Heaven forbid

I have just, literally, come home from the movies, and my first thought was - I have to blog. Ever since I heard that Jet Li and Jackie Chan will be in ONE movie together, I was sooo looking forward to it. There's no way they can get that wrong. No way.

I didn't know much about the movie, didn't have time to look it up or watch trailers online. So when I convinced my friend to come with us to watch it, my response to his skepticism was, "Hey, that's Jacky Chan and Jet Li together; it's a win-win no matter what."

I ate my words later.

I can't believe what I'm about to say -- but they suck. The movie bored me and I didn't even find one original idea in it.

- The caucasian kid being picked on is so Karate Kid.

- The witch born of the wolves with her white hair is so The Bride with White Hair (which they also referred to in the movie). Her whip, is... tadaaa! Indiana Jones.

- The legions pouring out of the Kingdom of the Five Elements is LOTR.

- The fight scene among the cherry blossoms is an unsuccessful rendition of Hero.

- The 'immortal' and his wine elixir is of course Drunken Master.

- The monk with a mission you can have your pick of any Jet Li/Chow Yun Fat monk movie.

Not only that, the characters weren't established solidly which is quite a shame. There's a lot to the lore of the monkey king that could have been highlighted and played on. And of course, there must be a girl-on-girl fight scene. Is Sparrow a Zhang Ziyi wannabe? It didn't quite fly. Her most memorable scene though was when she was playing her mandolin at the tea house with her face half covered by her black hood.

Sigh. I feel like I'm betraying Jackie and Jet. I feel sad. But it's definitely a movie kids will enjoy, as the kids with us attested to. But for adults, there's a lot lacking. There are funny moments of course, especially the ascension scene. Now that almost made me fall off my chair!

That said, I still love Jacky Chan and Jet Li.

All I see is a scarf

Just saw this article while checking MSN. Rachel Ray is not the first to use that kind of scarf, it has been used by numerous Hollywood celebrities and just goes to show how Arab inspirations are starting to influence world fashion. How about the millions of innocent Arabs who wear it because it's part of their traditional garb?

There's also new label called Dinz that uses it, and a few months ago (haven't checked lately) Splash, a popular mid-priced clothes retailer here, also sold that scarf in a very attractive purple hue. I have one of those, my father's Kwaiti friend gave it to him about 10 years ago, and I used it then.

Just goes to show how fear controls people. There's a beautiful lady up there, an enticing iced coffee, a colourful background but all they see is the scarf.

I see red checkered (or black in this case), I see terrorist. Yikes.

Grow up.

Cairo pictures

Sigh. Don't have time to blog yet but if you want to see the pictures, please go to www.orangejar.com.

Cairo

This post was not meant to start off like this... in a rant.

I am currently typing away while in my 18th floor room in Cairo, at the 5-star Marriott Hotels and Resorts. The room is good enough, except for a lingering smoky smell -- like the second to the last occupant smoked his lungs out here.

Then there's the toiletries, simple amenities that I've come to expect like a toothbrush, toothpaste and comb are not in the bathroom. I had to request for the first two and I won't be surprised if they charge me for it (but they didn't); they provided it quickly enough (five points for them).

And up to now, I can't find the bedroom slippers, so I've been walking barefoot on the carpet and balcony since yesterday. Which again is fine, I like barefoot anyway.

Then when I came back from the morning's pyramid trip, the cleaner left a dirty pillow cover on the desk beside the TV. Hmm.

But, even those are okay. The most surprising and annoying thing for me is the paper thin walls - just a few minutes ago, I can hear my neighbors in what sounded like an argument. This afternoon it was the other room's TV. And earlier, at 5:00 am, it was a couple talking which woke me up. If I can understand Arabic, I can tell you what they were discussing.

Okay.

That out, let me restart this entry...



I've never been asked if I speak Arabic while in Dubai, as much as I've been asked here and I only arrived last night. Quite funny, I realize that with Dubai, English is so much the medium of communication that there's really not much necessity in learning Arabic. But here, though they speak English, they expect you try and learn their language. They appreciate the little efforts even if you just say shukran or sabahakher. And they laugh at the way I pronounce the difficult h-r sounds.



And I must say, after reviewing all the reviews about the hawkers and peddlers and people trying to get your money off you, I was expecting chaos! But so far, I've encountered very little to prove those comments true. Well, the peddlers each have their own style to "charm" money out of your pocket - an entry for another day -- but every thing's been good so far. Although, I must admit, I've been in a bubble: I went for a private tour of the Pyramids of Giza and I'm staying at the Marriott, which by the way, is beside the River Nile. So I haven't seen much of the real Cairo, except for the crazy traffic and crazier parking. Probably tomorrow I'll have a better insight because we will be walking to the Egyptian Museum.

There are lots of stories. I will write about them. But now, it's late and I have to do some work before I sleep. More to come.