Gilded Serpent: Mohamed El Hosseny

Gilded Serpent has just published my account of the workshop taught by Mohamed El Hosseny (sponsored by Nourhan Sharif) during this summer's heat wave. It was great fun! Click here for the story: Mohamed El Hosseny: "More is...More!"

King Tut in Times Square

King Tut in Times Square? Totally Orientalish. This recent review in the New York Times talks more about the show as spectacle and commodity in addition to its undeniable grandeur. It is a money making venture for the Egyptian Department of Antiquities and rightfully so. It's in Times Square because the Met couldn't afford it. The review in the New York Times is an educational first read for this event,"Mystique of Tut, Increasing with Age". But for a better exploration of the political and historical and comical profile of Hawass, the New Yorker's December article, "Letter from Cairo: The Pharoah".

"The Thief of Baghdad," 1924

I couldn't resist posting this photo of Douglas Fairbanks in "The Thief of Baghdad." The film is showing in Austin TX for their Orientalist Silent Film Festival..."focusing on early Western views of the Orient."