Talking about a revolution – Middle Eastern style

The Regular Joe is not big on politics. It is way too time consuming trying to figure out the geo-political reasons people want to hurt each other. I am more interested in what my next door neighbor is doing and why I wasn’t invited.

The Middle East has never been a very peaceful place. With so much history, religious influences, oil and sand, it might take some time before it will be.  

Even for scholars and experts, the recent events in the Arab countries came as a complete surprise. I guess that’s what they mean when they say “never say never”.  Our generation has been witnessing many changes in the international arena the past few years, but the spark now running through the Arab world is truly a remarkable thing (disclosure: my favorite movie is ‘Lawrence of Arabia’). No one knows how it will end but already it earned its place in the 21^st century version of “we didn’t start the fire”.  

That was the Regular Joe’s news flash for the time being. Like everyone, I don’t really know what is happening or how it will turn up. I’m just repeating what the people with the suits said on TV.

Instead of telling you stuff you already heard, I want to share this video I came across. I couldn’t find out too much about the group.  I know they are 11 guys called ‘Shmemel’; they are Israelis (which is cool they are the ones doing it) and very talented.

I can’t explain, but when I saw it, it felt like the right thing at the right time. Enjoy.

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30

Well, all my friends are starting to turn 30.
I can tell you I feel a change...

taken with Retro cam

1X3 coffee table

Looking back on some of my past posts you might think I’m trying to write a design blog. You might also think I’m a 5 year old trying to let you know what I like or hate or love or want.

The truth is I don’t know much about design or architecture. All I know is that sometimes I’m really moved by a product, a living room or a building. It makes me glad to know talented people use their talent to design a world who better suit people like me.

I have a strong notion that we should constantly strive to improve and better our way of life, Espier to simplify our lives and let go of the 40’-80’ idea of “big and gold is good”. It is quite clear we are not there yet. So when I hear of a way to solve one small problem the Regular Joe is facing in his everyday life, it gets me excited.

Just wanted to get it out of the way. So now I can continue sharing things I like without the overwhelming pressure of criticism.

The “1X3” coffee table is a perfect example of what I digg. Designed by Petar Zaharinov, it is constructed of 3 wood beams and a glass top. The beams slide to interlock together with no need of nails or glue whatsoever.


I guess I love it so much because my mother could buy it, take it home and build it without calling me once for help.

Bottlehood Glassware

As a former bartender I saw my share of wasted glass bottles. Every time I threw an empty bottle I would  think of what else I can use them for.

It wasn’t long before I stated using them at home to serve water. If you respect your water you respect yourself. And water do taste better coming from glass. And it’s really stylish (or I thought so back in the days). 

I always love seeing people take things one step further. Bottlehood is selling on Etsy his glassware made from glass bottles. This type of things is exactly what the Regular Joe stands for. Instead of going out and buy those sets of matching glasses, I can chose to buy something special and recycled (they say it’s big in Hollywood, All the stars are doing it).

Cavity Flowerpot

The best ideas are usually so simple.

Like this Cavity flowerpot designed by Merve Sarisin. It is beautiful and rid us from those messy drops always left on the umbrella.

Its design with 4 holes to place the wet umbrella and the water drops goes straight to the flower’s roots.

A super ‘El Niño’ ?

Can someone tell me what is going on?

It seems the amount of really strange events across the world has come to a critical point during the past few months.

First, and correct me if I’m wrong, the weather has gone insane. Europe and the US suffers extreme storms, earthquakes and volcano eruptions happened frequently, crazy floods across Australia, droughts and lack of rain in other parts, the Panama Canal was closed due to floods for the first time ever and global warming is more evident then ever.

In the meantime in earthly matters it hasn’t been quiet as well. North and South Korea are on the verge of a meltdown, the strongest economy in the world finds it is not “too big to fall” and is being overcome by the east. In China people are starting to buy like crazy and moving into the big cities while seeing in their rear view mirror the 1.3 billion people line.   In Africa things are still going to hell with extreme hunger and illness, the Middle East won’t rest with the Israeli-Palestinian feud and  Muslim countries around, like Turkey and Iran, steer the wheel. Lebanon’s government has stepped down and Syria is blamed, Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia and Jordan are uprising. Unexplained mass deaths of animals occur with no apparent reason around the globe, the Euro is falling apart rapidly and countries going bankrupt.

Meanwhile our technological progress seems to have no limits and each month everything is changing in a rate we just can’t keep up. The laws of physics we believed were as true as the earth and sky are being questioned every other day while religion wars are still a big part of our reality.  

For the Regular Joe these are very troubling times. Either I’m not satisfied with my job or I can’t find one. My home life and the routine are sucking my soul and it seems everybody on the street has got it together. And on top of that, wherever I live or whatever race and religion I belong to, I can’t seem to be at ease when I think of what tomorrow might bring.  And the worst of it all, I can’t change nothing because I don’t understand why and where it all comes from.

So what is going on? There must be a line connecting all the dots, like a super ‘El Niño’ happening to us. Or Nissim Taleb is right and our lives consist of many ‘Black Swans' that we can’t control but only do our best to prepare for their coming? Or maybe I just watched too much ‘Lost’.

So until someone makes a TV series, a Hollywood movie or a song making sense of it all I’ll just wish you a quiet day until the next big wave.

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