Al Hakim was born, according to his mother, in 1903, while various researchers note that he was born in 1898. Al hakim, which was born in a wealthy family, was born to an Egyptian father and a Turkish mother. Al hakim’s relation with his mother was unstable, where he notes “she had a violent temper, she was like a volcano of anger”. This unstable relation with his mother gave Al Hakim a shy personality, where he was surrounded by an emotional shell that kept him away from the society, that along with the fact that his family was an aristocratic family and rarely socialized with the public. Nonetheless, Al Hakim’s mother stories that she used to narrate in her illness bed were the seed in Al Hakim’s fertile imagination. He got his Bachelor degree in Law in 1925. After the dean of dramatic literature finished his early education in Damanhur and Cairo, he traveled to Paris, forced by his family, to get his PhD in law [1].
In Paris, Al Hakim came in contact with the European culture and was influenced by it in his early work, especially in theater. Even so, he was influenced by the events in his era, which “witnessed a comprehensive literary revival in all genres of Arabic literature” [2]. After a while, Al Hakim traveled back to Egypt without his law PhD, but he came with something more important, literature wise, which was his vision of modern Arabic Drama.
After his returning home, Al Hakim worked in many different jobs in law, where he worked as a deputy prosecutor in Alexandria, combining his legal work with writing. In 1929, he transferred to the civil courts and worked in other cities, including Tanta, Damanhour and Dessouk, but he resigned governmental work and started his journalism career in “Akbar Al-Yum” newspaper, where he published some of his plays [3].

His magnificent literature
Al Hakim is truly the founder of modern Arabic Drama literature, as Taha Hussein declared. He struggled on behalf of the Arabic drama as a new genre and shaped its techniques and its language. Nonetheless, he had his hands in other genres in Arabic literature as well, where he was known for writing novels, poems and essays for journalistic purposes that deals with the socio-political matters.
Here is some of his none theatric work:

His theatrics work
Tawfiq Al Hakim and theatrical work came to life in three main phases throughout his life which were the following:
1. Biographical Theatre:
This phase was in his early life where he was exposed to several issues in life and wrote more than 400 plays such as “the Groom” and “Before the Ticket Office”. Al Hakims work in this phase was more artistic because it was based on his personal opinion in social life.
2. Intellectual Theatre:
In this phase he produced plays that were not to be played rather than being read, and he even refused to call these plays “plays” and preferred to publish them in there own books.
3. Objective Theatre:
In his last phase, Al Hakim stands looks at the society with the father eyes trying to fix some value and wanting to portray the real Egyptian life. Although his work in this phase was to assist the society, it was quite symbolic with a lot of reality and imagination.
Al Hakim never was committed to one source for his creativity, where he explored the classic Islamic heritage in particular and the eastern heritage in general. For example he used the story of the people of the cave mentioned in the Holy Quran in his play “the people of the cave “that was published in 1933. In this play he discussed the matter of humanity and time and the clash among love and time in a symphonic form representing a sociological focus. He wanted to discuss the disability of facing the present with old fashioned ideas. He also used the theme of Arabian nights in his play “Shahrazad”.
In 1934 he published his play “wise Solomon” which also was based on an Islamic heritage. All of these plays, that influenced by Islamic heritage, was due to Al Hakim’s vision in linking the Islamic-Arabic element with the western intellectual element.
In general, Al Hakim tried in his early work to remodel the early Arabic heritage to meet the modernity of literature that is influenced by the western civilization. However, he then reaches to the Greek methodology and uses it as his later works’ canvas. For Example in his play “Odieb the King” he sheds the light on the conflict between man and fate. This play is entirely emerged in deep Greek thematic water, and uses exclusively Greek myths.
As an Egyptian play writer, it was natural to find ancient Egyptian myths in Al Hakims work. It’s a fact that Al hakim used ancient Egyptian themes in his early novels, but it was later that he used it in his plays. Some researches say that this instability in themes in his work is due to Al Hakims personality, where he was easily influenced by different ideas. For example, his attempts to used Islamic themes in this early work in the 30’s was due to the general atmosphere in Egypt in that time were there where many attempts to revive the Islamic heritage and that was until the end of World War II.

coming

I have this feeling that there is something coming. a feeling that comes usually before a disaster, or even something amazing. I don’t know what is this weird feeling. Its not butterflies in my stomach as they say, its as if these butterflies are dead, and something else is growing inside me, like a tree, a dark tree. I finally reach a pivot point, a turning point in my entire life and this weird feeling strikes. Is is the feeling of change? or is it a feeling of a mysterious happening is taking place in the horizon. Not even my best friend is with me in this. The connection we had together is gone. I feel that I’m alone in this world, very alone, like a dying tree in the forest, surrounded by trees but no tree can reach and help.

I feel that my old depression, the depression I spent five years of my life fighting is coming back like fire running on wood. I feel it, like a birth of an unholy child, the child of Lucifer crowling out of a womb. I feel that its either an end, or a beginning, its a point where things change, or even end.

they say people sometimes sense their death. Is it my death coming near? Five people I know died in one week, is that a sign? I’m sick, my back is killing me, I can’t move out of bed. Is sleeping all the time a reason for this feeling. Why can’t I beat this depression? why did I stop creating like before? why did I lose interest in life? why did I lose all my fights?

I’m a loner, a wolf that can’t live with others. I man of too many faces, a man suffering someone else’s mistakes/desires. I’m empty yet filled with cold rage.

Are my old feelings, my years of misery is catching up with me. But I grew stronger, a man made of steel, a heartless man with no fears, with no people to miss, with no mistakes to regret. No.. I killed my demons, I’m my own world.

whatever is coming, I don’t care, I’ll stand, and the wind will blow anyway.

Obama, the comming SUPERMAN

the American media illustrates Obama as the coming American hero. This poor guy will have to clean the mess that the smartest,most-loved, adorable, peace-maker, in the history of the entire universe since Julius Cesar, left behind. No one can deny that the world have experienced a hell of destruction in the time of Bush. Tragically 9/11 happened in the Bush’s era, along with the war on Afghanistan, the war on Iraq and other horrible events that occurred in the last eight years.

Any way, these eight years are gone, and Mr. Bush is packing his socks along with his fancy cigars and counting the days before flying to his ranch in Texas, living the rest of his days drinking and playing golf, not wondering a bit about those the American Army killed by “mistake” in Iraq, or even the young American soldiers who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past years.

Now lets assume that Obama will be elected. since he is a democrat, his political views are a little bit flexable than the republicans, especially regarding war, health insurance issue and education. Obama’s ultimate goal as his campaigns is CHANGE. But one have to wonder now, would his CHANGE theory be inside America only or it will reach other counties. Would Obama order the troops to go back home? or would he save face by keeping them there for another four years and then decide to retract them back home? Would this man, the son of a Muslim man be more flexable with Islamic countries and fix the American Negative Image in these countries? or would he worsen this image as he declared his detachment form his origin and heritage.

Honestly I was very exited about Obama as a candidate and a president in the future, but his speech regarding Palestine and his full support to the state of Israel did shake my faith . I mean I understand America’s constant support to Israel since the J-loopy do control inner America, but that doesn’t call for a bullet in the back of Palestinians skull killing their hope in a better future. Does Israel need all that support really. Its the most developed States in the region weapon wise, why should it be supported, and who will support the Palestinians and I’m talking about the kids and women and the old people who suffer the most. Anyway, this is another subject, lets keep talking about Mr. Obama, who seems the really coming president.

His speech in Germany reminds me of Kennedy’s speech, the only deference is that Kennedy visited Germany as a president, while Obama visited Germany as a candidate. I guess both got the same attention, a sign? maybe. Is Obama the coming Jesus who will save the country and CHANGE it dramatically. would he succeed, or he will be like Clinton, leave office with a scandal? Is Obama the man we think he is? He has a honest face to be frank.

sadness can make us lose our life

Few months ago, I had a friend, a lady-friend to be exact. She was around 30 years old, very beautiful very successful and very married. Yes, she was married to a well-known man who enjoyed a very powerful position in one of the country’s mega media companies. This “friend” wanted more than a friendship relation with me. She obviously wanted a very close relation with me assuming I would be the perfect guy for her. She assumed that I’m 30, and all I did was just support this assumption.
With the days, our relation became stronger (from one side, which was hers). For some reason, she assumed that I want to run away with her, and start a new life. in short,  she was nothing to me but a good novel material.
Since I’m a serious novelist, I take opportunity and record all the strange events I come across in my daily life, to benefit from in my future novels. Which means that every single human being I came across in my life have a profile in my computer (personality, emotion wise, intellectuality… etc), isn’t that what good novelists usually do, they experiment and observe to come up with a good novel.
Anyway, what made me keep this relation was the fact that this lady had serious emotional and psychological issues. As she told me, she suffered chronicle depression and occasional blackouts and she was on a lot of numbness drugs that would prevent her from committing suicide. I became fascinated with her dark deep cold personality and I started to prepare my next novel which would be based on her life story. She was a writer too, writing a memoir in the time we were in contact. She sent me her book to evaluate (assuming I’m a strong keen novelist). I honestly couldn’t finish the entire book since I found its language plan and the ideas direct and cold. She was revolving around the point of depression without striking topics that gave led to it.
After a reading her book, I entered a loop of depression that lasted for three entire days. I ate like a pig, and slept like an old lady (which are the things I do when I get depressed). I suffered chronicle depression when I was 17 and it lasted with me until my third year in collage. It didn’t show really on my face, but I did suffer it in silence. In the end the depression was gone (or so I thought) until I read her book. She suffered rape in the age of 20 in London, she was abused as a child suffering the war in Lebanon, and she got married to a local man that treats her as a “thing”. She was trying to get pregnant but her husband obviously lost interest in her.
This woman did leave a trace of sorrow in my life, and I’m really glad that our relation has ended. And I’ve just heard that she is finally pregnant and waiting for a baby that might start a new era of pure happiness in her sad miserable life.

Palm Treo 680

Unlike other reviews, I’ll keep this one plane and simple to save your time. Here we go, the goods, the bads and a quick rating.

The GOODS:
1. Smart phone with all Calendar, Contacts, To-Do list, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint included
2. Easy-to use pushmail with multi-accounts configuration
3. A relatively huge screen that makes processing data and viewing images and video quit enjoyable
4. Unlike Blackberry Bold, it comes with a camera
5. Sound recorder ( voice memo app)
6. Full keyboard
7. Mp3 player app (Ptunes)
8. Tones of 3rd party applications easy to sync with the device using the cradle
9. Easy and quick Internet surfing ( Opera mini is recommended)

The BADS:
1. The device reboots it self sometimes for no obvious reasons
2. The camera ain’t that great (but this is the case with most Smartphone’s the usually never come with a high resolution camera. An MP camera is needed in this device.
3. Standard Palm interface. I don’t know why they don’t make some effort in enhancing this 90’s interface. ( you can download some apps to change the theme for sure which is helpful in fact)

4. The battery (oh God) lasts for like 2 seconds. You need to recharge this device at least once a day. But I believe that there is a replaceable battery out there now that last longer. A piece of advice, disconnect the battery instead of shouting down the device, that’s help, and keep it connected to the cradle as much as possible.

Quick RATING:
I’ll give this device 7.5/10 since it needs more improvements to top other device out there in the market.

Bottom LINE:
Good for those who are on the go, and need their MS office with them. Its quite good device when it comes to organizing and scheduling.

Tony Soprano, the mob boss

It might be quite late to review this great TV show, but I just finished watching the entire six seasons on my laptop and had the urge to review his masterpiece.
Summery: the show revolves around the life of Tony Soprano the head of organized crime family who suffers emotional disorders and occasional blackouts. He then seeks a physiatrist who tries to analyses him and find out why these blackouts occur. The story line takes you to a deep dark aspect of his emotional life, and the life of underground well known modern mafia lifestyle.
Why to watch: The show is original, very real, and the acting is just mind-blowing. The drama is so intense you sometimes feel it’s realistic and forget that these characters are even fictional. The show is full of moral conflict among the life Tony Soprano’s life as a mafia boss and his life as a father of a disturbed teenage boy and a collage girl who is seeking her own independence away form her family.
The show is full of violence and mafia related crime action that is so real you might turn your head away the screen to avoid the pool of blood ( or just keep watching and reply * wink, wink* ). Oh yeah, there is a lot of killing in the show, and the show creator have chosen to use no thematic music in the show like other show to add more realism to the story. Nonetheless, there is a wide selection of songs in the show that were selected carefully by the producer as a parallel symbolic story line that compliment the main plot.
The direction of the show is very creative and realistic, and some time very intense full of psychological paths and layers. The sexual content of the show is quite intense too, and it’s really rated for 21+ viewers.
I’ll not talk about the plot line of the seasons since I don’t like to spoil the fun, but I may say that the evolution of the story is unpredictable, even the ending was never predicted by fans. In fact, the ending of the Sopranos is talked-about ending, where we waited for some REAL ending of the story, but the director have chosen an open ending, a scene-cut, with no introductions, you even would think that there is something wrong with your DVD player or TV set.
After watching the show, you come to the realization that there is no wonder that this show lays on the top of Drama ranked TV shows on history.

watch the last scene from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnT7nYbCSvM&feature=related

911

forget about what you hear in the media or whatever people talk about in the streets about this religion and start thinking with your good old rusty brain for a second. How in god’s name a religion so old (1400 years) became in a plink of an eye the source of all evils?

I’m personally amazed that  international intellectuals are not debating this religion’s ideas reasonably to come to a better conclusion wether this system of belief is the source of terrorism as some governments claim in our modern world!! To do so, to investigate the true meaning of this religions ideas, we need to participants who are willing to leave their personal views outside the room and think with pure logic.

lets take it logical for once and look at the context on which ignorant people are basing their judgments regarding this religion.

Islam encourages violence against none-followers and atheists:

is that true? do we see true members of Islam run in the streets and shoot or stab other people around them? I don’t think so. The entire conflicts we see on TV is pure political drama. Take Lebanon for example, the civil war was among Muslims and Christians, but that had nothing to do with beliefs religion wise, it all had to do with politics and politics only. Muslims in America were never reported to wage hate-wars against Americans citizens, not even if they where harmed in a racial insult, not like Italian Americans or African Americans who would fight back if the felt any insult. Why don’t local Muslims fight back? because their belief system urges them to be patient, to held their anger and think before to act. In fact their holy book insets upon calming down before and waiting for judgment day, then and only then they might take revenge.

Yes, the holy book of Muslims ( the Quraan) does have some verses that talk about war in time of conflict. in summery, those verses guide weak Muslims ( in the ancient times 1400 years ago) how to fight back if they feared on their life, and their families. is there anything weird regarding that? lets imagine that someone attacked your house, your wife and kids, would you you do nothing, or you would fight for your right of living? its that simple in Islam, you attack back whenever you are attacked ( in the now and here), you don’t wait for revenge, you don’t initiate the fight ( hit after being hit).

Today’s terrorist who claim that they are Muslims, shift the meaning of TRUE Islam to justify their false acts. Its very wrong in Islam to attack helpless people and blow buildings up like what happened in 9/11. What happened in NY in that day is extremely wrong, an event that affected the shaky relation among the east and the west and prohibited Arabs and Muslims from interacting with the west as they please. Now, to be an Arab inside America, is like being a black man in the 60′s American. Arabs and Muslims are suffering discrimination and racial profiling after 9/11, and the entire Arab world was harmed and classified as a potential terrorism cell.

Islam, is like any other religion, it has its own unique ideas that might sound strange for some people. These ideas come to match the humanitarian sense in all of us. This religion encourages people to do good, to help each other, to fast ( only to feel the hunger of the world), to do what ever could be done to help the poor, to treat women right ( believe it or not, the last words of Mohammed the Prophet was to never miss prayer and to treat women good).

I restate, this religion like any other religion has its own system, and to follow it is your own decision. To judge this system we need to stand neutral about it and observe it with logical eye. we should ask our self “why” and “what’s the story behind … ” to understand more.

never let media deceive you and tell make you believe the separation among the unity of humanity. whatever was you belief, you still human, with the sacred right to live.

iphone

I got an iPhone as a gift two weeks ago, and I’m a big fan of the phone, hence I’ve decided to share my very specific review of this phone with you all.

The goods:
The phone is a sleek, well-designed, smooth, slim, with a lovely screen that fade to a black screen that compliments the design of the phone while not in use.
The inner design of the phone application and OS is very hot and stylish, smart and interactive. It’s as if the OS is a living thing that is activated by your fingers. I wasn’t so big on the finger touch thing as I was using Palm Treo 680 and I’m a texting freak hence the full Keyboard is essential to me, but the iPhone comes with a good Keyboard that takes a day or two to get used to it ( especially if you have huge fingers like mine).
If you are a media freak like me you’ll find the phone very amazing. The audio quality is great; the video quality is amazing with a DVD quality-like in your palm. The uploading to the iPhone is quite irritating where you only use iTunes (which means you can’t drag and drop). There are free software that can convert video to iPod compatible that can be played in your iPhone.
Basically the phone is good for: Music, Video, Images, and Internet browsing via Wi-Fi, Gaming, Book reading, and many other things that you’ll find in other phones but not in the same level of sophistication like this phone.

The bad:
You can’t send any media via Bluetooth nor can you receive any. All your media transferring can only done via iTunes. The camera is 2.0 MP hence it’s not the best in the market, Nokia tops that with the 5.0 MP. You can’t forward SMS you receive on the iPhone but there are applications that allow you to do so. You can’t download application from your PC or Mac directly, you only can download application via the installer application in the iPhone, here you have to write the source name in the phone and be connected to Wi-Fi to download the application.
Battery can’t be removed (not used friendly)
Summery:
Good phone with some missing basic feature
Wait for the iPhone 3G its coming out very soon where Apple will fix the basic problems in the phone

oh Bush

America is spreading democracy, that’s why they invaded Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran very soon. “spreading democracy” was the same slogan used during the good old Vietnam war. Isn’t that true? didn’t America invade this little poor country due to the Domino Theory, where they believed that if communism started spreading from there, it will inflect the entire world with the boring unrealistic idea of taking money from the rich and giving to the poor. communism ended, and capitalism won the war on ” whatever”, and America came to a conclusion that there should be an enemy that the mighty American army (AA) will fight in order to keep the country running. Multibillion American corporations from weapon manufacturer to reconstruction companies have business as long as there is a need for weapon and destruction.

this is not me talking or saying all these things, these are actually pure American thoughts I observed from American media. I watch CNN, FOX-NEWS, MTV, Paramount Channel, History Channel, even British News channel BBC.. the overall conclusion is ” American creates its own Enemies so survive as a major power”. Even American citizens say that openly on Television being overwhelmed with all the hatred they are surrounded with by other countries that their government destroy on daily bases.

American people are one of the greatest people in the world. Away from the “Strange” values regarding marriage and man-woman open relation that is considered immoral in most eastern countries, they work harder and get less, they send their kids to wars their government started for no obvious reason, and they are hated by most nations. I personally like Americans, I study in an American university with a lot of American professors being a great help in my academic life and future career. I personally like American media and I find American people very creative when it comes to creativity and science.

The American government should start to phase this negative image they are projecting on eastern nations, and the American people should start to reach for the other side of the world and try to accept the differences that separates the two poles.

I think its time to stop war, to stop blood, to send those American kids in the Army back home and rebuild whatever destroyed in Iraq and everywhere. I think its time to accept each others and stop this nonsense. I think its time to say No more Blood for Oil.

But sometimes, you look around, you found no one there. No support. No nothing. Your family members are trying to control your path. your friends knows you only when you party, but when you grief, you grief alone.

There are ties that connect us all with those who surround us. Ties that we allow them to attach to our nicks. Leashes, I call them, that pull you restricting you from fulfilling your life’s dreams. Leashes that kill the hope in you. whenever you learn to cut these leases, to eliminate these ties, you are a free soul. you’ll have a ability to leap to a new dimension of freedom, of pureness. that doesn’t mean to eliminate all the people around you, it just mean to pick those who will never negatively influence your life, those who support every move you make, those who will never judge you when you make a mistake and will only stand beside you to help you reach your final distention.