POISON NOSTALGIA >>>>> PANOS COSMATOS
Beyond the Black Rainbow came out in North America last week, it opened on 2 screens but I think it deserved all of them. Here is my slightly rabid film studies 101 assessment of the film and its maker. “Beyond the Black Rainbow is the best example of whatever the hell it is.” – Cole … Read more
The Rape Gaze – Some Misogynistic Egyptian Movie Posters from the 70s & 80s
This week you might have found yourself sucked into the snarling call and response around Mona El Tahawy’s Foreign Policy article “Why Do They Hate Us?” and Samia Errazouki’s “You Do Not Represent Us”. These columns are triggers in a seemingly eternal shootout around the subject of the misogyny that is endemic and often institutionalized in … Read more
Gulf Colloquy Compendium
Next week Global Art Forum _ 6 begins @ Mathaf Modern in Doha and moves on to Art Dubai … in Dubai. I’ll be in attendance…via the holodeck presenting my short dictionary of Gulfisms while an allstar crew of some of my favorite humans including Yasmine El Rashidi, Michael C Vazquez, Alexander Provan, Sukdev Sandhu, … Read more
SCIFIWAHABI @ SNAKEPIT LONGTAIL
Today’s blog is an act of shamefaced self promotion. Parlour is screening Qatari-American artist Sophia Al-Maria‘s video work, Scifi Wahabi, at Snake Pit this Wednesday 7th March. Come join us at 6.30pm for a 7 o’clock start at Snake Pit, 33 High St. Auckland PARLOURGROUP is followable behind the blue letters. SNAKEPIT behind these.
Live Fast, Die Young – It’s a Free Internet
Romain Gavras’ new video for MIA’s “Bad Girls” really ‘steams up my windowscreen’. I mean it is hot. ‘Hot’ used here in the ‘let’s go do some crimes‘ … sense. I’ma come off like a real trite asshole dear internets, especially with the real revolutions raging all around us… but I just need to get … Read more
Türkan “The Sinema Sultan” Şoray
Even though She Lives, Türkan Şoray is a kind of picture-ghost. She endures in the memory banks of the internet, ripened to a bright 480×360 pixels. Here fans who have spent 30 years lovelorn over the “Sultan” of Turksih pop Sinema now post videos in dedication to her. The faces of Turkan’s lovers are often … Read more
What Habbens in Lenden…
My video for ma muse Fatima Al-Qadiri’s Genre Specific X-Perience album came out a few weeks ago and I forgot to post it. Pitchfork, Fader and a truck of others featured it and it was Tumbled to its high water mark closing in at around 14,000 views on the Youtube since then. Some info on … Read more
Burj Olympus
Last week I went to see Mission Impossible 4 : Ghost Protocol for one reason – Dubai on film – that’s all, I swear. Despite the fact that the Emiratis milling around in the background of the film reminded me of the transparently rendered ‘locals’ in an architectural fly through, I fell for all its Franchise … Read more
These Memoirs Won’t Dictate Themselves
“Has it ever occured to you that all life is memory, so fast you can hardly catch it?” -Sissy Goforth In celebration of finishing my book (a year late and eight thousand miles from where I started), I want to share some glamorous images of another, far more interesting woman writing her memoir. I have a … Read more
F*cked-Up Re-Appropriation
Fucked-Up Re-Appropriation or In Defense of Vanessa Hodgkinson by Sophia (Mohamed) Al-Maria Orientalism is a bad word. Its offensiveness is gauged not only by inflection but by whose mouth it comes out of. If you are white and you are dealing in the iconography of odalisques and arabesques you will be given a wide berth … Read more
