Roses are red...!

More flowers from my husband (but not today).

Zayed vaults and domes

Back outside the mosque, in the enormous courtyard.

Photo contest!

National Geographic has a photo competition for 2009 here - check it out and vote!

Istanbul people

Orhan Pamuk is a previous favourite of mine and has again pulled off a magnificent novel of Istanbul (another master here is Elif Shafak of course) - I dare venture this opinion after just a chapter or two. Read it and review here.

Ceiling lamps

You have seen the massive ceiling lamps before!

Zayed entry hall

Floral decorations on the floor and wall of the entry hall of the Zayed mosque.

Pillars

Zayed minbar

The heart of the mosque.

Historic photos of the Orient

Web-magazine Qantara published this article on Historic photos of the Orient, from the Middle East and Central Asia up until 1970.

Also on the theme of photos: UNHCR's "refugee photo of the day".

Wall decorations

Further sumptuous walldecorations from the great hall of the Zayed mosque.

Cairo renovation

I showed photos earlier this year of the renovated area in old Cairo, north of Khan el-Khalili. This set of flickr-photos from Al-Masry Al-Youm also highlights the renovation project, with all it's question-marks.

Inside the mosque

You've seen interiors before, I know, but I do think it so understatedly elegant (UAE-wise at least) that I am showing you again.

Zayed mosque again

On a humid hazy July morning, the Zayed mosque looked like this

Iran photos

Newsweek this week has a photo gallery from Iran, along with an article on one of their reporter's prison ordeal lately.

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

I've blogged previously about the coming Louvre in Abu Dhabi - now the adjacent Guggenheim (also a really cool architectural creation too) is exhibiting here.

Alongside the Indian exhibition Spectrum is shown.

I hope to see both shortly.

PS Not all is shimmering with the coming museums though - read also Human Rights Watch.

Backlog

I have an entire memory card I cannot empty right now, which holds me back from showing you more photos, not least of the Abu Dhabi sheikh Zayed mosque. As soon as this is resolved, I hope to give you much more than I recently have been able to...

Troy - Anatolian fire

I saw the new performance Troy from the Turkish dance troop Ates anadolu (Fire of Anatolia) last night here in Abu Dhabi.

It was more story line (a sort of Turkish reclaim of the myth of Troy perhaps?) and less straightforward modernised Anatolian folkdancing than I remember of their original show, but impressive nonetheless of course. More technical than sensual though...

Armistice day

Today, 91 years ago, the First world War ended. In Sweden the picture of the war in confused and dominated by bloody trench stalemate on the western front, even if historian Peter Englund recently tried to familiarize a Swedish audience with a wider view.

For me, with the Middle East as prime reference, the First World War has very different and more dramatic connotations, with wide upheaval of a historic order of affairs and a total redrawing of the regional map, geographically and politically.

Remember also all those who have died in wars since, and who fight for values again today.

View of the mosque

I guess it pretty much speaks for itself, this view of the Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed mosque.

Photos of a Turkish family

Swedish photographer Stefan Bladh, whose photos, taken over several years, of a Turkish Alevi family in Gaziantep and Istanbul have been exhibited in galleries in Sweden, has now published a book of his photos, simply called The Family. The photos are powerful images of people and poverty in Turkey, just see how he uses the light and let's images of people speak for themselves.

Abu Dhabi by night

Views from the Corniche at night.

Islamic art museums

See a virtual Islamic Art museum (supported by the Gulbenkian Foundation, I believe) online.

I would still very much like to visit the Doha Islamic Art Museum, and was hoping for an opportunity next week - however, it will have to wait.

I recently showed you photos from the Sharjah museum, though.

Concert on the beach!

Assorted photos from the crowds at last weekends concerts at the Abu Dhabi Corniche!









Finally, a blurry shot of Ragheb Alama in the Friday night concert.



And Mohammed Hamake playing on Saturday night.

Gaza Graffiti

The Stockholm Ethnographic Museum shows Swedish photographer Mia Gröndahl's exhibition Gaza Graffiti, including with a seminar on Saturday.

The photographer blogs occasionally, here, on the Middle East and living in Cairo.

Internet freedom

I have written previously on Global Voices and today they have launched a new website Threatened Voices for bloggers under pressure. Also check the Committe to Protect Bloggers.

Abu Dhabi events

The Abu Dhabi event calendar is really overflowing this weekend! With the Formula One, including high-profile concerts, the Festival of Thinkers and the additional Corniche Yasalam-programme, there is lots to choose from for all, I guess!

For me, the highlight came last night, with Ragheb Alama playing, within walking-distance of my home. See him here at last year's Jordan festival

Modernist mosque architecture

Next to my home in Abu Dhabi this very modernist mosque is growing. I understand it is not uncontroversial as a mosque, but I must say I really appreciate the style and the attempt to build a typical but very modern mosque.

UN day

A computer breakdown has left me without photos and blogging for sometime - it may still be a while before I am back in full force.

But today is the UN day - 24th October - which certainly deserves a mention. Also, Sweden saw several climate actions ahead of the December Copenhagen summit today: here and here, organized by 350.org.

MEIFF again

The National has exclusive coverage here. I saw Ibn Babil/Son of Babylon yesterday, and it's beautiful and very very sad - about a Kurdish boy and his grandmother in the days after Saddam Hussein's fall in Iraq. I think the screenings here were the first public viewings ever, and if you have the chance to see it - do!

I hope for the opportunity to see Heliopolis tomorrow (photos here) as well as No one knows about Persian cats and Scheherazade, tell me a story later this week.

Shirin Neshat on Iranian women

This exhibition looks very interesting - if I get to Stockholm again before January I will really try to see it, at downtown Kulturhuset.

Here you can also find an interview with Shirin Neshat and read more of her and her work.

Nobel prize laureates

I am not sure I completely understand the motivation for awarding the peace prize to Barack Obama - however much I appreciate his style and effort so far. If I were on the award committe I would probably argue for not risking devalueing the prize by more or less giving it for hoped-for future results and not past achievements. But maybe this only reveals me as the boring risk-aversive bureaucrat I truly am?

Yesterday the literature prize winner was announced, and I really liked the motivation read out there, without ever having read Hertha Müller.

Forehand speculations included the laureate, but also other favourites of mine - Amos Oz, Adonis perhaps the foremost.

Permanent secretary Peter Englund interviewed ahead of the announcement. I heard a nice interview with him afterward, describing the surrealist experience of coming through the door too.

Among the science prize winners I seem to notice an unusually high ratio of women, which I like!

Update - Swedish voices: Swedish Committe for Afghanistan and the Swedish peace lobby.

Obama's reaction and Arab comments.

MEIFF - Middle East film

The film festival here opened last night and I am hoping to see several of the planned Arab, Iranian and Turkish films, even if I was busy for last night's opening gala and Mosafer.

Here, the new festival director talks to The National, and here again.

Speaking of film festivals, I can share a previous article on film, when Israeli Kaleem Aftab on the Lebanon war recently won the Venice Golden Lion

Booker prize and book prizes

I haven't actually read today's Booker Prize winner Hillary Mantel, but both Svenska Dagbladet and Dagens Nyheter write about the event. A review from the Guardian can be found here.

Seeing how intrigued I was by Thomas Cromwell when recently watching the second season of The Tudors, I really look forward to reading the book!

Svenska Dagbladet also interviews Peter Englund, secretary of the Swedish literature academy, ahead of tomorrows revelation of this year's Nobel Literature prize.

Food food food...

Well, not all cooked by me but an assortment of culinary experiences from recent months!

Rebuilding Afghanistan - photo exhibition

A gallery here in Abu Dhabi is right now and next week showing a photo exhibition by Dutch photographer Hans Stakelbeek from Afghanistan.

The exhibition has toured widely internationally already and reviews of previous exhibition occasions can be found here and here. Here you can see photos from a previous exhibition.

Celebrating 40!

Favourite crazy comedians Monty Python celebrates 40 years!

Look at the pythonline.com community (members only).

My favourite sketch is this one!