Avatar and the American Hero Syndrome
I finally managed to watch the much acclaimed Avatar this weekend, not in 3 or 2 D as we no longer have this type of cinema in Libya but simply on DVD.
I absolutely loved the movie, the plot and the Na'vi are beautiful creatures, I wish I could lead such a life.
The angle that most appealed to me is caring about the planet, a climate or environment type of storyline which also includes balance between nature and the spirit.
Prior to watching the film I had read some criticism that it may be anti-American as it negatively criticizes mechanized warfare and by extension the US led wars on Iraq and Afghanistan and possibly all the other attacks launched on other countries to shock and awe them into submission.
Having seen and enjoyed the creativity of the production, I can confirm that it is certainly not anti-American but on the contrary as is with 99.999 % of US films it manages to portray the person who at the end saves the world as American. Even in Avatar this did not fail because the only one who could save the Na'vi was an US marine who like many people in the military in countries who experienced war with the US dated a local woman. That's why fraternization with the natives are frowned upon in the military, use the woman for sex but don't fall in love with them because you may end up embracing their cause and going against your nation even if your nation is in the wrong :P.
Anyway the hero fell in love with the heroine and helped her people against his people. If not for him the American, the Na'vi would be annihilated.
That is the subliminal message I got, 100% pro - America :)
Now we in the Arab world should start making more movies where an Arab saves the day. If Bollywood, the Israelis and even Egyptian film producers can do it why not the rest ? we just need a bit of more fervent nationalism !
Will definitely watch the movie again...
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query avatar. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query avatar. Sort by date Show all posts
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Second Life: real or fantasy ? ( updated scroll down for sunset view)
Being a blogger means you are involved quite a long part of the time online. Additionally internet technology advances mean we are 'IM ing' our friends, relatives and colleagues all over the place and at any time. If you put telephony platforms like Skype where we can actually talk voice and video conferences for free ( pc to pc ) into consideration, then it seems like myself and many others on this planet are living in a virtual world where the physical distance is hardly a problem anymore : with an internet connection and a console you are set .
However, there has been a small secret kept for the nerds and initiated which has started to spread in popularity in the last year(s). It’s a whole parallel world in cyberspace called appropriately ‘Second Life' . Corny eh ?
Articles are increasingly cropping out about Second Life and that means I can no longer keep silent about this phenomenon or another of my addictions : P to see new horizons, especially if the Swedish Embassy is opening an office now ! While the radical French politician Le Pen ideology has recently been greeted with protests and even violent demonstrations here ( hattip Programmer_Craig ).
Politics and activism ? this is serious stuff so if you were thinking that this place is teaming with cybersex and all sorts of 'fun' then think again. The 'greenies' are here as well , so if you care for the environment and global warming then why don't you log on to 'climate island' and check what solutions they can offer.
WOW, this means Second Life is NOT a fantasy world as we thought but a REAL one with all the attribute of this first life somewhere else. Online !
Background info
“Second Life, established in 2003 by the San Francisco-based Linden Lab, is proving an increasingly alluring alternative to the real world. Its founder, Philip Rosedale, says he's been into computer simulations since he was a kid. The firm provides a platform for users to create virtual businesses, take virtual marriage vows, have virtual sex, file for virtual divorces, build homes, hold jobs, buy Nikes and other pretend duds so their avatar (at least) looks cool. Second Life exists online, though there is a warehouse a few miles south of San Francisco humming with the expanding number of servers required to sustain its residents' dreams.[…] Avatars gather to simulate terrorist attacks using software that might be used in the real world - ideally, to prevent them from happening there. Politicians have started doing interviews in Second Life: earlier this year, the former Virginia governor Mark Warner, a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, flew into a virtual town hall on Second Life (or rather, his avatar did) to be questioned by a virtual journalist and a crowd of avatars about such real-world issues as Iraq. Doctors are doing simulations that may have real-world benefits: a Californian psychiatrist, for instance, reported the Economist this week, has created simulations of schizophrenic hallucinations in Second Life to convey to his students a sense of how his patients suffer.” [more The Guardian].
Second Life has it’s own paper as well : The Herald ?
I have to admit I am a member there as well and my avatar is cute he he he. I was not very imaginative and tried to make it look like me ( modesty again). So NBA if you want that toe photo you can ‘see’ me there, while Craig can check my belly dancing outfit (joke).
Upon my arrival on ‘orientation island’ recently the inhabitants have been very gallant, maybe I managed to have that lost look even in cyberspace? Apparently men love to help you …. Well that is my experience at least :P so don't be shy or afraid everybody try it!
Now readers , would you confess if you are living in Second Life too ? tell me about your experience(s).
Actually thinking about it… maybe the Libyan Bloggers could have their meet up there since we are located in so many different countries saves on travel expenses eh ? or alternatively we could all agree to meet on Skype one day …. what do you think?
Other links :
(1) Journalism in Second Life
(2) Second life for kids
(3) Blogging Second Life
(4) Murder in /because of Second life
Some inhabitants enjoying the sunset!
Being a blogger means you are involved quite a long part of the time online. Additionally internet technology advances mean we are 'IM ing' our friends, relatives and colleagues all over the place and at any time. If you put telephony platforms like Skype where we can actually talk voice and video conferences for free ( pc to pc ) into consideration, then it seems like myself and many others on this planet are living in a virtual world where the physical distance is hardly a problem anymore : with an internet connection and a console you are set .
However, there has been a small secret kept for the nerds and initiated which has started to spread in popularity in the last year(s). It’s a whole parallel world in cyberspace called appropriately ‘Second Life' . Corny eh ?
Articles are increasingly cropping out about Second Life and that means I can no longer keep silent about this phenomenon or another of my addictions : P to see new horizons, especially if the Swedish Embassy is opening an office now ! While the radical French politician Le Pen ideology has recently been greeted with protests and even violent demonstrations here ( hattip Programmer_Craig ).
Politics and activism ? this is serious stuff so if you were thinking that this place is teaming with cybersex and all sorts of 'fun' then think again. The 'greenies' are here as well , so if you care for the environment and global warming then why don't you log on to 'climate island' and check what solutions they can offer.
WOW, this means Second Life is NOT a fantasy world as we thought but a REAL one with all the attribute of this first life somewhere else. Online !
Background info
“Second Life, established in 2003 by the San Francisco-based Linden Lab, is proving an increasingly alluring alternative to the real world. Its founder, Philip Rosedale, says he's been into computer simulations since he was a kid. The firm provides a platform for users to create virtual businesses, take virtual marriage vows, have virtual sex, file for virtual divorces, build homes, hold jobs, buy Nikes and other pretend duds so their avatar (at least) looks cool. Second Life exists online, though there is a warehouse a few miles south of San Francisco humming with the expanding number of servers required to sustain its residents' dreams.[…] Avatars gather to simulate terrorist attacks using software that might be used in the real world - ideally, to prevent them from happening there. Politicians have started doing interviews in Second Life: earlier this year, the former Virginia governor Mark Warner, a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, flew into a virtual town hall on Second Life (or rather, his avatar did) to be questioned by a virtual journalist and a crowd of avatars about such real-world issues as Iraq. Doctors are doing simulations that may have real-world benefits: a Californian psychiatrist, for instance, reported the Economist this week, has created simulations of schizophrenic hallucinations in Second Life to convey to his students a sense of how his patients suffer.” [more The Guardian].
Second Life has it’s own paper as well : The Herald ?
I have to admit I am a member there as well and my avatar is cute he he he. I was not very imaginative and tried to make it look like me ( modesty again). So NBA if you want that toe photo you can ‘see’ me there, while Craig can check my belly dancing outfit (joke).
Upon my arrival on ‘orientation island’ recently the inhabitants have been very gallant, maybe I managed to have that lost look even in cyberspace? Apparently men love to help you …. Well that is my experience at least :P so don't be shy or afraid everybody try it!
Now readers , would you confess if you are living in Second Life too ? tell me about your experience(s).
Actually thinking about it… maybe the Libyan Bloggers could have their meet up there since we are located in so many different countries saves on travel expenses eh ? or alternatively we could all agree to meet on Skype one day …. what do you think?
Other links :
(1) Journalism in Second Life
(2) Second life for kids
(3) Blogging Second Life
(4) Murder in /because of Second life
Some inhabitants enjoying the sunset!
Friday, January 26, 2007
Research Project
Sarah who blogs here , is working on a research project on 'Middle Eastern women and blogs' for her Master's degree. She sent me a few questions when I was ill . I agreed to answer as many as I could and I'm publishing them here maybe some of you want to take her survey too ?- readers/bloggers are tagged as well.
1) Why did you start writing a blog? Was there a specific moment, event, of friend that urged you to begin writing?
Here is why I started writing !
2) If you had to think about your blog as a certain type of space what kind would it be? Is it a private space (like a locked diary hidden under your bed), a domestic space (like your house), a public space (like school or church), or a city space (like a crowded street where you don't know too many people)? Or do you not think of it this way?
It is all of these.
3) Do you have a goal for your blog? What is it?
No goal, just keep on writing until the muse goes away.
4) We think of a dreams as a measurement of how imbedded you are in something. For instance, when you start to learn a foreign language well you begin to dream in that language. Do you ever dream that you are blogging or having a conversation with someone through chat or email?
No
5) What does your avatar or blog image say about you? Why did you choose it?
My avatar was painted for me by another blogger friend Nomad. It is her own vision of how she thinks I look and eerily enough she is quite accurate .
6) What opportunities does blogging give you that you would not have if you did not blog?
Instant publishing of my thoughts and reaching out to a wide audience all over the world . Plus I love talking ... this way more people to talk with and learn from .
7) What is satisfying to you about blogging?
I can put the issues I have on my heart out there, no need to keep big diaries.
8) Do you ever use blog, chat, or internet services to find someone to date or flirt with online?
Do you talk to the opposite sex more online or in person?
Not intentionally but yes you can end up flirting online at times ;)
9) If you knew that everyone in the world would read your blog today, what two sentences would you write?
Keep reading . Please don't forget to comment and write to me .
10) If you could change anything about your life or country what would it be?
My life - nothing . My country - I wish I could ride a bicycle to work.
11) Have you made any friends through your blog that you wouldn't have in everyday life.
Yes tons even from the wonderful Libyan blogosphere; and I would never have been able to meet many of them if it were not online because of the distance.
12) Do you talk to people who have a different religions or culture than you on your blog or online?
Of course , what kind of question is that?
13) If you consider yourself to be Muslim, what is the hardest and best part about being a Muslim woman?
It is always hard to be a woman, regardless of religion, because you always need to take care of everyone , and prove yourself doubly.
14) Would you mind telling me your gender and age? Any other features of yourself you would like to reveal.—occupation, marital status, country of residence?
Female , live in Libya.
15) Anything you would like to add or comment on? Any questions for me?
Yes when will you finish your thesis and do you intend to visit the Middle East ? Also are you going to learn Arabic ? It would help you a lot. One more thing, please email me a copy of your study when you are done I'd love to read about it . Good luck Sarah!
Sarah who blogs here , is working on a research project on 'Middle Eastern women and blogs' for her Master's degree. She sent me a few questions when I was ill . I agreed to answer as many as I could and I'm publishing them here maybe some of you want to take her survey too ?- readers/bloggers are tagged as well.
1) Why did you start writing a blog? Was there a specific moment, event, of friend that urged you to begin writing?
Here is why I started writing !
2) If you had to think about your blog as a certain type of space what kind would it be? Is it a private space (like a locked diary hidden under your bed), a domestic space (like your house), a public space (like school or church), or a city space (like a crowded street where you don't know too many people)? Or do you not think of it this way?
It is all of these.
3) Do you have a goal for your blog? What is it?
No goal, just keep on writing until the muse goes away.
4) We think of a dreams as a measurement of how imbedded you are in something. For instance, when you start to learn a foreign language well you begin to dream in that language. Do you ever dream that you are blogging or having a conversation with someone through chat or email?
No
5) What does your avatar or blog image say about you? Why did you choose it?
My avatar was painted for me by another blogger friend Nomad. It is her own vision of how she thinks I look and eerily enough she is quite accurate .
6) What opportunities does blogging give you that you would not have if you did not blog?
Instant publishing of my thoughts and reaching out to a wide audience all over the world . Plus I love talking ... this way more people to talk with and learn from .
7) What is satisfying to you about blogging?
I can put the issues I have on my heart out there, no need to keep big diaries.
8) Do you ever use blog, chat, or internet services to find someone to date or flirt with online?
Do you talk to the opposite sex more online or in person?
Not intentionally but yes you can end up flirting online at times ;)
9) If you knew that everyone in the world would read your blog today, what two sentences would you write?
Keep reading . Please don't forget to comment and write to me .
10) If you could change anything about your life or country what would it be?
My life - nothing . My country - I wish I could ride a bicycle to work.
11) Have you made any friends through your blog that you wouldn't have in everyday life.
Yes tons even from the wonderful Libyan blogosphere; and I would never have been able to meet many of them if it were not online because of the distance.
12) Do you talk to people who have a different religions or culture than you on your blog or online?
Of course , what kind of question is that?
13) If you consider yourself to be Muslim, what is the hardest and best part about being a Muslim woman?
It is always hard to be a woman, regardless of religion, because you always need to take care of everyone , and prove yourself doubly.
14) Would you mind telling me your gender and age? Any other features of yourself you would like to reveal.—occupation, marital status, country of residence?
Female , live in Libya.
15) Anything you would like to add or comment on? Any questions for me?
Yes when will you finish your thesis and do you intend to visit the Middle East ? Also are you going to learn Arabic ? It would help you a lot. One more thing, please email me a copy of your study when you are done I'd love to read about it . Good luck Sarah!
Friday, October 13, 2006
New Avatar
Blogger and reader Nomad has drawn a rendering of how she imagines me . I am so pleased with it that I would like to thank her and post her image of Highlander and use it as my new avatar from now on (until she makes another one :P ) . If any of you are as talented and would like to make one of how you imagine I look, do email it to me please :)
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Keyword Analysis August 2007
I'm sure you missed that aspect of my monthly posts especially as it shows interesting searches of how people end up here :P
10.34% al-libiya satellite web site
10.34% highlander blog
10.34% ly domain dispute
6.90% libyan women
6.90% why foreign men think lebanese women are beautiful?
6.90% libyan women dress
3.45% listen to album mbc new hits last prime
3.45% second life avatar french maid ( => he he he some people are obsessed)
3.45% pastor hagee idiot
3.45% the best of arab girls 2007
3.45% alone white rock arabic deodorant
3.45% watch grendizer free
3.45% pre-marital blood checkup
3.45% catchy sermon titles
3.45% life in syria
3.45% libyan blogs
3.45% syrian girls
3.45% farse control ait delete
3.45% lybia alyoum site
3.45% common roberto iza ( => who is this guy ?)
PS can someone tell me is it Lebanese, Syrian or Libyan girls ? Basically this to me means that Arab girls in general are the prettiest LOL
I'm sure you missed that aspect of my monthly posts especially as it shows interesting searches of how people end up here :P
10.34% al-libiya satellite web site
10.34% highlander blog
10.34% ly domain dispute
6.90% libyan women
6.90% why foreign men think lebanese women are beautiful?
6.90% libyan women dress
3.45% listen to album mbc new hits last prime
3.45% second life avatar french maid ( => he he he some people are obsessed)
3.45% pastor hagee idiot
3.45% the best of arab girls 2007
3.45% alone white rock arabic deodorant
3.45% watch grendizer free
3.45% pre-marital blood checkup
3.45% catchy sermon titles
3.45% life in syria
3.45% libyan blogs
3.45% syrian girls
3.45% farse control ait delete
3.45% lybia alyoum site
3.45% common roberto iza ( => who is this guy ?)
PS can someone tell me is it Lebanese, Syrian or Libyan girls ? Basically this to me means that Arab girls in general are the prettiest LOL
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