Subzero Blue

Flightplan

On Saturday, we watched “Flightplan“, featuring Jodie Foster, Sean Bean and Peter Sarsgaard.

I saw the trailer for the movie a couple of times, and it looked like an ok movie. Anyway, when we were in London, it was playing there, and I didn’t think it was worth paying two cinema tickets for, so I just decided to wait and rent it on DVD.

The movie is a drama/thriller about a bereaved woman and her daughter who are flying home from Berlin to America. At 30,000 feet the child vanishes and nobody admits she was ever on that plane.
I really liked the idea of the movie and how it was brought to life, making this such a better movie than I expected.

Jodie Foster is a great actor, as we all know, even though I think she’s a bit too dramatic in her roles. She does the same in this movie, but it turns out better.

If you like what the idea of the movie sounds like, then I recommend this movie.

My score for it is: 7/10.

Vote for me at Bloggies 2006

Thanks to all your nominations and to the votes of the Bloggies 2006 panel, Subzero Blue is a finalist for “Best African or Middle Eastern Weblog” for the third year in a row.

Please pass by the Bloggies 2006 site and vote for me, and don’t forget to tell all your friends to vote for me too.

It’s up to you to give Subzero Blue the award this year or not, so I’m counting on you guys.

Thanks a bunch in advance 🙂

Vote for me here: Bloggies 2006.

Arabic iPod to be launched soon

It seems like an Arabic version of Apple’s hugely popular iPod will hit the market soon.

Elias Abou-Rustom, general manager of Arab Business Machine, Apple’s independent marketing company for the Middle East, says that Apple is working on it and that a prototype has already been made available to them.
He predicts it will be launched in the Middle East in the coming months.

I think this is a really good move by Apple. The Middle Eastern market should be a very interesting one for Apple, and I think that up to now they hadn’t realized it’s full potential and didn’t really try hard enough to market and sell their products in the region.
Hopefully this is a move in the right direction and that they will give more importance to the region, and try to market and distribute their products better than just a few small appearances in some expos.

A few months ago, I wrote about how Apple was overstocked on iPods, while some of us in the Middle East wanted to buy some, and were ready to pay the price, but couldn’t find any.

[Via: Moey]
[Source: Gulf News]

Organizing Tunisian Blogger Meetup 10

It’s nearly a month since we had our last Tunisian blogger meetup, so that means that it’s about time for us to have another one, which will actually be our 10th meetup.

So if you have any suggestions for the date, time and place. Please leave a comment here.

I hope we’ll have more new faces in this meetup.

My personal suggestion is to have it on a Friday afternoon after work, so maybe Friday 27th at 7PM, in a nice caf

High Fidelity – Nick Hornby

Last night, I finished reading Nick Hornby’s bestseller “High Fidelity“.

I’ve been wanting to read this book ever since I saw the movie, starring John Cusack and Jack Black, which I really really liked.

I enjoyed the book a lot, and now I see what a great job they did with the movie transforming the book to film. I really like Nick Hornby’s humour and his first-person narrator style of writing.

The book is about a thirtysomething English guy who runs a London record store called “Championship Vinyl”. He’s very serious about music and sells all these rare albums and singles on vinyl. His love life is a mess and he’s having a tough time making the transition into adulthood.
It’s a funny, sweet, light take on life and love.

I somehow relate to the main character, not in his life and his unhappiness, but in some aspects of his thinking and personality.

This is a really fun and cool story, so I recommend you both read the book and watch the movie.

My score for this book: 8/10.

Less Than A Blink To Judge Web Sites

A new study by some Canadian researchers has found that it only takes an internet user one-twentieth of a second, which is less than half the time it takes to blink, to judge a web site aesthetically, a judgment that influences the rest of their experience with the site.

The study was published in the latest issue of the Behavior and Information Technology journal. The author said the findings had powerful implications for the field of Web site design.

“It really is just a physiological response,” Gitte Lindgaard told Reuters on Tuesday. “So Web designers have to make sure they’re not offending users visually.

“If the first impression is negative, you’ll probably drive people off.”

That makes me wonder, how many blinks do you give this blog?
And while we’re at it, what do you think could make it a better experience for you?

[Source: CNet News]

Paradise Now Wins Golden Globe

“Paradise Now” won the award for the Best Foreign Language Film category in the 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards, that were held on Monday.

The film was directed by Palestinian Hany Abu-Assad from a screenplay he cowrote with Bero Beyer, the film’s Dutch producer, both of whom ascended to the podium to collect the award.

Paradise Now chronicles the 48 hours before two best friends in Nablus are sent on a suicide mission to Israel. The New York Times said it

Santana – All That I Am

These past couple of days, I’ve been listening to Santana’s new album “All That I Am“, which is another magnificent work of pure art.

Santana’s guitar does another set of wonders on this album, in which he collaborates with artists like Joss Stone, Michelle Branch, Mary J. Blige, Will.i.Am, Steven Tyler, Bo Bice, sean Paul and others.

My favourite songs off this album are: “El Fuego”, “I Am Somebody”,
“I’m feeling you”, “Twisted”, “Cry Baby Cry”, “Brown Skin Girl”, “I Don’t Wan’t Wanna Lose Your Love”…etc.
In fact every song on this album is a potential hit and favourite, making this album another great hit packed album just like “Shaman” and “Supernatural” were.

His music is just so much fun, his guitar is really sexy and beautiful, and his collaborations with other artists are very successful.

I totally recommend this album to every music lover. I guarantee you’ll enjoy it.

My score for it is: 9.5/10.

Chocolat

Today, I finally got around to seeing “Chocolat“, a movie featuring Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Alfred Molina and Carrie-Ann Moss.

I heard a lot about this movie, and I know that it was nominated for 5 Oscars, and I know that it has great actors in it, but I don’t know why I only chose to rent it yesterday and see it today.

As the name suggests, this is quite a delicious light movie. Very nice story, good acting, cool music and a little lesson behind it all.

The movie is about a woman and her daughter, who open a chocolate shop in a small Catholic French village with a strict mayor, who tries to turn the whole village against them, and how they end up shaking up the village and its community’s rigid morality.

My score for this movie is: 7/10.

Just Not My Day!

You know those days when the only thing missing is to have a big red sign bouncing in front of you telling you in capital letters that “This is a shitty day!”?
Well today is one of those days…

I had to wake up early to go for this “thing” in downtown Tunis, and it turned out a complete waste of time. Blah blah blah… Ah shutup already!

Then I had to go pay my car insurance. I’m with Star Assurances, and my contract was done at this small branch in La Marsa, next to my parents’ place. I used to give my dad the money to pay it for me as it’s just across the street from their place, but this year, they closed that branch and merged it with a bigger one in the beginning of La Marsa.

Anyway, I was driving to La Marsa, minding my own business, not really speeding, or at least it didn’t feel like I was, especially at this place between Ain Zaghouan and Carrefour where the road is really wide and is made up of 4 or 5 lanes. Obviously the cops didn’t share my opinion, and they picked me up on their radar, waved me to the side, took away my driving license and gave me a speeding ticket!!!
They say the speed limit is 70Km/h there. What is it with these illogical speed limits we have sometimes? This specific place should at least have a 90 Km/h speed limit.

However, as if that wasn’t enough, I drove on to La Marsa and didn’t find the damn insurance company branch!
I know where it is, and I go exactly there, but nope, the sign is gone and nothing says where they went.
I ask their ex-neighbours and each one points me to a different direction. I drive all around La Marsa looking for them, and nothing!
I call the main branch on the phone, an answering machine tells me to hang on until someone replies, but no one does!!!

This is so damn unprofessional!!
You shut a branch, merge it with another branch, then shut that branch and move to somewhere else, and I, the paying client, am not notified about any of all this. All I get is a reminder that I have to pay!
I mean, it’s not enough that insurance is the biggest scam mankind ever created and that I personally believe it’s 100% legal theft, I also have to deal with all this unprofessionalism! Please!

So, after cursing the hell out of the world, I just go home in the shittiest mood.
I mean, basically, today on a weekend, I woke up early to go out, get a speeding ticket and then come back with a bad mood. Very nice!!