Year: 2006

Snakes On A Plane

You know how when you hear about how bad a movie is, and how much it sucks, and it gets you curious to see how bad it could really be?
Well that’s what happened to me; I was at the DVD rental shop and among the available movies I found “Snakes On A Plane” featuring Samuel L. Jackson, and I simply got curious.

To say the truth, I’ve seen movies that were worse than this one, but still it doesn’t really make it any better. It’s B-movie, straight to television material at best.

It’s true there are some ok sequences of this snake or another killing a person, but other than that, this movie is basically a waste of time.
What’s weird is that NewLine actually went back to film more footage for this film upon recommendation of the fans, and I suspect those were actually the ok scenes, so I don’t even want to imagine what the movie was like before that.

I don’t get it why really good actors like Samuel L. Jackson agree to work on such bad movies sometimes, it’s a waste of talent, and an act of disrespect towards themselves.
I know everyone needs money, but when you’ve built a name for yourself, you should be a bit more selective when it comes to what movies you stick your name on.

Anyway, if I were to rate this movie, I think I’d give it a: 3/10.

Still, if you want, for some weird reason, such as owning a piece of cinematic history crap, you can buy the “Snakes On A Plane” DVD here.

Microsoft Releases Free Accounting Software

Microsoft has released a new product by the name of Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007, which is a free accounting product for small businesses.

According to Microsoft:

Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007, financial management software is designed for millions of starting businesses and home based businesses that currently use pen & paper or spreadsheets to run their business. It provides a single place to manage the company

Top 10 Lies Told To Naive Freelancers

If you plan to do freelance work as an artist, writer, graphics designer, developer or whatever other thing you’re into, here’s a list of the top 10 lies you’ll be told by your clients and that could end up ruining it for you.

1. “Do this one cheap (or free) and we’ll make it up on the next one.”
2. “We never pay a cent until we see the final product.”
3. “Do this for us and you’ll get great exposure! The jobs will just pour in!”
4. On looking at sketches or concepts: “Well, we aren’t sure if we want to use you yet, but leave your material here so I can talk to my partner/investor/wife/clergy.”
5. “Well, the job isn’t CANCELLED, just delayed. Keep the account open and we’ll continue in a month or two.”
6. “Contract? We don’t need no stinking contact! Aren’t we friends?”
7. “Send me a bill after the work goes to press.”
8. “The last guy did it for XXX dollars.”
9. “Our budget is XXX dollars, firm.”
10. “We are having financial problems. Give us the work, we’ll make some money and we’ll pay you. Simple.”

Read the full entry “Top 10 Lies told to Naive Artists and Designers” on “Painter Creativity” for explained details and counter arguments for every single point.

[Via: Performancing]

USA Only Country To Oppose UN Arms Trade Treaty

America is the only country to have voted against a proposed United Nations treaty aimed at controlling international arms sales.

The proposed treaty, which human rights groups have promoted as a significant move towards keeping small arms out of conflict zones, was endorsed on Tuesday by 15 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, including the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, the South African archbishop.

The resolution was adopted with 139 countries voting in favour of the motion, 24 abstentions and only one

The Fifth Mountain – Paulo Coelho

Ever since I read “The Alchemist“, I’ve been wanting to read more of Paulo Coelho’s books, and a few days ago, I started reading “The Fifth Mountain“, which I finished yesterday.

This book tells the story of the prophet Elijah, his flight from Gilead and the time he spent in Zarephath. Coelho delves into the prophet’s character, revealing the thoughts, doubts, and discoveries that Elijah must have experienced as he struggled to find his course in life amidst the confusion of war and political turmoil.

The story is really inspirational and as usual Paulo injects a lot of wisdom into it, making you think about the world around us, our roles in it and our relationship with God.

Just like “The Alchemist”, this book is packed with a bunch of inspiring quotes , such as the following:

“The words of the lord are written in the world around us. Merely be attentive to what happens in your life, and you will discover where.”

“It’s always necessary to know when a stage of one’s life has ended. If you stubbornly cling to it after the need has passed, you lose the joy and meaning of the rest.”

“A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires.”

So to keep it short, I really recommend this book, it’s quite worth the read. I did enjoy “The Alchemist” a bit more, but this is a great book nevertheless.
I can’t wait to read another Paulo Coelho book.

I give this book a rating of: 8/10.

The Ten Common Myths of IT

Ten common rationalizations people in the Information Technology world turn to whenever their authority or professionalism is challenged.

They have been around as long as the modern computer and they transcend all cultural and industrial boundaries. What’s worse, they have proven to be quite effective.

1. Our problems are unique
2. We never seem to have enough time to do things right
3. You are stifling our creativity
4. System design is an art form
5. Technology will solve our problems
6. A DBMS is a prerequisite for data base
7. There is an infinite amount of data in an organization
8. Our company runs on data
9. Users own the data
10. Users don’t know what they want

[Source: TheTechZone]

Mozilla Releases Firefox 2

Version 2.0 of Firefox, my favourite browser, which I totally recommend by the way, is finally out.

I tested a couple of the beta versions in the past and liked what I saw; I can’t wait to get home and install the final version on my laptop.

This new version brings with it a number of new features, the ones I’m most excited about being the following:

– Resuming your browsing session: The Session Restore feature restores windows, tabs, text typed in forms, and in-progress downloads from the last user session. I’ve been waiting for this feature to be added to Firefox for some time now, and when I saw it in the beta, it put a smile on my face.

– Enhanced search capabilities: Search term suggestions will now appear as users type in the integrated search box when using the Google, Yahoo! or Answers.com search engines. It’ll also be easier to manage the list of search engines you can use from that box.

– Improved tabbed browsing: By default, Firefox will open links in new tabs instead of new windows, and each tab will now have a close tab button. Power users who open more tabs than can fit in a single window will see arrows on the left and right side of the tab strip that let them scroll back and forth between their tabs. The History menu will keep a list of recently closed tabs, and a shortcut lets users quickly re-open an accidentally closed tab.
These need a bit of getting used to at first, but they’re really good and useful once you get the hang of it.

– Inline spell checking: A new built-in spell checker enables users to quickly check the spelling of text entered into Web forms. Should come in handy every once in a while.

– Built-in phishing protection: Phishing Protection warns users when they encounter suspected Web forgeries, and offers to return the user to their home page. Should be a good feature for people who aren’t careful enough.

– JavaScript 1.7: JavaScript is hot again with AJAX and all, so Firefox gets an upgrade introducing several new features such as generators, iterators, array comprehensions, let expressions, and destructuring assignments.

There’s a bunch of other interesting features that come with this version that you can find in the release notes.

Here’s where you got to go to download Firefox 2.

Eid Mubarak

This is a bit late, but well better late than never as they say, Eid Mubarak to everyone, I hope you all had a great eid, that God blesses you all and that you’ll all be well and happy for many Ramadans and eids to come.

The way we spent our eid wasn’t much different than usual in the things we did, but very different in how it felt and in the meaning of it.
This year our son Adam was with us, and so it was our little family going out together to visit the close family and wish them a happy eid.
It felt really great and was a very special eid for us.

Having him with us also introduced us to another funny, amusing and weird belief that if a baby goes into someone’s house (for the first time or in the eid, depending on the version), and he/she is not given money, then mice will come out in that household.
Go figure where they came up with that from, but well it’s nice when your son is on the receiving end of it.

Anyway, again, happy eid to you all from our little family 🙂 I wish you all the very best.

Forbes Arabia Top 40 Arab Brands

Forbes has released a list of the Top 40 Arab brands. The list includes several successful brands that have emerged from the Middle East and are making their presence felt globally.

The list goes as follows:

1. Al Jazeera (Qatar)
2. Emirates Group (UAE)
3. Al-Marai (Saudi Arabia)
4. Al Arabiya (Saudi Arabia)
5. Afia (Saudi Arabia)
6. Americana (Kuwait)
7. Burj Al Arab (UAE)
8. Fine (Jordan)
9. Jarir Bookstore (Saudi Arabia)
10. Emaar (UAE)

Continue reading Forbes Arabia Top 40 Arab Brands