brownbook urban guide

brownbook urban guide (aka brownbook urban city guide) is a project by Dubai based publishing company called Brownbook. They've been publishing brownbook magazine (which is focusing on middle eastern lifestyle agendas, events and developments) and recently they decided to do something different which is releasing urban city guide of 10 middle eastern cities and they are: Cairo, Beirut, Muscat, Manama, Tehran, Kuwait, Istanbul, Jeddah, Doha and Dubai.

The 10 guides are sponsered by Nakheel (real estate developer), they are sold as a package, each guide is a pocket size written in English and will be distributed internationally by Barnes & Noble.

The guides were officially launched on 21st of February 2008.

Why would I care about this?
Well....I was the photographer of Kuwait's guide :D

I just received 11 guides (10 of them of Kuwait, you can see them in the photo above), it was nice of them...They didn't have to do it; Thanks guys :D

I didn't read it yet, I will and I'll probably write a review about it and talk about what happened when during some photo sessions :D

brownbook urban guide (يعرف أيضاً بإسم brownbook urban city guide) هو عبارة عن مجموعة من عشرة كتيبات سياحية عن عشرة مدن شرق أوسطية و هي القاهرة، بيروت، مسقط، المنامة، طهران، الكويت، إسطنبول، جدة، الدوحة و دبي، كل كتيب بحجم الجيب مكتوب باللغة الإنجليزية و موجه لغير العرب.

الكتيبات من إنتاج دار براون بوك للنشر في دبي (تقوم بنشر مجلة براون بوك أيضاً)، من رعاية نخيل (للبناء) و سيتم توزيعها عالمياً من خلال شركة بارنز آند نوبل.

تم إصدار الكتيبات رسمياً في 21 فبراير 2008.

ما هي علاقتي في هذا الموضوع؟
أنا كنت المصور لدليل الكويت السياحي :)

وصلني 11 كتيب (10 منهم عن الكويت، تشاهدونهم في الصورة أعلاه)، كانت بادرة طيبة منهم مع العلم أنهم لم يكونوا مضطرين لذلك...شكراً لكم :)

لم أقم بقرائته بعد و لكن سأقرأه و غالباً ما سأكتب تقييم له، و قد أذكر بعض المواقف التي حصلت لي خلال تصوير بعض الأماكن.

Kuwait, desert's lighthouse

I've created this slide show (below) for Kuwait's independence and liberation days using photos I've taken my self between 2006 - 2008 in several locations such as:

Salmiya, Kuwait city (Salmiya side), Kuwait towers beach, Shuwaikh water front, Pylons in Doha, Ras Al Salmiya beach, Mosque in Kuwait city by the dancing fountain, Kuwait city (Shuwaikh water front side), Airport road, Kuwait towers, Kuwait city (locally known as Al Deera), Fatima's mosque, F;ag of Kuwait, Oil refinery and petrochemicals complex in Shu'aiba, Liberation tower, Distillation plant (station) in Doha, Al Seef palace, Maryam Al Ateeqi mosque, Bayan palace, Sharq shopping complex, Kuwait Petroleum corporation, Photos of Kuwait liberation, Water tanks in Bayan, Chamber of commerce and industry, Kuwait Fund.

I used unreleased audio track by Latifa, written by Ahmad Al Kathem and composed by Marwan Khoury...You can find below English translation of the lyrics, it's sounds better in Arabic.

ATTENTION!!!!!!
1. I appear in the video at 2:15 when I was little.
2. Please notice the lyrics and the photos are matching...God I am a true artist but I didn't get my chance yet :(

سويت سلايد شو هذا (تحت) بمناسبة عيد الإستقلال و عيد التحرير للكويت، بصور صورتها شخصياً بالفترة من 2006 و لغاية 2008 في عدة مواقع منها:

السالمية، مدينة الكويت من جهة السالمية، شاطئ الأبراج، واجهة الشويخ البحرية (بحر الشويخ)، أبراج الضغط العالي في الدوحة، بحر راس السالمية، مسجد الديرة بجانب النافورة الراقصة، المركز العلمي، مدينة الكويت من بحر الشويخ، شارع المطار، أبراج الكويت، مدينة الكويت (الديرة)، مسجد فاطمة، مهبط الهيليكوبتر في مارينا مول، علم الكويت، محطة تكرير النفط و مجمع البتروكيماويات في الشعيبة، برج التحرير، مجلس الأمة، قصر السيف، مسجد مريم العتيقي، قصر بيان، محطة الدوحة لتحلية مياه البحر، سوق شرق، مؤسسة البترول الكويتية، صور تحرير الكويت، خزانات الماء في بيان، غرفة التجارة و الصناعة، الصندوق الكويتي للتنمية.


إستخدمت بالموسيقى أغنية لم تصدر للطيفة، كتبها أحمد الكاظم و لحنها مروان خوري...تجدون كلمات الأغنية في الأسفل.

إنتبه!!!!!!!!!
1. أنا أظهر في الفيديو لما كنت صغير في الدقيقة 2:15
2. لاحظ تركيب الصور على كلمات الأغنية....صج اني فنان بس لي الحين محد إكتشفني :(

إني أحبك كيفما تشاء...
كيفما تأمرني صبحاً حبيبي أو مساء...
صيفاً، خريفاً أو ربيعاً أو شتاء...
إن طلبت القرب أحضر...
إن طلبت الهجر أهجر...
أنت عشقي أنت رمز الكبرياء...
وطني أحبك كيفما تشاء

أنت صوتي...
أنت حسي...
أنت أرضي و السماء...
فيك أحلامي و آمالي و أفراحي و فيك الأوفياء...

يا سر هذا الكون يا وطني الحبيب...
يا شعلة لا تنطفي و منارة الصحراء

I love you, the way you want me to love you...
The way you order me night or day!
I love you during Summer, autumn, Spring and winter!
If you asked me to come closer I will..
If you asked me to abandon you, I will walk away!
You are my admiration...
You are the symbol of pride...
My homeland, I love you the way you want me to love you!

You are my voice...
You are my sense...
You are my ground and my sky...
All my dreams, hopes and my happiness exists in you

My beloved homeland, you are the secret of the universe...
You are inextinguishable torch and the desert's lighthouse!

UPDATE (6th of March 2008) My mother cried when she watched the video, my sister went crazy and 2 female co-workers was sad because they think I have a great talent and no one discovered me yet (I swear they said that LOL), my other (2 male) co-workers thinks that I should save it on DVDs and distribute it everywhere.

MAD

I am so F pissed off
I can't remember when was the last time I got that mad....Mad to the point where my head hurts, body get warmer and start shaking!

Oh yes now I remember, 2 years ago when my uncle passed away, but that time I had an outlet...This time I don't!

I am going to explode!

Meet the Spartans

That was my weekend's movie, I skipped "Blond and blonder" to watch this one...I was excited about it :D

It was fun to watch, I had few laughs here and there but I didn't like it when they trash talked about Britney (although I laughed about it)...I don't like her nor hate her in fact I rarely listen to non Arab music but clearly she have a mental condition and she need help instead of making fun of :+

Try

I've heard that song the other day and I thought it sounds like Marwan Khoury's style...Later I found out it was actually written and composed by him!

Hekmat (Hikmate) is a Moroccan singer, I think she is a new one because I never heard of her until now...The song was amazing, I found her album somewhere online and I listened to it and I was instantly attached to this song...
I wrote this post as a draft on 24th of Nov. 2007 and I didn't complete it until now, I was hearing it all the time back then but I didn't really know that she did shoot a music video of it!

It's not as great as I imagined it to बे।

Song name: Hawil (Try) حاول
Album: Nefsy Akon Horrahنفسي أكون حرة 2007
Song genre: Slow Pop Music, Romance, Love,Challenging
Singer: Hikmate (Hekmat) - حكمت
Lyrics by: Mawran Khouri - مروان خوري
Composed by: Mawran Khouri - مروان خوري
Arranged by: Claude Shalhoob - كلود شلهوب
Translated by: RADIANT GUY (ME)

I loved you and I always will...No matter what you say...No matter how long we'll be mad at each others...I'll always love you

I told you and I'll keep telling you...Try to understand me...Don't toughen up on me...You might be able to read in my eyes what I am saying...Sigh

I told you, you can't own my heart whenever you want...
If you desire me and want us to reach the end of the road together...
Try to understand me once in your life...I don't want you to imagine me in your mind then ask me to be the way you imagined me...
Try to accept me the way I am, you might find out my real beauty, what is in my heart and my mind, it's not enough for me to know that you like me because of my pretty eyes

How many times I confessed my self that you will change soon, but when you look to me tenderly I forgot about it..
You told me and sweared to me ; and I didn't believe what I am seeing nor feeling...I tried to hide my tears and then I said this is the last time you act this way...Sigh
I am afraid that you will own my heart unfairly...I surrender my self to you and walk the way my self

حبيتك و بحبك أنا على طول...لو مهما حبيبي تقول...او مهما الزعل يطول...حبيتك
قلتلك و بقلك...حاول تفهمني شوية...لا تجرب تقسى علي...يمكن تقرا بعنيا شو بقلك...آه

قلتلك مش على كيفك تملك هالقلب...
لو بدكياني و ناوي نمشي هالدرب...
حاول تفهمني بحياتك مره فهمني و حياتك...برفض ترسمني بخيالك و بأوهامك تقلي كوني...
حاول تقبلني على حالي يمكن تتعرف ع جمالي شو مخبى بقلبي و أفكاري ما بيكفيني تحب عيوني

كم مرة أقول بتتغير بكرة، تضحك على قلبي بنظرة، ترجع ترضيني بغمرة كم مرة..
و تقلي تحلفلي كذب عيني و قلبي...الملم دمعاتي بخبي بس بقلك يا حبي هالمره آه
خيفانة ظلم عيونك يملك هالقلب...أتركلك حالي و أمشي لحالي هالدرب

V for Valentine's day | عيد الحب

I don't really celebrate it but I do think that people should celebrate love all year 24 hours 365 days (366 days in this year), plus Valentine's day is being about gifts while it suppose to be about love in the first place...
I've made this tiny video file...

ما احتفل فيه بس أعتقد أن الناس المفروض تحتفل بالحب كل يوم بالسنة مو بس بعيد الحب، عيد الحب صار تجارة بدال ما يصير للحب...
سويت الفيديو هذا...

Oh one more thing....It's Latifa's birthday (the singer) and her official website is hacked on her birthday...What a great gift LOL
You can see the message below in Arabic saying that it was hacked by foreigners because of Latifa's political point of view :D

في شي ثاني بعد...اليوم عيد ميلاد لطيفة، تم اختراق موقعها الرسمي في يوم ميلادها...في هدية لها احلى من جذيه؟ لوووول
شوفوا الصورة تحت :D

It's will be back soon, I just finish the new index page...You can see below...

راح يرجع السايت قريباً، انا توه خلصت إنديكس السايت اليديد...شوفوه تحت...

Update (17th of Feb. 2008), Latifa's site is back and they wrote more details about it next day (15th).

تحديث (17 فبراير 2008)، تم إسترجاع الموقع و كتابة خبر عن الموضوع في اليوم التالي (15).

Movie update...

Last week I went to the cinema alone to watch a movie, I usually don't go to the cinema for many reasons but I really wanted to watch Cloverfield so I went anyway.

The movie had a nice story but I didn't like the movie's direction, If you have sea sick then you shouldn't watch this movie...On my way home I almost throw up all the pop corn and cola I had during the movie.


I've been trying to watch a movie all week called Blond and blonder, everytime I watch like two minutes and 40 seconds of it then I fall a sleep...It's not because the movie is boring at all but because I usually decide to watch a movie when I am too tired to do anything else. I hope to watch it tonight and see how it goes after they fly the air plane without any clue how to :S

Whenever you are depressed

Another great song by Saber Rebai'e and the duet (composer and writer) Waleed Sa'ad and Hani Abdulkareem...
This song was my favorite song of Saber's 2007 album, I was listening to it non stop for so long, I even had it as my cellphone's ringtone.

The other day I was watching him with the host "Hala Sarhan" (هالة سرحان) and she said that he cried in the studio while he was singing this song...He said that was true he got emotional when he was singing a specific phrase so he wanted to redo it but they confessed him to use the one with the crying part and he did actually release it that way...You can hear that part in the audio track at 1:23 minutes.

I am glad he decided to shot this song among the others from his 2007 album.


Song name: Dhaqat Beek (Whenever you are depressed) ضاقت بيك
Album: Al Ghorba الغربة 2007
Song genre: Egyptian, Pop Music,slow,fast Romance, Love
Singer: Saber Al Rebai'e - صابر الرباعي
Lyrics by: Hani Abdulkareem - هاني عبدالكريم
Composed by: Waleed Sa'ad - وليد سعد
Arranged by: Mid'hat Khamees - مدحت خميس
Translated by: RADIANT GUY (ME)

I always support you against day (in your bad days), but when destiny smiles to you and take your side...
You instantly forget all about me while I pray for God to look after you

Whenever you are depressed...You always want me to stick around...
Whenever you are fine...You consider my faithfulness a burden which you want to get rid off...
In both ways I remain silent, I don't want to forget you nor I want to!

People says when a lover can't tolerate his beloved one anymore, he will not love him but will not hate him either...
But I already can't tolerate it anymore yet I can't hate you nor stop loving you!

كل مرة بكون معاك عالزمن و أما الزمن يضحكلك و يكون وياك
على طول تبيعني من غير ثمن و أنا برضو بدعي ربنا معاك

ضاقت بيك...تبقى عايزني أكون حواليك
ضحكت ليك...إخلاصي يكون حمل عليك
في الحالتين ساكت لا بنساك و لا بقدر أنساك

قالوا إن اللي يحب بجد لو فاض بيه من اللي يحبه...ما يحبش بس ما يكرهش
!و أنا فاض بيا تعبت بجد...قد ما بتعب لا كرهتك و لا عارف حتى ما أحبكش

3# radiant guy Epic-Fu,Asalah,Photography & others vlog | ثالث تدوين فيديو -إبك فو،أصالة، تصوير و غيرها

I am loving vlogging LOL

Where the Hell is Matt?

I've watched that video on youtube longtime ago, yet I still think it's great :D
Watch it you'll love it :)

شفت هذا الفيديو في يوتيوب من فترة طويلة و لي الحين يعجبني لما اشوفه مره ثانية.
شوفوه اتوقع بيعجبكم :)