Blogging a la Arabia

I was very pleased this morning(yes, this morning, my vampirish routine has got to go this semester) when I logged on to Jordan Planet and found that we have 7 new Jordanian bloggers(welcome to the Planet guys).

Blogging is certainly taking off in Jordan, although I must stress on the fact that it has been mostly growing with a certain segment of society. This better-off segment of society is a young one that speaks very good English, that is(to a certain degree) quite technical, and is, as Firas and Natasha pointed out, not very political.

We, as Jordanian bloggers, have tried to account for this trend several times, both in online and offline discussions and debates. Although the conclusions have ranged from political conspiracy theories to reasons related to disinterest, I believe that the fact that there were no real Arabic blogging softwares online greatly contributed to the social segmentation of Jordan bloggers.

Yes, I know that American blogging softwares such as Blogger can be manipulated to start posting in Arabic, but I personally believe that what we really need to facilitate blogging in the Arabic-speaking world is having a blogging software with a blogging interface in Arabic.

So, when I heard about a newly launched blogging service by the Middle-Eastern portal Al-Bawaba, I was intrigued to try it(And Far Away... on Al-Bawaba here), especially as the blogging interface can be interchanged between both Arabic and English.


I found the interface fairly easy to use, the default blogging setting being the wysiwyg editor, although it can easily be switched to HTML mode. It has some features that make it very appealing, even more appealing than Blogger(which I believe in the best free blogging software online), such as the availability of a "Resource Center" which acts like an online file library. It also has categorizing, integrated statistics, and easy link managing(links have to be added in HTML to the template in Blogger). All these features make it very, very usable for less technical Arabs interested in blogging.

Actually, the only setback to Al Bawaba Blogs is the template system, which only has a few templates and of which only a couple are aesthetically usable in my opinion. An even bigger setback with the templates to a more technical person is that you cannot edit their HTML, and I believe that the best thing about blogging is that you have, to a certain degree, complete control over your space. Apparently though, changes are being cooked to improve the templating system, so that should be something to look forward to.

I'm aware that Fastlink had started a mobile blogging service earlier this month, and although it has huge chances of success as a service because Fastlink as a company has a lot of subscribers, I do not think that it is even slightly comparable to Blogger because the quality of the target audience. I mean- cheap mobile phone cameras, aimless picture taking of random people and random places, and pretty much nothing to say are not the ingredients of a good blog.

It would be interesting to witness what will happen to blogging in Arabia with the local companies starting up local, Arabized blogging services, and whether these easy to use services such as Al-Bawaba Blogs will attract Arabs who have something real to say but who are, for some reason or another, not very comfortable with English-based interfaces.

Monthly Jordan Planet Blogger Meet-up for October

I would like to remind everyone that the monthly Jordan Planet and Jordanian bloggers meet-up for October will be held on Sunday, October the 2nd at 6:30 PM in Wild Jordan, with a special self-confessed "Surprise".

Please add a comment if you think you are coming.

Thanks!

Why Amman can never be GPSed

Because someone is on a mission to make sure that Amman's streets and circles have a different name every several decades, and so, the name you know of the street depends on your background.

No seriously. I really hate this. It's just Really annoying me how Amman's circle's names have changed.

They were always the First Circle, the Second Circle, the Third Circle, and so on and so forth. Now, they have been officially renamed after people, and to my utter confusion, their new official names are being used in documents and directions on TV, leaflets, and radio.

Why, why, why?

Let me also add to that that they also change the names of streets such as Al-Gardens Street and University Street. Save the new names for new streets for heaven's sake!

I understand that these circles and streets may have not been initially named by the government, but isn't that how things come along? Like how the name "Amman" for example came from the God Ammon? They can't just change the name of the city of "Amman" because they feel like calling it after a person.

Teeshirt of the year

I totally loved this t-shirt created by the talented dudes at Teeshirtat that are being sold at JARA Market.



Update: I just came upon this picture of fellow blogger Wes wearing this shirt.
Awesome! The whole world loves Jordanian women :P
Teehee.

Customer service... in Amman?

Three cheers for the guys and gals at Jordan Telecom(JT) and Batelco for their wonderful customer service and impressively quick transactions. I actually got my internet back in THREE days. That included having them cancel our old account, starting a new one, coming to fix the set-up at home, and then getting the paperwork done between Batelco and JTC.

Is there a secret, I wonder? If there is, please do share it with the rest of most of the private firms in Jordan. Much simpler stuff in other firms like simply sending fixtures took weeks at a time!

Anyhow, I think that the great service I have experienced with these two companies is a good sign that the Jordanian private sector is finally realizing the importance of customer service in an economy as reliant on the tertiary sector as Jordan's.

Pandora's Box

One of the things I found during the massive packing operation was this little box with hundreds and hundreds of vocabulary flash cards from the SAT days stacked neatly side by side between its four tattered walls.

I'm not much of a neat person, but I more than make up for that with an incurable nerdiness and a straight out need for perfection. I cannot even remotely account for how many hours I spent cutting these flashcards, writing the word with a Sharpie on one side, then turning the card around and carefully writing the definitions with a biro on the other side.

And that's only the making... because after the making came the learning, and there came a time when I would not go anywhere without a pack of fresh vocabulary flashcards sleeping restlessly in my handbag for easy access.

Aside from the hours, this box also reminds me of a friendship, because believe it or not, one of my very favorite memories has to do with this box. My friend Nisreen, who shared the same level of nerdiness, also spent hours making flashcards, and whenever we shared a class at high school, we would swap flashcards and start learning the fruits of the efforts of the other under our desks. I chuckle to myself when I see us sitting in the pink hallways of Manarat sharing tips such as "You know, because nice people always throw pics at others! Philan-thro-pic!"

Needless to say, my excessive efforts that went into learning 5,000+ vocabulary words in those years resulted in a very good score in the SAT's verbal section and an ability to open any page in a dictionary knowing fully well that I will probably be familiar with most of the words aside from the jargon.

Long and rather pointless narration, I know, and perhaps this box looks very insignificant, but finding it sent this gush of nostalgia that made me take this picture and feel an urge to toss this memory away into cyberspace just like I tossed the actual box of flashcards into the trash can.

I'm too busy cutting up advertisements I like these days and storing them in a red folder.

I really, really, really want a mohawk

No, seriously, I've always wanted one. Too bad I wouldn't do it because my hair grows so slowly!
This article on The New York Times is making me want one even more...

Another term...

Unlike 96% of the students of Jordan University, I actually enjoy school. Yeah, sure, it's exceptionally chaotic and there are always those times when you could just choke the disorganized nonchalance down the cadres' throats, but for the most part, I think it's a wonderful experience. Above is a charming "e3melo-7alkom-3anjad-3amte7ko!" photograph taken at the wonderful Fine Arts and Design Faculty this morning. Oh, God, yes, how can I not add that all pictures actually grow when clicked.


The infamous Milk Bar. You know, when I look at pictures of my mother's time at Jordan University, there actually was a time when the Milk Bar actually had some sort of display with glass milk bottles. I wonder when that stopped.


Square il Oloom, or the Sciences Square in English.


Walking down Share3 il Nawar(or The Vulgar's Street)


I hate the daily traffic jam on the way out of University Street.

Last but not least, Soos posing for a picture and Soos looking at herself on the blog(shagfeh :P ):



Soos was sweet enough to wait with me all day today at school and even went to a few classes with me. I also had the chance to meet Amino today, which was great!(hey girl ;))

Well, anyhow, yesterday was the start of the new school year at Jordan University. It is going to be one long semester- I'm taking too many classes, and most of them are studios which means that I'm stuck at school from 9 till 6 twice a week and 8 till 2 thrice a week.

Some of the classes are going to be really interesting, although their workload is going to be a killer- mainly "Communication Technologies", "Industrial Design", and "AutoCAD". I'm also taking "Art Criticism"(I know, zay ka2eni mish imphalsapheh kefayeh). The other two classes are going to be absolutely horrible and I'm completely dreading them- one is with the most dreadfully boring educator I have EVER come across in my life, I took a class with her last term and it was hell. The other class is something I should have taken years ago but which I've been putting off- Arabic 101. Allah yostor.

And oh, yeah, I totally take my word back on dial-up being not too bad. It's aweful. Especially with my dear teta insisting on calling us every 5 minutes.

I want my internet back!

Shocking Discovery #3

Internet at JU isn't bad at all!

Shocking discovery #2

Dial-up isn't all that bad!

The Anniversary post

It's been a year.


I'm not marveling over the year, I'm not feeling like it's been forever, and I'm not celebrating- I'm just finding an excuse to experiment with the limits of the human brain, functionality, creativity, and this blog.

September 2004.
I start blogging out of boredom. My summer is winding down, and my vampirish routine results in very long empty nights. I think, let's make use of this time and my chronic web surfing, let's create a place to save what inspires me and jot down notes for later use in the never-ending design process.
I create this blog- simply for saving creativity. I aim to stay anonymous and to honor this space as my hush-hush workspace.


Thanks to the technology of IP tracing and referral statistics, I was anonymous for about 3 days. So much for that plan, eh?
The space mostly remained for my original purpose though, and the early archives stand as proof. Yeah sure, I tossed in favorite movies and book reviews, but the posts were not intricately designed by my feelings and thoughts, they were simply 're-blogged'.

December 2004.
Some friends and family find out about "And Far Away...", I inform others, and we have the first Jordanian Blogger Meet-up. My hush-hush workspace is no more, it is now a real blog representing a name, a face, and a person- it has "Roba" transcribed like an invisible water mark on a canvas.
That places many limits and also expands many possibilities.


It's all recorded, it's all archived, it's all documented. It can be played, over and over again. It's me, it's mine, but the truth is, once I press "Publish", those little pieces of myself that formed intelligible sentences are now on the journey of forever- forever attributed to me, forever belong to the World Wide Web.


It's as if choosing the career that you should be comfortable enough with for the rest of your life is as random as picking up a batee'7a!( On a more depressed side note, I guess that's our national preferred choosing system because that's how most people choose their life partner too.)


August 2005.
It's becoming real in the sense that emotions are solidifying towards the rest of the ballplayers on my field- I really, really like some, others annoy the living hell out of me, and I feel very neutral towards the rest.


Fairy tales of yesterday, will grow but never die, I can fly, I can fly.

March 2005.
Did you know that 1 Jordanian Dinar buys you sixty pieces of falafel?!
I'm gonna build myself a falafel palace...


I've always loved expressing myself, and although one can argue that I do enough of that as a part of art school, I've always loved writing, and I found blogging to be the perfect compliment to both artistic and verbal manifestations. And so, I continue to blog, and I enjoy it. I enjoy experimenting with words in such a way that I could never do in the reality far away from bytes, tangled with complexes pertaining to functionality and readability.

How long I'm going to do it for, how long will it continue to serve as a void deficient of functional limits and realistic boundaries, I do not know.

At the moment though, this is my canvas- devoid of reality, devoid of rules, and devoid of people who insist on making the walls purple.

And I do it because I love it.

a beautiful summer

One of my very favorite additions to Amman this past summer were these signs elegantly hugging the lamp posts all over the city. I really love the design, the idea, the pictures they used, and the places they chose to promote.

I hope to see more of such things and less of the crappy "artwork" that say say stuff like "اهداء من (كذا كذا) الى امانة عمان الكبرى ".

Out and around

So we finally moved.

We've moved around a lot in the past 5 years and one of the moves was from a different country, but this has been the most tedious move I have ever experienced.

I am really disappointed at the level of customer service in Amman's primary sector(or okay, it's not really primary, but you know, the construction scene- kitchens, wall units, painting, woods, refurbishing, etc). All these people, regardless of whether they're working for a top notch company or not, are liars, cheats, and procrastinators. It has been a horrible experiene dealing with them. So much for "iwlad il balad"!

I miss the awesome service at Riyadh. And I miss Ikea!

But anyhow, on a more cheerful note, I was getting really, really sick of living in a house in boxes. It's still in boxes but at least now it's unpacking and not packing(haha, as if! I did end up scotch-taping the drawers with all that's in them to the desk itself)...

I also really hated the house we just moved out of, so I'm really happy to be out.

Whitey is loving the experience, she's very excited, especially as she is finally allowed to go play in a garden now.

On a side note, I won't have internet access for a while, because like I said, horrible customer service. We have to return to the modem to Jordan Telecom, wait for them to issue us a new modem, and then call up our internet service provider, and have them hook us up. According to them , it will take around 2 weeks, but yeah, right.

I'm blogging from my grandmother's house right now, and I will continue to make use of her ADSL connection, but posting won't be as frequent.

Funoon! Funoon! Il-7abeh bi leiraaaaaaa!

Today, the dudes over at Jordan University threw a welcoming party sorta thing at for the sanafer. A party I say cause not only was it held in an auditorium, there also was a liveband, "Ask a Question" section, tailored department tours, and lacey speeches.

But before you add the "wonder" to "wonderful", let me clarify that the band was a7aftal eshi bil 7ayah(kudos to Basil) and the "Ask a Question" questions were along the lines of "I saw a group of girls and boys sitting together on the sidewalks at campus! Sir, you need to increase security!" (Ya3ni ya 7ayati, ya 7abeebti, eish beddi 2a2olek... go lock yourself back into your parents house)

So anyway, after the 5-hour procession of "welcoming" speeches and music were finished, the subjective student faculty heads and their entourage were supposed to stand outside and carry a sign of the faculty they're representing so that they can give the poor, unbelievably lost sanafer a nice stroll around campus.

And there you go- the right corner had "Aadab", immediately crowding with a hoard of seemingly misplaced kids. The left corner had "Hoqooq", filling up quickly, yes, not as quickly as "Aadab", but lookie there, they already have a line! In the center, the "Tarbeyeh" entourage weren't very happy with the fact that they only had a few dozen kids standing behind them and were screaming "Tarbeyeeeeeeh! Tarbeyeeeeeeeeh!"- sou2-il-khudra style. There was no "Sharee3a" section because the duty was handed to a girl who in fact not a part of the "Sharee3a" faculty, and she simply refused in her tight-fitting-plastic-make-up-glory to represent the "Sharee3a" faculty. And on and on the department heads went; all across the field, there were signs of various other faculties with freaked out kids gathering behind them.

Except, well, naturally, the "Funoon" faculty. The entourage stood alone.

Rewind a little earlier, I had gone to help Nada and Zeina deal with the Funoon freshmen, but when we saw the 7aftaleh that was the welcome party, we all agreed that no self-respecting funoonist would sit and waste 7 hours of their precious time in such a party. And anyhow, the faculty only accepted 35 lucky students this year, and that's a small, small number you know.

Of course though, we couldn't just leave. What if some poor funoonist got stuck in those 7 hours of hell thinking that she simply had to? No, we can't do that to our very own underclassmen, so we stayed. We carried up the sign that read "Funoon" and stood as close to the stairs as possible so that the poor misplaced funoonist wouldn't get lost.

We stood. And stood. And stood.

Nothing. No funoonists showed up.

Ahh, we thought. There you go, the first glad tiding that this year's batch of kids is going to be yet another success.

Then, shattering our thoughts, two kids showed up. What? Two kids, together? Ahh, but wait a minute, they look wrong and they're kinda annoying! They can't be funoonists! So we asked for ID.

And ID it was... IT geeks! IT geeks pretending to be funoonists! Not very nice, is it?

After all the other faculties have left, a crowd of other faculty representatives gathered around us and decided to start screaming "Funoon! Funoon! Il 7abeh bi leiraaa!" to attract attention of any misplaced souls.

"Ya 7aram il funoon," they said.

"Shu 7aram?" we asked. "Ma bise7elkom!"

Anyhow, at the end of the wait, we did manage to find one poor misplaced funoonist called Ahmad who is in the Theatre Department.

Ya 7aram il sanafer... they're so lost!


Pictures(with a rolled r):


The party(with a rolled r)


Nada serving as "Eish bedak?"


Ahmad! The poor misplaced soul...

Because 2005 is 21 years too late...

George Orwell's "1984" is a brilliant, brilliant work of political fiction, and it needs just the brilliant person(people) to create a brilliant concept. One brilliant concept that was delivered to the world was Apple Macintosh's 1984 advertisement, and another brilliant concept that I recently became aquainted with is "Students for Orwellian Society" or SOS for short.

The SOS are going through current events with an America-centric look that fit into the 3 basic ideals expressed in the book "1984" - War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery and Ignorance Is Strength. (If you are not familiar with "1984", go here for a summary.) Here are some of my favorites:




War Is Peace

• Oceania (commonly called the US and Britain) is at war with Afghanistan Iraq. Oceania has always been at war with Afghanistan Iraq.
• It's okay that there were no “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq; that's not why we went to war. It's equally okay that there are so many of them in Oceania.
• The Nobel prize committee has been considering nominating George Bush and Tony Blair for their prestigious Peace prize.
• "In order to fight terrorism, we must cause it," says Donald Rumsfeld.
• "I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." says George W. Bush.
  

Freedom Is Slavery

• The Anti-Terrorism Act ensures US citizens' freedom by ensuring the FBI's ability to examine their activities.
• Wearing a t-shirt which says “Protect Our Civil Liberties” is, of course, obscene, and will get you kicked out of campaign rallies.
• Security cameras have been placed around the Columbia campus and around the island of Manhattan.
• If you are buying postage, do not ask for stamps without flags on them. Such would clearly be a sign of lack-of-patriotism, and we at SOS are glad to see that the Post Office is cracking down on it.

Ignorance Is Strength

• Osama bin Laden's messages will no longer be shown in Oceania.
• There is no dissent in this country. Those who disagree with President Bush are merely confused.
• Government agencies are requesting that certain government reports be removed from public libraries.
  
• PR firms have begun creating false citizens to try and shift the debate on certain key issues.
  
• The government has been removing information from websites which do not agree with the current administration's policies.
  
• The FBI urges you not to carry almanacs, lest you be labeled a terrorist.

Read the rest of the "points" here.

Yeee 3aleina 3ad!

"Burger King is withdrawing its ice-cream cones after the lid of the dessert offended a Muslim. The man claimed the design resembled the Arabic inscription for Allah, and branded it sacrilegious, threatening a "jihad".

The chain is being forced to spend thousands of pounds redesigning the lid with backing from The Muslim Council of Britain. It apologised and said: "The design simply represents a spinning ice-cream cone." The offending lid was spotted in a branch in Park Royal last week by business development manager Rashad Akhtar, 27, of High Wycombe.

He was not satisfied by the decision to withdraw the cones and has called on Muslims to boycott Burger King. He said: "This is my jihad. How can you say it is a spinning swirl? If you spin it one way to the right you are offending Muslims."

+ Agenda Inc.


Ya3ni regardless of the fact that this is just a very cute linear drawing on an ice-cream swirl(Ghazi style)- why, why, why was it dubbed an "offensive sacriligeous dessert"?

And Jihad? Huh? Lahon wsilna o lahon wisil il jihad? Shu hal 7aki!

It reminds me when I was a kid and I had the coolest pair of Nike Air trainers- then, just like that, they became labelled 7aram and were withdrawn from the market. Kids, the teachers at school told us, don't wear those shoes, they're 7aram. WHY? Because, well, the new logo sorta looks like the Arabic word for Allah...

Ahhh! I'm in disbelief. This rampant logo paranoia is driving me fricking nuts- it is so silly!

And damn it, hold that cup straight and enjoy the delicious looking swirl of ice cream.

The Influence- Mondrian

: The Influence

"I believe it is possible that, through horizontal and vertical lines constructed with awareness, but not with calculation, led by high intuition, and brought to harmony and rhythm, these basic forms of beauty, can become a work of art, as strong as it is true."
-Piet Mondrian(1872-1944)

That quote always makes me smile. Mondrian's paintings in their neoplasticism exhibit a complexity that deny their apparent simplicity- they're just absolutely beautiful!


Further:
+ The Mondarian Machine- an applet to help you paint modern art in the style of Mondrian. It's fun!
+ Short and Sweet Mondrian biography

: The Influence

More influences:
: Mondrian
: Jackson Pollock
: The AlHambra Vases

The Influence

The first thing I learned at art school is an Aristotelian quote- "Art is an imitation of nature". It is only later, when I became much more familiar with the rich and complex world of art that I decided that no, I do not like Aristotle's definition of art, I like Oscar Wilde's- "Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art far more than art imitates life."

Ah, Oscar! Those words are those of a genius indeed.

Art has been one of the most significant influences on my life, and I do not mean in terms of career direction, but in terms of thought and way of life.

I've been planning to do this for a long while, but finally inspired by Prometheus, I've decided to start having a random post every once in a while about those works of art, artists, and designers that have influenced me and the way I think.

:Mondrian
:Jackson Pollock
:The AlHambra Vases

The Brain

I totally love this ad for The Economist- it's so simple yet so meaningful. Work of art!

Digital Temper Tantrum *scream*

No eloquence today. Whatsoever.

And I'm absolutely dying for eshta bi 3asal. Or meringue. Or 7alawet il joben. Or Warbat ib eshta. Heck, even knafeh!

I don't care. I really don't. I just want something sweet. SWEET. I need my sugar fix!

I want some now, now, NOW.

Wishful thinking, I know, oh, poor sweet tooth. It is 3:30 AM in this little sleepy, sleepy city.

I hit Babiche last night for meringue, closed! At 10 PM! Sleepy, I say, sleepy. Sleepy!

Jaj! Amman is full of jaj. JAJ.

I know that this man was an absolute psycho, but he did outlaw all market transactions unless it was night time because he was an insomniac. Shu ya Sitt il-Mulk?

I can't even eat a Twix bar! Or eshta out of a Nestle can! Or even Nutella out of a jar! Because, the two pictures below represent the kitchen at the moment:





Who is familiar with the song "I hate you so much right now. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" No seriously, I love you too. I do. I do. Ha.

Wait. Is this. Withdrawal...?

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Welcome to JU, Sanafer

Since when does registering at JU come with a "Welcome to Jordan University" kit?
Nice initiative I say, but still a long way to go.

A teabag holder

Although I'm not much of a tea person, I'm totally in love with this unbelievably cute tea bag holder!

+ D*S

Saudi thoughts- on art

This comment just made my day!

I was a little cynical when I saw a Saudi art blog, so I asked the man behind it whether he recieved his education elsewhere. His reply just totally made me grin:

"Hi Roba,
You are right. I came from a small village in the south. There I could say life was much easier and more relaxed. 15 years ago our markets and roadside shops were full of fine art pieces and paintings of famous artists from all over the world. By today's standards, some of those works are considered obscene and unclean.
This was the case before the advent of the so-called religious awakening or the Sahwah as it has wrongly been called, which has banned all forms of arts including painting, music, poetry, cinema and theatre.

Many people, however, have tried their best to ignore the clerical dictates and created their own small worlds, keeping abreast with the new creative ideas and concepts in all human fields and disciplines, including art.

Anyway, thanks for your smart remark, which seems to have encouraged me to write some thing on the subject, preferably in Arabic. Perhaps I can talk very soon about fanaticism and the crime it has committed against an entire generation of our youth who, having been denied access to arts and other human activities, have resorted to violence and become murderers in the name of religion."

Viva la people like Prometheus!

After the 6th Jordanian bloggers meet-up

BLOGGERS:
Today was the 6th Jordanian blogger meet-up, and the people who showed up are:

• Myself
  
• Hana and Ziad of Waleg
• Isam Bayazidi
• Abeer Bayazidi
• Andrew
• Ahmad Humeid
• Jad Madi
• Wael Attili
• Ammar Ibrahim
• Mira Shnoudi
• Nader Shnoudi
• Omar
• Samir Rawashdeh
• Sammy Zamel
• None-bloggers Dima and Kareem.

It was an absolute pleasure meeting the new faces, especially the ones I got to extensively chat with as they didn't leave early- Hana, Ziad, and Andrew. We sat for quite some time after everyone left and chatted for a while.

SUGGESTIONS:
Some after-meet-up suggestions after digesting the comments that came from the attendees include the following:

1) A more organized approach to the meet-ups, so I will email the bloggers asking for contact information soon.

2) A rough meeting agenda, so that we can at least identify the points that need to be addressed.

3) Less tech talk. Even a few of the Jordan Planet tech-geeks told me that they got bored from the tech talk- referred to as "isti7wath il computer geeks" by some.

4) I got some complaints that some people didn't know who's who, so perhaps the use of tags when we have a particularly large meeting.

5) No smoking during meet-ups.


UPCOMING MEET-UPS:
1) We're going to organize a mini-gathering soon before Hana and Ziad leave, so if anyone is interested in coming please add a comment.

2) The next official Jordan Planet meet-up is set to be on 2nd of October, just before Ramadan. There's a self-confessed "Surprise" making an appearance during that meet-up, so make sure you come ;)

The shorts

They screened 13 Jordanian short films on Sunday's RFC evening- comdies, horror shorts, and dramas.

What I loved most about these shorts is that most of them portray an aspect of Jordanian life in their settings, themes, and people, which is something I have never seen on screen except in Matalqa shorts. I also was deeply impressed by the fact that some of the shorts were pivoting around significant social criticism that I have never seen portrayed in such a medium before.

Here are the shorts that most caught my eye and appreciation, in no particular order:




"Shortwave" by Fadi Haddad
A wonderfully hilarious short about a young college student looking for love. It was just really funny because not only does it hit just the right chords, it also reflects the reality of Jordanian "shabab"(shabab mostly being males under 30, I actually feel like taking this oppurtunity to sound off my disgust at the shallowness of Jordanian "shabab", but that deserves a whole post).
I loved how there was no dialogue, and I loved the little touches such as a Bic pen.
I also loved how it was filmed in our department! It's cool to see that place I've spent countless hours sitting in star in a love story.
Great job Fadi :)




"Trapped" by Khalid Hidar Mahmoud
I thought the directing was interesting in this horror short- it actually made me jump a few times. The acting was pretty good too, one of the actors is my colleague Shereen(drama student), and another was Randa Karadsheh. They both did a good job I thought, especially Randa.






"Shit Happens" by Ahmad Takrori
From the leaflet, "A brothel, three wise guys, and one girl in the next room..."
I felt like this short basically deals with the fact that a lot of corruption is happening in Jordan under the covers, and in the most unexpected places. It was pretty interesting to see this matter tackled so boldly.
I also loved the directing, which I thought was pretty creative.






"Asia and Society" by Nadia Naffa
Another interesting short more along the lines of a reality-tv documentary that follows a physically disabled woman called Asia and shows us how the challeneged struggle a lot with difficulties in this "unjust" society. It was a thought-provoking short, and a little depressing.




"Experiment Hug" by Sima Haddadin
From the leaflet- "The failing attempts of a teenage girl who reads somewhere that she needs seven hugs a day to sustain her emotional well-being". Highlights Jordanian nakad.




"The Colors of Haram" by Mohammad Hushki
Absolutely fantastic short tackling all the red tape we place ourselves in Arab and Muslim societies- very thought provoking and ironic. One of my favorites in the batch.

Meet-up 6

As apparently not everyone saw the updated meet-up page, I would like to remind everyone that the 6th Jordanian bloggers meet-up will be held this Wednesday the 14th at 6:30.

The meetup will be at La Terrace Cafe in the Jordan Intercontinental in Jabal Amman.

All Jordanian bloggers and expats, whether Planet Citizens or not, are invited to the meet-up. We would love to see you all.

Readers and Jordan Planet fans are kindly asked to hold on until we prepare a larger meetup sometime in the near future.

For official meet-up page go here.

Walk this way

We spent a very pleasant yesterday evening at the Royal Film Commission's terrace in Jabal Amman watching Jordanian Short Films(more about the movies coming soon).

If you know me, you'll know that I adore Jabal Amman to death, and I just love it when I see that old houses are being renovated and used to cater for cultural purposes.

Now, as for the image above, I love it although it's not exactly a work of art. It's just so Ammanish-

A few days back, I was asking a friend for directions, and in the typical Ammanite way, he said, "End of Rainbow Street, you'll see the sign 3ala 3amood il kahraba"(the lamp post).

As I was driving yesterday looking for this particular lamp post, I marveled over this city's direction system- every single 3amood kahraba on Rainbow Street had a sign pointing somewhere- "Wild Jordan", "Jordan River Foundation", "Lavazza".

When I finally got to this particular lamp post, I realized that the Royal Film Commission is actually tucked away in a little Damascene-style alley that wouldn't fit a car, which made me feel like I was in downtown Damascus(I didn't even know we had such alleys in Jabal Amman!) Yet, as soon as I parked and walked through alley and into the RFC's terrace, the world turned back into Amman and I got my beloved breath-taking view of the mountain across. Really, the outdoors movie setting on their bedazzling terrace after a tiny alley is absolutely perfect!

Ahh Amman, how I love you...

Jerusalem stays and the wall falls

There's going to be a candlelight vigil held in front of the UN building in Shmeisany on Wednesday the 14th of September at 7 PM in silent protest against the the Wall that's being built in Palestine.

I unfortunately cannot make it, but if you can, please do go and light a candle for Jerusalem.

Not for a goddamn meal

Today, I had the pleasure of meeting Leila Hamarneh, the projects director of the Arab Women Organization.

In the course of the conversation, a controversial report on wife beating published by the Jordan's National Family Council was mentioned as Emad Hajjaj has recently used the statistics in a cartoon of his.

I say controversial report because the numbers that were published shocked me and many others. In fact, several of us Jordanian female bloggers sounded off our anger about the published numbers saying that there's no way in hell that we would condone wife-beating and neither would any Jordanian woman we know.

Mrs. Hamarneh today furtherly supported our opinions and told me that the Arab Women Organization was also shocked to hear the numbers. She said that from the her 2o years of personal and professional experience in women's rights in Jordan in unprivileged areas, she is positive that the numbers are in no way near correct. They had also traced the report back to a survey not done properly.

Numbers do lie, especially when they are not researched correctly and published without proper citations and background... Just like the recent Al-Qaeda numbers that claim that 66% of Jordanian's support Al-Qaeda. Yeah, right.

More:
For a Goddamn Meal?!
Natasha's post on wife-beating
Mariam's post on wife-beating
Eman's post on wife-beating

Hareega: Emad Hajjaj's cartoon
Natasha: Emad Hajjaj's cartoon

Baby, life is like a ride on the freeway

Last night, we went to a wonderful concert by the Celebration Contemporary Worship Church Orchestra at the Hussein Cultural Center. The music they played was mostly American folk music altered to become hymns of praise. I know, duh, but I found it really remarkable that I knew all of the songs they played- big cheers to globalization and Tom & Jerry!

The musicians thanked Jordan for being such a good host and were wearing the national headdress(men) and garment(women) as a token of appreciation.

The best part though was that at the end of the concert, the musicians passed out kazoos to the audience, and the hall became really energized as we tried to figure out how to play a kazoo. In the pictures below, me and Nada are trying to play our kazoos(which say Jesus Loves Me), and one of the musicians is giving us directions.





Unfortunately, as you can see from the photograph above, the number of attendants was shamefully little. The whole time I was thinking oh, my god, shu 3eib, shu 3eib!

This is a FREE one-hour concert happening in the very middle of Amman, so where is everyone? I know that the biggest blame can be placed on the municipality because they don't advertise these activities properly, but I really can't help but feel unbelievably disappointed.


Anyhow, after listening to songs along the lines of "Joy, oh, Joy", we went to see Akram Baker play music a lot more in line to what I listen to- think AC/DC, Pearl Jam, and Pink Floyd, and even a few songs he wrote.

Apparently, Akram's band is coming from Germany to play in Ramallah around October, and they will drop by Amman too. Wow, something to look forward to!

(While we're on the issue of October and music, Sign of Thyme will play everyday during Ramadan at Wild Jordan)

I know, the pictures below are hilarious, but well, it was fun. I was actually trying to capture an image of the hyperactive guitar strings, but then found the guitar over my head, with my camera in someone else's hand taking a picture of me. Maybe I should consider becoming a rockstar...

Because, you know, Arabic is cooler

I was really surprised when this shirt was the first thing I saw when I opened my monthly email with the latest good from Elsewares:




Arabic!

Quoting from the product page, "A t-shirt that says New York - in Arabic. Everything looks cooler in Arabic. Printed on American Apparel."

Everything looks cooler in Arabic... I'm amused.

I must agree though that Arabic is a very beautiful language to work visually with- it allows for a lot of playing space that English can't cater to. I also can't help but notice the funkified font- it's sort of like Arabic meets English, which highlights the fact that it's designed for a "hip", fashion-conscious audience rather than one that is interested in the culture.

Wow, the hip-ization of Arabic. That'll be a very interesting design/fashion trend to keep an eye on.

Filming, filming, filming

The Royal Film Commission is screening 13 new films produced by young Jordanian Filmmakers during the summer's RFC filmmaking workshop on Sunday, September 11th at 8:00 pm at the Royal Film Commission Terrace(Jabal Amman).

One of the movies they're showing is produced by my friend Fadi(yes, the guy in the ad).

Should be fun!

And this, regardless of what they tell you, is a Godzilla egg

East Asian marketing schemes really fascinate me, like here, where they are marketing watermelons as Godzilla eggs.

Watermelons as godzilla eggs... appealing.

I say they hit the bull's eye.

Highway soldiers saluting the sunset

The Brat Prince

I never had the chance to mention one of my very favorite people, someone I fell in love with a little before my teens; the Brat Prince, the Vampire Lestat- perplexing, energetic, ambitious, rebelious(3assi!), challenging, and brilliant. He is, utterly, the creme de la creme of the people I have known in my life- the perfect embodiment of the perfect man.

The image above is a clipping I've had in my drawer for years, which I clipped because for an instance......

At MAD Show Advertising 2005

This evening, we dropped at Zara Expo, which is accomodating the this years "MAD Show Advertising" which aims to unite under one roof the major players in media, advertising, and communication industries in general.

I expected to see actual advertisements in a show, but it's more of an exhibition exhibiting the various technical equipment needed to print large-scale advertisements. Now I know how I can easily print on tiles, canvas, and metal, and it's even not too expensive! Pretty useful for next semester's industrial design course.

The show is on till the 8th at Zara Expo in Jabal Amman/Wadi Saqra

Human Advertising at Jordan University

Fadi, nice going! You should consider a career in advertising :P
Photograph courtsey of Nada.

Hisham & Omar

Boys- brotheroos- kiddos, happy birthday! May there be many more happy ones to come :) 3a rassi ya 3assi :P

Now, stop growing. Bekfai. 7a at3a2ad.

Caffeinated anatomy

Not only are illy's coffee cups the cutest around, they are also very inspiring in terms of creativity.

Designed by Atelier Van Lieshout, the latest illy offering interprets the four systems of the human body involved in drinking coffee.

Now, those are cups I'd like to serve coffee with!

+ We Make Money, Not Art

I know you've done it

On a cold and rainy November day, tucked in an over-heated room aligned with wooden canvases, a collection of energetic art students pondered the ironies of life. They discussed almost everything- politics, card-board argeelehs, religion, violins, the stupididty of men, lack of art appreciation, Mazen, and chewing on aluminum foil.


Chewing on aluminum foil?


S: "It just really hurts!"
K: "Tell me about it, it's one of the most painful feelings I have ever experienced."
Y: "It's like your teeth just caused an electric current in your brain!"
P: "And it actually tastes really bad. I absolutely hate that metallic taste..."

For around 5 minutes, plenty of painful aluminum foil experiences were shared, with a lot of concurring nods and supportive comments.

Then, the wisest of group stopped mid-sentence with a dramatic look eluding her features- "But wait a minute, do you realize that every single one of us has chewed on ALUMINUM FOILl?"

Oh, my.

Then, we discovered a secret of life- 90 out of every 92 people have, at some point in their life, chewed on aluminum foil.



Fact: That weird metallic taste in your mouth when you chew on aluminum foil is an electric current- the aluminum reacts with the water and fillings in your mouth to form a tiny battery.

Fanatic, disillusioned, and paranoid

Please vote if you think you're coming

Where would you like the 6th Jordanian blogger meet-up to be held?

La Mirabelle Kanabaye Books@Cafe The Roof (Harir)

Throwing some Jordanian wisdom your way

Haha, had to quote a part of the latest post from the "keeper of Jordanian wisdom". Jordan wisdom!

... I must say that you clearly display signs of schizophrenia and bipolar behavior. I personally can sense a change in your behavior over the past few months. Therefore, I can't completely lay the blame on people for assuming that your other personality started a blog :-) Having said that, I also recognize that many of the things that you quoted me on and posted on your blog couldn’t have been said by you. For instance, you are still in denial that "fyoozatik darbeh". You also wouldn't say something as blunt as "Al mara'tu naqisatu aqlin wa deen"

Careful observation of your ideas and my comments immediately suggests that we both cannot be the same individual, not to mention that we could never co-exist as one person because one of us would simply kill the other...lol

Now as to what to do to prevent this sort of confusion. I think you should start by building trust between you and your readers. Then and only then they will believe you when you scream "I am not him!!"

+ Ask Abu Samer

Announcing the 6th Jordan Planet meet-up

We need to start catching up with the Tunisian blogger meet-ups ;) So, we're planning a Jordanian blogger up meet-up on Wednesday the 14th at 7:00 PM, and as Isam says, "we all know who's going to arrive at 8:00 (hint, hint, starts with an "A", has a double "M", and ends with an "R") :P "

Whee, that's too many "emoticons" in one paragaph.

As for the place, we decided to take everyone's opinion, so please give us your two cents! Or shall I say your two ershs...

Alright, our options are:

1)Abdoun's Babish.
They have a nice outdoor setting, it's very cozy and quite, and we're probably going to be the only people there.

2)Kanabaye.
Yes, yes, Kanabaye. Bas if it's Kanabaye, it's going to have to be very, very early, around 3:00 PM perhaps, because Kanabaye gets too busy after 9:00.

3)La Mirabelle.
Very cozy, and nice outdoor setting.

Of course, there's always Jordan Wild :) If you have any other suggestion that's useful please do share.


Official post of Jordan Planet about meet-up. It would be nice if you leave a note if you are coming for reservation purposes.

Repeating:

Wednesday the 14th at 7:00 PM.

Krazy Kar Wash

Why, oh, why do people replaces 'C's with 'K's these days?
I mean, look at them! 'C's are pretty! 'C's are pretty! Down with 'K's!

Design the stuff

Is this the prettiest computer case or what?
+Etsy


I also really like the idea of this mug, make pretty patterns on your table top instead of circles.
+greenergrassdesign


"Spiral Bar" by Tall R. Pretty isn't that?
+Tal R


Anti-design design.
+Core77


Sit on your paper.
+Treehugger