Month: June 2005

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith

Star Wars - Episode 3Last night, I finally got to watch Star Wars: Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith, and what a movie it was!

I’ve been wanting to see the movie ever since it came out, and I knew I’d see it in Jordan, but the thing that kept me from going to see it from day one is that I wanted to go see it with my brothers-in-law as they are both very big fans of Star Wars.

Anyway, back to the movie. It was awesome!! For sure so much better than Episodes 1 and 2. It’s up there with the old Episodes.

The visual effects were amazing, the sound was great, the lightsabers were beautiful, the fight sequences were perfect, the plot was really good…etc.
One of the best movies I’ve seen this year for sure.

My favourite sequences are the following ones:
– At the beginning of the movie, when Obi Wan’s spaceship crashes and he jumps out of it, opens his lightsaber and start fighting.
– The whole transformation of Anakin into Darth Vader.
– The sequences that put everything into place for Episode 4.

George Lucas did a great job with this one, finishing off his story and his cinematic masterpiece.
I don’t think anything as big as Star Wars will come along for a very long time.

I’m itching to see all the 6 movies all over again, once in the order they were released and once from Episode 1 to 6.
I hope they releases a cool DVD package of the movies soon.

My score for it is: 9.5/10.

Judging Books

They say that you should never judge a book by it’s cover, I say you shouldn’t even judge it by it’s first two chapters.

Many times, while reading a new book, especially novels, I’d find it so boring in it’s first chapters that I’d start to think about quitting or it’d take me so long to just get through a chapter.

But then when I get past the first chapters that the writer obviously wanted to use as a long introduction of the characters and to give some background to build his story on, the book becomes a lot more interesting and exciting, sucking you into the story.

Other books suck you in from the very first sentences. It doesn’t mean they’re better, it just reflects the writer’s style and how he wants to approach and tell his story.

Personally, I read and finish books that suck me in from the beginning faster, the ones that don’t take a bit more time before I’m stuck to the book and can’t let go of it.

Chinese Blogs Face More Restrictions

More restrictions from China…

The Chinese government has announced plans to police web forums, chat rooms and blogs alongside other websites.

Websites in China have long been required to be officially registered.
The authorities are now determined that blogs should also be brought under state control.

Private bloggers must register the full identity of the person responsible for the sites, the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (MII) said.

All blogs and websites must be registered by 30 June.

[Source: BBC News]

This follows a similar move by the Bahraini government in April.

The purpose behind such moves is an obvious attempt by the governments to keep a leash on bloggers, track everyone and hold them accountable for their opinions.

I hope we don’t see other countries following suit and imposing such restrictions on bloggers.

links for 2005-06-07

Hostage

Last night we went to another movie, this time in Le Royal’s cinema.

The movie was “Hostage” featuring Bruce Willis and Kevin Pollack.

It’s about a failed police negotiator who turns into a small town cop, and then is faced with a situation where he must save the lives of a family held hostage. This draws him into a much more dangerous situation where his own family are also in danger.

The movie starts out pretty slow and a bit boring, but then the pace picks up a bit and the story gets together better making it a pretty decent movie.

It’s not one of Bruce’s best movies, but it’s still ok.
Maybe I had higher expectations, that’s why I didn’t enjoy it fully, but it’s pretty good.

Some people likened it to Bruce’s work on the Die Hard series, but I honestly find those movies a lot better than this one.

My score for it would be: 6.5/10.

Tunisian Blogger Meetup 3

With a number of Tunisian bloggers abroad coming to Tunisia towards the end of June, I think it’ll a great time for the third Tunisian blogger meetup.

I suggest we have it on Sunday, June 26th at 7:00 PM.

As for the place, according to the feedback from the last meetup, the suggestion is somewhere in El Menzah.

Please send me all your suggestions for the place you think would be best.

I hope everyone can fit the meetup into their schedule and make it.
I can’t wait to meet you all 🙂

Tori Amos – The Beekeeper

An album I’ve been listening to a lot these past couple of days is Tori Amos’ “The Beekeeper”.

I’ve never been a fan of Tori Amos, and other than her song “Crucify” I’ve never really heard something else by her that I liked, except maybe for a remix of “Professional Widow”.

Anyway, while reading a book, I needed some calm music in the background, and the only thing I found on my laptop or mp3 player was Tori’s album.
The thing is that the album stole me away from the book.

I really like it. The music, the lyrics, the whole spirit and style of it are really laid back and nice with a touch of weirdness.

My favourite songs off the album are: Parasol, Sweet The Sting, Jamaica Inn, Sleeps With Butterflies…

I never thought I’d be saying this about a Tori Amos album, but it’s really worth checking out.

Saddam Hussein Trial Within Two Months

Ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein is expected to go on trial within two months.

The Iraqi prime minister’s spokesman said on Sunday that Saddam could face up to 500 charges, but he will be tried on only 12 because prosecuting all would be a “waste of time”.

Plus, the 12 chosen charges should be quite enough to get him executed.

[More: Al Jazeera]

Apple Overstocked on iPods

Sources report that Apple Inc. is overstocked on most of its iPod models.

In fact, for the first time in over a year, there is enough stock of all of Apple’s major products — both Mac and iPod — that even the company’s often-neglected value added retailers can get most products on demand. The only exceptions appear to be the new iMac G5 and the Special Edition U-2 iPod, both of which appear to be lingering just below a supply and demand balance.

I think this is very stupid of Apple.
They create good products, market them well, but suck in selling and distributing them.

For example, I’ve been wanting to get an iPod for some time now, not the iPod mini, not the iPod shuffle, I wanted a 20GB iPod, but they’re nowhere to be found neither in Tunisia nor in Jordan.
All I can find are 4GB iPod minis at very high prices.

I ended up buying another 20GB MP3 player, that I’m really happy with. That’s one customer lost for Apple. And I know a lot of people who are just like me, and I’m sure there are even more that I don’t know.

This doesn’t just happen in the Middle East, even in other places like Asia and Europe and even online, distribution just isn’t handled well enough.

People can’t buy your products if you’re sitting on a pile of them and not making them available for them at good local prices.

Kingdom Of Heaven

Last night we went to Century Cinema again and we saw Kingdom Of Heaven, a Ridley Scott movie featuring Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Ghassan Massoud, Jeremy Irons…etc.

I heard and read a lot of positive reviews about this movie before seeing it, and I was really looking forward to it.
I was not dissapointed at all. It was a great movie.

The movie tells the story of Balian, a former blacksmith turned knight, and how he ended up defending Jerusalem during the Muslim siege of the city in the late 12th century.

Even though there are some small historical inaccuracies here and there, it was a pretty good movie all in all.
Plus, it’s good to see a hollywood movie giving a positive perspective of muslims.

Orlando Bloom does a really good job. After his roles in Lord Of The Rings, Troy and Kingdom Of Heaven, he seems set to becoming one of Hollywood’s A-class actors.

My score for this movie would be: 8.5/10.