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Sources

Hit It! Coldplay, Lorde, More On World Music Charts

Hit It! Coldplay, Lorde, More On World Music Charts

Below are some of the songs topping the charts around the world.

Worldcrunch Pick

The first clips of the long awaited Jimi Hendrix biopic All Is By My Side were released yesterday, showing Outkast's Andre 3000 playing the famous guitarist (see below). The film was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in Sep. 2013, and is set to be screened at the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, on March 12.

All Is By My Side will focus on the time Hendrix spent in London in 1966 and 1967 where he launched his career thanks to his trademark guitar solos. Sadly, due to a refusal by Hendrix's estate, the biopic, which was scripted and directed by 12 Years A Slave screenwriter John Ridley, will not feature any original Hendrix songs. Instead, Andre 3000 performs songs by Muddy Waters, the Beatles and the Troggs, which Hendrix covered himself.


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Society

Flexing Against Sexism: Meet The Women Bodybuilders Of Nepal

Women bodybuilders are rare in a society that prefers them thin, soft — and fully clothed. But with sports, gold-medal winners like Rajani Shrestha are helping inspire change.

Photograoph of four female bodybuilders holding their country's flags on stage.

Judges and attendees observe the 55th Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship in Kathmandu

Yam Kumari Kandel/GPJ NEPAL
Yam Kumari Kandel

KATHMANDU — Rajani Shrestha exercises at a gym near Baneshwor Height, a neighborhood in Kathmandu, as she prepares for a major bodybuilding championship. As the 42-year-old lifts around 50 kilograms (110 pounds) in a deadlift, her veiny arms and neck muscles bulge out. A woman with “muscles like a man,” she says, is a very rare sight here.

The men bodybuilders in the club stare at her. “I don’t care what anyone says or does. I must win the competition anyway,” Shrestha says. As the day progresses, she is the only one left in the club. For Shrestha, there is no time to waste. On this August weekday, it’s only a month to go till the 55th Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship.

In 2019, Shrestha won silver medals at the 12th South Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship, held in Kathmandu, and the 53rd Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship, in Batam, Indonesia. The National Sports Council also recognized her for excellence.

Shrestha does not fit the normative definition of an ideal woman in Nepal. In a society where a thin body is considered beautiful, women bodybuilders with brawny bodies are labeled “men” and are often the target of ridicule and derision.

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