ahwak

a day out with the kids

join the ROTC for the travel

strange ROTC ad. I don't understand it.

the fountain

I think I just saw the most beautiful movie ever made. The Fountain. I am not good with giving movie reviews, but I cam say that it is extremely well written, acted and the visuals and music are incredible.. and yes it totally made me cry. now trite, bitter, jaded people may not be so emotionally moved, so if you feel like your emotions are constantly supressed, then don't go. Those who want to see a well crafted movie and are not afraid to cry in public should give it a go.

I'm getting ready for Japan

in preparation for going to japan soon.. I remembered the section in Sonar over the summer that was all about Japaneses DJs and artists.. here is one of my favorite dudes in that section.. I love the video art behind him.. I also (thanks to Youtube) added plenty of videos of my favorite sonar moments in the blog in June that I posted on my experience at the festival... happy Japaneses video!

music

alright.. in the spirit of thanksgiving, I thought i should post some random music videos that I am thankful for:

AFX - This is absolutly brilliant (I LOVE!!! Chris Cunningham)


The cure




Portishead (I LOOOVVVVEEE)


slowdive


Nancy Ajram




My bloody valentine


Dirty Sanchez


Miss Kittin and Felix


Amr Diab


Natacha Atlas




Billy Corgan

I love humanists especially when they speak arabic

This post contains a video, if you can't see it, you need to view the original post on my blog.

I'm saving myself an $80 application fee

sunday night my ID didn't work at the gym so I went monday morning to get a new ID. when I was in the ID office there were two new MIT police officers getting their IDs. comolete with their uniforms, boots and guns they stood there clueless, one of them seemed so excited to have an ID that also says MIT on it, it was a strange sight. I was looking at them becasue the whole thing was taking long, and frankly I was so bothered by the sight of a fucking gun or two for that matter right infront of me. now I am not sure what goes into police training, or even worst, campus police training (something tells me if you go for campus police you are simply not even good enough to be an urban police person, meaning you are already sucking as to be part of a job known to be ruled by thugs and loosers and past high school drug dealers) anyway, one of them (for the lack of a better word) was such a pussy, he could not even make direct eye contact with me. its just rediculous. later that day Saima told me about the UCLA campus police incident and I finally watched the video.. I am angry. It reminded me of when we had cops with machine guns standing everywhere in NYC a couple of years ago, and how angry that made me. here some links and videos to spread the news on this incident. and I guess I am not sending my UCLA application, not that this can't happen anywhere, but I am ashamed that these fucking campus cops were not even put off the job until an investigation is done, they have been working their shifts since the incident. for this to happen right here in the middle of a library on a california campus and people are wondering why are so many people hating of american troops abroad.. well can't you imagine what they do there.. and only once in a while it gets so bad that people know about abu graib or random rape of 13 and 15 year old girls. everyone.. and I mean everyone in the military or police in this country is just as scum as the police in places like egypt except they are given the illusion of power, machine guns, tasers and a badge that gives them the security to fuck with who ever they want as long as no one is looking, but once in a while someone is looking (and thankfully has a video phone to record it)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mostafa_Tabatabainejad

عندما تحكمك الكلاب ...... فلا تشكو من ألم العض

"أجلس مع الزملاء على المقهى معزيا نفسى على أنقضاء عيدا أخر و أنا وحيد

لأجد أحدهم يأتى يبلغنا بأندلاع الثورة قاصا علينا الاحداث الاولى لأندلاعها

نهب دافعين الحساب للحاق بركب الثورة حتى لا تفوتنا فنعض على النواجز

قائلين يا ريتنا كنا معاهم

ندخل شارع طلعت حرب و نلتحم بالجموع كلهم ممن طحنهم الفقر

و البطالة و أصبح لا سبيل لهم الا الثورة

وقفت منتظرا سماع خيوط الهتاف الجماهيرى

كى أنخرط مع الجموع هاتفا بسقوط نظام أكل الدهر عليه و شرب

لم أجد أبطال مناضلين محمولين على الاكتاف هاتفين بحب الوطن

بل مجموعة من الهايجيين جنسيا الخارجين من بوتقة الحرمان و الكبت

و الذين وجدوا صيدهم السهل وسط الزحام فأخذوا فى الهجوم بأعداد

غفيرة على كل من تحمل تأء التأنيث فى الشارع

مستعملين أسلحة الثورة من شتائم و سباب و أصابع

مهللين لكل قطة تقع فى مصيدتهم

مطاردينها حتى اخر قطرة

فإما الوقوع فى الارض و الاستسلام

وإما الهرب الى أحدى المحلات التى اصبحت كملاجىء القصف

مع هذا كله لا تستغرب أستنكار كبار السن لملابس البنات

و أنهم يا عينى هما اللى عملوا كدة فى الشباب ووصلوهم لكدة

او رمى اللوم على مصر اللى مابقاش فيها رجالة

و بيسيبوا بناتهم تخرج كدة

و لا تستنكر تخاذل الامن ووجود عدد لا يتعدى العشرة أفراد

فالثوار هذه المرة مطالبهم جنسية بحته

تحيه لأبطال الثورة الحقيقيون

الفقر

البطالة

العنوسة

الكبت

الحرمان

فأولائك الهايجون فى وسط البلد اليوم

ماهم إلا أدوات فى أيدى هؤلاء"

warm rainy nights

aaahhhh, smoking with the window wide open and wind blowing in at 68 degrees on a november nights feels so good!! what is wrong with this weather! I just checked weather.com and its actually colder in Alexandria, Egypt right now than it is in Cambridge, MA! I have also gone back to listening to dublab which brings back memories of Newark. I miss them days.

the police

I ran out of my building yesturday around 3:30 to catch the bus to the BAC.. there was a cop there directing traffic or watching over the construction on mass ave. He smiled at me, took off his gloves and shook my hand, his name was peter.. maybe paul, I can't remember. he kept looking at my feet and was getting really friendly. I just wanted to get to the BAC on time for my class. he asked me the weather forcast, made a comment on how cool he thinks my "look" is, asked if I live alone.... then the bus arrived.. just in time. not sure where that was going, but it made me smile for entire bus ride...

tragic error

so fucking John Bolton (the UN rep for the USA, not michael Bolton, the even gayer 80s singer version of Kenny G who also resembles the christ figure found on little cards distributed by evangelical church-goers), he fucking vetoed a UN security council resolution condemning the random killing of 18 civilians in Gaza this week who happen to mostly be women and kids.

many countries see that what happened in Gaza this week was especially disturbing and a clear abuse of military power against civilians, however, fuckin Bolton, for some reason, doesn't agree, and for some reason has the power to veto everyone else.

O, I am sorry, (and I do love my jewish friends this has nothing to do with that, please spare me the typical dump american confusion between jewish and israeli military) but maybe with this kind of shit happening all the fucking time, a fucking missile landing in a fucking residential area near the border which just happens to be mostly inhabited by US citizens from Brooklyn (becuase they just had to go there and make the situation worst), maybe that is also a tragic error.

I don't understand how a planned military attack on apartment buildings, and the recent targeting of a daycare and small clinic (serving pregnent women), how is that a tragic fucking error you fucking michael bolton fuck, I fucking don't like you and what you represent.

I'm not angry, just like to sound tough. fuckers

in other news, what the fuck is up with these idiots.. hahaha, please check out their idiocy at http://www.godhatesfags.com/main/index.html
its classic.

I am thrilled to share this

ok, this just cracks me up everytime.. I'm going to some gay harvard party tonight where nothing will be funny so I thought I should watch this first. I'll be laughing all night when I think of this and people will think their lame humor is whats making me laugh... hahaha fools.

my japanese friends

my kifya

I am wearing my kifya a lot again, and it is really interesting what it does. First of all, I love how it is finally worn in more numbers on American streets, of course only by punks and their likes because who else wouldn't mind being associated with Arabs or whatever the kifya represents. Second its even more interesting that urban outfitters is finally selling kifyas in its American stores, it has been selling them in London for a little while now... of course if you want a trendy kifya you get it from urban outfitters for $20 bucks, and you have the wide range of colors from green on gray to yellow on black and the classic red on white and black on white. third, I get the strangest variety of attention on the street, sometimes a random mid-aged woman would give me a sort of supportive smile, as if I am fighting a battle not just going to class, and sometimes I get a random white usually fat guy who shakes his head side to side in disapproval, as if wondering, how can we allow someone express Arabness so publicly, or, I can't believe how good looking that Arab guy is... whatever.. It’s just funny.
now, its interesting that some people would find it strange at all to wear a kifya in public, as if here in Cambridge, in a liberal environment, we can be friends with sort-of-Arabs and sort-of-Muslims as long as they keep it on the down low.. You know, I'll be your friend just don't rub your identity in my face so much. I just love how some people out there would only be friends with us if we have serious schizophrenia about who we are, some kind of repressed identity issues or my favorite, with major inferiority complexes (people from a couple of countries in the mid-east are known for their inferiority complexes, they are a bit north of cypress and a bit east of Lebanon).... so funny how some make a point to denounce any possibly assumed link they may have with something so controversial these days.. Say Islam, oooh the boogieman...

oh just in case, here are some more bloggers from Iraq expressing their utter happiness for killing Saddam:
http://neurotic-iraqi-wife.blogspot.com/ >>>>>>>> "I didn't want the death penalty. I wanted him to get life imprisonment and rot in a one metre by one metre cell.

I wanted his pride to be broken. I wanted him to live to the day were he will see a better Iraq. Whatever remaining years he had, I wanted him to live them in fear, in solitude, in despair..."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/6125608.stm >>>>>>>> "Saddam is nothing but a political card American politicians are playing against the American public.

And what exactly is his death going to do to improve Iraq or life in Iraq?

The sectarian tension or the security situation? The electricity or water? The curfews or the blocked streets? The puppet government or the dirty politicians? The loans of the billions stolen from Iraq as cash or oil since the invasion by Iraqi or Americans politicians?

Nothing at all."

I didn't say it.. she said it

This is a woman blogging from Iraq >>>> http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

and this is what she says about the verdict on saddam. welcome the new and improved military state sponsored by the united states. Don't you love american freedom.

"When American troops are being killed by the dozen, when the country you are occupying is threatening to break up into smaller countries, when you have militias and death squads roaming the streets and you've put a group of Mullahs in power - execute the dictator.

Iraq saw demonstrations against and for the verdict. The pro-Saddam demonstrators were attacked by the Iraqi army.

This is how free our media is today: the channels that were showing the pro-Saddam demonstrations have been shut down. Iraqi security forces promptly raided them.

Welcome to the new Iraq.

The Zawra channel ran a subtitle saying that the channel has stopped broadcasting by order of the government.

It's not about the man - presidents come and go, governments come and go.

It's the frustration of feeling like the whole country and every single Iraqi inside and outside of Iraq is at the mercy of American politics."

save saddam

I am so mad. 1. I lost my favorite lighter and my T-pass for the month. 2. this country is so fucked up.
I can't believe saddam hussein is getting executed!!! what the fuck will that do. give people closure? thats just for simpltons! people will shoot a couple of bullets in the air out of the illusion that there is a reason to celebrate then things will be just worst. he will be a hero, he will be on banners and tshirts. just watch. the death sentence is rediculous, I don't care who gets it and for doing what. people who still think the death sentence is ok are sad, desperate, scared, looking for a reason to satisfy a savage need within them to kill something, these are usually the people who wouldn't even step on a fucking bug. give me a break. others just think "oh yeah justice" like they are so fucking liberated and radical, "yea kill em man, I don't care, he deserves it." such bullshit, they can only say such crap from their hiding holes, their safe havens, from the place where they ran away from those who would kill them or harm them. its just repressed anger. maybe i am too liberal for liberals, I don;t even know what that means, but fuck this cliche bullshit, no one gets a death sentence in this fucking day and age. if you want punishment, you put someone in a fuckin prison cell to suffer, not kill them for ephemral celebration and then turn them into eternal heros for others. idiots. I am so mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!