Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Monday, February 6, 2012

Mondays

No, it's not one of those days! It's just another Monday.

Friday, February 3, 2012

The Dictator: Intellectual Crisis

"The Dictator" is a play currently being performed in Beirut, Al-Madina theater. I really am not an expert of any kind of this performing art, not even close to being one, and this is not a critique, but if you care to hear the opinion of someone who happened to watch it, someone who by no means represents anyone else who happened to be there, and someone who left the theater hearing the masses parroting: wow, beautiful, genius, the best play ever, and other words that only bounced back as they touched my ear, and despite that remained someone who left the theater with the feeling that if a torture ritual can heal you and wash away your sins, then I am definitely a re-born person now, and if that was the purpose then the play is indeed a great success, but I have to say this: I found the acting to be good, but between us, this is not the most difficult genre of acting, and the set to be okay, because there wasn't any, I mean it could have been performed in my living room and it wouldn't have made a difference, but the most annoying part was the script, which is by Issam Mahfouz, the guy this play is intended to honor. I am not going to say more especially that I respect the Director Lina Abyad and I have watched and liked some of her other plays, but I advise you to go and watch it and maybe you could tell me if it is the play itself or maybe just me being in a cranky mood. It could be. But before you judge me tell me if this particular genre of drama is an elite art that is addressed to an elite audience then no need to sell tickets widely and next time perform it in a smaller theater and if it is something beyond the grasp of the layman then spare us the torture of feeling intellectually inferior because not everyone is going to cheer what they find hard to appreciate. But if this is a play addressed to us, the masses, then allow me to say that I just don't like it, and that it is most probably not my problem.

P.S. Most people in the theater did like the play, so do go and watch it. I told you others did find it stunning. Here is the trailer, and here are some photos.

Brainwashed

Sometimes my mind becomes numb from constant exposure to conflicting brainwashing ideas. Can you please brainwash me one at a time?

Luck

If you apply the concept of probability to luck you will find that it simply does not apply. Luck is not random; it always falls on the wrong person. Luck is not a fair game. It is a game that only gives you the illusion that the likeliness that luck will happen to you is the same as everyone else. The longer you live, the more you could prove to yourself that if you are an unlucky person, the likeliness is that you will never become any luckier. You can hope, but hope is the weapon of the unlucky. Lucky people don't hope, they just wait. Albert Einstein should not be famous for his theory on relativity but for saying this: at any rate, I am convinced that God does not play dice.