money out the wazoo

it's been reported that the qatari royal family purchased a painting for 250 million dollars .. the qatari people are very upset about this and it looks like another arab revolution is about to kick off .. no i'm just kidding .. about the revolution i mean .. not the painting .. that part is true ..

مطلب مين بالزبط؟

the tag for this week's friday protest in syria is "جمعة التدويل مطلبنا" .. i wash my hands of this ..

fool me once

is the arab world so dumb to believe that those who have been propping up our dictators for so long have suddenly had a change of heart ... western governments want us to be free ... really ...

chef

so apparently they have an arabic version of top chef ... i had never seen an episode of top chef before ... arabic or otherwise ... i am aware of the program though ... the only cooking show i ever watched was hell's kitchen i think ... anyway i was watching game 4 of the boston miami series ... it was a rerun i already knew miami won the game but i didn't mind ... anyway so i was flipping through the channels during a timeout ... and came across top chef ... i have to admit i stayed on the channel ... watched the entire episode ... it's lame but i was entertained ... i was surprised to see that the host of the show was none other than gibran tueini's widow ... anyway she's pretty hot ... this is her ... there's one saudi guy from jeddah on the show ... i thought he was the coolest one out of the contestants ... every time he talks to the camera he has his fingers resting on his face kind of like that famous malcolm x photo ... very laid back and cool ... i didn't care for the rest ... although the two lebanese girls were cute ... not hot ... just cute ... anyway ... it wasn't the worst thing in the world but it's not like i'm going to start following it ... i wonder when we will have an arabic bachelor show ...

he seemed to say

what's that syrian people ... i didn't hear you ...

honestly

i saw this on tv ... the syrian news agency is saying that the syrian army entered daraa at the request of the locals ... which i thought was just ... wow ...

أسامينا شو تعبو أهالينا

this is a real name ... i saw it with my own eyes written on the guy's iqama ... if i am lying may God strike me down ... it's the name of the sponsor (kafeel) of a driver who works for one of our contractors ...

دايخ مدوخ ذعّار الشلوي

that's dayi5 midwi5 tha33ar alshlewi ...
if that's not the most bedouin name i have ever heard in my life i don't know what is ...

love it

this is awesome ...

the arab revolutions

if i didn't know any better i would have thought that this is a description of a bizarre acid trip that someone had ...

*********

At times the camera panned back to show the outside of the building and its towering monument of a gold-colored fist crushing an American fighter jet. But the view also gave a surreal image of Gadhafi, shouting and waving his arms wildly all alone in a broken-down lobby with no audience, surrounded by torn tiles dangling from the ceiling, shattered concrete pillars and bare plumbing pipes.

"Libya wants glory, Libya wants to be at the pinnacle, at the pinnacle of the world," he proclaimed, pounding his fist on the podium. "I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents ... I will die as a martyr at the end," he said, vowing to fight "to my last drop of blood."

Gadhafi depicted the protesters as misguided youths, who had been given drugs and money by a "small, sick group" to attack police and government buildings. He said the uprising was fomented by "bearded men" — a reference to Islamic fundamentalists — and Libyans living abroad. He called on supporters to take to the streets to attack protesters.

"You men and women who love Gadhafi ... get out of your homes and fill the streets," he said. "Leave your homes and attack them in their lairs."

"The police cordons will be lifted, go out and fight them," he said, urging youth to form local committees across the country "for the defense of the revolution and the defense of Gadhafi."

"Forward, forward, forward!" he barked at the speech's conclusion, pumping both fists in the air as he stormed away from the podium. He was kissed by about a dozen supporters, some in security force uniforms. Then he climbed into a golf cart-like vehicle and puttered away.
source

dear hosni

quote of the day

"He can't believe it is over. He is a very stubborn man."

Afaf Naged, 71, a former member of the board of directors of the state-owned National Bank of Egypt.

source

crumbling regime

the leadership of egypt's national party all resigned ... which is great but there is a slight problem ... mubarak is still president ... the leadership posed together for a group photo after announcing the resignation ... it was an emotional moment as this could be the last time they ever see each other as each one of them prepares to flee the country ... aljazeera was able to obtain said photo ... click here to see it ...

the good die young

i envy those that died in tunisia for the sake of freedom ... i envy those that are dying for the sake of egypt's freedom right now ... i really do envy them ... truly madly deeply do ... heck i even envy the ones who are still alive and protesting ...

jundi the صعلوك

i always knew the word صعلوك was an insult though i never really knew what it meant ... i always thought it meant like bum ... anyway now that i know the real meaning of the word i don't really see it as an insult anymore ... in fact go ahead and call me one ... i promise i won't get upset ...

الصعاليك اسم يطلق على جماعة من العرب في عصر ما قبل الإسلام عاشوا واطلقوا حركتهم في نجد وسط الجزيرة العربية ويعودون لقبائل مختلفة، كانوا لا يعترفون بسلطة القبيلة وواجباتها (خارجون عن القانون : بالوصف المعاصر)، فطردوا من قبائلهم. ومعظم أفراد هذه الجماعة، من الشعراء المجيدين وقصائدهم تعدّ من عيون الشعر العربي.

امتهن الصعاليك غزو القبائل بقصد الاخذ من الاغنياء وإعطاء المنبوذين أو الفقراء، ولم يعترفوا بالمعاهدات أو الاتفاقيات بين قبائلهم والقبائل الأخرى ما أدى إلى طردهم من قبل قبائلهم، وبالتالي عاشوا حياة ثورية تحارب الفقر والاضطهاد وتسعى للتحرر في شكله المتمرد.

واصطبغت أدبيات الصعاليك برؤيتهم عن الحياة فجاءت معظم قصائدهم تحكي عن شجاعتهم وقدرتهم وتحديهم للمجتمع. وشعرهم يمتاز بقوة العاطفة وسعة الخيال وفيه من الحكمة الشيء الكثير.

ومن مميزات شعرهم الخلو من المقدمات الطللية فكانوا أول من كسر بنية القصيدة الجاهلية كما خلا شعرهم من المدح والطول فانتهجوا شعرا جديدا.

thanks wikipedia :)

this is a joke

Mubarak threatened to set himself on fire to demand a change of...the people

separated at birth

have you seen this show arabs got talent ... terrible isn't it ... but here's the thing ... one of the judges ... ali jaber is his name ... his resemblance to mustafa fahmi is uncanny ... uncanny i tell you ... can you tell who is who ...

الكرم العربي

a list of gifts received by US officials in 2009 from foreign dignitaries ... this is not a wikileaks cable ... this was released by the US government ... gotta love their transparency ... not surprisingly the most lavish ones came from arabs ...

to burn or not to burn

some people are debating whether what bouazizi did was right or wrong ... talking about does he deserve to be called a hero ... is he going to heaven or hell ...
first of all before i offer my own take on the issue let me say a couple of things ... what he did was commit suicide ... there's no debating that ... and suicide is a very grave sin ... there's no debating that either ... i think even atheists would agree that suicide is a serious transgression so it's not a religious thing ...
having said that ... context is very important ... considering all the events that led to him taking his life it's kind of understandable why he did what he did ... i'm not saying it justifies his actions however it does help us see him as a victim of a brutal regime that drove him to despair ...
and so here's the way i see it ... what he did was not right ... in the sense that it was suicide and suicide is a grave sin ... however to talk about heaven or hell is not for us to decide ... God is merciful and we pray that He will forgive him for what he did ... as for the question of is he a hero ... absolutely ... his sacrifice was the catalyst that set off the revolution ... rest in peace comrade ...
and while we are on the subject of suicide and it being a sin ... let me close with this ... if it wasn't such a huge sin ... i would've done it a long long time ago ... i'm just sayin ...