Subzero Blue

Cinemas in Tunisia

As a cinema lover, it’s really about time I wrote about this. It’s an issue that’s been eating away at me for ages. When the hell are Cinemas in Tunisia going to get their act together?!

Ever since I was a child, the state of cinemas in Tunisia has only been getting worse and worse. Not one new cinema has opened, yet a number of old ones have closed. The only somewhat happy event was the re-opening of a cinema in La Marsa, Al Hambra, in the Zephyr shopping center.

The Habib Bourguiba road in downtown Tunis is lined with a number of cinemas on both sides, the suburbs of Tunis have a number of cinemas, and almost every big city in Tunisia has a few, which is great, but then all you see on them are posters for really old movies, that you’ve already seen a number of times and archived as cinematic history in your brain somewhere.

And when you do venture in to one of these cinemas to watch a movie just for the sake of it, you find yourself in a smelly non-conditioned room, with dirty torn seats. The movie begins and the quality of the picture is really bad and you can barely hear the sound. As if all that is not enough, mobile phones keep on ringing, people keep on talking and laughing loudly and well then you have the people who aren’t really there for the movie, but mainly because it’s cheaper than a hotel room.

Cinema owners complain that satellite dishes and pirated tapes and CDs stole their customers away and that because less and less people are going to cinemas, they can’t afford to renew, bring in new material or show new movies.

On the other hand, if a cinema shows a movie months, if not years, after it becomes old enough to be shown on some free satellite channel, then why would anyone bother to go to the cinema? Especially if the quality is crappier than the worst pirated DivX around?

I am sure that if one of these cinemas invested in creating a great cinematic experience for its viewers, with a great quality huge picture, cool surround sound, really new movies, clean theatre, comfortable chairs, delicious popcorn and what not; then the people would come and they would be ready to pay double, triple, if not more, the price they pay now.
After all, nothing equals the experience of watching a movie on a giant screen with amazing sound while munching away at something delicious. Home Cinema, with all its splendor, barely tries to come close.

Why am I so sure? Because I saw it happen in Jordan.
When I went to Jordan in 1996, the state of Cinemas there was almost worse than in Tunisia, if that is possible. And the cinema owners were saying the same stuff I hear up to now in Tunisia.
But then some people invested in building new cinemas or renewing older ones, offering a great cinematic experience and movies on the day of their international release, and those cinemas got packed with people paying more than triple the price of the old ticket and spending a lot on popcorn, drinks, chocolates and more.

And I’m just stating Jordan as an example because it was very similar to Tunisia. But everywhere around the world, cinemas that offer great entertainment for their viewers are packed even if the ticket price is high, and even though there is piracy everywhere and satellite dishes everywhere.

So why don’t we revive cinemas in Tunisia too?
Why doesn’t someone invest in a new cinema? renew an old one? bring new movies to the country?
Enough of all the caf

IT Memory Loss and Focus Deficiency Problems

Yesterday a friend and I were talking, and the conversation shifted to how it seems that we IT people start to suffer memory problems after some years in the industry.

As the years goes by, the projects pile up, the problems faced and solved accumulate, our heads are less and less able to retain information and we seem to forget things faster.

Not only that, but we also seem to get a focus deficiency of some sorts, because of which we sometimes just go through blank moments and lose focus on whatever it is we’re listening to, watching or doing.

I’m not sure if there have been any studies on this, but I confirm that I see the same symptoms in almost everyone I’ve met who has spent a good time in the industry.
That’s why the longer we stay working in IT, the more gadgets we need to remind us of things and to organize our lives, I guess.

Personally, I remember when I first got out of university and started work, I wouldn’t need notebooks or papers in meetings, because I’d just record eveything perfectly in my head and then go do it.

Now, that’s almost impossible, in fact it’s getting harder to even hold a 5 item shopping list in my head without forgetting at least 3 of the items. It’s pretty embarassing sometimes having to pull out my pocket pc at the little store to remind myself that I need to buy eggs or sugar or whatever.

Maybe it’s because of the fast pace of our work, the deadlines, the sometimes stressful nature of it all and the loads of information we get thrown at us out there, but it does exist and I guess the only way to get over it all is to take some time out every once in a while, try to do a soft reset and take it easy on ourselves.

Open Google Exams

Open book exams just rock, don’t they.
I mean, maybe they should not be applied for all topics and specialties, but for IT students, I personally think most exams should be open book.
On the other hand, I don’t think anyone would feel comfortable having a doctor who sat through open book exams operate on them. No time to rush off and read through a bunch of huge books when you’re in the middle of a serious operation and your patient is barely hanging on.

Back to IT students, something that just crossed my mind is that soon they should start having Open Google Exams (or well just Open Online Search Exams) instead of open book ones, in which students get to search for whatever information they’re looking for online to reach the answer.

As I wrote before here, we’re more or less moving towards an era in which no one really needs to know much more than some core principal basics in a certain topic and how to search and find the information they need for the rest.

Basically any IT person today knows all the principles and ideas, but he’s always going back to references or searching online for complimentary information.
I think that should be taken into consideration when teaching IT students today.

This idea also reminds me a bit of a game show on Tunisian TV some years ago, in which the contestants were asked certain questions and had to use the internet to search and find the answers.
The idea was cool, but the problem is that it was all setup and the answers were already given to the people beforehand, or at least that’s what an insider told me.

Anyway, I think Open Google Exams would be cool and would get IT students, at least, practically ready for the work life they’re on their way to.

The Price of Anything

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”

— Henry David Thoreau

I just came across this little quote and it just struck me how true it is.

After all, in everything we do, we’re giving away some of our precious time, some of our lives, some of the time we could be spending with our loved ones or doing other things that we truly enjoy.

I guess we rarely stop to think of the true price of things, and to ask ourselves if what we’re doing is worth the price we’re paying.

From now on, I personally promise myself that I’ll ask myself that question, every now and then, and that I’ll try to only do things that are worthy of the price I’m paying.

We only live once after all, and if we waste it all on things we deem unworthy, would we consider ourselves to really have lived?

Thoughts On The Danish Cartoons Discussion

I’ve been observing comments and reactions from both sides on the danish cartoons conflict on my blog and others, without getting too involved with them, trying to see where they go, and I’m very sorry to say that they’ve been moving without direction further up a blocked alley.

The whole conversation keeps turning into a big Islam vs. West, clash of civilizations style discussion, in which the westerners bash Islam and Muslim countries, and Muslims bash the West.
All of a sudden the talk is about the state of women rights in Saudi Arabia, Israel and its existence, laicity in French schools, …etc.

This obviously shows that there are many lingering issues on both sides that are just waiting to burst open and be debated, and that this caricature subject simply brought a chance for each side to let go.

But the way it’s being done now, it’ll only deepen the row between us all, increase the misunderstanding and grow whatever hatred some hold.

It’s clear this is not the way we should approach it. What we should do is drop our preconceptions of each other, come in with a clean slate, with a spirit of open-mindedness and understanding, and then talk unbiasedly and respectfully about all these issues, trying to come to a better understanding of each other.

Everything has been distorted in this world; from laws, to religion, to concepts, to philosophies; and the only way for us is to go back to the basics, and build upon them.

Blogging, What Next?

I remember some time ago, on the way to a meeting with a client, a friend from work and I were talking about my blog and how I never imagined it’d get me into the World Summit on the Information Society, and then to London for the Global Voices Summit, …etc.
He said it was all great and stuff, but then asked: “But then what?”
This is a question a lot of non-bloggers ask, and it’s quite a logical question actually, I mean nothing really goes on forever, not even our passion for certain things, everything seems to move on, leave place for something else.

The question actually brings up two thoughts, which are:
– What will come next after blogging as a net phenomenon?
– What will come next for this blog?

Regarding the first point, I think it’s obvious that we’re moving more and more towards a more open, more social, more discussion oriented internet. So just like the old static website and discussion forum converged into a blog, I expect we’ll be seeing more and more communication technologies and ideas being merged to create the next big thing.
And with higher connectivity and faster connection speeds, more and more will be realizable and accessible to more people.

As for what will happen to my blog, well I’m having a great time with it now, and I don’t see myself letting go of it anytime soon.
I mean, in the end, I think I’ll always have something to write about, an opinion to share, a flag to raise, and a need to express myself. And the way I see it, this blog will exist as long as all that does.

So in response to my friend, and all those who ask this question, a blog is not something you do to get somewhere, you do it because you feel like it, because you have this certain need to. So when you blog, you’re not really thinking of what you’re going to do in the future.
Of couse there are the professional blogs and profit-oriented blogs, and those have specific goals, but other than that a blog is more or less a personal space for the blogger to write about his personal or professional thoughts, experiences and ideas.

Blogging vs. Psychiatry

There’s been a lot of talk about blogging vs. journalism in the past, discussing whether bloggers compete with journalists or not, and what kind of relationship there can be between the two.
Personally, I think the relationship between blogging and journalism is more or less a clear one, in that they complete each other, and can hold one another accountable.

Another interesting thought though is blogging vs. psychiatry.
A lot of people are using their blogs as a space to vent, unload and just get things off their chests. They talk about their everyday lives, their problems, their highs and lows, almost everything. And it makes them feel a lot better to be able to do that.
They also get genuine feedback from readers who comment more or less because they’ve started to care for this person in one way or another.

I can’t but compare this kind of blogging to a session with a psychiatrist, after all, he just asks you to talk about what’s annoying you, your life, …etc and he tries to analyze it and give you some feedback that could be of some help to you.

The difference is that with blogging you’re not limited to your one hour session, so you can say all you want to say, when you want to and just like you feel it. You’re also getting genuine feedback from people who care a lot more than your shrink does, because in the end he’s just doing it for money, they’re doing it because they want to.
And of course you’re saving yourself a lot of money.

I wonder if there are any psychiatrists out there who have thought of this and who have felt even a bit threatened by blogging.

Of course, blogging can’t solve everyone’s psychiatric problems, after all psychiatry is a science and takes years of studies and practice to perfect, it just has some therapeutic effects that could help some people with some specific problems out.

In fact, I don’t see why blogging can’t complement the work of psychiatrists in some cases and be one of the things that they advise some of their patients to use.
Of course I expect royalties for my idea from both the psychiatrists and blogging services 😉

Japanese Editions

How come the Japanese always get all these best special edition collector pack gold platinum whatever music album releases, with a bunch load of extra unreleased tracks, live recordings, exclusive photos, videos, cooler cover art, 100 page booklets featuring lyrics, photos, biographies and what not, …etc. ?!!

This is something that has always pissed me off.
It’s like the whole world gets this one shitty edition of the album while they get a perfect cool one.

And it doesn’t stop there, they also get the best music DVDs with extra features, exclusive star interviews, backstage footage, different camera angles and another fat booklet.

Plus all the stars love jumping over to Japan for live concerts, in-store performances, public appearances and this or that!

Why, why, why do they get all the cool stuff while we get second rate shit?!
Why do I have to be Japanese to enjoy some good material from my favourite music artists?
It’s so unfair…