The first time Amgad Naguib became involved in cinema was in the mid-1990s. Some film school students heard he had a sizeable collection of costumes and memorabilia, and they wanted to use them as props in their graduation projects. Naguib was living with his family at the time, and when they came to visit him, he showed them a room that was stacked wall to wall with old books and photo albums, vintage outfits from the 1930s and 1940s and knick-knacks from the turn of the century. It was like a movie set, but which movie?
Standing amid piles of clothes, musical instruments, objets d'art, and what looked like abandoned window frames, the students immediately recognised the visual potential of this jumble of extraordinary objects.
They were working on a film called Charlie, which had a period theme. The last shot, which they were going to film from Naguib's window, was of a vintage automobile driving around a corner at dawn. The car, however, didn't arrive. Sleep-deprived and with a deadline to meet, the director had to think quickly. He had Naguib dress up in a 1950s coat, put on a gangster hat and brandish a cane. Then, in the near-empty streets down below, Naguib walked around the corner. In the film, you don't see his face. What you see is a weather-beaten old foreigner walking alone in Cairo's pre-revolutionary streets, ambling slowly into an uncertain future before the credits roll. The students were elated and Amgad's phone has been ringing ever since.
Over the past 15 years, Naguib has supplied costumes and props for more than a dozen films and television documentaries, the best known of which are Halim (2004), Heliopolis (2009), and Microphone (2010).
As a teenager, he had a friend who owned an antique business downtown and the two used to hang out together at the shop. Dealers would come in to offer discarded paintings, antique furniture, or even stacks of old magazines. Naguib would listen and learn.
One day, his family gave him a precious silver plate that used to belong to his grandmother. "It's yours, take it," his mother said without elaboration.
This was his long-awaited chance to break into the world of antique dealing. He went down the street to the nearest shop and sold it. Later on, his more-experienced friend told him that he was cheated. The 100 Egyptian pounds ($150 at the time) he received for the plate was not even a fraction of its real value.
Naguib used the money he made to buy a set of chinaware that bore the Semiramis Hotel insignia, a set that survived the 1952 Cairo fire. Again, the friend shook his head disapprovingly and told him that he paid too much.
It wasn't an auspicious beginning, but it was a beginning nevertheless. He kept buying and selling stuff, not the real antiques that most people were after but the pieces the dealers didn't care for.
In time, his collection of memorabilia expanded. He amassed heaps of pens and cigarette lighters, shoes and evening gowns, walking canes and hats, cinema tickets and invitations, train schedules and art catalogues.
The stuff he collected was intimate, time-specific, and charged with memories. These were the things people invested their lives in, not the things they invested their money in.
This particular kind of collecting is what eventually made Naguib an asset to film producers. And it is not just the stuff he has, but also the things he knows, the glimpse he provides into the lives of people who lived a few generations ago. For Amgad, a door from the 1960s is not complete unless it has a latch and a handle from the same period. An entrance from the 1970s is flawed unless the light switch is authentic. He has a natural flair for period detail - like a man transported from the past in a time machine. He knows what fashions and hairdos were popular in the 1940s and what games and pastimes entered the scene in the 1960s and 1970s.
One of his first assignments was in the western desert. A German director was shooting a film called Singing Stones, which told the story of a geologist who fantasises about the mountains, imagining that they sing at night. The producers needed to create a scene involving scientists. To help them, Naguib packed a truck with mechanical gadgets and wires, and used these to rig up what looked like a research station in the desert. It was on this set that he first met the costume designer Dina Nadim.
When Dina started working as costume designer for Halim, a big production about the life of the iconic singer Abdel Halim Hafez, she called him up. What she wanted were costumes to cover a time span from the 1940s to the 1970s. Dina sat with Naguib and the two made a list of the characters that were to appear in the film: the police constables, nurses, doctors, and artists. They also closely examined piles of photos from the period.
Naguib bought hundreds ofoutfits for the extras in Halim. If you see the film, pay attention to the set for the song Qareat al-Fingal (The Fortune Teller) and note the authentic-looking attire worn by the audience.
"At one point, I came back from Port Said with 400 old shirts, including 70 shirts from the 1950s still in their cellophane wrapping!" Naguib says. He also acquired genuine period wristwatches and medical glasses to complement the costumes.
Since Amgad's set design business took off, his approach to collecting has changed. "I now buy things that I normally wouldn't have touched."
One day, he turned down two Beethoven busts that a dealer wanted to sell him. A few days later, a director doing a documentary about the writer Tawfiq al-Hakim was on the phone. "Can you get me two Beethoven busts?" he asked. It was too late, the busts were no longer on the market.
When you supply films with props, you need to put your personal taste aside, Naguib explains. Gaudy is fine, so long as it is authentic. "In the 1950s, everyone had tableaux of needlework in their houses. I used to hate these, but now I buy them."
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Why are you, you?
Why are you, you?
From this question, a new beginning.
From this question, a new destiny.
For you are a world, and a meeting of worlds.
Our dream is to unite that which has been
separated by history.
To return the many to the one.
A great story unites us all,
beyond colour and creed and gender.
The lightning flash of art
And the music of the heart.
We reflect all cultures, all ways.
We are a twenty first century wonder.
Universal ideals, visions of art and truth.
Now is the turning point of cultures and hopes.
Come with questions, leave with visions.
We are the link between the past and the future.
Here, through art, new possibilities are born. And
new answers are given wings.
Why are you, you?
Because we are mirrors of each other.
Because together we create new worlds.
Together we are more powerful than we know.
We connect, we inspire, we multiply illuminations
with the unique light of art.
Ben Okri,
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Players Selected for La Liga Trials
U18 Age Group
Name: Ahmed Salam (Malaga)
Position: Right Wing
Nationality: Jordanian
Name: Yahia Iraqi (Malaga)
Position: Left Wing
Nationality: Morocco
Name: Mohammed Bouherrafa (Almeria)
Position: Centre-Midfield
Nationality: French
Name: Mohammed Rajeh (Cadiz)
Position: Striker
Nationality: Jordanian
U16 Age Group
Name: Mehdi Elkhamlichi (Malaga)
Position: Lead Striker
Nationality: Morocco
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
Company%20Profile
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Company%20profile
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Neil Thomson – THE BIO
Family: I am happily married to my wife Liz and we have two children together.
Favourite music: Rock music. I started at a young age due to my father’s influence. He played in an Indian rock band The Flintstones who were once asked by Apple Records to fly over to England to perform there.
Favourite book: I constantly find myself reading The Bible.
Favourite film: The Greatest Showman.
Favourite holiday destination: I love visiting Melbourne as I have family there and it’s a wonderful place. New York at Christmas is also magical.
Favourite food: I went to boarding school so I like any cuisine really.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Five expert hiking tips
Always check the weather forecast before setting off
Make sure you have plenty of water
Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear
Take your litter home with you
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
The biog
Favourite hobby: taking his rescue dog, Sally, for long walks.
Favourite book: anything by Stephen King, although he said the films rarely match the quality of the books
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption stands out as his favourite movie, a classic King novella
Favourite music: “I have a wide and varied music taste, so it would be unfair to pick a single song from blues to rock as a favourite"
Signs%20of%20%20%20%20%20%20%20heat%20stroke
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Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
FINAL LEADERBOARD
1. Jordan Spieth (USA) 65 69 65 69 - 12-under-par
2. Matt Kuchar (USA) 65 71 66 69 - 9-under
3. Li Haotong (CHN) 69 73 69 63 - 6-under
T4. Rory McIlroy (NIR) 71 68 69 67 - 5-under
T4. Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP) 67 73 67 68 - 5-under
T6. Marc Leishman (AUS) 69 76 66 65 - 4-under
T6. Matthew Southgate (ENG) 72 72 67 65 - 4-under
T6. Brooks Koepka (USA) 65 72 68 71 - 4-under
T6. Branden Grace (RSA) 70 74 62 70 - 4-under
T6. Alexander Noren (SWE) 68 72 69 67 - 4-under
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
