Threadlike Thoughts

Worth Pondering

2011-10-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

A few words from philosopher Shelly Kagan's tenth lecture in the online Yale course on Death. Complete course material found here.

The commentary here is on the soul theory of personal identity: can we use the soul to explain personal identity?

Come back to the soul view. It's me as long as it's the same soul.It's not me if it's a different soul. Now consider the followingpossibility. Suppose that over the weekend, at 3:00 a.m., Saturdaynight, Sunday morning, while I'm asleep, God replaces my soul with adifferent soul, hooks it up to the body, gives that soul, thatreplacement soul, all of my memories, all of my beliefs, all of mydesires, all of my intentions. Somebody wakes up Sunday morning andsays, "Hey, it's a great day. Wonderful to be alive. I'm Shelly Kagan.Got to get to work." Whatever it is. Says "I'm Shelly Kagan"; but he'snot. According to the soul view, he's not. Because according to thesoul theory of personal identity, to be me that person's got to have mysoul. And in this story, he doesn't have my soul. My soul gotdestroyed, let's suppose, 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning. A new soul gotcreated. It's not me. There's a person there, all right. It's a personthat doesn't have a very long history. Maybe he'll go on to have a longhistory. But it's a different extended through space and time personthan the one you're thinking about right now. Because, according to thesoul view, to be me it's got to have the same soul and we juststipulated, not the same soul.

Think about what that means. If God were to replace my soul Saturdaynight, I die. And the thing that wakes up Sunday isn't me. Of course,he'd think he was me. He'd think to himself, "I'm the very same personwho was lecturing about philosophy last week." But he'd be wrong. Itisn't the same person, because it's not the same soul. He'd be wrongand — notice this — there'd be no way at all he could tell. He couldcheck his beliefs. He can check his desires. He can check his memories.But that's not the key to personal identity, according to the soulview. The key to personal identity, according to the soul view, ishaving the very same soul. You can't check that. You can't see the soulto see if it's the same one. So if this were to happen to him, hewouldn't be Shelly Kagan, the person who'd been lecturing last week.But there'd be no way at all he could know that.

And now the question you would need to ask yourself is, how do youknow this didn't happen to you last night? You woke up this morningthinking, I'm the very same person — Joe, Linda, Sally, whatever itis — the very same person who was in class yesterday. How do you know?How could you possibly know? If God replaced your soul with a new one,destroyed the old one, gave the new one all the old memories, beliefs,desires, goals, and so forth, that person who was in class last week,yesterday, died. The person who's here now hasn't been around 10 years,20 years, what have you. You were born a few hours ago. And there'd beno way at all that you could possibly tell.

How do you know, not only that it didn't happen to you last night,how do you know something like this doesn't happen every single night,every hour on the hour, every minute, every second? God whips out theold soul, destroys it, puts in a new one with — Maybe souls only lastfor a minute and a half. If that was happening, then people don't lastvery long. Bodies may last 20 years, 50 years, 80 years, 100 years, butpeople would only last an hour or, if it's every minute substitution, aminute. And you'd never possibly be able to tell.

Now these worries were raised by John Locke, the great Britishphilosopher, and he thought, this is too big a pill to swallow. This istoo big a bullet to bite. We can't take seriously the suggestion thatthere's no way at all to tell whether it was still me from the one dayto the next, from one hour to the next, from one minute to the next,just not plausible. It's not that there's anything incoherent aboutthis view. It doesn't say anything logically contradictory about thisview. You just have to ask yourself, "Could this really be whatpersonal identity is all about? That there'd be no way at all to tellwhether I've survived from one minute to the next, from one hour to thenext?" Locke thought no, you couldn't possibly take this view seriouslyif you thought about what it meant.

Do You Have A Soul? [Part 1]

2011-09-23T06:32:00.000-07:00

[This series is written by an amateur hobbyist of philosophy and psychology. I record what I come to know here mainly for the purposes of archiving and for the reading pleasure of those interested. That said, enjoy!]

Introduction:

The apparent answer is: yes! Of course I have a soul!

And souls are funny in that way.

Psychologist (and professor at Yale) Paul Bloom was once putting one of his children to bed when the child quipped:

"You can put me to bed, but you can't make me go to sleep. It's my brain!"

Professor Bloom got interested and later wrote a book entitled Wired for Creationism, where he arrived at the conclusion that we are somehow wired for the dualist view no matter what we grow to think later on in life.

Now before I start to be too confusing (and trust me, there is a lot of confusion ahead of us); let's just review: Physicalism (sometimes also referred to as materialism) and dualism are the two main worldviews that are in current contention to solve what is commonly known as the mind/body problem.

The mind/body problem, one of the most ancient unsolved problems of philosophy of mind, has two concerns [as Scott D. Brisbane puts them]:

"The first concern is whether a human is made of only one component, such as matter, or two components, such as mind and matter. The second is, if there are two components and they affect each other, then how do they interact?"

Now, the first worldview on the problem is physicalism: The human person is made of only matter. As cognitive scientist Marvin Minsky once put it, "we are machines made of meat". Therefore, under this worldview, we can account for all our mental phenomena in purely physical (or materialist) terms.

The next view is dualism. As the name implies, under this worldview a human is dual in nature; composed of a material and immaterial part (sometimes called the soul). The nature of the interaction of these parts is then immediately called into the question.

This area is a huge one in the study of philosophy of mind and it attempts to answer one of the most interesting questions about ourselves: what we truly are.

How We'll Go About This:

Now while you may already have a certain belief about the matter (let's say from a religious background), what I'll be attempting here is to present cases for the existence of the soul and cases against the existence of the soul.

We'll be all Cartesian about it!

We'll put all our beliefs in the soul, no matter what they are, into direct questioning and we'll try to follow the evidence where it leads. I think that will be quite fair to the rationality of both of us!

So let's start with the worldview I currently hold. I am very much a dualist. But let's see if I'll still be one by the end of this!

I'll present two arguments, one for dualism, and one against computationalism that I find rather compelling on this post. These aren't the only reasons I believe in the soul. Philosopher of religion and theologian William Lane Craig was once asked if he thought his faith would be destroyed if someone destroyed the arguments for God. His reply was quite witty and it's the view I hold while presenting my case for the soul

"No. Partly because my faith does not rest on arguments but mainly because I have other arguments!"

Similarly, my belief in the soul is based on faith in the truth of a particular religion, namely Islam, that dictates the existence of the soul and the body as separate entities. My rationale however is not based on my faith at all. Rather my rationale for explaining why the soul exists is entirely independent of my faith. So, without further ado, let's start with our first argument!

The Arguments:

One last thing: The correct form of putting forth arguments is via, usually, numbered premises and conclusions. For ease of reading though; we'll keep things simple and basically talk ourselves through the arguments.

The Argument from Intentionality:
The beautiful bit about the argument from intentionality is simplicity. First, let's find out what intentionality is!

the distinguishing property of mental phenomena of being necessarily directed upon an object, whether real or imaginary

What we mean when we say "intentionality" is really the "about-ness" or "of-ness" of mental thoughts. Every thought you think about is always "about" or "of" something.

When I look at a beautiful painting and I think "How beautiful", my thought is entirely about the painting.

This interesting property, you can easily find, is very much a distinguishing property of mental phenomena. No physical object can really be "about" any other physical object. There is no meaning to such a statement though we will raise an objection to this particular conclusion on upcoming posts as this particular issue of what exactly can we call "meaningless" is not exactly the easiest thing to conclude.

Simply put, however, "about-ness" and "of-ness" are simply not within the language of the material. You can't reduce it to anything that relates to our brain and central nervous system. It follows, therefore, that since mental phenomena are always "about" something, these mental phenomena must be non-physical or controlled by something non-physical.

Note how this argument simply points out a flaw in the claim that "every mental phenomenon can be explained in physical terms". This claim is what's referred to as a universal quantification; to disprove it you simply need to find something within mental phenomena that is not explained or reducible to physical terms, a counterexample. In our case, that something was the property of intentionality.

The next argument we'll view is not so much a case for dualism as it is a case against what is referred to as computationalism or the computational theory of mind ( i.e: that thought is a form of computation and that our mind (if we define mind as our ability to think, have ideas, etc.) is basically a very awesome information processing system).

John Searle's Chinese Room Thought Experiment:
The cool thing about thought experiments is that they usually speak for themselves! This one here is no exception! So, faced with the computational theory of mind, philosopher John Searle proposed this thought experiment in 1980 [copied from Wikipedia; whoever wrote it there made it quite understandable!]:

Searle's thought experiment begins with this hypothetical premise: suppose that artificial intelligence research has succeeded in constructing a computer that behaves as if it understands Chinese. It takes Chinese characters as input and, by following the instructions of a computer program, produces other Chinese characters, which it presents as output. Suppose, says Searle, that this computer performs its task so convincingly that it comfortably passes the Turing test: it convinces a human Chinese speaker that the program is itself a live Chinese speaker. To all of the questions that the person asks, it makes appropriate responses, such that any Chinese speaker would be convinced that he or she is talking to another Chinese-speaking human being.
The question Searle wants to answer is this: does the machine literally "understand" Chinese? Or is it merely simulating the ability to understand Chinese? Searle calls the first position "strong AI" and the latter "weak AI".

Searle then supposes that he is in a closed room and has a book with an English version of the computer program, along with sufficient paper, pencils, erasers, and filing cabinets. Searle could receive Chinese characters through a slot in the door, process them according to the program's instructions, and produce Chinese characters as output. As the computer had passed the Turing test this way, it is fair, says Searle, to deduce that he would be able to do so as well, simply by running the program manually.

Searle asserts that there is no essential difference between the role the computer plays in the first case and the role he plays in the latter. Each is simply following a program, step-by-step, which simulates intelligent behavior. And yet, Searle points out, "I don't speak a word of Chinese."Since he does not understand Chinese, Searle argues, we must infer that the computer does not understand Chinese either.
Searle argues that without "understanding" (what philosophers call "intentionality"), we cannot describe what the machine is doing as "thinking". Because it does not think, it does not have a "mind" in anything like the normal sense of the word, according to Searle. Therefore, he concludes, "strong AI" is mistaken.

Note how Searle's thought experiment has potential for providing some strong philosophical support to the argument from intentionality. It's one of the reasons why I find it very cool!

On upcoming posts we'll be reviewing objections to both of this post's arguments, viewing the argument from phenomenal qualia as a case for the dualist view as well as going through some arguments in favor of physicalism.

Take care,

The Lying Dawn [الفجــــر الكاذب - مجموعة قصصية] [Short Stories] - Naguib Mahfooz

2011-08-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

Two days without a laptop meant at last my return to a good old paperback for companionship.

This short story collection by the master of modern Arabic litearture provides yet another window into the human perception of Death. Most stories in the collection revolve around the concepts of death, redemption and (very Greek) suffering of the human soul. We see questions asked that are so purely agonizing, that you read them once and cannot help but relate:

"Why does every taste lose its succulence? Why the moaning of pain when there is no cause for pain?"

In the first, and titular story, we see Death personified. Mahfooz presents Death as an unnamed assailant chasing the hero of the story. And through the hero's journey, it progresses eventually into the bizarre and insane. We see his anguish, his attempt to escape from something he can only identify by scent. And there are so many symbols to behold. We see Death given the scent of musk. This scent is then linked with fear, suffering and shock instead of the beauty and elegance it is often associated with. This is Mahfooz taking you out of your comfort zone with a very simple, yet effective, touch.

We see the ultimate question where the hero, at the end of the story, dismisses his fears as "daydreams" and that they are "useless". And this was the part that truly left me so hooked with the story because Mahfooz seems to subtly ask a heavily interesting question: Is it madness to run away from Death? But then again, isn't it purely the instinct of man to run away from Death? Aren't we meant to be in constant escape? And the genius of the author shines incredibly through: It would have been so easy for him to state the moral value of "you cannot run away from Death" by killing away our hero but, through the bizarre, he finds a way around that and asks the much more complex question we discussed which is much, much deeper and more courageous than a simple moral statement.

And then there is an equally interesting symbol: We find that the hero discovers his "madness" on his way back from his marriage. Although this seems subtle and merely an excuse to start the conclusion, I think one could read deeper and we can find another question: Is love an awakening from the madness of the obsession of constantly running away from Death? Is love merely a distraction away from Death?

And aside from all these deep existential questions, we find, of course, the linguistic beauty of Mahfooz soaring through the roof with heavy characterization and feel for words and we see characters react to other character's mere glances.

Then he jumps at us with entertaining, satirical, yet interesting, ideas including mental patients having to pick the biggest local and global problems and attempt to solve them as part of their therapy; the logic being "if you can solve the world's problems, surely you can solve your own". And the mad solutions that the hero arrives at are so bizarrely entertaining, they are, by themselves, a joy to read. This story, alone, is worth the whole book.

The next story I wanted to explore is, again, very close to the Greek concept of suffering we mentioned earlier where human suffering is not a means to the dramatic climax but its end. And the tragedy is not in the death of the character but in the death of every possible hope or dream of the character. The death is not bodily as it is a true ending of the soul. We meet a character in "A Far-sighted Plan" who is a nobody in his society. He lived for over fifty years in sarcasm and laughter at his own stupidity, ignorance, negativity and lack of luck. And when sudden wealth at last arrives, he dies at the moment of his euphoria. The narrator exclaims in heart-breaking anguish at the moment of death:

"He called in his fevered thoughts upon the manager...Nooh...Othman...The wealth...The bride...The woman...The dream...Nothing wants to respond. Why was the miracle, then? Impossible...God! Impossible..."

When I read this, I immediately recalled the famous Tantalus (whose story inspired the English verb, tantalize) : the Greek son of Zeus who offered his own son as sacrifice for the gods (to actually eat him!) and was punished for his human sacrifice by being placed in a pool of water under a fruit tree with low branches. When he tilted his head up, the fruit would move away. When he went down for a drink, the water level would drop. And he would stay in this eternal suffering forever. This infinite temptation, though classic in its immense evil, presents a parable about the nature of temptation. The metaphor is clear and very expressive of human nature: Suffering and death of the soul lies in unsatisfied temptation.

The hero of "A Far-sighted Plan" is not nearly close to the crime of the mythical Tantalus but he lives the eventual fate of Tantalus and we can easily draw parallels: He is in a state of constant, unsatisfied temptation and need. His suffering is met eventually with a glimpse of hope. And the hope immediately fades away, stolen by Death in a moment of stark anguish and yearning for an excruciatingly close, yet infinitely unreachable, happiness. He experiences superficial happiness and even though he is brought to light as an unlovable character, in his last moments we are forced to sympathize with the human condition.

Mahfooz presents Death in this story as a thief of the happiness of a simple, unlucky and dull man. And in a previous story of the same collection, "Whispers", he presents Death as a fatherly figure. A constant annoyance and a reminder to "take care" and "be organized" who is, however, met with genuine affection and yearning at the end of life. It is Mahfooz's fascination with the concept and manipulation of the symbol (culminating in his epic and most poignant work, Children of the Alley [أولاد حارتـــنا]) that makes of his work a truly satisfying experience on every new read. It is this that gives genuine meaning to his words and makes his entire body of work, and in particular his explorations of the short story genre, undeniably timeless.

Until we meet later,
Ramadan Kareem!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

2011-07-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Heavy spoilers involved.

There is an intrinsic way in which this last Harry Potter movie works that is almost inexpressible in words. There is a way in which the actors seem to fit and the dialogue seems to flow. The visual effects seem effortless. Something...different. Unusual. Almost magical.

It is this trait, this "it", this "touch" if I may call it, that occupies the essence of every great movie that ever resonated with me. I knew, quite literally, everything that was going to happen in this movie, yet, I was at the edge of my seat at points. I was intrigued, touched and affected by this movie. It is simply put: The Harry Potter movie. As it should be. As its fans wanted and expected it to be.

So where do we start? As James Lipton likes to say, "Let us begin, as we always do, at the beginning". And for every Harry Potter movie, the beginning is always with the director!

David Yates, who seems to have grown a particular experience in Potter film-making over the years since his first Potter movie (Order of the Phoenix), directs with an eye for style and cinematography that would have, I think, not been possible except with someone like him behind the camera. Perhaps only Peter Jackson, director of the modern Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, would have managed something as simultaneously emotional and grand.

Leaving aside the huge improvements in the acting performances of the starring trio (Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson), I think this movie, acting-wise, survives mainly on Alan Rickman's role as Severus Snape. Rickman has a way of attracting attention and generating emotion without even having a line to say. It is this remarkable talent that Yates puts to exquisite use in a sequence of scenes (entitled The Prince's Tale in the book) that is the strongest in all the movie series. Rickman need only a few lines to express himself verbally; the rest flows effortlessly from him. I think the entire Potter series served as a rediscovery of Rickman's acting talent who, according to Rowling, was one of the few actors who knew everything about his character from the beginning.

Alexandre Desplat's soundtrack revisits the unforgettable Hedwig's Theme (first composed by John Williams for the very first Harry Potter movie) at several points during the course of the film and makes use of very grand music, that is reminiscent of Howard Shore's work on The Lord of the Rings, during the battle scenes.

There are occasions where I felt the movie did not do the book justice (I was not too happy with Dumbledore's past being addressed on such a superficial level and, of course, the King's Cross scene obviously deserved more time and thought than what it eventually got). Certain sequences deviated from the book entirely; Voldemort's death being completely changed was most probably a really big decision by the crew. A bold decision but something I found personally unsatisfying. I remember the words Rowling used to describe Voldemort's final fall (they are quite memorable!) : that Tom Riddle fell with a "mundane finality". I waited for finality on that scene and got none! Just a daze of special effects. Good for the average moviegoer, unsatisfying for a fan who stuck with the series for nearly a decade.

As Roger Ebert already remarked, the movie takes place almost completely in very dim lighting. So the added dimness of 3D makes for just an added annoyance. Again, something I did not much like. But leave all of this aside: All of this was compensated by the sequence of scenes I talked about earlier. That was it, for me.

The books and movies have ended. But the fandom continues. The thing about fantasy is: There is always an untold story. This is the beauty of it. This is its magic. Rowling told her story. And every fan can always have his own.

Referendum Day [يوم الاستفتـــــاء] - Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University

2011-03-19T02:08:00.000-07:00

بدأت اليوم بصلاة الاستخارة قبل ما أنزل

دبابة أدام اللجنة

طابور أدام مدخل كلية زراعة

ضابط شرطة كان واقف عالناحية التانية من الكلية

صوت لأول مرة في حياتي في استفتاء لمصر...صوتي ممكن يعمل فرق...تحيا مصر

Dr. Mohammed Seleem El-Awwa's Lecture [ندوة د. محمد سليم العوا] - Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University

2011-03-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

Dr. Mohammed Seleem El-Awwa (old photo, not mine)

At 9.45 A.M today I left home and headed straight to my faculty for Dr. Mohammed Seleem El-Awwa's lecture (my second ever politically-oriented lecture). Before I delve into the interesting details, I should make one thing clear: I, and many others like me, am a huge fan of Dr. El-Awwa who is one of the foremost Islamic thinkers of the century (in my opinion) and a leading figure in Egyptian and Islamic law. I have read for him frequently and listened and watched him more often. I find his opinions and views not only both intelligent and insightful, but usually backed up by either hard facts, history or a combination of the two.

Today's lecture, as I expected, was no exception.

Dr. El-Awwa's seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of history, poetry and law is unsurpassed in any speaker I have heard. Add to that his mastery of the intricacies and beauty of the Arabic language and you get a lecture you simply cannot stop concentrating on and indeed I found myself shutting people up if they talked to me and people shutting me up if I talked to them. He was delayed an hour on the way but the entire Hall burst into applause as he entered. We started with some verses of the Qura'n and then a word from the H.O.D of the Mechanical Engineering Department followed by Dr. El-Awwa's lecture.

What follows is a summary of the main points in the lecture. I found it much harder to stop and take notes; there was just so much (interesting) stuff being said! So my notes may not be as complete as yesterday's but I will try to work a little from my memory. Where I will do that, I will indicate it by wrapping the text with asterisks so that you know that this is a personal account and not strictly a quotation.

Dr.El-Awwa started by reminding the audience members that silence had led us to 30 years of humiliation and dictatorship and that much more important than voting Yes or No is the idea of going on and giving your vote with whatever you think is best for the country.

Dr.El-Awwa then started immediately going into the issue of the Constitutional changes. He started by saying that, according to the most recent announcements from the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (who currently lead the country), we can safely think that the Constitutional changes (accepted or not) are a "bridge" to a new Constitution. Whether the majority is Yes or No, therefore, will not imply a revival of what Dr.El-Awwa called, "the corpse we now know as the 1971 Constitution".
Dr.El-Awwa then went into a full-scale analysis of the amendments. He started by mentioning the fact that the amendments are full of what he translated to English as "legal technicalities" and he made the argument that such technicalities make the amendments, basically, foolproof. He then responded to some of the criticisms to the changes:

1) On the new text of Article 75 where it is stated that the President or his parents should not have held any other nationality: Dr.El-Awwa argued that this is in relation to the loyalty of the President. There are existing Egyptian laws that ban people with dual nationality to be judges, soldiers in the army, ministers or parliament members, so how can we expect the Constitution to allow the President to be of dual nationality? (*Dr.El-Awwa says he is aware that this may lose the country certain brilliant minds but that the loss is not so great that it cannot be compensated by others on whom the conditions apply*). [On a previous lecture, I watched Dr. El-Awwa making this argument and mentioning the fact that certain nationalities (like the English one, for example) require that the person takes an oath to himself to be loyal to certain people/governments/countries. This, he says, goes against the claim that such a person will have his full loyalty to Egypt].

2) On the same Article there were claims that the condition of having an "Egyptian wife" was unfair: Dr. El-Awwa mentioned that we must agree that the role the wife plays in a man's life is huge. And the role a woman's cultural and national background also plays a part in her character and thus, indirectly, in her husband's character. He then referred to the fact that we saw two First Ladies in the time of President Sadat (Jihann El-Sadat, who was born to an English mother and Egyptian father) and in Mubarak's time (Suzanne Mubarak who was born to an English mother and Egyptian father) who came from different national backgrounds and we saw how much effect they had on their husbands' characters in formulating crucial and vital national decisions.

3) On Article 76: Dr. El-Awwa mentions that the extremely long previous text of Article 76 has been greatly shortened to simplify the conditions of running for president and not just have what he called "beautiful playthings" running against a dictator.

4) Again on Article 76 there were criticisms due to the fact that the Committee of Presidential Elections to be formed cannot have its decisions appealed or revoked: Dr. El-Awwa argued that the Committee has the four highest figures of the Egyptian judicial system (President of the Supreme Constitutional Court as president of the Committee, and membership of the President of the Court of Appeal and the oldest Vice Presidents of the Court of Cassation, Supreme Constitutional Court and the State Council) and so it is only logical to say that their decisions should be final. If you want to appeal or revoke such decisions, who do you appeal them to when all the supreme judges are taken?

5) Certain criticisms were raised against whether or not Article 189 forms an obligation towards a new Constitution: Dr. El-Awwa argued that every present continuous tense verb [فعل مضارع] in the Arabic language (when used in law) implies obligation and that, therefore, Article 189 in its current form, forms an obligation towards a new Constitution. He cited several examples from common university laws to express that point.

Dr. El-Awwa then explored the Yes and No (basic) scenarios. In case of Yes:
1) We expect a limitation on the transitional period where the Supreme Council of Armed Forces holds the leadership of the country.
2) We expect parliamentary elections followed by presidential elections..

In case of No:
Dr. El-Awwa expresses his concerns in this case that we should expect an extension of the limitation period. Dr. El-Awwa expressed the fact that he estimates the extension for, at the least, three years, subject to possible extensions that we cannot, currently, estimate the length of.

In response to several questions asked to him by his audience Dr. El-Awwa replied:

1) That he does not at all recommend the elimination of the National Democratic Party with the help of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces. He cited the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood were "too happy" with the elimination of political life (excepting them) in the early 50's and they were later in the 50's subjected to prosecution and several of their members were executed. So his conclusion was: Asking for the elimination of a particular party means asking for the possible elimination of your party in the future. He then sarcastically said, "Let the National Party's members head to the elections and lose rather than allowing them to play the victim card".

2) Dr. El-Awwa expressed his concerns over presidential elections that proceed parliamentary elections, rhetorically asking, "How can you ask for a president to come forward without having anyone question his actions? That is building a dictator".

3) Dr. El-Awwa responded that there is no such thing as an "Islamic state" and that Islam and Shariah did not put proper guides to the method of choosing a ruler of the state. He stated that a 'civil' [and I am roughly translating the word [مدنــية] here] state is one that is ruled by the people while a 'religious' one is one that is led by religious clerics (the only two examples of which are Iran and the Vatican). He also stated that he is all for a civil state and against a religious or so-called Islamic one.

4) Finally, Dr. El-Awwa was asked on his association with the MB. He stated that he is not, and never was, a member of any political party although he has "thousands of friends" who are related and associated with the MB but that he has no political affiliation with the MB or with any other party, stating that his memberships are only in cultural organizations.

And that's about it! That's all I managed to take notes of, really, and my memory is not so good with the quotations so most of the ones up there are rough translations. It was a beautiful lecture and apart from the interesting points that I tried to convey above, there was a lot of history, stories, incidents and poetry verses that Dr. El-Awwa used to express his points and that remain a trademark of his breathtaking style and charisma.

Take care,

Dr. Amr Hamzawi's Lecture [ندوة د. عمرو حمزاوي] - Bibilioetheca Alexandrina

2011-03-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

Some of the attendees of the lecture while leaving after the lecture

Today was my first ever politically-oriented lecture with Dr. Amr Hamzawi (at the Bibilioetheca Alexandrina) who spoke about and discussed his views and visions over many, very Egyptian, issues in the course of his lecture.

We started with a minute's stand over the souls of the fallen warriors of the Revolution (if you are reading this now, please take a moment to pray for them). We then moved on to an introduction on Dr. Hamzawi who is a research director at Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut and a leading figure in Middle Eastern political analysis.

In this post, I attempt to summarize his very interesting two-hour lecture where he spoke for many points including:
1) The vision of Egypt after the Revolution and what changes the Revolution had made until now.
2) How long will Egypt take to pass the period after which it will move to being a powerful democracy.
3) His opinion of the Constitutional changes (subject to a public referendum this Saturday).
4) The expected scenarios if 'Yes' and 'No' are the majority votes in the referendum.
5) The role of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic organizations in Egyptian politics and political life.

Among many other interesting points that I took over two pages worth of notes about. What follows is a summary in bullet points! Please note that, while I organized them in chronological order, the bullet points may be exact but unorganized and not arranged in a particular subject.

The 25th of January Revolution had managed to topple the system but, contrary to certain beliefs, the Revolution had not managed to completely topple the system. There still remains organizations, unfair laws and an unfair Constitution remaining to go.

Changes in the constitution are "an attempt to trick the Revolution". The Constitution cannot stay in a state where unfair laws, emergency laws still remain. Dr. Amr also suggested that a new Constitution should be formulated that understands and expresses the Revolution.

Dr. Amr sarcastically asked where the four million members of the (toppled) National Democratic Party were at the moment!

The Egyptian state should be unbiased and secular (I'm not sure that is the word but he did mean that religion should not be one of the preferences in front of the state) where the law gets the highest word. The only way to bring life back to the organizations of the state is through reviving the word of the law and giving it the highest regard again. Dr. Amr said something that I think speaks a lot of truth, "In Egypt we have a problem that the laws are written beautifully but rarely applied".

Dr. Amr then spoke of some very interesting statistics and studies.
1) Between the 70's elections and the last (parlimentary) ones in 2010, there is scarcely 20% of the eligible Egyptian votes who took part in the elections. He expressed the extreme need for every eligible Egyptian voter to vote in the upcoming referendum.
2) There is a third of the Egyptian population that is uneducated.
3) There is a 40% slice of the Egyptian population that earns between $1 and $2 a day.
4) The regular Egyptian citizen spends approximately two thirds of his yearly income into his medications and general healthcare.

Dr. Amr spoke of the way the deformed system had managed to deform the political scene in Egypt, including the parties of the opposition. The opposition parties, he continued, were reduced to parties that fought and asked over, "How many seats can we get in the parliment?". He mentioned that, far from having effective roles, they simply wanted to have a chance to have a role.

Dr. Amr spoke of the challenges we have facing us towards democracy. Those include:
1) The fact that there are many societies that, like us, wanted their way into democracy and failed and how we should learn from their experiment to avoid them.
2) The fact that it is not a matter of 'months' and then a 'jump' into democracy.
3) The fact that it is unaccepted for anyone to deny anyone the right to peaceful protest and expression of their opinion, provided they are not harming anyone or preventing them from their rights.
4) The fact that we have to get rid of the fact that we 'await orders' from the top of the executive pyramid. The Egyptian people, he said, are their own masters now. They make their decisions and opinions and they are not dictated what they think or waiting for 'higher orders' to make decisions for them.
5) The fact that nobody, including any opposition party, has the right to tell you what the 'public good' is. No one, simply, has that authority.
6) The fact that you cannot divide democracy. You cannot keep your right to an opinion while calling for a denial of someone else's. You either allow everyone their right to an opinion, in which case you achieve democracy, or you do not.
7) The fact that we have an oncoming challenge of keeping up a balanced society (that fights against its own divisions and differences) in the absence of a Revolution.

Dr. Amr then expressed several concerns over the Constitutional changes, although he did mention that he cannot speak his full argument because the other side is not with him on the stage to reply and it would be unfair to the audience listening:
1) Dr. Amr believes that it is an 'oncoming disaster' if we have the current regulations of parliamentary elections based on single membership system [النظام الفرديs] in the upcoming parliamentary elections (parliamentary elections are an expected consequence of the acceptance of the Constitutional changes).
2) The span of time given for people to think over the Constitutional changes is extremely small.
3) How can we have fair and transparent parliamentary elections within a very ill political society that has been systematically deformed over 30 years.

Dr. Amr expressed that he is not with the notion of a 'presidential council' and believes that the best way to go is election of a single president of the country. He also believes that the matter of whether Egypt should be a presidential or parliamentary state is 'a major issue to whoever will be responsible for writing the next Constitution'.

Dr. Amr then expressed his own expected scenarios of what will happen if the majority votes go to 'Yes' and if they go to 'No'. So let's start with if we go for 'Yes':
1) The Supreme Council of Armed Forces, the current leading executive force of the country, will lead a Constitutional Announcement [اعلان دستوري] that includes the publicly approved Constitutional changes.
2) Parliamentary elections to be held no later than September.
3) A reminder in the Announcement of Article 189 in the suggested amendment and its insistence on a new constitution.
4) There will be no disastrous consequences.

And then the 'No' scenario:
1) The suggested ammendments are considered canceled.
2) Supreme Council issues a Constitution Annoucnement that includes the texts of the suggested changes.
3) Parliamentary elections followed by presidential elections.
OR
1) Constitutional Annoucnement that is followed with presidential elections.
2) The Annoucnement includes the formation of a committee to construct the new Constitution [هيئة تأسيســية].
-In this scenario, Dr. Amr does not think that the Supreme Council will stay in charge for too long (nor do they desire it). Dr. Amr also mentioned that there are no disastrous consequences for this scenario, either.

When asked over the toppled Egyptian State Security, Dr. Amr suggested a formation of of a legal committee to question the violation of human rights that occurred over the years in the State Security and that transformed the Egyptian State Security into the Egyptian Presidential Security.

Over the course of his lecture, Dr. Amr kept mentioning that no one can tell any Egyptian where the 'public good' is anymore and that we are all judges of our own country. He included parties and people that claim there are 'external forces' awaiting to pounce on Egypt which (the parties and such people), he says, use the tone of the toppled system.

Wow, that is one long summary but it cannot do the lecture justice! It was very interesting and Dr. Amr is an engaging and witty speaker! I'm glad I took the time to go and see him at the B.A!

Tomorrow, insha-Allah, I am attending a lecture for Dr. Mohammed Saleem El-Awwa (a professor of law, practicing lawyer, author of tens of books on law and crucial Islamic matters and member of the International Association of Muslim Scholars) who will speak for an acceptance of the suggested changes in Constitution and I will try to blog about it too, so stay tuned!

Take care,

Because I Have Nothing New To Say

2011-03-01T04:26:00.000-08:00

...I decided to share something I wrote long before the Egyptian Revolution. If you're not aware of the Revolution, then I suggest moving to Planet Earth or, for a simpler alternative, check the Wiki link that details its events.

I was not a part of it except as a rather late online voice (took me a week to figure out what I thought). I supported it in my heart which is, as Prophet Mohammed PBUH, would say, 'the weakest effort'. This piece you see before you is something I wrote before the Revolution (I think everybody should capitalize the R, by the way!). And it was one of my efforts to understand why we (as Arabs and Egyptians) were lagging behind and how we should move forward, individually.

When I wrote it, I meant for it to speak, sarcastically at times and bleakly on others, to individuals. I intended for it to ignite the spark in them to change themselves rather than try to change what's around them. And I was also thinking of so many things (some unrelated to the purpose of the essay) at the time and they somehow managed to find a way into the writing.

So, without further ado, here it goes. It's entitled: Of Rabbits and Egyptians and I present it to you in its final form, I didn't even edit it to fit post-Revolution spirits. But I must say that post-Revolution, you would have to have the emotional range of a teaspoon (see how I, casually and geek-ily, quote Hermione Granger?) if you don't feel pride in the fact that you are an Egyptian.

Before you read though, because I know you might not hang on until the end of this, please take a moment to pray for the martyrs of the Revolution. If you're a Muslim, read the Fatiha and pray for patience to their families. If you're Egyptian, especially if you're Egyptian, try to make it your habit to pray for them and their families daily.

***

“My heart's so heavy,
My heart's so sore,
How can ever my heart
Be at peace any more?”
--Goethe, Faust.

***

Vanity…Satan’s favorite little sin. It’s born with man, lives with man and man seems to be about the only creature to possess it. A vain assumption? Perhaps. What is vanity, really? And how different is it from pride? Pride is a feeling that often accompanies accomplishment...An ideal feeling of the victorious, the successful and the magnificently innovative. It is what Abbas Ibn Firnas probably felt when he made man's first flight, what Edison felt when he lit the world and what Einstein probably felt as he put down the last set of equations in his general theory of relativity. It is the feeling that you cannot help but feel if you have just finished doing something good; either for the world or for yourself and your community.

But it is not what we Egyptians feel.

Most Egyptians claim they are 'proud' to be Egyptian. In fact, I don’t think I would be exaggerating to say that almost everyone who will read this article will feel that exact same feeling about being Egyptian…pride.

So let's start by breaking this down a little: From our previous explanation of the word 'pride', it follows that to be proud, you must have done something positive to the world or the society. A good and positive action is the feeling that sprouts pride. That feeds it until it fattens up and turns into vanity. Before it does, though, you are in a very blissful state of happiness and, if this is community pride, your community will enjoy its golden ages. So if you’re wondering about that feeling deep down in your gut that tells you you’re fine just the way you are right now; it's not pride. It's just vanity. We, Egyptians, are vain creatures. We are positive that the world will never surpass us when it already flew past us. At light speed.

In a sense, we are like the rabbit in that rabbit and turtle story except we don't sit around eating carrots all the time; at least the rabbit walked a little while he did that. At least in the end he gave it a shot and eventually tried showing that turtle what a fine rabbit he was. He didn’t just sit and talk of how proud he was to be such a fast rabbit and how proud he was that he had the greatest fur in the world that could surpass (in greatness) even the hardest of turtle shells. And how his ancestors passed it to him over generations and generations of rabbits. No, the rabbit wasn’t vain…A little too self-confident but you can’t help being self-confident when you’re the fastest furry ball around.

Which is interesting in itself, isn’t it? If the rabbit was not that fast, would we have, really, ever considered sympathizing with him in the story? He was already fast, ergo, nobody really thought much of him. The story makes perfect sense because the rabbit was already the best at what he did and, therefore, it seemed reasonable he would be proud of his accomplishments. If it was the other way around though…If the turtle was the one sitting down eating cucumbers while the rabbit raced by…Well, first of all; the story would have had quite a fast ending and secondly; not so many kids would get why such an already slow creature would sit around and boast its slowness. A slow creature, boasting its slowness…Where did I hear that one before?

Perhaps rabbits and turtles seem like oversimplification. Perhaps I’m being too silly comparing the state of mind of a nation to the most famous children’s tale of all. So let’s get a little more complex. Let’s talk about bourgeois, aristocracy, democracy and anarchy…and all the other words you’d need a spell-checker to spell right. Perhaps the two most interesting words up on that list are democracy and anarchy. In Machiavelli’s The Discourses, the author makes one of his points by mentioning that there are three perfect systems to rule a country; yet all of them are liable to slip into three other apocalyptic systems to rule a country. As you may have rightly guessed; democracy, being one of the perfect systems, usually slips into anarchy. And it does not take the brightest of minds to note that we are, indeed, living anarchy. Anarchy, in essence, is the misrepresentation of the rule of chaos as the rule of the people. When people lose morality, ideals and do not even care for a punishment of the law; that is a form of anarchy.

So what does it take to raise yourself from anarchy? It takes thought…And heart. Tawfik Al-Hakeem, one of Egypt’s foremost philosophers, can say it better: In the same way man can breathe perfectly through the balanced processes of inhaling and exhaling, man can only survive perfectly through a perfect balance of thought and heart. The only way to raise ourselves from anarchy, therefore, is to understand that heart and thought can work together, that they are equivalent forces of mankind, and to arrive at the peak of our faith through the perfectionism we exemplify in our work. To understand that prayer, in its most elevated form, can only be an emotional fuel towards thought and work; that faith is the most suitable spark that can ignite the fire of renaissance within us and within the piece of land we have occupied for thousands of years.

And how many praying people have you seen taking bribes? How many bearded people have you seen being rude? Perhaps what I’m really asking is: How much effort does it take to crush down religious appearance and see how far the religious spirit actually goes? In our day and age, a lot of effort. And it would be hard to find any religious spirit once you’re done breaking the outer shell. The idea that you can substitute your religious core for a religious shell is what’s widening the gap and disturbing the balance we had spoken of before (and that Al-Hakim had adapted as his lifestyle); that balance of thought and heart that can bring about true and valuable change.

I can find no better words to describe our current state, or our current vanity, than the words said to Mohammed XII, the last Muslim ruler of Granada, from his mother, as he stood and wept over the sight of his beautiful lost city: “You weep the weeping worthy of women, over a kingdom you could not protect the protection worthy of men”. We weep the weeping of women now…For a 4000-year-old civilization that scarcely anyone of the 80 million walking the roads of this country ever thought of educating themselves about. We weep the weeping of women now…For a 1400-year-old Islamic civilization that barely anyone, that you and I have ever met, can form a few simple sentences about. In fact, I challenge you this: Go out on the streets and ask people to name you ten singers, ten actors and ten Muslim scientists from the Abbasid age. I think we both know which ten will seem the hardest to most, if not all, your contestants.

We are uneducated about our past, yet yearning and weeping for it. We are unsure about our future, yet awaiting it with baited breath. And we are disgusted, almost disgraced, by our present, but never able to find the courage in us, or the passion, to attempt and change it. We stand in the mystified status quo, a dignified stance that foolishly attempts to challenge the natural course of things, a purposeless and unsure existence; like a mentally ill man standing at the bus stop waiting for the next sailing ship. And that, constant reader, is not a turtle going slow and steady to win the race, or a rabbit too self-confident to try hard enough. It’s, perhaps, a lot like a third contestant, the sloth, who said: ‘Races are boring!’ As you may well recall; he doesn’t get a part in the story.

Top 5 Ultimate Movie Scenes of All Time That

2010-11-26T04:35:00.000-08:00

...Did Not Make It to the First List.

So, based on my fellow movie-buff and friend Waleed, I decided to share 5 more of the most interesting moments in film.

5: Don't Interrupt Me from American Beauty:
Acted with stark honesty and true anger, this scene remains one of my favorites.

4: Heeeere's Johnny from The Shining:
Kubrick's The Shining is a movie that remains a horror classic. It's creative, new, haunting and dark. To me, it defines the horror genre, and this scene here with Jack Nicholson's masterful acting provides one of the most interesting scenes of horror history:

3: You Can't Handle the Truth from A Few Good Men:
Jack Nicholson cracks down, Jack Nicholson style, from A Few Good Men. A scene worthy of the Oscar he received for the role:

2: Larry Gopnik's Question from A Serious Man:
A scene that is comic, dark, desperate and sad. Performed with sincerity and mastery and directed by masters Ethan and Joel Coen.

1: Malkovich-Malkovich Scene from Being John Malkovich:
This Charlie Kaufman masterpiece is everything a movie should be. It is the reason I still watch movies. This scene here is one of the most creative scenes in movie history and depicts John Malkovich walking into his own mind. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Until we meet later, take care and check this if you have not already.

God bless!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 [2010]

2010-11-26T04:27:00.000-08:00

There's a scene in this adaptation of the seventh installment of J.K Rowling's hit series, Harry Potter, that sort of defined the whole movie for me. It is the one scene I felt Dan Radcliffe (who is at his normal; bad to horrible actor) actually act, and Emma Watson (who is, as usual, the only person in the whole starring trio capable of expressing real emotion and character development and/or depth) display true and visible talent. The scene does not include dialogue, lasts for roughly less than three minutes but is populated with emotion and poignancy that is new to the film adaptations of the previous Harry Potter books. It's so definitive of the hope vs. despair theme commonly found in the books that it just sends chills up your spine as it progresses.

I thought of so many things when I saw that scene. I thought of the young, eleven-year-old trio. I thought of reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (a tattered and worn copy, at that, brought to me by my elder sister) when I was just 12...I thought of writing fan-fiction for upcoming Harry Potter books (I was never right...on anything.) And now, seven years later, at 19 years of age, I feel like Harry Potter, in defining a part of my childhood, had defined a part of me. I have lived, laughed and cried with Harry for so long of my childhood. And when the going got tough; I'd sit back and dream I was a student at Hogwarts. At 12 years of age, convincing yourself that your pencil was a magic wand and then chasing after a non-existent Basilisk (don't ask, long story) in your room...Well, let's just say it's not so tough a task.

And I guess that's the feeling I felt right after finishing this movie...A lot of nostalgia. I felt no thrill; I know how part 2 next summer will end. I didn't even like the visuals much...I did like the fact that a lot of it came very close to what I was imagining when I was reading the book. That was pretty neat. But otherwise, the visuals were the regular for every Potter movie. I would have loved Alfonso Cuarón for one last go after Prisoner of Azkaban, my all-time favorite Harry Potter movie and, to me, the most stylish. But alas; the current mindset of direction is not so far from what an old, hardcore, top-notch Harry Potter geek would like to see.

The story progresses smoothly, usually from the events depicted in the book; details are carefully placed, lots of good people die, lots of people you don't really care about die, and the role of Voldemort is played by the ever-evil Ralph Fiennes with depth, caution and a voice so menacing it seems more evil than that of the hare-lipped serial killer from Red Dragon. The ending is set well for the finale in part 2 and, to those who did not read the books, I'm betting it was quite a thrilling experience to watch. The costumes were, as ever, designed to perfection and the art direction and cinematography flawless (well, there are never really any epic, Lord-of-the-Rings-style battles, but the small 'wand duels' and chases are always well-paced, well-placed and realistic). The score was rather a disappointment; I don't recall any Harry Potter score from any movie feeling so dead and out of synchronization with the action of the film.

It's hard to dislike Harry's adventure, to me, even at my age...Because it was such a long part of my life. Such a significant part of my life. And forgetting that would mean forgetting how much joy I had when my brother surprised me with a collection of the first four Harry Potter books when I was about 13. Not only was I thrilled, I think that kind of happiness I felt was something I had not felt in years since then. And now, as the Harry Potter saga nears its end in the movies after it already hit its end in the books, it feels quite hard to say goodbye to all of it. I think it would require decades for us to ever again, find a story so enchanting and imaginative, to children and adults alike, as Harry Potter's.

Until we meet later, take care and check this if you haven't seen it already.

God bless!

The Top 5 Ultimate Movie Scenes of All Time

2010-11-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

So since I'm in the mood for this; I thought I should share here some of my 'movie expertise' and share what I deemed, in my opinion, the five ultimate movie scenes of all time...

5: Al Pacino's Rant To Kevin Spacey from Glengarry Glen Ross:
This ultimate scene where Al Pacino wipes the floor with Kevin Spacey in the classic Glengarry Glen Ross signifies everything you love about the Al Pacino characters...The blatant outrage, the bad-mouthing, the raised eyebrows...This is it. Ladies and gentlemen, Al Pacino going apeshit on Kevin Spacey:

"What are you going to do about it...asshole?"...Epic.

4: The Brief History of America from Bowling for Columbine:
This genius piece of animation was a sequence in Michael Moore's Oscar-winning documentary Bowling for Columbine (yes, that's the win where he flamed Bush when he had the Oscar in one hand). It's told with such sarcasm and wit that you can't help but laugh and nod. And I'm not even American! Done in South Park style, it still remains a pretty good piece of work on the tenth watch:

"I loves my gun...loves my gun"...Again, epic.

3: Al Pacino's epic speech from ...And Justice For All:
This has to be a milestone in Al Pacino's acting career. The soul and passion with which this scene was executed, the mastery of emotion and tone of voice, the ability to literally morph himself into the character he plays; all became traits of the standard Al Pacino performance.

"I'M OUT OF ORDER? YOU'RE OUT OF ORDER! THIS WHOLE COURTROOM IS OUT OF ORDER!"...An epic peak of epic-ness.

2: The Marriage Sequence from Up:
I just can't comment on the warmth and beauty of this scene...If you haven't watched it yet; you're missing a beautiful bit of film-making and possibly some of the most amazing moments in the history of animation. Michael Giacchino, who provided the score for Up, is at his best on this particular master-scene.

1: The Train Sequence from Spirited Away:
Miyazaki's Spirited Away is one of the most beautiful and most imaginative movies I have ever watched in my life. It's like a dream, that was then put on film and pumped up until you cannot recognize it except as a piece of art from a mind like no other.

This movie captures that mind's (Miyazaki's) peak of creativity and maturity. In Spirited Away, the premise is simple, but the movie puts so much in thought along with the visual genius it brings to the viewer. This scene here is so poignant; it's almost philosophical. There are so many things to see in those few moments: the enduring sense (throughout the scene) that time is so meaningless, the struggle we can see in Chihiro's simple eyes, the feeling that everything else but Chihiro is dead and without identity or voice, and then to top it off; those mysterious spirits on their way to nowhere. The music, a track called The Sixth Station by Joe Hisaishi, is almost a narrative. A beautiful, beautiful scene that I never tire of; definitely worth the top spot on my list.

Until we meet later,
Take care and check this if you have not already!

God bless!

Thinking and Un-thinking [Part 2]

2010-11-05T08:15:00.001-07:00

A continuation on the essay from where we left off last time. This is the final part!

***

This question of infinite-within-finite is something that had boggled me…It is something that mathematics had explored through the elementary concept of integration (summing up an infinite number of parts to arrive at a finite value rather than an infinite one). Thinking un-mathematically about the idea, however, is one way that one can easily hit the idea of God; borrowing from the spirit of the First Cause argument or (its derivative) the Kalam Cosmological Argument. Consider this: If we are to assume that there is an infinite number of experiences available in the universe, and if we follow the definition of ‘mind’ as a finite concept capable of understanding and evaluating an infinite number of possibilities for thought and feeling, then it follows that there must be one mind capable of registering all those experiences. In other words, it is logical to conclude that all the possible thoughts and experiences can be put in one particular mindset. And if we are ever to find a human with such a mind, it would follow that this human’s mind is infinite. The premise we’re making here is that it’s impossible to find a human with such a nature, since human minds are finite (as previously proven). Therefore, such a being would not be human. If that being exists, that being is God.

Which brings us to another question: Does God approve of cogito, ergo sum? In other words; is God’s existence similar to our limited understanding of ourselves; as beings with certainty in existence of our own minds, and uncertainty in our conceptions of ourselves and our physical appearance? To put it in more simpler terms, I guess the question we should ask for is: How does God see Himself? Such a perception is more religious than theological; it is something we should consider in the context of one’s own belief system. For example; Catholics will tell you that God (the Father) perceives of Himself and that perception is the Son; the love and connection between the Son and the Father is the Holy Spirit. Which would naturally give God a Trinitarian nature; a fundamental theological movement of mainstream Christianity. Muslims will tell you God perceives of Himself as the ultimate existence. By ‘ultimate existence’ we mean the only certain existence in mindset and physicality. Any other being is incapable of having such a certainty in both elements of mindset and physicality; according to the infamous cogito, ergo sum.

So it would be interesting to explore this Muslim side of things and allow the reader to observe how it can differ from other theological approaches in different religions in substance and thought. The Qura’n states in its Arabic form:
وسع كل شيئ علما
“..all things He comprehends in His knowledge.”
God’s omniscience is stressed on many other locations in the Qura’n including in Surat Al-Ana’am [Cattle / Chapter 6] verse 59:
وَعِنْدَهُ مَفَاتِحُ الْغَيْبِ لا يَعْلَمُهَا إِلَّا هُوَ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ وَمَا تَسْقُطُ مِنْ وَرَقَةٍ إِلَّا يَعْلَمُهَا وَلا حَبَّةٍ فِي ظُلُمَاتِ الأَرْضِ وَلا رَطْبٍ وَلا يَابِسٍ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ مُبِينٍ
“With Him are the keys of the unseen, the treasures that none knoweth but He. He knoweth whatever there is on the earth and in the sea. Not a leaf doth fall but with His knowledge: there is not a grain in the darkness (or depths) of the earth, nor anything fresh or dry (green or withered), but is (inscribed) in a record clear (to those who can read).”
…and in Surat Taha [Ta-Ha / Chapter 20] in verse 7:
يعلم السر و أخفى
“…He knoweth what is secret and what is yet more hidden.”

A central part of the Islamic perception of God would be the question: Is God’s omniscience a condition for his omnipotence? In other words, does God have to know how to be omnipotent in order to be omnipotent or do we have to consider these two attributes on completely different grounds? We can say that God’s omnipotence depends on His knowledge of how to be omnipotent. However, we are forced to equally say that God’s omniscience depends on His power to become omniscient. It would seem that the two arguments circulate around themselves, which is true. It, therefore, follows that God is omnipotent if and only if He is omniscient; each implies the other from the pair of arguments we just talked about.

The moral of the story would be that, in terms of the Islamic perception of God, a question of ‘how’ or ‘what’ with a being with omnipotence and omniscience would be redundant. The omniscience answers the ‘what’ and the omnipotence answers the ‘how’. However, neither attributes fully describe the ‘why’. This is the most meaningful question of all. As Stephen Hawking would put it; if we somehow reach a complete theory of physical sciences, we would be able to take part in answering a question that had only been answered by religious belief: why is it that we and the universe exist. And, still quoting Hawking here, if we can answer that question, we would have reached the mind of God. This is true in every sense; it is only through omniscience of all physical sciences (through the complete theory proposed by Hawking and, before him, Albert Einstein) of the world around us that we can ever hope to comprehend the reasons the Creator would offer for His choices.

I say, ‘hope to comprehend’, because, even then, we would not be as sure. As you can see, cogito, ergo sum goes in and spoils all the fun! The complete theory would be our basis of understanding the physical world around us; a world of which we are philosophically unsure of even existing in its current physical form. So, modestly adding to Professor Hawking’s thoughts, we can say that a complete theory would give us a complete perception of our physical world and why it exists as we currently perceive it. We would know a little bit about how God thinks, yes. It still remains open to debate whether another perception of the world exists or not; and until all questions of different perceptions are covered through a complete theory; it would seem rather snobbish to say that we would know the mind of God any time before that. In fact, saying that we will never reach the mind of God is optimistic when compared to the reality of the matter: that we are logically incapable of understanding the mind of God. Our mind is bound, as we explored before, incapable of picturing another perception than what it receives from external stimuli. This idea, seemingly dark and almost illogical to the atheist is a source of hope and peace to the religious in its inherent simplicity. And while the atheist may call it madness; the religious preserve another word for it: belief.

Thinking and Un-thinking [Part 1]

2010-10-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

This is the first part of an essay I've been working on that's purely just a bunch of ramblings on various matters!

***

I always liked Descartes. As a seventh-grader with a passion for math, you cannot help liking the guy who thought of the rectangular coordinates…And for a period of time, I actually thought about the whole cogito, ergo sum thing. On first read, the exotic Latin words that literally translate to, ‘I think, therefore I exist’ are so hugely interesting that you cannot help but accept them as fact. You are enchanted by their simplicity and their beauty and the way they seem to circulate around themselves to bring you to the ultimate conclusion that perhaps the world is not so futile, after all. Maybe we really do exist. When I first read the cogito, ergo sum argument; I thought: This is it! This is the peak of philosophy…Of course; I realized later that I was just scratching the surface. Not to mention, very far from what the idea of cogito, ergo sum really stood for.

I’m not a philosopher…I cannot look at things and try to think of hidden and simple meanings behind them. I have never read a novel and thought deeper than the events embedded within it; and I don’t read your average, page-turner, thrillers either. I yawn while reading criticism of other people’s work and I am easily bored by philosophical evaluations of anything I ever write. I never write to exemplify philosophy or my method of thinking…I write because writing is a knack. I have come to a point where I had given up on really ever thinking philosophically about anything and therefore have adapted a much more comfortable position: to say my opinion in what other people claim is philosophy. Ignorant and surrendering as it is; I think that’s one way you can think productively without getting a headache.

Perhaps the cornerstone of all Western philosophy is the argument we’re facing now: I think, therefore I exist. A common misunderstanding that you will get from most people is this: So cogito, ergo sum just means that you most definitely exist in your current way and form if you’re thinking about your own existence. No, that’s not it. You think in your dreams, does that mean your dreams, in their entirety, exist outside of your own mind? No. Similarly, the fact that you’re thinking now simply means that your own conscious mind exists; and nothing else. It does not say your physical existence is a certainty. Your mind is the part of you concerned with thinking; to Descartes it is the ultimate fact that it does exist. He is, given just the cogito, ergo sum approach, unsure about anything else. To put it in simpler terms: Given that a ‘part of you’ exists, cannot, be used as proper evidence that ‘you’ exist… This is as illogical as generalizing that an entire class knows Spanish because one student can speak the language.

But, to me, the deep question was never whether my mind existed or not; but that (provided that it does exist) what is the nature of its existence? What is so special about my own mind that it has no problem in understanding the mathematical concept of infinity when it is, as it stands, bounded to an end one day or the other? And if all things are bounded to an end, why is it impossible for my mind (as it exists) to perceive its own end? The true paradox, to me, was this: Within finite time and space, my own mind (the one sure element of my existence, as Descartes would put it) is subject to an infinite number of possibilities of learning, achievement and thought. Hauntingly similar to the dichotomy problem that the Greek philosopher Zeno presented thousands of years ago; the thought was a little interesting.

And if we argue that my mind is infinite since the ‘mind’, as we perceive it, is a purely conceptual idea then how can one tackle the fact that my mind (given its infinite possibilities and assumed infinite existence) is also bound by bounds of irreversibility? In the same way that an irreversible chemical reaction can never be reversed; my mind can have an infinite number of possible things to think about yet it is unable to do the expected opposing natural process; that is to consciously un-think anything. In fact, my mind cannot easily define such an activity and if you ask anyone (including yourself) what they can tell you about ‘un-thinking’, they will usually just say they have no idea what you’re talking about. This means that not only is my mind bound on the axes of space and time, but that it is also bound in the conception of its most fundamental process: thinking. It, thus, goes without saying that your mind cannot be infinite.

To be continued inshAllah...

Until then,
Take care and check this out if you have not already!

God bless!

Zeno's Paradoxes

2010-10-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

I don't remember blogging about them...But they are quite an interesting way to fire you up into logical thinking and the border between mathematics and philosophy. I think a paradox lies at the heart of that, really...It starts out in mathematics and ends in philosophy. A lot of math does that.

Take the time to read more on this set of ancient paradoxes [that demonstrate the wonders in simple actions] on Wikipedia here...My favorite is the dichotomy problem!

Sometime I'm going to reach the exact half of this post [in word count]; perhaps I already did. If I did, then I must have covered a quarter of it earlier. If I had then I must have covered one-eighth of it earlier; if I did I must have covered one-sixteenth of it earlier and so on...Which means by the end of this post; I would have finished doing a seemingly finite task (in terms of time) in a number of infinite sub-tasks. 'How can that be possible?' is the question the dichotomy problem asks.

Some other things I've been reading into just today that may also be of interest [if you're a fan of hashing and hashing algorithms]:
The Birthday Problem
Merkle-Damgard Construction.

If you have any advice to start me up in the right direction when it comes to learning more about hashing algorithms, methods and programming, I'd appreciate the information!

God bless and check this if you have not already.

Chicken Ala Carte [Short Movie]

2010-10-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

8. And they feed, for the love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive,-
9. (Saying),"We feed you for the sake of Allah alone: no reward do we desire from you, nor thanks.
10. "We only fear a Day of distressful Wrath from the side of our Lord."
11. But Allah will deliver them from the evil of that Day, and will shed over them a Light of Beauty and (blissful) Joy.
12. And because they were patient and constant, He will reward them with a Garden and (garments of) silk.

--Surat Al-Insan (Man / Chapter 76), verse 8-12.

Watch this short movie with your hearts before your eyes. Those might be the most moving 6 minutes of your life...

I think it's not enough to be 'just moved' by this movie.

At least, appreciate the blessing you are in and think a thousand times before throwing leftover food into the garbage next time you're done eating. And next time you sit in the food court, think of all the people at the backs of restaurants waiting for the garbage cans to fill up. If they are not in this food court, they're in some other food court around the world!

Until we meet later,
God bless and check this if you have not already!

Ibn Al-Haitham's Billiard Problem

2010-09-29T06:36:00.000-07:00

Perhaps my first science-oriented post on the blog, so here I go!

Today I present you with a problem and leave you with the task of attempting to understand [and search for] the rather complex underlying solution.

Because this is one of the easiest problems to state and one of the simplest looking ones; I chose to put it here. The problem was, originally, proposed by Ptolemy [a Roman-Egyptian by the way and who died in my city, Alexandria!] and discussed [in the context of optics] by Muslim scientist Ibn Al-Haitham (Latin: Alhazen) [who also lived a part of his life in Egypt!] who is often called the father of optics. Because Ibn Al-Haitham stressed himself out so much over this particular problem in his writings, it eventually became known as Alhazen's Billiard Problem or Alhazen's Problem.

Ibn Al-Haitham's contributions to the understanding of the nature of vision and his experimental verification that light traveled in straight rays were some of the earliest explorations in what later came to be called the scientific method (briefly: the idea of observing, developing hypotheses, experimentation of the hypotheses and developing conclusions).

Enough babbling then, to the [modernized] statement of the problem:

Given a circular billiard table, find the point on the circular edge at which the cue ball must be aimed in order to strike the edge once before rebounding to strike another ball at another given point.

Simple enough, eh? In a circle, draw an isosceles triangle whose legs pass through two points inside the circle. Good luck doing it with a compass and a pencil though! Alright, that was mean...The solution starts with the word 'Neumann'. Now time for your own research!

Until we meet later,
God bless and don't forget to check this if you haven't already!

P.S: My interest in Ibn Al-Haytham, though I was interested in him a long time ago, was revived through watching an episode of Ahmed Al-Shekeiry's Khawatir [Season 6] that spoke of Ibn Al-Haytham's experimentation with the idea of imaging.

Time To Get Better!

2010-09-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

--Goethe [legendary German poet]

So what's the plan? The plan is to change individuals, that's the plan. The world is moving fast. And you can't stand still and watch. You have to take part. And soon. Before somebody takes your part for you.

So all you have to do is this...A promise to yourself that every single day you will do two things:

1) You will learn something new and useful to you.

2) You will do something useful to your society.

Easy! This second one: It can be anything...You can just remove a stone from the pavement or give some money to the poor or help a child cross the street or pick up a wrapper from the ground. It can be anything. And learning something new can't be that hard...In effect, the total time for both things over the length of your day will end up being a fraction of a fraction of a fraction. Tiny teeny bit, really.

The plan is that things will start to get addictive...You will find learning one thing isn't enough for a day. And doing one useful thing isn't enough either. Hopefully. This is what we're working for! And this is to myself, before it is to anybody!

If you're joining in on this simple pact with yourself, make sure you leave me a message in the comments! I need the encouragement!

God bless!

The Science & Art of Qira'a: An Introduction (3)

2010-09-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

Welcome, everyone, again, and I apologize for being late this time in posting as I have been a little too occupied with all the matters of college registration, a horrible case of paratyphoid fever/possibly just flu and an external course I am currently attending. However, I think I remember where we left off and where we should pick up today.

So the question we were trying to answer was: How come there are different readings of the Qura'n in the first place? Being Muslim, most Muslims are accustomed to hearing something of the following:

Christian books were from God but are now distorted. Human hands have tempered with it to the extent that if you pick up two Bibles, you might find so many differences between them. Even affecting meaning. And look at our Qura'n, alhamduli-Allah [thanks to Allah], if you pick up any two Qura'ns from anywhere around the world, they will read the same to the last letter, subhan Allah.

Well you now should know better than to listen idly to someone saying that! You can come back and strongly. And I'm saying this not because I'm a Christian-apologist or that I 'like Christians' but because I believe that Muslims must understand their religion. The above is not an animosity towards Christians as much as it is ignorance of one's own holy book, the Holy Qura'n, its methods of reading and the science we're introducing here.

So now, back to our topic. A hadith you will find rendered by many qari's and teachers in the science of qira'a:

The Qura'n was delivered on 'seven letters' and so read what you can of it.

The hadith is recorded in Sahih of Imam Muslim and in other Sahih books of hadith. The hadith is used to identify with the existence of readers [all relevant to the prophet PBUH] but certain scientists on the matter believe that to be not true. Certain explanations go as such: The idea was the the Qura'n was delivered in the different accents of the Arabs and their tribes [seven at time of delivery], including Quraysh [the prophet PBUH's tribe]. When Uthman-bin-Affan (May Allah Be Pleased With Him) later gathered it then, he gathered it on the letter of Quraysh and the readings we have today are on this letter of Quraysh.

Imams agree that differences exist between readings that will affect both pronunciation and meaning in certain cases. This is nothing to be ashamed of as a Muslim but something to be proud of. Many Muslims believe this verse of the Qura'n:

9. We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).

which is from Surat Al-Hijr (Chapter 15), to mean that Allah SWT has already revealed to us the way in which He will guard it from corruption, i.e: through two copies of the Qura'n not being different, etc. Of course, that is a little ignorant and naive. God works in ways above us and in ways we cannot, should not and will never understand.

So conclusion: This is a matter of religion and something you should be proud of knowing and understanding [I know I don't get all of it] not something that should cause or rise to doubts.

Simple differences are easy to spot of course. If you ever prayed behind an Imam reading with the reading of Warsh-An-Nafei then you will listen to him reading the common 'Malik yawmo el deen' in the Fatiha (Chapter 1 of the Qura'n) as 'Malk yawmo el deen'. Differences, of course, go deeper than that and can reach a complete change of word.

Now another issue in the science of qira'a is the science of makam. What is a makam? This article here will shed much better light on the matter than I can. Suffice to say, a makam is an essential tool for many readers including many many many of the Egyptian greats. Some common makams:
-Nahwand.
-Bayati.
-Saba.
-Ajam.
-Seeka.
-Rast.
-Kurd.
-Hijaz.

Word has it the total number extends to 400 or more makams! So what's the use of this to reading the Qura'n, you ask? Well: Imagine being able to manipulate your voice to fit particular verses with particular tones to instill the meaning deeper in the listener. This is what a makam is capable to present to its fair and intricate practitioner. It's a valuable tool used by many but also disliked by many who think it a new and unprecedented matter in religion and that, therefore, should be fought. Since our purpose is knowledge, we will mention it, however as it is part of the reading culture of today to a large extent, especially within Egypt.

Sheikh Mishary-bin-Rashid Al-Efassy displays his skills with some of the common makams:

Dr. Ahmad Ne'eina displays some makams on the same Surah:

Until we meet later, take care of yourself!

God bless!

The Science & Art of Qira'a: An Introduction (2)

2010-09-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

Eid Mubarak to everyone! The first day of the Hijri [Islamic lunar calendar] month of Shawwal is tomorrow inshAllah, may this Eid be an occasion of happiness and joy for everyone reading this, Ameen.

Continuing on where we left last time, we will first start by mentioning the explanations of two terms we had left for further explanation on the last post; tawator and ijaza.

-Tawator: The process of 'tawator' is the process whereby the Holy Qura'n was transferred to us through this day and is still being transferred to further generations. It goes without saying that the main issue is not preserving the Qura'n on paper but to preserve it in the hearts and minds of those who memorize it. For this reason, there are many people who memorize the Qura'n (in any of one of the aforementioned qira'as) and who carry it to future generations. Tawator is a simple idea: Suppose that I, a new qari, will learn how to the entire memorized Qura'n from someone who learned it and memorized it already. The sheikh who teaches me has authority on his sheikh and that sheikh on his sheikh and so on until the lineage is related back to one of the ten readers and, thus, authentic to the prophet PBUH. This process of transfer of the Holy Qura'n from one authorized sheikh to another is referred to as tawator.

-Ijaza: Once a qari has finished memorizing and learning how to read the Qura'n on the hands of a sheikh, the sheikh will give him an 'ijaza' on that reading. Of course the sheikh already had an ijaza himself. So what is an ijaza? A certificate of authorization and allowance of a person to read the Holy Qura'n, that also relates the names of the chain of people that go back to the prophet PBUH in learning and reading the Qura'n on that particular reading. As you can see, gaining multiple ijazas sounds like a huge achievement requiring a lot of dedication and effort; and it actually is.

***

-Now, we will take a moment to understand different 'styles' of reciting the Holy Qura'n, also a fundamental part in the art of Qira'a. There are mainly three different 'styles' or [in Arabic] marateb al qira'a; those being:

1)Tahkeek [التحقيق]: This refers to reading the Qura'n with huge emphasis on every letter and in very slow speed to allow the reader to appreciate the meaning and truly feel it. This is a very famous method of recitation in Egypt and in many other countries but Egypt has been famous for it for generations. Readers who had read with tahkeek include Abdul-Basset-Abdul-Samad, Mostafa Ismaeel, Dr. Ahmad Ne'eina, all from Egypt, among others from Egypt and various parts of the world. An example video [of Surat Al-Duha (The Morning Hours/Chapter 93)] showing tahkeek is shown below, from the reading of Sheikh Abdul-Basset Abdul-Samad. Note the slow speed and the freedom in repetition of verses to emphasize meaning:

2) Hadr [الحدر]: This is the fastest method of reading the Qura'n. It does not focus on every word, let alone on every letter. It is very common in Saudi Arabia and the gulf countries. One of its famous practitioners is Sheikh Al-Sudais, from Saudi Arabia. Shown below is an example of this method of reading. Note the huge difference in speed, although it is the same Surah shown earlier:

3) Tadweer [التدوير]: This varies from hadr in the fact that it is a little slower than it and a little faster than tahkeek. Tadweer is one of the commonest methods of reading. It's not too fast and not too slow in its reading. An example (I think!) is shown below from Sheikh Mishary-bin-Rashed Al-Efasy:

NOTE: This is the only example where I cannot be sure exactly if this is tadweer or not. But it most probably is. And Allah knows best.
4) Tarteel [الترتيل]: The common factor of all readings; reading the Qura'n at regular speed with all rules of pronunciation and tilawa [a bit on the rules might be explained later] taken into account and satisfied.

The following video [in Arabic] is of Dr. Ahmad Ne'eina, a famous Egyptian qari, explaining the above methods and demonstrating them. The above four are just a variation of what is usually present. The actual number of types is usually in the range of three to five.

-A good question is: Which readings are common? The most common two readings are the rewaya of Haffs on the reading of Imam Aasem-Al-Koufey and the rewaya of Warsh on the reading of Imam Nafae-Al-Madani. The former is by far one of the most common, if not the most dominant reading of all. And Allah knows best. However, the remaining readings are known to various qari's around the world and to the people in charge of the science of qira'a; enough for all ten to be transferred through tawator. All ten readings are printed in various copies of the Holy Qura'n and can be easily found through a Google search and in various places around the world. Certain copies of the Holy Qura'n also come with the text of the Qura'n with a particular reading, and along the edges are the differences from the other readings.

Today's session was a short one and it might be our last. If there will ever be a next post I'll put in what I know on why and what are some of the common differences in the different readings of the Qura'n. For now I leave you with just a taste. Here is the same Surah we referred to earlier when explaining the different 'styles' of reading recited in two different readings [both by Sheikh Mishary-bin-Rashed Al-Efasy].

1) Reading of Imam Aasem Al-Koufey from the rewaya of Haffs:

2) Reading of Imam Hamza Al-Koufey from the rewaya of Khalaf:

Until our next meeting,
Take care and may Allah SWT bless anyone reading this, Ameen!

Eid Mubarak again!

The Science & Art of Qira'a: An Introduction (1)

2010-09-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

So lately, I decided to read up a little on why the Qura'n had different sounds from different people! In fact, and this may be new information to many Muslims [including myself until very recently], different 'readings' of the Qura'n may have different wordings in different verses. This may and may not affect meaning, depending on the verse.

Since I wanted to keep a record of all I learned, I decided to share every bit of information I reached here. Most info. I got was through videos and articles and I begin here step-by-step just like I actually started. The information is organized in the form of short paragraphs for ease of viewing. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

NOTE: The information I share here takes in mind that some readers may not be familiar with the Arabic language terminology used and so there is some Arabic and lots of translation done as best as I could.

****

-First, we must understand what is meant by the Arabic words 'qira'a' and 'rewaya'. Dr. Ayman Roushdy Sowaid, a professor in the science of reading the Qura'n, explains:

"In the age of Tabe'een (literally translated as 'Followers' about the next few generations after the death of the prophet PBUH), there arose readers of the Qura'n. They were called readers (in Arabic qari and plural qora'a) not because they read the Qura'n in a method of their own invention but because each of them had an isnad (chain of narrators) up to the prophet PBUH on how to read the Qura'n. Therefore, much like the four famous Imams of the Sunni Sect (for those unaware; those are in historical order: Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, Imam Shafe'ei and Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, may Allah be pleased with all of them), there arose ten readers of the Qura'n. Their readings were transferred to us through a process called tawator [explanation of this term follows later on] and those were the readings that were called The Ten Readings Transferred Through Tawator (in Arabic, Al-Qira'at Al-Ashr Al-Motwatera). "

Dr. Ayman is one of the most prominent names in the science of Qura'n reading and he also was a regular guest on a show that was concerned with the rules that the Qura'n should be recited with [ahkam al tilawa] on Ikra TV Channel.

He obtained his Ph.D in the Arabic Language from Um-ul-Qura University in KSA. He has 8 ijazat of the Holy Qura'n [the meaning of the word 'ijaza', plural 'ijazat', is explained later on. Suffice to say now that having one ijaza is considered an extremely high achievement in the life of a qari and is more than enough for many qari's].

-Each of the ten readers had a rawi (the ten we're talking about, each had two). In layman terms, a rawi, plural rowah, is a narrator who narrated the reading of that reader, not to the accuracy of a word but to that of a letter and the specific way it should be pronounced. The ten readers with their rawi's are as follows:

1) Imam Nafe'e Al-Madani with his rawi's Kaloon and Warsh.
2) Imam Ibn Katheer Al-Makkei with his rawi's Konbol and Al-Bezeyy.
3) Imam Abu Amr Al-Basrey with his rawi's Al-Doory and Al-Soosey.
4) Imam Ibn Aamer Al-Shamey with his rawi's Hisham and Ibn Thikwan.
5) Imam Aasem Al-Koufey with his rawi's Haffs and Sho'ba.
6) Imam Hamza Al-Koufey with his rawi's Khalaf and Khallad.
7) Imam Al-Kasa'ay Al-Koufey with his rawi's Abu-Al-Harith and Haffs-Al-Doory.
8) Imam Abu Ja'afar Al-Madani with his rawi's Ibn Wardan and Ibn Jamaz.
9) Imam Yacoub Al-Basrey with his rawi's Rowais and Rawh.
10) Imam Khalaf Al-Boghdadey with his rawi's Ishak and Idrees.
For more information on the above 10 Imams and their rawi's such as their full names and dates of death, etc. please check this link [English].

-A good question to ask at this point is: Did anyone else know any other reading? The answer is yes. At the time those ten readers appeared, different readings existed as well. However, because only those ten had authentic chains that go to the prophet PBUH, those were the ten that stayed and lingered to our present day. Any other reading that differs from those ten readings is reffered to as 'qira'a shatha' or 'weird/unauthorized reading'. I shall try to explain what I know of those in later posts inshAllah.

-How do the different readings differ? Well to start, we must understand that the smallest building block of the Qura'n is the letter. Again, in very simple terms, every Arabic letter [of a total of 28 letters] must have one of four 'movements' (in Arabic, harakat, singular haraka). Those being:
1) Fath...Adding the sound of the letter 'alef' ('ah') to the letter.
2) Kasr...Adding the sound of the letter 'ya' ('ee') to the letter.
3) Dam...Adding the sound of the letter 'waw' ('oo') to the letter.
4) Sukoon...Simply put: To pronounce the letter as it is with none of the above additions.

Of course a linguist would much better explain this than myself! Our current purpose, however, is the readings so we return to those:
The readings differ regularly in the pronunciations of the letters through the haraka. And frequently, we will also find variation in the letters themselves so that a letter present in a word in a verse in one reading will be replaced by a different letter in another. Or a letter is added, etc.

****

I will stop here today. I will continue inshAllah as soon as I find time and effort in me. On my next post, I will share some interesting videos to explain some more interesting concepts in the science of qira'a and continue from where we stopped. I will also try to share with you examples of the variations between different qira'as.

Until then, take care of yourself and may Allah SWT bless you!

Don't Let Barney...

2010-08-29T15:02:00.001-07:00

...go gangsta on you.

Brought to my attention by UmK (whose blog Makorani you may find through my Blogs You Wanna Read list). Enjoy.

Five Nursery Rhymes That...

2010-08-28T16:52:00.000-07:00

...can be horribly misunderstood.

Picked off my (two-year-old) nephew's nursery rhymes DVD, I present you with the five nursery rhymes titles that would sound twisted provided you have the right mindset. Let's get IMMATURE!

1) London's Burning.
Okay, first of all; how is that suitable material for kids? The city is burning. That's not a nursery rhyme tune. That's a 911 song.

2) Ride A Cock-Horse To Banbury Cross.
I'd...rather take the train?

3) On Top of Old Smokey.
I don't know who Old Smokey is but I' m pretty sure I don't want to be on top of him.

4) This Is The Way The Ladies Ride.
*giggles*

5) Boys and Girls Come Out to Play.
Sounds like something Freddie Krueger would say!

That's it for now, boys and girls!
Adios!

UNDERGROUND: Basata

2010-07-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

Relying on such 'buried' talents as Hisham El Gokh and Khamis Ezz El Arab in their lyrics, with one of their hits authored by one of the masters of colloquial Egyptian poetry; Ahmad Fouad Negm; Basata proved one of the greatest acts that you may ever have to hear. The music is from the gut, the lyrics are from the heart and the feeling you get once you finish a Basata song is one that's very rare to find in any music scene...The feeling that only verbally translates to, 'I gotta hear this thing again'.

Basata's melodies are usually simple, fueled by simple beats and often coming from one of the most interesting musical minds of our age; Nabil Lahhoud who seems to be the godfather of the band. His daughter, Mareez Lahhoud is the lead vocalist and the one responsible for presenting most of the combined beauty of voice, lyric and music. She succeeds brilliantly. Basata chose two logos by the way to represent themselves and which, I think, represent them best. The first one is:

مزيــكا و غنا من هنــا
which roughly translates to:
'Music and song from here'

And the second one is:
هنغــــني للحب و الحاجات التــانية
which roughly translates to:
'We'll sing for love...And other things'

I leave you with one of Basata's most heart-breaking songs. Authored by Ahmad Fouad Negm ages ago (and sung by the late Sheikh Imam with his melody), this beautiful poem was re-composed and made to fit with Basata's beautiful musical style and structure. Enjoy!

Requesting Meaning!

2010-07-29T03:18:00.000-07:00

So I need someone from Belad El Sham (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine) to explain the following Fairouz lyrics for me please =D

-Chalbeyya in 'El Bint El Chalebyya...3yonna lawzeyya'
..from El Bint El Chalebyya.

-Bosta in '3a hadeer el bosta...Kanet na2letna'
...from Hadeer El-Bosta.

-Day3et in 'Men day3et 7emlayeh 3a day3et tanoreen'
...from Hadeer El-Bosta.

-Tehdor in 'Tehdor 3'eneyyat'
...from Sahar El Layali.

-Malla in 'Keyfak enta...Malla enta'
...from Keyfak Enta.

-This sentence from Nasam 3alyna El Hawa:
في منتورة طاقة و صورة خدني لعندن يا هوا

I just don't get it!

-Fai in 'Yezra3 shams wa fai'
...from Sahar El Layali.

Thanks in advance to whomever can explain =D

UNDERGROUND: Black Theama

2010-07-26T15:38:00.001-07:00

No more underground I guess...More 'over'-ground than ever now with their first album released. Black Theama represents everything I ever loved about the Egyptian underground music scene: the experimental-ism, the pure and un-electronic voices and the originality and crispness of the lyrics. The words you hear with Black Theama are so diverse, interesting and often surreal that at points; it doesn't feel like you're hearing a song at all but, quite literally, living it.

I'm addicted to particularly four songs of their album Bahar (Sailor). Those being: Zahmet El Metro (Crowded Subway), A'ol Ah (I Say Ah) and Ensan (Human Being). Of course, the major attraction to me was that the title did not include anything about loving, missing, kisses, hugs or leaving the ones you love. We sure got a whole load of that the last three or four decades.

More underground music bands will be covered in later posts...Well not exactly 'more', probably just two or three more. Here is a YT video of Black Theama's Zahmet El Metro...Possibly my favorite song of their album. The starting violin solo, the closing lines and the dreamy and vivid imagery involved in the lyrics are incredibly captivating. Enjoy!

Bel Alwan El Tabieyya (In Natural Colors) (2009)

2010-07-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

Bel Alwan El Tabieyya is, by far, one of the strongest and most thought-provoking movies ever to come out of the Egyptian movie industry. Stylish in its direction and screenplay, the movie combines fast pace with deep, intricate ideas that pass swiftly in a scenery that is, at its heart, an ironic and heart-breaking caricature.

At the center of the film's plot is Yusuf, a high school boy whose mother screams and wails when he receives the news that he will study art and not medicine in university. He's talented and innocent and communicates with God at many points in the film. In the faculty, Yusuf is shocked. His professors ask him and the students to draw nude models in the name of learning. Disgusted, he returns back to God. He asks for His forgiveness and asks Him to guide him to use his talent in useful ways. He tells God he will never do this madness again..."Except this year because it has year work marks", he adds shamefully.

Yusuf's idea of God as we begin the movie is a very superficial one. He sees God as a dictator ready to punish at any time and we sense that he worships God out of fear, rather than love or honesty. He expects God to constantly answer him, to guide him and he is not aware that God sometimes likes to give him the steering wheel over his own life.

Yusuf is tormented and lost by the meaning of life. He cannot find truth anywhere and everywhere he looks, he sees faces that are as fake as the ones in his paintings. He sees faculty members that are not ready to teach and students who are not willing to learn. He sees contradictions on every turn and extremes on every way. Even the love of his life goes from one extreme to the other. All this happens in such an interesting pace and supported by surreal characters that seem to haunt Yusuf rather than help him on his path towards redemption.

What Yusuf realizes at the end of the movie is profound and interesting. As he paints his interpretation of The Divine Comedy for his graduation project, Yusuf explains that God's Hell would not be a physically tormenting one but the idea of simply being away from God...Of being away from all His love and kindness is the true torment of Hell. On the other hand, being close to God and His love is the true blessing of Heaven. This is simply one of the many many many questions and views that the movie asks and promotes.

I had my jaw dropped as I watched Bel Alwan El Tabieyya since I just could not believe the smoothness and beauty of the cinematography and the intricate way the scenes are filmed to the psychedelic and addictive music of Soap Kills. Arabic movie buff or not (I know I'm not!), you should watch this movie soon; you won't regret it.

Luxor, Aswan, Matrouh...

2010-07-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

...and an upcoming trip to Hurghada! All this summer! After four fascinating days in Luxor, Edfou, Komombo and Aswan, I returned to the modernistic, busy, uninteresting (but internet-supported) Alexandria!

I got about 600+ photos in between Luxor, Aswan, Edfou, Komombo and Aswan, most of em of things I sadly don't even remember what they really were. Sadly (that's the second sadly), all of em are too big to attach here!

I leave in a couple of days to Hurghada...Red Sea awesomeness and absolute relaxation! Can't wait!

Have fun people!

Shoutbox Locked

2010-06-10T08:04:00.001-07:00

Due to some moron who keeps coming here and posting under my nickname; the shoutbox was locked. For the same reason and just in case, I'm disabling unauthorized comments.

Sorry folks if anyone was offended by that idiot.

Peace,

Hey Jude - The Beatles

2010-04-16T15:11:00.000-07:00

"And any time you feel the pain,
Hey Jude, refrain,
Don't carry the world upon your shoulder.
For well you know that it's a fool,
Who plays it cool,
By making his world a little colder"

I was reminded of this a couple of days ago by a friend of mine. It's a beautiful and energizing Beatles song that seems to rise in spirit as it progresses.

It sums up everything great about The Beatles: the energy, the charisma, the vision of making rock music and the astounding beauty and mainstream-ness of the music produced. This is purely McCartney so far as I understand and it's something I've always enjoyed listening to when I was down. Not down now but I still love listening to it! Enjoy!

Aranda - The Post-Grunge Revolution

2010-04-06T12:04:00.000-07:00

There was always something rather demeaning about the word 'post-grunge'. To me it always rung like, 'just after grunge but not as good'. It definitely IS good. The beauty in post-grunge is usually in the challenge of making something that sounds mainstream while still maintaining the spirit of hard rock from which the genre derives its taste and originality.

Bands like Creed, The Foo Fighters, Shinedown and Seether have always managed to impress me with heart-felt performances and dedicated music. One of the most recent post-grunge bands that came to my attention lately was Aranda.

With a rather talented lead vocalist and rather energizing angry music; I think those guys will enjoy immense success with their next few albums.

My favorites from their only album:

Happy Sham-El-Nasim

2010-04-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

To all our Christian brothers and sisters: Happy Easter!
To all Egyptians: Happy Sham-el-Nasim.

And some may ask: The hell is Sham-el-Nasim? A little background: Sham-el-Nasim is an ancient celebration in Egypt that has been celebrated in Egypt for more than 5000 years. The ancient Egyptians believed that was the day creation began and the word Sham-El-Nasim is derived from the hieroglyphic shamo meaning the revival of life. When Christianity entered Egypt, Sham-el-Nasim was a day after Easter and thus, while today is Easter, tomorrow is Sham-el-Nasim, a national holiday in all of Egypt and the day Egyptians decide is the beginning of summer! It's a symbol of life and freshness and one of my favorite days of the year!

So...Go paint your eggs, eat salted feseekh (if you're Egyptian enough you'd know there's no such thing as salted feseekh! It's already salted!) and have fun!

Cheers,

How To Know You're In Egypt

2010-04-02T05:08:00.000-07:00

So since I included a list of 3 things I loved about Egypt, here are 3 clues that will help you know you're definitely in Egypt. Taken from personal observations by several friends and yours truly.

1) While standing waiting for the elevator and after you have pushed the button already, there will always be someone who walks past you and press it again. Even though it's lit. Even though you couldn't be standing in front of an elevator for any other reason. But that's not the problem. The problem is that the next person will press it again and again, in continuous. impatient, irritating pushes.

2) If the elevator does not come in like 3 seconds after you push that call button, someone will always come in and bang against the door. This usually just slows the thing down even more.

3) If you're out with someone who has a center-lock-option car. He'll ALWAYS lock the doors and CHECK ON ALL FOUR DOORS afterwards! Egyptians just don't trust technology!

Cheers,

What I Love About Egypt

2010-03-27T05:28:00.000-07:00

Since every newspaper you'll buy here seems to be pointing out all the bad stuff (everything they do NOT like) I thought a list outlining what I liked about Egypt would be a good tribute to the country that bore with us this far...And all the list will be from personal experience choosing the 3 major and simple things I love. Somehow, that makes it a little more challenging to make.

1) The mosque I pray the Friday prayer in is located right across the street from a church. Yesterday, at Friday prayer time, Coptic Christians at the church were singing their hymns while the Imam at the mosque was saying the Friday prayer sermon...And for a moment as I passed the two sounds interlaced and it seemed like they were both saying the same thing. Speaking to the same God in different ways. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.

2) The dusty smell that the rain produces in Alexandria when it's early in the morning mixing up with the smell of falafil.

3) Night at Cairo by the Nile watching the boats pass.

Strangely, my list did not include the pyramids!

Cheers,

Dexter - Why You NEED To Watch It

2010-03-26T05:57:00.000-07:00

Instructed (several times) by G-Chan (whose awesome blog you may access through my Blogs You Wanna Read link list), I finally got over my House M.D fanaticism and started downloading Dexter.

I was HOOKED.

I just finished the first season today and I have 3 episodes from the second season downloaded; this is like House M.D-meets-Red Dragon-meets-CSI-meets-(Insert name of your favorite pyscho serial killer movie here). Michael C. Hall's performance as the moonlighting serial killer is a chillingly honest one...And it's one of the few performances where one truly feels for a character even though the character cannot feel anything. In a sense, the fact that Dexter cannot even handle emotion is of much bigger magnitude than the fact that he cannot feel it.

How in the world can someone portray something that complex and bring it to life is beyond me but it obviously takes a lot of talent (something that Hall is not really short of). Jennifer Carpenter (who I remember only from The Exorcism of Emily Rose) is stunning on Dexter. As Deborah Morgan, she performs every scene with grace, emotion and power.

This is a great, great series and I recommend it to anyone. Currently watching the first episode of the second season so I gotta run!

Cheers,

Fourier Series Sucks

2010-03-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

The Fourier series, or as the new generation of undergraduate engineers calls it, the Farfour Series (if you don't get that joke, just don't worry, many don't know Arabic so you're not alone) is a curse.

And I have a quiz in it tomorrow. And that quiz is gonna be an MCQ quiz. Imagine that. Math done with MCQs. Not that it's unheard of, just that it's an extremely dumb way to do anything that relates in any way to mathematics...or so I think. This isn't moving forward, this is...I dunno, just dumb.

Now.
I have to go and study the Farfour Series...Each problem takes about 2 pages to solve and about an hour to write down the answer. Gah.

Cheers...I guess.

Just Something

2010-03-13T15:30:00.001-08:00

...that I had to share.
While in the taxi today the taxi driver just goes:
"God...Give me health and well-being [Pause]

And half a million pounds.

So that I can get a helicopter. And use it as a taxi."

I was in fits after that and kept laughing every time I remembered it for the rest of the way.

It sounded much funnier in Arabic too:

"YA RAB! Al satr wa al se77a...wa nos million geneih.

Ashtery beehom helicopter wa a3melha taxi"

Fun Fact: By sheer fate, just two weeks ago this same man had dropped me off to the same doctor I was at today. It's weird how God sets up certain things.

Tagged by Kitten - 7 Random Facts

2010-03-13T13:14:00.000-08:00

Wow. This is my first tag. Like ever.

...

I sound pathetic. Let's just get on with the thing.

So, here's how it goes: I take the chance to tell you seven facts about myself. Then tag one person for every single stinking one! Why did I use the word 'stinking' when it was clearly unneeded? Because I felt like it! That's my eighth extra fact.

1) I enjoy waiting. I can wait forever and still be happy. I do a lot of thinking in waiting time and I listen to this huge amount of music. Occasioanlly (like today, for instance) I can even get an idea for a piece of writing as I wait.

2) I hate small talk and suck at it. I cannot talk in an elevator and I end up saying the weirdest shit if I'm too nervous or too occupied with something else. And by the 'weirdest shit' I mean stuff like, 'Okay, see you later, you care take'...That kind of stuff.

3) I despise studying on weekdays and enjoy it on holidays. I have no idea why it works that way for me, but it just does.

4) I hate the mousepad on my laptop. I think mousepads are about the most ridiculous invention. And I don't really care if they're useful on airplanes, either. Because I hate them. Like, I really do. Now shut up and stop trying to retaliate.

5) This is the third time I'm writing this set of facts because I was not sure the first 14 were any good.

6) I love the feeling of being under the blanket on my bed when it's raining outside.

7) I use 'lol' in MSN conversations for multiple purposes among them to express the thought, 'So just WTF am I supposed to say now?'

Now. The fun part! Gotta tag seven others...Let's see:

Wow, I like the blogs of six women and one guy.

No wonder nobody reads me!

Give Me The Simple Life - Steve Tyrell

2010-03-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a friend of very good taste of mine (the one whose blog goes by the exotic name Makorani in my Blogs You Wanna Read list), I came across this song recently. Excellent for clearing up your head on your way to college in the morning and works a little like caffeine in freshening you up! I am kind of addicted to this (and Michael Giacchino's soundtrack for Up) these days.

Download here.

June Christy's (slightly faster and less Jazz-oriented) original is on YouTube:

Lyrics aren't that grand unless you actually kind of give them some thought...Other than the, y'know, mashed potatoes bit. That's just meaningless.

I don't believe in frettin' and grievin';
Why mess around with strife'
I never was cut out to step and strut out.
Give me the simple life.

Some find it pleasant dining on pheasant.
Those things roll off my knife;
Just serve me tomatoes; and mashed potatoes;
Give me the simple life.

A cottage small if all I'm after,
Not one that's spacious and wide.
A home that rings with joy and laughter
and the ones you love inside.

Some like the high road, I like the low road,
Free from the grief and strife.
Sounds corny and seedy, but yes, indeed-y;
Give me the simple life.

Catch ya later!
P.S: Yes, I had nothing to say so I thought, 'What the heck! Just put on a song!'

The Concept of Alsh

2010-03-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

One of many Facebook groups dedicated to the study of alsh, labelled 2alshology. 2 is
Internet-Arabic for the Arabic sound (a').

If you're living outside the African country of 7000+ years of civilization (the same one that popularized mulokhia, the green stuff that wiggles, and bellydance, that describes how the green stuff wiggles) you most probably did not ever hear of the Egyptian-Arabic term alsh.

And you seriously need to know what it means.

WARNING: From here on, the post has nothing useful. You will be very sorry once you're done because there is no real information. The stuff above was useful...Well, if you never knew that mulokhia wiggles or that it can dance that is.

Alsh by definition is the act of throwing in a completely lame joke while knowing that it is lame. It is so intensely ridiculous, it has been restricted to teenagers of the age 14-18 though older people will usually use alsh in hopes of actually producing laughs. Hence the confusion among many that alsh is really very hilariously, hysterically funny.

There are mainly three types of alsh:

1) Geeky Alsh: This is alsh among colleagues studying the same thing. It involves you making scientific jokes that you will never, ever laugh at had you said them in your mind first. e.g:

-Just think what it would be like if we can just get this idiot in a cannon and just...shoot him to the stars!
-Yeah...The projectile motion will have to be carefully determined though.
-The what?
-The projectile motion? It's a cannon, right?
-...
-WHAT?
-STFU!

2) Word-Play Alsh: This is the most common type of alsh. It involves you just twisting around words to fit another meaning in an endless series of meaningless ideas and will use the word 'or' a countless number of times. For e.g:

-You the manager?
-Manager...Or womanger!
-...
-Woman-ager or woman-younger hahaha
-...
-WHAT?
-STFU!

3) Random Alsh: Again, very common. Meaningless and unfunny, this is very hard to produce unless you are extremely frustrated or tired. Consider:

-Dude you got a pen?
-Yeah *hands over pen*
-I hate this class.
-Yeah and it's Sunday hahahaha
-...
-WHAT?
-STFU!

Alsh usually occurs through exchanges of conversation. It is necessary to understand that alsh does not have to be funny; just very lame so that after a while you start laughing at the sheer lameness. Not making sense, still? Consider this snippet of conversation from a Messenger chatroom:

-I'm sorry, I got DC
-DC or AC hahaha (For those clueless, this is an example of Type 1. It's a reference to direct current and alternating current in electrical circuits? Gosh, study harder people, it's very very very obvious!)
-AC or AD hahaha (For those clueless, you need some serious work with your alphabet! This is Type 2)

You are only left with one single little piece of information: The singular form of alsh is alsha. So a single piece of alsh is an alsha.

This is all you need in your journey in life in Egypt. You have to master the art of alsh in order to meld in properly in the society. You may need to use these five precautions:

1) Never use the same alsha twice.
2) Never laugh at an alsha unless you're very convinced it's gotten lame enough to do so.
3) Remember that people will not like you if you do a lot of alsh.
4) Same as rule 3.
5) Same as rule 4.

Hey, I said five! You got five!

Now...
Take care of yourself,
Until our next meaningless meeting.

My Apple Theory

2010-03-05T04:33:00.001-08:00

Being the keen theory-maker (you may recall, Non-Existent Reader, my desperate attempt to explain my Theory of Marriage) I discovered as I was listening to my ancient, 1st Generation iPod nano that...There must be some reason why I took the damn thing out of the drawer.

I have an HTC Pocket PC. Complete with a 2GB memory card enough to fill a zillion songs (well, I'm very picky so 2GB is more than enough!). I had almost forgotten about my iPod...I had it (quite literally) stored in a drawer for more than two years. And then one day I see someone walking by with an iPod and BAM!

My mind suddenly races and I'm thinking, 'Where is my little white gadget!'

So now that we're past my electronic epiphany, it is time to explain my theory of Apple. And not it isn't, 'An apple away will keep your uninteresting-but-somehow-needed friend away'...I'm lame but just not that much. The statement of my theory goes like this:

Any Apple product will always be more attractive and somehow more magnetic than other products. Even if it's worse than other products. Even if it has a battery life that is complete shit. Even if it has the stupidest games installed on it when you don't even need them.

Did I say theory? Scratch that. Theories need proofs. This is a postulate (love that word!), an axiom if you may (love that one too!)...Ergo, I need not prove it as it is a proposition that is naturally self-evident. Physics can teach you wonders.

Catch ya later!

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: gautman88

2010-03-04T07:39:00.000-08:00

On my previous post, I posted a link of a DeviantArt submission of mine that featured a great piece from the DeviantArt artist gautman88 entitled The Beholder's Dreamscape. I thought the man was worthy of a post for him since he's one of the few DeviantArt guys (that I know of) who seems truly, undeniably, incredibly talented. His attention to detail and his brilliant eye for symbolism and color are the main attributes of most of his surreal works. Here are a few of his pieces (along with links of where you can find them along with his full descriptions and be able to see the pieces in a larger size) that I found particularly marvelous:
The Beholder's Landscape. To see original, click here.
Metaphysical Awakening. To see original, click here.
Nature's Divinity. To see original, click here.
Noetic Nirvana. To see original, click here.

Catch you later!

How's It Going?

2010-03-03T09:14:00.000-08:00

Isn't that the most common of questions?
It's going well, to all those interested.

I haven't updated since the Zambia 1-0 match? Wow. So much has happened since then! Egypt won the CAN 2010 for the third time in a row! We didn't make it to the...you know...World Cup.

But today, I type here and we're two hours and a half from a friendly match with England. England, man...wow. I keep imagining Wael Gom'aa (the nation's top defender, nicknamed 'The Stone' which, in English, is a 'd' away from what should be his nickname in a number of matches) trying to defend against...Gerrard or Owen or Rooney and I just find myself smiling and going, 'HA!'. But yeah, we can make a good match. My ultimate hope: a 2:1 win for Egypt! Yeehaw! *goes to wear the cheering red and white cap*

I started college just this week. Interesting subjects, one interesting new professor. Rest are all old and just as interesting, I guess. I didn't 'miss' college that much, to be frank. And it looks like my Programming II course this semester is going to end up being much tougher than I ever expected...But I have a way of getting through the study life. Ever since fifth grade!

I'm listening to new music. This is the 'good' term I like to give the type of music I'm listening to these days. I shall confess then, these days I listen to her:

And more her:

And then a little bit more of her:
Why Kelly Clarkson? I seriously have got no idea! I guess I'm going into early musical senility! And I could have chosen any other mainstream artist but I went for Kelly Clarkson because...See, right at this point, I just draw a blank! Try out these selections from (in my own humble opinion) the ultimate pop rock icon of the decade (see what I mean about the early senility thing?): Walk Away, Yeah, Whyyawannabringmedown, Behind These Hazel Eyes.

These days I'm finishing this:
Great book, by the way. Stephen King's short fiction is so hauntingly good, sometimes you are forced to finish it just for the style rather than the subject material. For example, he's one of the few writers who can get away with orchestrating a short story around the idea of time. That's it, like a 20-page conversation on time called My Pretty Pony (what name for a Stephen King story too, right?!). And, even though the premise sounds incredibly boring and cliche, King manages to get away from the cliches and the boredom. And he entraps you in a style so surprisingly poignant for his 'regular' gore and horror that you must just finish the damn thing.

Nightmares and Dreamscapes also includes a short story called The Moving Finger. It's...ridiculously good and is very reminiscent of It somehow...But I guess 'ridiculously good' is (as Jeff would say) prezactly the right combination of adverb and adjective to describe it with.

Movies...Watched a ton of movies on the end-of-semester holiday. Best movies of my holiday hibernation time: The Blind Side, Zodiac, The Men Who Stare At Goats and (believe it or not) Julie and Julia (BON APPETIT!)

Well, I can't finish an answer to 'How's It Going?' without a bit of poetry...My latest creation that is so jumbled up and indecisive, it may cause your brain to itch upon reading...Okay, scratch that (what I said, not your brain). It's not that bad, if it was it wouldn't be here. It's called Bet (and yes, I could not find a better name):

Listen to the sounds of summer,
I can almost hear the daisies sigh,
Breathing in fresh summer air.
Summer is a queen dressed in the sun,
And dancing to the harps,
Of its feathery clouds.
Her scent is ever so nostalgic,
A mixture of so many things,
The aroma of hot barbecue,
Salty foam,
The scent of beautiful women,
Too bereaved to notice,
How inanely pretty they are.
***
Listen and concentrate.
For our elders used to listen too,
And lasted much longer than we will.
Ask me why I'm so sure and I will say,
We kill each other so much that,
On Doom's Day, there will be,
No one left to kill.
***
Sometimes I picture a dreamscape,
Of beautiful grass,
And interlacing hands,
And this planet's mass,
In a grain of sand.
***
On winter days one thinks of time,
The strange traveler on the road.
That cares to none and lives longer,
Every time we think it was just about,
To fatally erode.
***
Perhaps sometimes we are punished,
By being made to live longer,
And see much more pain,
Than we have already seen.
See a new face of Hell,
Somewhere we've never been.
***
I bet you the Earth's gold,
That you will live to breathe your next breath,
So are you up for the bet?
And maybe your very ignorance,
Is as close to your personal Heaven as you will,
Ever get.

Published at DeviantArt (with an incredible little feature from the amazing DeviantArt member ~gautman88) here.
And at EnglishSabla here.

See you on the other side...

Epic Win: Egypt Wins Over Zambia 1-0

2009-10-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

CONGRATULATIONS PHARAOHS!

In a match that saw incredible fierceness on part of the Zambian team, Egypt managed to score the goal that earned us a three point lead, tying the Egyptian team with Algeria in the 2010 South Africa World Cup Qualifiers. The match saw immense and stubborn performance on part of Zambia met by several defensive mistakes on the Egyptian side and a horrible (but expected) first half for the Egyptians. With a fascinating performance from Essam ElHadary (the Egyptian goalkeeper), Egypt managed to pull its act and, after a few advancements to the Zambian goal, managed to score the match's only goal from outside the penalty area with an outstanding and professional shot by Hosny Abd Rabbou (the international Ahly Dubai player).

In exactly an hour from the time I'm writing this, Algeria will face Rwanda in Algeria. If Rwanda somehow manages to pull its act and somehow win or at least tie this match, this will put Egypt in an extremely good position as the Egyptian team will simply have to win their next match against Algeria (on the 14th of November in the Cairo Stadium) with any score and no particular goal difference. A win of 1 and 2 from Algeria is also a recoverable result. More than that, I don't like to think of!

All the best to everyone (but specifically to Rwanda and our national team)!

Good News Update: Mohammed Zidan (the German-league-playing pro and hero of the African Cup of Nations 2008 and Confederations Cup 2009) may join us for the Algeria match and (almost definitely) Emad Moteab (of the Egyptian Ahly) too. With these two extremely talented forwards available, I think we have a pretty good chance provided today's outcome is a positive one.

Unfortunately yesterday's goal is not uploaded yet on YouTube! But when it is, I'll make sure I'll properly edit this post to include it. As Ray Hudson may have put it, 'that was one symphony of a goal'.

Yours truly after the win =D

Egypt Leaves The U-20 2009 World Cup

2009-10-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

We hosted it. We blew it.
We just left the U-20 world cup round of 16 and advanced Costa Rica onward to the Quaterfinals. This kinda sucks...We could've made it if the team had focused a little but it is you know, the ultimate problem with any Egyptian football team: the maintenance of success. We usually have no trouble attaining a certain level of success and then we're just stuck in trying to attain that same level.

On the not-so-bright-but-still-kinda-okay side, our 'adult' team has a match to determine its chance of making the 2010 South Africa World Cup this Saturday against Zambia. The good news is that, in our friendly match of preparation, we beat Mauritius 4-0. The bad news is, when Mauritius received our invitation to play with them from our National Football Union, they decided to...um...Form a football union. They also did not have any clothes for the match and had to wear some clothes left over by the Enppi Club who owned the stadium on which the match was held. I'm not even kidding, that actually happened.

Anyhow, all jokes aside, we can make it against Zambia I think. If we focus and Amr Zaki (that egotistical, arrogant and recently useless player) is kept in the substitutes for all the 90 minutes and maybe have some miraculous call up to Emad Motaeb and Mohammed Zidan? But yeah, we have a chance.

Take care!

Der Untergang (Downfall)

2009-10-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

This beautiful German movie first came to my attention as --
Well, it's really sort of embarrassing. I saw a parody of the most amazing scene of it (found above!). A ridiculous parody involving Hitler and Xbox that really made me laugh. And about a year later, I decided to look for a good version of the movie it came from on the internet. Three hours of incredible acting, beautiful characterization and just downright perfection of film making. I felt this movie tells more than the fact it seems to present on first sight...It tells such a human story of degradation in such a new way, it is hard not to fall in love with it and be truly hurt by it too. It really is painful to watch after a while. It is painful to watch anything so human set so profound, I think.

The movie does not paint Hitler in a positive light, but in a deeply human one. He is kind to his dog (Blondi), to his secretary and to his wife...He is ruthless to his generals who betray him. He orders executions countless times throughout the movie. He mentions that he does not regret 'clearing the world of the Jewish poison' in his will. But, somehow, you cannot help but actually feel a little sorry as Bruno Ganz's (Hitler's) hands shake as he reaches for his glasses and drops them to the map when he is told of the news that he has (essentially) lost the war. Ganz, as some YouTuber put it, is Hilter come back from the dead. His flawless performance had surpassed many a great performances I had in mind as the best performances of all time for me (including Marlon Brando's The Godfather, Al Pacino's Dog Day Afternoon and Jack Nicholson's As Good As It Gets). The reason why this performance is so great is not only because it (and for the first time) forms a three dimensional image of Hitler in the viewer's mind but that this performance here, even though it suffers from the fact that the viewer knows its ending, manages to keep you hooked throughout.

The way this movie plays out two days after you finish it is always different. You go back to watch a few scenes and you're shocked by the brutality and gore of it. And you just can't help thinking that...Humans can do this. That's the best part of the movie: it gets you to think. Movies that make you think are a rare, rare breed.

Needless to say, this is my top recommendation to anyone looking forward to see a movie about Hitler, world war 2 and learn lessons of acting.

A New Semester

2009-10-04T03:05:00.000-07:00

At long last, the holidays draw to a close next Saturday after three months of complete free time. Am I gonna miss them? I don't think so, no. At least not for a few weeks. I missed college, waking up in the morning, walking around, attending lectures and studying in the college library. It was a ridiculously long summer and I'm hoping next year will hopefully be one that I fully enjoy what with the all-new specialist subjects I'm starting this semester! Seven courses, in all, including three mathematics courses, a programming course, a modern physics course, an electric circuits course and some lame course on technical writing.

Anyhow, enough of the boring college stuff!
I'll go now and hopefully try to update here a little more frequently.

Till then, take care!

Blaze - Richard Bachman (a.k.a: Stephen King)

2009-08-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

Stephen King's Blaze is a trunk novel. King says it clear and loud in the first lines of the book and you sense a certain shame that seems to mark his tone this time as he says you can really return this if you don't think you're going to like it. It was too late for me...and for the better. Is this your typical King novel? Frankly, it's anything but. It's as if the novel is wriggling out of King-style and into something a little more intriguing, a little more fascinating and a lot more human.

The experiences and action in Blaze are so human, so realistic, you really don't want it to end like you think it should. For a moment, you really want it to be a nice, fairy-tale-like, happy ending. Somehow, miraculously, King manages to get you sympathizing with a guy who kidnapped a baby. King can make you sympathize with anyone really; that's the whole point of the book! There is a lot of thought put into this; there are about two pages length given to a car ride. And it reads so much like a movie, you can almost hear the soundtrack.

This is a lovely read...Quite light, as with most King novels I guess, but still lovely. It is bitter and painful at many points. King is masterful at giving 'raw' pain...Sadness and tragedy that are just there. No introductions, no fancy wording, King seems to say; this is it and it sucks, deal with it.

A solid 10/10.

Ramadan Kareem!

2009-08-23T14:26:00.001-07:00

May Allah SWT bless you on the Holy Month! Ramadan Kareem!

1000 Mabrouk (Congratulations)

2009-08-09T04:27:00.000-07:00

Ahmad Helmy is currently the smartest actor in Egypt.

Not only is he blessed with an unthinkable amount of growing talent; but his passion to be new in every choice always proves successful. With his new and surreal masterpiece, 1000 Mabrouk, it seems that Ahmad Helmy is raising the bar for other actors to reach and it is possibly the highest bar ever raised in the ten years I've been watching Arabic movies.

The plot is driven by a time loop: A man finds himself repeating the same day everyday; his wedding day and he dies in the end everytime. Yes, I know what pops up: Groundhog Day and it is quite similar to Groundhog Day except that Ahmad Helmy is a much better actor than Bill Murray on this one (with all do respect to Bill Murray) and 1000 Mabrouk has a much faster pace and a more drama inspired script than the romantic approach Groundhog Day took.

Stephen King once wrote a short story called That Feeling You Can Only Say What It Is In French. Of course, he meant deja vu. The idea was that hell, in its essence, is never really about the torture but about the repitition. This is what the hero of 1000 Mabrouk finds himself in; a constant loop of repetition or, as he puts it, 'Small circles inside big circles. The small circles can change, the big circles cannot'.

It would be a shame to ruin the movie but let me just say that it is, by all means, a true Ahmed Helmy masterpiece. Helmy is honing his acting skills with every new movie and he's a much better actor than I originally thought of him.

Fascinating, thought-provoking stuff and a 10/10 rating.

Badal Fa'aid (Replacement)

2009-08-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

This summer's Ahamd Ezz movie did not disappoint me though it seemed to have caught quite a bad reputation with the critics. Too bad for them.

Ahmad Ezz improves in this one than the overacting of Masgoon Transit (Transit Prisoner) last summer. His eyes finally show some expression espcially in the scenes of the addict brother. The movie is a simple ploy of the good vs. evil plot using one of the most cliche plot devices; the bad twin vs. good twin device. Now the predictable thing is that this movie would suck. You would think it's too dramatic, too typical, etc. The fact is: It wasn't. It was utterly entertaining. You are on your edge of your seat, you react and feel to the actors, you follow them and you want to see what happens next.

The script is excellently written to allow for confusion, fascination, excellent trick photography, brilliant master scenes and surprisingly well-done acting from the supporting cast. Of the supporting cast, I found Mohammed Lotfy and Menna Shalaby particularly haunting. Menna Shalaby, as always, presents a charcter you sympathize with so smoothly. Her overacting on some scenes is rather annoying, however, as she seems to get out of charcter as smoothly as she gets into it. Her tone of voice and her laugh (one of the most important things I watch for in an actor/actress performance to indicate their variety) do not change as required with every role in every film; she is not, techincally, a method actress. At least not yet.

Mohammed Lotfy however is rather surprising here: His lines are said with confidence and he is subtle enough to convince you of his charcter so much, you really do hate it. His (metaphorical) line, 'I am the devil' was delivered with so much power, it struck harder than many other scenes I've watched on Arabic movies.

The music is perfect and the direction is...well, good enough. The chase scenes were rather boring, to be honest and you kept looking at your watch waiting for them to end.

Rating: 9/10. Good (but not perfect) movie!

Seek Refuge

2009-07-16T15:07:00.000-07:00

This is a little short story that I had started a long time ago. On another website my storytelling was described as 'A story struggling to come out from layers and layers of descriptive writing'...Obviously, that was not much of a compliment but I always like to think of it as if it is.
Hope you like this!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Did I not enjoin on you, O you children of Adam, that you should not worship Satan – since, verily, he is your open foe"
--The Holy Qura'n, 36:60 (Surat Ya-Sin, verse 60)

"Then Jesus said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"
--The Bible, Matthew 4:10

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mid October in Alexandria was possibly the dullest time of the year. In the morning, trees drenched in humidity shaded the commuters and the elementary school students dressed in thick cream pullovers and grey sweaters as they rushed to work and school. And in the night, as the windshield wipers lazily crossed glass, women and children ran under tiny black umbrellas, all scampering back home and running from the rain. The drizzle on that Thursday was light but it did not distract Boutros Abd-al- Maseeh from stopping for yet another customer. The man is bearded and his mustache is neatly trimmed…The cotton skull cap over his head is soaked with rain and he takes it off and flicks it in the air as he instructs hurriedly, ‘Sidi Gaber rail station’. Boutros takes off with his Fiat 128 and waits for what he secretly calls ‘the moment of realization’. It only takes a few second before a smile draws across Boutros’ face. The moment of realization is here at last; the bearded man raises his eyes and stares (for a mere split second) to the cross hanging from Boutros’ rear-view mirror and then glances sideways with a mixture of dismay, disappointment and a tiny bit of embarrassment on his round face.

***

Boutros does not recognize himself sometimes. His face, covered in sweat, dust and (occasionally) grease embodies a permanent grimace. His eyes portray emptiness on first sight and pure sarcasm when a sentence escapes his mouth. Boutros talks in sarcasm because there really is no other manner of speech left to talk with.

His days are a strict routine, boring, repetitive and terribly uneventful. On the one occasion or two when Boutros is not paid what is worth the petrol and the simple shit he has to bear; Boutros does not curse. He does not fight. He does not ask for more. He shuts up, glimpses the cross, asks God for mere patience, for the best of whatever lies after his pathetic little life and takes off to the streets.

On the day this tale started, the Abu Kir street (the heart of Alexandria’s down-town geography) was buzzing as always with cars, donkey-driven carriages and hundreds of motorcycles. Abu Kir Street is a mystery; is doesn’t have a rush hour…Simply because every hour is a rush hour and for that reason, taxi drivers will usually prefer the Cornish. Boutros was stuck in there, on his way to dropping off a college student (possibly an undergraduate engineer by the look of the T-shaped ruler he was clutching to his chest) to some place near Roushdy…It was a short ride and Boutros estimated about four pounds for the whole thing. He didn’t object when he go one and a half…Just gave the kid a look that the kid will hopefully not forget soon. A second before Boutros pressed the petrol pedal, a man simply jumped into the taxi. His eyes were a little mousy and Boutros thought the man looked more like a mouse himself anyhow. He hated those types of customers; the ones who jumped in as if they owned the freaking car; as if you were all going the same place anyhow. As far as Boutros’ simple philosophy of life was concerned; that was definitely the only true fact of life.

Quietly, the man sat there, his arms crossed. With not even a hint of fast breathing or hesitation, he took out a hundred pound note and placed it directly between Boutros’ hand and the steering wheel.

“Kafr Abdu” were the only two words he said. The ride was worth no more than three pounds at the maximum…But Boutros has learnt at an early age the common Egyptian proverb: Never kick away a gift of God. Delightfully, he tucked in the one hundred pound note as the street started to clear up a bit. Boutros thought to give the man one of his elite chats on the way, discussing of course one (or all) of the four issues taxi drivers talked about: prices, traffic laws, people or football. Considering the man’s well-fitted tuxedo, Boutros thought prices would possibly be good enough.

“Terrible prices these days…Just last day I was buying some batteries when the salesm-“

Boutros did not finish. His throat was starting to burn with a tingling sensation, as if someone’s fingers were literally inside his neck, with sharp fingernails scratching against the inner lining of his larynx. His voice slowly drifted away until it was mere movements of lips. The man next to him was still sitting as calm as he could, his eyes focused on the way ahead, Boutros felt a sudden presence, terrible misery land on his heart…It was crushing and coupled with the soreness in his throat and inability to speak; it was simply suffocating.

Boutros, terrified, looked to his side to find this mystery man smiling. Snickering, the man turned to face Boutros. And his eyes were not mousy anymore but wide and staring. And red...Bloody, crimson, red.

Mahmoud El-Esseily - Tool Manty Ganby

2009-07-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

This is Esseily's best work yet. There's definite maturity in his choice of lyrics and music (being one of the few artists in Egypt who compose and write most of their songs). The songs Walad Rassam (Painter Boy) and Mosh Zay Al Aflam (Not Like The Movies) are some of the best I've heard of Arabic pop music in quite a long time, while not to mention that Bouchra's voice in the passionate Walad Rassam is a terrific, terrific addition. In fact, at some points in the song, one feels her voice remarkably overshadows that of Esseily's as her vocal ability and power are much much wider than his own.

The problem is the everlasting Esseily problem: The album is not good as a whole. There are good songs, but Esseily does not possess what I like to call the Amr-Diab-Factor that makes every song a hit. Amr Diab has this 'thing' with his songs that simply makes the whole album worth listening to, every single song. Not one song seems 'out' or too familiar. It will take Esseily more time to master this musical instinct if you like to call it; took Amr Diab 30 years so I'm in no hurry.

I also feel that Tool Manty Ganby (the song) was not as good as most people really make it sound. Its lyrics feel out of the soul of the album and the music is not really that catchy nor that artistic. I think it was a very poor choice for the titular song and also for the video clip.

Anyhow, here's Walad Rassam (my favorite song of the entire album) in one my favorite fan videos on YouTube:

Angham - Wahdaniya

2009-07-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

The number of Arabian singers that I listen to, and I mean ACTUALLY listen to, is rather limited. My Arabic playlist consists mainly of music by: Om Kolthoum, Abd al Haleem Hafez, Mohammed Abd Al Wehab, Angham, Asalah and Amr Diab. Other Arabian singers are people I listen to to pass time...English music, as rich as it is, cannot (by any means) surpass the oriental beauty of an Om Kolthoum classic like, say, Al Atlal or Roba'eyat Al Khayyam. Angham's voice has attracted my attention recently (though she has been singing for quite a long time) and frankly, I think she is among the few who sing with 'feeling' on the Arabic music scene today.

Having the 'feeling' (or in Arabic احســاس) is essential to be a successful Arabic performer. There is simply no other way you can reach and touch an Arab except through their heart and, as the large number of singers in the Arab world today would show, the fastest way to do so is to make some good and passionate music. To be a passionate musician is something that very few Arabic musicians can master especially because most of them sing lyrics and music that they did not write or compose and so their task is much tougher than the Western or English musician who writes his own music. So the Arabic musician will have to feel the lyrics and the music before actually singing them unlike the Western or English musician who naturally feels them being the writer of his own lyrics and composer of his own music.

So enough of my blabbing. Here is a very very special Angham song called Wahdaniya (Lonesome) that became a 'signature song' for her ever since it was released as the titular song in her 1999 album. The song features Arabic lyrics that I frankly don't get some of...The dialect is strange to me (perhaps a dialect of Upper Egypt but I can't be too sure). More importantly, however, it features a brilliant and catchy beat that blends the Western speed with brilliant oriental sound to give a taste of music that only someone like Angham could possibly sing. Check it out here and lyrics here.

R.I.P

2009-07-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

...Marwa al Sherbeini.
انا للــه و انــا اليــه راجعون
اللهم ارحمها و اعف عنــها و أسكنــها فسيح جنــاتك....أميــــــن
Full story here.

Honey

2009-07-03T05:56:00.000-07:00

This is my latest piece...More love poetry! Tell me what you think:

Her name like honey on lucious lips,
Escapes my slippery tongue.
Her hair though bound in a ponytail,
Is fluttering to the sun.

Her heart stretched against the clouds,
She breathed a comforting sigh.
Though her legs were rooted on this very Earth,
Her head was to the sky.

I wish I could have time boxed in,
I wish I could stretch it all.
I wish my heart could speak and talk,
Ere its dying call.

I wish these letters could tell you,
Of how many dreams I dreamed.
Of how much love I wrote,
Of how many poems I've screamed.

Remember the man who loved you from afar,
Who never dared come close.
The man who loved with all his heart,
The man you never chose.

More King

2009-07-02T13:09:00.000-07:00

King's storytelling in this one is so mature; it makes this relentless narrative a dazzling masterpiece. The character analysis (the main factor that keeps me going for King every time he publishes something) is as perfect as ever. This time, we are faced with Edgar Freemantle, an armless man who paints stuff that seems to happen, and a woman on the edge of senility, Elizabeth Eastlake and of course the one character who seems to have come into King's world by mistake; Wireman. I say he came in by mistake because I was never really used to King writing people like Wireman. Wireman is unique in that he has his own...thing. He's not normal in the regular sense but yet...He seems normal. It's this seeming duality of his character that keeps him ever so interesting.

Up till now (yes, I didn't finish it yet), the novel is interesting. On last night's reading, things started to get really interesting (Edgar was having nightmares and stuff; King LOVES symbolizing possible outcomes of the story in dreams). And of course, Wireman is getting more interesting by the minute. In any case, this is an excellent book and I'm hoping I finish fast so that I can start with Blaze (now that seems like one of yer ol' horror King paperbacks!). King does not seem to focus on just the horror nowadays, which is good...It makes the novel rely more on the richness of the character and the lucidity of the plot itself.

I got a GPA of 3.85...And if you're still further interested after reading that sentence, I came third on my class with this semester's result alone. I already said that in the comments on the previous post and it made my head swell a little but what the hell!

Anyhow, you guys take care of yourselves and I'll check in later!

NOTE: For those of you wondering why I finally broke the 'one word title' obsession (And I know you're not many), that's because...I got over it.

Cairo

2009-06-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

I finished exams at last, awaiting results now!
At the moment I'm at my sister's in Cairo. Malls here are awesome...More like, mall, cause it's just one that's really any good. Watching matches here is fun (unless you're watching last Sunday's Egypt vs. USA match!) and finally, I decided I'm gonna come here for a job if I ever graduate =D

That's a quick and much unneeded update...But I just felt like chirping a little, so there you go.

Ringa

2009-05-30T08:36:00.001-07:00

It doesn't get catchier than this? The high notes are quite impressive and that chorus...Technically addictive. I heard this on Slumdog Millionaire (which is, by the way, one of the greatest movies I have ever watched in my entire life). I give you...Ringa Ringa:

Descriptive

2009-05-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

Starting exams on 6/06...I hate the damn date, had my A'Level Physics examination on the same date last year...Didn't go that good. Hopefully this year, this day will treat me better. I got everything under control...or so I like to tell myself. Anyhow, these days are tense times. I finished my English presentation just yesterday and went with my group to hand over our Dynamics project last Wednesday and because of that, we stayed in college on Tuesday from 10 A.M to 9 P.M, so I was practically dead by Tuesday night. Anyhow, I'm glad the whole mess is over and now I can focus a little more on 'actual' studying. Wish me luck.

Oh and I wrote something new during the past week, somehow I found the time. It's called 'Descriptive' and it follows the style I have been adapting recently: multi-themed poems with each theme illustrated in one or more stanzas. Tell me what you think of it:
The world is but a sullen garden,
Or a road that stretches to Neverland.
A glory to the eyes, a tune of lies,
In the universe, a grain of sand.
***
In Lethe's foam, I lurched my head,
From its pearly water I sipped.
Its calm shore, I heard before,
And in its pebbles, I almost tripped.
***
A symphonic rune is sung and I hear,
A springy summer voice.
In the field it plays, for all its days,
Then the howling of the noise.
***
Today is a morning of little gifts.
Tomorrow does not promise intimacy.
The dreams that dance, have got no chance,
As they shiver inside of me.
***
What beauty shall I see today,
For my eyes are ever hungry.
What more beauty lies in this world,
What more does it have in store?
I sometimes think it is all over then I realize,
A lonely moment is left for more.
***
A velvet touch is against my face,
Your hands carress my own.
Your tears are dry, and passing me by,
Are all the images we had known.

Your touch to the skin,
Is as rose water to the tongue.
And I yearn for every unseen beauty,
For every song unsung.
***
If only time was a spool of thread,
That I could unfurl at my will.
If only time was a man in flesh,
If only time would stand still.

The hour glass smashes into pieces,
Timeless we are for a moment past.
You claim you unveiled the universe,
So is your next breath your very last?

Come and I'll show you the world,
In the depths of the palm of my hand.
Jumping insects that roam and dance,
I'll show you a universe in a grain of sand.

Lesa

2009-05-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

Lesa Faker...One of the most amazing Om Kalthoum masterpieces. This short video captures the versatility of Om Kolthoum's voice in Maqam El-Saba (go read on the Arabic maqamat! NOW!):

Jasmine

2009-05-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

Lately it's nothing but poetry that I seem to pour myself into. This piece was written yesterday and took about an hour to complete even though there are only a few stanzas.

A jasmine scent escapes to my nose
Its springy essence a healing balm.
Its joyful dance, a rogue romance,
Its song a solemn psalm.

Its fragrance emanating from your skin,
A smell that's plain veneer.
For a passing moment it made me feel,
That there's nothing left to fear.

Hand in hand, we walk along,
Your glowing aura in symphonic play.
Like the blazing sun that mounts the skies,
To begin the day.

The meadows here are long and smooth,
So this is where you've been?
You and the jasmine are the only ones,
Who know just what I mean.

Visions

2009-05-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

Small poems for when you can't complete poems:
VISION I
When I looked up against the sky,
My eyes were strained and I thought I saw,
A soaring phoenix that pierced the clouds.
Its eyes though golden, seemed lost and confused,
Its mouth agape in silenced cry.

VISION II
The winter winds are passing by.
The eyes are staring back at me.
Talk to me of a sweet and gone past,
Talk to me about love and about regret.
And about the most beautiful being,
I had ever met.
Talk to me so I can remember,
In the heavenly hours of the dusk,
How her hair was as light as air,
How her breaths were a whiff of musk.

VISION III
His mother is an old lady who lives uptown.
A lady who once was a joy to see.
Though her skin is creased, her eyes are wide,
Her voice is crisp,
Her mouth crunches on crumpets,
As she gulps down tea.
Her hands are soft and smooth to the touch,
Sixty seven years she walked this Earth.
You see her pass, and you roll your eyes,
Then you murmur to your friends,
About how this woman is one of those loons.
She measured her life in coffee spoons,
But she doesn't care, not anymore,
You do not care when you do not see.

VISION IV
My ears are straining for more noise,
For more life lurking in the shadowed hills.
For greenery and clouds and something to feel alive about,
I yearn for daffodils.

VISION V
The walls are staring down at me,
In regret and pain, they bring me shame.
There's a voice outside that shouts and screams,
We're all the same.

VISION VI
To the crackle of fire, we sat and talked.
And the fire talked right back at me.
It asks whether I've heard,
And did I see,
Once beauty that made me speechless?
I stare back at the fire and begin to talk,
To realize it is nothing but a hallucination,
A short walk,
Through my mind.

VISION VII
In the lonely moments of clarity,
We realize what we can really be.
As my mind slowly derails,
And my senses give up on me.
When the walls are staring down at me.
When the corridors are empty,
And the heart is free.

VISION VIII:
Surreal and sordid are the things I see.
And almost none stick in mind.
And with every breath, a step is made,
And with every step, I die inside.

VISION IX:
There is time in a moment past,
For a hundred second thoughts,
For a thousand hesitations,
With a hint of indecision.
A minute it took to write this verse.
There are a million decisions,
That a minute will reverse.

Dying

2009-04-19T06:51:00.000-07:00

This is 'Dying', a piece of love poetry that I started yesterday. It really is kind of rapid as it captures purely a single, quick scene.
The balm soothes slowly the blessed wound,
As your brow rages with sweat.
Your hands ,though broken, work tirelessly,
To close my wound and you do not fret.

Though smiling is your lovely face,
As pretty it is as the lillies in May.
And though the angel of death is closing fast,
I cannot imagine a better day.

For the splendid sun is in distress,
And the raging clouds are passing by.
My hours are counted, but I cannot count,
I have accepted that I shall die.

I speak unspoken words, that do not escape,
My dry lips to the wispy air.
I raise one arm and I aim fruitlessly,
To caress your silky hair.

You drop a tear and I cry too,
I did not think I was worth all of this.
From everything that happened to me,
You're the only one I shall truly miss.

I want to tell you that it's over now,
That I have to go and you have to leave.
That someday I'll see you in better lands,
A place where death cannot reach.

How lucky I was to know you here,
How lucky I was to be alive.
For love is something I thought not of,
Love is that which we cannot contrive.

Your eyes look down and your hands for a second stop,
You brush ashes off your cheek.
And as the warm air struggles to drive us apart,
Your lips strive to speak.

"I loved you alive and you're all I had"
"I love you too," I reply,
In old tales they said love cannot fade,
And love cannot die.

For the trend of love is to breed its form,
The trend of love is to simply be.
And as I close my eyes to you,
Love is all I see.

Al Atlal - Om Kalthoum

2009-04-11T06:25:00.000-07:00

A brilliant Om Kalthoum song that never gets old and one that I can't stop listening to.
The poetry is by Ibrahim Nagy, the music by the amazing Riyadh al Sonbaty.

My favorite bit:
يْنَ مِنْ عَيْني حَبِيبٌ سَاحِرٌ............... فِيْهِ نُبْلٌ وَجَلاَلٌ وَحَيَاءْ
وَاثِقُ الخُطْوَةِ يَمْشي مَلِكاً................ ظَالِمُ الحُسْنِ شَهِيُّ الكِبْرِيَاءْ
عَبِقُ السِّحْرِ كَأَنْفَاسِ الرُّبَى.............سَاهِمُ الطَّرْفِ كَأَحْلاَمِ المَسَاءْ

Lute

2009-04-06T16:18:00.000-07:00

Lute is a piece that was inspired by Rubiyat of Omar al Khayyam...Which were some of the most amazing poetry that I have ever read (whether Arabic or English). This piece is quite dear to my heart...
One cannot grasp the beauty of this land,
Or the winnowing winds by the golden sand.
One cannot count God's ways in every thing,
Or how everything is set by His hand.
***
All that I saw was a dreary view,
Today I can only see me and you.
And though the summer moon does not smile much,
I cannot help but see it do.
***
Had I been told my time was near,
And that Death's shadow was always here,
I would have laughed and screamed at once,
I would have talked just to hear.
***
Do not fret or turn astray,
Do not turn your head away.
For life's gall is drunk once and one feels,
Its bitterness everyday.
***
One cannot die and one cannot live,
If one hasn't learned to give.
And I learned to love all that I feared,
I learned to laugh and forgive.
***
I used to wonder if one can live and die,
Or if an honest man can steal and lie.
I wonder no more for I have no sense,
Of wonder and I barely have enough breath to sigh.

Extreme

2009-03-15T07:40:00.000-07:00

Extreme Makeover...The Facebook Edition. This is incredible:

Poetry

2009-03-13T12:55:00.000-07:00

Looking back, it's staggering...I've been writing poetry for four years now and the experience seems surreal, gripping, exciting and depressing all at the same time. Looking back at my own poetry reminds me of everything I felt at every time I wrote a line; the memory of the locations and feelings are recorded subtly in the expressions and the words in every poem. I have officially lost track of my poetry over online forums (and yes, that means I'm too lazy to search my own threads!).

I found this piece, called Unending Call, which I had done inspired by the poetry I read for my English Literature class two years ago. There are parts of Elliot, parts of Keats and a small bit, just a tiny bit, of myself in this one:

A haunting image tracks my mind,
Replcaed by agonies,
Gripped by unabrupt surprise.
A gesture that is devoid of emotion.
Intimidated by a creature that breathes death,
That gnaws at my flesh and skin,
A notion from within.
The fog that crawls across the garden,
Like a tiger approaching his smiling prey.
The fog of Lethe approaches me,
Eating away my ideas of immortaility.
A lonely road of stars, standing against the skies,
I hear screams and children cries.
A vivid dream. A vivid vision.
Nothing grabs at nothing,
Those empty humans of division,
Define this dying world.
And as this opium night grabs me out of conciousness,
As I skip into a haze in which all is blur,
I am moved by an image that seems to cling,
The gesture, notion, emotion of an infinitely gentle,
Infinitely suffering thing.
The stale smell of rotten soul.
An unending call,
Lost as an echo.

Careful

2009-03-06T05:41:00.000-08:00

This is Jon Cleary's 'Got To Be More Careful'...Truly addictive and very groovy.

Got to be more careful when you walk the street alone
Cos hiding in the shadows might be the devil that you don't know
Got to be more careful, everything you say
Cos don't wanna hear your words repeated
All twisted round the other way

You can't even see what they want from you and me

Can't believe a word they say
Don't believe the things they do
And I can't believe they're getting away
With what they do, they do
Messing over me and you

Got to be more careful people
Got to be more careful now
Got to be more careful people
Got to be more careful y'all

Got to be more careful with all your dont's and do's
Be on your best behaviour watch your p's and q's
Got to be more careful when you're chatting on the phone
You don't know who's listening

And what they got going on

Cell

2009-02-13T03:32:00.000-08:00

Stephen King's Cell is an image of a world collapsing not to consumerism, global warming or any of the other Fight Club/Al Gore causes but simply collapsing into madness. Pure, unaltered, animalistic human instinct. It is, in that regard, much more horrifying than the ocean rising to flood us all into oblivion. The way King weaves his stories still gets me. His main idea in the tale is always simple (it's a zombie novel!), his character analysis masterful (particularly with a complex character like that of Alice Maxwell) and his creation of the sense of impending doom in the first few pages is incredibly hooking. You really can't put this thing down.

At some points, the story seemed to be more sci-fi than 'apocalypse tale' which is good; it just means a little more experimentation. The ending is a cliffhanger, as always with all the good stuff he creates. The storyline progresses naturally and the charcters develop slowly and are, at points, forced to develop. The idea of telepathy is so well used, at points, it becomes the driving force in the novel and certain pages that tale a dream a protoganist have are so vivid and often confusing; shaking you from reality to dream and back to reality again. The whole mixture of dream/reality is jumbled up in those pages for the material to become the written equivalent of a Dali painting.

Anyhow, I felt this book was worth the read. There are certain King's books that are not worth the money, let alone the read...Insomnia is one such example as well as certain parts of Hearts in Atlantis. Now don't get me wrong, Hearts in Atlantis is a brilliant tale of America worthy of a Fitzgerald but at points; it simply seemed boring. No drama, no suspense, no tragedy, nothing...just boredom. Insomnia was a horrific experience for any human mind. It is a ridiculous, boring tale with elements so far from being good fiction that they border on the lame. If you see it in a bookshelf, don't even think of reaching for it!

And, as I always suspected I would end this one:
Your number is up!

Cardists

2009-02-09T11:02:00.000-08:00

Dan and Dave Buck (more commonly known as the Buck Twins or, their YouTube username, dbsquared) are the two people who revolutionized card magic for me and for many card enthusiasts around the world...They moved my direction from the Dai-Vernon-esque approach to a more flourishy and visual approach to card magic. They're releasing a new DVD entitled andthensome as a sequel to their much acclaimed The Trilogy: Tricks, Flourishes, Everythingelse.
They had a teaser out for andthensome which is quite promising (as all Dan and Dave Buck stuff usually turns out to be). If you haven't already checked them out, visit their website here for some more info on who they are, how they started and a showcase of their products.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this sample of The Trilogy.
P.S: Don't bother trying to find out the secret, many magicians fail to master three quarters of the tricks on The Trilogy. The Buck Twins are known for both an extremely visual style and for creating extremely knacky tricks.
P.S.S: The Buck Twins are pretty full of themselves. A quote from an explanation of a trick on The Trilogy should serve to illustrate the point, "The more cards you have, the easier it will be. Four, five, maybe six cards. I'll use two. That should be enough."

Almost forgot about the video!

Extremist

2009-02-02T13:06:00.000-08:00

Satriani at his best...Man, does this guy own or what?.

House

2009-01-29T23:43:00.000-08:00

-After my cards addiction which was followed by Bob Dylan Songs addiction, I'm now an official House M.D junkie. I loved the series when I started watching it last year (MBC4 was showing Season 3 which was quite a nice season, loved the chimerism episode). These days I'm catching up with the new Season 5 which is quite awesome. With the remaining time of my have-no-life life, I dig up medical reviews of the episode which almost-always dwarf my post-watching fascination with medicine and post-watching will to study medicine.

-For those less fortunate of you who have not watched House at all, it's a medical drama based around a self-centered 'egotistical, maniacal bastard' who is also a medical genius; Dr. Gregory House and who runs a team of diagnosticians at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital. House has a five-season-plus-spanning friendship with oncologist Dr. James Wilson (and their conversations on the show are usually the best part).

-For the House junkies, here are a few house errors I remember:
1) In the episode Joy of Season Five where Cuddy ALMOST adopts a baby, what is Cameron doing the ultrasound for?
2) In one of the episodes, Foreman does a colonscopy. That's pretty FAR from his speciality! Foreman's a neurlogist!
3) In a Season Two episode called Skin Deep, Wilson finds no cancer on the ovaries but doesn't notice the ABSENCE OF A UTERUS!

It's brilliant stuff, and lots of medicine...You can get this and tons more (medical info that's surprisingly very interesting to undergraduate engineers) by reading Scott's reviews at Polite Dissent. He has awesome reviewing skills and he's the one responsible of my digging up Wikipedia for the most abstract terms (Erdheim-Chester disease, sarchoma, amilydosis, etc.) for the past five weeks.

-This was funny. House on-set during the filming of Season Two and Three. Enjoy:

Liar

2009-01-27T10:48:00.000-08:00

- There's no guilty pleasure like that of the liar on telling a good lie then getting completely, and totally believed.
- The liar's greatest punishment isn't in the least that he is not believed but that he cannot believe anyone else (-Shaw).
- A sentence that starts with the word, 'There's nothing that would make me lie' when said in denial, is often the hint that the previous sentence was a lie. Lying doesn't need a motif, by claiming it must have some motif indicates insecurity about the whole subject of lying and thus; that you lied yourself at some point. A good liar never says that.
- Constant liars are addicted not to the consequences of lying, simply to its rush.
- Contrary to popular belief: Lying DOES work sometimes. It only fails if someone else tells or you're too stupid to realize you're a very bad liar. In other words; it just fails cause you can't be honest with yourself; kind of ironic, eh?
- Just today I was walking on the street (for the huge bunch of you who don't know where I live, I reside in a very quite neighborhood in Alexandria, a long way from the seaport), and I saw this guy standing in front of the supermarket. He was talking loudly on the phone, loudly enough for me to hear him and he was blatantly lying. I could tell because he kept telling some dude that he was 'running in the seaport searching for the ship'...It was either code language or lying; I wouldn't bet on the code language cause he had spaces in the sentences. You know, the way you do when you're searching for just the right excuse to tell your boss, parents or any other party you have lied to in the past.
- Professional liars are often quite the megalomaniac type. I mean let's face it, if you think you're too good to be found out; you are clearly full of yourself.
- There are two you can't lie to no matter how hard you try: God and yourself. Some people actually think nobody can lie to their parents. That's quite stupid, in fact; parents are more vulnerable to their children's lies than anyone else. Especially if the lie triggers a favorable result (for e.g: "Mom, I passed" with a big smile on your face. The guilt obviously works its way later on but...you got my point).

I don't finish my exams tomorrow. I have no reason to lie about that.

Thought

2009-01-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

It looks like all I've been posting here recently is just poetry...I mean, I really do have a lot to say sometimes. Words can say better things, right? That's ridiculous, it doesn't even make sense. Words are the vehicles of our meaningfulness. Which sounds even more ridiculous since right now I'm simply being meaningless. Which brings us to the ultimate ridiculous conclusion: Meaningless has meaning, otherwise, how can we differentiate it from meaningfulness, right?

To know what's on my mind these days (and I'm pretty sure you don't want to) Google 'Tertium non datur', Latin for 'There is no third'. It's kind of fun reading this stuff, really.

Here's something I wrote recently:
In the darkened room they sat to talk,
Of wasted hours on a wasted land.
Of glorious pearls, of rotten gold,
Of dreams carved in the sand.

They talked for hours and moments passed,
Of a lady I've never seen.
A stranger devoid of emotion,
A poisoned beauty queen.

The winter winds ooze behind,
A withered petal in the haze.
A lonely robin, cold, falls dead,
I was lost in a maze.

My mind derails, my sight perceives,
Beauty strange to my eyes.
A white light reflected in,
The morning dew in a field of rye.

Alpha, Omega and they carry on,
In silence so you cannot hear.
They think, they laugh and then they stare,
And ask why I'm here.

I look at them with a reproachful gaze,
I knew not what to say.
There's nothing 'past' and nothing 'yet'
There's nothing but today.

The noise of the futile horn,
Fills my ears with a forgotten tune,
My memory recalls, I shed my tears,
Under a pearly-yellow moon.

Memory

2009-01-13T10:57:00.001-08:00

So I was listening to Eric Clapton's 'Layla' today and managed to write this...

What is the world without love,
And what is love if you cannot give?
Who am I to judge you,
Who am I to forgive?

Am I the one who made you suffer,
Am I the same one who loved you mad?
Am I the man who once told you,
That you’re all I ever had?

Am I the one who once called you,
And told you how you were too pretty to be true?
The same man who once stroked your hair,
In autumn winds when we weren’t two.

I’m not sure who I am,
But I know I really hurt you.
And that somewhere along the line, I made a mess,
And somewhere along the line I loved you.

I don’t know much, not much at all,
I’ve been repeating this rhyme for ages gone.
I don’t know when I became who I am,
When I couldn’t walk, I was forced to run.

But there’s another memory, so clear,
With me in this desolate pain,
One that radiates a thousand times,
That gives me hope and keeps me sane.

One memory that I can’t erase,
The only light in a darkened place.
The eyes that shine, with a tinge of love,
The memory of your face.

Common 1

2009-01-11T13:23:00.000-08:00

There is very little to share these days about my life. It's mostly boring studying with short drawing breaks...I'll take a break away from this hectic routine pretty soon so that's kind of exciting. Otherwise, I thought I'd share a few common proverbs and questions you'll hear here in Egypt...
1) If you're wearing red, this is the usual question: 'Ahlawy?'
This simple phrase always makes my blood boil. People are really obsessed with football and think everyone is obsessed with it so they HAVE to ask if you support the only club here that wears red: Ahly. Usually I just manage to mumble something that corresponds to me not being interested in football but being a supporter by default (don't ask, I'll explain later).

2) If you're being a pain in the butt for someone, 'If your dear one is honey, don't lick it all'. Quite self-explanatory I guess...It basically translates to, 'Kindly stop being a pain in the butt to people cause they'll hate you eventually if they don't already do".

3) 'A monkey in the eyes of his mother is a gazelle'...Again, very self-explanatory and quite a teller on motherhood. This is the awesome thing about Egyptian proverbs. They're short, to the point and they fill in for quite a ton of meaning.

Anyhow, I'll be returning back with some more later on...When I'm a little less busy than right now.

Dylan

2008-12-25T10:50:00.000-08:00

Since I have nothing new to write on...I just thought I'll write something thatSome Stuff Dylan Said That Stick To Your Head:
"He not busy being born,
Is busy dying"

"Do not fear if you hear,
A foreign sound to your ear.
It's alright ma...I'm only sighing"

"The only thing I knew how to do,
Was to keep on keeping on,
Like a bird that flew"

"It was in another lifetime,
One of toil and blood.
When blackness was a virtue,
The road was full of mud.
I came in from the wilderness,
A creature void of form.
Come in, she said, I'll give you,
A shelter from the storm"

"Stay away from those who carry a firehose"
(This is a reference to the way peaceful civil rights march were fought; by simply fire-hosing the protesters)

"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"

"And these visions...Of Johanna...They conquer my mind"

Madhouse

2008-12-15T05:23:00.000-08:00

This is my latest work and my longest yet...It's basically a work in progress.
This was inspired by so many things...Mainly T.S Eliot's 'The Hollow Men' and 'The Wasteland' as well as some Bob Dylan songs...
Here goes:
The night does not whisper,
The moon cannot shout.
I'm quite sick of my own anger,
And all the hate I spout.

Come with me, for I sing a wasted tune,
Of wasted words and wasted time,
Come with me, for I am your soul.
I can teach you the morals of your life,
So that you wouldn't die at all.

For I march wherever my angry destiny,
Shall lead my heavy heart.
Though my eyes collapse, the time elapsed,
Is nothing since the start.

Come with me for I speak of emotion,
And of the only way you can right a wrong.
And then you feel that feeling,
Like finding beauty in a Dylan song.

Though scuttling across the wasteland,
Is not too good for one's soul,
I march, again, not scared a bit,
For I don't have one at all.
I don't know when this began,
And when it has to stop.
When a bell rang in my head,
And I fell the way you cannot fall.

Contradiction does not bloom,
Anything but its own form.
The door opens to the cleanest row,
And as I await her in the room,
I'm two degrees above the norm,
And I do not know.

I heard her whisper to my ears,
That she didn't like it here.
And in my eyes she felt a gaze,
My hint of fear.

And lonely skeletons walk up and down,
Going down the isle.
From time to time, they whisper words,
A subtle rhyme.

"Once upon a time, I died in pain,
Once upon time, I felt you here.
Once upon time, I died again,
Once upon a time, I was free"

And though the madness here was a bit too much,
As the scene was on the verge of breaking down.
There was a woman acorss me who looked insane,
She sang and wore a plastic crown.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Six.
Drink the water of the light,
Seven. Eight. Eleven pigs,
Wandered in the night"

Then she danced a tune of Waltz,
And glanced in her personal hell.
She laughed and spoke those words,
That I really couldn't tell.
--------------------------------------------
This poem is still to be completed with more 'scenes' from the madhouse...Or something a little more mysterious, I'm not very sure.

Tangled

2008-12-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

I give you: Tangled Up in Blue...One of Dylan's finest works. This sounds so much more like a story than a song. There's so much truth and pain in it; it stings when you hear it for the first time. Out of all its beautiful lines, I think those three are the best and most unforgettable:
"The only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keeping on"
"I've seen a lot of women but she never escaped my mind"
"And every one of them words rang true and glowed like burnin coal. Pourin off of every page like it was written in my soul from me to you"
With no further blabbing...Enjoy:

NOTE: In one Dylan's best live performances ever of this song, Dylan placed white make up on his face to 'disguise' himself. He then sang the words in second person rather than the first person in which they were originally written.

Tagged

2008-12-11T11:09:00.000-08:00

By G-Chan...
~ List down 5 things people probably didn't know about you
1) At times, I'm extremely scrupulous. And no I mean, EXTREMELY. I like my clothes folded to a particular fold, my cellphone not misaligned with my wallet and keys...That kind of insane compulsiveness.
2) I know only three sentences in French.
3) I have terrible communication skills. My first words when I meet someone for the first time are always, 'Er'.
4) I think people are generally lame the first time you meet them face to face. Including myself.
5) I never untie my shoelaces.

Pondering

2008-12-07T05:30:00.000-08:00

-He who questions and finds all the answers cannot be human.
-There can never be an infinite series of effects and causes lest there be an infinite first cause (a conclusion of the First Cause argument).
-Had we known God before forgetting Him, we would not have felt His existence.
-Knowledge does not know he who gives up.
-Perception has no proper definition.
-Philosophy is mostly boring. Art usually has no purpose. Philosophical art is, however, incredibly unique.

Happy Eid-ul-Adha everyone!

Primitive

2008-12-04T03:21:00.000-08:00

I was chatting with an old friend of mine since grade school...With some twist of luck, we had actually met in college after almost ten years of separating. God has His ways. Anyhow, so I was talking to him about the people we knew back then; our old classmates. He remembered and mentioned so many names as I tried to put them to the faces I faintly recognized. I thought about the fact that in grade school; if you're a guy; you usually get your first crush. I wonder if psychologists ever studied that. I used to like this girl who I can't even fully remember her face but I do remember her name...There was nothing like actually telling her good morning and hearing her reply.

Girls don't like you in grade school though. At least they're too scared to show it. They're too busy getting good grades or braiding their hair or something. In the meantime, almost all males get this crush at around ten or eleven where you really like someone. And it feels unlike any likeness you have for any other woman your entire life. Because it's fresh, innocent and most importantly pure of any sexual or physical appeals. You simply like a person for being who they are. You're too young to realize the specialty and rarity of that of course so you begin to add all those barriers in your head to express this likeness or affection in some manner or the other.

You end up obviously not telling that person that you like them. Or anything of the sort. You just sit and ponder on how beautiful they really are and how unbelievable they look when they hold their books in one way or something corny like that. It kept certain people (like myself) awake at night when they were children. Life has its ways I guess...Soon, you grow up and the sexual instinct gets in the way but the love instinct; the first emotion one experiences and feels; should always be ahead.

Bob

2008-11-24T04:31:00.000-08:00

Whatever went on in Bob Dylan's head during the year of 1964 to 1965 had been agreed to have been our closest definition of genius. Though the lyrics are too vague for many to understand today; they're some of Dylan's most famous stuff. His 'Money doesn't talk, it swears' and 'He not busy being born is busy dying' with other gemstones like, 'It's just a shadow you're seeing that he's chasing' are celebrated as Bob's finest. The music is direct, to the point and the lyrics tease your thoughts in ways you may have never deemed possible through music.
Here's one song that I currently cannot get enough:

Cab

2008-11-09T06:04:00.000-08:00

I rode in this cab the day before yesterday...It was quite a remarkable conversation, worth to be posted here.
The series of coincidences that led up to it are possibly the most remarkable bit of all...So I came out of college, stopped a taxi and jumped in. The driver had a light beard, high cheekbones and a narrow chin. He spoke in poetry whenever he felt like it (he stated pure and elegant Arabic poetry lines when he did so) and laughed heartily at his own jokes. I didn't find the jokes as funny but they were very honest and quite 'clean'...One finds himself laughing at such jokes naturally and without thinking. After almost ten minutes, another guy (seemingly about 17) stops the cab and jumps in...From the conversation, the driver tells us that he used to be an Imam and speaker in Ta'aif, Saudi Arabia. When he said that, I honestly wanted to look him in the eye and say, 'What damned times are we living in that make the Imam a taxi driver!'...But I did not, I didn't want to rub it in.

So he tells us (the cab driver) that if we have any question regarding religion, we shouldn't hesitate in asking him. Silence prevails for about five minutes before the dude who just rode in laughs nervously and says, 'I'm a Coptic man'. It startles me how the Imam does not have a faltering face, not even for a moment...He simply looks at the dude in the rear-view mirror, smiles and talks in poetry again, 'Mohammed's followers and Jesus' followers are the same; for we all worship the One God'. This man, right here, made the statement of the common word without having to sign a letter, or dig in research books...He said it in one simple and easy sentence. With a smile on his face and appearing joy in his eyes and pure honesty.

He then proceeded to state how we are all, universally, the same...I was liking his mind more by the minute. The Coptic dude replied that he was as startled as I am in that he is used to people going silent right after he tells them he's Coptic. The man then looked at him and started telling us a story. He told us that he used to be an Imam here in Alexandria before he traveled to Saudi Arabia and that the mosque he used to say his sermons in every Friday was located in a spot where all the store-owners were Christians. Oftentimes, he said, a Christian carpenter called Uncle Saad (he made sure that we knew that he called him that even in his absence out of respect) would be the one whom the would rehearse the Friday sermon in front of. He joked (the Imam) that he always told Uncle Saad that he 'was scared he'd have him go into Islam'! Uncle Saad, he said, was one of the best people he met...He offered him a hearing ear and, every now and then while hearing the sermon, would ponder and say, 'God bless you Sheikh'.

The Imam then spoke of hijab and the descent of society into the immoral and the haram (he clearly stated though, 'Except those who have Allah's mercy') and then stated possibly one of the most interesting and downright conclusions ever: You rarely see a good Christian and you rarely see a good Muslim. Forgetting religion is forgetting progress.
It striked me how sad this was, but more importantly; how excrucitaingly true.

Observations

2008-11-07T00:14:00.000-08:00

1) There's really nothing worse than not having emotion except having it and not being able to express it at all.
2) There are no boundaries between the limited and the unlimited...It simply is a transitional ocean that whenever it approaches the shore, tends to extend even further.
3) Understating the power of religion on people is possibly the hugest mistake of the century. If there is one thing you cannot logically dispute, it is that which has no logical proof.
4) Hell and Heaven are too hard to understand, too hard to model but, paradoxically, we all know what they mean without the need of expressing them in words.
5) Certain words will never have a proper definition that is satisfactory to me. Quality, love, emotion and logic are just a few examples.
6) Every action you do will echo in a hundred years. If you threw a banana skin now, it may end up being the fertilizer of the soil of your grave. That is not impossible for few things are; it is just highly improbable.
7) Aside from Newtonian Mechanics, certain actions can never have an equal and opposite reaction.
8) Insecurity is contagious. He who is insecure will often brag enough to cause others insecurity. No matter how confident you are; insecurity reeks beneath the surface.

Far

2008-11-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

It sometimes strike me how far away from each other we are. I mean, usually, we tend to be quite close. We cluster together for transport, we gather together for some form of gathering or the other, we scatter then cluster for transport again and so on. Every one has his own life, his own time, his own thoughts...The number of thoughts going through everyone's head in a single moment must be this infinite number that would take seventy pages to write or something. Imagine that...Imagine if we all thought on the same thought every second of the day. So that you can stand next to a regular stranger at the bus station and be able to relate to them in ways you never deemed possible.
Sometimes I wonder if that would be a blessing or pure fright. I'd never want someone violating the privacy of my mind in any case. There's hardly any privacy left anywhere else.

We're so universally close, we ram into each other when we're in a hurry, we communicate in 'apologies' and 'sure's and short, nervous glances. Sometimes we even laugh nervously or feign emotion. Because we're scared of the most horrible social label; weird. There is nothing worse than being the 'weird' guy in society...If you can't laugh at a joke you don't find funny. Or say sorry when someone bumps into you. That's not being polite; see that's another lie society usually feeds you. In reality, that's just being this strange creature you're not supposed to really be...The creature society won't accept because society thinks that creature is 'fake'. How. Freaking. Ironic.

Mince

2008-11-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been coming across all these cats just sprawled on the streets. It usually happens in the taxi...Suddenly, a huge pool of blood and fur seems to materialize out of thin air. Then you hear a light 'thud' that sends chills up my spine. Imagine if that was...human. I mean, certain people believe in incarnation, right? Let your imagination soar a little; you die, you come back as a cat and then you get crushed by someone who doesn't give two shits whether you're dead or not. Instead of being taken to the hospital or given a proper burial to your temporary body, instead you will just lay there with cars crushing your half-crushed bones to powder and the street flies hovering over your icey eyes.

That. Is. Bad. I would understand it if you were evil then you die and come back as a fly to eat shit but come on; coming back as an Egyptian cat would probably be even worse than that. I wonder if meeting mince cats is some sort of sign. That would be interesting...If you meet an x number of mince cats on the street in a single week; you're more likely to end up being mince yourself. Very depressing. In any case though; I just thought ending up mince (and that's possibly the millionth 'mince' in this paragraph alone) is very unfortunate and the cats were worth a post in this thing; even though I hate their guts when they're alive and kicking.

Dead

2008-10-31T04:07:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I picture the world without me...It's kind of depressing, really. Up to now, I cannot fathom the way people will react when I die. I was not of much importance except to my family or those who I considered friends. I'm quite aware that people I barely know will just have an initial shock followed by, 'Wow, what a world!' and then carry on with their lives. I'm quite aware that my friends will remember me after I die...At least for a while. I mean, I think I was a pretty good guy. I don't think I screwed up that bad with the people I befriended. I don't think I did things for people to hate me...I mean, I never like really made someone angry or try to let someone down. I sound so pathetic saying that to myself; but really; I checked and I haven't done any of those things. Yet.

I don't think people will be 'happy' when I'm dead. That's just an exaggeration we all make. No one is happy when someone dies. It's just a sick idea we sometimes like to think is true. I do believe that the guy at the elevator in college will probably not even notice I was dead. That would suck. Dying without being noticed by a bunch of people who you saw and they you everyday. Certain members of forums might not have an ounce of sympathy at all...I meant nothing to many; which feels a little depressing too.

Sometimes I imagine dying sometime soon. When I did zero in my life. I didn't fall in love, or get married or have kids. I was loved by a fair few and that must count..Let's say a couple of weeks from now, I just drop dead. In an accident or something. That would suck, though, as a method of death. I mean; nobody wants to die with their brains sprayed all over the street and their crushed bones scrapping the sidewalk. Most people want to die a 'proper' death; with a nice comfortable bed and a huge dose of anesthetic in their veins...Cause of death: Heart failure. Easy. Thank you very much, show's over. See, now that's a 'nice' death...But it's still just death. It doesn't make much of a difference if it knocks while you're in a tuxedo or in a bathrobe. You will have to open the door. It doesn't come in Small, Medium and Large either; everybody gets the same order.

Bleach

2008-10-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to songs from Nirvana's Bleach. The album marks Nirvana's initial musical orientation...With lyrics that hardly make sense. From time to time though, Cobain will write a sentence or too that sound pretty good. It seems like Kurt's main issue in the album though was to make this new sound that was original, heavy, loud and at the same time very messy. He does not fail once. The songs hold fresh music, heavy beats and loud, screaming vocals much different from the artsy and much strained (almost exhausted) vocals of albums such as Nevermind and In Utero. This album is my personal recommendation if you're looking for something you probably did not hear before; very very raw grunge. Anyhow, here are the lyrics that caught my attention:

"She loves him more than he will ever know,
He loves her more than he will ever show."
-Swap Meet.

"Show me how you question, questions
Lead the way to my temptation"
-Mr. Moustache.

"Show you all what a man is,
Sure you are but what am I?"
-Big Cheese.

"This is out of our range
And its crude"
-Negative Creep.

Jay

2008-10-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

Now I'm not much into politics (I honestly don't understand how ANYONE can be interested in politics and I'll post about that soon so be prepared to be bored by an excruciatingly long rant very soon) but I do keep track of YouTube. Jay (also known as illdoc1) is the owner of the Ill Doctrine channel there which is a pretty great channel. He did a video on Martin Luther King quotations which were quite fantastic and left you thinking for a substantially long amount of time.
Anyhow, so Jay did this video for Youth Voters and it's basically this nice little poem put to a beat, technically a rap. I'm not rap's biggest cheerleader but I do acknowledge it has its power as a musical form (Kurt Cobain once said that rap is the only real music since the creation of rock). Here's Jay's latest video:

Poem

2008-10-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, when I'm so awfully inspired and in a meticulously right mood, I tend to poet things out.
I can hear the drunk man inside you going, 'SO WHAT? POETRY'S GAY!' which is not only not funny at all but also quite simply; very lame. Anyhow, I do write poetry and no, it isn't usually of homosexual intentions. Anyhow, past all the perverted lame jokes, here's my latest poetical exploration called Strain. This came (chuckles) after about two months of not writing anything at all. So here goes:
Sell the world for a penny,
And lend me your voice to sing.
Give me what you have of power,
The limit is everything.

Strain your hands in prayer,
And join me here again,
As we whisper glints of madness,
As we converse with the rain.

Give me a light to extinguish,
Give me a right to live.
A chance to fall and tumble,
To stand up with more to give.

In short I want a life,
And eternal happiness too,
I want to spend my time,
In simply loving you.

You can find it published on OmanServ here.
And on EnglishSabla here.

Theory

2008-10-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

Here's my theory of marriage in Egypt...It's quite a simple statement but I will take a huge amount of your time to waste as I explain what it means. Here goes:
Eventually, whether you are a male or a female Egyptian, you will manage to get married. Not necessarily because you will want to but because it is a win-win situation that you will choose over a win-lose situation at some point or the other in your life.

Sounds silly? It kind of is...But watch how frighteningly true it gets cause I'll probably be reminding you of this myself (when I'm married, obviously!) about fifteen years from now or so. Nah, that probably won't happen but it's a small world! In any case; the theory is pretty simple: At some point in your life you will have to get married...Why? Because even if you refuse the idea of marriage completely you will face some situation sooner or later where (yes, you, the very same guy who once wore the 'Single Forever' t-shirt) the choice will be either: marriage or outcast. Nobody, yes, nobody wants to be the outcast...No matter how much time and effort you put in trying to prove to yourself that being an outcast is synonymous with being 'special', you will eventually tire yourself out. Why do you become an outcast if you don't get married? Because the stereotype of society is this: man + woman + kids from man and woman not from man only and other woman = family = normal...If you don't get married because you don't WANT to, you will become an outcast...And people are not very forgiving in that sense.

Now for the 'win-win' thing...I thought that sounded complicated. But it's easy enough. See if you don't get married you have a win-lose effect: You win your own choice (which is most probably a lie to yourself due of our regular biological nature) and you will lose society's look at you. Now many stupid teenagers/people/kids (like myself a few years ago) thought that the way society looked at you was completely worthless...Of course it is worthless if you live in a perfect world and you were born devoid of potential mental illness/slight depression/worrying, etc. But for most of us, it isn't...And it shouldn't be. Once you put yourself in the 'society's look doesn't matter' thing you put yourself in the 'I judge myself' region too which is (quite simply) your ego stabbing your soul in the back. Anyhow, back to the main point...What's the 'win-win' situation then? You must've figured that out; you win your own choice AND society's look at you through (you must've guessed that too, genius) marriage.

Finally, because you will also end up in a group of unmarried people and what do these guys do? Put simply: they tend to marry each other. Remember that old cliche' saying, 'There's someone for everyone (but not for annoying idiots)'? It's kinda true (well not technically but it proves my theory so I like to think it's true to make my theory work!).

Of course, I hold this theory accountable for much correction in the following years, as my mind is slowly morphing into something I'm not yet fully familiar with, I have no idea what my views will be after the next three seconds or if they will even change after three years. And I also don't consider it a general thing really...It's just something I've been thinking about and you know the rule: Whatever I think about, ends up here.

Mirrors

2008-10-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

Not only does Kiefer Sutherland go Jack Bauer on a nun (according to the amazing wording of an online review) you also get this really weird actress who doesn't know how to act and a mirror in almost every scene of the movie as if you're gonna forget the movie's name. Oh and the ending is quite simply; stupid and a terrible downer. In any case, pay to watch this for a fun scare...It's not very disturbing, you won't have nightmares and you won't get the hair on the back of your neck standing every time you look into a mirror. Those things won't happen cause it's a really, really bad horror movie.

College

2008-10-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

Thrown into the eighth floor of the Electricity Building (the literal translation of the common name of the Electrical Engineering Building in the Faculty of Engineering, University of Alexandria...But that's a mouthful so yeah), I spent my first day with a nice set of interesting people...As usual around a crowd, I crossed my arms in firm defensive body language. On relative intervals, I realized that crossing your arms meant defensive body language (a bit of information learned from an interesting Derren Brown Trick or Treat episode about Confidence that you should definitely watch cause it owned) so I hastily uncrossed them...Only to find them recrossing themselves three seconds later. Anyhow, past my fidgety arms.

The room is scrupulous, cozy and quite welcoming...The smell of old wood pervades and the hum of people talking kinda shades the room. My vision is quite sharp...My ears cannot decipher the tens of conversations going on. I feel a little surrounded but not too much to be claustrophobic. I sit in the room for four hours I think...Straight on, no standing up. People take breaks, go out and come back...It's kinda fun, the way people gaze around with their eyes, recognize you're there then gaze in front of them. I never gaze people straight in the eye but I can sense any relative stare.

Kind of makes me seem psychotic or terribly desperate for attention, right? I can honestly deny the second but I'm obviously too ignorant to deny the first. In any case, it was a good enough day...I met some people in my English admission test who weren't that fun. But well, someday they will be I think...People are never fun when you first meet them. Heck, most of them aren't that fun even after a month of meeting them. But who am I to judge people, eh? Anyhow, I guess that'll be it till tomorrow or the day after.

Taxi

2008-10-10T05:11:00.000-07:00

I take a taxi twice a day at most times; once going to college and once going back home. It's the most amusing transport in Alexandria. There's nothing like it that I have seen. To me, an Egyptian taxi driver is the closest thing to a magician; being able to make a connection with a complete stranger in a matter of minutes. Of course, the same way a magician will rarely remember his spectators; a taxi driver will rarely remember his customers.

Taxi drivers will talk about four things in most times: prices, traffic laws, queues or (this one is usually in the morning) the traffic jams. Mostly a taxi driver will start the conversation; I personally never talk as I silently wait for the conversation to begin. The discussions usually seem too rich for the mouth that utters them. The sarcasm sharp, the wit incredible and the jokes as if written by the most professional stand-up comedian in existence.

In the twenty minutes of my taxi journeys (ten going to college and ten back), I get the pleasure of conversing with people who are possibly more interesting than many I have met in my life and who can say so much in so little time with so little words...I invite anyone who never took a taxi in Egypt to take one. But remember, don't take some fancy 1990 Suzuki or Skoda, pick one of the Fiat 128 or the Ladas. Although they may look like there are rats running the engine rather than petrol; they're still (as I said) the most amusing method of transport.

Eid

2008-10-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

Eid in Egypt has a special taste...There are things to do, people to meet and lots of cookies to eat. You get kahk, ghorayeba, basboosa and all the rest of the gang for breakfast before wearing any avialble new clothes and marching off for Eid prayer at about 6:30 in the morning. After you're done, you're back home...Eating more cookies. Having the third or fourth breakfast (personally I lost count of the number of breakfasts I had that morning).

You may then proceed to what I like to call, EAPM...Eid Afternoon Phone Meetings. You start calling any relative whether the last time you talked to him/her was yesterday or sixteen years ago, it doesn't really matter! Eventually, you have to call people and wish them a happy Eid, inquire on their families, how they go, how life's been treating them. Some good news, some bad news, but mostly everything is normal with no news at all.

Then of course is Eid evening...And that's family meetings. And, obviously, the evening tea and more cookies. For those of you who are or were unfortunate enough to have never tasted Egyptian Eid cookies, here is their most basic form:
A cookie stuffed with something really sweet (that has this really shitty word in English) and served with crushed sugar sprayed over it. It has this unbelievable fat percentage of it but of course; nobody gives a shit; it's Eid!

In any case, as I said before, you get to feel a unique Eid in Egypt...Course I'm not advertising (though I must and should) but, truely, at least for yours truly; Eid in Egypt is incredible.

Summer

2008-07-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a nice summer till now...
I mean, not nice in the sense It's-So-Awesome-I-Don't-Know-How-It-Even-Happened sort of way but nice enough. Alexandria is a pretty welcoming city, and people truly love to hug...your car. Some dude actually came up with his pick up truck and almost got us killed...The car's kinda screwed. Very screwed. Not screwed enough, really, but quite screwed.

Anyhow. Apart from this little accident, everything else has been quite okay. My magic is developing at speed, I gained all this sudden interest in flourishing, particularly Buck Twins' style. De'Vo and Brian Tudor's flourishes just get on my nerves. Right now the coolest magical video I've seen remains to be this one from Mac King:

The man is HILARIOUS and at the same time, showcases amazing magic. If you're having a rough day, take those five minutes to watch this video, you won't regret it!

Life has been quite boring during this summer...I'll probably hit the movies sometime today or at least, sometime this week.
You fellas take care!

Back

2008-05-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

Well I have been away for quite a while now. I haven't posted on this thing in ages...
So let's see if I can keep you up with my latest updates!

I have recently been into the whole magic scene, you might have realized my interest since my last post and that has been basically what I was doing all that time. I mean, I studied, I downloaded some excellent music (which I plan to tell you about later in this post) but majorly, I practiced and attempted perfection of sleight of hand techniques and some card routines. I'm proud to say I can do routines as: Card On Wall, Card to Wallet, Ambitious Card, Three Methods of Colour Changes, Card to Shoe, Here Then There (as performed by the awesome David Blaine), Card Mind-reading, Blead (an amazing trick where the spectator's selection ends up practically 'on' the magician's body) and several other tricks with relative ease. It has been such a hectic experience trying to get this all together in my studying schedule but well, I did it.

I got three A's and a B in my Mock Exam School Report and I'm having my next Final exam on Friday, 6th of June. Maths! I kinda like maths, it's magic in its own way...Recently, with all the sleights I've been practicing, everything seems to be magic in its own way. I sometimes sit in front of the TV and do a dorky thing like pretending I can change the channel without touching the remote control. It's kind of fun, but I always feel dorky after doing it...I did my first live performance to a single spectator (yes, that's not very nice, is it?) and it was perfection.

That's the beautiful thing about magic...Not the tricks or the illusions, just the look on people's face when they realize that something impossible has just taken place. It's priceless and the moment you have that look (often coupled with hysterical laughter) you know that all that practice was worthwhile. I've been thinking about filming a live street magic performance (complete with a Balducci levitation, a method of making you 'fly' like Lucy in the Sky!) but I've been having second thoughts. I mean, seriously, going on the street and asking people if they wanna 'see some magic' sounded like an awesome idea but now I'm not sure. I think I'm gonna do it anyway, maybe film it too...It'll probably be the most fun thing I ever did in my high school years.

I've been reading some books too! My 'awesome' (yes, those quotation marks are very very intended) school had given me a couple of books and a certificate for being a 'good' student and for getting the top prize in the school essay writing contest. I don't give a shit about being a 'straight A' dude but the essay writing thing was cool. I mean, it sounds very depressing that after all that work, they checked them up and dumped them in the bin but what the hell! At least I'm out of the damn school with a medal, a cup and two books. But the two books...WHOA! They don't seem your regular 'I'm-A-Cool-Book-Buy-Me' type. Nope, not at all. One is Don Quixote by Cervantes which looks like it's infinite and the other is Best Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens.

I know! I was in shock too.
I mean, Charles Dickens probably wrote better shit than 'The Queer Chair' (I'm not sure if he meant the chair stuck a pen up the protagonist's asshole, but the title gave me that very impression). He probably wrote better shit than 'The Madman Diaries' or whatever. I mean, they could've given me Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, anything worth reading...But I get The Queer Chair and other stories with a 10934093049 pages long novel about a dude who likes to dress in metal and has an overweight assistant as a sidekick. I'm planning on donating both books to anybody who cares to read them...

Yes, I think that's quite a small number of people too.

On the bright side, I read Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King recently. I think the man is challenging himself! You always imagine Stephen to be the type of guy who'll talk about telekinetic, troubled, bloodthirsty teenagers or talk about a demon running a shop in suburbia but instead you get that huge epic masterpiece that is creepy in its own way but every once in a while he'll give you a little elegant prose as if telling you, 'I'm still boss here. I ain't done yet'. This is definitely the best thing I've read this year.

I've downloaded some oldie songs (Hearts in Atlantis was about the 60's and I always love listening to whatever atmosphere the book grabs me in if I can)...There's one that sticks to your brain, it's called 'I Ain't Marching Anymore' by Phil Ochs. I highly recommend if you're a Vietnam veteran and if you're not, well you'll find a way of liking it like I did! Phil Ochs sounds like such an extremely underrated performer, he did fantastic on that song. Then you get stuff like Bob Dylan's 'Mr Tambourine Man', which I'm currently in love with. There's also one famous song by Ben E. King called 'Stand By Me' which I'm listening to ceaselessly these days. Simply musical!

And I am back, as you can see. I'll try updating more often now, perhaps even on a daily basis...And hopefully adding some nice blog goodies (ever since some moron decided to put shit in shoutbox, I haven't added anything new but had to reset the whole thing, a definite setback). Hopefully updating the profile soon. I promise regular posting after the 19th of June (THE END OF MY EXAMS AND SCHOOL LIFE!) for all out there waiting (Did I just say that? That sounded like I had a fan base!).

May Allah take care of all of you,
Later!

Magical

2008-01-09T04:05:00.000-08:00

I've been into the whole magic thing lately, Criss Angel, Derren Brown, David Blaine, Paul Zenon, Penn and Teller, you name it...
The whole thing has got me immensly interested that I've started practising some tricks of my own...Most of them requiring no gimmicks.

Anyhow, I thought because of this, I should share some of what I had watched lately...
I've been into the whole magic thing lately, Criss Angel, Derren Brown, David Blaine, Paul Zenon, Penn and Teller, you name it...
The whole thing has got me immensly interested that I've started practising some tricks of my own...Most of them requiring no gimmicks.

Anyhow, I thought because of this, I should share some of what I had watched lately...

In this video, Derren Brown, gets a man cash for losing betting tickets at a dog race. He does this by simply going to the cashier and saying, 'This is the winning ticket!'

In this video, David Blaine, takes a ring from a woman, drops it in the gutter and makes it magically appear in a bottle on the street!

In this one, David Blaine levitates with the King Rising method apparently...Or with strings. I don't know how the hell he does it, but it looks fantastic.

How David Blaine tricked Tyra Banks...Not that I'm a big fan of the latter.

Criss Angel levitates a spectator (or an accomplice) from the audience on the street. He may be using fishing wire somewhere in the trick but I still don't know how you can do shit like that.

Penn and Teller explain the seven principles of sleight of hand...Palm, Steal, Load, Misdirection, Simulation, Ditch, Switch. I can't stop watching this video...Extermely cool.

Hope you guys enjoyed this. I had my Bio paper today...Went pretty well.
See ya!