Thursday, September 11, 2008

It's the end of the woo-oorld as we know it!

About a month ago, I was outside watching the "partial" lunar eclipse with my older brother on our front lawn. Due to the "event" at hand, our conversation strayed to space, scientists, and blah blah blah. A couple days before that, I was talking about the same subject with a good friend of mine and he explained to me that scientists were currently trying to recreate the "Big Bang". So I mentioned that to my older brother and that really got him started. He went somewhere my feeble brain could not follow so I just nodded and pretended that I understood, and went back to watching the moon. Before I lost interest in watching the moon, I confessed to him that I couldn't tell Star Wars (star wars, moon watching, relevent, no? okay, not really, moving on) I couldn't tell Star War's theme song apart from Superman's theme song. They just sound too similar to me.

Now notice how seamlessly I segue into introducing the youtube video below. Here's a rap song about the Large Hadron Collider and a simplified version of what the scientists are doing up in CERN or in case you, like me, clicked on the current doodle on google and didn't understand jack.

Large Hadron Rap






Based on the website Revelation 13 (New Age Schools, mythology, religion, the prophecies of Nostradamus, Bible Code in the King James Bible, Bible prophecy, and numerical analysis) this next video is 10 minutes long. It's mostly this one woman talking but oh man the stuff she says... She goes on to talk about the Large Hadron Collider, Nostradamus, the Bible, a Black Hole, and more. Once again I choose to be Swiss so I shall refrain from voicing my opinion.

Did Nostradamus predict the LHC will create a Black Hole?






Here's a short movie of how the the world ends, to literally show you what she means.

The CERN black hole






What is CERN? The European Organization for Nuclear Research is the world's largest particle physics laboratory, situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco-Swiss border. The organization has twenty European member states, and is currently the


workplace of approximately 2600 full-time employees, as well as some 7931 scientists and engineers (representing 500 universities and 80 nationalities).

CERN's main function is to provide the particle accelerators and other infrastructure needed for high-energy physics research. Numerous experiments have been constructed at CERN by international collaborations to make use of them. As an international facility, the CERN sites are officially under neither Swiss nor French jurisdiction.

The World Wide Web began as a CERN project called ENQUIRE, initiated by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau in 1989.


CERN in 3 minutes




More importantly, I just figured out how to "embed" multiple youtube videos in a single post.

Friday, September 05, 2008

Fall Lineup Menu (check out when your fave tv show is gonna air)

It's the Holy Month of Ramadan. What with the fasting and all, everyone's stomaches are rumbling and throats are parched. So get your glasses and plates out and prepare for the following three-course meal. I guarantee you, these are deelish! Without further ado, here's the menu. Bon appetit ;)

Appetizers

Soups (depends on your mood): Reality TV Shows

Salads (nice but doesn't really fill you up): Comedy TV Shows

Main Dishes

New Dishes: New shows

Chicken, Beef, Fish (everybody loves them): Mainstream Shows

Exotic Eats (an acquired taste): Sci-fi Shows

Dessert (guilty pleasures): Girly-Girl Shows

Tuesday, August 26th

Greek - Season 2

Monday, September 1st

Gossip Girl - season 2 (very very very loosely based on the book)

One Tree Hill - season 6

Prison Break - season 4 - Two hour season premiere.

Raising the Bar *NEW* - It's about a bunch of lawyers.

Tuesday, September 2nd

90210 *NEW* Two hour premiere. (remake) Saw the first episode, still undecided if I love it or hate it.

Privileged *NEW* (based on the book) More new girly shows! Yayyy!

The Shield - season 7

Wednesday, September 3rd

Top Design - season 2

America's Next Top Model - season 11


Bones - season 4

Sons of Anarchy *NEW* Looks very interesting!

Thursday, September 4th

The Moment of Truth - season 2 - Two hour season premiere

Friday, September 5th

Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader - season 3

Sunday, September 7th

True Blood *NEW* - It's about vampires. (based on the book) I'm a hardcore vampire movie/show fan so this is a must-see.

Entourage - season 5

Monday, September 8th

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - season 2

Tuesday, September 9th

Fringe *NEW* Two hour season premiere. Co-created by J.J. Abrams so you know it's gonna be good.

Wednesday, September 10th

Do Not Disturb *NEW*

Tuesday, September 16th

Lincoln Heights - season 3

The Real Housewives of Atlanta *NEW*

House - season 5

Thursday, September 18th

Survivor - season 17 Failaka Island, Kuwait.

Smallville - season 8

Supernatural - season 4

Sunday, September 21st

In Harm's Way *NEW*

Valentine, Inc. *NEW* Greek Gods living among us. Interesting...

Easy Money *NEW*

Monday, September 22nd

Dancing With the Stars - season 7

Boston Legal - season 5

The Big Bang Theory - season 2

Worst Week *NEW* (american version of the British show of the same name)

CSI: Miami - season 7

Heroes - season 2.5 plus season 3

Tuesday, September 23rd

Eli Stone - season 2

The Mentalist *NEW*

Wednesday, September 24th

CSI: New York - season 5

Knight Rider *NEW* (remake)

Lipstick Jungle - season 2

Thursday, September 25th

Ugly Betty - season 3

Grey's Anatomy - season 5

My Name is Earl - season 4

Sunday, September 28th

Desperate Housewives - season 5

Family Guy - season 7

American Dad - season 4


Dexter - season 3 (based on the book)

Monday, September 29th

Chuck - season 2

Wednesday, October 1st

Dirty Sexy Money - season 2

Friday, October 3rd

Ghost Whisperer - season 4

The Ex List *NEW* (based on the hit Israeli tv series)

Numb3rs - season 5

Sanctuary *NEW* Fans are describing this as Buffy meets X-files. Frankly, I can't wait!

Thursday, October 9th

CSI - season 9

Testees *NEW*

Eleventh Hour *NEW*

Kath & Kim *NEW* American version of the award-winning Australian Show of the same name.

Life on Mars *NEW* Yup, just like David Bowie's song which is actually played during the intro.

Friday, October 10th

The Starter Wife - the rest of season 1 and season 2 - Debra Msn messenger (from Will&Grace) stars. Season 1 was very sad. Hope season 2 is a bit happier or else I'm going to have to commit suicide.

Monday, October 13th

My Own Worst Enemy *NEW* Sort of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing going on starring Christian Slater. Nifty!

Friday, October 17th

Crusoe *NEW* (Yes, as in Robinson Crusoe so yeah, based on the book)

Crash *NEW* (based on the movie) The movie touched on something very dear and near to my heart so I'm really really looking forward to this. Racism and prejudice is uncool.

Wednesday, October 29th

Stylista *NEW*

Thursday, October 30th

30 Rock - season 3

Thanks goes to my sister for her comment on Miami Vice (the remake) being an icecream movie (ya3ny baarid) when we saw it at the movies in Cyprus and also thanks goes to Marzouq for inspiring me with this post when he compared Gossip Girl to icecream here. Finally, the original link to TV Squad where I got the dates and stuff is here.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Angels do exist...

...in the form of two female bloggers No3ik and Swair. The darlings gave me my very own Ramadan miracle!

On the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, I was very, very depressed. Obviously because I was missing my mother. I was feeling very sorry for myself but I kept quiet because I knew everyone else in the family was going through it as well. I didn't want to add to their burden. I felt so very alone.

Minutes before the cannon was fired, and the mua'athin called us to prayer, signifying the end of our fast, the phone rang. Someone was at the gate. My sister told me that someone outside was asking for me. So I asked her to come with me outside so we could go see who it was.

Once outside, I saw a sweet-faced girl. In her hands, she had two big bags. In each bag was several packages of food. She introduced herself while handing me the bags. Nothing registered. I just took the bags out of her outstretched hands and listened. She explained to me that she was a blogger and had read one of my current posts and decided that instead of commenting, she and another blogger wanted to do something nice, hence the bags of food. They knew I was going through a hard time so they didn't want me to feel alone.

I was dumbstruck! I knew that people sent food to their family, friends, and neighbors all throughout the Holy month of Ramadan but these girls didn't know me. They didn't owe me anything. Yet, they still did it out of the kindness in their hearts. Do people like this still exist, in this day and age? That's exactly what I thought, and my thoughts were echoed by my good friend less than a few hours later when he found out. I honestly was dumbstruck. It was such a sweet gesture!

Very touched yet still stupified, I thanked and hugged Swair and asked her to text me so I could save her number. Back inside, I checked out what was in the bags. Swair left me a sweet note on the bag and cute notes labeling the food. No3ik also left cute notes labeling the food, and an envelope addressed to me. Inside the envelope was a pretty postcard, and on the back was a long, heart-wrenching letter which included a number at the end. I read it once, and my eyes teared up. My family was around so I couldn't really cry. I had to go hide so I could sniffle a little, wash my face, and come back and act all normal. Thankfully, the moa'athin sounded out the call to prayer. I did everything I had to do.

Then it hit me. What those two girls did for me. I was practically a stranger, and yet they orchestrated this plan to cheer me up. I was so humbled and moved to tears. Once I stopped bawling, I re-read No3ik's letter and started all over again. Later on, I texted the girls and called to thank them, but didn't feel like I explained very well how much this all meant to me. Both Swair and No3ik protested when I kept thanking them over and over. They didn't think it was much. To me though, it meant more than they would ever know. I saved everything, the bags, the letter, and even the labels on the food. I won't ever forget this, ever.

I felt and still do feel so very overwhelmed. No3ik and Swair, you guys didn't just make my day, or week. You guys made my month! I really wish I was more articulate but all I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you...

Monday, September 01, 2008

مبارك عليكم الشهر يا جماعة

Noor (Gumus)



I started watching Noor on MBC+ around episode 101. They showed 2 back to back episodes all day and one new episode (aired 24 hours before MBC4) around 11:30pm which they would then proceed to repeat a couple of times till 3:00am. Then again back to two old episodes back to back on repeat for the whole day and so on.

At first I saw a pretty boy save Noor, and get shot in the process. My sister and I made fun of the show because the first thing he said while bed-ridden after opening his eyes in the hospital was "Tislamly hal da7keh" about Noor. No man is that romantic. I thought it was quite over the top. Little by little, it grew on me and I became an addict.

I have a theory though as to why I became addicted. "Noor" reminded me of anime. Pretty people sporting stylish hairstyles and clothes and minimal makeup. Gorgeous scenery, which isn't a wonder why people flocked to Turkey after viewing the show. A very over the top storyline including a kidnapping, a cancer-scare, an abortion, a mental break-down, a knife-fight, a kidney transplant, and ample breaking up and getting back together scenes and that's all only in the last 50 or so episodes which is when I started watching. Romance and angst = perfect recipe for an enjoyable show. Last but certainly not least is the beautiful soundtrack.

Personally, my favorite couple were Dana and Anwar. It was a pleasure seeing what Dana wore and how she tried to take care of the family and please her husband at the same time. Her personality was silly, caring, and cute. Anwar on the otherhand is adorable and his character's personality was very manly or at least what I think a man should be. His relationship with his brother-in-law Mohanned was touching, especially towards the end. I thought it was endearing how they (Mohanned and Anwar)called each other "Captain". In the last episode Dana and her family looked gorgeous!

Fajer was adorable with the curly hair. I liked his relationship with Riham at first. The playground mentality of bullying a girl because he liked her was cute on his character. After he cut his hair, he lost all his charm though. I loved seeing him as a father and wearing glasses in the last episode. Although I never liked her, I liked that he and Riham got back together again.

Bana is by far the pretties of the bunch. Several of my friend's fathers have commented on her on more than one occasion. I kinda' wished she'd gotten together with that weird tall dude who had a crush on her. I never really liked her husband or his character's personality.... or their son. In the finale episode Bana looked gorgeous as ever. It was fun seeing what she was wearing throug-out the show.

Shareefa... what's there to say? Beautiful, classy, and she practically glides when she walks. Heba... the anti-shareefa, although I kinda' felt sorry for her. Heba's daughter... no comment, it's Ramadan. Heba's son-in-law? Ma9'7ara! Everything he said cracked me up.

Mohanned's over the top love and care for Noor was sweet to watch. It's fun because most girl's fantasy is to have someone cherish them like that so it was fun seeing that. His piercing blue-eyes don't hurt either :P

Finally, Noor... honestly I thought she was the least attractive of the bunch. Also the most annoying. If I was her, and they told me to act opposite Mohanned as the leading lady I would refuse outright. The man is too pretty. Yes! Pretty! Not handsome, but PRETTY. So in comparison Noor looked ugly. She's not ugly but in comparison she looked ugly. His ex was beautiful, though. Their son was ugly. The Noor and Mohanned juniors in the end was very cheesy.

That said, good show.

Check out my favorite song from the show here

A treat for Noor fans (A live interview with several memebers of the cast) here

Check out Chika's great post on Noor, Bana, and more here

Check out Delicately Realistic's post on everyone's favorite guilty pleasure "Noor" here

Check out Fonzy's self-professed Noor addiction post here

Check out PhilQ8's coverage on Noor Mania here

Teachthemasses brings us 23 things about Noor we never knew here

Read Ansam's funny post about how clueless she is about Noor here

Find out what RandomQ80ya found in regards to Noor at Sooq Al Mo3alim here

Finally to find out their real names, check out the internet movie database's page here

If you want your post to be including above, please let me know, and sorry on not including it beforehand. It meant that I couldn't find it. Thanks :)