You; your pupils; your friends; God. Not a bad public, that.

Hello, again. A quick update.

About a month ago, I was scrambling around Cairo in search of a job. I responded to a variety of solicitations on CraigsList, expatriates, etc. but nothing ever really happened. I was becoming discouraged after a while and thought I might have to cut short my trip.

One day, I was sitting in a little shop by my apartment. The Iraqi owner has befriended me and is always generously inviting us to eat his food, drink his Coca Cola, and use his internet. So we were sitting and talking, when a man named Mohamed from the neighborhood came into the shop to buy some things. He stopped to chat with us, and he asked me about my situation. What are you doing in Egypt? You've been here for one month? What sort of job are you looking for? Anything? Let me make some phone calls . . .

That was Thursday night. By noon, Friday, I had signed a contract to teach at the school where both Mohamed and his wife teach. I'm in the American section of the Egyptian Language School. The idea is that I am supposed to be teaching English reading classes to grades 4 through 10. I will probably be choosing some stories for the younger grades and the older grades will be reading newspaper clipping on current events. The actual teaching part has not really started yet. So far, I've been spending a lot of time in the teacher's lounge, reading through material and preparing the classes. I've also done some substituting for teachers when they are sick.

School starts at 7:30 and ends at 2:30, Sunday through Thursday. Mohamed lives very close to me, and the school is about twenty minutes away, so he generously gives me a ride every day. The school is located in a very posh neighborhood called Katameya Heights. The drive to and from school every day is one of the more entertaining and breathtaking things I've ever done. Mohamed is a very skilled driver, and he weaves in and out of Cairo morning traffic like a hotshot driver that you would only find on the set of The Fast and the Furious.

I've taken a few pictures here and there. Please take a look and see what things are like here.

I know that I should add to the blog more often than I do. I'll try to be better now that I have a regular schedule with daily access to internet. If you have any questions, leave them here or tell me, and I'll try to respond in my next post, or maybe just to you personally.

Life on the Nile

Greetings from the other side of the world to all of you back in the civilized land of Dr Pepper and honey. This is a belated blog post. . . But somehow I think the three of you who read this will have survived the interval.

After two weeks here in Cairo I feel settled in. The original shock of the clashing cultures in my mind has gone away. It certainly was helpful to have Matty B here to walk me through everything. I would have been much more terrified of this trip had he not been on the waiting end of that Delta flight.

I live in a small apartment about two blocks east of the Nile. The building is very conveniently located adjacent to the Metro line. One Egyptian Pound (18 cents) can take me to most of the important places in Cairo. From there, a couple pounds gets you a taxi ride to other locations.

Our neighborhood is called Maadi, and is where you'll find the largest expatriate community and most embassies. Maadi's cooler temperatures and the tree-lined streets make it more pleasant than the intensely hot down-town Cairo.

Partially because of the diurnal heat and the nocturnal schedule imposed by Ramadan, I enjoy going out on the streets during the evening to get food and to interact with the locals. There are a couple of falafel and kushari joints where the workers have become familiar with my regular orders.

When I'm not talking to folks on the street, I pop in one of my earbuds and I listen to my podcasts. I always like listening to podcasts wherever I am, but I get a distinct pleasure out of listening to Adam Carolla (Adam Corolla so T gets it twice), Terry Gross, Bob Boilen, the New Yorker, IFC News, and filmcasts, and thinking that I am probably the only person in Cairo listening to Neil Conan or Garrison Keillor, etc. Somehow, even though they'll never find out about it and/or acknowledge it, I image that they would all be so proud.

One of the major downsides to being in Africa right now, is that I miss a lot of the movies that come out. Hopefully, I'll be back in the states by the time Watchmen comes out. Egyptian cinemas are lacking. I cannot find one showing of Brideshead Revisited anywhere in the city. This means that I'll have to use Bittorrent. But the internet in our apartment isn't good enough for that kind of heavy lifting. We'll see.

As a general practice, I plan on posting most of the photos that I take onto my Facebook account. Those of you who eschew the popular social network will have to stomach your distaste for it and click here. You need not have a Facebook account to enjoy these photos. However, I thrive on comments (on the blog and on the photos), so "share up yo' stack," as the Beastie Boys say. Nora Charles. . . I'm talking to you.

Wimbledon Gentleman's Finals

This year is the third year that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have played eachother in the Wimbledon Finals. It's never been easy for Federer to beat Nadal here, but he does beat him, and the matches are some of the best to watch.

Their rivalry has a similar history on the clay courts of Roland Garros. Nadal has won the last four French Open championships, and Federer has been the runner-up for the last three of those.

While Federer is the reigning champion, Bjorn Borg is the record holder whose presence is noted at each match. If Federer wins this year's Wimbledon he will break Bjorn Borg's record of 5 Wimbledon championships in a row. And if Nadal wins (which I think he will) he will be on his way to reproducing Bjorn Borg's record of winning the French Open and Wimbledon for five consecutive years. Nobody since Borg has won the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year.

So far in this tournament, Federer hasn't lost ONE set. Nadal has lost one.

This morning is starting out to be quite an amazing match. They have been playing for 2 hours now. Nadal won the first game and the first two sets. I see these little wins as harbingers of a greater win at the end of the match. We'll just have to wait and see what happens, but as I predicted with Cousin James yesterday, I think that Nadal will win.

Blinded by the light.... Gesundheit!

After years upon years (25) of considering myself to be just like everybody else... I have learned that I have a genetic autosomal dominant trait that puts me into the 17 - 35% subset of humanity. This malfunction of mine is called photic sneeze reflex.

This reflex presents itself in several ways:

• If I leave a movie theatre during a day where the sun is shining, I will most likely sneeze a handful of times. I remember a slew of sneezes coming out as I left the Chief Cinema after watching Sabrina. (Ford, not Bogart... goof.)
  
• If I'm on the verge of sneezing... you know, when your brain and your body poise for a sneeze, but it can be a false alarm... well, this response I have to light helps me get that final push over the sneeze hill. When it happens, I just glance up at the sun, or a bright light. The worst is when there are no bright lights around. I can sometimes nudge out a sneeze with my cellphone or a computer screen.

I've tried to explain this to my friends. Some of them are bewildered. Most of all, my best friend, Nora Charles. She refuses to believe that this phenomenon exists. I've tried to demonstrate it, but she just laughs. So now that I've produced a Wikipedia as proof, maybe she won't be so incredulous.

For those of you within this percentile of humanity that share this reflex with me, let's celebrate our diversity by unifying. I want to hear about it. You can respond here in this blog... or just speak up in real life. If you want to start a Facebook group, I won't stop you.

I sent this in email form to some of my friends... and they probably make up most of my blog readership, but for those of you who were not in that email list...

I was suffering from what looked like a zit right on my lower lip for the last few days. Since I recently shaved my beard, and hair has been funny, I've just thought of it as an ingrown hair. I was going to get to it with some tweezers at some point. When [my painter-boss] JB asked me about it, I shrugged it off as an ingrown hair. John told me it was probably something called "Morgellon's Disease" and that it probably came from fibers that the government distributes throughout the atmosphere. I assured him that it was an ingrown hair and as soon as I opened it, I would find a little hair.

Much in the way you see a small child go for and open a present on Christmas, John lunged at my lower lip, and he proceeded to pry open my sore. His eager face was mere inches away. It was very painful and bloody... and his hands are anything but clean. When it comes to his hands, they LOOK dirty... and they smelled like a mixture of caulk, paint, thinner, gingersnaps, and WD-40.

As I stood facing the mirror in the bathroom flushing my new wound with hot soapy water, I laughed when I realized nobody would ever completely understand the bizarre nature of the events that just took place.

Summer Movies: 2008

MAY:
Iron Man - Enough said. Right? Robert Downey Jr. is almost too perfect for this role. The physical resemblance would be enough already. The more interesting physical resemblance is the one between RDJ and the Howard Hughes(The original inspiration for the Tony Stark character). Oddly, I remember thinking that RDJ should've been in The Aviator instead of Leonardo Dicaprio. Nothing that a little direction from Scorsese can't fix. I know there have been many of these comicbook adaptations, but I've got a hunch about this one. I just hope Favreau hasn't messed with it too much.

Son of Rambow - This story looks adorable. I want to see this movie because of how jealous I am of the childhood that these kids have. I should've started making movies a long time ago.

Speed Racer - The Wachowski Bros. are back! This will certainly have outstanding visuals. These strange men have a knack for making excellent movies (I'm thinking of The Matrix and V for Vendetta.) Plus, I challenge you to name one person who doesn't like Emile Hirsch. Pretty tough, right?

Redbelt - Like any true fan of film, I love me some David Mamet. I love his strong flavor of dialogue. His characters speak acerbic words in an abrasively repetitive way. He has a unique way of including comedian-types in some of his serious roles. Steve Martin was in The Spanish Prisoner and now Tim Allen is in this.

Indiana Jones - Everyone will be seeing this movie... all sorts of generations of people. The trio of Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford will be earning plenty. I'm being careful not to get my hopes up. The thing about these Indiana Jones movies... they are kind of in a Star Wars situation. Remember how everyone got all uppity about the quality of the second half of that franchise? I have a remote fear that this will happen to Indy. Luckily, where Lucas goes awry, Spielberg maintains. He'll be the anchor of quality.

The other problem with the new Star Wars trilogy was that it was drenched in CGI. I read somewhere that this movie is going to be much less saturated with green screen scenes.

The cast is promising too: Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, Shia Labeouf, and the graceful return of Karen Allen. All good things.

JUNE:
The Incredible Hulk - See earlier post. But this is a really cool poster for the movie. Just released, for your pleasure.



















The Happening - Shyamalan's success rate is 5 for 6. I know some of you are wondering, "Wait, where'd that sixth movie come from?" Yes, well I'm counting the short film that he made for AmEx. Lady in the Water failed me, and now I'm ready to get back on the Night train.

I'm also thinking that this will be another great Mark Wahlberg vehicle. He can be superb, but Shooter was nonsense.





Get Smart - I've never seen the tv show, but I know my parents and that generation are big into this silly little show. I don't know what to say about it... I like Alan Arkin, so it should be fine. The thing is... Steve Carell looks like the same person in all of his movies. My impression is that if Carell didn't adapt his acting to be Maxwell Smart, the writers must've adapted Maxwell Smart to be more like Carell. Maybe he's not a very complex character. Maybe I should just calm down.

Has anyone my age actually seen this television program? I felt the very same way about the Nancy Drew movie that they made. I read those books, and let me tell you, Emma Roberts is no Nancy Drew.


Wall-E - This looks like another great movie in the Pixar collection. I'm sure it'll make all sorts of crazy money and break all sorts of crazy records. Remember all those people who watched Ratatouille? I'll tell you all now, this movie will be far better than that rat movie.









Wanted - Will I see a movie just because of Morgan Freeman? Yeah. Will I watch a movie because of Angelina Jolie? Hell to the yes. But still, I'm not expecting many surprises from these two. I'm most excited for James McAvoy. I've seen most of his stuff... Band of Brothers, Foyle's War, Rory O'Shea Was Here, State of Play, The Chronic (what?) les of Narnia, Last King of Scotland, Starter for 10, Atonement... and he's always been very watchable, and very British. See, now he's going to be giving us his American accent. Cross your fingers. Oh! In addition to the actors... there is going to be a lot of action that breaks a variety of laws of physics. I don't know the Wanted comics at all, but I'm confident that this Russian director (from Night/Day Watch fame) will give us all a thrilling ride.

JULY:
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Guillermo Del Toro is one of the most imaginative directors of all time. His creativity blows me away. I recommend his whole filmography to you readers. He puts his heart into these things. This sequel appears to be his most recent passion project. Please watch this, and remember that he turned down Harry Potter for this. That's a real shame. I was prepared for someone like him to take the HP franchise to the next level.
The Dark Knight - This is a big one. Most people mention this as their big summer movie. The first one was good enough to promise an audience for the sequel. And now, on top of the fanatic fervor, Heath Ledger has died. I'm thinking this will become even bigger than The Crow, Queen of the Damned, and Brainstorm. (Not that those were ever very big.) I've been enjoying the viral campaigning that's been trickling through the internet. Even beyond the internet, I've been getting phone calls from the Harvey Dent campaign office. They're really getting people involved... Do you believe in Harvey Dent?



AUGUST:
Pineapple Express - August will be the summer of comedies. This is the next Judd Apatow project. This will just be pure funny. Just looking at Seth Rogen and James Franco makes me smile and laugh.
Tropic Thunder - Ok, I'm getting sleepy. I'm just going to say that Ben Stiller's first movie since Zoolander will have a black Robert Downey Jr. That's him in between Ben Stiller and Jack Black. Pure excellence. Bed time.













Note: I wrote most of this while I watched a few episodes of Lost late in the evening (Billy Dee Williams? WTF?) There are errors, but I don't care enough to re-read it right now. So if you found them, you get 2 points per typo. Night.

What the Hulk?

A friend asked me: Why is edward norton playing the hulk? isn't this weird? they already did the movie just 3 years ago and its not really a role I think he would jump at the chance to play.

My response: It seems like the last couple of years have shown us several examples of how to make comic book adaptations really good. General collective thought seems to suggest that the The Hulk (2003) was not good. (It certainly doesn't have any of those "gritty" qualities that movies like Batman Begins, Superman Returns, V for Vendetta, and Sin City possess. But then, you wouldn't expect grit from the man who directed Brokeback Mountain, Lust, Caution, and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.)

Still, the big question is: Why would Edward Norton stoop to this kind of a low? My sense is that he must be a fan of the comics. Also, given the appropriate depth and talent of the filmmakers, they can make these kinds of characters transcend the world of comics. I'm not really trying to get in to the deep side of things, but I know Superman, for example, is an adaption of sorts of the studies of Nietzsche and the Übermensch. It remains to be seen what there is to be examined in the upcoming Hulk movie... I'm guessing there are themes of rage, self-inflicted fate, fear, etc. The good news is that Edward Norton wrote the screenplay. That's almost all I need to know to expect quality. He's not stooping to any lower level, he's bringing the story back and lifting it to his level. This is a snippet I found where Norton responds to your question...

[Norton] was initially skeptical about taking the role, telling Total Film: "When the phone rings and someone says, 'Hey, would you be interested in the big green guy?' There's that part of all of us that doesn't want to look like an idiot. There's the wince factor or the defensive part of you that recoils at what the bad version of what that would be. And I did that, basically. I said 'no' to it a couple of times."

He insisted that the new movie will bear no relation to the 2003 version starring Eric Bana, saying: "I think like Chris Nolan and those guys did with Batman, we just said: 'We're going to start completely with our own version of this myth or saga.'"

So, I hope this answers some of your questions. We'll see how the movie turns out. It could end up being complete nonsense. (See The Italian Job) I'm crossing my fingers, though. I tend to be optimistic about Edward Norton jobs, and the trailer looks promising.

Be careful how high of a standard it is to which you hold him. Remember, he's just a man of flesh and blood... He's not John Cusack.