Monday, September 13, 2010
Friday, July 25, 2008
Friday fun (on a serious subject)
If you're not familiar, here's the 411 about Fox...
...protesters cited incidents on Fox including an on-screen graphic calling Michelle Obama "Obama's baby mama" and a pundit who confused Obama with Osama bin Laden and joked they should both be assassinated. Another anchor called a televised fist bump between Obama and his wife a "terrorist fist jab," they said, and talk show host Bill O'Reilly discussed calling a "lynching party" to deal with Michelle Obama after criticizing her patriotism.
Lovely. Really great news there!
Anywhoo...take a few minutes to watch the vid - another great laugh-out-loud Colbert commentary and interview. Also, after Colbert's interview with Nas, he performs a great song called "Sly Fox". >> Check the lyrics
See these articles for more info about the protests ... Hip-hop artist Nas protests Fox coverage of Obama and Protesters denounce Fox News as racist
Get involved...
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Barack the Vote!
I dont think i can explain in words how excited and hopped up I am about Barack Obama - how inspired, how energized, how hopeful I feel when I hear him speak. Obviously, I will be voting for Obama today and ask others to consider doing so as well. I believe his background and experience, not to mention his personality and passion, will help this country get back much of the respect it lost around the world and I think he will bring back some hope to the people of this country who have been told for the last 8 years that this is the way it is - that we must live in the fear of terrorism and that the only way to survive it is to bankrupt our country by sending our young to die in a war that was executed on false pretense; give up our right to speech by allowing the government to wiretap us when and how they want; and violating basic human rights by condoning and/or executing torture on prisoners of war. So many days over these last years I thought it couldn't get any worse and then the Bush crew proved that it could.
Now, with Obama, I see the possibility for significant changes - not just a change to someone less evil, but a change to someone who can inspire so many of us to work together to make the change happen - not just wait around for the "leaders" to do it. anyways, i ramble. My point is... Obama! Obama! Obama! Yes, we can! :)
Intro to Barack Obama video (Thanks Noam!)
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Si Si Puede!
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.
We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --
Yes. We. Can.
Song & video, featuring a star cast, by will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas. Inspired by Barack Obama's 'Yes We Can' speech. http://www.yeswecansong.com/
Thursday, August 23, 2007
gaga for google
Google puts universe online: Imagine having millions of stars and planets at your fingertips, without spending thousands on a telescope or shivering all night under a cold, dark sky.The universe is online, available from the comfort of your computer chair.
It's a feature that Google developers, in collaboration with astronomers, have added to Google Earth, the Web site that provides millions of users with bird's-eye views of their home planet.Sky at Google Earth, which made its debut in cyberspace early yesterday, turns Googlers around and aims their eyes toward the heavens, with user-friendly tools for navigating and zooming deep into the skies of both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. 
In the background there are 100 million individual stars and 200 million galaxies. They're not randomly generated dots, but real, digitized photos -- a million of them -- stitched seamlessly together from some of the world's most complete sky surveys. More...
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
uh, what!??!?!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
That religion thing...
Last night I was flipping through channels and stopped on CNN to watch the wonks get their wonk on. When I tuned in some yutzes were babbling on about some new survey of college students that shockingly [harhar] reported that cheaters have higher GPA's and also that cheaters don't stop at just cheating on tests but go all out and cheat on their bf/gf's. Apparently, the survey also looked at other things, but I couldn't tell you what since the discussion was totally moronic. One part of the discussion literally went something like this... Wanky Wonker 1 - "So, tell me about that religion thing..." what is the most surprising thing you learned from this survey?
Wanky Wonker 2 - "Ahh, yes...that religion thing really surprised me. I couldn't believe the results"
Wanky Wonker 1 - "Indeed, I too was really surprised about that religion thing".
uhh... what?!?! Morons. Oh well, I shouldn't be too surprised that the level of conversation was so ridiculous since the study was put out by collegehumor.com who's main set of links includes a tab called "girls" and other important links like "fun with bottles" and "virtual bar fight". uh... yeah - the true bastion of scientificity.
After that oh so enlightening conversation, there was a segment called "CNN Heroes". The piece I saw was about 2 young people who started an organization that helps people in the developing world get loans for their small or community businesses. I thought this was a good and easy way to directly help someone in need become self-sufficient. Perhaps after I get back from my vacation I can do my part and help a family in Azerbaijan or a woman in Kenya. Heres the description from CNN:
| Matt and Jessica Flannery founded Kiva.org, a person-to-person microcredit Web site. Kiva -- which means "unity" in Swahili -- allows individuals to make loans as small as $25 to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Since Kiva.org was launched more than two years ago, it has brokered more than $6.5 million in collateral-free loans to more than 9,000 businesses. [NY Times vid of a Kiva loan recipient and a woman in Afghanistan who was studying to be a doctor when the Taliban came into power and stopped women from going to school] [PBS's Frontline article and video: Uganda - A Little Goes A Long Way] [Wikipedia article - What is Microcredit] |
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Slacerkliciously slackin slackeroso
So I've been slightly slacking... ok... hardcore slackin on my blog lately so now ive got the task of catchin up... here are some recent highlights of mi vida loca...
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Ooogely Googeley Yum Yum Love Fest | |
| At the end of April Wissam and I celebrated our first year together by going to we went back to where it all began... the DC International FilmFest. So Sunday April 29th we headed on down DC way to the closing night film and party and met up with Lasheema. The film, Paris, je t'aime, was really good - though very different style of filmmaking since it was a series of short films all rolled into one. The films featured many well-known actors from around the world and were made by prominent | Check out the trailers on YouTube. This one is my favorite. |
| filmmakers who were given creative license to do as they wish. All they had to do was go to Paris and make a film about love. Some were really funny, some sad, some interesting, and some totally random, but all were great. I think my fave's were the ones with Fanny Ardant, Steve Buscemi (freakin hilarious!!!) and Natalie Portman. Anywhoo... I definitely recommend it, though I think its a good film to see in the theater rather than at home. Not sure why, there's just something about it that makes me feel that way. | |
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Lasheema, Wissam, and Bart at FilmFest DC 2006 | After the movie Lasheema, Wissam and I stopped by the party to see folks. W was so cute and sweet all smiling and telling everyone (even the lady behind us in the ticket line!) how we met and were back to celebrate. It was great to see the organizers of the event - especially Sharin. She was just absolutely tickled that W and I had met there and were together and had come back to celebrate. She said that we should come back every year to celebrate. We gladly accepted her suggestion. ;-) hehe
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After that Lasheema, busy busy busy as usual, had a meeting so Wissam and I went to NoVa to our fave peruvian chicken joint - The Chicken Place (great name huh!? hehe) and got carry out. |  | |||||
| Then we went and had ourselves a little evening picnic under a tree on the banks of the Potomac. It was really nice to just sit in such a relaxing place and talk and laugh and just be together. I forgot my camera but i snapped this shot of the moon - aint it perty! ;-) | ||||||
| Pa Que Lo Baile On May 12th Jancy had a show to release his new CD, Pa' Que Lo Bailes, and he invited Wissam to sing the song they have on the album as well as a few others they made together. The show was fun and it was great to see my baby back on stage... he really missed it. and it was fun to be a VIP for the night - getting free drinks, sitting upstairs on the comfy sofas, wearing one of those VIP tags, signing autographs. Ok well no autographs, but the rest was true! hehe. The other band that performed, Latin Soul Band (aka: Jancy's brother's band), was also good. We even had a little adventure when Jancy's manager Vivian and her girlfriend decided to take a "shortcut" to the club from the hotel that Vivian hooked us up with... a shortcut that added 45 minutes and took us on a scenic tour of Montgomery County. haha oh well.. it was a great time and we were both grateful for the opportunity. :) Here is a video of Jancy's - "Boricua Sin Miedo" featuring Fantasma, mixed by DJ MIguelito | ||||||
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The next day we did a little shopping. Our first stop was a flea market in DC near W's old house. We didn't find anything good, but we did see this crazy pimp daddy struttin around. We tried to go to the halal market there, but |
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| they were closed. Across the street was a market selling fresh fruit and we got a wicked good watermelon. Really sweet and delish! Then we went to my fav co-op down in Mt. Rainer. I bought some yummy cheese, fresh and dried fruit, and some realllyyyyyyy good olive oil. Yum! | ||||||
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Pa' que lo Bailes
Friday W and i went down to DC to the Moroccan Consulate so W could update his passport and national ID so we will be good to go for our trip to Morocco this summer (Insha'Allah إن شاء الله). We had already gone earlier in the week but didn't get there in time as they only accept applications during the morning. Anywhoo... we were worried it might be a problem to get everything done, but the man he spoke to said it should only take about a week for him to get the passport back and then not long after that to get the ID finished. Yay! :)
The rest of the day we wandered around VA at Target buying schtuff for the Easter basket i put together for W (ok, it was more for me since he doesn't celebrate Easter, tho he did love his white chocolate easter bunny! hehe), buying some delicioso food from the Lebanese Taverna Market and eating amazing food at this little hole-in-the-wall Pakistani joint. I dont miss living down DC way, but i do miss all the choices in restaurants! *sigh* if only we could get some more good places to eat fresh flavorful food in B'more! Anywhoo...i digress...
We also stopped by J + M's house to pick up Jancy's new CD - Pa' que lo Bailes - which includes a song featuring my sweetie honey cutie pie. The album is pretty darn good (and i'm not just sayin that cuz my boy's got a song on there and i kno Jancy!) it's a good mix of styles - Reggaeton, Salsa, hip hop, and of course, some hot Moroccan stylings thrown in for good measure ;-) |
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Wissam chillin with DJ Bill | Give the album a listen at cdbaby.com/cd/jancy. W's song is track #6 "Una Noche Arabe feat. Wissam-Style, Morroccan Hip Hop artist, produced by DJ Blaster with Stany, combining Reggaeton with sensual Arabic rhythms and multi-lingual lyrics." This is a new version of the song - different, but i like it! To hear the other version of Una Noche Arabe or W's latest song, 21 Wssiya (21 Advices...To My Unborn Child), visit www.myspace.com/wissamstyle. |
oh! and also mark your calendars for May 12th for Jancy's CD release party in DC. Wissam should be performing with him for at least one song. Should be a fun booty-shakin night out! :)
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
*drumroll please*
The long awaited pics from V's bday fiesta extravaganza.
Happy bday V! (sorry so blurry, i didn't think i had *that* much to drink!) :-p |
Steve and Joy tearin it up
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Belated Bday Girl with her curly curls
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Happy Birthday Angie - we're only a *few* months late! ;) |
Girls Gone Wild! Moni-luv and Candice |
| Jimmi workin his mojo | ||
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... and finally, some words to live by... ...You may now return to your regularly scheduled blog. | |||
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Bug spray, cow poop, and battery acid - yum!
Wow! Not only did Baltimore City pass a ban on smoking in most public places, but they also are now offering free nicotine patches to City residents. Cool! :) 
- R-rated movies lure white teens into smoking-study Media Impact on Teen Behavior Varies by Ethnicity - "White U.S. teenagers who watch a lot of R-rated movies or have unsupervised access to TV shows appear more likely than similar black youths to start smoking cigarettes, a study found on Monday."
- Smoking alters brain 'like drugs' - Smoking cigarettes causes the same changes to the brain as using illicit drugs like cocaine, a study suggests.
- 'One puff' link to future smoking - Children who try just one cigarette are twice as likely to take up smoking as those who have never tried it, a study funded by Cancer Research UK suggests.
Now, if only they could find a way to protect kids in homes where the parents or other folks smoke. More...
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Livin la vida delicioso!
Sunday, Lasheema came over and we had an AMAZING meal. OMG sooooo good. To start we had some fresh roasted garlic bread with this amazing dish made with grilled eggplant and 2 kinds of grilled peppers. 
i think its called Zaalouk. I first had it a few months ago when Fatima (who was staying with her husband with us for a little while before returning to Morocco) made it one evening. it was really good, but Sunday's version by W was outta this world. I couldn't stop hollerin and mmm mmm mmming about how good it was!
Then we had grilled lamb and grilled veggies - which my sweetie was awesome enough to go outside in the howling winds and deep freeze to cook for us! (thank you baby!) and i also made yummylicious mashed potatoes. SOO damn good!
After that, we watched the new documentary "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" which presents archiological evidence that may show that Jesus was married and had a child (read more...). It was an interesting documentary, but i think they did a few things wrong. First, we all thought that all of the number crunching they did was just too much. i mean i get why they did it - in anticipation of folks arguing that the names Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and Jonah were all just common names back then and therefore its not Jesus and his wife and child, but rather just a gaggle of folks that just happen to have the same conglomeration of names. Unfortunately, the numbers thing was overdone or something. It was good info I think, but just not presented in the right way maybe. Second, the journalist that put it together was waaaay too dramatic and in waaaaay too many scenes. By the middle of the documentary, we were all like who is this jackass!? I think his over-involvement and hyper-dramatizing took away some of the credibility.
We also watched part of the follow-up discussion special which was TOTALLY hilarious - the one guy on there that was against the idea that this could actually be the tomb of Jesus appeared to have a rather large stick up his butt and he was seriously all ready to go jerry springer on the journalist a few times. Then there was the woman who was arguing that the dramatizations included in the movie were distractions that were biased and prevented people from being able to critically think about the issue. Uh... what?!?!?! too funny - and sad. As is all the controversy over it - well not all of it, it definitely is a topic worth discussion and further research. But the reactions some folks are having are just too much. Yes the documentary is not the best out there, yes they might be off their rocker and totally off base. But what gets me is the lack of willingness of people of faith to deal with things. If they are 2000% positive that the story they know of Jesus is the truth, then don't worry about it! But too many are just in a big ol tizzy. My favorite blog I've seen so far: James Cameron Tries to Kill Jesus
Finally, on Monday we had a chill day. After sleeping in, i cooked a delicious omelet with smoked salmon, olives, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, and red onions. we had that with leftover roasted garlic bread and fresh grapes. YUM! Then, W spent most of the rest of the day playing with his new studio equipment - recording some new stuff and working on some new songs. I'm excited to see how his new stuff turns out! he tried to get me to sing something, but i told him that Hustle and Flow is just a movie and we ain't in it. hehe he swore to get me somehow someday to sing with him. i fear for the world that day cuz I am a horrible singer LOL 
As for me, i watched La Science des rêves (The Science of Sleep) a film by Michel Gondry with my honey Gael Garcia Bernal. Gael, as usual, was amazing - acting in 3 languages - and being his usual cute self. and Gondry pulled off another insanely bizarre film. I really loved it, tho I think I'll have to watch it a few more times to really appreciate all of its wonderful weirdness. 
We finished the weekend by watching Black Dahlia. This flick didn't get much theater time or the best of reviews, but i thought it was pretty good (though the story wasnt the easiest to follow - this was the main critique of the critics). i loved how they made it all old-school-film-noir-with-a-touch-of-graphic-novel-style. the film is a good flick to rent if only just to appreciate some good cinematography.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Snowy snow snow
Unfortunately we haven't had much snow this winter here in B'more. However, on a recent snowy Sunday, after shoveling the sidewalks and clearing off the car, W and I went out and snapped these pics.
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| This house is around the corner from mi casa. I love how the light illuminates the snowy bushes and the rest is all blue.. | |
| Typical me being a dorky dork |
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Beauty and the Beast, Part 2
Thanks to amber for the tip on this nonsense about Tyra Banks being a fatty. See People Magazine article: Tyra Banks Speaks Out About Her Weight - "Tyra Banks has always stressed the importance of body confidence – but it still hurt when tabloids ran an unflattering photo of her in a bathing suit under headlines that screamed, "America's Next Top Waddle" and "Tyra Porkchop." Ugh... If only people in this country would stop obsessing about food, weight, eating, calories, we might just be more healthy. Instead, we are never satisfied. We spend day after day chasing after some illusionary "ideal" or "normal" weight, fantasizing about how our lives would be if only we got rid of 10, 20, 30 pounds.
And our capitalist society gladly obliges in pulling us this way and that... low fat, high fat, no fats, right fats. low carb, high carb, no carb. buy our cardboard box of yum and your life will have meaning again! Take this pill and in just 15 days you will have a body like a supermodel! Thousands of ways to spend thousands of dollars...
The sad part of all of this is that we are constantly being manipulated by marketing and even worse... being experimented on with the latest fad diet, scientific discovery, or medical mutilation. The result... not only are the fat cats getting fatter on the billions (yes, billions! Over $40 billion a year in the US alone - and thats just a conservative estimate), but sadly, so are the dieters - instead of permanently dropping pounds, 95% of dieters end up finding not only what they lost, but a few others poundage too! (See BBC article: The diet business: Banking on failure) Even more sad... so many of the messages and information we are being given daily just isn't true... Look at this study of nearly 50,000 women published in 2006 in the Journal of the American Medical Association which found that being fat does not necessarily indicate unhealthiness (In fact, many thin people who don't exercise or eat right are at greater risk for diseases than fat people). Low-Fat Diet Does Not Cut Health Risks, Study Finds
"We are growing sicker and more unhealthy as civilization produces more garbage and toxins in order to fabricate the machines that give us the leisure to grow fatter and sicker. And in the meantime, we are being sold an increasingly distant ideal of desireable weight." - Richard Klein, Author of Eat Fat.
Mixed Messages: Self-improvement or Self-destruction?
I am all for people taking care of themselves, eating right, exercising (not to mention engaging in outrageous luxuries like actually ENJOYING food!), it seems to me that instead of improving health, we are causing many many more problems. I mean really.... and how is it possible that with hundreds of alternatives, hundreds of options out there to choose from - foods, pills, gyms, support groups, surgeries, exercises - how is it that instead of growing thinner (and more importantly healthier!) we are doing just the opposite?I'd say it is because this is exactly how the diet industry (including the pharmaceutical companies) want it. This constant pattern of yo-yo dieting is exactly what the industry wants. They want us constantly in fear, constantly frustrated, constantly looking for the next solution that will make our fantasy bodies come alive and save us from horrendously disgusting fatdom that is our future unless we consume their product. They want us Constantly trying, Constantly buying.
Fatties out of control? Society out of control!
Now, some may say (or think) ... "but obesity is such a problem in this country!"...or... "but fat people are putting their lives at risk"...or... "but if we don't diet then we will just be out of control!!!" I would argue that we already are out of control. Wednesday, February 14, 2007
A valentine of a different kind
Skeleton Couple Locked in Embrace for 5,000 Years 
