Was the total cost of the parliamentary elections’ campaigns.

 Major fights breaking out across the Kingdom and news of four people getting killed.

News of several campaigners being beaten up for tribal reasons.

Pictures taken by the Petra News Agency where some campaigners were caught buying votes.

 And last but not least, representatives of our people elected on Wehdati / Faisalawi basis. 

 Hail democracy!

فعلا كان عرس وطني, اكمن مرشح اندبك عليه و اكمن مواطن تنقط و ما ننسى العيارات النارية و الالعاب النارية اللي استعملها ذوي العريس …. و ذوي العروس

بقولوا البنت بتجيب و الولد بودي

بكرة بالجامعة العرس الصح

Lolololoweesh!

I love it! Seriously, I have no clue why people keep complaining and whining about it. I love how simple and Jordanian it is. I love the reporters, the presenters, anchormen, I even love the weathermen who work in it!

In case you didn’t know : It is not “cool” to watch the Jordanian TV unless you live abroad, because that is supposed to show how much you’re homesick and hence get you a lot of sympathy, how retarded!

Let’s assume they changed the crew of the Jordanian TV and replaced them with a bit more “hip” and “cool” staff, half naked presenters (men and women) who use any accent except for the Jordanian accent, faffy mammy kids who think that Al Kerak is a Jameed factory and that Abdoun is the capital of Jordan, and R rated Jordanian soap opera’s where the stars eat Mansaf with spoons! Would you then stop calling the Jordanian TV motakhallef, fashel, fdee7a? (Adjectives often used by this generation to describe the JTV). Would it then become hip and cool? It is called The Jordanian TV for a reason, and that would be the fact that it is Jordanian, it represents Jordanians, their concerns, their pride; their history and traditions, and their hopes for the future.

A hundred years ago your grandmother didn’t go to gyms, so if you think that the Jordanian historical series with all the tents, the Jordanian accent and Jordanian clothing is uncool and retarded then blame your forefathers for not being cool.
If you think it is not cool because the concepts of the shows are “simple” and the directing/presenting/acting/whatevering sucks then you should know that they welcome any suggestions and any ambitious people who think they can do a better job, just call the TV, ask to speak to someone in charge and tell them that you have an idea on how you can improve the things that suck and i can guarantee you that they’ll be more than happy to listen or even hire you if you can do a better job.

We are a conservative society, and so our media should be. The Jordanian TV isn’t among the popular Arabic TV stations but at least it gives the viewer a good idea on what life is like in Jordan unlike other Arabic TV stations that air dance competitions at a time when their people are being bombed and killed to make money. The crew of the Jordanian TV proved to the world that they are proffessionals with the way they dealt with Amman bombings. Sure, the station could use some improving, everything could, but with the potentials they have they’ve been doing a great job for the past year since Mr. Faisal Al Shboul was appointed as head of the institution. The quality of the shows are better especially this Ramadan and so are the prizes they give away in game shows such as Ramadan Ma’ana A7la and Il Forsa (Presented by the Lebanese Toni Khalifeh and the Jordanian Aseel Al Khraishah, aired everyday at 9:35 PM), plus, a lot of Jordanian series that are aired on the JTV are being aired in Ramadan on various popular Arabic TV stations, they’re all worth watching! The Jordanian TV has gone a long way the past couple of years, give it a chance!

Brought to you by Three,

Ramadan is just around the corner, finally! It feels weird typing this though, the past year has flown by so quickly and with this specific Ramadan I’m having flashbacks of the past year, the year 2006.

Yes it’s going to be tiring to go twelve hours without drinking water in this hot weather, but I just can’t wait. For some reason, unlike any other religious occasion Ramadan is something I look forward to, with all the coziness, warmth, the family gatherings and the feeling of satisfaction I get every single day as the sun sets declaring the end of a day’s fasting.

Too many memories related to Ramadan, sweet, weird and funny ones.

I remember the detecting methods for fasting we used when we were kids, pinching the skin on one of our fingers was one of them, the rest are plain embarrassing. I also remember how we would go around annoying other kids at school in an attempt to drive them to shout at us or be mean to us so that we could tell them : Allahumma inni sa2em! And then they’d go around feeling guilty about being mean to us because we are taught that Ramadan – Just like any other month -  is all about forgiveness, love and tolerance, so the whole point of fasting is to be able to clear your mind, feel with the less fortunate, count your blessings and be thankful for all you’ve got and haven’t got, and hence feeling peace and serenity inside and expressing it.

 I remember a song kids used to sing ( Which by the way is not related to fundamentalism or terrorism in any way, it is just a song kids made up ) that goes like:

Ya mefter Ramadan, ya khayen deenak, missitna il samra tfattes masareenak. Hehehe

I also love how people in Jordan remember grocery shopping a few minutes before Iftar, they all rush to buy whatever they need at the last minute and so get stuck in traffic, and then all the swearing starts;

Meen il 7mar illi a3tak il rokhsa?

Mabrouk il share3!

Aftar 3alaik?!

I’m not being sarcastic by the way, it is really funny in a weird sort of way. I also love how empty the streets in Amman are right after Iftar, all the stores are closed, people are at their homes probably eating Atayef,the weather dark and chilly outside, just priceless!

Ramadan Mubarak all, hope this Ramadan brings with it warmth, happiness, forgiveness and peace of mind, make the most out of it.

Brought to you by Three,

I have always liked oriental dancing (Belly Dancing). Aside from the fact that it is strictly oriental, I always considered it to be a very interesting thing to watch and learn, that was of course until I heard about male belly dancers, my first thought was : Eww, how gay! I mean the thought of a MAN shaking and dancing was so yucky, I always thought that oriental dancing was monopolized by females, that it wouldn’t suit a man, turns out I couldn’t be more wrong.

A while back, in Egypt, I attended a belly dancing show in which Tito – the infamous belly dancer – was supposed to dance, Tito couldn’t make it because he was somewhere in the States and Miro -Another Belly dancer- was the substitute dancer for that night. He got on stage and started dancing, his performance caused my jaw to drop and stay still, amazing doesn’t even come close to what I saw that night! The man really knows how to dance! He managed to show us all a work of art. After he was done a couple of female belly dancers got on stage and started dancing, in the past I would’ve been amazed by their dancing, but after I watched Miro dance they all looked vulgar, tasteless and desperate to show off whatever of their bodies they’re capable of showing to turn people’s attention from their dancing to their bodies.

The best chefs in the world are men, best athletes are men, richest business people; men, and the best dancers are even men. I’m sure a woman somewhere has invented something, but the most famous inventors whose inventions we all use on a daily basis were men, the same applies to scientists. Which got me thinking, what is it that women do better than men? And then Oprah and Meryl Streep came to mind. The two things women can do better than men are talking and in some cases, acting.

I am in no way implying that men are superior to me, I’m simply stating that they’re superior to females OTHER than myself.

The following is a video of Tito’s dancing, which by the way is crappy compared to the real thing, but it should give you an idea of how good the guy is.

Brought to you by Three.

The following has been my favorite song for the past two years or so, the artist is the Lebanese Hiba Mounzer, not very known, but very gifted I can assure you. I was really surprised at the reactions this song got when it first came out, up until this day not a lot of people know of this song or like it, have they all gone deaf?

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More people are becoming familiar with the Jordanian uprising star Aziz Maraka and his band; Razz. Some Jordanian radio stations including MazajFm often play Aziz’s most popular songs like Bent El Nas, Lahali, El 3atwa and Amman (The Story) which are also among my favorite songs, but not a lot of people heard his song Laish Habeebi, which I personally consider his best.

Aziz Maraka – Laish Habeebi

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2ad El Kawn, again, one of the greatest new Arabic songs , composed and performed by our own uprising Jordanian star; Fadi Haddad. This one you can hear a lot on MazajFm.

Fadi Haddad – 2ad El Kawn

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Shifting to Africa, Algeria to be specific, and Souad Massi.  I listened to a lot of her songs, couldn’t relate to some of them since they’re neither Arabic nor English, but the Arabic ones made it to my favorites list. The music is outstanding, the lyrics are very sweet, her voice and performance are beyond amazing.

Souad Massi- Ghair Enta

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Going back in time, here is the song that fits my mood right now, Eshta2t Li 3azabek for the Lebanese Ghaleb Antar, an amazing not-so-popular song.

Ghaleb Antar – Ishta2t Li 3azabek

عزاب العالم كله, كله, أهون من غيابك  

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To be continued.

Brought to you by One

I was watching this man’s show; Mohammed Hassanein Haikal, on al Jazeera TV just now, I read some articles for him before and I watched a couple of interviews with him. I always knew he is an intelligent arab journalist; but never thought that he is that interesting.

Im not so much into politics but I found myself watching him now, he has a great way in gaining the listeners’ attention, and the most incredible thing about him is that he is over 80! This guy has brains in his head more than I ever did, and more than anyone I know does. His show is a weekly show I guess, every thursday 10pm our time, I strongly recomend watching it.