Twenty-five years after his cult TV series, Kir Royal, director Helmut Dietl has now come released a sort of ?sequel? for the big screen. Zettl focuses on the high-flying career of a ruthless media man in Berlin. As satire, however, the frigid figures in Zettl fail to warm up to viewers. ...
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OpenDemocracy explains why a novel called "Paranoia" suddenly disappeared from Belarussian bookshops. Prospect fears that a ban on Islam4UK could undermine British democracy. The Gazeta Wyborcza explores Polish-Jewish relations. Le Monde diplomatique watches the carving up of Africa. In El Pais Semanal, maths whizz Marcus du Sautoy explains the sex appeal of suduko. And Gerhard Richter manages to surprise the Nation.
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The New Yorker buries itself in the Arab novel. In Le Monde, Bernard-Henri Levy heaps scorn on the state-run caricature of a debate. Qantara points to the person responsible for all the misery in the Arab world: Daddy. In L'Espresso, Umberto Eco takes a pin to the overblown daily paper. The Nation has earmarked 30 billion dollars to save journalism. In Tygodnik Powszechny, the writer Wojciech Albinski explains what makes Poland exotic. And the Spectator waves a tear-stained old hanky as shabby chic fades into the past.
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In Merkur, art historian Wolfgang Ullrich defines a new type of artist: the contractor. In Nepszabadsag, writer Peter Nadas considers the crisis in Hungary and how it might end. In NouvelObs, Francis Ford Coppola explains why DVDs should be free. Eurozine introduces Lithuanian literature. In the New York Review of Books, Wyatt Manson asks why Pleiade is omitting Celine's anti-Semitic trilogy from the collected works. In Express, Philippe Gavi reminds us that Mohammed was not a crazed killer. A Californian marvels in NZZ Folio, at the reincarnation of an Indian factory worker. And confronted with the recent proliferation of literary cuddling, the New York Times yearns for a bit of Philip Roth.
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Wired tracks James Cameron's 32-year quest to out-Lucas Lucas. In Nouvel Obs, Alain Finkielkraut and Alain Badiou tear each other apart over immigration and national identity. Tygodnik Powszechny introduces the pioneering artist Miroslaw Balka. Andras Bozoki asks why Hungarians are undermining democracy. In The New Statesman, Leo McKinstry explains why the bombing of Coventry was an inspiration to the British Air Staff.
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Vanity Fair goes in search of a superpartner. Elet es Irodalom reads a new collection of essays by Imre Keresz. Outlook India complains about journalistic corruption. The New Yorker reads a new Koestler biography. Nepszabadsag foresees the next French revolution. Rue89 wonders about the provenance of prawns. And in the New Republic, Moshe Halberthal celebrates the sublime humility of Amartya Sen.
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In Wilson Quarterly, the economist Tyler Cowen sings an ode to multitasking. Prospect has seen the monsters of the left. The Boston Globe follows James C. Scott to the new Shangri-La in the mountains of Tibet. Weltwoche is up in arms about the criticism of Switzerland's anti-minaret vote. In the Novel Obs, Pierre Nora applies his mind to the bestseller. New Criterion knows why the Pop art bubble won't pop. NZZ Folio examines the chicken nugget. Al Ahram asks what political Islam wants. The Walrus mourns for the first victim of the C-58. In Resetdoc, Joseph Massad explains why Arab homosexuals are an invention of the West.
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Slovenian poet Ales Debeljak argues for a fusion of cultures in Eurozine. Umberto Eco agrees in Le Monde. The Nation portrays the Salvadorian author Horacio Castellanos Moya, who himself explains in Babelia why 200 years after independence there's nothing to celebrate in a number of Latin American countries. Polityka lies Poland down on the couch. La vie des idees reads a book on Jews and the resistance in France. Americans read more than Europeans, writes historian Peter Baldwin in Merkur. And in The New York Review of Books Robert Darnton makes two bold proposals for a new Book Settlement.
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The New Yorker searches for the ultimate difference between male and female. Elet es Irodalom comments on the Imre Kertesz interview in die Welt. Prospect assesses the development of Swedish crime writing. Walrus finds out from the conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin why it's sometimes necessary to get a little rough with the score. In Polityka, the historian Jerzy W.Borejsza remembers the assimilators, accommodators and collaborators in Poland's history. In the Guardian, Zadie Smith defends the novel against the essay.
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In OpenDemocracy, the Moscow poet Tatiana Sherbina tears her hair out over Russia's obsession with Stalin. Polityka celebrates a film where it's okay not to be heroic. The London Review of Books cements its friendship with Roland Barthes. In Espresso, Umberto Eco suggests removing Christ from classroom crucifixes. In the New York Review of Books, Timothy Garton Ash talks velvet and guillotines. Magyar Narancs talks candidly about the Roma. The New Yorker eats in secret with a Michelin inspector. In Letras Libras, writer Cesar Aira explains why people shouldn't be forced to read. And Newsweek sings a swansong to America, the land of innovation.
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In Open Democracy, Neal Ascherson wishes that the 1989 had had more French revolutionary zeal. Tygodnik remembers that Polish dissidents wanted German unity as far back as 1954. In Newsweek, Niall Ferguson argues that 1989 was not a patch on 1979. Laszlo Borhi hurls a rotten egg at Austrian's Social Democrats in Eurozine. Outlook India travels to Arunachal. Wired visits the Henry Ford of the information age. The New Republic embarks on a Peter Zumthor pilgrimage.
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OpenDemocracy tells of the Russian waves which are doing away with the Iranian sparrows. The London Review reads new books on honour killings. The Nation goes in search of the last Yugoslav, Dusan Makavejev. The Walrus weeps for the printed book. The Guardian navigates its way through Michael Haneke's oeuvre. Polityka tells the Poles that you can have ethics without Catholicism, or even God. In Dawn, Arundhati Roy defends the Maoist guerillas in India. In Frontline, the Maoist guerilla leader, Koteswa Rao, chats about revolutionary executions. In Le Monde, Vaclav Havel is still fascinated by his critics. And HVG explains why the Hungarians think capitalism comes from the communists.
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When Karadzic goes on trial in The Hague, the Hungarian plague will be tried alongside him, says the Magyar Narancs. The New Yorker explains why robots are better than husbands. In the New Republic, Enrique Krauze asks why Gabriel Garcia Marquez had such a thing for dictators. Europe has a sure footing in Turkey, Orhan Pamuk assures the Nouvel Obs. History is no recipe for how to live our lives today, the historian Karol Modzelewski tells Tygodnik Powszechny. N+1 tracks the rise of the neuronovel, and the TLS reads new Trotsky biographies.
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In Sinn und Form, Fritz Mierau tells of his journey to Koktebel. The London Review of Books reads a survival guide to working at the checkout. In Nouvel Obs, Yasmina Reza questions the legitimacy of Polanski's judges. In the New York Review of Books, Timothy Garton Ash has a job for a brilliant young historian. The New Statesman doesn't think de Gaulle could govern Nepal. In Nepszabadsag, Andra Gerö wants a return of the monarchy in Hungary. In Eurozine, Arne Ruth comes to terms with the past for the Swedes and Swiss, and Katharina Raabe makes a grand tour of eastern central European literature.
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El Pais Seminal prints the affidavit of the death row inhabitant Romell Broom, whose execution was suspended after 18 failed attempts to give him the lethal injection. Hungarian and Polish magazines have joined in a chorus of consent that Roman Polanski deserves all he gets. Britain's problem, the Spectator intones, is not racism but 'cultural cloning". In the New Republic, Lawrence Lessig outlines the dangers of naked transparency in politics. In Le Monde diplomatique Shi Ming describes the hermeneutic acrobatics of the Chinese cultural industry.
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In openDemocracy, Alexander Podrabinek remembers the true heroes of Russia: the anti-Soviets. In L'Espresso, Umberto Eco points to the existence of the right-wing intellectual. The Guardian reads a comic about Bertrand Russell's "Principia Mathematica". Juan Villoro opens a book in the hands of the future for ADN Cultura. Vanity Fair reports from the front of Rupert Murdoch's war against the Internet. Newsweek looks into the future of journalism and finds it "hyperlocal". Thomas Jefferson would never have signed the Google Book Settlement thinks Lewis Hyde in the New York Times.
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