happy halloween

my epitaph

أنا تعبت كتير .. و صار لازم أرتاح

mumblings

i used to be bad ... then i became good ... now i'm neither ...

****

you are my sunshine ... my only sunshine ...

dunk of the day

song of the day

the hammer

the hammer stars comedian adam carolla as a 40 year old construction worker who was once an amateur boxer ... he still teaches a boxing class in the evenings at a local gym ... sort of a tae-bo thing more than boxing really ... but then he decides to give it one last shot ... his boxing career that is ... hilarity ensues ...

it is a low-budget movie ... very low-budget ... one of those indie films that don't show up on the radar ... but carolla is very funny ... a nice light comedy ... 7/10 ...

stranger than fiction

will ferrell in a movie that is not a comedy ... he plays a guy called harold crick who is an irs auditor ... one day harold starts hearing a voice in his head ... this voice is narrating everything he is doing ... like for example ... harold brushed his teeth then walked to the bus station ... or harold reached for the file on his desk ... and so on ... the voice makes him kind of crazy as you might imagine ... but then the voice says that harold is going to die ... and this causes him to freak out ... i've already said too much ... watch the movie to see what happens ...
now the idea is very original so it gets points for that ... but the movie was kind of disappointing ... it tries to be deep and philosophical in a way that i thought was kind of cheesy ... 10/10 for the idea ... 5/10 for the movie ...

thirteen

thirteen is a movie about dysfunctionality ... tracy a not so popular girl becomes friends with evie a very popular girl ... and together they run wild ... you name it they do it ... drugs ... alcohol ... sex ... stealing ... cutting themselves ... making out with each other ... giving their parents a hard time ... what else ... doing poorly in school ... and so on ... and of course to top it all off ... they both come from broken homes ... it is a very intense movie ... from the very first scene all the way to the very last one ...
like i said in the beginning ... this is a movie about dysfunctionality ... some people might be uncomfortable watching it but if you like those kinds of movies ... like requiem for a dream or virgin suicides or whatever ... then check it out ... 6/10 ...

صيبة عين

this is a basketball post ... just thought i'd warn you beforehand ...
so there is a team called the toronto raptors in the nba ... and they have a spanish player called jose calderon ... last season calderon had a 98.1 free throw percentage ... he made 151 of the 154 free throws he took .. that is an nba record ... so yesterday the raptors had their first game of the season ... and calderon was honored before the game started for setting that record ... later on in the game he was fouled ...
he missed both free throws ...

Fargo

another very old movie that i had not seen until very recently ... fargo is a coen brothers movie ... they are the ones who brought us movies like no country for old men, the big lebowski, and burn after reading ... so in a nutshell ... william h. macy hires two goons to kidnap his wife ... her father is very wealthy and he wants to get some ransom money out of him ... but things don't go as planned ... if you're like me and you haven't seen it yet for whatever reason ... check it out ... 8/10 ... also the midwestern accents that the actors have in the movie reminded me of sarah palin ... so i googled the words "sarah palin fargo accent" to see if i was the only one who made the connection ... i wasn't ...

arabs have guinness fever

after making the world's largest knafeh dish ... palestinians have made the world's largest embroidered dress ... this man was not impressed ...

dunk of the day

Copyright 2009 NBAE (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images)

9

if you do drugs ... you should definitely watch this movie after having some ... if not you will still enjoy it anyway ... just not as much ... the movie is not that special ... but the graphics are really cool ... it is a tim burton production ... and like all tim burton movies ... it has that dark sort of quirkiness that he is famous for ... it is not as good as the pixar flicks ... like wall-e or finding nemo or ratatouille or whatever ... but it is good ... it's like these weird puppet characters live on earth ... all the humans died after the machines killed them ... and the puppets accidentally awaken one of the machines ... so now it's the puppets versus the machine ... like i said the graphics are really cool ... you can watch it for the graphics alone ... the movie gets a 6/10 ... but the animation gets a 10/10 ...

fyi

the nba season tips off tonight ... you know what that means don't you ... the dunk of the day is coming back ...

hmmm

do they make rims for wheelchairs?

3arab

after setting the world record for largest kibbeh dish ... lebanon recently set the world record for largest hummus dish and largest tabbouleh dish ... this man was not impressed ...

الله ينصركم

A Palestinian youth marks a V sign during clashes with Israeli policemen in the Arab neighborhood of Ras Al Amud in east Jerusalem, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009.
(AP Photo)

talasim.com

there is this restaurant here in riyadh called 3ammo hamza ... it is a seafood place ... and their food is good too ... but their spelling is not so good ... here is what they wrote on their menu instead of coleslaw ...

corslo ... and in arabic they wrote it ... كورسلو

you know if they wrote colslo it would've been ok ... but where did the "r" come from?

song of the day

mystic river

kind of old but i'd never seen it till yesterday ... great acting from everyone in this movie ... great cast as well ... tim robbins, kevin bacon, and sean penn play three guys who have been friends since childhood ... robbins was kidnapped when they were kids and molested before finally managing to escape ... so he's kind of traumatized by this as one might expect ... then penn's teenage daughter is found murdered ... and slowly the evidence points to robbins being the culprit ... bacon meanwhile is one of the cops investigating the case ... watch the movie to see what happens ... it is a very good but very dark movie ... also since it is set in massachusetts so everyone has boston accents ... like good will hunting and the departed ... get in the caw ... you got a big hawt ... directed by clint eastwood by the way ...

8.5/10 ...

playstation world

if you like playstation 3 ... and you live in riyadh ... there is a new store on tahliye street called playstation world ... it is like the sony world stores ... same company ... faisaliya group ... anyway yesterday was the opening ... they had like two dudes dressed as characters from playstation games ... and spotlights outside ... and confetti ... and what not ... i was having dinner with my friend at a restaurant in tahliye so we happened to pass by ... we went in for a few minutes then left ... too many people ...
if you want to check it out ... it's facing chilis ... where quiznos used to be ...

girls of riyadh

the only reason i bought this book is because i live in riyadh ... i've known about it long before moving here but only after moving here did i feel an urge to read it ... it is as you might guess from the title a chick book ... this book is about four spoiled saudi girlfriends ... some might say they are just horny ... others might say they are looking for love ... either way ... the way it's written is that a friend of these four girls is telling their love stories through a series of emails ... i was not impressed at all with this book ... i thought it was very silly and superficial ... and poorly written ... and i think the only reason it was so successful is because of it's taboo-ness ... the only good thing about the book is that it's a light read ... i give it a 4/10 ...

mumblings

flirting is better than sex ...

that can't be right

The pilgrimage to Mecca has always involved hardship and sacrifice, whether months spent travelling on foot through barren valleys and sleeping in the open with no shelter from the elements or stripping oneself of earthly trappings. But help is at hand for the pilgrim who cannot bear to be without comfort while executing the fifth pillar of Islam.

Raffles, which gave thirsty wanderers the Singapore Sling, is opening a luxury hotel in Mecca offering pilgrims a coffee sommelier, a chocolate room where chefs will prepare bespoke pralines and truffles, and a 24-hour butler service.
Undeterred by restrictions on beautifying oneself during the Hajj, the hotel will also have segregated gyms, beauty parlours, grooming salons and a spa.
There are strict rules regarding personal hygiene and behaviour during the hajj, and forbidden activities include sex, the cutting of hair and nails and the trimming of beards. These bars are lifted once certain rituals are complete, but Muslims are generally expected to forget worldly thoughts and activities and focus on the divine.

Mohammed Arkobi, the general manager of the new hotel, did not explain how a chocolate room and spa would help pilgrims achieve spiritual fulfilment. Nor was he able to comment on how the amenities complied with the ethos of the hajj, which is about simplicity and humility.
But he did say that the "comprehensive range of services" were designed to meet the needs of the "discerning" travellers they were targeting.

source

LOL

Quote of the Day

“What did the trees do?” says Muhammad Abu Awad, a retired teacher of agriculture and father of 14 children, as he looks gloomily at his ravaged field. Twisted, silvery stubs are all that remain of a lush grove that once offered up a yearly abundance of fat green olives.
The vandals came at night from Adei Ad, a Jewish settlers’ outpost deemed “illegal” even by the Israeli government, near Shvut Rachel, an established West Bank settlement that is judged illegal in international but not Israeli law. Working fast, unnoticed by Palestinian landowners in the nearby Arab village of al-Mughayir, the settlers cut down nearly 200 olive trees, of which 70 belonged to Mr Abu Awad. As a result, he reckons to have lost income worth around $3,400 that he would have earned from this year’s harvest. But that is not all. “I planted these trees with my own hands 35 years ago”, he says, wistfully touching the stumps, now wrapped in sackcloth to protect them from the sun. Mr Abu Awad hopes his trees will recover and one day bear fruit again.
Mr Abu Awad says he is determined to fight to keep his land. “I’ll sleep on my land to protect it,” he says. “I tell my children: if I die, they should bury me where my blood was spilled. I’m in love with my land.”

source

يا فرحتي

it's the weekend ... hooray ...

but there's this report i have to do for work ...

so in case you were wondering ...

that's what i'll be doing this weekend ...

working ...

me driving home from work

thanks mia

US actress and outspoken human rights activist Mia Farrow said on Thursday that children living in blockaded, impoverished and war-wracked Gaza Strip deserve a better life.
"The children appear traumatised," Farrow told a media conference in the Palestinian enclave on the second and final day of a visit as goodwill ambassador for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
"The teachers say that when they hear a loud noise they (the children) look to the sky and cry out and weep. They don't know what the future holds," she told the joint media conference with Egyptian actor Mahmoud Kabil, also a UNICEF ambassador.
"They deserve better," she said.

Farrow, 64, arrived in Gaza on Wednesday and met children working in smuggling tunnels along the Egypt border, toured a school and a hospital and was briefed on the impact on children of the Gaza war as well as the blockade.

source

district 9

i had great expectations for this movie ... for one my oldest brother highly recommended it ... and it got 90% on rotten tomatoes ... i don't want to say i was disappointed ... because that's probably too strong of a word ... but it definitely did not live up to my expectations ... can't really tell you what it's about because i'd kind of ruin the movie for you ... but let's just say the movie tries to imagine what would really happen if aliens came to earth ... there is some violence and gore as one might imagine ... but it's not your typical alien movie ... this one is actually quite deep and it has a political message ... also the main actor in the movie has this weird accent which is not so easy to understand at times ... 7.5/10 ...

smelly cat

apparently it's a trend now for guys to wear women's perfume ... at least that's what this guy at work told me ... but the scent shouldn't be too feminine he said ... and i was like what that's not true ... and he was all surprised that i had never heard of this before ... and i was like yeah sure whatever liar ... but he said he wasn't joking and started swearing to god and stuff ... so i was like why ... i mean there's plenty of men's colognes out there that smell great ... so why ... and he was like i don't know but a lot of guys are doing it these days ... has anyone heard of this "trend" before ... it's wrong i tell you ... wrong ...

song of the day

لعيونها ... بس لعيونها

قلبي سراب بدونها ..

قلبي سراب ... وعيني سراب

ما اقول أعشقها بعقل...

مجنونها...

البارحة مريت في أحلى الفصول

صيف وشتاء..

وناظرتها..

وقلبي يقول هذي العيون إلى متى

حبيبتي ياكثرها عيونك على هاالليل

وين ما التفت اشوفها ..

حبيبتي يازينها عيونك على هاالليل

سحرني برق سيوفها..

ما أقول أعشقها بعقل..

مجنونها..

قمري .. يا شمس الذهب

سفري وراء عيونك تعب

قلبي تعب... وصبري تعب

ومن الهدب لين الهدب...

بحر ومراكب من لهب

أمواج تبحر برضاه ..

وأمواج تلعب بي غضب

****

click here to listen

باب الحارة

i didn't really get what the point of this article was ... but i have to say i found it very amusing ... and i'm sure you will too ... read it ...

song of the day

marge you whore

Marge Simpson -- the blue beehived matriarch of America's most loved dysfunctional family - is Playboy magazine's November cover, the magazine said on Friday.
Simpson, tastefully concealing her assets behind a signature Playboy Bunny chair, is the first cartoon character ever to front the glossy adult magazine, joining the ranks of sex symbols like Marilyn Monroe and Cindy Crawford.
Playboy said the cover and a three-page picture spread inside was a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the "The Simpsons" and part of a plan to appeal to a younger generation of readers.

story

meanwhile in jerusalem

the gift

so my boss should be coming back tomorrow ... freshly married ... i decided what i'm going to get him as a gift ... i was going to get him cigars like noura suggested but i changed my mind ... also i decided chocolates are a bad idea because i'm afraid they'll melt or something ... so i'll just get him something for his office ... one of those desk sets ...

Waitress

keri russell plays a waitress at a small town diner ... she finds out she is pregnant at the beginning of the movie ... literally at the beginning ... she's not very happy about it since her husband's kind of a jerk ... but then she falls in love with her ob-gyn doctor ... he is married too ... now if it sounds like a chick flick it's because it kind of is ... i didn't know that when i downloaded it ... had i known i probably would not have downloaded it ... nonetheless ... it's got a feel-good undertone to it despite the infidelity thing ... also russell has the face of an angel ... the southern accent doesn't hurt either ... so it wasn't that bad ... but still it gets points off for being a chick flick ... 6/10 ...

ridiculous

to quote reuters ...

President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for giving the world "hope for a better future" and striving for nuclear disarmament

in other words ... for doing absolutely NOTHING ...

the basketball diaries

kind of an old movie ... 1995 ... it's based on a true story ... the autobiography of some guy called jim carroll ... dicaprio plays the role of jim in the movie ... jim is a teenager at a catholic school ... he's on the basketball team ... lives with his mother ... and he hangs out with a bad crowd ... so he's got some problems ... but then he gets addicted to heroin ... and that's when things get really bad ... and so the movie follows him on his downward spiral ... although he does finally kick the habit at the end ... but despite the happy ending ... this is a very dark movie ... as one would expect a movie about heroin addiction to be ... i would have given it a lower score if it wasn't for dicaprio's superb acting ... 6.5/10 ...

Fake Zebras

A Palestinian boy touches a dyed donkey at Marah Land zoo in Gaza City. Two white donkeys dyed with black stripes delighted Palestinian kids at a small Gaza zoo on Thursday who had never seen a zebra in the flesh. A genuine zebra would have been too expensive to bring into Israel-blockaded Gaza via the smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt, said zoo owner Mohammed Bargouthi. The Marah Land Zoo's only two zebras died of hunger earlier this year during the war on Gaza. (REUTERS/Mohammed Salem)

only in gaza i presume

Posters of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas with a phrase reading in Arabic: "to the dust bin of history, traitor" plastered to a wall in a street in Gaza City. (AFP)

SoM

سلمت يداكم

Masked Palestinian youths hurl stones at Israeli border policemen during clashes in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ras al-Amud.
(AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)

life without television

i've been without a tv since the 11th of september ... every few days i go to carrefour to pick it up but they tell me it's still at the dealership getting repaired ... their policy is if the item is not repaired in 30 days the customer is entitled to a return voucher ... they have five more days and then i'm going to claim that shit ... i'm so sick of watching the stuff on my laptop ... i even started watching gossip girl ... gossip girl for god's sake ... how desperate is that ...

صرماية عتيقة

mumblings

you don't live in riyadh ... you merely survive ...

what should i get him

hey gang ... need your suggestions again ... as you may or may not know my boss is on leave ... he's getting married ... he comes back saturday ... and i want to buy him a gift ... any suggestions?

what a loser

There was once a swagger to the scotch-swilling, insurgent-fighting Raed Sabah. He was known as Sheik Raed to his sycophants. Tribesmen who relied on his largess called him the same. So did his fighters, who joined the Americans and helped crush the insurgency in Anbar province.
Sabah still likes his scotch -- Johnnie Walker Black, with Red Bull on the rocks -- but these days, as the Americans withdraw from western Iraq, he has lost his swagger. His neighbors now deride him as an American stooge; they have nicknamed his alley "The Street of the Lackeys."
"The Americans left without even saying goodbye. Not one of them," Sabah said in his villa in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, once the cradle of Iraq's insurgency. "Even when we called them, we got a message that the line had been disconnected."

story

Partners In Crime

Just when it seemed that the Ramallah Palestinian Authority (PA) and its leader Mahmoud Abbas could not sink any lower in their complicity with Israel's occupation of the West Bank and the murderous blockade of Gaza, Ramallah has dealt a further stunning blow to the Palestinian people.

The Abbas delegation to the United Nations in Geneva (officially representing the moribund Palestine Liberation Organization) abandoned a resolution requesting the Human Rights Council to forward Judge Richard Goldstone's report on war crimes in Gaza to the UN Security Council for further action. Although the PA acted under US pressure, there are strong indications that the commercial interests of Palestinian and Gulf businessmen closely linked to Abbas also played a part.

story

song of the day

the song is called di7ku 3yooni ... it's by maya nasri ... heard it on the way to work today and i liked it ...
click here to listen ...

welcome home

** photos courtesy of reuters **

graffiti

song of the day

That's Fucked Up

A box of leaflets dropped by a RAF plane in Afghanistan landed on and killed a young girl, the Ministry of Defence said.
The box should have broken apart in mid-air but struck the young girl intact. She was taken to a hospital in Kandahar where she died.

story

ghost world

scarlett johannsen and the chick from american beauty play two close friends ... the movie opens with them graduating from highschool ... well johannsen does anyway ... her friend has to take a remedial art class over the summer in order to pass ... and so that's how it starts ... the rest of the movie is how they spend their summer ... now i should say that they play outcasts ... sort of rebel non-conformist hate everything teenagers ... but their experiences over the summer sort of burst their bubble and introduce them to the real world ... i don't need to tell you what those experiences are why don't you just watch the movie instead ...
so basically it's a movie about growing up and losing your innocence ... i found it to be pretty dark though ... it's certainly not a disney flick ... which i don't mind ... my growing up experience wasn't exactly rosy either so ... anyway ... it's good but it gets a little boring sometimes ... but if you ran out of movies to watch ... you might wanna try this one ... i give it a 7/10 ...

mumblings

you know that saying "skeletons in the closet" ... well who says we can't get rid of them ... i mean why would anyone keep a skeleton in their closet ... if i had a skeleton in my closet ... i would throw it away ... and that's exactly what i intend to do ...

***

i like seeing you but ... it's only fun for so long ... then it just gets boring ... painful even ... so let's not see each other for a while ... let's take a break ... for how long? ... i don't know ... hopefully forever ...

***

some people have this obsession with being liked ... they want to be popular ... not me ... i don't give a #$&% if people like me or not ... just as long as they respect me ...

***

THE thINGs IwD2u