Reflect upon...

The Most Memorable Movies' scenes.

2011-11-25T00:11:00.001Z

And that's according to myself...

The Most Uplifting Scene:

The blind man scene from Amelie'

This scene shows how small details in life can make you feel happy. The music plays a major part in making this the happiest scene in movies...

The Most Romantic Scene:

The proposal scene from Forrest Gump

The way Forrest express his love to Jenny, with no pretentiousness... knowing she doesn't feel the same way... how he is heart broken and go to stand outside... is just so romantic for me...

The Most Heart-Breaking Scene:

Loosing Wilson from Cast Away

Needless to say that Tom Hanks is one of my top favorite actors of all times. In this scene he cries after loosing his imaginary friend embodied in the ball "Wilson".... This scene depicts the fragility of the human heart and how we always need to make emotional connections to survive even if with a ball...
I cry every time I see this scene....

The Most Horrific Scene:

Accident scene from One Day

Though I read the Novel and I knew the ending... when I saw this I was horrified like never in my life... I think the scene is very graphical and very very disturbing.

The Most Terrifiying Scene:

The ending scene from The Blair Witch Project

Watch Clip on YouTube
"embedding is disabled for all the clips I found"

The whole movie is so scary simply because we don't know what we are scared of. The rawness of the fear of these boys is what makes you scared. And I remember when I saw the last scene I just wanted to cry out of fear... especially when we see that other guy standing facing the wall.... and till now I don't know why is it so scary. I just know it is the most terrifying scene ever!!!

What about you? What's your most memorable scenes?

Rest in Peace Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T04:43:00.001Z

[[Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.]] Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford Commencement Address.

TASmania! Ch.2: The Tasman Peninsula

2011-09-05T01:50:00.036Z

Picking up from where I stopped the other time...
After spending some time in Hobart... we headed further south to the Tasman Peninsula...

We had the keys to a friend's shack at Eaglehawck Neck... by the time we reached there it was late in the evening... and for the first time in my life I had spotted wallabies which ended up hopping towards me and freaking me out...

The morning after we started exploring the area around... we drove to the Tasman Arch which has a stunning view to the Ocean...

And the ever steep Devil's Kitchen... I wonder what was he cooking down there...

Trying to find some fossils at the Fossil Bay...

And looking at the blowhole... though it had no sound, only a bad breathe...

We kept driving to Port Arthur and though we made it to the site... we decided not to venture going inside. Port Arthur has a major role in the History of Australia. This was a convict settlement in the 1800s where British and Irish convicts were brought here. The site is heavy with memories as another tragedy took place in 1996 when 35 people were killed in what is know known as Port Arthur Massacre.

* Image by the Hubby

Along our drives... we came by a nice white beach... simply beautiful... a beach no famous but for those lucky enough to live nearby...

We drove by many small towns... and had fish and chips at a local place in Nubeena where instantly we felt we were the strangers and the new faces of the day for the locals eating and working there...

We visited Maingon Bay...

where you can see the special rock formation on the outside wall of Remarkable Cave

before you actually go inside the cave to take an insider look at how the ocean can deeply kiss the earth...

We reached further down to the Coal Mines Historic Site and walked there until the sunset. This site is full of memories too where convicts were used as cheap labors to dig out coals. Many lives had vanished on that site.

After that we drove back to Eaglehawk Neck finishing up the whole road circuit in the Peninsula.

Next day we managed an early visit to the Tessellated Pavements... a marvelous work of time and pressure... nature being sculpted in the most precise geometrical forms I've seen in nature.

And then we headed back up to Hobart.... before our next drive up North along the east coast....

Chapter III: The East Coast

to be continued...

Happy Eid

2011-08-30T02:17:00.002Z

From super devoika to all the Muslims around the globe... with love... Enjoy your sweets... =)

TASmania! Ch.1: Hobart for the first time

2011-07-21T07:30:00.002Z

Awhile ago I went backpacking to Tasmania with my husband.. I found myself stepping back to a time and a place of utter childhood happiness and serenity...
It was a journey of exploration... experiencing new things and living in a fairy land...
While there you become oblivious, just like the land is, of what is happening out in the ugly rest of the world...
Without a mobile coverage or Internet access... My only connection was with the beauty... that has been always there... waiting to be seen... and yearning to be admired...

During the short time we stayed there... we spend a couple of days in Hobart with our friends... then we head down south to the Tasman Peninsula... and afterwards we explored the east coast reaching to St. Helens... then we went back to Hobart but this time we drove inland...
I'll try to share my experience with you... hoping that one day... you can experience it too...

------------------------
Chapter I: Hobart for the first time...

After having our flight cancelled due to the ash cloud... we found ourselves on another plane three days later... and in two hours... I saw Tasmania for the first time... and yes it was love from the first sight...
We got picked up by a friend from the airport... who took us on a drive around the city before reaching his house and resting for a while...
We arrived in Hobart on a Saturday... Saturday in Hobart for a newcomer means one thing; Salamanca Market...
You can find many things in the market... fresh fruits... leatherwood honey... Crafts of every sort... alternative clothing... live performances... hand made stuff... homemade food... and the famous man calling out [Applllllles]...

I didn't walk around that much because the plan was to pay another visit to the market on the following Saturday...

After that, we walked around the city... the houses there are different than in Sydney... you feel that you are in the countryside... the settings are much relaxed...

The city is hilly... and in that way... most of the houses face the Derwent River...

First day finished with me well pleased with Hobart...

First sunrise in Hobart was amazing..

On Sunday you have another market... the farmers' market... we went there just to look at the fresh veggies and fruits...

image by the Hubby....

Apples are very famous in Tasmania... in one of the stalls... a man was selling appleccino... a yummy spicy hot fresh apple juice...

And then we were recommended to try the sushi stall... with the Tasman wasabi...

After that we explored different parts of the city...

We visited some friends... before heading off to our first stop at Eaglehawk Neck...

I have to say... I was pleased with Hobart... and its different air and feeling...

Chapter II: The Tasman Peninsula...

......... to be continued

Dancing in Public!

2011-06-22T07:30:00.001Z

I love when people claim back their public spaces. People should be able to do things collectively and on an urban scale!!

That's why when I first saw the video of Lebanese dancing Dabkeh at the Airport I got so excited...

But then I saw various videos of Jordanians dancing whatever styles in the mall... and I thought [Seriously...!?]. For many reasons it just looked meaningless and shallow to me...

Don't get me wrong! There is nothing wrong in wanting to dance! But in a country or in an area where we have so many causes to take... so many issues to address... why would we choose to dance on Lady Gaga's songs!!!?

Of a late, there has been many flash mobs and flash dances organized by BDS Movement... I saw videos of that happening in the US and in Australia....

You look at these people who have a strong stand about something they think is wrong and here they are standing by the Palestinians and against injustice... while we dance on Lady Gaga!!

I wish there will be a day when all the injustice in this world will be gone! When we have no problems at all... and we can rejoice and dance...
But until then... I have to sing along with these people if I ever feel the urge to dance in public...

Dear Muslims!

2011-05-05T01:20:00.000Z

Dear Muslims... STOP defending yourselves...

You don't have to eat in McDonald's...
You don't have to wear Gucci sunglasses with your hijab...
You don't have to keep telling others that Islam comes from the word Salam meaning peace...
You don't have to brag about reading the whole Harry Potter collection... In English!!
You don't have to makes jokes about the wahabiees, the talibanees, the salfiees or whateverees...

You don't have to pretend being moderate to anyone's taste...

STOP trying so hard to impress... And please stop trying so hard to show that Islam and Modern lifestyle can come together...

You owe no one any explanations!!! If people are ignorant it's their problem not yours!!

Someone lives here | أحدهم يعيش هنا

2011-03-30T04:42:00.002Z

قصاصة فيديو تجريبية... لا تبحث عن مكنونات المكان او وحي الزمان او اي من المفاهيم المفتعلة عن هواجس الانسان... هذا العمل تجريبي بحت...

An experimental video scarp... which don't deal with the metaphysics of place or the inspirations of time... not even any imposed concept about the layers of the human soul's concerns... this piece is purely experimental...

Fear and Advertising

2011-03-17T05:57:00.002Z

Fear and Desire are the two essential incentives to make a person do or not do anything! Through playing around these two emotions you can sell whatever you want, whether it is a product, a behavior or a belief.
Of course in the entertainment business it is much more enjoyable to use the desire feeling. That's why when fear is used you tend to get goosebumps at least.
Fear is a very strong emotion and when deployed right it can create a big incentive. But, fear of what?

Fear about health is probably the most important one. Humans tend to get very cautious when it comes to their health or their lives for that matter.
One really good example is this Australian anti-tan campaign which made me write this post to begin with.

Fear about your life or other people's lives is another one. And there is no better example that the whole Think! UK driving campaign. The Ads are very real and believable. You instantly put yourself in the people's shoes and you just think how can you avoid that in reality. Here is one of my favorite...

Another type of fear which works better if you are religious that is fear of God and of the End. Best example is MBC "Aqim Salatak" pro-praying campaign. The first ad was so intense they had to pull it off air quickly. The campaign started with [Pray before you die] slogan which later on changed to [Pray to have a better life]. So fear was substituted with desire.
This is an ad with fear...

And that's another ad with desire...

So what do you think? Is using fear in advertising a good call? or should we stick with desire and keep people happy in their little worlds?

Gooday Sydney! Good Day Change...

2011-03-11T05:57:00.000Z

It has been a very long time since I blogged... so I feel like starting with [Asslam Alikum] to all the brave people in the Arab World... who have made me believe again in the power of the people... and the possibility of a change... my words fall short in front of the greatness of your efforts... may they be blessed... and may more change come your way... for the best from now on... Bless your souls you Arabs and Muslims there...

As for me... Australia has become my new home... and oh Boy! Sydney!!!!
What better way of expressing how I feel than these photos that I will share with you... Hope you'll like them...

Much love and salam from super devoika from the down under... =)

Time for new keys

2011-01-23T20:36:00.001Z

Now that I own nothing in Amman... I have given out all my keys... Nothing is left expect one thing...
Embrace my new future and start my new adventure...

This is the last post from super devoika in Amman... very soon I'll be leaving Amman to live in Sydney... and there I shall start a totally new life... New keys will reside in my old dear keys-chain...

Soon reflect upon will have a new flavor....

Till then... I bid all my faithful readers a warm goodbye...
Until we meet again... I wish you well ;-)

Fi Aman Allah

Where will our Higher Education System take us?

2011-01-01T19:28:00.011Z

A question I have to ask after seeing a video of University students not knowing basic answers to basic questions... One girl thought Hungary is a planet in the space while another thought Berlusconi is a brand for modern cars tires!!! But when asked about Nancy Ajram... they just all knew the answer!!! And then I saw one of the many videos about the recent fight that took place at Jordan University... The University I graduated from and worked at for 3 years....
These two videos and my own experience after teaching at University level for almost 6 years I have to wonder about the efficiency of our Higher Education System...
I think that the problem has many dimensions playing at it and causing it...
One of the most important dimensions is our High School Education... as I quoted before in one of my posts... it seems that our Education system is based on established facts and information and to be a good student is to confine your thinking to these establishments... most of the information there are dull, old and irrelevant... Yet these information are what will take students to the next level of their education, their "Higher Education"...
Besides these textbooks, students are not encouraged to read... Reading is one of the greatest habits that most Arab countries lack... How can we solve this problem? I honestly don't know... I don't understand how can people live without reading? for me I was brought up to read and was encouraged by my dad's collection of books and my parents habits of reading.... and thus reading became a natural act..
But it is not reading that can only open up people's minds... getting into serious or dare I say intellectual talks with peers, family and friends is as influential... this has to lead me back to the educational institutions... how much are we allowed to question? Are there red lines that we shouldn't question? Shouldn't everything be tested to stand against reason? When we start thinking about everything around us and discussing these issues with others, our minds will start to expand... we will realize what intrigue us and try to find out more about that and here the books and reading enter...
Even better, now we have the Internet... sometimes I literally hold back my tears when I think about the magnitude of the Human Intellect that is laid before me... just a click away.. however this click seems to be a curse to most universities than a bless...
Anyways back to my post...
So now... we have one dimensional students pursuing their higher education... most of these students didn't choose what they want to study but were forced by the way the system functions to study whatever major... How can they excel in what they are doing? Why would they be compelled to read and expand their minds?

What is to fill their minds? for no matter what... the mind has to be filled? Hence enter Nancy Ajram, et al...

Aside from that you have people who are given chances to enter into Universities based on other considerations which we all know about... some of these students would have extreme loyalty to their tribes and clans...

So... to sum things up...
You have one dimensional thinkers... non-readers... pop culture worshipers... forced paths followers... clans and tribes supporters... all forming the largest portion of our future generation... How can we then be surprised of the videos above?

So what is the solution? What do you think ought to be done?
How can you recreate a whole generation?
I know that we have some bright people here and there... but these are not enough... there must be a way out of this... and I'm talking about massive change before our Higher Education System takes us any LOWER than now...

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T08:46:00.002Z

This year has been different... That's all I can say...
And since I don't celebrate New Year... I'll just leave you with a great comment I received last year from one of the very few people I admire, Maverick... Hoping he won't object to that..

[[[ Mr Maverick Returns said...

Come on do not be party popper Tonight is New Year's Eve so it's going to be FUN you will be HAPPY. Maybe this year local councils will provide FUN POLICE, who have the authority to enter any premises where they suspect there's not enough fun and order everyone to wave their arms and take photos of each other's arses. This is what our society expect from us. They have stolen all our real celebration and given us some commercial surrogates to make their coffers richer and richer. But that is not enough they want to control our minds, we cannot think. That is so not permitted. They must rule on us. They have stolen our dreams but given us the green $1 bill. (f*** them) Just look at the average European country. We used to have a real Christmas with traditions rooted in pagan Rome (or earlier) then Byzantine Anatolia and in Catholic western culture....Father Christmas was basically a green man that brings gifts to the homes of the good children. We have lost it for the sake of Coca Cola. I do not give a toss if his dress green or red...but is the principle and the fact that slowly slowly Christmas has lost any kind of importance. Now is just important to buy useless stuff that will re thrown away or placed on eBay in less than 24 h. and the next day lets' all rush to he sale to buy more more and more! Where is the principle of Christmas gone??? Or what about Halloween ?? It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints, one of the most important Catholic day when live and death come very close. Again it has been stolen by some stupid american corporation as their national too stupid too think with their only brain cell dying of loneliness in an empty head but for sure fat with McDonald belly! now for hallowen we buy spiders, bat, masks, sweets, pumpkins, etc etc for a multi billions trade every year that has nothing to do with the real meaning of the traditional festivity. No matter what we celebrate Christmas at 50C in Australia with fake snow, in communist Bejing they must have found a similarity between the fake Father Christmas red jacket and the Communist flag and, Christmas trees are in the street of Cairo because obviously is the traditional Egyptian tree and I have been told that some fat Saudi is renting out next year the Kabba that he will cover it in red with reindeer and sledges for the two weeks ultimate Christmas grotto for the sake on some green dollars and possibly some new army contract. The very same for New years eve we must be happy becasue next year is going to be better this is the rule and we should buy buy and buy! We have all welcomed these changes because now we are glad to live in a secular society but when you have emptied a celebration of its meaning you have lost that celebration. Full stop. Now we can go on pretend to be happy, next year is going to be better, they told me on the TV and on the papers (it must be true) with our new shoes and my new leather jacket. Last year I was told my 2009 would have been great instead was crap...where should I go to get a refund?? Let’s drink more and more tonight is the night when you're not only allowed but encouraged to get drunk, even the Archbishop of Canterbury is saying so. This annual weirdness is supplemented by the fact that it comes so soon after our crazy Christmas. In every other culture from the Iron Age onwards, festivals involved the community going outwards and celebrating communally, but we do the opposite and turn everything towards isolation, we shut absolutely everything and sit indoors getting stuffed of food and brainless TV They created an expectation of perfect dinners and presents, that makes people feel a Christmas Police inspector will be round in the afternoon, to sit in the corner with a clipboard making notes about unsatisfactory mince pies. It is getting late...I must rush get changed wear my HAPPY mask and fill by glass ...now empty...before the Police inspectors come and knock at my door! Thanks God next year is going to be better.]]

Wishing you all who celebrate this a Happy New Year... Maverick where ever you are... Hope this year was good and the next will be better... =)

And lastly to My Mohammad...May this be the last New Year Eve where you are 9 hours ahead of me...

The Narratives* | 25

2010-12-25T19:13:00.000Z

The palantír showed her the image...
The Future turned out to be something else...

Did the palantír lie? or didn't she know how to see...
Where did the girl inside the palantír disappear?

* The Narratives: stories, events, and scenes that happen[ed] inside and around my head…

Let me tell you something about the education system!

2010-12-23T18:58:00.002Z

[[[
Scott: Let me tell you something about the education system.
Poppy: Oh, go on, then.
Scott: It produces left brain prisoners.
Scott: Do you know what that means?
Poppy: I do.

Scott: Well, I'll tell you. Our brain has two sides. The left brain and the right brain. The left brain... Keep going, keep going. The left brain is information, data.
It's dead. The right brain is individuality.
It's where the soul lies.
And the education system, it works like this -
"I will give you a world view. And if you repeat my world view, if you reconfirm my world view, you will pass your exams and you will go higher and higher and higher and you will become a policeman, a magistrate, a lawyer, a general, a politician, and you will be happy and you will succeed. But if you think for yourself, if you think outside of the box, then you will be unhappy and you will fail. "

That's how the education system works.
]]]]]

From Happy Go Luck movie...

To err is.... =)

2010-12-19T08:22:00.000Z

Thought of You!

2010-12-13T18:17:00.002Z

Once upon a pond...

2010-11-04T16:31:00.000Z

I am who I am... because I was given iced blue glasses to look at ducks with love... and to understand what it means to be free...

For that... I will always be thankful...

100 Days of Solitude and Gratitude...

2010-10-18T18:38:00.001Z

100 days are almost left before one of the biggest steps I'll ever take in my life..
A step that will make me leave my family, my friends, my job and my city... and for the rest of my life... leave my solitude....

My plan for these coming days is to [try to] cherish every moment of my solitary life and to be grateful for all the wonders and miracles my family, my friends, my job and my city had brought to my life..

Change is always good. And when you have a great [for-ever] companion waiting for you then the good becomes the best...

Happy Eid...

2010-09-09T13:03:00.002Z

Tomorrow Most Muslims around the world will be celebrating their Eid... and for all of those who managed to live Ramadan truly... I say Happy Eid... and May you be showered with more of God's grace, love, peace and blessings...

And yeah... Enjoy the ma3mool season... =)

Ramadan 2010

2010-09-01T12:20:00.000Z

More of these stunning photos here at the Boston Globe

hat tip to Shabana...

Eat, Pray, Love

2010-08-11T08:51:00.000Z

Yesterday I finished reading in one of New York Times bestsellers novel! [Eat, Pray, Love]... Was I blown away by it? No. Is it a good book? Yes.
The novel is an autobiography of a woman who is searching for inner peace after going through an ugly divorce, a broken heart and so on... in her quest she goes to Italy to eat... to India to pray and to Indonesia to find balance [and fall in love]... The novel is based on the novelist [Elizabeth Gilbert] own true story.
There is a sense of humor in Gilbert's style which brings you closer to the characters and the story feels more true. Her depiction of the feelings that go inside her is authentic and you can feel her pain especially at the beginning of the novel [the part in Italy]...
But as we move to India and the stories about spirituality come flying in... her words feels exaggerated and at some points pretentious. I'm not a pure spiritual person yet I do believe in spirituality. Still the experiences she wrote about is hard for me to fathom as real. Also at this point she started to contradict herself I think because she was trying to exaggerate!!! So at some point she would say she had never understood how meditation is and how hard and impossible for her to feel anything but then she would tell you that once before she had an out-of-this-world experience with the Divine while mediating!! For me this was a bit confusing and unbelievable.
In the last part where she moves to Indonesia... she starts with a positive attitude toward the place and all of people and customs but then her American attitude creeps in and you start feeling that she is becoming a wee bit condensing... but this is how I felt and not necessarily true for all.
And of course the part where she falls in love is not very strong or convincing.

This novel is going to be a movie soon... with Julia Roberts playing Gilbert. I wonder how the movie will be? Since the director will only choose what he thinks will appeal to the masses!

On a final note... today marks the beginning of the month of Ramadan for Muslims. So for those who fast during it... I wish you will eat, pray and love.... and may Peace and Blessings of the Divine sweep through your hearts and bring you more love and serenity.

تفاحة مكزوزة

2010-07-19T18:30:00.000Z

قبل قليل كانت ابنت اختي مريم و البالغة من العمر سنتان و نصف تخبرنا بالتالي:
ماما راح تشتريلي كمبيوطل عليه تفاحة مكزوزة زي تاع اوسيله

=)

Lab Tajribi... another step

2010-07-12T07:06:00.000Z

Lab Tajribi | Experimental Expressions is a non-physical art atelier for experimental art and forms of expression. Currently the lab is mine... but hopefully it will attract other experimental artists in the near future....

I'm still moving in there so visit us again...

Go Down the Capitalism

2010-07-06T20:01:00.005Z

Lab Tajribi...

2010-05-29T09:35:00.001Z

Flyvertising!!!

2010-05-24T18:25:00.002Z

I honestly don't know how to feel about this new technique of advertising... No doubt it is shocking and had an impact on people inducing them to interact... so I think it was a success...
I guess I like it after all...

Source

Thanks Dana for sharing it with me...

Mohammad Walks!

2010-05-21T17:34:00.000Z

	Lupe Fiasco .mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Mohammad Walks, Lupe Fiasco

One Tree

2010-05-20T09:04:00.001Z

[[When Thomas brought the news that the house I was born in no longer exists. Neither the lane nor the park sloping to the river nothing. I had a dream of return... multicolored joyous... I was able to fly...& the trees were even higher than in childhood because they had been growing. During all the years they had been cut down..] Czesław Miłosz

In a Memory of my Good Tree... With Love!...

Nakba!

2010-05-15T09:31:00.000Z

May the dream of return come true...

Movie Review: Ajami عجمي

2010-04-29T12:25:00.007Z

Ajami is an 2010 Oscar nominated Foreign Film. The Movie is directed by an Arab Israeli and an Israeli Directors. The movie was representing Israel at the Academy Awards and that was on the reasons I didn't wish it will win.... I know what some of you might think. But yes! I don't recognize Israel. And no! I'm not an anti-Semite. The other reason I didn't wish it to win is that I was rooting for the movie that actually won [El Secreto De Sus Ojos] and I do believe it deserved the winning.

Ajami is the name of a neighborhood in Jaffa where Muslim and Christian Palestinians live. The movie traces down the lives of several people living there including a storyline about a Jewish family who lost their son in ambiguous circumstances.

The movie is one of the best I've seen this year. It is emotionally intense and keeps your heart beating quickly all through the way.
The directing of the movie is amazing. The angles that the camera were moving in is superb with the variation between intimate close ups and drowsy landscapes.
The sounds in the movie played a vital role in creating the environment and the feeling of the story.
Music when played were an integral part of the scene creating an invisible character rather than an add-on effect.
The movie consists of several chapters. Each chapter reveal one part of the storyline. But then repetitions of certain events happen, though in each chapter it is shown from a different perspective and through the lives of different people. Part of the enchantment of this movie is realizing how the world is a small place and how the lives of strangers are still connected on different levels. And how at the end of the day the lives of strangers around us are the lives of ourselves too.

Another important element of this movie is the fact that most of the actors and actresses in this movie are normal people with no experience in acting what so ever. This fact gave the movie a more realistic feeling and at some points you might think it is a documentary and not a fiction.

There are parts of the storyline that I didn't like as a Palestinian myself. But from an artistic point of view away from my direct emotional attachments this movie is a great one!

One of the things that usually draw me to any movie is how human it is... this movie is very humane... dealing with human feelings of family bonds, motherhood, brotherhood and love. These feelings are recurring events in the lives of the different characters. This as well shock you as to how our lives are still similar.
On of the feelings being portrayed was the feeling of sudden shock of sadness.

== Spoiler Alert ==

This happened first for a Jewish policeman who was looking for his missing brother. When the army found the body of his brother he ran to see it. Of course the Israeli soldiers tried to stop him from approaching the discovery scene and then you see a fight between a man desperate to see his lost brother and the army who needs to keep everything in order.
Later on the movie a Palestinian guy is notified that his best friend was found dead in his apartment. The same way, he runs to his friend's place just to see him and maybe understand how come his friend is dead. But again a fight between him and the Israeli Police happens where they try to stop him and he on the other hand fight to get to the crime scene. The sad part is, not only he was kept away from his friend's body but was then sent to jail for assaulting the police.

== End of Spoiler ==

The last scene of the movie is a masterpiece. Sounds were the master of that scene. The shock you'll get is something that you'll have to carry with you for a while... until you'll be able to understand how can life go on for the people in the movie after that. And in a deeper sense to yourself too.

All in all [Ajami] is a movie I would surely recommend for anyone to see... a masterpiece by two young directors.

The Arab Facade

2010-04-21T06:37:00.002Z

In our Arab societies we still suffer from hypocrisy. The way they solve problems is by covering them and pretending they don't exist....
This is highly used in architecture for example. I remember in one of my jury session for my graduation project. An architect working with GAM made a comment which illustrate that.
In my project I designed a bridge between my project and a refugee camp just across the road from my site. She didn't like that. And told me that usually we should hide unpleasant scenes by creating walls and paint them nicely... !!!

Hide them and pretend they don't exist!!

How many times have you been confronted for being honest and not hiding your true feelings behind the screen of politeness...
You see around you smiling faces that will diss you the minute you turn your back...

All hiding behind the perfect Arab facade...

Communication Theory Assignment

2010-04-18T19:07:00.002Z

This semester I'm teaching a course titled [Communication Theory] for Design and Visual Communication students. This course addresses several issues dealing with Media, Society, Mass Communication, Message Production and so on.
So for their Mid term I decided to put the theories to test by proposing an online assignment.
I asked my students to answer certain questions through creating a video response to a video I posted on our GJU.Design Channel on Ikbis....
The questions were:
Do New Media give people their Freedom or do it control them?
Do New Media create equality or division between people?
And this is my Assignment Video...

My students did very well... and they have responded in many different ways to the video. Some did Animation, stop motion, video montage and video logs...

Ikbis and other online sharing sites are usually and sadly banned in educational institutions in Jordan... but I wanted to defy even this reality and make others understand the power that is given [for free] to people... normal people... who have valuable things to share...
I'm really glad about my students interactions... they did engage themselves and used the new media beautifully. Here are some samples of their work...

The rest can be seen here...

By Faris Baidon

By Rania Ghariabeh

By Natalie Beiruti

By Saja Muzaini

By Yasmin Juma'a

By Jude Kawwa

By Lian Saifi

Please complete the power of the new media by going there and commenting on their works...

Spread the love and share the power... =)

Originally posted on SABE Reconnaissance

Crazy?

2010-04-10T16:58:00.002Z

Me: I'm crazy! Soph, Do you think I'm crazy?
Sophie: Of course you are. But Craziness is the best thing in the world.

Movie Review | Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-22T07:58:00.010Z

Alice in Wonderland is probably one of my best novels of all times... I always felt enchanted by the characters... by the grinning cat... the mad hatter and by the hooka smoking caterpillar...
I was inspired by Alice... to be like her falling down a rabbit hole... to make others feel like she did as she stepped into the Looking Glass...

I was Alice's invisible companion in all her adventures...

So... When Tim Burton said he'll make a movie about Alice... I couldn't wait... till it was released...

But.. unfortunately... The unpredictable Burton... was very expected... And produced what I think was a hiccup in his career....

== Spoilers Warning!==

The Plot... was naive... with some characters removed... some characters gaining more importance than others like the Mad Hatter [played by Johnny Depp].
Burton made it like a sequel to the most beloved books by Lewis Carroll... but it ended up being a cliche plot where the young unorthodox girl is being forced to marry Mr. Mom-Thinks-You-Are-Perfect... just like her sister who pretends to be happy... and then the girl... against all odds... refuses the guy and decide to start a career...
Seriously!!!

== End of Spoilers ==

But if the movie is more concerned with the adventures rather than the ending... then other flaws begin to appear...

The setting and the looks of the characters are all too dark for a wonderland and wonderland inhabitants... even Alice has black halos around her eyes... almost looking sick and displeased... in fact you don't get the feeling that Alice is enjoying her being in Wonderland... which at some point in the movie is actually being called "Underland"!!!!!

The Mad Hatter looks funny but again... excessive makeup that for me didn't do the trick...

The Red Queen as she is being called instead of [Queen of Hearts]... is the only thing that I have no comment about... I loved her character... her temper... her makeup... Helena Bonham-Carter did a great job!

The White Queen on the other hand... I couldn't understand... she is white... and moves swiftly like the wind.... but then she wears very dark lipstick and finger nails... giving her more a ghostly presence... which I couldn't relate to...

The Wonderland as well... is a bit dark reminding me of Fleet Street from Burton's Sweeny Todd...

There is a sense of agony and trouble all during the movie which for me contradicts with the fluttering of my soul when I ever think of Alice's Wonderland...

In the novels by Lewis Carroll... you find passages and conversations which leaves you puzzled... and makes you read more about your own life and being... These stimulating simple conversations are missing from the movie...

Burton has put a lot of effort in the visual making of the movie than the conceptual one... and I think this is where he failed...

Would I recommend any to watch this movie...? Yes I would...
This wasn't a movie done hastily... and even if it failed to meet with my expectations... I'm sure there are things in the movie which you can't miss out on...

Mixed feelings

2010-03-19T17:29:00.005Z

[The sun just touched the morning;
The morning, happy thing,
Supposed that he had come to dwell,
And life would be all spring.] Emily Dickinson

The dust's only virtue was making the sun look like a moon...

Even when all hopes seem to die... I still hope...

It is a choice I make...

[I don't explain, I explore] Marshall McLuhan

The Narratives* | 24

2010-03-16T11:15:00.004Z

The little child was looking up the red apples tree...
Holding in her hand a glossy red apple...
He has given her that apple...

But all she was thinking of... was whether she can climb up that tree!

Present.
Past.

.... Future.

* The Narratives: stories, events, and scenes that happen[ed] inside and around my head…

Mansushi!

2010-03-13T15:08:00.003Z

When I first got this image in a forward email I thought it a joke! But today as I was skimming though JO magazine I found that Mansaf Sushi or Mansushi is being served at Four Seasons' Friday Brunch!
I hate the idea!

First of all there is a huge difference between the delicate taste of sushi and the mouth filling taste of mansaf...
Both of these food are traditional and both for that matter have a distinct way of eating, chopsticks vs hands or spoons...

So, what is the point of serving mansaf as a sushi? To give a pseudo sense of importance or elegance to self-important people...? To become ' la Allah cool'?
If what they mean a fusion... then I think it is a failed fusion by all measures....

Just as Japanese people like the fact that others eat their food with chopsticks... Jordanians must feel the same... after all not many people in the world eat their food with spoons...

SuperPower: Visualising the internet

2010-03-12T13:00:00.004Z

Now... This is an interesting interactive visualization. I have to say that I'm glad that Google, Blogger, Wikipedia and Flickr are on the top of their respective areas...

Via BBC News...

Socail Media in Plain English

2010-03-07T10:17:00.005Z

Thanks Natalie for the share...

Three auches!

2010-02-15T07:31:00.001Z

:: Yesterday the secretary of our school asked me how old I am... and when I answered she said "Wow... You are getting old!"... Auche!!

:: I have grown one size reaching a size I never hit before in my entire life... Auche!!

:: Yesterday at the mall... some girl in her 17 or 18 refered to me as "Auntie".... Auche!!!

On being a 29 girl!

2010-02-14T11:32:00.009Z

I just turned 29... =) so there are some random thought and reflections that I want to share with you...
:: successful happy single women exist! Not all of us need men to "complete" them... as far as I recall... I was born complete...

:: It seems that since I am a practicing Muslim I should've been married long time ago... [So let me get this straight, the year I got married you were living alone in Europe? Gosh, you missed on a lot!] You think?

:: Men expect you always to say yes... be it your father, brothers, partners or bosses! How dare you disagree?!

:: A year ago suitors were 6 years at the top older than me... this year... they were minimum 10 years older!!! give me another couple of years and I'll marry someone at my grandpa's age...

:: A year don't come at once... it creeps slowly minute by minute into your life! So don't expect any magical transformation on your birthday!

:: A girl can be a lady when and where she wants...

::Mind rules!

I can't complain about aging... last year was a really good year for me...
I had Techno Me...
I went to USA...
I was in Sunny Art Fair...

And I created Fusionists...

And for that I give myself a good applause...

And so... my 29th year here I come... and let us do magic...

The Dawn of the Fusionists...

2010-02-09T09:06:00.004Z

So a new semester has just started at GJU... and I'll be teaching only Design and Visual Communication students... something which I consider as a bless...

And for This semester I decided to start up a social network for all my students. The name of the network is [Fusionists]!
I wanted to come up with a theme that will reflect on the experience, the spirit and the outcome of this network... So fusion as an act and with all of its derivatives seemed as a good starting point.

In this network students will upload their assignments, photos, videos and share stuff from the web as well... in this way the learning experience extends from being a one way channel between the instructor and students into something more flexible and definitely multichannel.

Again the learning experience goes beyond the class time... and in a less formal context...

This is just a prototype that I'm suggesting and will be monitoring to see how this idea can evolve into a real interactive learning experience...

I'm really excited about this idea and hope that it will prove a success...

I have to thank Ning for making it so easy to create a social network... and I'm grateful for the power of the Internet... for freeing some minds and trying to eliminate stupidity...

I wish all the best of luck in the new semester... and I wish you [Fusion]... =)

:: Originally published on SABE Reconnaissance...

Will Atlas Shrug?!

2010-01-12T14:05:00.003Z

The story goes that all the free minds of the world are fed up with the high level of stupidity, mental servitude, and intellectual oppression.... and as a result... they go on a strike... disappearing and leaving no traces behind... they leave to a secret land where they can be whom they think they want to be...

Now... if a stupid mind ban striking... how can Atlas shrug?!

Final Countdown to 2010

2009-12-31T12:56:00.005Z

I have to say that I never celebrated New Year's and I think it is stupid...
It is a mindset... one of those games a person plays with oneself... so that we can feel less agitated by the torn out pages of the calendar...
So while the rest of the world... will be counting down tonight... I'll be sleeping warmly in my bed... because tomorrow is just another day...
And I create my own hopes... be it 2009 or 2010...

For those who do celebrate it... enjoy! =)

Sculptural Photography

2009-12-23T11:18:00.001Z

I love it...

more on [Design Boom]

Arabi or 3arabi...

2009-12-15T08:30:00.003Z

These days everyone see to be sharing the video of the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri... struggling to read through an official address in Arabic to members of the Parliament...

This sad [laughable] situation took me to an incident that happened to me a couple of years ago...
My students were leaving the class and one said that she can't read Arabic so good... and the other laughed and said that she can barely read or write in Arabic... I couldn't help but interfere and ask them whether any of them is not an Arab... of course they both said that they are pure Arabs... so I said: " You shouldn't be proud about the fact that you can't read Arabic... you should be ashamed!! My mum who is not an Arab learned to read on her own... "...
What is very alarming and disturbing to me... is not only the fact that the young generation is being drawn more and more away from the proper knowledge of the Arabic language... and in effect from using it... [Maybe I'm one of those]... but the real alarm is in the fact that this has become something to brag about... a contest among the youth of how knows less Arabic than the other...

What's the real importance of Arabic as a language? Is it culture, identity, race, religion [mum's reason to learn it]? or is it just a shadow that maybe it's time to eliminate....?

Gmail is Raheeb...

2009-11-17T11:01:00.001Z

Google... are you freaking kidding me? =)

It's my feet... It's my shoes

2009-11-16T06:36:00.005Z

Yesterday I saw a segment of Oprah's show... it was about fashion crimes... and she had her own set of fashion "police" patrolling the city and looking at women who according to their standards were going against the fashion.
The whole idea of fashion and following fashion is so absurd to me... I mean it is just stupid that what was very fashionable 10 years ago is now considered a fashion crime...
Who cares what others should or shouldn't wear?!
Even if they are dressed in a funny way... who would mind a repressed laugh every once a while...

But what got me angry the most is when Oprah's friend started talking about how wrong it is to wear sports shoes to your work!!
Come on... if I have to work for 10 hours... mostly standing on my feet... I will surely place my feet comfort before someone's eyes pleasure... that's why 90% of the time I'm wearing sports shoes to my work...
Mum thinks that my students are probably making fun of my shoes...

We have enough people trying to dictate so many things on us... Fashion crime or not! I don't give a damn...

my feet this morning!

Hip-Hopping with Violins

2009-11-15T06:53:00.004Z

In any art form or self expression field [including literature] we have to deal with codes and standards that we are told to respect or even to abide by. But what will happen if we defy those rules? what if we try to break them... not necessarily out of rebellious attitude but maybe of a simple need to experiment.

One of the reasons I love listening to "Nuttin' But Stringz" is due to what they did with the violin. They took the violin out of its comfort zone without abusing it, setting new grounds to how to deal and play the violin. For my ears this is challenging.
One of their pieces "Broken Sorrow" was my musical soundtrack when walking alone in the streets of US... Another piece that I love is "Thunder"... in this piece I can see how the violin is dancing up and down in the street like a crazy spirit running around the city...

Another example of breaking the norms with music is what Nam June Paik did with his TV Cello. In his experiment Paik defied the way a cello is being constructed and consequently played. When Charlotte Moorman played it she said that the sounds being produced are not those of normal cello but of a TV cello! And one time they took another extreme by making Paik himself her cello!!

So what really happens when we defy the rules and standards?
We find new grounds that we were brought up to think they didn't exist. We liberate our minds from worshiping rules that some other people set for us. We interrupt the mainstream and maybe create a new one... or at least we create choices!

Someone once told me that when art seize to be dangerous, it seize to be art!

Memory of Walls!

2009-11-10T08:56:00.006Z

May all the Walls of Injustice... be torn down... for Human Liberation and Equality!

Images of the Apartheid Wall built across Palestine by the Israeli Government.

**All Photos are courtesy of Stop The Wall

Happy 400!

2009-11-09T13:54:00.001Z

And I continue talking to myself... in the mirror... that seems to reflect more than just my face...

Amreeka! Movie Review

2009-11-04T07:29:00.008Z

A couple of days ago I watched this interesting movie titled "Amreeka" by the Palestinian film maker "Cherien Dabis".
The movie depicts the life of a Palestinian single mother and her son struggle in Palestine and then moving to "The Promised Land" of USA.

=Spoiler Warning!=

The heroin" Muna" played by Nisreen Faour is well depicted. Giving an image of a simple Arab woman who happen to be a single mum and her struggle to support her self and her teenager son while dealing with some self-esteem issues... The character is believable and is probably what touched me the most about the movie.

The scenes shot in Palestine is also very believable. The simplicity of the people there and the way they run their lives is very touching.
Again there is a scene where people came to say goodbye to Muna and her mother starts singing and then dancing is very natural and believable and was a touching scene.

Though I'm half Palestinian myself... I have to say that characters like Muna's mum is strange to me... yet I feel close to... [ maybe in an attempt to belong... ]

The plot in this movie is rather easy and with many things happening that you would expect them to happen...

For example that the heroin of the movie Muna will develop a "relation" with a Jewish man. The message that Palestinians are not against Jews is a very legitimate and maybe important one... but the way it was handled in this movie I felt it was a bit in your face... But maybe Dabis chose to show it from this angle... because it is a very human one.

The final scene in the movie was a bit of a disappointment... But keeping in mind that Dabis is herself an American immigrant makes me understand where she is coming from. But again as being myself not a big fan of America... I have to say that I didn't like the ending. It seemed too expected and cliche'...

The music featured in the movie is very efficient... mostly with Fairuz music giving a real Arab feeling to it... which most Middle Eastern audience will easily relate to.

The Cinematography of the movie is beautifully done. The camera angles are efficient and worth an applause...

On a minor aspect there are some mistakes that were mentioned in the movie... like referring to Palestine as "Palestinian Territory" which I never heard any Palestinian use... Usually in official settings it is "West Bank"... or maybe "Occupied Territory"... but as far as I know Palestinians refer to their country as Palestine.
Another mistake was when Muna said that Palestine has been occupied for 40 years... The movie is set to be in 2003 just around the American invasion of Iraq... so if we count the Israeli occupation from 1948 it should be 55 years or if it is from 1967 it should be 36 years! I personally use the first number!

All in All... This movie is a must see movie... it is a very human and touching movie with a hint of comedy! A good attempt and an applaud-able one by Cherien Dabis...

How to Enjoy/ How to Ruin a Good Rain!

2009-11-03T05:41:00.006Z

How to Enjoy a Good Rain...
:: Find a good walking spot... walk alone... and converse with the trees... their talk is very engaging...
:: Put your iPod on... play your best play list... with a hot mug "the best hot drink you choose" of tea... and look through your window...
:: Find a good walking spot... walk with a good interesting friend... and chat about anything you like...

How to Ruin a Good Rain...
:: Having streets and roads... with floods of water due to bad drainage... either your car, your taxi, your bus or worse Yourself will be splashed and bathed in grayish/brownish cold water!
:: Having panicked people around you... with bad temper and panic attacks as if the rain will cause us a natural disaster and we need to stash bread and supplies for a month ahead...
:: Having grumpy looking people walking by you... cursing the rain... and worshiping the sun which a couple of days ago they were complaining about...

Choose your way! But in any case...

(= HAPPY RAINY SEASON AMMANIS =)

Taken by my iSight cam. at 7:55 a.m. 3.11.09 Jubiha, Amman

Why I didn't become an architect!

2009-11-01T10:19:00.006Z

Yesterday I read an article by Orhan Pamuk titled "Why I didn't become an Architect" from his book "Other Colors".
In this article Pamuk starts with a journey he took to one of the underprivileged sites of Istanbul where he walks into buildings that had very different past than their current present. He talks about how people came to live in buildings that were built by outsiders of Istanbul... and he had some interesting insights about who at the end the architecture aims to serve!
From this he take us to a decision he made as a third year student of architecture to drop architecture and change his career to become a writer and a novelist... He describes the difference for him between empty sheets that were waiting for "modernist" architectural designs and between empty sheets that were waiting for "his" words...
He ends his article with more reflections about architecture and the-serving-who dilemma as he walks in the ruins of the aftermath of the earthquake that hit Istanbul in recent years.
Through his personal recollections of his decision... he gave me a better understanding of my own choice to stop practicing architecture...

Later on last night I had an interesting phone call from one of my good friends who happen to be an architect though now she is more of an urban designer.
And I was sharing with her my reading... and I found myself expressing my own reasons of leaving architecture...

Probably the first detachment between me and architecture happened when I was taught history of architecture... through these courses I was somehow taught to appreciate architecture and master pieces through their images. So what was designed to be an experiential space was projected through lenses and prints into a see-and-admire experience. I truly understood the depth of this problem when I had the chance to visit famous buildings while I was at the USA. When I went to see the Guggenheim in NY... I was brought into tears... standing there in the massive lobby gave me an experience which I can't put into words let alone images... I felt something...

My second detachment happened when I couldn't relate the big talks and deep concepts that some of my fellow classmates would come up with... and I forcing my self to see the reflections of these concepts in their designs.. but all in vain... I would be standing bewildered and left to think I'm less than the rest of them... because my concepts were not projected as I wanted into my spaces...

This feeling got even worse when I started meeting up with the big names of Architecture at our Amman... and even worse when I did my internship at the company of one of them....

====
Being myself the daughter of an architect... my father... is the type of architects that you should make a film about... my father embodies the real architect struggle to be an architect in a society dominated by empty concepts or trendy designs... [coming to think of it... I should make a film about my father... just like Nathaniel Kahn did "My Architect"]
My father supported my decision of leaving architecture behind... though I know that he is much in love with architecture... for him... architecture is creating a place where a person can feel... that is the only concept my father ever followed in any of his designs... His style of architecture has changed according to time, place and his own maturity... maybe one of these days I should blog about his work...
====

But now back to me and my reasons of leaving architecture...
I stopped at the big talk of the big names... as I said... after working for one of them... I realized that architecture as it is being used is not in harmony with who we were and who we aim to serve...

After that... I graduated and joined the working force... I began to read for Rem Koolhaas... the more I worked... the more I read... the more a nagging voice inside of me got louder...

Until the day I decided to liberate myself... from "... the obligation to construct..."

I turned all my creative abilities... all the crazy concepts and ideas that were rattling inside of my head into different media which for me made sense.... and felt more natural...

Now, I don't feel any need to be pretentious... to add any glamor to my products... I express myself... and I don't do that to serve anyone... yet somehow I'm serving more now than I ever did... or thought I would...

The way I see it... The problem with architecture is that it is used to glorify the architect's mind and visual abilities... or maybe as Pamuk said to serve his/her imagination...

Architecture as I was taught and seen practiced is creating empty spaces... and for that reason I left architecture....

Through my sister's eyes!

2009-10-26T07:41:00.004Z

These are photos taken by my lovely sister Aicha while strolling around her new territory as a freshman at JU.... The naming is hers too...
Brilliant Aichoka... =)

Through It All

Fun Under The Sun

Down To Earth

Colorful

A Day's Shot

My favorite one is the cat under the sun... what about you?

Stand In LINE!

2009-10-20T05:12:00.003Z

It has been a common scene for me... to be standing waiting for a taxi in the Ammani morning rush... finding other waiting as well... I try my best to make sure that those who were there before me... get in a taxi before me... I form a hidden line and wait until my turn comes to grab a taxi... and sometimes the waiting goes for too long!
But then... out of no where... a young lady swaying with her high heels break the line... stretch out her nail polished arm and grab a taxi.. and for some reason... she gets a taxi... And as she goes into the taxi... I imagine myself... going after her... pulling her out of the taxi from her "bil5wa" straightened hair and yelling "STAND IN LINE WOMAN"...
But as I laugh inside myself... I breath in... I breath out... and keep on waiting in my own made line[s]....

GOOD MORNING AMMAN!

The Promised Land : 1

2009-10-19T08:12:00.008Z

As the plane was landing on the lands so far away from everything I grew up around, I had an ecstatic feeling... this is it... the mighty USA... the promised land... this is it... the country whose capitalistic ideals I'm against... this is it... the real experience that I worked very hard to attain...
I'm there... away from my family and from everything comfortable... starting a journey with 20 other strangers...
At some points it felt as if I'm stepping into my TV screen... where all the scenes that I used to see are becoming alive with one addition... me within...
At some points all my prejudices have been proven right... where I was confronted with consumerism... the American arrogance and disdain toward the rest of the world...
And sometimes I met people who have high social conscious... and in rare cases interest in what is going outside the US.
I have seen Architecture that I long time past learned about... and finally I fully understood what is the meaning of architecture that changes people... and create spaces...
I have seen famous art pieces that I read and seen in books and the Internet... some of these pieces brought me to tears...

I was the odd one out with my veil... which made me question basis of my faith... and challenge my own set of beliefs... and I met people who made it even harder... and some who made it more challenging... =P

I went back to the home within me so many times... I can't describe what it feels to be home again...

I have changed and grown during the three weeks I spent scampering USA from East to West visiting 6 states and 7 cities... being in transit all the time... waiting and wondering what will come next... it was a very enjoyable time...

So... now... after I'm back in Amman... to my family and my work... my self is still in transit as always... as ever...

I'll be blogging in more details about these three weeks under this ironic name of "The Promised Land" which one of my friends I made during this trip used to mock the US...

Keep coming back... I have some good stuff and good photos to share...

09-09-09

2009-09-09T09:24:00.000Z

“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back. There are some things that time can not mend. Some hurts that go too deep... that have taken hold.” The Lord of the Rings Movie...

On Tawjihi and edu stuff...

2009-09-07T07:35:00.006Z

I've been trying to avoid writing about Tawjihi... well because a lot of people already did... though I have a sister who was tawjihi this year...
But when the Universities acceptances came out... and my sister who scored well enough at Tawjihi didn't manage to get accepted into a major I know she can easily and passionately excel at... I felt that... enough is enough...
Let me start by establishing this fact... Tawjihi is a rotten old-fashioned system!!
Yes I'll be bold enough to stand by this self-professed fact...
First flaw in the system is the selection of subjects that students have to study during this one year... it depends mainly on which stream you are following... if you are in the scientific stream then you have to study; Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Geology. Regardless of what you plan to study at the University later on... and of course you have other courses that you share with almost all tawjihi streams which are; Islamic Education (barley deserving the title), Arabic language, English language, Computer skills and General Culture (whatever that means)... again this has no direct relation to what you plan to study later on...
Second flaw is the boring books... don't be misled by the new colorful design and improved layout (though it is one right step taken toward improvement)... the content is as boring as ever.... the amount of information contained is huge and most of the information will be forgotten one month after the exams end since they are not needed in real life...
Third flaw is the grounded teachers' mentality of how to study properly for the Tawjihi exams... which is memorizing the books as hard as possible and sticking by them, taking everything in them as facts... the less you question what you are taught as universal facts... the better you'll score...

Enough ranting about Tawjihi... and let us proceed to another tragedy... applying for universities...
Students are being accepted according to how they scored on all the subjects they studied... let us give this example...
Student A... scored the best in Physics and Geology and not so good in Biology and Chemistry... but his total score is high enough to apply for the Medicine school... since from these four subjects only the highest two will be used to calculate the final tawjihi grade...
Student B... scored much better than student A in Biology and Chemistry... but his total score is lower by a few points from student A...

If students A and B have no real clue to what are the different specialties and career paths offered at the universities mean like most public schools graduates... they'll both apply for the Medicine school... Student A because he scored high enough... and student B because he wants to be a doctor...
The results are out and guess what... ! Student A is accepted... student B is not!!!
Which do you think of the two is more eligible?

Tawjihi by no means is the best indicator of how students should be accepted at universities...

The implication of this wrong placement of students is more dangerous than just being placed in the wrong major... and moan about it...
just imagine all the people that graduated and started working in a job that they don't really like... or not passionate about... jobs that are done mechanically...
and imagine all the frustrated people that didn't get a chance to study what they want... and continued resentfully in a career they loath...

Imagine these people ten years... twenty years from now... imagine all that... that's Jordan now...

So what's the solution?
Maybe we should take some successful case studies from the world... and try to learn and apply according to our needs...

Tawjihi should be thrown into the recycle bin before we lose more generations....
That's step one...

Step two should be educating students from much earlier ages about the different career paths... let them learn what does it mean to be a physician... an architect... a philosopher... a teacher... and a trained actor...

Step three should be educate the educators about how to engage students mentally and physically with what they learn...

Step four should be using placement exams when applying to universities... this whole how high you scored at tawjihi is a rubbishy indicator....

If we are to build a better country... if we are to compete with the rest of the world... re-inventing our educational system is a MUST!

I hope someone will listen... and take some real actions...

Another educational problem we have is the equal opportunities standards used in public universities...

..... to be continued...

You have your religion and I have mine...

2009-08-26T14:31:00.005Z

There is a person I come to know at work that I've been told that refuses to hire girls if they wear the veil. For this person wearing the veil is equal to close mindedness or maybe a sign of oppression or backwardness. On the other hand there is another person who was a potential employer of me... but when he told me that I fit in his company because I'm wearing the veil... I immediately declined the job offer.

In the society you'll find people with and people against...
Now some people who are fasting the month of Ramadan condemn those who don't [referring only to Muslims]... And the other way around...

I'm reading in the-now-popular-book [A New Earth]... - which I don't fully agree with the author's views- and the author says that for a human to feel right he/she has to make someone else wrong. And he says that this is the act of the Ego which we should get rid of. He says that we should accept that there is the Ultimate Truth but we shouldn't claim it as our own... or as our own only... that all religions are equally right and equally wrong...

Putting these ideas next to my earlier observations... I wondered what is the stand to be taken by myself as an individual who believe in what she thinks, does and acts upon...

Then I remembered one of the early Chapters of Quran that we learnt in primary school... it is Chapter 109. This Chapter includes an order from God to Prophet Mohammed as to how he should address those who disbelieve-in God, His Oneness, His Messengers, His Angles, His Books and the Day of Judgment-. God told Mohammed PBUH that he should tell them that he doesn't worship what they worship nor do they worship what he worships... and the bottom line is that [You have your religion and I have mine]...

In this statement you don't condemn the other... you identify them as being different than you and maybe against your own beliefs... but still you grant them their way and grant yourself your way...

This is such a great concept -when used properly-... because you don't decline yourself or I dare say your ego the belief of being right and still you don't hate/discriminate others for being "according to you" on the wrong... You just want each party to be and choose whatever way they want.

I think that any person who chooses to believe or disbelieve in anything does that on a strong conviction. And for that reason their whole being, way of life and ideologies become based on that core belief. And if you think that what you believe is right... then by logic what goes completely against it is wrong.
Having said that I don't think that for everything in life there is only one way of doing things or of thinking about thaem... and for those types of things there can be many rights and many wrongs...
Also the criteria to deal with people on a day to day basis should'nt be in refernece to what they believe in... - or in some cases only in reference to that... -

To sum it up... I think that my stand will be simply to let other people have their own way... and expect from them to let me have mine...
What I believe in, think about, and act upon is Mine...
What you believe in, think about and act upon is Yours...

There is plenty of room on this Earth to all of us...

I know your face...

2009-08-21T15:55:00.003Z

From among the crowds I can still spot you...
They can mask you... they can put jingles and bells on you... dress you like a clown...
They can hide you behind all the phony make-up and put you up for sale...
But.... I know you...
Your scent is in the air... filling my lungs with dreams and hopes...

You shine through... And I'm happy that I can still see you for who you are...

I know your face...

Ramadan Kareem... to all...

Me Touch | Techno me

2009-07-31T12:54:00.002Z

This art piece is part of an art project I have done titled [Techno Me]...
In all my works for this project I focused more on the process of creating a piece... with the minimum computer post production effects and manipulations...

This piece highlights how intimate we became with technological devices... how we are allowing none animated substances to become closer to us...
The paradox between how these plastic and metal objects are near to our faces... hands... fingertips... and the empty hand waiting for something else to touch and feel...

The music used is composed by my good friend and ex-student Tareq Abu Rahmah....

Also:
:: Me Talk
:: Me Love
:: Me Win
:: Me Face
:: Me Paint

Crude experimentation

2009-07-19T08:45:00.004Z

Yesterday I tried to experiment with photoshop on some of my photos... just to see how can I force myself to see some hidden realities within the images I once saw normally...
And here is what I got...

Experimenting with my nephew and niece...

Experimenting with Amman...

Experimenting with Nature...

Me Paint | Techno Me

2009-07-13T11:58:00.004Z

This art piece is part of an art project I have done titled [Techno Me]...
In all my works for this project I focused more on the process of creating a piece... with the minimum computer post production effects and manipulations...

In [Me Paint] I experimented with how can I use the digital signal... to paint.
Using the basic old trick of making the camera signal feeds itself back into a projection machine. In my case my laptop screen... the rest is done by chance...
The first part of the piece was also created by chance... I was trying to videotape a ceiling mounted projector the one used in schools... and I accidentally touched its cable connected to my laptop... and so the color started changing... I was there... and played more with that...

This piece raises the issue of the new aesthetic of digital art... and plays on a new dimension of abstraction... where the nonsense can starting making sense when we project ourselves and our thoughts onto it...

The music used is composed by my good friend and ex-student Tareq Abu Rahmah....

Also:
:: Me Talk
:: Me Love
:: Me Win
:: Me Face

The Narratives* | 23

2009-07-12T08:39:00.003Z

She was trying to walk through the darkness...
Shadows roaming around her...
Fearless... and afraid...

He took her hand... and walked next to her...

But soon enough.... he couldn't continue anymore...

He blamed it on the night...
And she on his blindess...

She walks alone...

* The Narratives: stories, events, and scenes that happen[ed] inside and around my head…

وعد رجال

2009-06-27T10:47:00.004Z

معاذ ابن اختي يبلغ من العمر ثلاث سنوات... ما زال يهرب بالليل من غرفته المعتمة الى سرير والديه... و في إحدى محاولات والده لاقناعه بالبقاء في غرفته جرى بينهما الحديث التالي...
أبو معاذ: ازا بتوعدني وعد رجال انك راح تضل نايم في غرفتك هلأ بعملك صحن نودلز.
معاذ: طيب
أبو معاذ: وعد رجال؟
معاذ: اه...
و هكذا ذهب الجميع للنوم ليلا....بعد ان اؤكل النودلز... و لكن لم يمض وقت طويل قبل ان يرجع معاذ الى سرير والديه فما كان من والده الى أن قال: بس انتا وعدتني وعد رجال...

!و جاء رد معاذ بكل براءة: بس انا لسه ولد صغير

!!!و في القصة عبرة لمن يعتبر

[My Name is Red]

2009-06-21T09:27:00.006Z

I just finished reading a novel titled "My Name is Red" by Orhan Pamuk.
Whenever I read a novel I think about three things; the plot, the philosophy or hidden meanings and the literary style.
In this novel the plot is OK... it has its twists and turns but at the end it hits you as another plot that you must've read somewhere else.
As for the philosophy and meanings... the novel tackles a lot of the issues related to art and Islam... especially at the time where the Islamic civilization was being challenged with other strong nearby civilizations.
I didn't like many things of how they portrayed the Muslims... but I'm not in a position to judge the credibility of such stories.
I felt that the author was more inclined toward the figurative representation in the "Frankish" Art as apposed to the abstraction in the Islamic Art.
I know that at that time the Islamic Art was containing drawings and paintings of human figures. I'm not going to enter a discussion regarding whether it is permissible or not... for me honestly I can't see a problem in figurative art. However, as it is right now, abstraction give more meaning to any piece of art since it gives the viewer the empty space to complete the meaning behind the piece.

As for the literary style of the novel... here where the novel caught my attention. And for this reason I do recommend you to read the novel. You'll get exposed to a new way of writing.
The novel is comprised of chapters. Each chapter starts with [I...]... and in each chapter, a character from the story becomes the narrator of that chapter.
The characters were as weird as Satan, a dog, a tree, a murderer, a woman, and the color red.
As described on the back of the novel... it is a kaleidoscopic experience.
It allows you to live the story not from one single point of view but from different ones. In a way you are inside each of these characters and yet you know what others think... giving you a sort of an upper eye... sort of a god view... if you know what I mean...
This point has been discussed in the novel since a debate between artists arise as how they should represent life... through the eyes of God or through the eyes of humans... and it is an interesting insight to Islamic Art....

All in all... it was a good read... and it is worth saying that the author Orhan Pamuk is a Nobel Prize winner in Literature.

I would say that this novel is a must read for Art students ...

And here is an excerpt from the chapter titled [I am red]...
[[Color is the touch of the eye, music to the deaf, a word out of the darkness. Because I’ve listened to souls whispering – like the susurrus of the wind- from book to book and object to object for tens of thousands of years, allow me to say that my touch resembles the touch of angles. Part of me, the serious half, calls out to your vision while the mirthful half soars through the air with your glances.
I’m so fortunate to be red! I’m fiery. I’m strong. I know men take notice of me and that I cannot be resisted.
I do not conceal myself: for me, delicacy manifests itself neither in weakness nor in subtlety, but through determination and will.]]

Brands attack!

2009-06-12T18:20:00.001Z

Thanks to my sister Sophie for sharing...

me face | Techno me

2009-06-04T10:47:00.004Z

This art piece is part of an art project I have done titled [Techno Me]...
In all my works for this project I focused more on the process of creating a piece... with the minimum computer post production effects and manipulations...

[Me face] deals with the similarity of emoticons versus the endless variety of human faces and sound gestures...

In this piece I put my skills of photography into practice. Some people found this piece too long. For me I depended on the chances of good photos I had and put them into use with no real hidden reasons of the number of slides...

This piece put into question the idea of completing the true face behind each =), =?. =/ we deal with every day...

Also:
:: Me Talk
:: Me Love
:: Me Win

Untitled

2009-06-01T07:40:00.000Z

Last week I’ve been in a car accident…
As I was going home with my dad after a exhausting day at work… and just about we were taking our last turn to reach home… I remember I was smiling at something that happened to me… and BANG… a taxi came speeding and crashed into our car… from my side…
I would spare you all the details of the moment of collision which till now I don’t understand how it seems much longer than it was… and how clearly I remember everything….

As I was leaving the car on my feet… though tremendously horrified… I could hear a small voice in me giggling that I have survived what could’ve been fatal…

I don’t understand all the meanings of these two concepts [life and death]… which of these two make us more appreciative of the other…

Amidst my confusions I can’t but thank God for His endless Grace which at moments like these we feel the most…

The Narratives* | 22

2009-05-20T06:52:00.004Z

I can see her shadow... moving behind the curtains...
She can't see me... I hide between the trees...

She moves about her life... never looking through her window...

I sallow my tears and fears but never my pride...

And yet another night with me staring at her shadow...
she in the light... and me in the dark...

The unseen mistakenly assumed nonexistent...

* The Narratives: stories, events, and scenes that happen[ed] inside and around my head…

The Sin of Being Strong!

2009-05-18T10:12:00.004Z

I don't believe in narcotics or drugs...
I don't believe in any substance that can numb your senses and gives you short-term relief...

I don't like ostrich's act of hiding its head in the ground... thinking that if it can't see the danger... then it doesn't exist...

I don't have an easy life... I can give you 50 really good reasons why I should crumble and cry till I die... why I shouldn't leave my bed in the morning...

But I do... I live my life... I struggle daily... I only have my mind... [A human mind is much stronger than anything else... you can't fight what is inside your mind...]

I live... I believe... I think and I hope...

I do it for myself... and myself alone...

I just wish you have more respect towards me than to treat me as a sinner...

Palestine!

2009-05-15T11:53:00.002Z

" فلسطين... فلسطين... فلسطين عربية
فلسطين... فلسطين... من الميه للميه "

The same songs and chants continue...
The same prayers and candles continue...
The same talks and fancy words continue...

The same story continues...

Till when...?
What are the free people of the world waiting for, to stop the biggest shame of the modern human civilization?

.................

Hang on Palestine...

The Looking Glass Room!

2009-05-08T16:41:00.002Z

Inspired by Alice's conversation with her Kitten about the Looking Glass house... I gave my interior architecture students a chance to become Alice...
I gave my students three famous living rooms; one in Villa Savoye by Le Courbsier, another in Vanna Venturi House by Robert Venturi and the last in Budenburgh Haus by Foster and Partners.
After analyzing the given room and the general house where it is located, each student became Alice and had to walk through the Looking Glass into the adjacent room to the one given.
The function, size and character of the room was to be designed according to a story that students had to come about the current client of the house. Students had to be fantastical in their approach by means of exaggeration, apposing statements, or augmentation of reality.

As presentation means I asked my students to learn and apply water coloring techniques... and to make it a bit easy on them I didn't ask for a model.

The results were pretty good in general... the concepts were a bit direct, though some students did embrace the project completely...
As for the application, students showed a deeper level of maturity as interior architects. They paid more attention to details.
I didn't ask them to design their furniture but if they picked a piece of furniture they had to explain why...
One point that were given to me by the Jurors was why students didn't think of how their new imposed rooms would've changed the overall character of the existing houses. [Thanks to Arch. Hazem Turk and Arch. Lana Tahboub from CC for being great jurors]

And here are the students works:
= Villa Savoye
:: Mudaffar Ma'aitah
In his room, Muddafar had a man and his wife with two hobbies; fencing and dancing. He created a space that is cut into two halves with two different characters. Masculine vs Feminine... These two sports depend highly on footwork so Mudaffar made the union between the man and woman be in a one unified flooring. His concept is strong. But his implementation lacked the extra step that would have made it a real bold statement.

= Vanna Venturi House
:: The Black Hole | Amina Sh. Hassan
Amina said that Mrs. Venturi is kleptomaniac. So behind her innocent look she had a secrete life. So Amina designed a normal looking living room that works perfectly with the rest of the house but behind or inside the room there are secret nooks where Mrs. Venturi hides her stolen stuff. Amina played it smart by creating a safe design with this tiny twist to everything. Amina had the best water color presentation among her group. I still think that Amina could've gone wilder in implementing the two opposing sides of the room.

:: Vintage Modernism | Ridab Soudani
Ridab had the most challenging concept. She was playing around the concept of post modernism as rejecting modernism and accepting historical references and modernism rejecting history and accepting functionalism. To apply that she picked famous modern furniture and imposed history on them by using old rustic materials and in some cases stripping them from their functionality. Ridab's implementation didn't take its full extent to produce a mature end result. Though the project hold high potentials for example in the giant art piece that featured Mies Van der Rohe's chair in rusted cooper.. The room lacked a good functional layout with furniture lacking to complete the identity of the room.

:: Sara Khatib
Sara had the story of Mrs. Venturi being an illusionist. Sara started playing well with the idea of creating illusions out of her space but as she went into the details somethings were out of tune.
Sara chose to build her room on top of an existing room and create a hidden stairs that take the client up to that room. The geometry of the room was trapezoidal. Sara picked some interesting pieces of furniture but in general the room lacked the functional appeal in terms of furniture layout.

= Budenberg Haus
:: The Chamber| Dalia Muslih
Dalia created a room on top of the existing room as well. But the function was different. She created a workshop studio for her ship maker client. But the client wanted a bathtub next to his working area where he can relax and have a view at the canal in front of the complex. Dalia had a smooth design development though still her design didn't reach its climax.

:: The Poseidon Room | Ruba Yaghmour
Ruba chose to design a bedroom. Her focus point in the bedroom was a hanging aquarium that was partly inside the room and partly outside it. Ruba played around the relations between in-in and in-out. She created a narrative that starts with a sliding door that connects the bedroom with the living room and then the hanging aquarium which is a reminder of the canal outside and then the window wall that connects the inside intimacy of the room with the outside scenery.
Ruba had a simple but a concise concept and that served her well in implementing it.

:: Shadia Jaber
Shadia also designed a bedroom. But driven by the apple trees she played around notions of seduction, temptation and intimacy. She created a narrative corridor that led to her room. She used mirrors to create the illusion of unfolding the space gradually as you walk to the room. She had an idea of designing an apple tree chandelier but she didn't manage to design a visually appealing one.
Her design is bold in concept but still shows timidity in application.

:: Interior Architecture First Project

:: Originally at SABE Reconnaissance

On a Friday afternoon....

2009-05-08T15:30:00.003Z

And once again with water coloring experimentation...

Asking it to last...

2009-05-06T13:39:00.003Z

"How enduring, how we need durability... The sky before sunrise is soaked with light... Rosy colour tints buildings, bridges, and the Seine.... I was here when she with whom I walk wasn't born yet, and the cities on a distant plain stood intact, before they rose in the air with the dust of sepulchral brick, and the people who lived there didn't know. Only this moment, at dawn, is real to me.... The bygone lives are like my own past life, uncertain. I cast a spell on the city, asking it to last...." In Twilight by Czeslaw Milosz

Listen to Shadow Journal by Max Richter...

me win | Techno me

2009-05-04T10:39:00.005Z

This art piece is part of an art project I have done titled [Techno Me]...
In all my works for this project I focused more on the process of creating a piece... with the minimum computer post production effects and manipulations...

[Me win] mocks how can a message on the screen boost the human self esteem...

In this piece I use blank screen with only the sound of clicks then followed by a shot of the famous ending of [spider solitaire] computer game. Which is an obvious blinking message of [you win!]
In the background the sound of clicks is substituted with the sound of a human deep breathing.

In this work... I wanted to play around the fake sense of achievement aroused inside the person just by finishing a given task and being rewarded for it...

This piece is the oldest idea I had in my mind... many years ago...

Also:
:: Me Talk
:: Me Love

My photographer sister...

2009-04-29T07:36:00.004Z

At the beginning of this year... Children Museum Jordan made a photographing contest... with three age groups and three different subjects...
The exhibition was on Thursday... and the results were beyond anything...
Children never stop of astonishing me and blowing my mind away with their creativity...

But guess who won the first prize for the eldest group?... Yeah no one but my very creative lil sister Sophie... Who as always never stop astonishing me with her creativity and eagerness to be a better artist...

So Congratulation my sweet sister... you surely deserve it...

[winning picture]

me love | Techno me

2009-04-20T12:45:00.008Z

This art piece is part of an art project I have done titled [Techno Me]...
In all my works for this project I focused more on the process of creating a piece... with the minimum computer post production effects and manipulations...

[Me love] talks about how can a human feeling be mediated through technology... and how hard a person has to try in order to start feeling.... it...

In this piece I took a video of a girl typing on the computer [How can I feel him when he types I love you...?] and in an almost monotone saying this sentence.... after that I cut this video into seven pieces... each piece was then assigned a musical note... then I got a score for a ring tone for [Candle in the Wind] by Elton John... and according to that... I played the seven fragments of the video... creating a hidden rhythm... making the end product repetitive, unfinished, and disturbed...
This piece was one of the most talked of... it was considered by some irritating... and by others very painful...
In the press... Mohammed Khader from Alghad wrote that this piece showed how love became painful in the electronic age... and how it runs short of expressing the intensity of the most humane feelings; Love. Where as in JO magazine... They wrote how love can become meaningless and banal... when confronted by a white screen with words appearing and disappearing on it...
As for Alsijll they said that the girl appeared as if she is communicating with the machine and not the human on the other end...

Also:
:: Me Talk
:: Me Win

The Narratives* | 21

2009-04-16T08:24:00.003Z

He has walked long enough... and far enough with a huge load burdening his back...

The load was delivered...

He is walking home... with painful traces of the load still burdening him...
Sweeping inside... to the core and then back to the surface...

[It will pass... with time... everything does...]

Echoing inside... to the core and then back to the surface...

A load will be delivered....

* The Narratives: stories, events, and scenes that happen[ed] inside and around my head…

اتاك الربيع

2009-04-13T13:18:00.006Z

أتاك الربيع الطلق يختال ضاحكا
من الحسن حتى كاد ان يتكلما

المتنبي

me talk | Techno me...

2009-04-12T11:32:00.006Z

This art piece is part of an art project I have done titled [Techno Me]...
In all my works for this project I focused more on the process of creating a piece... with the minimum computer post production effects and manipulations...

[Me Talk] plays around the idea of projected images and how the human is being subjected to the projected image...

For this piece... I made a person stand and communicate with a pre-recorded projected image of himself... and since he is standing on the way of the projector... his shadow is being created... and he answers the projected self of himself....
Answering in a monotone voice questions that has no real meaning... his answers thus are just repetition of the questions... for example [Who are you? I am who you are... When are you? I am when you are...] and so on...

Also:
:: Me Love
:: Me Win

... Upon Death

2009-04-08T08:29:00.000Z

Death is a fact… we all know that sooner or later we will die… yet it seems that death never occupies us… until it hits someone near…

Upon hearing the news… I cried… I knew he was going to die… he was very sick and tired… but my tears had to fall…
I wonder where is he right now? What sort of reality is he [living] now? Did he see it?

I cry for his family… he left them… and no matter in what form… the hardest thing is to say Goodbye to those whom you truly love…

He died earlier this morning… yet… the sun has shone… the birds are singing… and the weeds and flowers are dancing in the breeze…
In few hours he will be lowered under the ground… yet above the ground… life goes on… pretending that nothing has happened…

Death is hard…

It makes me think of how important I am really in this life… how any of us is really important…
We live in our own circles… get consumed with our own made problems… we love, we hate… we fight… we lose… we win… but at the end… we only live for a short time… leaving no major impact on this Earth… except for those who knew us…

Life…. Oh, how insatiable it is… for our passions… for our dreams… for our strivings… for ourselves…
But death reminds us… it doesn't have to be so…

A friend once said… [Keep duniya "life" in your hands… and out of your heart] how wise she is…

Maybe then death won't seem so hard… maybe then the Light will touch our hearts and ease our pains…

Rest in Peace my dear uncle Abu Zuhair…

You'll be much missed… and always remembered…

Meditative Spaces

2009-03-26T09:35:00.000Z

In the [Interior Architectural Design 1] course, I gave my students a project to design a meditative space.
The restrictions they had to work with were:
:: The dimension of the interior space was 3X3X3 m cube. The walls are made of concrete.
:: They have to come up with one meditative act that your space will contain… this act should reflect their personality.
:: They have to design the interior of this space including lighting, walls, ceiling and floor finishes, and any furniture used.
:: They have to design their own openings including the entrance to the space.

The reason behind this project is that I wanted students to get the essence of interior spaces which are light and color. And for them to go to the basics I chose meditation function because it is going to the basic and the specific. The main challenge of this project was to employ minimalism as a design approach, which for second year students is still too hard.

I wanted them to work with one specific concept that will tie all their design decisions together and justify them.

And yesterday they had submitted their project after almost 5 weeks of work...

= Ridab Soudani | The Golden Cage
In her project, Ridab chose the act of sitting in a cozy, enclosed way on her self. She chose the metaphor of a woman womb. The idea of rebirth was manifested in her entrance and exit to the space through a narrow tunnel.
She used the idea of layers as well to represent the concept of a protective cage...
One of the layers was tubular skylight that permits daylight into the space.
Ridab was successful in creating an experience within her space with a good start and end... but I think she could've manipulated more the mid of the experience.

= Dalia Musleh
In her project Dalia chose the act of watching the stars as her act of meditation.
She played around the idea of creating a space defined by light. She created a central circle on the floor where she would sit or lay surrounded by a light diffused by green calcite stone. Above her another circle of stars painted by glow-in-the-dark paints to represent the milky way... around this circle is a band of candles lights...
Her main down point is in having a static view instead of changeable views of the sky.

= Ruba Yaghmour | Poetic Wall
In her project, Ruba choose the act of writing poetry as her meditation. Her space consists of two facing walls one with famous quotes she likes and one with her own poetry pinned arbitrarily on the wall... her other two facing walls are a mirror wall with the door hidden in it and a stripped windows to give allow daylight and air.... in the middle of her space is her couch where she sits and writes and above her a chandeler created from crystals to give various reflections on the surfaces of the space.
Her work might seem not very minimalistic in its nature and she could have worked on joining more elements together. Also she could have played more on the concept of poetic architecture... using her text in a 3D way... and playing more with text, light and shadows....

= Mudaffar Moaitah | Hubbly Bubbly
For his meditation, Mudaffar chose smoking hubbly bubbly... An unconventional act but a legitimate one when freedom rules. Mudaffar had a challenge of creating a minimal space but yet incorporate tradition. In some points he did by using a recess in the floor for wood burning. But when it came to his other furniture he had a problem. His central "fire" square should have been reflected more boldly to the ceiling by creating a ceremonial duct for the smoke. Lighting as well was put with no deep consideration of the spirit of the place.

= Shadia Jaber
In her project, Shadia worked on the idea of staring at the outside view. She wanted to approach Japanese architecture but she was very timid in doing that. Her wide window was outlined by a vibrant orange frame to emphasize on it as her focal point. But the rest of the room did not play the same tune. Another interesting feature of her work is the painting with the Japanese script saying "Beauty". But once again this worked only on the visual side with no deeper consideration for its real meaning. Her work could have been developed into a more interesting output.

= Farah Hamdan
In her project, Farah chose the act of reading as her meditative act. Her design is simply a safe design. Visually it has no real faults and to some could be seen appealing. But conceptually it doesn't have the strong impact of stimulating the mind. She had a start in creating zones for the different stages of reading... but she didn't take it to the maximum and turn it into a ceremony. She also didn't play very well on the minimalistic approach. But she had thought of certain details quite well.

= Amina Hassan | Illusion
In her project, Amina wanted to create the sense of floating to induce the mind to relax and meditate. In order to do that she created a mirroring tiles and a glassed ceiling... thus upon entering the space you will see the sky, its reflection and you suspended in between. Her couch was made of glass and white linen. Her only problem was the lack of designing the walls... Her walls don't speak well with this strong approach.

= Sara Khatib
Sara Chose water as her playing medium. But she took another "bold" decision of changing her whole work two days prior the deadline. Her output was relatively poor. She had good ideas of how she wanted the person to feel the presence of water and how it can help her to relax and enter into a meditative state. But as I said she didn't have enough time to develop her [new] ideas into mature design.

Over all the students took a huge step from their previous way of thinking into a minimalistic way of thinking... They could have worked harder on the details in general and on making their designs more mature.
The issue of timidity is obvious and also of commitment.
I hope in their next project we can work on these two things.

Also a point made by one of the Jury members; Ola Sawae was of letting the students think of the exterior with the interior... giving hints on the outer walls of what is happening inside their meditative boxes. I have to say I wanted students to focus more on the inside since this is their first interior design project. However this is a a valid point that I will keep in mind.

:: Originally post on SABE Reconnaissance...

Techno Me... again and again... =)

2009-03-25T13:26:00.002Z

Thanks for the ikbis team who came and document this... =)

in two words...

2009-03-23T13:33:00.002Z

Complete Ecstasy!

Techno me... is still on... =D

Techno Me

2009-03-15T13:15:00.003Z

[Techno Me]... is my first exhibition in Amman... and you are all cordially invited to come and see it...
The opening is on Sunday 22nd of March in Makan... at 6.30 p.m.
The exhibition will run till Thursday 26th of March and will be open from 2:00-6:00 p.m.

[Techno Me] brief...
[[ Who am I? The twist in the answers to that basic question, since projected images, sounds and gestures took over our lives, is what this installation is trying to tackle.
fragmented as the new nature of realizing who I am.]]

The exhibition consists of the following:
:: [Me/City] an interactive video installation
:: [Me/We] an interactive computer application
:: A series of very short video art pieces :
== me talk
== me love
== me see
== me touch
== me face
== me win
== me paint

Hope to see you all there...
And do wish me luck...

then it stops

2009-03-11T11:16:00.001Z

[I don't believe it matters to me- that they're going to destroy it. Maybe it hurts so much that I don't even know I'm hurt. But I don't think so. If you want to carry it for my sake, don't carry more than I do. I'm not capable of suffering completely. I never have. It goes only down to a certain point and then it stops. As long as there is that untouched point, it's not really pain.] Howard Roark from The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand....

Play as a Padagogy...

2009-03-08T14:13:00.002Z

Playing a game consists of the following; a set of variables that determines the players, the locations, etc... and then there are the rules that tell you what you can and can't do... then there is the mission to be completed... which more or less is the playing process... and lastly there is a reward which signify getting the mission completed.
Looking at the words highlighted above [Variables, rules, mission, process, reward] I can find resonance in my own understanding of design process...
So... for me using playing a game as a method of teaching design is meaningful, interesting and rewarding... adding to that students feel more at ease and have more fun....

For today's classes in Multimedia and Web... I came up with an idea of making students create their first storyboard...
After dividing them to groups... each group had to write on separate sheets the following:
- Name of a celebrity
- Date and Time
- Place
- Name of an activity
- Name of an event

Then we shuffled those and hand picked one of each category for each group... then each group had to come up with a fantastical story that combines their keywords...
Afterwards they had to draw a short storyboard max. 5 frames to tell their story.

One of the key elements in this exercise are the ideas of chance and juxtaposition... these two concepts had their peak during surrealism which arguably had its second renaissance in the age of computer games... and in many ways are seen in the digital design and multimedia... [think of a trash bin next to your documents on your desktop with a mouse running around...]

Words chosen by students were variant from Julia Roberts to Mit3b Il Sagar.... from 16th century to distant time in future... from the jungle to Paris... from dancing to fencing... and from Christmas Eve to Jerash Festival...
Forcing themselves to create narrative that combines these words smoothly and "convincingly"...

In less than an hour time... Here are some samples of students works... which I have to say was quite good...

and it rains...

2009-03-01T09:16:00.001Z

This is not my normal style of editing... but as I was editing the movie... was hearing the music and thought... why not!!

The rain... how can I ever resist...

28 not-so-ordinary things about me!

2009-02-24T13:16:00.001Z

.:. I was born on Friday the 13th
.:. I cried my lungs out in Jerusalem
.:. I ate pork when I was two years old!
.:. My first imaginary friends were actually a bunch of colored dots that I'd seen when I close my eyes…
.:. I ran out of house
.:. I got kicked by a horse… the worst of it… I got caught between the horse and a brick wall
.:. I almost drowned in a half meter deep creek
.:. I fainted once and still re-collect the other world very clearly
.:. I got two scholarships one for my high school and one for my post grad study
.:. I had my face printed in a large scale and hung on a façade of a building
.:. I ran for my life and had to jump from a 2 meter height
.:. I inhaled tear gas
.:. I got stung by a bee while running an important errand with a stranger
.:. I had lived for a whole month in a house with a graveyard view from my bedroom and a cargo train rails view from my kitchen… the other 10 months I had a flat mate
.:. An angry dog trapped me in a corner once
.:. I was a penniless for a short time… and for a couple of days… I ate free food from the local mosque kitchen
.:. I worked as Radio DJ
.:. I had an alto phobia panic attack while attempting to climb up a mountain… and made quite a fool of myself…
.:. I drank Italian water with my Pakistani friend while sitting in a Scottish restaurant
.:. I was followed by paparazzi… Twice!!!
.:. A photo of my face was on BBC news website
.:. I got lost in the city
.:. I once stopped eating for 6 days… lived only on tea and water…
.:. I had racist comments thrown at me
.:. I have been semi-vegetarian for the last 5 years… one year I was more restrict than the rest…
.:. I traveled between countries by plane, ship, bus and train
.:. I saw the Ka'aba in reality
.:. I had laughed sincerely at myself with 20 strange people

Raining

2009-02-22T10:09:00.004Z

On my first day on this life... my grandma told mum to cover me up from the rain... so that I won't catch a cold...
little did they know then... as little they do know now... that I and the rain... are but one..

Interior Architecture Studio | Take 1

2009-02-19T09:46:00.002Z

After having a hibernation... I'm back to teaching on my own... This semester I'm teaching interior architecture students at GJU....

For this first class in studio... I gave them a quick exercise where I divided them into three groups and gave each a limited space, a drafting table and a chair.... then I asked them to design the space as they want... and that they can borrow whatever objects they can find around them...
The main objective of this exercise was to do the first act of interior design a human has made which is to arrange and re-arrange existing elements to accommodate a certain function...

The first group... made their cramped space into a small second hand clothing shop... as a set design I think they did well... but as interior designers they had a lot of mistakes in using up the space...

The second group... designed their space as a living room... they had manipulated the table quite well and made good use of their coats and jackets... The only problem they had is that they made some redundant additions...

The third group tried to go into abstraction and had two or three different ideas before landing on this one... which was designing a corner for a pianist... their design is what we call "Safe Design"... which means nothing wrong in it... but... not quite creative... however... they had again used elements effectively and they had put a lot of thinking in it...

The Narratives* | 20

2009-02-15T12:54:00.003Z

The Peacock was looking up contemptuously...
[Who does it think itself... this little gray bird... so what if it can fly higher??? I have colored feathers]

The little gray bird... was flying happily...

Wind blows...

* The Narratives: stories, events, and scenes that happen[ed] inside and around my head…

28

2009-02-13T10:06:00.001Z

Bad Ad Image

2009-02-09T09:12:00.002Z

So I guess people at Orange overlooked the finest detail that killed their new ad...
Can you too pick it up?
Who said [God is in the details]?!

During my Vacation

2009-02-08T08:49:00.003Z

So... I'm back to work... the 10 days went by so fast... but I did manage to relax... and found myself new grounds to tackle... WATERCOLOR...
It is a very hard technique... and I'm no painter... but I really enjoy it and I'm planning on making it my newest hobby...
as for recycling paper... there is a pleasure in putting my hand in gooey stuff and then see them dry to become paper...

For Every Ailment There is a Remedy | لكل داء دواء

2009-02-04T11:41:00.004Z

For Every Ailment There is a Remedy | لكل داء دواء is an installation by Raed Ibrahim... It is exhibited at Makan till 18th-Feb.-09
The idea of the installation is inventing medicine for social and political problems we face in Jordan... The artist made the medicine packages and posters...
There is a touch of sarcasm behind the idea of a magical pill that will solve problems which became norms in our society...
A very successful exhibition and I highly recommend you see...

Shadows

2009-02-02T13:41:00.000Z

The play and dance between the light, an entity, a shadow and a texture...