bidoun 06: envy
I just bought the new issue of Bidoun, the gorgeous quarterly on contemporary arts & culture in the Middle East. The theme of issue 06 is "envy," and a number of the articles are up online, including Pelin Tan on Istanbul's gated & high-rise upper middle-class communities (lately the subject of a lot of interesting academic work and art), Claire Davies on Medinat Nasr, one of the "satellite cities" of Cairo, Antonia Carver on the role of American universities in the Arab world, and Alaa Ebd Elfattah on Nasrin Alavi's new book about Iranian blogs. Still, you should buy the magazine, for the photography and artwork and the various intruguing bits not available on the webpage (especially Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFares's piece on Arabic typeface design, and the always-tempting cooking section, this time featuring the also-tempting Nav Haq).
Bonus: recent and forthcoming issues of Bidoun each include a page from the "Bidoun phrasebook," the invaluable guide for artistic poseurs on the international prowl. Last time, they taught you how to say "This is sooo contemporary!" and "Is Sean Penn still in town?" in Farsi; this time, it's your introduction to Beiruti Arabic, with helpful catchphrases like:
And of course, the most crucial:
I can't wait for the Turkish edition.
(for the history of the rivalry between Nancy and Haifa, the two reigning Lebanese pop divas, and the cultural uproar surrounding them & their fellow "pop tarts", Marc Lynch, aka Abu Aardvark, has all the information you'll need. Me, I'm for Nancy: "Akhasmak Ah" ate away many hundreds of my brain cells during my thesis-writing process, and will always retain a fond place in my pop-trash-lovin' heart.)
Bonus: recent and forthcoming issues of Bidoun each include a page from the "Bidoun phrasebook," the invaluable guide for artistic poseurs on the international prowl. Last time, they taught you how to say "This is sooo contemporary!" and "Is Sean Penn still in town?" in Farsi; this time, it's your introduction to Beiruti Arabic, with helpful catchphrases like:
A Marxist reading group, every Thursday at Starbucks. That's really neat.
Majmoo'a bitne'esh marx kell nhar khamees bi Starbucks. Lazeezeen.
Love your video installation. Is it about the war?
Ktir habbeyt el video installation. 'an el harb?
Of course I know you're Phoenecians. I'd never assume you're Arabs. It's so obvious.
Akeed ana ba'ref inno intoh fini'eeyyyeh, ma bee hayeteh b'ool 'inkon 'arab.
Wadeh mitel noor el- shams.
And of course, the most crucial:
Nancy Ajram or Haifa?
Nancy 'Ajram walla Haifa?
I can't wait for the Turkish edition.
(for the history of the rivalry between Nancy and Haifa, the two reigning Lebanese pop divas, and the cultural uproar surrounding them & their fellow "pop tarts", Marc Lynch, aka Abu Aardvark, has all the information you'll need. Me, I'm for Nancy: "Akhasmak Ah" ate away many hundreds of my brain cells during my thesis-writing process, and will always retain a fond place in my pop-trash-lovin' heart.)
posted by kitabet at 3:20 PM
1 Comments:
The stuff about Beirut is very funny. On the Phonecian thing I always point out that if they had all kept worshipping Baal there would have been no Civil War. So I think we can say that the root cause of all of Lebanon's problems was the introduction of Christianity by the Byzantines. Plus Baal has that really cool temple up in Baalbek. LOL
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