Sunday, July 31, 2005

greetings from the U.K.

hello everyone! A quick note to say hello and direct you to my friend Charlie's site. Was on the tube today and we were stopped for nearly a minute in the dark tunnels; still uncertain as to why that happenend...Charlie's site is a description of what everyone felt for the duration of that one minute of darkness.

Am returning to Glasgow tomorrow morning; Val was brilliant this evening!
xo

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Wednesday, July 20, 2005

About me: 2005

baby maha

Have decided to provide new facts once a year. The 'facts' are responses to the most common (& some absurd) questions I receive annually, via those who frequent my blog.

2005 brings you:
In my undergrad, my major was Legal Theory and my minor Philosophy. I went on to complete my Master’s degree in a cross-disciplinary field (mass comm & law), the topic being…the misrepresentation of claims for self-determination via popular news culture.

I have a day job and what it is, is none of your business.

My favourite films are: ‘State of Grace’ & 'Waking the Dead'.

I am single.

I am drawn to all things sparkly.

I love Saturday morning cartoons.

I am a pacifist, but I do believe in resistance and struggle against oppression, occupation, the hijacking of one's country, and human rights abuses (those committed against both yourself and others). I also believe that before picking up the 'sword' in armed resistance, one must exhaust the 'word' and the 'pen'.

I believe that dissent is among the most important means to affect change.

And ‘yes’, I am fiercely and passionately loyal to things other than certain causes: my family, and my friends.

Go here to read the 'About me: 2004' profile (providing an explanation of how I got started on political writing.)

Remember: Rather than making this blog absolutely huge, I decided to separate my worlds into two: my political blog containing all of my published political articles (and random notices re upcoming events), and my personal blog where you will find everything else (i.e. comedic, stupid personal random notes pertaining to everything and nothing in particular about my life).

That’s it for 2005, kids…see you next year.
m xo

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Montreal Lovers

While in Montreal, our days are usually spent walking and our nights on St-Laurent. Frankly, there’s nothing sexier than a humid summer night in that City.

There’s a certain air to Montreal, the language, the sense of style, the attitude that differs from any other part of Canada. There is no urgency in action and no reaction that isn’t slightly languid. On summer evenings, that turns everything sensual.

More intriguing is that, for the most part, no one is quite shy, least of all lovers.

Watching couples walk by, I couldn’t help but wonder What is it that draws and then keeps people together?

So I started polling my friends, both male and female.

Almost certainly, all answers began with something akin to “sexual chemistry, obviously…”

When I asked what that meant, no one could go beyond the words “physical attraction, obviously”.

And so, beyond my immediate distaste for the word ‘obvious’, I started thinking about ‘sexual chemistry’. The reality is, there’s absolutely nothing obvious about sexual chemistry. That it is ambiguous never really occurs to anyone, but rather, they focus on its necessity.

And, it is most definitely a necessity. Nothing can transpire if there is no immediate and almost caustic sexual chemistry. It won’t happen all too often in our lives, it may only happen a number of times; it goes beyond visual appreciation and reaches into something a lot more palpable. The more urgency there is in that initial explosion, the more likely the relationship will at least begin on the right path.

If it were a means of physical attraction and nothing more, then we’d be drawn to thousands of individuals in our lifetime, no one in particular standing out. No one unique creature to whom we keep returning, at least in our thoughts (to return on nothing more than a physical level diminishes this to a booty call).

Personally, I’ve yet to have the pleasure of such an experience. There are gorgeous men everywhere, but not one has been able to keep my attention for very long; terrible, really, how quickly I get bored. But I understand this is because God’s letting me save all of that energy for one very special man. It’ll be interesting when I finally do meet him.

I expect that it will be immediate, even if the relationship itself is not. (Luckily, life isn’t scripted to fit into a 1.5 hour romantic comedy.) I don’t expect that he will be the most beautiful man I have ever laid eyes on, nor do I expect to be the most beautiful woman he’s ever laid eyes on. But, I do expect that seeing one another through the others’ eyes is when we’ll both reach our full potential.

Look for a certain energy in which you want to be enveloped. If you’re any level of mature, then you should be able to read the energy of the person in front of you; if you find yourself poised, relaxed, attentive, attracted, intrigued and wanting to share in that energy then don’t let that person walk away from you.

And to all men: if you choose to turn your back on a woman because she is the kind who deserves nothing less than everything, then recall Napoleon's Fortune is like a woman – if you miss her today, think not to find her tomorrow, you tool.

Ultimately, it’s that energy which makes people stay together: The ability to work through one another to reach their individual as well as their combined potential. And since we can never reach our complete potential, that process is unbroken and takes the suited lovers with it. Always.

Now. Go buy Natacha Atlas’ Something Dangerous and listen to ’Quand je ferme les yeux’ before any of the other tracks.

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Friday, July 15, 2005

Flirting & Suits

.1. Have just come back from seeing Batman Begins with Di and her Peej. Before the film began, we were discussing the dynamics between men and women, and the rules of flirtation. Somewhat thrown by the different perspectives (e.g. what a woman defines as a signal vs a man’s idea of a signal), I turned to Peej and asked “Why are you men so dense?” to which his ricochet was “Men are dense because women think they’re being obvious.”

What a great response! Missed opportunities?
I laughed …right before I scribbled down his words.

.2. Re Batman, film was good and story well spun. Christian Bale is one of the finest actors of this generation, and I apologize ahead of time as in the coming paragraph will objectify him.

I rarely find men in full suits appealing, preferring them in either: (a) Matching jacket / pants, unbuttoned tapered (not over-sized and sloppy) shirt; or, (b) Perfect is a man with scruffy beard and messy hair (but clean) in either cargo pants or jeans. I lean toward the rugged rather than slick, but as I watched the movie, found myself thinking: Christian Bale gives good suit.

No one can wear a suit like him, and I think seeing him will forever be a throw back to American Psycho.

Mind you, he didn't look so bad wearing only bruises and sunshine...

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Sunday, July 10, 2005

Remember, Val Kilmer & Sophie

.1. Srebrenica.

.2. I hope everyone has had…a relatively calm weekend. All friends and family are well in the UK; have spoken with everyone and am looking forward to getting over there at the end of the month. Am also very excited that will see one of my oldest celebrity crushes – Val Kilmer (shut up!) – on the last night of his play in the West End. Understand he is a wee bit more bloated than when I last swooned (somewhere between Ice Man and The Saint) but am still excited as it is Val Kilmer.

Itinerary is as follows >> Will be in Scotland laying in the grass and staring over cliffs to drown my imagination in the sea.

Then. I will jump on an airplane, fly down to London for an approximate 18 hours, during which I will meet Hannah for the play, eat dinner at The Ivy, stay awake chatting about nonsense and all sense until I jump back on another plane to head back to Glasgow…

Pretentious, isn’t it?

.3. Months back, I mentioned Sophie – the wife of Mohamed Harkat, one of the four men being detained without charge under the guise of the ‘Security’ Certificate issued in order to…erm…to…keep Canada ‘safe’. Recall that the fifth man, Adil Charkaoui, at whose bail hearing we were last, is not being detained, per se, but is residing under restrictions fit for someone guilty of drugging, raping, torturing and murdering some young girls (but then again, Homolka has no alleged ties with Al Qaeda and so she can’t possibly be that bad).

Right. So Sophie and I have been conversing for the last couple of months and although having run into one another at several events, we are finally going to sit together tomorrow evening. I have already sent her some rather intimate questions as I am interested in writing about the impact of the ‘Security’ Certificates on her, as a woman, and not on her, as someone who was chosen by history to be some sort of activist.

Also, Tuesday evening will be another night spent with her, well…actually, it will be a night spent watching her, and so I hope to have the article written by some time next week.

.4. I will keep plugging away at deleting Bob’s comments (Laura & Jez, I was forced to repost your comments, hence the odd time stamp!), all the while keeping only the one comment section on so as to get a sense of the work involved in dealing with Bob.

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Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Comments to remain off completely

I have already deleted no less than 25 posts from Bob, Viagra Spammer. Refuse to continue this and so must delete / shut off comments section. Have something to say? E-mail me, please.

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Monday, July 04, 2005

Comments, consumers & disengaging

.1. Comments section have been opened for all post sabbatical entries. Zippy, from Rafah Pundits, has encouraged me to do this, even in the face of Bob the Viagra Spammer. Shall see what transpires and will close them should Bob come back.

.2. Am writing about my perspectives on the Israeli settlers being dragged from their homes, for purposes of 'disengagement'. A word that actually offends me, as the Israelis and Palestinians should be working toward engaging everything rather than disengaging anything (obviously: this will be the angle I take). Check back in the next couple of days for the article.

.3. Confirmed: Am a marketing rep's dream. Against my better judgement, found I was drawn to almost all of the furniture, dinnerware and even clothes in Montreal's Caban (777 rue Sainte-Catherine O). Was staring at a tube of water, contemplating its purchase. Water. In a tube. Thought it pretty. Nearly bought it, until the understanding dawned that "they are trying to sell me 'a' lifestyle, the bastards!" I stomped out shaking my fist at anyone who would dare look at me.

Well. Not quite. I actually had to force myself to leave so as to not purchase the beautiful nearly $200 Eva Zeisel teapot that serves two. As I left, I smiled at the drones of workers and said "nice stuff". Am truly a sell-out.

Much like the 'disengagement' plan, it really is about the packaging, isn't it? Having nothing to do with substance or what people actually need, the ultimate seller for all things, it seems, is presentation. How very Fight Club.
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