Month: March 2005

Million Dollar Baby

I finally got to watch “Million Dollar Baby” last night.
The movie won a bunch of oscars this year, is directed by Clint Eastwood, features Clint himself, Hillary Swank and Morgan Freeman, and well everyone I know who has seen it has been constantly raving about how great it is.

So what did I think of it?
Well, of course it was great!
As in all Client Eastwood movies, he takes it easy and slow, giving time to develop the characters, enriching the story, engaging the viewers and letting them use their imaginations to further develop the story in their minds.

The story is a strong and moving one, and it tackles a number of interesting and touching issues.
It’s a drama about a hardened trainer/manager (Clint Eastwood) and his work and relationship with a determined woman (Hillary Swank) in her attempt to establish herself as a professional boxer.

You go through a number of different feelings throughout the movie, from excitement to happiness to hope to shock to sadness…etc, making it such a great and moving cinematic experience.

I really recommend this movie.
My score for it is: 8.5/10.

Ocean’s Twelve

Everyone said Ocean’s Twelve was no way as good as Ocean’s Eleven, but still I had this thought that: well, ok, it might not be as good as the first (like all sequels), but with this all-star cast on-board, I don’t think it’s going to be too bad either.

Hmmm, well I was wrong!

I’m maybe the biggest fan of heist movies, and before “The Big Bounce“, I had loved every heist movie I ever saw.
This movie joins the ranks of “The Big Bounce”. Of course, it’s relatively a lot better, but still, it sucks.

Ocean’s Eleven was a really good movie. Fun, good acting, the storyline and heist were cool and everyone enjoyed it.
Ocean’s Twelve goes the opposite way and does everything wrong. The storyline is uninteresting, there’s no fun and the heist sucks.
So, what’s the point?!

Unless you definitely have to choose between “The Big Bounce” and “Ocean’s Twelve”, there’s no need to see this one 😛

My score for this movie is: 4/10.

New Earthquake of 8.2 Magnitude Hits Asia

Just a few months after the devastating earthquake and tsunamis that hit Asia, another earthquake with a magnitude of at least 8.2 on the richter scale was reported today off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on the same fault line.

The quake occurred at 16:09 GMT, and is considered a “great” earthquake, the largest of seven grades.

Thai officials issued a warning of a possible tsunami.
A spokesman for the U.S. Geological Survey also confirmed by telling CNN that the earthquake could cause tsunamis.

I hope they’re wrong and that no tsunamis result of this and no damage occurs to any of the countries in that region.
God protect them all.

Update 29/03/05: The earthquake was of a 8.7 Magnitude. Reports say that 300 people have died, while hundreds more are injured or trapped on islands near to the epicenter, including Indonesia’s Nias Island.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla told a local radio station as many as 2,000 could be dead from Monday’s quake, also felt in Malaysia, Singapore and as far north as Bangkok, Thailand.

[More: CNN]

Egyptian Actor Ahmad Zaki Dies

Acclaimed Egyptian actor Ahmad Zaki died today Sunday, March 27th 2005, at the age of 57, after a long and ferocious battle with lung cancer.

The actor had been in a coma for eight days and finally his body gave up and his heart stopped beating.

Before slipping into a coma earlier this month, Zaki had received calls from President Husni Mubarak. Egypt’s most prominent celebrities and cultural figures had flocked to his hospital room for weeks before his death.

Ahmad Zaki was one of the Arab world’s greatest actors and his career is full of great movies and roles.
As Director Muhammad Khan, who worked with Zaki on six films, said: he had a natural instinct for acting.

Zaki died before accomplishing one of his dreams – the making of the film “Halim” about the life of the celebrated Egyptian singer Abd al-Halim Hafidh.

Rest in peace Ahmad Zaki, may God bless your soul.
You’ll always be a shining star in the sky of Arab cinema.

Important Arab Books & Content Statistics

– Arab countries’ output of books represents just 1.1 percent of the world total, although Arabs constitute 5% of the world’s population. This is less than what a country such as Turkey produces, with a population about one-quarter that of the Arab countries.

– The Arab world translates about 330 books annually, one fifth of the number that Greece translates.

– Print runs of Arab books are very low, ranging for the average novel between 1,000 and 3,000 copies only. A book that sells just 5,000 copies is considered a bestseller.

– Arab book publishing has been threatened by three factors: censorship and the practice of banning books among the 22 Arab states; low readership, blamed on economic stagnation and competition from the mass media; and the lack of adequate distribution of books across the Arab world.

– Arab websites amount to 14,000 websites, representing only 0.01% of world content.

Something has to be done about this!
It’s a shame to see numbers like this coming out of the Arab world.
More importance should be given to book writing, publishing and reading. Children should be brought up to read more, writers should be given more freedom and more encouraging circumstances to write, more effort should be put into translating important works of art, literature and science.

The responsibility falls on the Arab governments, universities, cultural and scientific institutions, publishers, writers, translators, bloggers, readers and families who have to all work together to change this shameful reality to a brighter one.

[Sources: Arab books and human development, Guardian Unlimited]

Alfie

Last night I watched “Alfie“, featuring Jude Law, Marisa Tomei, Susan Sarandon and Nia Long.

I read a bit about this movie before and saw its trailer. The trailer looked fun but the reviews weren’t that good. I rented it anyways as I don’t always trust reviews.

I like movies in which the character has this ongoing dialogue with the viewers, I think it’s really fun and cool. This movie does that and I really liked that about it.

The movie is about an English womanizer and how he comes to learn the consequences of his actions the hard way.
I really liked Jude Law in this role, he did a really cool job in it.

The movie starts off really promising and is quite fun, but the pace slows down and it becomes just a bit boring towards the end.
Anyway, all in all, it’s a nice light movie to watch with some fun and cool moments. Not a blockbuster but still ok.

My score for it would be: 6/10.

The Truth… For Lebanon

Today marks the 40th day since Rafik Hariri‘s death, and for this occasion, a group of Lebanese youth are organizing a gathering in Martyr Square in Beirut tomorrow at 14:00 where cards will be distributed to over a thousand people in order to draw his portrait.

Meanwhile, demands are rising for the resignation of security officials in the government for failing to provide security, protection, law and order in Lebanon.

Furthermore, the UN fact-finding mission published a report yesterday that was sharply critical of Syria and its allied Lebanese government and said that they were responsible for the political tension that preceded the assasination.

The report said that the Beirut government showed a lack of commitment to finding out who killed al-Hariri, bungling and outright manipulating the investigation.

A petition has also been started on the For Lebanon site, demanding an international neutral investigation to uncover the truth.
The same petition will be available for signing tomorrow at Martyr Square.

God bless Lebanon, and God bless Rafik Hariri’s soul.
Our hearts and minds are with Lebanon and the Lebanese people, and we too all demand to know the truth!