Beauty Killed The Beast

I just watched "King Kong," and let me tell you: What a great masterpiece! Every little piece fits in nicely. I like the story, the choice of actors, graphics, music, the direction. I like it all.

I wasn't excited at first about it being 3 hours long. I remember loving everything about "The Green Mile" but its length. I was numb by the end of it. "Kong" was totally fine however. With all the action and the jaw-dropping graphics, I didn't feel it was long. Did I say graphics? Damn! Hollywood has indeed come a long ways! Everything looked very real! I can't even tell whether all of Kong was graphics or there was some hardware involved.

The fight sequences were great. With the sound track in the background, you literally get the sense of greatness of Kong and the other monsters. The fight scene between the characters and the giant insects and worms had a very queit, slow music background. It was creeping-quiet!

What a second project for Peter Jackson. They say he only took the "Lord of the Rings" series to establish himself as a qualified director for "King Kong." Peter, you used "Lord of the Rings" to audition yourself to Hollywood? If I were Hollywood, I'd tap you on the back and say "go for it, boy you're good. Yo' good."

I give it a 4.32 out of 5. Definitely go see it!


Note to KNCC: Is it really the case that until now you haven't received enough complaints about how freezing it is inside? I was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt and a heavy sweater, and I almost got hypothermia in my fingers!


P.S.: Kong looked a bit too chubby, didn't he?

Very Moving!

Listen to this with maximum volume!

Jandeef's Shorelines IV

ّIt's already December 20th, winter. Are you kidding me? I got stuck with all the heavy sweaters I brought with me! Last night I couldn't sleep so I opened the window, but our deeeech refused to shut up at 3 am, so I turned on my room's AC.

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Last Friday was my first zwara this holiday, which means FUN with the KIDS! I was told my 3 year old cousin falls asleep if you yawn in his face. I let it go at first. Then, another cousin sat in front of him and pretended that he was yawning for about 7 minutes, and the little one SLEPT SITTING UP!!! OMG, It cracked us all up LOL. He slept as in they took him to bed, not just a nod! You'd wish all kids were that easy.

My cousin's daughter is also 3 year old and she's confused. Sometimes she calls me "3ammi Jandeef" and sometimes "Khaali Jandeef." Cute!!!!

Another 9 year old cousin is super chubby and has a big karsha. Everybody calls him now Thaif Allah Sharar. He looks and walks like him LOL!

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Last night I had to pick from the following: Nadwa about "The Liberal History of Secularism" at Dar Alathar, Qurain Fest. Concert, or national high school concert finale. Tough decision! I ended up going to the Qurain concert, and it wasn't much :( I guess having this many cultural activities is a good thing afterall.

By the way, what was Mr. Yousef Alhajji doing in the concert?

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This week's obsession: للغيرة سبايب .. بفراق الحبايب

I listened to it on my way to the concert by Moh'd Alsha3lan. Then it was played in the background after the concert. Now it's stuck in my head!

عودة من جديد .. بلا جديد

أعود من جديد ..
بلا شيء أعود متشوقاً له
فشيئنا إياه كان ..
ولم يعد يكون .. انتهى

أضحى كما يقال ..
"مثل الزجاج .. كسرها لا يجبر"
إلا بمعجزة .. وأعلم وتعلمين ..
أنها مستحيلة لغير الأنبياء والرسل

ترى لو لم ينكسر زجاجنا ..
كيف حالي سيكون؟
ربما ما كنت سأعود
ربما كنت سأقضي عطلتي متسكعاً
في ربوع هاواي .. تحت نخيلها
معك

تباً لهم
أعلم أنك تحبينهم ..
ولكن تباً لهم
كسروا زجاجنا ..
فماذا عساي أن أقول؟
أحبهم؟

****

لماذا في تمام الساعة الرابعة
تعمدت دخول زحام الدائري الرابع
رغم أن طريقي أسرع ..
لو سلكت شارع منظمة المدن وصندوق التنمية
شارع الأم تي سي والبنك الوطني

ثمة مغناطيس يجذبني هناك
قاومته فغلبته ..
معركتي معه شبه يومية
لا أدري إلى أي يوم سأبقى غالباً

****

ثم أعود للبيت
وأقرأ ابن العسكر يقول ..

"قـبّـل فديتك مبسمـي دع جيدي .. وإلى اللقــاء صبــاح يـوم العيـدِ
لم لا وأهلي ، ويح أهلي ، بالغوا .. بــاللــــوم والتعنيـــف والتهـديــدِ
لا تقتـرب من دارنـا هم أقسمـوا .. أن يقطعوا إن جئت حبل وريدي
يا ليت شعري هل أثار شكوكهم .. حولي ، قيامي بالـدجى وقعـودي
وتـأفـفـــي وتـلهـفـــي وتـبـــرمـــي .. بـهــم وهــذا ديــــدن الـمـفـــؤودِ
يا للحـمـاقـة والـرعـونـة فـــرقـــوا .. بينــي وبـين الـوامـق الـمعـمـــودِ
يا لـلـتـعــاســة مــن يــواسينـي ويـسـلـيـنـي بـأيـام الـفــراق الـســـودِ"


ثم أقرأ نزاراً يقول عن حبيبته ..
"تقتحم التاريخ من كل الجهاتِ..
إنها تدخل كالإبرة..
في كل تفاصيل حياتي.."

صدق نزار .. كل تفاصيلها


وتقول سومة قبل نومي .. مع بعض التحريف
"إزاي أوصف لك يا حبيبي إزاي ..
أنا من بعدك بأيت إزاي ..
يا حبيبي ...
أنا ولا امبارح فاكراه ..
ولا عندي بكره استناه ..
ولا حتى يومي عايشاه .."


إلى لقاءٍ .. غير قريب
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Connexion

I just wanted to say that the In-Flight Wireless Internet Connection ROCKS!

See you in Kuwait.

..

Jandeef

35,000 feet above the Atlantic

وسومة تغرد .. ده انته زيك ما تخلأش اتنين

Religious Or Traditional?

I'm sick of the on going Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays debate in American media. Left-wingers are calling for the removal of anything that has to do with Christmas from public property, saying the government shouldn't endorse one religion over another. Valid point, I thought. On the other hand, right-wingers say the constitution was written with a christrian spirit, and the vast majority of Americans are christian anyway.

Many well-known department stores replaced "Merry Christmas" banners with "Happy Holidays" ones. Some even instructed their salesmen to greet their customers with only "Happy Holidays."

In response, right-wing media pundits are fighting back. Heading the effort is Fox's Bill O'Reilly, pushing for boycotting such stores. He and others say their motivation is tradition, not religion. O'Reilly presents himself as a "traditionalist," which by his definition means something like "sticking to the original American values and resisting radical changes to them for political gain." I find that funny coming out of O'Reilly's mouth.

Anyway. Today, my ex-host mom asked me to come pick up some gifts for my mother since I'm going to Kuwait. She said "I bought her some stuff for the Christmas tree. Does she put up a tree at all?"

I was the third Arab/Muslim student she had hosted, so she knows very well we don't celebrate Christmas. That got me wondering "maybe O'Reilly and his gang, to some extent, have a point in saying it is more of a traditional matter." Maybe an average American, like her, celebrates it merely out of tradition, not religion.

What'd ya think? If it's just a tradition, is that a good defense for keeping Dec. 25th as a Federal holiday in a supposedly secular nation?

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On an unrelated subject, I did very very very well on my last final today. Thank you Victoria. My exam preparation couldn't have been better without you yesterday. Much Love (L).