So what is your plan for the next few years?

It can be something simple like loosing weight, buying that object that you wanted or something huge like taking over the world

I have been thinking about it and I cant really put my finger on what I want to accomplish, all I know is that travelling and improving my photography is my number one priority.

I'm in a talkative mood today to expect allot you can either jump and answer my question or read through my thoughts and then tell me what you think?

Recently I started discussing an interesting topic with a fellow deviant ~bs4life4show. predominantly it was about how to define a culture or country. our own or other? to be more specific he asked the question "How do you define being an Egyptian (whether a male or a female)?"

Now lets take a few steps back, recently ~doniaem(check her work out) posted a journal [link] containing quotes from a book she is currently reading about the modern Egyptian girl in her twenties. the quotes where very funny, true and interesting! although one in particular annoyed me greatly:

"007 might love a smart girl with a dash of chutzpah; 00Egyptian would much rather opt for the pretty little quiet thing in the corner with the right daddy, thank you very much."

The fact that the writer uses the word "chutzpah" in the above paragraph reveals that she is an outside observer and not a "local", further searching led me to the writers Bio. where within the first two lines she claims to be "born and bred in England".

The point I'm to make is that how can you dare to analyse a culture/society when you obviously not apart of it?

Anyway ~bs4life4show read what I had to say and asked me a very simple question "How do you define being an Egyptian (whether a male or a female)?" now I could not be specific about the Egyptians because I'm Jordanian but I knew if I looked at the underlying intention of the question I could begin to answer it.

I started by thinking about how I define my own society and quickly realised that I instantly jumped to the negatives; the driving, the miserable nature, the horrid treatment of time and appointments...

so I decided to look up a basic definition so that I might be able to use it as a stepping stone:

"Culture is the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively
-a refined understanding or appreciation of this
-the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people or other social group: people from many different cultures
-the attitudes and behaviour characteristics of a particular social group!"

When I tried to apply it to Jordan I could not clearly define it, possibly because of its young age(around 60) and because of the large number of refugees and small number "indigenous people" (take the term very loosely) which results in a lack of unity. but this is a completely different topic that can be talked about in volumes.

The definition did turn my thoughts to how I define other cultures and I came to the satisfying conclusion that defining a culture (for me) is in the small details; their actions, their accents, their history, their beliefs and traditions, and also their representation stereotypical or otherwise in the global media.

~bs4life4show replied and expressed that his definition was any people within a particular border, despite any and all differences that they might have, I cannot really accept this because so many countries come to mind where many cultures exist within its borders(EX: Tibet and China), and lets not forget internet culture that transcends all physical locations.

I'll end this journal with an old Arabic Proverb : "whomever lives among them for 40days becomes one of them".

Any form of comment is welcomed

It rained today, and that reminded me of how much I love Rainfall!

I'm not sure if its because we don't get allot of rain out here, but I see it as something completely special and cleansing....The smell, the muted sounds of the city and the sound of the drops hitting everything and also the feeling of solitude when your walking out in it!

I was planning to do a feature about it but I could not find any shots that represented the atmosphere and mood that I experience when I'm caught in it! plus almost all of the shots are pre. or post. rainfall! so I have decided to do a project on translating what rain feels like to me and possibly the people in the region in pictures!


.....Only problem is that it doesn't rain that much!

I have decided to give facebook a second chance(temporarily)! I think it might prove itself as a useful medium for my photography, besides I think I have been a bit too antisocial in the last few years and this might be a good step forward.

Anyway if your interested add me, the name is Bashar Tabbah and I'm sporting a lovely moustache and goatee, check it out!

BOOKS! do you love them? hate them? or just don't have time for them? tell me what books your reading at the moment and who your favourite publisher is? oh and what is the last book you read?

I absolutely love books especially (and probably obviously) photography and photojournalism books, that's one of the reasons why Hudson & Themes are probably one of my favourite publishers.

Currently I'm reading "The Arabian nights" a modern translation of a 14th century Syrian manuscript of a thousand and one nights, and I'm really enjoying it!

A dirty book is rarely dusty. ~Author Unknown
You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend. ~Paul Sweeney

The smallest bookstore still contains more ideas of worth than have been presented in the entire history of television. ~Andrew Ross

Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures. ~Jessamyn
West

TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book. ~Author Unknown

To choose a good book, look in an inquisitor’s prohibited list. ~John Aikin

Books are the compasses and telescopes and sextants and charts which other men have prepared to help us navigate the dangerous seas of human life. ~Jesse Lee Bennett

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. ~Mark Twain, attributed

He who lends a book is an idiot. He who returns the book is more of an idiot. ~Arabic Proverb

Books are a refuge, a sort of cloistral refuge, from the vulgarities of the actual world. ~Walter Pater

To read a book for the first time is to make an acquaintance with a new friend; to read it for a second time is to meet an old one. ~Chinese Saying

Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me. ~Anatole France

What holy cities are to nomadic tribes - a symbol of race and a bond of union - great books are to the wandering souls of men: they are the Meccas of the mind. ~G.E. Woodberry