july 16, 2008 05:35pm
The Mosque of Sedna El Kheshouiee

It's interesting to see how there are so many different worlds inside of Egypt that us Cairenes are clueless about. Perhaps uniting the seven thousand years of civilization will help solve many of the problems that ironically tempt us to leave.

The sad part is that the citizens of the developed world have to go through so much effort to be able to appreciate environments so different from theirs, and in most cases inevitably fail. On the other hand, we, as Egyptians and third-world citizens, are in pole position to grasp the beauty within but tend to look the other way in search of a better life in a place that doesn't even exist.

july 16, 2008 05:25pm
A Lot Closer Than You Think

june 11, 2008 10:18pm
Microbus Egypt: Test Drive Tour

june 09, 2008 11:29am
The Egyptian Freedom of Speech

may 04, 2008 04:56pm
Alfons Mucha's Zodiac

Alphonse Maria Mucha was born in the town of Ivančice, Moravia. His singing abilities allowed him to continue his education through high school in the Moravian capital of Brno, even though drawing had been his first love since childhood. He worked at decorative painting jobs in Moravia, mostly painting theatrical scenery, then in 1879 moved to Vienna to work for a leading Viennese theatrical design company, while informally furthering his artistic education.

Mucha moved to Paris in 1887, and continued his studies at Académie Julian and Academie Colarossi while also producing magazine and advertising illustrations.

Around Christmas 1894, Mucha happened to drop into a print shop where there was a sudden and unexpected demand for a new poster to advertise a play starring Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress in Paris, at the Theatre de la Renaissance. Mucha volunteered to produce a lithographed poster within two weeks, and on January 1, 1895, the advertisement for Gismonda appeared on the streets of the city. It was an overnight sensation and announced the new artistic style and its creator to the citizens of Paris.

Mucha produced a flurry of paintings, posters, advertisements, and book illustrations, as well as designs for jewellery, carpets, wallpaper, and theatre sets in what came to be known as the Art Nouveau style. Mucha's works frequently featured beautiful healthy young women in flowing vaguely Neoclassical looking robes, often surrounded by lush flowers which sometimes formed haloes behind the women's heads.

Mucha declared that art existed only to communicate a spiritual message, and nothing more; hence his frustration at the fame he gained through commercial art, when he wanted always to concentrate on more lofty projects that would ennoble art and his birthplace.

This design by the Czech Nouveau artist is from the magazine La Plume, published in 1896.

...and people say graphic design is a new form of art.

april 17, 2008 05:38pm
Reuters cameraman killed in Gaza

april 07, 2008 02:13pm
The Morning After

It was a busy Sunday for the entire Egyptian republic as the protesters and an army of government security forces larger than WWII battalions battled it out in the streets of Mahalla, Cairo, and other major cities. It was a case of a tough life getting tougher for the working class who have witnessed their rights being gradually flushed down the toilet before them, and it seems like there was very little they can do to salvage the simplest of rights which have long been established as absolutely essential in many parts of the world.

The Egyptian government did its homework and sent out its troops throughout the country in an attempt to breakdown any attempt of protest. The government-owned newspapers had published official government warnings towards any citizen that would dare ask for his or her political or social rights.

The following is a photographic report by the Associated Press in Egypt:

There's no doubt that the situation is rather complicated for the working class who have never tasted life without the human-rights violations spice dumped by the Egyptian authority. Between banning strikes, threatening citizens, using force with peaceful demonstrators, and bringing in more and more shipments of political prisoners, there's little room for maneuver for the optimistic Egyptians.

Al Masry Al Youm published a rather illustrative article on its front page to summarize an eventful day for people on all sides of the political spectrum:



On the other hand, the folks at the public Al Ahram center have failed to see that the human race has truly embarked the 21st century and are sticking to the traditional methods of indoctrination and censorship in an attempt to completely cover for what has occured the previous day:



Al Ahram is hoping the huge majority of Egyptians don't have access to other newspapers, the internet, the telephone, or any other remotely technological device that might just hint at the real events.

Although the Egyptian people remain some of the most obedient of slaves towards the ruling power, regardless of its nature, recent events are reason to be optimistic as the people have reached the point where they barely have anything to lose, and the government had gotten to the point of repeatedly failing to dust its acts under the carpet.

Unless the Egyptian authority occasionally listens to its people, things can only get worse for Mubarak, his son, and their friends.

april 06, 2008 03:47pm
Under-Developed vs Over-Exploited

This is how the BBC news website changed the article in less than two hours' time. After the entire Egyptian population had agreed to voice discontent for a change, the Egyptian government was left with a problem so easy to handle, they're probably regretting getting up an hour earlier than usual.

When Sarkozy altered the law to encourage foreign investment at the expense of the job security of the younger ones, the entire nation stood firm and protested.

When Alitalia was slow on providing employee benefits, the entire crew and staff immediately went on strike to prove their worth.

When Metro Madrid drivers felt their safety was at risk, and their value was unnoticed, they went on strike during the morning and afternoon rush hours and had the entire country talking.

But when the Ottomans take power, and only lose it to the British, And when the Kings suck the blood out of the people, and then the "revolutionary" militants take the land and convert into a military dictatorship, and when a "president" reigns for over a quarter of a century - killing, stealing and lying in the process - and looks to relay his muscle to his son, we Egyptians say: Thank God, it could've been worse.

april 03, 2008 02:52pm
Playing Cards in Cairo, by Hugh Miles

Hugh Miles' new book Playing Cards in Cairo is now available. Here's a summary:

Dieting, Dating and Divorcing in the Mother of all Cities

When young journalist Hugh Miles moves to Cairo, his intentions are clear cut, to finish the book he is writing and explore the city. He doesn’t expect to become a friend and confidante to a group of young Arab women who welcome him into their weekly card game, and their lives, sharing with him their hopes, dreams and fears.

“We played cards all summer long. Through long hot nights, over cigarettes and endless cups of syrupy tea, I listened to tale after tale of bullying husbands, overprotective brothers and a litany of sexual harassment by strangers. Roda and her friends would gossip, rant and celebrate life until a mobile would ring and a curfew would call one of them home. Most of the issues we discussed were the kinds of things you might find inside an issue of Cosmopolitan, except that Egypt is a conservative country and such racy magazines are not easily available, so women are obliged instead to turn to their friends for answers to life’s most important questions”

While the women cut and shuffle, Hugh listens to their stories and learns about what it means to be a young Muslim woman, dating dieting and divorcing in a country where traditional Islamic values are in the ascendant. Yosra juggles her duties as an only daughter with an addiction to prescription drugs; Nadia copes with an abusive husband; Reem comes to terms with plastic surgery gone wrong; and her sister conceals her secret love from her family, whilst attempting to breathe life into a clothes shop run by a regime apparatchik with an Islamist vision of retail.

Playing Cards on Cairo is a fascinating sideways look at the lives of young Egyptians that takes Hugh Miles on a romantic adventure that will lead him to Islam and bind him to the Arab world forever.

For more information, visit Hugh Miles' official website: http://www.hughmiles.com/

april 03, 2008 01:06pm
Hiroshima 1945 vs Today

This is what is referred to as determination.