Don’t we always take things for granted?

How many of us make it a rule of checking the expiry date on every single bit of food we purchase? I would say not a lot. A colleague of mine was munching on a packet of crisps today and, seemingly, enjoying it. He offered me some as I was making my cup of tea just to catch a glimpse of the expiration date on the pack.

It expired in September, 2004! The funny side of it is that the date was actually written only in Arabic numeric and – get this – typed in REVERSE! Which made it, in addition to being just a little small, fading thing at the bottom, a little harder to read.

“But they taste quite good!” he told me, reluctant to toss it out.

I’ve always wondered if anyone really bothers with expiration dates. I mean come on, it takes 2 or 3 seconds to read it off a pack but we just don’t have that time now do we? And I wonder if the shopkeepers bother to regular check their products every once in a while to replace whatever’s gone bad, or if anyone from the health authorities pay visits to these places? But then again, why would they? It’s only OUR health, only OUR tummies that’ll ache and rumble.

Maybe my colleague could sue?

Ah well, I suppose he would have to die first.

Last night I attended the opening film of the Arab-French Film Festival 2005 at the Dana Cineplex. The French film (subtitled in both Arabic and English, which was rather confusing to say the least), Les Choristes was stunningly beautiful. We laughed, smiled and cried (well, I did at least). It was just such a lovely story and I enjoyed it even with me struggling to keep up with the subtitles!

It was an example of why I love European cinema. It’s more passionate, emotional, REAL and innocent. Films such as Amelie and Monsieur Ibrahim are truly wonderful things. Gladly though, the past couple of years have seen Hollywood turning to a more gentle, artistry approach to filmmaking.

Two examples of that are Lost in Translation (which Bill Murray was nominated for an Oscar for) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (which indications show that Jim Carry might well be nominated for also) - one of my favorite films of 2004 and one I am nominating (and hoping) to win an Oscar come February 27.

I also recently had a wonderful encounter with Bahraini artist Jamal Abdulrahim at his most recent art exhibition held at the Art Gallery last week. We chatted about art, poetry, literature and philosophy. And I was genuinely intrigued and impressed by his “Book of Art” concept, in which he creates actual, authentic books, all hand made, of paintings and drawings.

He also mostly draws inspiration from, and incorporates, classic Arabic poetry into his art. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Jamal on a couple of occasions for the GDN and have always liked his down-to-earth attitude and raw approach to art and life. His views about life, art, philosophy, and yes, even politics, are ones that you can’t help bust nod your head in agreement at hearing.

Let’s hope we see more of him pretty soon.