Disqus - Friends of moftasa

Re: مائة ميزة في محافظة الجيزة

embee — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:25:26 -0000

Technically, are Dandy Mall & Carrefour still in Giza?

Giza Zoo FTW :D

Re: Foursquare Goes Global: Now You Can Check in From Anywhere

embee — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:59:56 -0000

Being @ Cairo, Egypt, I definitely will. Finally Foursqaure :)

Re: shedding some light on after dark.

avantcaire — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:52:41 -0000

at heart it was a compliment. relationship advice is always funny.

Re: baladi bar.

avantcaire — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:35:28 -0000

welcome. just in time for your retirement from blogging. temporary we hope.

Re: al jazeera’s foukara on the daily show.

avantcaire — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 11:02:05 -0000

hi sayed
i was actually very impressed by foukara's performance- when he said he was from al jazeera arabic i have expected the interview to disintegrate into a shout-fest. he read and played the show's tone well and i found him surprisingly balanced on the politics as well. he deserves kudos for stating the israeli bureau comment.

Re: in the eye of the sun. [ahdaf soueif]

avantcaire — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:35:25 -0000

lol. you crack me up.
so what is wrong with passing autobiography off as fiction if its sweetly and lyrically written?
reading about female grooming is possibly more interesting for guy readers.
mostly i enjoyed being immersed in my parents' cairo - romanticized as it is for them.

Re: the red talk.

avantcaire — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:15:26 -0000

thanks ahmed- will pass the message on.

forsoothsayer- feel better that there are others out there? yes! feel better for putting this out there? yes! i do feel that the religious generational chasm affects (as in gets in the way of) the parent child relationship though.

Re: in the eye of the sun. [ahdaf soueif]

avantcaire — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:40:43 -0000

well it comes down to a subjective difference of opinion (on her writing style) then. as you're the finer writer i happily concede.

i am not well-versed in arab female writing but assume that sexual expression is not as common as it should be so welcomed the gentle explicitness of the book.

Re: animated gaza | closed zone.

avantcaire — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:22:12 -0000

hmm. the reviews i have read have been positive including anthony lane, edelstein and a.o. scott whom i generally listen to.
the blog's review seemed to be more about the politics than the film.
the snippets i have seen look visually interesting. i am curious.

Re: an arab for israel. [30 years later]

avantcaire — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 08:32:28 -0000

yes ahmed - my point is focus on the future rather than settling the past. alleviating the hopeless state of palestine's refugees seems much more pressing than arguing over precise land borders.

eman - the recent gaza war was not israel's finest hour. perspective is in order though. most countries tend malicious- israel's unchecked regional dominance doesn't help. no such thing as a country with a clean slate. i have heard the 'someone moves in to your house' line often - but that episode is over. as part of the post 48, post 67 generation the goalposts have shifted from reclaiming palestine to reclaiming palestinian self-determination alongside the region's new superpower. what is important to me is dealing with the refugees, building a peaceful prosperous gaza etc.
my post was less a brag of love for israel than a call for more vocal arab support for peaceful coexistence - and i welcome your voice.

forsoothsayer- glad to see you've traitorously fallen in line. i also support your right to an obedient second-class citizenship.

Re: an arab for israel. [30 years later]

avantcaire — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:19:17 -0000

thank you for adding your voice ahmed.

i am in agreement with your thoughts and sentiments. i especially appreciate your view on how things can move from idealism to realism with surprising speed.
there is of course plenty of work to be done on both sides of the wall. an important part of that work is chipping away at the prejudices and mis- (or non-) understandings of each other. here's to moving beyond the mutual vilification.

Re: kafeya! literary cairo [APS 9]

avantcaire — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:18:37 -0000

Hi Mariam,

Lovely to see you here. You can find out more about A Public Space magazine here.

Re: search.summary.2009.

avantcaire — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:16:19 -0000

not at all. just thought it was interesting.

Re: my friends seeking solace all over. [osho | humaniversity | hypnosis | regression]

avantcaire — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:07:21 -0000

just for the week. i do though think there is partial substance to his dismissal of marriage.

Re: shirin neshat | dima el horr | homayoun [new directors new films '10] @ndnf

avantcaire — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:35:42 -0000

thanks - will try to seek it out in that case.

Re: stillborn. art censorship in dubai. [empty quarter | difc]

avantcaire — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:39:48 -0000

no hand on breast as far as i can see. i assumed it was the depiction of lifestyles that crossed the line here.

Re: stillborn. art censorship in dubai. [empty quarter | difc]

avantcaire — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 09:27:29 -0000

i only just noticed the see-trough panel, local female + nudity = probably off limits.

emirati society is also big on keeping its domestic scenes private, even to close friends and family never mind strangers in an art gallery.

it is a joyful scene.

Re: stillborn. art censorship in dubai. [empty quarter | difc]

avantcaire — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:05:05 -0000

i saw pre or post coital polygamous amour in the image. eye, beholder.

love the look of the series brought back my childhood.

Re: stillborn. art censorship in dubai. [empty quarter | difc]

avantcaire — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 10:12:09 -0000

thanks for the update hind. look fwd to seeing the catalog / work.

Re: hey @mobinil, this chart’s for you.

avantcaire — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:55:24 -0000

i dont know enough about the market to comment confidently but surely the problem is both the denominator and the numerator.

if broadband access is strategically important for the nation's development which i think it is and which in emerging economies will most likely happen via wireless providers then this stat is worrying. i imagine one of the main cost drivers for operators is the cost of acquiring licenses in which case the government is potentially short-changing the poor in egypt by pricing the licenses and therefore the broadband rates too highly (even if the spectrum was auctioned off the govt could have still influenced this outcome).

Re: hey @mobinil, this chart’s for you.

avantcaire — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:55:25 -0000

i dont know enough about the market to comment confidently but surely the problem is both the denominator and the numerator.

Re: fatherhood ::: lessons in mortality. questions of morality.

avantcaire — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:06:56 -0000

parental love: consequence, not grounds.

a lovely piece in this weeks new york by jennifer senior looks at the existential retrospective happiness parenthood provides vs the daily drudgery of child-rearing:

“I think this boils down to a philosophical question, rather than a psychological one,” says Gilovich. “Should you value moment-to-moment happiness more than retrospective evaluations of your life?” He says he has no answer for this, but the example he offers suggests a bias. He recalls watching TV with his children at three in the morning when they were sick. “I wouldn’t have said it was too fun at the time,” he says. “But now I look back on it and say, ‘Ah, remember the time we used to wake up and watch cartoons?’ ” The very things that in the moment dampen our moods can later be sources of intense gratification, nostalgia, delight.

It’s a lovely magic trick of the memory, this gilding of hard times. Perhaps it’s just the necessary alchemy we need to keep the species going. But for parents, this sleight of the mind and spell on the heart is the very definition of enchantment.

Re: http://icanseenewyorkcityfrommyhouse.tumblr.com/post/1122864158

avantcaire — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 10:26:34 -0000

i can see ramadan?