The finals week is approaching for some of us students and I thought to cheer us up and inspire us by humoring the education system, I Heart Iran style. A few weeks ago, Hamid Reza Haji-Babayi, Iranian minister of education proposed his brilliant idea. He called for further gender segregating the schools (in Iran only private kindergartens and some colleges are co-ed). Only this time, the text books for all grades and levels should be gender specific. Immediately after his remarks, Persian blog sphere filled with suggestion for Mr. Minster and his ideal text books. Here are a few: Math for Boys: 2+2=4 or even 5, who cares! Math for Girls: 2 stems of flowers added by two more becomes a bouquet that we will gift to our dear mother. Geography for Boys: If you hold your right hand toward the East and your left hand toward the West, the North will be in front of you, while the south is behind you. Geography for Girls: If you can distinguish between your right and left hand, you are better off getting married and make the Mr. Minister happy since he has expressed his interests in lowering the marriage age for female students. English for Boys: Present tense: I want to go to the garden with my friends. English for Girls: Present tense: I want to go to the kitchen and cook dinner for my husband. Philosophy for Boys: Socrates was always after the truth and is named “martyr for the truth.” Philosophy for Girls: Socrates’ wife was always after “the martyr of the truth” and made his life miserable. Physics for boys: The relation between the object distance (p), the image distance (q), and the focal length (f) of a thin lens is (1/p) + (1/q) = 1/f Physics for girls: When reflecting your image in the mirror, there must be a relation between beauty, piety and taking care of your husband. A page from the 3rd grade Persian books depicts the story of “The Devoted Farmer” who burned his clothes and blocked the coming train to warn the operator about the fallen rocks. The humorous Iranians suggested that for girls text books, his image be replaced by a woman who cannot burn her Hijab and clothes. Though she cannot save the train and its passengers, she saves her piety and dignity as a good Muslim woman who does not undress in public.

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Humoring the Iranian Education

The BBC’s David Sillito meets the girls who play Matilda at the Cambridge Theatre in London.

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VIDEO: Meet the West End stars of Matilda

The girls of AKB48 arrived in Washington this week, a buoyant, giggling mass of knees, dimples, hair bows, teeth. Do the girls of AKB48 own any pets? the American students asked the Japanese pop stars on the occasion of their first visit to the U.S. capital. Read full article > >

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Japanese girl group AKB48 breezes through D.C. in whirlwind of cuteness

After spending the past decade synthesizing a hyper-macho hybrid of the French policier, the Hong Kong kung fu movie and the British gangster action-­comedy, Luc Besson has decided to make one for the girls. The protagonist of “Colombiana” is a young woman who has strong feelings for her parents, a warm relationship with her boyfriend and a proclivity for sketching the delicate Colombian orchid for which she’s named. Of course, her parents are dead, her boyfriend is at great risk and she draws the flower in black lipstick on the bodies of her victims. Yes, Cataleya (like the heroine of the writer, producer and sometime director’s “ La Femme Nikita ”) is an assassin. And, yes  (like the heroine of Besson’s “ The Professional ”), she has vowed revenge on the drug dealers who killed her folks. But despite a list of hits that’s topped 20, the killer — played by “ Avatar’s ” Zoe Saldana — is a sensitive, sometimes weepy soul. And “Colombiana,” at least by comparison with such Besson franchises as the “Transporter” series, has a gentle touch. Read full article > >

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‘Colombiana’: Saldana as master assassin

After spending the past decade synthesizing a hyper-macho hybrid of the French policier, the Hong Kong kung fu movie and the British gangster action-­comedy, Luc Besson has decided to make one for the girls. The protagonist of “Colombiana” is a young woman who has strong feelings for her parents, a warm relationship with her boyfriend and a proclivity for sketching the delicate Colombian orchid for which she’s named. Of course, her parents are dead, her boyfriend is at great risk and she draws the flower in black lipstick on the bodies of her victims. Yes, Cataleya (like the heroine of the writer, producer and sometime director’s “ La Femme Nikita ”) is an assassin. And, yes  (like the heroine of Besson’s “ The Professional ”), she has vowed revenge on the drug dealers who killed her folks. But despite a list of hits that’s topped 20, the killer — played by “ Avatar’s ” Zoe Saldana — is a sensitive, sometimes weepy soul. And “Colombiana,” at least by comparison with such Besson franchises as the “Transporter” series, has a gentle touch. Read full article > >

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‘Colombiana’: Saldana as master assassin

Officials said Monday that alcohol was not a factor in Sean Kingtson’s jet-ski accident over the weekend, as the rapper was stabilized and moved to intensive care. The “Beautiful Girls” singer drove his jet ski into a bridge Sunday night around 6 p.m….

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Sean Kingston Stable After Jet-Ski Crash

After months of rumors, Fox has officially announced that British pop star Cheryl Cole will be a judge on the U.S. version of X Factor. The former Girls Aloud singer was also a judge on the U.K. version of the series. “America is gonna love this,” Cole…

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Cheryl Cole to Judge X-Factor

If the steady release of promotional character posters weren’t an indication that the Warner Bros. Sucker Punch machine is kicking into high gear, we now have a second animated short from Deathly Hallows animator Ben Hoblin, titled “Dragon.” Warner Bros. released this synopsis for the short: “In Sucker Punch, the girls drop into a castle courtyard and find themselves in the middle of a chaotic battle between a hoard of gruesome Orcs and an army of Black Knights. The original cause of the massive conflict is hopelessly lost amidst the death and destruction. ‘Dragon’ is a tale of religious persecution exploring the origin of this conflict. Who is the righteous and who is the heathen?”

If the steady release of promotional character posters weren’t an indication that the Warner Bros. Sucker Punch machine is kicking into high gear, we now have a second animated short from Deathly Hallows animator Ben Hoblin, titled “Dragon.” Warner Bros. released this synopsis for the short: “In Sucker Punch, the girls drop into a castle courtyard and find themselves in the middle of a chaotic battle between a hoard of gruesome Orcs and an army of Black Knights. The original cause of the massive conflict is hopelessly lost amidst the death and destruction. ‘Dragon’ is a tale of religious persecution exploring the origin of this conflict. Who is the righteous and who is the heathen?”

These days it seems every film about Queen Elizabeth II or her family gets nominated for an Oscar, so expect to see more of them in the near future, especially if The King’s Speech wins Best Picture. The latest movie about The Queen was just announced, and it will star Dakota Fanning in yet another story inspired by true events. It’s called Girls’ Night Out, and Fanning will play a teenage Princess Margaret (Elizabeth’s sister) in the “romantic fairytale” that follows Margaret and her sister Elizabeth when they’re allowed out of Buckingham Palace for one night to celebrate V.E. day in 1945. Naturally, their night out will be filled with everything from romance to danger, and it looks to be a very different from the British royalty tales that have… Read More Read Comments

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Dakota Fanning to Play The Queen’s Sister in ‘Girls’ Night Out’

Guest: Nawal El Saadawi , Egyptian feminist and human rights activist. She was a political prisoner and exiled from Egypt for years. read more

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Leading Egyptian Feminist, Nawal El Saadawi: "Women and Girls Are, Beside the Boys, Are in the Streets" (Video)

Zoe Rosso, who is 3 years old, likes to bake brownies with her mom, go to tumbling class, and make up elaborate worlds with tiny plastic animals and dolls. Like many children her age, she sometimes has difficulty making it to the toilet on time.

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Girl’s suspension a sign of the times for potty training

A Somali militant group publicly executed two teenage girls Wednesday after accusing them of being spies for the Somali government, according to the group, eyewitnesses and a relative of one of the girls.

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Teen girls executed by Somali militants

That Queen Bee Sarah has led a hive of busy female candidates should be cause for a celebration.

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‘Mean Girls’? The GOP women’s bad rap.

Our chat with the curator of a new online concept championing young female creatives Advertorial content: Pushing insistently at what a blog is and can do, the recently-launched Art She Said site is an interesting take on storytelling in the digital age. Teams of visual artists and writers collaborate to create a loose serialized narrative over the course of three weeks under the sharp eye of curator Alexis Hyde . Supported by Ann Taylor , the project is essentially an open platform for celebrating the work of young female artists on the rise. When we heard about Art She Said, we were interested in getting to know the people behind the project. Here, we speak with Alexis Hyde about art disasters, Los Angeles rising, and gut reactions. In no less than two but no more than three sentences, who are you and what do you do? I ‘m Alexis, and I am the curator of the site. Translation: I help the artists flesh out their ideas into a form that is translatable for the platform and help coordinate some of the logistics of running the blog. The age of information has in some way, shape, or form turned everyone into a curator of sorts. What do you think makes your perspective special? I have such a hard time with people calling me or themselves a curator just because I or they have a blog where they compile images. I’m a blogger, a writer, and perhaps a collector of images of works that I admire, and haven’t considered myself a curator until I started working on this project where there’s a concise voice and a vision that the artists are trying to achieve. Honestly, I don’t think my perspective is special. What I do know about it is that I am always honing it. Every day I try to absorb as much information as I can. Also, I have learned to trust my gut when it comes to art; if I am not immediately attracted, moved or affected then I move on. There is too much for me to waste my time on something that doesn’t have immediate draw or impact. Which is what I am loving about this first story on ArtSheSaid.com , each image and piece of story stand on their own and have the ability to immediately grab your attention. You’ve got exactly 10 minutes in your museum of choice before it burns to the ground. What do you save and why? Continue reading… The Louvre, “Winged Victory.” I remember seeing it with my mother in Paris and being entranced by its mystery and beauty. There is also a fun family story of my very Texan grandfather giving my mother and her sisters a whirlwind tour of the Louvre when they were young and they all say that is the only thing any of them remember. Imagine a man, who looks like Clint Eastwood, basically jogging through the Lourve with four girls in tow talking about art in a very Southern accent, it’s just too good. Imagine you found yourself in control of LA’s arts budget. Who would you throw your money at, and what would you commission them to do? I would do whatever I could to help save Watts Towers. They’re a national treasure and an amazing achievement in art that unfortunately is in a not so great part of town and are difficult to conserve and restore. People are trying, but it seems that there is more red tape than there should be. I remember coming to Los Angeles for a weekend and some friends of mine took me there and I was floored! It’s such an astounding site to take in. The love and patience that went into every part of this project really shows and that energy sticks with you for such a long time. Also, I would have Chris Burden build me a mini “Urban Lights” for the patch of grass in front of my apartment building. Taking your thoughts on the the over-proliferation of the title “curator” one step further, are there any legitimate curatorial voices out there that you respect, admire, or are particularly moved by? What is it about them that touches you? The Hammer always has amazing projects and I am always cursing the distance between me and the Tate Modern, where, if they let me, I would move in. Online, Fette and Jogging stand out to me. Everytime I see a new post I am always impressed with how well they are able to get their vision across. Always concise with a little bit of a twist that makes you think. It seems like there is a rising tide of interesting and relevant action happening in Los Angeles that hasn’t really existed since the ’80s. Places like NYC get by on long-established cred, but L.A. has had to struggle to regain that kind of ground. What made you set up shop there and are the rumors of an L.A. revival real or all hype? That’s actually why I moved here, to be a part of what I hope is an L.A. revival. Well, part of the reason. The other reason is that I am a huge weenie when it comes to weather so N.Y. and S.F. were out of the question for me. There are a lot of exciting things happening in Los Angeles all the time. The feeling that you can create something new, of yourself, of your work, is ingrained in our culture here. I know it doesn’t sound good, but I think that the freedom from a long-established art history in this town helps some people be more comfortable in their creativity. It’s different for everyone, some people like to be in NY so they can break down those barriers, others like to be here because the barriers weren’t there in the first place.

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Alexis Hyde