Month: December 2003

Sahar El Layaly

So, yesterday, we went to downtown Tunis to check out if we still could get tickets to this one-man-show for New Year’s Eve, and as we were there, we found out this Egyptian movie called Sahar El Layaly was debuting in one of the cinemas and that some of the stars of the movie would be there. So, we thought we’d go for it and check the movie out.

The movie was great. I really enjoyed it.
The actors in this movie did a great job and were very good. The 8 main stars were: Sherif Mounir, Mona Zaki, Hanan Tork, Ahmad Hilmi, Gihan Fadel, Fathy Abdel Wahab, Ola Ghanem and Khaled Abol Naga.

The story is about 4 couples (married & non-married) and the problems they face, with each couple’s problem handling an important issue in today’s society.
The movie is quite free and doesn’t put any limits or taboos on how to discuss the issue at hand showing french kisses, sex and a shower scene. Stuff that you wouldn’t usually find in Arabic movies.
Some people say it’s provocative, but i think it’s all necessary to shed light on the issues and to accurately mirror the reality.
There’s also some comedy thrown in mainly by Sherif Mounir and Ahmad Hilmi, who are both great comedians.

I find it very interesting how Egyptian cinema is going through a make-over with this new generation of actors, directors, screenwriters and producers. A lot of great movies have been coming out lately that can actually compete at an international level.

Sherif Mounir, Ola Ghanem and Khaled Abol Naga were there at the opening, and we managed to get autographs by Sherif Mounir. So that’s cool.

Chicago …And All That Jazz

This weekend, i rented Chicago, the movie.
I’ve been wanting to watch this movie for a long time now, and i even rented it a few months ago, but never got to watch it. A number of people i know didn’t like the movie, so that kind of pushed it a bit down my priority list.

Anyway, i finally got to see it. And well, i saw it, not once, not twice but 5 times over this weekend. In short, i loved it.

The acting is great, the music is beautiful, the singing is amazing, and the performances are so marvellous. It’s just one of the best movies i’ve ever seen.

I loved the way conversations and story lines were introduced through songs. It kind of reminded me a bit of Moulin Rouge’s style, but this pushes it even further.

Ren

Getting Innovation Right

I was just reading this interesting article about Apple and the limits of innovation, when i found this set of interesting tips on getting innovation right.

If Apple teaches us anything, it’s that effective innovation is about more than building beautiful cool things.
A few thoughts for innovating well in your own shop:

  • Not All Innovation Is Equal
    Technical innovation will earn you lots of adoring fans (think Apple). Business-model innovation will earn you lots of money (think Dell).
  • Innovate for Cash, Not Cachet
    If your cool new thing doesn’t generate enough money to cover costs and make
    a profit, it isn’t innovation. It’s art.
  • Don’t Hoard Your Goodies
    Getting to market on time and at the right price is vital. If that means licensing your idea to an outside manufacturer or marketer, do it.
  • Innovation Doesn’t Generate Growth. Management Does
    If you covet awards for creativity, go to Hollywood. Managers get rewarded for results, which come from customers.
  • Attention Deficit Has No Place Here
    Every innovation worth doing deserves your commitment. Don’t leap from one new thing to another. If your creation doesn’t appear important to you, it won’t be important to anyone else.

For the full article read: If He’s So Smart…Steve Jobs, Apple, and the Limits of Innovation.

10 technologies to watch in 2004

I just came across this interesting list of the 10 technologies to watch in 2004.
So here they are by category and with my comments in between.

1. Home networking : Ultra-wideband
Ah, pure delight. An ultra-wideband wireless network at home would be a dream come true for me 🙂

2. Supply chain : RFID
There’s been quite a buzz about RFIDs in this past year, some people loving them and some people saying they’re a threat to privacy. My opinion is that they’re a great way to keep accurate records of stock and all, but if they go further and start tracking customers histories and behaviours with them, well it could go sour.

3. Wireless broadband : 802.16 WiMax
Hmmm, i guess i’ll have to wait for the prices of regular broadband to go down in Tunisia before i even dream of Wireless broadband.

4. Energy : Micro fuel cells
Anything that extends the energy life of mobile phones, pdas, laptops, …etc. is great, so i’m all for it.

5. Household products : Gecko tape
This is rather interesting technology they’ve come up with. But i don’t think i’ll ever need to use it, unless… oh well, nah, i don’t think i’ll ever become a thief, lol…

6. Software : Antispam software (that works)
Now that would be a great piece of software. A must for my inbox which gets an average of 103 emails a day, 100 of which are spam.

7. Consumer electronics : OLEDs
Seems cool. If they consume less energy for mobile screens and stuff, i think it’s great.

8. Lighting : LED lightbulbs
Last longer, consume less. What else would we want ?

9. Computer memory : MRAM
More than 1,000 times faster than the fastest current nonvolatile flash memory and nearly 10 times faster than DRAM = Beautiful.

10. Medicine : Bioinformatics
Hopefully this will help to identify potential drugs faster, and so save more lives quicker. I can’t think of anything better than that.

[via CNN]

Please don’t sleep with Israelis

An Israeli company has required thousands of Chinese workers to sign a contract promising not to have sex with Israelis or try to convert them.

According to the document, male workers cannot come into contact with Israeli women – including prostitutes – become their lovers or marry them.

Israeli advocates of foreign workers – who come also from Thailand, the Philippines and Romania – say they are held by employers in nearly slave-like conditions, and their bosses frequently take their passports and refuse to pay them.

[via News.com.au]

Hmmm, interesting, don’t you think ?

Saddam was held by Kurdish forces, drugged and left for US troops

Saddam Hussein was captured by US troops only after he had been taken prisoner by Kurdish forces, drugged and abandoned ready for American soldiers to recover him, a British newspaper said.

An unnamed Western intelligence source in the Middle East told the Express: “Saddam was not captured as a result of any American or British intelligence…”

[via Yahoo News]

So, there goes the big empty victory show they put up.

Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003

Another interesting list of the top design mistakes in 2003 from Jakob Nielsen’s useit.com.

Here’s the list:

1. Unclear Statement of Purpose
2. New URLs for Archived Content
3. Undated Content
4. Small Thumbnail Images of Big, Detailed Photos
5. Overly detailed ALT Text
6. No “What-If” Support
7. Long Lists that Can’t Be Winnowed by Attributes
8. Products Sorted Only by Brand
9. Overly Restrictive Form Entry
10. Pages That Link to Themselves

For the details check out the full article: Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003.

Auto Analysis

Well, recently i’ve been doing a lot of thinking about myself, how i treat people, how people treat me back, how i handle certain situations, and lots of other things.
And well i have to honestly say that i’m not all that satisfied.

It’s not that i’m doing anything wrong or treating anyone badly, in fact it’s the contrary, i’m doing everything right and treating everyone great, which seems to be something wrong in this twisted world of ours.

It pisses me off how people interpret your kindness and niceness as weakness, your respect and caring as a lack of personality !
It also bugs me how you waste so much time thinking about what the person in front of you will think or if what you say will hurt them when they don’t ever care about you or think twice before shooting a bullet up your butt !

In short, i’m kind of getting fed up of always being Mr. Nice Guy who wants peace and love for the entire world while no one gives a rat’s ass 😛

And so, i’ve taken a decision to give myself an update, to go in to the core of the kernel of my system software and make some changes to my I/O systems and interfaces.

This doesn’t mean i’m going to become an asshole all of a sudden, lol, nah, i couldn’t do that even if i tried, i think it’s built in somewhere in the hardware for me to be nice 😛
I’m just going to try to change a little bit, and patch myself to be able to deal with this world and it’s people better, i guess.

I’m not sure i should have posted this, because i guess people who know me will start watching my every move from now on to see how and if i changed.
But i don’t think there will be much for people to notice, as i’m hoping for a smooth transition 😉

Hopefully, there won’t be any secondary effects to this patch i’m planning 😛