Russell Peters returning in Dubai

Russell's back with a new act and a new WORLD TOUR! and He is coming in Dubai March 20 and Abu Dhabi March 22.

The World Tour will take Peters not only to the Middle East, but also to South Africa, Singapore, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Manila, Australia, New Zealand, Northern Europe and arenas across his native Canada and the United States and also features NYC's DJ Spinbad and comedian Ruben Paul.

Tickets, priced Dh250, Dh350, Dh450 and Dh550, will be available at  ticketingco.com for Dubai and thinkflash.ae for Abu Dhabi.

Twinge Sharjah - The Sharjah Urban Arts Festival

Twinge Sharjah

The Twitter Fringe

Sharjah's Urban Festival of the Arts

Saturday, 25 February until Friday, 2 March, 2011

Maraya Art Centre (1st Floor) Al Qasba Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Doors open: 6pm Show starts: 8pm

25 February - Literature Night: 

Alexander McNabb – Author of Olives

Abdulla Kassim

 Noura Noman

26 February - Fashion Night:

Eclat

Laila Akeel

27 February - Film Night:

Beno Saradzic

Shahid Azam

Faisal Hashmi

Ashraf Ghori

Haneen Kanaan

Omar Tanira

Neel Kumar

28 February - Comedy Night

Presented by Dubomedy 

Mai, Jamal (will include Urdu), Esmail, Omar S, Andre hosts and Omar Ismail will be the featured Emirati pro-comic closing the show. 3 Arabs, 1 indian, 1 American and an Iranian who speaks Arabic and Urdu

29 February 

Exclusive Publisher Night: With Jamal Al Shehhi and Kuttab Publishing, a book launch

1 March - Music Night: 

Abbo

Desert Heat

Tiny Hassan

Feras

Heba Rashid

Generation Band

4 Brownies

2 March - Poetry Night: 

Farah Chamma

Muneer Jaihoon

Haneen Assaf

Abdulla Kassim

Shamma Kabital

Mohammad

Azimuddin

 Asmaa

Afra Atiq

Display Artists: 

Catalin Marin - Photography

Noha Mourad - Painting

Deema Hatahet – Digital Art

Wafaa Amer - Painting

Salam – Jewellery

Sumaya Ibrahim – Photography

Traditional Handicraft from the UAE

The Long Road to Recovery

The following article appeared on the Mises Economics Blog:

The World's Tallest Building Is Now A 'Distressed' Property

From what's being predicted, it appears that it'll take another 24 months before we see greener pastures on the horizon.

And that's just a wild guess based on the current outlook.

Earth

I had originally posted a 1-minute video of the Earth view from the ISS here.

I discovered an even better (5-minute) version at LunaticOutpost, a forum that still hasn't lost its marbles to the likes of senseless & originality-lacking one-liner tweets, the narcissism-laced facebookers and/or any other crappy sites.

Some of you may argue, what does this post have to do with the UAE Community Blog? Well, I'll tell ya', you're right, it's got nothing to do with this Community but I'm just playing my role in keeping it alive (when I can) from a heavy work schedule and family life.

Enjoy the ride and help keep this Community alive.

Until later :)

Boring blog!

This has become such a boring blog! It used to be so active before. Where did everybody go?

Valley of Emaan: The Ilm Series

www.kalemah.org

Eu-Phoria Slideshow Slideshow

Eu-Phoria Slideshow Slideshow: TripAdvisor™ TripWow ★ Eu-Phoria Slideshow Slideshow ★ to Uttar Pradesh, Amsterdam and Eindhoven. Stunning free travel slideshows on TripAdvisor

23rd December -Ways to increase your earnings {Event in URDU}}

The Event Page

Jesus, Mary & The Holiday Season - with Brother Gabriel Keresztes

Have you ever wondered why Mary is portrayed with a head and body covered similar to that of Muslim women?
Why is Jesus portrayed with a beard such as Muslim men? Why do Muslims pray as Jesus and Mary prayed? The answers to these questions and any of your questions: this Friday join us for an enlightening journey in the life of two of the most celebrated and most misunderstood figures in history.

Join us this Friday evening and make your Holiday a learning experience!

Date: December 16th 2011

Time: 6:00 PM onwards

Venue: AWQAF Auditorium, Mamzar

Directions: Take the Shaikh Zayed Road to Sharjah and stay on your right. At al Mullah Plaza signal, take a left towards Hamriya. Then take a right at the signal before Century Mall and keep going straight (till the end of the road), till you see a big building on your right – which says Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department. The talk will take place at the hall on the second floor inshaa Allah

www.kalemah.org

Who's 2011 MENA Person Of The Year?

Who Should be MENA's 
(Middle East and North Africa)

Person of the Year 2011?

Who influenced the news most, for better or worse? 

VOTE HERE!

TwingeDXB - A Twitter Fringe!

An urban festival? In Dubai?

Yes, an urban festival!

Where?

At Wild Peeta in front of the World Trade Centre exhibition halls, just by the metro station.

Wow! Sounds great! When's it happening? 

Starting the 10th December, a week of arts and stuff, with evening events dedicated to books, music, fashion, comedy, drama poetry and film. There's a whole load of happenings already confirmed and loads of room for people to pitch in and take part as performers/artistes and so on.

That's brilliant! Where can I find out more?

Erm, on the event webpage perhaps? It's linked here.

A web page! Cool! I'm off!

Where are you going?

TwingeDXB of course! Hurry up and you might catch up with me!


Because you all needed another Dubai Radio Ad scratching around inside your craniums like a coke-addled lobster, that's why. And because I'll be having the UAE launch of the papery, booky print edition of my book, Olives, there on the first night.

Emirates Bank or Phishing?

I received an email this morning - purportedly from the Emirates EBD Bank.

It all looked rather official, but alarm bells were going off as I read that there was an IBAN # generated specifically for my accounts.

I burst out laughing when I got to the instructions and read #3 where it asks me to enter my bank account # to open the attached pdf. Even if this IS an official EBD email, I'm not going to do anything as stupid as that!

Click on image to enlarge

Just a heads-up, people - please advise your family and friends to look out for emails such as this, and if any personal details are requested in order to complete the requirements, that's all the warning you need NOT to proceed.

If this IS an official Emirates EBD email, they're crazy to ask their clients to do this, but then we shouldn't be too surprised at bank antics in the UAE, based on past performances!

Cafe Culture

Greetings!

I got introduced to Cafe Culture a few months ago. I can't say I'm a regular there, but it struck me that something like this would do really well in a place like Dubai.

Essentially, a speaker is invited to speak to a gathering of members of the public in a cafe, about a subject that they are passionate about (usually their area of work). The speakers come from a variety of backgrounds - scientists, artists, politicians, teachers etc.; they usually speak for about 30 minutes after which they take questions from the coffee-sipping audience. If the issues being discussed are contentious, there is usually a lively discussion.

Not being in Dubai myself, I can't physically organize this, but if anyone is up for it, I'd be more than happy to suggest a few venues and speakers. It would also be great if someone could find out if we need permission to do this sort of thing and if so, how we can go about getting it.

If anyone is interested, do let me know by leaving a comment here/sending me an e-mail on the address on my profile.

Cheers

D

Table 9 - great expectations for Dubai

I was at an event yesterday afternoon, and another of my food blogging Dubians asked a chef, who is Michelin starred in his own country, "Is Dubai ready for Michelin?"

He spoke diplomatically for about two minutes, praising many of the restaurants in Dubai, it's rapid growth, and then swiftly changed the subject onto what he loves so much about this city. No. Dubai is not ready for Michelin. I don't need him to answer that for me - I know it myself. But the question to ask is "Why?"

Michelin is more than just a restaurant guide. It's stamp on a city signifies a Neil Armstrong sized leap into the gastronomic world, plus a mark of excellence when it comes to tourism. Basically, there has to be something to see, something to eat, and somewhere to stay that is worth yelling to the people back home about, not just in the singular, but many, many things - enough to write a book about.

You may say that Dubai has plenty to write home about. So may I - in fact, I do - about three times a week on my blog. But the problem is, that nearly everything in Dubai is borrowed, and I'm not talking about the financial crisis. This is the city that has both everything and nothing. A city made up of the desires of a multi-cultured population and the whims of the powers that be. It is a new city, with a local citizenship that represents only a fifth of the total demographic, and an economy relying on tourism. In the grand scheme of things it has no history or unique culture. It has not had time to develop it's own personality. Don't get me wrong - it has personality, but sometimes it seems it's in the vein of Sybil.

But on Tuesday night, I glimpsed the start of Dubai's future. Two fantastic young chefs have just found themselves in a sliding doors moment. Gordon Ramsay has decided to close the flailing Verre, leaving Scott Price and Nick Alvis looking for work. Now, they are both excellent chefs, and would have absolutely no trouble picking up work in any number of the best European restaurants, but do you know what they have decided to do?

They are opening their own restaurant, in Dubai, remaining in the soon-to-be-vacated shell of Verre by Gordon Ramsay. I'm getting all tingly just writing about it. You see, I come from a city where the culture is very food oriented, and this signifies, for me, a step towards Dubai starting to grow up.

read more on the hedonista here...

BakefestDXB strikes again!

I decided to shamelessly use a photo of my Godiva Chocolate Cake to get your attention. Did it work?

Great - so now that you're reading this, BakefestDXB is here again! This time it's being held on Saturday November 26th from 1pm to 6pm, at Wild Peeta.

If you are a baker and are interested in taking part (it's free!) or you would like more info on what the heck I'm talking about, please head over here.

Yes, you can stop drooling now.