In Popular Culture
In some travelogues, the Kathmandu valley has been referred to as the "Emerald Valley". Numerous works of literature have been set in Kathmandu, including Kim Stanley Robinson's 1989 work, Escape from Kathmandu. Recently, the book Arresting God in Kathmandu by Samrat Upadhyay received international acclaim, as well as the non-fictional book written by Manjushree Thapa "Forget Kathmandu". Pico Iyer, a British writer, also has a non-fiction book called "Video Nights in Kathmandu", although only one chapter of the book is dedicated to Kathmandu. In the novel Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut the protagonist Rudy Waltz writes a play titled Katmandu in which a man takes a journey on foot to Kathmandu. Two contemporary songs are titled "Katmandu" (without the "h"): one by Cat Stevens (1970) and another (1975) by Bob Seger. It's also mentioned in the 1984 song "Nobody Told Me" by John Lennon in which the lyrics make reference to "a little yellow idol to the north of Kathmandu", which is similar to a line from J. Milton Hayes' poem called "The Green Eye of the Yellow God". Hayes' line was "There’s a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Kathmandu".
Kathmandu has also been mentioned in numerous films including in the film Bewitched as the title of a fictional movie Will Ferrell's character stars in prior to his role in the Bewitched remake and by Cameron Diaz in There's Something about Mary. In the comic titled "Tintin in Tibet" the characters land in Kathmandu and spend some time before heading towards Tibet. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, a video game by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation 3, includes several chapters in Kathmandu (though it does not mention the city by name) and depicts a pagoda-style temple and old houses.
A film industry, nicknamed "Kollywood", fairly big, has been established which produces around many movies in Nepali and other regional languages.
In the game Civilization V, Kathmandu appears as a city-state which the more powerful civilizations can interact with.
Read more about this topic: Kathmandu Metropolitan City
Famous quotes containing the words popular culture, popular and/or culture:
“Like other secret lovers, many speak mockingly about popular culture to conceal their passion for it.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Both gossip and joking are intrinsically valuable activities. Both are essentially social activities that strengthen interpersonal bonds—we do not tell jokes and gossip to ourselves. As popular activities that evade social restrictions, they often refer to topics that are inaccessible to serious public discussion. Gossip and joking often appear together: when we gossip we usually tell jokes and when we are joking we often gossip as well.”
—Aaron Ben-Ze’Ev, Israeli philosopher. “The Vindication of Gossip,” Good Gossip, University Press of Kansas (1994)
“The aggregate of all knowledge has not yet become culture in us. Rather it would seem as if, with the progressive scientific penetration and dissection of reality, the foundations of our thinking grow ever more precarious and unstable.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)