Lament, but!

Lament, but!

Lament, weep, bleed but do not die

For the air is not thin and birds still fly

The sun  shining on time as you sob or quietly cry
 

No matter, what goes on but life sure will pass by

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Life had been rough, days were hard to you 

Distorted, tortured, wounded and scared too

Bewildered, dizzy, tormented and yet not so blue

You championed life, always trying to be true

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For the hurdles were high, and time was slow

Dreams crumbled but thankfully, you didn’t blow

Be sure, that your inner energy will always flow

And in the very end by happiness your face will glow  

Extension, expansion!

   One very interesting remark is that the human being is the only animal able and capable of extension and expansion without limits and beyond his living needs. To explain the idea, look at the aspiration of a man or a woman to form a family, to expand their power and authority and to secure their extension in the future by raising their progeny. In the same context, they try always to socialize with new companions, buddies and friends, for the reason of  expanding their influence. It seems that the individual human is by default born insecure from inside and always trying hard to have either persons or materials that give him or her the elixir of security and inner serenity.
   This also applies to companies, organizations, cults and religions, which always work through its members to get more money, power, followers or customers, for the very essential need of security through competitiveness, challenge, marring the opponents or knocking them out altogether of the ring by force or plot. Even wars have the ultimate goal of expanding the territories of the belligerent countries, or pressing through the use of bullets and missiles, what the diplomacy failed to acquire, that is material gains for securing extension and expansion of the power - in any form - of a certain country. Even clandestine groups, whether ideological or criminal aspire for more of this expansion but by clandestine ways. 
   Even, the conquering of new territories in Antarctica or the Arctic, has the long range aim of expansion of the powerful country (Russia, Canada, USA, United Kingdom...) for the control of resources or opening new trade routes. That is the same in the many projects (fulfilled partially and minimally till now as published), that superpowers have in mind when they spend billions of Dollars and years of work to conquer space and colonize a distant moon or planet.
   Historically on the international scale of politics, it has been like that from the days of the old empires, Egyptian, Greek, Persian or Roman, who sought more power, by attacking other nations, to be more secure, have more resources, more manpower and slaves for the very notion that occupation of other lands and expansion of the original boundaries will bring many benefits to the selected superior people of the empire. So that the people of the empire can therefore extend their power by having more concubines, male slaves, acquire more knowledge, more wealth, and more secure good living. That state of affairs continues till now, by the use of fancy ways of diplomacy, media, transnational gigantic companies or even the use of modern warfare to oblige or overcome a certain country to submit to the will of a more powerful one. 
   Thus, the advance of the mankind in the future, revolves upon, finding new means of fulfilling the needs of security and providing not only the basic requirements of the individual person, family or group of people, but the true equilibrium and respect of cultures, resources, environment and human rights. To this end, globalization has to find new humane, just and altruistic aims, other than the current expansion and extension by the hegemony of a superpower.       

About the novel "Chicago"!

This novel of 453 pages actually 446 pages of reading which appeared in January 2007 from Dar El Shorouk in Cairo, was an instant success, and till the end of November 2007 has been reprinted nine times. Thereafter, it has known an unprecedented number of prints in the Arabic literature of modern times in Cairo, after Naguib Mahfouz.  As a matter of fact, these were the legal prints, and I can't figure out, the forged ones, because they are numerous. In my opinion this novel is fantastic. It has a definite personality, a message and a purpose. It could be classified as a transnational literature, though it relates two different societies.
Some has accused the novel and its writer already of putting too much porn language, or erotic material or dialogue or description, I personally find it very artistic and in its place. It is an eye-opening novel, that you can't leave more than one day before completely reading it and reaching its end, to find yourself touched and affected by its characters and their different stories whether converging or diverging. Chicago can be analyzed on different levels as I think, but to my mind, you can discover each level by multiple re-reading of the work. But even if you read it once, you will find a work of fiction that can be compared to a vibrant movie with different scenes and settings, with a rich dialogue totally natural. It has been rumored that it will be turned into a movie or a drama TV series, and we are still waiting for that. The writer has used a style of writing so intelligent, that you can't predict what is coming next whether words or events. While reading Chicago, I was totally awake, and suspense was surrounding my awareness. I had been absorbed inside the lives of the characters and was feeling the conflict inside each of them. An excellent novel, and I believe after completing it, that it will be translated also into different languages.Not only that occurred, but Alaa el-Aswany, the dentist, activist, writer and the novelist who had written this piece of fine literature "Chicago", has received many recognizing prizes and merits for this work from many countries. 

About (Life of Pi) movie! - 2

   The Taiwanese-born American director Ang Lee, succeeded to make this epic film, despite opinions that challenged him that the Booker Prize winning novel in 2002, on which the film was based written by the Canadian Yann Martel, cannot be interpreted into a moving picture. It is not a simple adventure film about a lonely survivor being stranded in the large ocean for long after his ship sank, but it is a complex movie, that discusses the philosophy of life, religions and the concepts of good and evil. No wonder at all, that the film was nominated to eleven Academy Awards, as it was beautifully made caring for small details not only big ones.. The cinematography of this film, with the special effects, added to the original music score were all outstanding. Thanks to a genius director, it was possible to make such a film possible. Films that incorporate ferocious animals that are required to evolve through multiple phases of the story, are difficult to make, so what we can say about this movie where a Bengal tiger is the second hero of the film. The good thing is, that the director didn't resort to graphics lavishly but in the appropriate amount. The story around which the film was made, was good, despite that it has some relation on one side to Robinson Crusoe and Noah's Ark on the other.

Reflections about the social networking groups of the Internet

   Many times, I have deeply thought, especially after communication problems while chatting with some people on the Web or getting angry from a bad reaction, an unacceptable post, non-ethical comment or disgusting message, that social networking sites are problematic more than beneficial, viewing that they are condensation of life but in the virtual electronic world. People, that are shielded by distance, non-touch, freedom from shyness, and immunity from physical retaliation, tend to be unreal at many times, in the sense of embellishment by disguising themselves not only in their identities, names and pictures but in their attitudes, style of response, selection of words and language (sordid or clean) and reaction whether quiet or bursting, as well.  

   Social networking  groups especially closed and secret groups are like hungry sharks, roaming to catch edible fishes with an unabated satiety. Alas, some think that social utilities on the Internet are like washing machines, they always need to be fed by fresh detergents. Thus, the electronic friendship tied there is not real and solid, but is bubbly, liable to burst by any simple gust of wind. What is the benefit of collecting 'friends' on your Facebook account? And why you have so much vanity with the high numbers of friends you have got, as long as you do not care to connect, electronically in a fair way and frequently with them? And the more important why is it not important to you to tie a real-life friendship with these friends, using the tool of the social utility? And why you do care to sanctify the tool and slide into the vice of worshiping yourself?

Psychologically speaking, is the accumulation of hundreds, not to say thousands sometimes of friends, on your Facebook account, is healthy? How you can cope with communicating with such a huge number of persons assumed to be 'friends' at any one time? 

   Differentiation from real life authentic friendship and the sham electronic friendship, is important. I think that for a person to be considered as an authentic friend, requires many criteria. You have to meet the person in real life, face to face even once, and have a conversation with him/her either casually or voluntary, but smart and deep. The two parties, have to find some sort of common ground, sympathy, and to be certain of the real identity of the person candidate for friendship, not to mention a quick appraisal of the person's values and attitude to Life in general.These criteria are not feasible through the Internet communication, even in Skype or alike video conferencing. To this end, one must know that the term, 'friend' in the social networking sites, is not accurate, and it is better as one friend suggested 'contact'. One has to be true to himself and know that it is a mirage not a real oasis. So it is completely accepted to detach yourself from a group, contact or friend, once you know that it is nuisance not a good experience.

About ‘The rise and fall of Royal Alexandria: from Muhammad Ali to Farouk’

About ‘The rise and fall of Royal Alexandria: from Muhammad Ali to Farouk’

 

The Muhammad Ali reign

 

For the sake of truth and revision of our Egyptian history to know the true events and the real facts, I am writing this article. I would like to share it with you, with all due respects to antagonizing opinions. The title herein, is the original title of a lecture, I attended in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina on March the 21st, given by the eminent British historian, Philip Mansel, who is an authority on the Ottoman empire, the Levant and the French Revolution and has to date, eleven book titles, of which the most acclaimed three are, “Constantinople”, “Levant” and “Sultans in Splendour” and believe what, these are his only three books about the East Mediterranean history. The presenter and animator of the lecture was the renown Dr. Khaled Fahmy, the Egyptian historian, scholar and the head of the History Department of the AUC. To a heavy attendance, Professor Mansel, addressed his audience with a PowerPoint picture slide of old Alexandria, personalities and events.
Dr. Mansel, started to talk about how, Muhammad Ali, found in the beginning of his reign, Alexandria, as a small coastal village full of ruins with a population of only six thousand people mainly indigenous. Then, understanding the value of the city, its strategic position and its potential, he started to stay in it, to study plans to upgrade it, in gradually increasing periods of time. Then he commissioned many huge projects that resurrected the city from ashes, like the naval arsenal, the Mahmudiye canal inaugurated in February 1821, the refurbishing of the naval port of Alexandria and the establishment of Ras el-Tin palace which was started to be built in 1817 and intensified extensively the fortifications of the city from 1812 on. He was the first ruler since hundreds of years to allow Christians to ring the church’s bells officially. Due to the fact that he has been the first also to announce across the country a state of religious tolerance to all religions and their denominations, many flocks of oppressed Jewish and Christian Europeans from one side and from other territories of the Ottoman empire, decided to settle in Egypt. They brought their expertise, new ideas, enthusiasm and work power to build new beginnings to themselves and their families, and henceforth affected positively the general local population. New opportunities arose, so European talents were attracted to serve Muhammad Ali and presented him their abilities to modernize Egypt and his beloved Alexandria. (To be continued)

Ludwig Deutsch and his Egyptian paintings

The Austrian painter, Ludwig Deutsch, born in Vienna, lived 80 years, from 1855 to 1935. He is the descendent of a well-known Jewish Austrian family. His father was a financier. He studied arts primarily at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna for three years. Then he moved to Paris, where he continued his practice and training at the studio of Jean-Paul Laurens. He was an orientalist painter, and had good relation with another Austrian Orientalist artist in Paris, named Rudolf Ernst. He visited Egypt for five times, between 1883 and 1904, when it was under British Occupation. It was a totally, different Egypt, but thanks to this magnificent painter, many scenes of the period had been immortalized and frozen in time.
The Egyptian paintings by Ludwig Deutsch were very carefully and beautifully drawn. They are full of details in full color and very accurate depiction of small as well as large real life items. You feel like it is a photo taken with a high definition camera, or as if you are seeing by your own eyes a still scene in real life.
Here is for instance one of his painting called: 'The Nubian Guard', created in 1892.

And another beautiful painting called: 'The Chess Game', created in 1896.

And this one called: 'The Sahleb Vendor', created in 1886.

Theatrical reading, personal experience.

   Theatrical reading is fantastic. I discovered its beauty, when I played the role of (Philoctète) in French language, in the play by the same name by "André Gide" and I got a round of applause for this drama-reading. It was quite a self-discovery on my part. The nice thing too, that it came by chance, and through it, I met new good people.
     It was in the library, that I met a lady librarian who encouraged me to attend. I didn't know or read the play before. I went alone, on time, and met new people, that I didn't know them before. After getting acquainted with them, I asked them to give me the main role which is quite hard. The play is composed of five scenes. It is called (Philoctète) by "André Gide". It is based on a legend written originally by "Sophocles". The role consisted of long monologues versus two other characters. Since long time, many years in fact, I didn't read anything in French, loudly and in front of other people, completely alien to me and in addition to that I have to incarnate the character and play with my voice theatrically. The whole thing was new to me. It was quite an adventure. I succeeded to the acclaim of those brand-new friends. The most important is that I discovered a new hidden talent inside me, that waited so long to get out. I pronounced the French words too with finesse and eloquence, which was astounding to me before them. I got hooked on the experience and sure will continue to attend.
   I was delighted with the role playing. In addition, it was a pleasure to get across new Francophone good new friends. I am sure that one or two of them will be long-time friends.

You said, "Fauteuils d'orchestre"?!

   What a nice film! "Fauteuils d'orchestre", the French movie released in the year 2006, is a poem, an ode to life, man and arts. It was totally filmed in the glamorous city, Paris, which was to my mind - with all its ambiance, buildings, streets, river and people - the hidden hero of the film.

It was released in the USA under the title, "Avenue Montaigne".

   This film has won many awards. One 'Raimu' award for the best comedy film in 2006 in its first cycle and the Public award in the Athens film festival in 2007. In addition to many nominations to César award and to Oscar as a representative of France in 2007. The main character of the film, Jessica, was played by the Belgian actress Cécile de France, and for it she won, a gold Swann from the annual Cabourg film festival and a gold Raimu. The director of the film, has made a beautiful lyrical film, although she was originally a screenwriter and this film is only her third one, out of six till now. 

About the film 'Rhino season'

             What a fantastic Iranian film released in 2012 by the escaped or self-exiled Iranian director "Bahman Ghobadi". As usual my friends and I, after watching the film, had contradictory views and we divided in two opposing groups, one with the film 100% (I was in this group) and the other was not in its favor totally. The language of the film was Persian and Turkish, and our viewing copy was subtitled in Arabic. It is a poetic film full of animal symbols, scattered poetry (Rumi), though it is based on a real life story that happened around the time of the Iranian revolution, and after it. The main character of the film is a poet suffered in the prison (actually for no reason but a faked crime of subversive poetry against the state), for 27 years in addition to his wife being imprisoned for some time and raped there. After his release from the prison, he comes out as a totally different person, totally broken, with one aim, only to search for his wife. And the story goes on into complex events. The film is an incriminating declaration against the Iranian Revolutionary regime. 

Thinking about 'narcissism'!

   How many people with narcissism you have known or met in your life, and what are your memories about them? Is it good or bad or something in the middle? Is it a trait or disease? What is the demarcating margin between self-esteem and narcissism? What is the best method to deal with a person, man or woman with narcissism, laugh at him or her, befriend him or her, neglect him or her or attack him or her by mocking? Can narcissism be founded on wealth, health or success, or can it be void without any base? Is it acceptable by celestial religions or others? Is it different from arrogance or pompous behavior? Is the narcissistic person, a sociable one? Can this person be a productive altruistic individual or not? Can he or she, succeed in marriage, teamwork, or collaboration in a collective project?

Delightful Concert!

Last night, with delight, I attended a concert for chamber music, played by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Chamber Orchestra, in one of the theater halls of the Arts Center annexed to the library. The orchestra, was formed of 17 musicians, 12 of them (violins and violas), 3 cellos, 1 double bass and 1 harpsichord, and they were led by Ahmed El-Saeidy, the renown Egyptian maestro. The program consisted of two parts with an intermission in between, in the first one, there were two Concerto Grosso, one by Händel in G major and the other by Vivaldi in D minor and the second part contained the Serenade for Strings in C major by Tchaikovsky. But, as a last-minute addition to the original program, they played the Chaconne in G minor of Purcell, as a tribute to the late Abdelmenem Kamel. The musicians were of a good caliber indeed, and they played the works with dexterity, finesse and in unison. The concert was attended by a very good number of persons, the majority of them, appeared to be acquainted with classic music in different degrees. As, to the music, the selection was very nice, and I enjoyed it a lot, especially the first part which consisted of three works from the Baroque music era by three great composers, the English Henry Purcell, the German-born British Georg Friedrich Händel and the Italian Antonio Vivaldi. In fact, I hold a high esteem and appraisal to the music of Händel and Vivaldi. I was not well-versed with the music of Purcell, but I discovered that his music was nearly at the same level of greatness as Händel. The musical works of the Baroque era, were always touching to me and at many times provoke inside me a mixed reaction of awe, pleasure, well-being and inner peace. I have been always fascinated and still is, by the accompaniment of the strings and harpsichord for the fantastic sounds that ensue which reverberate inside my mind and soul for a while. The second part of the concert was dedicated to the romantic era of music and the mood of the music was different of course especially that it was of the great Tchaikovsky. I noticed that the harpsichord was omitted and the reason was obvious that it was not used in the eras after the Baroque, despite that it produces very nice special sounds, and it was replaced quasi totally by the piano. But, here, in the Tchaikovsky serenade, as its name implies it was all for strings. I knew this work before, and didn't believe that it will always have the same moving effect, but it did. It was a nice evening spent in the listening to the music of four of the great composers in the history of mankind.

About (life of Pi) movie! - 1

First part of the film review: the story.

 
‘Life of Pi’ is an American adventure film released in 2012 and was directed by the Taiwanese-born American director (Ang Lee). It was a success both on the commercial scale and artistically in the Critics’ circles. It was nominated for eleven of the Academy Awards, which is astounding in itself. Pi, played by (Suraj Sharma), is the protagonist of the Booker prize winning novel written by (Yann Martel) on which the movie was based. The film opens by a scene where the adult Pi relates his life story to a European writer who was traveling in the search for the truth and God and met him accidentally. He was an Indian boy raised in a city in India which was under French rule for a period of time called (Pondicherry), by two loving parents and a supportive brother. Pi, which is short for Piscine, was chosen by our hero while he was a student in school after being pursed by mockery from his colleagues. Pi was a smart boy, and always had questions about life and God, so that he studied and practiced Hinduism, Christianity and Islam at the same time. His parents earned their bread by running a private Zoo which they owned. Due to financial troubles, his father decided to sell the Zoo and immigrate with his family and the animals to Canada. During their trip on a Japanese cargo ship, a tempest caused the capsize of the ship. Pi, managed to survive and unleashed a life boat. His parents, brother, many of the animals and the ship-crew all drowned. While struggling with the waves and the elements, he was left with a Zebra, a monkey, a hyena, and a tiger. The hyena attacked the Zebra first and killed it then the monkey and killed it, while Pi, was on his guard to protect himself, dangling from the boat. Then the tiger, attacked the hyena and ate it. Now, Pi, was facing a furious tiger. Rapidly he used his ruse to construct a raft to stay on it, to keep a distance from the tiger which was on the boat. While on the raft, he snatched some of the food, tools and life-saving instruction booklets from the bottom of the life-boat. Returning to the raft, he started by feeding himself then began reading, what will be the guide that helped him to stay for 227 days stranded alive in the middle of the ocean. After many trials and failures, Pi succeeded in taming the tiger. Pi, realized that that the tiger can help him to stay alive. After they both endured severe hardship, they reach a floating unknown island full of meerkats. Pi and the animal, regained their bodily energy and strength by feeding themselves freely. Due to the unwelcoming environment of the island at night, Pi, decided to leave it. Their boat in the end reached the coast of Mexico, and both were quasi half-dead. The tiger left him to the jungle amid tears of Pi. Pi, was rescued by local people. While at hospital, employees from the Japanese company that owned the cargo ship came to meet him and ask what has gone wrong during the tempest. He faked an imaginary story of sharing the lifeboat with his mother, a sailor, and the cook. The cook killed the sailor then in turn struggles with Pi's mother and stab her to death, so that Pi was forced to revenge and kill the cook. Returning back to the present day where Pi is an adult living happily with his wife and kids, and telling the story to the novelist, Pi alluded that the monkey was Pi's mother, the zebra was the sailor, the hyena was the cook, and, the tiger, was Pi himself. Pi asks the writer which story of the two, he prefers, and the novelist chooses the one with the tiger and the animals because it was more fantastic. (to be cont.)