Books-&-Movies

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22
Aug 10

Movie Review: Cairo Time

Cairo Time

Cairo Time

Irm and I watched an excellent movie last night titled “Cairo Time”. The movie tells the story of Juliette, a fashion magazine editor in her 50s, who travels to Cairo to meet her husband, Mark, a UN official working in Gaza, for a three week vacation. When he is unavoidably delayed, he sends his friend Tareq, who had been his security officer for many years, to escort her throughout the beautiful and exotic city. The last thing anyone expects is that they will fall in love.

What I enjoyed the most about this movie is its authenticity. The people, the music, the and the culture all drew a very realistic picture of the city. It really adds to the movie, and especially to the ending.

I highly recommend this movie. You can rent it by clicking here (Netflix)

Watch the trailer

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8
Aug 10

Movie Review: Dhokha

Dhokha

Dhokha

Irm and I watched a great movie last night titled Dhokha (deception). The film revolves around a high ranking police officer, ACP (Assistant Commissioner of Police) Zaid Ahmed Khan, who is married to Sara. All is going well until there is a terror attack and several people are left dead in its aftermath. Amongst the dead is Sara, who is not a victim, but a suicide bomber. Zaid is shocked, for he had no idea that his wife could be involved in something so sinister. He is arrested, and all his friends are convinced of his guilt.

Once he is set free, he decides to investigate the real truth behind his wife’s death: was she really a terrorist? Or is there another angle to it?

I highly recommend this movie. If you are a Netflix user, you can rent the movie by clicking here.

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6
Aug 10

Movie Review: Promises

Promises (2002)

Promises (2002)

This movie is probably the only movie I watched that deals with the Israeli Palestinian conflict that completely changed the way I view this ongoing conflict. The first time I watched the movie was in a Middle East class back in 2002 (It was also the best none business class I have ever taken). The class dealt with politics in the Middle East, including Israel ( some people don’t consider Israel to be part of the Middle East), and covered many fascinating topics that I wasn’t aware of prior to taking the class.

What was amazing about the class is that for the first time in my life I had the chance to meet, and converse, with people from all over the Middle East (Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Yemen) . It was enlightening to see how biased we all were toward the conflict, and how “shaped ” and closed our minds were. Every time we will get into an argument over an issue (mainly Israel vs. Palestine), we presented enormous amount of data that we collected over the years. We all had a different perspective about the conflict, and we all thought we had the true answer.

All of us were lucky to have a brilliant professor that in a very socratic way managed to make us understand each other better. Half way into the semester we all turned from “enemies” to best friends!

The movie “Promises” was watched during the class, and was the last brick put in the process of building our friendship and trust.

I highly recommend you rent, or buy this movie. It will change the way you look at the Israeli Palestinian conflict forever.

Books-&-Movies — 3 Comments
20
Jun 10

Movie Review: For My Father

For My Father

For My Father

Last night we watched an excellent movie, For my father:

Tarek, a Palestinian forced on a suicide mission in Tel Aviv to redeem his father’s honor, is given a second chance when the fuse on his explosive vest fails to detonate.  Forced to spend the weekend in Tel Aviv awaiting its repair, Tarek must live amongst the people he was planning to kill.  To his surprise he connects with several Israelis on the outskirts of society, including the beautiful Keren, who has cut off contact with her Orthodox family and upbringing.  With nothing to lose, Tarek and Keren open up to one another, and an unlikely love blooms between two isolated and damaged individuals, raised to be enemies.

However, with the deadly load of explosives still strapped to him, he must spend 48 hours in the city, caught between the men that sent him—who can blow up his bomb remotely, the Israeli police patrolling the streets and his new-found companions.  Spending this time with Keren and his new friends, Tarek discovers the spark of life returning to fill his soul, but when the weekend ends, Tarek must make the decision of his life.

The movie is very touching, and makes one wonder about life in the larger sense, and about the ongoing conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

I highly recommend this movie.

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26
May 10

Book Review: Son of Hamas

Son of Hamas

Son of Hamas

Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef is the story of a man that ever since he was a small boy, has had an inside view of the deadly terrorist group Hamas. “The oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founding member of Hamas and its most popular leader, young Mosab assisted his father for years in his political activities while being groomed to assume his legacy, politics, status . . . and power… In Son of Hamas, Mosab Yousef–now called “Joseph”–reveals new information about the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization and unveils the truth about his own role, his agonizing separation from family and homeland, the dangerous decision to make his newfound faith public…”

At some point in Mosab’s life, after being tortured by the Israeli Secret Service Shin Bet, and after seeing the treatment of Hamas members locked in Israeli prisons to other Hamas members, he reached a spiritual revelation about his people, his enemies, his family, and about the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He also joined the Shin Bet as a collaborator in an attempt to free his people.

The book is very descriptive, and reveals a chronicle of events that led to Mosab’s transformation. Events that shaped him as a fundamentalist, a terrorist, a collaborator, and at the end a peace loving person.

The only thing that bothered me in the book was the reference to religion as the solution to most of the problems that both Palestinians and Israelis face. I personally do not believe that religion has the power to solve this conflict, and Mosab’s attempt to portray it as such is, in my eyes, wrong.

Nevertheless, it is a very good book that I highly recommend. You can order it here.

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23
May 10

An Education (Movie Review)

An Education

An Education

Irm and I  watched a very interesting movie last night titled An Education. It is very hard to write much about the movie without adding some spoilers, thus I will keep it short.

The story takes place in the 1960s, Jenny is a bright young schoolgirl quickly approaching her 17th birthday. Jenny’s parents have sacrificed much so that her schooling can get her into Oxford, with her doing everything from learning Latin to playing the Cello.

One day, having been caught in the rain, a much older man named David  helps Jenny get home. Jenny is rather impressed by David’s taste in music, as well as his maroon-colored Bristol, a very rare car.

This is where the movie starts taking interesting twists and turns, and it is also where I stop writing so I won’t ruin the movie for you.

I highly recommend watching the movie.

Watch the trailer:

Books-&-Movies — 1 Comment
21
Sep 09

Book Review: Marketing 2.0

Marketing 2.0

Marketing 2.0 is a meticulous work of an author who took the extra mile to explain the dynamics of Social Media Marketing, and give a thorough analysis of what works and what does not work in Social Media today.

In contrast to other books in the Social Media Marketing field, Marketing 2.0 relies heavily on using case studies of various companies. In addition to these case studies, the author himself added  some of his own experience, which really helped with reinforcing what was discussed in the beginning of each chapter in the book.

I particularly appreciated the fact that Mr. Borges took the effort to divide all the “tools” available in Social Media into individual chapters, instead of congesting them into one or two chapters like other authors do in order to save time (I guess). This is extremely helpful, especially if you are planning to use the book as a textbook, which is not a bad idea at all.

If you have been around the Social Media”neighborhood” for some time, you might find some of the chapters to be a fundamental knowledge. However, I caution you not to flip the pages, as I am sure you will find some of this fundamental knowledge to be useful, especially combined with Bernie’s self experience case studies.

If you have never experienced Social Media Marketing before, or, alternatively, experienced it but feel like you need to learn more, this book is for you.

You can follow this link if you wish to purchase the book.

Feel free to share your experience with the book by commenting