This’ll be my first departure from Australia since repatriating nearly a decade ago. After spending 20 years based in Verbier, Switzerland, I’ve been rediscovering Australian culture, from Sydney to Yamba, Sandy Beach to Tamworth, to Newcastle, to Auburn in Sydney, before moving north again to Byron Bay. It seems settling down is not to be a quick and easy process for me.

I met comedian Akmal Saleh one night in a service station outside Tweed Heads. I was returning from the Gold Coast having watched the ‘crew screening’ of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, when who did I see filling up petrol in front of me? Akmal Saleh no less.

Being a fan, and knowing he’s a resident of the Byron Shire I thought I’d go say g’day and see if he’d do a comedy piece for my www.byronvibe.com website. With a flash of his brooding eyes and a shrug of his shoulders, his inimitable pursed grin replied “yeah, sure”.

A couple weeks later, we were wandering down main street in Byron, vox popping with Frank and some other randoms, having a laugh. (View clips here

After several months passed I get a call from Akmal asking if I’d be interested in going to Egypt to shoot a story. I had to think for all of a micro second before responding with an emphatic YES.

Of course the project had a low probability of coming off, as every project seems to at first in the film biz, so I didn’t get too excited as it was february and the trip was scheduled for August. There was a while to go and any number of factors could cancel the project, the instability of the new military government but one of note.

But we had good advice on that matter from an expert on Egyptian affairs who had recently returned from Egypt as well as another friend of Akmal’s who’d been a solicitor in Egypt for many years, and that seemed good enough for me.

Months rolled by. A couple of meetings at Lulu’s in Mullum. Phone calls from Akmal and I’m thinking, “this guy’s serious! Maybe it will happen!”

Sam has been a solicitor in Egypt for many years

Mitigating circumstances meant Akmal had to go in August or he couldn’t go at all… We tried to get a couple of production companies on board, but really time had run out and we had to make a decision: Go it alone or cancel the trip. But Akmal was keen, so with a month left he said “let’s go!”

New passport and visas had to be sorted. Camera equipment had to be sourced. The desire to shoot with Sony’s latest F3 rig had to give way to the reality of running gun in a place like the streets of Egypt and we decided on Sony’s less cumbersome and more discreet EX1, a compact yet high def solution from the friendly guys at Pro Cam in Brisbane.

With a week to go, packing down my gypsy abode should have been an easy process, but a spent tension pulley in the fan belt config meant I had to tow it to the Gold Coast at a cost which would have been better spent on the trip to Europe (yes, Europe, after Egypt, but that’s another story). The damn plastic spindle cost 90 bucks but the replacement of it cost $800 as they had to pull the front end off…

This setback could only be looked at one way. As a preparation to the many contigencies that I knew Egypt was going to throw at me once we were on the ground. Like a war of attrition I began to cross tasks off my list of things to do, before finally cramming tripod, audio gear, cameras and lenses, clothes, laptop and mobile-office kit into two backpacks and a ready-to-shoot bag. About a 50kg load all up.

Parking the ‘Hotel Benz’ at Karin’s (thanks Karin) I loaded my gear into Catie’s Van (Akmal’s wife and the production’s Line Producer) before we proceeded to the Gold Coast airport. The plan was for me to go two weeks prior to them to film the Abu El Haggag religious festival in Luxor which was advertised as being on the 17th and 18th July. This festival is a coming together of Muslims and Christians in a two day parade through the streets of Luxor around the ancient mosque of Abu El Haggag.

Abu El Haggag Mosque and Temple

Nothing like getting thrown in the deep end, on my own in a country I’ve never been to, don’t speak the language of (hoping my french will get me by if English doesn’t), with some expensive camera kit in tow, much to the consternation of family and friends who see the evening news regarding instability in the region…

But I was on my way to the airport, the one sure sign a project is on and the only time one allows oneself to get excited about the journey ahead, because today, I’m off to Egypt.

The rest? Making it work and keeping the romance alive. This can be tough sometimes when your love interest has strong environmental ideals, but those who are in it for the long haul will find ways to adapt their courting strategies to their beloved’s green ideologies.

So how do you woo an environmentalist? Here are 5 romantic gift ideas that are also good to the planet:

1) Potted flowers (or plants) over bouquets. Cut flowers are pretty, but they only last a few days and are kind of an eco-waste. Why not give your sweetheart a potted flower, plant, or set of herbs that will have him/her thinking about you for longer than just a few days? In the Middle East, cyclamens are now in season and come in beautiful colors. If flowers are not your love interest’s thing, you can give them a potted mint plant so that they think of you every time they put fresh mint in their tea.

2) Anything handmade. Handmade cards, handmade jam, handmade frames… you name – you will get much more credit for something that is handmade (since it is both sweet and requires fewer carbon emissions). Get in touch with your creative side.

3) Anything handmade… made by a local artisan. If you’ve tried and tried and still can’t make anything handmade yourself, it’s okay to rely on a local artisan’s handcrafting skills. The internet has made locating these handcrafters easier than ever, and one good place to start is the popular website, Etsy.

4) Organic chocolate. If Valentine’s Day teaches us anything, it is that chocolate has become one of the main symbols of love. Containing phenylethylamine (aka the “love chemical”), the consumption of chocolate is said to be linked to the release of certain love hormones. You can’t really go wrong with chocolate. But to score extra green points, make sure that it is organic, fair trade, and as local as possible.

5) Time. Time is one of our most finite resources, and anyone who is concerned with conserving limited natural resources should appreciate the gift of time. Make time to have special experiences together, or just hang out and strengthen your bond. Sometimes the best gifts are free.

This post is by Karen Chernick from Green Prophet

Jen McCreight, in her weblog, offered a suggestion:

I have a modest proposal.
Sedighi claims that not dressing modestly causes earthquakes. If so, we should be able to test this claim scientifically. You all remember the homeopathy overdose?

Time for a Boobqauke.

On Monday, April 26th, I will wear the most cleavage-showing shirt I own. Yes, the one usually reserved for a night on the town. I encourage other female skeptics to join me and embrace the supposed supernatural power of their breasts. Or short shorts, if that’s your preferred form of immodesty. With the power of our scandalous bodies combined, we should surely produce an earthquake. If not, I’m sure Sedighi can come up with a rational explanation for why the ground didn’t rumble. And if we really get through to him, maybe it’ll be one involving plate tectonics.

If I had boobs, I could join; now I can help to boost the Boobquake in the other way
If you got boobs, you can join on this facebook page and challenge religious insane claims with a little humor and science

The new competition will put all the blogs of passing month, at the beginning of every new month, head-to-head to compete hot-on-heels for the elegant virtual awards, The Featured Blog of the Month.

The conditions of the competition isn’t very complicated, as any blog published on MEYArabic is eligible to enter, provided it’s; original, published in the period between the midnight of the first day of the month and the midnight of the last day according to AST, and categorised under any category, except the announcements, updates, current events, news, etc…

Every author has the right to enter the competition with just one article, provided its eligibility. In case the same author has multiple articles during the last month, the website administration will nominate one of them for the grand prize, if the author didn’t nominate himself/herself before the end of the month.

The authors and members of MEYArabic will have the right to vote 2 times to 2 different blogs, and maybe one of them to their own, however the non-members will have only 1 vote. However, if you want to have the eligibility to vote 2 times, it’s simple, just join us at any time of the month to have the eligibility to vote in the competition, unless you join during the time of voting process – the first 5 days of each month.

Check out the full conditions here!

The comments on the associated article following every month will be used the only way for us to count the votes. That means that the voting process would be public for everyone to see.

The winner will get his/her post stuck at the front page for couple of days to three days, be categorized under “The Featured Articles,” stay on the side bar of the competition, on the left hand side of the website, for a whole month, and will also receive an official thank you message from the administration of MEYArabic.

شباب الشرق الأوسط... نفكر للمستقبل: رأسيًا لا أفقيًا

Otherwise, we finally announce the launch of MEYArabic Facebook application, it should be like the English one, and will keep your profile updated with the latest articles published on MEYArabic, throughout the RSS Feed.

Install it on your Facebook profile today!

If you haven’t joined MEYArabic today, you’re definitely missing a big deal of fun, eloquence, creativity and originality! what are you waiting for? Join us today!

This is my Facebook status from yesterday:

Why I feel this way. Where do I start?

1) Because most people still use Twitter for what it was originally created for: Updates about the average person’s terribly mundane existance. Do you have the option to rule it out? Of course, by limiting your list to specific people/organizations you follow. But 1 in every 3 of those will abuse their access to Twitter by consistently tweeting about things that are so intolerably boring that it’s actually offensive they’d allow the rest of us to suffer through reading it. Because I often sit alone at night and wonder what your favorite color is, your favorite food, your sexual preference.

I tolerated this irritation for months, however, even though I felt myself getting dumber and with less of an attention span. I also found myself much less interested in thought provoking blog posts because it required more of an effort than reading about Ali’s wonderful sandwich, before spending 3 minutes staring at it on Twitpic.

2) A growing number of people think it’s useful to chat publicly on Twitter even as it gets more and more personal.

@shutup Hey did you read that article about that one bitch who hates MUSLIMS?

@shutthefuckup Yeah, that journalist is such a loser, who does she think she is?

@shutup If I had a chance to slap her face with a frozen trout, then believe me, I’d take it.

@shutthefuckup DUDE! I think of us sitting cross-legged, enlightened under the same tree. We’re so similar.

@shutup I’m so happy you’re on my Twitter, MAN!

@shutthefuckup Uh, dude, have my babies.

And of course, someone else in your list always has to butt in even if they have nothing of worth to say because TweetDeck was right there and they really, really need to use it NO MATTER WHAT:

@shutyourface Enjoyed conversation by @shutup @shutthefuckup will u accept me in ur social circle #letschataboutboringstuff

So Twitter updates itself and the chat lists grow like a tumor, and you’re wondering who you should unfollow first without “upsetting them,” an argument with yourself that takes no less than 3 minutes to resolve.

3) Even when your intention is to create a heated but thoughtful conversation, on Twitter any and all criticism makes people sound like abusive bigots. Example:

Dear journalist,

I read your article. Overall, it was well written, but I felt that you skewed some of the facts. You definitely have a grasp on the religious practices of the Aztecs, though throughout history they were grossly misunderstood and mislabeled as brutes because of one ritual practice: that of human sacrifice. The hatred and resentment this practice generated among others, lead to their downfall. It should be noted that the Aztecs had never participated in a violent war. Would you consider revisiting your article if we discuss this in further detail?

Fondly,
Someone who isn’t writing this on Twitter

Here is the same criticism. But in less than 140 characters and on Twitter:

@journalist I read your article. Leave the Aztects alone you dumb shit. u jus jealous.

4) The spreading of rumors. Twitter in many ways is dividing itself by clans. People A vs. People B in each issue, like the pro-LGBT, and anti-LGBT rights, or extremely pro Israel and extremely pro Palestine, etc. If something circulates that serves any group’s interests it would be RTed like no other, regardless of whether or not it’s true. There’s a huge chance that you witnessed something like this:

@Syria ATTN: @Iran has herpes PLZ RT!

@UAE RT @Syria ATTN: @Iran has herpes (RT THIS!!! EW Don’t go near them!!1)

@Bahrain RT @UAE RT @Syria ATTN: Iran has herpes, WE ALWAYS TOLD U SO #FUCKIRAN

@CIA @BarackObama check this out – @Iran has herpes (via @Syria @UAE)

@CNN @FoxNews CONFIRMED. THIS JUST IN: @IRAN HAS SEVERE CASE OF HERPES! #BOMBIRAN

And it just goes on and on? And then someone always is brave enough to send that one DM, when they’re not hiding behind obsessive RTs.

@Iran Do you have herpes? That’s pretty bad! Unfollowed. GET HELP.

Of course, this happens with any other service, and is especially true for blogging, but when it’s in 140 characters, it makes you want to decapitate baby lambs before slamming their heads into a refrigerator.

5) Whatever you tell yourself, hours of your precious time on Twitter goes to immediate waste. Sure, it saved all your “marketing” issues, and Twitter from afar seems HUGE, but most of the people you wish to address aren’t even on there and if they are, more than likely they missed 90% of your tweets because they were asleep, or at work, or on Facebook for the 15 minutes that you posted a link to your blog which they missed.

Wait, “ALL I do on Twitter is actual work, I increase awareness about stuff and things,” and yet you find yourself getting increasingly curious about what everyone is doing on Twitter all the time regardless of whether or not it’s relevant. The Jonas Brothers are a trending topic. AGAIN. And twice a day for the next 3 years. But you still absolutely have to see what’s up with those guys and you’ll click on it, if only to check whether or not someone managed to suffocate them with a pillow yet. Then, you will go back to Ali’s Twitpic sandwich because you can’t HELP but wonder whether that pink thing in it was, God forbid, HAM!

For me, when I really think about it, people on Twitter are turning into one big mass of sheep with no discerning personality features other than the fact that they like to “hug” a lot. And after a while it gets kind of uncomfortable to sit around and watch for no reason other than our apparent curiosity.

Twitter is great for sharing, but it leaves no real room for decent conversations, even though it can sometimes start great lasting ones. It’s common knowledge that it’s awesome for awareness, but only if you can tolerate the banquet of bullshit that comes with the service, which, for busy people, is generally not an option.

I’m done with Twitter, finally. All our Twitter accounts (@mideastyouth @MigrantRights @BahaiRights @KurdishRights @OR318 etc) are now in the hands of volunteers, overseen by Fatima. God help her.

PS: I actually advocate the usage of Twitter wholeheartedly, and the difference it can make to an individual or an organization is huge, hence why our members use it daily. You probably should, too, as long as you can discipline yourself and know your limits, and as long as you’re not guilty of any of these 5 things listed here. Aside from these primary reasons, I also stopped because I simply feel much more productive without it.

This song made me curious to discover where and how Moldova is. I reached Moldova by Wikipedia out. The thing was amazing was Moldovan protests against parliamentary election result like Iran two months ago! Also situation was like Iran but in lesser extent.

Wikipedia:

The 2009 civil unrest in Moldova began on April 7, 2009, in major cities of Moldova after the results of the 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election were announced. The demonstrators claimed that the elections, which saw the governing Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) win a majority of seats, were fraudulent, and variably demanded a recount, a new election, or resignation of the government.
The protesters organized themselves using an online social network service, Twitter, hence its moniker used by the media, the Twitter Revolution or Grape revolution.

It has several functionalities and we hope to introduce many more over the next few weeks. Currently, you can conduct a search by country, and choose to see tweets in the form of a list by clicking on “See All” at the bottom of each pop-up.

Mideast Tweets started out being a project for the personal use of Mideast Youth members to keep up with what was being said in the Twittersphere, since we were intrigued by how and where others in the region are using it, but we collectively found it difficult for us to discover new regional Twitter users, hence this project. We liked it so much that we decided to improve it and make it available to the public.

The results are imperfect, due to the many imperfections of the Twitter service itself, but most of the tweets are legitimate. Please be aware that we are still in BETA mode and improvements will continue.

Suggestions for improvement are always welcome. Volunteer developers who can help build upon this are even more welcome! We hope that you will find this useful and to your enjoyment.

The three comedians who form the ‘Allah Made Me Funny’ show are all well respected performers across America and now aim to bring down some social barriers in the UK. The Apollo show is aimed at all cultures and comedy fans, it’s a must see show for those that have missed the previous sell out tours.

Mo Amer, is known to many as the World’s Funniest Palestinian! – Mo has recently toured Iraq performing to the US troops and performed in many countries around the world including the Middle East. He is still classed as a refugee (travels with refugee passport) by the American government and is now seen by many as one of America’s bright comedy hopefuls for the future. He himself hopes to one day perform back in his family homeland roots of Palestine.

Preacher Moss, an Afro American Muslim convert has toured extensively across the USA and Europe for many yrs talks about many issues including being black and fitting into an Asian Muslim family.

Azhar Usman, better known to his friends as the lawyer has performed extensively over the States, Europe and also in India. His brand of humour and appearance will make you smile instantly as he describes his upbringing and how his looks often lead to ridiculous judgments by others.

• “It’s surely no overstatement to claim the world needs this tour” Edinburgh Evening News
• “Heard the one about the bomber?” Guardian
• “Funniest guys I have ever heard” Sir David Frost

Guardian – http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/mar/27/mo-amer-arab-american-standup-texas

For further info, interviews, images, please call FNIK PR on 00 44 (0)7 831 556 951 or e mail fnik@btconnect.com.

Tickets prices range from £25 – £32.50 – www.ticketmaster.com / www.chillitickets.com

Watch the Promo – www.ammftour.com / www.allahmademefunny.com

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duLds-TZMGw[/youtube]

I haven’t laughed this hard, while watching the news, in a while.. a long while actually..

Now, before anyone stresses the point, i don’t personally agree with what the reporter did.. However, it’s too “poetic” that it sure is funny as hell.. And for Arabs, the message this action delivered is too.. I don’t know, Arab.. See, for Arabs, this is considered a major offense, and it represents the idea that the person being thrown at is lower than low, and is not welcome at all.. But i guess, when looking at the US Iraq Invasion timeline (yes, it’s an invasion), Bush had this coming..

I mean, It’s ironic.. How the US can practically rape any country that fits that alleged “Profile” of terror, backed by the poor tax payers money, inflicting all it can from damage, culturally, socially, physically and financially, all under the white flag of “Protecting Peace, Fighting terror, and anyone who’s a threat to our way of life”.. Moreover, the foreign policy used by the Bush Administration made sure that THEY are a threat to everyone else’s way of life.. Stepping over everything, causing societies to crumble from the inside, For all the corrupt causes and reasons, any country in the middle east can be tomorrow’s target.. How many are being taken down in progress so far?

And Financially, this was has been a disaster.. More money has been paid to fund war, causing ridiculous amount of casualties from both sides for too long.. How much have been paid to aid the reconstruction of Iraq? an approximate 20% of what have been paid for war.. And after all this, Bush actually had the retarded logic to travel all the way to the ruins of Iraq, and prance around the microphone claiming that the US did progress in dealing with the threat and putting Iraq back on its feet? Does the x-president read the news? Iraq is eating itself from the outside.. Yeah, crunching the numbers, it seems like indeed the fuel and food levels in Iraq now have returned to what they used to be before the ’03 invasion.. But have you seen the people lately? the struggling government? Things are literally “going down”. You’d expect the people to be angry, and If you’re an Arab, you’d expect a shoe flying right at you if you actually agree with what Bush is saying.

I wonder, if it was better for the reporter to be shot on site in self-defense of the president other than being held in custody.. Because God only knows the kind of hell he’ll be going through.. The locals would see him as a hero by now, and for the Arab world and the rest who share the same opinion, that reporter had summed in one action what we all wanted say.. I can say that metaphorically, the guy delivered what I had in mind about Bush’s presence in the Middle east in General, and his recent visit to Iraq in specific.. Makes me wonder if the action was actually meant to be delivered that way to deliver a message more than to actually hurt him.

On another note, Bush really impressed me with his fast reaction.. He had the fast reflexes of a cat, and a brain of a walrus, and a human-like sense of humor when he commented on the shoe size.. And i guess this should be added to Bush’s wall of achievements.. And it’s probably a first in any presidential history.. There’ve been people who were assassinated, nearly bombed away, poisoned, physically attacked.. But a Shoe?

Congratulations George Jr, You did it again, you made your father proud too.. A glorious end for a “glorious” 8 year presidency.. As for the secret service has another item added to the “morally” fatal weapons to frisk for..

Finally, my message to the reporter:

You did, on our behalf, what none had the guts to do, Arabs and non-Arabs allike.. Thank you, in a way..

Yours,
Lou..

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