The frailty of glamour

Dubai with its glamorous exterior hides layers of secrets and abuse. I really liked this article because it shows that Dubai’s exterior is only an image and how the capitalism that is growing around the world has many faults in it.

Though the article was very well written there were some faults with it. The story of the woman in the car seems a tad over dramatized, and the part of the gays is just forced and unnecessary. Overall, however, I think it’s a very good intensive feature story.

Though I’ve never been to Dubai I talked to several people who have lived there and always disliked what it represented, a fake exterior, that strives for perfection, yet is soulless.

A friend of mine once described how the trees aligned one after another as if a skilled mathematician calcuated the distance between each and every tree.

I personally prefer the disheveled Egyptian sideways, where each block of stone doesn’t resemble the next.

At least, it’s real.

Here’s a video from the french film ‘Les poupees russes’ directed by Cedric Klapish

translation:

Celia is the equivalent in woman of a street with perfect dimensions.
We don’t spend much time on earth so, forcefully, in the beggining, we want to live on that street.
I would spend hours looking at a girl like that, just to see her live, to see her walk, to be rocked my the balencing of her skirt, to be drunken by the movement of the material moving on her body.
I think the spectacle of her life will be enough for a whole life, but is it possible to live like that?

The history of the Ewart Hall

Here's my audio documentary on the history of the Ewart hall

Hope you enjoy it :)

Promo

BBC Asian Network documentary

'The Trouble with Hubble Bubble", presented by Konnie Huq, and produced by Nicola Humphries, is 24 min documentary on the health problems that may arise from shisha smoking.

The documentary as a whole was vibrant and had a fast pace, and it kept my attention, however, the topic wasn't that interesting for a 24 min documentary. The presenter went on and on about the different diseases one could catch from shisha and other related health concerns. Nothing much was added. One could expect a 24 min documentary to hold substantial information, however, there was not so much. It dragged on about how shisha was bad for people's health.

Indian and Egyptian pop songs were heard in the background, which gave the documentary some color, however, it was also too much, because it was on for the whole duration of the documentary. Having soundbytes from different youths, who smoke shisha was good. There was some diversity in the voices, yet not so much diversity in the views. 'I like shisha, and I smoke it occasionally so it won't harm,' was mostly said.

Another good part in the documentary was giving a carbon monoxide test with a monitor, which has a scale that measures the amount of that chemical in the body. One of the interviewees had 99 parts per million in his body. He had been smoking shisha for 30 minutes before the test. The next day he took the test again and had an amount of 5 parts per million in his body.

The documentary was well executed, well produced, but lacked in content.

However, it does give out some awareness about the harms of shisha that could be easily overlooked, since people associate cigarettes with health harm, more than shisha, when in reality shisha, in large doses, shisha could be as harmful, or even more.

Nabokov's last masterpiece?

An unfinished novel by Nabokov, who is famous for his novel Lolita, is now getting published for the first time.
Now, years after his death, his last novel "The original of Laura" is getting published.

His son speculates that this would be one of his greatest works, however, Nabokov's dying wish was for it to be burnt.

It wasn't the first instance where Nabokov wanted to burn one of his works. He was about to throw Lolita in flame when his wife stopped him.

I wonder if one should publish something, without the author's consent. Even if it's deemed great.

I know I personally would love to read it. Lolita is one of my favorite works of literature, ever.
But I still think of how Nabokobov would feel with his unfinished work in the hands of his fans.

Everyone knows that editing a huge part of the writing process. Would such a great author want his rough drafts to be published?

Garbage in Cairo: a larger threat than the swine flu?

Cairo Garbage wrap 2009
Taher
11-11-09

(natsound of busy street)

Lead in: each day 13000 tons of garbage is disposed by residents of Cairo, that is now left on the street. After the swine flu outbreak a great upheaval occured resulting in the needless slaughter of pigs in Egypt.

The government didn't take into account that the pigs are an integral part of the garbage disposal process in Cairo. The garbage has been traditionally managed by Copts in Egypt and was running quite efficiently. Families in Manshiet Nasser worked collectively by sorting garbage. Pigs ate the organic waste, while other types of waste was recycled or buried in a landfill.

Egypt's recycling system was considered one of the very functional systems in Egypt, but the government was not concerned. Youssef Fatlats, a freelance Journalist, who went in depth in that topic, explained more.

(soundbyte by Youssef Faltas)

After the slaughter garbage collectors refused to pick up the waste, and have become very selective in what they pick up. Now, the city of Cairo suffers from a larger health issue that the swine flu, the piles of garbage. Though Egypt has contracts with three foreign companies and a stable society of garbage collectors, garbage is piling up on the streets.

Though no research was conducted on the health issues that may arise, Faltas said that people in Manshiet Nasser take regular vaccinations, which a great indication that piles of garbage spred bacteria and viruses.

Manal Badaway, Sociology professor at the AUC agrees.

(soundbyte by Manal Badawy)

How long will the garbage decorate our streets and become an all familiar sight? And how much disease will citizens be infected with before the government reacts?

Menna Taher, AUC radio station

Egypt's most reliable news source

I've recently came across www.elkoshary.com and I love it. It's basically a satiric newspaper on all the strangeness that takes place around us.

They touch upon issues like sexism/sexual harassment, political tyranny/corruption, pollution/traffic/urban planning/daily economic affairs/ class division and religious fundamentalism.

My favorite articles were, one about the U.S. moving to space and another on how how Egypt is getting divided in two countries, one for the elitist and the other for the poor. Another very funny one is on the government trying to ban modern art.