Monday, February 28, 2005

الدولة التي لا تعرف كلمة لا

سبق وتطرقت إلى موضوع دبي وانجازات هذه الإمارة الشقيقة، لا سيما النظرة المستقبلية والإدارة الجيدة لمشاريعها... وبعد زيارتي لدبي في العطلة الماضية وجدت أن سر نجاحها بسيط جداً، فهي الدولة التي لا تعرف أبداً كلمة لا... كلمة مستحيل ليس ليس لها وجود في قاموسها... ببساطة هكذا

كل مرة أزور فيها دبي أتعجب من كمية المشاريع الجديدة المزمع تنفيذها، ومن التفنن في جذب رؤوس الأموال والاستثمارات إلى هذا البلد الصغير. قد أذهب شخصياً للاستمتاع بما لذ وطاب من أشياء غير متوفرة لنا في بلد الممنوعات، لكن ليس هذا ما أحسدهم عليه. أهم ما لديهم هي العزيمة التي نفتقرها في دولة كويتستان... فلا توجد قوانين بالية وضعت لتعرقل لا لتخدم، ولا يوجد موظفين كسالى نفسهم خايسة يعرقلون المعاملات ويخلون المواطن يكفر من القهر، ولا يوجد وكلاء يكتبون لا مانع على معاملتك حتى وهي خالية من التجاوزات ومتطابقة مع متطلبات القانون ويأتي وكيل تعبان ليتكرم عليك بعبارة لا مانع كأنه جايبها من بيت أبوه اللي بلشنا فيه يوم تزوج أمه وجابته...بس شاقول شاحجي لاميمتي؟؟؟

أرجع إلى ضخامة المشاريع في دبي، وأتساءل عن جدوى بعضها لكن لا يهم... قد تشكل
مشاريع النخيل في جميرا وجبل علي كارثة بيئية ممكن أن تقضي على الحياة البحرية لكن لا يهم... قد يستغرب البعض من مشروع جبل الثلج الداخلي الذي سيمكن الزوار من ممارسة رياضة التزلج وكأنهم في فاريا لكن لا يهم... قد يتساءل البعض عن حجم التوسعة في المنطقة التجارية لتنافس نيويورك و هونغ كونغ ولكن أيضاً لا يهم

المهم انهم وضعوا خطط والتزموا بتنفيذها، عزموا على الارتقاء ببلدهم إلى أعلى المستويات ولم يبتلوا بالحلال والحرام وضيق الأفق وقصر النظر... وبالرغم من كل هذا لا زالوا ينظرون لدولة الكويت نظرة الشقيقة الصغيرة للكبيرة... حيث الصغيرة جميلة وجذابة ونشيطة تشق طريقها بقوة بينما الكبيرة ضلت طريقها بعد أن كانت في الريادة لكن احتفظت باحترامها لدى الصغيرة... بس ما يندرى إلى متى

خلف الله علينا... الناس حيَت واحنا متنا

Bahraini Blogger Arrested!

A Bahraini blogger was arrested yesterday morning, along with his sister whose phone line the blogger used to connect online. Read here for more..

This is truly alarming!

لو أدري ما نزلت من الطيارة... و كملت الرحلة إلى لندن

Back from Dubai

Hey everybody.... لقد عدنا والعود أحمد

I had a great time in Dubai, and I'll tell you more about it later.... يبيلها قعدة

:-P

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Taking a Break

I still don't have any official vacation days, since I'm still relatively new at my job.. so I'm taking full advantage of this extra-long weekend to go away, and this time I'm going to Dubai in a few hours.. A New Yorker friend of mine is in Miami this weekend, which made me wonder if maybe Dubai is our region's answer to Miami? A winter destination, unbearably humid in summer, lots of fun in the sun, great restaurants and resorts and a hopping nightlife. Hmmm.....

I'm taking the laptop this time, so maybe I'll post something from there.... Or not.... Depends how the weekend goes.

Have a good long weekend and try to behave, or at least avoid the assholes with the stupid foam spray!!

Here's something to ponder... when did foam spray cans have their debut as a means to celebrate National Day? What message are we sending to the world, and to each other, by celebrating it this way?

I'm outta here!!

Ad Eaters

I went to see "The Night of the Adeaters" last night, which is an annual touring showcase of some of the best (or funniest) advertising from around the world. It was held for 2 nights at Shaab Park cinema, which I had never been to before.

The crowd in attendance was mostly young, and hip, what I like to think of as Kuwait's "creative community", i.e. the majority worked in marketing or advertising... or maybe planned to do so or even wished they were! They were pretty rowdy too which added to the fun.

The evening kicked off with a "live performance" by Gubgub, the MTC-Vodafone mascot from the TV ads (MTCeeeeeeee Vodafooooone!!), who then proceeded to embarrass everyone by sucking up to the American MC, whoever he was (Americaaan, mariiine, very goooood!!).

After that, the commercials started rolling and it was one hilarious ad after the other. There were too many funny ones to list here, but standouts included ads for Luminou, a French glow-in-the-dark teddy bear (dans le noir, on peu le voir), and a few car and deodorant ads from South America, plus sore throat medication ads from the UK..... Other commercials were genuinely moving, such as ads for the blind and others against domestic violence. The Microsoft ad was beautifully executed but was too damn long. There was an entry from Kuwait for Soug Al-Mubarakiya which was beautifully shot, and a few from Lebanon as well. A few ads from African countries like Senegal and Burkina Faso were so primitive, that I wondered if they were included to laugh AT them or with them. I felt uncomfortable.... I also expected to see the hysterical 15-second Mid-Eastern Snickers ads that always air during football matches. I love those!

One thing I noticed, was that whenever an ad came on with any type of music (hip-hop, techno, Arabic etc.), the crowd would clap along wildly. You could tell they were just itching to dance or just enjoy some live, loud music every once in a while. Why the Forces of Darkness equate live music with sin and depravity is beyond me... والشرهة على اللي يحسب حسابهم

All in all.. it was an enjoyable evening although it dragged a bit too long. Good thing they had food during the break, courtesy of Domino's Pizza (yum!) otherwise I would've been very unhappy.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Simmering Tension

Another valuable article from the New York Times (registration may be required), it' s nothing we don't already know but I've reprinted it here for your reading dis-pleasure anyway..

Internal Tension Simmers in Kuwait as Islamic Politicians Clash With Pro-Westerner Liberals

On the surface, Kuwait looks no different from the way it did a year ago. Its American-style malls are still bustling, its dreary boulevards still teeming with luxury cars and jewelry-laden women. It still projects an image as one of the most stable, pro-Western countries in the region, and Kuwaitis still take the time to express gratitude for the America expulsion of Saddam Hussein's occupying army in 1991.

About the only hint of the crisis overtaking this country of one million citizens and as many foreign workers are the concrete barriers being installed around official buildings and the police officers' bulletproof vests and heavy weapons. But talk to Kuwaitis these days, and the first topic they are likely to bring up is the threat of terrorism.

Since mid-January, a series of gun battles and confrontations between Kuwaiti security forces and people believed to be Islamic militants has shaken this tiny city-state that is slightly smaller than New Jersey. (esetch, can you verify this?)

Long focused on threats from outside, and with the emotional and physical wounds of the Iraqi invasion still raw, Kuwaitis have in recent weeks grappled with a new threat from within. In the process, long-concealed tensions between Islamic politicians and pro-Western liberals have burst into the open.

"This was the first time that a Kuwaiti killed another Kuwaiti for political reasons," Saad bin Tefla, a liberal commentator, said of the series of firefights. "No election, no political or public event has ever been marred by blood in the modern history of this country."

Kuwait's crisis began Jan. 10 when the police, acting on a tip from United States Embassy officials, uncovered what they said was cell of Al Qaeda that was planning to bomb American troops and various sites throughout the country. On Jan. 30, as Iraq went to the polls, Kuwaiti police officers seeking to arrest militants raided a suburban house, killing five people, including a policeman and a passer-by.

The next day, Kuwaiti forces waged a nine-hour gun battle against fighters suspected of being militants in the capital in another raid, killing four and capturing six, including Amer al-Enezi, who was accused of being their leader. Mr. Enezi died in custody several days later of a "collapse in blood circulation," the police said. All told, three security officers and nine people suspected of being militants have been killed, among them two Saudis.

"We have never seen anything like this before," said one Kuwaiti Interior Ministry official.
Events here mirror those in neighboring Saudi Arabia over the past two years, where about 100 Westerners, Saudis and others have been killed. Much like Saudi Arabia, say Kuwaiti liberals, the Kuwaiti government nurtured Islamic movements and allowed a firebrand style of Islam to pervade in the country's schools and mosques. Walid al Nasif, editor of the prominent Kuwaiti newspaper, Al Qabas, says Kuwait has become a major fund-raising center for Islamic charities.
"This is where their bank accounts are," Mr. Nasif said. "They have money and they are organized."

But unlike their counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Kuwaiti militants have not been able to carry out any bombings - only the sporadic shootings that occurred just before the invasion of Iraq. Small and close knit, Kuwait has proven less fertile ground for the militants than has Saudi Arabia, Interior Ministry officials said.

Yet analysts say the crisis caught the government off guard at a critical moment. With the emir, Sheik Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, ailing and his 73-year-old crown prince and heir, Sheik Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, also suffering health problems, the royal family has been rife with questions of succession. In 2001, Sheik Jaber had a brain hemorrhage, from which he is said to have recovered, but the emir has fallen from public sight and has stopped attending most official functions. Many duties are now left to his half-brother who is also the prime minister, Sheik Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.

"There's a power vacuum and people in the press and in Parliament feel it," said Ahmad Bishara, leader of the National Democratic Movement, a liberal party. "You have a disabled leadership and a prime minister who's the de facto ruler but with little experience in internal politics."

With both sides trying to enter the void, the violence has been a stern warning of the power Islamists have in Kuwait, liberals say. Islamists in Parliament and in ministries, though not directly connected to the militants, are culpable for cultivating an environment in which militancy could grow, they contend.

Liberals like Mr. bin Tefla are demanding that the government pass new laws or enforce existing ones to curb Islamist power and buttress secularism. For example, Mr. bin Tefla points to an old law banning Kuwaiti women who cover their faces from driving. It is now being enforced, but just barely: the police can now request covered women to show their faces during traffic stops.

A law calling for the closing of "unauthorized" charities, he said, has not been enforced; the government has politely requested that charities open their books, and about 125 charities are not even registered. Some constitutional requirements, like one about organization of political parties, have never been translated into specific rules, he said.

Mansour al-Khuzam, deputy secretary a new Islamist-dominated party called the Ummah Party, sees the issue differently. He attributes the violence to a fundamental inequity and injustice in the society, encouraged by vested interests. Despite the seeming democracy of Kuwait's Parliament, he said, people are largely voiceless and need greater freedom to express themselves and determine their leadership.

"We have to deal with the problem itself, not its symptoms," he said. "These problems are emanating from places where there is fundamental injustice." Mr. Khuzam and his cohorts unveiled their party on Jan. 29, billing themselves as the first real political party in the Persian Gulf region. Their platform is decidedly simple - freedom, justice and balance.

"We are an opposition party; we offer an alternative view," Mr. Khuzam said. "The winds of change are moving throughout the region, and some are learning to take advantage of the change."

The party, whose members are former members of an Islamic movement, supports Shariah, or Koranic law, as the sole basis of legislation for the state and says that the will of the people is the sole source authority for the government. Just days after the party was announced, the authorities questioned 10 members, including Mr. Khuzam.

The government's answer to the tensions has been to strengthen security. New laws rushed through Parliament make it easier for the police to obtain a warrant to search a private house for illegal weapons. Inspectors who are women can now search women's quarters in private homes, and the government has begun closing unlicensed mosques and deleting text encouraging intolerance from schoolbooks. An effort to block or close Web sites encouraging intolerance is also in the offing, and newspapers have been warned not to publish details of security activities.

Mr. bin Tefla says democracy has brought Kuwait this far, but it is now sputtering. "Maybe 10 or 15 years ago, we were a democracy compared to everybody else in the region," he said. "But now we are at a standstill and we don't seem to be moving forward." Despite their differences, Mr. Khuzam may well agree with him.

!!حط حيلهم بينهم

Monday, February 21, 2005

Read This and Weep!

Thanks to Sarah for sending the link to this article about Qatar becoming a world-class destination for higher education.

I'm happy for Qatar - I swear I am! - but I want to cry over the downward spiral into darkness and ignorance that Kuwait is plunging itself into...

آآآه يا القهر

!!آه يا الفشلة

المشكلة انه ليس هناك ادراك لحجم الاذى الذي يتعرض له بلدنا امام المجتمع الدولي، وليس هناك احساس بروح الانكسار والاهانة التي تشعر بها النساء في بلدنا حين تتم ممارسة التفرقة العنصرية ضدهن. وليس هناك قراءة لتقارير سفرائنا في الخارج حيث يواجهون الاحراج كل يوم عبر سؤال منطقي ومثير للسخرية لماذا تحرم النساء في بلدكم من حقوقهن السياسية؟
ما هو الحجم الحقيقي لمعاناة نساء الكويت التي يصفها الربعي؟ هل توجد معاناة فعلاً.. أم أن غالبية النساء غير مهتمين أصلاً بحقوقهن الشرعية التي لا يعرفون عنها شيئاً؟

ليتفضل شيوخ الإفتاء والنظرة الثاقبة بآرائهم، ولتصفق نسائهم تأييداً لمن يريد وأدهن

Blogger Horror!

Bloggers... whatever you do, please don't let your blogs turn into this

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Blogger Divide

I just came across this great Saudi blog called Saudi Jeans and his last post was about the insularity of the blogger communities and the great divide between two very distinct types of bloggers.

Among us Kuwaiti bloggers, for example, I feel that we tend to flock together based on our attitudes and beliefs; in fact we tend to seek out like-minded blogs and contribute to the activities there just to reinforce beliefs that we already have.

Very few of us venture out into the great unknown "blogosphere" to see what other people with different worldviews think and write. Perhaps we're scared? I know my few trips to "the other side" have been very unpleasant. Some blogs I swore never to return to, while others I keep coming back to like a gruesome crime scene!

But I also like the sense of community among the few bloggers that take the time to comment and have set up their own blogs for us to join in the fun. I sometimes feel like I'm walking into a "diwaniya" whenever I'm on the PC.. and that we're all good friends who share many things in common.

It's a nice and healthy feeling, and I hope it stays this way.

Disclaimer: The fact that Saudi Jeans gave me a 5-star review on his blog had nothing to do with this post whatsoever.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Kuwait University, R.I.P.

لم يحصل لي شرف الدراسة والتخرج من جامعة الكويت - وأحمد الله على ذلك - لكنني سأكون من أول المشيعين بوفاتها ابتداءً من اليوم. الجامعة التي تأسست في الستينات، أي قبل هيمنة أهل التكفير والردة على حياتنا، ليست هي الجامعة التي نعرفها الآن... وأنا أعتقد أن قرار فصل الجنسين في الجامعة من أكبر الكوارث التي حلت على دولة الكويت المبتلية بأهلها منذ الغزو، لكنها كارثة غير مرئية ولن نحس بعواقبها الوخيمة إلا بعد فوات الأوان

وايد عليكم والـلـه يـهـنـيــكــم
حسن العيسى


اليوم يدق المسمار الأخير في نعش جامعة الكويت، وسيهلل ويكبر اسلاميو الدولة بابتلاعهم ما تبقى من مؤسسة التعليم الكويتية، فاليوم يحتفل بوضع حجر الأساس لموقع الجامعة الجديد بالشدادية على مساحة تبلغ 9.4 ملايين متر مربع، ولم يجد السيد الأمين العام المساعد في الجامعة خبراً يزفه لدولة وكلاء طالبان في الكويت عن حلم المدينة الجامعية، غير ان فيها حرمين جامعيين منفصلين للطلاب والطالبات! بكلام آخر فيها حظيرتان للتربية والعلف، واحدة للذكور والأخرى للإناث، وهذا من نتاج هيمنة حزب الشاوي الكويتي، الذي دمر التعليم بالدولة وصوّر أولادنا وبناتنا بالصورة البهيمية حين يختلطون في الجامعة، والذي فرض التعليم المنفصل بموافقة الحكومة وبركتها في مجلس 92

لم يجد أحبار الجامعة من وزير التعليم صاحب شعار مناهجنا تخلو من التطرف الى مدير الجامعة وبقية الجوقة المهيمنة على التعليم العالي شيئاً يتفاخرون به في الكامبس الجديد في الشدادية، لم يتكلموا عن حجم المختبرات العلمية والمكتبات العظيمة وكفاءة الأساتذة ومؤسسات البحث العلمي التي طبعاً لن تجد لها أي مكان في المدينة الجامعية، لأنها غير موجودة الآن، وحالتها يندى لها الجبين في الجامعة الحالية بحرم جامعي واحد، فكيف بالغد حين يفصل ملالي الجامعة في الشدادية من العدم عدمين، ومن الفضيحة فضيحتين، ومن الفشل فشلين..! ماذا سيقول هؤلاء وهم من عجز عن اصلاح التعليم الجامعي وهم عور بعين واحدة، وتركوا الجامعة التي يفترض ان تكون منارة للمجتمع تشده ليتقدم إلى الأمام الى ان تصبح مرآة عاكسة ترينا قبح التخلف في مجتمعنا، فماذا بالغد بالحرمين الجامعيين حين يصيرون عمياناً بلا بصر وبلا بصيرة؟

انتهت جامعة الكويت، واقرأوا على روحها الفاتحة، ولا أمل لحلم الأمس غير ان يبادر أهل القطاع الخاص للارتقاء بالجامعات الخاصة وتجنيبها فيروس التخلف الاصولي الحكومي الذي أهلك جامعتنا الراحلة في مقابر الشدادية

Abu Hafs Censored!

I tried to access Abu Hafs's blog just now at work and it is blocked by our ISP. I guess someone finally snapped and said "OK, that's enough!" ;-)

I wonder if other ISPs have blocked him as well. Meanwhile, other sites like this one are still accessible.

I wonder who'll be next.... so much for Blogger Power :@

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Playlist - February 17-23

Another mixed bag this week...
  1. Mousse T - Is It Cos I'm Cool? : Sexy , sleazy and fun. Made for strippers and pole dancers.
  2. Rachel Yamagata - Worn Me Down: Think Fiona Apple, but with a better sense of melody.
  3. Flunk - All Day & All of the Night (remix): A techno version of the old Kinks hit. It actually works!
  4. The Shore - Hard Road: Yet another sad guitar band, but these guys are from Los Angeles instead of the UK.
  5. Soulwax - Any Minute Now: Been out for a while, I love it.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Blogger Power

In this story, bloggers have literally "overthrown" CNN's chief news executive, Eason Jordan, because of remarks he made at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos. A number of bloggers just happened to disagree with his views and began an online campaign that led to his resignation.

Whether you agree with these particular bloggers or not... can we look forward to a day when Kuwaiti bloggers have this much power?

Ring Tones

Someone here at the office (better be a visitor!) has Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" (theme from "Titanic") as their mobile ringtone. I'm talking full-blast Celine vocals here, not the usual electronic ringtone version.

This is torture!!

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

The Last Word on Valentine's Day

I wanted to post this yesterday but was sidetracked by the horrific bombing in Beirut. So here it is, reprinted from the New York Times (registration may be required). You can draw your own conclusions and parallels....

Historically Incorrect Canoodling
By STEPHANIE COONTZ

FOR all the hand-wringing about how modern Americans have separated sex from love and devalued marriage, Valentine's Day is a reminder of just how romantic we are. Restaurants are reserved months in advance for romantic dinners for two. Thousands of lovers use the occasion to "pop the question." Married couples vow to renew their ardor. The focus is on passion, sure, but passion in a marriage or a long-term relationship.

Such expectations of married bliss would have appalled the people who invented Valentine's Day - and baffled couples steeped in the rules of traditional courtship in the West before the 1800's.

For thousands of years, love, passion and marriage were considered a rare and usually undesirable combination. Valentine's Day was originally envisioned by the Roman Catholic Church as a check on sexual passion. Even though young people centuries later turned the holiday into an occasion to celebrate romantic love and sexual attraction, few of them expected to marry on the basis of such irrational emotions. Almost no one believed that falling in love was a great and glorious thing that should lead to marriage, or that marriage was a place to achieve sexual fulfillment.

Before he was either a saint or a holiday, Valentine was a Christian priest martyred in the third century. Some legends said he was executed for defying an edict against conducting marriages for Roman soldiers, whom the emperor believed would fight better without family ties. In one account, Valentine fell in love with his jailor's daughter and wrote her a poignant goodbye letter signed "from your Valentine."

But when the church declared Feb. 14 St. Valentine's feast day in 498 A.D., it was not trying to celebrate romance. Rather, the Church wanted to replace the existing holiday, a festival honoring Juno, the Roman goddess of love and marriage. Church fathers probably hoped as well that a Valentine holiday would undercut the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia, which began each Feb. 15. According to Roman custom, on Feb. 14 - the night before Lupercalia - boys would draw names from a jar to find which girls would be their sexual partner for the rest of the year.

The church roundly condemned such pagan practices, but not because it idealized love-based courtship.

In fact, Christian veneration of married love is hard to discern in the first 1,500 years of church history. As one 12th-century authority wrote, no one "disapproves" when "a gentle and honest sentiment" softens the bonds of a marriage, but "it is not the role of marriage to inspire such a feeling." Similarly, it was not the role of such tender feelings to inspire marriage.

Although the early church forbade divorce - and even prohibited engaged couples from calling off a match - theologians believed that marriage was only one step above pagan sexual license. In the early sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great wrote that while marriage was not technically sinful, the "carnal pleasure" that husband and wife derived from sex "cannot under any circumstances be without blame." For the church, the message of Valentine's Day was that while marriage had a place in society, although not the highest place, romance had no place in marriage.

In the Christian hierarchy of respectable womanhood, the virgin ranked highest, the widow next and the wife last. The church upheld the authority of men over their wives, but husbands took their lumps too. One medieval church pamphlet tried to encourage young women to take vows of celibacy by warning them that marriage would drag them down "into the thralldom of a man, and into the sorrows of the world," locking them to a husband who "chideth and jaweth thee and mauleth thee as his bought thrall and patrimonial slave."

Most young people, then as now, ignored such dire warnings about the pitfalls of sex and love. During the Middle Ages, they gradually adopted Valentine as the patron saint of romance - and symbol of its all too frequent tragic ending. But few expected their passion or love would necessarily lead to marriage. Until 200 years ago, courtship was not typically conducted at dinners by candlelight or trysts under the moon, but negotiated by parents, cousins, neighbors and lawyers in the light of day. People married to consummate a property transaction or political alliance, or to work a farm together. A wedding was not the happy ending to a passionate romance. It was often the unhappy ending to one partner's romance with someone else.

Popular celebrations of Valentine's Day gained ground in the late 17th century, but not until 100 years later did most Europeans and Americans begin to agree that marriage should be based on love and young people should freely choose their own partners. Even in the 19th century there were still many defenders of traditional marriage who predicted that the new vogue for "marriage by fascination" instead of hardheaded negotiation would undermine the social order, and that high expectations of marriage would lead only to discontent.

They had a point. High expectations of married love can lead to huge disappointments, and free choice means that an individual can refuse to settle for a marriage where love is absent. Thus modern marriage almost inevitably brings higher divorce rates. Prince Charles and Diana Spencer, for instance, could have had a very stable marriage if she had not refused to live with the traditional disconnect between love and marriage - a disconnect that both Charles and his new fianc?e, Camilla Parker Bowles, were prepared to accept 20 years ago (though presumably not today).

But today's high expectations are a monumental improvement over the past, when violence, adultery and day-to-day misery were considered normal in a marriage. So when couples look soulfully into each other's eyes tonight over a romantic Valentine's dinner, they might take a moment to remember that despite the risk of divorce today, never before in history have people have had so many opportunities to make marriage fulfilling.

Stephanie Coontz, a history professor at Evergreen State College, is the author of the forthcoming "Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage. "

Monday, February 14, 2005

شجب واستنكار

ندين... نشجب... نستنكر... نحذر من زرع الفتن وزعزعة الاستقرار... الخ

ألم يشبع السياسيين العرب من هذه التصريحات السقيمة التي لا تقدم ولا تؤخر؟

زهقتونا

Valentines Day Massacre - Update

Well it is confirmed... Ex-Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri was indeed killed in today's explosion.

الله يستر و يحفظ لبنان من أيدي العابثين

Valentines Day Massacre

This just in from Beirut... A huge car bomb exploded in front of the famed St. George Hotel, when Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri's motorcade was passing by. A friend in Beirut tells me Hariri and 4 bodyguards were killed in the explosion.

Say what you will about Hariri, this is a disaster and will probably mark the beginning of another civil war in Lebanon.

I'm too stunned!!

Still single? On Valentine's Day?

If anything sums up the sharp contrast between the smugness of people celebrating Valentine's Day and the bitterness of those who are not (I'm personally indifferent to be honest)... it's this hilarious dialogue based on a fictional character called "The Underminer, the subtle slayer of your hopes, the tactful destroyer of your dreams".

Nothing like good old passive-aggressive behavior to burst that smug bubble, eh?

Mwaaahaahaaahaa!!

Anti Valentine



Sunday, February 13, 2005

باي باي فبراير

حضرت مساء الخميس الحفل الغنائي لعملاق الطرب محمد عبدو في صالة التزلج في الحفل الختامي لمهرجان هلا فبراير، اللي كل سنة "ينكمش" ويقصر حيث انتهت الاحتفالات ولا زال في شهر فبراير المسكين اسبوعين ما احد سائل فيهم

وصلت إلى صالة التزلج قبل الساعة الحادية عشر بقليل، وإذا بطابور من السيارات عند المدخل ينتظر تفتيش ضباط الشرطة، ولكن عندما جاء دوري طلب مني الضابط التوجه إلى مدخل آخر بعيد يكاد أن يكون في المرقاب حيث خصص موقف خاص للشباب فقط.. حتى مواقف السيارات صار فيها فصل بين الشباب والعائلات..، تعوذت من الشيطان لكي لا أدخل في مشاجرة مع الضابط وينتهي بي الحال بقضاء السهرة في المخفر، وركنت سيارتي في موقف بعيد ومشيت إلى باب الصالة في البرد القارس، والتقيت مع أصدقائي في الداخل حيث جلسنا في الصف السابع "عائلات" لأننا كنا مجموعة مختلطة

كعادة هذه الحفلات الغنائية، كانت غالبية الحضور متألقة بعز الكشخة بما فيهم محسوبكم بالدشداسة الشتوية الداكنة والشماغ الأحمر.. مكملاً كشختي بالبخور والطيب. الحضور النسائي كان كثيفاً أيضاً، أجزم أنهن حضرن للإستمتاع بكلمات الأغاني العذبة التي جف بئرها واختفت من حياتهن الخاصة... ولا أعلم مدى اهتمام بعض الحضور من الجنسين بالفن العريق أو أنهم جاءوا فقط
to see and be seen

لفتت نظري سيدة جميلة في الصف الثاني كانت ترتدي الحجاب (أو الشيلة) على الطريقة السعودية، كانت هائمة في الألحان والكلمات لدرجة النشوة، تتمايل وتصفق لأغنية تلو الأخرى، تردد الكلمات عن ظهر قلب وتخاطب الفنان محمد عبدو وكأنها في حوار خاص معه ... تبحرت فيها وتأسيت على حال الجيران في السعودية، فهل يعقل أن تأتي هذه السيدة الرقيقة وغيرها الكثير من هواة الفن من السعوديين والسعوديات للكويت للاستماع لمطرب سعودي ويحرمون من سماعه في بلادهم؟

بعد الإستراحة في منتصف الحفل، رجع الفنان محمد عبدو بصحبة شباب يدقون المراويس واليحلة.. واستغربنا هنا لأننا لم نخبر أي من أغانيه تغنى على طريقة "الصوت" الكويتي. دقت المراويس، وإذا بمقدمة موسيقية جميلة أتت بعدها كلمات سمجة اتضحت سماجتها أكثر مقارنة بكلمات الأمير خالد الفيصل وغيره من الشعراء الكبار.. "ترى احنا ما تغيرنا انتوا اللي تغيرتوا، وتكدرنا ومادري شنو.. الخ" ... لا أدري من كتب هذه الكلمات البايخة لكن بعد مناقشتها مع الأصحاب اختصرنا المعضلة في غالبية أغانينا الكويتية الحديثة، وهي أن كلماتنا هذه الأيام مليانة تحلطم وشرهة، وعذال وحساد، وحزن وكدر... بينما غيرنا لازال يبتهج ويتغزل ويتفوق على نفسه بأساليب الغزل

مهما كثر الحديث عن صالة التزلج (أنظر الموضوع السابق) وعدم صلاحيتها لهذه الحفلات، تبقى المشكلة الكبيرة في طريقة تنظيم الحفلات الغنائية في مهرجان هلا فبراير. لماذا يتم تكديس المطربين والمطربات الواحد تلو الآخر في ليلة واحدة لغاية الساعة الرابعة فجراً؟ ما الضرر في توزيعهم على أيام الأسبوع، حيث يبدأ كل مطرب حفله الخاص في التاسعة وينتهي في الحادية عشر مثلاً ويكون للمطربين ساعتين يغنوا بهما ما يشاؤون، بدلاً من العجلة التي هم بها الآن؟ بهذه الطريقة يرتاح الجمهور ولا يضطر للإستماع لمطرب نشاز بانتظار مطرب آخر، وأيضاً لأن كراسي الصالة حتماً لا تصلح للجلوس لمدة أكثر من الساعة والنصف

ثم لماذا حبسنا الفن والطرب في شهر واحد قصير، أو بضعة أسابيع، لكي نقضي بقية أيام السنة في قحط وجفاف فني؟

يا حسرة عليك يا كويت

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Theatre

This amusing, yet painfully true, article from Al-Qabas

هلا فبراير.. هلا دينار
دلع المفتي


سمعت كثيرا في بلدها عن مهرجان الكويت الكبير هلا فبراير، ولأنها تعشق المهرجانات وتطلبها ولو كانت في ريودي جانيرو، قالت في نفسها: الكويت قريبة لمَ لا اذهب اليها ?أتمهرج? بمهرجان هلا فبراير في الكويت؟

عند وصولها سألتني: .. اين ستكون السهرة الليلة؟

رددت بتلكؤ: سنذهب الى صالة التزلج.

ماذا؟ وهل سنذهب للتزلج على الجليد في هذا البرد؟ هكذا كان ردها سريعا ومفاجئا.

رددت ضاحكة: لا لا يا حبيبتي.. نحن هنا في الكويت بلد الخير والكرم. البلد الذي خيره ?دلق?، لأطراف الدنيا نقيم حفلاتنا الغنائية في صالة التزلج، لكن لا تخافي، فنحن فطاحل، نذيب الجليد قبل وصول المطربين بأيام.

تسمرت الدهشة على وجهها وبصعوبة قالت: الا يوجد لديكم مسرح، تقام عليه هكذا حفلات؟

رددت عليها بكلمة واحدة: لا.

بدا عليها انها غير مصدقة لكلامي، وهي تتساءل: أيعقل هذا؟ كل دول العالم الثالث والدول الفقيرة لديها مسارح ضخمة وحتى دور اوبرا وانتم في الكويت لا تملكون مسرحا

قلت: والله يا عزيزتي.. نعم نحن دولة غنية، لكننا لم نكن ?فاضيين?، نبني مسارح، كنا مشغولين بتمويل عمليات حربية هنا وهناك، وانشاء قاعدة في الشرق وجمعية في الغرب. كنا نجمع تبرعات من اهل الكويت الكرماء لتعود لهم اموالهم وتقتل اولادهم. اما الثقافة، والفنون والابداع، كنا نخاف ان نتكلم حولها او بها فيتهموننا بتهديد اخلاق الامة، وتشجيع الانحطاط، وخدش عاداتنا وتقاليدنا التي علقوها في رقابنا كالحجامة

قالت: واين تقيمون مهرجاناتكم التي تصرعوننا بها إذاً؟ طالما قرأنا في الجرائد ووسائل الاعلام عن مهرجانات الكويت. الكويت كانت عاصمة الثقافة العربية، مهرجان القرين الثقافي، مهرجان هلا فبراير، مهرجانات مسرحية، غنائية وموسيقية

قلت، والعرق اصبح يبلل جبهتي، إما في صالة التزلج او نستعير صالة مسرح من نقابة ما او جمعية ما.. ها، نسيت ان اقول لك، لدينا مسرح متهالك من قبل الميلاد، لكننا نخاف ان نكثر من استعماله فيقع فوق رؤوسنا

ردت مستغربة: اما تفكرون بحل؟

قلت: نعم انا سأجد الحل. سآخذ اذنا من وزارة الشؤون لأجمع تبرعات على طريقة ?كل من ايدو الو?، دينار واحد من كل كويتي يتمنى ان يجد في بلده مسرحا كبيرا ومحترما من الممكن ان يطلق عليه اسم مسرح بمعنى الكلمة

ما رأيكم؟

Playlist Feb 10-16 (Valentine Edition)

Continuing the "luuurve" theme, leading up to Valentine's Day, I guess I might as well share with you a few of my favorite love songs... in no particular order. Click on the links for previews.

There are so much more, but this could really take all weekend!!

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Veiled Conceit

Maybe with Valentine's Day around the corner, it seems a lot of fellow Kuwaiti bloggers have love and marriage on their minds (not me!), and have been discussing marriage on their blogs from different points of view, most notably Kuwaiti-style weddings and their many... um... drawbacks. Most of our female bloggers complained about the fake sincerity they are forced to put on at these occasions and how they rarely enjoy them.

Since I tend to seek out anything funny, ruthless and sarcastic to light up my life (and as a possible distraction from my own messed up love life), I've become addicted to this blog called Veiled Conceit, which bills itself as "a glimpse into that haven of superficial, pretentious, pseudo-aristocratic vanity: The NY Times' Wedding & Celebration Announcements".

Here's how it works: Every week (or sometimes more frequently), Zach, the blogger, takes a happy, beaming couple who have just had their wedding announced in the New York Times's Weddings & Celebrations section, and proceeds to rip them apart and make fun of them with absolutely no mercy. Everything from the wedding, the vows, the guests to the announcement itself is fair game in this blog and the result is nothing short of hilarious. His toughest rant was about the recent Trump wedding circus, discreetly titled "Fuck Trump".

Since we Kuwaiti men don't get exposed to Kuwaiti style all-female weddings that often - and thank God for that! - I suggest one of you ladies start a blog along the lines of Veiled Conceit to cover Kuwaiti weddings and all the gossip that goes with them. You can even expand your blog to make fun of the grooms' photos in the papers all decked out in their بشوت, posing next to علية القوم.

How about it, ladies?

السلطة الرابعة

أعتقد أن هذه من المرات النادرة التي تتراجع الحكومة أو وزارة تابعة لها عن قرار خاطئ، نتيجة لضغط الصحافة وكتاب المقالات عليها.... فإن صح خبر إلغاء لجنة الوسطية التي شكلها الأثول وزير الأوقاف بمشاركة أقطاب التطرف العلني، وبعد بضعة أيام فقط من تشكيل هذه اللجنة المشؤومة.. فلا يسعنا إلا أن نهنيء الصحافة على هذا الإنجاز العظيم

ومنها للأعلى ان شاء الله

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

While I'm Away...

I'm going to be away from the PC all day today and most of tomorrow, so in the meantime here's a very interesting article on Blogging and Democracy.

And this is the English version.

Monday, February 07, 2005

الأذن الموسيقية

تراودني منذ فترة تساؤلات عن علاقة استجابة الناس للموسيقى والطرب مع تكوين شخصيتهم، فمثلاً أنا أجزم أن المتزمتين الذين يحرمون الموسيقى لم يسبق لهم الاستمتاع بها أصلاً لأنهم لا يملكون الأذن الموسيقية التي تقدّر وتطرب للألحان والكلمات مهما اختلفت من حيث المستوى أو النمط أو حتى اللغة... وإلا كيف يستطيع هؤلاء تحريم الموسيقى وكبت مواهب لا يمكن أن توصف سوى أنها نعمة من الله؟

هل الأذن الموسيقية حس موروث أم مكتسب؟ لقد نشأ محسوبكم في منزل يقدس الموسيقى بشتى أنواعها، وكما ترون كل أسبوع فأنا أستمتع بالأغاني الغربية تماماً مثل استمتاعي بالأغاني العربية، مع اعترافي باختلال ميزان الإستماع اليومي نحو الغربية بشكل أكبر...كان والدي رحمه الله ووالدتي يصطحبوننا ونحن أطفال إلى الحفلات الموسيقية (أحياناً بشكل إجباري) لكي نوسع آفاقنا ومداركنا، فمن حفلات فيروز التي لازلت أعشقها إلى السيمفونيات والباليه التي كنت أنام وأشخر خلالها لأنني لم أفهمها آنذاك، هذا غير الموسيقى التي لم تتوقف في المنزل أو السيارة حسب مزاج الوالدين، فيوم نسمع فيروز وعبدالحليم ووردة ويوم نسمع البيتلز وديانا روس ويوم نسمع محمد عبدو وعايشة المرطة، وما زلت أحبهم كلهم

ومن الأشياء التي لا زلت أندمها، وما أكثرها، عدم الإستمرار في دروس البيانو أثناء طفولتي، فقد كنت في سن لا يعرف التركيز إضافة إلى حالة الرعب التي كنت أعيشها مع مدرس البيانو المخيف... كنت أريد وقتها أن أتعلم عزف البيانو على طريقة
التون جون ولم أكن أهتم لمقطوعات شوبرت و بيتهوفن، فاستسلم المدرس في النهاية وأبلغ والدتي بأن ولدكم ما منه فايدة

لدي بعض المعارف والأقارب الذين لا تشكل الموسيقى أي أهمية في حياتهم وأجدهم بالطبع مملين بعض الشيء ومحدودين في آفاقهم، وآخرين سرعان ما تأثروا بما يدور حولهم من تحريم وتكفير في مدارس الكويت وأصبحوا متزمتين بشكل لا يطاق لأن حياتهم كانت في الأصل خالية من أي تقدير للفن والجمال فكانوا فريسة سهلة لقوى الظلام

و طبعاً هناك من نبذ الموسيقى بالكامل واستحرمها بعد أن كان يستمتع بها... عندما يقرر أي شخص أن يغير حياته ويتدين سواء عن قناعة أو خوف، لا بد أن يتنازل عن السلوكيات التي لا خلاف حول موقف الشرع منها مثل القمار وشرب الخمر، ولكن لماذا تعامل الموسيقى كأنها مفسدة للأخلاق ومن كبار المحرمات؟
ألا يكفي الإبتعاد عن الموسيقى الخلاعية المبتذلة والإكتفاء بالطرب الأصيل؟ وما هو موقف الشرع منها، ولا أقصد هنا فتاوي آخر زمن التي ابتلينا بها

وبما أن الشيء بالشيء يذكر.. كيف يسهل على هؤلاء تحريم جميع الفنون الراقية، إلا إذا كانوا في الأصل لم يطربوا في حياتهم لأغنية ولم يزر أي منهم متحف فني و لم يقرأ أي منهم رواية أو شعر؟

ختاماً.... من محاسن الصدف (والله صدفة) أن يظهر
هذا المقال في عدد اليوم من القبس وكأنه يقرأ أفكاري

Sunday, February 06, 2005

BlogShares

Nano sent me this the other day.... I have no idea what it means

My Rolling Stones Playlist

By special request, and because Purgatory72 has been with me since the beginning, here are the 10 Rolling Stones tracks that everyone must own/hear/buy/like/whatever (with links!!) and some runners-up because I couldn't make up my mind... I should also thank all my college friends who turned me on to the Stones and expanded my musical horizons to a world beyond Top 40 garbage.. All it took was one album
  1. Gimme Shelter: If I had to pick only one Stones track, this would be it. Almost terrifying in its perfection.
  2. Start Me Up: The one that got me hooked as a kid. Still the most powerful guitar intro ever!
  3. Jumpin' Jack Flash: Another timeless Stones guitar hook.
  4. It's Only Rock & Roll (But I Like It): Sleazy and sexy, like the Stones' best tracks.
  5. Tumbling Dice: I love it because it sounds like it was recorded in a bar with waitresses singing backing vocals. In reality it was recorded in a villa in Cap d'Antibes!!
  6. Angie: One of the best rock ballads ever recorded.
  7. Let's Spend the Night Together: Can you believe American TV made them change it to "Let's spend some time together"?
  8. Honky Tonk Women: Another bar-room classic.
  9. Sympathy For The Devil: Hearing it live in concert was a mindblowing experience.
  10. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction: Overplayed, over-abused... but still great fun.

Runners-Up:

  1. Brown Sugar
  2. Waiting on a Friend
  3. Miss You
  4. Emotional Rescue
  5. She's a Rainbow
  6. You Can't Always Get What You Want
  7. Wild Horses
  8. Bitch
  9. When The Whip Comes Down
  10. Under My Thumb

Baked Beans on Toast

I love Heinz Baked Beans on toast... but here's a new more nutritious alternative that you can buy on eBay:

Why the hell didn't I know about this?!


غطاء نيابي

And that's exactly why we vote for these clowns... so they can step in to help when our terrorists get caught!!

Saturday, February 05, 2005

Gold Dust Woman

And did she make you cry?
Make you break down?
Shatter your illusions of love?

And is it over now?
Do you know how..
to pick up the pieces and go home?


Gold Dust Woman, Fleetwood Mac
Rumours (1977)

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Playlist February 3-9

This week sees the debut of a new feature in addition to my usual playlist. Starting today, I will give a monthly "dishonorable mention" to songs that are so bad, they require a general warning.
  1. Thirteen Senses - The Invitation: I previewed their non-album song "Perfect" late last year. Now the album is out and it's a beautifully crafted collection made for all you Coldplay/Radiohead fans out there (you know who you are!)
  2. Embrace - Out of Nothing: Big, stadium-filling anthems.. done with real sincerity.
  3. John Legend - Get Lifted: Hailed as the new saviour of R&B, and backed by Kanye West.. this guy is pure class.
  4. Stereophonics - Dakota: Their new single. Surprisingly good!
  5. Oasis - Definitely Maybe: A mid-90's classic. Along with "What's the story..." Oasis grabbed me by the collar and wouldn't let go until it all went horribly wrong with their subsequent albums.

And this month's Dishonorable Mention goes to Jennifer Lopez and her new single "Get Right". Have you ever lived near a fire station? Have you ever been stuck in a traffic jam with an ambulance trying to get through right behind you? That's what this piece of crap sounds like!

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Best Arab Blog Awards - The Winners

No I didn't win... but hey at least I lost to So I Want To Be An Astronaut, who deserved to win. And I'm happy that Grandma Funk won for Best Humor Blog too.

Thank you all for voting... I'll keep the banner up for a few more days, like those half-baked movie posters that feature an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound or something...

And of course, as is the norm with Arabic voting habits... there were bound to be some irregularities and forgeries, resulting in mass disqualifications!!

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose!

A Drink a Day...

The New York Times features an "interesting" health study today:

Not only red wine but also white wine, beer and hard liquor appear to protect against mental decline in older women, two new studies have found. The studies are the latest to find a benefit from moderate drinking. In one, researchers at Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital followed alcohol consumption among more than 11,000 women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study, one of the largest investigations into the risk factors for major chronic illnesses in women.

The researchers identified women in the study who were 70 or older and assessed their mental status using various tests of memory, verbal fluency and general mental skills over a six-year period starting in 1995.

Women who consumed about a drink a day (up to 15 grams of alcohol, or about half an ounce), the researchers found, had significantly better test results - so much so that in their mental performance, they scored about a year and a half younger than the nondrinkers and those who drank 15 to 30 grams a day.

The study appeared in the Jan. 20 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.


OK ladies.. you saw what the doctors said, but it's up to you to make the moral choice between a long healthy life or eternal damnation in hell ;-)

Of course this time there will be cries of outrage over this Western conspiracy to corrupt the morals of our "senior citizens", instead of the usual noise about corrupting our youths!

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

العميد

بالإضافة إلى تسليم التلفزيون لبرامج الحكم والمواعظ، نجد أن بعض مقدمي هذه البرامج لهم الكثير من المواقف المثيرة للتساؤل، وبالأخص مقدم برنامج مكارم الأخلاق