ya aini ya gadaa

[alonewiththemoon]

Al-Ahram Orchestra's album Ya Habibi is disappointing.  Oh well.

Frustrating commute this morning in the icebound land.  I could see my bus coming down the street but there was no way to move any faster, and so I missed it.  I think my brain froze while waiting for the next bus and has yet to thaw.

Friday night I saw The Golden Compass.  I am a huge fan of the books and I was not disappointed--I was expecting basically a lavishly illustrated condensed version of the book, and that's pretty much what it was.  The polar bears were the best.  The casting was all very good.  I did think I was going to lose it when Lyra and Pan are in the intercision chamber.  That scene hit a little too close to memory.  But on a more positive note, it was great to see a ferret* prominently featured in a movie without any stupid jokes about biting or being smelly.

*technically Pan took the form of a polecat, not a sable ferret, but recent genealogical research shows that polecats and ferrets are probably the same, in the sense that wolves and dogs, particularly husky type dogs, are the same.

Saturday I watched The Omega Man with Charlton Heston and the older movie starring Vincent Price, I forget what that one was called but it was the same story.  It was an interesting study in contrasts and sociology.    Then off to a birthday party.  It was good to catch up with people.  Also, balls.

Sunday I had my show at the Middle East.  I was not really feeling it when I got there, but getting into costume helped psych me up.  I finally fixed the headscarf that goes with my assuit dress and I'm glad I did, it totally put me right into character.  It was a good audience, plenty of dancers and Arabs, so everybody sang along to Taht il Shubbak.  I did not hit anybody with my cane.  I did of course hit the metal thing above the door.  My drum solo went better than it did in rehearsing, or at least so it felt.  I was very bad and did not ice my knee afterwards and so today I am in pain.  Luckily we've got some ice packs at work, so I'm icing it every couple of hours, which seems to be helping.  I see the podiatrist tomorrow to review my x-rays, I'm hoping for a concrete plan of action as a result.

Hassan Abou El Seoud's album Shik Shak Shok is not at all disappointing.  Yay!

Comments

[nepenthedreams]

I liked Ya Habibi when I first got it, but over time, I've realized that all the songs sound vaguely the same, as if they were designed for dancers, but without a lot of inspiration. I hate Dragon Raks. I used one piece from there for my contest and I still think it's a cute song. I feel like they always keep a "backbeat" going even during a beautiful taxim so you never really feel like the substance of the music is doing anything interesting, ie changing.

[alonewiththemoon]

It's the same synthesizer effects in every song, I think. I'm not automatically opposed to synths in Arabic music--the Shik Shak Shok album is chock full of synths--but I really don't like the way they are used on Ya Habibi.

[tisana.livejournal.com]

The polar bears were awesome. 'Specially Magneto. ;)
I hadn't read the books, but we went out right after and bought them so we could. DW almost lost it during Iorek's speech about being a warrior, and I almost lost it during the intercission chamber.