GoodBye Abu 3antar

Argentina Magic

Warning: Contains football.
Choose the HQ.

Argentina 4 Some-other-team-who-cares 0
The missed chance at the end is better than any goal

Lost Without Translation

A little conversation with a cousin a few months back...

Fares, "Have you seen the new James Bond movie?"

Cousin, "Yes, it was sick, very sick"

Fares, "Really, I heard it was good..."

Cousin, "Yea you should watch it, very sick"

Fares, "?????"

Cousin, "OK you don't get my lingo, what I mean by sick is that it wasn't sick like you shouldn't watch it, no it was sick like it was bad, baaaaad, very baaaad, ill man, it was ill, and f----ing awesome"

A Thought....

I'm Jordanian enough even if the fucking stupid test on fucking facebook didn't say so, and please get a fucking life and stop fucking being proud of yourself for knowing how to say fart in a Ras-El-3ain dialect.

and if you send me another request to take your test I will prove to you I'm Jordanian enough by ripping your face into twenty small pieces and spreading them on my next mansaf dish

Ok, let's make a deal, don't complain about this and I won't use profanity for the end of the month.

Quick Meaningless Useless Baseless Movie Review from Someone Who Doesn't Take Movies Very Seriously

Here's a quick highly unprofessional movie review of some movies I watched recently:

1- Man on Wire: you'll never regret watching an Academy Award winner for best documentary, definitely not this one. It's about a French man named Petit who wanted to walk on a tightrope between the World Trade Center towers in 1974, and it makes you feel like you were the one going through this experience, that you were the one going to walk on the rope. The "Petit" man was larger than life, and you're mistaken if you think the movie is just about walking between buildings. You'll be shocked to know why did he choose to walk on the rope. A-

2-Harold and Kumar Go to Guanatanmo Bay: this is one hilarious movie, and some great acting by Rob Cowdry the Daily Show reporter. He adds a special flavor to the movie. C+

3- Rachel Getting Married: It wasn't only Hathaway who did a wonderful job in this movie about a recovering drug addict, everyone even those in 5-minute roles made this movie seem very real. If you have never saw, heard, lived or interacted with an addict, you may not like it so much. B

4- Gomorra: This is an Italian movie about a terrible mafia-like gang in the streets on Napoli that has killed more than 4000 people and still kills one person every 3 days. Unlike other movies and series about the mafia like the Godfather and the Sopranos, it shows the very ugly (and real) side of such gang. It's definitely worth watching even after the first hour when you can hardly find any relation between the different characters. The author of the book that inspired the movie did not only face death threats, but is still under police protection because the Gomorra vowed to kill him before Christmas. And to the director Gilardino or whatever his name is, what a kick-ass world-class superb job man. A-

5- Waltz With Bashir: I reviewed this one in a separate post. A masterpiece. A.

6- Citizen Kane (1941): the reason I decided to watch this 70-year old movie is how it's considered the best movie ever made to date by many critics. In ten minutes I passed out on my sofa. If you've seen it tell me if it's worth watching.

7- Pineapple Express: I love stoner comedies, but not this one. The script sucked. Not a complete waste of time though. D+

8- Deliver Us From Evil: this documentary talks about the sex scandal that broke in the Catholic church. It's enraging and extremely sad. B

9- Body of War: Another great documentary about the Iraq War. These documentaries should never stop coming, bring 'em on. B+

10- Once. A very soft love story (almost). Warning: it's a musical. Another warning: women are much more likely to love this movie than men. B

11- Reservoir Dogs (1992). A movie by Quentin Tarantino. Gruesome. Bloody. Violent. I don't know why I kept watching it. If you love such movies you'll love this one. I didn't like it. (D on my personal scale, but yours could easily be an A)

12- Hot Fuzz: A British comedy that is very funny in some scenes (believe it or not). I didn't like its second hour. C+

13- United 93: Saw it once, and my stomach turns whenever I see scenes from it on TV again. The movie itself, well-done, but it might be better if you didn't watch it. B+

14- When We Were King (1996) : A documentary about a boxing game between Muhammad Ali and ... who? Who on earth is George Forman? It goes back to 1974 and tries to explain why Muhammad Ali was an icon. It tells you a little bit about the world. A little bit. B

15- Mr. Bean's Holiday: I didn't lose hope that Mr. Bean can at least once star in a great comedy. This wasn't one, and 90 minutes were way too long. C

16- Sicko: this is a great documentary from Mike Moore about how citizens of the wealthiest country in the world are suffering from the lack of health insurance more than they suffer from the diseases they have. Painfully strange and strangely painful. A-

Waiting to watch: 12 (Russian), Caché, Wendy and Lucy, I love you man, Fireproof and .... Bruno (to be released in July!!)

March 21st....

Good songs last forever, this is a good song for a great occasion.

Encounter

I finished seeing my last patient in the clinic.

Before she left I told her, "I'd like to see you again in June at the university clinic"
"Can I see you in the Kino clinics instead?"
"No, I don't have a clinic there in June. I do in May"
"Can I come in May then to that clinic"
"Yes, it's a little early, but that's fine"
"Good, that way I can go to the casino after I see you"

By the way, she's 79 years old.

BiMonthly Video

Some meetings are interrupted by an unexpected guest, which can come in form of solid , liquid or gaseous material.

At Sixes and Sevens

Are we still now among the least respected people just like we were six years ago?

For all those thousands who suffered for no reason, just like that young woman in this cartoon, I am sorry for being another cheap Arab on this planet. We still have not recognized that we are worth much more than what the market value suggests, and we still wish for others to respect us when we have not respected ourselves. Arabs everywhere, including Jordan, still look down on each other, hate each other, make plots to hurt each other for no obvious reason.

It's just another year....

Unforgettable Movie Scenes

Some movie scenes stay in memory forever. Some movies may not at all be that fascinating, but a scene, a word, a face gesture, a scream, a joke, a sound effect may leave its mark in the history of entertainment.

Here are some movie scenes that I think are very remarkable for one reason or another. Most contain spoilers:

1- Rocky Bolboa:
Rocky talking about life.





2- My Left Foot: This is Christy Brown, My Son, Genius!

This is a powerful one. The little kid on the floor is Christy Brown. He was born in the 1930s with cerebral palsy, which left him diabled everywhere except the left foot. As a child he was considered unable to do anything, but what he did was listen to his mother teach his healthy siblings. Then he did this. This is a real story. Brown went ahead to become a successful painter and writer.





3- The Godfather: I do renounce him!

A very classical scenes



4- Taxi Driver: Are you talking to me??

I like it when people talk to thmemselves.



5- The End of Forrest Gump: great last scene.




6- Jerry Maguire:
A great quote that I always use while talking to patients who refuse treatment for any reason:






7- Erin Brockovic: Numbers

Julia Roberts and a great scene. Sorry for the sound-picture discrepancy.





8- The Sixth Sense: The little kid speaks up

Probably everyone remembers the very last scene, so I included the one before that which is just as strong.

Disclaimer

I deleted a post that accused everyone of being a coward. I know exactly, EXACTLY, what your response(s) will be. They won't add anything and they won't change anything. I enjoy reading your comments but sometimes I have to act upon them, so I'd rather delete my whole entry than cherry-pick the comments I want to be posted.

Again, I know what some of you really really want to throw at me, so don't feel bad about not saying it. I discovered that I really care about myself, it's very simple. Sorry about not accepting comments on this particular post.

Let's talk about football, that Barcelona-Lyon game was fantabulous....

The BiMonthly Video: House Singing

This is a video of Hugh Laurie, the main character in House MD, singing in the 1990s about Steffi Graf the tennis world champion.

He has a great voice actually, I heard him sing on Leno and SNL.

Enjoy....

Radioactive Radium in Jordanian Waters

After reading this piece on Al-Arabiya, I looked up the article published on the Feb 19th the Environmental Science & Technology (first author:Avner Vengosh) . It was conducted by 12 researchers from Duke, Yale, Applied Science University, Al Quds University, Ben-Gurion University, and Soreq Nuclear research center in Israel.

The conclusion, is very concerning to say the least, I'm quoting from their abstract:

"High levels of naturally occurring and carcinogenic radium isotopes have been measured in low-saline and oxic groundwater from the Rum Group of the Disi sandstone aquifer in Jordan. The combined 228Ra and 226Ra activities are up to 2000% higher than international drinking water standards. Analyses of the host sandstone aquifer rocks show 228Ra and 226Ra activities and ratios that are consistent with previous reports of sandstone rocks from different parts of the world.
These findings raise concerns about the safety of this and similar nonrenewable groundwater reservoirs, exacerbating the already severe water crisis in the Middle East. "

Moreover,

"This study has revealed high levels of Ra in groundwater from the Disi sandstone aquifer, which is considered the future drinking water resource in Jordan and other countries in the region. The high Ra content largely exceeds the international drinking water standards and poses a health risk upon long-term utilization. "

In the Acknowledgments at the very end ,
"This study was supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development, by the Bureau for Global Programs, Field Support and Research, and by the Center for Economic Growth and Agriculture Development, The Middle East Regional Cooperation program (MERC Project M25-060). D.H. was partly supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. We thank Emily Klein for editing an earlier version of this manuscript. We also thank four anonymous reviewers for their informative and valuable comments that improved the quality of this paper. "

I've read hundreds of acknowledgements at the end of scientific (medical) papers, and this is the first time I read they had anonymous reviewers. There must have been a good reason why they wanted to stay quiet!

To read the abstract, click here .