The Middle Geeks

It is Spooky Season, and as such we review a horror series that goes far deeper than simple scares to core issues affecting humanity. In Mike Flanagan's superb mini-series Midnight Mass, we meet the few denizens of a small religious island enthralled by their new priest who is hiding more than he lets on, to disastrous effect. Joining us to speak on all the various themes of Flanagan's piece is acclaimed journalist and media commentator Sana Saeed, joining us to discuss the use of religious fervor, the outstanding Muslim representation in Rahul Kohli's sheriff character, what Midnight Mass says about our world today, and much more. Donate to Anera, UNRWA, and The Sameer Project Decolonize Palestine Donate to help Sudanese people Support the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) and families in Gaza Islamic Relief USA: Support Families in Palestine   Our music is composed by Ashley Hefnawy. You can find more of her music here.   We are a proud member of the Hard NOC podcast family. Follow us on Twitter: @TheMiddleGeeks Follow Sana on Instagram @sanaface Subscribe to Sana's Substack Follow Mae on Bluesky @maeabdu.bsky.social Follow Swara on Bluesky @spiderswarz.bsky.social Subscribe to The Middle Geeks on Hard NOC Media Please support us on Patreon!  

Ibrahim Moustafa is an Egyptian-American and Eisner award nominated comic artist and writer, best-known for his original graphic novels COUNT, RETROACTIVE, CYN, JAEGER and his collaboration with writer Christopher Sebela on HIGH CRIMES, as well as his work on JAMES BOND. You'll also have seen his art in DC Comics, Marvel, Image Comics, Humanoids Inc., BOOM! Studios, Valiant Entertainment, Dynamite Entertainment, Dark Horse Comics, and IDW Publishing. Recently, RETROACTIVE was selected for adaptation for a new Hulu series, with Iranian-American Bobak Esfarjani as head writer and Bruce Miller producing. We were so honored to have Ibrahim on the podcast to discuss his career, the challenges he continues to face despite his success, the continued exclusion of SWANA creatives in entertainment, and much more.   Donate to Anera, UNRWA, and The Sameer Project Decolonize Palestine Donate to help Sudanese people feeling geopolitical violence Support the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) and families in Gaza Islamic Relief USA: Support Families in Palestine Our music is composed by Ashley Hefnawy. You can find more of her music here. We are a proud member of the Hard NOC podcast family. Check out Ibrahim's YouTube channel Follow us on Twitter: @TheMiddleGeeks Follow Swara on Bluesky @spiderswarz.bsky.social Subscribe to The Middle Geeks on Hard NOC Media Please support us on Patreon!  

What would you do to serve your country? Is engaging in propaganda patriotic or just embedding more lies to sell the populace? These are the questions acclaimed Swedish-Egyptian director Tarik Saleh explores in the final entry in his Cairo Trilogy, "Eagles of the Republic", where George Fahmy (Fares Fares) is a famous Egyptian actor recruited to appear as the country's president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Mae interviewed Saleh on his creative process for the film, why he chose this subject matter, and much more.  Donate to Anera, UNRWA, and The Sameer Project Decolonize Palestine Donate to help Sudanese people feeling geopolitical violence Support the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) and families in Gaza Islamic Relief USA: Support Families in Palestine Our music is composed by Ashley Hefnawy. You can find more of her music here. We are a proud member of the Hard NOC podcast family. Follow us on Twitter: @TheMiddleGeeks Follow Swara on Bluesky @spiderswarz.bsky.social Subscribe to The Middle Geeks on Hard NOC Media Please support us on Patreon!  

What happened to Katie?!? That's the question at the forefront throughout Lee Cronin's The Mummy, a movie that should really be called Egyptian Exorcist or Evil Dead in Egypt. But even though this film features Egyptian and Arab actors in key supporting roles and takes place partially in Egypt, how well does it really do at representing the land and its people, and is it truly an improvement on the Orientalism baked into the Universal Mummy films? Joining us to discuss is our wonderful Egyptian-American friend and actor Ali Nasser. We discuss the film, why May Calamawy (per usual for whatever she's in) is the best part, and why it's increasingly clear that we have a narrative problem when it comes to western media depicting us, perhaps more than a representation problem.   Swara's review of Lee Cronin's The Mummy for But Why Tho? and his essay on The Mummy franchise's Orientalism Hanna's New Arab review of the film and IGN essay on the film   Donate to Anera, UNRWA, and The Sameer Project Decolonize Palestine Donate to help Sudanese people feeling geopolitical violence Support the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) and families in Gaza Islamic Relief USA: Support Families in Palestine Our music is composed by Ashley Hefnawy. You can find more of her music here. We are a proud member of the Hard NOC podcast family. Follow us on Twitter: @TheMiddleGeeks Follow Mae on Bluesky @maeabdu.bsky.social Follow Swara on Bluesky @spiderswarz.bsky.social Subscribe to The Middle Geeks on Hard NOC Media Please support us on Patreon!  

Annemarie Jacir is a legend in Palestinian cinema. From acclaimed works like Salt of the Sea, Wajib, and more, her latest work, Palestine 36, is an epic tale of resistance that reverberates strongly today. Starring Hiam Abbass, Yasmine Al Massri, Saleh Bakri, Jeremy Irons, Robert Aramayo, Liam Cunningham, Karim Daoud Anaya, and others, it comes out in US theaters this weekend, and we were ecstatic to have Annemarie on the podcast to discuss the film, her career, the increasing consciousness of Palestine in the US, and much more.   Donate to Anera, UNRWA, and The Sameer Project Decolonize Palestine Donate to help Sudanese people feeling geopolitical violence Support the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) and families in Gaza Islamic Relief USA: Support Families in Palestine Our music is composed by Ashley Hefnawy. You can find more of her music here. We are a proud member of the Hard NOC podcast family. Follow Swara on Bluesky @spiderswarz.bsky.social Subscribe to The Middle Geeks on Hard NOC Media Please support us on Patreon!  

We're live once again at Awesome Con in Washington D.C.! Joined by our friends Zaina, Dary, and Ali, this year we're discussing SWANA representation in Fantasy and Sci-Fi, the barriers we continue to face, why this may be more of a narrative problem than a representation problem, and how the bad representation on screen is informed by and reflective of real world interests. Stay tuned for Q&A! Donate to Anera, UNRWA, and The Sameer Project Decolonize Palestine Donate to help Sudan Support the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) and families in Gaza Islamic Relief USA: Support Families in Palestine Our music is composed by Ashley Hefnawy. You can find more of her music here. We are a proud member of the Hard NOC podcast family. Follow us on BlueSky @MaeAbdu, @spiderswarz Subscribe to The Middle Geeks on Hard NOC Media Please support us on Patreon!  

Happy(ish?) New Year! We're back with a discussion on the 2025 Oscar Nominations and the groundbreaking Palestinian, Iranian, and Moroccan films that were nominated. The Palestinian and Tunisian The Voice of Hind Rajab, the Iranian and French It Was Just an Accident, and the Moroccan and Spanish Sirat each received a nomination for Best International Feature, while writer-director of It Was Just an Accident Jafar Panahi received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Covering genocide, oppression, and so much more, so much of SWANA set filmmaking is tragic, but the filmmakers always make powerful art to memorialize and honor our various struggles. Congratulations to all the filmmakers. We also have an exciting update about our panel return to this year's Awesome Con, March 13-15, in DC!   Swara's review of The Voice of Hind Rajab for But Why Tho?   Donate to Anera, UNRWA, and The Sameer Project Decolonize Palestine Donate to help Sudan Support the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) and families in Gaza Islamic Relief USA: Support Families in Palestine Our music is composed by Ashley Hefnawy. You can find more of her music here. We are a proud member of the Hard NOC podcast family.   Follow us on BlueSky @MaeAbdu, @spiderswarz Subscribe to The Middle Geeks on Hard NOC Media Please support us on Patreon!

What will one sacrifice for a greater cause? How do we fight overwhelming systems of oppression? Does working within a corrupt system work, or do we need to tear it all down? Wicked: For Good explores these questions in great depth, with stunning performances from Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Marissa Bode, Michelle Yeoh, and more. We review the film, decipher what it has to say about the above questions, give our recommendations, and much more.   Donate to Anera, UNRWA, and The Sameer Project Decolonize Palestine Donate to help Sudan Support the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) and families in Gaza Islamic Relief USA: Support Families in Palestine   Our music is composed by Ashley Hefnawy. You can find more of her music here. We are a proud member of the Hard NOC podcast family.   Follow us on Twitter: @TheMiddleGeeks, Follow us on BlueSky @MaeAbdu, @spiderswarz Subscribe to The Middle Geeks on Hard NOC Media Please support us on Patreon!  

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This is a reverberating ethos through Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir's latest film, Palestine 36, which chronicles the last days of the British Mandate of Palestine and its lasting ramifications. Produced by Philistine Films, BBC Film, BFI, Doha Film Institute, Watermelon Pictures and more, and starring Hiam Abbass, Yasmine Al Massri, Saleh Bakri, Jeremy Irons, Robert Aramayo of The Rings of Power, Liam Cunningham of Game of Thrones, Karim Daoud Anaya, and others, the film details the violent colonization of Palestine that violently continues to today. Why does such colonization happen? What are the societal, capitalistic, and manipulative tactics employed? What does Palestine 36 have to teach us for today's many challenges? Join us in our discussion of this urgently timely film.   Donate to Anera, UNRWA, and The Sameer Project Decolonize Palestine Donate to help Sudanese people feeling geopolitical violence Support the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) and families in Gaza Islamic Relief USA: Support Families in Palestine Our music is composed by Ashley Hefnawy. You can find more of her music here. We are a proud member of the Hard NOC podcast family. Follow us on Twitter: @TheMiddleGeeks Follow Swara on Bluesky @spiderswarz.bsky.social Subscribe to The Middle Geeks on Hard NOC Media Please support us on Patreon!  

The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, American Dad, and more all-American animated adult tv comedies have graced our screens for decades, mercilessly interrogating the all-American life and if it's all it's cracked up to be. But rarely do we get one of these series from an Arab and Muslim perspective, until now with Ramy Youssef and Pam Brady's #1 Happy Family USA, featuring the Egyptian-American Hussein family, including young insecure Rumi (Ramy Youssef), his wildly insecure father Hussein (also Ramy Youssef), his caring and overburdened mother Sharia (Salma Hindy), overachieving and closeted older sister Mona (Alia Shawkat), conservative Grandpa (Azhar Usman), and niqabi and free-spirited Grandma (Randa Jarrar). Set in the early 2000s in New Jersey, right around an astronomically horrible national event, we watch the Hussein family deal with the outlandish racism, surveillance, and Islamophobia every single day, and their own outlandish efforts to deal with it. All characters and the animation style were designed by Iraqi-British data journalist Mona Chalabi. Joined by our friend Nadia Osman, we discuss the series and why it's a landmark for SWANA and Muslim representation, the great casting news about Lee Cronin's The Mummy, give our recommendations, and much more.   Spoilers for all of #1 Happy Family USA throughout   Donate to Anera  Donate to help Sudanese people feeling geopolitical violence Support the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) and families in Gaza Islamic Relief USA: Support Families in Palestine   Our music is composed by Ashley Hefnawy. You can find more of her music here. We are a proud member of the Hard NOC podcast family. Swara's interview with Nadia and Ali Nasser on Lee Cronin's The Mummy Follow Nadia on BlueSky @msnadiaosman.bsky.social Follow us on Twitter: @TheMiddleGeeks Subscribe to The Middle Geeks on Hard NOC Media Please support us on Patreon!