???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-

(all times CLT)

The Korean thriller taking the world by storm: Squid Game has been trending on Netflix here in Egypt for the past few days, with the show proving a breakaway hit without any major marketing. The premise is simple. A number of cash-strapped individuals are offered a huge payment by a mysterious organization, granted that they compete in a series of children’s games. The hundreds of participants soon realize that the games have a fatal twist and it’s a matter of ‘kill or be killed’. The violence-ridden TV show deciphers human nature and capitalism by using the microcosm of each game to explore a theme such as greed, compassion, and desperation.

There’s no shortage of reviews out about the show: CNet | LA Times | The Guardian | Polygon.

⚽ Our new Portuguese Coach Carlos Queiroz makes his first appearance tonight during a friendly between the Egyptian national team and Liberia at 9 pm.

Matches to look out for tonight in the Europa League: Real Sociedad take on Mónaco, Legia Warsaw go up against Leicester City, and Naples kicked off against Spartak Moscow, all at 6:45 pm.

Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1 are all starting new matchweeks tomorrow: The Spanish League will start with Atlético Bilbao versus Deportivo Alavés at 9 pm, the Italian with Cagliari versus Venice at 8:45 pm, the German with Köln taking on Grouter Fürth at 8:30 pm, and the French with Lance against Reims Stadium at 9 pm.

And Premier League’s Super Saturday kicks off on Saturday with six matches: Manchester United is playing against Everton at 1:30pm, before 4pm gets extra busy with Chelsea versus Southampton, Burnley versus Norwich City, Leeds versus Watford, and Wolverhampton versus Newcastle. The day will end with Brighton playing against Arsenal at 6:30pm — the latter of which has been doing surprisingly well these days.

More matches you shouldn’t miss on Saturday: In La Liga, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona will hit the field at 9 pm, while Borussia Dortmund will compete with Augsburg in the German Bundesliga at 3:30 pm. Serie A has Turin against fan-favorite Juventus at 6pm and Sassuolo against Inter Milan at 8:45pm.

???? EAT THIS TONIGHT-

It’s all in the details at Korba’s Charlie’s: You eat with your eyes first and Charlie’s will make sure that you’re a satisfied customer before you put anything in your mouth. Inspired by the Heliopolis of the mid-1900s, it’s all about aesthetics at the Korba restaurant from the huge, green, tree-like lights scattered throughout to the very cool spoons that caught our eye. The food continues the trend of gorgeousness, with each plate being lowered on the table looking better than the next. The menu is diverse and will have something for everyone. We loved their salmon avocado salad, paella, roasted beef tenderloin, and creamy beef penne. However, the thing that truly captured our heart is their desserts, especially their eton mess.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-

(all times CLT)

Sony Middle East is bringing documentary photographer and filmmaker Mohamed Mahdy to Consoleya for a talk titled The narrative components of different kinds of visual storytelling. The talk will take place tonight at 7 pm at the Downtown coworking space.

Marwan Pablo’s comeback concert is taking place tomorrow at Al Manara Arena. Joining the trap artist are Shabjdeed, Al Nather, and Daboor. You can buy tickets from TicketsMarche.

Zayed’s Park St. has organized three days of art and music at the new complex, kicking off today and running until Saturday. The lineup includes exhibitions, music performances, graffiti workshops, and more.

Maadi’s Place Des Arts is hosting Villa Bazaar tomorrow starting from 10am, bringing together local fashion and textile brands.

Cairotronica’s Algorithmic Perfumery has been extended to 18 October. We’ve visited the exhibition personally and couldn’t recommend it more. Our three customized perfumes have since become a constant fixture in our routine for getting ready.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Businesses can thrive by fixing the world’s problems instead of creating them: Unilever CEO Paul Polman and sustainable business guru Andrew Winston teamed up to create Net Positive, a book that highlights the responsibility the global business community has to our collective humanity and planet. From climate change to rampant inequality, a bottom-up approach must be taken to begin to tackle these issues and finally move past them. That starts with companies becoming net positive and giving more than they take. The key argument in the book is that this will actually make firms more profitable than the alternative, by embracing cooperation with governments, focusing on ESG, and evolving a new culture at the workplace. The book aims to inspire a movement where CEOs, politicians, and activists can together reset the world’s trajectory, believes renowned climate-change author Paul Hawken.

NEED TO ADD TO YOUR TBR PILE this weekend? Go check out the short list for the 2021 Financial Times business book of the year. The finalists from the long list of 15 titles are as follows, with Amazon links for your convenience:

• The World for Sale — How a group of international commodity trading houses rode the commodity boom.
• Empire of Pain — the rise and fall of Purdue, the company widely blamed for America’s opioid crisis
• The Conversation — “how to turn difficult discussions about race, at work and in society in general, into a meaningful promotion of change and racial justice”
• The New Climate War — “a polemic against climate ‘inactivists’” that also “lays out systemic measures” to fight climate change.
• This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends — on the “arms race between cyber criminals, spies and hackers”
• The Aristocracy of Talent — on the backlash against meritocracy and the idea that we should embrace competition according to talent.