al hakawati (the storyteller) zaabeel park, dubai image courtesy visiondivision

the thyssenkrupp elevator award was a competition which asked architects to develop an iconic tall emblem structure for zaabeel park in dubai .

for their proposal visiondivision designed a statue based around al hakawati - a storyteller, whose profession that goes way back in ancient arabic times and still is performed in the arabic world today. the statue will be a home of stories; a children’s library in its base and various spaces for performance and reading inside of the statue.

in every part of the park, small speakers will be set up so people can gather around them and listen to the statue when he recites stories; perhaps great legends from one thousand and one night, historical anecdotes from the city itself and future speculations, all this performed with an animated body language.

the statue

the walls in the base are stairs on the outside which leads to the platform where the storyteller begins to rise. windows punctuates various stairs for a bright indoor environment without any direct sunlight. the statue also has big rooms inside of it for reading,relaxing and other social activities. each big room has its own theme, be it a gold room, a crystal cavern, a green room or a room full of fish tanks, or the night views of dubai

technical aspects

the statue can move its arms and head; this demands an articulate joint between the elevators and the floors on these critical points. the joints are similar in function to those seen in joint buses, and will guarantee an uninterrupted movement inside of the statue, even if he slightly tilts his head.



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I like the name. Al-Hakawati. The Storyteller. When I was small, I always wondered what my profession would've been if I have lived in olden times, stemming from my interest for all things ancient. I'll leave that for another post. Maybe.

No, I wouldn't want to have been one, at least I didn't imagine myself to be one when I was small, but I read that the story teller played an important role in the those days. When the many wonders of the world were still not fully explored and still waiting to be discovered, surely there were many tales to tell, of wonder, of dread, and myths. An important component of society, the storyteller seems to have become extinct the moment the magic of wonderment and imagination no longer exists. The storyteller has become redundant, they say.

Funny that, I have now become a storyteller myself. This is the path I have chosen, and I will not turn back. Not yet. However, the storyteller that I am or have become is one stripped of all wonder, depraved of any excitement. I have become a storyteller yet with no tales of my own. I sing or scribe to the tune of paying authors. Authors of great misfortune, sometimes of their own doing. Sometimes authors causing great misfortune and anguish to others. I do not regale or bewitch anyone except for a tired audience consisting of one.

In my storytelling, there is no room for error. No room for doubts. No room to flinch or breathe. No room for conscience. At all. Hesitation is for the weak, I am quickly taught. I have become a sweetener of harsh words, a concealer of unimaginable faults. It is a skill I have quickly picked up through study and through training, a skill I am becoming quickly adept at. Balancing between the underlining of minute, unnoticeable virtues and spinning silky tales, weaving intricate falsities. Was it this thankless? was it such a drudgery?

So who says the storyteller no longer exists or plays a negligible role in society?

I am one of such. Ana Hakawati. I am a storyteller.

SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE LOVELY BONES

Yesterday I watched the movie, The Lovely Bones featuring Mark Wahlberg, the lovely Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon and the excellent Stanley Tucci. The movie is basically about the murder of Suzie Salmon, who refuses to let go of the living world and is stuck in the in-between. I didn't know it was a novel adaptation until I googled the movie to see who played the excellent Mr. Harvey. Oh yeah, there was also the girl who played Suzie, I think she's the girl from the nanny (if I'm not mistaken) I've seen her before but I'm not sure where. It didn't matter much.

The cast

Mark Wahlberg played the loving parent/father. You could tell that he had high hopes for suzie, particularly as it is shown that Suzie is the only daughter showing an interest to continue with his obsession-passion passed from his grandfather. I thought it was a nice touch to show that despite all the efforts of a father being obsessed with uncovering the truth and finding justice for his dead daughter, he is hit with the inevitability of a person's limitation, no matter how determined.

Rachel Weisz's character wasn't that well defined imo. Thought it was weird for her to walk out of the family. The dynamics of her relationship with her mother also wasn't shown. Why she had to come wasn't explained. If at all, it was her husband who faced more problems than her. A bit weird then that her mother had to come and do the house work when there were no indications that Weisz' character was too depressed to do anything. It was shown that she was perfectly okay, but just a bit upset that her husband has yet to let go of suzie's death. But she looked lovely and has lost a lot of weight though since her Mummy Return days. Susan Sarandon provided a bit of (supposed) comedy relief, but did not do much otherwise.

Stanley Tucci was excellent. He had child molester stamped all over his lousy moustache. He even perfected his perverted laugh and twitch. Eerie and creepy, everyone should really punch his face every time they pass by his house. In fact, the whole neighbourhood should open a ticket counter in front of his house and charge an entrance fee to punch his face. It'll be a full house and sell-out every day. His acting was that superb.

(Anyone with an eerie moustache and a terrible comb-over like this should immediately be locked up)

The movie

It was a good movie with the proper amount of pacing. Basically the movie portrayed how a family copes with the loss of a family member to a murder. At the same time, it showed Suzie's "journey" and stubborn refusal to let go of the world without actually doing anything.

There were bits of the movie that annoyed me though. I didn't quite take in the visualization of Suzie's heaven, although I suppose that may be how 14-year old girls think their heaven might look like. I don't know. In fact, I didn't fancy most of Suzie's involvement in the movie except her portrayal before she died. The girl who could see ghosts was also a let down. She didn't do much other than stealing Suzie's crush. And Ray Singh. what on earth was he thinking kissing an image of a dead girl? Necrophilia isn't cool, kids. Imaginary or not.

Again, my guess is that it's just the over-elaborated fantasy of Suzie but they could probably take out the whole of Suzie's part in the movie and the movie would've still been entertaining and wouldn't have suffered. I now know that I have no patience or time to layan the fantasies of a 14-year old.

At several parts of the movie, communication beyond the dead were hinted at which I felt was unnecessary, because it was thrown out of the blue and without any follow-up but thankfully the movie didn't really dwell on it. Perhaps it was just to show that it might have been possible? Beats me.

Where the movie excelled is not just the portrayal of totally believable characters, but at creating an atmosphere of suspense and dread. Not the over the top, scary "BEHIND YOU" thriller stuff, but something realistic. Suzie going in the "play house" and his sister breaking in were two examples of this. Harvey wasn't this "I refuse to die" guy, and our hero Mark Wahlberg getting his ass handed to him on a silver bat were excellent touches. I thought that was really refreshing to see. I also loved the ending where it shows that there are no happy endings. You do not always get the satisfying justice you crave, and even if justice is delivered you don't always get the satisfaction of knowing it. People have to move on.

Conclusion

So is it better than the "shit movie" Avatar? In a word: Yes. Take out the visual effects of Suzie's in-between world and you'd still have a good movie. Take out Avatar's superior visual world, and you're left with pocahontas feat. the smurfs. The fact that it was an adaptation from a novel explains certain things, like the end monologue (which didn't make sense really). Not that I'd go out and read the novel, but I wouldn't mind watching the movie again, mainly because of Mr. Harvey.

p/s:- forgot to mention the appearance of Christopher Moltisanti from the Sopranos. Massive letdown because he didn't swear though.