http://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes Facilitate cutting-edge research about Middle East and Near Eastern Studies at UCLA en-us Jonathan Friedlander has spent 30 years collecting pop culture artifacts that reflect our fascination with the Middle East. Books, movies, videos, even cigarette packs are part of the tireless UCLA scholar's collection of Orientalist Americana at the Young Research Library. Now he's traveling the U.S. to photograph the majestic, Orientalist movie palaces of the 20th century before they're all torn down or turned into drugstores.http://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/home/article.asp?parentid=94846Lecture by renowned Algerian cartoonist Slim, films on Islam inaugurate year-long programhttp://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/home/article.asp?parentid=91167The fact that New Orleans has a very small Middle Eastern population doesn't stop carnival krewes--organizations that put on parade and balls for the carnival season--from pulling out all the stops on the road to a make-believe Mecca.http://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/home/article.asp?parentid=89348Barbara Slavin discusses opportunities for reconciliation between Iran and the United States.http://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/home/article.asp?parentid=88795Nearly every women's rights bill passed by the Iranian reformist parliament that the Guardian Council effectively cast out in 2004 met one doom or another. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, a former legislator, illuminates the paths of Iranian-style gridlock.http://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/home/article.asp?parentid=85492A daylong conference recently attempted to clear some of the fog surrounding the real Osama bin Laden, who, if he's still alive, turns 50 this month. Titled "Jihadi Islam," the Nov. 13 event was sponsored by the Center for Near Eastern Studies and held at the UCLA Faculty Center.http://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/home/article.asp?parentid=84273Peter Reiss, director of a USAID program to restore the world's second-largest wetlands, explains how Saddam Hussein's drainage of the area has altered an ancient culture.http://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/home/article.asp?parentid=82857A photographic exhibition focusing on Sefrou, Morocco, highlights the work of Paul Hyman http://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/home/article.asp?parentid=82852Typologizing jihadi movements, historicizing their emergence, tracing their ideologieshttp://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/home/article.asp?parentid=8118227 features, shorts and documentaries screening at locations around the city, including UCLA, USC, the Writer's Guild Theater, and the ArcLight Theaterhttp://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/home/article.asp?parentid=80807