Saturday, August 24, 2002

So I watched "Lord of the Rings" with my mother tonight. It was okay, I guess. Didn't like the ending. I was like, I don't get it? What just happened? I'm not sure if I missed something 'cause I was a little tired watching that 3-hour flick. It was "The Mummy Returns" meets "Harry Potter" meets "The Tomb Raider". Okay, so maybe not. But once you see one special effect, you've seen 'em all. The aforementioned movies did come to mind while I was watching LOTR. But, I guess the storyline was different. :-P

The night before I watched this documentary on World Link TV again (that channel has some good stuff sometimes). It was called "Fire and Water" about this Iraqi (I forget his name) who earned his degree at the University of Ottawa (where he met his Canadian wife) in something like Chemistry or Chemical Engineering or something along those lines. The eventually went to live in Iraq, but the guy publicly spoke out against Saddam and his horrible human rights record. He ended up in prison for 11 years during the 80s. He didn't get to watch his, then, 3 kids grow up. And this man being Shiite Muslim is not exactly a favorite to the Sunni government. Anyway, the family including a little daughter that was born after dude got out of jail (where he was tortured but not killed because his specialized knowledge was useful to the Iraqi regime) are now living in Southern Iran. They regularly change place of residence and use aliases amongst their neighbors since they're still in danger from the Iraqi police. They currently help refugees out by supplying food and medicine.

I'm soooo bored! If I don't experience a great change in my life soon (being within the next year), I'm gonna go insane or into a deep depression! Okay, maybe not so drastic... But who knows? :-P

You know the Top Ten lists David Letterman does? Once he did the one that follows. They're not all funny, but some of 'em gave me a little chuckle. See? Toldja doesn't take a lot to make me happy. :)

Top Ten Signs You're Dumb


10. You stopped watching wrestling because it's too complicated

9. The hot beverage warning on Starbucks cups mentions you by name

8. On census form you count yourself plus the guy in the mirror

7. You augment your income by photocopying quarters

6. As a special treat you take yourself to Jiffy Lube and you don't own a car

5. Fear of injury keeps you from using a comb

4. Just spent two hours trying to improve the reception on your microwave

3. According to you, this week Amercian King Fidel Castro got on a spaceship, went to the planet of Cuba and met with dictator Jimmy Connors

2. You're a Tampa Bay Devil Rays season-ticket holder

1. You choke on a pretzel

Thursday, August 22, 2002

Yay! I got A's for both summer sessions of Arabic! Not like it was surprising or anything (hehe), but I'm gonna take pride in these grades now 'cause I don't expect to see many A's this upcoming semester in any of my non-language courses. Even though I already pre-registered way back when, I still haven't figured out my fall schedule. This sucks. I already know I have to take Arabic and this other course that's required for my major. But that leaves me two other courses I must take and I'm tryna figure do I wanna do both of those in my concentration or one in my elective or what. And then I wanna squeeze Hebrew in there, which I would be auditing. Ugh, I'm dreading this all. One of the classes I'm taking has these certain pre-reqs which I didn't actually fulfill. Hope I don't fail!

Enough of that... I saw this Brazilian film on World Link TV the other day called "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands." Kinda weird. It was a fantasy flick made in 1977 in Portuguese (English subtitles). Something about it reminded me of the movie "Como Agua Para Chocolate". Anyway, the main actress who played Flor is still on TV today. She's on the PBS program called "American Family."

I also watched on the same channel a Tunisian film called "The Silences of the Palace." My Arabic professor had mentioned it in class this summer and said it was good. It was okay. Maybe I just didn't understand the significance of certain things. But I like "Dona Flor" better.

Then, last night (yeah, I'm doing a TV marathon, lol), I watched this kinda documentary called "Naji al-Ali: An Artist with Vision". Naji was a Palestinian cartoonist born in Palestine in the late 30s. His family ended up in a refugee camp in Lebanon with the formation of the racist state of Israel. He was assassinated in London and they still don't know who did it. Scotland Yard didn't figure it out, but speculation points fingers at the Mossad or the PLO. But his cartoons were good. He had a way of portraying social and political situations and sentiments in the Arab world. His works are characterized by this one figure named Hanthala which he places in all of his drawings. Hanthala is a boy and you only see his backside. While everyone may ask, why does he have his back to us? In actuality, he's facing Palestine or he's just turning his back to those have turned their backs on the Palestinians. He's a really great symbol. You should read up on this cartoonist and his works. Just, like, do a Google search for "Naji al-Ali" (there are variations on the spelling of his name).

Man - only 6 more days 'til school starts and I haven't gotten my act together. Damnit. Is it almost winter break yet? 'Cause when it is, I'm gettin' the hell outta here! Just 126 more days ('til I skip town)... :Þ

Saturday, August 17, 2002

It's been a loooong time. I been lazy. Sue me! Hehe. Speakin' of suing... Why didn't anybody tell me about this: Millions for Reparations? And there's a rally goin' on today! White America - you owe my black azz! Where's my 40 acres and a mule? Shieeett... Ha. But for real, this is one of the reasons you won't catch me wavin' an American flag. If we had no reason to wave it during slavery and segregation and what have you, why we gonna suddenly start doing so 'cause of Sept. 11? Sheesh.

Anyway, there are some whites present at this rally, as I've read in some article from the AP by Janelle Carter: Ken McDouall of Durham, N.C., one of a handful of whites at the rally, said the reparations issue "cuts to the core of the history of injustice of America.'' Does it ever! I just may purchase a t-shirt if I like how it looks.

So... I'm done with summer school. Been out for a week already and so bored! I can't believe half my vacation is already over with, yet in my ennui, the days are dragging on... I'm so not looking forward to starting the fall semester. But at the same time, I can't wait for it to be down and over with it. I have this fear that my final year of grad school will go by so slowly. Then I have this fear that I'll fail. :-P Well, at least I passed my "Intensive 2nd-Level Modern Standard Arabic" this summer.

Went out Thursday night with Justin and a few others. Ended up seeing 5 kats I know from undergrad- all Kappas, I think. The night was only "alright". Wasn't all that, but at least I got out the freakin' house! I think I'm going to go insane if my life doesn't change soon. You'll all be visiting me at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. That's where my mom said I needed to go. Do ya'll know what it is? It's a nut house. LoL. This is kind of interesting: I just did a little homework on it and it was started in 1855 and used to be called "the Government Hospital for the Insane." Then during the Civil War, "wounded soldiers treated here were reluctant to admit that they were in an insane asylum, and said they were at St. Elizabeths, the colonial name of the land where the Hospital is located." (Got that from some NIH site.)

I finally saw "Lady & the Tramp" the other day. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be. But there were some cute parts. And parts that made my eyes water. I also saw "The Mothman Prophecy" or whatever it's called. Wasn't impressed with that either. I wanna go see Martin Lawrence's "Run Tell Dat." :)

I had had a check-up earlier this week. My blood pressure is good, despite the fact that I eat salt as if it was itself a food. Heh. And my weight- I'll be damned. Granted I was wearin' my Air Force Ones (hightops), my weight was 10lbs more than what I expected! Guess eating all of that good Vietnamese food beforehand wasn't such a good idea. Who am I kidding- of course it was!

Hey, I think I'm developing an old soul. Three out of the four CDs I purchased in the past few weeks are before my time. I got one of Astrud Gilberto, a pioneer in bossa nova. (Brazil just celebrated the 40th anniversary of "Girl from Ipanema"). The music's real chill. Quite tranquil. I also got a collection of Love Songs sang by Etta James. Wow- what a voice. And I also got some music of Carly Simon. Besides that, I've been looking into singers of the mid-twentieth century, give or take a few years. Guess I'm kinda late in discovering real jazz and blues and stuff. Speaking of this genre, I just found out that Norah Jones is the daughter of a famous musician: Ravi Shankar! Who'da thunk it?