Happy 2009!

How do I feel by the end of the day,
(Are you sad because you're on your own?)

No, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends

With a Little Help from My Friends * The Beatles

Beautiful people, 2008 wouldn't have been the same with you :)

I would like to take the time to thank each and everyone of you for being here with me, hoping I was and will be with you whenever you need.
Oh and, keep on smiling! (at least most of you!)

I'd like to thank in particular:

My lifelong orbiting satellites:
Bechir, Maya, Mira, Sarra and Tania

My always shining stars:
Aleksandra, Oskar, Rami and Sylvain

My superfunky satellites:
Chadi, Joyce, Nadine, Pauline, Roy and Yuri
Dana,
Juliana,
Mo,
Sandra,
Sandro.

My 2008 exoplanets:
Cesar, Ian, Loig, Nathan, Grétar.

The circle of fantastic out-there creatures:
Elias and Tony,
Manuel,
Maya and Stephanie.

My wonderful constellation peers
Hania,
Eliane, Elie, Jad, Rima, Simon, Zeina,
Ali,
Aude and Menem.

In 2009 I'd like to be
As adventurous as Joyce and Roy
As ambitious as Hania
As amusing as Manuel
As brilliant as Rami
As clever as Nathan
As colorful as Nadine
As complete as Mira
As creative as Ali
As crispy as Sarra
As cultivated as Grètar
As daring as Sylvain
As enchanting as Rima
As enthusiastic as Chadi
As funkylicious as Dana
As generous as Elias and Tony
As gracious as Mo
As honest as Cesar
As indispensable as Aude
As intelligent as Menem
As in love as Yuri and Pauline
As knowledgeable as Sandro
As lively as Aleksandra
As obliging as Zeina
As perseverant as Sandra
As present as Jad
As principled as Juliana
As smile-infectious as Maya M and Stephanie
As structured as Simon
As supportive as Tania
As thoughtful as Ian
As tranquil as Elie
As trustworthy as Oskar
As unconventional as Maya K
As unique as Loig
As visionary as Eliane
As vital as Bechir

My DIFF Ratings

I saw only 8 films at the Dubai International Film Festival, that's because I only came for the weekend. But out of these , 3 of them had children in the leading roles, and most of them are none professional actors. Sometimes they are far more impressive than affirmed ones.

Here are my ratings:

PA RA DA
Feature film by Marco Pontecorvo
Italy/France/Romania - 2008 - 100'
My Rating: 4 stars and a half
Pro: I can't believe how much I enjoyed the film. I did not know what to expect and I did not even know anything about the filmmaker, save the fact that he's the son of renowned director Gillo Pontecorvo (director of the 1966 The Battle of Algiers). It's about a French citizen who comes to Bucharest post 1990 and helps children of the street by installing a circus. Poignant and charming
Con: I could have done without the very end of the ending, but I can see why it's important to the film.

The Class (Entre les Murs)
Feature film by Laurent Cantet
France - 2008 - 128'
My Rating: 4 stars and a half
Pro: a genuine French film. I can't remember when was the last good French film that I saw lately. The cast is surprisingly good. I expected it to be a bit more violent but it's just perfect as it is. Teachers should watch this!
Con: -

Pranzo di Ferragosto
Feature film by Gianni Di Gregorio
Italy - 2008 - 80'
My Rating: 3 stars and a half
Pro: Italy has made wonderful films in 2008, including the much acclaimed Cannes winners Gomorra and Il Divo. I had no expectation for this comedy, but it turned out just fine. The scriptwriter and director is also the leading actor who's entertaining four irascible and annoying old women.
Con: sometimes it's a bit easy, and falls into the clichés.

Three Women (Se Zan)
Feature film by Manijeh Hekmat
Iran - 2008 - 94'
My Rating: 3 stars and a half
Pro: The script is brilliantly constructed. It reminded me of The Edge of Heaven by Fatih Akin. Iranians films are always a pleasure for the eye. The leading actress is made of win.
Con: I'd say the problem of generations and having three women portray it was developed so much already.

Days of Boredom (Ayyam El Dajar)
Feature film by Abdellatif Abdulhamid
Syria - 2008 - 93'
My Rating: 3 stars
Pro: Very enjoyable. It runs smoothly.
Con: Just as other films by Abdulhamid, it's not bad, but it's not exceptional either. The jokes are sometimes a bit too much.

China Is Still Far (Wa Law Fil Sin)
Documentary feature by Malek Bensmail
Algeria/France - 2008 - 118'
My Rating: 3 stars
Pro: another trademark documentary for Bensmail. Although not of the caliber of his 2004 Alienations, it was thoroughly enjoyable. The children add a lot to the general vibe of the film.
Con: a bit too long, could have been a lot shorter.

Dawn of the World (Fajr Al Alam)
Feature film by Abbas Fadhel
Iraq/France - 2008 - 100'
My Rating: 1 star
Pro: beautiful image. It reminded me of the Hungarian film Delta which was screened during the 2008 Cannes Festival.
Con: well, I couldn't see anything except the image. I was bored, the acting was extremely theatrical and, well I was bored.

Pomegranates and Myrrh (Al Mor Wal Ruman)
Feature film by Najwa Najjar
Palestine - 2008 - 95'
My Rating: 1 star
Pro: I don't know.
Con: I had high expectations for this one. And yet I didn't know what to think of it. I was too disappointed. It went in the same vein as Annemarie Jacir's Salt of this Sea. Several clichés and the film does not improve at all. The music was too much .

Dubai: to Be or not to Be?

Place: Dubai
Mood: Confused
Song: The World Is Not Enough * Garbage

"If you can't have it all
Then nobody will"
from The World Is Not Enough by Garbage

If you can't have it all, then nobody will. That sets the tone perfectly for Dubai.

So I went to Dubai. Finally. And dare I say I wish I had not. It's the perfect place not to live in. If I want to describe Dubai in one adjective, it would be counterfeit, better known in slang as FAKE. Huge skyscrapers that galvanize everyday life and change the course of Dubai not on a yearly basis, but rather on a daily one. These abhorrent buildings are not even assembled geometrically to create some sort of harmony is this fricticious environment. Buildings, buildings and more buildings. And there's no such thing as this building is pretty because every damn building in Dubai is pretty. So it's nauseating at the end.

Now the Taxi, which is a chapter by itself. Save the fact that the drivers do not speak English (being mostly Indians or Pakistanis), they do not even KNOW Dubai! And yet they have GPS in their cars, but of course, they have no idea as to how to use it. So needless to say, they know where Dubai Marina is, but they have no single clue about what's in it, and where.

I went to Dubai for the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) which was running in its fifth edition. If you can replace the above text with the words stars, red carpet, glamor, you'll get a close idea at how counterfeit the festival is. While everything is perfectly organized, it can be ruined by a computer dysfunction that can turn the whole accreditation office upside down on the opening night. Better, the volunteers. Do they know in Dubai what the term "Volunteer" means? I believe I know more things on the festival than these guys who. Ask them any lame question and they would disappear for five good minutes before they answer you 'I don't know, sorry'.

The films that I got to see will be blogged in a separate entry.

And now to the photos, which speak by themselves.

01. The Festival

With Zeina, a pillar of both Dubai Film Festival and the Cinema Days of Beirut. She looks like she's not tired at all ;)

The red carpet of the Madinat Theater. I bet this is DIFF's most important feature.

Why would Najwa Karam attend the gala screening of Pomegranates and Myrrh? No the real question should be, why would the festival invite Najwa Karam in the first place! What does she have to do with cinema?

A fun performance from PA RA DA after the screening of the eponym film. It was apparently a premiere to have a circus inside Madinat Jumeira!

02. The People

We kept looking at this man who had both of his feet ON the couch of a restaurant. And he's clearly a foreigner. I wonder if he'd like to have my feet on his bedroom sheets.

At the same restaurant, Nathan and I order a revolting sandwich. For the first time ever I think, I have a sandwich that doesn't taste anything at all.

It was Nathan's marvellous idea to bring us to mOre restaurant so that I could have a succulent Paella! (The smile was before I ate the enormous plate, as it was impossible to smile afterwards)

03. The Buildings

Burj Al Arab... during the day...

... and at night, sporting one of its numerous evening gowns, as it changes colors much more than I change shoes in a year!

What I saw from my friends' apartment. I have no idea what to think about this mess. So I'll let you make your mind.

So Dubai will be soon having its metro. And apparently you need a cab to go there as the stations are not near everyone's house, and another to leave it since one cannot walk during the day for the most part of the year. So what's the point of having a metro in Dubai exactly, especially since posh cars are cheap?

Dubai Marina bay. I am just an ornament to the picture. The skyscrapers are the real thing. Or maybe is it the opposite?

04. Some random sightings

Mall of the Emirates 1: Yeah -3 degrees at the Mall of the Emirates, so that some locals could enjoy and equally local snow. And the Christmas spirit, because they need it!

Mall of the Emirates 2: A Mosque in a mall? A MOSQUE? So you have the Mosque, the restrooms and the taxi pickups. Fair enough!

Mall of the Emirates 3: Why would you have countless Christmas trees if you don't even celebrate Christmas!!

So Rami explains that the Indians are the ones who write the names of the buildings in Arabic. The Views in Arabic becomes The View. Go figure.

If I Walk to Berlin...

Place: Berlin
Mood: Less-than-cold
Song: Winter * Tori Amos

Berlin is such an amazing city. Screw the cold, screw the wind, just go. I'm always amazed at how easy and practical this city is, and how cheap it is compared to other cities like Paris or Barcelona.

So screw these, and go to Berlin, if you have the chance.

Now with the cold, it would be a more memorable experience, but I am told it is equally as beautiful all dressed in green in the summer instead of white.

My visits to Berlin are always so short, but here's hoping that the next one will be much, much longer. Here are some photos that document my latest visit. I would like to thank my dear friends Martin, Rami, Nathan, and Oskar in Berlin for being the fantastic persons that they are and being so generous with me.

Beirut, from the airplane...

... And inside the cockpit where my uncle (left) was wonderful enough to let me watch the take off from Beirut and the landing in Paris

How to enjoy your German Würstchen: Step one: Eat it with your eyes...

Step two: Launch the scathing attack!

Step three: Refresh with some hot chocolate or Glühwein!

A giraffe in the coldness of Potsdamerplatz.
That's not a dream, just the imagination of Lego!

I don't think I look any better than the giraffe. My eyes are torn out, my nose is icy and my lips are electrified. I wish I were made out of Lego too!

Nathan and Rami can't believe that they would be finally eating (yeah that and I would have a massage in this restaurant!)

The ladies are practicing the My-Love Game, that was created especially for them by Oskar and myself

Did I mention that we eat a lot in Berlin? Well, that was the American Brunch. Sausages, fruits, cheese, yogurt, jam, vegetables, toasted bread, orange juice and a gazillion other things!!! Long live walking!

Choose your dessert: a dreamy raspberry cheesecake or...

... an equally delicious forêt noire?

And speaking of sweets, this is the Brandenburg Tower... in chocolate!

Presenting the award for the silliest photo of 2008, and maybe of the century

At Alexanderplatz. Because what I needed at the moment was a fresh vibe from Beirut...

With one of the famous street bears of Berlin

Last Spring, it was there. Now it, well, disappeared.

Finally some gifts to you from Viktor and Rolf. And yes, she does that all day long. And the tourists love her!

As to the music that goes with the Berlin trip, here's what I bought and listened to there:

01. Adieu Tristesse (by Arthur H.) – from the album Adieu Tristesse [2003]

Adieu, Adieu
Adieu, adieu tristesse
Adieu les larmes, adieu la nuit

So I finally bought Adieu Tristesse. And I love it. And the title says it all: Goodbye Sadness. What a great way to trash sadness out and smile again in beautiful Berlin!

02. J'ai Deux Amours (by Madeleine Peyroux) – from the album Careless Love [2004]

J'ai deux amours
Mon pays et Paris
Par eux toujours
Mon cœur est ravi

We'll just have to replace Paris by Berlin, and this wonderful song will make perfect sense!

03. Winter – live (by Tori Amos) – Disc one - from the album Live in Montreux [2008]

When you gonna make up your mind
Cause things are gonna change so fast
All the white horses have gone ahead
I tell you that I'll always want you near
You say that things change
My dear

I finally rediscovered Winter. And I forgot how beautiful this song was thanks to this very early rendition. Of course, it was not agonizing like the 11 minutes that it has reached lately. Just passionate, and perfect for cold Berlin!

04. True Love Waits – live (by Radiohead) – from the album I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings [2001]

Just don't leave
Don't leave
I'm not living
I'm just killing time

And so I have to leave... Only to come back again :)