Why Dune stands the test of time
I recently had the sublime experience of watching the recent adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune (Chilton Books, 1965), a 2021 and 2023 two-part movie series directed by the passionate Denis Villeneuve. It is, in my mind, a cinematic triumph, and I am thrilled to witness the surge interest these movies have driven for Herbert’s science fiction book series of the same name.
Art & Design
Nature Quest / Apes of the East
These Hoolock gibbons, locally known as "Ulluk", were spotted brachiating through the trees of Lawachhara National Park in Sylhet. Native to eastern Bangladesh, Northeast India, Myanmar and Southwest China, these lesser apes are diurnal, arboreal, and their method of locomotion is known as brachiation -- meaning they use their arms to swing from tree to tree
Snapshots of history—Golam Mustafa meets Manzoor Alam Beg
Modhurimay Alap (Swapno ‘71, 2023) transcribes two days of conversations with the late Golam Mustafa, first Director of Photography of Bangladesh Television.
15 years of iPhone: Evolution in photography
This week marks 15 years since the iPhone first went on sale and ushered in a new era: the age of the smartphone.
Culture Multimedia
Visitors flock to Panchagarh to see 10 species of 18-colored tulips
This garden of tulip flowers, built on about two acres of land in Darjipara village of Tetulia upazila of Panchagarh, is like a piece of the Netherlands. Tourists flock to this area in Panchagarh to enjoy the beauty of this flower
United by the love of Bangla
Books
BOOK REVIEW: POETRY AND NONFICTION / Poetry for our times and a poet’s new frontier
Inevitably, Kaiser Haq’s The New Frontier and Other Odds and Ends in Verse and Prose is about the poet, his poetic predilections, and situatedness at this time of human existence. In many ways it is typical of the verse we have come to expect from our leading poet in English for a long time now, but in other ways it articulates his present-day concerns in new and striking poetic measures.
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / The saga of a mother’s sacrifice and resilience
Anisul Hoque’s Kokhono Amar Maa-ke is the story of appalling sacrifices made by a mother and her unwavering determination to secure a bright future for her children.
REFLECTIONS / The first American months
The sun was up. The sky was a perfect cerulean blue, the neighbourhood blissfully quiet. Through my window, I relished the sunny first day of 2020, with a cup of tea in my hand.
