Subscribe to RSSArchive for November, 2007:
Bangladesh
The news doesn’t seem to have anything thus far on giving donations to help out with relief efforts in Bangladesh after the cyclone, but World Vision seems to be one of the few organisations with a local office currently collecting donations. Nothing on the Bangladeshi High Commission page, although I guess you could contact them directly to ask. Mercy Relief’s page notes that they’ve contacted the High Commission with an offer to help, but without an official reply thus far. International organisations such as the Salvation Army and Oxfam are also collecting.
the twins
Born on the 22nd of November 2007 (12 Dzulkaedah) Ahmad Akmal and Ahmad Hilman, the newest members of the clan.
Baarakallaahu laka fil-mawhoobi laka, wa shakartal-waahiba , wa balagha ‘ashuddahu, wa ruziqta birrahu.
Kurt Busiek & Gail Simone @ SWF 07
Kurt Busiek (Astro City, Avengers, Conan) and Gail Simone(Birds of Prey, Agent X, Wonder Woman) will be in Singapore on the 1st and 2nd of December as part of the Singapore Writers Festival. Mark Waid was supposed to be able to make it, but unfortunately had to pull out. The official page isn’t terribly navigationally friendly, but I’ve copied the text for these events below. There’s a lot of other interesting stuff of course, but far too much for me to reproduce here. All events listed below are free, with those on the 1st of December taking place in the Chamber of the Arts House and those on the 2nd taking place in the Play Den.
IslamicEvents.SG
IslamicEvents.SG is a website meant to comprehensively cover current courses, classes and events organised by masjids and Muslim organisations in Singapore. It was started by a friend so I’m promoting it here. God willing my Muslim readers will find it of some use.
Farah Adibah!
More photos, because I felt like it.
2
Two weeks on, but I’d like to mention that Farah Adibah is now two years old and very officially a big girl. Her parents threw a party for her, with lots of friends and family invited, and lots of food. She was really quite excited at all the activity, and she didn’t nap all day. Her birthday was on a Saturday, and she was still asking her nenek to sing “Happy birthday to Adibah” on Monday on her way back from school.
It goes without saying that we all love her very much and we hope that she grows up to be good, kind, clever and a great, caring big sister to her younger brothers, insya-Allah.
Peace and much love.
happy belated deepavali
A couple of days late, but Mr Miyagi made a post which, among other things, clarifies that there actually is a difference between Deepavali and Diwali.
Diwali and Deepavali are actually two different festivals. Diwali is celebrated in the north one day after Deepavali is celebrated in the south. Diwali celebrates the return from exile of Lord Ram to Ayodyha, while Deepavali celebrates the victory of Lord Krishna over the demon Naraka.
It’s also great for including the following.
“I am not from Kalinga, nor am I of Bengali origin”, said Corporal Selvam Sivaraman very eloquently, before he added just as eloquently, “you stupid Chinese communist bastard Ching Chong chow chee bye motherfuckers!”
In any case, anything I needed to know about Diwali (and Indian culture) I learned from Goodness Gracious Me.
Friday Night Lights
I’d just like to make a post promoting Friday Night Lights. Originally a book chronicling a small town high school football (not soccer) team’s journey to the championships, that account was turned into a movie and eventually into a television series that takes the basic premise of the story and fictionalises it. I think a lot of popular culture tends to sideline the jocks or the popular crowd because it’s more interesting as a plot point to place your protagonists as outsiders or misfits, and I like that Friday Night Lights doesn’t shy away from showing high school football as a very big thing in a small town. Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) is both socially awkward and the lead quarterback, and it’s an interesting dynamic.
It thankfully doesn’t bother too much with portraying the potential politics of a conservative Texas town, and while the storylines are particularly original (but then again what is?) I enjoy the fact that not everything has to break down into histrionics and even when there are fights physical or emotional they tend to be understated, not overblown or punctuated with “emotional” music. It’s the down to earth nature of the show that keeps me watching episode after episode.
And of course there’s Kyle Chandler, an old favourite from Early Edition and last seen in an Emmy nominated role as bomb squad leader Dylan Young on Grey’s Anatomy (a really good two-parter, by the way). Here he plays Coach Eric Taylor and together with Connie Britton playing his wife Tami they form the bedrock of the ensemble cast. Chandler doesn’t have a Southern accent and it shows (I suspect few of the cast really do, actually) but you forget that fact after awhile as he pulls off the role really well.
I wasn’t a fan of the shaky camera work at first (doesn’t seem to make sense if you’re not actually shooting an action sequence) but they’ve either toned it down or I’ve gotten used to it.
I’ll admit that there’s a certain season two storyline that sort of comes from nowhere and doesn’t really gel with how the series has been going so far but for now I’m enjoying season one. And you should too. I’ll eventually have to read the book and/or watch the movie too I guess.
six days
Six days of Syawal fasting completed, Alhamdulillah. Going to the gym I feel like my strength has decreased though. Definitely not pushing weight.
