so why is it that the blog address is *.blogspot.com, but the admin login page is blogger.com? damn it keeps confusing me

am reading Naguib Mahfouz, Nobel prize winning author of novels of postrevolutionary Egypt, his two novels that I've read so far speak of alienation in the face of social and ideological change, as an aftermath of a turbulent revolutionary upheaval. reminds me a lot of soviet literature, not the boorish, Leninist and Stalinist propaganda, but rather the subtle satiritical references to social and governmental ills. as well as kafka and his "Entfremdung" (alienation).

actually i really want to read his "The Children of Gebelaawi", which portrayed the patriarch Gebelaawi and his children, average Egyptians living the lives of Cain and Abel, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. apparently the book was so controversial it was banned in all of the Arab world save Lebanon. fat chance of finding it here


i dunno, lately i've been getting interested in eastern, south asian and and middle eastern culture and philosophical influences. not hardcore, its a little more subtle as yet. and i don't mean the cheesy asian pop culture scene with skinny guys in blonde hair and tight outfits. its that level of mysticism, cultural heritage, combined with the evolution of character and ideals as a result of years of oppression, colonialism and the birth of ideological influences, and not to mention an inherent elegance in simplicity and cleaness in thought and design. suddenly the aristocratic victorian and baroque bombastic influences don't seem so appealing.

after all, in a turbulent world we strive for stability, and often do we find stability in simplicity and straightforwardness.

or am i merely seeking my own definition of the self, my own identity. perhaps that is what the uneasiness and agitation i feel deep, and uneasiness inherent of having no stable ground to grasp and hold the self.

My own Entfremdung?