Year: 2005

The Gardens Of Light

I just finished reading “The Gardens Of Light” by Amin Maalouf.

The book tells the story of Mani – the painter, mystic, physician and prophet – exploring his life and journey.

It’s a very interesting book that takes the reader back to those times when the great Roman and Persian empires were in their battle to control the Middle East, and followers of different religions were fighting against each other for ascendancy.
It lets you live the journey of Mani while he preached his doctrine of humility, tolerance and love.

I really liked the way the story was told and how you really start feeling and understanding the characters.
I wish there were a bit more details about Mani’s teachings, as the book only hinted at some of the ideas.

Anyway, it was very interesting to me reading about Mani, learning about his life, beliefs and religion.
I thought his message of tolerance and love between all people, no matter what their religion is, no matter their caste and race is a very powerful and important one that we really need nowadays.

Egypt Election Reform

Good news from Egypt…

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections in September, making a surprise reversal Saturday that could mean he will face a challenger for the first time since taking power in 1981.

It was the first significant move toward political reform in decades in Egypt, a powerhouse in the Arab world that has had one-party rule for more than half a century.

The announcement came amid increasing calls for political reform from the domestic opposition and from the United States and after historic Iraqi and Palestinian elections that brought a taste of democracy to the region.

[Source: CNN]

I think this is really good news for all Egyptians.

In a matter of fact, just earlier today we were talking about the Kifaya demonstrations in Egypt, how currently the elections are only a referendum in which Egyptians vote yes or no for their president and how there should be change.

Hopefully this change, allowing more than one candidate to run for presidency, will be a good step towards more choice and more democracy in Egypt.

Yahoo! To Buy Flickr?!

Om Malik reports:

Rumors are flying thick and fast in Silicon Valley: Yahoo is all set to buy Ludicorp, the company behind the hot photo blogging web service Flickr, for an undisclosed amount of money.

Its not the first time rumors of these talks have made the rounds. Most of the deal-related chatter is coming from blogging world insiders who have said that Flickr might have inked the papers last week, but Yahoo is holding off on an announcement until March 1. At this point, it could all just be that

Quentin Tarantino To Direct ‘CSI’ Finale

Now this should be really cool…

Quentin Tarantino has signed to direct the season finale of primetime’s most-watched series, CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

Tarantino also has come up with an original story for the episode, which is expected to shoot in early April and air May 19, according to “CSI” executive producer Carol Mendelsohn.

“There will be more bugs and blood this time,” Mendelsohn joked.

[Source: CNN]

WOW, I’m sure this would turn out as one of the best CSI episodes ever especially that it’ll be a story of his own that he’s directing.

I’ve watched all of Tarantino’s movies and they totally rock, and I can truly imagine him working on something like this and producing something very cool.

I don’t watch CSI that often, although I wish I could as I like shows of this genre, but I’ll be watching out for this one final episode for sure.

Rastafarian Religion

Yesterday while flipping through some music channels, I stopped for a while on VH1 who were playing an ad for a show about Bob Marley they were going to put on. The ad talked about how Bob Marley was one of the strongest promoters for the Rastafarian religion…etc.

But wait, I never knew that there was such a thing as a Rastafarian faith.
Of course, I’ve heard a lot of reggae songs over the years and have heard a load of the words: rasta, rastaman, jah, rastafari, babylon …etc. But never did it occur to me that there was a religion behind all that.

So today, I hit the net for some research and thought I’d share with you my interesting findings.

Continue reading Rastafarian Religion

Iran Hit By Earthquake

Very Sad…

A powerful earthquake has rocked central Iran, destroying buildings in several villages and killing 190 people.

Iranian officials told state-run television on Tuesday that 1,000 people have been injured — at least 280 in the city of Zarand alone.

The magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near Zarand in central Iran at 5:55 a.m. local time (0225 GMT).

[Source: CNN]

Iran has been hit by a number of strong earthquakes over the past years, causing a lot of disasters and damage around the country.

God help the people of Iran who have gone through these disasters time and again and who have lost homes, loved ones, businesses and so much more.

Our hearts and minds are with them.

Sick…

As some of you might already know from my wife’s blog, this past weekend hasn’t been the best for me.

I’m sick…
My whole body is aching, I have a constant headache, you could fry an egg on my head, my throat hurts, my brain feels like it’s bouncing around painfully in my skull, I’m not seeing clearly, my back is killing me and a million other things.

I totally hate being sick!
It just sucks to feel how helpless us humans can be.
Just some damn little virus is enough to throw our lives completely off track and make us virtually useless.

The Life of David Gale

Last night, I watched “The Life Of David Gale“, a very good movie starring Kevin Spacey , Kate Winslet and Laura Linney.

It’s a drama/thriller about a man against capital punishment who is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row. He asks for a reporter and grants her exclusive interviews over the 3 days before his death to talk to her about it all.

I really enjoyed this movie and would certainly recommend watching it.

Kevin Spacey obviously can do no wrong. All his movies rock.

I’d score this movie: 8/10.