📺 ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
(all times CLT)

All The Light We Cannot See is a four-episode limited series based on the awardwinning 2014 novel by Anthony Doerr. The series shares the alternating perspectives of a blind French girl hiding in her great uncle’s house and a young German man joining the Nazi military ranks during 1944 towards the end of World War II.

A blind teenage girl, Marie-Laure (Aria Mia Loberti) broadcasts and reads from her braille book. Even though it’s punishable by death to broadcast, she continues in hopes of finding her missing father, the locksmith of the French Museum of Natural History, and to share coded messages of resistance through her broadcasts.

Through these broadcasts he meets Werner (Louis Hofmann), an orphaned Nazi soldier, who is an extraordinarily gifted radio engineer. He keeps Marie-Laure’s broadcasting and location a secret — even though the Nazis have been trying to locate her.

Then a villain is added to the equation. A Nazi general, Von Rumpel, searches for the whereabouts of Marie to find a cursed jewel hidden by her father that he believes will cure him of cancer, the cursed Sea of Flames.

If you read the book, you might be disappointed. The series was not the best depiction of the book’s original success:The acting is consistently lacking, and the dialogue progressively deteriorates. A disappointing discovery as Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie were A-listers that graced the cast.

“The book is the mountain. The mountain will always exist,” explainsShawn Levy, director and executive producer in an interview. He also continues to describe the series as “a painting of that mountain. We’re not trying to replace it. We’re not trying to make a photograph or a Xerox. It’s our impression of that mountain.”

You can watch the series today on Netflix.

⚽Tottenham and Chelsea in the northwest London derby: Tottenham will clash with Chelsea in a difficult match at 10pm tonight as they play the last match of gameweek 11 of the English Premier League. The result of this match greatly determines the shape of the Premier League, indicating whether the Spurs, with 26 points, can regain the lead from Man City, at 27 points, in the event of a victory.

There are a few matches in the major European leagues today in preparation for the Champions League tomorrow:

• Frosinone v Empoli (Serie A, 7:30pm)
• Torino v Sassuolo (Serie A, 9:45pm)
• Getafe v Cadiz (La Liga, 10pm)

🍲 EAT THIS TONIGHT-

Ha’noi is Cairo’s first Vietnamese restaurant. Tucked away in the inner corners of Waterway 1, it offers a variety of noodles, Pho, and dumplings.

They offer the classics but watch out for the spice. If you can’t handle the heat make sure you adjust it prior to ordering with your server. Their portions can also oscillate between being too much to meager, depending on the dish, so it’s a good idea to ask whether it’ll be enough for your singular portion or if it’s enough to share.

For appetizers, we picked the shrimp dim sums. This item comes in a four-piece portion, which we initially thought could have been more, but ultimately proved to be quite satisfying — the contents were just right. Inside the dumpling was a concoction of juicy shrimpy which tasted unlike any other Asian restaurant we visited in Cairo and can definitely join the clean-plate club.

The Pho Bo (beef) was a hearty main course but don’t miss out on their duck. Their chicken cabbage salad, Goi Ga, was also a crunchy, tangy experience that tickled the palate. Needless to say, the roasted duck, Vit Quay Sot Cam, was glazed with a sticky ginger honey sauce that stole the show. The outer skin’s crunch was ASMR-worthy as the sweet glaze caramelized while the meat itself was juicy and cooked until tender.

The place is vast and does not require reservations and if you want a change up for dessert there are a variety of other options on the mall strip. Unfortunately the restaurant does not deliver.

🎤 OUT AND ABOUT-
(all times CLT)

The exhibition Forever Is Now is back again at the Pyramids, open 9am until 4pm daily through 18 November. Book your ticket here or buy one on arrival.

Russia’s Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra is in Egypt for the first time. Their Alexandria concert is today at Sayed Darwish Theater. You can book your tickets for the concerts from here, here and here.

Catch a rendition of Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Bank of Anxiety this week and next. It follows two friends who establish a private bank that uses anxiety as the currency. The play is scheduled from today through Thursday at the Malak Gabr Arts Theater at AUC’s New Cairo campus, and Wednesday-Sunday, 15-19 November at the Falaki Theater at AUC’s Tahrir campus. Admittance is unpaid, but you will be required to show a photo ID.

A concert donating all its proceeds to Palestine is taking place on Thursday, 9 November at Cairo Jazz Club. Artists like Aly Geode, Husa & Zeyada will be playing at Music for Palestine. Stunning visuals by Noushka will accompany the music.

Looking for something to get your heart pumping? The TriFactory’s El Gouna Half Marathon is taking place on Saturday, 11 November. You can register here.

The Christmas Charity Bazaar will bring on the season’s warmth on Saturday, 1 December at All Saints’ Cathedral, Zamalek. The bazaar will start from 10:30am until 4pm. Note, the event’s revenues will be given to a variety of charitable organizations in Egypt.

💡 UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Ghassan Kanafani’s Palestine’s Children is still relevant today, half a century after publication. Kanafani was a Palestinian author and an active leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He was unfortunately assassinated in 1972 by the Mossad.

In the book, one child copes with the assault on his homeland with naive idealism, another participates in armed resistance. Each story is suffused with sadness — narratives of systemic murder and collective punishment told through the eyes of wide-eyed children.

Return to Haifa, the most well-known story, tells the tale of Palestinian parents who were unable to find their child after an attack, only to find him years later raised by the Polish settlers who moved into their apartment.

Ghassan’s collection documents some of the worst circumstances his people endured from the 1930s to the 1960s. Anyone interested in learning about the heartbreaking realities of the Palestinian people, as well as their unbreakable spirit, will find both in this collection.

The collection of stories can be found on Amazon.