Everything that I post here is my work, but there are thousands of little (or big) moments where I come across something that’s not mine and it’s beautiful or funny or interesting or inspiring. I used to blog about some of those, but I’m not a very reliable blogger and they’re so many that doing them justice would make one a full-time blogger. So I created this bucket to share with you what I like around here and elsewhere. Maybe with a comment or two.  [The added bonus here (why do we say this, isn’t any bonus “added”?) is that my taste is awesome. In everything. So you’ll get to see the stuff that I think is awesome and then you’ll like them and then you’re gonna have awesome taste too. Or at least that’s the plan] Since I’m not doing much writing and I’m just throwing stuff in, I see this sort of like a curated bucket. And bucket in Arabic is “gardal.” And this my gardal.  gardal.tumblr.com Click here to follow. 

Everything that I post here is my work, but there are thousands of little (or big) moments where I come across something that’s not mine and it’s beautiful or funny or interesting or inspiring. I used to blog about some of those, but I’m not a very reliable blogger and they’re so many that doing them justice would make one a full-time blogger. So I created this bucket to share with you what I like around here and elsewhere. Maybe with a comment or two. 

[The added bonus here (why do we say this, isn’t any bonus “added”?) is that my taste is awesome. In everything. So you’ll get to see the stuff that I think is awesome and then you’ll like them and then you’re gonna have awesome taste too. Or at least that’s the plan]

Since I’m not doing much writing and I’m just throwing stuff in, I see this sort of like a curated bucket. And bucket in Arabic is “gardal.” And this my gardal. 

gardal.tumblr.com

Click here to follow. 

181 - When in doubt… After that, we went to look at some art. Gallery-hopping in the only neighborhood in Cairo where that’s possible. I vaguely remember that we didn’t find a lot of good stuff that day.

181 - When in doubt…

After that, we went to look at some art. Gallery-hopping in the only neighborhood in Cairo where that’s possible. I vaguely remember that we didn’t find a lot of good stuff that day.

180 - Italian Restaurant Couple II Second installment of the couple I saw at the Italian restaurant. He was speaking to the waiters in Arabic (heavily accented) about something that I remember suggested he was the owner of the place. I can’t really remember what I thought about them so this partially isn’t making sense to me either. And the ‘good for them’ at the end is in part sarcastic because don’t like the place very much and in part envious because it has a good location. Yes. I’m not a very good person.  Text below if illegible.  [The man walks in a minute or so behind her. They seem to know each other. He doesn’t look Egyptian, and not because his trials are successful. He just doesn’t. They seem to be familiar with the place. She speaks to him in French. He speaks to the waiter in Arabic. They own the place. Good for them. ]

180 - Italian Restaurant Couple II

Second installment of the couple I saw at the Italian restaurant. He was speaking to the waiters in Arabic (heavily accented) about something that I remember suggested he was the owner of the place. I can’t really remember what I thought about them so this partially isn’t making sense to me either. And the ‘good for them’ at the end is in part sarcastic because don’t like the place very much and in part envious because it has a good location. Yes. I’m not a very good person. 

Text below if illegible. 

[The man walks in a minute or so behind her. They seem to know each other. He doesn’t look Egyptian, and not because his trials are successful. He just doesn’t. They seem to be familiar with the place. She speaks to him in French. He speaks to the waiter in Arabic. They own the place. Good for them. ]

179 - Italian Restaurant Couple I I sketched this while we were sitting in an Italian restaurant in Zamalek (of which I’m not a huge fan). She and a guy (who I think was her husband) walked in and they were almost screaming to be drawn. I also wanted to try to combine writing with it in a different way, which is why that’s not my normal handwriting but one that was kind of echoing how I saw the woman. Text below if illegible.  [The old woman with the long and curly red hair walked into the tiny corner restaurant. It’s trying hard to be Italian, she’s trying hard to be French, and we’re sitting there smoking Dunhills and drinking espresso. Not knowing what the hell we are supposed to be.]

179 - Italian Restaurant Couple I

I sketched this while we were sitting in an Italian restaurant in Zamalek (of which I’m not a huge fan). She and a guy (who I think was her husband) walked in and they were almost screaming to be drawn. I also wanted to try to combine writing with it in a different way, which is why that’s not my normal handwriting but one that was kind of echoing how I saw the woman.

Text below if illegible. 

[The old woman with the long and curly red hair walked into the tiny corner restaurant. It’s trying hard to be Italian, she’s trying hard to be French, and we’re sitting there smoking Dunhills and drinking espresso. Not knowing what the hell we are supposed to be.]

178 - Sad Dog of the North This is an illustration I was commissioned to do for Switzerland’s NZZ online. Writer Nina Fargahi was writing about a personal anecdote where she ran into an acquaintance who had a sick dog. Upon inquiring on the reason, the woman explains that it’s because the dog is spending the nights outside on guard since asylum seekers (gasp!) moved in next door. Yes, committing a crime does help your case for asylum, as we all know.  I mean if you’re gonna be xenophobic, at least have some logic behind it. (and spare the poor dog).  Original article (in German) here. 

178 - Sad Dog of the North

This is an illustration I was commissioned to do for Switzerland’s NZZ online. Writer Nina Fargahi was writing about a personal anecdote where she ran into an acquaintance who had a sick dog. Upon inquiring on the reason, the woman explains that it’s because the dog is spending the nights outside on guard since asylum seekers (gasp!) moved in next door. Yes, committing a crime does help your case for asylum, as we all know. 

I mean if you’re gonna be xenophobic, at least have some logic behind it. (and spare the poor dog). 

Original article (in German) here. 

177 هنا القاهرة Homage to Chaos Honal Qahira or “This is Cairo” in Arabic is a famous filler announcement for Egyptian Radio and reportedly the very first line to be transmitted across the airwaves in early 1930s and has survived through the decades. It’s a line that every Egyptian can hear in the back of their minds so distinctly even though we don’t seem to remember when or where we used to hear it. But we all did.  The words, the voice, and the delivery seem to be one of the few remaining iconic cultural relics that would resonate with every Egyptian.  This is not by any means a nationalistic commentary (for the most part national pride strikes me as an arbitrary, misplaced, and overrated emotion), but rather a thought about icons and symbols that run through the lives and experience of people so different from one another and, until January 25th, seemed to have less and less in common everyday. Our city’s landscape is one of the few things that we’re all forced to share, and that we all recognize. And Cairo is definitely one of the few cities that seem to have a life of its own, or in other words that feels like a living being. It’s the common relative that we all have regardless of education, age, wealth, faith, sexuality or any of the myriad “markers” that we’re so fond of cultivating. It’s the loud, messy, weird, and annoyingly intrusive relative who for some reason you can’t get yourself to dislike.  It baffles me (and I would argue, anyone) how this city manages to survive, let alone function, as smoothly (yes) and safely as it does given the long list of ailments and the chaos that seems to run through its veins. I think we are living in the middle of the most efficient and most whimsical maelstrom that had ever existed. And I love it. 

177

هنا القاهرة

Homage to Chaos

Honal Qahira or “This is Cairo” in Arabic is a famous filler announcement for Egyptian Radio and reportedly the very first line to be transmitted across the airwaves in early 1930s and has survived through the decades. It’s a line that every Egyptian can hear in the back of their minds so distinctly even though we don’t seem to remember when or where we used to hear it. But we all did. 

The words, the voice, and the delivery seem to be one of the few remaining iconic cultural relics that would resonate with every Egyptian. 

This is not by any means a nationalistic commentary (for the most part national pride strikes me as an arbitrary, misplaced, and overrated emotion), but rather a thought about icons and symbols that run through the lives and experience of people so different from one another and, until January 25th, seemed to have less and less in common everyday.

Our city’s landscape is one of the few things that we’re all forced to share, and that we all recognize. And Cairo is definitely one of the few cities that seem to have a life of its own, or in other words that feels like a living being. It’s the common relative that we all have regardless of education, age, wealth, faith, sexuality or any of the myriad “markers” that we’re so fond of cultivating. It’s the loud, messy, weird, and annoyingly intrusive relative who for some reason you can’t get yourself to dislike. 

It baffles me (and I would argue, anyone) how this city manages to survive, let alone function, as smoothly (yes) and safely as it does given the long list of ailments and the chaos that seems to run through its veins. I think we are living in the middle of the most efficient and most whimsical maelstrom that had ever existed. And I love it. 

176 Thom Yorke - Version VI  [Shades of blue] I have a couple dozen more Yorke experiments but those are the ones that I liked enough to post and felt that it wouldn’t be such an overdose. or maybe it is. but so what?

176

Thom Yorke - Version VI 

[Shades of blue]

I have a couple dozen more Yorke experiments but those are the ones that I liked enough to post and felt that it wouldn’t be such an overdose. or maybe it is. but so what?

175 Thom Yorke - Version V [Blocks]

175

Thom Yorke - Version V

[Blocks]

174 Thom Yorke - Version IV [Stereo Blocks] Kid A is the blue, Amnesiac is the red. and the resulting effect is more or less how you’d feel after listening to those two albums back to back in one sitting. 

174

Thom Yorke - Version IV

[Stereo Blocks]

Kid A is the blue, Amnesiac is the red. and the resulting effect is more or less how you’d feel after listening to those two albums back to back in one sitting. 

173 One outfit. Kind of like a superhero.

173

One outfit. Kind of like a superhero.

172  Cubist التكعيب مش عيب [cubism is just a fancy word for a guy drawn using geometric shapes and straight lines. but that aside, when you start seeing the world this way, you are looking beyond those curves and shades and continuities that our brain is so used to. and you realize that things can be twisted and turned in funny ways. the world becomes the matrix. and you can turn it off whenever you want to.  on a related note, you can also find music in everything if you try hard enough. but it only matters if you play along. give it a try and see things geometrically and find music everywhere.] [p.s. this is not a philosophical musing or some psycho babble, this is actually a way to have fun when you’re waiting in line or stuck in traffic. i do it all the time]

172 

Cubist

التكعيب مش عيب

[cubism is just a fancy word for a guy drawn using geometric shapes and straight lines. but that aside, when you start seeing the world this way, you are looking beyond those curves and shades and continuities that our brain is so used to. and you realize that things can be twisted and turned in funny ways. the world becomes the matrix. and you can turn it off whenever you want to. 

on a related note, you can also find music in everything if you try hard enough. but it only matters if you play along. give it a try and see things geometrically and find music everywhere.]

[p.s. this is not a philosophical musing or some psycho babble, this is actually a way to have fun when you’re waiting in line or stuck in traffic. i do it all the time]

171 The high table البدلة السموكنج [Things like martinis, cigarettes, and bow ties should not have an effect on a man’s view of himself or on how others view him. but they do. and that’s strange.]

171

The high table

البدلة السموكنج

[Things like martinis, cigarettes, and bow ties should not have an effect on a man’s view of himself or on how others view him. but they do. and that’s strange.]

Short Announcement - Break from Yorke

Although I shouldn’t have a problem with having six consecutive posts graced by the presence of Thom Yorke, I figured I’d post some different drawings before posting the rest of the portraits. 

End of the announcement. 

Thank you for your patience. 

170 Thom Yorke - Version III  [Picasso Style]

170

Thom Yorke - Version III 

[Picasso Style]

169 Thom Yorke - Version II  [Straight Lines. Random Colors]

169

Thom Yorke - Version II 

[Straight Lines. Random Colors]