Tina Arena Was In Tunisia

So what do you know, Tina Arena, one of my favourite female artists was in Tunisia shooting the video for her new single “Je M’appelle Bagdad”, which is one of my favourite songs off her new French album “Un Autre Univers”, and I didn’t know about it and didn’t get to meet her. Now that’s shitty…

The video was shot in the Tunisian Desert and in the Palace of Tozeur. It was directed by Thierry Vergnes, the same guy beind the

Fish Shawarma in Jordan

While doing my daily round of blogs, I came across this funny article in the Jordan Times via The Black Iris.

As sales of chicken shawerma dropped in the capital following the detection of avian flu in Ajloun, one Amman restaurant is serving fish shawerma to minimise lost profits.
Customers said it was a good alternative.

“I thought serving fish shawerma would be something rare that people would like and at the same time it would make up for the low sales of chicken shawerma,” said Suleiman, who began selling his specialty two months ago.

According to Janem, the maneger of the restaurant, a small fish shawerma sandwich is sold at JD0.60, a large one at JD0.90, and a fish shawerma platter costs JD1.5.
The prices are roughly JD0.20-0.30 more than their chicken counterparts.

“Though it is delicious, it leaves you with bad breath,” a customer said.

Creative and funny…

Arabs & US Democracy

”The war to ‘democratise’ Iraq was the most valuable gift the American administration has ever given the dictator regimes in the Arab world. It is a practical example of what democracy means as seen by the Americans. Arab nations see the war in Iraq as an exercise to secure oil supplies from the region and to destroy an Arab country for the best interests of Israel.”

Bourhan Ghalioun, Director of the Centre for Contemporary Oriental Studies at the Sorbonne University.

[Via: Je Blog]

Social Networking Through Blogs

One of the things I love the most about blogs is how you get to meet so many interesting people both online and offline.

Over the past 3 years that I’ve been blogging, I’ve met so many people online through them commenting on my blog or sending me an email asking me for certain information, telling me about an interesting bit of news, informing me about an exciting new project, or just expressing their appreciation for my blog or even disappreciation; yeah I actually got one hate email from this sick racist maniac Tunisian woman in the US who is strongly anti-Arab and thinks that Tunisians are a superior race.

Some of these contacts evolve into the person commenting or emailing more frequently, and the relationship becomes more of a friendship than just a writer-reader relationship, which is something I just love.
So please keep the comments and email coming.

It’s also so cool when you get to meet some of these people offline in real life, go out for a cup of coffee or something and just talk.

This is actually one of the main reasons blogger meetups have been such a big success. In Tunisia, we’ve actually become a big group of friends who really like hanging out together and who also try to meet with or without meetups.

What’s even more amazing is when you travel to another country and you get to meet all these different people who are either readers of your blog or bloggers themselves too.

I’m convinced that blogging is really one of the best ways to meet cool and interesting people.
I’ve personally met bloggers, blog readers, journalists, photographers from all over the world through my blog, both online and offline in Tunisia, Jordan, London and Paris. And every meeting has been so great and enriching.

Viva Les Blogs…

The X Factor, The Essence of Success

FremantleMedia has announced that it is launching a local version of The X Factor in the Middle East.

The X Factor, XSeer Al Najah (The X Factor, The Essence of Success) will be produced by Lebanese production company Studiovision and will premiere on 26 March on music channel Rotana TV, culminating in the grand finale on 4 June.

FremantleMedia regional manager, Middle East and North Africa Isabelle Garcia said, “We are really excited about bringing this format to the Middle East. Not only do we have fantastic judges with great backgrounds but also the acts coming forward are something the Arabian public has never seen before.”

FremantleMedia adds that thousands of hopefuls with dreams of becoming the next Arabic singing sensation have turned up to perform at auditions in The Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Kuwait, Egypt, Dubai and Tunisia. Judging the talent are Michel Elefteriades, owner of the celebrated Music Hall in Beirut; Nelly from Egypt, a performer in both the acting and singing fields and Khaled El Sheikh, a Bahraini producer and composer. Following in the footsteps of the UK production, the three categories will comprise younger and older contestants and groups.

The X Factor has been broadcast in five territories to date: the UK, Belgium, Colombia, Australia and Russia.

The difference between The X Factor and SuperStar is that at the end of the auditions, hopefuls are whittled down to 120 and divided into three categories. Each category are assigned one judge faced with the task of shaping up their acts so that one of them emerges as the winner.

Sounds interesting…

[Source: FremantleMedia]

Jeans for Muslims

They’re high around the waist, wide around the leg and have lots of pockets for holding watches, bracelets, glasses and other knickknacks.

A new line of jeans designed by a small company in northern Italy, under the name of Al Quds Jeans, caters to Muslims seeking to stay comfortable while they pray.

The bagginess is to ensure the wearer avoids stiffness while bending down repeatedly during prayers. The pockets are for holding all the accessories Muslims have to take off while they worship. And the jeans have green seams

50th Anniversary of Tunisia’s Independence

Today is the 50th anniversary of Tunisia’s independence from France, and quite a bit ironically, I’m actually in Paris on this important day.

The first thing I would like to do is to salute everyone who played a role in liberating our country and to honor the memory of all the people who struggled for our country’s independence. You are all heroes, and you’ll live forever in Tunisia’s history and memories, as well as in our hearts.

Tunisia has come a long way from 1956 to today, and a lot has been accomplished, but of course we still have more to do together to go on building a better Tunisia for us and for the future generations.
It’s up to us to shed our passive attitudes and take a more active role in making Tunisia all we want it to be.

Tunisia is a dream, and just like those who gave their lives for the freedom of Tunisia believed in it, we too should believe and cherish this dream, and do all we can to make it a reality.

I’ll quote Mahatma Gandhi again here with his famous quote “You should be the change that you want to see in the world.”, and I’ll modify it to become, “We should all be the Tunisia that we want to see in the world.”