Year: 2004

The Danish Experience

We went to see “Al Tagroba El Denmarkiyya” (The Danish Experience) starring Adel Imam this past saturday, and it was a good laugh as expected.

Adel Imam is the king of Arab comedy, and his movies and plays are always the funniest and greatest to watch.
His works are a mixture of a lot of humour, a true sense of patriotism and a take at the important matters at the time.

This movie, though not as powerful as some of his previous works, was a good one and full of laughs.
The main issue it tackles is sexual culture, which is still handled as a taboo issue in most of the arab world. It shows how there is a need for sexual culture to be introduced to the people without going as far as the west.

The movie also focuses on other issues like the importance of family, the misuse of power, greed and freedom of speech.

Adel plays the role of a high ranking government official, who actually becomes the Minister of Youth. He has 4 sons who he has been very close to through the years, being both father and mother to them.
Lebanese Nicole Saba (one of the original 4 Cats), plays the role of a danish lady who visits Egypt to work on a report of hers and study the issue of sexual culture in Egypt. Being the sister of the wife of Adel’s character’s friend, she stays at his home with his 4 sons.

Things already go mad having a chick like her in the house, but to make things worse she starts teaching his sons and him about sex and whatnot.

I don’t want to ruin the movie for the people who haven’t seen it yet, so I’ll just stop here and tell you that you should see it if you can.
Any Adel Imam movie is definitely worth seeing.

Ralph Nader is Running Again

So, what do you know ?
Ralph Nader is running for President again.

Doesn’t this guy get tired of ruining every election ? 😛

Well, in fact, I think he has all the right to. After all, that’s what democracy is all about, isn’t it ?
I agree with his opinion on the duopoly in American politics, and I truly think that the American voter should open up his mind to other parties and independent runners.

Why should the President be either a democrat or a republican ?
Why can’t he be anyone from any other party instead ?
I don’t think any outsider could screw things up more than some presidents from either of the 2 big parties have in the past.

Of course, Nader running could take voters away from either of the 2 big parties, but that’s only normal and should be factored into the democracy of .

Some people argue that he shouldn’t run if he knows he has no chance of winning, but I disagree. If everyone doesn’t run because they think they don’t have a chance for winning, then things will never change.

I think there should be more people like Nader out there, and I truly think the voters should consider them more seriously and listen to what they have to say.

I don’t really know what Nader’s policies are, nor what he would do as President, but I think it’s healthy for a democracy to have people like him.

Star Academy LBC

Well it seems my blog has become the official LBC Star Academy blog, lol.

I posted once about the show and the fact that 3 Tunisians are on it. Since then, that one post’s comments have turned into a message board for fans of the show wishing luck and expressing admiration for the competitors.

Recently, even the guys from LBC have starting posting messages of their own, messages they received from fans by sms, …etc.

I think it’s pretty cool 🙂

Here’s the original post in all it’s glory : Star Academy on LBC.

Arabs in U.S. Raising Money to Back Bush

Someone commented on one of my posts yesterday sending this link from the NY Times about Arabs in the U.S. Raising Money to Back Bush.

Anyway, even though most of the examples the writer mentions are not actually arabs, it’s a real shame.
Obviously these people only care about their special interests, and they don’t give a damn about what happens to their brothers and sisters in the US or outside of it.

These people are rich and so they don’t feel the sting of Bush’s policies, in fact they use them to advance their own personal agendas and profit from other people’s suffering.

People like these make me sick and disgusted.
If they sent half the money they’re giving away to Bush to start wars, bomb countries and kill people in the name of spreading democracy and peace to their home countries, this world would truly become a better and more peaceful place.

Clumsy Brits

According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, in 2002?

  • 12,300 people were injured after slipping on fashionable wooden floors.
  • 20,000 people injured themselves riding microscooters.
  • 5,310 people needed treatment after being felled pulling on a pair of trousers.
  • And 700 people (most probably men) injured themselves while zipping their trouser. (Ouch!)

[via eclecticism]

Great Expectations

Last night, I caught Great Expectations on one of the TPS Cinema channels, and I thought I’d watch it again.

As a big fan of Charles Dickens, I always loved the story and have read the book a number of times.

The movie is a modernization of the story in the book, which I think is great as long as they’re able to keep the spirit of the original too.
I really liked it when it was released back in 1998 and enjoyed it again yesterday.

Oh and one more thing. I love the soundtrack.

RIP Webmonkey, 1996 – 2004

WebmonkeySo, after 8 years of existence and following a round of layoffs at Terra Lycos, Webmonkey‘s online journey has come to an end.

It’s a real shame.
Even though I rarely used it, it was always great to know that there was a cool source of information there that I could tap into whenever I needed it.

The content was simple, straight to the point and well written by everyday programmers; picking you out of the world of professional writers and all the jargon to simply give you the stuff you really need.

This is one of the sites that truly don’t deserve to go.

Interesting Quotes

Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair said this at a charity event for Medical Aid for Palestine, June 2002:

“As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up you are never going to make progress.”

Liberal Democrat member of the British Parliament Janet Tonge said this on Sky News:

“I do not condone suicide bombers but I do understand why people out there become suicide bombers ? it is out of desperation. If I was in their situation…I might just think about it myself. They are in a terrible plight and the world is standing by and watching. Something needs to be done.”

Professor Leighton Armitage, adjunct political science professor at Foothill College in the US has dared to say this of the Israeli treatment of Palestinians:

“And what are they doing with Palestinians, every day? They’re killing them. They’re walling them in, they’re essentially doing the same thing that was done to them… It’s exactly what Hitler did to the Jews.”

[via Jalan-Jalan]

Quote of the day

John F. Kerry is a practising catholic, but his grandfather Fritz Kohn was a Czech national of Jewish descent.
In the Students for Israel publication “Perspectives: An Israel Review” he wrote an article entitled “A Powerful Journey, an Essential Dream”, in which he said:

“In this difficult time we must again reaffirm we are enlisted for the duration – and reaffirm our belief that the cause of Israel must be the cause of America – and the cause of people of conscience everywhere.” — J.F.Kerry, in “Perspectives: An Israel Review”

Seems like whoever wins the next US elections won’t really change anything in how the US treats the Middle East problem.
Israel will always get it’s way, and the Palestinians will always be shot down.

[via Jalan Jalan]