Plamyra

Renting a car provided me with the opportunity to seek further into exploring Syria rather than traveling to places around Lattakia. In fact I wanted to travel to Lebanon, but at the last moment the decision was made to go to the ancient city of Palmyra. Took the family and departed around 7AM. Driving, seeing board signs saying “Lebanon” was tempting. I was joking with the rest with me if we would change plans and go to Lebanon, they were thrilled about it, but after a little last minute discussions before the crossings we decided to stick to the plan, and continue the way to Homs and from there to Palmyra. The road was well paved, and the trip took 3 and a half hours till I saw the city emerging out on the horizon. The first thing to I saw was the high hill and the old castle on the top of it. At that point it was to me a sort of an awkward moment; when I saw the sign on the road pointing straight forward and on it written “Iraq”, beneath it “260 KM”. I was almost 2 hours from Iraq! I kept on driving, following the signs to Palmyra which goes around the huge hill before I could see the town beneath and the ancient city on my right side.

We were tired and hungry, and it was almost 12 midday, so we decided to find the good restaurant we have been told to go to, Bab-tedmur, which was on the other end of the ancient city. This means that we had to drive through the old city on a very clean and very rough road: the road was paved with small gray hard rocks to slow down drivers.

Bab-tedmur is a hotel and a restaurant. When we arrived, an old tall-thin man wearing a black head-of-waiters suit welcomed us. He showed us the way to the huge main hall that was decorated so simply and beautifully with wooden graphics and semi-luxurious curtains, and had air-conditioning systems spread in different corners and spots. The waiter told us about a meze buffet to be opened in 15 minutes, and that we can order the food at anytime. We ordered coffee first and asked to bring the food later, the old waiter then told us about the event of his life: after 10 years marriage he and his wife have finally their first baby boy. He showed us a picture of the baby from his mobile phone. The coffee came and while drinking the electricity went off. According to the waiter, this was the 5’Th time on the same day. While waiting for the food, and with no electricity – they switched on a power-generator to continue their work; I went outside and had a walk around the compound. The owners of the restaurant seem to construct one side of their property and turned it into a sort of a corral or a pen. They divided it into three sections separated by barbed-wired walls; in one of them they put a big Ostrich and a number of chickens. In the other section I saw some deer’s, where the third section had a couple of ducks and gooses.

I went back inside and saw the meze buffet has just been open for guests. By that time a big number of tourists entered the restaurant in groups – like they were in one bus? from European countries, such as Spain, Italy and the UK, and others from Asian countries, like Korea (that was a huge group). Our order arrived afterwards, Mansaf, which is a big dish divided into two; one with rise on it chicken pieces, and the other had Freekeh where big lamb meat chops on it. The food was not fresh, like it has been only warmed up from a previous day. After lunch and re-energize we headed back to the ancient city and started with the Temple of Bel.

The temple is like a panorama of different religious rituals and belief. Romans, Greeks, Muslims, Persians, Early Christians, French occupation…etc all passed by or conquered this city and left their mark on its temple. Our tourist guide was a big man in his late fifties with a slightly big belly, wearing glasses and a white cap to protect him from the sun. His polite manners in addressing us were admirable, and his story telling deserves a big compliment. I liked his method of telling us about the history of Palmyra; he uses a small piece of a mirror, uses the reflection of the sun into the mirror to point to the different rocks, walls, gates, and other objects.

He told us about how the temple was built, how Palmyra was ravaged with many disasters put upon it and caused by both man and nature (including earthquakes). When the visit to the temple was completed we asked him to continue the tour to include the rest of the city. At the gate of the temple of Bel we were confronted with a number of young and old men carrying goods and man-made products for sale. We also came across a couple of young men who offered us to ride the camel for a fee. We declined both and it took us a lot of effort to convince them that we don’t want anything.

We went to the Colonnade and the main gate of the ancient city, parked the car there and started our second part of the tour. I didn’t know that the main street was not made for pedestrians; instead it was made for cattle and men riding camels or horses. Pedestrian uses the narrow streets on each side of the main street, which was covered on the old times above to protect people from the rain and burning sun. We have seen the remains of many places like the summer and winter swimming place for queen of Palmyra, Zenobia; the main trade spot in the market where south tribes and carnivals used to meet with merchants and other travelers coming from the north; we saw how the people of Palmyra used what was considered very advanced technology to drain rain water into specific holes made for that purpose…etc

Before the end of the main street of Palmyra, the guide asked us to follow him to the left side where we came across a huge long and rounded wall, we entered through the main door, a guard was sitting there watching blur pictures from the little TV he has. We paid for entrance and the guide walked us out through the door at the other end; it was the Roman colosseum of Palmyra – stunningly beautiful. After some background information and taking some rest from that heat of the sun, the tourist guide took us back to the main market of the ancient city where it market the end of our tour. We walked together all the way back to the main gate where the car was parked.

The only thing we didn’t visit in the ancient city was the location of the tombs, which were closed for the public at that time of the day.

After the visit to the ancient city we brought back our guide near the temple (where he had his old motorcycle parked on the wall of an old house), and drove back to the main city. We stopped at a very nice restaurant with a very weird service: Anything we order we get the answer “sorry, we don’t have that anymore” We ended up ordering some water and we waited till around 4 PM, the time for the museum across the street to open. The museum contained wonderful artifacts of Palmyra, but best of all were the four mummies exhibited on the second floor. I wondered why all the fuzz on how Egyptians used to mummify their dead ones, while in this ancient city the same technique is used with similar rituals?! When we were back to the first floor a handsome man in his thirties wearing the museum uniform walked towards us and started voluntarily telling us about the new discoveries in Palmyra – including the first ever artifact of a wagon on it is the official stamp of Palmyra. It was very educative seeing knowing the custom of those ancient people to differentiate between the rich and the poor, even in the way they were buried and the location of their burial places that was based on their social class in society at that time.

We left Palmyra around 5 PM heading to Lattakia. We stopped on our way in Homs, a big city and very nice city – more organized and modern than Lattakia, in my opinion. We bought traditional Syrian sweets and more water and continued with our trip west to Lattakia.

Palmyra is enjoyable, maybe the help of the our tourist guide made it more fun to look at these ancient ruins while someone is telling the story of such ruins. Yet, there is still a lot of work to be done; a lot of money is needed to pour on discovering more of this historical city; there are many and many places still buried underneath heavy dust of nature and history, and this remains to be seen in the future is this beautiful ancient city would be the focus of government and other archaeological organizations.

George W Bush in Syria

This was taken from a building in a public neighborhood in Lattakia, done by some children is a picture of George W. Bush

In Syria

First of all, Ramadan Kareem for all Muslims. Second, I am doing great, I am now in Syria, writing this short post from an internet cafe. Internet Cafe's here are the only places where someone can get reasonable internet speed. Internet services for home users is available but they cost a lot of money, in addition of being unreliable, and extremly slow.

The country is rich with its wonderful history and very interesting traditions, and it contains many aspects of modern life equally to these seen in the west. That's why there are a lot of to tell about, which I found interesting and fun at the same time. I got annoyed and sometimes angry on a number of occasions, but that's the way in every country.

Anyway, this post is to thank everyone who sent me emails asking where did I disappear in the past two weeks.

There will be more to the story :)

5,000,000 people Who Dislike George Bush

All know that George W Bush has been recognized as the worst and most disliked president in US history by many people and nations. This is now written in history books as a fact. I found this group of Facebook, "I bet i can find 5,000,000 people who dislike George Bush", and the makers of this group believe that there are more than 5 million on this planet who would disagree with George W Bush and dislike his policy in general. I am not referring to Iraq only, but to him as a president in handling and dealing with all different issues internally or internationally.

The "I bet i can find 5,000,000 people who dislike George Bush" Facebook group now has more than 70 thousand members, since February 2008, from all over the world. Admins for the group are not only Americans who disagree with their president, but also from other countries, such as Egypt, Russia, Jamaica, Canada...etc

Crescent of Ramadan

Now that the holy month of Ramadan is less than two weeks to begin, I thought that news and some internet sites will start the same every year story about the crescent and what is right and what is wrong in following the sign that mark the beginning of the holy month. Every year, the debate is around the same theme: whether we have to believe in mathematics and forget the old method of relying on eye-sighting of the crescent.

I think that many realized that news and interviews debating this issue became for many something un-relevant, even some mentioned that talking about this subject again and again is a sign of how backward Muslims are, by not relying on science in dealing with a simple issue like that, in spite of the fact that most those are considered pillars in physics, philosophy, chemistry, and astrology sciences came from that area and believed in this religion.

The latest heresy about eye-sighting the crescent of Ramadan is when some reported on websites and to government officials about seeing a second moon appearing next to "our" crecsented moon!

Short Chat

He was suddenly popped up online yesterday evening. It has been a very long time since we last talked. I was hesitant to talk to him, because I had to do other things as well at home, but I wanted to know how he is doing and how is his family is doing. His English improved since last time, but he kept on sending short messages through the chatting program. He told me that his family is in Syria, they are attending a wedding of a relative who married a girl from Iraq and because of fear from the unstable situation in Iraq, they decided to organize the wedding in Syria. So my friend is alone at home.

When I asked him about his work and everything, he started cursing!! cursing his reality, cursing his life, cursing everything! Anyone can figure out that the guy is depressed, maybe because he misses his family, but I decided to discuss with him the reasons for his depression. He said "life is like slow death in northern Europe, because of the daily routine" He added "I don't have life, I am just f$%%^#$ "... "Go to work, go back home, study, taking care of family, wife...etc"... I felt frustration, even with the the way he was sending his short messages. I used to know him as a very hard working boy, he used to tear himself up of studying to get high grades in school. Such quality makes a person obsessive when dealing with some issues, especially if it related to future, career, position, status. In spite of that, I asked him if he should take a vacation and just be away for some time. He was vague with his answer, he only told me that he takes vacation like any other person, and that he was in Eastern Europe last year, and sent me a picture of him and his wife from that vacation.

However, there was something else going on with him. He is not only frustrated or depressed: distraction. Suddenly and while we were talking about a subject, he just sent me a link from youtube about some young woman in shorts and a t-shirt doing some crazy dancing while standing on a wooden table in a public place. I thought he was looking for self-amusement and that he wanted to share that with me.

It didn't last longer than few more minutes to tell him that I had to go and asked him to take care for himself. I promised him to be online very soon so we would talk for longer time.

Was he telling me the truth about routine as the main reason behind his feeling?

Under Skin

Sowar Magazine: Project Minute 22

This is interesting, a project is arranged and organized by Sowar Magazine, about taking a single photo at the exact same time in the Arab world i.e. On Friday 22 August 2008 at exactly 2:22 pm Lebanon local time. The reason for choosing number 22 because there are 22 country members in the League of Arab States. If you live in any of those countries, you can be a part of this project at the following local times:

Egypt - 2:22pm
Iraq - 2:22pm
Jordan - 2:22pm
Lebanon - 2:22pm
Saudi Arabia - 2:22pm
Syria - 2:22pm
Yemen - 2:22pm
Libya - 1:22pm
Sudan - 2:22pm
Morocco - 12:22pm
Tunisia - 1:22pm
Kuwait - 2:22pm
Algeria - 12:22pm
UAE - 3:22pm
Bahrain - 2:22pm
Qatar - 2:22pm
Oman - 3:22pm
Mauritania - 11:22am
Somalia - 2:22pm
Palestine - 2:22pm
Djibouti - 2:22pm
Comoros - 2:22pm

The pictures will be published in a special edition of Sowar Magazine. The pictures will also be posted online. Anyone can join, and any camera can be used.

Joining this project is through the Minute 22 Facebook Group. A reminder would be received before the event, in addition to other updates.

Requirements:
- You must be in one of countries mentioned above to take the photo
- The photo should include at least one person (i.e. no plain landscape or architecture photos)
- Maximum size of the photo should be 3MB
- Please submit ONLY one picture
- The deadline for submitting photos is August 30, 2008
- Email the photo to minute22@sowarmag.com and copy/ paste the following text in your email message (please write the country and city in the subject header as well):

FULL NAME:
COUNTRY:
CITY:
DESCRIPTION:

I HEREBY EXPRESSLY AGREE WITH THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR SUBMISSION OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS FOR THE MINUTE 22 SOWAR MAGAZINE PROJECT, AS PUBLISHED AT: http://www.sowarmag.com/minute22/termsandconditions.htm

Talabani & Turkey

Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani has sent a letter to the Turkish government. He stated his willingness to give up the northern city of Karkuk to the Turks, in return for Lemees, aka Tuba Büyüküstün, from TV drama series Ihlamurlar Altinda.

Satan in the Book of Revelation

Why Satan was depicted as a dragon in the Book of Revelation? and why Jesus was presented as a lamb?

House of Saddam

House of Saddam is a four episodes TV drama that charts the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein from 1979 to 2003. A co-production between BBC Television and HBO films, the series began on Wednesday 30th July on BBC Two in four parts. I watched episode one of the show, till now, and first impression is having actors with comics-like facial resemblance to the real persons was deliberate - Saddam was much more skinnier that Yigal Naor when he was vice president - Saddam started to gain weight during the Iraq-Iran war. This also include all other characters in the entire show, such as a teenager look-alike Barzan (Saddam half brother), a plumpy funny Ali Hasan Al Majid, and a big headed gloomy-faced Tariq Aziz. Having a handsome Hussain Kamel Al Majid (played by whom I consider a genies and brilliant young Egyptian actor Amr Waked) can prove more to this formula.

Another thing I was not comfortable with while watching the first episode is the way English was spoken: 99% of the actors speaks English with Iraqi or middle eastern accent (including the same typical grammatical mistakes used), with Arabic words thrown here and there in every sentence, such as habeebty (beloved one for a woman) or Ammo (uncle). It is like I am hearing Ahmed Chalabi speaking during an interview with CNN or BBC.

The substance of historic material chosen for such a drama work intended for TV viewers is new, which is good to shed light on some details that only known to book readers or to an Iraqi who used to be close or attached personally to these events! Yet, there were many changes to the real events. I don't know if such deviations were made to inject some more dramatic aspect to the show, or the writer was referring to false references! For example, Adnan Khairalla, Saddam's brother-in-law, was not Iraq's minister of defense in late 1970's. In addition, Hamdani (in real, his name was Adnan Al Hamdani) was among other Iraqi politicians who have been detained and executed collectively after the notorious revolutionary command council meeting in July 1979. He was not shot in the head by Saddam himself at the latter's house as we saw it in the show.

As I said, there are some strong details close to reality about the life of Saddam and people around him, such as the powerful personality of Saddam's mother - I don't know if she went that far of being personally interfering in her son's choices of selecting loyal people around him, though! In addition, the use of advanced technology and people resources on many shots were perfectly recruited - the use of live pictures of Saddam in different places merged with the help of computer effects of that of "the new Saddam among the public".

I laughed big at a scene from the show when Saddam and his son were standing at the top of a hill, in presumably the town of Tikrit, the birth place of Saddam. He was looking with sharp eyes in to the horizon, where a big circled green spot of palms stretched an area down the valley in the middle of the yellow rocky desert. Then he starts telling his son about the glory of Iraq:

"look around, Uday, look around! This is the land between two rivers. The first armies and empires were found here. Do you know that the first law was written here? This is the cradle of civilizations. We are lucky Uday..." But young Uday was distracted by something, and looked bored. He was continiousely moving his head up and around, staring at the emptiness of the high hills surrounding. There comes a pause, silence, with Saddam like lost in his emperial thoughts until Uday turns his head to his father's side and asks with obvious stupidity and wonder on his face:

"Papa? I am hot"

Saddam face turns from that of cogitation to fury when his eyes set on his son. With disgust and hidden rage he asks Uday: "have you heard a word I said?" His rage was clearer when his voice became much louder "... of course you feel hot... we are in the desert... drink some water..." Saddam then walks dissappointed passing his son with large steps, and in Arabic he curses Uday saying "God damn you, and that who gave birth to you" (انعل ابوك لابو اللي بزرك) . He snaps at Uday to follow him and continue "I wished I brought Qusay with me instead".

I see this show as a nice attempt to cover the political rise and fall of a ruthless dictator like Saddam, but for me (and many others I talked to) it is an imperfect work. I didn't watch the followup to the series (episodes 2,3 and 4), but covering more than two decades of brutal tyranny with only four episodes would also mark this work as imperfect. They managed to show how cold-blooded this man used to be, it has been reflected by the main actor excellently, but crafting such a story into a TV drama deserves more than that, and would really be much better if more attention to other small details and segments, especially that there was an obvious and hard effort on digging down massive and detailed historic events clearly taken from people lived within that period or government documentation and footage's (like of Iraq-Iran war and Saddam TV propeganda). I don't believe stories about the makers of the series getting in touch indirectly from Saddam while he was in US custody, or through the lawyers of Tariq Aziz, according to some media sources!

A President Who Cares!

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has arrived in Afghanistan to support French troops a day after one of the deadliest attacks on France's forces abroad, where ten French soldiers were killed and 21 injured in an ambush by Taleban fighters last Monday east of the capital, Kabul. According to the BBC, Sarkozy is accompanied by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Defense Minister Herve Morin, and was marked by a flurry of helicopters across Kabul. That makes me ask the question if sending foreign and defense ministers would be sufficient in such circumstances, instead of taking the initiative himself, as a president, jump into an airplane one day after the incident and go to Afghanistan. As a president who would like to show his support and solidarity to his own troops in such way, this is something complimentary to the person of Nicolas Sarkozy. However, would that strengthen his case towards the French people in general, especially with opinion polls showed his demise among the people of the republic recently. In other words, and from observation:

Sarkazoy is best for being an international or strategic leader, rather of being an overall leader.

Black Sabbath: Hole In The Sky

I didn't know that this song was ever filmed, and played live....

Black Sabbath - Hole in the sky (live)
Geüpload door joelvolt01

Sick

The Telegraph newspaper in the UK reported yesterday that a British tourist has been sentenced to six months in jail after being caught taking pictures up women's skirts in a shopping mall, using his mobile phone. The man would likely to be deported after serving his sentence. The man was on vacation to visit some fellow brits living there, and he was planning to find a job there.

According to the Telegraph this sentence "is believed to reflect the tough stance authorities in the Muslim emirate are taking on antisocial behaviour". True! antisocial behaviour should not be tolerated, it has nothing to do with religion, or branding this country as being muslim or jewish and based on the religion of the country there would harder sentence or not. Sick people like this man who walk around and take pictures up women's skirts in shopping malls must be locked out behind bars for years, simply because they should not be let out and poison soeciety with their behaviour. They should learn somethings like manners, social and moral attitude.

I Hate Ben Affleck

I hate this actor, seriousely. I hate his acting and even hate the fact that he is an actor in the first place. Coincidentally, I came across Jay's website, The Zen of South Park, when I saw an article he wrote about how he despises Ben Affleck (pages 3-5 from the article). The article is in PDF format so Acrobat reader is needed and it can be downloaded here. In this article, Jay obviousely is more outspoken, has more to say about expressing how pathetic I feel about an actor like Affleck.

Jay hates Ben Affleck so much for no reason but because of this hollywood imposter called Ben Affleck simply cannot act. "I only hate you for not being able to act because you think you can, and you continue to attempt to do so. This, to me, is a tragedy..." Jay feeling of sorrow for the millions of people paying $8.50 at the movie theatre everyday, for the $4.25 paid at DVD rental store, but mostly agony for "the precious two hours of wasted life, in short, their souls." For these reasons, Jay depicted Ben Affleck as a weasel, because Ben Affleck "...weasel your way into movies that you should not reasonably be in..."

I wouldn't agree with Jay more than that, he researched Affleck's movies and gave his opinion in general terms on most of these movies, expressing rage to the fact that such a failed actor already did 38 movies. At the same time, Jay admits that some of these movies were good, but would be great if they were not inlcuded Ben Affleck - personally won't dispute that at all.

Thanks, Jay, you made my day, and thank you because you took words out of my mouth.

The article is one of many other very interesting topics in one of many newsletters Jay used to produce a couple of years back. Excellent and fun material to read, indeed.

More Malls In Dubai

People in Dubai and in the United Arab Emirates generally started to feel the heat coming from the increase in goods and services prices in that country. The prices of essential goods like food, drinks became the worrying factors for many immigrants coming from Arab countries - in addition to the already-known rise in rent and properties prices. I read a very interesting article today about plans to build more shopping malls in Dubai to satisfy customer needs. According to the article, Dubai is a shopping paradise, and support the idea of making Dubai has the capacity to have more malls. I might agree with the point that Dubai, the whole country of Arab Emirates needs more indoor activity because of the extremely bleeding-hot weather, especially if the country has a lot of money to support this idea. On other hand, would having more demand on such places would flourish commerce more and more than ever, and that would make prices of goods and services to get lower and more acceptable to the consumer?

Or is it too late?

Oh oh! IPhone Is Not Good?

Month ago I kept on thinking of whether I should buy the new IPhone. Today I read the news about people complaining from the latest 3G mobile phones to T-mobile (the only distributor of Iphone in the Netherlands). The complaints are related to coverage, not to the gadgets or accessories. On reading the article further on we conclude that the problem is not limited to services in the Netherlands - this has been emphesized strongly by T-Mobile, but also the same problem exists with the coverage with US users subscribed to AT&T.

I think I have to wait, or quit thinking about buying this new technology in the first place. My old GSM can do the job for me... unless... this is some sort of a new propaganda for IPhone to be on the headline news?

Engel Var

This is my favorite song from the Turkish show, Ihlamurlar Altinda ("Below The Lime Tree"). The song name is "Engel Var" by Turkish singer Dilek Türkan.



P.S. I recommend listening to other work by Dilek Türkan, great and powerful, yet very warm and emotional voice, in addition to the excellent composition of combining all genres to Oriental music.


The lyrics of the song "Engel Var" are:

Kaybolan bir gün gibiyim,~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am just like a day which is lost.
Geçiverdi seneler,~~~~~~~~~~~~ The years passed
Geçiverdi seneler,~~~~~~~~~~~~ The years passed
Seneler,seneler...~~~~~~~~~~~~ years, years...

Bir mum gibi eriyorum, ~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am melting like a wax
Bu dünyadan göçüyorum...~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am going from this world

Bir derdim var dermansızdır,~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have a problem, there is no remedy
Bir aşkım var ümitsizdir,~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have love, it is hopeless
Bir derdim var dermansızdır,~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have a problem, there is no remedy
Bir aşkım var çaresizidir...~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have love, it has no remedy

Seni sevememki,~~~~~~~~~~~~ I can not love you
Seni saramam ki,~~~~~~~~~~~~ I can not hug you
Senin olamam ki,~~~~~~~~~~~~ I can not be yours
Buna engel var..~~~~~~~~~~~~ there is difficulty to this....

Translation to English is from the international forum

Very Thoughtful

"Everybody thought we were doing black magic and that crap onstage," ... "I was saying the Satanists were the politicians. A lot of people misinterpreted that."

Geezer Butler (of Black Sabbath / Heaven and Hell / GZR) from an interview on how people used to look at the band in the old days!

Haunting!

Image courtesy of Black Sabbath official Site and Damian Muziani

Amsterdam Must Become Bilingual

This was the title of an article published by Dutch newspaper the Parool in both Dutch and English about a proposal by Jan Paternotte, member of the Amsterdam City Council to make English as the second language of the city, because "simply because it is the world language and a lot of American and British people live here or come over here for their holidays.'' Paternotte wants among other demands he put in front of Amsterdam City Council to follow the example of Barcelona and put up a police post in the city centre, where tourists can report a crime to the police in English twenty-four hours a day - Such a post exists in Barcelona on the Ramblas. In addition, Paternotte wants a post where police officers also speak French, German and Spanish.

Very interesting proposal, but we have to take into the consideration a number of factors: According to the Central Beaurau of Statistics, in 2007 only there have been 179 different nationalities living in Amsterdam (even New York could not match that number where it only has 150 nationalities living there). I didn't mention the Russians who showed this year an increasing interest in visiting Amsterdam, and in groups. Does this qualifies English to become the second language in the city? I think there are more Spanish than English speaking people living and visiting Amsterdam on regular basis, not only during high seasons, but around the year. Should this be the main factor to consider Spanish to be qualified to become the second language in Amsterdam?

Reflex!

Reflex is an instant reaction to a specific event, or action. I am sure that no single one person in one group sitting together would have the same reflex when they are submitted to a certain action or event. Check out the picture...

Phonecall!

Rules of Hell

For those who know my passion about everything Black Sabbath/Iommi is, below is the trailer for the upcoming CD box of Black Sabbath, which contains remasters of the all four albums the band did with Ronnie James Dio on vocals

Phenomena in Dutch Refugee Camps

It has been noticed recently that in most refugee camps in the Netherlands, everyday between 8:30PM and till 11:00PM, only non-Arabs have been seen, either walking, passing by on their bicycles or in groups of families sitting somewhere in one of the parks or the restaurant! This has been already going on for some time!

After investigations the answer came out that people from different Arab countries retire to their accommodations quickly around that time so they can watch the Syrian-dubbed Turkish episodes Noor (Gumus) and Sanawat Al Dhaya' (Ihlamurlar Altinda).

Image by jayenems

Iphone

Should I buy it?

Al-Bashir May Be Charged With Genocide

"Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir may be charged with genocide by the International Criminal Court." This is one of the headline news for today! The warrant is based on charges against the Sudanese president for the five-year campaign of violence in the country's Darfur region where many innocent people got killed.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is right and fully supported when moving forward and issue a warrant to charge anyone with genocide, whether a president or a shop owner, it doesn't matter, so Al-Bashir is no exception. The ICC move is known to everyone, it is not the first time, in the past there were similar charges issued against leaders and groups, such as the former Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, and against those responsible for the Rwandan ethnic cleansing, or the Khmer Rouge regime, to name a few! There are many leaders around the glove responsible for genocide directly or indirectly, some were arrested and have been persecuted, such as Saddam Hussein, others still on the run, like those responsible for genocide in former Yugoslavia, but wait a minute..................... ................ .............. there are those who are known to the whole world for their crimes against humanity but no authority dares to bring them to international justice, despite their horrible acts, such as George W Bush and Tony Blair!

I heard the Chinese are doing good in oil discovery in Africa (equal to their success in the construction and Reconstruction in different areas) and that still a lot of oil to be discovered in many places, including Darfur!

Live TV!

On live TV anything can happen!

Uriah Heep - Wake The Sleeper

They don't need introduction, the only rock band during the 1970's that in my opinion can match Deep Purple with the combination of Hammond organ and guitar. “Wake The Sleeper” is the latest album by British rock legend Uriah Heep. It has been many years since I heard an album by this great band, so playing their latest CD some sort of regaining the feel I used to have long ago when listening to songs from “Salisbury”, or “Demons and Wizard”, “Magician Birthday” and the magnificent “Wonderworld”.

Most of the songs were written by Mike Box and Phil Lanzon. The album kicks off with the title song, an instrumental that didn't carry that much, for me at least, yet, it is like ordering a delicious menu at a restaurant: the title song was just a starter, cannot be compared with the main course: Screeching guitar followed by the opening riff of “overload” (the second song). It is where the album really begins, embarks into a very powerful song that lasts for more than 5 minutes. Anyone listen to the song for the first time would think that the song ended till a striking Hammond proves it wrong and a marvelous solo that last for few second concludes one of the best harmonic songs ever. Beautiful!

"Tears of the World" is a hit on the face, a fast tempo song, rhythm is equally exchanged between Phil Lanzon's Hammond and Mike Box's guitar for more than 2 minutes then tempo changes to include some measured short breaks based on a three note guitar riff, a longer break to be shattered by a Hammond strike that paves the way to a superb guitar solo before signing the song off. The song ends with a second guitar solo and some wonderful filling in the background by Lanzon's Hammond.

The hit on the face song intro continues with "Light of a Thousand Stars", mid tempo heavy song, that illustrates the talent and musicianship of this band. The harmonies and the lyrics are stunningly excellent. However, I have to give credit mostly to Trevor Bolder for his bass playing on that song! "Heaven's Rain" is a Uriah Heep trade mark, in my opinion, so progressive with its semi-Celtic mid-tempo, harmonies and guitar arpeggios. "Book of Lies" is really depict a ride through the chapters of a book full of human nature, and love? The guitar solo on that song is short but beautifully put in place in perfect way, thanks, Mike Box! Not to forget the bass soloing at the end of the song, superb! "What Kind of God" is a slow melodic song, the longest song on the album, with a feel of story telling about faith, love, war, and people unity! The main rhythm part of the song is based on a sort of a army marsh beat that changes to a faster pace before the end of the song led by a wah wah sound guitar solo accompanied by a semi Ian Gillan screaming in the background. "Ghost of the Ocean" carries the same hit on the face formula: starts with heavy guitar lead, Hammond doing the rhythm and a bass guitar playing higher notes. This song is another Uriah Heep trade mark that reminds me of their music in the 1970's. "Angels Walk With You" is the only song written exclusively by Trevor Bolder on bass, one of my most favorite songs on the entire album, with its dark feel, not only that, it is on that song that Bernie Shaw on vocals shining most - I don't know, but the mixing of his voice sounded different than the other songs on the album, so powerful, higher tuning maybe? In addition, the guitar playing on entire song is superb: both filling the rhythm and lead showed how Mike Box is considered one of the best guitar players ever. "Shadow" is more of Glenn Hughes's style than Uriah Heep, honestly speaking, from singing to the main riff that the whole song based on. Finally, we have "War Child" and as the song title implies, it is about children who are used in wars and a message of hope and bright future. This song is another favorite of mine that highlights Bernie Shaw's voice with the rest of the band, from the haunting intro, through the superb drum playing by Russell Gilbrook along the main singing part, like a musical tornado that keeps on getting stronger and stronger till its ends with a fading out screeching guitars.

Uriah Heep proved on Wake The Sleeper that they are class artists and fabelous musicians. The previous album, Sonic Origami, released ten years ago is fantastic, but did not carry with it the same tightness and heaviness this one delivered. By the way, this is the second album with the same line-up of previous album, except for Drums, played on Sonic Origami by one of Heep's original members, the legendary Lee Kerslake. Uriah Heep is known around the years with their various line-ups which included giant musicians (in addition to permenant members) such as John Sinclair and Ken Hensley.

One last note, and a wish: that Uriah Heep won't wait for another ten years to enter the studio and make another record, because it is not fair at all to wait that long! Uriah Heep deserve big applause from me for their work on Wake the Sleeper.

The band:
* Bernie Shaw – vocals
* Mick Box – guitar
* Phil Lanzon – keyboards
* Trevor Bolder – bass guitar
* Russell Gilbrook – drums

Track Listing:
1. "Wake the Sleeper" (Box/Lanzon) - 3:33
2. "Overload" (Box/Lanzon) - 5:58
3. "Tears of the World" (Box/Lanzon) - 4:45
4. "Light of a Thousand Stars" (Box/Lanzon) - 3:57
5. "Heaven's Rain" (Box/Lanzon) - 4:16
6. "Book of Lies" (Box/Lanzon) - 4:05
7. "What Kind of God" (Box/Lanzon) - 6:37
8. "Ghost of the Ocean" (Box/Lanzon) - 3:22
9. "Angels Walk With You" (Bolder) - 5:24
10. "Shadow" (Lanzon) - 3:35
11. "War Child" (Bolder/Gallagher) - 5:07

CD Fever!

I love CD's! There is some magic and beauty in going to a record shop and dive deep in among the thousands of CD's, pick one or two, and sometimes three on each visit. My music collection, also includes hundreds of albums in MP3 format. However, I always keep wondering if downloading an MP3 of a certain album would deliver the same satisfaction as it is compare to listening to a CD? I know that there are a lot who switched to IPod and MP3 players - that provide more space for more songs, which made a lot believe that CD's will be obsolete one day. Going to a record shop for those who consider themselves music fanatics (nicely put: collectors) is like a visit to an important place, as I said earlier, there is some magic: searching for a CD, find one, stare at the cover for a few seconds, look at the back cover and the songs listing, sometimes ask the saleswomen to play the CD - a psychological attempt to have 100% conviction that its worth the money paid for it. After a little listen to the CD, a nod to the saleswoman with a satisfactory smile on the face meanining "I would like to buy this CD". The second phase is to go home, unpack the CD, take the inlay out and browse through the pages that contain lyrics, notes and pictures. But the ultimate experience is when playing the CD: no one at home? play it as loud as you can. The family at home: put headphones on, tell everyone in the house not to bother you, even if there is an earthquake and enjoy the new CD.

By the way, does buying CD's from the internet (as an alternative for some) can have the same magic?



Image by: JessicaAM

Visa For Iraqis To The Netherlands

Why don't Dutch embassies - or any other embassy of any other country in the world - do one joint effort and put a big sign at their compounds' main gates, saying "No Visa for Iraqis"? This will really save a lot of time and energy for both the Iraqi who is applying for the visa and for the embassy employee. Most importantly, maybe for the Iraqi, it would save a lot of money! ...

Eyes!

I often hear that the eyes can disclose the true feeling of someone when looked at. The eyes shows happiness, sadness, anger, fear, even hidden rage! Many and many musicians talked about the beauty of the eyes, how a singer would be describing the eyes of his lover in a poetic way that people love to hear and imagine. Others say that looking into the eyes is the way to reflect self-confidence of the other person - a person who does not look eye to eye has no strong personality - I don't agree with that, however many believe in it.

The eyes is one fascinating part of human body. I heard from people more than once about guys who fell in love because their lover's eyes. We have a say that the eyes fell in love before the heart, does that apply?

Some like to play with their eyes (or others eyes) by putting different (sometimes strange) makeup and colors. Some would make another piece of art by doing some manipulation using either photoshop or real make up. Others would just show another face of reality in beautiful and different ways. Eyes can be a source of imagination too, indeed!

With this post I put a selection of some of my most favorite images of eyes, made by wonderful and talented individuals and artists.




Images by:
Chriskennedy19
Vanyamuina
AcidicGlamour
Unidan
Polinesia
Irinova
happyyeyegirl

Arrow Classic Rock Festival 2008

Last Sunday I have been to Arrow Classic Rock festival, in the city of Nijmegen. Entering the festival compound took more than hour because of the thousands of people queuing, and for that reason I missed REO Speedwagon. I also missed Journey later on, because I was walking around by the merchandise and forgot myself in the middle of collectors CDs and DVDs for sale, among other interesting stuff. Yes, I bought a number of patches of favorite bands. The weather was not that good, actually it was bad, despite that it was full of joy and fun watching great bands like Whitesnake (the main reason I have been to the who in the first place), Motorhead, Def Leppard, Kiss and others. Speaking of Def Leppard, they were great and powerful, playing old pop-rock favorites, with a great set list. The only disapponintment, not playing wise, but the singer, Joe Elliot, lost his voice more than once while singing. The surprise to me was Kansas and Motorhead - both have seen for the first time. I know how fun and great attending a Motorhead concert, but was over expectation. Sometimes couldn't hear the guitar sound because of the loud base guitar (Motorhead trade mark) played by the legendary Lemmy. I adore his bass-playing technique by the way and the total sound comes with other musicians. His dark sense of humor is also helarious, especially when exchanging jokes with the guitarist. From time to time the drummer poke out and ask the audience for some yelling. Kansas, I mentioned earlier that it was the first time I go to a show by this classic progressive rock band. One word: this band is perfect!! They are professional musicians who could play one song forever without making the public get bored. How many rock bands can ricruite a violen into their work and can produce the same excellent music quality as Kansas do? I don't think there are any! They are one of the bands that I wish they could play for longer time, unfortunately time is up and had to go to the other stage for another great act.

Whitesnake: no need for introduction, the years were obvious on Coverdale's wrinkles, also on his voice, sometimes. I don't understand why his way of singing changes when playing songs from new album. However, he still able to crack the floor of the stage beneath his band members with his voice. Whitesnake played three songs only from their new album, two are my favorite from that album. The crowd, at least where I stood was horrible: I couldn't believe it! They were like zombies standing staring up at the huge stage, except of course for some ten people in their late thirties who were enjoying their time on every song. There was a man and a woman standing in front of me, the man was like dead but standing, didn't move a bit, not even a node (I didn't hope for some headbanging), but not even a finger moved forward, except when smoking a cigarette. I thought he should be used as the mummy on stage by Iron Maiden in their current "somewhere back in time" tour. The woman with him was a little different: I thought she was just awake after a standing nap in the middle of Whitesnake performance and started taking photos! The highlight of Whitesnake show was when David Coverdale invited his "Dutch brother" to stage, Adrian Vandenberg where they played with the rest of the band "fool for your loving" and "Here I go again".

I left the festival while Kiss was still playing, because I was so tired - besides, I have to go to work the next day! I am sure I missed some cool stage show this American band is famous with. The long way back was also enjoyable, listening to CDs I bought while thinking and recalling such a great event.

Here are some pictures I took from the festival

Butterfly Effect?

Woke up in the morning around 8am on the telephone ringing, I was still sleepy, in fact very dizzy, an energetic and husky female voice on the other side started calling me with my nickname the family in Iraq used to call me when I was a kid! I looked around me in the living room. I was not sure if I was dreaming of this, something very similar to the days when my female cousins used to call and exchange jokes with each other! Or was I in fact in Iraq and all my life abroad was a dream after all!!! All that happened in a fraction of a second.

The female voice kept asking with fun and energy "how are you?" "how are you dear?" and "what's wrong, my dear, you don't sound that well?" I told her that I just woke up "she laughed, and the loudness of her voice did not decline, she asked with a giggle "oh oh oh, my dear, my dear, you were still sleeping??" I cleared up my voice and told her innocently, of course, I have to change and go to work in a few minutes, I was already late. I was almost loosing my balance, because the voice of that female was not familiar but it was very much close to that of someone I know! When I gave her the last answer about preparing to go to work she paused and said "no... not.... it is not the same .... you are not the same person I want to talk to..." Her voice did not loose its energy it had in the beginning of the phone call, but embarrassment was obvious in her tone. She repeated the same sentence three times but on each time, her voice was becoming down than before. I told her "I don't believe so, you are looking for someone else... " She was confused, started to apologize and hangup.

In a fraction of a second, because of that phone call, I felt like I was in another place, a place from the past! Like I was going through a butterfly effect!

Image by Hipathia

The Hardest Farewell of George Wassouf

Very beautiful song, very sad song indeed. In fact one of the best Arabic songs ever made, in my opinion. When I read in the news a couple of weeks ago that the great George Wassouf choose that song, Assab Fourak (Hardest Farewell), to be the single from his latest album, Kalamak Ya Habibi (Your words, My Love), I was wondering how someone make a video clip that would match the sorrowful lyrics and can at the same represents the atmospheric melodies of such a song?

The video clip was made, by the genius Latif Nasief. The video was filmed in a the town of Kafr Thebian, Lebanon. There are very nice and interesting segments in this video, the one I liked most is when the young man picks up a coin from his desk and stare at it. That coin is the same one used by George Wassouf in his previous video clip "Ya habeeby", which was also directed by Latif Nasief, but the most emotional part in the clip is when George Wassouf standing leaning on his black car, surrounded by rocks, wiping his tears away while saying the farewell and nostalgia!

One of the things I can make out that George Wassouf has transformed himself through this video clip from the lover who misses his lover we used to see in past videos to the grayed hair father who deeply devastated by the loss of having his son living far away. One thing in common with many other video clips by Wassouf is seeing him driving another beautiful car model. I couldn't figure out what model is that, besides, I am not an expert in cars, well, who cares, I liked it!

At the moment George Wassouf is on tour to the United States and Canada to promote his latest album, which sold out on the first few days of sale.

Football: Oranje Style!

I couldn't believe my eyes! Neither did the approximate 50,000 Dutch fans travelled to Bern, Switzerland to watch their national team playing against France today. The Dutch football team played with style that made them the winners after a breathtaking match against France, scoring 4 fantastic goals against 1 for the world second football champion. Some might say that the French did not play well (like in an argument with a friend of mine who said that Italy didn't play as expected). I don't agree with both, because two things were clear: first France and Italy played hard, and they played as they should, but (which is the second remark) the Dutch played better, so they deserved to be the winners.

Two years ago, everyone blamed couch Marco van Basten for the poor performance of the Dutch national team. Then he made a promise to everyone that the team is still young and everyone will see the same team but much better in the UEFA EURO 2008 tournament. Two matches from this championship guaranteed Oranje for the quarter-final, and it proved that van Basten was up to his promise. He also deserve an applause for his tactics and conduct.

Image: sportweek.nl

No Security Pact!

This is big news! Iraq's Prime Minister comes out with the statement that the long-term security pact between Iraq and the United States has reach a dead end! This news came out days after optimistic voices were heard of a consensus between the two governments and a long time debate about how such an agreement will affect Iraq's sovereignty.

I find the statement by Maliki a bit strong: "...we found that the U.S. demands hugely infringe on the sovereignty of Iraq, and this we can never accept".

Has this decision by the Iraqi Prime Minister anything to do with his latest visit to Iran? maybe and maybe not! Or is it really the conditions put by the US, namely, regarding immunity for its soldiers on Iraqi soil has raised some eyebrows!

As a conclusion, are we going to see more violence in Iraq (as if Iraqis now are not hearing anymore these deafening blasts or the rattling of machine guns day and night! Are we going to see more instability in the northern regions??? Of course not to forget that the same optimistic voices came out from Washington abut the agreement or pact, the same will shout booing Maliki and his government for corruption and lack of strength to deal with violence. It happened before, why not now going through the same circle one more time?

Manners Matters!

when someone discusses a certain issue, regardless of what context or main theme of that discussion, whether it is politics, social, religious, the other sitting around would listen and exchange ideas and point of views. However, there are who play the wise man role and come with a sort of counter-argument presented in some sort of self-confidence, not based on the information that person or the source, but to disgrace all those gathering around and their opinions. Some years ago I joined two guys in a political discussion about Iraq. It was during the time when Iraqis were suffering grievely from the impact of the economic sanctions imposed after the second Gulf War in 1991. While I was giving my point of view one of the guys was interrupting me more than once; either by pointing his finger stopping me from keep on talking, or almost start yelling and objecting on what I was saying. After a couple of times of blood-nerving attitude from that guy, I got angry and I asked him plainly to shut-up. I asked him why is he doing this? instead of listen to the other then give his own opinion. He was ashamed, and with a shy smile he replied: "in politics, a good and a smart politician must not give his opponent a chance to finish"!! Then he giggled lightly at the joke! A year later we met more frequently, this time I noticed that that guy has adapted to a new method in imposing his point of view and ideas on others; He became a super manipulator, by sneaking in certain words and sentences with soft tone of voice like luring someone into some kind of agreement.

If that guy I mentioned above use tricks in forcing his own opinion, there are others who would reject any idea and launch some kind of a verbal attack against others, including bad mouthing in a series of insults and abuse to the opinions of others.

From that I asked myself whether the concept of freedom of opinion can be applied to such people in public gatherings (including the internet, Radio, and TV). Or should such community scumbags like those be denied access to all means of communication with others?

Face From The Past

A couple of days ago, when I was in Paris, and since the early morning I had the feeling that I would see something/someone from my past, from the days I was living in Iraq! As the day went by that feeling was becoming stronger and stronger. In the evening I sat in a restraunt having dinner when that feeling was like a sign, very strong feeling that I will meet or see someone I used to know. I went back to the place where I stay, switched on my laptop and while browsing the Internet I came across a photo of him. The same ugly very pale face pausing smiling - I don't remember him smiling that much! He lost a lot of weight, that was obvious from the picture. He used to be a sort of a symbol of accumulated fat in a body of a human. It didn't take that long for me, kept staring at him and remembering the old days, then I closed the browser.

Stairs and Lifts

Car parks are normally designed to have stairs and lifts, especially if it contains more than one floor below surface. Lifts, in particular would help the old and the handicapped to go up to the street with comfort. When I parked my car in that one particular parking garage in central Paris, I was too tired to take the stairs so I looked for the lift, found it, entered it, pressed 0 and it went up. When the door of the lift was open I saw the surprise: more stairs to take in order to be on street

Secured Slippers!

Hup Holland hup!

The Netherlands football team stunned the whole world with their brilliant winning over the world champion, Italy, by thrashing them 3 to null on their first round of the European Championship today in Bern, Switzerland.

Congratulations, guys, you did a great job, keep this magical performance, The Netherlands is proud of you, and hard luck for Italy.


More pictures from the match here


Image by 't Snabbeltje

No News On Iraq!!

It is the same curious man I see him at work from time to time. a couple of weeks ago we had lunch together – among other colleagues. We talked about everything, as usual, joked about different things, and before the end of the lunch I could see the question written in his eyes. He managed to steel some silence in between the different subjects and jokes and dropped the question: “how are things in Iraq? It has been some time since the last time I saw some news about Iraq? and with semi-confidence he added "I heard it is getting better and better... I think the new troops surge last year helped improving the situation after all!”

That question reminds me of a story a cousin of mine told me long ago. He used to study in the United Kingdom from late 1970’s to late 1980’s when he went back to Iraq – something he regret to this day, as far as I know because instead of having the government taking advantage of his expertise and higher education in the field of technology, he has been dumped for years to come as a soldier in the Iraqi army. After a period of depression like sitting alone in a dark room, eating very little and smoke more than a coal train can make, his father managed to get him serve military services in the capital Baghdad till the end of the second gulf war where he was released afterwards, arranged his traveling papers and left Iraq for good to this day.

In mid 1980’s that cousin of mine decided to spend his New Year’s vacation with his faily and among his relatives in Iraq. During that time Iraq was engaged deeply in the war against Iran and more and more lives were eaten up by this slaughtering machine called warfare. On one of these days, I was at his house, and he told me how someone sent a letter to the BBC wondering why is that no more coverage for the war between Iraq and Iran as it used to be in the early years?

Back to today and seeing the same question being popped up, also from a person who lives in the west, I decided to follow the news here on Iraq more carefully, not that I don't follow the news in Iraq, but I decided to check out different channels and focus mainly on Dutch news. The man was right, the coverage of the news in Iraq compare it to the real events on the street is far from being the same!

It did not bother me when that colleague asked me about the lack of news about Iraq on TV. What bothered me most is my colleague's comment about the improvement of the situation when he said "... I guess the new troops surge last year helped improving the situation after all..." That was like a slap on my head, because from the news we get from people we know in Iraq and what we read on the internet the situation did not improve, not even a little, because there is still self-suicide attacks, still people are being killed, still men and women are fleeing the country in thousands... so I don't see the improvement whatsoever that make the western public believe in such, and that the U.S. government did find the solution to the problem when they added more troops. Not to forget the new propaganda in these days about the "Armageddon of Iraq" that has began a couple of days ago, where the last battle will be taken place in Mosul (north of Iraq) to get rid of the Al Qaeda forever! However, I believe more pumping into the war propaganda is needed, especially that "Iron Man" or "Indiana Jones" latest blockbusters do carry more interesting action scenes indeed.

Yet, I am not a clairvoyant, so I can't say when will be the big end scene (Like in any other movie where we see an end to the story) but I am sure there will be another big action scene close to the presidential elections in the United States... we will see suddenly Bin Laden broadcasting another of his threatening messages, we will see the danger alert level in the United States rises to Red because of a possible terrorist attack, we will see rising in the number of suicide attacks and more policemen get killed...etc All part of the same tragic reality show: just a dynamic movement of events ups and downs with whatever situation that maybe. However, one thing remains static for certain: More Iraqis are either displaced or killed!

media strike image courtesy of Sfinal

Vacation & Memories

An Iraqi friend went for a week visit to the United Arab Emirates last month. Two days after his arrival I decided to call him and see how he's doing, he was not in a good mood, because first thing happened at the airport was a fight with a security officer that according to my friend was not polite at all. I was surprised because as far as I know the security and passport officers are not rude, on th econtrary, they are very calm and very polite. Anyway, after few minutes of that phonecall, I received an SMS message from him. He said in it: how come most of men in this country have Uday beard-style - that is very carefully light shaven! He meant as a joke, of course, but it rang a bell in my head when he mentioned Uday, of course, Uday is Saddam Hussain's son who was killed in a fight against the US forces in Mosul, north of Iraq.

I laughed when he sent me that message and made me think a little deeper about such a remark from someone who left Iraq a very long time ago and this was his firt visit to an Arab country in almost two decades. How an flash back like that struck in his head when he saw the men in the streets on Dubai and Abu Dhabi with their traditional customs walking and driving around.

I came to one conclusion: no matter the years passed, sad and bitter memories remains hidden in the back of someone's mind but they won't be erased from someone's rain. It would suddenly comes up to the surfice because of a some situation. The bigger problem is the psychological affect that follows: Our friend did not have pleasent memories about his life in Iraq before, thus did not enjoy his vacation. He told me that after he arrived back to Europe by phone.

So that one piece of memory because of seeing something/someone somewhere would erase the meaning of joy and would make old scars become fresh again! That's how I can perceive that whole experience.

Chris De Burgh & Iran

Gamma Goblin has raised a couple of questions on the buzz surrounding Chris de Burgh's planned concert in Iran

I am not a fan of Chris de Burgh, but I am sure there are many in Iran, like in any other country, despite that the government in Iran prohibit listening to western music in general, but I believe such restriction exclude control over satellite TV. Therefore pop and rock concerts is not common in the Islamic Republic, but it is generally common in other Arab and Islamic countries: Deep Purple and Iron Maiden did perform in the United Arab Emirates couple of years ago. Ricky Martin, I think, has been to Jordan?

Planning a concert in Iran is surprising to me, especially under the current circumstances, but less surprising when one follows the growing interest Chris de Burgh is showing in music business in the Middle East generally. Couple of years ago I read in the news about a duet Chris de Burgh did with a famous Lebanese singer called Elissa. I never listened to the song but saw pictures of her with de Burgh in the studio. Many young boys and girls consider Elissa a super star, a great singer and a very sexy woman - no way I consider her so, but I agree with the last opinion, though - remember Spice Girls? you can mute the TV and watch their video clips. In addition to that duet, he made an appearance on the Lebanese show "Star Academy", a show for young musicians want to be super stars and conducted interviews through that show. Chris de Burgh is not the only western artist who collaborated with Arab singers, so it is not something new (that's another issue), but this legendary musician is either trying to explore or re-explore new/ old fan-base for his musical career, or he decided to be in the headlines by triggering such news, last December -

I think Chris de Burgh is serious about performing in Iran, and his statement is clear about his motives, which I personally like. The question remains when and how the legendary singer will arrange all this

Back to Gamma Goblin's question and remarks on "Crusader"; he won't sing that song, that for sure. He would play "A Melody for Peace" instead! The song he did back in 2007 with the Iranian, Arian band! But to answer specifically the question, the comment by someone reviewing that album I read on Amazon.com is valid in this case:

"... and the mere fact that the story is told from a crusader's point of view doesn't do anything to change this, for those who participated in the crusades knew better than to underestimate Saladin or put him down like this - the version we're getting here is the propaganda spread throughout Christian Europe in support of the campaign to "free" Jerusalem. But ultimately, I don't think this part of the song represents the point that Chris De Burgh wants to make. Rather, the song's most important lines are those of the last, reflective verses, which are well worth considering, particularly these days:

"What do I do now?" said the Wise man to the Fool,
"I have spent my whole life searching, to find the Golden Rule,
Though centuries have disappeared, the memory still remains,
Of those enemies together, could it be that way again?"
Then the Fool said "Oh you Wise men, you really make me laugh,
With your talk of vast persuasion and searching through the past,
There is only greed and evil in the men who fight today,
The song of the Crusader has long since gone away ..."

Fox News Hates Bloggers???

Many media companies found bloggers as a good and reliable source of news. I read a couple of months ago on the internet that high precentage of Italian public believe more the news read out blogs than these on news bulletins and official news broadcasters. In addition, British and Australian media like the BBC have endorsed bloggers, even there are some bloggers who started their journalism career with support of such media giants. There are also many American newspapers who enjoy this kind of cooperation between them and bloggers. However, what's the problem with FOX news channel? Why do they hate bloggerss by calling them "vicious", for example?