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end up not going to work today, coz have no voice. Labels: Barack Obama, movies, TIME, US Presidential Elections
Watched The Departed finally....and i won't want to credit it for its numerous nominations at the Academy coz it felt like a complete replica of 无间道, and i liked the HK version better.
No point trying to bestow accolades on the director for such a work, although he's a fella that ought to be paid his dues.
Hmphff...
Anyway, received my TIME's 100 influential ppl issue and it's great since George W Bush is officially striked off the list! OUTOUTOUT. And my, Ho Ching is in..which i can't believe. It's an extraordinary list this year with Cate Blanchett and Al Gore in too...wowo..
BTW, just to fully utilise my right to the freedom of expression, my opinion is that Barack Obama should win the next presidential election, and im all out rooting for him.
Partly because i don't like the Clintons no more than the Bushes.
finished rambling
4:25 AM <3
new words are: Labels: dictionary, TIME, words
nawab: not totally an English word. is an honorary title conferred upon Muslims of distinction in India and Pakistan. In English, nabob(pronounced ney-bob)is the word for any wealthy, influential or powerful person e.g. colonial nawab
searing: to char, scorch or burn with a hot instrument.
In a Time mag article, the writer used the phrase searingly honest and after a long search, it is proven there is no such word as searingly, although we do get his point.
idyllic: charmingly simple or rustic e.g. idyllic landscape, idyllic life
finished rambling
4:21 AM <3
Saw reports on CNA about the tremors felt in S'pore due to the earthquake 6.3 on the Richter scale in Indonesia's Sumatran coast. And i got a first witness account coz weiyingermei was in St Andrew's Village when it SHOOK. Overheard on the phone was that the lamps and benches in the canteens shook, and i asked my sis:WAS IT FUN? out of nonchalence. This is a comment so typical of a Singaporean who has never experienced anything more than a boogy shake. :) Labels: dictionary, Iraq, Islam, Shi'ite, Sunni, TIME, tremors in Singapore, wikipedia, words
Anyway, they had an early dismissal and the principal told them to walk out solemnly since CNA reporters were around and the school should uphold the image without students behaving misappropriately. Typical of a Singaporean school too. LOL. And they had to pray for the people on the Sumatran Coast, and i wish for their safety and wellbeing too..
Some words:
Chasm: it literally means a gorge or an abyss. But can be used in the context of a breach in relations,or a divergence of opinions between persons or groups.
Rancorous: from the word rancor (synonym:enmity). Meaning full of bitter resentment.
Venerate: Regard with respect, venerance.
Schism: Separation or division into factions (as in Islam's case)
Pagan: an irreligious person
Pejoratively: pejorative means belittling. Thus pejoratively means deprecatory
Bestial: Without reason or intelligence, such as in the use of bestial torture, or bestial treatment
Anyway guys, highly recommended is that you read the article in the current issue of TIME, "Why they Hate Each Other". A reasonable analysis of the relationships between the 2 Islamic factions, Sunnis and Shi'ites.
And here i have a brief summary plus additional stuff on the differences between them and their practices:
Sunnis:
1. Men with names like Abu Bakr, Omar, Uthman (early Caliphs, viceroys of God who, in the Shi'ite version of events, were hostile to Propher Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Imam Ali are almost certainly Sunnis.
2. Dulaimi, Samarrai and Bakri are Sunni tribal or family names.
3. Sunnis pray with one arm folded over the other, just below the rib cage.
4. Islam requires Muslims to say their prayers five times a day and Sunnis have five separate prayer times.
5. When calling the faithful to prayer, Sunni mosques invoke God and the Prophey Muhammad.
6. Sunni mosques tend to have domes and minarets. They tend to be more austere, and portraits of any kind are regarded as a form of idolatry.
7. Sunnis likened reverence for the Prophet's bloodline and the Shi'ites' fondness for portraits of some of the Imams to the sin of idolatry.
8. Sunnis tend to favir calligraphy-quotations from the Koran in their own home. They display a white flag when they have returned from the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
9. Sunni insurgents have been known to stop cars with stickers of Ali and murder the passengers.
10.Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt are widely known as Sunni Arab countries.
11.After the murder if Ali who became the fourth Caliph, the majority who were Sunnis backed the claim of Mu'awiyah, Governor of Syria, and his son Yazid, and killed Hussein (backed by Shi'tes) in a battlefield near modern Karbala when the two sides met.
12. About 90% of Muslims worldwide are Sunnis, and imperial patronage at that time made Sunni Islam the dominant sect.
13. Sunnis have historically had a lock on political power.
14. Sunni elite treated Shi'tes as an underclass.
15. Sunni dominance was cemented after the Ottomans eventually won conrol of the Arab territories.
16. Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda which began a bombing campaign against Shi-te targets is regarded as a Sunni jihadi group.
17. Though Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army is widely regarded as a Shi'te militia, Sunni politicians during the battle of Fallujah, spoke of an alliance with the Mahdi Army.
18. Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi was largely blamed for the operation in Samarra, the holy Shi'ite shrine, and Iraqi Sunnis had to endure the bloody fallout.
19. Sunnis were incensed when Saddam was hanged at the hour of morning prayers on one of the most sacred Muslim holidays(Iraqi Sunnis celebrated the holiday one da before the Shi'ites).
20. Religious leaders of the Wahhabi sect who preached a hard-line form of Sunni Islam were often bankrolled by members of the Saudi royal family.
21. Rafiq Hariri, former Lebanon Prime Minister was a Sunni.
22. The Palestinian Fatah group is Sunni.
23. Sunni schools of law are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali.
Shi'ites:
1. Muslims with names like Abdel-Hussein, Abdel-Zahra are most likely Shi'ite.
2. Sa'aedi, Moussawi and Rubaie are Shi'ite's tribal or family names.
3. Islam requires Muslims to say their prayers five times a day and Shi'ites have the option to pray three times, doubling up on the prayer on two occasions.
4. When calling the faithful to prayer, Shi'ites invoke God, Prophet Muhammad and additionally mention Ali, the Prophet's son-in-law.
5. The sombre ceremony of Ashura is uniquely Shi'ite as it commemorates the killing of Ali's son Hussein by Sunni enemies.
6. Shiites often worship at Husseiniyas, which combine the functions of a mosque and community center and don't necessarily have domes. These places are usually festooned with traditional green and black flags and are decorated with portraits of Ali and sometimes of Hussein.
7. The Shi'ites' fondness of portraiture extends to their homes, where the image of Ali often hangs on the walls of their living room. They may unfurl colourful flags on their roof.
8. Shi'ites often have pictures and stickers of Imam Ali on their cars' rear windows and hang religious amulets from their rearview mirrors.
9. Iraqi cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr's Shi'ite militia, Mahdi Army is blamed for thousands of Sunni deaths.
10. Iran is known for being the culprit who instigated the Shi'ite tide rising across the Middle East.
11. Shi'ites see themselves as the oppresed as they are treated by Sunnis as an underclass, limited to manual labor and denied a fair share of state resources.
12. Shi'ites were Ali, the fourth Caliph's supporters and they agitated for his son Hussein for the role of Caliph. They saw Hussein as a just and humane figure who stood up to a mighty oppressor. Hussein was killed by Sunnis on a battlefield.
13. Ashura is the most spectacular of Shi'ite ceremonies, as it is the annual mourning of Hussein's death. It involves a faithful march in the streets, Shi'ites beating their chests and crying in sorrow and the extremely devout will flagellate themselves with swords and whips.
14. Shi'ites venerate the Imams, descendants of the Prophets until the 12th Imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi disappeared in the Samarra shrine. They believe that al-Mahdi is mystically hidden and will emerge on an unspecified date to usher in a reign of justice.
15. Shi'ites form the majority in modern states of Iraq, Bahrain and Azerbaijan.
16. One example of Shi'ite uprisings is Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini's 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.
17. Saddam Hussein, Iraq's former dictator, kept the Shi'ites firmly under his thumb during his rule.
18. A Shi'ite coalition swept to power in Iraq's first post-Saddam election in Jan 2005.
19. Shi'ites turned to militias like the Mahdi Army to avenge the desecration of the holy Samarra site.
20. Shi'ites are now politically dominant in Iraq.
21. The Hisballah militia in Lebanon and the government led by Hamas are Shi'ite groups.
22. Shi'ites believe in the five pillars of Islam but have different categorisation as Sunnis.
finished rambling
11:44 PM <3
Some words i looked up today: Labels: Clarke Quay, food, Jostein Gaarder, Results, TIME, words
Schadenfreude--basically it means delight at other peoples' misfortunes
Mien- inner state of mind, character worried mien, i tend to link it to the word demeanour
indefatigable--from the word fatigue, meaning seemingly incapable of feeling fatigue
indubitable--from the word doubt, meaning unquestionable
I don't really know whether you should blame it on weak constituition or i should just throw up my hands and say "I'm so DAMN SUAY", because ms moon has fallen sick again. This seems to be a "at least once in 3 mths" occurence hence it shouldn't be treated lightly. But i totally dread going to the doctor and i can't overcome that inertia to knock on the doc's door. Self-medication will do this time, again.
But don't worry, just a light sore throat, cough, and flu. Should be over within a few days.
Anyway, i just read the last issue of Time and i think most of us should go get a copy and read the few articles on the power of the mind and on how scientists can't seem to fathom how the mind works. The article on consciousness especially intrigues.
Have been reading Gaarder's Solitare Mystery lately and the fiction book's brings you deep ideas of philosophy: in discovering the mysteries of the world and the greater universe and also in identifying the truth that man not only knows not much about himself, but also knows almost nothing about his surroundings and the universe. Gaarder's books most often is linked with religious explanations on the worlds' mysteries and his ideas are almost linked with God and greater beings whom he's still grappling to identify with. But because of the way the book is written, with usually great story plot and interesting philosophies, he sometimes sucks me so deep into his story that i'm almost converted to believe in some of the "scientifically-unproven" theories that he has come up with (although i'm not a "God-believer" in true sense)
However, after reading these scientific articles on man's attempts to try to explain his own thoughts, im once again brought back to closer reality (It's understandable since i'm usually not much of a philosopher myself) that we shouldn't declare that man is being foolish in thinking that he knows a lot, and in being too absorbed with himself. A lot of scientific discoveries and theories stems from philosophies that man himself came up with, and at least when man declares that he knows very little about the world, he tries to at least prove with effort that he is trying to grapple with what's closest to him: his inner state of mind and thoughts.
I don't really know what i say makes any sense, it's a bit of preliminary thinking, so all those ideas might look more like a rough sketch than a thoroughly thought out piece, but i'd just thought philosophers and scientist can actually shake hands and make friends.
Enough about the woo-ha about all these....went shopping with Jac at Vivo yesterday and snatched some bargains. I bought an S & K long sleeve top for less than 20 and it's been so long since i got something from S & K (presumably because this top didn't look as S&K, blah blah). And i bought something for less than 20 from Zara?!(Can you believe it?!)
Went King's Satay at the Cannery after that, i really love Clarke Quay's atmosphere at night:
King's Satay is famous for its.............Satay! Duh.
Murtubak was good.
The prata wih "unique" topping was good too.
Roti John was good "three".
When it comes to good food, im lost for words. Anyway, King's Satay is a must-go because no service charge no gst, hohoho.
Oh....and weiyingermei scored an 8 for the O's. Wootx, one point better than me. Now,it's time for her to be in a dilemma, S.A or no S.A?
BTW, i'm soooo soooo worried about the A's.
finished rambling
11:56 PM <3