Zain Eid Commercial
I liked this commercial by Zain, the telecom company, about Eid, the four day celebration after Ramadan. I liked how they put a twist on the Jack and the beanstalk story, the giant is not evil this time… all he needed was some love. 
Torture of a Sri Lankan maid by nails in Saudi Arabia
“A Saudi employer and his wife, who are accused of torturing a Sri Lankan housemaid by hammering nails into her body, have been arrested in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, officials at the Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry said Monday.” CNN
I’ve tried to reserve judgement on the couple, not that abuse of workers does not happen in Saudi (or in many parts in the world) but the story was just too much to really take in, that is human violence, that is premeditated, and if the case was true, the couple need to be tortured first, with some medieval torture instruments before anything else. However, in reality, they must be not right in the head, and I hope they do not have children because I would not want them as my parents.
I remember I once had a sewing needle get into my back during gym class at eighth grade while doing sit-ups in the soccer field, it hurt, bad, I had to go to the hospital and get surgery to get it out less than 24 hours after it got in, because it had swollen and I could not walk straight because of it, so what that woman suffered was nothing short of hell.
I also have to wonder if the couple had some kind of medical book, or if they thought they were performing acupuncture on the poor lady, inserting all those needles without accidentally killing a person does not happen by chance, and not getting infected must have been some clean surgical grade material they were using… I am just asking these questions out loud.
If it is true as I said, then somebody needs to do a psychological evaluation on the couple, if not, then that poor woman suffered by whoever inserted those things in her.
It makes you wonder how bad humans could be to each other, I know of an experiment (made into a movie called Das Experiment) and I know kids drive other kids to suicide by bullying and now cyber-bullying… I just wish this was all not true… but that is all a fact of life.
On a lighter side of things, my parents had employed many domestic helpers over the years, some still call my parents every now and then to say hello, one even named her daughter after my mom, so I personally know it is not all bad, since many of the families I know have had drivers and maids for so many years.
I pray Lahadapurage Daneris Ariyawathie gets well soon, and I hope she gets justice.
The Mecca Clock
Finally, a picture that puts it all in perspective.
Photo from the Boston.com Big Picture (here)
I Thought all Muslims are Extremist
“Rev. Bob: I used to be afraid of Muslims, I thought all Muslims are extremist”
A candid interview with Prince Turki (Turqi) Al-Faisal, which turned into Prince Turki turning the tables and interviewing the interviewer Reverend Bob, holding the camera and all
I thought it was nice as an easy going interview which is about Christianity and Islam and a person’s relationship with God.
Now if we can all just have this type of dialogue with each other without being too one sided in our opinions, the world would be a whole lot nicer.
Arab-American Comedy
With Arab phobia and Islamopohbia seeming to be at a high point these days, I, being an optimist always looking at the bright side of things, like to see things like this come out. Nothing like comedy to diffuse things, and make us look at culture as what it is, a different way of viewing and living in this world, where we have no power in choosing the families we were born into, the religion we were raised as, the traditions and customs we live by, the color of our skin, or the genetics we were born with.
Comedy is the breaker of all barriers, and with the Axis of Evil Comedy tour, which did well, here come the Ed and Moe Show.
Here is a MTV Cribs style spoof, gotta love the scene where Moe’s mom throws her sandel at him
and here is one about Ramadan.
I think these guys will do well. (saw this at Kabobfest)
Be sure to like their facebook page, The Ed and Moe Show on Facebook
Aliens in Saudi Arabia
Aliens, seem to like the desert, either it is Area 51 in Nevada or around Roswell New Mexico, so why not Riyadh Saudi Arabia?
Video by Ala’a Mctoom
Dalma wins bronze
I found this interesting “Though this is the first time a Saudi woman athlete officially represented the Kingdom at an international competition, several women riders had been competing overseas since 2004 under the sponsorship of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company.
Leading women riders who have carried the colors of Kingdom Holding Company include Alia Al-Huwaete, Nourah Al-Yousif, and Latifah Al-Shaikh, who all competed in several show jumping and endurance competitions in the Gulf.” (ArabNews)
Makes you wonder what the press really sheds light on, not to mention they said Dalma was 16 in initial reports and they got her name wrong.
Congrats to her on the bronze medal.
Anti-muslim Rally at Ground Zero
I do not want to get into the ground zero mosque arguments, but this video… is scary.
It reminded me of a concert I went to when I was about 18 or 19 studying in the US. I went with a friend who likes heavy metal, I am not into that music, but I went along. I think I was the only non-white person there, and somehow I could feel a few unfriendly stares.
I tried to stand as close as I could to the security guards, and a big white guy kept following me with his eyes, with a lot of anger in them, this was in the early nineties.
The following week, there was a “peaceful” KKK march downtown, which I watched on the news, and that big guy was right there marching with them… yes, after staring at me for what looked like an eternity, I would not mistake him in a police lineup.
I was lucky, as was this guy, those people could’ve made him look like Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky in less then a minute.
Video: Think About It
The ground zero Islamic community center has stirred quite a commotion, I think the issue has been made into something bigger than what it’s worth, for whatever reasons that might be.
I did find an interesting video though, it is called Think About it, and it is a wonderful effort to say the least by those who made the video.
This is what the person who made it had to say:
About nine years ago I had the privilege of going to a Muslim nation for the first time. Before I went, I didn’t know what to expect. I remember being very fearful because of my lack of knowledge and experience with Muslims and their culture. I grew up in a town that didn’t have any Muslims and the only exposure that I had received was from television.
In my mind, Muslims were people who hated Americans and wanted to kill us because we weren’t Muslim. Looking back on it I laugh because of my naivety, but at that time these thoughts really scared me.
I’m so glad that I was able to overcome my fears because once I was there my thinking drastically changed. I found that the Muslim people that I got to know were some of the most hospitable and kind people that I had ever met. I have been to many Muslims countries now and have developed friendships with many there. They have opened my eyes to the stereotypes that I had once bought into.
This video is my effort to try and help people think about this issue. I think we as Americans can get worked up about a group of people that often we know little about.
Here are some questions for you:
How many of you are afraid of Muslims?
How many of you have ever met a Muslim?
How many of you have had a Muslim friend?
I think we fear because we’re scared of the unknown. Have we made an effort to understand?
I would love to see Americans start dialoging with Muslims both here and abroad.
My Muslim friends in the Middle East and North Africa made me promise that I would tell my American friends that they aren’t terrorists. I hope you enjoy this video that I made.
I think this is nothing less than a wonderful effort to bridge a very widening gap between people, because even though some of us might live in a multicultural city, very few interact with anyone outside of their own circle.
Paragliding in Abha – Saudi Arabia
Saw this on SUSRIStube.
I am not sure what the conditions of entry were for these guys, but it seemed like an interesting video to share here. The two paragliders are Andre Bernhard & Adi Ibanez, and they seem to have had a good time. (video)
I would’ve liked them to use a lens that wasn’t too wide which makes everything look almost like it was shot with a fisheye lens, and I wish the camera did not shake as much as it did.
