Sunday, February 11, 2007

new TimesofOman.com column

My latest column in the Times of Oman has just been published.

You can read it by following this link.

Please let me know what you all think of this article.

Cheers.
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PS: Incidentally, theweek will be publishing my first comeback article on the 21st of this month (i.e.: February, 2007).

8 comments:

DoTs... said...

hmmm...
do you want real critisicm or would you rather hear the part that says "oh it was such a lovely article.. keep up the good work " bla bla bla.. ?

Sleepless In Muscat said...

:o)


Hit me with the real criticism.

DoTs... said...

The concept of the article was less serious compared to the previous one which was very political..now your readers will know that "Ali Mehdi's Column" is a column where we can find a variety of topics..bravo 3alaik in this point..

I loved how you mentioned the "not all fingers are alike.." actually i liked the most that you went on with further details here like saying that fingers vary in terms of length and shape .. that was nice.. having a descriptive part in your writing..

However,

Title: Mystery of "The One"
Being from where i am, to me the phrase "the one" was more related to the channel, or the outlet "the one" .. fa i had a different perception of what to expect.. as a content.. :) i figured out the real thing in the second paragraph..

You took the reader through an good transition of plot from introducing them to "scrubs" although you should've mentioned u are addicted to it :p

The last two paragraph's (conclusion) where my concern.. for some reason i had to reread it a couple of times to get to know EXACTLY what you mean behind it.. now i know what you are saying.. but for a second i had second thoughts .. it was very "wordy" and and quite serious regardless the beginning which was less formal.. fehamt 3alayeh?

another issue..
okay i don't know who exactly are your readers ya3ni are they Omani's only or a mixture of backgrounds.. but .. if the majority where omani's then this line would ... make me wonder..
"choice of a partner that you actually have feelings for and not someone your family would choose for you just because you can't actually find the one person that would fulfil your future dreams."

umm.. okay so see.. here it seems that u are not so sure of what you are saying.. am not saying that you are.. but it gave me that impression.. i read the paragraph from the beginning.. i know your point.. i understand it.. but if it was my choice i'd want you to rephrase it orrrr.. explain it further.. or .. delete it.. (if the majority of your readers where non-Omanis) for its not an issue to them and they make the choice..

madri a7s la5ba6bk.. bs my concern would be "the formality of your wordings" unless your editor asks you to do that.. but its nice to have a less formal way of writing when the topic is not so formal.. especially that you started with "scrubs" : a comedy .. let the smiles flow..

sorry if i was too ... mean :p

Sleepless In Muscat said...

very very interesting scope on my article, DoTs.. (btw, I had a chat with MD about you ;o) but nothing too serious) :P

I don't blame you much about feeling the way you felt when you did read my article and to come up with that judgement.

Yes, it was meant to be informal. But the ending had to go into a formal transition so things can be straightened out to the reader. But I would've like it to be the other way around.

The concept of 'The One' was about marriage from the beginning. I am sorry about making you think otherwise, seeing that you live in a country where they have a television channel by that same name. :o)

I myself got a bit confused at reading the article after finishing it but I was trying to finish it under a deadline so I had no time to make it more concise or reform it altogether. I, again, apologize for that. I will work on that in future articles to come, inshallah.

The readers, in general, who I was targeting, were all the community who read it, and not just the Omanis. Including that people from overseas, cyber-readers and the such.

Thank you, though, for being such an avid reader of my articles.

Anonymous said...

First and foremost, congratulations on the post of writing for a local publication. I find that this is a great achievement.

Secondly, I think that your job requires a lot of careful sidestepping and balance that people may not be able to see in your writing and envision in your future posts.

This is not;however, due to your lack of ability or character. This has everything to do with our current "climate" and so forth.

I found your "social" article an enlightening one and hope that you are able to continue with your vision in bold, yet humorous and clever methods.

Sleepless In Muscat said...

OmanForLife:

Thank you for your support and nice words. I really do appreciate them.

DoTs... said...

lol i was reading your comment to omanoflife.. i bet you needed such good comments after all what i said :p

so you and MD have been having gossips.. tsk tsk tsk .. lol 5etho ra7atkom ! :p

thanks for actually taking the time to read my LONG comment.. and considering what i said.. :)

Sleepless In Muscat said...

DoTs...:

Actually, I learned a lot from your comment. o ana bil3aks ashaje3 hal nou3 min el criticism. fa mashkoora o ma qa9arti.

Me and MD just had a brief chat about you and she had the best to say about you nothing more nothing less. :o)

I always read everybody's comment on my blog no matter how small it is because in the end it only means that someone actually took the time to read through what I wrote here.

So, it should be ME thanking you: Thank you. :o)