Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Silence your tongue

from "A Thief in The Night" By Jalaluddin Rumi

And He is with you*
       with you
in your search
       when you seek Him
look for Him
       in your looking
closer to you
       than yourself
              to yourself:
Why run outside?
       Melt like snow.
wash yourself
       with yourself:
urged by Love
       tongues sprout
from the soul
       like stamens
              from the lily...

But learn
       this custom
from the flower:
       silence
              your tongue.

*Qur'an 4:57
Diwan-e Shams, v.V.ED. FURUZANFAR, P., 2172
(translated by Peter Lamborn Wilson)
The Rumi Collection, edited by Kabir Helminski

لما تشتي...








لما تشتي
لما تشتي ... دنيا بتبكي
تبكي شو فينا و ما فينا ...
و قديش كان في غالي فينا...


قهوة و دخان ...و راديو خربان...و في فيروز عم بتغني فينا ...و سيارة عم تمشي فينا

بتمنى أبكي... لما تشتي ... تغسلنا من شو وجع فينا ... نتذكر مين من ماضينا ...

نفسي أبكي... بحالي أبكي ...
لو بنحس شو صاير فينا ...الغالي صار اسمو ماضينا... كنا نسينا

دنيا بتحكي... لما بتشتي ... عصدرو شو ياما غفينا ... دفينا وقد دنيا تنسانا
انتي تشتي ... نحنا نبكي.. نبكي شو فينا و ما فينا ... دنيا بتعرف كيف تواسينا...

لولا بتشتي انت انت ... بتقدر تبكي ... لو بكون الشتا ماضينا ...
ما في حب رح بيكون فينا ... كنا نسينا

نفسي أبكي... حالي أبكي ...
لو بتحس شو صاير فينا ...الغالي صار اسمو ماضينا...

جرب تبكي ... يمكن تحكي ...
جواتك شوف حكايات روحك
بلكي الدنيا تشكي جواك ... حب ... كنا نسينا

فرقه رم

Thursday, February 21, 2008

摄影

For one reason or another all my friends and sister thought of getting me books for my birthday... and most of the books were about photography!
But this book is different... and I couldn't have expected less from my good friend Sandra...
She got me a book... and about photography... but it is in Chinese!!!!
And no... I don't read Chinese... so now I can admire the images and visual impact of the Chinese letters without having to read and understand the text they placed...
I love the book... don't you think it is a great gift?


p.s. Thanks a million Sandra for keeping it flavored... ;-)

The Narratives* | 10

10

“WHY ARE YOU DIFFERENT?”
“WHY CAN’T YOU BE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE?”
“WHY AREN’T YOU NORMAL?”
“WHY CAN’T YOU DO THINGS THE WAY EVERYBODY ELSE DO THEM?”

“WHY… WHY… WHY…?”
They shouted…


The crimson willow stood silently… for no matter what the willow will do or say… it will be [crimson]…

* The Narratives: stories, events, and scenes that happen[ed] inside and around my head…

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Can't take less....

[[`Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.

`I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, `so I can't take more.'

`You mean you can't take less,' said the Hatter: `it's very easy to take more than nothing.' ]]

Alice's Advernture in Wonderland, Ch. VII, Lewis Carroll

Monday, February 18, 2008

On the Nature of Daylight...


by: Max Richter

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Visuals of Valentine's Day

Every year as Valentine’s Day approaches the world seem to flood with the same visuals all over... a pretty girl [better blondish]... the girl barely dressed in black or red... red boxes of chocolate [shaped like a heart]... red roses...[long stemmed] teddy bears... [saying I love you]… white sheets... etc....
What bugs me about that... is how these same images, illustrations or even objects are limited... and in a way they invoke a preset of emotions, expectations and feelings in the people who do celebrate the day... These constrained visuals lack creativity... and as I said trap the meaning of the day in one aspect or direction... let alone that the day become a commercialized event than anything..
We all heard stories about the origin of the day and I know that it is a day for romantic love... but... what other symbols or visuals can be used to let the day free of preconceptions and presets?


A story goes that a guy was walking with a girl… then he asked her “why God has created the hand with 5 fingers shaped exactly the way they are!?”… She tried answering… but it wasn’t the right answer… finally he said, “So that when we walk together we can hold each other hands perfectly”…

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Australia's new day

It was when I began reading "The New Rulers of the World" by John Pilger that I began to realize a new reality about the dream land of Austeralia... in the last chapter of the book titled "The Chosen Ones" Pilger unfolds realities and truths about his own hometown of Sidney and the other face of it's aboriginal habitants...
[[ "If there was a race between democratic nations to see who could best address the violation of the human rights [of its original people], Austeralia would be coming stone motherless last." Professor Colin Tatz, Genocide Studies Centre, Sydney]]
The New Rulers of the World, John Pilger

[[Some years ago, I met the Aboriginal leader Bob Riley, an unforgettable man with a broad, wry smile, thick black beard and horn-rimmed glasses. Eloquent and witty, he spoke hard truths with a gentle voice. Despairing of having to 'climb into the gutter with the politicians', he later took his own life, like so many of his people. We had talked about the constant celebration of Australian 'nationhood' in historical anniversaries, the republican campaign and great sporing events. 'But it's simple', he said. 'Unless you give us back our nationhood, you can never claim your own.']]
The New Rulers of the World, John Pilger

But today is a new day... for
Austeralia says sorry... at last... the Australian government made a formal apology for all the wrong deeds done against its own Aboriginal popluation....
And though some say this is not enough... I think at least it is a good start [[hopefully]]... and history must find a way to give people all their natural human rights...

27


Saturday, February 09, 2008

The Narratives* | 9

9

They were…

One was a coward…

The other was in denial…

They… no more…


Now…

She becomes he…


* The Narratives: stories, events, and scenes that happen[ed] inside and around my head…

Friday, February 08, 2008

Acquired...

The first Acquiring deal I heard about which made me really angry was when Autodesk the creator of AutoCAD acquired Maya from Alias. But before that 3D Max was acquired also by Audtodesk... Adobe acquired Macromedia... and now... Microsoft is planning to buy Yahoo engine!
I'm sure the list of these acquiring businesses are more...
What I find irritating about them is:
:: It's a capitalist move... where the rich are getting richer... and I'm anti-Capitalism to the bones.
:: It strangles the scope of choices and of competitions...
:: It limits variety... for example if we think of Adobe programs, certain sets of icons, flow, interfaces come to our mind which are different than those of Macromedia. Each company or brand had it's own identity but by merging... one identity will have to give up for another.
:: It creates giant bodies... that would make those already established even more established as apposed to those new comers...
:: It puts the user second after making MORE money!!
:: I >heart< open source mentality.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Back!

So... I've been away for awhile trying to listen to my inner voice... shutting myself from everyone even my family... but eventually I had to come back...
And while I was away some interesting things happened...
= Finally I was added to toot blogger community. .. =)
= The weather in Amman had been completely crazy... it had snowed like never before... and since I live in one of the highest areas of western-northern-Amman... we had extra snow!!! There nothing that can beat Whiteness for me...
= Microsoft thinks of buying Yahoo search engine to compete with Google... I better save my take on these acquiring business to some other post... But one of my colleagues simply commented "MAFIA!"...
= I finished the first book of The Lord of The Rings... WHY I didn't read them before? Amazing book... Can't wait to finish the other two books...
= University is resuming next Sunday... and I've been baking some new ideas for this course... which might be my last at this University... at least I'm excited about that...
= I'm learning C++... just for the sake of it... if anyone knows good tutorial sites... please recommend...

Uhh... it is good to be back...