Music Monday 132 :: Arabs Got Talent "High On Body Fat"

Music Monday 132 :: Arabs Got Talent "High On Body Fat"

I like these guys. It's true that they attend the university where I teach, but that has nothing to do w/their talent. I like how they blend their musical skills with comedy and with songs that are familiar.

Check out High On Body Fat on the 2012 edition of Arabs Got Talent. Good luck to the guys.

Cairo Life :: Flame Trees

The flame trees are in bloom all over Cairo. This was taken in Zamalek in late May, 2012.

The power of positive thinking. ~kim

Music Monday 131 :: Donna Summer "Last Dance"

Music Monday 131 :: Donna Summer's "Last Dance" OFFICIAL VIDEO

The myth that death comes in three's has proven to be true - at least within the past week.

Chuck Brown :: On Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Donna Summer :: On Thursday, May 17, 2012
Robin Gibb : On Monday, May 20, 2012

I didn't know how much I love Donna Summer's music. I've always liked it, but decades after the original releases, I now know that I love it. Hard for me to chose too, a song to highlight for this blog post: "Bad Girls" is funky and "She Works Hard for the Money" is inspiring. But I love the sound of Summer's voice as she starts out singing "Last Dance." And you know I just go crazy when the tempo picks up.

So come on now ... let's dance!

The Egyptian Way :: Egyptian Presidential Elections - Who Will AUCians Vote For?

The Egyptian Way :: Egyptian Presidential Elections (2012) - Who Will AUCians Vote For?

Students in my Audio Production class at The American University in Cairo (AUC) produced voxpox on the topic: "Who will AUCians vote for in the upcoming Egyptian elections?

Man on the Street "I am Voting, Are You?!" by Gehadfathy
Man on the Street by NadaBadawi
Man on the Street by Tamer El Din
Man On The Street by nadinekotry
Man on the street - AUC votes by Nadine Khaled
Man on the street by Asmaa90
Who are you going to vote for? Why? by mariam 91

The Today Show's 10-Minute Workout

I heard The Today Show talking about this workout last week. So I went online to see it for myself. Sheesh. It's a doozy - and I don't mean doable; okay, so of course it's doable, but it's exhausting. They mentioned that this workout is ideal for traveling since you don't need any equipment.

Seems Jenna Wolfe could be a trainer on The Biggest Loser; Wolfe could give Jillian Michaels some competition. Well, maybe not, because Jillian is just tough and has made many-a-challenger cry on TV.

Okay, back to the topic at hand: it's a well produced vid too - but what would you expect from the NBC team. They've condensed the exercise time and they pretty much give us a demo of the exercises.

The workout seems really easy, but don't be fooled. Oh, and don't be ashamed if it takes you more than 10 minutes or if you can't do them all or you can't do all of the reps. You gotta do something though and the first thing is to give it a try!

Here's a list of the exercises in The Today Show 10-Minute Workout:

1. 100 Jumping Jacks
2. 90 Butt Kicks
3. 80 High Knees
4. 70 Kicks
5. 60 Mountain Climbers
6. 50 Toy Soldiers
7. 40 Shoulder Side to Sides
8. 30 Inner Knees
9. 20 Basketball Jump Shots
10. 10 Kick Drops

Let's do this!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Music Monday 130 :: Brian McIntyre plays "Grandfather Blues"

Music Monday 130 :: Brian McIntyre plays "Grandfather Blues" with Leon Bibb

Fellow Bobcat Brian McIntyre died today. This is a blow. I mean, how does this happen? How unfair is this? He was 42.

B-Mac was a perfect guy: fun, energetic, optimistic, realistic, smart, charming ... I could go on and on with the adjectives to describe him - and that's just as a friend. I can only imagine his contributions to his wife and his young son.

Oh, and he was a musician too as you'll see in this video. He throws it down along with long time Cleveland news anchor and poet Leon Bibb.

Recently, I'd received a text from a fellow Bobcat inquiring about McIntyre's health status. From what I'd seen on McIntyre's Facebook page, he had been doing okay after some chemo treatments at the Cleveland Clinic, but he was being checked back in. I thought: this guy's such a trooper, he's gotta and gonna pull through this ...

Here's a quick post on McIntyre's passing from WEWS NewsChannel 5 in Cleveland, where McIntyre was once an anchor.

Prayers and strength for his family. To say that he will be missed is an understatement.

Cairo Life :: Beer Bottle Chandelier

The Stella beer bottle gets repurposed. This time it's at Arabesque in Wust il Ballad. Taken May 2012.

Cairo Life :: Relaxing and Reading

Taken at Tahrir Square on Kasr el Aini Street.

The Egyptian Way :: Neighbors

The Egyptian Way :: Neighbors

This is my audio entry to the Third Coast International Audio Festival's Short Docs Competition. There were some rules and requirements, but it was lots of fun.

Used Audacity for the audio editing. Also, some of the sound was provided by my neighbor Roshy Zangeneh.