In brief
Winds of change
(cairolive.com, August 2, 2002) The weather has improved -- if only slightly. Friday saw a minor break in the heat wave that has overcome Cairo for the past few weeks. A headline on the front page of Thursday's Al-Akhbar says it all -- "Mabrouk... the heat wave is set to break tomorrow".

Ad watch
Sending out an SMS
(cairolive.com, August 2, 2002) The idea of sending people SMS messages instead of making more "traditional " phone calls is being promoted heavily by Mobinil in its latest ad campaign. Appearing on  quarter pages in Al-Ahram, the ads feature a mobile phone with a talk bubble coming out of it, on which is a sample SMS. This week's offers an example of an SMS as a means of "getting out of a discussion you don't want to have", as the ad's tag line reads. The message is from a guy to his wife or girlfriend -- "maalish ya habibti", it reads, "sorry dear, I'm going to be three hours late :)"
Funny stuff.
The previous week's quip was about calling and  visiting relatives. Instead of using the phone, you could send an SMS that says something like, "dear taunte, I miss you and want to come visit you soon."
For the past few years, people have been using SMS messages to convey Eid and Christmas greetings, usually as an alternative to calling. As our processes of communication become even more de-personalized, greetings are sent to hundreds of friends at once, saving plenty of time which would have ordinarily been used in traditional person-to-person chatting.

Entertainment
Back to play names
(cairolive.com, August 2, 2002) It's peak summer theater season, and as one flips through the pages of the newspapers, it's hard not to notice just how many plays are out there competing for audiences' attention.
Perhaps it's because the annual summer influx of Gulf Arabs -- one of the traditional audience bases for the theater circuit -- has increased this year, since many who may have ordinarily headed for Europe or the States, as reports have indicated, have decided to stay local instead, fearing harassment and allegedly tougher entry restrictions.
As for the plays, we see names like "Arnab wa Aqrab wa Feel" (Rabbit, Spider and Elephant), "Zizo Digital", "Shabab Riwish Tahn" (Very Cool Customers), "Taraeeio", "Al-Mudariseen wal Doroos Al-Khososiya"  (Teachers and Private Lessons), "Do Re Mi Fasoolya" (Do Re Mi Green Beans -- back for another year starring Samir Ghanem and Shaaban Abdel-Rehim), and... the name that -- hands down -- takes the cake... Lenin El-Ramly's new "Tahib Tishoof Ma'saa? Bil Taba' Laa... Ha ha ha" (Do you want to see a disaster? Of course not... Ha ha ha) -- which is showing at the George Abiad theater.

Commentary
The summer buzz
(cairolive.com, August 2, 2002) Al-Akhbar's latest campaign focuses on the issue of an alleged increase in the presence of mosquitoes on the North Coast.
Editor Galal Dweidar deals with the issue in his Thursday front page editorial, while cartoonist Mustafa Hussein draws the environment minister, literally surrounded by mosquitoes, giving an interview, and claiming that there's nothing really to worry about, because the mosquitoes in questions are "fafi", or soft... 

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

In brief
Nafie and France
(cairolive.com, August 2, 2002) Al-Ahram's editor in chief Ibrahim Nafie, meanwhile, seems to be embroiled in a lawsuit in France alleging that the paper's writings are anti-Semitic. A news item about the lawsuit against Nafie was on the front page of Wednesday's paper, and Nafie himself writes an editorial titled "The myth of anti-Semitism in the Egyptian press" on the front page of Thursday's edition.

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

a special feature...
Party on the Nile
(cairolive.com, July 24, 2002) Thousands of people turned up for the downtown celebrations commemorating the 50th anniversary of the July 23 Revolution

READ MORE ABOUT THE PARTY

GO STRAIGHT TO THE PHOTO ALBUM

READ MORE ABOUT THE REVOLUTION

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