something to make you smile…

“Repo Men”

My friend Ayah sent me a link for a company called The Union that sells highly sophisticated and expensive mechanical organs. I believed it was true until it turned out that, after charming us in Sherlok Holmes, Jude Law and his co-star Forest Whitaker, are two men working for that company and repossess those mechanical organs by slicing them out when their owners can’t pay up in the movie Repo Men, which will be released next month. And as the story revolves, Remy (Law) begins a one-man quest to take down the company in order to stay alive after he gets a meachnical heart due to an accident. I’m not a fan of movies with lots of blood, but the plot reminds me of of Minority Report, how the hunter becomes the hunted.

Let’s hope things won’t get like that in the future! yey!

Once upon a time… Life

Or as we all know it in Arabic “كان يا مكان الحياة”.

We used to watch it on Jordan TV 10 years ago and it was my favorite TV show as a kid or actually the best children cartoons ever made. The educational yet funny story about the different human body parts affected almost everyone I know (who lived in Amman in the 80’s and 90’s) that it was the reason why my cousin Suha studied medicine!

It’s only 26 episodes. And although everyone in Jordan back then grew up watching Japanese animation, this one particularly was originally produced in France in the late 80’s and was called “Il était une fois… la vie” of which the Arabic name was translated.

Some friends joke about how it caused them many phobias, but the really sad part is… me growing up and realizing that there are no cartoons living in our bodies. That was really heartbreaking!

Grandmother Willow of our age

something to warm your heart…

more search stories here.

via And far away

craving tamriyeh…

…especially tamriyet Arafat, my family’s favorite dessert.

i always wanted to make tamriyeh flavored ice cream, or knafeh or baqlawa flavored ice cream. that would be yummy! just like this Syrian cheese cake recipe which i find really creative.

Ever thought of knafeh cupcakes? or baqlawa cupcakes? apparently this Kuwaiti lady, Fudda, about whom i read a while ago on Roba’s blog, is making cupcakes with an Arabic twist. Although i’m not really a big fan of knafeh, but these are deliciously creative!

1001 Inventions Exhibition

عَن أبي أُمَامَةَ رضيَ اللهُ عنهَ أنَّ رسولَ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عليْه وسلمَ قالَ” فَضْلُ العَالِمِ على العَابِدِ كَفَضْلِي على أدْنَاكًم”.

Thanks to my dear friend Hana, i found out that the Science Museum in London is hosting its latest (and free) exhibition, 1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World, which traces the forgotten story of a thousand years of science from the Muslim world, from the 7th century onwards. The exhibition is a British based project, produced in association with the Jameel Foundation, running from the 21 January to 25 April 2010. Featuring a diverse range of exhibits, interactive displays and dramatization, the exhibition shows how many modern inventions, spanning fields such as engineering, medicine and design, can trace their roots back to Muslim civilization by exploring seven zones: home, school, market, hospital, town, world and universe to discover the social, scientific and technical achievements that are credited to the Muslim world.

And as a part of the exhibition, the short movie “1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets” was filmed about the discoveries made by men and women in the Muslim civilization stretched from southern Spain as far as China where scholars of many faiths built on the ancient knowledge of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, making breakthroughs that paved the way for the Renaissance. “1001 Inventions” uncovers a thousand years of science and technology that had a huge but hidden impact on the modern world, starring the Oscar-winning actor and screen legend Sir Ben Kingsley who plays the role of a mysterious librarian who takes a group of school children on an enlightening journey to meet pioneering scientists and engineers from the history of Muslim civilization. The librarian is then revealed to be 12th century engineering genius Al-Jazari.

Also, as part of her majesty Queen Rania’s YouTube project, in collaboration with Abdul Lateef Jameel Foundation and the British presenter Bettany Hughes, Her Majesty uploaded this video that highlights just some of the everyday items in our homes that came to us through a shared heritage with Muslim Civilization.

So watch both movies, then sit back and think, what happened that changed us and got us to where we are today? Separation? Intolerance? Politics? Or is it disconnecting the deep meanings of our religion from our lives? May ALLAH bless the souls of all scientists and inventors in the Muslim civilization as well as the authors and miniature artists for recording all these achievements!

Check out a miniature of the Elephant clock and other useful gifts in their gift shop, such unique and cute gifts!

All materials posted are from www.1001inventions.com

the past decade illustrated

for 2010 i predict the “It!” will be energy, the verb will be ping. but how come facebook and Bush’s shoe-dodge was not mentioned at all!!?

via NYtimes

so cute!

Brother innobella richer colors.

GO COLTS!

last week, early in the morning, on my way to school, everyone was wearing white and blue jerseys. I didn’t know what was it all about. Until, thanks to my two football fanatic friends at Herron Susana and Brandon S. I learned it was Monday night special game and Indianapolis Colts where playing against Miami Dolphins. Of course, i didn’t know what they were talking about at first, for i know nothing about American football except that the name of that sport didn’t make sense to me. So Susana, Brandon, Terri and I went out to watch the game, before the game started and during the TV commercials they taught me the rules of football, scoring and the names of the Colts players.
it was fun!
The Colts defeated the dolphins 27-23 in the last minutes thanks to Garcon (number 85).

in the spirit of Eid

I got many questions from my friends at school on why i fast, how we do it, what’s the purpose behind it… etc.
and because Eid is no Eid without candy, i thought it would be nice to share with them the festive atmosphere and the happiness of Eid with some little treats since they are interested and curious to know more :)
we’ll be talking more about it next Friday in the TGIF at school.
i’m so excited about it!