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.