Ground Zero: Ikbis’s New Comedy Show

I love comedy shows, who doesn’t, and believe me I love Ikbis too, I am actually an Ikbis user, and I do find their contest ideas interesting, Airplane Contest Singing Contest and so on. They even have a new contest choosing the best of your uploaded images to be hanged on their wall, you might end up getting an Ikbis mug, I know its not much but still new and nice way to engage the users. They are trying to build an interactive community, so that is great.

Their latest “thing” is a new Comedy show named “Ground Zero”, Only 2 episodes have been released til now, and more to come for sure. They are very short episodes, each episode has 3 segments, Movie Dubbing, Lost in Translation and Coming Soon Movies. The show has some other tiny segments, such as the intro and the end bits. I will be a liar if I say I didn’t laugh, I did laugh but I think, and after watching both episodes, the only “FUNNY” part of the show is the “Doblage” Movies Dubbing segment.

The other segments are simply NOT FUNNY, the intro is ok the Movie Dubbing is Hilarious, the Lost in Translation segment were they translate English sentences or proverbs into Arabic which could sound funny is not really funny, but the really really REALLY annoying segment is the last one where a pirate appears and start speaking in English and tries to crack a joke or two and then they show a movie’s trailer, that I can easily say is not funny and even ANNOYING.

The two guys, Mike V.Derderian and Mohammad Jaradat are talented, and I see potential in the show, and it might end up to be a net sensation, but they really need to reorganize their show, cancel segments and add new segments. The possibilities are endless here.

Here are both Episodes…

Add comment June 1st, 2008

Abu Arab Concert in the American University of Dubai on Earth Day in April 2008

My brother went to an event on EARTH DAY in the American University of Dubai, and they had a well known Palestinian folk singer, he is nicknamed as”Abu Arab”. I had the video for a while, its just a part of the concert, I wish I had the full thing. He does have a website, not sure if it is official or not but it has some songs to download, its called Ya Bladi.

Here is the video:

Add comment May 16th, 2008

Al Nakba: Sixty years of Displacement and Occupation of Palestine [Blog About Palestine Day]

  Today the 15th of May is the Nakba day, today is the 60th year of the Nakba, for those who do not know Nakba means “The Catastrophe”.  On the 15th of May 1948, 60 years ago, Israel which was a newly created state committed ethnic cleansing in Palestine, destroyed hundreds of villages and exiled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Now those refugees are in millions and Israel still deny them their right of return. They are the oldest and largest refugee population who are still waiting a resolution.

I didn’t live it, my father did not live it, we both heard of it, we both listened to thousands of stories, and saw many many documentaries but we could not describe how it was or what it felt like. Actually my father experienced another big event in Palestine, it happened in 1967 and it is called Al-Naksa which means “The Setback”, its the six days war, its when Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza strip.

Now, I am 32 years old and lived in Dubai all my life, but since I was young and still until today my father keeps reminding us of Palestine, keeps telling me how people used to be, how neighbors used to act, and how that everybody always found happiness in the middle of darkness, pain and suffering. How people helped each other and how people generally used to be nice and kind, he didn’t say that there were no bad people, we are still on earth but he always said that majority of people used to be nicer more caring and more respectful than now, people back then understood the real meaning of things, they understood the real meaning of friendships the real meaning of family, people will always help each other always.

He always tells me how things were simpler back then, how people’s needs were so basic, but he also tells me how his father used to work so hard, how all men had to work hard to bring food on the table, but the story that I guess is imprinted in his mind and he will never ever forget is his story on how when he was 16 years old he woke up on the summer of 1967 finding himself in a ghost neighborhood, all his neighbors are not in their homes, empty homes, empty village.

His father was on a business trip and was not in the house, so he took his six years old little brother and ran to find others running too, it was quickly understood what was happening, he kept running until he reached a farms area and there the Israeli planes started bombing, so he started seeing dead bodies on the way and people dying in front of his and his little brother’s eyes, he keeps telling me how lucky they were that they were between hits, while they were running the Israeli aircrafts would fly low and hit and fly up again and so on all the way until they reached a high fence, he quickly threw his brother, yes he physically threw him to the other side and then he climbed and went to the other side himself. Still they had to keep walking, not only them but a huge number of people they walked and walked seeing people crying, shouting, injured, and dead. He saw a father with his kids crying over the body of the mother, he heard people crying asking for help, he saw women mourning their husbands, sons, and daughters.

His little brother is tired, he carried him, and kept walking, carefully moving, until after hours they reached the Jordanian borders and after passing the border and on his way to Amman he suddenly saw his uncle driving a truck, so he drove them to Amman to meet with his father later that day.

I always have asked him to write his experience, he keeps telling me “There are no words to describe it, as much as you try, there are simply no words”.

So in the end I would like to say one thing more, Israel thinks that we will forget, that time will make us believe the lie that is Israel. We all say no, we will never forget, and those are not just words, those are facts, we never forgot, and we will never forget, Israel might fool mislead misinformed Americans and Europeans, but not us. We have the history, generation after generation we will talk and we will tell, our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, WE WILL TELL.

Palestine I never saw you, but my heart beats for you, you are the reason, you are the dream, and I will see you, this darkness will go and this sadness I feel will leave and I will see you LIBERATED soon.

3 comments May 16th, 2008