Light up your nights

There was this wonderful shop I passed by in Adliya road that reminded me of Egypt's Khan el Khalily and I'd like to share it.

Bahrain's Tree of Life

If you're going to the tree of life in the summer, then you might want to take heat or sun protection. Going there was tricky at first, just because I haven't been there in forever!

So I tried going through Skhere, which apparently is the more complicated route. I asked around and my friend told me to drive towards Askar. This is the easiest way to get there. From Manama, Isa Town, Sitra, Riffa, there is one easy way that you could go through, and it's from the last roundabout closest to "The Centre" in Sanad. Some people call it the roundabout of death ... but anyway. The sign to Askar is not hard to miss. This was the first time I was looking for the tree.

From there, you simply go straight ahead, passing Alba, until you cross the last traffic lights. You will find yourself in this isolated and lonely highway that you might wanna take your date if you wanted to be alone for a long drive.

Keep yourself in the right lane and take the right at the third bridge. You'll even see a sign that says tree of life. You take the right and go all the way straight. From here it's simple, once you've passed the military base (I think its a base) you'll have to look at your left then figure out the way to the tree. It's not hard to miss if you're coming in during the day. If it's late night then you might have a problem, a big one. Night time is very difficult and I once got lost with my friends, we literally came out from the Skhere side, which took us longer than usual.

As of today, they built a sort of fence or barricade around the tree, no idea why but it looks more like a heritage site, which I guess is what they're going for. There are tents of people on both sides, which was never there before. Or perhaps it could be because of the weather?

What is the tree of life? It's a large tree that is said to be around 400-years old in the middle of the desert. It's very thing and not as tall as you'd think but will make for a great picture. I think most of the wonders revolves around the idea that there is no water available and yet the tree survives.

It's a great spot to hang out at, given you're looking for calm and I encourage you not to disturb as we were annoyed by hooligans. The best time to go would be now before summer gets you.

Get your Art displayed: Ministry of Culture competition, deadline in December

For those interested, there's this really cool Arts competition, held by the Ministry of Culture in Bahrain. It's called the 40th Fine Arts Exhibition, where winning participants get their works displayed in January.

What's cool about it is that it's very flexible in terms of work submitted as long as dimensions, mode of delivery etc etc, simple stuff like that are in accordance to requirements. It's open theme and encourages various art forms. However, only Bahrainis are eligible.

Hurry up because the deadlines on December 5th, 2013.

This is the email I found on their website for submitting and/or inquiries: fineart@moc.gov.bh

On a different note, non-Bahrainis also have a chance to participate in another competition, which I think is also pretty cool. It's the Sail Design Competition, where you basically visualize something on an A4-sized paper, and if you win, you get to paint it on a sail! Crazy right!

Here is another email I found: sailart@moc.gov.bh.

Aw, snap. Deadline's on November 15th, 2013. You guys better hurry up!


So I've linked both competitions in this blog. If you're an up and coming artist, this is a great way to get recognized and get some of your works published. Good luck!

Book fair at the old NYIT campus, last day Thursday Nov 21, 500 Fils and up

For all the crazy bookaholics out there roaming the the expensive bookstores of Bahrain just casually browsing around, here is a fair you'd might want to visit. Though I don't know what types of books they are selling, I wouldn't miss the opportunity to check it out. It already started on Sunday and will end this Thursday, November 21. Heard about this from a friend and off The Bookcase's Facebook page.

If you remember where NYIT's old campus was, it's held right there. It's only now called the Multinational School, just by Block 338 restaurant.

Hurry hurry.

Address: Multinational School, Avenue 338, off Dilumn Avenue, Adliya.

Jackass driving, take 3

Yesterday, while at the traffic light near Salmaniya (Sana on my left, that furniture place straight ahead), witnessed stupidity. While it was the turn for the cars on my right to go straight ahead (Green lights), a car on the opposite side clearly thought he should take a leap of faith that day. He took a turn while the cars on my side began to proceed. If they haven't slowed down, they would have hit the side where I saw a little girl sitting, obviously with no seat belts. That mofo was lucky.

And while driving in a converging lane, I clearly having the front advantage already past the convergence, tada! a wild pickup appears to my side. The driver decides to go as fast he (it was a guy) can in attempt to be just ONE car ahead ... in a not-so-busy day ...

Look out for IGN Convention on Oct 18 & 19

During my time abroad, I came across maybe two posts of these conventions held in Bahrain, and I was always sad that I couldn't attend, well because .. I was abroad. And now it's here again. I thought these types of events were not very popular in the Middle East but here it is. I'm not a die hard fan of anime or video games but I've always wanted to attend these types of events. I'm pretty sure I'll like them though I won't share many interests with the visitors. I hear anime like Naruto and Bleach are too main stream and that's pretty much what I watch, along with FMA, One Piece, Death Note and others.

The event will be held on October 18th and 19th (just a few weeks away) at the Bahrain Exhibition Centre from 10 AM to 10 PM. Pretty convenient for those leading the working life as it falls in the weekends. There will be cosplay competitions (excited to see that), video game tournaments and discussions. The IGN website mentioned the appearance of four special guests: Kevin Nash, Keiji Inafune, Omar Hussain, and Baraa Abdallah.

So if you're into this, tickets are already out at 5 dinars (my kinda ticket) and VIP tickets at 50 dinars. The IGN Convention Bahrain has a Facebook event page and a main website.

Will break my piggy bank this weekend and hope I find what I need. *sigh*

Mad Men writers converse at Riwaq gallery!

Maria and André Jacquemetton who are screenwriters and executive producers of Mad Men showed up at the Riwaq gallery in Adliya on September 25. It was around two hours in the evening and we were *ashamed face* an hour late. However! When we did get there, the audience were watching an episode from a previous season (the episode where Betty starts riding horses at some club and a newly or soon to be married guy tries to hit on her), which we've already watched so we didn't miss anything yet. By the time the episode finished, the Jacquemettons were ready for questions. Most people asked about their relationship with existing ad firms that were mentioned in the series, and about the writing process in general. They gave us an interesting peek into the writing process behind "series" as well as how writers, producers, casts and the filmmakers go about or interact (as in, who does what in brief, do the actors improv or strictly follow a script etc).

I was easily distracted by one of the audiences because of her body language, but what I could gather from the talk were a few of the following:

• Writing scripts for TV series and movies differ
• In movies, the director is in control whereas in TV series, the writers are in control
• One of the ad firms mentioned in the series have a mutual relationship where each helps one another (the firm advertises the fact that they are in a popular TV show and that in turns helps the TV show with more publicity)
• No improv on Mad Men, as most TV series
• It's a long process to write the script, have it approved, filmed etc.
• The writers basically just gather around and talk about what they should do when writing a story, they usually have an idea of how the complete season with go when they're still at the first episodes

Receiving a rating of 8.6, IMDB describes it as, "A drama about one of New York's most prestigious ad agencies at the beginning of the 1960s, focusing on one of the firm's most mysterious but extremely talented ad executives, Donald Draper."

The seventh and final season is split into into 2014 and 2015, and the writers promise an ending that will make us want for more.

I found out about this event just a day before and wasn't sure if it was real because I was a huge Mad Men fan, and just couldn't believe they were coming to .. Bahrain?! Anyway, Mad Men - great series, great filming, great acting and scandalous stories! Check it out if you still haven't!

André and Maria Jacquemetton converse at Al Riwaq Gallery in Adliya, Bahrain. Courtesy of a friend NN.