When I arrived and lived in Chile at the end of the ‘80s and the beginning of the ‘90s the country was at the end of an 18 year right wing dictatorship. The dictator, General Augusto Pinochet had called a referendum to decide on the future of the government, and he’d lost by a narrow margin. It was a point of pride for Chile that they had ended the dictatorship with an … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2016
Le Corbusier – Architect and Urban Planner
Cool one name names didn’t start with Cher and Madonna, I found out. It was fashionable in the 1920’s as well, which is when Le Corbusier changed his name from Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris. Le Corbusier is a famous French architect and urban planner (born in Switzerland). This July 2016, seventeen of his buildings were listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites. His theories … [Read more...]
Kolkata, Darshan! – Five Kolkata movies
The influence of the Indian film industry has been felt throughout the world Rather than try to talk inexpertly about it, I've gone for the expert - movie buff (and colleague) Parikshit Kumar for this guest blog on movies that have Kolkata as a theme. Arguably, the art and cultural center of India, Kolkata, has been the backdrop and heart of many popular Hindi and English … [Read more...]
EURO 2016 Football – Love from Saint Etienne!
The EUROs are done and dusted and (spoiler alert) Portugal won. Thirty two teams played in ten stadia and a gazillion fans invaded France. I was completely unprepared for the level of intensity and passion that the games would ignite in my small adopted City of Saint Etienne, which as luck would have it has an international standard football stadium. Managing sporting and … [Read more...]