Doaa Farid

You've Got Mail, The Holiday and Love Actually. These are but a handful of films that I have watched time and time again. You probably have that one title, too, that you return to when life feels heavier than usual. Or maybe you have a list of films that are part of a seasonal routine. A Christmas movie you put on every year without thinking about it. A summer flick that brings to mind a specific chapter of your life. Or even one you hadn't thought about in years, but that still brings comfort.

Podcasting in the Middle East is no longer a fledgling experiment. It has evolved to become a core part of the region’s media landscape. What started out as independent passion projects, often recorded in living rooms and home studios, has developed into a thriving industry. One that is shaping growth strategies for brands and creators, influencing legacy media organisations and forcing social platforms to pay closer attention.

This weekend, the world's attention turns to Giza for the grand opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum. This moment was decades in the making, but for me, it is deeply personal. For historians, archaeologists and Egyptophiles, this is the largest archaeological museum in the world. For 116 million Egyptians, it's a new cultural landmark. But for me, it's about my home. My family's house is in Giza, just 10 minutes away from the museum's gates, in the Haram district.