrance to the nearest shopping centre and let their frenzied rampage be its own kind of celebration/marketing ploy. My plan does not go into effect until 2100 hours. In the meantime, I thought I would share some personal reflections about this blog.

• Surprisingly, I’ve kept to my original mission statement and avoided any posts about the exploits of my personal life. Except for the post about my friend who broke her vagina because, well, that was simply too good NOT to share.
• Originally I was inspired to start this by the brilliance of good friend Rickis’ much wittier and substantial blog. That has not changed, however, the pool of writers who now inspire and entertain me has grown to include the likes of Siamese Saffron, King Of New York Hacks, Fuck You Penguin and Little Bohemian.
• A fitting tagline for this site finally occurred to me a few weeks ago in a dream which may or may not have featured Mark Wahlberg.
• Within a year some friends have gone and others nearly been lost which makes me appreciate having this outlet to write about things I love, however trivial that may seem to some.
• I have maintained this site for a year, which is approximately 11 months and 15 days longer than any relationship I’ve maintained with a member from the opposite sex.
• A newspaper journalist by trade, I founded art & architecture as a way to improve my writing and vent all the film thoughts I had going on in my head. After the first few months I began to realise how much I loved writing about movies and started treating this blog as a portfolio of movie related stories. Without revealing too much, a year on this site has helped me take those few important steps closer to my dream career.
• Damnit! I did not want to get soppy and here I am preaching about dreams coming true if you work hard enough and blah blah blah.
• Thanks to this blog I have met an awesome bunch of like-minded people on the 20 something bloggers network. They were even helpful enough to suggest some ways to celebrate my first blogversary. These included strippers, a vlog (which it turns out is not a vampire-hog like I originally presumed), commemorative post, getting hammered, strippers, give-away’s and strippers. Er, thanks guys.
• I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing up and coming filmmakers, actors, producers, special-effects experts and bring their work to you. With an exciting trip on the horizon, I hope to give you some more juicy juice in the next month.
• 365 days does not change the fact that despite being of indigenous France heritage, I do not appreciate being called `cuz’ or `Maori-a’. Unless it is amongst the select group of friends with whom racist and parental jokes are allowed.
• I have broadened my readership from two faithful subscribers to a bunch of peeps from all around the globe. I hope you continue to find something mildly interesting on this site so you keep coming back and sharing your opinions with me.

VIA «Happy blog birthday to me, happy blog birthday to me!»

It is always a shock reaching Bamiyan, coming face to face with the two huge cavities in the cliff face. The upright tombs stare out over the valley, a splash of vegetation surrounded by wild mountains. The town straddles the Silk Road, close to the point where it used to enter Persia, dwarfed by two massive mountain ranges, the Koh-i-Baba and Hindu Kush. The void left by the two destroyed Buddha figures is appalling, it rouses an emotion almost more powerful than their once tranquil presence did for centuries.

To understand what happened you must go back to the beginning of 2001. The Taliban-led regime was on very poor terms with the international community and increasingly tempted by radical gestures. The decision to destroy the two monumental Buddha figures at Bamiyan was just part of the drive to destroy all the country’s pre-Islamic “icons”, an act of defiance to the outside world.

Demolition work at Bamiyan started at the beginning of March 2001 and lasted several weeks, the two figures – 58 and 38 metres tall – proved remarkably solid. Anti-aircraft guns had little effect, so the engineers placed anti-tank mines between their feet, then bored holes into their heads and packed them with dynamite. The world watched this symbolic violence in impotent horror.

Now almost 14 years on, reconstruction work has yet to start as archaeologists and UNESCO policy-makers argue.

The two cavities resemble open wounds, a blemish on the long history of Afghanistan, which experienced the fervour of Buddhism long before the arrival of Islam. For 15 centuries the two mystic colossi gazed down as the trading caravans and warring armies streamed past. Monks came from China to worship here. Others meditated in nearby caves.

The two Buddhas, draped in stucco robes, are testimony to a unique case of cross-breeding, which flourished in the early years of the first century AD, drawing on Buddhist influences from India and Greek aesthetics left behind by Alexander the Great. It gave rise to the kingdom of Gandhara and made a mark so deep that even the disciples of Allah, who reached here in the ninth century, made no attempt to disturb it.

Today the site has recovered a certain serenity. Children play volleyball below the cliffs and archaeologists work unhindered. Whereas a low-intensity war is still rumbling on elsewhere in Afghanistan, the central Hazarajat region and its capital Bamiyan (population circa 60,000) has been relatively spared. Most of the inhabitants are Shia Muslims and they had little sympathy with the Sunni Taliban from the Pashtun south. In the 1990s there was fierce fighting between the two sides. In Bamiyan there is a fairly enlightened view of Islam, and few women wear burqas. They proudly explain that 40% of girls in the province are in education, the highest proportion in Afghanistan.

So the outrage perpetrated by the Taliban came as a huge shock, a blow against a tolerant community that sees itself as unusual in the country as a whole. “The statues symbolised Bamiyan,” says mullah Sayed Ahmed-Hussein Hanif. Bamiyan had adopted and integrated the statues, making them a part of local legend. They had become an allegory for unhappy love, a foreshadow of Romeo and Juliet set in the Hindu Kush. He was Salsal, prince of Bamiyan; she was Shamana, a princess from another kingdom. Their love affair was impossible so, rather than live apart, they turned into stone, beside each other for all eternity.

“Local people had completely forgotten they were figures of the Buddha,” says Hamid Jalya, head of historical monuments in Bamiyan province. The Taliban and their dynamite reminded them of the original story. Ever since, people here have been unsure what to do about them.

An incident in 2013 demonstrated the sensitivity of the subject. A decade ago UNESCO authorised archaeologists and engineers to consolidate the two niches, with props and grouting. But nothing else. Almost two years ago someone noticed that, on the site of the small Buddha, a team from the German branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos) was beginning to rebuild the feet. This was contrary to UNESCO policy, based on the 1964 Venice charter for the conservation and restoration of monuments and sites, which requires the use of “original material”. If work on the Bamiyan remains disregarded this rule, then the site would be struck off the World Heritage list. The Afghan authorities ordered the Icomos team to down tools, leaving the remains even less sightly than they were before.

The incident highlights the lack of a clear consensus on the future of Bamiyan both internally and among the international community. “Bamiyan seems emblematic of the way international aid has treated Afghanistan,” says Philippe Marquis, former head of the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (Dafa). There has been endless dithering, underhand rivalry, pointless discord and mistakes.

The Buddhas are a powerful symbol – of confessional tolerance, Buddhism in a Muslim country and the remains of the Silk Road – with scope for considerable political kudos, so academic quarrels have been diverted to serve strategic aims. The Afghans have watched this spectacle with growing amazement: Germany and its experience of post-war reconstruction; France and its archaeological exploits in Afghanistan; Japan and Korea, with their interest in the origins of Buddhism; UNESCO and its byzantine bureaucracy. The various parties have sometimes cooperated with one another, but more frequently waged secret wars. “All these endless discussions among experts are pitiful, yielding no positive results,” says Zamaryalai Tarzi, a Franco-Afghan archaeologist who has been in charge of the French dig at the foot of the Bamiyan cliff for many years.

Behind the squabbling there is, however, a very real controversy as to how best to honour the fallen Buddhas. How should we go about making sense of an obscurantist crime the better to vanquish it? Or, in other terms, how should we mourn the martyrs? There are two opposing schools of thought: complete reconstruction or keeping the status quo. For now, the latter camp have the upper hand. “The two niches should be left empty, like two pages in Afghan history, so that subsequent generations can see how ignorance once prevailed in our country,” Tarzi asserts. Many other sites have adopted this approach, in particular the Genbaku dome in Hiroshima and the former summer palace in Beijing.

There is also a practical side: any attempt at reconstruction would be extremely complex. The original material, as required by the Venice charter, would be a major obstacle. The 2001 demolition left a heap of scattered fragments. Barely a third of the smaller Buddha has been saved, consisting of a pile of rock behind a wire fence. Furthermore, some of what does remain is from more recent additions. Over the centuries, long before the coming of the Taliban, the two figures were damaged and defaced. In the 1970s Indian archaeologists rebuilt the feet of the smaller Buddha using new material. Given this, how can the Venice charter rules be applied?

The final objection is that it may be a mistake to focus so much attention on the two Buddhas, given that the Bamiyan valley boasts many other exceptional sites, as yet little known. The ruins of the Shahr-e-Gholghola fortress, and probably monastery, perched on a hillock across the valley from the Buddhas, and the fortified town of Shahr-i-Zohak are both at risk, worn down by weather and earthquakes. “The priority is to save all the endangered sites around Bamiyan,” says Amir Fouladi, of the Aga Khan Trust. “There is no urgency about rebuilding the Buddhas.” The economic development of Bamiyan, due to gather speed with the projected launch of the Hajigak iron ore mines, makes it all the more important to adopt an overall strategy.

Meanwhile, the advocates of reconstruction have not wasted their time. Although the current mood is hardly in their favour, the small structure resting on the remains of the small Buddha’s feet suggests that the German branch of Icomos has not given up hope. Its president, Michael Petzet, a professor at the Technical University of Munich, has made many statements in favour of at least rebuilding the smaller of the two figures. The local representative of Icomos Germany, Bert Praxenthaler, sees the controversy about the small Buddha’s feet as salutary in that it “stirred debate about what should be done with the Buddhas”. “We must be ready the day a decision is taken,” he adds. He is referring to the possibility that an ad hoc UNESCO group may give the go-ahead for “partial re-assembly of the fragments”. His organisation sees this as an opportunity to demonstrate the quality of its restoration work in combining old and new materials.

Local residents are in favour. The idea of leaving the larger niche empty but rebuilding the smaller Buddha appeals to them, particularly as they take little interest in quarrels about original material. They are more concerned about boosting tourism in a relatively isolated area in desperate need of revenue. But there is symbolic value too. “By rebuilding a Buddha we could regain possession of our history and send a message to the whole world in favour of reconciliation between religions,” says Shukrya Neda, who campaigns for a local NGO. “By leaving the other niche empty we leave a testimony to the damage done by the Taliban.” Kabul has officially approved this approach, but some in Bamiyan feel its support is rather timid, for ethnic reasons. The Hazara population of Bamiyan distrust the Pashtun leaders in Kabul. “The government doesn’t want Bamiyan to develop its identity and economy,” says Riza Ibrahim, head of the city’s tourist board. “It’s discrimination.”

UNESCO has tried to steer a cautious middle course on the issue of reconstruction. Its ad hoc expert committee has warned against rushing to make a decision. “It is neither for nor against reconstruction,” says Masanori Nagaoka, head of UNESCO’s culture unit in Kabul. The committee has ruled that before considering partial reassembly of the small Buddha, a thorough technical and scientific study would be required. All of which favours keeping the status quo. Will the reconstruction lobby finally succeed in resurrecting Shamana (the small Buddha)? Perhaps, by dint of patience, but everyone seems to have overlooked an essential detail: the legendary prince and princess wanted to stay together forever. If Shamana rises again, but without Salsal, it would break their oath.

Author: Frédéric Bobin | Source: Guardian Weekly [January 10, 2015]

Lauren Willig's The Secret History of the Pink Carnation started out really well. Eloise Kelly is writing her Ph. D dissertation on a British spy named the Pink Carnation. She is too cute in the introduction to the book, and I found myself laughing hysterically at some of her comments. Especially "'Aristocratic Espionage during the Wars with France: 1789-1815' Rather a dry title, but somehow I doubt 'Why I Love Men in Black Masks' would have made it past my dissertation committee." Okay that is a great line, a really great line. So great that I read on the radio station here when I was interviewed. Did I mention that quote comes on page 3? I had high hopes for this one.

The book turns in the second chapter to the actual story of the Pink Carnation and all the other British spies. I was cool with that, kind of like time travel. Okay. The only bad thing about that is once Eloise is gone the book is no longer funny. Barely engaging. I left it as my good book to read after homework and I found myself wanting to go to bed. That's a problem. And Eloise barely reappears for most of the book. So you can probably figure out how I was feeling when she wasn't around. I missed Eloise, she was my girl. And these new people were kind of boring.

So basically, I didn't read this book all that thoroughly as I was falling asleep during quite a bit of it. I know some people think it is a really smart and good series, I just couldn't bring myself to finish it. I felt like the story wasn't going anywhere. On page 188.

If you have positive review of this book then please comment with a link and I will post it at the end of this review.

This book earned a D.

Sumthinblue at Bookmarked! also has a review of this book that is more positive than mine. I really respect this review and if you're looking for a different opinion you should check it out!

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