Shoe-thrower fans unite online

I bet, by now everyone has already known about the infamous Bush shoes throwing incident that took place in December at a news conference in Baghdad, Iraq.



However, just couple of days ago, I read something in CNN that really intrigued me. It is the fact that the guy (his name is al-Zaidi) who threw his shoes to Mr.Bush actually has hundreds of thousand fans in Facebook ! Surprisingly, what Facebook has shown is that al-Zaidi's angry expression resonated with those beyond his religion and region. Facebook users from around the world has became al-Zaidi's fans and supported what he did to Bush (at least virtually). People started to shoot out their opinions freely in Facebook, knowing that they will not be punished or be ashamed of what they have said.

After reading the news, I started to realize that Computer Mediated Communication(CMC) has really affected our lifestyle. A few decades ago, people used to go around protesting just to get people's attention. But with the existence of Internet and the World Wide Web, People just need to sit down in front of their computer and start voicing out their opinions freely. The shoes throwing incident perfectly illustrates this matter. The fact that CNN covered the news really proved that CMC has evolved into something that is not a mere simple online socializing. But rather, it becomes a medium to voice out serious matters.

U.S. reaches out with cell phone game

Who says diplomacy is always serious business? Sometimes it's a game.

Did anyone says cultural imperialism doesn't exist in today's world? Apparently NOT! It even exist in a form of GAME ! According to CNN news (March 6, 2009), it is quoted that "The latest U.S. attempt to win hearts and minds in the Middle East and Persian Gulf is a cell phone game called X-Life". From this, we certainly know that cultural imperialism still exists in today's world and apparently US is still finding a way to gain the hearts and the minds of people in Middle East and Persian Gulf. The U.S. State Department says the game is intended to bridge cultures and break down barriers. It also aims to show the United States in a positive light and illustrate U.S. values such as tolerance, freedom and respect of religious differences, says Manouchehri, CEO of MetroStar Systems.


A little more about the game
The X-Life games are a series of smaller, interrelated adventure modules which explore one idea. How would your life have been different if you had chosen an alternate career? How would it have impacted you? Your family? The world around you? In each X-Life module, the player gets to try a different "X-Life" and rise to the top of that module’s featured profession. Do not hesitate to visit the official website of the game.

Marley & Me

Marley & Me Trailer

Another great movie starred by Owen Wilson. Marley & Me tells a story of a relationship between a dog(Labrador Retriever) named Marley and his Master, Grogan who's starred by Owen Wilson. The movie started when Grogan bought what seemed to be a quiet and timid dog for his fiancée, jennifer, who's starred by Jennifer Aniston. Little did they know that what seemed to be a timid dog, is actually a highly disastrous, boisterous, energetic, uncontrolled dog. It is to the extent that Grogan often dubbed the dog as the world's worst dog. However, inside that hideous fur of his lies the most loyal heart that a dog can give to his master. Over time, a special relationship built up between the dog and the couple. The director beautifully portrayed that unconditional love in many scenes during the movie (watch the movie then you'll know); SPOILER WARNING: especially when the dog is dying.

After watching the movie, something foolish but true-in-the-sense crossed my mind. I started to questioned myself on why a relationship between man and dog is most often end up better than a relationship between human beings. Did we just discussed on the importance of communication to build a good relationship? But a dog can never communicate with human. Some people might argue that a dog is just stupid in the sense that as long as we give food to them, they'll stay obedient to us. BUT.. WAIT.. A dog has a heart that can feel and a brain that is functioning, doesn't it. I truly believe they know to differentiate between an abusive owner and kind owner.

Moreover, we just talked about cultural barriers* that hinder communication. Does the theory only applicable to human beings? I don't think so. Many, but not all, of theories works on relationship between animals and man. If it is the case, then why is it so much harder to make a relationship between man works? After all, we have the advantage of being able to communicate to each other.

Cultural barriers* includes:
1)Perception or interpretation of reality.
2)Understanding of role relations or identities.
3)Goal-oriented behaviors.
4)Images or sense of self.
5)Language or message making.

Valkyrie

With the high demand of entertainment in today's world, movies and theaters have just became part of our life (especially in Singapore). All kinds movies ranging from comedy to horror are highly demanded by youths and adults. What intrigue me the most is the recent movie titled "Valkyrie". Starring Tom Cruise as Colonel Stauffenberg who opposed Hitler's ides and he felt that Hitler is destroying Germany instead of making Germany a better place to live in. Hence, the story went on telling the story on how Colonel Staunffenberg allied himself with others who opposed Hitler to assassinate him. Of course eventually the plan failed and those Hitler's traitors were killed.

Ok.. Enough about synopsis and the spoiler. What has to be discussed here is the content of movie regarding the cultures in it. In my opinion, although the movie is interesting and based on historical factual events , It lacks of German cultures in it and has been too Americanized. The movie is starred by Holywood stars (Tom Cruise), directed by American director (Bryan Singer) and spoken in AMERICAN English - where are the Germans ???It is ironic considering that the core of the movie is about history of Germany. Moreover, the most important person (other than Tom Cruise), Hitler, lacks of German elements in it. Hitler is supposed to be one of the swiftest, influeantial, charismatic person on earth (If you do not believe, watch the video below), but what happened in the movie? Hitler barely spoke a full sentence (I calculated, he spoke around 5 full sentences during the whole movie and that's in English!).


Adolf Hitler giving a speech (1933)

So... What do you guys about the movie and the video? Does the director do these in purpose considering Hitler was the worst enemy of the United States (cultural influence). Or the director was just thinking that this movie goers would be mostly American, thus he decided to do it the American way.

Celebrity couple Glenn Ong, Jamie Yeo call it quits

Moving off from politics, wars, religious disputes and all the serious matters that happen around the world, now I shall talk about something less serious and more entertaining in nature. Today, I will review something about our local entertainers. It is none other than the shocking news about the separation between celebrity couple Glenn Ong and Jamie Yeo who announced their divorce on Friday the 13th. It is DJ Glenn Ong who gave the brief statement about their separation at 8.30 am during his morning radio show, Morning Express. It is reported that MediaCorp subsequently announced that the couple had “grown apart in recent years due to their careers and individual differences”. The decision was a “mutual” and “amicable” one.

After reading this article, I finally realized that communication is one of the crucial keys in unlocking a successful marriege (you don't need to be a rocket-scientist to realize this). It is stated that the celebrity couple has grown apart in recent years due to their carrers. Obviously that the couple did not have the time to communicate and spend time with each other. Moreover, I believed that the individual differences stated above is the 'after-effect' of not communicating for a long time.

Many people should know, at least by now, that communication is essential in building a good relationship among people, not just for married couples. However, what to be an issue here is that, although people know (by theory) that communication is important, many still clueless on how to apply it to their everyday life. Factors such as carrers and dominance in a relationship may hinder a good quality communication between partners or among friends.

Food for thought: What is the best way to have a good communication with so many 'bad' factors hanging around ready to snatch the intimacy between couples and good relationship between friends?

Religous dispute

Cabinet clash over use of "Allah"
(Taken from TODAY newspaper, 7th Feb 2009)

Still touching on religious matter, this article would analyze the power of how certain sensitive words affect people.

The article is about dispute that arose in Malaysia when Catholic Herald, a Catholic newspaper, used the word "Allah". Malaysian Home Ministry claimed that the word is the preserve of followers of Islam in Malaysia.

Nonetheless, Mr. Bernard Dompok, leader of the Upko political party in Sabah and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said that the term "Allah" is widely used by Christians around the world as reference to "God" and there is no reason for the Home Ministry to continue harassing the Catholic Herald.

The issue is now before the High Court with the Catholic Church seeking a ruling on the right to continue using the word.

The only rational explanation as to why such issue is being fought over in Malaysia, lies on the place where this word is being used. in short, this article pointed out the indisputable fact that our cultures and sorroundings affect our perceptions on certain things. Moreover, it is also to be noted that our behaviour are based on our perception rather than on realtiy, and it is sometimes deceptive.

As we know, Malaysia is a Muslim country where people valued their religous strongly. This has caused the Muslim in Malaysia to acquire a sense of belonging in the word "Allah" which they frequently use to refer to their God, ignoring the fact that "Allah" is indeed a general term as a reference to any "God".

Israeli army says Gaza pullout completed

Israeli army says Gaza pullout completed
Posted: 21 January 2009 1506 hrs

JERUSALEM: Israeli troops have completed their withdrawal from the Gaza Strip after a 22-day offensive against the Islamist Hamas movement, an army spokesman told AFP on Wednesday.

"The last soldier left the Gaza Strip this morning," the spokesman said. "However the army remains deployed all around the Gaza Strip to meet any eventuality."

The pullout began Sunday after Israel declared a ceasefire and Palestinian militants matched it. Hamas gave Israel a week to remove all troops and open crossing points into Gaza or face renewed hostilities.

Israel launched its massive assault on December 27, bombarding the narrow coastal strip where 1.5 million Palestinians live from land, air and sea.

Palestinian health ministry figures list more than 1,300 people dead, including 410 children and about 100 women. Another 5,300 people were wounded - 1,855 of them children and 795 women.

The Palestinian bureau of statistics reported 4,100 homes totally destroyed and 17,000 others damaged in the offensive.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon became Tuesday the first world leader to visit the enclave since Israel halted the deadliest offensive it has ever launched on the Palestinian territory, which has been ruled by Hamas since June 2007.

He accused Israel of using "excessive force" in the conflict, but he also condemned Palestinian rocket fire on southern Israel which sparked the invasion.

Eight Israeli human rights groups also accused the army of ignoring the rules of war.

They urged prosecutor general and government legal adviser Menachem Mazuz to act, describing the scale of casualties among women and children as "terrifying."

The Washington Post reported that President Barack Obama plans this week to name former Northern Ireland peacemaker George Mitchell as his Middle East envoy to deal immediately with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


After looking at the article, I'm really saddened to what has happened. a few thousands innocent people in Palestine and Israel died in the war. For what purposes ? To satisfy each country's pride ? To show the world that they are powerful ? or for religious purposes which they often dubbed as 'Holy War' ?

Anyway, in this article what I would really want to stress is the fact that this war has not only affected the two parties, rather it has became a world epidemic. This is what happened around the world particularly in Indonesia and Malaysia.

- 300 angry demonstrators in Indonesia, Central Sulawesi, Palu stormed KFC restaurant in protest against Israel's military strikes on Gaza Strip.


- Islamic groups in Malaysia have urged a boycott of US brands such as Coca-Cola during a recent protest by around 300 people outside the National Mosque in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.


In my opinion what actually happened in Indonesia and Malaysia is that they perceived the war in Palestine and Israel as a 'holy war' or Jihad between the Christian community against the Muslim community. Why can't they perceived the war as just a mere conflict between two countries rather than a jihad?

- Is it because due to their culture?
- Is it because due to their different perspectives?

What do you guys think?