Fools Into Tyrants!

You’re probably reading this on the 28^th January after I have posted it around midday. What you don’t know is that I wrote this around midnight on the day before while craving for a dreamy sleep, but pushed myself into it to avoid the ideas disappearing into nothingness during my sleep. I was worried about posting it then fearing for my safety but after a brain conflict, I decided that my country, Egypt’s safety comes first. I seem to have some, somehow, found the patriot inside me.

For the past week, an extremely heated set of protests have taken over the nation, one city at a time, from the metropolitan capital, Cairo, to smaller cities like Alexandria, Port Saeed and Suez City, finally reaching boiling point today after President Morsi decided to finally bless us with one of his bizarre, irrational speeches which make no sense.

This shot was taken on the 26th January 2013

Since June, the Muslim brotherhood has taken over nearly every governmental position from the executive to the legislative to the judicial ones in Egypt, including the presidential seat. A minority have noticed how the nation was going downhill fast, yet a majority, including myself, who were too reluctant to give a damn altogether, were indifferent. Today, this issue has hit us right across the noses and it is no longer a case of who KNOWS… It’s a case of who shall take action. It is my greatest regret to know now that all along, we have been fooled and deluded into lies. The government’s claims of ‘a new regime’ turned out to be nothing more than a demonstration of the Muslim Brotherhood’s motto, the sickening, evil, Machiavellian classic, “The End justifies the means”.

Personally, the wake up call for me was noticing the common trend that the old regime and the new regime (if there’s a distinction, for that matter) used to respond to demonstrations. The police forces sabotaging demonstrations by throwing tear gas at the protestors, the death of some, speeches by the president that are so irrational to the point that you have to cry upon the realization that you are being ruled by a mere idiot, and above it all, the instilling of Curfew times in three cities which the protestors chose to ignore. Two years ago, I would’ve assumed we were going into the realms of anarchy. Now, it’s just classic Egyptian behaviour.

I wonder why is President Morsi being so similar to Mubarak? He has literally lifted lines out of Mubarak’s old speeches. Seems like they have both taken their guidelines out of The Book Of Dictatorship and Tyranny, if there is such a book. Does President Morsi want a fate similar to Mubarak’s? Does he miss his time in prison?

To conclude this, I believe that every Egyptian who still demands the primal instincts of humanity we earlier wanted in the 25^th January revolution that is Bread, Liberty, Social Equality, must head down to the streets and demonstrate. It is time that the intense fire of the revolution gets reignited. A personal message to President Morsi: Are you a fool repeating the failure story of a regime resisting the masses? Look where the last person with such a strategy has gone!

My article was basically my opinion, with little fact, If you're looking for detailed reporting, click here.

Five Songs that will make

you want to kill yourself

In fifth place, we have Rebecca Black’s Friday which somehow pushed its way into the Billboard top 50s!

In fourth place, we have the song which made me consider cutting back in eighth grade right after listening to it, The Jonas Brother's Baby Bottle Bop.

In third place, we have Hot Problems sung by Double Take who somehow convinced me that you tube should only allow adults of a certain age to upload videos on it.

I wonder how the artist/hoe behind this number confronted her parents after this was released.

Eww, that's all I can say, seriously, that's a mutation of music shaped into a video!

 Project Runway - S11E01:
There Is No I in Team

New Look to the Old Show! On Season 11 Premiere, Project Runway’s striking ingénue hostess, Heidi Klum, who doesn’t look a day older than when she started off in season 1, only taking her looks to new levels, and larger-than-life mentor, Tim Gunn introduced us to a very new pack of fabulous designers struggling on their way to fashion week, only that this time they have their work cut out for them as they have to struggle in TEAMS!

The personalities that intrigued me the most, based on their looks and the pieces that we got to see from their portfolio even before the challenge begun were Richard Halmarq from Sacramento whose dotted pants, I demand. His portfolio pieces really did seem to push the envelope further than ever. I loved Kate’s dress! If she’s the designer behind her own beautiful outfit, I am totally rooting for her. The personality that I totally fell in love with and wanted to just cheer for based on portfolio is Benjamin Mach.        Cindy seemed interesting too. Emily’s “I’m gonna win this thing so you might as well just pack your bags and go home” quote seemed to present her as the cutthroat ambitious kind who is extremely talented yet repulsively annoying. Clearly, after the first twenty minutes we could tell that she lacked time management skills, or ANY skills for that matter!

As the team twist bombshell was dropped on the designers, they seemed shocked yet optimistic. They were placed in two teams, each of eight, and the challenge involved designing New York-inspired, cohesive pieces that express the designer while cooperating with teammates. Team Keepin’ it real were given view from afar through a boat as the inspiration while, Dream Team were given the opportunity to be inspired from the top of the Atlas Skyscrapers. I believe that the team challenges twist has its pros and cons. On one side, the final work produced is more meticulous and professional but, on the other hand, some team members are just getting by using lots of help from others like in the case of Emily and Cindy.

To me, I felt like the weakest part of the episode was Tim’s critique as he uttered no more than a couple of sentences leaving all the critiquing for fellow designers. All along, I wanted to say, “YOU’RE THE PROFESSIONAL, TIM, NOT THEM”! The models for this season seem hotter than EVER!

Even before the start of the show, my excitement was spiked as I saw CFDA award winning designer Zac Posen and my favorite designer from all seasons, Christian Siriano on the judging Panel!

To me, Team Keepin’ It Real showed consistency and cooperation. Nearly everything seemed cohesive and collaborated on by several hands. Daniel, Joseph and Stanley’s pieces were beautiful. They really did get what the challenge was all about. Unfortunately, though, there weren’t that many WOW factors and Patricia’s piece seemed a bit crafty yet intricate, which seemed to interest the judges!

On the other hand, the Dream team failed at producing a COLLECTION. Each person made their own piece and none of them seemed to grasp the challenge’s idea. Many including, Emily, Cindy and Tu, to name a few, practically contributed to the intensification of my headache, originally caused by my hangover, with their hideous garments. Regardless of that, some individual designers like Michelle and Benjamin produced pieces that looked so editorial and intricate.*

The Judging Panel

By the end of the judges’ chat, I was confident that Zac Posen is a great replacement for Kors and he really does know what he is doing. Benjamin, by far is my favorite designer! I am glad with winning and outing choices because, to be very honest, they are very just and right. There was no doubt about the outing, Emily definitely deserved this one, and while I wish Joseph won, Daniel also deserved it. The sneak peeks from the upcoming episodes had me craving for Thursday to come so I can watch episode 2 already! See ya next week, fashionistas!

*My reviews aren’t based on the judges’. In fact, I tend to disagree with the judges a LOT.

I always wanted to report live news from the world’s hottest grounds, yet, I obviously can’t just go around earth to report stuff for my blog. I have been looking forward to the day I will have an internationally renowned event to cover which is in my vicinity just for the sake of the experience. Tomorrow was that day for me, which is why my intention was to cut my vacation to Alexandria short to come back to Cairo for the second anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution coverage. I could not, for a reason which I will address in a later post. For tomorrow, I am taking a break and the day after, I will commence the earlier, promised weekly post that will cover season eleven of Project Runway! Here are the season’s cast for an introduction!

And the Season 11 designers are:

Amanda Valentine, 31 - Hometown: Nashville, TN; Resides in Lincoln, NE

Benjamin Mach, 35 - Hometown: Sydney, Australia; Resides in London, England

Cindy Marlatt, 59 - Hometown: Kent, WA; Resides in Kent, WA

Daniel Esquivel, 48 - Hometown: Dallas, TX; Resides in Austin, TX

Emily Pollard, 24 - Hometown: Richfield, OH; Resides in Falls Church, VA

James Martinez, 29 - Hometown: Dallas, TX; Resides in Fort Worth, TX

Joseph Aaron Segal, 30 - Hometown: Framingham, MA; Resides in Providence, RI

Kate Pankoke, 23 - Hometown: Eau Claire, WI & Parkland, FL; Resides in Chicago, IL

Layana Aguilar, 28 - Hometown: Valadares, Brazil; Resides in New York, NY

Matthew Arthur, 30 - Hometown: Hammond, LA; Resides in New Orleans, LA

Michelle Lesniak Franklin, 34 - Hometown: Portland, OR; Resides in Portland, OR

Patricia Michaels, 46 - Hometown: Taos, NM; Resides in Taos, NM

Richard Hallmarq, 39 - Hometown: Saramento, CA; Resides in Sacramento, CA

Samantha Black, 28 - Hometown: Bronx, NY; Resides in Fairfield, CT

Stanley Hudson, 45 - Hometown: Lynwood, CA; Resides in West Hollywood, CA

Tu Suthiwat Nakchat, 26 - Hometown: Chacheangsao, Thailand; Resides in Springfield, VA 

Struck By Lightning:

A Good Start

I was surprised when, Struck by Lightning, the movie I have been eagerly awaiting for nearly a year now, received mixed critiques, simply because I had faith that Glee Actor and Singer, Chris Colfer, who released his first book, The Land of Stories, would not write, produce, and act in a movie that I would identify as ‘mediocre’. Well, let’s just say that Colfer proved me right. I was simply struck by lightning upon watching it!

Imagine popping up your popcorn and starting to watch the movie when your jaws drop to the floor as you realize that the movie is basically your life story? That the movie’s protagonist is nothing more than a replica of yourself? This is what I experienced watching this ingenious film.

Set in the small town of Clovis in California, this movie tells the story of Carson Philip, a teenager, who is ahead of the curve, confronted by a small town world where he simply feels out-of-place as he tries to take his journalistic genius to a place where he would fit in, a place where he can invest his talents into a career, in his case, Northwestern University. The climax is reached when Carson blackmails nearly everyone in the whole school into contributing to a literary magazine he starts to better his chances at being admitted.

Carson’s snide comments, intimidating personality along with the conflicting personalities that surround him like his best friend, Melanie portrayed by Rebel Wilson, his drunk mother played by Allison Janney, and his sick grandma portrayed by Polly Bergen make the movie an enjoyable experience that will most likely make you laugh. Everyone’s acting is just superb, especially Sarah Hyland. Chris Colfer proves he is not just playing himself as Kurt Hummel on Glee.

I was intrigued by the fact that most of the professional critics found the movie two dimensional with absolutely nothing but stereotypes. Well, simply put, that’s what high schools ARE like and this movie was just decent and honest enough to portray the truth unchanged. The movie is not the most commercial one, since it will only WOW a tiny niche who will understand and embrace Carson’s complex identity, a kind of identity that only a similar person can get.

Bravo to Chris Colfer and I wish him better luck on his next film! I eagerly await it!

Media in the time of the Brotherhood 

Egypt has always been known to be an extremely democratic country, at least in relativity to its neighbors. Unfortunately, this has been changing!

Over the past year, The Muslim Brotherhood’s members have nearly taken over all executive, legislative and judicial positions in Egypt. Whether you are a supporter of their core beliefs, views and tactics, it remains a fact that this phenomenon has not been a very successful one seeing the protests that seem to be happening everywhere lately in Egypt. To avoiding getting off point, I would like to address the one aspect that seems to have drastically deteriorated most since the commencement of their time in power… Media.

Although corrupt and fraudulent, the old regime had sponsored media in Egypt greatly as freedom of speech was rarely ever prevented. On the other hand, Dr. Hesham Kandil’s government have gradually and slowly taken steps to aim at extending dictatorship further with the sick excuse that desperate times call for desperate measures. A particularly inappropriate stance was the shutting down of Dream TV Channel which is the first private television channel in Egypt and is a leading news provider. Such an act has never been taken during the dark era of the old regime.

While it is agreeable that pornography is a highly un-recommended substance to view, I find the order issued by ex Secretary General of state, Abdel Meguid Mahmoud regarding the blocking of pornography websites nationwide also inappropriate as it does not eliminate the lack of awareness about the dangers of substance involved but only builds up a feeling of deprivation and leads to perversion (Saudi Arabia is a life example).

The story doesn’t end here. It seems like the government has taken the liberty to start implementing bans on the importing of books of a certain criteria into Egypt. An example is the Fifty Shades Trilogy written by EL James. While the book involves an unconventional story that fails to abide with Egyptian Culture and tradition, I find the import ban outrageously wrong as it is never wrong to be aware of the world’s happenings not necessarily meaning that the reader would immediately to choose to adopt this lifestyle.

I would like to point out that even if you agree to the blocking of T.V. Channels, Novels and websites of a certain caliber, they shall eventually abuse such rights to block all material that fails to contribute to their agenda. If that is what you want, go ahead and be ignorant. It’s a matter of choice.

Fifty Shades Of Grey:

Novel or fan fiction?

Contrary to the beliefs and claims of many, The New York Times’ #1 bestselling novel, Fifty Shades Of Grey by E.L. James isn’t really ‘A one of a kind’ or a novel with a genre of its own. In fact, erotic novels have been in the market for years, if not decades. What is new, however, is that a novel from said genre has climbed The New York Times’ bestseller list, so high, so fast!

E.L. James

Set in Seattle, Fifty Shades Of Grey, tells the story of Anastasia Steele, a young woman in her college senior year who is yet a virgin, and her confrontation with striking, alluring, business tycoon, Christian Grey who turns out to have a dark, kinky secret. Personally, I read it and found it amusing, yet undeniably artistically devoid with highly sexual proses that are only used for commercialization. How is that different from prostitution?!

 The novel was originally a fan fiction for Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling classic, Twilight. Is the writing style worthy of its position on the bestseller list? Definitely not! Why is it there then? Commercialization… which brings us back to square one, which is the most prominent and dominating factor when it comes to the publishing world? Business or Art? In a utopian world, over the rainbow, it’s the latter. Unfortunately, however, as the Russian quote says, ‘When money speaks, the truth is silent’ and so this painfully intimidating novel will stay on the racks for a little longer, thanks to teenage girls, while the one place it actually deserves to be is fanfiction.net.

Since a picture is worth more than a thousand words, here’s mine with Desperate Housewives star, Eva Longoria at Bloomingdales in Dubai last year.

New York State Of Mind*

Is it weird to base all my aspirations and dreams on a mere city? Is it plausible that one of the major reasons I have chosen to pursue my higher education overseas is to visit the city? Too immature, don’t you think? A little bit childish? The good news is, I don’t care! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I mean the city that people refer to as The Big Apple, The City That never sleeps, and also, mistakenly, Manhattan, NEW YORK CITY!

For as far as I can remember, New York has served as my inspiration for nearly  everything I do, from studying to ace my midterms to making sure that my customized seven day plan while visiting the city is periodically updated. I don’t recall a night, in the recent past, where I haven’t dreamed of it, whether I was standing next to Audrey Hepburn as we ate bagels at Tiffany’s, working as Tina Brown’s assistant at Newsweek or sitting next to Kurt Hummel and Rachel Berry in Parsons while Kate Hudson gave us a lesson (pretty sure this was the result of watching too many episodes of both Glee and Project Runway). Believe it or not, in one of these extremely elaborate dreams, I eloped in Times Square right after watching Wicked!

To cut it short, No words I could possibly say would explain the passionate drive that consumes me when it comes to New York City. Many have tried to cool me down by pointing out that it was no Utopia. The answer would always be, “I know, and it doesn’t matter that it isn’t. I don’t want to live in some fairytale land”. It doesn’t matter if I am living in a shoebox apartment struggling to make ends meet while writing my daily post for this blog as I serve customers in a Chinatown $3 Food outlet. It’s where I was meant to be. I just know.

Every one of us has dreams like these. Most of you, readers, however, will choose to suppress them to follow your dad’s legacy and run the law firm he started or to become a doctor with a 100K salary. Well, to quote Selena Gomez, “It’s all the money that you’re saving while the good life passes by”. You can call me naive, dreamy, and even stupid, but to be completely honest, I believe it’s the other way around.

*My article’s title is homage to Billy Joel’s classic with the same name, popularized by one Ms. Barbra Streisand.

Bushra: A friend!

Well, to most of you, this topic is eternally condemned to your primary school years, since this was the last time anyone was asked to write a review about a friend. What is a friend? Is it someone you have a fun time with? Or someone you know you can trust? Someone who inspires you to be a better person? Someone who pushes you into proving yourself? Well, if your definition of a friend is anything like the latter, then Bushra Ali is definitely as good as a friend could possibly get.

Let me dictate how I first met Bushra for a start. Back at Westminster, I used to be part of an amazing extracurricular activity, known as The Third Dimensional Thinkers, directed by the School’s Vice Principal, Mr. Kingston Gilbert. It was like our own little version of TED. Anyway, Bushra was three years senior to me, so when I was a mere freshman, leading the members from my year, she was a senior, leading hers. I happened to come across her a couple of times in Mr. Kingston’s office and we even tried to work on making a social network for the school, which according to my memory, ended in catastrophic failure. Then, Bushra graduated.

Yet, this wasn’t the end of it. We chatted on Facebook consistently since then, and then only, I finally understood the sheer genius that Bushra was. Other than her academic distinction, Bushra is the kind of person who is always filled with vitality, optimism and enthusiasm that could light the world on fire. She holds a unique essence that makes you smile on the gloomiest day.

Bushra is hardworking and makes you want to aspire to prove yourself equivalent to her. She is dedicated to her friends in a manner of her own as she responds to any issues you inquire about with long, inspiring prose that instantaneously makes you look at the world from a new perspective.

I won’t dictate all her achievements here because it would take a couple of pages, but I know for a fact that if someone, from the upcoming generation will do great things in the world, it’s her! A warm hearted thank you to her for making my world a much more live-able place!

Hey guys! Since everyone seemed to see my fabulous, customized background as a human abomination, I decided to replace it with something that also represents me, yet is a little more plausible. For all of you people who actually liked it, here’s a copy.

Globalization: A Ploy?

I still can’t fully embrace the fact that we are in 2013. It feels, for some reason, like a date from another world. Regardless, we’re in that inevitable year, 2013, and it is known that, the number 13 is synonymous with bad luck. Yet, this is not what worries me about entering into the realm of the New Year. What does is that every year drags us further into the complex web of globalization. I bet you’re wondering, “Why so hating? It’s really all about the process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas, and other aspects of culture, right? At least that’s what Wikipedia says?” Well, for once, Wikipedia is mistaken!

What really made me shed light on this issue is a realization that was gradually instilled within me since I first relocated to Cairo earlier last year. Where I previously used to reside was Dubai which is a VERY globalized place with demographics more multicultural than New York City and people from all over the world uniting. I always cherished being in such a society considering myself a person who sees things from an authentic perspective thanks to that. As immodest as admitting it is, I was consistently ahead of the curve there. Upon moving here, I suddenly found myself surrounded by a society where everyone was much more aware of the surroundings, the international political scene, the economic conditions and etcetera, even though the educational resources were much less than in the former. I was simply mediocre.

This is when I finally realized the consequences of globalization and noticed a negative correlation between it and intellectuality. The former simply eradicates the latter. This is MOST noticeable in the younger generation. Even though I was in one of the best schools, the students there were all slaves to modernism, stereotypes and were simply conformed to a box. They were either music lovers or athletes or conforming to another identity, which is simply a limitation. Of course, students were mostly consistently making sure they’re not highly knowledgeable or academically top notch just to avoid everyone’s least favourite label, ‘nerd’! Here are a couple of questions you should ask yourself… Who instilled these thoughts within said teens? Why are they following such trends? Isn’t it television? The media? Yes, basically, it’s globalization!

Dearest Readers,

Sorry for having disappeared for the past forty eight hours. I have been going through a case of chronic writer’s block and exams.

Adam Ashraf

1408: A Cheesy Bore

Talk about cheesy!  Terrible directing, terrible acting, terrible EVERYTHING! I didn’t intend on writing a review today but upon watching 1408 with my sister, who bullied me into watching by emphasizing on the fact that, somehow, she saw it as a movie worthy of Best Picture by the Academy Awards, I had to speak my mind about this.

Set in California, tells the story of a failed writer, who specializes in paranormal activity books. Said writer is confronted with a challenge when a post card is mailed to him, warning him to steer clear of room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel in Manhattan. Consequently, the writer visits the room, a sign of complete arrogance, disregarding the dozens of deaths that have occurred, in said domain, in the past, through both natural and brutal means.

From there, the movie takes the weirdest, most psychopathic, yet horrifying twists and turn which if signify anything, is that screenplay writers, Matt Greenberg and Scott Alexander, and director, Mikael Håfström, were on serious drugs while filming the movie.

The movie seems to be a flat out copy of notoriously successful blockbuster, Stay Alive, which was one year older, only that the acting was much less convincing; the directing took the word artificial to new extremes, and above it all, the screenplay writer managed to fit so many dream sequences into that movie that I lost track by the end of it, which was also contributed to by the boredom factor. I would give this movie no more than a two. This is honestly a disappointment. It is an insult to cinematography.

The Oscar Pre-Article

Hey there, dearest readers! The Academy Awards committee has, finally, after a long and tiring wait, announced the nominees to the eager public. For all of you Oscar junkies out there, here are my expectations for them.

For Actor in a leading role…

Under normal circumstances, I would pick Washington in my sleep, but, Hugh Jackman’s performance was so convincing in Les Misérables to the point that I was reduced to tears. It’s the adequate choice!

For Actress in a leading role…

Emannuelle Riva holds a close run for best actress but Jennifer Lawrence takes the lead. If there’s one phrase I can use to describe this young, striking ingénue, it’s Star Quality!

For Actor in a supporting role…

It’s a tie! While Robert De Niro will always be Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones’s role as

Thaddeus Stevens was convincing and impeccable.

For Actress in a supporting role…

  

There’s no doubt when it comes to this one! Anne Hathaway blew that performance out of the water! Chapeau to Sally Field too!

For Cinematography…

Seamus McGravey nailed this one! Not his first Nomination, I believe! Close run for Roger Deakins!

For Costume design...

Can’t judge! This is the first category where I have seen all five movies and honestly, they ALL deserve the prize!

  

For Make Up and Hairstyling…

To be completely honest, I have not seen The Hobbit but the trailer was enough to tell me what I needed to know It is the clear winner. Impeccable Makeup! The styling was exceptional in Les Misérables though and make up was perfect in the scene where Anne Hathaway’s Fantine turned to prostitution.

For Foreign Language film…

 

Hands down, one of the best, movies I have ever seen. It shook me deep down. I love it! P.S. This time, my choice is very biased because I have only seen two of the five.

For Best Picture…

 

Though I believe Les Miserables is the most worthy of the Oscar, It seems like a majority are rooting for Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook. I hope it isn’t the latter because I really don’t see what all the buzz is about! I am surprised that The Hunger Games didn’t make the cut.

To conclude, thank you for reading my most-likely wrong predictions and I hope you read my Post Oscar Article too. I apologize for not covering the other categories. This is because I am clueless about them.