Articles By Mohamad AL Medawar:

Outlook – Opeth – Band Review

Outlook NewsPaper Vol.XLII No.12

Quite possibly, the greatest band on Earth, Opeth is a Swedish heavy metal band. For those of you who got revoked just by reading “heavy metal” then you have been mislead, for Opeth is no regular metal band! Off course they do have all the growling and heavy drums and guitar effects, but they are greatly influenced by progressive music, folk, blues rock and jazz and have incorporated these genres successfully in a lengthy breathtaking compositions that include acoustic guitar interludes, piano and organ interludes with strong dynamic shifts. They have combined many contrasting styles and added transitions. With 9 albums so far, their best three internationally are Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries, and Watershed.

Formed in 1990, the band has been through several personnel changes, except their singer, guitarist, and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt who has remained since joining promptly after the band was formed.

When I hear an album like Opeth’s Blackwater Park all my preconceptions of what makes a truly great album are shattered usually within a note or two. What is it about Opeth that sets them apart from the thousand or so bands? Why is that if and when I feel the urge to listen to something heavy, relaxing or perplexing, I find myself going through their album list on my phone’s music player? Well, the reason will be revealed shortly. One thing is for certain, however. Whenever I slip any of their albums into my car’s single-port CD-player, I feel content to know that no matter how long I get stuck in traffic or how many bone-headed taxi drivers obstruct my way back home, I won’t feel a bit bored nor irritated.

As for why it the-all-time-band of choice, in all my years searching, finding and experiencing heavy and at the same time relaxing music, I have somehow come across the band that I’ll listen to ’till the day I expire from this spiraling planet. I guess it’s like those folks that just can’t get over the first time they heard Pink Floyd. It lingers in your mind.

Another reason is Opeth’s diversity in styles used in songs with more instruments than you can ever imagine being in a single song. For example, if you’re into long piano interludes, listen to the beginning of “A fair Judgment” or to the last 3 minutes of the “The leper Affinity”. While if you’re into an enchanting melodic experience that takes you out of this world for a couple of minutes then drags you back down so quickly once it ends, listen to “hours of wealth” and honestly, those couple of minutes will feel like hours! You can also listen to “Atonement”; a lengthy acoustic guitar song with an attractive oriental “Derbakke” background. Speaking of oriental, be sure to check out “Closure” especially the last 2 minutes for a catchy Arabian Desert tune using oriental instruments such as “Daf” and “Derbakke” in addition to the guitars and drums. For those who seek nostalgia, drama, and emotions, Opeth has just the thing for you, listen to “Coil”, “In My Time of Need”, and “Isolation Years”! As for pure instrumental, lyrics-free song, listen to “Madrigal” for an unforgettable sensation!

Last but not least, for all the heavy metal fans out there, you are in for one hell of a treat! If you are in the mood for growling, heavy, core slamming music listen to “Masters Apprentices”, or tune to “Ghost of Perdition”, or better yet, “The Grand Conjuration”! However, for a pure adrenaline rush while driving at 100 miles per hour on the highway, you cannot but listen to “Karma”! and for a combination of both heavy and soft interwined in a beutiful transitiion check out “Blackwater Park” and “Deliverance”

Unlike a lot of heavy metal bands, Opeth do have songs that we call “sing-alongs” where you can actually repeat the lyrics without having to look them up on the internet or in their CD pack, and not just humming with the tune. Off coarse not all their songs are such, but you have Reverie/Harlequin Forest” for example and most of the songs I have mentioned earlier.

Although the band is classified in the Progressive Metal” Category, Opeth have really created, not new, but a hybrid style that uniquely combines basic styles we are familiar with!

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Outlook – Hable Con Ella/ Talk to Her – Movie Review

Outlook NewsPaper Vol.XLII No.12

EVENT: Pedro AlModovar, “Talk To Her” /”Hable con ella” movie

After winning the 2002 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, the 2003 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, The Cine club at AUB thought it would be appropriate to pay Pedro Almodo’var a tribute by showing his movie that claimed those prizes and many more. The movie, entitled “Talk To Her” or “Hable con ella” in spanish (original language), is a story of love, death, and faith. The movie begins with a theatrical dissplay which introduces the lead actors Benigno and Marco. After an initial encounter at the theater,the two men meet at a hospital where Benigno works as a nurse. Marco’s girlfriend, Lydia, is a bullfighter by profession who has been knocked down during one of her bullfights causing severe head injury and consequently a coma. It so happens that Benigno is looking after another woman in a coma, Alicia, a young ballet student whom he showed interest in before her car accident four years earlier that lead to her current situation.

Grieving for a love affair that tragically ended ten years ago, Marco finds himself in the same position sitting next to Lydia’s hospital bed. Till now, it only seems like a normal movie but as the events progress, we notice that fate has a weird way of telling us that destiny is hard to predict. Let’s take Benigno for example. He seems like a caring, nonviolent person, full of faith and devotion to do the best he can. He attends movies and theatrical events, then goes back to Alicia and talks to her about what he’d seen, reads to her, and holds photographs in front of her closed eyes, with solid faith that she can hear him, and that one day she’ll wake up and know what he’d done for her. Moreover, after Benigno meets Marco at the hospital again, they become friendly, and Benigno encourages Marco to talk to Lydia and hope for a miracle. However, in a sad twist of fate, Alicia gets pregnant and Benigno is accused for raping her, and gets sent to a state of the art prison where he overdoses on some pills and dies. If we observe Alicia’s destiny; She miraculously wakes up from her coma, but loses the fetus. She also resumes her Ballet classes. While the other coma patient Lydia, meets her end as expected; She had it coming, but the catch here is that although Benigno urged Marco to involve her in a daily conversation and keep her connected to the world, Marco refuses to accept that kind of faith and tries to inject reality instead.
Therefore, despite all the unnecessary details and the scenes of nudity portrayed repeatedly in the movie, the message to be inferred here is that one should hold on to faith and never let go because God works in mysterious ways and has unpredictable plans for each of us.

Like any other Lebanese event, the movie started 20 minutes past its original starting time. However, the number of audience was remarkable regarding the fact that this was the first “baby” event of the club as Jamal Srouji, Cine Club president, explained. Moreover, the audience interacted with the different scenes in the movie; laughter and sympathetic sighs could be heard throughout the screening.

When asked about the aim of the club and what movies it plans to display, Jamal stated that they “aim to shed the light on new stuff, not on mainstream Hollywood movies” and added that they “aim to introduce many acclaimed directors that we don’t know of”.

As for the choice of the movie, Jamal explained that “Hable con ella perfectly describes work of Padro Almodovar(…)It tells us a bit about Spanish cinema”

Finally, when asked about future movies, Jamal replied:”nothing specific yet, we will display foreign, old, reputable but not well known among students”

If you ask my opinion, I found the movie quite interesting, and it provokes intellectual thinking. It keeps the audience attached by bringing up daily life issues and those little details that help one relate to what he/she is watching. At the same time it introduces us to Spanish culture.

Looking forward to Cine Club’s next movie !!

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Outlook – AUB varsity teams need fans and audience

Outlook NewsPaper Vol.XLII No.13

Looking back at Elections Day, one cannot help but clearly remember how enthusiastic and devoted the students were when they were cheering for their political team. When this cheering potential is really needed, however, those who exhibit it fail to rise to the occasion! On December 10, AUB’s Basketball varsity team had a sturdy match with the USJ team. As AUB drew first blood, the cheers of a mere five AUBites positioned on the bleachers were masked by the booing and insults coming from the overwhelming masses which were supporting USJ. Their cheers, drumming, and trumpet blowing pumped their team spirits to a 12-0 run in the opening minutes of the game! Pressured, AUB’s coach called for a time-out to recapture the shattered team’s spirits and lay out some form of retaliation. Despite the hostile environment, the team responded perfectly. After three consecutive steals and fast breaks, the AUB team was somehow back on track. The audience, however, watched silently with anticipation and clapped faintly each time the team scored. On the other hand, the USJ drummer and trumpet player enthusiastically played every provocative song in the book, calling AUB’s team all sorts of obnoxious names, and distracted the players every time they attempted a shot. The two teams kept exchanging lay-ups, three pointers, and mid distance shots. The lead kept bouncing between the two, until the first half buzzer declared AUB’s two point lead. Still, the AUB audience was hard to pick out from the USJ fans. What made the situation even worse was that the referees were merciless and one of AUB’s starting players was fouled out, leaving a hole in our offence. As the second half got underway, the two teams were neck to neck, and it appeared to be unchaining in the due time. More AUB students could be seen piling up at the court entrance from the gym and other courts, looking for a space to sit on the bleachers, but USJ fans were all over the place. In a short while, over 20 AUB fans were on the bleachers, getting warmed up to override USJ’s drums and trumpet, and repeatedly yell out “AUB.” To make a long story short, after a series of give and take, cheers and boos, AUB ran all over USJ and won by a couple of points. The point here, however, is that if it were not by coincidence that some AUB students found out about the game, and yelled at the top of their lungs to pump up their team’s spirits, it would have been a much harder game for them, as the mental state of a player greatly affects his/her physical abilities. Member of the varsity football team Ilija Trojanovi? thinks the “problem isn’t only in the gym but also out on the stands of the Green Field” and added that “during the Friendship Tournament, when AUB students decided to support AUB we beat USJ 5-0. On Saturday, however, when there were literally about five people watching, the matched ended in a 1-1 draw. Fan support is huge and our away fixtures are supposed to make the visiting team feel intimidated!” Trying to take action by asking the coaches of AUB varsity teams to give out the games schedule on a weekly basis so that the student body can be informed and present to support the team with a whole drumline and orchestra seems like the most possible solution to this problem. The presence of AUBites at the various matches will show other teams that the AUB varsity teams are unbeatable.

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Outlook – AUB’s environmental portal: IBSAR

Outlook NewsPaper Vol.XLII No.13

If you’ve been to west hall during the month of December 2009, you probably would’ve glimpsed a “Green Stand”, and a 100 or so volunteers going through west hall’s crowd to sell “tree gift” holiday cards, calendars, cook books, and even bookmarks to raise enough money in an attempt to plant 50,000 native tree and shrub species by the end of the year 2010. IBSAR, the Nature Conservation Center at AUB, was responsible for this successful fund raising campaign nad was added to a series of other campaigns that lead to planting of 10,000 native trees across the Lebanese territory so far. Founded by a team of AUB doctors such as Dr. Salma Talhouk, the center director, Dr.Najat Saliba, Dr.Jala Makhzoumi, Dr.Rami Zreik, and many other doctors, IBSAR center is AUB’s portal to the Lebanese environment and native biodiversity it holds. Through research and outreach programs such as “Power of Planting”, “Biokids”, “IBDAA”, and “Biodiversity and Food”, Ibsar has been able to reach out to the Lebanese community with AUB’s community included, not just creating awareness and spreading knowledge, but also through interactive projects and research that aim to “promote the conservation and sustainable utilization of biodiversity by providing an open academic platform for innovative research and development”(1).

“Power of Planting” program is currently very productive especially with the ”Seeds of Hope, Trees for tomorrow” Campaign that started in 2007. In fact, the successful fundraising was part of this campaign that, as mentioned above, aims to plant and monitor 50,000 native trees and shrubs, such as Cedar, Pine, Carob, Oak, Wild Alamonds and apples, and much more, across Lebanon. This project is coordinated by Mr.Arbi Sarkissian who joined the IBSAR team in 2007 as an intern researcher, and played the major role in launching and developing the “Power of Planting” program and consequently the ”Seeds of Hope, Trees for tomorrow” Campaign. Moreover, Mr. Sarkissian is responsible for all the volunteering programs in IBSAR for AUB students, and the fundraising campaigns. He also gave lectures on native Biodiversity for AUB, IC, and ACS students, was involved in grant writing and proposals for IBSAR projects, and has been personally planting the tree shrubs and seeds through routine planting campaigns!

Another successful program is “Biodiversity and Food”, Coordinated by Ms. Dima Osta who is conducting the research on health and food in Lebanon. What’s so special about the program is that it is a Multidisciplinary project involving two outstanding institutions, the American University of Beirut and the University of Ottowa, Canada. Ms. Osta personally supervises the program’s efforts to “Promote Dietary Diversity in Poor Communities in Lebanon by building on the potential of local food-based practices and to further analyze the relationship between health and the environment through an in depth analysis of the benefits, viability and risks of rural ecosystems to support healthy people.” as stated in IBSAR’s website. Ms. Osta also coordinates between the two institutions and has successfully released the first edition of a cook book entitled “The Healthy Kitchen, Recipes from Rural Lebanon” which is a compilation of Lebanese Traditional Recipes of healthy food made from Wild Edible Plants that grow in Lebanon. This book aims to preserve cultural treasure, spread knowledge, and promote healthy lifestyles.

As for “Biokids” program, Coordinated by Ms. Nayla Ezzedine, is a program dedicated to promoting the value of nature in the young minds. It “addresses nature conservation through a fun and interactive environment in order to promote a sense of belonging and attachment to local nature, thus fostering responsible behavior towards nature”(1). The Program’s latest achievement was translating “The Lorax”, written by Dr. Seuss, which is a children’s book, into Arabic and transformed it into a narrative visual display to convey positive ideas about the environment to children.

Last but not least, International Biodiversity Day At AUB program, IBDAA, was established in 2006 and has been doing its annual event on May 22 since then. Dr. Najat Saliba who is responsible for the program makes sure that students can “display and explain their biodiversity-related projects to their peers, to faculty, staff, and upper administration, as well as invited members from the private and public sectors”(1).

Other Staff Members include Mr.Mazen, who is the center administrator, and  is responsible for “managing work flow at the office, organizing IBSAR’s facility and improving its visibility, assisting the director of IBSAR, and organizing Fundraising for IBSAR projects” as Mr.Mazen explained. Not to mention “khaled Sleem”, the field coordinator who has been with IBSAR ever since it was founded, contributed a wealth of research, data, and protocols on conducting studies in Medicinal plants, seed germination, identification of all Lebanese native trees, along with lecturing, organizing workshops, and developing projects. In short, he is one of IBSAR’s corner stones.

In the next article about IBSAR center, Dr. Talhouk will be interviewed and asked about IBSAR’s future plans for this year, 2010, the year of Biodiversity!

You can read more about ibsar in their website: www.ibsar.org

(1) www.ibsar.org