On Media, Matches (and Metro next time)

So…sorry it’s been too long. What do you want to know? I guess until I guess a response for that question, you’ll learn whatever I talk about. I’m always hurting for time to type, ‘cause I have lots to say. But I’ve only got so much time and computer access. So here’s what I got for now.

Media. So I know it’s somewhat inappropriate in certain circles to discuss the musical, moral and lyrical prowess of America’s own Marshall Mathers from a positive point of view, but, given my safe distance from the majority of my readers, I’ll dive in.

I saw the video for “When I’m Gone” a couple nights ago. Since I don’t know how modern the Arabic music station is, pardon me if I’m out of touch and this song is old. Nevertheless, though I only saw maybe 2/3 of it, missing the beginning, I have to say it’s an all around grand production. First of all, the song is great…nice music, classic talented beats and beautiful rhyme scheme as per the known talent of Eminem. Furthermore, the lyrics are great, exploring the relationship of father and daughter, father and wife, and musical demands. The video itself is good, putting forth the group setting and integrating his daughter and her lip-syncing for the parts designed to be her speaking. You gotta think it did something to me to write about it given what I just said about time, and given it’s not all that different from what I get at home, as opposed to riding the bus here (consider that a teaser till next time).

What else? I saw about 20 minutes of the beginning-middle of a movie called Julian Po. Did anyone see (even hear of) this movie? It looked good, it looked intriguing in its story and the commentary it made on people. Now you know what kinds of movies I like. I think I’ll try to see it sometime.

Matches. Just another example of the difficulty of language. Did you think I was talking about the little wooden things you strike to make fire, or about the noun to describe a sporting contest? FYI I was referring to the latter.

Since the middle of January, the African Football (read: Soccer) Championship has been going on, and Egypt is the host country. The city has been fairly nuts about the whole thing, whenever Egypt plays it is a big event. It’s been magnified by the fact that Egypt has been doing well. I finally made it out to a game last Friday, after trying (through friends) to get tickets. I owe Friday’s game to Kareem and his friend Dalia, and her brother Shady. Tix were not easy to come by, we paid twice their face value on the black market, though it’s not quite the same as scalping at the door.

It was quite an event. The tix are not assigned seating, only assigned by section according to the class of the ticket. Level 1 had the best seats (and is therefore the most expensive). There is level 2 and 3. We sat in level 3. Since there is no assigned seating, we had to get there early to hold good seats. We tried to get there early, but Kareem forgetting the tix on the way to picking us up, and one girl from our group hitting a child while driving (before meeting us) and giving him a broken leg (so we all went to meet her at the hospital) meant we didn’t get there that early. In fact, our friends (the larger group) were having a hard time saving us our good seats. So we only made it by like 2:30. For the 7:00pm match. Imagine! The plan was more like 12:00. It was nuts. They showed the other quarterfinal that day, which was playing in Alexandria, on the big screen. It was from 3:00-5:00pm. Which still leaves a lot of time for free time. This time was spent singing songs and yelling and clapping. It was an experience. I was tired before the match started.

Actually, Egyptians are a loud, fun, sing-y, type of people, in the right situations. I am reminded also about the retreat I went on. During the sports, everyone (and mostly, especially the girls) shouted/sang about the group, and whenever one of the players did something well, they would sing about them. Actually, it’s fun to be sung about. They’re not like complicated songs or anything, and definitely more of a shout/cheer than anything, but enjoyable nonetheless.

For the match, the whole stadium was clothed in Red, White and Black (the colors of the flag if you didn’t guess). It was pretty spectacular. And you’ve never seen so many flags. We had at least 4 good productions of the wave. And Egypt won handily, 4-1, which made it all the better. But for me, it was too long a day (i.e. I’m not going to any other matches – the semi-final is tomorrow, and the final on Friday). Still, I’m glad for the event.