A Year Older

"But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I'm getting older too"
Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)

So I turned 23 today.
Is that good? I don't know.
Does that matter? I don't know.

That doesn't make sense to me. I always felt 72 years old. I think I saw what I needed to see in this life, although I still am (in the eyes of my co-workers) conspicuously young.
This post is utterly unnecessary, now that I'm thinking.

Still. Growing up is a fact. Birthday is a stupidity.

Cherishing Pluto

Planet: Pluto
Mood: Nostalgic

It's time to investigate inother aspects than constellations. The Solar System can provide excellent insights. Yesterday, it was redefined. Pluto’s status as the last (but not least) planet of the solar system was abducted.

It was during a meeting in Prague that the already-uncertain status of the planet was decided … through voting!

Pluto was discovered in 1930. It is the smallest of the telluric planets which are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. It is (was) also the last known planet in the Solar System, after the other four giant gas planets. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

In essence, the new definition of a planet, according to the Prague Convention attendees, any celestial body that:
- is in orbit around the sun
- has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape
- has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit

Since Pluto’s orbit crosses the one of Neptune, hence the third of the conditions not filled, Pluto would be now integrated in a new category called "dwarf planet."

I feel sad about this. I always wondered what the 10th planet would be, not why the planets would become 8.
I was overexcited with the discovery of Sedna. Now all of this is making me feel that there are a thousand of Plutos and Sedna orbiting out there in the solar system.

Will there be one which will be crowned the new 9th planet?

(images: top: artist photo of Pluto and sattelite Charon - left: the diameters of farest objects in Solar System compared to Earth and Moon)

Am I a Terrorist? Are you a Terrorist?

Constellation: Lepus (The Hare)
Mood: Mixing reason with emotion

In May, I went to Poland to meet my excellent friend Aleksandra, whom I love dearly. We’ve been pen-friends for more than 7 years now, so it was time for us to finally meet and get to know each other. The trip to Polska was absolutely amazing in each and every possible way, so to discuss it, I need to write a book. Anyway, another issue raised itself last week. A couple of weeks ago, a terrorist plot on a British plane was foiled and that has shaken the course of airline traffic. More security is now scrutinizing every passenger, especially Arabs. Last week, there was an attempt by two young students to place a bomb in a German railway station. Apparently one of the two is a Lebanese Sunni who was mad at the Israelis because his brother was killed in the July War on Lebanon. So anyway, that’s the historical aspect of the story.

After both plots were unveiled to public, security measure became very tight, even in Poland. The Polish police knocks at Aleksandra's house (where I spent the week). Her mother who answered was all shaken because they were not asking for a house member, but who is Rabih El-Khoury and if he is (I am) still in Poland.

How do you want me to handle this? Am I on every black list now?
So anyway, one can laugh at the beginning, but gets serious doubts as to the future course of things. Bravo Polish intelligentsia for tracking my file 3 months after I have left Poland. It shows someone is doing his job correctly. But to what extend?

I heard from a friend that Arabs everywhere are humiliated in airports because of this.
Is it my fault to have been born in this area of the world? And should every Arab be viewed as a terrorist, even if he was NOT Muslim?

I don't want to raise sectarian issues here, but mind you, not all Arabs are Sunnis and Shiites, there are Christians too who don't give a fuck on what Jihad is.

As for the Hare (Lepus), well, it symbolizes in this post the automatic flee-bound of presumed terrorists right after placing their horrendous gadgets on track.

Lepus, a January constellation, under shiny Orion and Taurus.

Working amidst the rumbling

Yes, we are alive.
Yes, we are working.
Yes, our festival will take place as scheduled. (September 16-23)
The fourth edition of Ayam Beirut Al Cinema'iya (Beirut Cinema Days) will be the first post-war film festival to be held in Lebanon.
The organizers decided to make this even happen in order to take a stand and show the world that Lebanon is not only about resistance, Hizbullah and reconstruction, but Lebanon is continuing to persist, exist and overcome the crucial events that have occurred over the past month.
With a shortened selection (utmost 30 films over the 110+ that were originally intended to participate in this bi-annual event), our weeklong festival will program short films, features and documentaries as well as a special section of videos and footages of the actual July War on Lebanon.
Many filmmakers are coming to Lebanon to mainly encourage this festival which is taking place within the chaotic and uncertain conditions that are reigning over the country.
So if you feel like coming, be our guest!

The Last Word of Antares

Constellation: Scorpius (The Scorpion)
Mood: Sleepy

Now that I am back again to Beirut and to work, here's hoping I will find some good time to update this blog more frequently.

Scorpius. My favorite constellation that I have decided to attribute to the worst moment for Lebanon in quite a good time. What makes the look of this constellation appealing is that it’s instantly recognizable in the late Spring/Summer seasons skies, because of its shape.
It’s one of the constellations that actually resemble the figure it was assigned.

Mythically speaking, there is a great tale as to why Scorpius and the great hunter Orion (undoubtedly the unsurpassed constellation in terms of looks of all 88 constellations) never meet at night.

According to the Greek mythology, Orion, the son of the Sea god Poseidon was a strong and attractive Greek Hunter. Because no woman was able to resist to his strength and beauty, Apollo (the Sun god) sent a scorpion to sting him.
Zeus (the god of the gods) sent both the animal and the hunter to the sky as constellations, ensuring that the scorpion never hurts Orion again. This is why we can never see both during the same night for the Scorpion appears in the Summer while Orion reigns in the Winter skies.

Astronomically, there is a conspicuous star in this constellation, Antares, a flaming first magnitude red giant, striking to the naked eye. Ant-Ares means before Ares, Ares being the Greek god of the War.

And war, here we come again. Scorpius (the latin name given to the constellation) was a majestic constellation in the July skies. July, the month in which the war erupted in Lebanon between Israel and Hizbullah. But while Scorpius’ remaining time in our evening sky is limited (fading before the fall when Orion will show up), Antares hasn’t spoken its last word.

Will the war take another shape after the reported peculiar ceasefire? The Syrians, with their malevolent president and former ruler over Lebanon Bashar Al-Assad wants another civil war in order to retake possession over the country and amass new fortunes. Hezbollah will not disarm anytime soon for he still has some of its men held in Israeli prisons, as well as a piece of land that is disputed between the Israelis, the Syrians and the Lebanese, that it wants to liberate. As for the Israelis, they will always use their “right to defend themselves” from any attack.

So what happens next? Israel is being criticized over its chaotic management of the war but has Mr. Bush on its side no matter what. Hezbollah is assuming victory, the first of an Arab group (and subsequently country) over Israel. And Syria is protected by Iran whose president is claiming to assault any country in case Syria is attacked.

And Lebanon in all of this?
Floating. Where to? Maybe the darkness in which Scorpius will fall into in September before showing up again next Spring. Will it take that long to rebuild (hence reemerge)? First we’ll have to ask if the war is over. And then let Antares mutter its last sentences.

The war has its jokes too

While the war in the region is resting (at least for now), the jokes are fusing on the net. Here's the latest.

What happens if an insect falls in a cup of coffee:
The British : will throw the cup into the street and leave the coffee shop for good.
The American : will get the insect out and drink the coffee.
The Chinese : will eat the insect and drink the coffee.

The Israeli will :
(1) Sell the coffee to the American and the insect to the Chinese.
(2) Cry on all media channels that he feels insecure
(3) Accuse the Palestinians, Hizb Allah, Syria and Iran of using germ-weapons.
(4) Keep on crying about anti-semitism and violations of human rights.
(5) Ask the Palestinian President to stop planting insects in the cups of coffee.
(6) Re-occupy the West Bank, Gaza Strip.
(7) Demolish houses, confiscate lands, cut water and electrity from Palestinian houses and randomly shoot Palestinian houses and randomly shoot Palestinians.
(8)Ask the United States for urgent military support and a loan of one million dollars in order to buy a new cup of coffee.
(9) Ask the United Nations to punish the coffee-shop owner by making him offer free coffee to him till the end of the century.
(10) Last but not least, accuse the whole world to be standing still, not even sympathizing with the israeli nation.

Lyrics for the War

"Like a soldier ant, I will wait for the signal to act"
Congo - Genesis







"I am stretched on your grave, and will lie there forever"
Stretched on your grave - Sinéad O'Connor








"When you're tryin' to find your way home, you don't know which way to go?"
When the Levee Breaks - Led Zepplin





"And all that stays is dying and all that lives is getting out"
Urge for Going - Joni Mitchell







"When all that you had has all gone"
More than this - Peter Gabriel





... and the best for the end ...



"I can be cruel, I don't know why"
Cruel - Tori Amos