Saturday, December 31, 2005

Aisha's Meme...



Aisha posted a meme "It's My Life" blog and I took the challenge...here we go...

1. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
Smoked hash, I know it’s nada to brag about but I was in another country and the locals wanted me to partake and when in Rome….

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Yes I did….I know I’m shocked too! Yeah I’m making some for 2006, so wish me luck!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes, my uncle welcomed his first child a girl named Nadine…she is the spitting image of my mother.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully no although my best friends grandfather died.

5. What countries did you visit?
Egypt, and technically Sweden I was there for one day on a stop over.

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
A job with the Board of Education this way I won’t have to put myself in hock to finance the rest of my education.


7. What dates from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 17th my cousin Nadine was born. December 29th, see below.


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting off of probation in school. I had failed 2 math classes consecutively and it made my GPA plummet; prompting my school to put me on probation this semester. My advisor was a sympathetic chick but she assured me that students never get off probation after one semester it usually takes at least 2 before they are able to get off of it. My grades came in on the 29th (still waiting on one class though) my GPA went up although and I am now back on track AND I passed my last math requirement (statistics).

9. What was your biggest failure?
Being placed on probation in the first place.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yeah and it was my eye doctor who caught it actually! After an eye exam he told me to get my thyroids checked. I went in for a check up and found that I had gained 10 lbs in 3 weeks. I am not a big eater so that set off some alarms off for my doctors. I am now on medication and a mega strict diet. I am actually feeling a lot better although the meds take some getting used to.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My Sony Jelly Bean and a new computer for the house. I loved my iPod but started having a lot of problems with it so I swtiched over to the jelly bean. I got to admit it has turned out better for me.

The new pc was more of self preservation thing, I have a lap top and my siblings were always on it burning CD’s and playing games. As a result I always had crap stored in my computer that I hated...lol I brought a new pc for the house just to get them away from my lap top.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My uncle Chino and his wife Liz, despite knowing their baby Nadine was going to be born with Down’s Syndrome they went through with the pregnancy and have just gone all out in terms of hiring therapists to work with her at home on a daily basis.

Nadine’s because she is just too adorable she smiles and giggles with every one and has been doing raspberries as of late. She is attempting to crawl and loves touching faces and grabbing everything off the table.

Jane for having the courage to share her life and on going struggle with BP with us via her blog.


13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
FEMA and the way it handled the situation with Hurricane Katrina.
My best friend for messing with that guy who has a girl.

Nora for exacting revenge on some people she didn’t like by with holding and re-assigning some gifts I sent out to them as a thank you for their kind treatment of me while I was in their country.

14.Where did most of your money go?
School and bills.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Coming back home to America, as the plane flew over NYC I just about cried!

16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
El7ab by Maria…. It was the first arabic song I learned all the words to and every club I went to in Egypt it was being played in. I even used it as a ringtone when I got back home.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Much much happier!
b) thinner or fatter? Like Aisha I shall plead the fifth!
c) richer or poorer? Richer in all areas of life/

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Partying!

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Worrying about friends in the end it doesn’t matter they will do whatever it is that they wish to do no matter how much they beg you for advice.


10. How will you be spending Christmas?
I had a slight hangover from my pre-birthday celebration on Christmas eve but It was still great. My house was full… my uncle came over with Nadine… my aunt Nora was here with her kids and my friend Said. My best friend was here as well. We all enjoyed ourselves and I can’t complain. I got some fantastic birthday/Christmas gifts. The highlight for me was when Said opened his Christmas gift. It was his first Christmas in America and I got him a gag gift. I must do a post on that!

21. Did you fall in love in 2005?
Yup yup I sure did.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Other than the whole Law and Order series,Carnival and Weeds.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don’t actually hate anyone but there is someone I don’t chill with anymore after being stabbed in the back by them. Usually I am quick to forgive people but this one person waited too long and never tried to fix what she did when it happened so when she showed up at my house a few months back it wasn’t the same, I couldn’t forgive. It shocked everyone including me!

25. What was the best book you read?

The Devil Wore Prada…. It was just too much.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Hot Hot Heat, they are fantastic!

27. What did you want and get?
1) Inner peace and a tranquil heart.

2) After a really bad layered haircut which took at least 3 additional short haircuts to fix my hair is finally growing in rather nicely.

28. What did you want and not get?
A job at an after school center I really wanted. I passed the first set of interviews with flying colors the interviewing committee loved me and offered me the job on the spot. The final interviewer wanted someone of a different race for the job so I was passed over b/c the interviewer felt that because the population of the program was 99 % african american and west indian that their director should be reflective of this. In her eyes a latina wasn’t.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
See my list below although off the top of my head I will say Osama.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
23, after a night of drinking with friends and traveling all over Brooklyn and Manhattan with Said and Reina I came home to open gifts and spent the evening with my family. My parents made a culinary feast of all of my favorites, it was like Thanksgiving Part 2! I spent a good part of the day fielding birthday greetings and talking to an ex boyfriend (my first) over our nextels, he never forgets my birthday. I even had 2 birthday cakes. One was a cherry cheesecake (yum!) and the other was a chocolate mousse cake my mom baked especially for me, it’s my favorite.

31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Our soldiers coming home from Iraq. I have lots of family and a few friends out there and wish they were home already away from the dangers of war.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?
This year I was more laid back favoring sweat suits for school and dressing jeans up with blazers for everywhere else.

33. What kept you sane?
The grace of God, meditation, my mother’s sympathetic ear and the occasional ice cream treat.


34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Harry Conick Jr for his work on behalf of the people of New Orleans he went out there with no fan fare and no press and quietly did his thing. It was only after being spotted by the press that the news came out that he was out there rescuing people. Ellen Degeneres b/c she is who she is.

36. Who did you miss?
For awhile my ex it was hard not to after so many years together.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
I met a lot of new people in 2005…. 2 Rasha’s, Ahmed, Said, Marwha, Methad, and a slew of others….Hands down the ones that stand out the most were Rasha and her husband Ahmed. They were my best friends in Egypt we spent everyday and night together Ahmeds hobby was beating me down with pillows and teasing me. When It was time for me to leave after a month of being there Rasha started having a mini nervous breakdown days before. She broke my heart with all her crying at the airport she even made me cry when she kissed me and in between tears told me she loved me like her sister and made me promise to come back.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005.
No matter what happens life goes on, every problem has a solution and life ain’t that serious.

39. What political issue irked you the most?
Oh gawd I’ve got one for everyday of the year and they mostly start with Bush.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
“I am extraordinary, if you'd ever get to know me
I am extraordinary, I am just your ordinary
Average every day sane psycho Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho Supergoddess”- I Am Extraordinary : Liz Phair

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Posted by @ 12:25 PM
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Friday, December 30, 2005

My Favorite Flicks in 2005

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a movie and documentary-aholic. These were my 10 favorite flicks of the year. Some of them were released prior to 2005 but I just got around to seeing them this year. Each and everyone one of them provoked chills, tears, and discussions. Hope you take the time to check them out. The plot outlines are courtesy of rottentomatoes.com

SAW 2: In SAW, a huge horror hit in 2004, a masked man called Jigsaw orchestrated the kidnapping of two people, chained them in a disgusting bathroom in an abandoned house, and played vicious, brutal mind games with them that potentially could lead to their freedom. Jigsaw is back for more gory fun in SAW II, but this time he comes out from behind the mask to terrorize a troubled cop face-to-face. Tobin Bell reprises his brief role as Jigsaw in the first film with a major starring turn in the sequel. Dying of cancer, Jigsaw lets himself get caught, only to show Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) that his son, Daniel (Erik Knudsen), has been taken hostage with seven other people, all of whom have been placed in a house of horrors with only the slimmest chance of escaping with their lives. Jigsaw promises Matthews that Daniel will live only if the cop follows the rules of the game, but time is running out, as the captives' bodies have been poisoned with a toxin that will soon destroy them. Meanwhile, in the dank, mysterious, booby-trapped house, the ever-more-desperate group of people (including Shawnee Smith, who is back as Amanda, the lone survivor of SAW) furiously try to find their connection to each other and a way out, but blood and violence lie in their path. Like its predecessor, SAW II is a frightening thriller filled with plenty of tricks and treats to satisfy even the most jaded horror fan.


YELLOW ASPHALT:One of the main characters in Israeli filmmaker Danny Vereté's documentary-like first feature, YELLOW ASPHALT, is the cruel Negev desert landscape. The film is a triptych examining collisions between Bedouin tribes and their Israeli neighbors. In BLACK SPOT, an oil tanker speeding down a desert highway hits a Bedouin child. When the drivers (Zevik Raz and Moshe Ivgi) frantically try to hide the dead boy, they are discovered. A standoff ensues between the unapologetic Israelis and the threatening Bedouin tribesman, while the child's mother wails in a heap of black burqua on the sand. In HERE IS NOT THERE, tribal elders refuse to let Tamam (Tatjana Blacher), a German woman with blue, made-up eyes behind a veil, leave her Bedouin husband, so she steals away in the night. Tamam recalls happier times while desperately dragging her crying daughters through the desert, and her vengeful husband hunts them down. Finally, in RED ROOFS, when the affair between a married Israeli farmer, Shmuel (Motti Katz), and his Bedouin maid, Suhilla (Raida Adon), is discovered by the tribe, death and dishonor touch all involved. Vereté's film is an unflinching portrait of oppression and the precarious intermingling of ancient customs and the modern world.



OSAMA:A 12-year-old girl, her mother, and a local village boy narrowly survive the brutal end of a peaceful demonstration organized by women who are oppressed by the cruel Taliban regime. After witnessing such inhumane treatment, the mother is reminded of her own hardships as she and her daughter struggle to maintain their existence. With the young girl's father and brother killed, they must find any source of income they can while hiding it from the strict Taliban, which mandates that no woman may work or be outside the home without a legal male companion.

The mother and her daughter care for patients at a sparse, under-stocked hospital run by foreigners. After a Taliban raid, the hospital is shut down and the mother and daughter are without income. Desperate for any type of job, the mother is forced to cut her daughter's hair and dress her as a boy so that she might earn money for the family.

The mother pleads with a grocer who knew her husband to help her and hire the young girl to work in his store. He agrees and attempts to protect the girl - now disguised as a boy - and teach her how to be more convincing. One afternoon, the Taliban's religious police force all the men to a mosque for prayer. The girl, unfamiliar with the ways men pray, makes several mistakes and raises suspicion with one of the Taliban officials overseeing the ritual. He approaches the grocer and the girl after the prayers and questions them. The girl is filled with fright, but with the grocer's help dispels the official's doubt.

The following day, all the boys of the village are corralled and taken to the Madrassa, a religious school which doubles as a center for Taliban military training. While attending the school, the girl's masculinity is constantly called into question. The young village beggar from the first scene, aware of the girl's secret, interjects and helps her, concealing her true identity by declaring her name is Osama.

After increasing suspicions surface with the students and Taliban instructors, the girl is punished for not being able to complete a task proving her masculinity. In the end, the girl's own physiology defies her to reveal her true identity.

As a result of her monumental lie, she is put on trial in front of the Taliban court and sentenced to marry an old Mullah. Upon arriving at his home, the destitute girl discovers he has three other wives - and she's forced to join them in their miserable world.


I loved the following flick so much it inspired a discussion amongst friends and I, and a posting in this blog entitled Two Months To Live pt2


MY LIFE WITHOUT ME:Ann is 23, she has 2 daughters, a husband who spends more time unemployed than working, a mother who hates the world, a father who has spent the last ten years in jail, a strange predilection for the audio-books of soap operas and a job as a night janitor in a university she could never go to in the dayime. They live in a trailer on the yard of her mother’s house, on the outskirts of Vancouver. However, this gray existence changes completely when, after a medical check-up, a shy doctor tells her that she has very little time left, hardly two months to live. Ann decides to keep her condition a secret, not to tell anybody, not even her husband. She doesn't want people around her with long faces mumbling the word "death." She starts to make a list of "things to do before dying" which she completes little by little. The list goes from "saying exactly what I think" to "getting fake fingernails." Unexpectedly, Ann discovers an appetite for life that drives her to live her last days with a sensual and furious intensity she had not known before. During that time she prepares her daughters life without her, meets a solitary wounded man who she seduces (and paradoxically brings back to life), and faces what remains of her life with a courage she never knew she had.



THE BEAT MY HEART SKIPPED:Director Jacques Audiard and screenwriter Tonino Benacquista, who shared a 2002 Cesar Award for Best Original Screenplay for READ MY LIPS, team up again in THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED, a gritty psychological drama set in the dark, dank streets of Paris. The film is based on James Toback's cult favorite FINGERS, in which Harvey Keitel played a tortured soul trapped between his love of the piano and his involvement with the mob. In this remake, Romain Duris stars as Tom, a ne-'er-do-well who works with two scheming real estate men, Fabrice (Jonathan Zaccai) and Sami (Gilles Cohen), who have little or no morals. When Tom sees his mother's old agent, he decides to return to the piano, practicing Bach's Toccata in E Minor for an important audition that he envisions could be a life-changing event. He hires a Vietnamese woman, Miao-Lin (Linh-Dan Pham), as his teacher, even though they speak different languages. While struggling to regain his mastery of the piano -- which he gave up after his virtuoso mother's tragic death -- he is called upon by his partners to participate in shady deals and even help one of them cheat on his wife (Aure Atika). He also has a troublesome relationship with his father (Niels Arestrup), who asks Tom to collect money he is owed, putting him in dangerous situations. THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED is an intelligent, involving film, told in long takes with a handheld camera to heighten the emotional impact of scene after scene.




CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY: Acclaimed director Tim Burton brings his vividly imaginative style to the beloved Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, about eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka (JOHNNY DEPP) and Charlie Bucket (FREDDIE HIGHMORE), a good-hearted boy from a poor family who lives in the shadow of Wonka's extraordinary factory.

Most nights in the Bucket home, dinner is a watered-down bowl of cabbage soup, which young Charlie gladly shares with his mother (HELENA BONHAM CARTER) and father (NOAH TAYLOR) and both pairs of grandparents. Theirs is a tiny, tumbledown, drafty old house but it is filled with love. Every night, the last thing Charlie sees from his window is the great factory, and he drifts off to sleep dreaming about what might be inside.

For nearly fifteen years, no one has seen a single worker going in or coming out of the factory, or caught a glimpse of Willy Wonka himself, yet, mysteriously, great quantities of chocolate are still being made and shipped to shops all over the world.

One day Willy Wonka makes a momentous announcement. He will open his famous factory and reveal "all of its secrets and magic" to five lucky children who find golden tickets hidden inside five randomly selected Wonka chocolate bars.

Nothing would make Charlie's family happier than to see him win but the odds are very much against him as they can only afford to buy one chocolate bar a year, for his birthday.

Indeed, one by one, news breaks around the world about the children finding golden tickets and Charlie's hope grows dimmer. First there is gluttonous Augustus Gloop, who thinks of nothing but stuffing sweets into his mouth all day, followed by spoiled Veruca Salt, who throws fits if her father doesn't buy her everything she wants. Next comes Violet Beauregarde, a champion gum chewer who cares only for the trophies in her display case, and finally surly Mike Teavee, who's always showing off how much smarter he is than everyone else.

But then, something wonderful happens. Charlie finds some money on the snowy street and takes it to the nearest store for a Wonka Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight, thinking only of how hungry he is and how good it will taste. There, under the wrapper is a flash of gold. It's the last ticket. Charlie is going to the factory! His Grandpa Joe (DAVID KELLY) is so excited by the news that he springs out of bed as if suddenly years younger, remembering a happier time when he used to work in the factory, before Willy Wonka closed its gates to the town forever. The family decides that Grandpa Joe should be the one to accompany Charlie on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

Once inside, Charlie is dazzled by one amazing sight after another. Wondrous gleaming contraptions of Wonka's own invention churn, pop and whistle, producing ever new and different edible delights. Crews of merry Oompa-Loompas mine mountains of fudge beside a frothy chocolate waterfall or ride a translucent, spun-sugar, dragon-headed boat down a chocolate river past crops of twisted candy cane trees and edible mint-sugar grass.

Marshmallow cherry creams grow on shrubs, ripe and sweet. Elsewhere, a hundred trained squirrels on a hundred tiny stools shell nuts for chocolate bars faster than any machine and Wonka himself pilots an impossible glass elevator that rockets sideways, slantways and every which way you can think of through the vast and fantastic factory.

Almost as intriguing as his fanciful inventions is Willy Wonka himself, a gracious but most unconventional host. He thinks about almost nothing but candy - except, every once in a while, when he suddenly seems to be thinking about something that happened long ago, that he can't quite talk about. It's been said that Wonka hasn't stepped outside the factory for years. Who he truly is and why he has devoted his life to making sweets Charlie can only guess.

Meanwhile, the other children prove to be a rotten bunch, so consumed with themselves that they scarcely appreciate the wonder of Wonka's creations. One by one, their greedy, spoiled, mean-spirited or know-it-all personalities lead them into all kinds of trouble that force them off the tour before it's even finished.

When only little Charlie Bucket is left, Willy Wonka reveals the final secret, the absolute grandest prize of all: the keys to the factory itself. Long isolated from his own family, Wonka feels it is time to find an heir to his candy empire, someone he can trust to carry on with his life's work and so he devised this elaborate contest to select that one special child.

What he never expects is that his act of immeasurable generosity might bring him an even more valuable gift in return.



CRY WOLF :In the new thriller Cry_Wolf, eight unsuspecting high school seniors playing a game of lies come face-to-face with terror and learn that nobody believes a liar…even when they're telling the truth.

After one too many incidents of bad behavior at his last school, Owen Matthews (Julian Morris) arrives at Westlake Prep – where a young woman has recently been found murdered in the dark woods near the boarding school's campus. Owen quickly falls in with the school's unofficial "liar's club," including the beautiful and savvy Dodger (Lindy Booth of Dawn of the Dead and Wrong Turn) and quick-talking, short-tempered Tom (Jared Padalecki of the new television series Supernatural). At Owen's suggestion, his new friends decide to expand their game's reach beyond campus, by spreading an online rumor that a serial killer called "The Wolf" committed the recent murder and is planning to strike again.

The mischievous group's descriptions of "The Wolf's" intended victims are based on the people they know best – each other. Only when the school's journalism teacher, Rich Walker (Jon Bon Jovi), warns the group about the kinds of predators that lurk on the internet does Owen begin to regret sending their falsified story into cyberspace. When the described "victims" suddenly start to disappear, Owen, Dodger, and Tom are no longer able to determine where the lies end and the truth begins. As someone – or something – starts hunting the players themselves, the game turns terrifyingly real.



HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE:Difficult times lie ahead for Harry Potter.

Beset by nightmares that leave his scar hurting more than usual, Harry (DANIEL RADCLIFFE) is all too happy to escape his disturbing dreams by attending the Quidditch World Cup with his friends Ron (RUPERT GRINT) and Hermione (EMMA WATSON).

But something sinister ignites the skies at the Quidditch campsite - the Dark Mark, the sign of the evil Lord Voldemort. It's conjured by his followers, the Death Eaters, who haven't dared to appear in public since Voldemort (RALPH FIENNES) was last seen thirteen years ago - the night he murdered Harry's parents.

Harry longs to get back inside the safe walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where Professor Dumbledore (MICHAEL GAMBON) can protect him. But things are going to be a little different this year.

Dumbledore announces that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament, one of the most exciting and dangerous of the wizarding community's magical competitions. One champion will be selected from each of the three largest and most prestigious wizarding schools to compete in a series of life-threatening tasks in pursuit of winning the coveted Triwizard Cup.

The Hogwarts students watch in awe as the elegant girls of the Beauxbatons Academy and the dark and brooding boys of Durmstrang Institute fill the Great Hall, breathlessly awaiting the selection of their champions.

Ministry of Magic official Barty Crouch (ROGER LLOYD PACK) and Professor Dumbledore preside over a candlelit ceremony fraught with anticipation as the enchanted Goblet of Fire selects one student from each school to compete. Amidst a hail of sparks and flames, the cup names Durmstrang's Quidditch superstar Victor Krum (STANISLAV IANEVSKI), followed by Beauxbatons' exquisite Fleur Delacour (CLÉMENCE POÉSY) and finally, Hogwarts' popular all-around golden boy Cedric Diggory (ROBERT PATTINSON). But then, inexplicably, the Goblet spits out one final name: Harry Potter.

At just 14 years old, Harry is three years too young to enter the grueling competition. He insists that he didn't put his name in the Goblet and that he really doesn't want to compete. But the Goblet's decision is binding, and compete he must.

Suspicion and jealousy abound as muckraking journalist Rita Skeeter (MIRANDA RICHARDSON) fans the flames of the Harry Potter backlash with her outrageous gossip columns. Even Ron begins to believe his "fame seeking" friend somehow tricked the cup into selecting him.

Suspecting that whoever did enter Harry's name in the Tournament deliberately wants to put him in grave danger, Dumbledore asks Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody (BRENDAN GLEESON), the eccentric new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, to keep his highly perceptive and magical eye trained on the teenage wizard.

Harry prepares for the challenging Triwizard tasks - evading a fire-breathing dragon, diving into the depths of a great lake and navigating a maze with a life of its own. But nothing is more daunting than the most terrifying challenge of them all - finding a date for the Yule Ball.

For Harry, dealing with dragons, merpeople and grindylows is a walk in the park compared to asking the lovely Cho Chang (KATIE LEUNG) to the Yule Ball. And if Ron weren't so distracted, perhaps he would acknowledge a change in his feelings for Hermione.

Events take an ominous turn when someone is murdered on Hogwarts grounds. Scared and still haunted by dreams of Voldemort, Harry turns to Dumbledore. But even the venerable Headmaster admits that there are no longer any easy answers.

As Harry and the other champions battle through their last task and the advancing tendrils of the ominous maze, someone or something is keeping a watchful eye. Victory is in sight, but as they edge closer to the Triwizard Cup, all is not as it seems - and Harry soon finds himself hurtling head-first toward an inevitable encounter with true evil...



THE CORPSE BRIDE: Building on their past productive relationship (EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, ED WOOD), Tim Burton and Johnny Depp create a colorful riot of a film that revives the increasingly rare method of stop-motion animation. Over the period of 10 years that Burton worked to complete the film, new techniques were created to speed the process, including a new way to change the character models' facial expressions by using gears in their heads. Of particular note is the lilting score by Danny Elfman, another longtime Burton collaborator. Fun for adults and children, CORPSE BRIDE is another welcome walk through Tim Burton's twisted mind.




THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL (DOCUMENTARY) :

Directors Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni drew upon the documentary style of Robert Flaherty (NANOOK OF THE NORTH), who recreated events to comprehensively portray his subjects. The pair tirelessly filmed spontaneous events for much of the mother-baby story, but chose to recreate certain moments in the family's daily life. A particularly humorous and insightful example involves a young boy who clearly feels conflicted between his family life and his desire for a more Western life. The film creates a contrast between the two, showing the boy listening to traditional fables in his family's tent, but then dreaming about owning a television. This spare film provides a visually enchanting and unique learning experience.

Labels: 2005, movies

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Posted by @ 11:51 PM
2 comment from:  Aisha,  Mia,

My Favorite Songs of 2005

The Sony Jelly Bean: I prefer it to my iPod

These were some of my favorite songs and artists for the year (condensed version)…the list could have gone on forever…

::Beverly Hills::.. Weezer

::Middle of Nowhere::.. Hot Hot Heat

::The Suffering::.. Coheed and Cambria

The Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge CD by My Chemical Romance whenever I felt homesick I threw this on and felt a lot better.

:: The Ghost of You:: Helena::… My Chemical Romance

:: Cool::.. Gwen Stefani


:: Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own::.. U2

:: BYOB:: Hypnotize :: Lost In Hollywood:: Question::.. System Of A Down

::Mr. Brightside::Smile You Like You Mean It:: All These Things That I’ve Done::.. The Killers

::Missing::Taking Over Me:: Breathe No More::Further Away::.. Evanescence, even though they haven’t released anything new this year or 2004 for that matter I still love their freakin’ Fallen CD and its’ B-side songs so much I’m still running it.


::De La Vida::.. El Nino

::Alawn Ouwounak::.. Nancy Algram

::Alby Sahram::.. Iwan

::El’ab::.. Maria

::Talk:: Fix You ::Speed of Sound::.. Coldplay

::Evil:: C’mere::... Interpol

:: Behind These Eyes:: Because of You::..Kelly Clarkson

:: Wings Of A Butterfly::.. Him

:: My Doorbell::.. The White Stripes

::Get Right::.. Jennifer Lopez


Thanks to my little sister I went on a whole reggaeton mission:

::Te Suelto El Pelo::.. Yandel

::Otra Noche::.. Don Omar

::Rakata::.. Yandel Y Wisin

:: Lo Que Paso Paso:: Tu Principe:: No Me Dejes Solo:: Yo Voy::.. Daddy Yankee

:: Mejor Que Yo::.. Daddy Yankee, Yandel y Wisin

::Pobre Diabla::.. Don Omar

::Toda La Noche:: Hoy::.. Cheka

::La Tortura::.. Shakira:

::Toma::.. Pitbull

::Do Ya Wanna::.. Franz Ferdinand

::Lights and Sound::.. Yellow Card

:: Dance, Dance::..Fall Out Boy

:: Feel Good Inc. ::.. The Gorillaz


BYOB: System Of A Down
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Labels: favorite songs 2005

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My Favorite Bushisms of 2005

I was reading some “Bushisms” (Bush quotes) online… the man is always good for a laugh. Remember this is the man that first uttered the words “ misunderestimate” and “embetter” Here are some of my personal favorites:

-- "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda," Bush said in explaining his communications strategy last May.

-- "This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table," Bush said in Brussels last February.

-- "In terms of timetables, as quickly as possible - whatever that means," the president said of his timeframe for passing Social Security legislation in March.
-- "Those who enter the country illegally violate the law," Bush said in describing illegal immigrants in Tucson, Arizona, last month.

Labels: bushisms, george bush, politics

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Posted by @ 12:44 PM
4 comment from:  Just Jane,  Mia,  Aisha,  Mia,

My favorite WTF moments of 2005...

There were a few things happening in 2005 that had nothing to do with politics or Pat Roberts that caused me to go WTF. Here are they are in no particular order….

1) R. Kelly’s Trapped In The Closet parts 1-1000: This hip hop soap opera features gay sex triangles, cheating spouses, gun shots in short everything but circus midgets, jugglers and clowns.

2) Madonna: Her “ Hung Up” video just grossed me out. Put on some clothes woman! I think I saw some lip and I don’t mean upper either… ewwww

3) Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan : Yes you can be too rich and too thin and these chicks proved it. Someone please feed them!

4) Burger King Commercial: It's morning. Birds are chirping. A man wakes up in his bed … and discovers he's not alone! Next to him on the mattress there is some sort of royal personage: a king, clad in burgundy robes and a crown. But the king's head appears to be made of plastic and is perhaps three times too large for his body. He hands the stunned man a breakfast sandwich. They laugh…I scream! here was even one in where The King seemed to be stalking his victim. Every time the guy would look out his window “The King” was standing outside sandwich in hand. This commercial was something out of a childhood nightmare I once had. Well if the ad campaign doesn’t work The King has a brilliant future in horror flicks.

While on the subject of commercials re-enacting my childhood nightmares all I’ve got to say is …

5) The Halls Mentholated Cough Drops Wolf Boy commercial: The 3 little pigs, human actors wearing pig make up complete with warts and snouts; mock the wolf standing in front of their house in his running suit. The wolf boy also a human wearing makeup looks like something out of a low budget horror flick .

6) Tom Cruise on Oprah and The Today Show: Amazing! I’m still laughing.

7) Mike Myers and Kanye West: While on a telethon to aide Katrina victims Kanye said” George Bush doesn’t care about black people” Mike Myers froze he was speechless…the look on his face was priceless….I laughed until I cried.


8) Saddam Hussein in his underoos: I could have lived without seeing that one

9)Celine Dion: She defended New Orleans looters on the Larry King show by saying that they were so poor they probably had never seen a T.V. and that those who stole T.V.’s and other items would probably return them later.

10) My Uncle Hassan in his tighty whities: While in Egypt I saw my uncle in his drawers.. I may need therapy to recover; I know my retnas still haven’t.

11) Consuming a Brain sandwich: I don’t know whose brain it was, I don’t wanna know. All I know was that my Uncle Hassan slipped it to me while in Egypt.. He was lucky that I was able to hold it in otherwise he’d still be cleaning puked brains out of his car.

12) Assorted Actresses popping out of their dresses and getting air time for their nips: Tara Reid, Kiera Knightley, Rachel Adams… next time wear a bra ladies!

13) Man jerking off on subway: I’m riding subway home late at night. I notice man is choking his chicken… I am trapped no where to go, I am in the last car. As soon as the train stopped I ran out he yelled, “Thank You!” and I yelled back, “You’re Welcome!” yup it was definitely a wtf moment…

Labels: WTF, wtf moments

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Posted by @ 1:00 AM
3 comment from:  Just Jane,  Aisha,  Mia,

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Feliz Navidad!

Religious beliefs aside, no matter where you live the Christmas season is a magical time of the year if you believe in the beauty of it. It has the power to take us back to the time when we believed in Santa Claus and flying reindeer. I wish you all a Feliz Navidad (merry Christmas) surrounded by amor (love) and filled with esperanza (hope). No one says it better than Jose Feliciano...I dedicate this song to you ...

Powered by Castpost I hope you'll enjoy the photos posted below of Christmas in New York.

Peace

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Posted by @ 12:35 PM
2 comment from:  Emory Mayne,  Mia,

Merry Christmas! 

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Posted by @ 12:27 PM
1 comment from:  Mia,

snow princess 

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Posted by @ 12:25 PM
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busy day 

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Posted by @ 12:25 PM
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my gift to you...a building 

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Posted by @ 12:24 PM
2 comment from:  Leah,  Mia,

commerical time! 

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Posted by @ 12:23 PM
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another house 

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Posted by @ 12:22 PM
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sing! 

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Posted by @ 12:22 PM
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cinderella's coach 

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Posted by @ 12:21 PM
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Horses and saints welcomed here 

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Posted by @ 12:21 PM
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armed forces represent! 

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Posted by @ 12:21 PM
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muahz 

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Posted by @ 12:19 PM
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lots and lots of dolls! 

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Posted by @ 12:19 PM
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bronx2 

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Posted by @ 12:19 PM
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ring a ding ding it's Christmas! 

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Posted by @ 12:18 PM
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Bronx 

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Posted by @ 12:17 PM
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This house in The Bronx was used in Mariah Carey video "All I want For Christmas" it's known for it's annual displays 

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Posted by @ 12:17 PM
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House in The Bronx 

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Posted by @ 12:15 PM
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stock exchange3 

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Posted by @ 12:15 PM
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