Kester Brewin

Tag: Culture

  • London Olympics Logo | Newness Disturbs?

    —

    by

    KB
    in

    So, the debate over the new London Olympics brand has raged on for more days than a debate about a graphic really ought to… Hasn’t it? Initially it was just the aesthetics, but, while many people mentioned it made them feel sick, but then some of the video pieces really did. The Mayor has waded…

  • Is Islam Violent? | Funding Moderation

    —

    by

    KB
    in

    The government has just announced £1m funding to support Islamic Studies courses at universities, in the hope that wider student bodies and better courses will encourage moderate Islam to prosper where fundamentalism currently reigns. It’s a course I’d be interested in doing, if only to answer some troubling questions even my basic explorations have thrown…

  • It Was 40 Years Ago Today…

    —

    by

    KB

    Sgt. Pepper was released 40 years ago today. As I mentioned at a ‘God’s iPod’ interview at Greenbelt last year, it’s an album that has great memories for me. After various Thomas the Tank Engine LPs, Sgt. Pepper was the first record I really liked. I don’t know how my dad let me, but I…

  • Dave Eggers | Valentino Achak Deng | Sudan

    —

    by

    KB
    in ,

    I went to hear Dave Eggers in conversation with Valentino Achak Deng at the ICA this evening. It was wonderful, moving and sad and funny. Deng was one of the Lost Boys in Sudan. After his town was pillaged by militias, he got separated from his family and joined 4000 or so other young boys…

  • Freedom of Information ¦ Sodom and Gomorrah ¦ Power and Accountability

    —

    by

    KB
    in ,

    ‘Thought for the Day’ this morning was an excellent piece  by Martin Palmer. MP’s have recently voted to exclude themselves from their own Freedom of Information legislation – a move that has angered many. It seems the law-makers want everyone else to be accountable save themselves. Palmer made an interesting connection with Abraham’s bartering with…

  • Mary Douglas Has Died

    —

    by

    KB
    in

    Mary Douglas, whose work ‘Purity and Danger’ I am heavily indebted to for the ‘dirty’ bits of Signs of Emergence, has died. Obituary here. "In 1966, Douglas published her most celebrated work, Purity and Danger: an Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. This book is best remembered for its stylish demonstration of the ways…