East Asian Cinema
Before his Hollywood debut in Rush Hour, this Hong Kong action star pioneered kung-fu comedy as the hero of his own zany films, not the least of which is Drunken Master.
Who is Jackie Chan?
In the Daft Punk song Giorgio by Moroder, electronic music icon Giorgio Moroder goes on record for saying that he saw these electronic devices as "the sound of the future" when he started composing with them in the 70's.
What are synthesizers?
In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration released the first image of one of these, showing a glowing ring of gas around a dark center in galaxy M87.
What is a black hole?
Its doesn't take more than cabbage and salt to prep your own batch of this classic German ferment.
What is sauerkraut?
Bulgaria is the world's largest exporter of the coveted oil derived from this fragrant flower, their national one.
What is the rose?
Founded by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, this Japanese animation studio produced Spirited Away, the first non-English-language film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
What is Studio Ghibli?
Look no further than the title of Ye's 2008 release to find the name of this Roland drum machine, whose punchy, booming kicks and iconic cowbell have formed the basis of countless hits since its release in the 80's.
What is the Roland TR-808?
When he wasn't dropping cannonballs off the Tower of Pisa, this Italian astronomer and early telescope-user may have been among the first to see Jupiter’s four largest moons with the human eye.
Who is Galileo Galilei?
Though traditional throughout the Balkans and Central Asia, Bulgaria has its name on the Lactobacillus bulgaricus microbes that make the magic happen in this fermented product, whose Bulgarian rendition has become dietary fad in Japan.
What is yogurt?
A serious contender for the Bulgarian national dish is the refreshing and trichromatic "shopska salad," whose primary ingredients take these three colors to symbolize the national flag.
What are red (tomatoes), green (cucumbers), and white (a ton of cheese)
Though he's better known for this 2020 Academy Awards Best Picture, don't sleep on Korean director Bong Joon Ho's director's 2003 black comedy/crime thriller, Memories of a Murder!
What is Parasite?
Daft Punk, Kanye West, J. Dilla and The Avalanches are names who skillfully use this production technique, which involves "chopping and flipping" old audio.
What is sampling?
Launched on Christmas day in 2021, this space telescope observes the universe in infrared light, allow scientists to images and study some of the earliest galaxies ever formed.
What is the James Webb Space telescope?
It's not soy sauce, but maybe you've had a soup made with this pasty, Japanese, fermented soy product?
What is miso?
You can literally see Thracian, Greek, Roman, and Ottoman history layered in the stunning, world-class mosaics of The Bishop's Bascilia, located in this Bulgarian city, formerly known as Phillipopolis, and voted the 2019 "European Capital of Culture."
What is Plovdiv?
Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood is a black-and-white, feudal Japanese adaptation of this Shakespeare tragedy about a power-hungry Scottish nobleman and his wife.
What is MacBeth?
Before digital recording, this echo-like audio effect was made by sending sound through metal plates or coiled springs in recording studios, to simulate the acoustics of a spacious room.
What is reverb?
Named for the astronomer who provided key evidence that the universe is expanding, this space telescope has operated in low Earth orbit since 1990, capturing iconic images of distant galaxies.
What is the Hubble Space Telescope?
This European country is famous for beer styles like "lambic," which is sour and incorporates spontaneous fermentation into the brewing process.
What is Belgium?
Developed in the First Bulgarian Empire, this Slavic writing was system built on the missionary work of the Byzantine Christian scholars Cyril and Methodius with the intention of replacing Greek as local liturgical language.
What is cyrillic?
This samurai thriller, directed by Masaki Kobayashi, holds the title for the highest rated film on the movie reivewing platform Letterboxd.
What is Harakiri?
Your plastic keyboard and laptop talk over this digital communication protocol, which gives musicians the ability to program electronic instruments on their computer.
What is MIDI?
This famous image shows towering, 5 light-year tall columns of gas and dust where new stars are being formed in the Eagle Nebula.
What is Pillars of Creation?
This chewy nutty, fermented soybean cake is a traditional staple in its homeland of Indonesia.
What is tempeh?
Having four distinct mountain ranges, Bulgaria is home to the highest point on the Balkan peninsula---the summit of this mountain in the Rila National Park.
What is Musala?