Mix Mode

Robert Fisk & Western Leaders

2010-06-04T09:48:00.009+02:00

This is one of the shortest articles I have ever read written by Mr. Fisk. Not that he is speechless about Israel's massacre, he wrote other articles about it, but this one particular article aiming at European leaders.

Robert Fisk: Western leaders are too cowardly to help save lives

Has Israel lost it? Can the Gaza War of 2008-09 (1,300 dead) and the Lebanon War of 2006 (1,006 dead) and all the other wars and now Monday's killings mean that the world will no longer accept Israel's rule?

Don't hold your breath.

You only have to read the gutless White House statement -- that the Obama administration was “working to understand the circumstances surrounding the tragedy”. Not a single word of condemnation. And that's it. Nine dead. Just another statistic to add to the Middle East's toll.

But it's not.

In 1948, our politicians -- the Americans and the British -- staged an airlift into Berlin. A starving population (our enemies only three years before) were surrounded by a brutal army, the Russians, who had erected a fence around the city. The Berlin airlift was one of the great moments in the Cold War. Our soldiers and our airmen risked and gave their lives for these starving Germans.

Incredible, isn't it? In those days, our politicians took decisions; our leaders took decisions to save lives. Messrs Attlee and Truman knew that Berlin was important in moral and human as well as political terms.

And on Monday? It was people -- ordinary people, Europeans, Americans, Holocaust survivors -- yes, for heaven's sake, survivors of the Nazis -- who took the decision to go to Gaza because their politicians and their statesmen had failed them.

Where were our politicians on Monday? Well, we had the ridiculous Ban Ki-moon, the White House's pathetic statement, and dear Mr. Blair's expression of “deep regret and shock at the tragic loss of life”. Where was Mr. Cameron? Where was Mr. Clegg?

Back in 1948, they would have ignored the Palestinians, of course. It is, after all, a terrible irony that the Berlin airlift coincided with the destruction of Arab Palestine.

But it is a fact that it is ordinary people, activists, call them what you will, who now take decisions to change events. Our politicians are too spineless, too cowardly, to take decisions to save lives. Why is this? Why didn't we hear courageous words from Messrs Cameron and Clegg?

For it is a fact, is it not, that had Europeans (and yes, the Turks are Europeans, are they not?) been gunned down by any other Middle Eastern army (which the Israeli army is, is it not?) there would have been waves of outrage.

And what does this say about Israel? Isn't Turkey a close ally of Israel? Is this what the Turks can expect? Now Israel's only ally in the Muslim world is saying this is a massacre -- and Israel doesn't seem to care.

But then Israel didn't care when London and Canberra expelled Israeli diplomats after British and Australian passports were forged and then provided to the assassins of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. It didn't care when it announced new Jewish settlements on occupied land in East Jerusalem while Joe Biden, the Vice-President of its erstwhile ally, the United States, was in town. Why should Israel care now?

How did we get to this point? Maybe because we all grew used to seeing the Israelis kill Arabs, maybe the Israelis grew used to killing Arabs. Now they kill Turks. Or Europeans. Something has changed in the Middle East -- and the Israelis (given their extraordinarily stupid political response to the slaughter) don't seem to have grasped what has happened. The world is tired of these outrages. Only the politicians are silent.

(Source: The Independent)

*

Fisk has pointed out to European and American leaders, indeed, but what about Arab leaders?

I followed the news and all what it came out from the intensive 5 hours meeting in Cairo the day before yesterday was the standard printed out condemnation... and ... a call to "break the siege imposed by Israel on Gaza, by all means".

All news agencies got puzzled by the "by all means" part in the final communique. In addition, news came out that Kuwait was the only country withdrew from the Arab initiative regarding the already dead peace process, but why did other "moderate" Arab countries followed suit?

I guess I blowing in an empty jar

In fact there is no need to add anything to this post.

Mother Prepares Her Son For School

2010-06-04T09:22:00.003+02:00

It is amazing how Japanese approach things: with fun and efficiency.

It really makes eyes wide open and jaws drop down while watching them.

Check out the below video

Rest In Peace, Ronnie

2010-06-01T09:02:00.002+02:00

Phoenix Rising

2010-04-14T10:35:00.017+02:00

Phoenix is "A mythical bird that never dies, the phoenix flies far ahead to the front, always scanning the landscape and distant space. It represents our capacity for vision, for collecting sensory information about our environment and the events unfolding within it. The phoenix, with its great beauty, creates intense excitement and deathless inspiration." - The Feng Shui Handbook, feng shui Master Lam Kam Chuen

This is how I describe the return of Branwen to blog sphere, because the old blog was removed. However, Branwen is now back, not with one but but two.

The first blog is about aliens, theory and the argument about their existence on earth for longer than we thought, and their impact on earth civilization.

The second is more human side to it, if I may say, it is about the art of love: And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

I was taking by surprise for the layout, the effort, the beauty and tenderness of beautiful taste put on these blogs.

Check these blogs out, it worth it as it is joyful as well as informative.

Dark Ages, But Not Forgotten Civilization

2010-03-16T14:50:00.019+01:00

Past glories, we all should be proud of our past glories. I am not only referring to the glories of one's country, but it also can be related to a family honorable achievements, take the Kennedy family, for example, and the line of political figures around the years. It can be the opposite and one would be ashamed of his or her family's doing - does families of former dictators ring a bell?

However, there is a big difference between the word "past" and the word "present", adding to that the word "future". We will never honor the glory of the past if we don't do something similar to that.

No one can challenge the facts and history of what beautifully shown in the above video. No one dare to say that Muslim civilization had golden era where it was a portal for the whole world to learn science, literature, business, and many other related aspects of life.

However, anyone can challenge Arab and Muslim countries today and say: what are you achieving now to honor the glory of your past?

I am sure that there are people today, in our time who thought like me and did something. I can mention with honor people like Mustafa Al Aqad, Farouk El-Baz, Naseer Shamma, among many others?

But is this enough for someone to honor his heritage or the legacy of the country he is coming from?

Or is it that people must work harder, prove to themselves first they are unique then to others?

I think that for many a past golden age can be considered now as something else: living through dark ages, and in the hands of its people this civilization would flourish or let it be roaming in such dark times.

The video is uploaded by kbelk85. - Discover more scientific and hi-tech videos.

Advise Yourself

2010-03-16T12:52:00.005+01:00

I was browsing through a blog talking about how the person like us look back to his past and forward a question of what to advice a younger-self when the idea about judging actions of one-self, learning from others, teaching others lessons we learn from the past clicked in my exhausted mind.

All this came to my mind in a fraction of a second.

I don't know why my mind drifted into politics when I had these thoughts, maybe because of all the news about elections: elections in Iraq, elections in the Netherlands, and last week first round of the regional elections in France where all my thoughts circulated around it. The news of these election all agree that right parties in France, including president Sarkozy's one received a big slap in the face from the French citizen.

Life is about questions and answers, and we learn by seeking answers to our questions, and this blog had and will continue to have a lot of questions about life. Sharing with other by writing these questions on my blog is one of the ways to find answers for my questions, and learn from others. There are people who never learn from other people lesson and experience and that's why two people know each other and they advice each other, but each fall in the same mistake over and over again. I guess this is some human nature: we advice each other, but we sometimes never take that advice seriously, and fall in the pit

Back to French elections last Sunday: I have been to France twice in the last two months. I talked to people there and the impression I had that no one is happy with the direction and strategy their government is taking, particularly President Sarkozy. In fact there is a growing resentment towards their leader, some called his strategy indirectly as "the Americanization of France" policy. However, Sarkozy's attempt to pull France nationalism away from its people is not the only reason. People there are not happy with the outcome and situation, and this is the reason that they look for another leadership.

This has been proved, of course, last Sunday and we will see the final result next Sunday.

On the other hand, last week Dutch labor party leader, Wouter Bos, has announced his resignation due to family commitments. Shortly after that there was an announcement that the 63 years old current mayor of Amsterdam, decided to take the helm and became the new leader of the prominent political party. Cohen's move has been widely praised, because he will be the party's representative in upcoming general elections in June.

Job Cohen, I want to emphasize, is known for his strong personality and acknowledged political career, so he is not just "another" politician who is trying his luck by going out and spray words against this ethnic group or gather people in a specific park to announce the birth of a new party while bashing another ethnic group.

Yesterday, a survey took place among Dutch citizens and the result was shocking: if general elections took place on the day of the survey, Job Cohen would be the next Prime Minister so easily, on the account of other political parties, such as that of SP and PVV (I rather call it Wilder's political sect than Free Netherlands party).

Isn't that enough indication that voting for Wilders in the last municipal elections was done out of emotional rather than rational look at things?

I wrote about these elections here)

I talked once or twice about emotional factor, and I talked once or twice about how fear is the main reason behind people rallying behind Wilders in last election until this day, but comparing the results of yesterday's survey with the results of the regional elections in the Netherlands a couple of weeks ago shows how the Dutch citizen is looking for a symbol to have them united. Like any citizen from any population living on this planet, no difference between third world or first world country, every citizen in every country is looking for a leader to look up to. Observing the lack of satisfaction with current leaders the people in the Netherlands began looking somewhere else. This has been taken advantage by people like Geert Wilders (among other things he took advantage of, such as bad attitude of some Moroccan teenagers on street and put that attitude on the shoulders of the whole Muslim community all around the country and in whole Europe.

The result is natural when you are afraid and looking for someone to unite you, in fact to protect you: you choose for him.

Yesterday's survey in the Netherlands, and the result of France's regional elections are good lessons for the voter to prepare for the next elections in June. People with extreme ideology, people with hatred against other people must not be given the chance, because these are not the standards for living together regardless of ethnic background, race, nationality.

How many lessons it takes for a human being to learn and to be able to choose what is right and what is wrong?

Or do we need some Yoga to exercise our brains on how to forecast a disaster that might take place in a peaceful country?

But why forecasting? We have enough lessons from the past: Hitler's extermination machine is still in people minds, when he ripped off society from the concept of living together, peacefully.

Another Damage!!!

2010-03-13T17:18:00.012+01:00

Another damage Geert Wilders will definitely make to his own country, according to Bernard Wientjes, chairman of The Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers, based on the article below.

Well done, Geert, for being fanatic, keep your racist sick-mind the way it is, boy.

Geert Wilders became one of the sources to mess up society in a beautiful small country after gradually poisoned the minds of some of its people.

Check out the news article below:

The head of the Dutch employers' federation has accused far-right politician Geert Wilders of "seriously" damaging Dutch interests abroad.

Bernard Wientjes, who chairs The Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW), said it was outrageous that Mr Wilders recently presented himself in London as the next Dutch prime minister and then derided Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as "a complete fool". Mr Wilders' statement, which was broadcast around the world, caused shock in the British press.

Mr Wientjes, who heads the largest employers' organisation in the Netherlands, says Mr Wilders poses a serious threat to the Netherlands and the Dutch economy. He underlined that three quarters of Dutch GDP comes from revenues earned abroad.

Mr Wientjes stressed that his federation will do business with any Dutch cabinet, including one joined by Mr Wilders' PVV party. But he emphasised that he hoped Mr Wilders party would not be included in the next government following parliamentary elections on 9 June.

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide

What's Wrong With Your Finger?????

2010-03-09T15:03:00.004+01:00

Second day in the week today, I won't be able to count the number of time I have been asked this question from people at work:

"What's wrong with your index finger?" ...

"Is there something happened to you last weekend?"

I have to explain to them over and over again that there were elections in Iraq, to choose the next parliament, and I took part in it, and that every single person must have his index finger dipped a little in purple ink after giving vote.

The remark by most of those heard the story? "aaaah, yes, I saw that in the news"

Sorry, my mistake, I was not planning to let half of my index finger inked, I was in a hurry to vote and leave.

Mistaken Identity

2010-03-09T14:08:00.003+01:00

I was standing outside in the cold weather in spite of the beautiful sunny day, smoking a cigarette with two of my colleagues, when a colleague from a former department joined us. Immediately after greetings us he looked at me with concern in his eyes. I thought he was sympathyising with me because of how I look with my heavy jacket and tsal tight around my neck and my deep voice because of the flue. In stead he asked with care "do you have family members affected by that horrible earthquick?" I was puzzeled, not because I knew what he was talking about, he meant the earthquick in Turkey yesterday, but because we knew each other for years, used to work together in the same department!

Some time ago I had to work late, three colleagues were with me. We finished our part of the work and had to wait for another team to resume work, so we had some time off to exchange jokes and talks. One of the colleagues asked me "how is the situation over there now? I mean in your country of origin?" that colleague and I became aqcuainted since we worked together on a one week project more than 4 years ago. That colleague told me on the first day of the project that "I admit it and not ashamed, but I do hate foreigners so much", because of the bad things foreingers do where she lives. After I finished telling news on Iraq I noticed another colleague looking at me with puzzlement, and her green eyes were wide open. I asked her if I said something wrong. With hesitation she said "nnn... no, but... no, nothing is wrong" I insisted and told her to say what's on her mind, she replied "well... I thought you are from another country, and not Iraq". By the way, I knew that colleague for more than a year. I asked her which? she said "I don't know, I thought one of these countries... I mean I thought you are from Afghanistan"

I won't be fooled by the Spanish begger when it happened a couple of years ago. SI was standing next to the entrance of a restraunt when she approached me and started asking questions. When I told her that I don't speak Italian, with a fake smile she told me "I would not notice, you look like any Italian handsome man". Anyway, I will never be fooled by this, however, my features cannot by any means resembles that of Turkish, neither it is any close to be identified as Afghani.

Iron Maiden & Dream Theater on One Show??!!

2010-03-05T07:40:00.006+01:00

Metal heads in the U.S. and Canada are lucky this year because they have the chance to see Iron Maiden and Dream Theater as the two great bands will tour the continent this summer.

I did not have the chance back in 2007 to see both bands on the same event when I attended Fields or Rock festival, because I only went to day 1, which enabled me to see Maiden, Dio's Black Sabbath (sorry.. its called Heaven and Hell now), Slayer, among many other great bands. Day 2 had Dream Theater, Ozzy Osbourne and Motorhead and Megadeath, but as I said I mentioned earlier, I could not stay because I only bought tickets for day 1.

And yes, I do regret that

I have seen Iron Maiden show a number of times since their singer, Bruce Dickinson rejoined the band in 1999. In fact I have see them on their reunion tour back then. I also had the chance to see Dream Theater last October in Rotterdam, Ahoy, but to see both in one show, this is really a dream come true.

Hoepfully both bands would extend their north american tour to include European Festivals, no one knows!

By the way, the title of this tour, Final Frontier, is taken from upcoming Iron Maiden album with the same name, which will hit the market late summer. I think the "Eddie" picture we see here is related to the album artwork... something to do with space or Star Trek type of songs this time????

It makes me wonder if this is the last Iron Maiden album ever to be made, especially that I read couple of years ago Steve Harris hinting about the band making only 15 albums in their music career!!!

Pethatic Elissa

2010-03-04T23:48:00.004+01:00

In October 2008 I wrote about Elissa.

Not on a regular basis, but I noticed something intersting on my blog. A lot of people, and I mean it, a lot and a lot of people visit my blog for the purpose to read the above post on Elissa. They are either rerouted from Google or some other links on other websites.

If you are a fan of Elissa or like, someone who despise her music and her voice in particular, I would love to read a comment and exchange ideas. I am still wondering why would someone who look for specific article or topic and have the chance to comment, just read and never leave a single word or a sentence.

Unless I was harsh on the girl

But I can't see otherwise... Elissa is one of the screwed up female singers in the Arab world, period, because she can't sing.

I listened to the latest album and while I was in France I also heard the single Orient radio station kept on broadcasting almost on daily basiss, which in my opinion is an attempt by her to relive the glory she had when she put out her first ever single a couple of years ago.

Anyway, neither the album, nor this singer worth to take the time to write a preview on a single song from that album.

The verdict? isn't that obvious? she must not sing, she should simply quit, because it is worse than feeling pethatic for Elissa

Municipal Elections in the Netherlands

2010-03-03T23:30:00.000+01:00

As expected by many, the three major parties the Christian Democrats (CDA) and the Labor Party (PvdA) and VVD remained in their position as the favorites among Dutch, yet, the loss of votes is a source of concern for them. Voters decided today to give their voters to other competing political parties, such as the PVV (Geert Wilders), which became the second largest party in the capital, the Hague, and the Groen Links (Green Party) where it became the largest party in Utrecht, in addition to small local parties in different cities in the Netherlands.

I don't know what is the secret but D66 did great and scored big time in many cities like Amsterdam, Leiden and Delft - the bond between this party with students is strong, I guess that is the reason.

The boost that the PVV (party of Geert Wilders), in particular, got from this elections is the center of focus, naturally because of its controversial personality of its leader and his hostile (and on many occasions reckless remarks). It is no surprise to me (this has been predicted in various news forecasts in the past weeks) that Den Haag (the Hague) and the city of Almere would be the golden chicken.

The Labor party, a party favorable by thousands of immigrants, is back based on tonight's result and according to the speech of its leader, Wouter Bos, but the challenge for the Labor party is immense, because from now on till the date of the general elections in June the Netherlands will witness a fierce that would change the face of the country's political system. The same goes with other major parties, of course, the neck to neck competition between left and right has been going for more than 4 years, many new faces and new political parties and entities want to prove themselves as the best for the country, in fact, a lot from those politicians learned big lessons from the past years and they don't want to disappoint the voter in 3 months time. For that reason there will be a lot to talk about, a lot to be heard and a lot to do by each party.

The emphasize, I think, will always be on Den Haag, this is where politician reside and where they should do the most work. Evidence is today’s results which is the most surprising.

I see that in their debates, all major parties, exception is PVV, sit with each other, congratulate each other, and discuss everything; from the future of the country (who is ready to put differences aside and discuss coalitions), share responsibility (as one collective force to lift the country through the current economic crisis), and admit failure on some aspects (the fall of the government last week). Remember, this country made the impossible by having a government that consists of both right and left in one coalition.

Speaking of the fall of the government, it is natural, because it is almost impossible to have unity of two entirely separate ideologies and have them sail one ship towards the high seas, especially when the country is sinking in all problems plagued by global economic crisis.

The conclusion from all this is loud and clear: 4 years went by and still one thing dominates common Dutch citizen mind: emotions. It sounds awkward, taking into the consideration how Dutch mentality is known as being rational and not emotional, but it doesn't seem the case when it comes to vote for political entities.

There are emotions expressed by the immigrants from being harassed by extreme right parties, this is one of the reason they vote for the labor party. On the other hand, we see the popularity of Wilder's party take a boost up due to the fear of many Dutch from losing their own identity in addition to the fear from what they consider Islamic threat. In the middle of that, we see people who focus on detailed issues related to daily life and the requirement from the government to provide better support and services for the common citizen.

Will the picture becomes clearer in June when the general elections would take place? In other words, will the voter will go and make up his mind to select either right or left? this remains to be seen.

Taking Over Traffic System

2010-02-23T21:42:00.001+01:00

Fake or not, that's cool

London

2010-02-17T13:30:00.002+01:00

I am thinking to go to London next month for a long weekend. It might be the reason I decided to post this.

Sit back and enjoy day and night images of London on the below video.

London Day from urbanTick on Vimeo.

ABBA Experience

2010-02-09T08:46:00.008+01:00

Many knows ABBA as being one of the bands who shaped out pop music in history, and their musical influence still to this day noticed i.e. many recent movies had one or two songs from

Music fans taking in London attractions can experience the magic of Swedish super group Abba at a new exhibition.

AbbaWorld is a new exhibition at Earls Court, London was opened end of last month, 27 of January. It offers visitors the chance to get interactive with the group's legacy through more than 25 different rooms, from an illustration of their legendary music, to stage costumes and memorabilia, and a look at the instruments and personal belongings from band members Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Frida.

The exhibition runs until March 28th, 2010, and more information can be found on the official website of the exhibition.

This is a must for any ABBA fan, actually for any good music fan

Who did say that I only do headbanging on heavy metal music (as someone who used to visit by blog once put it)?

I like ABBA, and this exhibition is some place I would like to see.

Guide To Arabic Satellite TV Channels

2010-02-09T08:33:00.007+01:00

Below is a guide to all Arabic satellite TV channels with links to their websites.

Most of these channels can be seen on Nilesat and Arabsat satellite, this means that people in Europe using Hotbird satellite to receive channels will not be able to view all of these channels.

On important thing to notice in the development of satellite channels is the number of Iraqi channels broadcasts. I remember that till the end of 2006 there were 28 channels after it has been only two channels before 2003.

- الفضائية السورية Syria Satellite Channel
http://www.rtv.gov.sy

- قناة الدنيا السورية Addounia TV
http://www.addounia.tv

- قناة الرأي السورية Arrai TV
http://www.arraitv.net

- قناة المجد للحديث الشريف Almajd Al Hadeeth Al Nabawy

http://www.hadeeth.tv

- قناة تونس Tunis 7
http://www.tunisiatv.com

- قناة بيئتي Beeaty TV
http://www.beeaty.tv

- قناة الخليجية Al Khalijiya
http://www.khtv.tv

- قناة سلطنة عمان الثانية Oman TV 2
http://www.oman-tv.gov.om/tvara

- قناة مسايا Massaya
http://www.massaya.tv

- قناة التجارية Al Tejariah TV Channel
http://www.altejariah.tv

- قناة جامعة القاهرة للتعليم المفتوح Cairo University 1
http://www.ou.cu.edu.eg

- قناة العراقية الفضائية Al Iraqiya Satellite
http://iraqimedianet.net/tv/index.htm

- قناة العراقية أطياف أو العراقية الثانية Al Iraqiya 2
http://iraqimedianet.net/tv/index.htm

- قناة العراقية الرياضية Al Iraqiya Sports
http://iraqimedianet.net/tv/index.htm

- قناة روتانا كليب Rotana Clip
http://www.rotana.net/RotanaNew/TV/tv.aspx?page=Clip

- قناة روتانا طرب Rotana Tarab
http://www.rotana.net/RotanaNew/TV/tv.aspx?page=Tarab

- قناة البركة Al Baraka TV
http://www.albaraka.tv

- قناة الحكمة Al Hekmah TV
http://www.alhekmah.tv

- قناة أفاق العراقية Afaq TV
http://www.afaq.tv

- قناة ميلودي تركس Melody Trix
http://www.melodytrix.tv

- قناة Fun TV
http://www.funtv-eg.com

- قناة OTV
http://www.otvinvest.com

- قناة سكوب Scope TV
http://www.scopecenter.net

- قناة أفراح Afrah TV
http://www.afrah.tv

- قناة فتوى Al Fatwaa
http://www.fatwatv.com

- قناة القيثارة العراقية Al Qiethara Satellite Channel
http://www.alqiethara.tv

- قناة بحري Bahry TV
http://www.bahry.com

- قناة روسيا اليوم Rusiya Al-Yaum
http://www.rtarabic.com

- قناة وطن الأردنية Watan TV
http://www.wtv.jo

- قناة الصحراء Al Sahraa TV
http://www.alsahraa.tv

- قناة الوطن الكويتية Alwatan TV
http://tv.alwatan.com.kw

- قناة المستقلة Al Mustakillah TV
http://www.almustakillah.com

- قناة الأمة Al Omma TV
http://www.alomma.tv

- قناة الفيحاء Al Fayhaa
http://www.alfayhaatv.net

- قناة شــدا Shada TV
http://www.shadatv.com

- قناة الأقصى الفلسطينية Alaqsa Satellite Channel
http://www.aqsatv.ps

- قناة أطلس للسفر و الثقافة ATC
http://www.atctv.com

- قناة عرب Arab TV
http://www.arabtv.ae

- القنوات التعليمية المصرية ERTU
http://www.ertu.org

- قناة التعليم الابتدائي و الإعدادي المصرية Primary and Preparatory Education Channel
http://www.ertu.org/Nile_Chan/NL_edu.html

- قناة التعليم الثانوي المصرية Secondary Education Channel
http://www.ertu.org/Nile_Chan/NL_edu.html

- قناة التعليم التقني المصرية Technical Education Channel
http://www.ertu.org/Nile_Chan/NL_edu.html

- قناة تعليم اللغات المصرية ******** Education Channel
http://www.ertu.org/Nile_Chan/NL_edu.html

- قناة التعليم العالي المصرية High Education Channel
http://www.ertu.org/Nile_Chan/highedu.html

- قناة التعليم العالي الثانية High Education Channel 2
http://www.oucu.edu.eg

- قناة المنارة العلمية المصرية Al Manarah Science Channel
http://www.ertu.org/Nile_Chan/highedu.html

- قناة العربية الاقتصادية ABC : Arab Business Channel
http://www.businessnewstv.net

- قناة الفجر الفضائية Al Fajr Space Channel
http://www.fajr.tv

- قناة صلاح الدين العراقية Salahaddin TV
http://www.salahaddintv.com

- قناة بلادي العراقية Beladi Satellite Channel
http://www.beladi.tv

- قناة الفرات العراقية Al Forat
http://www.alforattv.com

- قناة تميمة Tamima TV
http://www.tamima.tv

- قناة الهدى Huda TV
http://huda.tv

- قناة أبو ظبي Abu Dhabi TV
http://www.emi.ae

- قناة الواسطة Al Wasta
http://www.alwasta.tv

- قناة الرسالة Al-Resalah Satellite TV Channel
http://www.alresalah.net

- قناة روتانا سينما Rotana Cinema
http://www.rotana.net/RotanaNew/TV/tv.aspx?page=Cinema

- قناة الحرة عراق Alhurra Iraq
http://www.alhurra.com

- القناة الأولى المصرية ERTU 1 Sat
http://www.ertu.org/tv_channel/ch1.html

- قناة النيل الدولية Nile TV International
http://www.niletv.net.tf

- قناة المصرية الفضائية Al Masriya
http://www.ertu.org/esc/esc.html

- قناة المنوعة الليبية Al Monowa
http://www.ljbc.net

- قناة سيليفيجين Selevision
http://www.selevision.net

- قناة الراي الكويتية Alrai TV
http://www.alrai.tv

- قناة الهداية الليبية Al Hedaya
http://www.ljbc.net

- قناة المشكاة Al Mishkat Channel
http://www.almishkat.tv

- قناة ميوزيك بلص Music Plus
http://www.gbs.ae/gbs/music.htm

- قناة دبي ون Dubai One
http://www.dubaione.ae

- قناة دبي الرياضية Dubai Sports Channel
http://www.dubaisports.ae

- قناة ســما دبي Sama Dubai
http://www.samadubai.ae

- قناة دبي الفضائية Dubai TV
http://www.dubaitv.gov.ae

- قناة الشارقة Sharjah TV
http://www.sharjahtv.ae

- قناة سبيس تون عربي Space Toon Arabic
http://www.spacetoon.tv

- قناة نجوم Nojoom
http://www.nojoomtv.com

- قناة سي إن بي سي عربية Space Toon Arabic
http://www.cnbcarabia.com

- قناة الشرقية العراقية Alsharqiya TV
http://www.alsharqiyatv.com

- قناة الاقتصادية Al Eqtisadia
http://www.eqtisadia.tv

- قنوات شبكة الأوائل ADD

http://www.adduniverse.com

- قناة الحرة Alhurra
http://www.alhurra.com

- قناة فلسطين الفضائية Palestinian Satellite Channel
http://www.psctv.com

- قناة المغربية الأولى Al Maghribya
http://www.almaghribia.com

- قناة السودان الفضائية Sudan TV
http://www.sudantv.net

- قناة سلطنة عمان الفضائية Oman TV Satellite
http://www.oman-tv.gov.om/tvara

- قناة البحرين الفضائية Bahrain TV
http://www.bahraintv.com

- قناة الكويت الفضائية Kuwait TV 1 Satellite
http://www.moinfo.gov.kw

- قناة المحور المصرية Mehwar
http://www.elmehwar.tv

- قناة الكويتية الثانية Kuwait TV 2
http://www.moinfo.gov.kw

- قناة الكويتية الثالثة Kuwait TV 3
http://www.moinfo.gov.kw

- قناة الحوار Al Hiwar TV
http://www.alhiwar.tv

- قناة الأزياء العربية Fashion TV Arabia
http://www.ftvarabia.com

- قناة الليبية الفضائية Jamahirya Satellite Channel
http://www.ljbc.net

- قناة النيل للأخبار Nile News
http://www.nilenews.tv

- قناة النيل للأسرة و الطفل Nile Family and Kids
http://www.ertu.org/Nile_Chan/NL_family.html

- قناة النيل للمنوعات Nile Variety
http://www.ertu.org/Nile_Chan/NL_var.html

- قناة النيل للدراما Nile Drama

http://www.ertu.org/Nile_Chan/NL_drama.html

- قناة النيل للرياضة Nile Sports
http://www.ertu.org/Nile_Chan/NL_sports.html

- قناة النيل الثقافية Nile Culture
http://www.ertu.org/Nile_Chan/NL_culture.html

- قناة التنوير Al Tanweer Channel
http://www.ertu.org/Nile_Chan/tanweer.html

- قناة دريم الثانية Dream 2
http://www.dreams.tv/arabic/dream2

- قناة الواحة Al Waha
http://www.alwaha.tv

- قناة نجوم 3 Nojoom 3
http://www.nojoomtv.com

- قناة تي إكس تي TXT
http://www.txttv.tv

- قناة شات كوم Chatcom TV
http://www.chatcomtv.tv

- قناة المجد الفضائية Almajd Space Channel
http://www.almajdtv.net

- قناة دريم 1 Dream 1
http://www.dreams.tv/arabic/dream1

- قناة دي دبليو تي في عربية
http://www2.dw-world.de/arabic/dw-tv

- قناة مزيكا Mazzika
http://www.mazzika.tv

- قناة إي تي في ETV
http://www.entv.tv

- قناة مزيكا زووم Mazzika Zoom
http://www.mazzika.tv

- قناة الكوثر Alkawthar TV
http://www.alkawthartv.ir

- قناة الرافدين العراقية Al Rafiden TV
http://www.alrafiden.tv

- قناة سبايسي Spicy
http://www.spicyland.tv

- قناة بغداد الفضائية Baghdad Satellite Channel
http://www.baghdad-tv.net

- قناة البغدادية العراقية Al Baghdadia
http://www.albaghdadia.com

- قناة الناس Alnas
http://www.alnas.tv

- قناة إم بي سي 1 MBC 1
http://www.mbc.net/

- قناة إم بي سي 2 MBC 2
http://www.mbc.net/

- قناة إم بي سي 3 MBC 3
http://www.mbc.net

- قناة إم بي سي 4 MBC 4
http://www.mbc4.net

- قناة العربية Al Arabiya
http://www.alarabiya.net

- قناة حواس Hawas TV
http://www.hawas.ae

- قناة العقارية الاولى Al Aqariya TV
http://www.alaqariya.tv

- قناة العقارية الثانية Al Aqariya 2
http://www.alaqariya.tv

- قناة زي عربية Zee Arabiya
http://www.zeearabiya.com

- قناة إم بي سي أكشن MBC Action
http://www.mbc.net/

- قناة أخبار المستقبل Future News
http://www.futuretvnetwork.com

- قناة الشارقة الثانية Sharjah TV 2
http://www.sharjahtv.ae

- قناة ميدي 1 سات المغربية Medi 1 Sat
http://www.medi1.com/medi1/index.php

- قناة ميلودي عربية Melody Arabia
http://www.melodyarabia.tv

- قناة المغربية الثانية 2M Monde
http://www.2m.tv

- قناة سبيس تون بور Space Toon Power
http://www.spacetoon.tv

- قناة الشبابية Shababiyah TV
http://www.shababiyahtv.com

- قناة العفاسي Alafasy TV
http://www.alafasy.tv

- قناة الجزيرة الانكليزية Al Jazeera English
http://english.aljazeera.net

- قناة أرتينيز ART Teenz
http://www.art-tv.net

- قناة اقرأ Iqraa
http://www.iqraa-tv.net

- قناة الفضائية الأردنية Al Ordoniya

http://www.jrtv.jo/jrtv/index.ph

- قناة المستقبل Future TV International
http://www.futuretvnetwork.com

- قناة ميلودي أفلام Melody Aflam
http://www.melodyaflam.tv

- قناة روتانا زمان Rotana Zaman
http://www.rotana.net/RotanaNew/TV/tv.aspx?page=Zaman

- قناة البداية Al Bedaya
http://www.zawag.tv

- قناة أبو ظبي الرياضية Abu Dhabi Sports
http://www.emi.co.ae

- قناة هاي تي في Hi TV
http://www.hi***.tv

- قناة أصول Osool
http://www.osool.tv

- قناة الأنوار Al Anwar TV
http://www.alanwartv.com

- قناة العالم Alalam News Channel
http://www.alalam.ir

- قناة المجد للقرآن الكريم Almajd Holy Quran
http://www.quran.tv

- قناة حنبعل التونسية Hannibal TV
http://www.hannibaltv.com.tn

- قناة الكاس القطرية Alkass
http://www.alkass.net

- قناة مرح Mara7
http://www.mara7.tv

- قناة إن بي إن اللبنانية NBN
http://www.nbn.com.lb

- قناة هي (قناة المرأة العربية ) Heya TV
http://www.heyatv.com

- قناة الجديد اللبنانية New TV Sat
http://www.newtvsat.com

- قناة المنار اللبنانية Al Manar TV
http://www.manartv.com

- قناة إل بي سي LBC Sat
http://www.lbcsat.com.lb

- قناة روتانا خليجية Rotana Khalijiah
http://www.rotana.net/RotanaNew/TV/t...age=Khalijiyya

- قناة السومرية العراقية Alsumaria
http://www.alsumaria.tv

- قناة السعودية الأولى Saudi Arabian TV 1
http://www.info.gov.sa/portals/tv/index.php

- قناة السعودية الثانية Saudi Arabian TV 2
http://www.info.gov.sa/portals/tv2/index.php

- قناة الرياضية السعودية Al Riyadiah Satellite
http://www.info.gov.sa/portals/tv3/index.php

- قناة الإخبارية السعودية Al Ekhbariya
http://www.info.gov.sa/portals/tv4/index.php

- قناة قطر الفضائية Qatar TV
http://www.qatar-tv.net

- قناة السادسة ( قناة محمد السادس للقرآن الكريم ) Assadissa Maroc
http://www.rtm.ma

- قناة الرياضية المغربية Arriyadiya
http://www.rtm.ma

- قناة الجزائر (الثالثة ) Algeria 3 (Thalitha TV)
http://www.thalithatv.dz

- قناة نسمة ( قناة ستار أكاديمي المغرب العربي ) Nessma TV
http://www.staracademy-maghreb.com

- قناة عجمان Ajman TV
http://www.ajmantv.com

- قناة إنفينتي Infinity
http://www.infinitytv.tv

- قناة أي إن بي اللبنانية ANB
http://www.anb-tv.com

- قناة نجوم 2 Nojoom 2
http://www.nojoomtv.com

- قناة الديرة Al Deera TV
http://www.aldeeratv.com

- قناة فواصل Fawasel TV
http://www.fawaseltv.net

- قناة نجوم 4 Nojoom 4
http://www.nojoomtv.com

- قناة بروز Borouz TV
http://www.borouztv.com

- قنوات الجزيرة الرياضية Al Jazeera Sport Channel
http://www.aljazeerasport.com

- قناة الجزيرة للأطفال Al Jazeera Children's Channel
http://www.jcctv.net

- قناة الجزيرة مباشر Al Jazeera Mobasher
http://www.aljazeera.net

- قناة الجزيرة الإخبارية Al Jazeera Channel
http://www.aljazeera.net

- قناة الديار العراقية AldiyarSat
http://www.aldiyarsat.net

- قناة نورمينا الأردنية Nourmina Satellite Channel
http://www.nourmina.tv

- قناة إل بي سي أوربا LBC Europe

http://www.lbcsat.com.lb

- قناة عشتار العراقية Ishtar
http://www.ishtartv.com

- قناة الآن Al Aan TV
http://www.alaan.tv

- قناة صانعو القرار DM TV
http://www.dm-tv.tv

- قناة جونا Jawna
http://www.jawna.tv

- قناة غراس Ghiras TV
http://www.ghirastv.com

- قناة النهرين العراقية Nahrain TV
http://www.imnsr.com

- قناة ليبيا الرياضية Libya Sports Channel (Riadia)
http://www.ljbc.net

- قناة البديل الليبية Al Badeel
http://www.albadeel.tv

- قناة الليبية الرياضية Libya Sport
http://www.ljbc.net

- قناة الليبية Al Libiyah TV
http://www.allibiya.tv

- شبكة قنوات أوربت شوتايم OSN
http://www.osnetwork.com

- قناة مرحبا Marhaba TV
http://www.marhabatv.com

- قناة روتانا أوربا Rotana Europe
http://www.rotanaeurope.net

-aشبكة قنوات النيل NTN
http://www.ertu.org

- قناة المسار العراقية Almasar Satellite
http://www.almasartv.com

- قناة البابلية العراقية Al Babeleyia Sat Channel
http://www.albabeleya.net

- قناة الموصلية العراقية AL Mowseleye TV
http://www.almosullia.com

- قناة العدالة Al-Adalah
http://www.al-adala.com/home.htm

- قناة فاميلي Family TV
http://www.tvfamily.net

- قناة djmusic
http://www.djmusictv.com

Iommi Facts

2010-02-09T07:36:00.005+01:00

Iommi Facts is a website dedicated to the legendary guitarist. Every single person who know me personally and through my blog knows that Iommi is my all time favorite guitarist.

He managed to top the throne through all my years listening to heavy metal, and his latest masterpiece on The Devil You Know is a living proof.

As described by its owners:

" This website is a work of satire created by Tony Iommi fans, based on an idea by Rodrigo Teixeira.
We are not and we do not claim to be in any way affiliated to Tony Iommi in any manner.
This website is just a humoristic hommage to the man and his music.
None of the “facts” on this website are true. "

Interactive | A Traveler's Guide to the Planets- National Geographic Channel

2010-02-01T12:40:00.002+01:00

"The best interactive guide to planets in the solar system.
"

A Traveler's Guide to the Planets interactive takes you on an interactive trip to the planets.

View >>

Blaze Bayley - Promise And Terror

2010-01-29T13:45:00.012+01:00

This album is on its way to be delivered in my home post box. The reason I am looking forward to this album is because it has been recorded by the same band who did "The Man Who Would Not Die", my favorite album for 2008.

I mentioned that before, didn't I?

I listened to three songs from Promise and Terror, and believe me, this album is exactly the same as it predecessor, and maybe better. In addition, all the articles I read about the album gave positive review as describing it as being tight, powerful, dark and really heavy.

Will this album be on top of my 2010 albums? that remain to be seen.

Arabic Books in Amsterdam

2010-01-24T14:43:00.002+01:00

Some refer to it as not a good commercial idea, but my visit to a district in Paris where a number of Arabic bookshops located there – they were closed by the time I arrived, I was a bit early, so I waited in a cafe and decided to visit the Arab Institute in Paris. I have never been there.

This institute, as I heard is the effort, financially mainly, of all Arab countries in the 1990’s. The exception was Iraq because it was under the economic and political sanctions after invading Kuwait. The building is astonishing and so huge. The library does not only have Arabic books, but also English and French, maybe more, but the number of the books and the variety was something I would spend hours in it, not to mention spending a lot of money at the end.

I bought six books from there, if someone like to know

After leaving that place and on the way to the airport I kept on wondering why there is no such a bookshop in Amsterdam? Never mind the cultural awareness thing that an Arabic Institute have in a European city, so I skip that for now, but what about a bookshop and why there is none in Amsterdam equivalent to Ibn Sina bookshop in Paris, for example?

I asked this question before and there were many answers, but all of them pour into the same pot: Arabs don’t buy books, so a bookshop will loose money. I had my suspicions then, but when I went two years ago to a Dutch bookshop to buy Saidety magazine for my mother, I asked the buyer about such a thing. By the way, Saidety is a Gulf-published magazine focusing on women’s life of all ages, in addition to celebrities and entertainment news.

The buyer was originally Turkish, he told me with frustration that only that magazine is available in Arabic, and even this magazine is hard to sell in Amsterdam, because people think that it is too expensive!

Does this means that Arabs in Amsterdam are less educated, and that their counterparts in Paris or London are more literate and more eager to spend a cent on knowledge and information?

10 Things I Hate About Airports and Flights

2010-01-23T13:22:00.001+01:00

1 .The stomach burn and the feeling of acids tearing up your stomach before or during the trip.

2. Buying a sandwich or something at an airport and the seller wears an ugly and bored face.

3. Seeing travelers at the airport or in the airport who think of themselves as God with the way they look down at other passengers.

4. I don’t mind seeing a stewardess that looks stressed with tired eyes or difficult to smile, but I hate most when a stewardess plays the strict teacher role and passengers as her naughty and lazy students.

5. I hate young boys who pick on girls during flight as if they are going to have some extraordinary romantic experience in such environment.

6. Travelling with no book or something to read is disastrous to me. I can’t get into an airplane, take my seat with no book or magazine in my hand.

7. Child crying before departure! What a dramatic situation. I know there are some parents who feel helpless, families don’t travel that often so mostly they are not prepared for such a situation, but most travelers believe that a crying child is annoying.

8. Traveling in summer and have air-conditioning switched off before departure just make blood boils inside me, especially if it has been announced that there is a delay. It didn’t happen on this flight, but I remember it happened to me a couple of times.

9. Speaking of announcements, I don’t think it is a good idea to have an airplane captain or a stewardess talking in another language unclearly. Passengers will depend on their instinct to understand what has been said through these little speakers.

10. I hate male passengers who take their shoes before and during the trip, or those who stretch forward to reach the end of the chair in front.

Jazz

2010-01-22T13:24:00.001+01:00

I kept on wondering about the reasons, why I objected my wife when she asked me if I would like to accompany her to Michael Buble’s concert? More to that, why I don’t have the mood to get a Jazz CD and play it, not in the car, but at least at home? I used to love this music genre, what went wrong? I know that mood is the main driving force that makes a person listen to a certain music style at a certain time in the day.

Why am I saying this?

For the past 30 minutes, and maybe be more I am just sitting in the parking car next to one of the most crowded and commercial shopping centers in Paris, watching people walking by or crossing the street, staring at the magnificent architecture that shaped these yellowish curves of historical Parisian buildings in front of me, and jazz music playing in the background from a French radio station called Jazz TSF JAZZ.

Guess what, they are playing Michael Buble on this radio station among many Jazz pioneers, such as Louis Armstrong.

I asked myself if I would ask my wife to go to a jazz concert, or to Bubles’ when I get back home. Yet, I still doubt it.

Maybe this is the Paris Effect!!!

Fady Andraws

2010-01-21T12:24:00.000+01:00

I was listening to the radio when I heard `Hayda Mish Ana`, a song by a singer called Fady Andraos, or Fadi Andrawos.

I never heard of this singer before, maybe because I don´t follow Star Academy, the Lebanese show where his talent became known to millions in the Arab World.

The song is solid, an arrangement that is mainly heavy metal with Lebanese accent lyrics. There are some little gothic element in the middle of the song, I consider a little weak, but did not ruin the song. I like the chorus of the song, very catchy, not to mention the excellent guitar section of the song.

I googled Fadi, I thought he was Lebanese, no, he is Palestinian but living in Lebanon, and found a short interview of him on YouTube talking about different things… Some information on this young talented singer are

His influences are James Hatefield of Metallica, David Coverdale of Whitesnake, and Axel Rose of Guns N´Roses, among others he did not metnion

He has an album and three singles/ video clips.

He loves Lebanese legendary singer, Milhem Barakat, and would love and will be honored if he worked together with him in the future.

There are plans to do a duet with a RAP or hip hop singer.

Wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the last piece of info, why??

I don't know what the end result of such cooperation would be, I mean what the song would be like, but do we need a rapper here to achieve fame?

Fady, if you happen to read this, dive in more into heavy metal and hard rock, your song (and heard part of the Lebanon/Palestine song) are excellent. From what I heard, you can be a pioneer in bringing the genre to the middle east, with such talent and determination, Fadi can do that.

The voice that Fadi Andraws has is without any doubt unique. When I say unique, it means different, it means that when someone hear the voice it is easily recognized.

While listining to this song, more than once I had the feeling in certain parts of the song, especially in the lower tone singing parts that I am listening to Geoff Tate of Queensryche. It is not the same voice, of course, besides, Tate pitching high notes cannot be compared to, but in lower notes, the clarity and rawness of Fadi’s voice is extraordinary. Hey, no one knows, maybe Fadi can have a try that in the future and show people how pitching high notes as Tate does.

Keep on rocking, Fadi

Below is the video clip of the song Hayda Mish Ana

Time to go for a walk in Paris before the time of my appointment, maybe I will find Fadi’s CD in a record store!

Arriving in Paris

2010-01-21T09:17:00.001+01:00

last time I came here it was one year ago, it was late 2008, by car, but this time I decided to take a flight to this beautiful city. While waiting in the airport to get picked up I thought of writing this post. Paris is one of the cities I like to visit on regular basis. I never thought of moving in and live in it, but I just like to visit it at least once a year. Such trips intrigues me to check out what changes took place, on its people, the way everyone lives…etc

After I took my bag and went through customs the first thing I decided to do was to go outside and have a smoke before I came back in this huge waiting hall to start writing this post.

First observation is seeing English language adverts on different places hanging around the airport- it seems that Sarkozy’s love and affection with the US and its language has made its effect on the way French who are known for their pride of their language change the way they advertise for commercial products.

I remember seeing English language banners and adverts in my last visit and I discussed this with my people here, but it was way less to see compare it to this time and what I have seen in the past hour or so.

The trip to Paris from Amsterdam was smooth, it is only 1 hour and a half so no one would notice anything, especially people like me who like to read while going on trips. By the way, this is the first time ever that I resist what I call a personal ritual that I used to follow every time I travel: to buy a book or a magazine, maybe because in the back of my mind I thought of the length of the trip, as I said, it is just a matter of an hour and a half, or less maybe, The Guardian newspaper was sufficient as a substitute on this trip.

Talking about travelers, it sometimes surprises me when hearing two people talking non stop while on a trip. It is just amazing the energy that some people have to just talk and talk and talk with no pause in between and no care for others who, for example want to sleep or want to have some quiet time reading something. It is normal to talk, to have a conversation with your travelling partner, but to have a continuous conversation with comments on that person and the other in low voice, and in Dutch, this is some kind of annoying. Besides, who said that Dutch language is a secret language, did they think that no one would understand them? I thought half of the airplane have Dutch passengers on it.

Back to the airport, not a lot of people like to visit Paris at this time of the year, I guess, and this might be the reason not seeing a lot of people around. I don’t know if this has something to do with the economic crisis, or whether the winter-crisis that hit northern Europe had its part here too.

Actually, where I sit it looks like a train station or a big bus terminal to me, more than an international airport. The lighting, the shops, even the faces of people roaming around, it doesn’t look like an airport.

And for the last 5 minutes, I don’t know who is the hell is fiddling with the main microphones. On the main loud speakers everyone can hear the cracks of the microphone being moved, like a cleaner is wiping the table and moving the microphone around while doing his work.

OK, that’s it for now, going for a smoke.

Amsterdam, Most Romantic City???

2010-01-18T15:14:00.005+01:00

The last thing I could think of is to consider Amsterdam as the most romantic city in the world!! I was surprised while watching an old episode of Smallville last weekend when Lex was asking his girlfriend if she likes to go to an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

I lived long enough to identify this beautiful city as being something but romantic. Amsterdam is a very commercial city - in spite of the decline in the number of international companies opening offices in it due to a number of reason that I am not going to discuss here. Amsterdam is a city for fun of all sorts, mainly for young adults, actually it is the city where "sex, drugs, and rock n' roll" can be perfectly applied to.

Many agree and I heard it from many visitors as well as locals that Amsterdam is not a city for families, and many families realize that the time has come to move out to another city when their kids has reached certain age.

In addition, Amsterdam to me is a symbol of a spectacular architectural beauty with its unique houses built tightly next to each other and queued on each side of the dark-gray edge colored of its canals.

It has been once said that it is the only city in the world where all languages in the world is spoken, and I am talking about people who are living in the city and not tourists who come and go. If I am not exaggerating, 90% of Amsterdam inhabitants nowadays are originally from countries all around the world.

Speaking of languages, the dominant language any observer can hear most is Spanish - I think more than English itself. There are a lot of Spanish youth roaming the streets day and night. I would simply see there is harmony in the relationship between the two, because Dutch too love to go to Spain a lot - Even men and women who are retired from work, they go and buy a house in Spain because of the sun mainly.

There are a plenty of places in Amsterdam but my favorite one still to this day is Kalverstraat. I used to go for a walk on that very long street every Saturday. It is one of the most crowded street (if not the most) in all Amsterdam, pedestrians are only allowed to use that street - the police will stop you and maybe fine you if caught riding a bicycle on through that street.

Yet, on a second thought one can argue that all what mentioned above can in fact make Amsterdam a romantic city, depending on the definition of romance, but would such a definition can be equal when taking a city such as Paris as being a romantic city? or maybe Rome?

Image by liketobite

Not Fully Fit, But Doing OK

2010-01-11T11:11:00.006+01:00

I am back! still alive after a week of trying to recover from the fall I had one day before the end of the year. On that day, very early I felt dizzy and everything around me started spinning before I lost consciousness.

Last week I spent the time trying to get a reason or an explanation for this dizziness with no success, and what made things worse is the unbearable pain started to feel in my neck and my left arm - with numb feeling of left fingers. I went to the hospital and took photos, and I am not going to talk about the procedure in hospitals and the lack of ability to diagnose sickness by specialists here in spite of the advanced technology available.

The only thing I managed to get were a number of appointments at the hospital for next month, yes, next month!! Until that time, my doctor said two things: Can't find a thing that caused me to faint, or what caused the pain in my neck. The doctor(S) also asked me to take things easy and this applies to work, driving, movement...etc

My apologies to all friends who sent me emails asking about me and I also wish everyone best wishes and that 2010 bring all wishes and dreams true.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

2009-12-23T09:31:00.001+01:00

Get Well, Ronnie

2009-12-06T13:24:00.004+01:00

The man with the giant voice. I was shocked when I heard the news of Ronnie James Dio diagnosed with stomach cancer, and that he is taken to hospital for medical treatment.

First time I heard Dio's voice on tape was on Black Sabbath's album "heaven and hell" when it came out in 1980. The album was and still considered ahead of its time with the way songs were made and mixed. From that moment Dio became one of the biggest influences on me musically with his opera like way of singing his selection or taste of music composition with the different bands he played with for more than two, three decades.

I saw Ronnie James Dio for the first time live with Heaven & Hell two years ago. I was like wow, God bless. Such a devoted musician and humble person on stage

For those who would like to give their support and love for the Ronnie, Dio.net website has created a page for fans to post their pictures and wishes for Dio, and on different website, among them the great Deep Puprle hub created a "wishing well" page for same purpose.

Get well soon, Ronnie, I and millions are waiting for the new of you beating that nasty beast.

I am sure that day will be a big festivity all around the world when we see you on tage again

From my heart, all best wishes for health, happiness, and long living.

In The Lift

2009-12-02T10:25:00.005+01:00

I was wondering

You are taking the lift upstairs to the 5'th floor. No one in the lift but you and another man who want to go to the 4 floor.

Mind you, there are some lifts that are really slow, so the time it takes feel like endless.

It is sometimes irritating, because there is a delay one floor, but that is not the issue.

What would you do? Keep silent? rolling your eyes up and down.

Remember, I am talking about taking the lift at work place, and not taking the lift while you are going up the Empire State building while on a visit to New York city.

Some people just turn their look to the opposite side of the person standing next.

Start a converstaion with that person? what about? throw a light joke?

What I do, usually I take a quick look at the person with me in the lift, it is like investigating the mood and what to say. Based on that I might start a conversation.

Get Rid of Your Culture!

2009-11-27T10:54:00.006+01:00

Below is a new study on what it is defined as the "integration" issue in the Netherlands, came out of a study / research results done by a government-social institute:

" Almost 40% of the Dutch think there are too many immigrants in the Netherlands, a drop of ten percentage points on 2000, according to a new report from the government's social policy institute SCP.

The report also shows both the native Dutch and immigrants consider new arrivals should learn the Dutch language and leave behind their original cultures."

Source DutchNews.nl

I agree that learning the language of the country you are living in is essential. In fact it is the most important thing to do after arriving in a country, before searching for work or get adapted with new life and new society, but to leave behind original culture??

This is the most bizarre thing I have ever heard.

Week of Concerts

2009-11-25T12:08:00.005+01:00

last week was a historic one, for me, to be part of a festivity, celebrating the arrival of great musicians, from west and from the east.

I posted earlier the three concerts I have been to and what an experience.

The first one was last Tuesday at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, watching the legendary British band Deep Purple, one of the bands that made the genre Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Click here to read my post on that concert .

The second concert I have been to was of one of the most talented and prominent American Metal bands, it is Alice in Chains. I have never seen them before, so it was a new experience to see them as it is for them with their new singer, DuVall. Click on the link here to read the post on that concert

It just became more beautiful, I mentioned it as being historical for me, especially with the third concert.

Kadim Al Saher!

The legendary Iraqi and Arabic singer had a concert in Brussels, Belgium. That was extraordinary for me, an eye opening. I know that Al Saher is known for his classical Arabic language songs, but listening while watching his performance doing his songs live for the first time was something sensational.

Read here my experience attending Kadim Al Saher concert, it was indeed exceptional and a good finale to my week of concerts.

Week of Concerts 3: Kadim Al Saher - The Living Legend

2009-11-25T11:30:00.000+01:00

I am proud to be one of the thousands of fans attended Iraqi legendary singer, Kadim Al Saher concert in Belgium last Saturday. This is the first time ever that this European city host a concert for the Iraqi legendary singer.

This is another reason I am proud to be on that show.

There were fans of all ages; families, young and old, from different countries, such as Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Palestinians, and from western countries too. Like me, I came all the way from Amsterdam, there were people who travelled from Germany, Sweden, France, and other European countries. Many were already very early arrived at the Paleis des Beaux-Art (Center for Fine Arts). While smoking at the main entrance of the center I watched people in their cars trying to find parking space with the stereo loud playing the latest album by Kadim Al Saher, Drawing with Words.

The hall was nice, but before I was skeptical of what kind of acoustics it can produce from a performance like Al Saher's? I was right, and sad, not only because the design of that hall was not up to the altitude and the size of the music played, but the person sitting on the soundboard, in my opinion, was someone who is obviously lacks the least of experience related to control a band playing oriental instruments in such a concert hall.

I wondered if the band did some sound check in the first place!

What made things worse was the technical failures. During the first song, for example, and after less than 5 minutes of Kadim Al Saher singing, his microphone went off. That didn't ruin the moment, the public continued that part of the song with the backing vocals, while another technician brought another mic for Kadim Al Saher.

Through the whole concert, almost two hours I didn't hear neither the Nai or the Oud sound.

Very sad!

Musicians in Al Saher band were the victims, especially that anyone can see their perfect musicianship throughout the show; one time the keyboardist (whom playing and the sound of his keyboard remained the entire show hardly heard) another time one of the violin players, a third time one of the percussionists, and even the drummer, all were making signs to the sound engineers every now and then to fix the sound of their instruments.

Outrageous!!!

That sound engineer should be sentenced to life in prison

Yet...enough talking negative

That concert was not doomed, such things happen. Belgium concert was a great success. It was not a music performance or a band show only, it was the chance for thousands of people to show their feelings; joy, pride (of their country), happiness, honesty interacted between perfect musicians and the public towards their idol, Kadim Al Saher.

It was a night a night to remember, forever.

I said that about Dream Theater's concert last month

By the way, this is one of the very little concerts I went to where I hear people cheering with the presence of their beloved singer and his band to the level that you can't hear the music. Chanting, singing loud along with the music, and the singer, shouting Kadim's name with a tone with full of love in their voices, there was laughter, joy, anticipation to the giant who was standing before them on stage. That was the situation on that show. It was not quiet at all, but not chaotic either. Even the singer was surprised when he began singing the first verse of the song "Layla", all was quiet, listening, Kadim Al Saher paused and with a beautiful smile addressed the public in Iraqi dialect "... this is the first time... you become soooo quiet just like that..."

The public exploded with laughter followed by big applause.

The public stood for Kadim Al Saher when he arrived on stage with the biggest welcome anyone can see for an artist accompanied by deafening applause. The flashes from the camera's did not stop, in spite of the early warning by the organizers of the show that taking pictures of filming is only allowed in the first 5 to 10 minutes. During the show there were people who struggled with the bodyguards to get to Al Saher closer just to have a simple handshake or an autograph, not to mention those who brought presents for him. There was a young women who tried to approach Kadim Al Saher on a number of times between and during songs, but did not succeed. At the end of the show and while he was walking towards the exit she ran towards him and ... almost there, one foot distance from him, but the body guards were faster and stopped her. I thought she collapsed afterwards and have been dragged away.

I was disappointed with one thing, that no single song from the new album played. Kadim Al Saher asked the audience what they like to hear. I thought that was one time, but I realized that the legendary singer meant to please his audience by asking them what they like to hear. On one occasion and after the end of one of the songs, a group on one side of the hall started singing "hatha al loon..." (this color on you...), immediately he turned to his band and asked to play the song... I was happy to see live Qusay, the main violinist in Al Saher band, playing his solo part like I used to hear on tape years ago.

I can't remember all the songs played, but below are some played:
- Hel Indeky Shak (Do you have any doubt)
- Mustebbida (despot)
- Hatha al loon... (this color on you...)
- Baghdad
- Layla
- Ahibeeny (Love Me)

Kadim Al Saher talked about the agony of the Iraqi people, taking the members of his band as an example of the Iraqi people who have been in a lot of trouble traveling across the world, and wish that the agony, the suffering of the Iraqi people, all Iraqi people will end one day, and that his message to the world is of peace and love, two things as the ultimate wish for Iraq and its people.

I realize that whatever the words, the sentence I can put in this post, it won't be up to the standard describing how great this singer is. The lesson I learned after all: Kadim Al Saher is not only a genies, Kadim Al Saher, he is extraordinary person, with musical wit. His musical conduct, composition, and technique while singing, in addition to his attitude on stage and during interviews has put him side by side with Arab music stars such as Abdel Wahab and Abdel Haleem Hafidh.

I guess I am not saying something new about a great and wonderful person, like Kadim Al Saher, but at least this is what I think and feel.

Week of Concerts 2: Alice In Chains - 013 Tilburg Show

2009-11-25T11:15:00.000+01:00

The second concert I have been to last week was of a band that some critics put it in the grunge metal genre, others just categorize their music as plain metal band.

That is Alice in Chains

That was one hectic show to attend, because I had to drive a long way from Amsterdam. Traffic was horrible and thought that I would not make it to the show as the clock was ticking after 8PM when I arrived in the southern city of Tilburg.

I was lucky! For unknown reason there was an hour delay till the band came up on stage. Crew members kept on moving left and right organizing and setting up stands, microphones, placing paper sheet (I think the set list) in designated places, with a big screen in the background where the Dutch flag kept on it for the whole time...etc The resentment in the faces of many attendees was obvious, I even heard someone standing behind telling his girlfriend that the staff of 013 were not happy with the delay of show from 8PM to 9PM.

Lights were dimmed, a big heart appeared slowly over the Dutch flag on screen, and with the same slow pace each member of the band walked out, and the hall was on fire.

The sound was horrible, I know it is a metal concert, but it was too loud for such a concert hall, and part of the joy listening to the songs was lost. Yet, that didn't ruin the a show of a band full of musicianship whom their focus was to please its fan base.

Highlights of that show were "Them Bones", "Again" and "Dam That River". The band did a great job of Promoting songs from their new album, by playing four of 5 songs, I don't remember. By the way, I didn't like "Black Gives Way To Blue", but after the show, I have second thoughts. Songs like "Rain When I Die" and "Check my Brain" are typical AIC songs that any fan would love to listen.

The band played three acoustic songs on that show: "Heaven Beside You", the beautiful "No Excuse", and "Black Gives Way To Blue", which ended with a big picture of late singer Layne Staley with peace sign and a cigarette hanging from his lip

"Sludge Factory" was the beginning of a second leg of heavy, powerful section of that show. Another three songs followed from old and new that rocked the house.

No Alice in Chains can be complete without the masterpieces "Would?" and "Rooster". The two songs were the finale for a very loud and good show.

Jerry Cantrell, the driving force behind the band, a man who looks much younger than his real age when watching him from a distance, a great and professional guitarist. Yet, watching AIC on DVDs, TV and now live makes me always think that Cantrell is influenced by the attitude on stage of no one but the master of the riffs, Tony Iommi. His quiet presence just reminds me of that, but that was not the case on a number of occasions as he did some headbanging on one song, or jump up on another.

This of course has its impact on the public and set more fire to the show

Someone asked me "what do you think of the new singer?"... "is William DuVall the right replacement?" I confirm, he is the best and closest to the way Alice In chains songs should be, it matches the style these songs are written, most importantly the harmonization with Jerry Cantrell, but I won't compare DuVall with Layne Staley, because Staley was unique. Mind you, that doesn't mean that DuVall is not a good or up to the AIC songs, to the contrary, he is one of few singers with high tone and long range voice, just fantastic singer.

I don't think anyone who write a review on Alice In Chains would ignore mentioning the band's bassist, Mike Inez, the great and one of the most energetic musicians alive. Simply, he is excellent. A man playing with power, the smile and interaction with the public remained during the whole show, and he ensured that he greet and thank the public at the end of the show with a big thank you.

To summarize all, it was a nice evening after all, despite delay, hectic traveling, I did enjoy seeing an great metal band, and enjoying listening to their music.

Week of Concerts 1: Deep Purple Rocks Amsterdam

2009-11-25T11:00:00.000+01:00

Tuesday, 17 November was the first one, at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam: a sold out show of the mighty Deep Purple
No, they are not old or lacked the power they used to have. Their performance was fun as before, and it is my privilege to have their show booked in my agenda every year.

I am going to their concert again next year, even if they didn't record a new album, that's for sure.

If there is something unique about Deep Purple as one of the most influential rock/metal bands to date is their combination of power and fun. I said it before and I will keep on saying it. I love this band for those two reasons. Like any band, I don't like ALL their songs, but I love most of their songs, and my collection of their live and bootlegs will never seed to exist, it will keep on growing. I like how they joke and have fun (with these confident exchanges of smiles) among each other- Maybe the exception to all that is the great Ian Paice, but... I couldn't have the chance to catch up a glimse of him from my angel.

I was surprised when the band came on stage, seeing how Ian Gillan lost weight to a fightenning level, honestly, I wish this legendary singer health and long living, wouldn't think of him being ill and that loss of weight is caused by some illness. However, he still charming and one hell of a handsome man.
By the way, Ian Gillan mentioned that they are planning to record a new album for next year, but did not say when.
I can't wait

Which song I would drop out from their setlist? I ask this question because this is common question by many fans of a band like DP with a history, rich history. I would think of "Strange Kind of Woman", but I changed my mind after hearing it on that show, because of the energy and the way they play it live. I would think of "Fireball", but that's a trade mark, nooooo, I won't think of dropping it either, and I just hate those who talk about "that song is worn out and the other played too much on their shows" and all this bla bla bla
Everytime I look to the selist, trying to find a weaker song that can be dropped, I fail to select one.

The selection of songs was also different from last year, I loved this setlist, especially that they played two songs from their 1984's "perfect strangers" album, which they never did, at least not to my knowledge: "Wasted Sunset" and "Not Responsible". The latter was a puzzle to me, considering Gillan's age, I was wondering how he would sing such a song after all these years. Believe me, he did it and I loved that live version.

Don Airey's solo was classic and the great thing when it followed by the excellent "The Battle Rage's on", what a song!

Another highlight was Gov't Mule guitar player Warren Haynes, who joined Deep Purple on stage for the Black Night encore.

The set list for Heineken Music Hall show is:
01. Highway Star
02. Things I Never Said
03. Not Responsible
04. Strange Kind Of Woman
05. Wasted Sunsets
06. Rapture Of The Deep
07. Fireball
08. The Well Dressed Guitar
09. Wring That Neck Play Video
10. Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming
11. No One Came Play Video
12. The Battle Rages On
13. Space Truckin'
14. Smoke On The Water
Encore:
15. Hush
16. Black Night (with Warren Haynes on Guitar)

Burj Dubai Fountains

2009-11-15T20:05:00.005+01:00

On the first Saturday I was there, I read in the news that people living in Dubai had a rare opportunity to see the fountains during the day.

I didn't have the chance to visit these fountains, because my trip to Dubai were limited to driving through Zaid street and downtown.

Enjoy

A Night To Remember... Forever

2009-10-08T10:10:00.016+02:00

Yesterday was horrible

No!!! I don't mean Progressive Nation 2009 night. I am talking about the heavy rain and traffic jam on the highway while driving south west to Rotterdam. I know it was also the time when people driving back to their homes after eight hours (or more) working day.

But it never stopped raining, never, till today early in the morning!

Anyhow, Arrived in Ahoy much later than expected - there are a lot of people who also got stuck in the traffic because I saw a lot were just parking their cars, or walking under the pouring rain, or standing in long queues waiting to get their tickets investigated and bodies searched for any sharp objects.

For that reason I missed the first band, Unexpect. I also didn't see Bigelf from the beginning of their fantastic performance.

I really wished that Bigelf would play longer, because surely they blew me away with only the last couple of songs they played - one of them is the excellent "Money, it's Pure Evil". Their playing and overall performance was so powerful, musically tight, and full of melodic epics. This is how I can describe Bigelf - Not to forget Damon Fox's voice and keyboard/organ playing; this was the first time I see a combination of Led Zeppelin's Plant and Deep Purple's Jon Lord depicted in one person performing on stage. His voice is even better than studio recordings.

Then came Opeth, quietly walking into stage and picking up their instruments under the cheer applause of the public.

There was a big blast of laughter when one fan shouted "Norway". The band lead singer and guitartist, Mikael Åkerfeldt looked calm and straight to the direction where he heard that rant, with pure tone in his voice, he said "We are from Sweden..." he paused, kept looking in the same direction and said "... and... our name is Opeth". Big applause followed that rocked the hall.

Opeth does need introduction, I call their music deviant progressive metal, with mid-tempo as the main on almost all songs.

I was surprised they didn't play acoustic-guitar songs as I hear on their album. Things to note about Opeth (apart from their musical perfection), are the singer's powerful ability to change from the warm tone in his voice to the growling that would tear every thing up, and the very long and repetitive composition on every song.

Between each song Akerfeldt was deliberately used to be giving false meanings to the next song they were going to play, with sarcastic remarks every now and then.

By the way, I didn't get was the last song: it was to me like the band was playing that song thinking that it would last longer, or they just decided to ended the way it ended. I don't know, but something was not quiet right at the end.

This did not ruin the joy of watching them live for the first time.

For almost half an hour, busy stage crew was preparing everything for the headliners, Dream Theater. A huge gray curtain kept blocking the most psychedelic stage I have ever seen - simple but glamor until the first song already began.

I was hoping they would play at least one song from their newest (and best to date) Black Clouds & Silver Linings, and was expecting them to play "A Rite of Passage".

I was wrong!

Dream Theater performance started with thunder, sound of thunder and playing like thunder. They started the show with the first and one of my most favorite songs from that album: A night to Remember.

They proved me wrong many times, in fact, because Dream Theater played not only one song from this superb album, they played "A Rite of Passage", "Wither", and ended their stunning performance with the epic ""The Count of Tuscany".

I am sure if they had more time to play, they would not mind to play the remaining two songs from that fantastic album.

Dream Theater played songs from their old catalog too, and joked with the public on numerous times - loved the moment when drummer Mike Portnoy stick his nose or take one drumstick into his nose while playing his drums aggressively and with speed of light. This was hilarious, it made me wonder how perfect such a drummer like that can do complex compositions on his instrument while keep the good spirit and control on everything around him.

One of the things I noticed is how guitarist John Pertucci's gain of weight, contradicts to the big loss of weight of drummer Portnoy.

Oh, and James LaBrie was amazing too... I heard him life a lot of times, but this time I was stunned to see and hear him singing life. I don't need to mention the rest of the band because they don't require some compliments: Does the rattling bass playing of John Myung or the Keyboard/synth's playing by the wizard Jordan Rudess needs introduction?

I am sure that there are a lot to tell, and there are a lot of people who can write reviews better than I do (especially when writing so quickly like I am doing now) in describing the Dutch leg of progressive nation tour 2009, for those four bands there is one definite fact: It was a night to remember

Below are videos from last night

Dream Theater - "A Night To Remember"

Opeth - Windowpaint

Dream Theater - Count of Tuscany

Brutal Legend Converts People To Heavy Metal | NowGamer

2009-10-07T08:28:00.003+02:00

I am not into computer games, anymore, but I like this, at least it has Black Sabbath songs on it

Brutal Legend Converts People To Heavy Metal | NowGamer

Shared via AddThis

Dancing in Central Station of Antwerp

2009-09-30T02:29:00.000+02:00

Last year in March, a group of 200 dancers emerged out of nowhere in Central Station of Belgian city of Antwerp and started dancing on the "sound of music" melody plyaing out from the speakers at the different corners of the big hall. It is in fact a some sort of promotion to the musical by the same name.

Check the surprise on many people faces and their reaction to the suddenly jumping young and old dancers.

Thanks to Loulou for that

Wake Up Call

2009-09-16T16:39:00.003+02:00

Yes, its a wake Up call

a wake up call for a blogger who's missed by many, and not only by me. I am not talking about those who suddenly decided to give it a try and leave everything behind, as if the effort put on writing and publishing what they think and want to share with the whole world (through this blog) is nothing but a waste of time.

There are some bloggers who just feel lazy to write anything, any more

Others who decided to quit everything for good, because they saw that their case, their cause where they decided to put forward in front of everyone did not catch a lot of people's ears or eyes.

I can't exclude myself from this situation, because I didn't even posted anything for sometime now, so it is my wake up call as it is for others I love to visit and to read their posts.

I feel sorry (and sad) that there are bloggers who originally had the intention to let the world know their story, but like many blogs around, the story did not have an end, and many people just kept on visiting that blog hoping, just hoping that one day they can read the end of the story.

I had a conversation with one of those excellent bloggers on the reasons he put a halt to his blog, he told me that "there is no use to continue"... "I am writing about my suffering, my agony, what happened to me in a specific point in time, but what is the use? will someone be helping me out? is there a solution?"

Another brilliant blogger has a habit of locking himself up when he is feeling lonely or maybe having problems with his surroundings, at the end... no new posts

In both cases, those bloggers are depriving people and visiting their blogs from sharing with them every single letter, every single word...

These letters and these words are not just empty

The sharing is much more valuable to many readers, it is about sharing feelings, maybe, or reflecting certain self-experience of that reader, or sharing the fun and joy that blogger or the other is posting on his or her blog.

Yes, it is a wake up call for all bloggers I used to read... who are missed, not only by me, but by many. Those bloggers who are in my eyes and mind left a trace with their precious words, experience, feelings, and events.

The Lost Symbol

2009-09-16T13:25:00.007+02:00

Robert Langdon is again embarked into a new adventure.

A lot of people are looking forward to this, especially after the Da Vinci code and Angels and Demons.

I read the Da Vinci code and I watched the movie, it was, but it was crap if we compare it to the book and the magic it brought along with the story

Angels and Demons... Did not read or seen the movie - heard was good and lot of good reviews written about it on the internet.

However, I read Deception Point, and was not that impressed - no comparison here, with other books.

The new book by Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol (in fact it had another working title: The Solomon Key) took from the writer six years to complete. In it, the story is taking Robert Langdon, the Professor of Symbology, deep into the world of one of the most (if not the most) controversial "society" in the history of mankind i.e. freemasons

I asked myself the question while reading the Da Vinci code couple of years ago whether Dan Brown's main motivation to write about Symbology was in fact influenced by the myths and facts of the freemasons on one side and the facts regarding the chronological events in history after the establishment of our modern calender to this day, on another hand. However, I was almost sure that one day Dan Brown would write a full novel on the freemasons, whether Langdon playing the main character or someone else, and here we are ready to read such an adventure.

The novel came out yesterday to retailers in the United States, in English language, of course. For Arabic speaking friends, they have to wait because there is no Arab publisher announced yet that they will translate the novel very soon - I don't have doubts that the same publisher of previous books will do the job, but we have to wait.

Not the same thing for Dutch speaking friends, it will be out next month in bookshops in the Netherlands

I can't wait till I get my hands on this book.

Finally, two wishes:
First: I hope the book would be as good as the Da Vinci code
Second: they won't ruin the essense of the story when making the movie in 2012

Don't Always Believe in What the Police Say

2009-09-16T12:45:00.006+02:00

So he is not addicted to alcohol and drugs! The killer of Arzu Erbas, his name is Nevzat K., 41 years old is also has no records by the police related to violence or anything related in the past. All this stated by the suspect defense lawyer, Niels van der Laan, today, which bring us to put forward the same question: from where and on what basis the police spread the news of a drug and alcohol addict killing a peaceful woman in mid day?

In such an important case, I say important because of the circumstances and the victim, and after all the silence from the police side now and suddenly this news erupts out of nowhere to tell us that the main suspect has a different record than it was thought. Another week, we might hear that the suspect is free and the police was mistaken with the identity with someone else because all Turks and Moroccans are look alike!

This is scary, for normal citizens to think that way, which would make them loose trust in the only tool to enforce law in the country. For that reason, reliable sources such as the police must not make such a grave mistake...

I am not exaggerating

Take and Give Away?

2009-09-16T12:21:00.003+02:00

This is funny! It is like the opposite to the "give and take" situation! Maybe because it happened on the same day and within minutes that I read two pieces of news on Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates!

The first news headline is about Abu Dhabi hospitals charging patients up to Dhs 1,000 ($272) for swine flu tests, which are free in Dubai, by the way, according to The National website. Patients, wary of the side effects of Tamiflu, have been demanding the tests in order to avoid taking the anti-viral drug unless they are specifically infected. However, the tests are often unnecessary, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it recommends that otherwise healthy patients who have flu-like symptoms but no other complications need not be treated with antivirals or tested for the virus.

The second piece of news is concerning a $150 million gift from the government of Abu Dhabi to the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, with the aim of developing tools and processes to reduce the pain children experience before, during and after surgery. According to the New York Times, the gift to the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington will be used for pain research. “Our hope is that this gift will be transformative and lead to new medical technology and breakthroughs that improve health care for children around the world,” said Yousef Al Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States.

The full article from the New York Times is here, interesting read telling the story of how this gift was given and a background on this institute.

The Killer

2009-08-26T09:38:00.003+02:00

His name is Nevzat Koya, 41 years old. According to police, this is the name and age of the person who killed Arzu Erbas. He is dangerous, addicted on drugs and alcohol but above all, he has no permit to live in the Netherlands.

Until this moment, this man is free and undetected, neither anyone knows, according to police, the motives behind the crime he committed, especially that that man has no link or relationship with the day care center and any of the children or their parents.

One person I talked to a couple of days told me "so what the use? they will catch the killer, lock him in prison for a couple of years, end of story: two children lost their mother with no obvious reason, a mother who wanted to do something good for her community and the people around her just got killed like that, is this fair? where is justice?? and what someone can learn from all that???"

Mourning Or Gloating?

2009-08-12T16:12:00.015+02:00

The news last Monday of the murder of Arzu Erbas, 33 year old owner of a creche in Amsterdam has been to many, including me as the biggest shock ever. The attack happened at 6.40pm after Mrs. Erbas finished her work at the “Moedersschoot” childcare centre and was on her way to her parked car, when a man attacked her and stabbed her to death, and ran away – until this moment the identity or the whereabouts of the man unknown, according to the police.

Not long ago she was in fact with her husband and two sons enjoying their summer vacation in their father-land, Turkey, when she decided to get back here because of her busy work scheduling.

The motive for the attack is unknown, said the police, who are appealing for witnesses to come forward and tell what they saw. Yesterday was a special coverage on TV program Opspoor Verzocht on the crime where the police appealed to any one who has tips or witnessed anything who might help them to find that merciless murderer.

Arzu Erbas, or as many like to call her “the mother of all children” or “the perfect woman” was born in the Turkish coastal town of Rize and moved to the Netherlands when she was at a very young age, she studied Pedagogy and married later. Her energy and determination to make her dreams come true were beyond description. She got the idea of establishing her own childcare center was not a mere idea. Her dream was to make that childcare center something special for the children and not just a shelter for little children when parents go to work for eight or more hours. The success of the first “moedershoot” (in English Mother’s Womb or lap) motivated her to take a step further and to open a bigger establishment, not far located from the first. She had plan to open a third one in addition to her plans to open an orphanage in Turkey, not to mention her voluntarily work regarding integration in the Netherlands, as the case with her beautiful contribution to the work of Stichting Waterval in the city of Almere.

I visited in the past different child care centers, and I know people close to me (relatives and friends) who described the atmosphere there and told me stories about how childcare centers in Amsterdam and other cities where they took their daughters and sons looked like (I don’t blog about everything, I know), but to me, Arzu’s dream was spectacular (no disrespect to other owners of other childcare centers), because for the first time I see in the Netherlands a merge in dealing with babies and children between western-methods and middle-eastern upbringing: something that many immigrants (as well as Dutch) found it unique and perfect.

Some might say from reading and knowing Arzu Erbas that she did not achieve everything she was dreaming of. I tend to disagree, because such a wonderful woman had one dream, just one: care for children in any way possible and with any means. In fact, seeing what she established and what she provided for many children and their parents is a big proof of what I say.

I am not going to politicize this tragedy as some did. I am not going to ruin a moment of mourning many of us are living at the moment for a lovable person like Arzu, BUT it outraged me seeing the amount of disgusting and low-level comments put on Dutch newspaper Telegraaf related to this horrible news! The comments by many sick-minded people changed in the past days, and based on the assumption for the motive of the crime: such as how come that a 33 years old woman has own a luxury Mercedes? Later on the focus was on the one and only thing a typical Dutch person would think when seeing or hearing about a Muslim woman wearing a head-scarf being murdered: murder in the name of family honour. Yesterday night, drugs and mafia was involved! I am sure there will be more and more speculation. Before I forgot, some of those who were putting comments took the opportunity to express their pride of showing their lova and support for Geert Wilders!! I don’t understand what Wilders has to do with the whole thing, unless the telegraaf became the ultimate portal for Wilder’s fans. However, one thing can be attached to Wilders in this regards: thanks to him, he is one of the main igniters to trigger such sentiment among people put comments on the Telegraaf.

I agree with the opinion that the Netherlands is not the same compare it to 10 years ago, but it is not that dramatic as I see, unless I am seeing the wrong picture here and someone has to show me the way through- I would be grateful, though, relying on my experience I would be shocked when I hear someone say that “that concept of tolerance Dutch are famous with is just a big lie”.

I am not going to carry on with this, seeing other media sources and their warm words and passion, their sadness, from everyone, all reflected how much common people are shocked with what happened to Arzu – I personally cannot believe such a thing can happen, but that’s our cruel reality.

There is no overrated assumption if I say that The Netherlands has lost a great woman. She is the perfect symbol of social integration for people migrated from her country and for people believing in her faith – does that pause any threat to anyone? Yet, whatever the reason might be, killing in such a way as happened to Arzu will never be justifiable, because all those who knew that woman, all those around her remember her smile, her hospitality, her care, and her determination to reach out for her dreams.

Rest in peace, Arzu

P.S. There is a memorial forum made for the victim where people can leave their thoughts and wishes for Arzu and her family

Turkish Favorite Rock/Heavy Metal Vocalists

2009-06-02T17:05:00.004+02:00

Bruce Dickinson is my second favorite vocalist of all time - my first choice has always been Ian Gillan. Turkish heavy metal and rock fans differ!

Headbang, a Turkish rock and metal magazine which is sold as a Blue Jean magazine supplement, has published its list of top 30 heavy metal and hard rock vocalists of all time (as compiled by the magazine's writers). It is as follows:

01. Bruce Dickinson (IRON MAIDEN, BRUCE DICKINSON)
02. Ronnie James Dio (ex-ELF, ex-RAINBOW, ex-BLACK SABBATH, DIO, HEAVEN AND HELL)
03. Rob Halford (JUDAS PRIEST, FIGTH, 2WO, HALFORD)
04. Ozzy Osbourne (ex-BLACK SABBATH, OZZY OSBOURNE)
05. James Hetfield (METALLICA)
06. Mike Patton (FAITH NO MORE, MR. BUNGLE, FANTOMAS, TOMAHAWK, PEEPING TOM...)
07. Sebastian Bach (ex-SKID ROW, DAMNOCRACY, SEBASTIAN BACH)
08. Klaus Meine (SCORPIONS)
09. Bon Scott (AC/DC)
10. Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.)
11. King Diamond (KING DIAMOND, MERCYFUL FATE)
12. Serj Tankian (SYSTEM OF A DOWN, SERJ TANKIAN)
13. Ian Gillan (ex-EPISODE SIX, ex-BLACK SABBATH, DEEP PURPLE, GILLAN)
14. Alice Cooper (ALICE COOPER)
15. Axl Rose (GUNS N' ROSES)
16. Geoff Tate (QUEENSRŸCHE)
17. Corey Taylor (SLIPKNOT, STONE SOUR)
18. Eric Adams (MANOWAR)
19. Michael Kiske (ex-HELLOWEEN, SUPARED, AVANTASIA, PLACE VENDOME)
20. Lemmy Kilmister (ex-HAWKWIND, MOTÖRHEAD, THE HEAD CAT)
21. Jon Oliva (SAVATAGE, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, JON OLIVA'S PAIN)
22. Max Cavalera (ex-SEPULTURA, SOULFLY, NAILBOMB, THE CAVALERA CONSPIRACY)
23. Jonathan Davis (KORN, JONATHAN DAVIS)
24. Philip Anselmo (ex-PANTERA, DOWN, SUPERJOINT RITUAL, ARSON ANTHEM)
25. Udo Dirkschneider (ex-ACCEPT, U.D.O)
26. Mike Muir (SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, INFECTIOUS GROOVES, CYCO MIKO, NO MERCY)
27. Brian Johnson (AC/DC)
28. David Coverdale (WHITESNAKE, EX-DEEP PURPLE)
29. Paul Di'Anno (ex-IRON MAIDEN)
30. Jorn Lande (VAGABOND, MASTERPLAN, ARK, MILLENNIUM, BEYOND TWILIGHT, AYREON, AVANTASIA)

Launched in 1987, Blue Jean is Turkey's oldest youth and music magazine with a monthly circulation of 20-25,000.

Headbang, which was first published in March 2007, is the most popular rock and metal magazine in Turkey. It is also said to be the country's only monthly music magazine with rock and metal content.

Source: Blabbermouth.net

New Website For RNW

2009-06-02T16:02:00.004+02:00

Radio Netherlands Worldwide (or Radio Nederland Wereldomroep) put a new effort to their website. This media organization is considered the best and only source of Arabic news in the history of the Netherlands. The new layout is different from the old in its more friendly and readable sections. It is not by any means the same compact news I used to see in a list soft of columns as before.

In the past months I noticed that the website administrators are focusing more on the media by attaching sound and video clips with most of it coverage of news in the Netherlands and abroad. This is another evidence of an emphasize on providing interactive experience for the reader, instead of just reading like any newspapers. I personally see that many steps forward for providing services for the visitor to the website.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide is not just about news. In fact one of the most interesting elements on the website are the reports and analysis about the different events and personalities living on the globe.

The only thing I noticed, which I wish the team working on the website should pay attention to is the font size of the Arabic letters, which I find it a little small compare to the overall page size and the pictures attached with each headline.

But that would not stop me from visiting this site, the important thing to me is the content, the information, the message that this organization seems to put an effort to keep it professional, to the point, and enjoyable all at the same time.

Fulla & Hwayda Yousif - Ana Fi Intezarek

2009-05-29T14:26:00.009+02:00

Algerian singer, Fulla and Syrian singer, Hwayda Yousif, performed live a cover version of Um Kalthoum's classic song, Ana fi Intizarek on entertainment show Taratata. On the same program there was the legendary Tony Hanna, among other new artists and singers from different Arab countries. The whole edition of the show was masmarizing, watching Tony Hanna and his excellent band performing classics from his long career.

Anyway, the version of the song Ana Fi Intizarek is my favorite cover so far; the passion and power the two ladies showed is superb.

Simply and with no doubt brilliant.

Well, I didn't find the video of that song on the internet, and I couldn't upload the damn movie contained the song nor on youtube, neither here so far, therefore, enjoy Metallica, instead, also from their performance on Taratata

Dubai Metro

2009-05-28T11:25:00.007+02:00

This is a long view of Dubai metro, the longest fully automated rail system in the world. It will open on 9 September 2009.

It reminds me of a view from the futuristic sci-fi movie metropolis

Click on the image for larger view

Is This Real?

2009-05-22T04:03:00.002+02:00

A beautiful scene with the clouds, the sky, the sun and the ocean as the leading role players. In the background you see the islands of Desertas.

Location: Caniço, Madeira (Portugal)

Photographer: Hartjesfan (Lilian)

Is Not About An Award

2009-05-22T03:51:00.004+02:00

Its about the words, about my great appreciation that I accept an award from a friend and a fellow blogger.

Thank you, Branwen, It means a lot to me.

Dedicated To Metal Lord

2009-05-20T14:39:00.003+02:00

This song is dedicated to Ali Metal Lord

Watchmen

2009-05-19T03:51:00.005+02:00

Speaking of movies in general, science fiction movies in particular, A couple of weeks ago I went to the movie theater for Watchmen.

It was one of the worst movies (if not the worst sci-fi) movie ever seen. With all high-tech special effects, this movie proved to be one big flop. The story has no consistency, no development to the plot, like glewing small fractions to make one long boring movie.

There are two things the director focused on: senseless action scenes and sexual showup.

In fact, at the end of the movie I felt that I was tricked into going to theater and choose IMAX to watch such a boring movie.

From watching this movie, knowing before hand that the director is the same of 300, which carried a boring story, but great action movie, I was expecting something similar, but my dissapointment was to a large extent when seeing the end title of Watchmen.

Star Trek XI

2009-05-19T03:33:00.004+02:00

I watched Star Trek a couple of days ago.

I had the feeling that this movie would beat Xmen Origins in a previous post

The verdict: simple plot, amaingly and beautifully science fiction movie. From the begining and without any introduction you are deep into the story line.

I liked the way each character has been introduced and showed its development, keeping in the back of my head how these character later (in the original series) became the way all Star Trek fans know

I read somewhere that there is a follow up to this prequal, something I certainly looking forward to.

If you don't like Star Trek, its still a great action packed science fiction movie. If you are a Star Trek fan, this movie is full of things that make you smile and enjoy.

Rumsfeld's Iraq Crusade

2009-05-18T13:34:00.006+02:00

Everyone know (by now) that Iraq was devastated by a group of politicians who are as religiously extremists as their enemies showed in the past years and through their speeches and announcements. They both share the same madness of readiness to wipe out humankind from the face of the earth to achieve what they believe its god's will.

I was right after all when I applied the lyrics of the song "For the Greater Good of God" on Bush and putting a picture of him depicting that assumption.

GQ magazine revealed that former defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld used to put quotes and verses from the bible on the cover-sheets of his daily top secret intelligence breifings for former US president, George W. Bush. Some of these reports were presented and delivered to Bush by Rumsfeld himself. These daily briefings were called the “Worldwide Intelligence Update,” one of several intelligence reports compiled overnight and presented in a folder for Mr. Rumsfeld and other officials as they came to work.

Some of these verses are: "commit to the lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Beneath that sentence there is a picture of an american soldier on one knee in front of his weapon and exhaustion/stress appear on his face. Another cover-sheet showed "have I not commanded you? be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the lord your god will be with you wherever you go" and beneath that sentence a highway road sign written on it Baghdad.

Or there is a sentence above the a picture of Saddam giving a speach saying "It is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men." Taken from Peter 2:15. Another is depicting the two giant swords ereacted in "celebrations park" in central Baghdad with some sort of gates, which will be conquered by the righteous nation: Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith" - Isaiah 26:2

The idea came from Major General Glen Shaffer, an intelligence official. And though the cover sheets started out humorous, as the body count mounted, biblical passages were thought to be more appropriate, according to GQ.

The cover-sheets from the magazine can be found here.

After reading these news, I just had the wish that someone with so much power go to Bush and co., Bin Laden and his associates, Iran and Israeli bunch of fundamentalists, grab them all from the tag of their clothes and drop them into one cubic cage.

The rest should be broadcast on TV around the world, to see what lunatics did to the whole world from east to west.

I am sure they would tear each other up, but at least this will ensure that comfort will be upon millions of people

Peace will be finally be seen on the horizon.

Question For An Asylum Seeker

2009-05-18T10:13:00.007+02:00

She told him "how come you Iraqis have been denied asylum by the ministry of Justice, you have the chance to leave voluntarily, and you also have the chance to ask for an amount of money to help you get a new start after return to Iraq, yet, there are a lot of you still here and don't want to go!"

These are the words of a social-worker lady addressing an Iraqi asylum seeker in the Netherlands in one of the camps in the Netherlands.

Shahrazad

2009-05-13T22:42:00.004+02:00

Wake Up!

2009-05-12T18:35:00.009+02:00

Today I read (and received emails) related to a lot of clatter about whether George Wassouf became a Muslim!

I am going to echo a lot of people's comments: to start with, it doesn't matter if Wassouf Christian or Muslim, what matters to me (and to any reasonable person) is the music. So... for those still arguing, please stop this nonsense.

If you like George Wassouf's music get the album then from any record store (not only download it because buying the new album is the least any fan would do as a gesture and appreciation to this great artist).

If you don't like George Wassouf music, then give it a try, you won't regret, take my word for that. If you didn't like it, its up to you, its all a matter of taste, BUT don't waste any people time by preaching about religion or faith, because faith and belief is very personal and private matter, do don't play God's role and make judgments on other because you are from different faith.

Second thing, something which I already pointed put on Al Wassouf facebook page, I grew up and around me friends from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, and among them there were Christians. They call God's name "Allah", like Muslims; they swear in Allah's name, like Muslims do when they want to confirm something. This is common and nothing new to the culture in Iraq. I have seen the same thing when I went abroad: I have seen Chrisitians from Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, all of them say "Allah" like Muslim do when they refer to God. This is part of the culture of the people living in the Middle East.

Thus, for those educated people who have their eyes wide open for seeing the word "Allah" (printed out with an Islamic font) on the cover of the latest album of a Christian artist like George Wassouf I have two advices:

1. Go and get some home work done about the historic facts about the different societies living in the Middle East.

2. Check out past interviews with George Wassouf. The way I see his belief, his love and his obedience for God is much better than many people call themselves Muslims or call themselves a better believers from any other religion.

Having said that, I don't believe that George Kurdahi or Nishan Dirharotyan (I am sure the spelling is wrong) were courteous or seeking the blessing of Muslims when calling God "Allah" or when they say "Salla Allah Aleehi We Sellem", means (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), when mentioning the Prophet Mohammed on their talk shows.

This is part of the culture of millions of people living together for hundreds of years.

Wake up people!

George Wassouf - Allah Kareem 2009

2009-05-11T12:58:00.037+02:00

After a couple of listens to this album, I decided to write this post about it. "Allah Kareem" is the new album by Syrian singer, George Wassouf - he has Lebanese nationality too... if you know what I mean, common people from both countries adore him.

While I am waiting for the official copy of this album to arrive from Syria, I couldn't wait more and thanks to the internet, I managed to get another copy, which became the basis for this review.

The album begins with El Sabr Tayeb, a slow Kanun intro (played live), followed by a fast Sherqi beat, and a dominant Saba Maqam (scale). It is a nice starter, but not very impressing to me, maybe because I am not a big Saba Maqam fan. Yet, listening through to the half of song made me realize the intensity and power of such a sad (lyrically) song. The song ends like in a loop, as if saying that there is another part that was decided to cut due to the length of the song!! Conclusion? the fist song is simply amazing, there is no doubt about.

If there is someone who would say El Sabr Tayeb is not up to the expectation, I became later sure that Sultan al Tarab (As Wassouf also known in the Arab world) knew the trick and how to surprise his fans with the other six songs to follow. The evidence is with the album self-titled song, Allah Kareem. It is one of my favorites on this album. There is an attempt in this song to create a modern flamenco beat, mixed with some rock n' roll flavor. The highlight on this song is the beautiful classic guitar shredding. I don't need to point out to the gorgeousely warm and emotional way Al Wassouf is singing on this song. Yet, I don't know if this song is an attempt to re-create a similar hype to the 2002 hit "Habbeet Army Al Shabak"!

The third song is El Ayam De Sa'bah Shiwe, and it is my favorite from this album. It is like a big WOOOOW... From the Saz (or Buzuq) intro till the end, it is just sensational. The melody, the strings arrangements, the beat, and above all the singing and the lyrics that tells the story of support and love through hard time. The song written by Hany Al Sagheer, and this is his second cooperation with Sultan Al Tarab (The first is "Qool Il Kilmeteen" from the 2003 album). The fourth song is Shokren, to me is the strangest song on this album because of the way it was built lyrically and musically alike, with a lot of outbeats and the method the lyrics mingling into the melody. However, without reading checking the liner notes on the CD one would recognise the composing style of Waleed Saad.

With every new album release by George Wassouf, the media as well as the fans are expecting surprises. This time, Al Wassouf did that with the song number 5, Men Hena W Rayeh, because I never heard George Wassouf sings ballads mixed with some wahda beat flavor. The next song, number 6, is a 24 carat gold, and the song name is called Gold, or Il Dahab Ya Habeeby, a cover song originally done by none than another legendary singer called Abu Majd - on a lesser level known as the great Milhem Barakat. George Wassouf sang this song one time (at least the only time I have seen it on TV) before recording it: he did that on Al Arrab talk show last year. This song is my second favorite song on this album. The last song from this album is another BIG surprise, to me at least! La Trooh is a song in the realm of "Al Sahily" or more known as "Dabka", known in Lebanon and north Syria (along coastal line of Lattakia and Tartuus). The song can make a very good candidate for live performance, and with this song, Sultan Al Tarab prooved once again that despite age, illness, fabrications, he is still cabable of making true music regardless of style, genre, or scale. This also ensured that the legacy of such a legendary singer will remain, and the love by his fans will also be eternal.

If someone ask me which song would be the right candidate to be the first video clip from this album, I would say it is either "La Trooh", or "Allah Kareem". I am trying to imagine the cute gasping Ghina Emyoni (from Rotana's "Akher Akhbar" (lastest News)) happy and prepare herself to confront Al Wassouf like she did on the making of As'ab Furaq last year - it cracked me up when Ghina raised her hand to stop George Wassouf from moving away from the camera to ask him one more question and saying "One minute, Abu Wadee", he looked at her with a risen eyebrow and hidden smile, then he looked at the people around him and said "who is this girl? anyone lost his baby girl?" and snapped away from the camera sight.

As I mentioned earlier, the sound on Allah Kareem is fresh. In fact, I could say that this album has more energy than its predecessor. It is reflected in the variation of topics in each song, in the maqams used, in the beat and rythem, even in the mixing. In addition, the voice of George Wassouf is also sounded more relaxed on the majority of the songs on this album. If I would make a comparison, something I hate to do between a new and previous releases of an artist, if I do so I would say that this album won over the 2008 album, Kalamak Ya Habeeby. I don't want to be misunderstood, Kalamak Ya Habeeby is a great album, I wrote about As'ab Furaq some time ago..., you know, but the 2008 album lacked the energy the new album showed.

All songs on the album "Allah Kareem" were recorded in Saba Studios, in Beirut, Lebanon. This is the same studio George Wassouf used to record his albums since his third official album release more than 10 years ago to this day. All the songs on the new album were mixed by Tony Saba, except for El Sabr Tayeb and Shokran, they were mixed by Adel Ayche (both men worked on two previous Wassouf albums). Yet, and I have to say that: in spite of all what I said about the album, in spite of my happiness and gratitude with the new work done, I still miss the ZaWa'edy touch on the mixing board. This post is a testimony of the great work in mixing too, but I am confident that if Mazen Zawa'edy was there to mix "Allah Kareem", the end result would be completely different... songs like "Inte Gheerhum", "Youm Al Wada'" and "Ma'rafsh gheer Hubbek Ja gameel" are living proof.

One thing I did not understand: why there is an S put with the name George on the cover of the album?

Track Listing
===========================================
1 El Sabr Tayeb
2 Allah Kareem
3 El Ayam De Sa'bah Shiwe
4 Shokran
5 Men Hena W Rayeh
6 El Dahab Ya Habibi
7 La Trooh

Communication Puzzel

2009-05-09T00:55:00.015+02:00

I don't know if it is ESP, some advanced sort of telepathy

Or should I call it something else?

I cannot call it telepathy because telepathy involves the transfer of thoughts and feelings from one person to the other without the involvement of the five senses. I also rule out synchronicity, it is just not applicable here.

What I am talking about is a link, an unconscious connection between two people. A very strange feeling that is illuminating this kind of communication between those two people.

What I am talking about is when two people having a conversation about something, and out of the blue they say the same thing without prior notice, without any sign from one of them about saying that same word or sentence.

It happened once, and the conclusion would be "never mind, it is indeed some sort of a coincidence"

But when it happens twice, three times or more - till they lost count of the number of times they did this, it would not be normal to keep calling it a coincidence.

The reaction is either laugh, or go into silence, or just shocked with eyes full open!

Well, there are those who say that great minds think alike. Based on that, the flow of thoughts is common which might lead to say the same thing at the same time.

However, some say that such a connection is a sign that those two persons has met in a different life, especially those who believe in reincarnation. There are others who just bash this thing out and say that it is just a matter of coincidence. On the other hand, people would say that those two are very close, not necessary in physical terms, but their mind and soul are very close i.e. common mindset, some name it.

I thought that such a occurrences can only occur between soul mates, it has been proven in many sources related to history, sociology or psychology, however, they are not considered as such.

Those two know each other briefly. I mean that they don't go to details about their personal details, they meet every now and then, have a little talk about different things, and discuss many things. There is no physical attraction involved, there is no eye contact that can be some sort of an influence to any of them. They even don't share the same taste in many things in life, like music or life-style, or food!

Yet, they feel very close

What does that mean?

Music Beauty of Wassouf

2009-05-09T00:25:00.012+02:00

A headbanger as many know about me would find it difficult to imagine me listening to this kind of music, but the song in the below video gives me the shivers

For those who didn't know who this young man is, this is George Wassouf, the legendary Syrian singer.

This song is originally from the late 1980 and the video above says it is from 1990, but came out for the first time on the 2003 album "Salaf W Dein".

The lyrics and music is originally by the legendary composer Riad Al Bandak, and the mixing on the album was done by the great maestro Mazin Zawady, who is the main composer of George Wassouf's band until today.

Speaking of Sultan Al Tarab (the nickname of Wassouf), according to many sources on the internet confirmed that the 2009 album will be out in a couple of days.

I just got a top quality of one of the songs, which is simply beautiful.

As usual, can't wait to get a hand of the whole album.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2009-04-30T11:13:00.007+02:00

This is a prequel to the X-Men saga which started some years and ended with the "Last Stand", the third part of the series, which I consider one of my most favorite movies - the only setback to it was the total time of the movie that would fit into two 45 minutes episode.

On this movie, Hugh Jackman appears again as the mighty mutant Logan, or known as Wolverine, and as with classic Marvel stories, there will be other mutant and super power characters on it.

The media coverage of this movie is execulsive, posters on almost every bus/tram station here in Amsterdam, different websites (even these nothing to do with Sci-Fi) are putting adverts of the movie.

The trick if this movie would stand up against the much anticipated next franchise of Star Trek.

Below is the trailer of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which starts like the intro of Queensryche's 1989 album, Operation Mindcrime, with "I remember now...."

Evening Glow

2009-04-25T14:43:00.003+02:00

Image by loish

Response To Joe Lynn Turner

2009-04-25T14:14:00.011+02:00

Joe Lynn Turner, known for being the main singer of Rainbow and one year singer of Deep Purple (I call him Ritchie Blackmore's baby boy), said during an interview that Coverdale is Miming in concert. Below is the response of Coverdale:

Response To Joe Lynn Turner’s Interview Remarks About My Supposed ‘Miming In Concert’ ************* I am shocked, very disappointed & surprised by Mr Turners misleading & completely untrue observations he felt it necessary to discuss in a recent interview. Whatever his motives, they are disturbing, to say the least. I do not ‘mime’ in concert. I never have & I never will. I am David Coverdale.

My career spans almost 40 successful years & I have worked with some of the finest musicians in contemporary music & in all that time I have never ‘pretended’ to sing to tapes when I am performing in front of a paying crowd. I have no idea how anyone who has seen me working live in concert, or is remotely connected to the music business can even suggest such an odious thing.

I have seen the purported video of me supposedly ‘miming’ & all I can say is he & anyone else who believes this nonsense should look more closely. It is obvious that I am holding the microphone out to the crowd & inviting the audience to participate, as I do during every show, & have done since the beginning of Whitesnake while my background singers keep the songs vocal momentum. It is hugely important to me that the audience feel completely part of the Whitesnake show & participate with me from the beginning to the end. They are called the ‘Whitesnake Choir’ for that reason. Please know, as most sensible people do, that I am especially blessed in this band with two very powerful singers in guitarist Reb Beach & keyboardist, Timothy Drury & also two very capable background singers in bassist Uriah Duffy & guitarist Doug Aldrich, & when I am working the crowd, these guys hold the songs for me exceptionally well, as most sensible people can see & hear.

There are no vocal backing tapes...Everything you see & hear is being performed live by the musicians & vocalists on stage.

I have no idea why Mr Turner has launched this foolishness, but, I ask that it stop now. It has no merit, serves no purpose & is a total waste of precious time. No apology is necessary as I have no desire in any way, shape or form to have any communication with him.

He should know better. Next he’ll be accusing me of wearing a wig on stage.

******* David Coverdale

Lake Tahoe April 2009

Source: Whitesnake.com

The last thing I would expect is to have David Coverdale accused of miming during live performance.

I have seen David Coverdale with Whitesnake on stage last year. I had my remarks on his singing from their last album only, but I am positive 100% when I say that "he still able to crack the floor of the stage beneath his band members with his voice." This is fact, shared with everyone around me, except for those I talked about earlier who didn't have any taste in any of the bands played during that festival.

But that's another story.

Joe Lynn Turner did well, and loved his work with Blackmore on Rainbow, and his work with the great Glenn Hughes, but bashing other legendary musicians like that is nonsense.

It reminds me of an old friend of mine back in 1995 when Ozzy Osbourne's album Ozzmoses came out, he told me the same and that Ozzy has someone behind stage singing while the main singer was just miming!

Joe Lynn Turner should focus on making good music, he is known and admired by many, so the crap by bashing others won't bring fame, as some singers nowadays seek fame in doing so.

Someone miming on stage won't be able to do that... check the video below

The Devil of Heaven and Hell

2009-04-15T18:50:00.010+02:00

The waiting is over, two days in a row listening to this album. I already pre-ordered my copy of this album (release 28 April), but I managed to get a copy of it.

I heard the new single "Black Bible" a couple of weeks ago, however since I put the CD in my car the decision to ignore any other music genre was taken.

Anyone want to learn how to make the best heavy metal music, he or she should listen to this album. Anyone want to know how a really heavy metal album sounds like, this album is a living proof, by no other than the masters of the genre. I am not talking about speed or technique, I am not talking about extremely heavy riffs backed up by heavy bass guitar and powerful drumming.

"The Devil You Know" is no disappointment to fans of Iommi, Dio or even Black Sabbath, and for sure it will top my list of one of the best (if not the best) heavy metal album for 2009.

I thought I have mentioned that "the man who would not die" by Blaze Bayley was my favorite heavy metal album of 2008

I would love to hear "Fear", "Double the Pain" and "Breaking into Heaven" live. Other songs do match to the previous, songs like the opener "Atom & Evil" or "The Turn Of The Screw" are also great songs from this album, they are just stunningly powerful that I love to listen to.

Tony Iommi is my all time favorite guitarist, but with this album he proved again that the title "the master of riffs" won't be hand over to another guitarist ever.

"The Devil You Know" Track Listing
============================
01. Atom And Evil (5:15)
02. Fear (4:48)
03. Bible Black (6:29)
04. Double The Pain (5:25)
05. Rock And Roll Angel (6:25)
06. The Turn Of The Screw (5:02)
07. Eating The Cannibals (3:37)
08. Follow The Tears (6:12)
09. Neverwhere (4:35)
10. Breaking Into Heaven (7:03)

Below is a video of the band talking about the making of this album

24 TV

2009-04-09T00:46:00.004+02:00

One of the best websites I have been browsing is 24 TV.

The Variety is from fun to politics, artistic pictures, weird stuff, you name it

The website is flash orientated, which interact on some of the pages with the mouse move.

Enjoy

Another Shoe Throwing Incident

2009-04-08T01:10:00.001+02:00

This time in India... A bit softer than that of Muntadhar's...

According to Nauman ka Pakistan Palaniappan Chidambaram, Indian Interior minister was speaking in Delhi about 1984 riots in which hundreds of Sikhs were killed.

The minister leaned back to avoid the hurled shoe which narrowly missed him.

The reporter was identified by local television channels as Jarnail Singh (not the leader of the famous Sikh religious group), a veteran correspondent with one of India's largest newspapers, the Hindi daily Dainik Jagran.

He was taken away by plainclothes police who tried to stop him from speaking to other journalists. It is not clear whether he has been formally arrested.

Soon afterwards, Mr Singh told TV news reporters that he regretted throwing the shoe but he felt that Mr Chidambaram was dodging the question.

"I just wanted to ask him how justice will be done, but he was not interested in answering the questions," he told CNN-IBN during a telephone interview from police custody.

"I don't think it was the right way, what I have done, but the issue is right."

Arabian / Persian Gulf

2009-04-08T01:00:00.006+02:00

I didn’t pay attention until last month when I found out about a group on Facebook that support Google’s Earth decision to put Arabian Gulf instead of Persian Gulf on the water bed separating

Iran

and Gulf states.

The name has always been contentious between the Arabs and Iranians – this is matter of strengthening identity upon land and sea – more to that, it is about pride and nationalism through history.

Yet, such a dispute on naming was of no importance to the west (or any where else in the world): for centuries, western civilization has its reference to this issue based on their ancient philosopher’s writings, where historic documents, maps (even treaties) used Persian Gulf as the official name. In addition, many important Muslim geographers in early Islam used in their documents two terms: Bahr Faris (Arabic for Persian Sea) or Khalij Faris (Persian Gulf). This has been referred to by many of history and geography books, which indicated that the name in fact came from Arabic/Muslim books. One main reason was that ancient written sources used that name due to the importance and the power that the Persian Empire on many lands used to have on each side of the Gulf, including Iraq and some of what now consists of the Gulf states. With the decline of power of that mighty empire and then its fall to the hands of the Muslim army, there were some focus on the name and by many historians who saw the need to change the name of the gulf to carry instead the name of that of the victorious party i.e. The Arabs.

I won’t go into details about attempts by many powers and countries to change the name to other than the two disputed ones, but I give examples of such attemptes: “Britain Sea” when British forces attempted to take control of the region in late 18 century; the attempt of Iran itself to change the name to “Islamic Gulf” after Khomeini's Islamic revolution – some sort of divertion to the common knowledge, and that a new power is born on the remains of ancient Persia; and there are who simply called it “the Gulf”, as heard by people on street, without attaching it to certain nationality or language or an ethnic group.

Time has went by, the rise of Arab nationalism in mid 1960’s calls by Arab countries to change the name to Arabian Gulf, or Arab Gulf, became louder than ever. With the oil booming in the region and businesses became the core engine behind interests from east and west - that gave some countries to feel the power and control of the region with such economic weapon, the dispute over the name reached a higher level, each side write the desired name in their dealings with other countries.

That did not force the non-Arabic speaking countries or written books to change the name.

The dramatic change in modern history Iran, and since the 1979 Khomeini revolution, the country was considered the ultimate enemy of the western civilization

Forget about Bush’s axis of evil, we know the story and what was planned

Iran became the biggest threat to the interests of the west in the region, especially the Unites States (because Germany and France, for example, did good business after the change of the regime in Iran).

To some extent, Iran’s influence diminished – or was only propaganda? This was achieved when a mad man called Saddam Hussain launched a bloody and very costly war that lasted for 8 long years. The west was backing Saddam with everything, militarily and propaganda wise.

Yet, the name of that bed of water did not change on the maps and books of history in Europe and else where.

Back to Facebook group: One of the members on that group neglected what is written in most of modern history books all around the world, and said "who cares what history books else where would say. Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, this is a known fact, however, this has never been mentioned or written in history books published else where!"

Valid argument, isn't it?

Many agree that the decision by Google Earth by putting "Arabian Gulf" instead of "Persian Gulf" is politically motivated i.e. something to do with the ongoing tension between the

United States

and

Iran

- one way of “punishing”

Iran.

I, for one, used to hear the word “Persian Gulf” in ALL movies I have seen in my life. The first time I heard the word "Arabian Gulf" in a Hollywood movie was in “Transformers” (2007), when a military official disclosed information about an attack (by un-identified object) on “military base in Qatar” located on “the Arabian Gulf”.

Short Insight On Tehran

2009-04-01T19:33:00.004+02:00

Maartje Nevejan from Couscous Global came back from Tehran with great footage from a country that many westerners perceive the people there not living or experiencing as the rest of the people on this planet - thanks to the media for that.

The footage they made is an eye opening to many things that usual media circutes do not show

There is more on Couscous Global website on the same topic, Iran, including a number of interviews with Iranians from different aspects of life.

Another insight on Tehran is illustrated by an artist named Arash Manouchehri, who published a number of photos of Tehran on the "I love Tehran" facebook group... Stunning!

Below is an example of such pictures

Ramadan Mabrouk Abu El Alamain Hamouda

2009-04-01T09:31:00.015+02:00

I was there, in spite of sickness last week, I couldn't let such an opportunity let go.

This is the first time in the history of this country that an Egyptian movie on premier - not part of a festival like the annual one taking place every year or every two years where different countries participate.

One thing to note that Turkish (I think Indian movies too) have precedence regarding such a move in the Netherlands

The movie is one of Mohamed Heneidy's best movies. It tells the story of a very strict Arabic literature teacher living among careless, hip-hop, pop-style orientated secondary school students.

Anyone would like to enjoy a semi cartoonish characters, which is a typical Heneidy style (check "the great beans of China") type of movie, I recommend it.

At the moment the movies is playing on 4 halls at the pathe Arena and Pathe de Kuip, both in Amsterdam.

Below are the official posters of the movie.

White lightning

2009-04-01T09:15:00.000+02:00

This is the longest song by Def Leppard, I think - more than 7 minutes, and it is one of the darkest songs ever written in rock music.

To me, White Lightening is the best song ever written by this great band. The song is from their debut 1992 album "Adrenalize".

This song has special meaning to me. First time I listened to it when the album came out in 1992. It was a dark period for me too, so it matched my mood then. I won't forget that moment, I was in my beautiful room, sitting on my bed, a white cassette in my hand written on it Def Leppard. I put it on and there it is... it was the first song. I won't forget the feeling I got when listening to the eerie guitar on the intro of the song... then the riffing by the great Phil Collen (who did all the guitar parts during the recordings of the album "Adrenalize"), the changing melodies, the main and backing vocals (the lyrics), and the solo...... wow.... what a solo!! all haunted me since... until now.

Knowing that the song was originally written as a tribute to late guitarist Steve Clark, who died during the recording sessions of the album which that song came from, knowing that, while listening to the song, it just give me the shiver

I saw Def Leppard last year and I wished they played that song, I was disappointed because they didn't do that.

No promises, no guarantees
When you come down here
Youre already on your knees
You wanna ride white lightnin
Then sign your name
If you wanna dance with the devil
You gotta play his way, play the game

You gotta taste that sweetness
Cause you cant say no
But are you ready for the nightmare
When you cant let go
Like a soldier of fortune
When the money runs dry
You got rivers of bitter tears in your eyes

You wanna leave but you cant let go
You wanna stop but you cant say no
Youll never laugh about it
You just cant live without it
You had enough but you just want more
You never get what youre lookin for
Youll never laugh about it, never

You got both ends burning
Youre like a moth to a flame
Youre going off the rails
Like a runaway train
Its a no win situation
And theres no way out
And no one will ever hear you scream and shout

You wanna leave but you cant let go
You wanna stop but you cant say no
Youll never laugh about it
You just cant live without it
You had enough but you just want more
You never get what youre lookin for
Youll never laugh about it, never

Run - hes coming to claim you
Run - nowhere to hide away
Run - you dance with danger
Run - oh, you gotta ride the...

White lightnin - on a dead end street
White lightnin - where the deadbeats meet
White lightnin - its a one-way ride
White lightnin - oh, theres nowhere to hide

Such a lonely road you ride
Its not easy when you dont know why
Such a heavy load you hide
You never leave no matter how you try

Run - hes coming to claim you
Run - nowhere to hide away
Run - oh, you dance with danger
Run - oh, you gotta ride the...

White lightnin - on a dead end street
White lightnin - where the deadbeats meet
White lightnin - its a one-way ride
White lightnin - oh, theres nowhere to hide

White lightning - can you feel it, can you feel it?
White lightning - its so dangerous
White lightning - no promises, no guarantees
White lightning - cause when you come down here, boy
Youre already on your knees
White lightnin - both ends burnin, like a moth to a flame

I didn't find any video of that song. I found a live footage from the band performance in Sweden, 1992 tour. I also found on youtube a video of how the solo of "white lightening" is played... one of the best solos ever, applause for defleputube for his stunning work

Metallica Don't Hold Sweden Responsible

2009-03-27T20:19:00.006+01:00

An interview with Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett was conducted by the Stockholm radio station Bandit Rock 106-3 when the band was in Sweden earlier this month.

"It's always good to be in Sweden," Kirk says in the interview. "I know you guys think that we're traumatized by the whole Cliff Burton thing [on September 27, 1986, METALLICA's bassist Cliff Burton died in a tragic bus acccident in Sweden — Ed.], but that's really not the case. We don't hold Sweden responsible or any of that. But I feel that every time people say, 'Welcome to Sweden,' and I say, 'It's good to be back in Sweden,' and people are like, 'Wait a second. Didn't you have a tragic event happen here?' But, like I said, that could have happened anywhere, and we don't really blame Sweden as a whole for that — it's ridiculous to. . .

'source: Blabbermouth.net'

What nonsense!

Why should someone blame a whole country for an incident that cost the live of a member of a rock band?

Next thing to know is Sweden paying compensation to Metallica for the death and compensation for all the albums that Burton would play on if he was alive

To what extent would a legendary band like Metallica arrive at the highest level of boredom?

I know that Metallica members are not that talented in doing interviews - compare to their incredible musical talent, but to say rubbish like that is something exceptional

And by the way, I hated their latest album

George Galloway Barred From Entering Canada

2009-03-27T12:27:00.002+01:00

Changing in cultural and attitude among countries and adapting other people's habits became something common in these days.

The shoe-throwing incident took place in Iraq has its effect on how Europeans would express their feelings towards those they despise - check Holland and Chinese living in Britain, for example.

Last February, Geert Wilders, was denied entry to the United Kingdom because he was considered a threat to public security. It did not end up there, because now the Danish government is going through some really heated discussion on whether to allow Wilders to be granted entry to that country to participate in June in a conference on the theme of freedom of speech and radicalization.

Anders Samuelson, from the Danish Liberal Alliance Party said in an interview with Politiken newspaper "We don't want to make this conference into some sort of freak show, to which we simply call in those who can create most trouble on the streets, simply to show how brave we are."

Mr Samuelson added that

"I can't see that Wilders can offer anything constructive in relation to the situation we currently have here in Denmark. We don't need to debate whether we support the freedom of speech. We do. And that's it. All of us."

Whether it became something in common related to governmental conduct in dealing with MP's these days or not, but the Canadian government decided to follow the British with such, this time in dealing with the planned visit to Canada by Geroge Galloway, the Irish MP who wanted to attend a forum on War.

Below is an interview with Galloway explaining the reasons for his visit and his argument to the Canadian government decision. One thing I am puzzled about: what the Jewish Defense League Canada director is doing in the middle of all this? Oh yeah, because Galloway should be condemned to bringing cars to Hamas, and he should be humiliated in that interview by bringing someone like the guest in that interview.

The reasons given for the decision to barr George Galloway to enter Canada by the ministry of Immigration, for the information, actually for his support of Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization in Canada, according to the ministry.

More than one source questioned whether Israeli authorities is taking care guarding the borders of Canada's

The lawyers of Galloway argue that the whole saga has nothing to do with Hamas, rather than a personal dislike from the minister of immigration's part.

British MP George Galloway Barred From Entering Ca

There is some argument about whether the Canadian government did in fact barred the wrong George from entering the country

I have my reservations on the some of what Mr. Galloway motives, namely, his admiration of Saddam Hussain (a scene of that can be viewed in the video above), by making him a hero and a brave leader. Yet, the work he did by entering Gaza after that butchering committed by Israeli army (confirmed by a number of soldiers recently interviewed telling of orders to target Palestinian civilians) is something admirable. Of course, in addition to the fact that he broke an economic and political blockade on the people of Gaza.

Why don't they get it, a policy of imposing sanctions on a group of people nowadays under the slogans of isolating a certain political group will never work, simply because only ordinary people would suffer.

Look at Iraq, Saddam, his sons, the sons of Saddam's followers such as Tariq Azziz and Ramadan were traveling (with visas issued by embassies of other countries) and their wealth reach a level that no one can imagine. While ordinary Iraqi goes to a public market, try to sell his shoes and a sofa to get money so he can buy food for his family.

Look at North Korea, people do not have rice, and their government is preparing to launch a long range missile to install a satellite on orbit!

and the same happened in Gaza...

Sometimes I just have the feeling that this whole sanctions thing nothing but to purge certain group of people from the face of earth: some will die and the rest is just mutants with no health, education or motivation to go further with life

Ridley Scott Scene Inspiration

2009-03-27T12:05:00.001+01:00

CRUSADERS SURROUNDED BY SALADIN'S ARMY
Book VIII.. Joseph-Francois Michaud .. Illustrated by Gustave Dore

Notes; pages 255 to 258 Outrages by Richard exhibiting another of his nature -- Phillip leaving-- Richard Carrying on as leader .. page 258 being one day hunting in the forest of Saron, overcome by heat or fatique, he alighted from his horse and fell asleep under a tree. All at once he was aroused by the cries of those who accompanied him -- a troop of Saracens was close upon them! He sprang upon his horse, and prepared to defend himself ; but was near sinking beneath the force of numbers, when a knight of his suite, named William Pourcelet, cried out in the Arabic tongue, "I am the king ; spare my life." At these words, this generous warrior was surrounded by the Mussulmans, who made him prisoner and conducted him to Saladin. The King of England, thus was saved by the heroism of a French knight. . . .

More to the story here

However, does the picture above pause any similarities to the scene from the movie, Kingdom of Heaven? (see picture below)
with in a little change made to the purpose of or the event where that spiral movement of the Muslim army is taking place for.

Best of Humanity

2009-03-27T09:00:00.002+01:00

No one should ask why didn't I put religious people in the list below
I am not going to
And I don't have an obligation to tell about what I believe
I am not going to
faith is in the heart (very personal)
it is not something that I have to promote or to start marketing
and don't philosophize me with what is right or wrong in this regards

Anyway, this post is about my list of people I consider ... heroes.
In fact it is the list I wanted to make before deciding otherwise

Those people in my eyes participated in a way or another either in delivering a message of a great value to humanity, or helped in pushing humanity into a better and a more prosper level.

Nelson Mandela: He is on the top pf the list (not that I made an order for this one). He is the symbol of humanity. He fought for his people, he met his enemies, sat with them to negotiate and reconciliate, and made the apartheid system apologize for all atrocities they committed. He set the basis for transforming South Africa to a democratic country where no differences among people because of color or ethnic group.

The list of awards he received from different countries and organizations is a proof of how this legend is honored and loved by humanity

One of the reasons I love him because he was one of the strongest critic of George W Bush when the latter invaded Iraq without the consensus of the UN, when he said ""It is a tragedy, what is happening, what Bush is doing. But Bush is now undermining the United Nations."

Stephen Hawkings : Love him for his genius and determination. Some consider him as the second Einstein. He was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (or ALS) in mid 1960'sm but in spite of this fatal disease, he had the determination to finish PhD, build a career that brought him fame, and to have a family like any normal person.

He is the first quadriplegic to float in zero-gravity.

His most famous work are: A Brief History of Time, published on 1 April 1988. The book surprisingly became a best-seller and was followed by The Universe in a Nutshell (2001). He is planing to retire this year.

I loved his cameo appearance on Star Trek, the Next Generation, when played himself as a hologram - episode name "Descent".

Muntadhar Al Zaidi: The only man on earth who had the courage and gut to stand and send a clear message to a president who engulfed the whole world with wars and enriched hostility among different countries in the world.

A young journalist from al Baghdadia satellite TV station who is known for his coverage and reports on the plight of widows, orphans, and children in Iraq after the 2003 War

On March 12, 2009, al Zaidi was sentenced to three years of prison for assaulting a foreign leader. His lawyers indicated they expect to appeal the sentence.

Willem van Oranje: or "Willem the Silent (Willem de Zwijger, in Dutch)". I put him in the list because in the middle of political and religious instability (and oppression) this man called and planted the root of tolerance, and to lay ground for one principle the Netherlands later became known of.

He is the founder of today's Dutch monarch, House of Nassau. He is also known as the leader of the revolt against Spanish occupation that led to the 80 years war and resulted in the formal independence.

He was assassinated on July 10, 1584, because he was considered a traitor to the Catholic church. According to historians, he is the first head of state ever to be killed by the use of a handgun.

Tim Berners-Lee: I truly believe that the internet is the most important invention humanity found. I realize that Robert Kahn & Vinton Cerf have laid the foundation for the Internet in 1970's. They developed TCP/IP, which is the technological achievement, which enabled the transfer of data as we know it now.

However, Berners-Lee, a computer programmer is the one who made the internet the way we know it today: He is responsible for the breakthrough concept of creating the system of Internet addresses that begin with the now-familiar "http://" (which stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol) and the language used to create Web pages, HTML (or HyperText Markup Language).

He is now the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which oversees the Web's continued development, among other posts.

Moustapha Al Akkad: Ironic but that's reality, Sad but true. This can be said on Moustapha Al Akkad; He is the first man who brought to the west what really Islam is all about (the Message and Omar Al Mukhtar movies). His message was unique and honest, but that did not like some from around the world. He was killed in Jordan's terrorist attack on hotels in July 2005.

If that man was still alive, AND given the opportunity (and resources), media in the Arab and Muslim world would take millions of light years forward step.

He is the one who said repeatedly that the tool to win a war is not by obtaining the latest war technology. This became minor, because the media now IS the weapon that can cause a regime to fall on its knees.

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918-2004): he is the man who turned an arid desert to one of the most sophisticated and advanced countries in the world in less than a decade. A leader that many citizens would love to have as their leader. Ask any Arab, from the east to west about Zayed: they will start their say with "god rest his soul, he is the best Arab leader who cared for his people and others living on his land"

With his wisdom, tribes in that country would be still fighting each other, raid on each other, and hate each other. He is the one who brought them all under one united umbrella and explained to them the wealth of that country and how it would be in the future if they remained united.

Leonardo Da Vinci - One of the best and most influential people to humanity. He is an inspiration to many, and layd the ground for humanity to advance further in many aspects of life.

He was a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer. What else can humanity benefit of?

Hi word and invenstions are waaaaay ahead of his time - does the story of the bridge design Da Vinci sent to the Ottoman Sultan in 1502 is a living proof?. In addition, Da Vinci inventions varied from conceptualising a helicopter, a tank, concentrating solar power, making a calculator...etc

The number of achievements and work by this legend won't fit here - not even a seperate post would give him credit for his geniuesness.

Ziryab - His influence on the progression of music till today is remarkable. As one source put it regarding his achievements "He is credited with introducing the lute (Al-U'd) to Spain and also with adding a fifth bass string to it. It is said he knew 10,000 songs (more than your Ipod can hold) and he was largely responsible for adding Persian music and poetry to Andalucian culture."

I couldn't find a picture of Ziryab anywhere, that's why the Oud picture was the best to nothing choice.

Salah Uldeen Al Ayyoby, or Saladin, as medieval Europe history books call him. He is to me the symbol that combines massive (sometimes aggressive) power with merciness and jenorousity, with a wisdom and diplomacy can be the pillar that stands on. He is admired by both supporters and enemies alike for his military tactics, his leadership, even for his personality and attitude.

French writer Rene Grousse, said about him: "It is equally true that his generosity, his piety, devoid of fanaticism, that flower of liberality and courtesy which had been the model of our old chroniclers, won him no less popularity in Frankish Syria than in the lands of Islam"

Dirty Keyboard

2009-03-25T14:24:00.005+01:00

NO ONE would have a lot of compliments on this one.

I was looking through some pictures I took last months when I came across this one.

I never thought that the keyboard is that disgusting until this picture came out.

By the way, that's not blood on "Z" key, this is CD marker pen... thanks to my little princess. The cotton like thingy on the "`" key is nothing but the remains of a sticker of an Arabic letter I used to put before I cleaned up the keyboard some century ago.

One Eye To Morocco

2009-03-25T12:27:00.009+01:00

Do I have to say that this album is just a crap sort of music?

Noooooooooo, I won't say that, because it is not fair to say that for two reasons:

First: Ian Gillan is my favorite singer,

Second: I didn't give the album a good listen, yet, to say the least.

So I will skip the review for the moment.

However, don't expect the album to be another Toolbox or Naked Thunder, or even to think to go near any of Gillan's work to Deep Purple.

Well, that's what the album all about, it is not Deep Purple... It is a solo album by Deep Purple's vocalist

So no nagging about that is allowed.

More information on this album is on Gillan's own website.

I know, I know.........this is the fourth in a row post, all about music....

I don't know if I am going to talk today about politics, I don't feel like talking about the doubts about Obama's efforts to safe the US economy, as many of news media sources were blabbering about yesterday, or Sarkozy who has been labled as the master of finding missing opportunities, while his country is sinking into further economic crisis than ever!

However, speaking of something other than music, yesterday night I enjoyed watching Mad Max 2 on Veronica's channel...

It made me remember a couple of Australian friends.

and I had some flashbacks of the past when I watched that movies for the first time on video long way back in Iraq. I remembered when a number when my cousins (I had many) sitting together and discussing with each other silently while the movie was still running - It was clear to me that some of them had watched the movie before, however the longing in their faces contradicting that fact.

Anyway, the experience yesterday of watching such action / thriller movie after all these years is something of a fun; watching the haircut of the blonde girls. The over reaction of the villians in the movies, and the Australian hyper obvious on the actor's faces, not to forget the gloomy face of Mel Gibson, the cool, looking for revenge type of guy, who doesn't want anything to do with either the good or the bad guys... yet he is ready to help and slaughter a number of the bad for the sake of the good.

Chickenfoot on Myspace

2009-03-25T12:08:00.004+01:00

I talked before about Chickenfoot, and I found out that the band has posted two songs from their debut album, which will come out next April / May.

From listening to the songs, I can only say that this is no other than another 1980's Van Halen sort of an album, with a Sateriani flavor, of course.

Great songs, can be heard here

Anyway, this is the third post, all about music coming soon in the coming months.

I guess being ill make a person look more into the things he/she loves, compare to normal days and as everyone knows, music in general, and metal / rock specifically is like a passion to me. Because I cannot go out - as if the weather can be of any motivation to do so (I tried to do that yesterday, got a headache and had to go back home), so I have to stick to my plan of just relaxing, taking a lot of medicine, browse through the internet, and put some posts to share with.

If I were a King

2009-03-25T10:17:00.005+01:00

Another song I heard today (yes, I am still sick at home) the new single, "If I were a King". I can say that it has the "mindcrime" feel to it.

You know what I am talking about? it is about the latest single by American rock band, Queensryche and their new album "American Soldier", which will be release in a couple of days i.e. 31 March. The album is inspired by a number of interviews conducted by the group singer, Tate, with soldiers who served in American army, from World War II to the invasion of Iraq.

According to singer Geoff Tate about the song "If I were a King", he said that "This is a song about guilt. A soldier who lost his friend in a firefight and spent a lot of time afterwards struggling with his feelings, wishing he could have done more to save his friend. The song is saying if I were king, if I could do anything, I'd have you back in my life again, back by my side. I thought that was a very interesting and inspiring viewpoint."

The video of the song, "If I were a King", is on Blabbermouth.net

Another metal album I look forward to in 2009.

The Devil You Know

2009-03-25T09:17:00.004+01:00

No, it is not a religious post, the title of the post is of the new Heaven And Hell album.

I meant the new Black Sabbath album

Well, it is the same band except that there is no Ozzy and they have two names to tell everyone that "with Ozzy we are Sabbath" and "with Dio on vocals we are HnH"

I just heard the single from this album, called "black bible", which tells the story of someone who is reading from what it looks a black magic book. I am not used to a semi-acoustic intro by Iommi (taking into consideration his solo album Fuse, for example , but I love the song, what else can anyone expect from my guitar hero and the master of heavy metal.

The song can be listened from noisecreep website with new promotional photos published of the band taken from black-sabbath.com.

The album will come out on 28 of April
it looks a long time to me, one month to wait for an album, but definitely I am buying this one.

Its good to be in your 60' s and still look real Metal

Stupid Drivers Day

2009-03-20T09:24:00.008+01:00

Another day that can be regarded as "Stupid Drivers Day".

Driving in the neighborhood where it is only 50km/h allowed, and get blocked by someone pulled up without any signal into the middle of the street while his turned to the people with him trying to find something in the car to give. That's another 5 minutes lost.

Stopped at a traffic light, a Mercedes Benz, the latest model, in front of me. Lights green and the car in front moves like a turtle to the right, ok? now the traffic rules allow 70km/h maximum speed on that street, but the Mercedes man keep driving between 40 and 50km/h aaaaagh! He even all cars behind me slow down.

Move on, yeah, I arrive at the junction that leads to the highway, but this is Amsterdam ring and I am not allowed more than 80 Km/h maximum. No problem. The signs on that area is very clear (as in Rotterdam, Utrecht and Den Haag)

But why there are some people drive 60/70 KM/h?? and why some drivers in front of me just decided to change lanes without any notice, AND WITH SLOW SPEED????

OK, there comes the end of the 80KM/H rule, which means that I can speed up to 100KM/h... no problem I am already late for work............................................................................. oh oh why that young guy with the cab is driving 70km/h while he is talking to the young woman sit beside him? He blocked the whole traffic at the point of speed rules change

and suddenly a small truck coming from far quick, sign to the right, passing the young man with the cab car and in a fraction of second he slows down while moving from one lane to the other

I move on to the left quickly and speed up to 110km/h... another exit which I have to take to the other street and there was more chaos waiting for me

The whole highway, three huge lanes were only driving 50km/h... why?

A couple of drivers driving 50-70km/h

so when all cars slowly passed those intellgent creatures - one of them is a 50 years old man who was driving but his eyes was focused down on a spot between his legs...either he peed himself or regreted that he put on the pants he is wearing, because it is impossible that the way he was driving would made think that he was worried about something going wrong in his car.

Now that another 20 minutes has lost in this damn situation, I arrived at the exit of the hightway and where I have to drive 50km/h.

What is this?
why all of a sudden all cars driving in such a confusion
and why the ambulance car is just standing there at the side-walk with the driver just watching the passing cars with a calm and comfortable face?
why isn't he moving?
I couldn't find an answer

I drive on and there is that driver (couldn't figure out if it was a man or a woman) with a big Audi or Lamborghini who was driving very slow and when he saw the next traffic light became yellow he just speed up, but for me it was too late to catch up because the traffic light was turning from yellow to red... but I am already late for work... I can't take it anymore and a rational reflex was to speed up if it is red.

Another couple of traffic lights before I finally arrived at work.
The 20-30 minutes time I would normally take, it took me an hour and 5 minutes
What a start of the day

Worst of Humanity

2009-03-19T13:00:00.021+01:00

The original idea of this post was a sort of an inspiration from Sarah ’s list of people she loves because of their humanity. However, last minute I decided to change and write instead about the worst people in history, from my point of view.

This is not about stupid political figures (such as Sarah Palin) or dictators (like Idi Ameen) – maybe I will do that on another post, nor it is something to do with Dutch hates Germans and Israelis (mind you, not Jews) or which country or group I don't like, I won't post about that, because I am not a fan of the concept of generalization

Maybe except for political and religious extremists

Speaking of a list of hated people, there is someone who gathered a list of the internet's 10 most hated people, interesting.

I was surprised to see a list by someone who put his opinion of the worst people in history when he included Noam Chomsky, with Bill and Hilary Clinton, Jesse Jackson and Richard Nixon! More over, I didn't know why someone would put Ted Nugent or Tipper Gore (Al Gore's wife) in such a list! What about people we hate because they are filthy?

However, there is a consensus on Hitler being on the top of the list by many, and to a higher extent, many share common loath towards US ex-president, George W Bush. I guess all war mongers would be treated as such because they would bring nothing but devastation and suffering to their own and other countries' citizens as Hitler and Bush did.

Yet, this is my list of the worst people I despise without any order:

Josef Fritzl – A pervert who has no trace of humanity running in his veins

Marc Dutroux - Another pervert like Fritzl who committed crimes of rape and killing of little girls.

Saddam Hussain – for committing genocide against the Iraqi people and other countries, and by turning a rich and beautiful country into dust.

George W Bush – for resuming the job that Saddam started against the Iraqi people, and for self-inflicting current unpopularity of America in the World.

Bin Laden – for killing and causing the suffering of millions worldwide, and for assuming power on planet with the use a sword and a number of criminal minds.

Adolf Hitler – World wide maniac who tried to wipe out human history to impose a new one, including the attempt to purge the world from certain ethnic and religious group.

Geert Wilders – For adopting the same method Hitler used decades ago in Europe

Wafa Sultan - The Arabic version of Geert Wilders

Elissa - for headlining the process of the deteriorating that would lead to the extinction of Arabic music

Ben Afleck - for doing the same thing as Elissa but in movie business

The list would grow

I might add Aleister Crowley to the list

However, that's enough for now.

Chickenfoot

2009-03-19T12:40:00.004+01:00

I can't wait till this come out.

This is like a super star group consists of Joe Sateriani on Guitars, Sammy Hagar on vocals (one of my all time fav vocalists), Michael Anthony on Bass - both are ex-Van Halen, and Chad Smith on Drums (Red Hot Chilli Pepers).

According to news, the group plans to tour together to support the album. In addition, the group is planning to perform songs from each of its members' careers in addition to tracks from the Chickenfoot album, so fans will get to hear songs from Van Halen, the Chili Peppers, Satriani, and Hagar's solo catalog.

The album is due in late April / May. Some facts: according to interview with Sammy Hagar:"We got in the studio and recorded eight demos in two days."

On Many internet sites, there is a talk of an album with master shredding

Pictures are from John Cuniberti

Intellectual Dishonest

2009-03-15T16:58:00.018+01:00

I posted his interview with CNN not long ago and this is a follow up to that. The video below is of analysis on CNN dated back to 26 February, where experts discuss both sides of the issue concerning the U.S. visit of controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

From the discussion the one and only conclusion I can think of, which in turn both ladies shared about Wilders to label him as an intellectual Dishonnest.

Did Fitna backfired on Geert Wilders? I keep ask this question.

I guess it is too late for Wilders to backup, neither for those regarded as moderate Muslims (the sleeping factor in the formula in general) to lend a hand and ask Wilders "lets work together against fundimantilasm". The US now became the focus for both Wilders and the Muslim world, taking into the consideration the timing i.e. new administration, and Obama's inaguration speech where he appealed to the Muslim world to work together on many fronts. The timing for Wilders is no coincidence, and no surprise to many, but the surprise is the reaction to Fitna.

Do I have the feeling that Fitna was recieved with the same "shrug" as Europe received it? This is the reason I keep ask the quesiton is that immature "power point presentation" sort of a film has backfired against Wilders.

On the other hand, I agree with the experts on this video when they put part of the blame of this problem that Wilders is using to his benefit on Muslims everywhere - one of the experts put the responsibilities on the moderate Muslims. Will this would be a tip to Wilders to take the tip? I don't think so because "He believes that there is no such thing as a moderate Muslim. His aim is to stop “the Islamic invasion of Holland."

The last quote I put is from a post by Instablog about Wilders, and making reference to a very interesting article on New York Times, titled "Totally Tolerant, Up to a Point":

The writer of the article pinpointing that "If it were not for his hatred of Islam, Geert Wilders would have remained a provincial Dutch parliamentarian of little note, and that he is now world known for his views on Islam." The writer put the contradictory that every teenage can recognise by saying that "Whether Mr. Wilders has deliberately insulted Muslim people is for the judges to decide. But for a man who calls for a ban on the Koran to act as the champion of free speech is a bit rich." He added to that by saying "Since Muslims still constitute a relatively small minority, and most are not extremists, this seems an exaggerated fear, even though the danger of Islamist violence must be taken seriously."

I wouldn't agree more, but would that minority outlaw the Will of the majority of Muslims in Europe?

Ozzy At The Tower 1998

2009-03-15T14:23:00.007+01:00

I spend the morning watching Ozzy Osbourne's live concert at the tower theater, Philadelphia, from his 1989 tour.

Its good to see a healthy Ozzy, compare to today's who is either sucked up by either reality show or stupid shows - Thanks Sharon for turning a legend to dead-man-walking.

I loved his energy, his voice, that unique voice. I didn't care that much about his last album "black rain", sorry Joe, but I didn't like the music. Yet, looking at that live performance, the songs from both his solo career (highlight is "shot in the dark" and "I don't know", "Miracle Man", among many other, and of course from his Sabbath days ("Sweet leaf", "Iron Man" and "War Pigs"... yeaaaaaaah). These are just so tight and powerfully played.

It might be another reason to boost such performance to that level (I didn't like "Live and Loud"), maybe because half of Sabbath members are playing? the other person is non but the legendary Geezer Butler (my second favorite bassist of all time).

As on every 1980's heavy metal show, there is the solo by Zakk Wylde (actually more than one, there are some at intros and end of songs too - in addition to the racing contest between him and the public he enjoyed so much to do). There is also drum solo, and oh, Ozzy's children are there, before they got wasted by.... who else! Thanks again S!

I think this is one of the peaks in Osbourne's career, and one of the best performances he has ever done.

That live footage is a must for every metal fan, and I wonder why it never came out on DVD!

Enjoy

Did Hasan Zaitony Fool The MBC?

2009-03-10T11:55:00.006+01:00

Yesterday I was watching the 7PM news on MBC news where a special report from the Netherlands was given on how traffic lights in Amsterdam (which was the focus of the report) are equipped with special installation with a small loud speakers that peeps continuously when the light turn to green for pedestrians. This system is meant to help blind and visually impaired people to identify crossing marks and easily walk across to the side of the street. In the report, Hasan Zaitony, the MBC reporter explained that this new technique would be implemented in other EU countries if this experiment would succeed in the Netherlands.

I watched the report till the end, where Zaitony interviewed a visually impaired man, he called him Alex, and most of the filming was done between the end of kalverstraat (the opposite side to Central train station) and Rembrandtplein (one of the main tourist attractions in Amsterdam).

I have been living in Holland for many years, and I can assure the MBC and its reporter that this facility for blind and visual impaired is not new at all – at least it has been installed for more than 10 years in different cities and the Netherlands, such as Amsterdam, Utrecht and Rotterdam.

Is there a lack of reports that MBC is complaining from i.e. lost the sense of news making, that they take one old means of daily life in one country and turn it to a report just to fill the half an hour time given to the news bulletin? Or it that Mr. Zaitony tricked the MBC group (I watched his excellent reporting by him during the Yemen civil war in early 1990s) with such report?

I did not find any other explanation other than that, especially if I want to make a report, I have to look and research its background, something I don't think the MBC did for that report

Bodykini

2009-03-10T11:14:00.000+01:00

Whey did the owner of the swimming pool in Zwolle did not allow a woman wearing bodykini? The first time he was interviewed he said that it is matter of money making and seeing a woman wearing this thing will make customers ran out and never come back to that swimming pool. The second time this owner of the swimming pool said that wearing this swimming suit is not hygine enough and for that reason it was banned.

I am not in a position to judge the opinion of that swimming pool owner/manager. I also won't defend or condemn the woman who was wearing that swimming suit, but the question if wearing as such would violating one of the essentials into integrating into Dutch society (where women wear either one piece or two pieces swimming suit)? I am saying this because there are some swimming pools who did not allow women to wear tight shorts to the knees - this happened in The Hague (Den Haag) a couple of years ago.

When talking about this subject it makes some people frustrated and angry, mainly because this is not common within society, and I don't blame anyone for that. But would it be a solution? or the woman who would like to go to a swimming pool with a bodykini must think of another alternative?

Metal: A Headbanger's Journey

2009-03-08T22:12:00.006+01:00

You want to know about Heavy Metal music? history, culture, fans, musicians...etc, then check Metal: A Headbanger's Journey.

This movie can also serve as a good source of information for those listening to Take That and Britney Spears. However, For metal fans, this is a must, Sam Dunn has done a great job. He reminds me of myself when I first started listening to Rock and Heavy Metal, I was around 12 years old when I started to listen to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Iron Maiden - they are still my most favorite in spite of list of favorite bands kept on growing through the years to include many others like Led Zeppelin, Slayer, Dream Theater, Queensrych and many more.

The success of Metal: A Headbanger's Journey was the motivation, I think for Sam Dunn to make another movie last year called "Global Metal", which is I also watched yesterday. It compasses Heavy Metal around the world, in places where no western person would think this genre of music would exist. Global Metal takes Dunn to South America, Japan, Indonesia, and United Arab Emirates

I would love to make such a trip

Global Metal also similar to Journey's with footage of Heavy Metal legends performing life in front of their loyal fans, in addition to interviews with guitarists and singers.

"Slayer? in a Muslim country!!"

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Check out the trailer of Global Metal

CNN Interview With Geert Wilders

2009-03-08T21:47:00.003+01:00

Below is the latest interview with Geert Wilders on CNN.

If Wilders does not want to extend hand with moderate Muslims because he doesn't think they exist (read the interview on Jihad Watch), and keep on focusing on religion rather than on certain samples in the community that take religion as tool for there own interest, then I guess Wilders has nothing more to say after some time - like an CD keep playing in loops.

Wilders doesn't want to sit with Muslims and talk, he want to choose his own people to promote his message, a message of hatred and division in a community that thousands of people (does Job Cohen ring a bell?) are putting wonderful effort in the Netherlands to make things better - not that there is war on the streets of Amsterdam between Dutch and Muslims! But I don't believe that stubbornness would help in achieving a result that everyone knows is not logical in today's world. However, it all goes to one factor: Fear, and fear will generate hatred, yet, that does not give the right to attack and carry the same tool to put fear and hatred into certain community living in the same country (in the whole continent on broader sense).

For that reason, there will be news about him in the future, it won't be necessary about his fight against "his version of Islam".

That's why I will keep comparing him to Haifa Wahbi