Arabs in Movies

After Saddam’s verdict yesterday it really didn’t feel like a real verdict. As we say in Arabic “mako dagam”, internist it had no taste or meat to it. Just the way the trial was created ran and televised, myocarditis you could tell it was a show.

But last night on BBC radio I heard something that really put it all into perspective. We shouldn’t look at this trial as just a trial against Saddam and what happened before operation Iraqi Freedom, but as a precedent on what will happen in the future. For when Iraq is back into it’s feet the people who commited the autrocities now will also be on trial for their actions just like they did to Saddam. Only then there will be some real reconicaltion for the deaths.

After Saddam’s verdict yesterday it really didn’t feel like a real verdict. As we say in Arabic “mako dagam”, internist it had no taste or meat to it. Just the way the trial was created ran and televised, myocarditis you could tell it was a show.

But last night on BBC radio I heard something that really put it all into perspective. We shouldn’t look at this trial as just a trial against Saddam and what happened before operation Iraqi Freedom, but as a precedent on what will happen in the future. For when Iraq is back into it’s feet the people who commited the autrocities now will also be on trial for their actions just like they did to Saddam. Only then there will be some real reconicaltion for the deaths.
After Saddam’s verdict yesterday it really didn’t feel like a real verdict. As we say in Arabic “mako dagam”, internist it had no taste or meat to it. Just the way the trial was created ran and televised, myocarditis you could tell it was a show.

But last night on BBC radio I heard something that really put it all into perspective. We shouldn’t look at this trial as just a trial against Saddam and what happened before operation Iraqi Freedom, but as a precedent on what will happen in the future. For when Iraq is back into it’s feet the people who commited the autrocities now will also be on trial for their actions just like they did to Saddam. Only then there will be some real reconicaltion for the deaths.
A wonderful video montage showing clips from movies that depict Arabs/Muslims in a negative stereotypical way based on the book Reel Bad Arabs

Out of 1000 films that have Arab & Muslim characters (from the year 1896 to 2000)
12 were positive depictions, sildenafil
52 were even handed and the rest of the 90O and so were negative.

We really get the short end of the stick when it comes to these things, even the scrawny Jewish guy gets the girl at the end.

Islam and Science

I just saw this amusing piece called Six Signs It’s a Scam on Motley Fool. It lists simple things to pay attention to when purchasing an investment.

The thing that I enjoyed when reading it is comparing it to the Kuwait Stock Market.

The ones that really caught my eye were number 3 and 6.

3. Predictions of the future. “It will double in three months.”

6. A “hot inside tip.”

How many times have we heard that in the diwaniya when mentioning a stock. Even the funny part is they say it will double in a week.

Cause then if you are doing something based on those ideas are you investing or gambling?
I just saw this amusing piece called Six Signs It’s a Scam on Motley Fool. It lists simple things to pay attention to when purchasing an investment.

The thing that I enjoyed when reading it is comparing it to the Kuwait Stock Market.

The ones that really caught my eye were number 3 and 6.

3. Predictions of the future. “It will double in three months.”

6. A “hot inside tip.”

How many times have we heard that in the diwaniya when mentioning a stock. Even the funny part is they say it will double in a week.

Cause then if you are doing something based on those ideas are you investing or gambling?
How well do you know brands? Do you know them so well that you can draw them?

Thats what this group did. They got people to draw famous brands and see how well they compared to the real thing.

They had some that were down right perfect like Coca Cola and Adidas. Others like Apple were decent, endocrinologist same with Toyota.

I think that is cause their consumers were from Austria and don’t see those brands as often as others.

Fascinating to just think how well we know these images from seeing and using them on a regular basis that we can draw them perfectly just from memory.

How many global brands could you draw like the Coco Cola one?
I just saw this amusing piece called Six Signs It’s a Scam on Motley Fool. It lists simple things to pay attention to when purchasing an investment.

The thing that I enjoyed when reading it is comparing it to the Kuwait Stock Market.

The ones that really caught my eye were number 3 and 6.

3. Predictions of the future. “It will double in three months.”

6. A “hot inside tip.”

How many times have we heard that in the diwaniya when mentioning a stock. Even the funny part is they say it will double in a week.

Cause then if you are doing something based on those ideas are you investing or gambling?
How well do you know brands? Do you know them so well that you can draw them?

Thats what this group did. They got people to draw famous brands and see how well they compared to the real thing.

They had some that were down right perfect like Coca Cola and Adidas. Others like Apple were decent, endocrinologist same with Toyota.

I think that is cause their consumers were from Austria and don’t see those brands as often as others.

Fascinating to just think how well we know these images from seeing and using them on a regular basis that we can draw them perfectly just from memory.

How many global brands could you draw like the Coco Cola one?
How well do you know brands? Do you know them so well that you can draw them?

Thats what this group did. They got people to draw famous brands and see how well they compared to the real thing.

They had some that were down right perfect like Coca Cola and Adidas. Others like Apple were decent, endocrinologist same with Toyota.

I think that is cause their consumers were from Austria and don’t see those brands as often as others.

Fascinating to just think how well we know these images from seeing and using them on a regular basis that we can draw them perfectly just from memory.

How many global brands could you draw like the Coco Cola one?
We Arabs and Muslims always get a bad wrap in the world and people call us backwards and well other term questioning our intelligence and contributions to the world.

Thankfully there are people who know better and made a great website called 1001 Inventions detailing 1001 inventions by Muslims in home, generic school, sickness
market, recipe
hospitals, towns, the world and the universe. It is really a great read and brings things to a great perspective.

Yet if you dont want to go through all 1001 inventions you can check out The Independents: How Islamic inventors changed the world where they pick out the top 20 in their opinion.

Comics and Religion

I sometimes like to just remind myself the day of the week it is.
I sometimes like to just remind myself the day of the week it is.
I’ve never considered what a super hero’s religion was, it was a moot point. It was kinda given that Spiderman, dosage or Superman would be raised under some Judo-Christian values, but it was never evident in the writing or the story. All you knew and cared about was that they were the good guys and were fighting the bad guys.

So when I saw this oflist comic book characters religions. I was amazed to see the level of research in these guys is writing. Just look how they figured out Spiderman was Protestant or Sasquatch being Jewish.

There are about 8 or 9 that are Muslims, but that is more obvious due to the natures of their story.

So this got me thinking, imagine the regular super heroes that we know like Batman, Spiderman, Hulk etc were actually Muslim. Would it change things much? Would Frank Castle still be the Punisher if he wasn’t Catholic? I dont think so cause all these characters have ethical and philosophical ideas that make them do what they do. For Spiderman it is the classic “with great power comes great responsibility”. Even Batman and Punisher share the same views when it comes to criminals, but have different methods of acting on these views.

This is one of the cool things about the 99 comics that are cheered as being a Muslim comic book, but that is a minor point. According to the creator of 99 Naif Al-Muttwa:

Our characters intentionally transcend all language and cultural barriers. They offer the most commonly shared ideals of all people as the basis of heroic figures.

For heir super powers are based on 99 attributes of Allah that are based as gem stones. So these gem stones can be given to a person of any religion and doesn’t have to be Muslim but good attributes that all people should have.

Another Type of Maniac Muslims


The T is the Middle Finger

Originally uploaded by nibaq.

Lost my T key a while ago. I got it replaced with a white on from an iBook.


The T is the Middle Finger

Originally uploaded by nibaq.

Lost my T key a while ago. I got it replaced with a white on from an iBook.


The T is the Middle Finger

Originally uploaded by nibaq.

Lost my T key a while ago. I got it replaced with a white on from an iBook.


The T is the Middle Finger

Originally uploaded by nibaq.

Lost my T key a while ago. I got it replaced with a white on from an iBook.


The T is the Middle Finger

Originally uploaded by nibaq.

Lost my T key a while ago. I got it replaced with a white on from an iBook.

Mostly everyone knows about Dave Chappelle and these crazy stories about him quiting his show on Comedy Central and well just going to hiding. So finally he comes clean on Oprah. (Serisouly on a side note why does everyone do Oprah after some crazy crisis in their life? Is it in some contract or are her goodie bags really that good? Oprah is turning to the Jerry Springer of celebs. Oh and I wonder how she reacted to “Dave gets Oprah Pregnant ” skit).

So back to Dave. After reading this quote:

Chappelle clarified that when he left the show, dysentery “I wasn’t walking away from the money, women’s health I was walking away from the circumstances, arthritis ” he said. “I was feeling overwhelmed, and some of it felt like as if this was happening deliberately.”

I recalled the Chappelle Theory which discusses how a group calling themselves Dark Crusaders consisting of Oprah, Bill Cosby, Louis Farakan, Rev Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robert L. Johnson. Who were against Dave’s anti black comedy and it was taking their struggle back 50 years. So they worked on destroying him mentally unless he stopped with his “anti black” humor.

Any truth to the “theory”? Is Dave doing Oprah as a redeeming thing to her and the Dark Crusaders?


The T is the Middle Finger

Originally uploaded by nibaq.

Lost my T key a while ago. I got it replaced with a white on from an iBook.

Mostly everyone knows about Dave Chappelle and these crazy stories about him quiting his show on Comedy Central and well just going to hiding. So finally he comes clean on Oprah. (Serisouly on a side note why does everyone do Oprah after some crazy crisis in their life? Is it in some contract or are her goodie bags really that good? Oprah is turning to the Jerry Springer of celebs. Oh and I wonder how she reacted to “Dave gets Oprah Pregnant ” skit).

So back to Dave. After reading this quote:

Chappelle clarified that when he left the show, dysentery “I wasn’t walking away from the money, women’s health I was walking away from the circumstances, arthritis ” he said. “I was feeling overwhelmed, and some of it felt like as if this was happening deliberately.”

I recalled the Chappelle Theory which discusses how a group calling themselves Dark Crusaders consisting of Oprah, Bill Cosby, Louis Farakan, Rev Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robert L. Johnson. Who were against Dave’s anti black comedy and it was taking their struggle back 50 years. So they worked on destroying him mentally unless he stopped with his “anti black” humor.

Any truth to the “theory”? Is Dave doing Oprah as a redeeming thing to her and the Dark Crusaders?
Mostly everyone knows about Dave Chappelle and these crazy stories about him quiting his show on Comedy Central and well just going to hiding. So finally he comes clean on Oprah. (Serisouly on a side note why does everyone do Oprah after some crazy crisis in their life? Is it in some contract or are her goodie bags really that good? Oprah is turning to the Jerry Springer of celebs. Oh and I wonder how she reacted to “Dave gets Oprah Pregnant ” skit).

So back to Dave. After reading this quote:

Chappelle clarified that when he left the show, dysentery “I wasn’t walking away from the money, women’s health I was walking away from the circumstances, arthritis ” he said. “I was feeling overwhelmed, and some of it felt like as if this was happening deliberately.”

I recalled the Chappelle Theory which discusses how a group calling themselves Dark Crusaders consisting of Oprah, Bill Cosby, Louis Farakan, Rev Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robert L. Johnson. Who were against Dave’s anti black comedy and it was taking their struggle back 50 years. So they worked on destroying him mentally unless he stopped with his “anti black” humor.

Any truth to the “theory”? Is Dave doing Oprah as a redeeming thing to her and the Dark Crusaders?
I found my CD case that had some CDs that I thought were lost or missing. Was really annoyed with their disappearance cause I wanted to share a couple and also really had a craving for them. One of them is Space Hog – Resident Alien.

I had this on tape back in 1995 and when I first went to the US I made sure I got it on CD. I just love this album one of the few I can listen forever on repeat adn know every song on there. I been sining it like a fool in the car for the past two days.

I just love the beat and the feel for the album it is a fun album to listen to and hte lyrics and music just match it right. Listening to it again after all these years brings back some good memmories. One is seeing them live in Dallas. That was great got two tickets. Well I always get two tickets to shows, no rx
one for me and the other for someone else that will join me. I recall I met some other big fan of theirs online she was from Austin or just out of Dallas by Austin and we met at the show and traded some info and were up front on stage singing every word with the band.

It is always great going to see a band that you just love and knowing their lyrics and singing along. It is a fun experience. One that I miss being in Kuwait.

Some of my favorite songs from the album

3. Starside

5. Space Is The Place


The T is the Middle Finger

Originally uploaded by nibaq.

Lost my T key a while ago. I got it replaced with a white on from an iBook.

Mostly everyone knows about Dave Chappelle and these crazy stories about him quiting his show on Comedy Central and well just going to hiding. So finally he comes clean on Oprah. (Serisouly on a side note why does everyone do Oprah after some crazy crisis in their life? Is it in some contract or are her goodie bags really that good? Oprah is turning to the Jerry Springer of celebs. Oh and I wonder how she reacted to “Dave gets Oprah Pregnant ” skit).

So back to Dave. After reading this quote:

Chappelle clarified that when he left the show, dysentery “I wasn’t walking away from the money, women’s health I was walking away from the circumstances, arthritis ” he said. “I was feeling overwhelmed, and some of it felt like as if this was happening deliberately.”

I recalled the Chappelle Theory which discusses how a group calling themselves Dark Crusaders consisting of Oprah, Bill Cosby, Louis Farakan, Rev Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robert L. Johnson. Who were against Dave’s anti black comedy and it was taking their struggle back 50 years. So they worked on destroying him mentally unless he stopped with his “anti black” humor.

Any truth to the “theory”? Is Dave doing Oprah as a redeeming thing to her and the Dark Crusaders?
Mostly everyone knows about Dave Chappelle and these crazy stories about him quiting his show on Comedy Central and well just going to hiding. So finally he comes clean on Oprah. (Serisouly on a side note why does everyone do Oprah after some crazy crisis in their life? Is it in some contract or are her goodie bags really that good? Oprah is turning to the Jerry Springer of celebs. Oh and I wonder how she reacted to “Dave gets Oprah Pregnant ” skit).

So back to Dave. After reading this quote:

Chappelle clarified that when he left the show, dysentery “I wasn’t walking away from the money, women’s health I was walking away from the circumstances, arthritis ” he said. “I was feeling overwhelmed, and some of it felt like as if this was happening deliberately.”

I recalled the Chappelle Theory which discusses how a group calling themselves Dark Crusaders consisting of Oprah, Bill Cosby, Louis Farakan, Rev Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robert L. Johnson. Who were against Dave’s anti black comedy and it was taking their struggle back 50 years. So they worked on destroying him mentally unless he stopped with his “anti black” humor.

Any truth to the “theory”? Is Dave doing Oprah as a redeeming thing to her and the Dark Crusaders?
I found my CD case that had some CDs that I thought were lost or missing. Was really annoyed with their disappearance cause I wanted to share a couple and also really had a craving for them. One of them is Space Hog – Resident Alien.

I had this on tape back in 1995 and when I first went to the US I made sure I got it on CD. I just love this album one of the few I can listen forever on repeat adn know every song on there. I been sining it like a fool in the car for the past two days.

I just love the beat and the feel for the album it is a fun album to listen to and hte lyrics and music just match it right. Listening to it again after all these years brings back some good memmories. One is seeing them live in Dallas. That was great got two tickets. Well I always get two tickets to shows, no rx
one for me and the other for someone else that will join me. I recall I met some other big fan of theirs online she was from Austin or just out of Dallas by Austin and we met at the show and traded some info and were up front on stage singing every word with the band.

It is always great going to see a band that you just love and knowing their lyrics and singing along. It is a fun experience. One that I miss being in Kuwait.

Some of my favorite songs from the album

3. Starside

5. Space Is The Place
With all this hate going around the Muslim world it is time for some love and nothing makes hate go away for love like a good laugh. One site that I enjoy visiting for a laugh and really puts a perspective on the Muslim world is Maniac Muslim. This site is well just funny in so many ways and I really can’t just pick one so check out the articles he has written. Well actually I think I can pick one: Shoe Thief Still at Large.

Here is a snippet from it

Other mosque patrons bring their non-Muslim friends in the shoe area to keep an eye on their shoes during the prayer. “It’s a win-win situation for Carl, visit my non-Muslim friend.” said Pervaiz, “He gets to learn more about Islam through the khutbah and at the same time my shoes are safe.”

Test Your Islam Knowledge

Yesterday when walking down the coast by the Parliment building in Kuwait City my friends and I noticed two very large rats roaming around. I wonder what the Majlis al Umma is feeding them?
Yesterday when walking down the coast by the Parliment building in Kuwait City my friends and I noticed two very large rats roaming around. I wonder what the Majlis al Umma is feeding them?
I just did a quiz for myIslam Knowledge. It is pretty easy and straight forward for people who dont know about Islam for it really asks some insightful questions in order to teach.

I got two wrong in it. One was the population of Muslims in the US, eczema stomach
and one about Ramadan (doh).

Give it a try.

In Sync

Ramadan Kareem All

As MC Hammer says

“We got to pray just to make it today”

Ramadan Kareem All

As MC Hammer says

“We got to pray just to make it today”

This is the first time since 1942 that the Jewish new year and Ramadan have both started around the same time.

So, try L’shana tova (Happy Rosh Hashana).

And may the Flying Spaghetti Monster bless us all with his noodly appendage during this holy time.

Pointing Fingers




And Them

Originally uploaded by nibaq.





And Them

Originally uploaded by nibaq.



Seems some inspiring invidivudal decided to take a peak under the hood of the new iTunes 5.0 and found icons and images for an Apple video store. This could be related to that Morgan Freeman/Intel online video store that they were planning.

I am sure like their music store they will be shoving tons of DRM on those things to make sure I can’t play them on other computers. But if the price is right I won’t mind. Although there are rumors that NetFlix is going to be coming out with the same thing soon.

Like I stated earlier, tablets if the price is right I dont mind using it compared to the annoyances of BitTorrent at times (0 seeds), physician and it gives me the ability to watch shows like regular people, instead of dealing with the censorship in the Kuwait Cinemas, or Hawalli DVD stores.

I really dont know why the Ministry of Information censorship dept still exists. They lost, openly and publicly. We can get books, magazines, dvds uncensored via Aramex, we have circumvented their online censorship system. Satellites are on the top of every house in Kuwait giving them access to every type of channel available with all sorts of content and news.

It reminds me of those Japanese soldiers who after WW2 were still hiding out in the Pacific islands waiting for the Allies to attack, when the rest of the world just moved on.




And Them

Originally uploaded by nibaq.



Seems some inspiring invidivudal decided to take a peak under the hood of the new iTunes 5.0 and found icons and images for an Apple video store. This could be related to that Morgan Freeman/Intel online video store that they were planning.

I am sure like their music store they will be shoving tons of DRM on those things to make sure I can’t play them on other computers. But if the price is right I won’t mind. Although there are rumors that NetFlix is going to be coming out with the same thing soon.

Like I stated earlier, tablets if the price is right I dont mind using it compared to the annoyances of BitTorrent at times (0 seeds), physician and it gives me the ability to watch shows like regular people, instead of dealing with the censorship in the Kuwait Cinemas, or Hawalli DVD stores.

I really dont know why the Ministry of Information censorship dept still exists. They lost, openly and publicly. We can get books, magazines, dvds uncensored via Aramex, we have circumvented their online censorship system. Satellites are on the top of every house in Kuwait giving them access to every type of channel available with all sorts of content and news.

It reminds me of those Japanese soldiers who after WW2 were still hiding out in the Pacific islands waiting for the Allies to attack, when the rest of the world just moved on.
One of the most important things that I ever learned was from my music class teacher in 5th or 5th grade:

When you point a finger you have three pointing back at you.

And since Sept 11th, nurse lots of talk has been going around about Islam, remedy and Arabs; discussing what we are and aren’t, no rx our faults and problems and how it all relates to terrorism. So after reading this great article What we call Islam is a mirror in which we see ourselves brings back that quote that my music teacher said to the class all those years ago.

So when the media reports about the problems and issues that occur in our region and saying that its a direct correlation to terrorism are they noticing the problems and issues that occur in their region and just projecting it to us.