A Slayer is Re-Born

How many of us are hooked up on TV shows right now? let's say almost 99.9%? Well one of the shows that I've been watching for a long time is Buffy The vampire slayer. A product of one of the most creative minds in the business Mr. Joss Whedon!

What makes Buffy stand out for me is not just the story-line nor the characters, but the ability to experiment with the show. The buffy cast and crew did a musical episode that was endured in the sixth season entitled "Once More with feeling".

Not just that! but with the show ending at season 7, the creator of the show didn't want to disappoint the large number of awaiting fans so he turned into a different medium to tell the rest of the story.

Turning Buffy the vampire season 8 into a comic. The major plus about doing a comic is having more room to experiment with the story-line. Doing anything and everything that the writers can think of. Not to mention that the art of the comic is sooooo amazing and very much true to the feeling and the concept of the show.

I've been following the story every since issue 1 hit the stands back in March 2007.

Whooo are youuu?!

A very easy question yet not so easy to answer, at least I would think so.

We all are familiar with Alice in wonderland which is such an amazing story (one of the all time classics and one of my all time personal faves). The story goes like this: in Chapter 5 of the book, Alice comes across a Caterpillar that is resting on top of a giant mushroom smoking a hookah pipe. The two stare at each other in silence before the Caterpillar asks Alice, “Who are you?”

Alice in the other hand, finds it difficult to answer the Caterpillar's question. She is surprised that she's finding trouble with it. Think about it, who knows you more than you know yourself? yet can you seem to answer the above question easily?

Back to the book, Alice struggles with the importance and instability of personal identity. It is obvious that she is constantly ordered to identify herself by the characters she meets, but she herself has doubts about her own identity as well. I guess the positive thing about this is in one way or another we do know who we really are but because in time and in life we grow, change and experience things that affects and adds to who we are and ultimately to who we become.

Food for thought..

Many Faces

" Though dreams can be deceiving, like faces are to hearts, they serve for sweet relieving, when fantasy and reality lie too far apart."

How often did you hear the expression "Don't judge a book by it's cover" ?
I guess every person takes a journey through life thinking that people are exactly like the way they look or the way they act. However, that doesn't seem the case. Many would agree that life or should I say time teaches you to weigh in carefully who is being honest and who is not.

Encountering the Monalisa

Definitely one of the coolest things I've got to do this past summer in Paris. I decided to go to the Louvre which (funny enough) I've been wanting to do forever. I never got to go to the Louvre even after the number of times I've visited Paris. Every time I decide to go something has to happen to change that plan.

Anyways, Finally I decided okay! it's been long enough I have to spend a day at the Louvre so I went and ofcourse I was looking forward to seeing the famous "MonaLisa" as many of the tourists did. I have to admit when I entered the building I was truly amazed by the structure and a bit distracted by the Library and the Gift shop :P (which I spent hours at later).

I walked in, past all the sections and the periods of history with the excitement of getting closer to the Monalisa. It's funny how at every single corner there was always a poster that indicated "The Monalisa ---->" pointing you to the direction.. on the right.. on the left.. up the stairs.. down ahead! Until...

I got to a narrow long hallway that had paintings on both sides, I knew that the Monalisa was near since I saw crowds of people standing by a giant doorway on the right. So I entered and there she was. I have to admit that I was shocked by how extremely small the painting of Monalisa was. I thought it was just the effect of standing far away but as I got closer and closer.. I realized it was actually SMALL or not THAT big as you'd probably expect.

It was kinda funny as I kept staring at her while people were taking pictures as you can obviously see above. The Monalisa was one of those experiences that were considered as a "big deal" and it was! I would wanna go see her again, you know.. just to say Hello! :)

The Queen of France

For many of the people who know me personally, they know that I am obsessed with everything that has to do with the French Revolution and Marie Antoinette (otherwise known as the last queen of France).

Where did that obsession come from you wonder? Well first of all the story of Queen Marie Antoinette is with no doubt one of the most tragic stories in history.

In my situation, It all started with a anime I watched when I was younger. Lady Oscar is what it's called in Arabic but in many other languages it's known as The Rose Of Versailles. The story of the anime takes place in France during the 1700s when Louis the 13th, the king of france marries off his grandson Louis the 16th to Maria Theresa's daughter Maria Antoinia (an austrian princess) who later became known as Marie Antoinette.

Growing up, I got more and more interested in reading about that time in France that was going through an era that changed the course of history where the people formed a union against the ruling of the King and Queen. The story to me is more like a soap opera and it is evident in the number of novels/fiction/movies written about Marie Antoinette and the era of the French Revolution.

However, to me the sad thing is the ideas and "misconceptions" most people have about the queen, with the famous quote "Let them eat cake" that she didn't say according to Author Antonia Fraser who wrote Marie Antoinette: The Journey that Sofia Coppola adopted into a movie in 2006.

Pls keep in mind that A) the queen was 14 years old when she got married. B) France and Austria were enemies 7 years prior to her marriage to Louis. C) She was handed over to a court that is known for being emotionless and overly strict. D) Being young, she trusted people around her and they took advantage of that. E) She was accused of not wanting to have children when her husband Louis had a condition that didn't allow him to preform his part, besides being awkward and not know how to deal with his wife.

Finally I just end with a quote by the queen herself. “Courage! I have shown it for years; think you I shall lose it at the moment when my sufferings are to end?”

And Then There Were None!

.أول قصة قرأتها للكاتبة الشهيرة أجاثا كريستي، القصة التي عرفتني على أشهر الكتاب في التاريخ وبالفعل تستحق هذه الكاتبة العظيمة مكانتها في سماء أعظم كتاب للرواية عامة وللروايات البوليسية خاصة

الرواية تدعى "ثم لم يبقى أحد" وهي مترجمة عن أسمها بالأجنبية، ولكن كانت الرواية التي قرأتها مترجمة تحت أسم أخر وهو بعنوان "الجزيرة الغامضة" صادرة عن دار أسامة، وهي دار نشر في سوريا، تشارك سنوياً في معرض الدوحة الدولي للكتاب.

ومن المعروف أن الكثير من المكتبات ودور النشر قاموا بترجمة روايات عديدة لأجاثا كريستي، ولكن تظل دار أسامة هي الأفضل في رأيي، وذلك لبساطة الأسلوب وإستخدام الكلمات المناسبة، وليس بالإعتماد على الترجمة الفورية كما يفعل الأغلبية هذه الأيام.

تدور القصة عن عشرة أشخاص لايجمعهم اي قاسم مشترك، جائتهم دعوة غامضة إلي جزيرة معزولة، وفجأة خلال تناول العشاء دوي تسجيل صوتي للمضيف المجهول، متهماً كل واحد منهم بإرتكاب جريمة، ولا يلبث المدعوين إلا أن يسقط من بينهم ميت! ومع إستمرار القصة، تستمر الجرائم والجثث في الظهور.. ثم لم يبقى أحد.

ويجدر بالذكر أن مترجم الرواية للعربية هو الاستاذ محمد طريف فرعون.

The Royal Dairies

The Royal Dairies is a set of novels published by different authors. The Royal Dairies of Maire Antoinette is written by Kathryn Lasky and I have to say that it was such a wonderful and easy read. It is what it is, a dairy "fictionally" written by Marie Antoinette. It truly feels like reading into the dairy of Marie Antoinette herself. Kathryn Lasky did an amazing job of interpreting the growth of the queen, where the dairy starts off when Marie is still at Austria before her marriage to Louis until her final days as the queen of France.