DreamfullofZen, An Interview

DreamfullofZen A.KA David Tawfeeq, is a truly inspirational artist. Listening to his Music had an effect on me. As an Art lover I have great respect for Professor David. I also envy him, for I would also love to have the ability to portray emotion as vividly as he can. Like a magician with his music he can portray ideas and thoughts, and even send you delving in memories.





Check Out. Dave's official website. It is user friendly and contains his music and videos, or visit him on his MySpace.

The Super Cigarette!

For all smokers out there who are not very okay with the idea of dying out lung cancer, electronic cigarettes now exist.

An electronic cigarette or "e-cigarette" is a battery-powered device that provides inhaled doses of nicotine by heating a nicotine-chemical solution into a vapor. It is an alternative to smoked tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. In addition to nicotine delivery, this vapor also provides a flavor and physical sensation similar to that of inhaled tobacco smoke, while no tobacco, smoke, or combustion is actually involved in its operation.

Electronic cigarettes are reusable devices, you buy the cigarette once and the then you change the nicotine cartilage, which are cheaper than most cigarettes.

Some E-cigarette companies claim that the electronic cigarettes eliminate the health risks associated by smoking tobacco since it doesn’t exhaust any chemicals other than nicotine. And it also helps smokers quit.

The cigarette comes in many shapes and sizes. Some look like normal cigarettes and pipes while others resemble a ball point pen.

Also, if you have a vapor cigarette the non-smoking sign doesn’t apply to you, which means that you can smoke anywhere and anytime.

An E-cigarette costs around 50$ dollars. I’d love to own one. I’d also love to believe that smoking it is risk free. As I am crazy about my cigarettes but I am not so keen about getting lung cancer.

PSA: Check the Expiry Date On Food to Postpone Your Expiry Date

Friendly Voice:
Maya: Timmy what’s that you are drinking?
Taymour: It is supposed to be lemonade, but it tastes funky.
Music : funky time by lips inc.
Taymour: No not that kind of funky (as if referring to the song). It tastes expired.
Maya: Oh let me try. Oh dagnaghaggitybagit (surprised), did you check the expiry date before you drank it?
Taymour: I didn’t, let me check that thing… holly macaroni, it is expired! (surprised)
Serious Voice:
Maya : Always remember to check the expiry date on food or drink.
Taymour: As well as being extremely gross, eating expired food is also unhealthy.
Maya: Bacteria build up overtime and open up for disease.
Music Fade out…

Listening Journal 2

NPR, To Casket or Not to Casket:

About the site:
It has a wide variety of programs to listen to and as you are listening you can rewind, so if you miss a part you have a chance to get back to it. But the buffering is very slow compared to the BCC and the world vision report.

To Casket or not to Casket, a Review:

The interviewer Robert Kurwhich presents the speaker “Bernd Heinrich” by telling us about a service we can get from nature for free. Robert then explains is it in a creative way. He starts explaining in a way that everyone can relate to, relating beetles to undertakers and cleaning men; as they do the service of disposing dead animals and making them disappear. There was a sound of a shot, denoting that an animal has been shot, he didn’t have to say anything. The sound explains itself.

The job of the interviewer in this feature is not only to ask questions he also voices information, but not in a scientific way, unlike his guest the specialist in the fields. Both speakers alternate, making the feature sound like a friendly conversation.
There is not much Nat Sound, however the feature was quite entertaining to listen to. The conversation itself was interesting. The shifting of speakers made it easy for the listener to concentrate.

There was a song that was playing as in the middle of the feature. A very funny and exceptional song, it sounded like it was being played on a stage in front of people, since in the background you could hear people cheering and laughing. The song is “dead Earnest”, performed by Pete Seeger.

The feature ended with a suggestion to listen to another feature, also related to animals and death and burial.



With the audio feature, there is a related article that contains a letter from a student who doesn’t want to be put in a casket because this way, animals can’t reach him and so he would not be a part of the eco system.

5 min. 23 sec.



The BBC World Servic News:
About the site:
You can choose the quality of the audio; standard or high quality. The standard quality is very good, and it doesn't take much time to load. You can also choose between using Windows Media Player and Quick time, which makes the site compatible with Windows as well as Macs.

The Review:

The announcer speaks faster than speakers in features. There is mostly no Nat sound or sound effect. But there are other speakers to announce different information, like when he talks about a president he gives a part of the speech. And when he talks about a country he passes the Mic to a reporter to someone closer to the scene.

The language is very precise and professional and straight to the point, unlike features there is no use of metaphors. It is like a fast audio display of events. In five minutes it gave us an idea of what’s happening all over the world. It is not meant to dive in one subject in particular.

5 minutes

World Vision Report, Ultra-Orthodox Women go to work:

About the Site:

It is very simple to use, as soon as you open you'll find the feature stories, you just press on a story and it plays on the same window. nonetheless, you haveto be careful as you listen to the story since it plays one way, you can't rewind it.

The Review:

The story is about how really religious orthodox women in Israel are going to work due to recession

The introducer starts with talking about America since that is where the audience is mostly centered. Then with a Nat sound another speaker speaks, the Nat sound shows that he is in Israel, where the story is at. He interviews a lady, he doesn’t say that she is Jewish, but the listener can tell because of her accent. I like that they do not state the a obvious, since stating the obvious would take up time.

He explains what the life style of the religious of Israelis is like, and then starts to tell a story of a woman who has lived in Israel. The fact that he chose to spoke about one example makes it simpler to the listener and easier to comprehend.
He adds her voice in the feature to continue what he already started saying. I found that it makes me as a listener more alert especially that she is a woman and he is a man which makes the pitch different.

“When something becomes nothing you are in a big problem” I like how recession was described here it is very simplistic and even kids could understand it.

Women have no skills to go into the job market which means women has to go to the job market. The Nat sound changes to the job market, and the guy describes how the scene is like and what the women are wearing, which makes it easier to imagine.

He interviews so many women and it is interesting to listen to their different voices and the different opinions. The opinions are sometimes contradictory which makes the listener think.

7min. 16 sec

Niqab and the AUC

On the third of December 2001, a court decision made it possible for students to wear the Niqab on the AUC campus. After Immam El-Zainy, a part time student raised a lawsuit against the AUC when she was not allowed to enter the library with her Niqab.

A statement issued by AUC last winter banning niqab on its premises said, "We believe strongly that all members of the AUC community have a basic right to know with whom they are dealing, whether in class, the library, labs, the bathroom or anywhere else on campus. This right extends to all faculty, students, staff and even visitors. We use photo IDs for a reason -- to enable us to identify people by matching the person's face to the picture." [Al-Ahram weekly]

I respect and understand this statement by the AUC, however, I believe that even with Niqab you still know who you are dealing with; there is the voice of the person, as well as their style of walking, moving and even dressing and you mostly can still see their eyes and the size of their body. It is true that you can’t see their facial expressions however you can see their eye movement and their body language.

Today on campus we have a Canadian girl studying art wearing the Niqab. However, under certain regulations; she has to show her face as she passes by the security guards on her way to entering campus, also if any faculty member asks her to show her face. I take a class with that girl and I have never felt that her Niqab is annoying me. In fact I respect her for it. With her Niqab she is expressing herself and her beliefs and after all freedom of expression is a human right, and it is a right that the AUC claims to have it protected between its walls.

I saw the girl’s face and she is absolutely gorgeous, and when she talks about her Niqab you can tell that no one has forced her to wear it, just like no one has forced her to convert her religion to Islam.

Nonetheless, people bother her on campus for wearing her Niqab; once in a history class a professor stopped her while she was entering class and told her that she was not allowed with the Niqab on campus and that she has to show her face. He embarrassed her in front of the whole class till she finally was able to justify herself. She said “In Canada people are more accepting of my Niqab than here in Egypt.”

Nat sound Assignment

On Marketing Religion (The Bridges Foundation)

This video starts
with Mr Soliman instructing people to repeat the Islamic Shahada, then gives some information about the Bridges foundation, It's intended to advertise the workshps the foundation offers to internet users.



Yesterday out of curiosity, i attended the first day of an extensive workshop on how to become a Da3ia (A preacher). The workshop which consists of two levels; each for three days. The first one is 4 hours a day and the second level is for 12 hours per day. The workshop is organised by a foundation called the bridges foundation. that aims to present Islam. It has branches in the UK, Kuwait, Austria, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and the United states.

I was told that the workshop would be about dealing with the misconceptions concerning Islam especially after the events of 9/11, and all the bombings in the UK and Madrid, however what I found was lessons on how to market Islam and sell it to people.

"You know who the best Marketer that ever existed? ... It's the Prophet Mohamed" said Mr. Soliman, who is the director of this vast foundation. He kept on through out the lecture talking about his achievements and how he has managed to convert so many people to Islam, and then he spoke to those who were present about skills that would help them to get people to become Muslim. He kept on speaking on how to play with the mind of your target and how to manipulate what you are saying as to get their sympathy. His motto was that all Muslims should act like marketers and sell Islam.

I was shocked by what Mr Soliman was saying, he was teaching all these people, who at that day counted to 157 to be frauds when it came to their religion to manipulate the minds of other people.

The violent way in which he spoke made me feel like he is conducting an army, and it truly scared that at some point i thought that i was going to start crying out of despair.

According to Mr. Soliman, the Christians in Egypt are doing huge campaigns to convert Muslims and so Muslims must fight back and get as much Christians to be Muslims because of course according to him Islam is the only road to salvation.