Eli, Film-goer etiquette, and Egypt vs Algeria Revisited

Yesterday was wicked.
We started the day scarfing down fast food at the City Centre while we waited for the Egyptian Embassy to reopen.
Note- No matter how much someone says Hardee's is the best fast food..... it's still complete shit and will make you feel awful minutes after eating it. Who puts taco sauce on a chicken sandwich anyway?!?!
Once 2pm rolled around, we went back to the Embassy to get our passports with our fresh visas.
That's when I received my first dose of "white people priority service" that I have heard so much about.
I walked in to a full room of people eagerly waiting for the clerks to come back from prayer. There were a few chuckles and some, what I can only imagine, Arabic shit talk when I walked in. I bee-lined it straight to the back of the room, crossed my arms, and waited patiently. I thought to myself, "Fuckin hell.... This is going to take forever. There are like 50 people here ahead of me."
After a slightly uncomfortable ten minutes, the clerk returned behind the glass and everyone jumped up simultaneously and crowded around the window. I slowly walked up behind the group as the man began to yell something in Arabic at all the people crowding the window. He threw his hand up in the Arabic "WAIT" motion and pointed at me through the mob. I didn't really understand what was happening until I saw him motioning me to the window and the people began to part like Alfalfa's hair.
I walked up, handed him my receipt, and he retrieved our passports.
I was out of there in a flash thinking that everyone else in the room must have hated my guts and also feeling a bit bad for having skipped the line like that just because I was a white American man.
But when I got in the car, Lauren explained that is completely normal and is even more extreme for a white girl. I laughed a bit and thought to myself, "This has never and would never happened in Brooklyn."
Probably better off it not happening in Brooklyn haha.

We rolled back to the home base and planned our outing with the fam for the night as I slipped in and out of sleep on the sofa.
After a quick shower to wake myself up, we were off on a "double date" of sorts to Villagio to catch Book of Eli.
There was a lot of interesting things about the cinema from the jump.
First, it's assigned seating. Never had I experienced something like that. You choose your seats when you buy your tickets. Not such a bad idea huh?
Secondly, we got "VIP" tickets in the balcony which were like huge Lazyboys with giant arm rests and 3 feet of leg space in front of you. It really didn't feel like we were at a cinema. It was almost too comfortable.
Then it started. I had heard about going to the cinema in Doha so many times over the course of the festival and the complete lack of etiquette by the people who attend the films.
In the back of my mind, I always thought it HAD to be an exaggeration. No one would ever talk on a cell phone in a cinema. No one would jump stand up and walk around the theatre during a film. I thought that was insane.
BUT it is COMPLETELY true.
There was a crew of Qataris in front of us who literally talked on their phones throughout the entire film! It was incredibly distracting and had me boiling at times. I wanted to dump my nacho cheese on their heads and flip shit on them..... But of course I refrained.
As awful as it was to be in a cinema with that kind of distraction going on.... the film was still pretty rad.
I had really low expectations for it considering it's a Hollywood action blockbuster but I was pleasantly surprised when the film had substance and really kept my attention the entire time.
The cinematography was excellent, Denzel was great, the story was strong with a believable and strong twist at the end, Tom Waits made a rad guest appearance, and believe it or not, Mila Kunis was totally bearable.
Not to mention how hard I laughed when people in the theatre starting walking out toward the end of the movie because they didn't realize all along they were watching a film about the King James Bible hahaha.
I gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and would definitely recommend it to others.

Another equally amazing thing that I saw when we were there was this:
A NEW UNIVERSAL SOLIDER MOVIE!!!!!!!
Van Damme and Lundgren back at it. hahaha
Wow.
After doing some research online, I found out that in America, this is a straight to DVD release. BUT here in Doha, its going to probably be shown to sold out houses!!!!
Just goes to show that I was always right when I said "Doha loves Van Damme movies".
But then again.... who doesn't hahaha.

We left the film and I was completely shocked by how cold it was outside.
I laughed at Lauren when I was here in August (during 130 degree weather) when she told me that the winters in Doha were cold. I thought that was impossible.
But its not.
I was shivering and shaking as if I was still in that ice cold cabin in the mountains with no heat.
It totally brought back the memories of Brit and I rolling around in his VW Bus (which had no heat) in the winter and telling each other, "We are on a beach somewhere. The sun is blazing. We are sipping daiquiris. Skin burning." Just to trick our minds into thinking it was anything but -10 degrees.
*It really works. Try it if you don't believe me.

Next stop was to meet up with Hend at "Pineapple" for my favorite sheesha.
Little did I know, it was a HUGE night for soccer.
Egypt was playing Algeria AGAIN. This time it was the semis for the African Cup.
All I could think about was the roar in the streets of Cairo when they played last time. The emulsion paint on our faces. And the eerie quiet and sadness that followed the pitiful play and defeat of the Egypt team.
But this time was different (not just because I wasn't in Cairo).
As we sat around for a few hours smoking and laughing and hanging with some really legit people....
Egypt kicked Algeria's ass 4 zip.
I was a great game on Egypt's part and the Egyptians in Doha were going completely ape shit after the game.
People were running through the Souk waving their flags and screaming and cheering.
People were hanging out of the sunroofs of their cars driving down the road waving flags for everyone to see.
The police presence in the city was out of this world. I didn't even know that Doha had that many cops.
I was also quite strange that I felt quite a sense of "national pride" when Egypt won.
If only we could be back in Cairo when the finals happen.... but sadly, I think we arrive one day after the game.

We left and headed over to Dale's for some late night storytelling on the roof.
Hilarious as always.
Around 330am... my eyes closed and that was it.

Another great Doha day in the books.