Category: Here & There

Palestine US Exhibit Stirs Controversy

Made in Palestine art exhibition stirs controversy in US…

A unique art exhibition showcasing the works of 23 Palestinian artists, from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as well as those living in exile in countries such as Jordan, Syria and Germany, is facing uncertain times in the United States, with major museums refusing to play host.

Chronicling the modern history of Palestinians since 1948, Made in Palestine had its first showing in the United States at the Station Museum in Houston, in May 2003.

Currently on display in San Francisco, the opening attracted up to a thousand people. But alongside the accolades, it has also drawn the ire of some politicians.
As a result, most museums are fearful that hosting an exhibit that is pro-Palestinian could cost them their funding.

Once the current show draws to a close on 21 April, organisers suspect it could be curtains for the exhibition.

[Source: Al Jazeera]

I think it’s so unfair to not even let Palestinians express themselves and show their side of the story through peaceful art exhibitions like this one.

There is so much bias and ignorance that almost anything that is even slightly pro-Palestinian is automatically unaccepted and denied.

I think this is where those fat rich Arab purses should come in handy, funding projects like this and helping to get the peaceful message through.

Amr Diab To Run for Egyptian Parliament

The Egyptian Arnie…

Egyptian pop-star Amr Diab is steering away from his profession and will run for elections in the Egyptian Parliament, which will take place immediately after the Presidential elections. The singer has already began his new political campaign by going back to his hometown to try and win over the support of his people.

According to the London based Elaph, Amr will make the announcement of his election publicly in the upcoming few days. It is unpredictable if the singer will be able to defeat former parliament members, but he will depend on his popularity to win votes and is concentrating on the young generation.

[Source: Al Bawaba]
[Via: Mindbleed]

Well if Reagan made it to President and Arnie made it to governor, why can’t Amr become a member of the Egyptian parliament?

He could even drop in a song every now and then to make it less boring.

First Middle East Sex Survey Results

The results of the first Middle East Sex survey are out, and here are some numbers I found interesting:

– 36.2% think Beirut is the most romantic city in the Middle East.
– 36.3% think that Black hair is sexier, with Blonde hair coming in third with 21.7%.
– 12.1% have sex at least once a day.
– 53.1% are worried about HIV/Aids most.
– 21.2% have had, or been the cause of an unwanted pregnancy.
– 18.7% think the sexiest feature in a person is their breasts/chest. A toned body comes second with 15.7%.
– 11.1% think that Angelina Jolie is the sexiest interntational celebrity.

[More: First Middle East Sex Survey Results]
[Via: Ammar]

LinkLog Changes

As some of you might have noticed, I’ve taken the LinkLog off the sidebar and replaced it with daily inline posts of the interesting links I find while surfing the web.

I did this because I wanted to share more of the links I find with you guys in a more practical way.

I hope you’re enjoying the links more this way.
If you have any suggestions about anything in the blog, please do let me know.

Yusuf Islam’s Indian Ocean

Yusuf Islam's Indian Ocean

Yusuf Islam, previously British pop star Cat Stevens who embraced Islam 30 years ago, released a new record called “Indian Ocean” on Tueday, March 22, in aid of tsunami-orphaned children in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

The “Indian Ocean” will be available as a download from several online music stores. The list of stores is available at yusufislam.org.uk.

The song was recorded in London with Indian composer/producer A.R. Rahman, A-ha keyboard player Magne Furuholmen and Travis drummer Neil Primrose.

Yusuf Islam

The Contender

Yesterday One TV started airing a new reality tv show called “The Contender“.

The show follows 16 professional boxers in a training camp to pursue their dream of becoming a champion boxer.

Silvester Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard serve as both hosts and boxing mentors to this group of fighters as they each try to improve their skills in order rise to the rank of professional boxers.

The boxers are divided into two teams, West Coast and East Coast, and they have a new challenge to do each week.
The team that wins the challenge gets to pick a boxer from their team to fight against a boxer they choose from the other team.
The boxer who loses leaves the show.
The final victor will claim a million dollar prize.

Although I really liked the Rocky movies, I’m not truly a fan of boxing or other violent sports. But still I was sucked in to watch this. I guess it’s different when you get to know the fighters a bit on a personal level before you see them fight.
The passion and excitement involved in it just pulls you into it all.

Cool stuff…

Mel Gibson Buys Fiji Island

I wish I could do something like this…

Hollywood star and director Mel Gibson has purchased a Pacific island hideaway in northern Fiji.

The director of “The Passion of the Christ” and star of the “Mad Max” films purchased the 5,411-acre (2,164-hectare) Mago Island from Japan’s Tokyu Corp. for about US$15 million (euro11 million).

The Fiji government’s Cabinet approved the sale last month, principal lands officer Laisa Raratabu said Wednesday.

[Source: CNN]

WOW…
Anyways, if I had the kind of money he had, I would have bought an island a long time ago. The guy is filthy rich!

This reminds me of this show I saw on TV last week about this Australian guy who bought this beautiful island for only $10,000 and turned it into this high society tourist getaway destination.
He’s making tons of money out of it and it only cost him peanuts to start with.
Now that’s a very cool investment.

It also reminds me of this rumour that circulated in Tunisia after Michael Jackson came for a concert back in 1996. The rumour was that Michael wanted to buy the Tunisian island of Djerba.
Turned out to be a load of bull (as usual).

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