The Code

Seeing as there has been much of a 'discussion' on twitter regarding a UAE Dress Code campaign, I thought it deserved to be written about. 

On Tuesday June 19th, The Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development in the United Arab Emirates, Dr Abdul Rahman Al Owais was questioned over the possibility of enforcing a UAE Dress Code on a Federal level. An article by Khalid Al Ameri on The National newspaper accurately described the situation. The twitter account @UAEDressCode was created by two women @noonworld and @SimplyAsma to campaign for the cause of seeing more moderately dressed people in the UAE public. They came under intense scrutiny by members of the community who didn't agree with having a law nor a campaign. 

The previous Friday, a certain #StopBinThaneya trend began to emerge; what appeared to be a smear campaign against a Jalal Bin Thaneya over his comments on Twitter. This trend brought light to the issue as I realized that his comments and comments of others were being mixed and mashed into a catastrophic US vs THEM session on Twitter. People creating new accounts to dish out slander against the country and its people, whilst replies from others who took offence to this behavior by replying with the same vulgarity, others simply read what others had tweeted and decided to make a reply or baseless statement of their own. This I believe is a result of people not knowing how to constructively argue but also ignorance of the core problems in the issue and simply picking on what they don't like about the 'other' and saying it out loud as a reason for or against a dress code. As a result, the UAE Dress Code is branded as a campaign of hate and racism. I don't understand how certain comments makes the @UAEDressCode account representative of those (or ANY faction for that matter) individuals who threaten and slander as well; they are not an official account. 

A few things to keep in mind so as to not look like an idiot and get into senseless arguing:

Why people think it is necessary,

What the measure of decency is,

Where the code starts and ends,

How much of an effect it will cause on every individual,

Contrary to suggestions, it is not a case of Emiratis vs. Expats. Not all Emiratis agree with having a dress code, nor do all Expats disagree with a dress code but it seemed to bring out the racism that a minority of individuals on both sides of the argument have had bottled up. 

The reason it has come to wanting a law is that citizens of the UAE have tolerated enough of people not knowing or understanding their beliefs, and the tolerance has led to an ignorance of many whom by the way seem shocked that citizens suddenly want their beliefs implemented, which isn't a belief specific to the locals either, in fact a large Muslim majority want to see things implemented as well as many non-Muslims and expats. Some can say that its our (Emiratis) fault for not speaking at the time it was happening, and that maybe we shouldn't have resulted to gradually tell people but instead enforce a law to begin with, or even allowing the Emirati population to be outnumbered by those that don't agree with them. 

I certainly agree with having a public decency in dress code.Though I may not agree with some of the comments or attitudes, I certainly commend the people behind the @UAEDressCode account as well as @Binthaneya for their vigor and love for the UAE and its Islamic traditions which this country and its constitution are based on. 

Religious Freedom

An essay I wrote for a class debate. I couldn't pick a side, but the research I did for this essay gave me a better understanding.

The term ‘Freedom of Religion’ is a principle which allows the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to practice, manifest, change, or not follow any religion of their choosing. The principle is practiced by most democratic and tolerant countries, the issue of which is up for argument on whether a state should have the right to limit religious practices to conform to their form of government or to allow the practice of religion freely. Religious freedom for all is a methodology that is inconsistent with itself, imaginary, impractical, and in some forms oppression against religion as a whole.

The inconsistency of this principle comes from the fact that some religions do not allow the changing, manifesting, or renouncing of a religion. Abrahamic religions do not allow the renouncing of one’s religion for another and they do not allow atheistic beliefs. In Islam, one who renounces his belief after accepting Islam is to be sanctioned the death penalty. The Catholic Church considers ideologies which are inconsistent with its own, such as Calvinism or Protestantism, as heresy. To follow your rulings is to practice your religion and if changing and manifesting is to be supported by the principle of Religious Freedom then it works against these religions. Also, for such faiths which have practices which are clearly unacceptable to societies other than its own, such as Hindu breeding and worship of rats in public, as well as the Mourning rituals by Shiite Muslims, it is difficult to find societies other than those faiths and denominations that will allow such public practice.  Hence, it is not only inconsistent but impractical.   Atheism, as well, is considered a belief in its own accord and in essence any detriment to beliefs in God or Deities is beneficial to such a belief as Atheism. In such a case where in order to comply with the ‘Freedom Of Religion’ principle, all religions must make a compromise with their own beliefs, which is forced by the state, then it can be viewed as a denunciation of religion as a whole and a support of Atheism, such a case is contradictory to the principle where the state should not interfere with religious matters and should not be biased in its decision making.

If a state is not allowed to limit the practice of religions in accordance with its own form of governance, then it creates tension between parties of different faiths or denominations. Even democratic countries today are realizing that they want to enforce their own form of government and that Freedom of Religion is not something they want for a certain number of faiths. We can see this trend in France with the banning of the ‘Hijab’ and other head-wear, such as Sikh turbans and Jewish yarmulke (skull cap), in schools, and the banning of Minarets in Switzerland. This is contradictory to the Religious Freedom principle as wearing such apparel is part of practicing religion and not simply a form of worship. In such a case, there needs to be a clear definition for “Freedom of Religion”, is it Freedom to practice or freedom to worship? The United States itself does not fully practice this principle when it follows the motto ‘In God We Trust’ as a state motto. It is a form of ‘double-standards’ for a state to follow a motto of Monotheistic belief while trying to preserve the Freedom of Religion; towards people of polytheistic beliefs and atheists especially.  We can see that the United States is moving towards the same measures as France, Belgium, and Switzerland with President Obama clearly avoiding the term “Freedom of Religion” and using “Freedom of Worship” in his speeches. The United States has also, until recently, regulated and limited the door-to-door proselytizing of the Jehovah's Witnesses, which their faith requires them to do so, by forcing them to gain permits from the government; which they didn’t always get. The Jehovah's Witnesses have been in and out of The Supreme Court with similar cases. This shows that the principal of limiting practices is present even in the secular government of the United States. Iraq, now a democratic country, still does not allow laws to be passed which are against basic Islamic laws. They allow the full practice of the religious denominations and this has caused sectarian violence.

No state can satisfy all faiths without enacting a compromise on them; this in turn defeats the purpose of ‘Freedom of Religion’ therefore making it impractical.

Your thoughts? 

Join the Navy!

Long time no see! Well, finding content was difficult, but here's something to take into perspective.

The timing of the film I will mention is absolutely uncanny. It emphasizes my belief of how the US government loves to use Hollywood as a brainwash army recruitment agency. Now bear in mind that I have yet to watch this film, but seeing the trailer has made me want to write about it already. It seems the United States really is getting ready for a war with Iran.

If you've read my previous blogs concerning some films out there, you'll notice how I mention military propaganda in Hollywood movies; sometimes specific to contemporary issues. I believe that Hollywood uses military scenes (sometimes useless for the plot) in order to brainwash the youth into regarding the military highly and therefore make it a favorable move to join it. If we look at all the Marvel movies so far we can see the military involved in all of them. Even the past few Transformer movies have not been left alone. Mohammed Ali's draft evasion and public refusal signaled the path to ending conscription and army drafting. The United States needed a new way to keep people joining the army. This movie, 'Battleship', seems to do the same thing, except here it focuses mostly on the US navy.

Now probably the one thing that the US army flaunts is its marine corps, and then the air force. The navy very rarely get a focus in films. How likely is it, knowing the ideas I brought up above, that the United States is looking to recruit more people for the navy knowing it will need a large human capital to face the Iranian Navy that would allegedly block the Strait of Hormuz? "The Battle for Earth begins at sea" really? Make a whole movie about the US Navy fighting an Alien race? Aliens couldn't think of a better way to invade earth?

Let me know what you think!

Made us proud!

Last night's Arsenal performance was sublime! It's just real sad that they couldn't go an inch further and go through. Man of the match for me had to be Tomas Rosicky, he was the real engine in the midfield and every time he had the ball you felt something could happen. A very close second has to go to Alex 'The Ox' Oxlade Chamberlain. I just wish we could play with the same passion and focus at every game. 

The effort put in was stupendous and I couldn't believe there were no critics on that night. The players did us proud despite the exit. They must be ruing the performance they had away and it will be difficult to find the spirit needed for the next couple of days after an effort such as that. It's been a great past month for Arsenal. Let's hope they can keep it up til the end of the season; got to get on ahead of Tottenham.

Swans soar as Arsenal slump

Honestly, I don't know what to say. Going one-nil up at the 12th minute and the pressure that was being played showed that Arsenal might have a stroll in the park with this game. Maybe that was the problem. Arsenal ended up losing the game away to Swansea City 3-2 with a good display of football from the home side.

After a penalty for the home side, and by the time they were 2-1 up, Arsenal seemed to have some tired legs in midfield, which is astonishing considering they've had a week to prepare. Song was below par, and with the absence of Arteta due to injury, Ramsey was unable to shoulder the entire midfield. The men in front of the back four were exposed and made it difficult for the defence; especially considering our full backs are not accustomed to their positions. You can tell Ignasi Miguel was struggling with the pressure from the, not surprisingly, dangerous wingers that Swansea has. Ignasi's continuous clearing of the ball in simple situations showed he wasn't prepared to handle the ball under pressure. Arshavin's substitution with Henry was a mistake in my opinion, a man who has a "20 minute fitness" , as he put it, is not the kind of player you want to be pressing the ball up front, least not with a team that was running as if they had weights on. Even Walcott's goal for Arsenal seemed like he was struggling to speed up.

For the first time in my life as an Arsenal fan, I'm pissed off more than sad at a loss. Is it a question of the quality of the players? or is it just the problem of full backs we've been having? or maybe it all comes down to the management. If things don't improve for the next game, we might see another thrashing from Man Utd; this time at the Emirates. Credit goes to Swansea though, they were into the game more than we were and certainly played better.

New posts coming soon...

I know it has been a while but I just haven't been in the groove lately. Ranting about movies isn't cutting it for me. I'm trying to figure out how to start a proper podcast and place it here. I've ordered some of the equipment so let's see how it goes.

For those of you who keep coming back to check new stuff, THANKS ALOT! Really appreciate it.

For now, its a see you soon!

France bans all public prayer

It has become state law in France to ban all public prayers. As of Friday 16th of September 2011, no prayers shall be conducted in public. This move has brought up a lot of controversy in the country as the main religion affected is the Islamic faith; a faith that is widely believed by its followers to be targeted by right wing European governments.

A link to the Al Jazeera coverage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ne-pT9XjnE&feature=feedu

Muslims gather to pray 5 times a day, their maximum numbers are often during Friday noon prayers; the numbers which exceed the capacity of their masjids and thus pray outside in public. The move is seen by many to be targeting those who over-flood the masjids and pray outside, many feel the move is trying to prevent people from praying. Many "religious leaders" have asked the government for more space as the worshipers would not be flooding the streets should there be enough space to pray in. This brings up the notion that if the government does not provide the space nor allow prayer outside then they are effectively preventing people from praying. This along with other moves such as the banning of 'burkas' "for security reasons" is creating a feeling of defensiveness against Islamophobia.

In my opinion, I don't believe that the Muslim community should be bothered too much by this just as they were not bothered by the Burka ban. The move has been placed on all forms of worship and thus should be assumed that other religions must comply. Also, the move is not a direct prevention of prayer. I feel the same sentiments that my brothers and sisters feel: "they're trying to stop us" or "they hate that they see us praying in numbers", this may well be true, but we should not let it get to us. Simply follow the proper procedures and ask for more space, wouldn't it be great to get a grand masjid in the middle of Paris? That seems far-fetched but if that is blocked the true intentions would be clear. European governments as a whole need to understand that Muslims are part of Europe now, the governments are the ones that invited the immigrants! Live together or turn into the Nazis and treat Muslims like they treated the Jews.

It's really just about aliens...

Although a very late release here in the UAE, Cowboys vs. Aliens was the hot movie to watch this week. Unfortunately it was another example of 'Good trailer, Mediocre Movie'. The trailer really gave me a completely different impression about what the movie was going to be like. It was as if the trailer was about a completely different movie. It was such a great concept that was ruined by either bad screenplay or directing; sad to see Spielberg's name on the crew list.

A lot of times in the film you would be led on to believe that some things are going to be important in the movie. For instance, at the beginning we realize that the protagonist (Daniel Craig/Jake Lanargan) is checking the hammer of a gun he picked up, this shows that he knows his guns, but whats the point of showing that if he hardly ever uses the gun in the movie. The movie lost its western element as soon as the Aliens arrived. I was really enjoying the movie up until they began to track the runaway. Craig loses the aura of his character, other characters also lose their initial first impressions, for example, The Colonel was portrayed in the beginning to be a hard and ruthless cattle herder that practically reigns over the town, by the end of the movie ,although ever-present, there is absolutely no sign of that perception in the movie.

I have to say I was disappointed with this movie. I've always told myself to never judge a movie by it's trailer, but I let this one get to me. If you're looking to watch this movie don't keep your expectations high, and if you're not looking to watch it, you're not missing out.

Space Monkeys

So the title is clearly not the perfect one for the movie 'Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes', but honestly, when you hear the real title isn't that what hits your head? Monkeys on a planet in space?

Two reasons why my chosen title doesn't fit. Firstly, because the movie is clearly about 'Apes' and not 'monkeys', the movie states that out so people don't get confused, they want to get technical about these things. The second reason is that nothing happens in space; absolutely nothing, the setting is completely on Earth. Now although the prequel (or sequel?) to this movie can more or less carry my proposed title it still wasn't about monkeys. Unfortunately, I was a little lost as to how both these films' story lines were connected and there were clearly a lot of things that were placed to keep audience in a wow state; clearly illogical though.

I don't care how smart a monkey, sorry, ape can get, even if somehow it manages to get a virus like the one in the movie, it can't learn to be an ace disk thrower, javelin thrower, and pro horse rider, in a matter of minutes. Contrary to the principle of the movie, that the apes are smarter, jumping through windows is not a very smart thing to do, especially if you're jumping from stories high. I understand that apes are capable of landing safely from high places but honestly I don't think they'd make it from 7 stories high.

A final note: the concept of the film was believable, monkeys would be capable of a lot of things had they become much smarter, but I personally believe that no matter how smart an animal can become, there is no way it could overcome instinct. Although apes do move in packs (chimps hunt in packs), I don't believe gorillas are able to overcome their dominant instincts and follow the lead of chimpanzees. It's also hard to believe that there wouldn't be any internal struggle among the chimps.

Also the movie slogan sucked... 'Evolution becomes Revolution' come on, really?

12/9/2011 Edit: I forgot to mention that I still thought it was a fun movie to watch : P

Re-love-ution

Since I haven't watched anything in the cinema for over a month, I apologize to my readers for not posting in a long time. I'll be writing something a little different this time; finally some politics.

In a couple of days, the 10th anniversary of 9/11 will be upon us, unfortunately, it still feels like it only happened a couple of years ago. I remember stepping down from my room and into the living room only to see on television two tall buildings engulfed in smoke, that night I stayed up late simply to follow up on all the news that was going on surrounding the events; I was 12. It wasn't an event that only affected Americans but everyone in the world. This past decade has been difficult for everyone. With that said, a lot of people thought that this decade would be made easier with 8 years of Bush rule ending and a new era with Obama; sadly not.

I remember the day 'change' came to America, the day everyone in the world rejoiced that a black man was voted as President of the United States of America, the day everyone rejoiced but me. I like conspiracy theories and always thought that Obama was always going to win simply because I thought it would be good PR for America. The war on terror raged on, and Obama knew all the right things to say about Muslims, Guantanamo was supposed to be taken down, the troops were supposed to go home, and there was supposed to be less war. Unfortunately none of that happened, and I always argued with people about how I knew it was never going to happen. Sure, Iraq has far less soldiers than there ever was, but those soldiers were simply taken from there and into Afghanistan, and Pakistan became a new US front in the War on Terror. Ironically, for the first time in my life probably, although I'm not American, I'm rooting for a candidate in the elections; Republican and Congressman, Ron Paul.

No more troops outside of America, No more income tax, back to the gold standard, no more Federal Reserve, No more outside spending, and balanced budgets. All these intentions have been heard before, but Ron Paul actually adds logic that I like to hear: "They wouldn't be coming after us if we weren't in their countries to begin with. " or "The reason we're in debt is because we're trying to run an empire and borrowing money in order to keep running it. " I'm not going to keep this blog running for long but here's my two cents: if I were American, I'd vote for Ron Paul, he's sticking to the principles of the constitution that people in the whole world are able to respect, something that most American politicians have lost ages ago and especially in this past decade; reminds me of a certain JFK. Bear in mind, I'm not naive to think that simply because I like him he's going to be completely different from past presidents, but surely he's making the most sense. Watch his videos on youtube, they're all over the place.

This probably is the most pro-American talk you'll ever get from me so enjoy it! haha

07-08 all over again...

So as the news comes in that Arsenal have agreed terms with Manchester City for Nasri, I can't help but think this is turning out to be a repeat of the 07-08 season. If anyone remembers, that was the season where many players left the club, including our best. With Fabregas already gone and Nasri leaving, it's a wonder what Wenger is going to do with the midfield. I honestly can't see it functioning without replacements. Wenger said it himself, " we can't call Arsenal a big club if both Fabregas and Nasri leave".

With all the money that Wenger has been making for the club on transfers the past couple of seasons, why can't the club push for someone big? What happened with the Mata transfer that we were so interested in getting? It's really starting to tick us gooners off. There I was relishing at the idea of having Juan Mata and suddenly I hear a Chelsea-Valencia agreement.

It's still early, the transfer deadline is on the 31st so let's hope Wenger has a surprise for us.

Uruguay vs. Paraguay - Copa America Final

It was shocking to see Brazil and Argentina get knocked out early in the competition; not just shocking but a bit sad. Everyone thought they would both surely reach the final as always; not this year it seems.

I believe Uruguay will be the champions this year, their performances in the recent World Cup shows that they are probably the most improved South American side. Its good to see another South American side do well for once.

Starting a Tumblr.

That's right, I'm starting a tumblr. The features were tempting; not so keen on the page cuztomization but let's see how it goes. Obviously, there's nothing on it at the moment but I'll be sure to see what I can do with that. be sure to follow! Thanks!

"Türkçe bilmiyorum"

Just returned from the land with the most history I've ever seen. Turkey, or Istanbul in particular, has been a very interesting experience for my family. At times I was bewildered by the amazing architecture of the old Masjids, or 'Çamii' as they are also called, old Ottoman houses, and other buildings as well, and at other times the scenery of the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara were always a pleasant sight. Though we tried to enjoy ourselves as much we could, often we were put off by a number of things which left us wondering what Turkey, and Istanbul especially, was really about.

"A Photo I took of the Ayasofya"

Our entire experience there was humbling, enlightening, insulting, and also stressful; one would question if it was a holiday at all. Probably the most thing that bothered us was the way we were treated. Before leaving for Turkey, we were well informed of prices of entrance fees and transport and such things; as soon as we had entered our transport to the hotel, our "guide" offered us some tours for a price that was 7 times the regular. This wasn't the only occasion we were attempted to be ripped off. Other times there were excessive attempts to convince us we had no other choice but to pay them, lying about how the 'Satiş Noktası' (Sales point) was already closed; it was annoying.

"Further down Istiklal Street From Taksim Square"

We did not feel like guests in a country, we felt exactly like the purpose of our invitation (yes tourism is an invitation by a country); to bring our money with us and give it to them. It was very annoying being constantly called "Hajji" and treated with a friendly smile only to be attempted to be ripped off. Being presented with Menu's that had prices rubbed off, while there were perfectly good ones to give us was a clear sign. I know I'm sounding like I'm calling the entire people rip-offs; I'm not saying that, it just felt like the way we looked was a clear sign for everyone to approach us; but clearly it was alright to push us and bump into us, often being told to move out of our places because we were tourists.

What was insulting about that was the way we were constantly tagged by beggars and pimps, yes pimps, even if they could see we were with family.

During the last days I was dehydrated and couldn't see straight, I huddled over my dad to a taxi. As I got into a Taxi the driver decided... "Hmm, these guys look like in a desperate situation, let's charge them more. $10 Dollars, Hajji". Its a metered Taxi that would cost us less than a third of that!

Our holiday wasn't all bad as you can see with that smile:

"Inside the Ayasofya"

It was absolutely wonderful seeing the sites, and I could honestly say, I did not have anything that I ate there that I didn't enjoy. Everything I had was delicious, from the Döner Kebab all the way to the International foods; the Turks know food! We were cautious as to whether we were served pork or not, some places feeling ridicule for thinking we would be, and others informing us that we had the option. We left with a sense of confusion about what do Turks think is right.

Visiting the Ayasofya, Süleymaniye, and The Blue Mosque were probably the highlights of our trip. Reading the centuries of history behind these buildings was amazing. It makes one wonder which of these were built as Masjids and which were built as Churches or Synagogues, this was the case with all the mosques in the city. At times we wondered if the Sultans knew how to build Masjids or did they build Churches with minarets. My brother and I kept thinking of the Planet Naboo in Star wars and kept humming the Duel of the Fates track; hilarious!

"The Blue Mosque"

"Naboo Palace - Star Wars"

The Blue Mosque, although still functioning as a Masjid, was open to everyone to visit. Back at home in UAE, Women aren't allowed to pray in the view of men, and non-muslim visitors aren't allowed in, both of which were happening not only in The Blue Mosque, but every other mosque in the city. It was a bit annoying not knowing how to answer visitors asking us whether they could go in or not. Maybe my family and I are not built for the Tourist Role, and maybe we're just very paranoid, we could definitely say that this holiday wasn't 100%, but I believe we would definitely give it another visit, to Bursa maybe?

"Stepping into the 'Süleymaniye Camii'. My 1000th Photo"

All in all, the whole experience was good for us; we picked up some 'Türkçe' (Turkish) as some people would refuse to answer us in any other language; (the words "Türkçe bilmiyorum" which would get the message through that we didn't know Turkish) , and we became grateful for what we are used to at home. I myself felt glad that a country such as Turkey was getting ahead in this world; its political influence rising, I'm happy; being a Muslim and all, but I couldn't help feel that the Turkish people are a bit confused as to where they belong and their own identity. These were the same sentiments our "guide" at the start was feeling. In places we saw people who called themselves Muslims and were fully clothed in the 'hijab' and answering calls to prayers, in others we found men of the same claim either selling women to others or themselves to gays, Friday is not a holiday and it didn't matter if you wanted to pray Friday prayers or not. We couldn't tell who was Turkish and who wasn't, some were very western and some very eastern. Though I do not judge, for I see the same thing happening right here at home, and we may be bothered by what goes on around us, but so long as we stay true to what we believe in and provide the rights of others (which Turkey does well), then only God can judge us.

The Darker Side Of The Moon

I'm really starting to hate this habit of mine: fixating on things that I don't like about a movie. "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon" was, by far, much better than "Revenge Of The Fallen" in my opinion. There seemed to be a better story line, even though there were many unanswered questions and a lot of things that don't make sense. I guess those are givens when its an all action with lots of damage and destruction flash and bang movie. It had probably one of the longest action scenes I've ever seen in my entire life and all I could think about was "hmm something not right there".

The very first thing that got to me was the American history lesson everyone had to go through before continuing with the movie. Let's think a little here, was there really a need for that whole recap of how Americans reached the moon before the USSR? Did they have to bring in the real astronauts to act in the movie as a commemoration? Couldn't they just skip to the part where they say "we kept it a secret". Shortly after the history lesson, we are introduced to the new female protagonist fan service maiden! What joy! We got to see her bum before her face! Eat your heart out Megan Fox! and too many unnecessary characters; "Deep Wang" being one of them. The boss at the umm- what was it? The yellow floor working place?

I was quite surprised to see vehicles other than American, even though they called them and I quote ''a piece of S%#@'', I don't know if its coincidence but it was a Japanese Datsun that was portrayed as a bad car to have. Interesting to see Maybach and Ferrari in the film; obviously plenty of product placement. It was pretty funny to see somehow, after the final battle was won, there ended up an American flag flying high and proud over the Autobots and the other soldiers.

Being a big Transformers fan from childhood, I was pretty disappointed with 'Revenge Of The Fallen' and was pleased that this sequel was not a repeat of that. I still feel like the first movie was the only one that was close to portraying the real theme of Transformers; don't get me wrong, if you enjoy an action movie, you should watch this one! Enjoy!

Summer Time! Now what?

The hot hazy weather of Dubai is reaching its peaks and surely is a sign of summer! June 21st marks the first day of summer and also the day with the most sunlight in the year! I think I'd rather stay indoors if that's the case. My mind keeps telling me that I shouldn't and that I have to get outside and get some exercise; not in this heat mate!

Living in Dubai, I come across this problem every summer; not knowing what to do. As I am of the many families that don't travel very much. I end up staying at home not knowing what exactly to do. I've always tried to get a summer job until a couple of years ago as my attempts have always failed. Tried thinking of getting some sort of exercise routine that involves swimming and stuff; how much can a person swim? Mall hopping is not an option. Its a problem I think many of our youths here have trouble with. Ultimately, I always end up at network cafes wasting my life on video gaming; very popular during the summer as you can spend lots of time indoors playing games with friends, but there's only so much a person can play.

It really is a predicament for me and my friends. Finding free ways to spend my time has been my goal this summer. I ended up finding a place to watch feature length International and Arab films, I found that the Abu Dhabi Film Festival was screening films at The Pavilion Downtown Dubai; What an opportunity! Then again, it only gets me through 2 hours of my day. Maybe I should check out the Dubai Summer Surprises.

Any suggestions?

Happy Summer, Everyone!

Green Lantern Sheds No Light

Another member of the Justice League gets a movie with this first attempt by Warner Brothers to make a DC comic into a 3D movie; too bad I didn't watch it in 3D. It was still a fun watch though, it made me kind of regret not watching it in 3D. With that said the story had A LOT of unanswered questions and loose ends.

First of all, what was the point of introducing the whole family earlier in the movie? Especially the nephew; it felt like he would be involved in the plot. Next was the antagonist or was he? I can't even remember his name! All I know is he developed a second chin, could read minds and move things at will because he got touched by yellow substance that was consuming him apparently; turns out that was the power of fear. Then, there was the question of what happens to the Yellow Ring that was forged by the guardians. They made a big deal out of it and I think many of the viewers were eager to see the power of that ring. Maybe I don't understand these things because I didn't read the comic? Well then that just makes it a bad script because it was catered only to fans of the comic.

CONSPIRACY ALERT: Notice when the physiologist/antagonist/parallax's human subject? was passing on a disk of information to the other scientist, the symbol on the disk was a triangle with an eye in the middle; very much like the 'all seeing eye' on the US dollar. This obviously suggests Freemasonry/Illuminati and the like. To give an object, which was useless to the plot in anyway, the amount of screen time it got was hard to understand except to believe they wanted to emphasize the symbol.

Am I really uninformed about the comic? Am I reading too much into this? Lemme know in the comments!

Evangelist Camp

As I was looking through a list of documentaries to watch, the words "Jesus Camp" appeared. I immediately thought this was a bible camp where kids go to learn about the bible during a summer camp. Little did I know that it wasn't quite what I was thinking. It was more of an Evangelical Camp aiming evangelical teachings at children.

Now bare in mind that what I'm about to write is not an attack against teaching children about your faith, it is the right of a family to do so, and I'm not questioning the aim and intentions of such camps, I'm just a bit lost at the method in which they are doing so. Also bare in mind that I sympathize with some of the values that were being upheld such as acting against abortion. I'm not even going to touch the 'fundamentalist' word because I feel its a misused word. The thing that didn't make sense to me was, where is everything else about Christianity that was supposed to be taught? Maybe it was a flaw in the documentary, but I honestly couldn't see anything Christian about the camp except that things were being done in a church or hall and that Jesus' name kept coming up. Calling on children to raise their hands and feel Jesus, or to break porcelain cups and plates with a hammer, or passing out fetus dolls for children to see, and then playing a rock concert with dancing and saying that its doing your work for god?

To me it seemed like everything good about life was thrown into the camp from dancing to music, swimming to dirt biking; and then in the end saying that all the fun you had was because youre praying to Jesus. One quote by one of the boys was "I began praying to god because I wanted more from life". Is this God worship or Life worship?

X-Men vs. WoMen!

Another weekend; Another movie. 'X-Men: First Class' was the movie to watch this weekend and as I didn't manage to watch 'Origins' I didn't know what to expect. I liked this one, I would say it was the best out of all five X-Men movies (despite not watching 'Origins'). I liked seeing the young Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Eric Lensherr (Magneto) and their contemporaries. It was surprising to see that the movie wasn't in 3D; it would've had more 3D than Pirates Of The Caribbean. Little mentions of certain characters and even the appearance of some were also nice to see. As I am always critical of movie content, I couldn't help but complain about certain things, one out of all was the fact that the movie had a sexist theme to it. I wondered if people were actually noticing.

Am I the only one that noticed the fact that every single major female character undressed herself in the movie? Think about it; Mystique in bed and after, Frost for the Russian General, Moira in the Vegas scene, Angel and all the other strippers. Why did they all have to undress? Every single one of them? To achieve their goals? Doesn't that portray a message subconsciously? Isn't that sexist? or is that the American version female empowerment? Well, Moira did say she was "using the tools the CIA never gave me". Another scene to add to that is the final scene after Moira was caused to forget the events prior to her final debriefing. She could only remember 'a kiss' and the cheif stated "this is why women shouldn't be in the CIA".

Isn't America and The West supposed to be the champions of women's rights and equality? If their idea of that is for every woman to think that using their body in order to achieve things is ok, then isn't that contradictory to the idea of empowering women? It was like they were trying to push the sexual aspect of the movie all the way down to the female Manikins being used for target practice. You could clearly see the curvature of private parts and emphasis of camera on the 'bust'. Is it just me being a man? Or did they intentionally place that for me to notice?

I know I keep bringing up Movie Brainwashing but seriously, what was all that about in the movie? Other than that I think the movie was good to watch.

Still toy guns?

Another season ends and just as I feared in this post ten months ago, no trophies for Arsenal FC. Although the reasons I cited were off, I wasn't too far. The main reason for Arsenal's problems lie in defense. Our best defenders left in the names of Kolo Toure and William Gallas, sure we had Vermaelen but how can one young defender replace two seasoned champions? Johan Djourou rose to the occasion and Koscielny put in brave performances for many occasions, but it felt like they were still a bit too frail at the back.

Every Arsenal fan likes to make his own deduction of what's going wrong with the team, many blamed experience, others blamed it on quality, the seasons before it was depth, and I myself thought it was because we needed a superstar. Chelsea have Drogba, Barcelona have Messi, Man-United had Ronaldo and now Rooney. It makes me wonder "does Arsenal have someone like that?" a player that would strike fear to all who play against us; we used to have Henry. If you asked me that question half way through the season, I would've told you no. I was proven wrong however towards the end of the season; we have Robin Van Persie. As it turns out, he has made the English record for most goals scored within a half season as well as a record for most consecutive away goals; imagine if he'd been fit all season. Then again we say that every season.

There are so many positives to take away from this season, we have improved collectively, our goalscoring is top of the league, many of our players have become stars with the likes of Nasri, Walcott, Alex Song, and of course, Jack Wilshere who is our player of the season. Great things to come from that boy, I remember watching the reserve videos just to see him play. We are top of the mini-top four league, have a strong team and to improve it will be very difficult, a solid goalkeeping trio. I think the key for next season will be to keep our best players.

So another season to wait for during the summer, and another run to put something in the trophy-less cabinet, another year to try and get something other than the Emirates Cup; this year will be different. We've all been saying that for the past 6 years and rightly so, because we believe in this team just as much as the boss does. We're doing the right things and we are unbelievably close to something really big. People forget that Sir Alex once had a trophy-less run, and look at what happened after. These Gunners no longer use toy guns, and our guns will surely be well loaded and rationed for next season.