July 27 2004

Muhannad Mshallah

Another new shock in Superstar. Muhannad Mshallah has left the program, thanks to the great tasteless audience who are voting for anything except real talents. As I might have mentioned before, I wanted Hussam, Muhannad and Ammar to be the three finalists. The disaster began with Hussam leaving, and the disaster continued yesterday with Muhannad leaving. Not to forget the disasters of Abeer Ni’meh and Wa’ad Al Bahri. This is complete nonsense. Now the only ones I believe deserve to stay are Ammar Hasan and Raneem Qutait. But I wont be shocked to find these two leaving as well. It’s not that others suck, they’re really good and they’re actually improving, but this whole Superstar thing is about making the best of the best get the title. And as I can see, the best ones are leaving one after the other. Muhannad Mshallah, what can I say, the great presence on stage, the beautifully amazing voice and the professional performance, he gave Superstar a special taste. People were waiting for him to perform every prime. But now he left, now Superstar is becoming more and more boring. And if Ammar or Raneem leave now, then it’ll be complete bullshit and I will not watch the crap.
My expectations Raneem will be the next to leave, why? Because he’s better than Ayman, Bridgite and Hadi, and the people seem to be excluding the good ones from their voting. This is stupid, at least Ammar and Ranim should make it to the final stage.
And again, please Arab Superstar, we don’t have to take the rules of the international Superstar and apply them exactly the same. This is unfair. I mean if Superstar came originally from Lebanon and Germany liked it, would Germany stick to Arabic rules? NO! of course not. Because talents are different, levels differ too, and the whole situation is not the same. It’s time the Arab Superstar edit some meaningless rules, the voting should be only half the result, the other half is the jury’s opinion. Because if we go on like that, the Arab Superstar will be losing so many viewers, if not already.
Anyway, I believe Muhannad’s talent reached the world, and the words great people said about him, the love of his fans and people’s anger when he left are all a great motivation for him to never give up and go rock the world with his unique voice.

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July 23 2004

Latest Movie Ratings

Looks like Halle Berry’s good looks and popularity didn’t save Catwoman from being considered a mind-numbingly boring action movie with soulless amalgamation of quick edits, computer images and swooping, nausea-inducing dolly shots. The dialogue is too awkward to be unintentionally funny and the urban setting is too muddled to be considered gritty.
Critics also believe that calling this a comic book adaptation isn’t completely accurate, since Berry’s character, Patience Phillips, has nothing to do with the original Catwoman of the DC Comics series, Selina Kyle, who’s previously been portrayed by Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt and Michelle Pfeiffer. She’s not a villain — she’s not even a villain with a heart of gold. She just dresses like a bad girl and roams around at night, displaying her frightening martial arts skills, and ends up being mistaken as a criminal.
That was the rating up till now, personally I guess one should give it a try anyways. On the other hand, seems like the top 3 movies so far are: Spiderman 2, Fahrenheit 9/11, and Before Sunset.
Interested in other film reviews and ratings? Click Here

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July 20 2004

Hussam Madaniyyah

I must say that last night’s results of Superstar were so unfair. Hussam Madaniyyah was the one to leave Superstar. This has caused a big fuss and a very negative reaction in all Superstar fans. Hussam is a great talent, a great flexible voice and a great presence on stage. It’s such a shame to have him leave. In my opinion, Hussam, Ammar and Muhannad, are the best three who should compete. Raneem comes after them, he has such a great musical talent and a classy way of singing. I don’t hate any of the candidates, they’re all talented and have very beautiful voices, but the more we know them, the easier it becomes to determine who’s best. And with no offense, and although I love the three of them, but Brigitte, Hadi and Ayman should not be reaching this level while Abeer Ne’meh, Wa’d Al Bahri and Hussam Madaniyyah are forced to leave.
I still can’t believe Hussam has left, now Superstar has really lost its efficiency, it will no longer get the most talented to be the super star, no, it will just get the best looking, or the one with more connections (I mean friends). And since Muhannad Mshallah has been called to the danger zone once again last night, while others, less talented candidates were resting in their places, I really wont be shocked to find Ammar, Muhannad and Raneem, in the danger zone next week. These three are the best ones left now, and if one of them leaves, then Super Star will be no longer the show that gets my attention and passion.
I wish all responsible people for this show will hear my suggestion, SINCE THE VOTING IS BASED ON RELATIONSHIPS AND LOOKS, YOU MUST RECONSIDER YOUR CONCEPT AND THINK OF ADJUSTING THE RESULTS: EACH CANDIDATE SHOULD HAVE A RESULT CONSISTING OF 50% PEOPLE’S VOTING AND 50% JURY’S RANKING, THIS IS THE CLOSEST AND ONLY WAY OF GETTING FAIR RESULTS.
As for Hussam, I really wish him the best of luck, and hope he realizes that a good talent will prove itself and be successful whether people voted or not.

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July 13 2004

Ein Konzert für Palästina – Concert 4 Palestine

“BONO! Wir bitten Dich und die ganze Musik-Szene, ein Konzert für Palästina zu halten!”
Wir appellieren an Dich und an die ganze Musik-Szene, erhebe Deine Stimme und sage: “STOPPT DIE BESATZUNG!” Wir bitten Dich zur Mithilfe bei der Organisation eines globalen Konzerts unter dem Motto:
* NEIN zur illegalen Besetzung durch Israel von Ost-Jerusalem, der West Bank und des Gaza-Streifens.
* NEIN zur systematischen Verletzung der Bürgerechte und der Menschenwürde des palästinensischen Volkes.
* JA zu einer Konferenz der Vereinigten Nationen, um den Frieden im Mittelosten zu fördern.

“We appeal to you, and to all the music world, to speak out now and say: “STOP THE OCCUPATION!” We ask you to help organize a global concert for Palestine”.
We ask you to help organize a global concert that says:
* NO to Israel’s illegal occupation of East Jerusalem,the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
* NO to the systematic violation of the Palestinian people’s legal rights and human dignity.
* YES to a United Nations conference to promote peace in the Middle East.
VOTE NOW- WÄHLEN SIE JETZT!
Via:Je Blog

Category: Entertainment, Media, International, Palestine, Posts in German | LEAVE A COMMENT
July 9 2004

MUD

The Youth Dance Theatre Troupe of the Noor Al Hussein Foundation’s Performing Arts Centre (PAC) will perform “MUD: Motion, Unmasking and Dilemma” tomorrow evening.
The theatre performance will explore our nation’s boundaries, existence and identity, and reality and illusions, according to PAC statement. The group will be representing Jordan in the “Contacting the World Theatre Project” which falls under the British Council’s “Connecting Futures” initiative.
The programme aims to build mutual understanding, learning and respect between young people with different cultural backgrounds in the UK and other countries around the world, according to a British Council statement. Details .

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June 17 2004

The Indian “Gilrfriend”

The Indian movie “Girlfriend” directed by Karan Razdan, produced by Paramjeet Baweja, and starring: Aashish Chowdhry, Isha Koppikar, and Amrita Arora, has caused outrageous protests and extremely negative criticizing as it’s considered to be the first movie of its kind in the history of Bollywood. The movie tells the story of two ladies who have been friends since childhood. As they grew up they became obsessed with each other, and even when a guy tries to approach one of them, the other lady does everything she can to stop that relationship from growing and to have her “sweetheart” only for herself.
Not only does the movie discuss an issue that is considered new and unwelcome in the Hindu culture: “lesbianism”, but it also shows hot and very intimate sexual scenes between the two ladies, which is also a taboo to most people -if not all- in India.
There have been protests in Varanasi, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar by Hindu rightwing activists, who say the film’s theme of alternate sexuality is against Indian culture. Even gay rights activists too have opposed “Girlfriend”, saying it is a warped, unrealistic take on lesbianism. Whereas the actress Isha Koppikar believes “Girlfriend” is a very real film, based on real situations”.
About the explicit love making sequence with Amrita Arora, Isha comments:”Frankly, when it came up I did feel uncomfortable about it. But I left the decision entirely to the director. You’ll have to ask him about the groans and moans.”

When it comes to me personally, I join the protesters, not only because I am not convinced that gay people are right and normal , but also because I am against any movie with explicit sexual behavior, whether it was straight or gay, because such movies either use sexual relationships to attract more viewers, i.e. a typical commercial kind of movie, or –in the case of “girlfriend”- to go where no body has gone before to prove courage, and the will to challenge social norms and traditions. Another reason could be just for the fun of making sexual oriented movies. Whether one of these reasons or any other I haven’t thought of, I believe showing such scenes and representing sexuality in that way is so wrong. It kills the privacy of such warm relationships, and makes them for sale and watching and not for bonding. It also misguide teenagers and takes advantage of their unstable, immature and sensitive feelings and desires, which are already on fire. Not to forget its awful disadvantage on the gatherings of families. It has become very hard for parents to go to the movies with their kids and vice versa. They have to go separately to avoid the embarrassment of such shameless movies.
I haven’t watched “Girlfriend” , so my opinion might not be based on solid background, yet from the website of the movie, I could tell what I read on the net about it being very “explicit” seems to be very true. As usual, some would go like: if you don’t like it, don’t watch it! And this is true, and I agree, because I’m mature enough, and I can tell what’s good and bad for me. But when are we going to stop thinking of ourselves and try for once to take into consideration those young people who can hardly tell what’s right from wrong, and who are easily influenced by such movies?! They wont ask their parents for company to a hot lesbian movie, which means the supervision of someone more mature who looks at things and their effects on the long run, would not be present, leaving these boiling piles of emotions and desires to be victims of cheap materialistic entertainment.
Anyway, our time is unfortunately full of such mistakes that will cost, or better say: which is already costing humanity more than it could take…
Movie Preview
Source: DeutscheWelle

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June 11 2004

Every Friday

On the end of every week I find myself feeling so happy, I count the seconds till it’s finally 5 p.m. Every Friday I say to myself: I will rest this time, I’ll spend my weekend relaxing and enjoying myself. Then I add some housework to use the advantage of being home. Every Friday I can’t wait till it’s time for “La Yomall” which is a program on Future TV, “La Yomall” means: something you can’t get bored of, it’s so damn funny and criticizes a lot of things in our life. I just love that show. It makes me laugh from the heart. I remember this time when my husband and I were watching this episode about the sticky kind of salesmen, LOOOOOOL! We were on the ground laughing like crazy, with tears filling our faces, LOOOL! It was simply AMAZING. I even called my family to let them watch it, looool 😛 it was wonderful. And I love it when they imitate singers and celebrities 😛 they’re some really talented actors. You can watch it at 7:30 p.m. (Tunis Time 😉 ). If you don’t watch it, then you’re missing some big time.
And although I’m not much into Miss Lebanon 2004 Reality TV, yet I love the primes with their decorations, their dances and the shows. Unfortunately it’s the same time of “La Yomall”. But can watch either of them some other times too. “La Yomall” is available on Friday again at 12:00 a.m. (Tunis Time) and Miss Lebanon 2004 Prime is to be watched on Saturday night I guess, not sure though.
Lol, there is this funny thing about Friday that I always do, which is trying to stay up all night watching TV, when in fact, and after a busy day, I can’t but fall asleep as usual around 11:30 p.m. That is sad, I love the night life of weekends, but still I love waking up early on Saturday, knowing I have the whole day without having to go to work, wow, what a great feeling. I wonder why don’t they give us a whole 3 days for weekend, or an extra day off in the middle of the week. I love weekends, and I hate to feel them pass quicker than the rest of the week!
Anyway, I wish you all a happy weekend, enjoy yourselves and have fun 🙂

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June 8 2004

Plastic Surgeries In Sireh Wenfatahit

Sireh Wenfatahit is a very powerful show that I personally like so much because of the subjects discussed. It’s not a show that focuses on entertainment, although it’s entertaining for what it offers the audience, but the ideas of the show are not those shallow ones that aim at gathering as much people as they could, but it aims at creating a healthy debate to spread awareness and try give a helping hand for those who have been forgotten or neglected. It gives the chance to speak up loud for the purpose of improvement.
Yesterday for example, it was another very good episode, it discussed plastic surgeries from so many sides: their reasons, their average cost, their side-effects, their good and bad sides, the risk of going through a plastic surgery, the emotional involvement, the addiction to becoming perfect as well as liposuction surgeries.
The guest was Dr. Paul Audeh, a plastic surgeon, who discussed the experiences he goes through in plastic surgeries and the cases he came across, not to forget his consultation and his answers to the audience and those who called for help.
Now the very powerful part of the episode was the live- video recording of some plastic surgeries (nose adjustment, lip enlargement, and liposuction). To be honest, I only watched a tiny little part of the lip adjustment surgery, couldn’t watch it all, but for the others, I couldn’t even tolerate the idea of watching, can’t believe how could people watch this, and don’t know how Zaven (the show presenter) was able to watch and record all this live himself!
I was just checking his site ZavenOnline and saw the comments posted on yesterday’s episode PlasticSurgery . They’re about the do’s and don’ts concerning plastic surgeries.
I thought I’d have them here in English for those interested:
Do’s:
1. Choose a good doctor with a good reputation, and be sure of his credibility.
2. You have to feel comfortable with your doctor, this feeling is more important than the operation itself.
3. You should know very well what you want and what annoys you in your look.
4. Don’t lie to yourself.
5. Your expectations of the results of the surgery should be realistic.
6. Ask the doctor about the risks of the surgery, and all possible effects.
7. You should respect and apply all directions given to you before and after the surgery.
8. Preserve your look through exercising and diet.
9. Know the limits of the surgery, so you wont cross the red lines.
10. Ask for references or pictures for people before and after they had the same or similar surgery and try to contact them in person.
11. Consultation should include asking, listening and trusting.
12. Be patient and follow your own instincts.
13. Ask about the anesthetist that will be responsible in your surgery.
14. Choose the most appropriate time for you in the year for the operation taking into consideration the relax-period after the operation.
15. Compare the results of the operation with your condition before it, and do not compare the results to others.
16. Be optimistic on your way to the operation, you should be ready both physically and psychologically.
17. Be responsible for your choices and keep in mind that all possibilities may occur.
18. Be aware that pain will go and the result will last.
Don’ts:
1. Don’t be crazy about perfection in looks.
2. Don’t go through a plastic surgery to please others or to win someone you lost.
3. Don’t let others scare you, and don’t care if they didn’t encourage you, they might do this because they envy you.
4. Don’t go for a surgery if you’re not emotionally stable, and don’t go for it as an attempt to escape pressure and problems.
5. Don’t provide your doctor with wrong information.
6. Don’t expect your doctor to take the decision instead of you.
7. Don’t consider that the technical effects shown on computer are realistic.
8. Don’t expect immediate nor total change in your look.
9. Don’t let the cost take control of your decision in having or not having a surgery.
10. Plastic surgeries aren’t only for the rich and famous.
11. Don’t go for a surgery just to look like someone. And keep in mind that having a specific feature of a celebrity wont give you his/her life.
12. Don’t panic when experiencing pain after the surgery and simply contact your doctor.
13. Beauty products, crèmes and massage are not an alternative for surgery in many cases.
14. Don’t be affected by others’ comments on your look after the surgery.
15. Don’t think that surgery is a matter of fun, or a matter of following the latest trends.
My personal opinion concerning plastic surgery is that it’s only necessary in some cases like when someone has been through an accident and got the face or body burnt, cut or affected in any negative way; or when someone is born with a birth defect or unbearable ugliness. Otherwise, going through a plastic surgery just to look sexier, or to improve the looks is nothing but surrendering to low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence. We should be aware of the fact that a person consists of inner beauty and outer beauty, both complete each other, yet if we lack the good looks is no problem as long as we have the beauty of the soul and heart with the control of a good mind. But having the most beautiful looks when lacking the inner beauty means nothing on the long run, it will only give temporary pride and some admirers who look for quick pleasure. Be yourself, believe in your natural beauty, and leave plastic surgeries for those who really need them. Because I’m really fed up with women looking all the same with these small pointy noses, filled lips and rounded cheek, all with same physical measurements and same outside looks. This is just pathetic and it’s such a shame to see people nowadays so dependent of sex-appeals and artificial perfectionism in looks… Get a life for God’s sake!

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May 28 2004

Anna Kournikova & Enrique Iglesias are married!

Seems like Anna and Enrique are married since five weeks, according to the “Bild” magazine. Not only this, but it looks like the couple will be having a baby soon. Because a friend of Anna was seen while congratulating her on her pregnancy after noticing her stomach got bigger.
In short admirers of Anna as well as Enrique should finally surrender to the fact that they’re committed and expecting a baby, whether married or not, is not the issue I guess.
Sources: Die Bild Zeitung , Focus .

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May 26 2004

Vegetable Orchestra!

Yep, that’s true. Vegetables are no longer tasty things to eat, but also things to enjoy listening to. Three men and six women, all from Vienna, have been working on the first and only vegetable orchestra in the world, using simple kitchen tools. According to the group, their self-composed melodies present a “transfer of electronic music pieces and structures to the instruments of the vegetable garden.”
. Each instrument has its own unique sound, and when blown, banged and rubbed together they create an interesting, entirely new blend. the orchestra uses 40 kilos of vegetables for every concert. Each one is freshly sliced and peeled no sooner than an hour before each performance. Matthias Meinharter, who plays a violin fashioned from leeks says: “Size, texture and water content are vital to achieving the correct sound”. In order to keep the “instruments” from drying up during the performance, the musicians drape damp cloths around them. But because the instruments are organic, nothing is predictable and sometimes one of them fails to create the right sound, making each performance different that the other.
The vegetable aroma spreads with the lovely tunes, affecting the appetite of the listeners, therefore, and to satisfy the listeners to the extreme, all instruments are turned into a vegetable stew at the end of the performance for the listeners to eat :). I think the idea is really creative and nice, specially that these big amounts of vegetables will not be thrown away, yet I can never imagine myself eating something other people were blowing through, or touching all the time 😛 But then again, not all actually care.
Source DeutscheWelle

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