A Funny Story from Dubomedy

Dubomedy launched a new mixed comedy event series this weekend, at its now regular venue, Fraiche Cafe and Bistro in JLT. Held as it was in the early evening at a cafe, the first event of this "It's a Funny Story!" series had a significant youth demographic in attendance. Also, a nice raised stage.

The evening began with stand-up, as the lineup of comedians narrated humorous tales that may or may not be entirely true. I only got there in time for the last few, but well in time to see sets from some of my favorite Dubai comedians.

And after the interval, several definitely made-up funny stories were created by Dubomedy's Improv Revolution troupe in primarily short-form WLIIA-style improv games, including a couple of fun games I had not previously seen from the troupe. Mainly thanks to the more experienced actors, it was a generally enjoyable and engaging show.

Math, sociology, and a unified theory by Dr Guillermina Jasso

Can social forces be quantified? According to NYU sociology professor Dr Guillermina Jasso, who discussed just such a question at this NYU Abu Dhabi public lecture, not only can they be quantified, they can even be figured into a mathematical "unified theory"of sociology and social psychology that can be used to make real-world predictions. I found this talk consistently fascinating, not in the least because modeling of social forces is of professional interest to me.

Dr Jasso's introduced the leanings and engines of societies, and their permutations, and went on to talk about her "New Unified Theory" in terms of its constituent social forces: justice, status, and power. I don't have nearly as deep a background in sociology, but her descriptions of how these forces could be measured and their dynamics fitted to familiar mathematical functions seemed quite plausible.

Things got even more interesting when it came down to applications. Dr Jossa's portfolio of validated predictions based on her models was impressive, listing several predictions per slide about how the theory could be applied to model outcomes in matters of war, crime, family, marriage, politics, etc. It might be worth keeping an eye on related developments.

Two new books for Dubai poetry fans

A busy season for the local poetry scene gave us book launches by two prolific Dubai-based poets: Frank Dullaghan's third title, The Same Roads Back, and Zeina Hashem Beck's award-winning debut title, To Live in Autumn. Following grand individual launch events, the poets held a joint reading session at DIFC's Bookshop readers' cafe.

After reading out a few of the most characteristic and/or popular poems from their portfolios, Frank and Zeina took questions from and discussed their art with attendees. Topics on the table included the characteristics of "good poetry", free verse vs. metre and rhyme, Zeina's peculiar but apparently effective multilingual composition technique, and some anecdotes and advice on getting published and getting feedback.

Zeina's poems lend themselves well to performance, specifically the creative punctuation and the repetition of words or lines for effect. It makes pleasant reading too, though. Generally more urban in context, the poems refer to colorful personalities, and paint you-had-to-be-there experiences, many of which seem tinged with nostalgia.

Frank's use of metaphorical flourish, combined with everyday language and attention to detail, paints lucid imagery of human and natural scenery, using such phrasing as "quality of light" and "green state of grace". One is easily transported one into the moment, into the perspective of observer or participant. The seemingly mundane is rendered intimate and significant.

The differences between the lived stories of a grey-bearded Irishman and a Lebanese woman who was a college student not long ago are evident in their respective books. There's also some overarching commonality in the use of free verse and vivid descriptions of personal observations. Both books will therefore appeal to fans of this style, while offering differences in content and delivery sufficient to warrant reading both.

Fanny Azzuro piano recital

Keeping to its tradition of organizing quality musical programs, local Alliance Françaises brought a great French pianist to the UAE's audiences for two evenings of recital. Given my schedule for the week, I figured it would be more convenient getting to the Abu Dhabi program at Novotel al Bustan on the island.

AF Abu Dhabi director (and good musician himself) Jean-Yves Carnino introduced the event and the pianist, Fanny Azzuro. The event was held in a ballroom that had been set up with a projector and camera to ensure that everyone got to see her technique live.

Azzuro's recital began strong with Rachmaninov's Variations on a Theme of Corelli -- a dynamic piece that also did well to exhibit her skill -- and continued to impress with other early 20th century works of diverse style and mood, especially Ravel's Mirrors. And with my passion for the genre, I naturally loved Kapustin's jazzy Variations Op 41 at the end.

Horrible Histories Barmy Britain

The Horrible Histories musical comedy theatre show returned to Dubai this weekend with Barmy Britain, a journey through British history. Although it was staged this time in the huge Madinat Theatre, and with more showtime options from which to choose, I nonetheless made a relatively early booking, as the show is immensely popular. I'm not sure how many other adult fans of the TV show were in the audience, as almost everyone else seemed to be accompanying children. Even I was the only one, though, who cares? As a history geek, I could not miss it.

No material from the TV series was used in the hour-long show, as far as I recall from the former, but the two-man cast still had some great sketches scripted and songs composed to bring alive British historical facts and figures, from Boudica to Charles I to Victoria. The HH TV show tradition of contrasting historical contexts with modern culture ad absurdum could be seen in some of the sketches, such as Queen Elizabeth going undercover, and the Dick Turpin story done in the style of a reality TV show. The actors did well for the number of very diverse roles they had to play, pulling quick costume changes between sketches, and delivering a very energetic performance all through.

So while the show was oriented towards a child audience (with a couple of sing-along games and such), I still found most of it engaging at my level, and certainly very educational.

Bahria on The Beach

Just the day before I gave this place a try, I read a breaking post online about a lunch stopover by the ruler of Dubai. That kind of set the bar pretty high, I admit. I was about to tread in the footsteps of royalty.

Bahria certainly has the location going for it: the white sands and azure waters of the beach ahead matching the restaurant decor palette, the towers of JBR in the backdrop, the bustling open mall. The weather being what it is at this time of the year, throngs were thronging, and alfresco was the natural choice. Traffic at JBR is still awful, though -- it took me over 45 minutes to get to The Beach from TECOM. Next time, tram.

The pescetarian Arabesque fusion set sampling menu began with a seafood bisque (bottom right). It was not the typical bisque though, with the curry-like spices making it taste more like a laksa. Cold starters were generally good, especially the calamari salad (top right, right), the beetroot-shrimp salad (bottom left, center) and the dips. Among those the fish tajine (bottom left, right -- actually, strips of fish on hummus, not like the North African tajine) was the best, with the nutty house hummus coming in second (top right, top right). The shrimp fattet (top left) was interesting, but not really to my taste; shrimp with yogurt gave me a weird mouthfeel.

The only cold starter I could not quite take was the provençal (top); it was overpoweringly sour. The hot starters were great overall, though, and I liked the seafood kebbeh (bottom) the most -- perfect texture, inside and outside.

No complaints for the mains. The fish tasted fresh and cooked to perfection, and the sauces provided went very well with. The rice looked like it might be dull to the palate, but it was surprisingly good in its own right.

I had to skedaddle midway through dessert, but the ayesh al saraya I sampled before leaving made a perfectly sweet and creamy end to a generally very good meal.

Dubai Chamber Orchestra autumn concert

The Dubai Chamber Orchestra held this season's concert today at a new venue: the Centre for Musical Arts at Gold and Diamond Park. The performance hall was fairly large, but extra seats had to be brought in to accommodate the turnout. Additional venue bonus: a metro station right next door.

Conductor Barnaby Priest led the orchestra through a three-part program, consisting of Mozart's Overture to Der Schauspieldirektor, Carl Nielsen's Little Suite for Strings, and a beautiful Symphony No 99 by Haydn. A subset of the orchestra also delighted with a special performance of a collaborative artistic piece composed by Priest, featuring the littoral-themed video art and haunting countertenor talent of Janet Bellotto and Rodney Gilchrist, respectively.