Subzero Blue

Arabian Music Awards

Last weekend, the first Arabian Music Awards were held in Dubai, and from what I read online, they were one big technical disaster, with loads of problems kicking in.

Anyway, today Future TV aired an edited version of the awards show, and here are the main awards and their winners:

– Best Male Singer: Amr Diab
– Best Female Singer: Nawal Zoghbi
– Best New Male Singer: Ewan
– Best New Female Singer: Carol Samaha
– Best Arab video clip: Elissa (Agmal Ihsas)
– Best Modern Act: MTM
– Best Dance Act: Guy Manoukian
– Best Duet: Kathem El Saher & Sarah Brightman
– Best Live Performer: Assi Hallani

Also invited to perform at the show were: Sarah Brightman, Outlandish and Michael Learns to Rock.

It shows it was heavily edited but still some technical problems came through.
Anyway, it’s a good idea and hopefully next year it won’t be as bad.

Over the past year or so, I’ve been developing more and more interest in Arabic music as it’s being modernized and is more to my liking now.

Quote of the day

“Look, if Americans can be convinced that the President of the United States is even barely literate, they can be convinced of anything. You know, the fact that every American isn

Anti-Iraq war US soldier jailed

A US army sergeant who refuses to return to Iraq because, he says, the war is illegal has been convicted of desertion by a court martial.

Camilo Mejia, 28, born in Nicaragua and raised in Miami, was given a bad conduct discharge and sentenced to a year in jail on Friday.

He was convicted by a special court martial at Fort Stewart army base near Savannah, Georgia.

Last October, while on a two-week home leave, Mejia refused to return to his outfit in Iraq, saying the war was “illegal.”

He asked the military for conscientious objector status, was refused, and was charged with desertion instead.

[Source: Al Jazeera]

What’s that again? oh yeah, freedom of expression and choice.
Maybe we should change it to “freedom of oppression” so that nobody’s confused about what it really means.

Quote of the day

“The demolitions are part of an ongoing war against Palestinian civilians that goes far beyond terrorist attacks. So disproportionate is the Israeli response, so indiscriminate in its attacks upon an innocent civilian population — some 1,200 houses have been demolished in Gaza the past three years — that Israeli actions can only be described as state terrorism. Attacks on non-combatant populations, collective punishment and the demolition of homes are all illegal under international law and constitute war crimes…”

Jeff Halper, the Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

Israeli Quotes

The Israeli Chief of Staff, Moshe Ya’alon, was quoted as saying on Saturday Israel will continue to demolish homes in Rafah, irrespective of what the rest of the world thinks.

“In the past, we destroyed many homes, and apparently we will destroy many more homes in the future.”

As for Dan Gaillerman, Israel’s UN ambassador, he says:

“The resolution did not call on Israel to stop its activity and did not call on Israel to stop the demolition of houses”

In addition to that, two senior Israeli officials say the number of homes destroyed by occupation forces in the southern Gaza Strip is being exaggerated.

Deputy PM Ehud Olmert and Israel’s ambassador to the US, Daniel Ayalon, went so far as to accuse some Palestinians in the Rafah refugee camp of damaging or demolishing their own houses.

Asked why Palestinian homeowners would destroy their own property, Ayalon replied:

“Maybe they are painting, I don’t know, or wanted to do some renovations and this is a good way to do it.”

As for Rabbi Dov Lior, Chairman of the Jewish Rabbinical Council, he says:

“…a thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew’s fingernail”

Words Women Use…

FINE
This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

FIVE MINUTES
If she is getting dressed, this is half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given 5 more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

NOTHING
This is the calm before the storm. This means “something,” and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with ‘Nothing’ usually end in “Fine”

GO AHEAD
This is a dare, not permission. Don’t do it.

LOUD SIGH
This is not actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A “Loud Sigh” means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over “Nothing”

THAT’S OKAY
This is one of the most dangerous statements that a woman can make to a man. “That’s Okay” means that she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

THANKS
A woman is thanking you. Do not question it or faint. Just say you’re welcome.

This is so funny and true…
Thanks to my friend Ahmad for forwarding this to me.

Chalabi’s Fall

So Chalabi, the favourite US toy in Iraq for the past few years, who had all the support of the pentagon and US government and was expected to be installed as the next Iraqi president has now simply burned out.

A few days ago, the US announced they’d be stopping secret payments to the Iraqi National Congress (INC), headed by Ahmad Chalabi.

And yesterday his home and office were raided by the Iraqi police and American troops seeking evidence of fraud, embezzlement and kidnapping by members of his Iraqi National Congress – and perhaps an explanation of his dealings with Iranian intelligence.

Now we all know that he is a crook. He’s even sentenced to prison in Jordan for embezzlement.
And we all know that he was lying all along and providing fabricated and wrong information to the US.
And we all know that Iraqis hate him, feel no connection with him, and that he has no following on the ground.
So is it possible that the US and the CIA are only realizing this now?!
Or maybe at first, they didn’t care because he was telling them what they wanted to hear, but now that things have turned sour, they want to hold him accountable for it?

Anyway, now he’s lying some more by engaging in a political war with the US administration and saying that all this is happening because he’s asking for the US to give full sovereignty to the Iraqis and leave.
But, that’s obviously a load of bullshit. He’s just trying to win the people on his side.

I think this is the end for Chalabi and that he should just run back to where he was hiding while he still can.
He’s a total disgrace to his country.

Arab Summit Tomorrow

So, the Arab Summit will be taking place this weekend in Tunis.

Tunis is looking ever so beautiful. The flags of the Arab countries are flapping on every major street, trees have been trimmed, grass has been cut, beautiful flowers are everywhere, and all is perfect.

Security is high and tight already and a big part of downtown Tunis around the location of the summit will be totally sealed off starting this afternoon.

I’m curious to see what Arab leaders will come out with after this summit. There’s a lot of talk about reform of the Arab league and of the Arab countries, human rights, woman’s rights and more which is very interesting, but I’m not sure there can be one formula that fits for all Arab countries.

Whatever they come out with, I just hope this summit won’t be a failure and a dissapointment to the Arab people as all the previous summits were.

Tunisia wants to make this summit a successful and useful one and that gives me some hope.

Israeli War Crimes in Rafah & Gaza

Scenes of grief and desolation in Rafah.

Rafah and Gaza continue to experience ongoing Israeli military operations at this very moment !

Israel has killed more than 30 Palestinians this week, demolished buildings and homes, purposely targeted peaceful protesters (most of them children) and terrorized people.

The United Nations passed a resolution condemning the killing of Palestinian civilians in southern Gaza and calling on Israel to stop demolishing homes there.
Incredibly the US did not veto this resolution and simply abstained.
But what difference does all this make on the ground?
Words and useless resolutions don’t do anything for the people being killed and their families.
Action has to be taken to stop these acts of crime and state terrorism!

The Electronic Intifada urges all concerned people to contact international and government officials to demand immediate action to halt Israel’s assault on Rafah refugee camp in Gaza. Israel is in the process of committing major war crimes with total impunity…

Kill Bill 2

So, I finally got to see Kill Bill 2. And well, no need for me to say how good it was and all, you already know that by default.

This movie doesn’t have as much gore and violence as the first one and focuses more on the characters, which I thought was good.
But even though it cuts down the violence, the movie still moves on at the same pace and keeps you at the same level of excitement.
It only slows down towards the end and stops short of giving you the big ending you’d expect, which kind of bugged me.

I also found some kind of humour in it, or maybe I’m just weird 😛

The cinematography and photography is perfect and unique, it plays a really big role in the how the movie sucks you in.

Overall, it’s a great movie, and I really enjoyed it.
I’m surely going to talk my wife into watching it so that I can see it again with her 😛