Star Trek XI

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

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

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

Wake Up!

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

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

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

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

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

Image by loish

Response To Joe Lynn Turner

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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