Interviewing Tariq

About two weeks ago, my boyfriend and I dined in at this popular Aghan restaurant in San Francisco, Helmand Palace. The food was superb and the service was great. In fact I was so impressed I grew curious about the Afghan culture and language.

But when we asked our waiter about the language, the waiter politely corrected us, “I’m not Afghan, I’m Egyptian”.  And quickly we replied “Congratulations! We’re very happy for the people of Egypt”. The waiter answered with a smile up to his ears.

After we ordered, I was thinking whether I should do a story about the recent revolution and feature him as the central character. At first, I was shy to ask, but realized it’s worth finding out. And to my delight, he was more than happy to help out and supply me with all the information I need: footage, clippings, and the Facebook group that led the revolution.

Tariq is his name. He’s the only one in his family to migrate to the US and pursue an education abroad. To support his schooling, he works part time, hence waiting tables at Helmand Palace.

He enthusiastically gave me his email address and phone number, with no skepticism in mind about this female journalist who he barely know or heard of.

But my high hopes about the story were short lived. Tariq didn’t answer my calls nor my emails. I thought, either he was extremely busy with work and school, or he was advised not to trust me.

I’m glad the reason was the first, he’s just busy. Tariq called me back a week later and apologized for not responding promptly, and that he can still accommodate an interview.

That interview is tonight, at Starbucks. I decided not to bring my photographer or any video equipment (though Tariq agreed to be photographed). I plan to converse with him first and find out how much he knows before I put anything on record.

I’m still formulating questions that the media hasn’t asked yet. If you have any ideas, please send them my way.

Game On! Pacman, Street Fighter Relive Glory Days

Original Post: NewarkPatch.com

Pacman, Ms. Pacman, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Street Fighter ruled the virtual world as the hottest selling video games during the 1980s. These games are equivalent to today’s Pokemon, Gods of War, and Final Fantasy.

Pacman and friends reclaimed their throne at the Vintage Video Game Tournament at Hot Toys in NewPark Mall Feb. 18 – 20.

“It serves as a time tunnel for those who grew up in the 80s,” said Jesus Guadiana, owner of Hot Toys and organizer of the tournament.

Guadiana highlighted his customers, who were in awe of the games as they walk into the store.

“The tournament is for these people, and seeing their reactions as they reminisce their childhood memories,” he said.

Guadiana said he welcomed kids of all ages to his event because he wanted to offer a gore-less, non-violent form of digital entertainment.

Participants paid $5 to enter. The gamer with the highest score won gift certificates to the store.

• First Place: Rus Perreira, 208,280 points.
• Second Place: Mark Perreira (brother of Rus!), 126,070 points
• Third Place: George Menard, 30,500 points

All three top scorers are East Bay residents.

The tournament is not to be dismissed as a simple gimmick at the mall.  Classic game giants also attended the Hot Toys event including Franz Lanzinger, the co-programmer of Pacman, and Jeff Yonan, the co-designer of Ms. Pacman. Lanzinger and Yonan helped gamers navigate challenging levels by offering tips and tricks of their own.

Reporter Richgail Enriquez and videographer Paciano Truinfo show us more sights and sounds of the tournament with this video segment.

What I’ll be covering this weekend: Vintage Video Game Tournament

It’s the return of Pac man!

Amidst the colorful world of Kinect, Wii, and all the other high-tech, sophisticaed video games, one store in Newark, CA is bringing old-school video games back to the trend by holding a Vintage Video Game Tournament.

I’ll be there to catch the action. The story will be up soon on Newark Patch.com, and of course on this blog.

“The Reporter”

I still have yet to see this documentary about New York Times and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Nicholas Kristof.

Kristof’s coverage of the recent revolution in Egypt was insightful and revealing  (not to mention, it has spiked up his Twitter followers to one million and counting). He successfully eases into difficult, violent situations without getting severely assaulted, kidnapped or killed-unlike other foreign reporters who unfortunately suffered some or all of these.

Kristof’s smooth reporting tactics intrigues me the most- and what I hope to learn from watching this documentary.

Free At Last!

Egyptian protesters celebrate at Tahrir Square Feb 11,  after hearing that President Hosni Mubarak has finally decided to step down.

Turmoil in Egypt

I’ve been on hiatus for quite a while now (for a good reason- I’ve been making some personal plans), but being the news junkie that I am, I couldn’t help but think of my next story. In fact, despite all the violence and turmoil in Cairo, how I wish I was one of the journalists deployed to cover the political unrest. Instead, I live vicariously through the updates of my favorite journalists who went to Egypt and have been reporting their firsthand accounts: Nicholas Kristof, Christianne Amanpour, and Anderson Cooper.

I recall what Howie Severino,  one of Philippines finest journalists, once told me, “A firefighter longs to be around a place prone to fire and disaster, the same thing applies to journalists, you want to go where the action is”. I have to point out though that he was talking about himself and not me (when I asked what made him move back to the Philippines after briefly staying in the US).  I completely agree with his analogy, and do share the same sentiment.

But as a citizen of the world, of course, I aspire for peace and calm in Egypt. The death toll steadily escalates as pro and anti Mubarak clash and beat each other, with journalists caught in between. President Hosni Mubarak claims that even if he wants to, he cannot back down from his power because it would only ensue chaos in the streets, yet it’s important to point out that he IS the one causing the chaos in the first place. Of course, he does have a point, without a political leader in place, the country of Egypt might grow unstable-but it is growing unstable anyway, with or without Mubarak in presidency. It’s quite a little too late to ease down the tension. The solution might be unclear at this point, but personally, I think Mubarak staying in power is NOT the solution.