The Xenophobe's Guide to the Japanese

I was given a book on the Japanese for Christmas this year. It is called 'Xenophobe's guide to the Japanese' and it is part of the xenophobe's series.

The book talks about the Japanese culture from a variety of perspectives and discusses a wide range of topics, such as education, lack of street names and the language. It gives a comic introduction to the culture and certainly makes the reader intrigued to learn more about the culture. I am definitely going to get my hands on other books of the series and learn about other countries!

Here is the link for the series if anyone is interested in knowing more:

http://www.ovalbooks.com/xeno/index.html

Iraq Inquiry

So what is Tony Blair up to nowadays? He is trying to facilitate peace in this world after helping to start out a number of conflicts and aiding in the killing on innocent civilians.

This week, he will be in London attending the Iraq inquiry. Will this inquiry bring about anything useful and concrete?

If you are against the Iraq War and want to show this to Mr Blair and other politicians, come along to a protest that the Stop the War Coalition is organising this Friday. See more details below:

http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

Thoughts for the Beginning of 2011

I recently read an excellent book by Thict Nhat Hanh. In this book, there was a story and a poem that really made me reflect on them. I want to share them here with you, as a good beginning for 2011. May this year will be filled with peace, happiness and love for all of you!
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'One day, while sitting in the Great Forest outside of Vaishali, the Buddha saw a farmer passing by. The farmer asked the Buddha if he had seen his cows which had run away. And besides that, he said, maggots had eaten the two acres of sesame that he had planted last year. He said that he was the unhappiest person alive, and maybe he should kill himself. The Buddha told him he had not seen his cows so he might find them in another direction. After he had gone, Buddha turned around and smiled to the monks who were sitting with him, and said, 'Monks, do you know that you are happy and free? You do not have a single cow to lose.'

What are your cows? Are you stressed out, hang up on your profession, feel pressure to perform well? Do you feel the need to boost up your selfimportance? Can you try to lose your cows in 2011 and feel happier and freer?
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DISCOURSE ON LOVE
May everyone be hapy and safe, and may all hearts
be filled with joy.

May all beings live in security and in peace-
beings who are frail or strong. tall or short,
big or small, invisible or visible, near or farway,
already been or yet to be born.
May all of them dwell in perfect tranquility.

Let no one do harm to anyone.
Let no one put the life of anyone in danger.
Let no one, out of anger
or ill will, wish anyone any harm.

Just as a mother loves and protects her only child at the risk of her own life,
cultivate boundless love
to offer to all living beings in the entire cosmos.
Let our boundless love pervade the whole universe,
above, below, and across.
Our love will know no obstacles.
Our heart will be absolutely free from hatred and enminty.
Wheter standing or walking,
sitting or lying, as long as we are awake, we should maintain this mindfullness of love in our own heart.
This is the noblest way of living.'
THICH NHAT HANH

Films over the festive season

Over the festive period, I watched as many films as I probably did the entire year just gone. Most of the films were not my choice - rather, the choice of friends and family. In fact, I wouldn't have chosen to watch any of the films if it was up to me, yet ended up enjoying every single one of them and really learnt to value the film choices. It is definitely worth letting other people chose the film sometimes - that can really broaden your mind and let you explore options you wouldn't have even considered!

The best ones that I watched over the festive period are:

1. The modern Sherlock Holmes series: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/12_december/19/sherlock.shtml

2. The new Narnia film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Narnia:_The_Voyage_of_the_Dawn_Treader

3. Come Fly with Me: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/comedy/come-fly-with-me/

They are all entertaining and thought-provoking so go and see them when you get a chance!

Music Album Cover Exhibition

Have you ever thought that music album covers are a form of art? Go and see this exhibition and you'll think about album covers differently after that:

http://www.coinstreet.org/whatson/calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2010/11/18/1080/111%7C110%7C112/NWQ4Yzg2NzliNmUyYTk2NjE2NTFhMzA1YzU5ZWRiOWU=/the-art-of-the-album.html

Educational Research Journal

I've had the privilege to be invited to be a member of the review team for an excellent academic research journal. Educational Research is a brilliant journal that covers a wide range of topics related to education. The specific topics range from educational policy to curriculum development, informal education and anything else even remotely related to educational systems.

In particular, it publishes a large number of research papers concerned with education in developing countries. There are several articles on the school systems and educational policies in different African countries, for example. Personally, I have learnt a great deal about issues and dilemmas faced by educationists and locals in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda since starting to review articles for the journal.

Educational Research is now calling for submissions on relevant topics. Check out more details on their website:

http://www.interesjournals.org/ER/index.htm

War is Boring

When I was browsing books at a local bookshops the other day, I noticed this comic book titled 'War is boring'. I flicked through: the book consist of short comics from present war zones (Iraq, Afganistan....) that highlight how war is the most boring thing on earth and why would anyone want to get into war with another country. It is a very political book, which has tried to turn a touchy subject into humour and, in addition to the usual reasons for why we should stop wars, it lists many other reasons from the point of view of soldiers and locals who suffer at the hands of war.

Here is the website of the authors of the comic:

http://www.warisboring.com/