Subzero Blue

Arabic Version Of StartUpArabia Officially Launched

One of the points many people asked for after the official launch of StartUpArabia back in April is an Arabic version, insisting on how important they thought it was.

I couldn’t agree more, and it was always one of the main points in my plans for StartUpArabia; and so my answer was always that it was currently underway and that it would be ready soon enough.

Well that soon enough is now, and the Arabic version of StartUpArabia is officially launched here:
http://www.startuparabia.com/arabic/

There are a number of posts already available there that have been translated from the English version, and more of the older posts from the English version will be posted over time so that everyone who prefers Arabic can read them too. As for new articles and posts, they’ll mostly be posted on both English and Arabic versions of the site on the same day from now on.

I’m happy that this Arabic version is out now, mainly because it will widen the reach of the information about Arab startups, and also because I can now focus on the next side project for StartUpArabia, which should be coming soon too.

Last, but not least, I’d like to thank Eman Abu-Khadra, my wife, for her hard work with me on the Arabic version. If not for her help with the translation, this version wouldn’t exist now.

So, I leave you with: StartUpArabia – Arabic Version

Don’t hesitate to link to it and spread the word; I’d be really grateful.

Is That Your Son?

Last night, after some quick shopping at Geant (TunisCity’s hyper market), just after paying, putting everything back into the cart, and seating Adam in the cart’s child seat; a security guy came up to me, pointed at some point behind me and asked if the boy he was pointing at was my son.

What was really weird is that I actually turned around, looked at the boy and then replied that he wasn’t my son.

As I was saying the words, I realized how stupid and absent-minded that all was; I mean, I just seated my only son in the cart in front of me, but then there I was looking behind me to see if some other kid was my son.

Eman laughed her head off at me, joking that I must have some hidden secret.

All I could think of is “Damn, I really need that vacation!”

Southern Fried Chicken Opens In Al Nasr 2

This past weekend we discovered and tried out a new fast food place called Southern Fried Chicken on the Hedi Nouria road in Al Nasr 2.

I had passed in front of the place a few weeks ago, and it was still not open yet, and thought I’d check back on it when it was open, and this weekend we did and went in and tried it, twice.

Southern Fried Chicken (SFC) is as its name suggests a fast food restaurant mainly specializing in chicken meals, à la KFC for those who have had the pleasure.

SFC is a UK food franchise, and now that I come to think of it, I think I saw a couple of SFC restaurants in the UK before, but never got around to trying their food.

I really liked the setting and decor, the food is pretty good and the prices are quite ok too. I tried two menus up to now, one consisting of pieces of chicken and the other a chicken burger, and they both were good.

I hope we see other international food chains and franchises opening up in Tunisia soon. And please, if you’re one of those people who are thinking of commenting right now to tell me that we don’t want that kind of internationalization, and that you’d rather stick to lablabi and kaftaji, or that they’re unhealthy, you can spare yourself the effort, I’ve heard it all on several previous posts, and I respectfully disagree.

I love lablabi, I love kaftaji, I love a good s’han tounsi, …etc; But I also love a good burger every once in a while, some nicely cooked chicken every other while, or a yummy stuffed crust pizza some other times, …etc.
It’s up to me to take care of my health and choose when to go eat at these places and how often. I demand my freedom to eat whatever I choose 😛

Anyway, SFC is worth checking out for those who are fast food fans like me. They claim it has a lip licking flavour, which falls a bit short from KFC’s finger lickin’ goodness, but well, worth the try.

Mozzarella’s Open Sauce Browser In Tunis Hebdo Newspaper

Today’s Tunis Hebdo newspaper has the following bit of “interesting” news in it:

La fondation Mozzarella veut faire entrer son navigateur Open Sauce Firefox 3 dans le Livre Guinness des Records…

Which in English means:

The Mozzarella foundation wants to enter its Open Sauce browser Firefox 3 in the Guinness book of records…

Neat, huh? So yeah, it’s Internet meets Pizza. The guy must’ve been hungry while writing the article.

But it doesn’t stop there, this article is actually a rip-off from another website, the content is basically copy-pasted.

So they’re not only guilty of stupidity, but also of plagiarism at the same time.

Certainly makes a person proud of the high level of journalistic professionalism available in the country.

Of course what they really wanted to talk about what was the Mozilla foundation asking fans of their Firefox browser to download Firefox 3 when it’s released so that they can break the record of most downloaded software in a day and get into the Guinness book of records.
Now would it have been so hard for them to check their facts and write a correct mini-article about this?
What a shame!

[Via: Montassar]

Caramel (Sukkar Banat)

A few days ago we watched Caramel (Sukkar Banat), a Lebanese movie directed by Nadine Labaki.

I heard a lot about the movie and read many reviews of it on several blogs, and had wanted to check it out for months before I got the chance to.

The title Caramel refers to an epilation method used in the Middle East that consists of heating sugar, water and lemon juice.

The movie is a romantic comedy that revolves around the intersecting lives of five Lebanese women. Layale works in a beauty salon in Beirut along with two other women, Nisrine and Rima. Each one has a problem: Layale is stuck in a dead-end relationship with a married man; Nisrine is no longer a virgin but is set to be married to a Muslim; Rima is attracted to women; Jamale, a regular customer and wannabe actress, is worried about getting old; Rose, a tailor with a shop next to the salon, is an old woman who had devoted her life to taking care of her mentally unbalanced older sister Lili, but has found her first love.

The film doesn’t refer to any of the political problems or recent warfare that has troubled Lebanon. Rather, Labaki’s tale paints everyday people with everyday problems.

I have to confirm the reviews; I really enjoyed this movie and think it’s a great effort from Nadine Labaki as her first feature film. I totally recommend it to everyone.

[More: IMDB, Amazon]