Arabia [ dot ] com

The internet is a really funny concept, a decade ago everyone was using it for the same basic functions e-mail, chat, get information and post information about your company/organization. After that came the revolution of making the internet a valid place for corporations to make money B2B (Business to Business) and B2C ( Business to consumer ) transactions became everyday business, companies were able to reach a wider audience maximizing their profit and decreasing their costs whether through shipping or finding cheaper suppliers. Thus they successfully moved from the brick and mortar establishments into a virtual market place. Online advertising soon followed with revneues nearing $5.8 billion in the first six month of 2005 alone [ via- AD Week ]. Which leads us to now, the first decade of the 21st century and the spread of what’s known as web 2.0, social networking [Facebook, myspace etc..], photo sharing and the like.

Students, teenagers and entrepreneurs are getting rich like crazy using the internet doing what everyone deems as impossible and all that it takes is a little bit of creativity and some hard work. Mark Zuckerburg in 2004 created Facebook, it started as a hobby and a way to connect university students together, 3 years later it is a multi million en devour that set him apart from everyone else. Alex Tew a student at the time created The Million Dollar Homepage where he sells pixels for 1 dollar a pixel, originally meant to finance his studies this teenager became one of many young internet millionaires.

While the internet is growing rapidly in the west around here things are quite different. I tried to search for Arab online business’s, i even tried searching for decent corporate websites and well i couldn’t find any. We are a region with a huge population. Internet access is rising rapidly every year. Everyone is using the internet these days. But lets see what we use the internet for, E-mail [Valid use], Chatting [Valid use], Facebook [Valid use], Flickr [Valid Use] i stopped right there because really i find it worthless to pursue writing about the rest, we are passive in what we use the internet for, we use it for fun, we use it to buy stuff, but we have never thought about investing in it. I don’t see an arabic amazon, electronic banking is present in most Arab countries but rarely used, no one thinks about developing applications for the internet we like to receive and not give. The simplest way to generate revenue from the internet through advertising is blogging there are thousands of blogs that generate revenue, pay for themselves and provide their owners with a lot of additional cash and to think about it they don’t have to leave the comfort of their own house.

I can’t blame people for not going through with web en devours in the states banks/investment companies pour millions into web projects that promise to be the next big thing, and corporations large or small are more willing to advertise on websites/blogs unlike the middle east.

Trying to go through all of the reasons would take a ton of posts and blogs i am merely trying to shed some light over the topic, and maybe it would inspire someone to start his/her own web project and soon catch up to this internet revolution everyone keeps hearing about.

Stardust

This is one of the movies where you go in expecting so much yet your faced with so little. With so many big names included (Robert Deniro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes) this should have been much better, instead I ended up watching a mediocre excuse for a big screen flick.

“Charlie Cox (Casanova) plays Tristan, the son of a local shopkeep whose dreams of marrying Victoria (Sienna Miller) become a possible reality when she sends him on a quest: recover a falling star. Urged on by his father Dunstan (Nathaniel Parker), Tristan uses a magic candle to travel to the place where the star fell. But when he arrives, he discovers that the star is not merely some hunk of charred rock but rather a beautiful woman named Yvaine (Clare Danes), who is none too happy to be enslaved to this ambitious but awkward mortal after falling from the sky.

Soon enough, the two begin to make their way back to Tristan’s village. But it turns out that Tristan is not the only person who wants to get his hands on Yvaine: A decrepit witch named Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her two sisters want to eat her heart, which will provide them with decades of youth and beauty. Meanwhile, the King (Peter O’Toole) has died and his sons fight to recover a lost gem — which coincidentally Yvaine finds — that will declare one of them heir to the throne. Before long, Tristan and Yvaine are thrown into a whirlwind journey across the globe facing witches, pirates, and kings-to-be, all the while discovering that heroism, leadership and most of all love may appear in the last place one might expect.” Via – IGN

Not to sound too harsh the acting was good, Michelle Pfeiffer was glamorous as ever, Robert Deniro while charge with an unexpected character manages to entertain the audience and the actors charged with the lead Charlie Cox and Claire Danes pull off their own weight well. The soundtrack of the movie is really good and the visuals accompanying the lead’s journey are breathtaking and amusing most of the time. Where the movie fails badly is the story, it was simply too long and boring I haven’t read the book before so I don’t know if it was correctly adapted but maybe this is a sign for movie producers that not every fantasy novel [ Lord of the rings – Eragon – Harry Potter ] is worthy of adaptation onto the big screen.

Stardust is a good movie to waste a couple of hours on but I would advice against seeing it in the movies, rather wait and rent it on DVD.

Rating: 2.0 / 5.0

Simpsons: The Movie

I am a big time fan of the Simpsons, they are the funniest family on TV to date. So when the movie was announced I was very thrilled. The movie is quite interesting and amusing the directors successfully migrated the yellow people from our television sets onto the big screen.

The visuals are very well done, they surpass those of the TV show, a lot of effort is clearly shown in the adaptation to the big screen and the music accompanying it is as funny and entertaining as ever. All the characters are back [ I personally love Abo the shop keeper ] and they all pop here and there during the movie.

The story is fairly simple and it primarily aims to share the message of how important family is to everyone which is something people might not expect from a show where Homer choking Bart is part of the daily routine. But they managed to incorporate it into the world of the simpsons.

Extremely entertaining and well worth your money this is a movie you don’t want to watch from the comfort of your sofa. The only negative point I can throw at the movie is that it could have bit a little bit longer.

Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix

I am not an avid reader of the Harry Potter line of books in fact I haven’t read a single one of them. However when the first movie hit the movies I was amongst the first to see it and I was very entertained, the scenery, the setting, the soundtrack, the visuals, the characters and the story were really good [ however I was and still hate the actor who plays Harry Potter, he is just stupid ].

The second movie was ok with me, however the two that followed weren’t as good as the first two. A lot of explanations surfaced to explain that [ Budget, changing directors etc…]

I went to see the fifth movie with very low expectations, I simply just wanted to check out what is going to happen next but the movie managed to surprise me. It was actually pretty good. Not as colorful and innocent as the first two and not as dark and crappy as the third and fourth installment. I wont be ruining the plot here because a lot of people havn’t watched the movies nor read the books yet [ A friend of mine is waiting for all the movies before she starts watching them ]

The visuals never cease to amaze me, and the soundtrack is as mystic and magical as ever. The plot really thickened in the fifth installment making me anxious to see the sixth movie in the series.

Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

DePaul University

A friend of mine who was taking the MBA program at DePaul’s told me about the university. Being the 4th best Graduate Business school in the United States of America means that the degree they offer is of a high caliber and would very much boost my career to desirable heights. I am in the process of applying to the Masters in Finance Program with DePaul at the moment.

Most of my papers are already submitted what’s remaining are test scores from both the GMAT Exam and the Toefl exam, while the latter is fairly easy to do the GMAT is what worries me. It worries me not because it’s hard but because i don’t have a lot of time to prepare for it and some of the concepts needed whether in the verbal or the quantitative sections i have forgotten since i havn’t been in contact with that kind of problems for a long time. Ah well i am studying for it and my test is going to be on the 29th.

A new movie and now a new animated series .. it is TRANSFORMER Galore

[ Click for larger image ]

The Transformers saga has captivated kids for more than 20 years. Coming on the heels of the highly anticipated live-action theatrical film being released July 3rd, by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures, Cartoon Network and Hasbro, Inc. are announcing today that the next generation of the epic animated series is being jointly developed by the two entities for a 2008 debut on the network in the U.S. The eye-popping 2-D animated series is a new twist on the original high-octane, animated action-adventure series with new characters alongside legends such as Optimus Prime and Megatron. Each episode will present a stand-alone story line featuring everyday heroes who do good deeds that triumph over evil. “Transformers Animated” series will be co-produced by Cartoon Network Studios.

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Lebanese clubber stick to the roof

Fear of bombings prompts revellers to seek high ground
Rooftop venues draw crowds as street-level pubs suffer
By Nour Samaha and James Farha
Daily Star staff
Thursday, June 28, 2007

Rooftop bars in the capital are pulling in the early-summer crowds, as night-time revelers seek the perceived security of the high ground amid fears of potential bombings in street-level districts such as Monot and Gemmayzeh. Bars like White, the Sky Bar and Bubbles, which are only open during the summer season, perch high atop seafront buildings.

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