My dedicated Readers,

I realize and understand the several of you who have chosen to stop checking my blog completely since I have not posted for a week now. To the few who still check, claiming to be busy would be dishonesty. To be truthful, I am simply feeling bored and uninspired. I believe it is a severe case of writer’s block. Expect more very soon.

Love,

Adam Ashraf

The Myth of Unconditional Love

I’d be writing this article from St. Tropez if I got a dollar for every time the words ‘unconditional love’ were mentioned on a cheesy eighties movie or some stupid New York Times’ bestseller involving an  equally cheesy storyline. The mere ideology behind unconditional love is naïve, unrealistic and plain ludicrous. Excuse my apparent lack of romanticism.

Before I elaborate on why unconditional love isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, let me ask you readers, out there, a simple question, what is Love? According to Dorling Kindersley dictionary, it’s ‘a passionate affectionate’. I’m sure that to you it means the butterflies in your stomach or the magnetization you feel when you’re next to your significant other. The more important word in this praise though is ‘unconditional’. What does that one mean? Well, according to the exact same dictionary, it’s ‘limitless’ or ‘not subjected to conditions’.

Here’s my question to Bella of Twilight, if Edward killed Reneesme or Jacob, would you still love him unconditionally? Would you still have the same limitless affection for him? Well, clearly not! The ironic part is that nearly every couple on television break up three episodes after claiming their unconditional love to each other, and what about the 50% worldwide divorce rate which usually involves couples who once upon a time made a vow to love each other ‘until death do us part’. It’s no wonder some people stopped believing in marriage! The only couple to actually be in love unconditionally was Romeo and Juliet and look how that ended!

Wrapping up, to quote my iconic idol, Nicholas Sparks, “Love is like the wind, you can’t touch it, but you can always feel it”. Well, guess what? The wind passes by, leaving nothing behind but a cold chill. To me, real love isn’t a mere butterfly in your stomach. Rationality and kindness, waking up in the morning knowing that you have an anchor, a reference, someone to hold on to, someone who will hold you up and right your wrongs. This is true love.

Project Runway - S11E03:

Surprise Me!

OMG! Unlike the second episode, this one was super interesting! Let me just start by confessing that the episodes where the challenges involve designing for Heidi or Nina are my personal favorite, which is why I was so excited for this one! Once I saw the storyboard for the ad campaign, I was hooked even further. Each team was asked to produce six looks, four of which are for Heidi to wear on her fragrance advertisement and two for the press releases with a budget of $1200 in one day.

In The Workroom!

Unlike in the first two episodes, Team Keepin’ It Real didn’t seem much in synch. I guess the winning got to their heads! Teaming Amanda and Joe together was a stupid idea as they both have completely different design aesthetics. The problem with Amanda is that she simply lacks team spirit. Joe seemed to want to design a dress that would have been okay for another challenge. I am glad Amanda tuned him appropriately. His vision didn’t suit Heidi’s swagger style at all. Like in the first challenge, Patricia started doing her own material. Initially, I saw her dress as a train wreck, but like in the first challenge, by runway time, it was a well-sculptured piece. Kate and Layana’s look seemed interesting. I wonder why Layana was being such a drama queen.

Moving on to Dream Team, as always, Benjamin was over the top, fabulous and just forward. He keeps reminding me of Austin Scarlett! I was concerned with the fact that by the time Tim came for the critique, he was yet terribly unfinished, though. The part where he talked about his social life made me long for his win even more. Cindy simply sucks, as always! And Michelle keeps proving that she is meticulous and fashion forward.

Runway Time

My initial thought was, “OMG! Heidi’s dress is so AMAZING!”, but then what’s new, her clothes are always amazing. Zac Posen’s fabulous red suit is a long way from good old Kors’s all black look which we’ve been seeing consistently for ten seasons. OMG! Kristin Davis is the guest judge, YES! I totally love Sex and The City!

As soon as Team Keepin’ it real’s models start sashaying down the runway, my jaws drop at how intricate everything is. I never took great notice of Daniel’s dress in the workroom but the second it hits the runway, I felt that this was the winner, without a question. Patricia’s look was interesting yet lacks sophistication and the Amanda-Joe look was nice (but to quote Michael Kors, “You never wanna be reviewed as ‘nice’.” That’s especially true when you’re designing for Heidi Klum. Richard’s looks would’ve been good if he had the brains to remove that stupid black butt-tail he made her. Layana and Kate’s look was AMAZING, flawless and fitting. I wasn’t a fan of Stanley’s piece though. Too much styling to me simply because I tend to be a simplistic person.

Cindy's outed look!

Contrary to my belief initial belief about Dream Team in the workroom, Michelle’s piece wasn’t that meticulous. Unlike Matthew’s belief, I found his dress fierce though slightly similar to Max and Lubov Azria’s 2013 collection. Since this was filmed last summer though, clearly that wasn’t a case of copyright infringement. Cindy’s dress was weird and lacked proper execution. The fact that she found it good proves her inefficiency. Samantha’s was fierce and the model made it work. I loved Benjamin’s piece, and I didn’t like how the judges hated on it, but I clearly there was an issue with the breasts. While he keeps being in the bottom three, I still feel there is potential within. Tu’s was weird; I don’t even want to remember it.

I wasn’t surprised with the judges’ choices. To be honest though, Dream Team seemed closer to winning this time.

One of the two winning looks designed by Kate and Layana

I am glad that Kate and Daniel won this challenge. I believe that they were both the two best pieces on the runway today! Like in the case of the first challenge and Emily, and unlike the case of James and challenge two, Cindy’s outing was obvious and inevitable. The sneak peeks from the upcoming episode had me craving for Thursday to come so I can watch episode 4 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

My Oscar Winning Speech

FOX Corporation has announced a competition, in the Middle East, involving amateurs filming what they would say on their Oscar winning speech. The winner gets their speech previewed on Fox Movies. This is what I said for my video entry.

“WOW! For years and years, ever since I wrote the script for my high school musical production, I would stand before my mirror, late in the night, and practice my Oscar Winning speech knowing that this wasn’t just a dream. It was bound to happen, it was inevitable. Surprisingly, ever since I stepped on stage tonight, I seem to have forgotten every word of it! Anyway, now that I have that little naked statue to keep on myself and cherish for the rest of my life, I feel like I’ve come home at last.

I’d like to dedicate this to my amazing mother, without which I wouldn’t be standing before you. She was the one who told me, twenty years ago, ‘Adam, the world is your oyster. I know you’re capable of achieving all your dreams. You go get ‘em’. The way she had trust in me was the light that illuminated my pathway. A big thank you to the picture’s dedicated cast without which my screenplay wouldn’t have come to life.

Here’s a little something I’d like to say to every dreamer out there, whether you’re a poet, singer or actor, 'Don’t Dream it, Be it', and remember my mother’s words. Believe me, they’ll come in handy."

Why I hate Capitalism!

Just Until the time I moved to Cairo, earlier last year, I saw communism as a mere economic ideology that does nothing but limit the deserving rich and deprive them of their financial freedom while providing lazy losers with privileges they did not earn and, consequently, saw capitalism as justice. As someone who lived in nowhere but Dubai all my life, I simply did not know what poverty was and saw it as a foreign notion. The capitalism I saw was, ‘There are people who are extremely rich and people who are financially middle class.’ You get what you deserve! What’s wrong with that?

Upon moving to Egypt, I found myself in a status quo completely different from that of my former residence. Egypt was a capitalist country to further extremes. My place of residence there was Maadi, a high end suburb that was Egypt’s equivalent of California’s Pasadena, yet obviously not as glamorous. It was classic suburbia where housewives worked as teachers in the morning right after having their $10 breakfast at Starbucks, going shopping in Nine West or playing a tennis match in one of the several community clubs made for this niche. The men chose medicine or engineering for a career, basically conforming to a stereotype. My life felt like a game of house, except for one bit!

My dad enrolled me in a $5000 school which was, physically, a mile away, yet socially, another world. An invisible social barrier, taller than the Great Wall of China itself, separated high end Maadi from Tura, a slum where sanitation is viewed a privilege. It was a world foreign to me. As I started walking to school every day, it felt like a challenge as I stepped into the world of oblivion, a world crowded by shadows of people who experienced hunger, poverty and pain firsthand, a world where pot stash is treated like water. Everyone who lived there either worked as a driver or maid for someone in Maadi, or in other cases, drug dealers and pimps.

I won’t deny it, at first I was repulsed, disgusted at the mere idea of such beings crowding my vicinity where the biggest concern was whether I was going win Student Council President elections or not affording the trip to London my school is offering. I blamed them for their ever-ailing circumstances until I found out that the average Egyptian family’s net earnings per month was $150s, about as much as I spent on MUN registration. How do you expect them to aspire, or even want, more when they starve every night with no supper to give their kids? Upon further analytical reflection, I think I’m starting to despise capitalism.

To conclude, neither is capitalism, nor communism perfect. Each has its own strengths and flaws. Capitalism, if implemented with appropriate governmental welfare schemes, for the financially unstable, without being a controlling tool in the hands of the upper socioeconomic class, would be a blessing that would bring about social equality. Yet, in the world we live in, which dictates ‘survival of the fittest’, I’d rather put my money on Communism!

Repulsive Human Rights Violations

I was just about to get to sleep when a devastating, repulsive piece of news appeared on my television set. I am not the person to easily get moved by such but this was just shameful and nearly reduced me to tears. Earlier today, thugs, reportedly sent in by The Muslim Brotherhood, have infiltrated the lines of the demonstrators in Tahrir Square sexually harassing and raping not only females, but also males, publicly, which was never heard of in the past in Egypt. I won’t be reporting any details since people interested will receive information from sources.

This is an act which has taken Human Rights Violations to new level. Here’s a little message to Human Rights Watch and the United Nations Human Rights council. What are you doing now, huh? Isn’t that your job? Such Violations and inhuman, barbaric gestures simply prove that contrary to the people’s beliefs, the human race is going backwards.

Sources for Information may be found here:

Sex attacks against women in Tahrir Square alarm rights groups.

Muslim Brotherhood 'paying gangs to go out andrape women and beat men protesting in Egypt' as thousands of demonstrators pouron to the streets.

Fearless Felix

We all know Felix as merely the man who flew faster than the speed of sound, yet, there’s a lot of things that none of us know about the skydiver that has attracted eyes since his astonishing freefall .

First of all, Baumgartner was born in the city of Salzburg, Austria (Yes, It is that amazing setting of the one and only, The Sound Of Music) on 20th April 1969. The genius was immersed into the world of skydiving in 1985, at the age of 16, after his first sky dive.

“The company's [Red bull] out-of-the-box thinking and Felix's adventurous spirit clicked, and they've collaborated ever since leading to Felix’s records”, claims Red Bull’s website, yet, a recent illustration revealed by British National Daily newspaper, The Guardian shows that when he was five, the skydiving daredevil drew a picture of himself parachuting down to earth while his family watched.

Conventional skydiving eventually outgrew Felix’s always challenging spirit and the adrenalin rush it gave him stopped being enough, this is when he extended his skills to BASE jumping which is simply parachuting from a fixed object or landmark.

“I find that the lightning-fast reflexes and precise techniques required by such low-altitude feats also enhance my high-altitude skydiving technique”, he once said. Felix has became the first person to BASE jump from the completed Millau Viaduct in France on 27 June 2004 and the first person to skydive onto, then BASE jump from, the Turning Torso building in Malmö, Sweden on 18 August 2006. On 12 December 2007 he became the first person to jump from the 91st floor observation deck of the then-tallest completed building in the world, Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan and has been nominated for a World Sports Award and two categories in the NEA Extreme Sports Awards. He is also a prominent advocate for the nonprofit Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation. And, while he acknowledges that the Red Bull Stratos mission is a step into the unknown, his determination to reach the edge of space and break the speed of sound was unshakable.

On October 14th 2012, Felix jumped to Earth from a helium balloon in the stratosphere. As part of this project, he set the altitude record for a manned balloon flight, parachute jump from the highest altitude, and greatest free fall velocity.

The conclusion I would like to make is that Felix is an example of a person we can take as a role model. You definitely don’t have to be a scientist to be an example or to take him as one. However, as a world citizen, you should make yourself a pioneer wherever you go and in whatever you do in the world.