A UAE daily newspaper recently ran the below image of an artwork.
The artwork is part of a collection by artist Atelier Van Lieshout that Tim Van Laere Gallery recently exhibited in Spain. A quick look at the the artist’s works can show that the he has some sort of an obsession for, ummm, symbolism.
Of course the reporter did not realize that the artwork is in fact a phallic symbol, and that’s why it was published, but a friend told me the reporter is now in deep kaka.
I’m not sure if he’s being punished for running the image in the first place, or for not knowing that it resembles a massive male member, or maybe for the fact that it’s pointing directly at an article on celebrations of Al Mawlid Al Nabawi (Prophet Mohammad’s birthday) around the world!
I was one of the lucky few to get a brief preview of the upcoming Kathakbox performances that will be taking place in the UAE this week. Kathakbox (pronounced Katak) is a mixture of Kathak, an Indian classical dance, and beatboxing. Put the two together and you’ve got Kathakbox!
Here is more info on the production, but in brief, it’s an awesome modern artistic production, by Sonia Sabri and Company, that combines “movement, gesture, expression, music and the spoken word”.
I managed to take the following video during their kick-off press conference at the Abu Dhabi Women’s College two days ago, where some members of the band gave a sneak preview of what they will be offering audiences in both cities. Very cool stuff if you ask me and much more than what I had expected. The first segment of the video shows Sonia Sabri, followed by Shan Bansil, the awesome beatboxer (who surprisingly majored in Mechanical Engineering!), and finally a Shan Basil and Marcina Arnold duet.
The production will be showing in Abu Dhabi on the 26th of Feb at the Abu Dhabi Theater and in Dubai on the 28th of Feb at the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre. The show will also be traveling to Jordan in March, and you can follow them on twitter.
This song goes out to all the dictators who, despite it being the 21st century, still rule with a rod of iron.
I particularly like to dedicate it to both Hosni Mubarak, Ben Ali and their entourage, and I really hope to be singing it to Gaddafi soon, but more than anything, I wish I can ask them: How does it feel to be on your own?
The lyrics in bold, I thought, were most fitting:
Once upon a time you dressed so fine,
Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you ?
People’d call, say, “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall,”
You thought they were all a’kiddin’ you. You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin’ out.
Now you don’t talk so loud,
Now you don’t seem so proud,
About having to be scrounging your next meal.
How does it feel ?
How does it feel ?
To be without a home ?
Like a complete unknown ?
Like a rolling stone ?
Aw, you’ve gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely,
But you know you only used to get “juiced” in it. Nobody’s ever taught you how to live out on the street,
And now you’re gonna have to get used to it.
You say you never compromise
With a mystery tramp, but now you realize
He’s not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say, “Do you want to make a deal?
How does it feel ?
How does it feel ?
To be on your own ?
With no direction home ?
A complete unknown ?
Like a rolling stone ?
Aw, you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns
When they all did tricks for you.
You never understood that it ain’t no good,
You shouldn’t let other people get your kicks for you.
You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat.
Ain’t it hard when you discover that
He really wasn’t where it’s at
After he took from you everything he could steal ?
How does it feel ?
How does it feel ?
To have ya’ on your own ?
With no direction home ?
Like a complete unknown ?
Like a rolling stone ?
Aw, princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They’re all drinkin’, thinkin’ that they’ve got it made.
Exchanging all precious gifts,
But you’d better take your diamond ring, you’d better pawn it babe.
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used.
Go to him now, he calls you, you can’t refuse.
When you ain’t got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose
You’re invisible now, you’ve got no secrets to conceal.
How does it feel ?
Aw, how does it feel ?
To be on your own ?
With no direction home ?
Like a complete unknown ?
Like a rolling stone ?
I went to sleep last night with a big lump in my throat.
Wael Ghonim’s interview on Dream 2 TV was not what I expected it to be.
The part that paralyzed me the most, as I watched a very emotional Wael shedding tears and tears of what probably is mixed feelings of pain, frustration, disbelief, angst, joy, sadness and pride, was the fact that Wael was truly one of us!
What I thought would be a young man talking about revolutions, rebellious ideologies, principles, socialism, patriotism, fundamentalism, hatred for fascism, totalitarianism, radicalism, and a lot of other affixes ending with –ism, turned out to be a very, VERY, normal person who had a dream. Just another guy who believed in something pure, something better, a dream he and other “dreamers” realized.
Obviously, Wael is not an ordinary guy. He did spark the revolution after all. But what’s astonishingly cool about him is how ordinary he makes it all look. He kept repeating, after being arrested and blind-folded for 12 days, how he’s not a hero, how he’s not to be symbolized, how he didn’t do anything but type a few words on a few websites on the internet.
But Wael typed the right words at the right time on the right websites and managed to attract the right audiences for the right cause … and lo and behold, Jan 25 was born.
You can watch the interview with English subtitles here.
