Web Monitor
17:25 UK time, Thursday, 9 July 2009
A celebration of the riches of the web.
Mexican drug ballads, reverse stripping into a burkha and the "Bromance" film genre are mingling awkwardly in Web Monitor. If you find an interesting link, send it to Web Monitor via the comment box.
• In Esquire, film critic what Sasha Baron Cohen's new film Bruno, will mean for gay rights.
The term "Bromance" has already been coined to reflect the genre where, , the female object of desire is played by another straight man - such as I Love You Man. VanAirsdale says now the blockbuster film industry is increasingly embracing the idea of a gay protagonist in their films:
"I remember a jittery Heath Ledger meeting the New York press for the first time to discuss Brokeback Mountain in late 2005. He picked at the tablecloth, paused between sentences, slouched on the verge of what seemed like encroaching breakdown. And who could blame him? He'd just spent months rerouting the mainstream with maybe its first-ever convincing gay love story, and here were ten idiot journalists essentially asking variations of what it was like to kiss Jake Gyllenhaal ... Nevertheless, like its contemporary Humpday and Brokeback Mountain and a handful of others before them, Bruno is a phenomenon. The industry is too volatile and money too scarce for Hollywood to get away with patronizing any minority, and all the better that a box-office hit might rock the cultural foundation a little more than two and a half hours of transforming robots."
• the stories behind Mexican drug ballads. Some radio stations refuse to play the "narcocorridos":
"Carlos Perez said that some of the most famous ballads were about Jesus Malverde, whom he called the patron saint of the narcotraffickers. He lived in Sinaloa. He was Robin Hood. He sold drugs and used the money to help the people. He was killed in a gun battle because he didn't want to give himself up. Some say he was never caught. Some say he died of old age, and others say that he is still alive."
• for the G8 summit although, she chooses to call the PMs' other halves spouses instead of Wags. It seems that she has made a few friends in the "Spouses club", who regularly meet to be shown around whichever part of the world their partners' G-Unit are that week and, on this occasion, meet the Pope, whilst their partners get on with their jobs.
In the rest of the political blogosphere, The a trend among the political bloggers today- they all seem to think the Conservative press chief, Andy Coulson is on his way out.
• Julian Rendell has managed to make a . He's calling speed limit trials in London big brother-esque. Tests involve putting GPS tracking in cars and may result in information used for road tolls. Rendell is not happy:
"the idea has a strong resonance with control-freak politicians and bureaucrats, who like the idea of charging and controlling Europe's motorists at every opportunity."
Next Week Web Monitor would like to see reference to Charles Dickens in , please.
• Over the last few centuries many countries have disappeared, more likely due to regime change than rising sea levels. But what happens to the flags of these forgotten countries? Well, thanks to the lovingly. From the Qing Dynasty who ruled China, Manchuria, Tibet, Taiwan and Mongolia until 1912 to Rhodesia they are all here for you to ponder the timeliness of socially constructed nationalist sentiment (or the pretty colours).
• (we assume not her real name) describes herself as a burlesque performer who is Malaysian of Bangladeshi heritage based in Australia . how burlesque is affected by racial stereotypes, especially given that she says it has an overwhelmingly white presence.
Merch girl herself controversially performed a reverse strip, getting into a burkha, to a song by singer Deeyah who cooked up a storm for making a pop video where she stripped off her own burkha and jumped into a swimming pool.
She asks:
"Since burlesque is largely about making the sacred profane, and has never really been known for being politically correct, are all cultures fair game to any performer that wants them?"
Merch girl says burlesque is spreading across the world - with a big burlesque scene in Japan and tassels even making a show in an old Buddhist temple in China.
If you're interested in arguing the finer points of burlesque, like "what is the point" you may also be interested in the art in the UK thanks new regulation classing burlesque clubs as strip joints.
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