https://omarkamel.com AI Creative & Production Lead — 20+ years crafting stories across film, music, brand, and emerging media. en Wed, 23 Aug 2023 18:15:53 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/ye-children-of-akhenaten https://omarkamel.com/blog/ye-children-of-akhenaten Congratulivings, ye Childer of Akenhatunwake! Methinks, somewinklings among yee fancy as Muslimans, Chrishtians, Judeites, or whosoevers, but beknowst to me deep drown heart, ye've the mark of… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 23 Aug 2023 18:15:53 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/on-the-folly-of-souls https://omarkamel.com/blog/on-the-folly-of-souls If you believe you have a soul, you’re probably not going to like this, but hey, I’m not here to make you happy. It’s hard to think of a single fiction, other than that of monotheism, that has been… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 18 Jun 2021 00:19:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/dont-art-for-free https://omarkamel.com/blog/dont-art-for-free I really want to address the phenomenon of people asking artists to work for free on commercial projects. You have to understand that not all artists can afford to work for free, and whereas it may… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Tue, 15 Jun 2021 00:37:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/stories https://omarkamel.com/blog/stories People underestimate the importance of stories, but I think that stories are the fabric of our minds. Stories are how stars become constellations, and how flesh becomes character. They’re the… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 29 May 2021 00:47:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/on-the-oa https://omarkamel.com/blog/on-the-oa I want to tell you about The OA. You might not understand why I’d take the time to tell you about a TV show while reality itself seems to be falling apart, children are getting murdered in their… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 26 May 2021 00:25:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/loving-canines https://omarkamel.com/blog/loving-canines What you need to know before bringing a dog into your life: Talk to them. Never hit them. Expressing disappointment when they do bad is punishment enough. Expressing happiness is reward enough. They… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 22 May 2021 00:50:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/for-all-mankind https://omarkamel.com/blog/for-all-mankind Watching the finale episode of Season One of For All Mankind, and it really is a well-written show. Two particular moments stand out so far, and for almost opposite reasons - [SPOILERS] In the first,… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 19 Feb 2021 01:04:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/gabriel-the-paper-towel https://omarkamel.com/blog/gabriel-the-paper-towel Gabriel: Dadda, can you get me a paper towel? Me: Didn’t you just tear one? Gabriel: Yes, but it kept tearing wrong. I want you to tear me a perfect one. Me: Why does it have to be perfect? Gabriel:… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 31 Dec 2020 04:12:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/theyve-pummeled-your-dreams https://omarkamel.com/blog/theyve-pummeled-your-dreams They’ve pummeled your dreams so far into the ground with their bloody fists that you’re willing to vote for an ass like Biden while you think Bernie is god’s gift to humanity, second only to Jesus… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 21 Nov 2020 04:09:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/goodbye-david-graeber https://omarkamel.com/blog/goodbye-david-graeber I just found out that David Graeber died yesterday. He was the smartest guy I've ever had the honor to know. We met on Twitter during the revolution after I’d read his Fragments of An Anarchist… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 03 Sep 2020 03:53:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/goodbye-mahmoud-reda https://omarkamel.com/blog/goodbye-mahmoud-reda I just found out that Mahmoud Reda passed away today. I didn’t know him well but met him while shooting a documentary on his work with Keti Sharif. He was a wonderfully sweet man, and he was… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 10 Jul 2020 03:52:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed https://omarkamel.com/blog/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed Not everybody succeeds at what they try to do, but many keep trying. Some keep trying the same thing until they succeed, and others keep trying different things, like they’re throwing spaghetti at… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 25 Apr 2020 03:46:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/baited-by-biden https://omarkamel.com/blog/baited-by-biden Here’s what you need to understand; Oliver, Colbert, Conan, Fallon, and those other guys, all of them - they’ll push you towards Biden, they’ll make jokes about Bernie, and they’ll portray him as the… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sun, 08 Mar 2020 03:39:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/blowing-up-your-hearts https://omarkamel.com/blog/blowing-up-your-hearts There is nothing this world needs more than empathy. I want to build an empathy bomb, big enough to envelop the whole world in an explosion of empathy. If all the fed can feel the pangs of hunger… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 20 Feb 2020 03:37:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/trumping-your-standards https://omarkamel.com/blog/trumping-your-standards I'm starting to feel that the real threat of a Trump presidency is that it's lowering everybody's standards. It's made people think well of presidents like George W. Bush, a mass-murdering liar by… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 06 Feb 2020 03:35:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/bernie-the-dnc-and-your-shopping-cart https://omarkamel.com/blog/bernie-the-dnc-and-your-shopping-cart For a long time now, I've held the view that the DNC would rather lose the presidential election than choose Bernie Sanders as their Democratic nominee for the presidential election. Everything… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 29 Jan 2020 03:30:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/jan25-2020 https://omarkamel.com/blog/jan25-2020 Today is a special, heartbreaking day for everybody who participated in the attempt to liberate Egypt from the yoke of oppression. We tried, and we failed. Our attempt was at first noble, then grew… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 25 Jan 2020 03:24:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/1917-2 https://omarkamel.com/blog/1917-2 1917 is a damn good movie. By focusing on a microcosm, a tiny slice of story within what was otherwise a ‘world’ war, it creates incredible cinema. The cinematography by Roger Deakins is fantastic.… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 22 Jan 2020 03:19:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/gabriel-hide-seek https://omarkamel.com/blog/gabriel-hide-seek Gabriel: Dadda!! Let’s play Hide n’ Seek! Me (exhausted): How about we play Hide n’ Forget..? Gabriel: What’s that? Me: You hide, and I forget about it. Gabriel: Is that a real game, or did you just… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sun, 09 Jun 2019 04:15:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/ahmed-mohie https://omarkamel.com/blog/ahmed-mohie This brave young man went to Tahrir today, holding a sign that says 'Leave, Sisi", ' thus making him undoubtedly the bravest man in Egypt, if not the world. Sadly, I fear the worst outcome will… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 01 Mar 2019 02:16:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/saudi-fing-arabia https://omarkamel.com/blog/saudi-fing-arabia In 2002, when a fire erupted at a girl's school in Mecca, members of the 'Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice,' otherwise known in Saudi Arabia as the ' mutawiyin'… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Mon, 25 Feb 2019 20:43:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/bernie-sanders-is-no-mike-gravel https://omarkamel.com/blog/bernie-sanders-is-no-mike-gravel I wish Bernie Sanders were the real deal, but he isn't. He supports drone strikes and was okay with an illegal 'kill list' and backed up corrupt Clinton when he didn't secure the DNC's support. You… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 20 Feb 2019 23:39:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/brilliant-vice https://omarkamel.com/blog/brilliant-vice I Saw Vice yesterday. It's an absolutely great movie. Well written, very well directed, great performances all around. It's rare to see a movie tackle such a serious subject with such so much humor… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 13 Feb 2019 23:33:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/aquaman https://omarkamel.com/blog/aquaman Aquaman is terrible. The jokes don’t land. The close-ups and metal riffing on the little quips are so pathetic they’re laughable. The heroic arc is completely lacking, with everybody telling us how… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 26 Dec 2018 23:31:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/dc-in-crisis https://omarkamel.com/blog/dc-in-crisis I like some of Tom King’s work, and some of his earlier Batman stories were really good (I’m ignoring the Batman Wedding debacle), but Heroes in Crisis should have been nipped in the bud by the… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 28 Nov 2018 23:28:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-lion-king https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-lion-king Excited about the new Lion King? In case you forgot, this was the story: A brain-dead cub listens to his lying uncle and gets his father killed. He cowardly abandons his now-widowed mother, is… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Mon, 26 Nov 2018 23:27:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/dc-fleecing-comic-book-fans https://omarkamel.com/blog/dc-fleecing-comic-book-fans I'm really tired of all the various editions that get published to fleece comic book readers, and that try to make a buck off prospective 'collectors.' Look at this one, for example - the issue for… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 24 Oct 2018 23:22:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/goodbye-gamil-ratib https://omarkamel.com/blog/goodbye-gamil-ratib Egypt has suffered a great loss today, as Gamil Ratib, a fantastic actor who made many of his roles unforgettable, died at 92. Aside from being a wonderful actor, Gamil was also a kind, gentle, and… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 19 Sep 2018 23:15:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/fisheres-dangerous-argument https://omarkamel.com/blog/fisheres-dangerous-argument I've read Ezzedine Fishere's article describing how the military will eventually relinquish power. I like Fishere, and I've liked him since he showed up on my TV screen one day and suggested that the… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 06 Jul 2018 23:08:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-myth-of-the-honest-broker https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-myth-of-the-honest-broker Only the United States would have the sheer arrogance and delusion to refer to itself as an “honest broker” or try to convince the world that it’s seeking a “peaceful solution” to the Palestinian… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 16 May 2018 21:45:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/your-secret-is-bullshit https://omarkamel.com/blog/your-secret-is-bullshit The universe does not respond to your ‘energy’ in kind, and I'm incredibly exhausted by people who claim that it does. All these ideas, whether from ‘The Secret’ or taught by self-styled second-hand… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 24 Mar 2018 21:34:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/deus-nazis https://omarkamel.com/blog/deus-nazis At a dEUS concert, before it begins, and looking around, I notice that there are security guards dressed in vaguely military colors (beige, light brown), and for some reason, they're all wearing Nazi… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 28 Feb 2018 21:32:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/augmented-synesthesia https://omarkamel.com/blog/augmented-synesthesia So I'm near my apartment in Zamalek, just taking a walk. Run into these two girls that I'm apparently friends with. They show me this new funky app they've coded (or downloaded, don't remember, but I… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 23 Feb 2018 21:28:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/jan-25th-2018 https://omarkamel.com/blog/jan-25th-2018 We're the ones who lost. We're the ones who took to the streets in the hope that if there were enough of us out there, things would change. We're the ones you saw down from your balconies, the ones… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 25 Jan 2018 21:25:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/comic-book-lessons https://omarkamel.com/blog/comic-book-lessons Things I've learned from reading comics: Time Travel is messy, the good guys always win, sometimes the good guys lose, sometimes winning isn't quite winning, you can be good and poor, you can be good… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 10 Jan 2018 01:12:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-talking-dead https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-talking-dead I am sick of those who, while living in comfort, would seek to rob those who suffer of their opportunity to revolt because they believe that all hope is conspiracy. These condescending idiots are not… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 03 Jan 2018 21:21:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/hey-america-its-not-trump-thats-making-you-look-bad https://omarkamel.com/blog/hey-america-its-not-trump-thats-making-you-look-bad Dear Americans, I know a lot of you think Trump is making you look bad internationally. I understand that. The man is an oaf—a buffoon. But America has looked bad for a while now. It started with… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Tue, 28 Nov 2017 21:13:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/right-around-corner https://omarkamel.com/blog/right-around-corner You’re impatient. All you have to do is wait. Everything takes time. Give the man a chance. This has been the chorus, and it arose within months after El Sisi came to office. It’s still there, spoken… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 25 Oct 2017 18:54:44 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/bare-arms https://omarkamel.com/blog/bare-arms In principle, the Second Amendment makes sense. A people should be empowered to take down a government that's gone rogue. However, since the amendment was written, things have changed. It's no longer… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 04 Oct 2017 18:36:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/just-trump-wrong-doesnt-mean-youre-right https://omarkamel.com/blog/just-trump-wrong-doesnt-mean-youre-right It’s true that Trump is an idiot who lacks all understanding of nuance, but it’s also true that in confronting him, many people also forego any understanding of nuance… Trump’s last press conference… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 16 Aug 2017 18:59:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/dunkirk-tedious-false-hyped https://omarkamel.com/blog/dunkirk-tedious-false-hyped When compared to some great classic war movies, Dunkirk is both mediocre and unnecessary. Nolan, it seems, can’t forget that Memento is what initially made him, and uses a time-shifting device that… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sun, 06 Aug 2017 19:15:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/war-for-the-planet-of-the-apes https://omarkamel.com/blog/war-for-the-planet-of-the-apes Saw "War For The Planet of The Apes" yesterday and it was very, very good. I was worried that it would be an all-out 'war' movie with big action set-pieces, but despite that it has a bit of that, it… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 14 Jul 2017 20:40:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/consciousness https://omarkamel.com/blog/consciousness Spinoza saw... that if a falling stone could reason, it would think, "I want to fall at the rate of thirty-two feet per second." The Android and the Human (1972), PKD omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Tue, 11 Apr 2017 16:01:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/egypt-needs-rehab https://omarkamel.com/blog/egypt-needs-rehab The problems facing Egypt today seem numerous, but that's an illusion. All these problems are just symptoms of one disease; the military dictatorship that has ruled Egypt for more than 60 years.… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 09 Feb 2017 15:53:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/american-responsibility https://omarkamel.com/blog/american-responsibility Americans generally don't want to take responsibility for their choices, or, for that matter, for their very character as a nation. When children don't pay attention at school, you don't say they… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Tue, 10 Jan 2017 20:33:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-golden-age-of-the-internet https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-golden-age-of-the-internet People often think of current cultural time as divided between 'pre-internet' and 'post-internet', and they generally attribute all the modern online insanity to the latter. However, in doing so,… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 30 Nov 2016 20:31:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/idiot-splaining https://omarkamel.com/blog/idiot-splaining It's the height of intellectual laziness to accuse any man who has anything to say about women or gender relations of 'mansplaining'. It's not clever. It betrays a complete inability to actually… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 18 Nov 2016 20:28:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-wisdom-of-the-body https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-wisdom-of-the-body You are your body, and it is you. Your body is not something you (as a fairy tale disembodied spirit) inhabit; it is you. We are our bodies, and claims to the contrary serve religious zealots and all… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 15 Oct 2016 20:25:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/bless-the-young https://omarkamel.com/blog/bless-the-young This keeps happening, and I want to mention it. Every once in a while, as I am wont to do, I get into a bit of an argument or a conversational clash online. Often others get involved, people… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 08 Jun 2016 15:36:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/children-of-akhnaten https://omarkamel.com/blog/children-of-akhnaten Congratulations, ye Children of Akhenaten! I know some of you like to think of yourselves as Muslims, or Christians, or Jews, for that matter, but we both know your basic operating premise is that of… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Mon, 06 Jun 2016 15:31:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/ill-equipped https://omarkamel.com/blog/ill-equipped You expect the universe to be logical, and perhaps it is, but you're hardly in possession of all the pieces of the puzzle. In fact, you do not even know how many puzzle pieces there are. Universal… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 02 Jun 2016 15:25:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/kind-to-strangers https://omarkamel.com/blog/kind-to-strangers Yes, you should avoid people who are unkind to strangers but do not make the mistake of thinking that those who are kind to strangers find it equally easy to be kind to those with whom they're close.… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 02 Jun 2016 15:24:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/judgemental https://omarkamel.com/blog/judgemental We judge all the time, and that's how we decide who we like, who we don't, who we trust, and who we don't. Who we are friendly towards, and who we're not. This isn't something 'wrong' that we do. In… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 12 May 2016 14:54:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/if-i-could https://omarkamel.com/blog/if-i-could Bruno. Before he went back to Italy, to warn him not to go. To warn him of Mocenigo. Or, alternatively, in 1600 before they burned him, to tell him that a full four hundred years later, people would… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 08 Apr 2016 00:59:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/goodbye-mohamed-mahmoud https://omarkamel.com/blog/goodbye-mohamed-mahmoud The battle of Mohamed Mahmoud, as it is called, was one of the most important battles of the January revolution, and for several reasons – We had failed, as a people and as a revolutionary community,… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 31 Mar 2016 19:20:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/sympathetic https://omarkamel.com/blog/sympathetic It seems like an obviously bad idea to bash anybody anywhere for sympathizing with victims of a crime. Having said that, it's also a bad idea to ignore why some people are taking offense, not to the… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sun, 15 Nov 2015 14:47:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/fascist-rivalries https://omarkamel.com/blog/fascist-rivalries All fascists are the same, even though they speak against each other and war against each other. They do so not because they are mortal enemies but because they are rivals for power. That's all.… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 14 Nov 2015 20:22:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/law-of-human-behavior https://omarkamel.com/blog/law-of-human-behavior For every sickening action, there is an opposite and at least equally sickening reaction. omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 29 Oct 2015 20:21:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/death-on-wheels https://omarkamel.com/blog/death-on-wheels Fuck cars. Cars are a failed concept, to be honest. We'll outgrow them soon enough. We shouldn't be putting fleshy creatures in metal boxes running around at high speeds and then act surprised at the… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:42:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/memories-of-revolution https://omarkamel.com/blog/memories-of-revolution In 2011, as we walked past Agouza on our march from Mohandessein, people cheered to us from their balconies. Families looked out of their windows and they expressed both pride and joy, young men… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 28 Aug 2015 01:10:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/memories-of-revolution-2 https://omarkamel.com/blog/memories-of-revolution-2 In 2011, as we walked past Agouza on our march from Mohandessein, people cheered us on from their balconies. Families looked out of their windows, and they expressed both pride and joy, young men… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 26 Aug 2015 20:18:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/complexity https://omarkamel.com/blog/complexity I find most of the complexity, when it comes to mental issues, to be illusory. Then again, I also think that to some extent, all our 'conscious thought' is literally our brain's 'noise' and a result… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sun, 09 Aug 2015 14:38:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/survivors-guilt https://omarkamel.com/blog/survivors-guilt You survived, and you're sad. It's easy to think that you're sad because you survived, but that's not quite true. It's not like you don't have better reasons to be sad, smarter reasons. You're sad… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 08 Aug 2015 14:36:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/social-media-posts https://omarkamel.com/blog/social-media-posts Too often, we react to other people's posts on social media as though they represent the final conclusions, thoughts, and emotions of those posting. More often than not, they are nothing but their… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 02 Jul 2015 20:16:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/je-suis-pissed https://omarkamel.com/blog/je-suis-pissed The notion that Charlie Hebdo is a purely satirical magazine that attacks everybody and cannot, therefore, be considered racist seems to generally be espoused by well-meaning but uninformed people.… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 09 Jan 2015 10:09:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/cycles-of-terror https://omarkamel.com/blog/cycles-of-terror I’ve said before that “If you want to find the truth, assume that everybody is lying, but if you want to solve a problem, assume that everybody is telling the truth.” Today, I find this relevant. We… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 08 Jan 2015 19:13:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/free-speech-cartoons-and-murder https://omarkamel.com/blog/free-speech-cartoons-and-murder Americans, like citizens from other countries that have ‘absolute’ freedom of speech, do not quite understand that in France, things aren’t quite the same way. For example, in France, Roger Garaudy,… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 07 Jan 2015 19:27:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/was-it-a-mistake-to-remove-morsi https://omarkamel.com/blog/was-it-a-mistake-to-remove-morsi On the 30 th of June, 2013, we took to the streets to protest the rule of Dr. Mohamed Morsi, a member of the so-called Muslim Brotherhood and then president of Egypt. We protested against him, and… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Tue, 06 Jan 2015 19:21:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/he-cries https://omarkamel.com/blog/he-cries He cries, and there's very little you can do to help. He cries, and it makes you feel useless. You try to console him; you smile at him, you make silly faces, you do whatever comes to mind. If it… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 26 Dec 2014 10:06:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/egypt-waiting-for-sunset https://omarkamel.com/blog/egypt-waiting-for-sunset How long must we endure? It is difficult to take events in Egypt seriously right now. It has become normal to see legal and judicial travesties on a daily basis; a news story about two people being… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Tue, 23 Dec 2014 19:33:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/sick-of-knowledge https://omarkamel.com/blog/sick-of-knowledge We're sick of knowledge, so we don't really watch the news. Let me guess; you'd say - it's...bad? Of course, it is. Jaded. Forgotten is the fact that your disinterest is rooted in futility. Had the… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 05 Nov 2014 10:04:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/egypt-bottoms-narrative-choices-and-frogs https://omarkamel.com/blog/egypt-bottoms-narrative-choices-and-frogs There are certain things people need to realize first to sense the necessity of change and, in some cases, the urgency. Let’s start with a basic social truth – there is no ‘bottom.’ Your society,… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Tue, 04 Nov 2014 23:29:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/egypts-growing-catalog-of-absurdities https://omarkamel.com/blog/egypts-growing-catalog-of-absurdities As an Egyptian in Egypt these days, you get used to absurdity. It starts when you wake up and look at the news and then frustrates you during the day as you see it resonate with some of the people… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Mon, 27 Oct 2014 23:52:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/this-is-the-egypt-you-have-allowed-to-exist https://omarkamel.com/blog/this-is-the-egypt-you-have-allowed-to-exist This is the only Egypt your actions have allowed, one in which innocents are sentenced for standing up for their own rights or the rights of others. It is the same Egypt, in which you support a… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sun, 26 Oct 2014 23:48:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/taking-sides https://omarkamel.com/blog/taking-sides It's strange how some givens have been obfuscated by politics and fictional notions such as 'state,' 'nation,' 'patriotism,' and 'security.' You'd think that some basic issues were either… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Mon, 29 Sep 2014 09:58:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/a-bomber-called-mariam https://omarkamel.com/blog/a-bomber-called-mariam They are taken with the woman in her pilot costume, they see her wearing her helmet, in their heads, they consider her as part of an ‘oppressed’ group, which is to say, Arab women, and they imagine… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 26 Sep 2014 23:58:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/starving-for-justice https://omarkamel.com/blog/starving-for-justice When we speak of the imprisoned protesters in Egypt, many of whom are now, and have been, on a hunger strike, many of us think of the physical pain itself; how hungry you get in the first few days,… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 13 Sep 2014 23:56:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/philip-k-dick-on-israel https://omarkamel.com/blog/philip-k-dick-on-israel This is a letter Philip K. Dick wrote in response to Israel’s bombing of the Osirak reactor in Iraq in 1981. It’s worth reading these days because, as with his science fiction, PKD remains… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 15 Aug 2014 00:03:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/message-to-zionists https://omarkamel.com/blog/message-to-zionists Everything you have you have stolen. You are backing up an apartheid state that is racist, fundamentalist, and insane. You look at little children, and you consider them a 'demographic threat.' You… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 25 Jul 2014 09:52:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-military https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-military The military will starve you, then feed you. They will raise gas prices then offer you transportation on their buses. They will make deals with terrorists, then offer to save you from them. Behind… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Mon, 07 Jul 2014 09:48:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/imagine https://omarkamel.com/blog/imagine Imagine that a corporation ran your country. Now imagine this corporation has managed to take over at least a third of the country’s assets. Imagine if this corporation enacted laws that allowed it… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sun, 06 Jul 2014 00:06:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/why-are-you-so-afraid https://omarkamel.com/blog/why-are-you-so-afraid It's quite insulting when people keep accusing us of expecting too much, of wanting a utopia that's impossible to achieve. We may be fools because we keep trying, because we do not let your fears… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 12 Jun 2014 00:41:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-colors-of-fascism https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-colors-of-fascism You have to remember, fascism is not a specific color, but an attitude, and all colors, once they seek to impose themselves, can become fascist. This is why you have red fascists, and blue fascists,… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Thu, 05 Jun 2014 00:10:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-alternatives-you-ignored https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-alternatives-you-ignored A few points need to be made here. First of all, I find it at least a bit strange when people refer to me as part of a ‘you’ that they call the ‘opposition’ and then tell me that this ‘we’ was… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Tue, 03 Jun 2014 00:13:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/charmed-by-security https://omarkamel.com/blog/charmed-by-security Who are all these people who are so easily charmed by the promise of security? Are you all cowards? Is that it? How does the notion of security grip you so tightly? And yet, in other times, you post… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Mon, 26 May 2014 09:43:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-hamdein-argument https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-hamdein-argument The summer of 2011 must’ve been an incredible time for Hamdein Sabbahi. He was one of the darlings of the revolution, known as a left-leaning Nasserist (whatever that means), ignored only by the… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 03 May 2014 04:49:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/egypt-its-a-matter-of-opinion https://omarkamel.com/blog/egypt-its-a-matter-of-opinion So, finally – when their lackluster attempts at reason fall apart, they tell you it’s just a difference of opinion and that it’s okay to disagree. So yeah, it’s just ‘opinion’… Well – It’s my… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 16 Apr 2014 04:57:02 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/cuffed https://omarkamel.com/blog/cuffed Being held by armed men - in most cases, that would be the police or the military - is something anybody who's never been arrested or tried for a crime can't ever quite understand. In my case, I… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 22 Mar 2014 18:47:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/goodbye-tony-benn https://omarkamel.com/blog/goodbye-tony-benn I just caught up to the news that Tony Benn died. I don't know much about Tony Benn, but what I knew of him caused me to respect him a great deal. The UK literally had to re-wire some laws because he… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 15 Mar 2014 15:28:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-lying-animal https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-lying-animal I am generally quite aware of what I'm saying, and I work hard on maintaining what I refer to as the integrity of my internal monologue. If I do things that contradict what I say, then I tend to work… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Fri, 14 Mar 2014 18:44:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/how-long https://omarkamel.com/blog/how-long It takes no genius to recognize that Egypt is off the rails. Most Egyptian media is exhibiting an undying commitment to polarization, despite it being quite well known that, behind closed doors, the… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Mon, 03 Mar 2014 04:57:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/our-faith-in-humanity https://omarkamel.com/blog/our-faith-in-humanity We talk about losing faith in humanity because we see and do terrible things. But think of what that means. What are we comparing humanity to in order to be disappointed? Are we comparing it to the… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 19 Feb 2014 13:14:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/empath-my-ass https://omarkamel.com/blog/empath-my-ass It's a little worrying that people are now identifying themselves as 'empaths,' and, of course, that label, once unleashed, attracts people who think of themselves as good people, people with a… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Mon, 17 Feb 2014 09:35:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/just-do-it https://omarkamel.com/blog/just-do-it I love it when people do good things. I hate it when they tell everybody about it. Suddenly, the act is not so good anymore, not so noble, not so altruistic. The telling of it pollutes it, renders it… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Tue, 11 Feb 2014 09:32:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-choices-we-make https://omarkamel.com/blog/the-choices-we-make Perhaps one of the biggest changes we’ll all felt since Jan 25, 2011, is – the euphoria and the burden of – choice. Will you go down? What for? Will you risk your life? On which issues? What is the… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Mon, 10 Feb 2014 13:29:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/egypt-story-arcs https://omarkamel.com/blog/egypt-story-arcs Obligatory recap It’s difficult to know how far back to go – but let’s just say this; it’s January 2014, the Post-Morsi constitution has passed, with a (ridiculously) high approval but a relatively… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Sat, 01 Feb 2014 13:44:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/super-villain https://omarkamel.com/blog/super-villain I had a bizarre dream. I was some kind of superhero, and I had to track down this terrible supervillain, and finally, when I found him, I saw that he had dressed himself up as a terrible patchwork of… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Tue, 05 Nov 2013 21:05:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/le-morte-degypte https://omarkamel.com/blog/le-morte-degypte Excuse the title. I like the Camelot myths. I’ve never read the original Malory, though, and wasn’t quite so interested in it when I was a child. The whole knight in shining armor thing never quite… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 30 Oct 2013 23:34:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/football-heroes https://omarkamel.com/blog/football-heroes So this man works at some office job all day, enduring an asshole of a boss, and then he gets off work, barely eats a snack, and then drives a cab all night. And he's doing this every day, just to… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Tue, 15 Oct 2013 09:25:00 GMT https://omarkamel.com/blog/al-shater https://omarkamel.com/blog/al-shater Khairat El Shater was in my apartment. Sitting on a sofa in the outside room. Only the sofa was where the chest is. It was me and a friend, and Khairat El Shater. And it's like I was trying to talk… omar@omarkamel.com (Omar Kamel) Wed, 07 Aug 2013 18:44:00 GMT