Remmembered Quote of the Day

وو هوبا و خطراااا !!! يلعبها واو لفّا....يئلشها بسن الجزمة...يا خبر...هو دا راؤول...هو دا راؤول

Layer Cake

Its been a while since i've sat down and watched a movie as i have been quite busy at work. But today i decided that i need to get through my Netflix list and make use of the $15 dollars i pay each month. The movie i had was "Layer Cake" a british gangster flick, which i actually quite enjoyed.

The film is by first time director Mathew Vaughn, who's experience in film comes from producing Guy Richie's "Lock, Stock and two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch." This film is much more mature and deals with more layers of british society than the previous mentioned two which focus more on cockney london.

The film was paced well, it had a dull moment or two, but my mind was kept engaged. The imagery was very beatuiful, the film is very well shot and more impressively planned out. Some transitions were so natural i was impressed.

Daniel Craig's character was well played and he has some form of charm, which catches the attention of Sienna Miller(Jude Law's GF) in the film. Its the first time i see her act, its kind of a small role, but she has a certain attraction to her, don't know what exactly.

Anyways if you are up for a british gangster film with some style and wit, layer cake is a good choice.

The face and reason behind the name " Bataranzi"

For many the word Bataranzi means different things. Some think it refers to a trait, others feel its an old arabic saying, and to others...it reminds them of fellini and " La Dolce Vita"

For me Bataranzi means being spontaneous, full of life and....well you can check it out for yourself

Click here to see the one and only bataranzi...انقر هنا لمعرفة هوية البطرنزي الاكبر

* may take some time to download if you have a slow connection

Last year i got a chance to film a documentary about the Arab Children's congress which took place in amman, and is organized by the performing arts center of the Noor Al-Hussein foundation.

Hamada who is featured in the video is one of the hardest working indivduals and he provided much needed comic relief throughout the 7 days of the congress.

At this particular instance we were at the international night and he picked up a camera from one of the photographers next to the stage, i saw him and followed his actions with my camera. I asked him to take a picture of me, and as you can see....it took him some time to find out how the contraption in his hands worked.

I then follow up to ask him the decieding question....Do you consider yourself a Paparazzi?

His answer makes me laugh everyday, he's become our cheerup mascot on any day me and amin got tired of work or just bored of each other. Amin started waking up and watching this guy on his computer everyday so he can start his day with a smile, and when i came to start this new blog i couldn't think of a name, and then it came to me....Bataranzi...so for you Hamada...so you can go into history as the frist person to use the word Bataranzi....

and as the old nabatean poet used to say

A Bataranzi a day ....keeps 3wad ( ili 7arag il masna3) away....

The Question that Subtracts itself...السؤال الذي يطرح نفسه

ماذا تعني كلمة البطرنزي لك؟

What does Bataranzi mean to you?

Arabic and my girlfriend

Finally i came to realzie the power of the MAC and i finally figured a way out to use and type in Arabic within my editing program Final Cut Pro ( aka "my girlfriend") The meaning of this is that now i can create arabic graphics, subtitles, and i can arrange my bins in arabic which may cause the producers to freak out :)

*The pic is of my browser window within the program:


soon i will try this on an Avid and see if it works.

I wish i figured this feature out a couple of months ago...it would have helped.

Another thing that i am impressed with is the QWERTY- Arabic keyboard layout provided, which means i can type on an english keyboard phonetically as i type in Arabic. It works and it is a bit easier than the traditional arabic keyboard layout. I recently typed 119 pages in Arabic, a feat in itself, i don't think i ever typed that much arabic before, and this layout is also the secret behind my use of arabic in this blog.

I don't know if such a thing is available in windows. Anyone know?

That should be illegal

At about 10 AM pacific time i entered burger king in downtown LA to get some hashbrowns ( which i have been craving for a while) and some cheap coffee. This one guy after me orders a triple whopper meal, no tomatoes and with diet coke as the drink of choice. Before this incident i never knew a triple whopper existed. AND AT 10 AM.....COME ON!!!!

Note to self

Do Not Repeat the following Again:

1- Eating a big plate of Maglooba at 11:30 Pm and following that with two pieces of cake and a big cup of tea, all before going to bed.

2- The next day indulge in eating 2 huge plates of mansaf alongside a cup of sharab and a lot of onions, then go on to eat some form of pie with ice cream made by a girl in black shorts and a tank top which you have never met, also at night.

Participating in activities such as the ones mentioned above can cause you to experience numerous side effects including but not limited to dizziness, loss of focus, extreme stomach aches, hours spent in private meetings ( a.k.a. going to the bathroom) loss of sleep, loss of money, embarrasing situations on the Metro, nightmares about huge eggplants chasing you down a maze of hallways leading into a room full of mirrors, in addition to longing for home..

The tests conducted and the results mentioned are not based on science ( as i hardly know any of it.)

خربشة

حاولت كثير إني اقوللها
حاولت كثير إني الاطفها
حاولت كثير إني اصارحها
بس يا ناس ماني قادر إلها

يمكن اتقولوا شو بيقول؟
يمكن اتفكروا من هي بتكون؟
يمكن اقلكوا او ما اقول
المهم انه الوضع مش مقبول

جننتني و عقدتني، خبلتني و سوسحتني
و طيرت كل ما كان بعقلي

و الحقيقة يا اخوان
و يا اخوات كمان
انه الزين ما بيبان
إلا مرة بهزّمان

و قبل شهر او شهران
و فوقهم سنة او سنتان
قعدت افكر و انا زههقان
عن الكرك و اهل عمان

عن ايام العز

ايام العز
يوم الكركي كان يهز
كرسي السلطان
برنّة بارود و اسم رفيفان


وشو اساوي ....و شو اقول
عن احوالنا و عن الي بدور
فبلدنا و فشبابنا
فشوارعنا و فحراتنا
من فسوق و من فجور
من تخلي عن الجذور

و كيف ما الشاعر كان يقول

دنا القلم و ابيض القرطاس و بخاطري نظم بيتين
عن الي قلبي هواها يا ناس الكرك جنة الخلد يا عيني

Re-energized

Finally after a dry period of no work, I have a job to wake up to in the morning. I have been assigned to edit a documentary about Arab women who have made it in their respective careers. The focus is on three countries, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, and the plan is to have this done by mid September so that it can be considered for entry into the Dubai Film Festival.

Check the documentary website here

So over the weekend my prep work started, and i have been reading through the transcripts of these interviews, which total up to around 40 hours of footage. What i am really impressed about is the scope of work featured in these interviews, some of these women are ceo's and cio's, some are artists, a film editor, women who work in rural area developmet...etc.

I hope such a documentary gets attention and many women and young girls get to watch it back in the Middle East , because these days girls and even guys need good role models to look up to.

Since i moved to my new place i haven't gotten the chance to sit on my balcony and make use of it, but with the aid of wireless internet here i am on my balcony typing and listining to some wonderfull guitar solos, the hollywood sign to my left up high on a mountain and across of me sits an enormous poster of Resse Weatherspoon and she is looking right at me, it's kinda scary.

Viva L.A.

The Culture of Al-Karak Series

Since I have lived in Amman all my life ( up until the last 5 yeqars) my parents mad sure from the begining to educate me about my roots, my traditions and my culture. Being originally from Karak ( a city in the south of Jordan) my fascination with what was different between the capital and this city was what brought me closer to my home town. Weekly visits were a must for the longest time. My grand parents, aunt and uncle still live there. In the early years we would go down to the sail ( a stream in the valley) below 3ein sara, and we would make tea using its water. I also remember that the best thing about that tea was the fact that they put lemon tree leaves in it while boiling, giving it an incredible distinct taste. Many people tend not to believe that i was educated at the school i went to due to the way i act and speak, my accent is quite heavy compared to my collegues, and my interest in my background and the culture of Al-Karak prompted me to buy a book while i was back in Jordan called "ملامح من التراث الشعبي في محافظة الكرك" ( Glimpses from the traditonal customs of al-karak) written by Najib Al-Qsous

I will be sharing some of these along the way in order to put out on the web some info on a culture that has started to dissapear, a topic which i have a great interest in .

New Abu Sinno Trailer

The new Abu Sinno trailer is out

A year ago we released the teaser for Abu Sinno, this year we release a new trailer, hopefully next year we will have a Tv Show....InshaAllah

The story of Abu Sinno goes back to a couple of years ago when I bought the teeth and decided to create a character that will go along with the look ( which some find quite disturbing)

I toyed around with different accents, different mannerisms, and it took me some time to get used to having those teeth in. When I first came to LA last year I met up with Amin Matalqa, and within 10 minutes he was introduced to Abu Sinno, talk about first impressions.

On our second meet we did the whole car part, which happened by luck. We were bored, had nothing to do, and decided that we can improvise some stuff with this character, creating a story as we went along. Over the past year we acquired more footage and recently we put together this new trailer.

Many have asked if this is going to materialize into something bigger, right now there are no such plans, although there is a slight possibility that Abu Sinno may turn into an animated or cartoon character, kinda in the lines of Abu Mahjoob.

It has been a while since I have done any acting, and it would be nice to get back into what first started brewing my creative sense.

Please enjoy and let me know what you think

خاطرة - الوطن

بعض الإبيات اللتي كتبتها قبل عامين

يلّ وطن يلّي مالك
في غير القلب مكان
تسقي لوعة كل عاشق
ابنسّمة من جبل شيحان
للوطن يا ناس فرقة
يشعر بها كل انسان
الإبن الغائب و الجندي
و اهل الجنوب في معان
يا رب الكون اسألك
قدراً من الصبر لوّلهان
حن لتراب الربة و الخزعلي
وقلعة في وسط عمان
و لجمّيدٍ انصب فوق
منسف يشبع كل جوعان

و الله يا قاري هالكلام
ما تعرف سر الاوطان
غير بعد غربة تفّرق
بينك و بينها إفهذا الزمان
زمانٍ غير معنى الحب
غير حب نسمة اقبلت من جبل شيحان

The JFK Assassination (the Jordanian theory)

The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, USA at 12:30 PM Central Standard Time (18:30 UTC). Kennedy was fatally wounded by gunshots while riding in a presidential motorcade within Dealey Plaza.
Two official investigations have concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, an employee of the Texas School Book Depository in Dealey Plaza, was the assassin, with one gov-ernment investigation concluding that Oswald acted alone and another suggesting that he acted with at least one other person. The assassination is still the subject of wide-spread speculation, and has spawned a number of conspiracy theories. ( wikipidia)
For a long time I never knew what to believe, then Oliver Stone came with his own
theory and confused me even more. That is when I turned to Abu Raddi, my high school bus driver and asked him whom he thought killed Kennedy.

Let me put Abu Raddi in context. Abu Raddi’s life revolves around three axis.

1- A constant supply of Dukhan Reem (orange package, with the jumping gazzale) a.k.a cigarettes
2- A non stop tape of “damar” poetry and songs ( mostly khaleeji)
3- Over analyzation of the simplest of issues, and having the solution to any conspiracy out there.

So I knew at that point that the answer is not going to be short, and that I was go-ing to be the last one to leave the bus that day.
Abu Raddi started by making me swear a thousand times that I am not to disclose this information to anyone, as it could change the course of history, no one but him and a few others knew the truth to the assassination, which he proceeded to call a “mistake.”
Abu Raddi’s cousin, Sabe3….had left Jordan years ago and settled in Dallas. He opened up a gas station ( as all Arabs do) and began what was to become a very pros-perous career. His costumers were from the highest ranks in the society, including the mayor of the city, who was a dear friend. Sabe3 being a very generous Jordanian, he would always discount the cents from the total ( although some say this had nothing to do with generosity and more with him being dumb in math) so his relationship with the mayor became real strong.
On the day of the assassination Sabe3’s son, 3attah was due to get married to an American girl. His father had arranged for the biggest wedding 3azimeh in Texas his-tory. Over 200 ciders of mansaf were present for the guests. The plan was to have Kennedy come and greet and bless the groom and the bride. ( that is why there was a change of plan in the route…not due to any other conspiracy)
Sabe3 being very courteous of the mayor and the city’s guest, he asked the mayor if he could have the wedding as a full Jordanian wedding, marinating the customs and tradi-tions. The mayor had no objection….and gave Sabe3 a carte blanche.
Little did he know about Jordanian weddings, two minutes into the zaffeh Sabe3’s sixth son Rabee3 ( who was 12 at that time) pulled out a hunting rifle and fired 3 shots into the air, the women started to unleash the fury of their tongues…loooooloooleeesh, the men started the d7ieh and the bride’s family were all under the table crying for their life.
At that same moment , Kennedy’s motorcade was at Dealy Plaza, and as you know…if a bullet goes up…it must go down…..well….Abu Raddi stoped at this point and looked at me with a straight face and said “ La tjeeb seereh la nass…Ibn ibn 3ammi ga-tal Kennedy…bas wallahi ma kan gassed”

Thus we conclude that what was behind Kennedy’s death was a Jordanian youth who enjoyed shooting in weddings.


The moral of the story is that shooting in weddings can be deadly.

Jamil…3ogbal ma titjawaz oo atukh f3orsak.


*The pictures attached are of a drawing that Abu Raddi sketched showing what happend
The other one is the parents of the bride "ghazeen " bil mansaf