Month: January 2007

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium ArcadiumAn album, actually double-album, I’ve been listening to a lot these past days is “Stadium Arcadium” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers; I’m a big fan of RHCP and their music, and this album just oozes more of their trademark cool tunes, rhymes and lyrics.

Almost four years passed between the release of their last album “By The Way” and this one, and the band recorded enough songs for three albums over that period, which explains why they went ahead and released this two-hour, 28-track double-disc collection (Disc 1: Jupiter / Disc 2: Mars).

The album is a mix between what they did on “By The Way” and “Californication” with a number of new touches and directions here and there.

My favourite songs off the album up to now are: Snow (Hey Oh), Dani California, Hey, Tell Me Baby, Desecration Smile, Stadium Arcadium, Hard to Concentrate.

A lot of people say they like the ‘Mars’ disc more, but up to now, they’re quite tied for me, each one having its strengths.

What I love about RHCP’s music is that you never grow bored of it no matter how many times you listen to the CD, it always has a fresh, cool feel to it, and this album feels the same way too. The proof is that this album is nearly a year old now, plus I still listen to their older albums a lot too.

I really recommend this album to all RHCP fans and music lovers who are into this genre.

My score for it is: 8.5/10

Back Home…

Well I’m back home in Tunis again, with my beloved son and wife; I got back from Manchester yesterday afternoon.

The trip was on Air France, an airlines I used to like back in the 80’s but that sucks more and more these days, especially on flights to and from the Arab world; it’s so tight, seating is not comfortable, the food they serve borders on disgusting, no in-flight entertainment, …etc.

I liked Manchester, not as much as I did London, but still it’s a nice city, that I wouldn’t mind living in. I wish I had more time to visit some sites and museums, but well maybe I’ll get to do that some other time.

I took some photos, not as much as I wished, and a number of them turned out a bit blurred, but I’ll be sharing some of the good ones soon.

I got a number of books that I had on my wishlist from Waterstone’s, enough to get me through a few months of good reading.

I didn’t get to get online much in the past week, just the one time to post the entry about me being in Manchester, the rest of my time was either in the workshop, shopping or hanging out with friends.
Things over here should be back to normal now though.

Manchester… Here I Am…

I haven’t blogged for a few days, and that’s because I’ve been away from home on a trip to Manchester, UK.

I’m here to attend a series of workshops that are being held under the umbrella of the Reachout project.

The programme has been pretty tiring and I haven’t had a chance to really go out and discover Manchester that much yet, but hopefully I will be trying to go out more and see more of the city in the coming days.
I’ll be taking as many photos as possible and sharing them with you once I’m home.

I miss my wife and son enormously and I wish they could’ve been here with me; I can’t help but get that sense again that no matter how great the place is, what’s more important is who you have there to share and enjoy it with.

Everybody in Tunisia told me I had to go to a Manchester United game, but as I’m not really a big football fan, I guess I’ll just pass on that; I’d rather spend more time discovering the city and all it has to offer, especially with the really limited time I have.

The weather here is quite chilly, but not anywhere as cold as I expected, I guess the effects of global warming are hitting everywhere.

Anyway, I’ll get going now, and till next time, cheers…

Doomsday Clock To Move Forward

The keepers of the “Doomsday Clock” plan to move its hands forward next Wednesday to reflect what they call worsening nuclear and climate threats to the world.

The symbolic clock, maintained by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, currently is set at seven minutes to midnight, with midnight marking global catastrophe.

The major new step reflects growing concerns about a ‘Second Nuclear Age’ marked by grave threats, including: nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea, unsecured nuclear materials in Russia and elsewhere, the continuing ‘launch-ready’ status of 2,000 of the 25,000 nuclear weapons held by the U.S. and Russia, escalating terrorism, and new pressure from climate change for expanded civilian nuclear power that could increase proliferation risks.

When it was created by the magazine’s staff in 1947, the doomsday clock was initially set at seven minutes to midnight and has moved 17 times since then.

It was as close as two minutes to midnight in 1953 following U.S. and Soviet hydrogen bomb tests, and as far away as 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 after the superpowers reached agreement on a nuclear arms reductions.

[Source: Yahoo! News]

Future Arab Super Star Season 4

The fourth season of Future TV’s Arab Super Star show will be kicking off in a few days. The first episode will be on Sunday, January 14th.

The contestants have been chosen from 8 different countries after a number of auditions in several countries including the US and Canada.

The judges this season will be the same as in the last season: Elias El Rahbani, Ziad Boutros, Fadia Tanab and Abdallah El Qa

Apple iPhone Unveiled

iphonehand.jpgApple has used the CES to finally confirm the existence of the iPhone and to release details and specifications.

The full specs are as follows:
Screen size: 3.5 inches
Screen resolution: 320 by 480 at 160 ppi
Input method: Multi-touch
Operating system: OS X
Storage: 4GB or 8GB
GSM: Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
Wireless data: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
Camera: 2.0 megapixels
Battery: Up to 5 hours Talk / Video / Browsing, Up to 16 hours Audio playback
Dimensions: 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches
Weight: 4.8 ounces / 135 grams

The iPhone is actually a combination of three products

Lady In The Water

Last night, I finally watched M. Night Shyamalan’s last movie “Lady In The Water“, featuring Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard and M. Night Shyamalan himself.

The reviews I read after the movie’s release were pretty mixed, and even a friend who saw it last week told me that it was so-so, but personally, I really really liked it.

The movie is about a depressed apartment superintendent who discovers a narf, a sea-nymph out of a bedtime story, who may hold the key to humanity’s hopeful future.

What I really liked about the movie is that it talks to the inner child in every one of us, taking us back to that world of fairy tales that we’ve been disconnected from for so long.
People don’t write fairy tales like they used to anymore, stories that used to inspire us as children, and that filled us with thoughts and lessons we carry with us to this very day; M. Night Shyamalan was successful in creating a new fairy tale of his own, and putting it onto film for the whole world to enjoy.

The movie also confirms how great an actor Paul Giamatti is; he did a great job here again.

I really recommend this movie to everyone who is into this genre of movies and who still has a connection with the inner child within them.

My score for this movie would be: 8/10.

Mobile Phones & Me

For a very long time, I hated mobile phones and didn’t see much use for them, and honestly speaking, I still don’t like them that much to this very day.

I only got my first mobile phone after my first to-be-employer emailed me saying they were trying to call me on my home line to set up a job interview but weren’t able to get a hold of me.

After that, the idea of a mobile phone for me was mainly a device that I could use to contact whoever I wanted, anytime, anywhere I was, but as I’m not much of a babbler, I do that very rarely and only when it’s really important.
But the big downside was that other people could also call me whenever they wanted, wherever I was, at anytime they wanted, even when it’s not important. That I don’t like at all.

So basically, the perfect mobile phone for me would be one that I could use to call people, but that wouldn’t accept calls. A one way thingie.

But the problem is that in all of those calls that I don’t want, there are some that are either urgent or from people that I’d actually like to hear from.

In a perfect mobile phone there should be a feature to take decisions on whether to accept the call or not depending on who the person is, what the subject of the call will be about, and a number of other factors.

As that requires a lot of artifical intelligence from the phone, maybe it could be done simpler and there could be some way for me to configure the times when I’m not willing to accept calls (evenings, weekends), who I’m willing to accept calls from at the different times of the day (close family almost always, friends only after work, work colleagues only in work times, some people never, …etc).

As for all the other features that manufacturers throw on phones today, they’re really secondary, what I think they should work on is offering more flexibility in using a mobile phone and configuring it as the communication tool that it is and will always be.