August 31, 2009
While you are all in the summer heat in Cairo, us Cali Egyptians are experiencing our own kind of heat...the wildfire heat!
Today (Sunday - well it'll be yesterday for you guys in Cairo by the time you wake up and read this) we had a wildfire surrounding almost 10,000 homes in LA. There was ash on the cars and the weather was so HOT...our terminator Governor recommended immediate evacuation. GET OUT...GET OUT (try to imagine that in Schwarzenegger's accent for comedic effect).
Seriously though - it is actually really dangerous; thousands have fled and those that didn't listen and tried to be tough got badly burned and injured. So keep us all in your Ramadan prayers and if you have any friends or family in the area, give them a call and check up on them!
August 31, 2009
Egypt's 3rd mobile operator, has hit a home run with their new Ramadan Ads...
We don't know what it is exactly about them, but maybe because they're light hearted, quick, and speak to us all...
There is a reason why everyone goes out and buys a phone line, and Etisalat plays on that cleverly, from the Girl who wants to speak to her boyfriend late at night, to the people who bought it while visiting Egypt...
Besides the cute message, we have to give props to the Ad House who came up with the concept and the execution...
What do you guys think about the new Etisalat ads?
August 30, 2009
This summer there were two Arabic movies that really caught everyone's attention...Teer Enta & Alf Mabrouk. Both movies were remakes of American films and honestly claimed so in the beginning of the films (which we respected much more than them trying to credit the idea as their own). Sometimes you do see an American movie and wonder what that would be like if it were Egyptian...well they did it! and they did it well.
Teer Enta, Ahmed Mekky's newest film, was an absolute hit this summer. It was the remake of the movie Bedazzled in which a man is granted seven wishes to be with the woman he loves but instead it keeps going to extremes (ok - we'll stop there so we don't ruin the movie). The movie, speaks to all classes, was hilarious, and more importantly focused on a lot of inside jokes and tidbits that speaks to us and our society - and that's something everyone appreciated and enjoyed! Both of the main actors did a wonderful job!
Alf Mabrouk, Ahmed Helmy's movie, was based of the idea of Groundhog Day in which the same day is repeated over and over again. This movie wasn't very accepted with the sha3b el masry because they were expecting Helmy to be comedic as usual, but in attempt to change his roles a bit, he was a bit less comedic and focused more on a serious role that made a point. While many people we know really enjoyed the movie, the rest of the population was looking for Helmy's average tripping over something and falling on his face type of movie. We honestly appluad him on taking a new type of role and his work in this film.
Both movies made it a point to send a message or moral of the story through the storylines. We definitely appreciated these movies that spoke to us and used inside jokes especially aimed at our generation...nicely done boys!
August 30, 2009
Do we really love soccer more than anything else in our lives??
Recently, a fatwa was going to be passed that claims that soccer players don't have to fast if they have a big game, so that they have the health and ability to play well. Luckily, Azhar realized that this is kinda messed up and condemned the fatwa, cancelling it altogether.
Here's the thing though, how was that even accepted in the first place? It really makes us wonder, has soccer become so sacred to us in Egypt that we are willing to allow our players not to fast just so we can enjoy a good game of soccer? The reason given behind this fatwa was that being a soccer player as a career is a very tiring career, so it can slide for them...
Seriously people, we all love soccer, but it seems that we love it to the extent that soccer in Egypt overrides religion! We know that it was used to make people forget about political issues, but this is just too much...
August 29, 2009
So among the mass of ads in Ramadan, we're particularly impressed with the new image Egyptair has set for itself.
Long gone are the days of the shitty airline ads and the nasty stewardesses...their new ads look international, as though they weren't even filmed here...except for the fact that our beloved Mirette is in one of the ads as well...(she's just everywhere, isn't she?)
We are proud that our national airline has reached international standards with such clean, crisp and visually entertaining ads...we hope that they match this with their airline!
August 28, 2009
It's a lazy Friday, and everyone is bumming around waiting for fetar to come..so we thought why not give you guys some music...
Not usually our typical picks but, the young lil white boy trying to rap was cute...so check out up and coming Justin Biebers new song "One Time"
August 28, 2009
You've spent the last 6 months in Boston at school in your own apartment...going in and out like you please...then you come home to...a curfew?!
Yup. Welcome back! We still don't understand the logic behind it. Yeah, ok you're back under your parents roof...but they've let you go half way around the world for school...so um what's the point of getting strict now? Its obviously not lack of trust since they let you go...so what is it??
This mainly applies to girls. We leave the country live independently but the second we come home its like be home at 11 and constant phone calls and check ins. What gives parents?!?
August 27, 2009
Karim Abdel Aziz is back again this year prancing around the Coca-Cola Ads...
There is nothing exceptional about the commercial...the light humor is cute but the same theme resides throughout all the ads; not wanting to share the soft drink with others...
One point really stood out to us though in the commercial...
The whole Ad was shot in Marina! It looks like the soft drinks giants are trying to make a point, or at least are getting us used to the idea that from here on out our Ramadan's will be spent by the seaside and nothing is more refreshing that breaking your fast with a cold soft drink...we don't know how true the last part is...but you get the drift.
Doesn't sound to bad to us, having Fetar by the beach watching the sunset, dammit why aren't we there now?!
Did you guys see the campaign, what did you think about it?