Egyptian Rock Group - Massar Egbari

The band members created that sarcastic name for the band since they felt that the society is trying to imply its power over people starting from their childhood till the day they die. This social power wants to stereotype everything including the way we think and feel, leaving no space for creation and innovation.

Massar Egbari presents music and songs talking about our social problems. Love is not our main concern although it represents a part of our songs.

Through the members' different musical backgrounds, the band is presenting a kind of Alternative Egyptian Music, mixing rock, jazz and blues with some Oriental music.

In Arabic, Massar Egbary means obligatory path. A statement depicting the current status of things in a country that has blindfolded the public and is pushing them, in a single file, towards the edge of reason.

If you like chillout type Jazz music, you'll enjoy the music in the background of their tracks even if you don't understand what they're saying. If you do get the words and rhymes, it's very well put together pieces that show a lot of innovation and talent.

Here's their MySpace page with 5 of their tracks.

http://www.myspace.com/massaregbari

Enjoy it

"The Price$ People Pay"

At the opening of the Atlantis on the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, Bloomberg met with Sol Kerzner (CEO of the Kerzner Group who financed 50% of the project as well as the launch. Here's what he had to say:

``We're very aware of the fact that the economy is not great,'' Kerzner, 73, said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Nov. 18. ``Nevertheless, compare that to the $1.5 billion investment and the importance of the return and the coverage that one needs to achieve it, one believes we've built something that's quite unique, on a grand scale, and that deserves and will grab the attention of world media, that's the best way of marketing and launching the product.''


Perhaps more disturbingly however, is the standpoint of Nakheel on this and their spending. The article continues:

Nakheel is among Dubai state-owned ``highly leveraged companies'' that need capital restructuring, Citigroup Inc. said in a Nov. 18 report. The ``Dubai dream'' may be over as lower oil prices will leave smaller fiscal surpluses among its crude- exporting neighbors to invest in the emirate, the report said.

Sultan bin Sulayem, Nakheel's chairman, declined to discuss the weakening of the real-estate market, responding only, ``I don't think it will get worse.''

He doesn't think it'll get worse... For those who don't live in Dubai, let me put things in perspective. There are a lot of rumours going around Dubai on the number of people that are being fired on a daily basis in companies' attempts to cut costs. Losing jobs, losing livelihoods. People who can no longer afford the roof over their heads, the education of the children and will have to most probably leave the country and go somewhere else to seek a life that is much below mediocre just to be able to make ends meet. Among the companies that are downsizing is the company that financed 50% of the 1.5 billion dollar project. Now I don't see anything wrong with that, the project is something that started way before the crisis and needed completion. What I don't understand is when in the past two months it is rumoured that you've fired over 1000 employees because you can't afford to pay their salaries anymore, why do you go and spend OVER 10 MILLION DOLLARS!!!!!! to finance half of the needlessly extravagant yet very impressive launch ceremony?

The average salary of a Dubai employee excluding labour is $2500 / month. Multiply that by 12 and it's $28,000 per year. So at 10 Million dollars, the company could have afforded to keep over 350 of those that got fired covered for an entire YEAR!!!!!

$14 Million - Well Spent!!!

The cost to build a school is $50,000.This covers the building and supportfor 3-5 years in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Here are examples of educations costs some projects.
$20...One student's school supplies for one year
$50...One treadle sewing machine and supplies
$100....Maternal health care supplies for 1 year
$300....One advanced student's annual scholarship
$600 ...One teacher's annual salary
$5,000....Support for existing school for 1 year
$50,000..One school building and support for up to 5 years
$2,000,000...Opening Ceremony Fireworks for the Beijing Olympics
$14,000,000...Fireworks for the opening of the Atlantis on the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai!!@#!!@%!%!


So, I don't know if it's just me being cynical, but I would imagine that at a time of global crisis, when people are losing jobs, companies are cutting their spending and the world seems to be collapsing one bank/giant corporation at a time, there could be some more conscientious less extravagant and infuriating spending by some companies...True, this is a $1.5bn project, however, sensitive times call for some reasoning. I'm guilty of having been there. Guilty of indulging in watching the fireworks, but my ignoring wasn't gonna change much so I went and watched. I will say it was impressive and extremely well put together. From an event organizer's perspective, I think it was a seamless production which set a very difficult benchmark for world class events and hotel openings anywhere on the planet. I would like to see what the Trump Tower is gonna be doing for their launch in Donald Trump's attempt to tell Sol Kerzner mine is bigger than yours!

But, all remains to be seen!

Not so Crazy Idea this Friday - QUICK SELL

Quick Cell is a company that, in light of the global financial breakdown, provides support to those leaving a country in which they are expats in haste with lots of possessions! Here's how it works



Any Takers?

The One Hit Wonder - That Left Its Mark

One hit wonders come and go. Many of them are remembered over the years for how big they once were and some are made immortal due to the magnitude of their success. Examples of these are Vanilla Ice's epic tune ICE ICE BABY, What is Love by Haddaway in the early 90's, Snow - Informer, Luniz - I got 5 on it, and many many more. But not all one hit wonders leave their mark on their individual.

For me however, there is one song that has been around for 13 years (going on 14 now) that has left an eternal mark on me. For some reason, every time I hear that song it does something to me. Not that I end up in tears when I listen to it every time (although that may have happened when the words were most pertinent and very close to home at some point 7 years ago), but it's more that I've never felt so much that a song was written for me, as much as I do every now and then with this song. It is talking about a particular situation, but it kind of embodies the way I tend to deal with things in life in general. I think I bore more of my soul on this post than may have been expected, but who's reading?

This is for those of you who want to know what I'm talking about!

Ladie's Night Returns...

This week, as I return from hiatus, I will not comment about girls and women in general. I will not slander or winge. I will not complain and I will not judge. Instead, I'll ask.

A simple question and would appreciate an honest answer.

Do you truly and honestly believe that there should be absolute unconditional equality between men and women?