Sophiline Cheam Shapiro of the Khmer Arts Academy is getting well deserved accolades this week. First, in the New York Times with a glowing review of her latest work: “Pamina Devi: A Cambodian Magic Flute".

She was also featured in an American Public Radio production "The Story" that can be accessed as a podcast here.

In case you're not already up on her story, Sophiline was one of the first of the Khmer classical dancers trained by the surviving 10% of dancers and musicians left alive in Cambodia at the end of the KR years, and she has dedicated her life to dance ever since.

And for art of a different flavor, the VOA has a piece on a Cambodian hip-hop artist who tells his story through rap.

Growing up in Long Beach, California, where his family ended up after fleeing the Khmer Rouge, Prach Ly is now a huge star in Cambodia after being dubbed "the first Khmer rap star" and being credited with bringing hip-hop to the country.

And sticking with the arts, Cambodia's ancient martial art, bokator, is in the news today.

Like almost everything else intrinsically Khmer, bokator came close to extinction during the Khmer Rouge years when its practice was outlawed and its masters murdered, but it is making a comeback. With scenes of this art carved into the Angkor temples, it's obvious how deeply bokator runs in Khmer culture.

Translating to "lion fighter", bokator has been described as "a dance with a little bit of fighting thrown in for effect", but proponents disagree, saying this is a "seriously dangerous fighting form".

Personally, I like the sound of the dance thing, but what do I know?

Okay, enough art. How about a cow?

Yes, there's cow in the news and its creating havoc and killing people.

If you're thinking, "Attach of the Killer Cow", you can rethink and come up with something like "Big Dumb Animal Kills by Being Big and Dumb" and you'll be closer to the truth.

This one stray is being blamed for the death of at least 6 people, which is what happens when bike meets bovine. Small motorbike at speed coming into contact with large cow at a dead stop does not usually mean much damage to the cow.

A new law has been passed that may mean a jail term for the cow's owner.

As anyone who follows such things knows, Cambodia has done remarkably well in reducing the number of HIV infections in the country. Unfortunately, an upswing in the practice of casual sex between men who don't consider themselves homosexual, "MSM" in the local vernacular, looks to undermine the progress made against the disease.

Where in many countries it is initially difficult to convince people that AIDS is not confined to the gay community, but an equal concern for heterosexuals, in Cambodia where education has been so effective that female prostitutes demand and get close to 100% compliance on condom use, MSMs think that HIV only hits men and women having casual sex without protection. Since many of these guys have wives who haven't a clue about their husband's particular brand of philandering, the chances of bringing infection into the family is great.

This month sees the Pchum Ben Festival, the time Cambodians "Feed the Ancestors".

I have no idea what the appropriate greeting may be, but in the spirit of trying to convey respectful salutations I'll just wish everyone a Happy Pchum Ben and hope I haven't just offended anyone.