Geekfest Pi – Shared Space and Creative Unorganisation

This will appear in the Emirates Business 24/7 print editionon Feb 27th 2010. It’s  been slotted online and can be hit at: http://www.business24-7.ae/the-business-of-life/events/shared-space-and-creative-unorganisation-2010-02-28-1.53305 A PDF of the print version can be found here, thanks to @Mita56: http://bit.ly/bDAdEf?r=td Shared spaces occur when a community can spontaneously appear and, in a wink, dissipate. But not without making [...]

Mahim Junction Comes to Dubai: Can Satirizing Bollywood Ever Work?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hisham-wyne/emmahim-junctionem-comes_b_471141.html Bollywood may be a cacophony of music, sound, laughter, tragedy and bathetic sentiment, but for some it’s not enough. If Bollywood isn’t sufficiently Bollywood for you, you should attend Mahim Junction, a play by writer and director Sohaila Kapur, who happens to be the sister of international film director and producer Shekhar Kapur. Mahim [...]

A Mossad Killing in Dubai

Mossad, Kidon, assasination, Mahmoud al Mabhouh, Dubai, homicide, Israel, Palestine, Hamas,

How Sita sang the blues at the Jam Jar while Dubai’s invisble blue collars joined in

Theatre, film and art productions can be a mixed grab bag where you never really know what you’re going to find. Some you walk out of feeling justifiably entertained. The start, interim and end being right where it was supposed to be. Others move you – perhaps in inexplicable ways. #Mahmovies’ third night, chaperoned and [...]

An evening of magic courtesy the Dubai Concert Comittee – Feb 7th 2010

Feb 7th 2009 was the date when the Centrepoint theatre in DUCTAC came alive with the sounds of scintillating baroque music. Sitting perched  up in a mezzanine seat, I was for two glorious hours in the company of the exhalted and the sublime as symphonies by Johann Bach, Antonio Vivaldi and Georg Telemann infused the [...]

Racial profiling in airports: not a simple case of black & white – Global Comment Jan 30th 2010

This article can be found at http://globalcomment.com/2010/racial-profiling-in-airports-not-a-simple-case-of-black-white/ The location is any international airport in 2010. The scene is one of controlled chaos. People are pushed, prodded, searched, questioned and scanned. Row upon row of irritated passengers interact sullenly with overworked security personnel. You straighten your shoulders, hoist your backpack and walk straight through. After all, [...]

When a villa houses an art gallery full of pots – congratulations, Mrs Farley

Wednesday, February 3rd. The Dubai International Art Centre. I had never been – had not even in point of fact had heard of it. On getting the invite, I assumed an imposing building housing the latest collection of pottery from Homa Farley, one of Iran’s few contemporary potters. Mrs Farley hangs her hat, and also [...]

The Lochal Archade turns one year old! Fun game reviews and leather vs. wax

The heading is misleading. But it got your attention. Well, perhaps not that misleading. Lochal Archade, the website that reviews and podcasts niche, experimental, quirky and bargain bin games in Dubai, has turned a year old! Kudos to Mohommad Al Huraiz, better known to the Dubai’s twitter folk as @Asatiir, who started this endevour. He [...]