In brief
Winter or not?
(cairolive.com, November 1, 2002) Lately, everyone in Cairo has no idea what to wear. Should we be in t-shirts or jumpers?
According to Thursday’s Al-Akhbar, the weather is going to be unstable for the next few days, with a cloudy atmosphere overwhelming both Cairo and the North Coast.
That description, however, is just as uncertain as the weather itself, which ranges from sweaty hot in the daytime to chilly cold at night -- causing quite a few people to get colds as a result of not knowing what to wear.
Traffic police, meanwhile, have changed into their black winter uniforms, which means that officially, at least, winter has arrived.

Movies
The Kamar mystery
(cairolive.com, November 1, 2002) Three months have gone by since the first advertisement featuring pop star Mustafa Kamar’s new movie “A Brave Heart” or "Qalb garee" appeared on Cairo’s 6 October Bridge. Later on, a fair dose of the movie’s soundtrack and several scenes from the film were aired on most Arabic satellite channels. Finally, when Kamar actually released his new album, Monaya, which included the title song from the film, everyone thought that "Qalb Garee" would be in the theatres any day now. Then more ads were posted and still -- no movie.
Perhaps Kamar’s fans were not the only ones wondering about the mystery movie since Thursday’s Al-Ahram features a tiny article on its back page reporting that the mixing and printing of the film has been finalized in London, and that Kamar and the movie's director have returned to Egypt.
The article, however, neglects to mention when the movie will be available in theatres and the issue remains an enigma to those interested.
Most are predicting a post Ramadan eid release for Qalb Garee.

Traffic
Violator identifier
(cairolive.com, November 1, 2002) Most of Thursday’s papers decided to front-page news that a new car sticker indicating the date your car registration ends will now be required of drivers. The sticker will be provided during the regular license renewal procedures, and should be posted on the inside of your car, on the top right corner of the front window -- so that traffic police can easily identify those whose registrations have expired.

Television
Risky dream
(cairolive.com, November 1, 2002) The debate over private satellite channel Dream TV's controversial talk show of a few weeks past -- which centered on an unusually frank discussion of "the disadvantages of masturbation, drug use and the inability to establish sexual harmony on marital relationships"  -- has just heated up yet another notch.
Al-Wafd had started a campaign against the program two weeks ago, accusing it of going against rules of public morality.
On Thursday, the paper devoted much of its front page space to replies from Ahmed Bahgat, the owner of the satellite channel, and Hala Sarhan, the host of the show.
The paper's headline had screamed out that “bank loans were used for talks about masturbation” -- arguing (somewhat obtusely) that since Bahgat's channel was funded via bank loans, it shouldn't be discussing such topics. In his reply, Bahgat denied that his channel was based on funding from bank loans. Both Bahgat and Sarhan argued that the topic was a matter of public concern and that the program dealt with it within a scientific context, in the presence of distinguished attendees, including doctors and a sheikh.
Sarhan found the accusations appalling and the insinuations -- that her “giggles” and “indecency” were vulgar -- unacceptable. She also added fuel to the fire by promising that another ten new episodes of the talk show will be dedicated to masturbation -- which certainly means that more criticism is yet to come.

For links to these articles and much more from the world of Arabic media go to www.zahma.com!

Check out cairolive.com's coverage of Ramadan TV 2001

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