The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie: Intimacy and Design

 

 Just saw this on Dia Diwan - seems like a very interesting book to read for those interested in street culture, Syrian and Arab society, design and lingerie – or simply for a good laugh.

From Amazon.com: Syrian lingerie is racy attire little-known in the west. Manufactured in Syria and exported throughout the Middle East, it blinks, sings, vibrates, and flashes lights, and is adorned with everything from faux fir to artificial flowers and feathered birds to colourful plastic toy cell phones. This sort of lingerie is well known and accepted in Syrian culture, and is openly displayed in the markets and souks – it forms an important part of the longstanding folk traditions around weddings and marriage. Brides-to-be are given it as gifts by their mothers, or buy it themselves; husbands buy it for wives. “The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie” gathers together text and photo essays that introduce and celebrate some of the most outrageous undergarments in the world, and challenge our perceived notions of women, sex, and humour in the Muslim world.

 An excerpt of the book is available on Amazon.com.

Bad week for radio in the GCC?

Radio hardly comes across as a controversial medium over here; but last week saw two high-profile radio blips, first in Kuwait with the DJ who was drunk on air and got fired and then in the UAE where the DJ aired a prerecorded joke, an offensive conversation with God, and got fired.

The joke wend something like:

DJ: “so god, whats on your agenda?”

god: “world peace, Madonna and Britney”.

Ofcourse a joke like this is a definite no-no in the UAE, and however ignorant a person is…it’s not hard to figure out that a joke like this should be avoided!

A lady called Mariam called the station right after she heard the joke and complained and the DJ was rude to her (she says) so she went ahead and formed a facebook group “Against Virgin Radio God Call” encouraging people to complain and proposing a plan of action to get him fired. Within a couple of days the DJ was fired.

Im really tired of expats in the UAE totally direspecting the county’s culure and sensitivites in many ways, but I’m not sure about the whole firing decision. Atleast not the way it was framed on the internet; articles and the facebook group making it sound like it was all this girl Mariam’s fault that got him fired.

True, she led an online protest (the power of facebook!), but it was a company decision to fire him, regardless of Mariam’s online efforts…it doesn’t need more than a couple of complaint calls to make the poeple in charge at the station consider some type of punishment for the DJ – I think.

Bow-tie collared jacket

I came across this jacket while randomly checking fashion sites. I’m a fan of non-typical and non-structured jackets so I totally loved this one. Although the bow-tie is common in shirts, I’ve never seen it used as an alternative for a collar in a jacket (plus points for the angled to the side bow-tie)..funky results!

It looks great with the side ponytail too. CLick the pciture for a larger view and details.

Antonio Banderas at MEIFF, Abu Dhabi

I was lucky to have access to the Red Carpet on the opening of the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF). Below are the pics I took of Antonio Banderas and wife Melanie Griffith on the Red Carpet

Antonio was in the capital holding business talks about a movie he has been planning to produce/direct/act in for a number of years, about the story of Boabdil, the last Muslim king of Spain. In an interview with The National he says:

“When I was at the Toronto film festival, people I met there said I should come to Abu Dhabi and talk to people here because they might be interested. This is a movie that I can’t do without Arabs. I have to go hand by hand with them, not only for their support but for advice. I also want to do it because I am Andalusian, although I am pretty sure I have some Arab blood in my veins.”

Very insightful conversation with Antonio; he seems to know alot about the Arab culture and he expresses his appreciation of it. He also expresses is concern about the negative perceptions of Arab post 9/11 and their misrepresentation in cinema. He wants to help change these perceptions by doing this movie.

Watch the interview here, or read the rest of the article here.

Also read this piece written by the producer who invited Antonio to visit Abu Dhabi for the festival. He speaks about Antonio’s interest and love for the Arab culture. It’s the same producer who was working on the reality TV show that I got accepted to participate in but declined!

Seriously craving…

…a huge tower of chocolate drizzled croquembouche!!

I’d love to find a bakery/caterer in Abu Dhabi who does a great original french croquembouche, which is crunchy on the outside and fresh and creamy on the inside. The only times I’ve had it here is in weddings and its usually just an eclair recipe used to make the tower (no crunch or sugar glazing).

Chocolate Drizzled Croquembouche

If only Burj Dubai was made of this stuff (drifting to fantasy world….)

Quote of the day

“Happiness is bad for sales” – Jack, ad executive (Jack & Jill vs The World, 2008).

Jaye ilwa2t…

twofour54. Create.

twofour54, the Abu Dhabi Media Park, was launched Sunday night here in Abu Dhabi. It is named after the geographic coordinates for Abu Dhabi. This new media zone aims to become a creative environment for media content creation in the Arab world supporting the film, broadcast, digital, gaming, publishing and music industries, and focusing on training, production, business incubation facilities and numerous other media creation opportunities.

Partnerships have been formed with CNN, the BBC, the Financial Times, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Thomson Foundation, Random House, Harper Collins, Rotana Studios, CSky Pictures, Comedy Arabia, the events promoter Flash, Imagenation film fund and the Abu Dhabi Media Company.

Flagpoles advertising Twofour54 - Gulf News Image

More information on what the zone will include (from zawya.com):

“twofour54 is built around four pillars – twofour54 tadreeb, twofour54 ibtikar, twofour54 intaj and twofour54 tawasol – located within a campus style environment that promotes cooperation and creative partnerships amongst the companies involved.

twofour54 tadreeb will be the region’s premier vocational training academy, targeting young Arabs and graduates considering a career in the media industry as well as providing existing media and entertainment professionals with opportunities to develop skills, up-skill and re-skill across a comprehensive range of media and content industry disciplines.

twofour54 ibtikar will provide innovation support and funding for new, local businesses and promising creative ideas across print, online, mobile and television platforms in the Middle East and North Africa. This fund will not only provide financial support but also practical advice and input from industry experts and specialists to guide initiatives to successful fruition.

twofour54 intaj is focused on supplying state-of-the-art production and post-production facilities, media asset management, broadcast and technical support services for use within twofour54. It equips companies with all of the latest communications technology required, including playout, uplink and downlink services.

Finally, twofour54 tawasol provides a one-stop-shop facility to support the relocation and establishment of content organisations, making it simple for local, regional and international companies to move into twofour54″.

Very exciting news I like the focus on content creation and training programs, rather than just providing another free zone (we have those in Dubai already) for media companies to be based out of.

They get plus points for the fresh and funky branding and for planning the permanent location (in 5 years) in the peaceful Mina/Ports (port and warehouses are being moved elsewhere) area of Abu Dhabi.

Would love to be part of twofour54 in the future, and I hope it turns out as good as it sounds!

For more on twentyfour54, visit their official website.

Really liking their branding and communications. Full page ad:

twofour54 FP ad

Sh’hedetna Mashrou7a!

Zaatar w Zeit ad

MEIFF

The Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) starts this Friday Oct 10th in Abu Dhabi and will last until Oct 19. Cultural/entertainment events are rare in Abu Dhabi so its exciting to have some action going on in this sleepy city and catch a few good films as well and maybe bump into a few stars (Antonio Banderas I’m hoping..yes he’s going to attend the opening Gala Night along with wifey Melanie Grifith).

Well events are rare, but I can’t complain, we actually have a busy Fall (or a busy November mainly) in the capital with Christina Aguilera’s concert, Art-Paris, Abu Dhabi Classics Festival and the Jazz Festival. There’a a bunch of cultural/entertainment events going on in Dubai as well like Kylie’s , Fergie’s and Maroon 5’s concerts among others as well as the Dubai International Film Festival.

Back to MEIFF…4 movies I really want to see at this year’s festival:

1. The Wackness (2008)

Director: Jonathan Levine

Description: The troubled high school student Luke Shapiro wants to beat depression and connect with a member of the opposite sex before moving on to college. Fortunately, he is able to strike a deal with psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Squires (Ben Kingsley), who trades him therapy sessions for drugs. The zany doctor’s marriage is crumbling, so he too is looking for answers. The two begin to explore both New York City and their own depression. As they journey through adventurous passages of these new life stages, Luke falls for a classmate, who just happens to be the daughter of his new doctor friend. The film won an audience award at Sundance Film Festival this year.

2. The Kite (2003)

Director: Randa Chahal Sabbag

Description: The Kite (طيارة من ورق) has been released on 2003 in Lebanon. It tells a story of young girl who lives in a small druze town in the south of Lebanon near the occupied zone that was controlled by Israel after the 1982 invasion. She was forced to get married to another young boy in a town across the occupied zone. Although the story didn’t focus on the Israeli actions during that sad period of occupation, one can easily sense from the film the misery of Lebanese near influence of those occupation forces.

3. Laila’s Birthday (2008)

Director: Rashid Masharawi

Description: Abu Laila (Mohamed Bakri) used to be a judge, but because the government does not have the means to pay him anymore he is forced to be a taxi driver. On the day his daughter Laila becomes seven years old, his wife insists that he be home early with a present and cake. Abu Laila has nothing else on his mind than completing this mission, but the daily life in Palestine has other plans…

4. Adoration (2008)

Director: Atom Egoyan

Description:

High school French teacher Sabine (Arsinée Khanjian) gives her class a translation exercise based on a real news story about a terrorist who plants a bomb in the airline luggage of his pregnant girlfriend. The assignment has a profound effect on one student, Simon (Devon Bostick), who lives with his uncle (Scott Speedman). In the course of translating Simon imagines that the news item is his own family’s story, with the terrorist standing in for his father. Years ago Simon’s father (Noam Jenkins) crashed the family car killing both himself and his wife (Rachel Blanchard), making Simon an orphan. Simon always feared that the accident was intentional. Simon reads his version to the class and then takes it to the Internet. In essence he has created a false identity which allows him to probe his family secret. As Simon uses his new persona to journey deeper into his past, the public reaction is swift and strong. Then an exotic woman reveals her true identity. The truth about Simon’s family emerges. The mystery is solved and a new family is formed.

There’s also an Advertising Competition screening, but no details are provided.

Other films I hope to catch:

1. Easy Virtue (2008)

2. The Dove’s Lost Necklace (1991)

3. 7 Blind Female Filmmakers (2008)