Sunday, July 30, 2006

The new Middle East!


cartoon by Emad Hajjaj

Friday, July 28, 2006

still I'm sad | Amman and my heart...

I’m so happy for him… he is my little brother… and today… he did it… he did it… and made us all so proud of him… made my family happy… and for that am so grateful…

Still I’m sad… I’m millions of miles away… can’t even share their joy…

Tomorrow… is my best friend’s wedding… a year ago she said: “mosta7eel aswee 3orsi o inti mish hoon”… and I said: “mosta7eel tsawee 3orsik o ma ajiesh”… I guess the impossible sometimes happen… and tomorrow… is her wedding… and again am so happy for her…

Still I’m sad… I won’t be there for her…

I guess at one’s life we will fail ourselves, our families, people whom we love…
And we go home to an empty room… with mirages of our loved ones celebrating across the distance…

And in my small bubble… I’m still sad…

A song for the sadly mood…


Saturday, July 22, 2006

What if...?

[[One wonders: What would the world look like today, if the state of Israel had not been created in 1948? Its improvident formation seems to have set in motion a chain of events, mostly negative, in the affairs of Mankind. In the movie, “Click,” the lead character finds a “universal remote” that allows him to rewind to different parts of his life and to change what had happened. If I possessed such a “universal remote” and could stop President Truman from aiding and abetting the establishment of an Israeli state, then, it is my speculation, (a theory), that the following 25 propositions would probably be our present day reality. They are:....
]]


:: read the whole article [What If Israel Had Never Been Created?] by William Hughes...

Friday, July 21, 2006

no comment!



first page on The Independent 21st/July/2006

Monday, July 10, 2006

......



وينثر الخليج من هِباته الكثارْ،
على الرمال: رغوه الأُجاجَ، والمحارْ
وما تبقّى من عظام بائسٍ غريقْ
من المهاجرين ظلّ يشرب الردى

وأسمع الصدى
يرنّ في الخليجْ
(مطرْ ...
مطرْ ...
مطرْ...

بدر شاكر السياب

Friday, July 07, 2006

[kalam] art | concept | beauty

A couple of days ago… I found myself in a situation where an artist was discussing his work with a normal person… it was really amazing the big difference between an artist view and a normal person view of an art piece…
That led me to think about the general art appreciation positions of normal people… by normal I mean people who are not [artists]… though not to contradict myself… I always thought that every person is an artist [in a way] by nature…
What exactly determines a person’s aesthetic values?
And as artists, what should we do to [improve] these values? Is it in our hands to impose our own values? Or own standards, if there is such a thing?
Even when I reflect upon architecture… that is an art form, in which people are supposed to dwell… what determines what’s good and what’s bad? If we take a tour around Amman… we’ll be confronted with different buildings… I once heard a comment about how lovely the architecture of houses in Abdoun [ a rich area in western Amman] is… for me there is no place [uglier] than it except maybe for the refugee camps, which are way under the decent living standards…
Eclectic movement is one of the most dangerous in Art… which I think loose all it’s aesthetic values… by combining un-[harmonious] elements together...
Further more if we to look into the concept of having [a concept] in any art work! To what extent do people [care] about that?
Going back to the situation I mentioned… the [normal] person didn’t even get what is a concept in that art piece… and he commented: “ you artists, see things and think people see it as well… while they don’t”…
In architecture I always felt that a concept if not recognised… it is definitely affecting people’s experience of the space… whether evident or not… it is there….
But when we talk about other forms of [passive] arts like paintings and photography… a concept in theory should be creating a new sense of intimate interaction between the art object and the observer… allowing different interpretation and further reflections upon that art object... but does this theory or [fantasy of the artist] happen in real life?
I don’t think we all should have the same taste… or follow the same aesthetic values… but again as an artist I feel it’s my duty to expose people to what I see as beautiful… A deeper concept in me… coming from my Islamic identity… “God is beautiful and He loves beauty.”

:: [kalam] objects | movements | beings

Monday, July 03, 2006

02.07.06 | rain in July

لا بد و أنه المطر


مهما أشتد الأمر... فإن رحمة ربي وسعت كل شيء...