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I finished watching the mini series Band of Brothers yesterday and I now understand how the hell it got a 9.6 out of 10 on IMDB. Band of Brothers isn’t a TV show, its an epic. Its like Lord of the Rings except they made ten of these not three. The show stars some cool actors the most popular being David Schwimmer (Ross from Friends), Ron Livingston (Office Space) and Donnie Wahlberg (ex New Kids on the Block, Mark Wahlbergs brother).

“Band of Brothers tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army. Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers’ journals and letters, Band of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these young men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear.

They were an elite rifle company parachuting into France early on D-Day morning, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and capturing Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest at Berchtesgaden. They were also a unit that suffered enormous casualties, and whose lives became legend.”

The mini series is made up of ten episodes, each directed by a different director. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are also the executive producers. The series is really incredible, everything about it from the great acting, the compelling stories, the amazing directing to the bewildering realism. The quality of this “tv show” can stand up against the best Hollywood blockbusters out there easily. The first episode was the slowest since you are still being introduced to the many many main characters of this series, but after that things really pick up and start moving really fast. The series is visually stunning with beautiful consistent tonality through out. The final episode nearly made me move to Austria, its really beautiful.

But now that I finished watching the show I am having a hard time watching my other shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives… they feel so LAME! It was a good and a educational experience, I loved it. It gets a 5 out of 5. Its only the second time I give a full 5 for something, the first was the Shawerma from Sajj House.

You can buy Band of Brothers on DVD from Amazon

A simple but detailed guide to eating sushi. A lot of interesting stuff including information on Fugu, the fish Homer once had in an episode of The Simpsons where he got poisoned at the sushi place. I wonder if any place in Kuwait serves Fugu? Tons of information and all very interesting and informative. [Link]

I just found this link which busts the biggest technology related myths. Here are some of the questions that are answered for example:

– Is using your cellphone on the plane dangerous?
– If you pull out your USB memory stick without ejecting do you mess it up?
– If you turn off your PC without shutting down Windows do you cause damage?
– Does turning off your PC daily to save power shorten its life?
– Can hackers destroy data on your computer’s hard drive?
Find out the answers to these questions and more. [Link]

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Serenity
Expected it to be way better. Didn’t like the actors, they felt very B rated. Movie started off slow but got better near the end.

Broken Flowers
Lolita scene was the best. Bill Murray rocked. I liked the movie although the ending could have been better.

Lord of War
Didn’t like it that much. Felt it was too long. Didn’t find it interesting. Production was really good.

Saw II
I preferred the original Saw. sequel wasn’t as freaky or shocking as the original. Some of the scenes were really lame.

Oliver Twist
The original movie and book were really great. I played Oliver once in a play! This remake sucked. They didn’t even have the song “Food Glorious Food”!

The Brothers Grimm
I was expecting it to be more fairytale like and so was disappointed when I saw the movie. It was kinda slow and not as mystical as it could have been. I liked the costumes and settings in the woods though.

City of God
It was enjoyable to watch. Didn’t find it heartbreaking nor life changing. It was a good movie just not as good as some people made it out to be. I bought this movie on DVD.

I thought it was going to be something silly at first and it turned out I was right, but its still very funny, it keeps going and going and going. [Link]

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For those of you who watch any of the CSI shows (Las Vegas, Miami, NY) you might have noticed that they play some really cool music on the show. Its mostly drum n bass and downbeat but you also get some other styles. I usually used to recognize most of the good songs they played but now recently they have been playing some really good stuff I had never heard of before. So, I did a bit of googling and I found this website that has the names of songs from each episode. Disappointingly I didn’t find the song I was looking for this time around, its from CSI NY episode 21. But I wasn’t put down by that, they still have hundreds of other songs listed. Check it out [Link]

The shining history of leaders, particularly those who had a great impact on the destiny of their peoples and whose achievements stand as objects of praise for successive generations, is very difficult to be summarized in a few pages. History cannot but proudly record their leadership in achieving the development, welfare and prosperity of their nations.

His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, AMIR of Kuwait, is one of those leaders who did their best to serve both their people and nation.

Hence, he is beloved and greatly appreciated by everyone as the leader of the state and the shepherd of the community at critical times in the modern history of Kuwait.

It is, therefore, worthy to record his success as Chief of Public Security in the Oil Regions, Head of the Finance Department, Minister of Finance and Economy, Prime Minister, Crown prince, and finally as AMIR of a country made up of a small area and population, yet great in future aspirations. When describing the period in which Kuwait managed to become a truly civilized and democratic state, this was the true rule of the cherished Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. We are going to mention His Highness’s way of thinking, education, and diplomacy, in addition to his career, leadership activities and his future aspirations.

Name
Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah
Amir Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad Al Sabah
Amir Jaber al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah

Personal Information
Born – 1929.
Marital Status – Married, up to four wives, large number of children.
Education – Home taught (Local private schools and palace tutors).

Personal History
Emir of Kuwait, Jabir al-Ahmad succeeded his cousin, Sheikh Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah, as Emir of Kuwait in December 1977, having been prime minister (1965-78) and Heir Apparent from 1966.The rule of Jabir has been full of dramatic events. There have been many internal battles over democratization of the society and freedom of the press. The economy has seen much instability, there have been demonstrations and assassination attempts on Jabir’s life. But most dramatic was the invasion by Iraq in 1990, where Jaber was driven out of the country for a period of 7 months.

Political Activity
Jabir al-Ahmad is the current Emir of Kuwait. He became Chief of Public Security in the al-Ahmadi oilfields in 1949. In the late 1950s he dealt with the oil companies in various capacities, and in 1959 became head of the Department of Finance, which in 1962, after Kuwaiti independence, became the Ministry of Finance. In 1963-65 he also was a Deputy Prime Minister, while remaining Minister of Finance and Industry. In 1977, after the death of his cousin, he became the Emir of Kuwait. In 1979, following the Islamic revolution in Iran, and demonstrations among the Shiias of Kuwait, Jabir put more restrictions on freedom of the press in Kuwait. He has been a decisive leader, having allowed the National Assembly to reform in 1981 and dissolving it in 1986 as disagreements arose over its right to question the ability of ministers. During the invasion by Iraq, he fled to Saudi Arabia, where he established a government in exile, returning home in March 1991 after Iraq’s withdrawal. During his exile he gained the support of Kuwait’s opposition leaders in return for his agreement to restore the National Assembly. He did this in 1992, and in 1999 he gave women the right to vote.

Additional Information
Jabir al-Ahmad has survived an assassination attempt in 1985.

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Over the vacation I watched the movie Jarhead. Its based on a best-selling book written by a marine on his experiences in Saudi Arabia pre-Desert Storm and later his Desert Storm experience fighting in Kuwait. The movie starts of with a famous “Full Metal Jacket” scene but thats as far as the similarities go. The movie isn’t action packed since its based on truth. You see the movie follows a scout/sniper platoon based in the desert outside Kuwait. Desert Storm was mostly fought from the sky and Sea with very little ground work. Since this movie follows foot soldiers they didn’t have a lot to do, unlike the ground soldiers now in Iraq. It takes on a really interesting perspective showing you the emotional side of the war from the side liners view.

Even though the whole movie takes place in the empty desert it was still entertaining to watch even though there was no war action. There was always something going on in the movie. Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire originally vied for the lead role in the film and thank god they went with Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko) instead. Jake looks like a marine and looks like he can kick ass unlike both Leonardo and Tobey. I actually didn’t recognize Jake until after the movie was over, he looked really different then when he played the messed up kid in Donnie Darko. Overall I give this movie a 3.5 out of 5. It was the best movie I watched over the vacation, the other movie I watched was Oliver Twist and that pretty much sucked.

Here is an interesting rant by a Mac developer on the problems with the MacBook Pro. Lower screen resolution, slower less capable superdrive, higher power consumption, removal of the firewire800 port, Dialup jack and S-Video output are some of the reasons he mentions. [Link]

Yesterday I read that Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey were selling their house for like 3.7 million dollars and didn’t think much of it but just now I read that Justin Berfield who plays Reese on the show Malcom in the Middle bought the house! I knew Frankie Muniz (Malcom) made a lot of money but Reese also?? [Link]

I took my Holga Camera with me to Lebanon and while I was there I took some pictures. A bunch came out a bit blurry I am guessing either because I wasn’t holding the camera steady enough or the fact that the focus system on this $20 camera isn’t very reliable. Some pictures turned out interesting and I am really starting to get a handle on this camera. Its terrible for indoor shots (no flash, shutter speed 1/100 with 8f, my film is iso 100) but does a great job during the day outdoor. Its definitely a landscape camera. Here are my favorite pictures from my trip. [Link]

Its not as bad as Kuwait’s Airport (its pretty close though) but it still sucks. First of all it stinks of something, like coming into a house that hasn’t had their windows open for years. The AC is also off and its really hot and stuff.. I am in my tshirt nearly sweating. There is Internet but its like $10 for 75 minutes. There is no entertainment, and 1 very over priced restaurant. My flight has been delayed, way to go Kuwait Airways. I am bored.

Today was fucked, I past by the photographer at 1PM, they were retouching the shots we took yesterday and I had estimated I would spend max 1 hour finalizing the retouching with them. I ended up leaving at 9PM! Really long day but luckily they were shooting some wine bottles for one of their clients so we ended up drinking a ton of red wine. I will be back in Kuwait tomorrow.

So I am sitting in my hotel room flipping through the channels on the TV when I fall upon the Lebanese station New TV. There was a game show on where they ask a question and if you call in with the right answer you get a chance to win up to $20,000. So I watched it a bit and it was really funny. No one was calling in and the chick who was hosting the show seemed really bored. I was thinking what a fucking stupid show, how the hell do these guys make money. Anyway someone finally called in after 30 minutes of no phone calls and gets the question right and won like $100.

The next game comes on and its basically a puzzle. There are six letters scrambled that when they put together should form a countries name. The answer was easy, Russia so I decided to call in and answer it. I call and get an automated machine telling me that the phone call was going to cost $1 a minute, no problem. Then I got another voice telling me sorry, I am close to winning but I should call again. So I do, and I get the same two voice messages. Turns out everytime you call in you randomly might get through but every time you call you pay $1. So I kept trying to call since the least I could win was like $100. I kept calling and I kept getting the fucking voice mail and I kept trying again. Now I just realized I must have easily tried over 50 fucky times! I am actually still trying to call in now while I am typing this post. Its like I am addicted and I believe I have a chance to get through. I can’t fucking stop!! I can’t!!

Awhile ago I was making fun out of this stupid fucking game show and now I have spent over $50 trying to fucking participate! Nats going to kill me when I get back to Kuwait.

Update: Some fucking dickhead from Saudi Arabia got through and won $200. I feel like such a fucking loser. I hate gambling.