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January 2006Issue # 95

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The King of Them All

KONG!Interview with the full castEXCLUSIVE

Sports ManiacsBooklet

All About African cup Of Nations

طبقا لقوانني امللكية الفكريةא אא

א .אא

א א أو عـرب االنرتنـت(א اى أو املدجمــة األقــراص أو مكتبــات االلكرتونيــةلل

א )أخرىوسيلة אא.

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January 2006THIS ISSUE

Ahmed RaafatAlaa JalalAli NasserAmr RedaDina WahbaDoaa SamyEsraa HegazyIngy YehiaJean PiereKareem AbdelMoniemMahi AhmedMaggie BalbaaMai IbrahimMennatAllah AhmedMohamed BaharMohamed KhaterNahla SalamNoha SamaraOmar MostafaRadwa NourRasha El KomyReem AhmedSadeem El NahasShady SadatSimon AdlySondos ShabayekYasser Abbas

December 2005 . TeenStuff

Hi TS,

I liked the December issue a lot and Iwanted to give some feedback on somearticles.1. Aregica: It’s just great :) I'd like itto get more and more involved in localpolitics in the same sarcastic way!2. FlashBack: It’s amazing! Maybe youcan merge the history/political partinto it...I think that would be cooler.3. The Egypt Like You Have Never Seensection by Tarek Rakha...the pics arevery nice...though the article was kindof an advertisement-likearticle...anyway, my regards to him.4. The Scorpions coverage was lovely.I suggest you interview morerock\metal Egyptian bands like you didwith 4 Sticks for example. I guess thiswill enrich Egyptian rock\metalmusic...and you can sponsor their gigssomehow if they get that famous.My regards to all the staff,Yours faithfully,

Mohamed

Dear Mohamed,

Thank you so much for your feedback.I’m sure you’ve thrilled many teenswith your comments on their sections.We’re glad that the magazine hasgained your praise. As for interviewingEgyptian rock bands, we promise thatyou’ll find it soon in the magazine.Thanks again and keep your mailcoming.

Hi Teen Stuff,

First, I want to thank you for yournice work. This is my first time towrite to you and also to buy andread your wonderful magazine. Inever bought it before but I promiseto be your FAITHFUL READER!Second, I’d like to introduce myself.My name’s Roshan El Boghdady.Don’t be astonished coz it simplymeans ‘small angel’; it’s Turkish andI’m Moslem. On January 1st, I’ll be18 so you have to tell me ‘HappyBirthday’ and ‘Happy New Year’ atthe same time.I really want to thank MohamedAbdul Bary for his exciting articlecoz I felt that he was talking aboutme. I started playing tennis whenI was 17 and I know this is too late,but to tell you the truth, I have thefitness required and my level ofconcentration is very high. I reallylove tennis more than myself evenand I have the willingness to be a

real champion, but everyone issaying that I’m too old for that, butI’m a really talented teenager. I wasdepressed and upset all day andnight because of this. Nobody canfeel me; nobody believes that oneday I can be a great glory…'c9maybe after only two years and thisis my only dream in life. But theworst thing that happened was whenmy mother insisted that I don’t playduring studies. It seems that I’llrepeat this year in my faculty cozI stopped studying coz I’m reallyupset.Finally, it would be really great tosee my email published as mybirthday present day! I’ll be waitingfor your reply.Bye teens!

Roshan, 17

Dear Roshan,

Thank you dear for your sweetwords and I’m sure Abdel Bary willbe happy to read your comment onhis article. As for your problem, ifyou truly believe in your talent thenyou shouldn’t listen to what otherssay. Do your best to pursue yourdream by any means possible andeven if it doesn’t work out, you stillwould have gained the honor oftrying and practicing a sport thatyou really love. However, youshouldn’t let your trials affect yourstudies because that would makeyour mum insist more on herattitude. You should first try to workthings out about your studies andgrades then talk with your motheropenly and try making herunderstand how important thisdream is so she would allow you tocontinue your passion for tennis. Iwish you all the best and hope youget all that your heart desires.

Hey Teen Stuff,

This is the third issue I've read up to now. I used to hear aboutTeen Stuff magazine everywhere but I had never read it. WhenI did, I really found that it's a fantastic magazine! I'd like tothank all the staff for their efforts in writing and formingthis magazine and all the ideas they come up with. I bet Imissed wonderful issues but I hope the coming ones will bemore and more exciting! Thank you all and keep it up!!

Islam Sherif, 16

Dear Islam,

It’s always great to have new friends. We’re so pleased youlike the magazine and we hope you keep on mailing us andhelping with your feedback. If you’d like to get any of theprevious issues you missed then don’t miss our booth in theCairo Book Fair; you’ll find all the back issues with amazingprices. Thanks for your kind feedback and welcome aboard.

January 2006 . TeenStuff www.teenstuffonline.com

Golden Rules of theParliamentaryElections:1- Go register your name inthe Parliamentary elections likethe citizen Sa Sa.“Men3’er da3aya wala e3lanatSa Sa 7ay7’aleeko te3eeshofe tabat we nabat” – withoutpublicity or ads Sa Sa will makeyou live happily ever after…

2- After you register yourname, buy a small van and getone of those common singerswith a deep husky voice andask him to chant your sloganin your neighborhood “ya weladya welad tente7’boo meen 3amamin men3’er seen wala geem”and “Mimo 7abeeb el malayeen7aykebloko la7ma ya 7elween.”

3- Ask your singer to greet theofficers of the Ministry ofInterior and thank them fortheir efforts in providing theEgyptian people with peaceand security.

4- Steal cows and goats fromyour counterpart and slaughterthem on Friday after prayersand distribute the meat in theneighborhood.

5- Print the dollar picture onseveral notesof paper anddistribute it tofamilies, shopkeepers andstore ownersin the

neighborhood.

6- When choosing theneighborhood, pick one wheremost of the people areilliterate; the rest hungry andthe remaining stoned.

7- Build a soft drink factory andtell your people that you haveinvested your money in adevelopmental project that willhelp improve the country’seconomy and provide 20000work positions for freshgraduates.

8- Build another American fastfood chain and create acampaign ‘3alashnek ya baladi’to encourage Egyptian productsand services.

9- For the sake of the‘3alashanek ya baladi’campaign, encourage moreChinese traders to sell theirproducts in Egypt by providingthem with free accommodationand selling outlets.

10- Distributepictures oftelevisions andrefrigerators topeople in theneighborhood andpromise them thereal thing after theelections.

11- Buy thousandsof sand sacks andmix them with rottenflour and tell yourbeloved people thatyou have importedwheat from the landof dreams.

12- Provide youngmen, who are unableto marry, with adultdolls called “ El Arosaeli bebalash” to solvethe marriageproblem.

13- Convincethe spinstersthat God haschosen toassign them anoble role inlife; to servetheir countryand its peopleand offer themjobs in yournew shoppingmall.

14- Inventeducation pills;pills for each

syllabus that students can takeinstead of taking privatelessons.

15- Put the name ‘American’ inthe middle of every State-runschool toshow thepeople howyou haveintroducedthe modernsystem ofeducation.

16-Distributecook booksto allhousewivesandhusbands.

17- Before

the elections, by 24 hours, hiresome stout men and orderthem to pass by each houseand threaten their inhabitantsthat if they don’t vote for you,they’ll never eat meat or seetheir children married.

18- On the day of the elections,leave your Porsche in thegarage and ride the public busand wait in line for bread andbeans and as soon as you reachthe neighborhood, loudlyannounce “ana men el sha3eb!”

19- Assign boys to bribe citizensbefore they reach the boxeswith money (the printeddollars).

20- Replace one of the boxeswith another…and you knowthe rest.

21- When you win, forget aboutall the promises you madealong with those 22 GoldenRules ‘we kol ente7’abat weento tayebeen!’

Sondos, my conscience doesn’tallow me to fool you. I’m now20 awaiting your sympathiesat…[email protected]

Sondos Shabayek, 20

It’s no doubt that we’re gifted witha country that is and has alwaysbeen more unique than others ineveryway. In this land, youexperience wonders that you mightnever even think of in other places.Together we’ll review a few of thosewonders or if others might like tocall them ‘downsides’ in hope offinding some way to reformourselves and along with ourcountry.Welcome to our exclusive recountof the marvels of the Mother of alllands… EGYPT!

Rules ofthe Game

After youwin, forget about

the promisesyou made

TeenStuff . January 2006www.teenstuffonline.com

Leave your Porsche inthe garage and ride the

public bus and wait in line forbread and

beans and as soonas you reach the neighborhood,

loudly announce“ana men el sha3eb!”


Golden Rules of theParliamentaryElections:1- Go register your name inthe Parliamentary elections likethe citizen Sa Sa.“Men3’er da3aya wala e3lanatSa Sa 7ay7’aleeko te3eeshofe tabat we nabat” – withoutpublicity or ads Sa Sa will makeyou live happily ever after…

2- After you register yourname, buy a small van and getone of those common singerswith a deep husky voice andask him to chant your sloganin your neighborhood “ya weladya welad tente7’boo meen 3amamin men3’er seen wala geem”and “Mimo 7abeeb el malayeen7aykebloko la7ma ya 7elween.”

3- Ask your singer to greet theofficers of the Ministry ofInterior and thank them fortheir efforts in providing theEgyptian people with peaceand security.

4- Steal cows and goats fromyour counterpart and slaughterthem on Friday after prayersand distribute the meat in theneighborhood.

5- Print the dollar picture onseveral notesof paper anddistribute it tofamilies, shopkeepers andstore ownersin the

neighborhood.

6- When choosing theneighborhood, pick one wheremost of the people areilliterate; the rest hungry andthe remaining stoned.

7- Build a soft drink factory andtell your people that you haveinvested your money in adevelopmental project that willhelp improve the country’seconomy and provide 20000work positions for freshgraduates.

8- Build another American fastfood chain and create acampaign ‘3alashnek ya baladi’to encourage Egyptian productsand services.

9- For the sake of the‘3alashanek ya baladi’campaign, encourage moreChinese traders to sell theirproducts in Egypt by providingthem with free accommodationand selling outlets.

10- Distributepictures oftelevisions andrefrigerators topeople in theneighborhood andpromise them thereal thing after theelections.

11- Buy thousandsof sand sacks andmix them with rottenflour and tell yourbeloved people thatyou have importedwheat from the landof dreams.

12- Provide youngmen, who are unableto marry, with adultdolls called “ El Arosaeli bebalash” to solvethe marriageproblem.

13- Convincethe spinstersthat God haschosen toassign them anoble role inlife; to servetheir countryand its peopleand offer themjobs in yournew shoppingmall.

14- Inventeducation pills;pills for each

syllabus that students can takeinstead of taking privatelessons.

15- Put the name ‘American’ inthe middle of every State-runschool toshow thepeople howyou haveintroducedthe modernsystem ofeducation.

16-Distributecook booksto allhousewivesandhusbands.

17- Before

the elections, by 24 hours, hiresome stout men and orderthem to pass by each houseand threaten their inhabitantsthat if they don’t vote for you,they’ll never eat meat or seetheir children married.

18- On the day of the elections,leave your Porsche in thegarage and ride the public busand wait in line for bread andbeans and as soon as you reachthe neighborhood, loudlyannounce “ana men el sha3eb!”

19- Assign boys to bribe citizensbefore they reach the boxeswith money (the printeddollars).

20- Replace one of the boxeswith another…and you knowthe rest.

21- When you win, forget aboutall the promises you madealong with those 22 GoldenRules ‘we kol ente7’abat weento tayebeen!’

Sondos, my conscience doesn’tallow me to fool you. I’m now20 awaiting your sympathiesat…[email protected]

Sondos Shabayek, 20

It’s no doubt that we’re gifted witha country that is and has alwaysbeen more unique than others ineveryway. In this land, youexperience wonders that you mightnever even think of in other places.Together we’ll review a few of thosewonders or if others might like tocall them ‘downsides’ in hope offinding some way to reformourselves and along with ourcountry.Welcome to our exclusive recountof the marvels of the Mother of alllands… EGYPT!

Rules ofthe Game

After youwin, forget about

the promisesyou made

TeenStuff . January 2006www.teenstuffonline.com

Leave your Porsche inthe garage and ride the

public bus and wait in line forbread and

beans and as soonas you reach the neighborhood,

loudly announce“ana men el sha3eb!”

January 2006 . TeenStuff TeenStuff . January 2006www.teenstuffonline.com www.teenstuffonline.com

Theimportanceof the AswanHigh Dam toEgyptiansliving inEgypt duringthe 1960sand 1970s

was not in its waterpreservation/droughtcombat/ or powerproductionfunctionality, butrather in what itsymbolized as an actof defiance againsttwo superpowers,the US and UK andits significance isproof that Egypt isstill standing on itsfeet and hasmanaged to survivea turbulent era in itslong politically

charged history.

Initially to be financed with thehelp of the US and the UK with aloan of $270 million, both nationsbacked off in July 1956 forundisclosed reason, although anarms deal between Egypt and theUSSR, which was in the middle ofa post WWII Cold War with the USback then, and Egypt’s recognitionof the Communist People’sRepublic of China, are cited asreasons. In an attempt to restoreEgyptian morale and secure hisnew regime's position, Nassernationalized the Suez Canal , withthe intention of using tolls tosubsidize the High Dam project.The controversial move sparkednegative reactions from manynations and shortly after Britainand France had signed a treaty tohand over the Suez Canal to Egypt,they formed a coalition thatattacked Egypt and occupied theSuez Canal, precipitating the Suezcrisis , in 1956. The , US and USSRforced the invaders to withdrawand the canal was left in Egyptianhands.

The Egyptian government intended

to continue the project alone anduse the revenues coming from theSuez Canal to help pay forconstruction. But in the strugglefor influence in Africa, the USSRstepped in, in 1958 and possiblyone third of the cost of the damwas paid for as a gift. They alsoprovided technicians, heavymachinery, and supplied designsfor the dam. Construction beganJanuary 9th, 1960, with the firststage wrapping up in 1964. Thereservoir began filling in 1964while the dam was still underconstruction and first reachedcapacity in 1976.

The Aswan High Dam is 3,600min length, 980m wide at the base,40m wide at the crest and 111mhigh. It contains of material. Atmaximum, 11,000 m•'5f of watercan pass through the dam everysecond. There are furtheremergency spillways for an extra5000 m•'5f per second and theToshka Canal links the reservoirto the Toshka Depression. Thereservoir, named , is 480 km longand 16km at its widest with asurface area of 6,000 km•'5f andholds 150 to 165 km•'5f. Withhydroelectric output of 2.1gigawatts, the dam holds twelvegenerators each rated at 175megawatts. Power generationbegan in 1967. When the dam firstreached peak output it producedaround half of Egypt's entireelectricity production (about15percent by 1998) and allowedfor the connection of mostEgyptian villages to electricity forthe first time. The effects ofdangerous floods in 1964 and 1973and of threatening droughts in1972–73 and 1983–84 weremitigated.

1960 FilmReleases:(Information from boxofficereport.com)

1. Swiss Family Robinson (Disney)2. Psycho (Paramount/Universal)3. Spartacus (Universal)4. Exodus (United Artists)5. The Alamo (United Artists)

* It is nearly impossible to obtainbox office charts for specific

months for yearsbefore 1986. Apologies for theinconvenience.

January 1960

Music Charts(Information from 1050chum.com)

1. Running Bear by JohnnyPreston2. You Got What it Takes by MaryJohnson3. Way Down Yonder in NewOrleans by Freddy Canon4. ElPaso by Marty Robbins5. Go Jimmy Go by Jimmy Clanton

January 1960NewsHeadlinesConstruction of Aswan High DamBegins in Egypt

Cameroon Gains its Independence

Reserve Bank and CommonwealthBank are Created

State of Emergency is Lifted inKenya as Mau-Mau Rebellion isOfficially Over

1960 FashionTrends:Doc MartensWhen German medic Dr. Klaus

Maertens injured his foot duringa skiing holiday in Bavaria, littledid he know that the Orthopaedicshoe he designed for himselfwould not only still be going untiltoday, but also become a trendsetter, let alone be an archetypalboot of rebellion. Whilerecuperating, Dr. Maertensdesigned improvements to theboots. He designed a shoe thatwas made of soft and softer, air-padding. In 1958, the Grigg familyacquired rights to the aircushioned sole and started makingboots at their factory in Wollaston,England. The first boot wasproduced on April 1st, 1960, andso was christened the 1460. The1460, in black and later cherryred, was popular with postmenand policemen, who were on theirfeet for many hours a day. By theearly 60s , Doc Martens wereubiquitous among the rising Britishrock stars. Sid Vicious was amongthe first to wear DM's. Soon, itseemed all punk fans werewearing them. Doc Martens bootswere no longer the footwear ofthe working class; they were thefootwear of rebel youth and theaddition of steely toecaps- andthe grievously bodily harm theyinflicted- cemented the footwear’snotorious reputation. DMs are nowalmost a compulsory kit in themusic industry, worn by rockveterans and boy bands alike. Theair cushioned sole and steelytoecaps have, over the years,been adopted by almost every

footwear manufacturer and stillrepresent what seems to be anever dying fashion trend.

BeatnikYou have probably seen a fewover the years, with flat shoes,sandals, and berets- fashion itemsthat were not from an expensivefashion house; the message ofthe beatniks was loud and clear- ‘Be Cool, Man!’ A beatnik is amember of the ‘Beat’ generationwho is nonconformist in dress andbehaviour. A carry over of the late50's and a big hit through out the1960s, the beatnik fashion wavehas, ironically, inspired fashionhouses like Christian Dior todesign what they had fondlylabelled as, ‘beatwear’.

It’s the swingin’ sixties baby, yeah!

Do You Remember January 1960?

Ahmed Raafat

The SixtieslatestFashionTrends

From Slavery to Legendary


Theimportanceof the AswanHigh Dam toEgyptiansliving inEgypt duringthe 1960sand 1970s

was not in its waterpreservation/droughtcombat/ or powerproductionfunctionality, butrather in what itsymbolized as an actof defiance againsttwo superpowers,the US and UK andits significance isproof that Egypt isstill standing on itsfeet and hasmanaged to survivea turbulent era in itslong politically

charged history.

Initially to be financed with thehelp of the US and the UK with aloan of $270 million, both nationsbacked off in July 1956 forundisclosed reason, although anarms deal between Egypt and theUSSR, which was in the middle ofa post WWII Cold War with the USback then, and Egypt’s recognitionof the Communist People’sRepublic of China, are cited asreasons. In an attempt to restoreEgyptian morale and secure hisnew regime's position, Nassernationalized the Suez Canal , withthe intention of using tolls tosubsidize the High Dam project.The controversial move sparkednegative reactions from manynations and shortly after Britainand France had signed a treaty tohand over the Suez Canal to Egypt,they formed a coalition thatattacked Egypt and occupied theSuez Canal, precipitating the Suezcrisis , in 1956. The , US and USSRforced the invaders to withdrawand the canal was left in Egyptianhands.

The Egyptian government intended

to continue the project alone anduse the revenues coming from theSuez Canal to help pay forconstruction. But in the strugglefor influence in Africa, the USSRstepped in, in 1958 and possiblyone third of the cost of the damwas paid for as a gift. They alsoprovided technicians, heavymachinery, and supplied designsfor the dam. Construction beganJanuary 9th, 1960, with the firststage wrapping up in 1964. Thereservoir began filling in 1964while the dam was still underconstruction and first reachedcapacity in 1976.

The Aswan High Dam is 3,600min length, 980m wide at the base,40m wide at the crest and 111mhigh. It contains of material. Atmaximum, 11,000 m•'5f of watercan pass through the dam everysecond. There are furtheremergency spillways for an extra5000 m•'5f per second and theToshka Canal links the reservoirto the Toshka Depression. Thereservoir, named , is 480 km longand 16km at its widest with asurface area of 6,000 km•'5f andholds 150 to 165 km•'5f. Withhydroelectric output of 2.1gigawatts, the dam holds twelvegenerators each rated at 175megawatts. Power generationbegan in 1967. When the dam firstreached peak output it producedaround half of Egypt's entireelectricity production (about15percent by 1998) and allowedfor the connection of mostEgyptian villages to electricity forthe first time. The effects ofdangerous floods in 1964 and 1973and of threatening droughts in1972–73 and 1983–84 weremitigated.

1960 FilmReleases:(Information from boxofficereport.com)

1. Swiss Family Robinson (Disney)2. Psycho (Paramount/Universal)3. Spartacus (Universal)4. Exodus (United Artists)5. The Alamo (United Artists)

* It is nearly impossible to obtainbox office charts for specific

months for yearsbefore 1986. Apologies for theinconvenience.

January 1960

Music Charts(Information from 1050chum.com)

1. Running Bear by JohnnyPreston2. You Got What it Takes by MaryJohnson3. Way Down Yonder in NewOrleans by Freddy Canon4. ElPaso by Marty Robbins5. Go Jimmy Go by Jimmy Clanton

January 1960NewsHeadlinesConstruction of Aswan High DamBegins in Egypt

Cameroon Gains its Independence

Reserve Bank and CommonwealthBank are Created

State of Emergency is Lifted inKenya as Mau-Mau Rebellion isOfficially Over

1960 FashionTrends:Doc MartensWhen German medic Dr. Klaus

Maertens injured his foot duringa skiing holiday in Bavaria, littledid he know that the Orthopaedicshoe he designed for himselfwould not only still be going untiltoday, but also become a trendsetter, let alone be an archetypalboot of rebellion. Whilerecuperating, Dr. Maertensdesigned improvements to theboots. He designed a shoe thatwas made of soft and softer, air-padding. In 1958, the Grigg familyacquired rights to the aircushioned sole and started makingboots at their factory in Wollaston,England. The first boot wasproduced on April 1st, 1960, andso was christened the 1460. The1460, in black and later cherryred, was popular with postmenand policemen, who were on theirfeet for many hours a day. By theearly 60s , Doc Martens wereubiquitous among the rising Britishrock stars. Sid Vicious was amongthe first to wear DM's. Soon, itseemed all punk fans werewearing them. Doc Martens bootswere no longer the footwear ofthe working class; they were thefootwear of rebel youth and theaddition of steely toecaps- andthe grievously bodily harm theyinflicted- cemented the footwear’snotorious reputation. DMs are nowalmost a compulsory kit in themusic industry, worn by rockveterans and boy bands alike. Theair cushioned sole and steelytoecaps have, over the years,been adopted by almost every

footwear manufacturer and stillrepresent what seems to be anever dying fashion trend.

BeatnikYou have probably seen a fewover the years, with flat shoes,sandals, and berets- fashion itemsthat were not from an expensivefashion house; the message ofthe beatniks was loud and clear- ‘Be Cool, Man!’ A beatnik is amember of the ‘Beat’ generationwho is nonconformist in dress andbehaviour. A carry over of the late50's and a big hit through out the1960s, the beatnik fashion wavehas, ironically, inspired fashionhouses like Christian Dior todesign what they had fondlylabelled as, ‘beatwear’.

It’s the swingin’ sixties baby, yeah!

Do You Remember January 1960?

Ahmed Raafat

The SixtieslatestFashionTrends


To stress this, my brother, Tarek,was on holiday visiting my parentsin Kuwait and that left a very lonelyme in the vast, welcoming countryof Egypt.

Another point was about my veryclosest, Suzan. Strangely enough,she too was away on that exactsame week and was only contactingme every now and then via mobilestyle and that was undoubtedlyvery out of time because this wassurely when I wanted her to beclose. But nevertheless, she reallydid her best! Suzan, I’m telling theworld I’m proud of you.

Moving on, here’s the theory I’mreally talking about; my ‘out-of’theory that I sense in people aroundhere in Egypt. Everyone is eitherout of money, out of the mood orout of temper or even out ofhodomhom! In such a steamy timeof year and that obviously is leavingbehind a very confusing and vagueblur to everything in this societywhich is why psychologically,everything just doesn’t seem in theright place or doesn’t even seemright in the first place!Talking to a couple of teens duringthat very empty week just toexercise my tongue muscles, Inoticed some were confidentlyoptimistic while others veryshockingly, were out of words totalk about the color black as theysee in the future, or simply sayanything out of the top of theirheads, sounding so out of mind!It’s mind blowing how we go aboutfighting for freedom and Democracyand the right to rule, when simplythey can’t ‘rule’ down theframework for a successful future.Why do teens here find it out ofMars to work during college? When

else do you want to learn to beresponsible? Unfortunately, as aworking student, running my ownsmall business, I’m afraid to saythat after college is actually toolate! We go on and about sayingthings like, ‘we can’t live’; ‘we can’tget married’; ‘we can’t… we can’t!’YES … Because it’s too late.Hopelessly I took a deep breath,strong enough to take me out ofhere for some time to glare at amagical sky where I was startledto notice the clouds, with varyingshapes and sizes, racing each otherin an open-ended sky andsurprisingly, clouds that went andnever came back!Why don’t we utilize chances? Whydon’t we listen? Why can’t I ‘hunt’that chunky, beautiful cloud andkeep it, so I can get to see it whenI feel like? What do we need tochange so we can get that falconsense of chances to success?

Let me present a personalexperience, that doesn’t have tobe any means obligatory to anyonebut we need to take time out to tryto vaguely plan mini-strategies fora vivid, bright future. Teens needto try spiritual thinking and so-likederivatives to try and calm downand integrate into themselves andprogress in this large society. Yogamight be a practical answer as ithelps understanding powers andcontrols and helps people to stopcoming up with problems from ‘outof’ the blue and it may be positiveenough to solve existing matters.You must clearly decide on whatyou have got and what you don’thave yet, and what you’ll beheading to, if you’re planning toget anywhere with your life.Confidence is a talent you’ll acquire.That, I guess will answer a couple

of questions that must be floatingin your mind at this point, if by anychance you’re thinking on the righttrack and I’m proving any kind ofsuccess.‘Hunting clouds’ is a hobby, actuallya MUST in everyone’s life, whereclouds success is the only thingyou’ll be looking up to, and proudly“hang” in front of you like ourancestors used to hang the headsof deers and foxes. You too haveto modernly show-off youreverlasting successes in variousfields of life. So simply take sometime to optimistically observe theclouds in the sky and realize thespeed at which this planet rotatesand the volatility of your currentstatus whatever it is. You’ll thenhave the agility to go aboutchanging this positively and envyeach ‘hunter’ who is ‘out of’ theexpedition with a bulkier, moreelegant ‘cloud’ than yours – if anyactually.That’s the positive, challengingattitude you must acquire. I’msarcastically, out of words andhoping your eagerness for cloudsis keeping you ‘out of’ time to spendanymore listening to me before yougo about re-adjusting your powersand heading for a change in life. Achange – as simple as it may be,will always be one on the righttrack.But remember, personalassessment is a vital part of all this.DON’T lie to yourself! Yourcalmness and control will alwaysjudge the rest of the powers youhave to excel. I’m now out of herewishing you the best of luck in yourfuture and hoping to see or hearabout your ‘clouds’ soon.

Sherif Ibrahim Mohamed, 20

Be Optimistic!Innovative!Hunt Clouds!

I bet I can see your eyes already widening in wit amazement at such a strikinghobby. Exciting and interesting as it may sound, I actually can’t brainstorm tofind a device to do it with, but how about ‘hunting clouds’ using your brains?I was brought up in a ‘frequent traveler’ family and to be on a plane, overlookinga glorious white blanket of clouds is a regular sight.

January 2006 . TeenStuff TeenStuff . January 2006www.teenstuffonline.com www.teenstuffonline.com January 2006 . TeenStuff www.teenstuffonline.com TeenStuff . January 2006www.teenstuffonline.com January 2006 . TeenStuff

A +ve VersionMinistry of Youth and Sports: Qad Qam alcaptain Lotfy be shar7 barnamgho!All the clubs will be under the supervision of ourMinistry. No club manager will have the right togo on TV and insult millions of people. There’llbe a committee called The Supports Committee.This committee will be there to help all new clubsthat are still growing or current clubs that havefinancial or managerial problems to solve thoseproblems. The goal of this committee is to createfair competition between all clubs for the wholeseason, so as not to have the league’s winnerdetermined after the first week; so the competitionwill not only be between Ahly and Zamalak.There’ll be more concern about individual sports,which have proven to get better results thanteam sports.So it is obvious, that we’re having the phenomenaof free riding in teams, which is having eachmember depend on his colleague and not doinghis work well. And for the first time in the historyof Egyptian matches, fans will be treated ashumans in football matches and all other matchesas well. They’ll have the right not to be hit ontheir heads, nor strip naked in the inspectionarea when they enter. You’ll also be able to watchthe matches on your own TV. You won’t have togo to the cafeteria, to watch a match and buy acup of tea for L.E.5 and some ‘tasaly (leb wsodany)’ for another L.E. 4 plus the 10 percenttax which makes a total of L.E.10 but you’ll haveto leave the rest of the L.E.20 you paid anywaybecause this is the minimum charge. More courtsand fields will be built for all amateurs to playin, rather than the streets. We’ll be doing ourbest to arrange World Cup 3010; I guaranteethat it’ll be either held in Egypt or it won’t beheld at all! We’ll be looking forward to havehealthier youth with healthy bodies. We’ll do ourbest to make our children set sports as one oftheir highest priorities in their daily lives becauseof its huge importance. For healthier bodies …Let’splay sports!

His Excellency, Mohamed Bahar, 19

We know that our beloved country is racing to reach somewhere. We’re doing our bestnot to be called a ‘Third-World’ country anymore. But are we really pushing forward? Thismonth, an optimistic January 2006 drives us to think positive. There’s no perfection - allof us believe - yet, we can sometimes think that we live a hard life while stressing on thenegatives. However, we can also figure out how it’s worth it to live life with its ups anddowns on one condition; if we think in a positive way.Green Club brings you Think GreenGovernment this month. Each member is elected to be the Minister of a certain Ministry,where he/she is required to supply new plans for that Ministry. We’re actually trying tothink positive! First of all, congratulate every single member of the club for becoming the

Minister of a certain ministry! _ Now, you’re most welcome tocheck out what our new thoughts for the New Year are.

Doaa Samy, 18Head of Think Green Club

Think Green Government...

Ministry of Tourism: My name is BlahBlah and I’m the new Minister of Tourism.It’s a funny story why I decided to runfor this position. It was two months agowhen I was with some German friendsof mine at the Pyramids. We suddenlyfound a group of kids who were sellingsouvenirs. They insisted on selling myfriends some postcards for any pricealthough my friends didn’t want any. Soone of them opened his wallet but onlyhad L.E.5 and a couple of hundred poundnotes. My friend offered him the L.E.5but of course the little kid refused. Itold the kid to go away as he had nochange at all, so the kid, knowing thatI’m Egyptian, offered me a deal. He toldme, “Let him give me a hundred andI’ll split it with you.” Of course what hetold me drove me nuts and I almost hitthe boy. Dreadfully, the people here whodeal with any kind of tourists think thatthey’re dealing with tourists from otherplanets; they think that these touristscome to places like Egypt just to bemade fools of. It’s like, “Oh, foreigners!Let’s take their money.”By God’s will, I’ll use my position tochange this way of thinking forever. I’mplanning to put tour guides, who workfor the government, in airports, malls,museums, at the monuments and every

other place thatattracts tourists.These guides will beresponsible forguiding thetourists, tellingthem about thegood places thatthey could go toand preventingthem from beingabused by taxi

drivers and peopleselling them stuff for

triple the price. I haveother plans that I can’treveal in themeantime, to keepthem safe from beingstolen (by otherMinisters) until theplans are well studied.That’s all.

His Excellency,Omar Mohamed, 19

Ministry of Transport: I believe the problemthat most citizens really face in their livesis transportation and crowded streets thatmake people miss appointments and studentsskip classes, which also harms the economy.We’ll start by supplying new buses andmetros that are similar to those in the civilizedworld…where would I get the money from?I’d increase the role of the private sectorthat can invest in transportation by havingtheir own transportation companies and alsoposting advertisements in public buses,metros and at the stations. This wouldincrease competition and provide peoplewith convenient means of transportation.Through this, people will lessen the use oftheir own cars, which will be one step towardssolving the traffic problem. Followed by that,will be coordination with the local governorsto pave roads and reconstruct roads up tostandards because that would be muchcheaper than paying money each year forfixing the same roads (the problem is thatcertain people can’t get this point). Whatshould come next is measuring the efficiencyof the Ministry and applying modernmanagerial techniques that should focus onprogress and development. More decisionsto be taken soon ------- keep updated!

His Excellency, Yasser Abbas, 18

Ministry of Culture: In today’s world being a civilizedand educated person isn’t only measured by collegedegrees. In any country, being accustomed to art inits various kinds refines the quality of its people.Exchanging ideas and cultural values will allow thepeople of the world to open the borders of theircreativity so that they can think together to reachsolutions for the eternal question, “how to make theworld a better place?”The mission statement of the Egyptian Ministry ofCulture is: “Implement programs and projects thatserve our goal which is to provide - not only Egypt -but also the whole world with educated, civilized andrefined people who’ll help in making today’s worldbetter.” The plan I intend to implement as a Ministerof Culture includes three main projects:- Before we encourage the people to read, we shouldeducate them first. As a way to help eradicate illiteracyI suggest a program for youth similar to that of asummer internship. For an amount of money, whichwill be set later, they’ll tour the governorates of Egyptin order to teach the illiterate adults. They’ll teachthem a special syllabus as such the trainees will begiven a special training courses in. They’ll also berequired to organize awareness programs regardingvarious issues.- I’ll also contemplate about a scholarship programfor undergraduates that’ll enable them to continuetheir education in leading American and Europeanuniversities.- A chain of libraries across the country is essentialfor the Egyptian society; libraries which don’t offerbooks only but also seminars and activities for variousage groups. I’m optimistic, what about you?

Her Excellency, Dina Wahba, 19

Ministry of Information: Ladies andGentlemen, it’s an honor to be the Ministerof Information, especially that I spentmy whole career as a writer, a poet,sometimes a journalist and also atelevision announcer. I believe in themajestic message that all means of mediapresent. The press, the television, andthe radio are the elements that I considermost effective in everyone’s life.Accordingly, I thought of some new thingsthat’ll probably help make best use ofthose mentioned elements. SIS (StateInformation Service) has a big role in thedevelopment as well. Through the press,everyone’s totally free to express one’sopinion as long as he/she is quite sureof the information published; otherwise,there’ll be stiff penalties for those whojust want to have fun. I’ll also give theopportunity to school and universitystudents. Special newspapers will beestablished to let them discuss the topicsthey feel like discussing and are mostconcerned with. Television and the radioare somewhat related, because theypresent almost the same content, yet,the television is wider viewed no doubt.I’ll do my best to expand the localtelevision channels. All the televisionspeakers and announcers will havetechnical workshops under the supervisionof foreign specialists who alreadysucceeded in that. I myself will supervisethe aired programs and see if they’reworthwhile. On the other hand, newcreative programs will be shown.Children’s agenda will be richer and moreopen minded. Nonetheless, importanttalk shows will definitely be aired as wellas dramatic soap operas, comic showsand movies. I won’t forget of course selfhelp and programs to awaken awareness.What I want to end with is actuallythanking God that we have such a Ministrythat a lot of countries don’t really have(Trusted Information!)

Her Excellency, Doaa Samy, 18

Exchanging ideas and culturalvalues will allow the people

of the world to open theborders of their creativity

Ministry of Agriculture: Since theancient Egyptians, Egypt has beenknown to be a perfect region foragriculture. But as I said... that was inancient Egypt! We have the perfectfertile soil that any agriculturalenvironment would need. But,unfortunately, we’re going for thechemicals which damage our land’sfertility. We’re also able to farm anykind of fruit, vegetable or even rawmaterial like cotton during any time ofthe year which actually results in adifferent taste or smell! Again, in theold days people used to know thedifferent taste and the smell of any fruitor vegetable upon entering the house!Are you aware of what has happened?!Now as for the coming years, I’ll stopreplacing fertile land with built areas.And this will help to bring back the oldquality of agriculture. I’ll also startexporting goods that we have in ourland instead of importing many goods,in other words, we’ll encourage ourindustry. Farmers will have their ownlands again. Factories will be establishedremote areas as a means of makinguse of the wide empty desert and alsoto avoid pollution. Specialists will lookinto the lands which have been treatedwith chemicals and start treating themand refreshing them to start farming ina normal way again.Farmers who’ve been forced to leavetheir lands and go to the city will berewarded to come back and will be paidby the government. This will lessen theunemployment rate and improve ouragriculture. We’ll build more greenhouses, to supply an even betterenvironment for plants and greenery.Monthly inspectors will pass by all lands,checking and reporting any problems.These inspectors are employed in eacharea. As the Minister of Agriculture, I’llassure you healthy fruits and vegetablesby the end of the coming five years…I,myself, miss that pure taste!

Her Excellency, Reem Ahmed, 15

Today’s students have troubleadjusting

to college because they’re not used tobeing independent

Ministry of Foreign Affairs:, I’d like toexpress my happiness and honor in beingamong you and to be your representative.My forthcoming plans are going to benecessarily held with your contribution. Asthe Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] said, thatin order to gain security and freedom inyour country, you should settle things upand reconcile with other countries so thatwill be my first plan. I’ll be endeavored tothis truce through organizing an annualfestival for peace. It’ll take place at thePyramids in which I’ll invite all the presidents,kings and queens in addition to prime andforeign ministers all over the world. My nextstep will be to interact youth who are well-acquainted with the various problems intheir countries and introduce these problemsto the other country and then put a strategywhich can be followed to solve theseproblems and send another alternative youthgroup from the hosted country to apply thestrategy. This swap will promote our intentionin peace and increase the prevailedproduction rate in the economical, agriculturaland educational field. Besides that, politicalaffairs will be adjusted and smoothened andterrorism will be annihilated. I’ll also cry outto reduce the number of youth who haveimmigrated abroad for work because theyshould serve their country and be proud ofit. Finally, I’ll ask for every country’s aid tocompose one international peace anthemso that we’ll be one hand and in the samerange and sphere. May God grant mesuccess!

Her Excellency, Mahie Ahmed, 20

Ministry of Finance: Everybody knows,the Ministry of Finance is at the end ofa recession. So we took it as our libertyto oppose and come up with the new taxreturn policies. We’ve spent much onadvertising so please pay up. You’ve seenour advertisement on television morethan once so that proves we’re usingyour money in the right way and youshouldn’t lose confidence in our institution.We’ve explained on our websitehttp://www.salestax.gov.eg/ the wholeprocess but in a certain way for you justnot to understand, so please just co-operate and pay us more money.What you read above may be pinpointingsome negatives. On the other hand, youmight not be concerned with anythingexcept some words like ‘pay up’ and ‘payus more money.’ Anyway…let’s see whatcan be done for improvement.We have also developed a plan for theaverage Egyptian to become a millionaireand get a second chance in life. The plangoes as follows: Each Egyptian will payone (1) Egyptian pound everyday. Alottery will then be held, bearing in mindthat the lottery tickets hold the name ofevery Egyptian citizen, and one citizenwill be chosen as the winner of the lottery- after excluding taxes of course – andtakes the whole sum. This program isguaranteed 100 percent to get everyonein the country rich by the year 22666,when Egypt becomes a world power andproves for once and for all that we wereright all along and that our governmentsystem has no flaws what so ever! NoComment!

His Excellency, Mohamed Khater, 19

We have also developeda plan for

the average Egyptian tobecome a

millionaire and get a secondchance in life

Ministiry of Education and Higher Education: As thenew assigned Minister of Education and Higher Education,I hereby grant a permanent vacation to all schools anduniversities... (Just kidding! But I’ve always wanted to saythat or at least have this said to me. Wouldn’t it feel great?)I feel that education here in Egypt deeply needs reformation.The first order of business is to alter and modify schoolcurriculums. Also, schools aren’t going to be just for learning.They’re going to be fun facilities that a student looks forwardto go to each day. By achieving this, the student won’t belocked up in a classroom eight hours a day listening toteachers. NO! Forty percent of the curriculum should beactivities (research, creative assignments, groupprojects…etc.). Today’s students have trouble adjusting tocollege because they’re not used to being independent.But certain courses and programs will be set in their lastyear to prepare them for their university life. New educationalsystems will be established especially in areas where povertyprevails. Like the educational system organized by UNICEFthat depends on the idea of self-teaching with no teachers- just observers to help guide them. They participate in allactivities and attend conferences. It’s quite a successfulsystem; all it needs is to be spread in Egypt.Concerning teachers, every teacher, before applying to anew school, will go through a training program thatintroduces new and creative teaching techniques. Thesetechniques will create the new drastic change known asthe ‘fun learning experience.’ Extra supervision will be setin each school to observe how this plan is being implemented.Winning the fight against private lessons isn’t just bydeclaring it but by actually trying to fix what goes on inschools rather than outside. The facilities also need to befixed. If the government is having financial problems, thenfundraisers like huge dinner parties or concerts will be heldto help dozens of schools that really need to be improved.In order to cut back on expenses, the government won’tproduce millions of textbooks each year nor will parentspay hundreds of pounds on books. The books will alreadybe the property of the school; each student will return hisbook at the end of the year to be later used by otherstudents. But certain fees will be paid to compensate anydamaged books.Last but not least, as the Minister for Higher Educationalso, I hereby declare the opening of dozens of privateuniversities each year. Next year I’m proud to announcethe opening of SUC (Sudan University in Cairo), PIUT(Private International University in Tanta), MPCA (MisrPublic College in Alexandria), CAA (The ContemporaryAcademy in Assuit) and most importantly the AGM (A7laGam3a fe Masr College) Good luck in your exams!

Her Excellency, Esraa Hegazy, 18

After going through our different thoughts andplans for the New Year,we hope we delivered our purpose which is to letyou, dear readers,to always to keep in mind the negative points butthink in a different way that will help improvethem. Don’t say, “I don’t like such and such” but instead,you’d better say, “I have an idea to improve suchand such!”


Best Wishes for the New Year

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other place thatattracts tourists.These guides will beresponsible forguiding thetourists, tellingthem about thegood places thatthey could go toand preventingthem from beingabused by taxidrivers and people

selling them stuff fortriple the price. I haveother plans that I can’treveal in themeantime, to keepthem safe from beingstolen (by otherMinisters) until theplans are well studied.That’s all.











































































other place thatattracts tourists.These guides will beresponsible forguiding thetourists, tellingthem about thegood places thatthey could go toand preventingthem from beingabused by taxi

drivers and peopleselling them stuff for

triple the price. I haveother plans that I can’treveal in themeantime, to keepthem safe from beingstolen (by otherMinisters) until theplans are well studied.That’s all.



































































it was done and restoration problems tackledwere from weak bearing walls to plumbingissues.

The project was completed on June 26, 2000.A booklet of recommendations was handedon how to preserve the area, but alas! Nothingof what was recommended has been doneand maintenance had to be taken care ofevery six month under the supervision of Dr.Asa’ad and a book is currently being writtenabout the whole restoration process.‘Restoration’ as a concept is really a debatableone. Do people love the way they lived before?Is replacing old windows with new ones thesolution? Is restoring only meant for touristattraction and its benefits? All these questionsare left for you to decide but visiting such aplace will teach you, not just about its history,but about a community that learned to workwith each other, sacrifice and give efforts fortheir cause. If each alley, street and areabonds this way, what would be the result?

Tarek Rakha, 20

January 2006 . TeenStuff www.teenstuffonline.com www.teenstuffonline.com

Most of you who arereading this, do notknow about this alleyand the treasures thatit hosts. But do notblame yourself, peoplewho were born theredo not know too!It is true! Youth actually did notknow about the history that thisalley has yet to unfold for them,as they only knew about hauntedhouses and garbage dumps. UntilDr.Asa’ad Nadim, owner of ElMashrabeya Institute in Cairo,undertook the responsibility ofdocumentation, restoration andconservation of the alley using agrant offered by The Arab Fund for

Economic and Social Development;a grant of approximately fourmillion US dollars.

The Governor aided the project ofrestoring the alley and decided thatit will be restricted to pedestriansonly and the streets to be pavedin stone. The local residents sharedin this event and helped in thepavement process and also all themain piping systems were eitherchanged or restored. All thebuilding facades were studied anddeveloped to be evolved into aharmonious exterior for the place,bonding the local community withtheir context, and understandingthe historic value of their alley. So,what does this alley hold for them?

The alley has a historical well calledKetas and three important historicalhouses: El Sehaymi, Ga’far and El

Khrasaty. Sehaymi is the biggest.It was built in 1648 with additionsin 1796, designed to giveimportance to Islamic socialpatterns and family values.Strongly adapted to its surroundingenvironment, the house isconsidered one of Cairo’s historicalvalued treasures. Its restorationprogram started in January 1994and the amount of garbage

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by peoplewho have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all."

Dale Carnegie

El Darb El Asfar

EGYPT, LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN...

removed from it wasequivalent to thecapacity of a hundredtrucks!

El Khrasaty, however,is not considered aheritage house,because it wasmodified drastically.But the restorationprogram wasconcerned with thevalue beyond that. Itwas joined to otherhouses and itsremoval would havestrongly endangeredthe other houses. Plusthere were manyother problems to befaced. The house wasactually homing morethan 20 families! Thiswas a problem butwas solved throughofferings andsuccessfulnegotiations with itsresidents. It took along time to convincethem to move out but

Plumbing and re-wiring the whole alleywas done with aid of the local residentsmaking the process easier and smoother.

TeenStuff . January 2006

Paving of the roads

Courts and gardens in El Sehaymi were designedenvironmentally, to adapt to the climate changes inEgypt and also provide a pleasant place to live.

it was done and restoration problems tackledwere from weak bearing walls to plumbingissues.

The project was completed on June 26, 2000.A booklet of recommendations was handedon how to preserve the area, but alas! Nothingof what was recommended has been doneand maintenance had to be taken care ofevery six month under the supervision of Dr.Asa’ad and a book is currently being writtenabout the whole restoration process.‘Restoration’ as a concept is really a debatableone. Do people love the way they lived before?Is replacing old windows with new ones thesolution? Is restoring only meant for touristattraction and its benefits? All these questionsare left for you to decide but visiting such aplace will teach you, not just about its history,but about a community that learned to workwith each other, sacrifice and give efforts fortheir cause. If each alley, street and areabonds this way, what would be the result?

Tarek Rakha, 20

El Sehaymi is now a tourist attraction and evenmore a cultural center for children. Children areseen drawing details of rooms in the house aspart of their art class.

January 2006 . TeenStuff www.teenstuffonline.com www.teenstuffonline.com

Most of you who arereading this, do notknow about this alleyand the treasures thatit hosts. But do notblame yourself, peoplewho were born theredo not know too!It is true! Youth actually did notknow about the history that thisalley has yet to unfold for them,as they only knew about hauntedhouses and garbage dumps. UntilDr.Asa’ad Nadim, owner of ElMashrabeya Institute in Cairo,undertook the responsibility ofdocumentation, restoration andconservation of the alley using agrant offered by The Arab Fund for

Economic and Social Development;a grant of approximately fourmillion US dollars.

The Governor aided the project ofrestoring the alley and decided thatit will be restricted to pedestriansonly and the streets to be pavedin stone. The local residents sharedin this event and helped in thepavement process and also all themain piping systems were eitherchanged or restored. All thebuilding facades were studied anddeveloped to be evolved into aharmonious exterior for the place,bonding the local community withtheir context, and understandingthe historic value of their alley. So,what does this alley hold for them?

The alley has a historical well calledKetas and three important historicalhouses: El Sehaymi, Ga’far and El

Khrasaty. Sehaymi is the biggest.It was built in 1648 with additionsin 1796, designed to giveimportance to Islamic socialpatterns and family values.Strongly adapted to its surroundingenvironment, the house isconsidered one of Cairo’s historicalvalued treasures. Its restorationprogram started in January 1994and the amount of garbage

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by peoplewho have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all."

Dale Carnegie

El Darb El Asfar

EGYPT, LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN...

removed from it wasequivalent to thecapacity of a hundredtrucks!

El Khrasaty, however,is not considered aheritage house,because it wasmodified drastically.But the restorationprogram wasconcerned with thevalue beyond that. Itwas joined to otherhouses and itsremoval would havestrongly endangeredthe other houses. Plusthere were manyother problems to befaced. The house wasactually homing morethan 20 families! Thiswas a problem butwas solved throughofferings andsuccessfulnegotiations with itsresidents. It took along time to convincethem to move out but

The alley before and after.

The entrance to the court of the restoredEl Sehaymi looks beautiful. This washousing in old Cairo for a family; thiswas us in the past.

Plumbing and re-wiring the whole alleywas done with aid of the local residentsmaking the process easier and smoother.


Paving of the roads

Courts and gardens in El Sehaymi were designedenvironmentally, to adapt to the climate changes inEgypt and also provide a pleasant place to live.


Woo Woooo Woooooooo!!Oh my God,Oh my God,OH MY GOD!!I remember the last time I wentto Dream Park about two orthree years ago. Never mindabout how the day was, eventhough it was marvelous! WhenI went back home after aphysically tiring day, I waseager to get to sleep afterhaving a quick shower. Prettynormal I think!I lost consciousness as soon Iplaced my head on the comfypillow. Now, tell me, what doyou expect then? Ummm, comeon…it’s not that complicated.Ok, stop now. I’ll tell you myselfwhat happened. Butfirst…make sure that you’refond of treacherousadventures!

I was walking, walking strangely,actually! I don’t know how. To takea step forward, you must have onefoot on the floor while picking upthe other one, moving it slightlyupwards, then finally situating itLogical enough? I think so! Butwhat if you have BOTH legsupwards at once?A normal person would probablysay, “I’d sure be jumping!”Well…maybe!If I come again and tell you toknock out that jumping option offyour estimations, what would yousay?I’m now certain that you all knowwhat’s going on in my mind! Again,if I’m walking with both feet nottouching the ground and notjumping either...flying? uh-huhguys! But I wasn’t pushingupwards. I was doing nothing atall---I suddenly found myselfcaught in the middle in betweenthe ground and the sky…'c9can’tget down nor investigate above.Moving my hand was a big deal. Ifelt like I was swimming in aneverlasting box full of water. Youknow that feeling when water liftsyou up? Exactly! But what actuallydiffers is that you, when swimmingwherever, can simply get out ofthe sea when you feel like doingso but it’s not the case here yet.You can’t get out of your wholeuniverse if it lacks GRAVITY!

My sister was studying in the sameroom while I was writing this article.She told me a funny comment thatI’d like to share. “If there was nogravity,” she said, “my friends andI would likely hangout on a typical

Thursdayby meetingaround the flying tree over thereto get ready for ‘winging’ to theclub at night, hehe!” (I wonderwhat they could do there;)All what we know about gravity arethe moves an astronaut makeswhile on a spaceship. We see howfunny it is to be hung in air, movingeverywhere always! I’m reallyeager to explore a new non-gravitylife. Let’s think together.

How would we walk around, excuseme, I mean ‘move around’ lol! Whatabout cars…you know what? I thinkthat would help solve the trafficproblem!! Yeah, believe me, if yourway is stuck, just move under thecar in front of you or even aboveit; it’s your choice! But you got totake most care not to hit anythingdoing the same action however.Then we’d find cars with four sided-mirrors; two on both sides, onereflecting top ways, and anotherreflecting bottom ways,nonetheless, I have no idea howcan those top/bottom onesfunction? Hey you guys, studyingengineering over there…think aboutit and tell me!

When it comes to sleeping, tell meplease what’s your preferredposition? You can sleep standing,with your back bent, curled up onyour legs, stretching your armsupwards, upside down or evenhorizontally!! There’s a big smileon my face now just imagininganybody sleeping horizontally andgoing on like that between people!Don’t forget that nothing can stopthem.

We wouldn’t have a place to livein, except if we were locked in aroom or a home where we could

freely move but have upper andlower limits. We also would visit allthe world countries. Not to worry,nobody would stop you to ask fora passport simply because hewouldn’t be able to keep standingstill on the country’s border! He’dbe moving and traveling himself.Consequently, we wouldn’t needairplanes. We can manage goinganywhere that might otherwisetake us a life-time; as we’d bemoving in slow motion. Never mind,the most important thing is to arriveanyway no matter when! And allpeople would be able to practiceballet and gymnastics. We’d badlyneed that to move properly and inall directions.

Oh gravity! …is it really thatsignificant?Sometimes we’re not aware of thegifts we’re given until they vanish!True. 100 percent true! At least wenever happen to think about thosegifts or even consider them asgifts...

Have you ever tried mixing honeywith lemon before? I personallylive to do that I love eating -orwhatever verb you choose- honeywith squeezed lemon. What I wantto mention is the process itself.When you try it (cause, you must!)you’ll have to wait a while to letthe lemon juice particles interactwith the honey’s. If you leave it fora while after you mix them, youfind them separating again. Honeyat the bottom and the lemon juiceon top. I’m using conditional if“zero type-present simple” as it isa true fact!

Back to our subject, to mix livinghuman beings with their place ofliving, GRAVITY is the magicalsolution!

Really had fun writing this, hopeyou had fun reading it as well!Waiting for your sweet commentsand usual feedbacks [email protected] you a very Happy NewYear for 2006, willingly. Take caretill I see you next month (My specialmonth where I celebrate mybirthday!)

Faithfully,Doaa Samy, 18

(It’s the last time I’ll write 18 besidemy name. I’ll convert that eightinto nine on the first day nextmonth)

January 2006 . TeenStuff TeenStuff . January 2006www.teenstuffonline.com www.teenstuffonline.com January 2006 . TeenStuff www.teenstuffonline.com

One of the things that you,as an Egyptian citizen,should be fully aware of isthe political system of yourcountry. How does thegovernment work? Oneimportant aspect of thegovernment is ‘politicalparties.’ We asked teenswhat do they know aboutthem and these were theiranswers:•Actually I have never attended one.•Hahaha! Obviously I know there

are a lot of political parties. But Iam not interested in politics.• When a group of politicians gatherunder the umbrella of joinedinterests from a rally to expresstheir views in it.• Political parties are the placeswhere you can go to and talk freelyabout politics with NO limits orbarriers!!• I know that the main man of oneof the parties is Tony Blair and heis the Prime Minister of England.There are three main parties inEngland, each one represents adifferent class of people. Forexample, the Labor party representsthe working class.• Maybe it is when people meet ina place and begin talking aboutpolitics and other stuff about it!

Political parties are just like anyother groupings as in your schoolor college. They are groups of peoplewho have similar interests and

share, to a great extent, similarideas. The only difference is thatpolitical parties aim at obtainingpower. The formal definition is: Apolitical party is a politicalorganization subscribing to a certainideology or formed around veryspecial issues with the aim toparticipate in power, usually byparticipating in elections.

Political parties in Egypt:After the revolution in 1952, therevolutionary regime had dissolvedall political parties in January of thefollowing year. Gamal Abdel Nasserintroduced a new political systemthat was named Arab socialism, witha one-party system. Nasser's

successor, Anwar ElSadat, carried out alimited politicalliberalization and aneconomic and diplomatic‘infitah’ (open doorpolicy) to the West.Nowadays, Egypt is aone party dominantstate. The NationalDemocratic Party (Al-Hizb Al-Watany Al-Demoqraty) is thecurrent ruling politicalparty in Egypt, led byPresident HosniMubarak. Its politicalideology is Socialism;Social Democracy.Opposition parties areallowed but are widelyconsidered to have noreal chance of gaining

power. The political system is basedon a multi-party system. Accordingto the Egyptian Constitution, politicalparties are allowed to exist butreligious political parties are bannedfrom being formed in Egypt. Alsobanned are political parties thatencourage militia formations or thathave an agenda that is contradictoryto the Constitution or threaten thecountry's stability, such as thenational unity between Muslims andthe Coptic sect in Egypt. Presently,there are 18 political parties in Egypt.

The Parties:

- National Democratic Party (Hizb al Dimuqratiyah alWataniyah)- New Wafd Party (Hizb al-Wafd-al-Jadid)- Progressive NationalUnionist Party (Hizb alTajamaa al Wataniyah alTagadamm al Wahdwa)

- Arab Democratic NasseristParty or Nasserist Party- Liberal Party (Hizb al-Ahrar)- Tomorrow Party (Hizb al-Ghad)- Solidarity Party- Democratic Union Party- Umma Party- National Concord Party- Egypt 2000 Party- Constitutional Party- Egyptian Arab SocialistParty- Pride Party(Hizb al-Karama) - Isn't granted orfull-licensed yet

“Syria at a Crossroad…will it beanother Iraq?”

Syria is under the spotlight!All of a sudden the wholeworld media has shifted itsfocus onto a small countryin the Middle East calledSyria. Everyone is suddenlyconcerned with theinternal affairs of Syria andits relation with Lebanon;explosions,demonstrations,assassination, revolutions,threats and more. It is abreath catching packagethat is coming to a theaternear you…maybe to yourown theater. But who

knows when?

The origins of this movie go back tothe 70’s, when Syria sent its troopsto engage in the Lebanese civil warthat arose then. Syria intervened tosave the lives of the MaroniteChristians whose existence wasdeeply threatened.Although the civil war was over,Syrian troops and intelligence bodiesstayed in Lebanon and did not returnback which raised doubt over Syrianinterests in Lebanon that were,actually, many.After the Israeli invasion of Lebanonin 1982, Hezbollah was formed tofight Israel and to free Lebaneseterritories from occupation, till theyeventually reached this target in2000 when Israel withdrew from theoccupied Southern Lebanon.

This is a normal situation that youcan find occurring in many parts ofthe globe that have even much morecomplex conflicts that seemimpossible to solve.But a smart French eye, inspired bythe U.S. actions after the attacks ofSeptember 11th; in particular theaggressiveness and the interference

in the affairs of other countriesclaiming the need for saving theworld from terrorism and evil states– as they like to call them. ThisFrench eye found the need fordeveloping the situation into a thriller,a movie that millions all over theworld would watch and one that willbring in magnificent profit!

The movie starts in 2004 with asudden French concern over Lebanonand the realization of the need forSyrian troops to withdraw fromLebanon, as they were of no usethen. Also realizing the threat ofHezbollah, there was a call then fordisarming it and turning it from beinga military group to a normal politicalparty with no arms or weapons.The second actor then - which is theU.S - appears and agrees with Francethat the Syrian troops are of threatto peace and security and shouldleave Lebanon immediately.(Although the movie shows you thata few months back,French/American relations weretense as France opposed the U.S.led war against Iraq!)The two then (France and America)go to the rest of the characters andtalk about the situation when theypropose that the whole group willask Syria formally to withdraw fromLebanon which results in a UnitedNations Security Council Resolution(1559) that calls upon all remaining‘FOREIGN’ forces to withdraw fromLebanon. (Caring to protect Syrianfeelings and not mentioning Syria

by name).

The first episode of the movie wasnot a success because not manypeople paid attention to it, as it wasnot strong and had some mistakes;particularly a Security Councilresolution that cannot exist in thereal and just world that we hadhoped to be living in.

UNSC Resolution 1559:

By a vote of nine in favor to noneagainst, with six abstentions (thosewho refused to vote) Resolution 1559passed in the Security Councilfocusing mainly on the withdrawalof all foreign forces from Lebanon(referring to Syria) and disarmamentof Lebanese and non-Lebanesemilitias (referring to Hezbollah).The problems with the Resolutioncan be summarized in what thePakistani speaker (who abstainedfrom voting) said after the Resolutionwas passed:

The Resolution is not equivalent withthe Security Council’s functions andresponsibilities.

There was no evidence of any urgentthreat to peace.There had been no complaint fromthe country whose integrity andsecurity is threatened as theresolution claims. On the contrary,the Lebanese representatives hadcommunicated to the Council theiropposition to consideration of theResolution.Besides, the text was addressing thewrong threat. If there was a threatto Lebanon, that was well known, itdid not arise from Syria.

Secretary-General of the Ministry ofForeign Affairs of Lebanon, MohamedIssa, rejected the other part of theResolution by saying that there wereno militias in Lebanon. There wasonly the National LebaneseResistance, which appeared afterthe Israeli occupation and whichwould remain so long as Israelremained.More importantly, the United Nationshad never interfered in such a matterwith regard to any other state. Therewas no justification for theResolution, which constitutedinterference in the internal affairs ofa member state of the UnitedNations.

This, in short proves that such aResolution was not enough. Here, isintroduced the rule of the directorof the movie, where he thinks ofaccelerating the events by having apeak that will change the path ofevents, resulting in more thrillingincidents where actors can have thefreedom to use their rules andrelease their talents.

That was in the beginnings of 2005,so what was this peak?If you have an idea about it, shareit with me at:[email protected] you do not know, then wait forFebruary where you will find thereview of the second episode in thisastonishing sequel.

Yasser Abbas, 18

Though the word itself is veryfamiliar, still, its meaning remainsvague. Up till now the world'sgreatest politicians and leaderscannot find an exact meaning for it.And as this word is becoming ofgreat importance in today's world,then we should dig deeper and tryto find out what does this intriguingword mean.

By definition ‘terrorism’ is: 1. A terrorizing use of terror andviolence to intimidate, subjugate,etc., especially as a political weaponor policy.2. Intimidation and subjugation soproduced (from Webster's NewUniversal Unabridged Dictionary). Aterrorist is a person who usesviolence for political purposes.

These are the linguistic definitions.Let's have a closer look and viewsome of the applications of this wordin the real world through the oneperson who- if I may call him- is themost frequent user of this wordtoday, George W. Bush. Maybe thenwe will understand why a simpleword such as ‘terrorism’ can causeso much confusion. The followingare extractions from journals, reportsand statements from President Bush:

"America and our friends and alliesjoin with those who want peace andsecurity in the world, and we standtogether to win the war against‘TERRORISM.’Bush in his Address to the Nationspeech.

"We know that the war was not justillegal and unnecessary but is turninginto the bloodiest war involvingBritain for a long time. Most of thedeaths are from air strikes, whichputs the action of the US and Britishgovernments in the category of warcrimes, on a par with the deliberatetargeting of civilians at Guernica in1937 and at Dresden in 1944."Lindsey German, convener of theUK's Stop the War Coalition, as shetold the Weekly.

"The Iraqi people are meetinghardships and challenges like everynation that has set out on the pathof democracy. Yet their futurepromises lives of dignity and freedomand that is a world away from thesqualid, vicious tyranny they haveknown. Across Iraq, life is beingimproved by liberty."George W. Bush

“The findings of the first scientificstudy of civilian casualties in Iraqreveal that at least 100,000 Iraqicivilians, mostly women and children,have died in only 17 months as a

result of the invasion.”From a study published in The Lancetdated October 30th

“The oppressed people of Afghanistanwill know the generosity of Americaand our allies. The United States ofAmerica is a friend to the Afghanpeople."Bush's Treaty Room statement.

“US forces in Afghanistan havearbitrarily detained civilians, usedexcessive force during arrests of noncombatants and mistreateddetainees.” This concludes that theUS-administered system of arrestand detention in Afghanistanfunctions outside the rule of law.Human Rights Watch new report.

"The roots of the Abu Gharib prisonscandal lie not in the criminalinclinations of a few army reservistsbut in a decision, approved by formerSecretary of Defense DonaldRumsfeld, to expand a highly secretoperation, which had been focusedon the hunt for Al Qaeda, to theinterrogation of prisoners in Iraq."The New Yorker Magazine.

US Apache helicopters were reportedto be attacking civilian neighborhoodsin Falloujah. (FSRN, April 6) On April7,US forces in Falloujah werereported to be bombing a mosque.Local hospital officials now report280 dead, with many hastily buriedin the town's soccer field as residentswere barred by the military siegefrom reaching the cemetery.“The name of today's militaryoperation is Enduring Freedom. Wedefend not only our preciousfreedoms, but also the freedom ofpeople everywhere to live and raisetheir children free from fear.”George W. Bush

Does that mean that it is true that‘one man's freedom is another man'sfreedom fighter?’ The meaning ofthe word so simple and obvious andthe only problem is that it is severelymisused!I hope you are not as confused as Iam. And after I have stated all thefacts, I will let you decide on whatthe meaning of terrorism is and whois the ‘real terrorist.’

Dina Wahba, 19

Shockingly TrueA UN ‘peacekeeping’ mission inthe Congo in 1961 included thebombing of hospitals and manyother defenseless civiliantargets. Since the UN - man's best hopefor peace - was founded in 1945there have been over 140 wars.Josef Stalin, the leader of theUSSR was from Georgia.Adolph Hitler was Austrian.The first Secretary General ofthe UN was a U.S. citizen whowas also Soviet spy.Of the first 14 UNUndersecretaries who controlledthe UN's military, all 14 of them were Communists.

Yasser Abbas, 18

What Do You Knowabout Political Parties?What Do You Knowabout Political Parties?

Big Words

EthnoCentrismvs.

Cultural Relativism

Ethnocentrism. "Thetendency to view one's ownculture as best and to judge thebehavior and beliefs of peoplein other societies by one's ownstandards." Many claim thatethnocentrism occurs in everysociety; ironically, ethnocentrismmay be something that allcultures have in common. Withinthis context, individuals willjudge other groups in relationto their own particular ethnicgroup or culture, especially withconcern to language, behavior,customs, and religion.

Cultural relativism. The ideathat one should try to evaluateand understand anotherculture/society on its own termsand relative to its own valuesand beliefs. According to thisbelief, in studying anotherculture we need to suspendjudgment, empathize and tryand understand the way thatparticular culture sees the world.

Terrorism:In Search for a Definition

Check Out Our Latest ‘Movie’ Review:

Dina Wahba, 19









The Parties:





knows when?





by name).









Yasser Abbas, 18














Dina Wahba, 19


Yasser Abbas, 18



Dina Wahba, 19









The Parties:





knows when?





by name).









Yasser Abbas, 18














Dina Wahba, 19


Yasser Abbas, 18



Dina Wahba, 19

January 2006 . TeenStuff TeenStuff . January 2006 January 2006 . TeenStuff www.teenstuffonline.com

Scene: Somewhere in the desert…“A place that survived through theages…once you step foot on theselands it takes you back in time,”said the tour guide to a bunch oftourists. “The Pyramids weredesigned for……“Buy one Tut Ankh'amoun statueand get one Nefertari for free!”interrupted a small boy carryingancient Egyptian statues. Thetourists swarmed around the littleboy like bees over honey. Theybought as many souvenirs as theycould carry. “Since you love ourproducts so much,” said the tourguide, after noticing their sheerdelight over the statues, “I suggestwe go to Khan El Khalili; one of thebiggest markets that has a varietyof ancient Egyptian souvenirs.”

The idea was immediately put intoaction. Everyone hopped on the busand headed to Khan El Khalili.The minute they got there,they all started takingpictures with their camerasand their hunger to buysouvenirs drove them eagerlyto the bazaar. Not needingan intensive search for whatthey wanted, themerchandise was clearlydisplayed and they could hearthe vendors shouting out topromote their goods.Come and ‘bos’ with a dollarand ‘nos’!”“Come and buy ‘3baya’ fromAunt Shelbaya!”“Come grab a fanous…it’salmost without flous!’”On every corner the vendorsfilled the streets, all shoutingdifferent chants to attract thetourists to their shops or smallstands.

“Come and see ‘ya 3asl’, goldenPyramids cheaper than ‘basal!’”“Feast your eyes! Just take a look,at these statues that you can onlysee in a book!”“Come and check this out yafandy,… we’ve got the best ‘Bardy!’”After what seemed like a few hoursof filling their bags with tons ofsouvenirs from the chantingvendors, they all jumped back inthe bus and headed for the hotelas the tour guide was seeing themoff and wishing them a nice day.“Hope you liked your tour for todayand don’t forget your friend ChinYaung.”The tourists’ stay was finally over.And before they knew it, they werepacking their bags with all the lovelygoods they bought and heading tothe airport. After a long and tiringflight, they reached their nativecountry at last. The tourist grouppicked up their bags and waited ina long line to check them atcustoms.

“Good evening ladies andgentlemen,” said the security guardat the checkpoint as he searchedthe contents of their luggage. “Whatdo we have here?” he askedreferring to the souvenirs theybought.“Just souvenirs; pure, 100 percentEgyptian products,” replied one ofthe tourists.But the security guard gotsuspicious and checked every item.“You’re lying!” he told them. “Thesearen’t Egyptian. You’re smugglingChinese products into this country.

Guard! Arrest them! Those are thesmuggling gang we've been tryingto catch for the last six months!”“Wait!” yelled one of the tourists.“These are Egyptian products notChinese, what are you talkingabout?! We were in Egypt!”“No sir,” snapped the guard. “Seethese labels over here? Theseproducts are ‘Made in China’!”

Having said all that we can say thatChina's ongoing economictransformation has had a profoundimpact not only on China or Egyptbut everywhere worldwide. I'd saythey INVADED the world!

It provokes my revelation howneither Japan's nor Korea's postwarboom comes anywhere close toChina's. And it's even moresurprising to know that China greweven during the worldwide economicdoldrums of 2001-02. Since 1979,China has reformed and opened itseconomy. Today, China's economyis the sixth largest in the world andthe fastest growing economy. Inthe year 2004, its $1.65 trillioneconomy was about 1/7th the sizeof that of the U.S. China's totaltrade in the same year surpassed$1.1 trillion, making China theworld's third largest trading nationafter the U.S. and Germany. China'seconomy grew at an average rateof 10 percent per year during theperiod 1990-2004; the highest ratein the world!

As shows, our balance was nevermore than $-681.4 million -

And I still have a room window by the Pyramids

disappointing, I know! But that'snot everything. We got thisinformation from the Ministry ofForeign Affairs. The recognizedtrade isn’t the total actual tradebecause there are a lot of productsthat come in and out withoutsignificant recognition and suchproducts are mostly the smallChinese ones that are spreadingeverywhere.What's really irritating is that allour exports are raw materials like:granite (43% of the total trade),cotton (21.5%), petroleum (9%)and iron (9%). And we import themback as equipment: (13% of thetotal trade), machinery, electronics(10%) and clothing (9%).

Why allow theChinese to invade?!

As you look at the lack of Egyptianproductive industries and comparethem to those of China and othercountries, it’ll make you dizzy tohear that the government actuallyencourages investors, especiallyyoung ones! You stop for a while

and wonder where the problem isor if Egyptian products actually do

exist but maybe you’rehaving problems withyour eyesight! Anotherside of the coin is thecomplaints frominvestors regarding theroutine proceduresneeded for setting upindustrial plants. The redtape has madepermission andregistration rot ingovernmental offices.Let’s now take a look atthe beginning of theprocess. An investor feelsconfident after hearingabout theencouragement from thegovernment. With abroad smile, he enters agovernmental office toget the neededpermission andregistration…and herecomes the first slap onhis face. He’s awakenedfrom his dreams withphrases like “Come backtomorrow.” After a while,he witnesses anotherinvestor getting hispapers done in no time.Bribery, it could be or -probably- connections.Either way, the investor

finds out the truth. He knows nowwhat it will take. He spends daysuntil he figures out which way togo and finally he’s done with hiswork.

The second slap comes to reassurehim that he’s still awake! Afterbuilding the plant, he needs toimport machinery and the latesttechnology before he gets down

to business. This adds a lot ofmoney to the bill as he’ll have topay customs for all the importedequipment, machines andmaterials. And, of course, to lowerthe customs he has to pay, he’llneed to choose one of thepreviously mentioned ways.

Cued up next, is labor. UnlikeEgyptian labor, Chinese labor isvery cheap plus also, the Chineseare very skilled. Being a countryof a great population ourselves,we should have the samething…but we don't! The productionwheel turns and turns butunfortunately, the flourishing ofthe plant will add more to thebusiness bills after adding tax bills.All these elements will add up atthe end and raise the cost of the

product. The previously plannedprice won’t fit the new circumstancesand the product costs more thanexpected. The markets will be filledwith the new goods with high pricescompared to their quality. Theconsumer will have to either choosean expensive Egyptian product or alower priced foreign product butboth of the same quality. Now, yousolve the dilemma! I wonder wherethe procedures that’ll make life easierfor investors and customers are!When will the system improve andget rid of the red tape and thecorruption that wear it out?

Apart from all the difficulties thegovernment imposes oninvestments, is also peoples’mistaken perception. Many seem tohave the impression that things arenever good enough unless they’reexpensive or imported. I understandthat people tend to think this waybecause they expect the product tosatisfy them when they spend a lotof money on it. But, that’s not alwaystrue. Investors reached anunderstanding on how peopleperceive a worthy product long agoand acted accordingly, selling thingswith much higher prices than theycost. Nevertheless, advertisementsplay the greatest role in shaping the

impression people have. Ads createstereotypes for the audience to lookup to; an ad would show people andthe lives they live in contrast to thelives they wish to have. All of thisadds glamour that is far from thetruth. And, as planned, hypnotizedpeople end up feeling needy for theproduct.It's getting very irritating how theChinese express our culture throughtheir products. They're expressingthe framework of our own identitiesstarting with ancient civilizations,religion and ending up with foodhabits. Sometimes, it's just not rightto let someone do everything foryou - which is, to our misfortune,the case with China.I’m curious how a country thatsuffered so much could raise itselfup in such short time. It happens alot that we throw the blame on thetimes when our country wasoccupied; the times when ourresources were sucked out. But thenChina comes along to prove uswrong. They didn't just have theirresources robbed, they had themdiminished. And yet, with all thestrength they had, the Chinese knew

that they were all they had and theyacted according to this and it worked.We too have all 70 million resources;we just haven’t come to realize thatyet.

We Live in ChinaAnd I still have a room window by the Pyramids

-681.4

-703

-792

-761

-784

-1201

715.8

805

872

853

937

1389

34.4

102

80

92

153

188

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

www.teenstuffonline.comwww.teenstuffonline.com

Today, China's economy is the sixth largest in the world and the fastest growing economy

Social ClubAlaa Jalal, 19

Engy Yehia, 20Esraa Hegazy, 18Shady Sadat,21

Mai Mamdouh,19

Compiled by:Mai Mamdouh

Special Thanks To:Ashraf Hamdy

Second SecretaryForeign Affairs

for supplying us with information

Many seem to have the impression that things are nevergood enough unless they’re expensive or imported





























Mai Mamdouh,19


































Mai Mamdouh,19







- You are a graduate fromthe Faculty of Economicsand Political Science.What does that have to dowith cooking?Okay, let me start from thebeginning. I graduated fromthe science section in highschool with high grades andeveryone expected me toeither enter the faculty ofMedicine or Engineering.However, I had other plansbecause it had always beenmy dream to enter theFaculty of Economics andPolitical Science and majorin Economics. Of course mychoice came as a shock tomy family and I remembermy uncle coming to ourhouse to talk me out of it.Still it was my dream and thething I loved most and I knewinside my heart that it wasthe right thing to do. Justbecause I got high gradesdoes not mean I should enrollin a faculty that I do not like.I would have probablygraduated from it like manyothers and would not haveexceled in it. Anyway Ifinished my college yearssmoothly and aftergraduation I started workingin a company whose activitywas to establish an e-commerce website.

- How did you brainstormfor the idead of WasfaSahla and when did itstart?Well It started around fiveyears ago, one of my friends,Alia El Sawy, came up withthe idea. One day she cameand told us and the ideaappealed to everyone. All of

us had the proper experiencefrom our previous work; wehad done lots of research andwe knew almost all what weneeded to know aboutestablishing websites. Whenthey told me the idea andthat all I have to do is preparerecipes I said, "Sure I wouldlove to!" I mean cooking hasalways been a hobby of mine.I enjoy going into the kitchenand creating new recipesfrom different things. Andthat is how the websitestarted.

- So if the website startedwith a spare of themoment idea, how did thecatering project start?Well you know how one thingleads to another. Peoplestarted logging to the websitechecking the recipes, sendingus emails with specialrequests and since we knewa lot about food andpreparations for parties,people used to ask us foradvice and that was when wethought about going intocatering. At first we actedlike agents; we knew differentcaterers in different areaslike Mohandessien, Maadi andNasr City and people used totell us about their parties andwhat exactly they wantedand we used to deal with theproper caterer and fulfill theservice. Later on when thevisitors of our websiteincreased and more peopleasked for the catering service,we thought why don't we justdo it ourselves…it is not likewe do not know how to cook.Of course it is not just aboutcooking, we had made a good

plan and began a companywith one of our friends, DaliaFahmy, who had a smallcatering business of her own,and asked her to become themanager of our new project.We started small; cateringsmall parties at first then weexpanded and brought morepeople to help us.

- Alright, so from a smallwebsite and a nicecatering project into thesmall screen invadingevery house in Egypt. Tellus more about your TVshow and yourexperience?Seeing how the website wasa success, we were so happybut we still knew we werenot reaching all women outthere. I mean even thoughmost people are familiar withthe Internet now, noteveryone really uses it or hasthe time. That is why wethought about a TV show thatwould reach womeneverywhere. We tried severaltimes but didn't succeed,which made us lose focus onthe idea for a while, till thisyear when we were offeredto have our own show on aprivate channel. It was againlike a dream come true andwe were all so excited. Wewanted to create somethingdifferent from what wasalready there on differentchannels. We wanted ourshow to be fun andinformative at the same time.I think Alia and I havesucceeded in accomplishingthat because I do believe thatthe show came out differentand we have received lots ofemails and calls admiring theshow and asking us topresent certain recipes onthe show.

- From one project toanother, there must havebeen many difficulties andfears of failure and weknow many youth who donot follow through theirplans out of such fears.How did you survive that?We survived that with onesentence: "What is the worstthat could happen? If we failwe fail but at least we tried.”My advice to youth who areinterested in starting theirown project is to start on asmall scale, so if they failthey will not lose lots ofmoney. When we started ourprivate business we kept itas a side thing and remained

in our original jobs till thebusiness reached a certainlevel of success. Also, theyshould not fear failure, theyshould just plan their projectswell, work hard and dedicatethemselves to it. Mostimportant thing of all is toremain flexible to the marketand I am sure they will makeit like my friends and I did.

- Before the interview youmentioned that people areshocked to find out whatyour major and your jobis and they see it morelike “a second class job”.Again we know manyyouth who would let go oftheir dreams out of fearof how the society wouldview them or mock them.What do you think of that?I am glad you asked me that.First, I don't see my job as“a second class job”. Cookingto me is like an art. I bringdifferent, unrelated thingsand I create a whole newrecipe out of it. It is my talentI have focused on, developedit and it led to my success.People are surprised whendoctors or engineers starttheir own private businessbut no matter what yourstudy is if you are skilled inany other field you shouldwork on developing andbenefiting from it I want totell youth out there that ifany of them have a talent nomatter how insignificant itmight seem, they shouldwork on it. We havethousands of doctors andthousands of engineers buthow many musicians do wehave? How many painters?Youth should cast away theidea of big named collegesand the idea that those withhigh grades should enter highgraded faculties. You guysshould study what you likeand do what you like.

I couldn't find a better wayto end the interview than withthis wonderful advice whichwe hope all young people willfollow. Remember, if any ofyou guys have a successstory send it to us by emailto [email protected] who knows… maybe youwill be the next person to beinterviewed in our ProductiveYouth Campaign.

A recipe to Success‘Wasfa Sahla’

Before you boys out there flip the page saying "Stop… this is a girls’ exclusive cooking page," I want to tell you this isnot about cooking. The aim behind this interview, done for our Youth Productive Campaign, is to show you a real liveexample of a group of friends whose determination and dedication has led them from one success to another; startingwith just a simple cooking website to catering and their special TV show. This is a story that should be set as a modelfor all of you teens who are seeking a real change in your life. Let us hear the story of one of the people behind Wasfa

Sahla.com project, Miss Salma Fouad and how she and her friends were not afraid of failing, faced their challenges, followedtheir hearts and finally made it.

January 2006 . TeenStuff TeenStuff . January 2006 . 11www.teenstuffonline.com www.teenstuffonline.com

Starring:Charlize TheronFrances McDormandSean BeanSissy SpacekRichard JenkinsWoody Harrelson

Directed by:Niki Caro

“All she wanted was to makea living, instead she madehistory”Academy Award winner,Charlize Theron is backplaying the role of JoseyAimes in North Country.Inspired by a true story, ittells of a powerful journey ofcourage and humanity. It’s astory of a woman strugglingin a male dominated society.Josey is a single mother oftwo who returns to herhometown after a failed

Starring:Joaquin PhoenixReese WitherspoonGinnifer GoodwinRobert Patrick

Directed by:James Mangold

Walk the Line, is a newHollywood musicalbiography that sheds thelight on the life of musicicon Johnny Cash. In1955 Johnny Cashwalked into Sun Studiosin Memphis and gave hisbest performance withreal passion. That daywas marked in historybecause it was thebeginning of a new era ofmusic that would have itseternal and major influenceon the American musicalculture. The movie tells usabout Johnny the child whosuffered from his father’s illtreatment when he was akid blaming him for hisbrother’s death. It showsyou Johnny the star and thefamily man, introduces youto his music and magicalvoice along with thebeautiful romance that tieshim with his wife June CarterCash, played by ReeseWitherspoon. Finally, it tellsyou about Johnny the drugaddict, his trip from drugs’hell to redemption and howhe fought his battle to savehis soul.One of the amazing thingsabout this movie is the fact

thatJoaquin Phoenixperformed all of the songshimself without beingdubbed and learned to playguitar from scratch. Also,Reese Witherspoon did herown singing and had to learnto play the auto-harp. Funnything is Johnny Cash choseJoaquin Phoenix to play himin the film and June CarterCash reportedly chose ReeseWitherspoon for her role inthe film as well. I guess theirchoice couldn’t have beenmore perfect for the movie,which, so far, has gainedthe praise of both critics andviewers not just for the storybut for the marvelousperformance and I quote,“Joaquin Phoenix and ReeseWitherspoon do first-rate

work — they sing, theytwang, they play new-to-them instruments, theycrackle with wit andcharisma, and they giveoff so much sexual heat it'sa wonder they don't burstinto flames. Theirs are thekinds of performances theAcademy Awards live toreward.”Being a huge fan of Phoenixafter his amazingperformance in manymovies such as, Gladiator,Signs, The Village andLadder 49 I wouldn’t missthis movie for the world.

North Country

Walk the Linemarriage to try and pick up the piecesof her life. She meets up with an oldfriend, Glory (Academy Award winnerFrances McDormand) who offers hera job at the most predominant sourceof employment in the town- the ironmines. In spite of Glory’s warnings of

the harshness and perils of this jobplus her parents’ disapproval, (Spacekand Jenkins) she’s determined to enterthe job market and make a decent lifefor her and her family. The muscleaching and back breaking effort of thehazardous work isn’t the only thingshe encounters everyday, but also theconstant harassments of her fellowmale workers. However, Josey isn’twilling to ignore these harassmentslike she is advised to. The job madeher feel alive and the pay check isworthwhile to give up. She decides totake a stand against the miningcompany, not for the sake of leadershipor making a statement, but to createa secure life for her two children.Woody Harrelson stars as Bill White,the lawyer who helps her file a sexualharassment law-suit against the mine.This film reveals Josey’s journey thatinspired countless of others. A journeyof standing and fighting for what youbelieve in, even if it means standingalone.

Esraa Hegazy , 18

About theProduction:

When David (Mark Ruffalo)rented his quaint San Franciscoapartment, the last thing heexpected—or wanted—was aroommate. He had only begunto make a complete mess ofthe place when a pretty butdecidedly controlling youngwoman named Elizabeth (ReeseWitherspoon) suddenly showsup, adamantly insisting theapartment is hers. Davidassumes there’s been a giantmisunderstanding…untilElizabeth disappears asmysteriously as she appeared.

Changing the locks does nothing to deter Elizabeth, who begins to appear and disappear at will—mostly to rebuke David for his personal living habits in her apartment.onvinced she is a ghost, Davidtries to help Elizabeth crossover to the “other side.” Butwhile Elizabeth discovers thatshe does have a distinctlyethereal quality—like walking�through walls—she is equallyconvinced that she is somehowstill alive and isn’t crossingover anywhere. As Elizabethand David search for the truthabout who Elizabeth is andhow she came to be in herpresent state, their relationshipdeepens into love.Unfortunately, they have verylittle time before theirprospects for a future togetherpermanently fade away.

Just Like Heaven was producedby Laurie MacDonald (TheRing, The Mask of Zorro) andWalter F. Parkes (The Island,Gladiator), with DavidHouseholter (Anchorman: TheLegend of Ron Burgundy)executive producing. MarkWaters directed the film froma screenplay by Peter Tolan(Analyze This) and Leslie Dixon(Freaky Friday), based uponthe novel If Only It Were Trueby Marc Levy, who also servedas co-producer. The main castalso includes Donal Logue (TV’sER), Dina Waters FreakyFriday, Ben Shenkman HBO’s

Angels in America, and JonHeder Napoleon Dynamite.

The story of Just Like Heavenbegan on the pages of abestselling novel called IfOnly It Were True, whichwas the debut book fromFrench novelist Marc Levy.The romantic tale of loveacross the boundaries of ourphysical and metaphysicalworlds first came to theattention of producers LaurieMacDonald and Walter F.Parkes several monthsbefore the novel waspublished in English. WhileMacDonald and Parkes haveproduced a number of filmsthat involve both romance

Just Like Heaven


and comedy, Parkesacknowledges, “This is, in fact,the first pure romantic comedythat Laurie and I have everproduced. There is somethingelegant about a great romanticcomedy script. It requires nobig special effects or hugeproduction values; the delight

is in a well-told story about twopeople you really care about. In its simplicity, it can elicitthe same kind of emotional,even visceral, reaction fromthe audience as those bigmovies do…sometimes moreso. In a good romanticcomedy, the audience has tocare about these people almost

from the first moment youmeet them and, hopefully, tofeel more and more investedin them as the story unfolds.”Mark Waters offers, “Whatmakes a romantic comedy workis a good obstacle, and Ithought this story had one ofthe best obstacles ever—where

one person is living in thephysical world and the other isapparently dead…or so theythink. They cannot even touch,yet they have great chemistrytogether.”The director reveals that oneof those ideas added a differentdimension to the relationship

From Mark Waters, the director of Mean Girls and FreakyFriday, comes the new romantic comedy Just Like Heaven,starring Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde, Sweet HomeAlabama) and Mark Ruffalo (13 Going on 30, Collateral).


between the main charactersof Elizabeth, played by ReeseWitherspoon, and David,played by Mark Ruffalo. “Oneof the most interesting motifscreated for the screenplay wasthat Mark Ruffalo’s character,David, would be a widowerand still deeply depressedabout the loss of his wife. Soeven though Elizabeth is theone who appears to be dead,David is the one who needs tocome back to life.”

About the Cast:Witherspoon says there was“a little bit of fate” involved inher being cast as Elizabeth inJust Like Heaven. “I had justmoved about the same timethat I signed on to do the film.I was unpacking and puttingbooks up on the bookshelf andfound the book If Only It WereTrue. I’d actually bought it along time ago and remember

thinking when I read it that itwould make a good movie, soI guess it was meant to be.”She adds that one of the thingsthat drew her to the projectwas the theme of findingbalance in your life. “You canbe very successful and achievemany things in your chosenprofession, but it is equallyimportant to nurture your spiritand have a life. My character,Elizabeth, is a veryhardworking, dedicatedprofessional who is completelyconsumed with her job as anER doctor. She has no roomin her life for any kind ofrelationship; she just doesn’tmake time for one. Throughthe course of the story, shecomes around to the idea thatyou have to take care of yourpersonal life as well as yourprofessional life. There has tobe a balance, and I think that’sa problem to which manypeople can relate.”

Mark Ruffalo was cast oppositeWitherspoon in the role ofDavid, whose life and homeElizabeth invades,unannounced, uninvited andunexplained. Mark Ruffalocomments, “David has a littlebit of an edge to him, which Ithink is interesting to see in aromantic comedy. He startsout obviously depressed andanti-social. He sublets thisgreat apartment, and all hewants is to be left alone, butall of a sudden he starts seeingthis girl who insists theapartment is hers. He thinkshe’s losing his mind, but thenit becomes a question of howdoes he get rid of her. She’sannoying as hell,” he laughs.Both the book If Only It WereTrue and the movie Just LikeHeaven are set in SanFrancisco.

Just Like Heaven Just Like Heaven Just Like Heaven

Under the copyrights of

RELEASING THIS MONTH







Just Like Heaven





















Just Like Heaven





















Just Like Heaven















January 2006 . TeenStuff www.teenstuffonline.com TeenStuff . January 2006www.teenstuffonline.com

Naomi WattsQ: How were you approached for the part?N.W: Well, I got a call that they were interestedin me and I was in Europe at the time andthey were mixing the third Lord of the Ringsmovie and so we met for dinner in London.We spoke a little bit about the project butmostly it was a social evening.

Q: How did it feel to be offered the part?N.W: Oh fantastic! I had never done one ofthese movies. I had never done an eventmovie. People think that I must not like thembecause a lot of my choices have been a bitmore obscure but I do love these movies ifthey’re done well.

Q: What was your history with King Kong? Doyou remember seeing the original movie beforeyou signed up to this project?N.W: Yeah, I saw both. And I went back tosee them again once I started talking to Peter.It had stayed with me; the film is so iconicand the part as well. The story has got allkinds of things going on. And I knew thatPeter, Fran and Phillippa would bring somethingincredibly new and great to it and add to thealready quite powerful themes - and they havedone.

Q: Is there still much screaming involved?N.W: Funnily enough, we had the great

opportunity to watch theoriginal on the big screena while ago and yes, I wasstruck by how good thescreams were but I forgothow much there was;there’s a lot. We’ll see…you can never reallygauge that. Maybe notso much, maybe Ann isa bit tougher now.

Q: Did you prepare towork with a specialeffect that actuallyemotes?

N.W: That was certainlyone of my concerns when I was

asked to do the picture. My God, how do youcreate a love story when one half of it isn’tthere? But they made the great choice of hiringAndy Serkis, who has done so much work andis so into doing this part of it, so to have apair of eyes and a soul behind him helped meget rid of my fears. There’s a real connection.It was all new to me. It was interesting.

Q: What other preparation did you do for therole? Did you ask psychologists about therelationship?N.W: I didn’t meet with any psychologists butI looked heavily into the period first of all,such as women of that time, in the Depression,and specifically New York City. And I lookedat every National Geographic piece of footagethat I could find on gorillas. Andy had goneup to Rwanda for two weeks and filmed thegorillas there; lots of reading and stuff. Youlearn a lot when you see those documentaries,you see the behavior. That’s one thing theyhad really developed and it is was reallybeautiful.

And now, since you guys areso special to us and we alwaysaim at giving you the best, wehope you’ll enjoy this specialinterview that includes thewhole cast from the movie,King Kong - an exclusive for

Teen Stuff!

Adrien Brody

Q: Tell us of your obsession that has become apassion for King Kong?P.J: Well, it’s absolutely true that when I saw KingKong it did make me want to become a film maker.I’ve no idea whether I would still be making films ifI hadn’t seen King Kong. But I was nine years oldand it was on TV on a Friday night here in NewZealand. And the very next day - my parents had aSuper 8 movie camera that they used for homemovies - after I saw King Kong I started makinglittle stop motion films. I got some plasticine and Istarted to film some little movies which then tookme all the way through my teenage years. So it didget me going. I saw the movie and I think what theoriginal Kong is a wonderful blend - possibly themost perfect blend - of escapism and adventure andmystery and romance.

Q: How did you improve on the original film?P.J: Well improving is a very weird term when you’retalking about a movie made in 1933. That’s a classicfilm. How are we going to improve on it? Well, youknow we’re probably not, (smiles). The classic movieis always going to be the classic movie and ours isthe remake of the classic movie. But it’s such awonderful story and a wonderful premise that I justloved to have a go at doing a remake and obviouslywith the modern technology there’ was reason to doit.

Q: Was there any pressure on you?P.J: Yeah there’s always pressure. I guess there areexternal pressures on it being a follow up to Lord ofThe Rings, but that doesn’t worry me too much. Ofcourse there is a certain sort of expectation. Thepressure is twofold. One is I want this to be a goodremake of King Kong so I want people that respectthe original film, to think we did ok. And I also justwant to make a good movie. That’s always thepressure on a film maker.

Q: Will one of your big successes in King Kong bethe moment when the audience weeps?P.J: Hopefully it’ll happen more than once butcertainly I hope it happens at the Empire StateBuilding at the end.

Peter JacksonQ: What’s your role in King Kong?A.B: I’m Jack. What kind of dude is he? Well he’s changedsubstantially from the original. For the better, I think. Theadvantage is that he’s a much more sensitive humanbeing. He’s a playwright and he’s kind of convinced byDenholm to write the screenplay and is lured away onthis journey. He’s more of a thinker rather than a doerwho is then forced to be the doer and become the manthat he’s been creating on the page; a more heroiccharacter, someone that he would be creating as opposedto actually being.

Q: What were the circumstances under which you wereoffered this role?A.B: To say yes or no. To say yes, I should say. It wasinteresting, I was shooting The Jacket in Glasgow and Icame out to take a meeting with Peter, Fran and Philippawhile they were in London for the Bafta Awards. At thatpoint I was under the impression that they were meetingactors for King Kong but I didn’t know that they werepretty much hoping to have me, which was wonderful.

Q: What was your first experience as a kid of seeing KingKong?A.B: I do remember seeing it when I was younger andit having a big impact but I somehow forgot most of thestory, aside from the story line with Ann and Kong. I gota DVD of it before I took the meeting with Peter and Irealised that there were obviously a lot of elements. Ithink it’s a fantastic film in a lot of ways.

Q: What was the most difficult scene?A.B: I can’t think of a particular scene that was muchmore difficult than another but what was harder than Iimagined was all the physicality. Because in order forthings to look as dramatic, even though there was a lotcreated later, you had to really go for it. And you had todo it over and over and over again! You’re hanging fromsomething or falling and you have to do that as manytimes until they get all the angles correctly. And runningand falling over obstacles; if you do that over and overand over again it’s much more difficult than you imagined.

Q: Why is King Kong timeless?A.B: It’s one of these fables that I think can appeal toeveryone. It’s a story of ‘beauty and the beast’ in a sense.But it’s a love that can never be had. It’s dealing with faroff lands and suspense and drama and all of the wonderfulthings that cinema can bring to life.

Q : I s your charact erromantically linked with theone played by Naomi Watts?A.B: Yeah obviously thereneeds to be a level of that.I fight for her so I have tohave some kind ofconnection to her. I thinkthe original lacked a bit ofthat. So what we have triedto do is create a levelof truth to that, withinthe context of the timeperiod, that this personmay be the one for me.

Adrien Brody

January 2006 . TeenStuff www.teenstuffonline.com TeenStuff . January 2006www.teenstuffonline.com

Naomi WattsQ: How were you approached for the part?N.W: Well, I got a call that they were interestedin me and I was in Europe at the time andthey were mixing the third Lord of the Ringsmovie and so we met for dinner in London.We spoke a little bit about the project butmostly it was a social evening.

Q: How did it feel to be offered the part?N.W: Oh fantastic! I had never done one ofthese movies. I had never done an eventmovie. People think that I must not like thembecause a lot of my choices have been a bitmore obscure but I do love these movies ifthey’re done well.

Q: What was your history with King Kong? Doyou remember seeing the original movie beforeyou signed up to this project?N.W: Yeah, I saw both. And I went back tosee them again once I started talking to Peter.It had stayed with me; the film is so iconicand the part as well. The story has got allkinds of things going on. And I knew thatPeter, Fran and Phillippa would bring somethingincredibly new and great to it and add to thealready quite powerful themes - and they havedone.

Q: Is there still much screaming involved?N.W: Funnily enough, we had the great

opportunity to watch theoriginal on the big screena while ago and yes, I wasstruck by how good thescreams were but I forgothow much there was;there’s a lot. We’ll see…you can never reallygauge that. Maybe notso much, maybe Ann isa bit tougher now.

Q: Did you prepare towork with a specia leffect that actuallyemotes?

N.W: That was certainlyone of my concerns when I was

asked to do the picture. My God, how do youcreate a love story when one half of it isn’tthere? But they made the great choice of hiringAndy Serkis, who has done so much work andis so into doing this part of it, so to have apair of eyes and a soul behind him helped meget rid of my fears. There’s a real connection.It was all new to me. It was interesting.

Q: What other preparation did you do for therole? Did you ask psycho logists about therelationship?N.W: I didn’t meet with any psychologists butI looked heavily into the period first of all,such as women of that time, in the Depression,and specifically New York City. And I lookedat every National Geographic piece of footagethat I could find on gorillas. Andy had goneup to Rwanda for two weeks and filmed thegorillas there; lots of reading and stuff. Youlearn a lot when you see those documentaries,you see the behavior. That’s one thing theyhad really develope d and it is was reallybeautiful.

And now, since you guys areso special to us and we alwaysaim at giving you the best, wehope you’ll enjoy this specialinterview that includes thewhole cast from the movie,King Kong - an exclusive for

Teen Stuff!

Adrien Brody

Q: Tell us of your obsession that has become apassion for King Kong?P.J: Well, it’s absolutely true that when I saw KingKong it did make me want to become a film maker.I’ve no idea whether I would still be making films ifI hadn’t seen King Kong. But I was nine years oldand it was on TV on a Friday night here in NewZealand. And the very next day - my parents had aSuper 8 movie camera that they used for homemovies - after I saw King Kong I started makinglittle stop motion films. I got some plasticine and Istarted to film some little movies which then tookme all the way through my teenage years. So it didget me going. I saw the movie and I think what theoriginal Kong is a wonderful blend - possibly themost perfect blend - of escapism and adventure andmystery and romance.

Q: How did you improve on the original film?P.J: Well improving is a very weird term when you’retalking about a movie made in 1933. That’s a classicfilm. How are we going to improve on it? Well, youknow we’re probably not, (smiles). The classic movieis always going to be the classic movie and ours isthe remake of the classic movie. But it’s such awonderful story and a wonderful premise that I justloved to have a go at doing a remake and obviouslywith the modern technology there’ was reason to doit.

Q: Was there any pressure on you?P.J: Yeah there’s always pressure. I guess there areexternal pressures on it being a follow up to Lord ofThe Rings, but that doesn’t worry me too much. Ofcourse there is a certain sort of expectation. Thepressure is twofold. One is I want this to be a goodremake of King Kong so I want people that respectthe original film, to think we did ok. And I also justwant to make a good movie. That’s always thepressure on a film maker.

Q: Will one of your big successes in King Kong bethe moment when the audience weeps?P.J: Hopefully it’ll happen more than once butcertainly I hope it happens at the Empire StateBuilding at the end.

Peter JacksonQ: What’s your role in King Kong?A.B: I’m Jack. What kind of dude is he? Well he’s changedsubstantially from the original. For the better, I think. Theadvantage is that he’s a much more sensitive humanbeing. He’s a playwright and he’s kind of convinced byDenholm to write the screenplay and is lured away onthis journey. He’s more of a thinker rather than a doerwho is then forced to be the doer and become the manthat he’s been creating on the page; a more heroiccharacter, someone that he would be creating as opposedto actually being.

Q: What were the circumstances under which you wereoffered this role?A.B: To say yes or no. To say yes, I should say. It wasinteresting, I was shooting The Jacket in Glasgow and Icame out to take a meeting with Peter, Fran and Philippawhile they were in London for the Bafta Awards. At thatpoint I was under the impression that they were meetingactors for King Kong but I didn’t know that they werepretty much hoping to have me, which was wonderful.

Q: What was your first experience as a kid of seeing KingKong?A.B: I do remember seeing it when I was younger andit having a big impact but I somehow forgot most of thestory, aside from the story line with Ann and Kong. I gota DVD of it before I took the meeting with Peter and Irealised that there were obviously a lot of elements. Ithink it’s a fantastic film in a lot of ways.

Q: What was the most difficult scene?A.B: I can’t think of a particular scene that was muchmore difficult than another but what was harder than Iimagined was all the physicality. Because in order forthings to look as dramatic, even though there was a lotcreated later, you had to really go for it. And you had todo it over and over and over again! You’re hanging fromsomething or falling and you have to do that as manytimes until they get all the angles correctly. And runningand falling over obstacles; if you do that over and overand over again it’s much more difficult than you imagined.

Q: Why is King Kong timeless?A.B: It’s one of these fables that I think can appeal toeveryone. It’s a story of ‘beauty and the beast’ in a sense.But it’s a love that can never be had. It’s dealing with faroff lands and suspense and drama and all of the wonderfulthings that cinema can bring to life.

Q : I s your charact erromantically linked with theone played by Naomi Watts?A.B: Yeah obviously thereneeds to be a level of that.I fight for her so I have tohave some kind ofconnection to her. I thinkthe original lacked a bit ofthat. So what we have triedto do is create a levelof truth to that, withinthe context of the timeperiod, that this personmay be the one for me.

Adrien Brody

www.teenstuffonline.com www.teenstuffonline.com

One of the most respected and belovedhallmarks of film history, is King Kong;a giant 25 foot gorilla who was the titlecharacter of a now-classic 1933 black-and-white adventure film produced byMerian C. Cooper. The film containedmany revolutionary technical innovationsfor its time (rear projection, miniaturemodels about 18 inches in height, andtrick photography, etc…) and some of themost phenomenal stop-motion animationsequences and special effects ever filmed.Any of you who watch the TV programOscar on Egyptian television mayremember seeing a clip of the film duringthe credits in which Kong grabs anattacking aircraft and tosses it while ontop of the Empire State Building (whichis the film’s most memorable scene). Theoriginal film revolved around a film crewthat travels to a forsaken island to shoota movie revolving around a mysteriousgod whom the natives worship, only todiscover that the god is non other thanthe giant simian himself. Kong capturesthe lead actress, Ann Darrow (played byFay Wray) and the film crew tries torescue her while avoiding the othermonstrous beasts in the jungle. Aftermuch struggle, the crew manages tocapture Kong and transport him to NewYork where he escapes, recaptures Annand makes his stand on top of the EmpireState Building.But beneath the terror and sheer spectacleof the film, King Kong has an underlying

‘beauty and the beast-type’ love story inwhich Kong’s actions are mostly drivenby his love for Ann, who, in turn, slowlybegins falling for her tall, dark and uglycaptor. The film shattered all box-officerecords then and was hailed by audiencesand critics alike as a timeless classic andwent on to become a cult classic amongmoviegoers everywhere. Amazingly, thenow-classic film was not nominated forany Academy awards. However,speculation has arisen that the film wouldhave won Best Special Effects for manyof the film's groundbreaking effects if theaward had existed at the time. Throughoutthe following years, the original Kongstood the test of time despite hisappearance in lackluster sequels orreimaginings such as Son of Kong, KingKong vs. Godzilla, Mighty Joe Young andthe horrendous 1976 King Kong versionstarring Jessica Lange and Jeff Bridges.

Flash-forward 60 years later… NewZealand independent filmmaker PeterJackson, born October 31, 1961, wasmaking low-budget ‘slapstick’ horrorcomedies such as Bad Taste (1987) forwhich he won general acclaim at theCannes Film Festival for his ability tostretch a dollar and turn seemingly low-budget films into works of high quality.Yet his passion for making movies cameafter watching the original King Kong atthe age of eight. Jackson was so fond ofthe film that he once cut up his mother'sold fur coat and used it to make a modelof the great ape. It was a fueling desirefor Jackson to remake King Kong, yet hewould need massive funding and hugestudio backing for such a privelage. Backin 1996, after he had finished directingThe Frighteners, Universal Pictures agreedto sign a contract with Jackson to do thefilm with a salary of $6.5 million plusbonuses. At the time, Jackson had writtena screenplay and was considering casting

his Heavenly Creatures star Kate Winsletas Ann Darrow. But Universal was forcedto pull the plug on the project in early1997 due to the overcrowd in the moviemarket with monster movies such as,Godzilla and Mighty Joe Young (bothremakes) within the upcoming years.Jackson moved on to work on anotherdream project of his that was to becomehis launchpad to fame and glory. Jackson’stake on J.R.R. Tolkien’s landmarkmythological masterpiece, Lord of theRings, proved to be one of the greatestachievements in film history. But youprobably know the story behind the LOTRfilms by now, so we needn’t re-live thedetails again. What you wouldn’t knowhowever is how LOTR changed PeterJackson’s career. He has been named asone of Hollywood’s most powerful andgreatest directors, being the first directorin 20 years to win Academy Awards forproducing, directing and writing in onesingle movie. He has been ranked #6 inPremiere's 2004 annual Power 100 Listas the second-highest rated director,behind Steven Spielberg. In the followingyear, he has been crowned the mostpowerful man in Hollywood by ranking#1 on Premiere's 2005 Power 50 List.Being the top “gorilla” of film directors(no pun intended), Peter Jackson nowhas absolute power and can name hisprojects, his price and his demands onstudios for which they would willinglyfulfill. So it would make sense that hisnext project would be his lifetime dreamand that Universal would be willing toback him up again, this time offering hima sweet deal of a $20 million paycheck,along with 20 percent of the box-officegross. Peter didn’t only change career-wise but has also undergone physicalchanges as well; he lost 70 pounds duringthe production of King Kong, andunderwent eye surgery as well thus losinghis trademarks - chubby look and round

glasses.

Production for the King Kong remakebegan in August 2004 in Jackson’sMiramar Studios located in Wellington,New Zealand with a budget of $150million. Jackson raised plenty of eyebrowswith his unexpected casting choices;manic jokester Jack Black for the role ofoverzealous filmmaker/P.T. Barnum-ishentrepreneur Carl Denham, AcademyAward winner, Adrien Brody as theunconventional hero Jack Driscoll andAcademy Award nominee, Naomi Wattsas Kong’s love interest, Ann Darrow. Theman who put the ‘prrrrecioussss’ inGollum, Andy Serkis, was also cast asKong for whom he provided a photo-mapping basis for his facial and bodymovements the same way he did forGollum in LOTR. Also joining the castwas Jamie Bell (otherwise known as BillyElliot), and Tom Hanks’ son Colin Hanks(reuniting with his Orange County co-star Jack Black). During production, PeterJackson hosted a video production diary,made specifically for the fan website,www.kongisking.net. Diary entries or“webisodes”, posted every 2-3 days, werefilmed by staff members of the websiteand gave an exclusive look at theproduction of the film (e.g. a tour of theset, a peek inside the sound booth duringlast-minute dubbing, or Andy Serkis doinghis ape movements in a motion capturestudio) with other cast and crew membersoften acting as hosts or ‘guides.’Eventually, visitors to the website wereinvited to email in questions to potentiallybe answered in future videos. On AprilFools day 2005, Peter Jackson posted anelaborate practical joke on the websitewhere he ‘revealed’ that they werealready starting production on KingKong:Son of Kong and King Kong: Intothe Wolf's Lair. Both films, supposedlyto be released in 2006, contained theprincipal characters riding Son of Kong,strapping machine guns to his back andfighting Hitler's genetically mutatedcreatures. The film was going to beproduced under the banner of "BigPrimate Productions."The online community was in totaloutrage before they realized that thewhole thing was a joke. Peter Jacksonhas been known to pull pranks of thissort before. The production diaries werereleased on DVD on December 13, oneday before the U.S. release of the film.Since production, the budget has movedfrom $150 million to a record breaking

$207 million, making it, by a smallmargin, the most expensive film evermade since Waterworld and Titanic.Universal Studios only agreed after seeinga screening of the film, in whichexecutives responded enthusiastically.In a clever marketing strategy, Kong’slook for the remake was kept entirelysecret until June 29, when marketing forthe film began and the teaser trailer wasshown simultaneously on every NBC-owned television channel, as well asonline at Volkswagon’s official websiteand in cinemas with this summer’s Warof the Worlds. Everyone in the world,almost at once, got their first look atKong’s face! Merchandising for this filmhas reached an all-time craze, with toys,trading cards and a multiplatformvideogame on display at every store inAmerica.

A few weeks before the release of thefilm, everyone was wonderingwhether Peter Jackson’s remake ofKing Kong was really worth thewait. And early reviews indicatedthat Peter Jackson’s King Kong “isa surprisingly tender, evenheartbreaking, film”, according toNewsweek magazine critic, DevinGordon.“Jackson has honored his favoritefilm in the best possible way: byrecapturing its heart-pounding,escapist glee.”It’s obvious that Jackson shows hislove for the original film not onlyby faithfully following the plot butalso lifting some shots as well;including some shots of Ann stealingan apple, and Denham directingAnn to scream at an unseen dangeroff-camera. And for anyone who’sseen the original, keep your eyespeeled for many nods from the1933 film. Other critics state thatdespite its 3 hour-long runtime, itis “an emotionally and physicallybreathtaking film”, “a visualextravaganza”, and “an amazing filmthat demands to be seen on the bigscreen” (But not on the PC, folks! Ittotally ruins the experience!). PeterJackson seems to have pulled it off againand has not only made a film that livesup to the glory of the original, but a filmthat proves that Peter Jackson is indeedthe greatest director of his generationand the master of 21st century epics.

Ali Nasser, 20

Head of the Film Club

The Eighth Wonder of the World


Go back in time… more than 70 years ago! Try to remember howcinema was like during the 30s. Don’t remember much, do you? CharlieChaplin, Greta Garbo, Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz? Well, perhapsyour grandparents would! But if you ask them what was the mostterrifying or breathtaking film they had ever seen back then, they’danswer back with one word… “KONG!” Still confused? Time for ‘FilmHistory 101’ class, kiddies!

Universal Studios' King Kong movie © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.



www.kingkong.com www.kingkong.com

www.teenstuffonline.com www.teenstuffonline.com

One of the most respected and belovedhallmarks of film history, is King Kong;a giant 25 foot gorilla who was the titlecharacter of a now-classic 1933 black-and-white adventure film produced byMerian C. Cooper. The film containedmany revolutionary technical innovationsfor its time (rear projection, miniaturemodels about 18 inches in height, andtrick photography, etc…) and some of themost phenomenal stop-motion animationsequences and special effects ever filmed.Any of you who watch the TV programOscar on Egyptian television mayremember seeing a clip of the film duringthe credits in which Kong grabs anattacking aircraft and tosses it while ontop of the Empire State Building (whichis the film’s most memorable scene). Theoriginal film revolved around a film crewthat travels to a forsaken island to shoota movie revolving around a mysteriousgod whom the natives worship, only todiscover that the god is non other thanthe giant simian himself. Kong capturesthe lead actress, Ann Darrow (played byFay Wray) and the film crew tries torescue her while avoiding the othermonstrous beasts in the jungle. Aftermuch struggle, the crew manages tocapture Kong and transport him to NewYork where he escapes, recaptures Annand makes his stand on top of the EmpireState Building.But beneath the terror and sheer spectacleof the film, King Kong has an underlying

‘beauty and the beast-type’ love story inwhich Kong’s actions are mostly drivenby his love for Ann, who, in turn, slowlybegins falling for her tall, dark and uglycaptor. The film shattered all box-officerecords then and was hailed by audiencesand critics alike as a timeless classic andwent on to become a cult classic amongmoviegoers everywhere. Amazingly, thenow-classic film was not nominated forany Academy awards. However,speculation has arisen that the film wouldhave won Best Special Effects for manyof the film's groundbreaking effects if theaward had existed at the time. Throughoutthe following years, the original Kongstood the test of time despite hisappearance in lackluster sequels orreimaginings such as Son of Kong, KingKong vs. Godzilla, Mighty Joe Young andthe horrendous 1976 King Kong versionstarring Jessica Lange and Jeff Bridges.

Flash-forward 60 years later… NewZealand independent filmmaker PeterJackson, born October 31, 1961, wasmaking low-budget ‘slapstick’ horrorcomedies such as Bad Taste (1987) forwhich he won general acclaim at theCannes Film Festival for his ability tostretch a dollar and turn seemingly low-budget films into works of high quality.Yet his passion for making movies cameafter watching the original King Kong atthe age of eight. Jackson was so fond ofthe film that he once cut up his mother'sold fur coat and used it to make a modelof the great ape. It was a fueling desirefor Jackson to remake King Kong, yet hewould need massive funding and hugestudio backing for such a privelage. Backin 1996, after he had finished directingThe Frighteners, Universal Pictures agreedto sign a contract with Jackson to do thefilm with a salary of $6.5 million plusbonuses. At the time, Jackson had writtena screenplay and was considering casting

his Heavenly Creatures star Kate Winsletas Ann Darrow. But Universal was forcedto pull the plug on the project in early1997 due to the overcrowd in the moviemarket with monster movies such as,Godzilla and Mighty Joe Young (bothremakes) within the upcoming years.Jackson moved on to work on anotherdream project of his that was to becomehis launchpad to fame and glory. Jackson’stake on J.R.R. Tolkien’s landmarkmythological masterpiece, Lord of theRings, proved to be one of the greatestachievements in film history. But youprobably know the story behind the LOTRfilms by now, so we needn’t re-live thedetails again. What you wouldn’t knowhowever is how LOTR changed PeterJackson’s career. He has been named asone of Hollywood’s most powerful andgreatest directors, being the first directorin 20 years to win Academy Awards forproducing, directing and writing in onesingle movie. He has been ranked #6 inPremiere's 2004 annual Power 100 Listas the second-highest rated director,behind Steven Spielberg. In the followingyear, he has been crowned the mostpowerful man in Hollywood by ranking#1 on Premiere's 2005 Power 50 List.Being the top “gorilla” of film directors(no pun intended), Peter Jackson nowhas absolute power and can name hisprojects, his price and his demands onstudios for which they would willinglyfulfill. So it would make sense that hisnext project would be his lifetime dreamand that Universal would be willing toback him up again, this time offering hima sweet deal of a $20 million paycheck,along with 20 percent of the box-officegross. Peter didn’t only change career-wise but has also undergone physicalchanges as well; he lost 70 pounds duringthe production of King Kong, andunderwent eye surgery as well thus losinghis trademarks - chubby look and round

glasses.

Production for the King Kong remakebegan in August 2004 in Jackson’sMiramar Studios located in Wellington,New Zealand with a budget of $150million. Jackson raised plenty of eyebrowswith his unexpected casting choices;manic jokester Jack Black for the role ofoverzealous filmmaker/P.T. Barnum-ishentrepreneur Carl Denham, AcademyAward winner, Adrien Brody as theunconventional hero Jack Driscoll andAcademy Award nominee, Naomi Wattsas Kong’s love interest, Ann Darrow. Theman who put the ‘prrrrecioussss’ inGollum, Andy Serkis, was also cast asKong for whom he provided a photo-mapping basis for his facial and bodymovements the same way he did forGollum in LOTR. Also joining the castwas Jamie Bell (otherwise known as BillyElliot), and Tom Hanks’ son Colin Hanks(reuniting with his Orange County co-star Jack Black). During production, PeterJackson hosted a video production diary,made specifically for the fan website,www.kongisking.net. Diary entries or“webisodes”, posted every 2-3 days, werefilmed by staff members of the websiteand gave an exclusive look at theproduction of the film (e.g. a tour of theset, a peek inside the sound booth duringlast-minute dubbing, or Andy Serkis doinghis ape movements in a motion capturestudio) with other cast and crew membersoften acting as hosts or ‘guides.’Eventually, visitors to the website wereinvited to email in questions to potentiallybe answered in future videos. On AprilFools day 2005, Peter Jackson posted anelaborate practical joke on the websitewhere he ‘revealed’ that they werealready starting production on KingKong:Son of Kong and King Kong: Intothe Wolf's Lair. Both films, supposedlyto be released in 2006, contained theprincipal characters riding Son of Kong,strapping machine guns to his back andfighting Hitler's genetically mutatedcreatures. The film was going to beproduced under the banner of "BigPrimate Productions."The online community was in totaloutrage before they realized that thewhole thing was a joke. Peter Jacksonhas been known to pull pranks of thissort before. The production diaries werereleased on DVD on December 13, oneday before the U.S. release of the film.Since production, the budget has movedfrom $150 million to a record breaking

$207 million, making it, by a smallmargin, the most expensive film evermade since Waterworld and Titanic.Universal Studios only agreed after seeinga screening of the film, in whichexecutives responded enthusiastically.In a clever marketing strategy, Kong’slook for the remake was kept entirelysecret until June 29, when marketing forthe film began and the teaser trailer wasshown simultaneously on every NBC-owned television channel, as well asonline at Volkswagon’s official websiteand in cinemas with this summer’s Warof the Worlds. Everyone in the world,almost at once, got their first look atKong’s face! Merchandising for this filmhas reached an all-time craze, with toys,trading cards and a multiplatformvideogame on display at every store inAmerica.

A few weeks before the release of thefilm, everyone was wonderingwhether Peter Jackson’s remake ofKing Kong was really worth thewait. And early reviews indicatedthat Peter Jackson’s King Kong “isa surprisingly tender, evenheartbreaking, film”, according toNewsweek magazine critic, DevinGordon.“Jackson has honored his favoritefilm in the best possible way: byrecapturing its heart-pounding,escapist glee.”It’s obvious that Jackson shows hislove for the original film not onlyby faithfully following the plot butalso lifting some shots as well;including some shots of Ann stealingan apple, and Denham directingAnn to scream at an unseen dangeroff-camera. And for anyone who’sseen the original, keep your eyespeeled for many nods from the1933 film. Other critics state thatdespite its 3 hour-long runtime, itis “an emotionally and physicallybreathtaking film”, “a visualextravaganza”, and “an amazing filmthat demands to be seen on the bigscreen” (But not on the PC, folks! Ittotally ruins the experience!). PeterJackson seems to have pulled it off againand has not only made a film that livesup to the glory of the original, but a filmthat proves that Peter Jackson is indeedthe greatest director of his generationand the master of 21st century epics.

Ali Nasser, 20

Head of the Film Club

The Eighth Wonder of the World


Go back in time… more than 70 years ago! Try to remember howcinema was like during the 30s. Don’t remember much, do you? CharlieChaplin, Greta Garbo, Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz? Well, perhapsyour grandparents would! But if you ask them what was the mostterrifying or breathtaking film they had ever seen back then, they’danswer back with one word… “KONG!” Still confused? Time for ‘FilmHistory 101’ class, kiddies!



www.kingkong.com www.kingkong.com

Answer thefollowing

questions andwin

Special King KongT-Shirts, bags and scary

hairy hands

Send your answers [email protected]

Deadline 15-01-2006

- Back in 1996 inPeter Jackson’s firstattempt to remakeKing Kong, who wasnominated to PlayAnn Darrow?

- Who plays thefollowing Roles in thelatest version of KingKong (Ann Darrow –Carl Denham – JackDriscoll)?

Easy Questions

It’s your Luckymonth!

Smashing Prizes

January 2006 . TeenStuff TeenStuff . January 2006www.teenstuffonline.com www.teenstuffonline.com January 2006 . TeenStuff www.teenstuffonline.com TeenStuff . January 2006www.teenstuffonline.com

Jazz, Pop, Rap, Hip-Hop, Soul,Sentiment, R 'n' B, Disco, Techno,Trance, Rock 'n' Roll…etc; alldifferent genres of musicdeveloped and altered along theyears to become what they aretoday. Some of which have died-out and fallen out of style; somestill young and adolescent; andsome… that have survived thetests of time, endured all thechanges and obstacles and yet stillmanaged to pull-through with astrong and solid base of fans andfanatics; two of the mostsignificant of this elite class, ofcourse, being Rock and Metal.

My name’s Jean-Pierre, and I aimto unveil what you don’t knowabout this somewhat hiddencommunity of Egyptian youth, andthe pure roots by which they’reinfluenced.And I further invite you to broadenyour horizons to what some thinkis just noise.

Welcome to TeenStuff Black-Pages

RockandMetalarebasicallytwocousinsthathave

stemmed into two differentbranches of the same family-tree,yet both still remain closely relateduntil this day. Rock generally beingthe calmer and less emotional sideof the family, and Metal, of course,being the wilder, over-emotionalcounterpart. Both, however, areoften referred to as one genre,loosely identified as ‘Rock.’

It’s hard to say exactly when Rock(as in Hard Rock, not Elvis PresleyRock’n’Roll) came into existence.

The phenomenon reportedlystarted sometime in the mid andlate ‘60s, with bands like, TheRolling Stones, Pink Floyd andDeep Purple emerging. With a verydifferent idea in mind, as opposedto the then extremely popularimage of The Beatles and similarbands and artists, The RollingStones established themselves asbad boys… dirtier, louder andsexier than all kinds of bands mostpopular at the time. Pink Floydemployed a different approach,still; that being to stimulate andbaffle people, and they’ve excelled

at it, to say the least. And finallyDeep Purple, who were, more orless, a mixture of both; yet whoalso had their own unique style,which helped set the stage for

generations to come. But it wasn’ttill the early ‘70s, however, thatthe true spirit of Hard Rock was

found with bands like Scorpions,Aerosmith and of course the everso showy, Kiss, all who have cometo be considered icons in theirstyles.The hard-hitting, dark andrebellious sounds of Metal, also

started appearing around the early‘70s, with bands like AC/DC, AliceCooper, infamous for theirgenerally morbid stage-stunts;and of course world renownedband Black Sabbath, featuringMetal icon Ozzy Osborne; thus, all

contributing to the generalconsideration of the early ‘70s asthe time of the birth of the Metalgenre.

Throughout the ‘70s Metal grewsteadily faster and stronger, withbands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priestand many others. Heading themovement, they went on makingtheir marks, receiving all kinds ofcontroversial reviews, and at thesame time, earning themselves,and the Metal genre, a heavier andmore solid fan-base year after year.It was nearly a decade later,though, before the earth-shatteringtunes, riffs and attitudes of bandslike Megadeth, Slayer, and ofcourse the legendary, Metallica,dominated the wills, thoughts,hearts and emotions of youtharound the world. It was the early‘80s and the face of Metal would

change forever from that pointforward.

Metal was simply the voice ofyouth; for any teen who’s ever feltdepression, seclusion, rejection,injustice, anger, sorrow, rage orjust the need to belong or make adifference, could relate to thismusic. It was a form of freedom -the thing teens seem to need themost, to be able to learn about,deal with, and ultimately live theirlives... and Metal provided a tasteof that. And believe it or not… itstill does.

By the mid ‘80s, Metal had sent a

message and quite a clear one atthat - Metal was here to stay!The period was also that of thedawn of such bands as Nirvana(who are an interesting blendbetween Rock and Metal), Guns’N’ Roses, Manowar (who didn’tattain as much success as othersat the time), and of course theGerman band Helloween, who weresaid to have great potential, butran into trouble, and unfortunatelynever managed to make it back.

Now, Metal is a music genre; butover the years Metal, in itself, hasevolved and grown into its ownmusical tree with its own manybranches. Depending on a numberof melodic, vocal, attitude, speedand other variables, Metal is furthercategorized into more than a fewvines. Examples of suchcategorizations are Heavy Metal(which is basically the mostclassical and pure form of Metal),Black Metal, Power Metal, ThrashMetal, Gothic Metal, Doom…andmany more. As you can see, thecategorization itself is biasedtowards darker and gloomiernaming, but Metal is a dark formof music, and to name its branchesotherwise would not make muchsense. It’s music that touches thesoul like no other kind of music, inmy opinion.Metal in its most basic form is ablend of blues and rock but muchheavier than both. It basicallyinvolves a rough kind of harmonybetween drum-beats, base-linesand guitar-riffs, and includesstimulating guitar solos that givea whole new life to the music. Basicinstruments used are drums, basselectric-guitars and lead/rhythmelectric-guitars. The vocals are

usually of a dark nature expressingone or more of the feelingspreviously mentioned, amongstothers. And unlike most other kindsof music (except maybe Rapmusic), you’ll find over 90 percentof Rock and Metal bands write theirown lyrics, compose their ownmusic, and play their own songswithout any need for playback,pre-recording for live shows, ornearly any of that commercial crap.They just create and play theirown music… plain and simple. But,after all is said and done, to trulyknow what Metal is, there’s nobetter way than to listen to ityourself… for no words can eversufficiently describe music.

Today, the ‘80s and ‘90s arecommonly regarded as the goldenages of Metal. However, theassociation of Metal with somebands who chose a path ofSatanism and/or anti-religion (andthe false accusation of other bandswhose songs were misinterpreted),led to a rapidly increasing beliefamongst conservative communitiesthat Metal was directly related toSatanism and was even accusedof being some kind of cult andritual music. This was all nonsense,in fact, and nothing but mediahype. Of course there were somebands that did choose such a path,and who did exploit the music torelay such blasphemy! But equally,there were those who used themusic to preach, praise and spreadword of God and religion! Butnobody would care to hear newsabout music that praises God

and/or sends a good message toyouth… nor would anybody careto read about music that discussesreal matters of world war, famine,anger, disease, greed and howthings need to change. But newsabout music that has a badinfluence on kids, and that is usedto worship the Devil? THAT is newsthat would definitely sell! And themedia, of course, took advantageof this to the fullest. Before long,songs like Metallica’s, Master ofPuppets, containing lyrics thatdamn drugs and drug-abuse, andtell of how drugs take-over aperson’s life and destroy it, areinstead wrongly interpreted assatanic lyrics that talk about howGod is evil, and takes over one’slife! That being just a minorexample of the countless songs,bands, and incidents deceitfullymisinterpreted over the years toportray Metal as a bad thing.And who knew that such a falseimage would affect the Metal Scenein Egypt so profoundly later on?

It was the early 1990s when Metalstarted making an appearance inEgypt. It took us about twodecades since its birth, but weultimately caught wind, and surelyenough, it started spreading likewild-fire. The fact being that Egyptstill didn’t have an official foreign-music record distributor, and thatall foreign-music tapes werepractically unofficial copies(bootlegs); Egyptian youth justcouldn’t wait for local bootlegs tostart being copied and distributed,so naturally they started buying

the material from abroad (Asthere was no such thing asinternet file-sharing at the time,of course). Generally, it wasonly the youngsters of thesociety’s elite who had accessto this at the time, havingrelatives who came to visit fromabroad, or were able to travelabroad often themselves. Butit wasn’t long before the musicwas available, although still notsold in shops, but rather copiedamong young listeners.The growth of the Metal Headcommunity, however, wasextremely rapid, and quickly,it was not just the music, butshirts, posters, lyric sheets,accessories and all kinds ofMetal merchandise in demand!A realization of the new trendhad occurred, and many shopsopened to accommodate this.And of course it was mostly allabout the black gear, for ‘Black’was officially the color of Metal.In no time, people picked upinstruments and bands weremade to try to imitate their

music idols; then, after a while,even considered making their ownnew music. It was all happeningvery quickly, and of course withthe new fans that these local bandsmade from small gatherings andword of mouth, it was just a matterof time before Metal concerts wouldbe held, and the true Metal scenewould officially declare its presencein Egypt.By the mid ‘90s, it was MetalMania! Regular concerts were nowbeing held, with numerous bandsto play them, and tons of fans to

Teen Stuff Black PagesEvery generation has their own taste in music, and over years,completely different genres of music are spawned, publicizedembraced and developed by proprietors of that genre.

support them."It was something else," was, allcurrent day co-organizer, AhmedGamal, could say when I asked himabout the Egyptian Metal scene inwhat we generally refer to now as‘the old days.’ The same words I’veheard from so many of today’sMetalian veterans. "There wereregular concerts of hundreds andeven up to a thousand people,”recalls current-day-band X-Cubebassist, Mustafa (Frog) Galal. "Ieven remember a concert wherenearly 3000 people showed-up tosee local band VIRUS.” And if thatweren’t enough, some examples ofwhere some of these concerts wereheld included private villas, CairoLand, Toshka Hotel (now renamed),Family Land, the Russian CulturalCentre in Dokki, El Gezira SportsClub and even the Arab Contractors(Al Mokawoloon Al Arab) Stadium;and some of these larger concertswere even sponsored by suchinternational brand names asMarlboro. "I would attend a lot ofthese concerts with my olderbrother…" says current-day Metalianand vocalist, Yehya Khamees, "...andthere’d never be less than 500Metalians in a concert... even up to3000 in the stadium Marlboroconcerts!" "Tera, Virus, Steel Edge,Viper, Wheels of Fire, Apocalypse,Barzakh… just some of the bandsthat played and left their marks inthe minds and hearts of EgyptianMetal fans back in the day,"according to Gamal, "…and of courseit’d be hard to forget The CartoonKillers, who actually recorded theirmusic and released their tapes tobe sold at kiosks all through Cairoand Giza!"

There’s no doubt that Metal in Egyptwas HUGE, and nothing short ofphenomenal. But then, there wassomething in Egypt that was evenbigger still, and that was the abilityof people to twist, amplify, andspread rumors and gossip fasterthan anything known to man. Almostovernight, the harmless, music-loving youngsters that, apart fromtheir dark outfits, long hair, and loudmusic, kept a low and stainlessprofile were transformed by thepress into sinister, evil, devil-worshiping monsters! ‘Satanics’ iswhat they called them, even thoughit’s an incorrect word in terms ofEnglish language to begin with. Andof course, they claimed the musicwas that of worshiping the devil,summoning demons and calling-upon evil spirits, and every otherthing any… err… ‘person’ that wantedto write a column could come upwith. One magazine wrote about thenew satanic music ‘habby metal’(written in Arabic and supposedlyaimed to refer to ‘Heavy Metal’) andattached to the article was a photoof one of those ‘habby metal’

singers…. Madonna. If that isn’tignorance then you tell me what is! Another just went happy with hisimagination and decided to writeabout how these satanic kidsperformed demonic rituals, likeslitting cats’ throats and drinkingtheir blood… (Yea, you tell me howstupid that sounds…)However, gullible people believed itand the media had a field-day withit; when in reality the whole thingwas just nothing but a pile of crap.

The real problem happened whenan unfortunate incident took placeat one of the concerts, where manykids were wrongfully accused.Thankfully, however, it wasn’t longbefore every one of the youngsterswas returned home safely. But thedamage had already been done andnaturally, a lot of people were afraid,and even if they weren’t, theirparents were. The Metal scene

dissolved away into non-existence,or so everyone thought anyway.

The fact is, even though many werespooked and backed-off, the majorityjust went into hiding, keeping tothemselves and their small closedgroups, in the safety of their privateplaces. What most also don’t know,is that it didn’t take the scene fiveyears to make a comeback, butrather just two, although verysecretively publicized and organized.The Russian Cultural Centre servedas one of the vicinities where someof these hush-hush concerts wereheld. "Bands like Amnesia, MiseryChord, Magnum Opus, Apocalypse,Jehovah (now known as PromisedDawn), Sirens, Allegiance,Necrology, Oblivion and of courseVirus (who survived the downfalland still remained) still kept thetorch lit for the next generation,"according to Yehya Khamees, who’solder brother Ahmed Khameesplayed in some of these bands ofthe clamp-down aftermath.

It was not before a few more years,when another more highly publicizedconcert was attempted. "It wentrelatively well, but the next day itwas met by an article claiming "Theresurfacing of the ‘Devil-Worshipers’in Egypt", by a journalist who hadn’teven attended the concert!"commented radio-presenter RichardWoffenden, who hosts his own Metalshow every Wednesday night. Someminor unrest came of this, but itwas quickly ignored because of thenonsense it was and the Metal scenehas been growing back ever since.Scores of old Metalians have sinceresurfaced, and even more of awhole new generation of MetalHeads. More and more bands arebeing formed and re-formed everyday, and even though still not aslarge or strong as before, the Metalscene is healing and expandingrapidly, and with a steadily growingfan-base again, and regular concertsbeing held. Metal in Egypt has beenmaking a truly remarkable come-back for the past three to six years."The music now is more artistic, inmy opinion…" says Mustafa (Frog)about the current-day scene; "Lessnoisy and more appealing andmature. Maybe not as big a sceneas before, but musically better.” Thatbeing the opinion of many; othersstill argue that the old days werebetter. Personally, I think today’svariety and better understandingmakes today’s Egyptian Metal, forthe most part, as Mustafa said,"more artistic and appealing.”

Finally, I’d say with all the newdedicated fans, and unmistakabletalents, and with new vicinities toplay like Sawy’s Cultural Wheel, inZamalek (more for Rock bands thanMetal though), and also the up-riseof Metal concerts like Metal Gates(formerly known as Metal Gigs), andSilent Scream concerts, Metal inEgypt has no where to go but up!

That said, I hope I’ve given you anew perspective on the legacy thatsome just write-off as noise (sincethey don’t know any better). And Ihope I’ve left you with a little morethan you originally knew, and withmore to think about.I also hope to receive your feedback,comments, thoughts and ideas onthe subject soon.

So look forward to the Black Pagessection from now on, bringing youmore about local and internationalbands and events every month.Rock On!

Jean-Pierre, 21





































Jean-Pierre, 21





































Jean-Pierre, 21





































Jean-Pierre, 21

January 2006 . TeenStuff TeenStuff . January 2006.www.teenstuffonline.com www.teenstuffonline.com

Some people, and especiallyEgyptians, think of satisfaction asaccepting themselves the way theyare without trying to changeanything. And sitting right therewaiting for the miracle to happen.For some people satisfaction meansthe death of our energy and hopein life. It means not trying toimprove ourselves. And that waswhat Shakespeare believedin.

As long as Ihave a want, Ihave a reasonfor living.Satisfaction isdeath - WilliamShakespeare

With all due respect toShakespeare, but I disagreewith that. Having a ‘want’ in lifedoesn’t mean not to be satisfied. Imean you want some things andyou go for them and try hard forthem but at the same time you’resatisfied with whatever may happen.Sometimes I wonder if someonereached absolute satisfaction, what

would this person be like? Howwould he feel about himselfand the world around?Would he then reacha state of nirvanawhen theworldno

longerhas control

over him andhe's the one in

charge?! Maybe…maybenot.

At the end, I hope that all you guystry and start working on yoursatisfaction and don’t pretend thatyou’ve reached satisfaction because,believe me, if you’ve reached it,you wouldn’t ever mention that youdid because you won’t be in needto.So, if you’re having a match aftertwo days and you’re so excitedabout it and sure that you'll win the

gold medal but then youhave an accident andbreak your leg…'c9 that'swhen you shouldpractice yoursatisfaction. And ifyou’re trying to makethe world a better

place but find noreaction from the people

around… that's when you shouldpractice your satisfaction. If youstudy so hard for an exam but youget a bad mark and your classmate,who didn’t study gets a higher one…that's when you should work onyour satisfaction.Actually, for me satisfaction,patience and a positive attitude areall related. I mean the more positiveyou are, the more satisfied you’llbe and the more satisfied you are,the more patient you’ll be.Guys, just work hard, never losehope, have patience, be positiveand be satisfied!

Eman Ragab, 20Paradigm Shift Club

Actually it's a never ending list ofreactions of a person who's so fedup even of himself. The word"satisfaction" doesn't exist in hislife dictionary. Satisfaction is oneof the most difficult things to attainor reach. But before we starttalking about satisfaction, let'sdefine it first.As a vocabulary definition,satisfaction is the good feelingthat you have when you achievesomething. Also another definitionis, an acceptable way of dealingwith a complaint, debt, or an injury(in short, troubles, problems andpain).Taking the religious side,satisfaction means acceptingwhatever is happening to you andthanking God for everything Hegives you, whether good or bad,which at the same timedoesn’t mean to goand relax and nottry toimprove

yourlife.

Away fromboth, satisfaction

for me is, for example,when you study hard for a

certain exam but then you get abad grade, although you did yourbest. You should be satisfiedbecause you did your best andtried your utmost. It's hard toapply but that's how satisfactionis practiced.

Satisfaction lies in the effort, notthe attainment. Full effort is fullof victory – Gandhi

This means that without exertingan effort you won’t ever feelsatisfied with yourself and what'shappening around you. Forinstance, I don’t like that thestreets are dirty but I have twooptions; either I try and clean

them and ask peopleto be clean and notthrow their rubbishon the streets, andwhether I succeedor not I'll besatisfied. Or I have

the other choice of justignoring the matter, waiting

for some miracle to happen andmake the streets clean all of asudden. It's a matter of beingpositive or negative. I know thatlots of people get disappointedafter exerting a lot of effort insomething but don’t reach acertain result. Well, it's your right

guys but don’t let disappointmentbe the beginning of your failure.You shouldn't just stop studying,searching for a job or even tryingto make the world a better place,just because you failed once ortwice or even millions of times.You should always have hope.Failure is always considered thefirst step on the ladder of success.You’ll never feel how precious andgood a thing is except after youtry hard for it.

Laziness may appear attractivebut work gives satisfaction - AnneFrank

When you don’t study for an examand then get a good grade in it,although you didn’t cheat oranything, it won’t feel at all thesame as when you study hard andthen get a good grade. For sure,if you get a good grade fromnothing you'll feel like a geniusand a lucky person but not asuccessful person. You won’t besatisfied with yourself. It's apleasant feeling that lasts forhours, unlike the other one, whenyou try hard and get what youneed and then feel that you’resuccessful, a genius and maybelucky too. And that's when you'llfeel so satisfied with yourself.

January 2006 . TeenStuff TeenStuff . January 2006.www.teenstuffonline.com www.teenstuffonline.com

Some people, and especiallyEgyptians, think of satisfaction asaccepting themselves the way theyare without trying to changeanything. And sitting right therewaiting for the miracle to happen.For some people satisfaction meansthe death of our energy and hopein life. It means not trying toimprove ourselves. And that waswhat Shakespeare believedin.

As long as Ihave a want, Ihave a reasonfor living.Satisfaction isdeath - WilliamShakespeare

With all due respect toShakespeare, but I disagreewith that. Having a ‘want’ in lifedoesn’t mean not to be satisfied. Imean you want some things andyou go for them and try hard forthem but at the same time you’resatisfied with whatever may happen.Sometimes I wonder if someonereached absolute satisfaction, what

would this person be like? Howwould he feel about himselfand the world around?Would he then reacha state of nirvanawhen theworldno

longerhas control

over him andhe's the one in

charge?! Maybe…maybenot.

At the end, I hope that all you guystry and start working on yoursatisfaction and don’t pretend thatyou’ve reached satisfaction because,believe me, if you’ve reached it,you wouldn’t ever mention that youdid because you won’t be in needto.So, if you’re having a match aftertwo days and you’re so excitedabout it and sure that you'll win the

gold medal but then youhave an accident andbreak your leg…'c9 that'swhen you shouldpractice yoursatisfaction. And ifyou’re trying to makethe world a better

place but find noreaction from the people

around… that's when you shouldpractice your satisfaction. If youstudy so hard for an exam but youget a bad mark and your classmate,who didn’t study gets a higher one…that's when you should work onyour satisfaction.Actually, for me satisfaction,patience and a positive attitude areall related. I mean the more positiveyou are, the more satisfied you’llbe and the more satisfied you are,the more patient you’ll be.Guys, just work hard, never losehope, have patience, be positiveand be satisfied!

Eman Ragab, 20Paradigm Shift Club

Actually it's a never ending list ofreactions of a person who's so fedup even of himself. The word"satisfaction" doesn't exist in hislife dictionary. Satisfaction is oneof the most difficult things to attainor reach. But before we starttalking about satisfaction, let'sdefine it first.As a vocabulary definition,satisfaction is the good feelingthat you have when you achievesomething. Also another definitionis, an acceptable way of dealingwith a complaint, debt, or an injury(in short, troubles, problems andpain).Taking the religious side,satisfaction means acceptingwhatever is happening to you andthanking God for everything Hegives you, whether good or bad,which at the same timedoesn’t mean to goand relax and nottry toimprove

yourlife.

Away fromboth, satisfaction

for me is, for example,when you study hard for a

certain exam but then you get abad grade, although you did yourbest. You should be satisfiedbecause you did your best andtried your utmost. It's hard toapply but that's how satisfactionis practiced.

Satisfaction lies in the effort, notthe attainment. Full effort is fullof victory – Gandhi

This means that without exertingan effort you won’t ever feelsatisfied with yourself and what'shappening around you. Forinstance, I don’t like that thestreets are dirty but I have twooptions; either I try and clean

them and ask peopleto be clean and notthrow their rubbishon the streets, andwhether I succeedor not I'll besatisfied. Or I have

the other choice of justignoring the matter, waiting

for some miracle to happen andmake the streets clean all of asudden. It's a matter of beingpositive or negative. I know thatlots of people get disappointedafter exerting a lot of effort insomething but don’t reach acertain result. Well, it's your right

guys but don’t let disappointmentbe the beginning of your failure.You shouldn't just stop studying,searching for a job or even tryingto make the world a better place,just because you failed once ortwice or even millions of times.You should always have hope.Failure is always considered thefirst step on the ladder of success.You’ll never feel how precious andgood a thing is except after youtry hard for it.

Laziness may appear attractivebut work gives satisfaction - AnneFrank

When you don’t study for an examand then get a good grade in it,although you didn’t cheat oranything, it won’t feel at all thesame as when you study hard andthen get a good grade. For sure,if you get a good grade fromnothing you'll feel like a geniusand a lucky person but not asuccessful person. You won’t besatisfied with yourself. It's apleasant feeling that lasts forhours, unlike the other one, whenyou try hard and get what youneed and then feel that you’resuccessful, a genius and maybelucky too. And that's when you'llfeel so satisfied with yourself.

belong?"


Introspection

Some think the meaning of belongingrelates to the home, city, country, placewe are in, live in, were born in or willdie in. We don't even choose the placeof the latter two important events.Others understand it as belonging toa time or an era or a period, for timeis transmitted in months, years andcenturies etc…'c9 so time for peopleis somehow connected to events andhow much they belong to these events.

But, if you look more closely, you willfind that there are many other things,one can belong to. All of us think in adifferent manner, but the idea is howone can find out from around the worldhim, where is his place of belonging.Our lives may change paths in asecond, but finally we will find theplace and time. We might even feelthat we belong to some one inparticular. Why not?

So where do we belong and who arewe? What do we represent in theworld? What can we take from theworld? And what should we give to theworld?If you feel that you belong to a place,it may change as events around uschange, so a place is not the idealthing to say we belong to, but even ifwe do not that place, our feelingstowards it change by time.And that takes us to another point;time is also not the perfect item.A third point is people themselves. Youmay want to belong to someonebecause of their traits, ways of livingand thoughts, but surely you exist inthis world to be yourself and have yourown ideas, so that may also not be agood idea.

The following are words by the poet,Klaus Meine:You look up to the skyWith all those questions in mind

All you need is to hearThe voice of your heartIn a world full of painSomeone's calling your nameWhy don't we make it true?Maybe I, maybe you

These words show how much he triedto search for another world, a worldnot existing or real, not seen by peoplearound, but only with his eyes, in hissoul, inside his mind, between his heartand mind. That world he would buildfor himself, making it only for his soulto belong to in time where there is noplace to belong - in time where no onecares - where we cannot find time towait and see what is around.But we can see that world; we canbuild it ourselves, be responsible forits virtues, because they are all ours.This is what you cannot find around,the smile you cannot see in the facesof people, the good word you cannot

hear from anyvoice. This iswhat I mean bythe perfectbelonging.

I BelongWhen I was achild I used tolove my home somuch and theidea of leaving itwas so terrible tome but it was amust, as manythings around usare. I movedfrom one countryto another, notfeeling any ofthem as secureor like home. Ineach of them Ihave differentmemories with

different people, not surprised that Iremember them all because a child'smemories are like markings on stoneIn my school I once had a feeling thatI belonged to that place, to that eventbut that feeling was only when finishedmy studies and prepared to leave.

I once felt that I did belong to a certainplace and to the people around methat I lived with for 15 years. Ibelonged to their traditions, to theirway of thinking and that was so strongwhen I left school and about to startuniversity life and saw different typesof people around. I felt that my schooltaught me a lot, and my religiouseducation and manners gave me thechance to be in a good position amongthe people around.

But there was always a feeling insideme that also I couldn’t find where Ibelong. To whom? Once some religiousideas came into my mind and led me

to think about belonging to God'sprayers and religious life and thatsounded good, but after a while I foundthat I am already doing everythingthat is good and doing what God wantsfrom me and I feel God with me always. I needed something different, someother different world. I wanted the oneI build myself and have different traitsin it than I see all the time aroundwith flexibility. I swear I spent yearsand years trying to find one, going upand down in life all time searching tillI got tired. I would sit during nighttime, talking to my soul and askingmany questions without even gettingone answer.I found myself alone with only onedream revolving around me, as if Iwere in a closed room and the wallswere closing in on me, feeling I amgoing to die, screaming without anyoneto hear me in that terrible world I livedin. But later, I got up from all that andtried to find out where I am and whatI should do. I remembered the previousquestions, and started to figure outanswers and made a promise that if Ican't find the answers, I would let itgo forever.

Finally, a beam of light was shinning. I was tired, searching for my worldthat I wanted to belong to miles andmiles away, while in fact it was herenear to me…'c9 so near, inside me,my soul and my mind. I have a lot togive, so there are so many places hereinside, so many people I can sharewith or leave. It is here inside whereI belong. Yes, to myself. My creativitywill lead me to more and more placesinside. I now remember that when Iwas a child I always used to dreamthat I am wearing all my clothes butnot wearing any shoes then I wouldjump from a high place and land onmy feet without getting hurt…'c9arather mysterious dream. When I askedmy grandmother about it she said thatI will always be searching for somemissing thing in me and that my lifewill not be all complete, but that I willbe safe.

"Deep within each heart, there lies amagic spark that lights the fire of ourimagination and since the dawn ofman, the strength is in just two simplewords: I can.Your mind will take you far and you'will find your fate in your own creationsas every one comes into this worldbringing the gift of hope and inspirationand having the full strength, so do notthink you cannot.You will discover that 'you can' is thepower of the dream because no matterwhere you are, you can reach for yourown star and realize that you are newlyborn.

Nada El Gohary, 20

Crazy am I to fallA smile changed it allFrom fear to love to confusionFirst, I thought it an illusionBut I never knewThat a smile can make it be so sure

Sarah Shabayek, 17

New Year’s Cheer

Happy New YearDo we have to shed a tear?Of course not! It is a New YearSo let us give up fearAnd make hopes nearLet us say it dearAnd make people hearNo jeer … no beer … not even something queerLet us make things clearAnd start up a brand New YearSo cheer and have a pearly year

Rozy, 21

Once I was sitting and thinkingOf the dark side of meI then realized that my life is swingingBetween reality and dreamsAnd that I am lost thereIn the middle of no whereIn betweenI cannot be that down-to-earthBecause who always sticks to earth will never flyAnd I cannot fly up with birdsBecause sadly I am not one of themAt that second I realized thatI have always been a prisoner in this great prison calledlifeImprisoned in secretTerrifyingly lonelyWith a faint hope to surviveMaybe you just think I am madMaybe I am racing age and timeBut simply all I know is thatSearching for a new life is not a crime

Cinderella, 16

Being black, white or brownIs it really that important?When it counts it makes people frownWhy do they have to be intolerant?Violated and thrownDown to every boneDifference is not a crime but so itseems to be the case In this blowingmineThe world is going down by timeAnd all we do is make it worseThis is what I call a crimeWe are under the spell of a curse

Maliciously bombarding placesActing as if it is a gameHurting lots of racesDo they not feel it is a shame?It is not worth the constantslaughtersVictims all over the world, lonelymothersLots of babies left alone

Orphanages easily blown

Handsome faces messed upMany cases still unsolved

Dying loved ones, living hellAnd what for? No one can tellThe conflicts so long agoBut as time passes they do growWith consequences hard to imagineWhen the source was just a flaw

Religion, color and materialismSeparate two human beingsSuccumbed to racismInjuries and dying teensTurning away backs high as a wall

Acting as if they do not existOblivious to them allAnd they are suffering so far awayDark days go by, they can see nosun ray

A little scar and we fret…ExaggeratingCan we not see? Hating a little scarScarred for life that is how they areA case of life or death, bleedingbodiesSo…'c9would you still scream whenbruised?Would you still eat amused?Would you still lie dozed?

Knowing they existTurning awayI am just one little personThat is what we sayThis little person can do a lotWith lots of determination and faithInstead of watching there with anaimless paceSo, you still want to act or not?

Menna Ibrahim, 17

belong?"" W h e r e s h o u l d o n e The Dark Side of Me

The Curse

Thoughts

www.teenstuffonline.comJanuary 2006 . TeenStuff

belong?"


Some think the meaning of belongingrelates to the home, city, country, placewe are in, live in, were born in or willdie in. We don't even choose the placeof the latter two important events.Others understand it as belonging toa time or an era or a period, for timeis transmitted in months, years andcenturies etc…'c9 so time for peopleis somehow connected to events andhow much they belong to these events.

But, if you look more closely, you willfind that there are many other things,one can belong to. All of us think in adifferent manner, but the idea is howone can find out from around the worldhim, where is his place of belonging.Our lives may change paths in asecond, but finally we will find theplace and time. We might even feelthat we belong to some one inparticular. Why not?

So where do we belong and who arewe? What do we represent in theworld? What can we take from theworld? And what should we give to theworld?If you feel that you belong to a place,it may change as events around uschange, so a place is not the idealthing to say we belong to, but even ifwe do not that place, our feelingstowards it change by time.And that takes us to another point;time is also not the perfect item.A third point is people themselves. Youmay want to belong to someonebecause of their traits, ways of livingand thoughts, but surely you exist inthis world to be yourself and have yourown ideas, so that may also not be agood idea.

The following are words by the poet,Klaus Meine:You look up to the skyWith all those questions in mind

All you need is to hearThe voice of your heartIn a world full of painSomeone's calling your nameWhy don't we make it true?Maybe I, maybe you

These words show how much he triedto search for another world, a worldnot existing or real, not seen by peoplearound, but only with his eyes, in hissoul, inside his mind, between his heartand mind. That world he would buildfor himself, making it only for his soulto belong to in time where there is noplace to belong - in time where no onecares - where we cannot find time towait and see what is around.But we can see that world; we canbuild it ourselves, be responsible forits virtues, because they are all ours.This is what you cannot find around,the smile you cannot see in the facesof people, the good word you cannot

hear from anyvoice. This iswhat I mean bythe perfectbelonging.

I BelongWhen I was achild I used tolove my home somuch and theidea of leaving itwas so terrible tome but it was amust, as manythings around usare. I movedfrom one countryto another, notfeeling any ofthem as secureor like home. Ineach of them Ihave differentmemories with

different people, not surprised that Iremember them all because a child'smemories are like markings on stoneIn my school I once had a feeling thatI belonged to that place, to that eventbut that feeling was only when finishedmy studies and prepared to leave.

I once felt that I did belong to a certainplace and to the people around methat I lived with for 15 years. Ibelonged to their traditions, to theirway of thinking and that was so strongwhen I left school and about to startuniversity life and saw different typesof people around. I felt that my schooltaught me a lot, and my religiouseducation and manners gave me thechance to be in a good position amongthe people around.

But there was always a feeling insideme that also I couldn’t find where Ibelong. To whom? Once some religiousideas came into my mind and led me

to think about belonging to God'sprayers and religious life and thatsounded good, but after a while I foundthat I am already doing everythingthat is good and doing what God wantsfrom me and I feel God with me always. I needed something different, someother different world. I wanted the oneI build myself and have different traitsin it than I see all the time aroundwith flexibility. I swear I spent yearsand years trying to find one, going upand down in life all time searching tillI got tired. I would sit during nighttime, talking to my soul and askingmany questions without even gettingone answer.I found myself alone with only onedream revolving around me, as if Iwere in a closed room and the wallswere closing in on me, feeling I amgoing to die, screaming without anyoneto hear me in that terrible world I livedin. But later, I got up from all that andtried to find out where I am and whatI should do. I remembered the previousquestions, and started to figure outanswers and made a promise that if Ican't find the answers, I would let itgo forever.

Finally, a beam of light was shinning. I was tired, searching for my worldthat I wanted to belong to miles andmiles away, while in fact it was herenear to me…'c9 so near, inside me,my soul and my mind. I have a lot togive, so there are so many places hereinside, so many people I can sharewith or leave. It is here inside whereI belong. Yes, to myself. My creativitywill lead me to more and more placesinside. I now remember that when Iwas a child I always used to dreamthat I am wearing all my clothes butnot wearing any shoes then I wouldjump from a high place and land onmy feet without getting hurt…'c9arather mysterious dream. When I askedmy grandmother about it she said thatI will always be searching for somemissing thing in me and that my lifewill not be all complete, but that I willbe safe.

"Deep within each heart, there lies amagic spark that lights the fire of ourimagination and since the dawn ofman, the strength is in just two simplewords: I can.Your mind will take you far and you'will find your fate in your own creationsas every one comes into this worldbringing the gift of hope and inspirationand having the full strength, so do notthink you cannot.You will discover that 'you can' is thepower of the dream because no matterwhere you are, you can reach for yourown star and realize that you are newlyborn.

Nada El Gohary, 20

Crazy am I to fallA smile changed it allFrom fear to love to confusionFirst, I thought it an illusionBut I never knewThat a smile can make it be so sure

Sarah Shabayek, 17

New Year’s Cheer

Happy New YearDo we have to shed a tear?Of course not! It is a New YearSo let us give up fearAnd make hopes nearLet us say it dearAnd make people hearNo jeer … no beer … not even something queerLet us make things clearAnd start up a brand New YearSo cheer and have a pearly year

Rozy, 21

Once I was sitting and thinkingOf the dark side of meI then realized that my life is swingingBetween reality and dreamsAnd that I am lost thereIn the middle of no whereIn betweenI cannot be that down-to-earthBecause who always sticks to earth will never flyAnd I cannot fly up with birdsBecause sadly I am not one of themAt that second I realized thatI have always been a prisoner in this great prison calledlifeImprisoned in secretTerrifyingly lonelyWith a faint hope to surviveMaybe you just think I am madMaybe I am racing age and timeBut simply all I know is thatSearching for a new life is not a crime

Cinderella, 16

Being black, white or brownIs it really that important?When it counts it makes people frownWhy do they have to be intolerant?Violated and thrownDown to every boneDifference is not a crime but so itseems to be the case In this blowingmineThe world is going down by timeAnd all we do is make it worseThis is what I call a crimeWe are under the spell of a curse

Maliciously bombarding placesActing as if it is a gameHurting lots of racesDo they not feel it is a shame?It is not worth the constantslaughtersVictims all over the world, lonelymothersLots of babies left alone

Orphanages easily blown

Handsome faces messed upMany cases still unsolved

Dying loved ones, living hellAnd what for? No one can tellThe conflicts so long agoBut as time passes they do growWith consequences hard to imagineWhen the source was just a flaw

Religion, color and materialismSeparate two human beingsSuccumbed to racismInjuries and dying teensTurning away backs high as a wall

Acting as if they do not existOblivious to them allAnd they are suffering so far awayDark days go by, they can see nosun ray

A little scar and we fret…ExaggeratingCan we not see? Hating a little scarScarred for life that is how they areA case of life or death, bleedingbodiesSo…'c9would you still scream whenbruised?Would you still eat amused?Would you still lie dozed?

Knowing they existTurning awayI am just one little personThat is what we sayThis little person can do a lotWith lots of determination and faithInstead of watching there with anaimless paceSo, you still want to act or not?

Menna Ibrahim, 17

belong?"" W h e r e s h o u l d o n e The Dark Side of Me

The Curse

Thoughts

www.teenstuffonline.comJanuary 2006 . TeenStuff


Dr. Tamer El Goueli

Future WorrierDear Dr. Tamer,

First of all, I'd like to thank youa lot for your generous wordsyou give to everybody thatreally makes all of us feelbetter.Now I have a problem which Ithink about all the timebecause I always worry abouttomorrow and I'm alwaysscared of losing people I love,so I try to avoid any problemsby handling them early.I'm a 19 year old girl. I'venever had a boyfriend and Inever will as I totally refusesuch an idea but I have a friendwho's my age. We were schoolfriends and I still know him tillnow except that he confessedthat he loves me so much andthat he knows my principalsso he doesn't ask of meanything now but he’s lookingforward for us to being togetherofficially (proposing I mean).I like this person so much andalthough we're a bit young tothink of such a thing but I dobelieve that it may happen.He's a good person and I'd beso glad to be with him lateron.Now I have two annoyingquestions going through myhead. The first one is, am Idoing something wrong? Imean we're friends and bestfriends, we understand whatwe feel and even if hesometimes tells me his feelingsI never do in words, becauseI don't know what tomorrowwill bring and I don't want tobe dreaming of something thatmay not happen. So am I in aright relationship? Or should Istep away and let time bringfates together? But will thispush him away from me? It's

so confusing day after day,knowing that he respects myprincipals so much.My second concern is, thisperson always seeks perfectionespecially in the one he caresfor or loves. I can understandthat, when he has the totalright to interact with mypersonal life, he might – no,he will try to fix anydisadvantages he sees in meas he believes that real love iswhen we sacrifice our behaviorsto please each other. While onthe other hand, I think that aperson with no disadvantagesor a perfect personality is verymysterious and scary. I wouldalways ask myself, when will Isee his SURPRISINGdisadvantages? And how badwill they be? So I believe thatif I deal with someone knowinghis disadvantages and I reallylove him, I'd accept him witheverything he is.Is this great contradiction inour opinions so hard to getalong with? I feel that there’llbe big problems ahead… realbig ones!He's so loving but very jealoustoo. But I know I'm not suchan opened girl in my behaviorthat would do things he maynot like as knowing a lot ofboys or calling some on thephone for example.Sorry for being so talkative butI really want us together yet Idon’t want to betray myself.Please tell me your trueopinion... What should I donow that won't let me regretmy future?Thanks a lot,

X.Y.Z, 19 years

Dear X.Y.Z,

You’re worrying too much.You’re guided by the worstcase scenarios to theextent that you can’t enjoythe moment. The guyseems okay, he respectsour principles and isobviously doing what hecan to make you trust him.Stop being pessimisticabout the future. Just beyourself and leave

tomorrow to God.

Parents’ View

Dear Dr.Tamer,

First of all thanks for helpingus. Secondly I can’t deal withthe way my parents think. Theyare amazing and cool and theyget me anything I want but,you know, they think just tohave a relationship with a guyisn’t acceptable even if it’s justfriendship. I hate this way!Maybe I’m blind to see thetruth so please help me. Is itwrong to have a thing betweena girl and a boy - everyoneneeds love. What should I do?I’m desperate.

Blue Girl,15

Dear Blue Girl,

I think you have tounderstand how thingswork on the other side.From their point of view,your parents think it’s theirduty to protect you. Thedefinition of protectiondiffers according to thebackground. Anyway,they’ll probably loosen uptheir protection as you growup. Be patient and gain theirtrust.

www.teenstuffonline.com

64 . January 2006 . TeenStuff TeenStuff . January 2006 . 11www.teenstuffonline.com www.teenstuffonline.com

Sagittarius:

Keyword: PhilosophyWhere you glow:GlobetrottingWhat makes you tick:Airplane ticketsFitness forecast: ArcheryPlay date: Horseback ridingPerfect jobs: Tour guide,park rangerBest accessory: A backpackPleasure: Travel, philosophy,and optimismPain: Responsibility, details,commitment

Scorpio

Keyword: AliveWhere you glow:InvestigatingWhat makes you tick:ChessFitness forecast: SoccerPlay date: Chatting on theInternetPerfect jobs: Privateinvestigator, surgeonBest accessory: MagnifyingglassPleasure: Mystery, callingthe shotsPain: Exposure, simplicity,and interruption

Libra

Keyword: PartnershipWhere you glow: Mediating

Whatmakesyou tick:CharmFitnessforecast:RowingPlaydate:

Flying first class to ParisPerfect jobs: Beautician,personal shopperBest accessory: A bottle ofwaterPleasure: Cooperation, fairplay, and conversationPain: Disharmony, solitude,and decision-making

Virgo

Keyword: HealthWhere you glow:Crunching numbersWhat makes you tick:EfficiencyFitness forecast: RunningPlay date: Cleaning up theneighborhoodPerfect jobs: Copy editor,

nurseBest accessory: Dust brushPleasure: Organization, routine anddedicationPain: Messiness, inefficiency, and lateness

Leo

Keyword: HappyWhere you glow:Center stageWhat makes you tick:LeadingFitness forecast:WalkingPlay date: Attending a

movie premierPerfect jobs: Actor, cruise ship hostBest accessory: HairbrushPleasure: Daydreams, generosity, couragePain: Keeping up appearances, losing, beingbossed around

Cancer

Keyword: HomeWhere you glow:Hosting a partyWhat makes you tick:NostalgiaFitness forecast:Swimming

Play date: RedecoratingPerfect jobs: Chef, nursery school teacherBest accessory: Hand-knitted scarfPleasure: Baking, comfort, childrenPain: Snide remarks, forgetfulness, crabjokes

Gemini

Keyword: CommunicationWhere you glow: Multi-taskingWhat makes you tick: TrivialpursuitFitness forecast: DoublestennisPlay date: Two-wheelerskydivingPerfect jobs: Librarian, lawyerBest accessory: A shrugPleasure: Options,ambidextrous, knowledge

Pain: Being on time, commitment, red tape

Taurus

Keyword: PossessionsWhere you glow: Onthe trading floorWhat makes you tick:A RolexFitness forecast:Massage

Play date: Test-driving that new BMWPerfect jobs: Stockbroker, bank managerBest accessory: A scarfPleasure: Luxury, beauty, and chocolatesPain: Flexibility, low quality, being rushed

Aries

Keyword: SelfWhere you glow:Pulling the stringsWhat makes you tick:ExcitementFitness forecast:HockeyPlay date: Rock climbing

Perfect jobs: Firefighter, aerobics instructorBest accessory: HatsPleasure: Action, new beginnings, andaffirmationPain: Follow-up, sharing, losing

Pieces

Keyword: SubconsciousWhere you glow:Helping othersWhat makes you tick:Writing poetryFitness forecast:MeditationPerfect jobs: TV

producer, Waiter/ WaitressBest accessory: A toe ringPleasure: Romance, helping others,compassionPain: Reality, mean people, insensitivity

Aquarius

Keyword: FriendsWhere you glow: In aprotest lineWhat makes you tick:CharityFitness forecast: YogaPlay date: Attending atechnology fairPerfect jobs:Environmentalist,computer whizBest accessory: A timemachinePleasure: Innovation,

originality, friendsPain: Conservatism, being categorized,emotional outbursts

Capricorn

Keyword: Social StatusWhere you glow: InchargeWhat makes you tick:Hard workFitness forecast:GolfingPlay date: Dining at an

exclusive restaurantPerfect jobs: News anchor, anthropologistBest accessory: Personal digital assistantPleasure: Patience, respect, and successPain: Disorganization, miscalculation, andboredom