RANDA JARRAR

Come to this, bitchez! I am going to be super nervous, and my face will be a strawberry, but I will read from my novel, and I’ve been wanting to read at BookPeople since I was a wee 20-year-old. Plus: 1. There will be free beer. 2. I will be reading first. Saturday, March 11, 6PM. Free.

Egyptian filmmaker Yousef Chahine spoke with Qantara about Kifaya and demonstrations and politics:

Does the number of demonstrators get bigger?

Chahine: To a certain extent, but it is not enough. We have been living for 23 years under what you may call the “Security Act” which the Americans call the “Patriot Act”. They have the same shit, but we are underdeveloped so the shit is bigger. Once I wanted to give the university a gift of very thick sticks. Because the boys go out with a copy book. What can you do with a copy book? Every time they get beaten. For once I want us to beat them.

What do you think is the role of artists in the contemporary political situation?

Chahine: You must participate. You can’t be an artist if you don’t know the social, the political, and the economical context. If you talk about the Egyptian people, you must know about are their problems. Either you are with modernity or you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. Because when Mr. Bush farts we jump.

Read the rest here.

We at Rockslinga have a snobby attitude towards Hollywood. I hate seeing big roomfuls of actors get honored for working 12 weeks out of the year for 20 million dollars while my friends and I slog away at novels in tiny rooms for years for 3 dollars. But I went to an oscar-viewing party anyway, and ended up laughing my ass off.

I should say, “I ended up laughing my ass off, literally.” There were some LA residents at the party, and they claim that LA is all about using “literally” incorrectly. As in:

“I ran so hard to catch the bus my legs fell off. Literally, dude, my legs literally fell off.”

And,

“Man, I literally died. Literally. I died.”

So, my favorite moments include every single one with Jon Stewart in it, and seeing the color blue on Salma Hayek and Larry McMurtry. Salma looked so stunning I literally had a heart attack. And McMurtry in a Cowboy Tux was the bomb…I loved his props to books and booksellers.

Once, I would have never dreamed of ever writing an Oscars post, but I just did. I’m now going to hide under a rock and hang my head in shame. Literally.

… top novelist by night: Alaa Aswany in the Guardian.

is fucking bullshit.