Friday 26 October 2007

Hair woes

Finding a decent hairdresser when you live in the same place and speak the language is hard enough but imagine you keep moving from place to place and half the time you have to communicate by grunting and pointing. I have had the bucket hairdo, the mullet, the old lady and the just plain bad. Now I have a pathological fear equalled only by my fear of dentists (sorry Yamen!).
So, the choice now is to go to the only hairdresser I trust, who happens to be in Cyprus, a place I lived when I had no hair, or go on the search … again!

Saturday 20 October 2007

Film festival

It must be challenging to set up a new event in a market saturated with international film festivals and the inaugural MEIFF here in Abu Dhabi seems to have had its fair share of ups and downs.

The venue was stunning, if a little out of the way for a non-driver. It is possible to get numbers to rival a national football match in the sumptuous Emirates Palace hotel and not feel crowded. The sheer scale of the place is more than impressive but the size also posed one or two problems when trying to find your way around. Thankfully, there were well-trained staff on hand at every corner to point you in the right direction but a few well-placed signposts would have been a welcome addition. Maybe they just don't go with the gold décor!

Let's take the promotion of the event - I only found out about the festival one month before and that was from a filmmaker coming to represent one of the documentaries in the official competition. Taking a look at the website, it seemed well set up and fairly easy to navigate but, again, where was the information? No schedule info appeared until about 10 days before the festival was due to start.
The majority of the people I spoke to were unaware of the festival going on, either before, during or after the event. At the closing party, those attending did not even know that it was to mark the end of a weeklong event.

There was an interesting selection of films - none of which were censored - in each of the categories but it was such a shame to see them so poorly attended on the whole. The main point and success seems to have been in the area of film finance; apt for a festival held in one of the capitalist centres of the world.

But the best part? Crashing the closing party. Red carpet and all ;)

Tuesday 16 October 2007

Kite surfing


I went kite surfing at the weekend. Well, when I say 'I', what I really mean is, I went to the beach and watched other people kite surfing. Which was cool. In fact, it was hard to believe we were still in the UAE. The beach was beautiful, the atmosphere was relaxed and everyone was just there to enjoy the sea, not to stare at white women in bikinis.

Thursday 11 October 2007

The ugly friend

I've never thought of myself as being beautiful, but I've never been short of an offer or two when I've gone out. Now, I seem to have turned into the ugly friend. You know the sort. You see two girls out on a night out and you know which one is going to go home with a fit bloke at the end of the night and which one is going to have to talk to the guy's mate to pass the time. Well, I seem to have turned into the ugly friend. Time for a revamp obviously!

Monday 1 October 2007

Feminism

I have a degree in political science and a personal interest in international affairs; I like watching rugby, cricket, football; I have opinions of my own on a number of topics and I refuse to be patronised by someone by virtue of their age or sex.
And that seems to make me an arrant feminist.
What is wrong with being an independent woman with education and opinions? What makes us so scary a breed?
It seems little has changed since Samuel Johnson's times. Women are supposed to be incapable of higher thinking, particularly when they look good in a cocktail dress.
Maybe I've been reading too much Virginia Woolf and am just a bit touchy at the moment; or maybe the type of men I've been meeting in Abu Dhabi are just Neanderthals!