Welcome to The Faster Times update. In today's edition, we bring you the new Israeli-Egyptian border, Valentine's Day sex, Iran's Green Revolution, an Egyptian woman's diary, Grammy lessons, and not Paul Giamatti. Enjoy!

The Israeli-Egyptian border has an end of the world like feel: scrubby desert flatlands punctuated by the briefest stretch of a barbed wire fence and soldiers on either side of the sandy divide who, on occasion, shout friendly obscenities to one another.“Your mother,” calls out a smiling Israeli soldier (who happens, unusually enough, to be an Arab from Nazareth) to his Egyptian counterparts on a recent afternoon. Young men also restless with border duty, they reply in kind.

...We usually go out to eat (not so so special, provided that we’re college students and rarely have time to cook at home anyhow), and then just kind of sit around at home until it’s time to do the dirty. I’ve tried to mix it up by getting some special lingerie or choosing a fancy new restaurant, but the effort feels so one-sided. I think he made a bit of an effort this year, but it ended up backfiring. Instead of planning a romantic treat, he e-mailed me a list of discounted date packages with the subject line “Any of these interest you?”

He’s such a sweetheart, and I know this is his way of showing affection. It’s just a little disappointing though. Is there any way I can get him to Fabio it up for just one day this year? Or am I being selfish and should just accept that the guy’s doing the best he can?

Inspired by the success of Egypt’s January 25 protests, Iran’s Green Revolutionaries are suiting up to go back in the ring for another round with the Ayatollah’s Basij militias.

Friday, January 28th, was my very first time to ever march the streets. Before I went, I thought I may be the only one going, and if not the only one, then perhaps the only girl. I was both curious and scared – “Will people really go?” “Can Egyptians actually sacrifice their security and come protest?”

Unexpected winners aside (Arcade Fire! Esperanza Spalding!), the Grammys rarely have been about shocking moments or revelatory ones. That doesn’t mean we can’t learn a thing or 10 from them. Here’s what last night’s show taught me.

There have been some misunderstandings about “The Illusionist.” This animated Oscar nominee should not be confused with the Edward Norton-Paul Giamatti period piece of the same name from a few years ago, although a waning belief in magic is among both films’ essential thematic concerns. Nor is it wholly accurate to call this one a new offering from the late French auteur Jacques Tati, although of course it does derive from an original screenplay he wrote in 1956.