Six Sentenses

I've been asked to talk at the upcoming TARA (The Arabian Reading Association) Conference here in Bahrain on February 24th. The conference is targeted more towards educators and teachers and aims at promoting reading and writing at schools.

I shall also be having a book signing session during the two-day program. I will post more details as soon as they are confirmed but in the meantime you can learn more about the conference and how to attend it by visiting the TARA website.

There's not been a lot of writing news to report lately, but I have actually been working on a new short story over the past week or so. It's basically completed now, but I still need to lock in a solid ending to it.

It's strangely been one of the easiest, smoothest stories I've written yet and at no point did I struggle with where and how it was going. It's just the wording of the ending I'm not happy with. Also, the current title sucks. (I'm not saying because it's self-explanatory!)

By the way, can you tell a story in SIX sentences? Well, check this website out. It's cool and some of the stories there are excellent. You can read my contribution here.

Quirk

Quirk
Originally uploaded by *A*L*I*.

I've never had my portrait drawn before so I was a bit hesitant at first, when I was asked. But I'm glad I did. Turned out to be a very unusually rewarding experience.

Phoebe Boswell first 'drew' me in a three hour session which was uncomfortably engaging, she told me it was for her next show. I hadn't seen the painted version until the opening night at Al Riwaq Art Gallery a couple of nights ago.

So it was an odd feeling to encounter your painted self. As a representation Phoebe has done a brilliant job. Her portraits always have this exaggerated, surreal almost comic sensation to them. I loved my painting and it makes me smile when I see it, and I'm glad that, by the response we gauged at the opening, that others did too.

Phoebe's show at Al Riwaq also features installation, video screening of the film 'Faces' – which I helped make – and the original drawn portraits featured in the book. So I suggest you go down there and have a walk around, because you're likely to like it. It’s on until the 11th.

As I tried to explain in my recent column, people can be a bit suspicious of portraits, for their own reasons. How would you see it?

Something Gud

I figured after the rather dreary poem and somewhat depressing posts, I'd share some slightly good news.

I have sold my very first artpiece! A new journal for fiction, poetry, are and more, called GUD "Good Uncommon Denominator" magazine, has selected one of my photographs to be featured in their next issue. I have never sold/published a photograph before!

Also, Gold Dust Magazine, which comes out of the UK, and which previously interviewed and published me, have accepted another short story of mine "Where Was Woody Guthrie?" to appear in - I believe - the autumn issue.

Finally, I heard again from the editor of the Strange Stories of Sand & Sea anthology, letting me know that my story has made it to the final stage and that I will be informed if it's accepted for publication or not, within a few weeks.

Don't Read This Post

Be quiet
Shut up
Leave me alone
Go away
Fuck you
For being there
For always staring at me
For loving me

Be silent
Piss off
Leave me behind
And watch me fade
Fuck me
Stab me
Kill me
I wouldn't even feel a thing

Put me to sleep
Make me dream
Wake me up
Make love
To me
To them
To the world
Take my anger
Keep it in a box
Feed it
To the monsters

Be quiet.

Stardust in Their Eyes

If you know what's good for you, you'd click on this link faster than you'd say cotton-peaches!

It appears to be a temporary website for, according to Neil Gaiman on his journal. But damn, I can't wait till summer.

Quite simply, Stardust is one of my fave novels of all time. I've read it more than once, which is saying consideirng how picky I am about books. Go out and get the book, read it. Twice. I bet my CD collectin you'll love it! And then when the film comes out this summer, go out and see it. Twice. It'll be like visiting old friends!

In Process

Work on the Elham website is steadily progressing. The fine people of WMP (check out their new website, its ultra cool!) have been gracious enough to offer creating the site for us, so we thank them aplenty for that. The first design wasn't up for scratch so we worked together to come up with a new concept. Here is a sneak preview of how the site is most likely gonna end up looking like.

Speaking of Elham, our second evening which was held last week, was another big success. Everybody has a wonderful time and our "talents", Phoebe, Suha and Arthur all had interesting and enjoyable contributions. Both Phoebe and Suha read from their books and talked about their work, focusing on portriature and spirits! The music, provided by Arthur on the guitar, added a lovely, fun atmosphere.

As soon as the site is up and running we'll make an annoucenment and then you can keep uptodate with new happenings.

For those of you who missed my Sunday's GDN column, in which I talk about Ashoora and my memories of it, can read it online.

Someone Said

Not that anyone would wana know, but the reason I've not posted anything for about a week is that I've been overloaded with deadlines and writing to do, and, as if that wasn't enough, a bad cold. I've been home for three days, at least two of those I spent in bed.

Lots happened, which I honestly can't bother delve into right now. Maybe later. For now, I'll leave you with a little tale I wrote a while ago…

Once upon a time
Someone said hello
But no one said hello back
Because Someone was alone
In the room
Which he thought wasn't empty
But he wouldn't have known that
And he was only trying to be polite
That Someone was blind
Or pretended to be
And now he sits in one corner
Waiting to be found
*fin*

Tadaaa!

Elham's 2nd Evening

The second Elham evening is set for Tuesday (January 23rd) at Al Riwaq Art Gallery from 7pm. Click on the invitation to the left to get all the details and to learn more about who is going to be featured on the night.

Do join us and drag along whomever you like. This should be another pleasant evening of literature, art and music! Wana know more about Elham? Send an email to elhambahrain@yahoo.com or leave a comment here with your email.

I had a really bad day yesterday. It was one of those days in which things could've only gotten worse. Someone wasn't happy with something I've done. Had car trouble. Someone canceled on me. And, at the end of the day, I fainted in the bathroom and landed hard on my bum, which is now sore.

It was more dramatic than it sounds. Trust me.

Caught Hiding

Caught Hiding
Originally uploaded by *A*L*I*.

At the Manama souk the other we shot 'visual' protraits of shopkeepers, shoppers, old men, and these three kids. The project is an extension of Phoebe Boswell's project (Bahrainona: Drawing from Life) and this video is a collaboration between her, myself and Sami Sayyar. It will be shown during her art shows and exhibitions.

We had a good time. It was a bit odd at first but we found that most people were very welcoming and friendly. I've not been down to the old souk in quite a while, so it was nice to go back.

It was interesting to see the different reactions from people to what we were trying to do, the idea was to capture their 'portraits' on film and to see how they reacted in front of the camera, which was in a way similar to how some might react whilst they were being 'drawn'. Some got very uncomfortable, some made jokes, other just didn't know what to do with themselves.

I picked those image because I enjoyed the way these three kids behaved during filming. They were very shy at first, but then they got more at ease with it. There are a few more images from the day on my flickr account.

It was quite an interesting and fun experince.

Jaguar Bite

Yesterday I was at the Bahrain International Circuit test driving the hot-sexy new Jaguar XKR. How can you not fall in love with it? It's, well, gorgeous.

The day was freezing cold out in the desert, but the day turned out to be a lot of fun.

I've never raced down the track before, but I've been taken around it a couple of times – once in a Ferrari 355 GT. But this time was different, I was behind the wheel. The XKR is a beautiful fast car. Comfortable, easy to handle and the more time I spent in it, the more I wanted to get more out of it.

By the fourth and final round, the instructor next to me was urging me to 'break now' and 'slow it a bit'! I was hittin 250! It's my new 35K Dinar dream!

My birthday is coming up in a few weeks. Need I say more?! Anyone? Hello?!