Not sure how this collaboration will go, but it sure is interesting. I just hope it is better than the Hakeem with James Brown song from many years ago.

I do have a feeling Snoop’s Arabic would be better than that of LL Cool J

This was filmed in 1966, a bit propagandist in nature, especially where the announcer says some of their brothers and fathers cannot see their faces at home… at the same time the school door is opened by the school doorman who happens to be… a man.

According the the United Nations first-ever World Happiness Report, Saudi Arabia is 26th on the happy scale, the report is 158 pages, which I have not read in its entirety yet, but basically is says the more money you have the happier you are, as the happiest nations are more wealthy and less religious (while religion helps in areas where life is harder, even in wealthy nations like the US), and the least happy are poor countries… so they do lie, money does buy happiness (at least it pays for the search).

The first bought $60,000 Bottle of Champagne at The Tippler, in New York in March, the other splurged $136,000 on a bottle of champagne at Dubai’s glitzy Cavalli club.

The names were never mentioned, but being the one percent, they know who the other is, if the news is true, I am sure.

It is their money, and they can chose to spend it however they want, I will not get into that, had they not been Saudi, their names would’ve probably never made it to the news… except, spending that much on a bottle of bubbly, you want the world to know

However, no one will ever mention a particular issue… even though buying alcohol is forbidden, and wasting money, according to the Quran, makes a person a “brother to the devil”

But what do I know… If I ever struck it rich someday… I might get myself an iced grill… but for now, I’m just gonna brush my shoulders off.

@Hning, (Alia Makki), @Soumz, (Asmaa M), and @smaldosari, (Saad Al-Dosari) who paid for my coffee and now I owe him one

Them and I were guests on the (That Jeddah Podcast) hosted by @Nessreen, (The Secret Life of Bees. Knees).

The episode is called “Episode 45: Bloggeratti” I’ve known these guys virtually for years now… and the first time we meet… it was recorded

Here it is just click on this link “Episode 45: Bloggeratti”

The wonderful thing about it, is that I’m inspired by each and one of those bloggers.

I was surprised to see this a while ago, Saudi street extremism (hey, it’s the redbull generation… mountain dew is like mellow yellow to them now).

It did take them five years to catch on… it just shows you how far ahead of the curve they are
We don’t have skateboarders (we do, but they are few and far between) we don’t have bungee jumpers, nor extreme bike riders, but we do have these skidders… those who open the door of a car going down the highway and skate.

I have never seen them myself, but the video went viral, and made this pop artist use it as an influence.
Now, if we can mass produce it in a safe way and offer it to tourists… that would be something, eh?

Here is a line from a song called Beware, and he says “Before bin Laden got Manhattan to blow, Before Ronald Reagan got Manhattan to blow” blow in the first meaning 9-11 and the second which means the drug cocaine.

Explaining that lyric in the book he says:

“Ronald Reagan got Manhattan to “blow”—slang for cocaine—through the whole Iran-Contra scandal, which got the United States involved in the drug trade that brought crack to the hood so they could finance the Contras in Central America. In the worst years of the crack epidemic—the late eighties and early nineties—there were literally thousands of homicides annually in New York. So juxtaposing Reagan and bin Laden isn’t as crazy as it may seem. This is a piece of our recent history that people like to forget or pretend never happened so they can maintain some fantasy of American purity—which is why I thought it was important to include it in this rhyme. It’s that same sort of historical amnesia and myth of America’s innocence that led us into the war in Iraq. In my little way, I’m trying to kill that myth by reminding people of the truth—because that myth is a dangerous thing for the whole world.”

And this is one of the reasons I like Rap, I’m not done with the book yet, and if you are into books, find me on goodreads.

“Destination Mount Everest” is under the patronage of Princess Rema Daughter of Bandar bin Sultan AlSaud, in association with the ministry of education and health.

The effort comes after the guinness world record achieved by Saudi Arabia for the largest human awareness pink ribbon in 2010.

All of the participants are either survivors of breast cancer or have a close relative that is battling the disease.

One of my best friends lost his mother to breast cancer, another extremely good friend’s wife has been going through her own journey battling the disease, so the subject affects me deeply on a personal level.

They say 8000 new cases are discovered yearly among Saudi women, 50-60% of them in late stages.

Shout out to American Bedu who is going through her own battle with the disease and raising awareness through her own blog and activities.

Now, looking back on this, where will they get females to compete? Not like athletes are made overnight, and It’s not like female sports are a favorite pastime for women (nor men, and we have an almost epidemic number of people suffering from obesity related diseases) and seeing how the millions spent on football (soccer) are a really good return on the investment, I am not really optimistic about women getting any medals… Unless they invent new sports of perseverance and ability, something many women all over the world are already champions in (ain’t that right John?)

Where are the sports bras is me making fun of the lack of women’s athletic apparel in Saudi, not the name brand expensive stuff, but the regular stuff you find in the cheaper stores.

Related Posts:

• Physical Education for Girls in Saudi Arabia
• Dalma Wins Bronze

Picture an Arab Man by Tamara Abdul Hadi
Started in 2009, the portrait series “Picture an Arab Man” is part of a large body of work capturing semi-nude Arab men of diverse backgrounds. The project is meant to literally picture a new face for Arab males than the one we are so accustomed to perusing in the mainstream media. Breaking down stereotypes as to how Arabs have been represented in the West, as well as in the East, is one of the conceptual aims of this project. I attempt to do so by highlighting the sensual beauty of the Arab man, an unexplored aspect of their identity on the cusp of change in a society that reveres an out-dated form of hyper-masculinity. Moreover, it is an attempt to uncover and break the stereotypes imposed on the Arab male in a post 9/11 world, and provide an alternative visual representation of that identity.

Check out the video and the commentary by the artist

For more information visit this link