Belgrade Boos Amy Winehouse Off Stage After Shameful Performance
Abuse, jeers and plastic beer glasses were thrown at Amy Winehouse as she attempted to open her European tour with a disappointingly shameful show in Belgrade (18 June). After little over an hour, she admitted defeat and the booing crowd forced her from the stage.
In what was flagged as a comeback tour to prepare the ground for Amy’s long-awaited follow-up album to 2006’s Back to Black, 20,000 people paid to see perform the global hits that have brought her millions and unveil some new tracks. Instead, they watched as Amy stumbled, staggered and fell around stage, making little effort to sing or perform. She attempted a few lines from a handful of songs, mumbled with her hand in front of her mouth, but couldn’t even follow the lyrics on her floor monitors.
Constantine’s Crossing by Dejan Stojiljković: Book Review
Nazis, Roman emperors and the quest for a holy relic, Dejan Stojiljković’s novel Constantine’s Crossing has all the elements you could expect from a Dan Brown-wannabe. Throw in some vampires and any writer worth his salt might just hit the jackpot.
What this does not say is that, while Constantine’s Crossing is a pacey mish-mash of touchstones from the horror thriller genre, it is not just a bandwagon-jumper riding the vampire wave. This story, with one foot in fact and another in fantasy, has far darker tones than the current glut of teenage bloodlust re-treads.
Rather than revelling in blood and gore, Constantine’s Crossing tackles themes of individual responsibility in war, the root of human evil, and a people’s duty to resist occupation. As well as ancient legend, it confronts some more modern beliefs about how people reacted to occupation by the German army.
The Box by Slavoljub Stanković : A Book Review
The Box could be described as the story of removal men, against the backdrop of a country on the verge of chaos. But that would only scratch the surface, and probably wouldn’t encourage reading. That would be a pity. It would mean missing out on an enjoyable romp of a read, peppered with laugh-out-loud moments and some genuine insights into life in early nineties Belgrade.
For his debut novel, Slavoljub Stanković has chosen the metaphor of boxes, of packing things out of sight and out of mind, to explain the ways of the world and how people deal with things.
Increasingly, our lives are compartmentalised, with what isn’t immediately required being boxed and shelved. It is a technique that works well to describe the stifling effect on ordinary people when a state becomes the world’s latest pariah.
Balkan Culture will Enrich the EU
As European ministers urge Western Balkan states to meet strict conditions laid down on the long road to European Union membership, it is easy to forget the benefits and opportunities that new states and their cultures can bring to people on both sides.
The last states to join the EU in 2007 faced a bumpy start and even open prejudice. As Western Balkan states progress along the path to candidacy and membership, recent history should tell us that a more informed approach could smooth out bumps in the roadmap.
