Vote.. if you see its worthy!

I submitted my photo under the theme Elegance to JPG Magazine, if it receives enough votes it will be published in the March issue!

Click here to view!

FIRE...!!!

As me and the Mrs. arrived at the famous Sawari Mall for some weekend shopping, we heard the whaling sirens of ambulances and fire trucks. Just a few seconds passed and we saw these trucks and cars speeding into the parking lot of the mall. After asking a few bystanders who arrived before us, it appeared that the famous Lebanese cuisine "Shami" restaurant was on fire because of an electrical short circuit! Thank God no one got hurt as the mall turned into a ghost town as people rushed out. I didn't forget to whip out my mobile to record this moment for my faithful watchers and readers:

Warning... Lots of talk coming ahead...!

Four Weddings.. And more weddings...!

Everyone loves weddings right? People are happy, free food, and maybe getting a chance to dance. Yeah all that is great, but not when weddings last till 3 or 4 AM! And here is the thing, weddings in Saudi Arabia are actually NOT mixed! So what you have is that you and your wife (or sister, mother, whatever) are attending the same wedding, but ironically the men's side usually finishes around 11 PM or midnight, while the lady's side doesn't finish till dawn...!

So what happens is that I finish dinner, then tea, then some "mingling" with people I may not like, and I am done with all that by 11! I call up my lady (of course barely hearing her over the screaming loud speakers) and she usually informs me that the bride and groom actually haven't started the ceremony yet (which they call here in Arabic "Zaffa" ). So I am stuck having to mingle some more here and there, maybe fiddle a bit with my mobile phone, deleting those unwanted numbers and editing others, or maybe I just try to wonder away with my thoughts.

Even with all that done, I look at my watch and its still 2 AM... "Honey, are you done?" ... "No sweety, they just served dinner now!" ... Excuse me? Dinner at 2 AM?? I think if you try to explain to Europeans or Americans that there is actually a "dinner" served after midnight, you would probably be labeled insane... And now I have to wait for another hour or two and drive back home half awake, which is dangerous since sometimes weddings occur in Makkah which is an one hour drive from Jeddah where we live.

Why cant we just have normal weddings where everything wraps up at midnight max? Why are Saudi families competing with each other who has the longest weddings? The problem is that women usually don't have a problem, they got the Sound system and maybe a female singer inside, plus they consider talking as their favorite sport. Its us husbands, sons, and brothers who have to mingle and fiddle with our mobiles till the crack of dawn...


Pimp My Ride!

The first day of the vacation witnessed my first event photoshoot for "Layalina" magazine. Actually it happened by chance while I was driving by the sea and spotted a large number of teens grouped around something.. Turns out its a show for pimped up cars!

I called up my editor and asked her if she is interested, then set up my gear (which luckily I had in my car trunk) and started shooting my heart out! I really had fun, and its not just cause I LOVE photography, but also cause this actually gave me a large boost in my self confidence. I mean there you are, carrying this huge sophisticated camera around your neck and shooting at everything, plus you are getting to stand in front of all the other viewers and granted special access, with a society like we have here you are bound to get a stupid remark or more from someone. Also I got to work on my conversation skills where I had to talk to the sponsors and organizers of the show, not to mention making what I call "cigarette buddies" which are basically people you ask/they ask you for a smoke.

I took over 100 photos that day, not to mention a few videos for my channel on youtube.com , have a look at one of them:





Let's Hit the Beach...!

The second day of my vacation wasn't so bad either, went out for lunch then some bowling with my wife and sisters. But deep down I was worried about the rest of my vacation and how there is not much to do in little ol' Jeddah. Just then I got a phone call from a good client of mine which went something like this:

Him: Hey Ahmed, I want you to fix me a flight to Cairo.
Me: Ok sure, sms me the details and I will tell the guys to work on it
Him: Great! By the way how's your vacation?
Me: Starting to get boring man
Him: OK why don't you hit the beach? Rent a beach house or something... Or tell you what, did you know that I own the "Canary Resort" by the sea?
Me: Yeah I heard something like that...
Him: Well take your family and head out there, pick whichever cabin you like and its yours till Friday!
Me: That's great man, thanks! But how much?
Him: Oh shut up!

So the vacation turned out well after all..! Seems a bit of PR really goes a long way!

No end to the horror that is Guantanamo

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington and Andy McSmith (The Independent)

Published: 09 January 2007

When the first prisoners arrived at Guantanamo in January 2002 they were handcuffed, shackled and wearing hoods. The reason for these exceptional measures, explained the then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, was that the prisoners were highly dangerous. "These are the sort of people who would chew through a hydraulics cable to bring a C-17 [transport plane] down," he claimed. "They are very, very dangerous people."

Five years later none of these "worst of the worst" have been brought to trial. Just 10 have been formally charged while hundreds of others have been returned to their own countries and released. Meanwhile, three have committed suicide, at least 40 others have tried to do so and there are concerns about the mental health of most of the 400 or so remaining prisoners.

"It is remarkable that Guantanamo still exists five years on," said Clive Stafford Smith, legal director of the British group Reprieve, which represents three dozen inmates. "But what is also remarkable is that Guantanamo has distracted attention from other secret prisons the US has. As of August last year we know there are 14,000 prisoners in US custody around the world."
Critics say the low point of the past five years perhaps came in June 2006 when three prisoners - Ali Abdullah Ahmed, 28, from Yemen, and Saudis Yassar Talal al-Zahrani, 21, and 30-year-old Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi - hanged themselves using torn sheets. Lawyers said they did so out of desperation but the base commander claimed it was "an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us". Controversy had previously been stirred in December 2005 when it emerged the US military was strapping prisoners into "restraint chairs" to force-feed those who had gone on hunger-strike.

General Bantz Craddock, head of the US Southern Command, defended repeatedly inserting feeding tubes into prisoners' throats and nostrils, saying: " Some of these hard-core guys were getting worse." There have been numerous reports of abuse, humiliation and torture. Prisoners have allegedly been held in stress positions, locked in solitary confinement not permitted to sleep and been smeared with fake menstrual blood.

Three Britons who were held for more than two years before being released without charge - Asef Iqbal, Ruhal Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul - claimed they were repeatedly punched, kicked, slapped, injected with drugs, hooded, photographed naked, subjected to body searches and forced to endure sexual and religious humiliation. Mr Ahmed said he was questioned by a British interrogator while a gun was held to his head.

One of the more unusual reports was the so-called Harry Potter torture. Visiting US legislators watched through a one-way mirror as a woman interrogator sought to wear down a prisoner's resistance with a non-stop reading of the adventures of the boy wizard, which reportedly lasted for hours.

Campaigners believed they had achieved a breakthrough last June when the US Supreme Court ruled that the Bush administration's use of military tribunals was unconstitutional. It also ruled that each of the prisoners had the right to have their cases heard in court.

But though Mr Bush said at the time he wished to close Guantanamo, just three months later he was successful in getting Congress to pass new legislation that circumvented the Supreme Court ruling and opened the way to proceed with the tribunals. It also backed the administration's decision to refuse prisoners the right to see the evidence used against them.

Last May the UN Committee on Torture called on the US government to close the facility immediately. The same month the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, also said the prison's continued operation was "unacceptable" . Tony Blair called it an "anomaly". But the Government refuses to help eight British residents who are still being held at the prison even though the US has sought their repatriation.

In October the High Court in London ruled that the men did not have the right to be treated in the same way as British nationals. The Foreign Office claims it has no power to intervene on behalf of foreign nationals, even if they were long-term residents of the UK.

The numbers that shame America
1825 Number of days that Guantanamo has been open
400 prisoners are currently detained at Guantanamo
20 detainees arrived on 11 January 2002, the day the detention centre opened. They were hooded and shackled
8 per cent of detainees accused of fighting for a terrorist group
300 prisoners who have been released back to their own countries since 2002
86 per cent captured by the Northern Alliance or the Pakistani authorities for US bounties
70 prisoners who President Bush's administration plans to charge in military courts
10 prisoners who have already been charged
0 number of detainees brought to trial

President Bush reacts to Supreme Court ruling that Guantanamo military tribunals are unconstitutional.

And this is the briefing the President received on his way to the conference...

Off to visit my prophet

Last Friday was a busy day for me, and that's cause we decided to take a plane and head off to Madinah for the day. And for those who don't know, "Madinah" OR "Almadinah Almenawara" is a city in West Saudi Arabia where prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) lived after he immigrated from Makkah. There is a mosque there in his name, and also he is buried there next to his 2 friends and companions "Abo Bakr Al-Sedeek" and "Omar Bin Al-Khattab". So us Muslims like from time to time to go and visit him and pray in his mosque, its not obligatory by the way as many may think.

Anyway, we took the morning flight, and as usual with Saudia Airlines, the flight was delayed 50 minutes! It seems that they were shopping for a plane, cause as soon as we boarded we kinda noticed the crew look weird... They are white, speak a strange language, and have Western looks. What made me realize whats goin on is that the signs and everything else was written in a weird language in addition to English, this is an aircraft rented from Turkish Airlines!

After the short 45 minute flight, we were hit by the cold weather of Madinah. It must have been 20 C and we are still 12 PM! We headed to the mosque barely in time for Friday prayers and spent the rest of the day in Madinah to attend the rest of the prayers.

I was happy that we chose to spend this time in prayer, sorry I cant say the same for other Muslims who couldn't wait to run outside the country to Egypt, Dubai, Lebanon, and Europe, even though these 10 days of this Hijri month are very holy and sacred, and a Muslim is better off trying to worship Allah more and try to erase his sins. I felt sorry that I left Jeddah for Dubai for the last day of Ramadan... I mean we get 20 days in the whole year that are VERY sacred, cant you wait to get out of the country?? Lots of Muslim WISH to be leaving in Saudi Arabia because it has Makkah and Madina, and also because of the strict Islam rulings here and that there is no alcohol, prostitution, crime, etc. Nah, leave all that and let's hit good old Italy, pick up girls in Cairo, or roam the night clubs of Beirut... God save us...

Now even though its prohibited to photograph at the Prophet's grave, I managed to sneak behind someone and take this video below. Not many have seen this spot, (so excuse the quality cause I was hiding behind someone) . Not for security reasons, but because you are supposed to stand there to visit prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) only. But I felt obliged to show this to the world, especially people who are interested in Islam, and even the people who attack us without taking the time to know more about us and our religion... Mohamed is buried behind these gates...

What really made me upset, is that the boys and girls were not acting at all that they are going to pray and worship. Girls are wearing full make up, flashy clothes, and accepting flirts from various boys scattered around *gasp* the outer gates of the mosque! What's wrong with this world? Are you coming to visit your prophet and erase some sins, or coming to build some more and pick up girls or get picked up by guys??

We took the 11 PM flight and headed back to hot and humid Jeddah. I tried not to laugh as I boarded the plane, it was so freakin small! I felt I was in a shooting of a film and this is a trick plane or somethin! The roof was so low and there were only two rows of chairs, with only 4 chairs in each row. Here have a look:

So that wraps it up I guess... Now if you excuse me, I am very tired... Happy Eid and happy new year everyone...

Vacation At Last

Well after a hectic month of phone calls, client requests, an insane number of mid night calls on my cell phone, at last I can say the season has passed and I can relax! Well kind of...
Our company gave us only 4 days off, Saturday to Tuesday! While 95% of other travel agencies and companies took the whole week off. But I would not bend for that, so I applied for the remaining 2 days to be deducted from my 30-day per year annual vacation.

I was loosing hope that we were going to head out to Madinah (the holy city where the prophet PBUH is buried) because we couldn't find any seats, and I was too tired after the season to drive 5 hours back and forth. But thank God (and then thanks to my bro in law!) we managed to get seats! Tell me if you need any prayers! LoL..

Also in the news, I got a job as a freelance photographer in Layalina Magazine, a community mag published here in Saudi Arabia. Its a good chance to polish up my skills! And for that I bought a new Nikon SB-600 flash, cost me around US$200 but its worth it!

I love getting mail, except when its credit card statements! The sad part is I got a mail from Men's Health saying that my subscription didn't go through cause my bank didn't release the funds from my credit card! But the good part is that I got my first issue of JPG magazine, and the customs didn't even open it! Even though there's a pic of a girl with a tattoo on her chest! Now how convenient...

I watched the movie "The Constant Gardner" last night on Showtime with the Mrs. , and I have to say its one of the best I saw in a long time! Plus I saw the pilot of "Prison Break", and honestly I dont know what all the fuss is about, I didnt like it at all...

Oh by the way, take a look at this cool phone! I would deffinatly get that if its well priced!

Anyway, Happy new year and Happy Eid to all of ya.. Take care...

When we had balls

I stumbled upon this video on youtube.com which shows a report by NBC about the Arab Oil embargo back in 1973. This was done to force Israel to withdraw from occupied areas. When I look now at our situation, 33 years later, I am shocked and sad. What happened during the last Lebanon bombing and how most of the Arab countries did nothing but watch. Back in those days the Arabs actually had the balls to stand up against Israel and the USA, even the world.

Now even if we decided to do that step again, USA have already secured themselves by placing themselves in Iraq, and being buddies with Qatar. Its amazing how the United States have planned this carefully through 30 years to settle themselves within the Middle East and the Gulf, now who can say that politics isnt a dirty game?

Beaten up... For what?

We had a family gathering last Thursday, and during that my sis was telling us that she was in Tahlia Mall the Thursday before when she found lots of guys running towards something and shouting... Then one security guard came running towards the middle of the mall and collapsed on the ground! We had no idea what was the deal and just suggested it was probably a fight or something between some guys...

Yesterday I heard from one of my relatives, who happened to be there at that time with his wife and kids... he asked around and found out that the story was that one guy from "high up" was trying to enter the mall, escorted by the usual dark-skinned companions, when 2 security officers stopped them from entering the mall, because of corse its for "families only" on Thursdays...

The powerful guy did not take no for an answer, and actually sent his henchmen to get clubs and "chains" from the car and beat one of the security close to death while the other one managed to escape inside the mall (the one my sis saw fall to the ground).

What I wana ask is, till when will this continue? That these people can do whatever they please whenever they please, even if they are 2nd class or even 3rd class "big shots" if u know what I mean... What did these 2 poor Saudi youths working as security for only SR. 1000 - 1200 a month do except do their job by not letting singles into the mall?
I bet this will just go like many other stories like it before.. under the table, forgotten, and never spoken of again...

Birthday and other stuff

Well I guess this has been the longest time I stayed without writing up a post, this was cause of many reasons:
1- Too busy with the season picking up
2- My aunt had an operation
3- I caught a bad flu which knocked me out for 3 days
4- KSA decided to block off some pages of blogger which affected signing in!

Anyway, my birthday was 02 December (yeah the UAE national day, woop-dee-do), and sadly not many of my deviant friends remembered, even though half of them are from the UAE and they noticed it was the same day as their national day... Anyway when you get older you start to feel birthdays are over rated anyway, whats so special about them? you just managed not to die for 12 months!

But I did get a few nice gifts... like a new Giorgio Armani wallet from the Mrs. (thanks honey!), an overseas call from my aunt in England (awwww), the new Boss perfume from my sisters, and last but not least a nice amount of cash from my parents

So what else has been goin around in the Godfather's world... Well I formatted my I-pod cause I felt there was too much junk on it anyway (23 GB of junk!) and it was easier to format it than to remove what I didnt like. Also in the news, I finally laid down my defenses and decided to agree that I need braces to fix a few of my back teeth. But the doc discovered I had a crack in one of my teeth and it has died and now I gotta get a root canal!!!!

The Saudi stocks are falling badly, they lost 2 years of profits in just 2 weeks and people have lost more than half of their savings... I lost alot too but I managed to escape before it got worse... Sukie wrote me the sweetest words... its so great to know that you mean so much to somebody, and it kinda gave me a confidence boost after I was feeling I wasnt liked alot just cause I always speak what comes to my mind... so now after I read this, I can tell ANYONE here on DA who doesnt like me or doesnt understand me to kiss any side of my ass they wish and to go burn themselves in a place where no one will hear them scream, lool....
You can read what MJ wrote about me here

I opened an Aramex "shop&ship" account which gives u a mail address in both USA and UK, so no more "sorry we cant ship to your country" crap! I srated by buying myself an arm band for my ipod and some external speakers for the Mrs.'s Nano I-pod. oh yeah I also subscribed to Men's Health magazine for half what they would charge you for an overseas subscription! I am even thinking of buying filters and lenses from Amazon cause they got amazing deals there!

Anyway thats it for today... I got my dentist appointment in an hour so I gotta go to a bar and get drunk... wait, I'm in Saudi Arabia, oh well...

Back Again!

After switching to blogger beta, I was having a hell of time logging in to make new blogs and respond to others! I thought it was something temporary but then time passed by and I couldnt comment on my friends' blogs and I couldnt write!

I thought it was a bug, and even sent an email to Blogger. But then my friend on both DA and the blogger world: Sukie suggested that maybe they blocked off Blogger and that whats causing the problem. So I tried my proxy bypass program and it worked!! I could have not been happier! Thank you Sukie for pointing this out, and damn you Saudi Internet filtering for blocking off our voice and our sites!

I wana be gay too!

Check out this video of this reporter "checking out" if Scarlett Johanson's breasts are fake or not. And she actually didnt mind and just stood there, just cause the guy is gay. Well if I can be gay for a day just to do that, heck where do I sign up? LooL

Saudi Arabia.. Best Country in the World (Song)

I guess alot of you saw this episode of American Dad: "Stan of Arabia". I didnt know if I should feel offended or laugh! LoooL...

Let me share with you this song from this episode... If you think its funny, try to download the episodes!

Two Years...

Last Saturday was our 2 year anniversary, I got her a bunch of flowers (no, not roses!)... and I wrote this to go with it...

Red roses were always a symbol
Of eternal love, passion, and care
On occasions and even in Valentine's
You can see them everywhere

I stood at the florist wondering
What should I pick to present to you
Should I stick with the tradition...
And get red roses too?

But I picked something different
I picked several colors out of my mind
Colors that reflect my feelings for you
Because our love is one of a kind...

And a picture of the flowers that I took:



My Love is like no Other by =DJVue on deviantART

Help me know myself

Please take the time to fill out these quizes, they are very simple and you can do one for yourself!

The Dark Side of me

The Bright Side of me

This is a short poem I wrote called " Childhood Memories ", it was for my latest Photo (shown below):

Everyday passes us by
The train of life doesnt slow down
Everyday holds mixed feelings
A smile.. A laugh.. A frown

The child in us dies slowly
As life's troubles kill us inside
We seek escape, we seek shelter
From life, there is no where to hide

Norture the child in you as your own
He lives in your heart, in your head
You may need this child one day
Sadly, you may find him dead...

Childhood Memories by =DJVue on deviantART

A Story of a kitten

As I was leaving home last Thursday, I saw this little kitten getting picked on by the big cats in the neighberhood. She ran off to hide under my car, I looked under and didnt see her so I thought she ran away. Oh was I wrong... Lets watch the video together...

Fast Food Fight

This video was shot last year, at Al-Beik branch on Corniche in Jeddah. Just for the non-Saudis, Al-Beik is a famous fried chicken fast food restaurant in the Western Province of Saudi Arabia.

See how these Saudi youth trashed the place and made a big fight with the staff.

Zidan.. The Legend

I uploaded my first video to my youtube library.. more will come!

Bad Muslims.. Good Muslims...?

I want every Muslim who loves his religion to read this blog and comment if they have any comment. Thank you.

Banks...

Ok I have OFFICIALLY had it with the banks' services in this country! Where should I begin? Should I start with the ATMs that are out of order most of the time? Or the POS (point of sales) machines in shops and supermarkets that give you an Error message more than getting the transaction through? Or the Electronic deposit machines which should save our time and efforts, but instead are not working 90% of times? And when you walk in the branch and tell them its not working, they just tell you to take a number and deposit the cash through the teller, not even appologizing for the inconvenience of their super services. And of corse you have to sit and wait for your number to flash on the screen after they are done with the 25+ people who came before you.

And the final chapter of the super service, while working on my portfolio online, and the market looking all green and fresh after 10 days of dropping prices, the online system just goes into error and doesnt open till the market closes! So are we just supposed to kiss our money good bye? Or should I drop everything in hand and jump to the nearest branch to stand in line behind 50 or more sweaty angry people who wana sell their stocks? Toll Free number I hear you say? Tried that, always busy...

A piggy bank doesnt sound like a bad idea now...

Second Place Baby!

Well what do you know... seems I can win something after all! After I entered my photo to the Flower Macro Photography Contest on deviantart.com , I was surprised when the results came out yesterday and I landed second place out of over 180 entries! I am sure you are saying: "hey you didnt win, what are you so happy about?" Well for a non-pro photographer with minimul equipment, I guess I accomplished something for myself before anything else Here is my winning horse:

Tickle My Senses by =DJVue on deviantART