Here's To 2012

                                                   Sabreen doing what she does best.

What an awesome year it's been!
Any year that affords you the opportunity to strike items off your Bucket List and has more highlights than lowlights, is worthy of being called an awesome year. This year certainly was all of that!

There are some great things in the pipelines for 2012.
It's going to be amazeballs!

Have a super festive season, and I look forward to reading your comments in the year ahead.

The Last Supper

No year would be complete without a list of the Top 10 (_______) fill in the blank.

I decided to do a combination of my Top 10 Most Beautiful Women and Top 10 Women I'd Like At My Last Supper.

The list is in random order, and I'm willing to bet my left toe that there isn't a guy on this planet who will have the exact same list as I do. How do I know this?
Year's of discussing women with the guys in school, during college, and every year thereafter proved to me that I have a slightly different taste in women compared to most men.
I don't go for the slutty pin-ups or bimbos. I'm not sure how I would describe my choice in women. I just know they're different.

Without further ado.... here's my Top 10 list.

Zooey Deschanel

Amanda Bynes

Ashley Judd

Constance Zimmer

Ellen Page

Laura Prepon

Lucy Lawless

Lucy Liu

Paula Marshall

Rene Zellweger

Well, there you have it folks. The list may change next year. Also, if I had to choose just one of these beautiful women to be at my dinner table, it would have to be Ashley Judd without doubt :)

Fear : The New Weapon Of Mass Destruction

Oh  boy... where do I start?
Maybe you should check out this video of Jon Stewarts 'The Daily Show' before I continue any further. The video is at the bottom of the link.

There was a time, which lasted for maybe 6 minutes back in early 2010, when I was extremely vocal and opinionated on bigotry and disrespect toward others beliefs, religious or otherwise.
Then it dawned on me that this was akin to arguing about what to do with the pink elephant in the room. By engaging in this argument, I would first have to acknowledge the worthiness of the topic, thus accepting that my IQ was on par with that of a swamp donkey.

Back to this video.
The fact that David Cretin, executive dye-rectum of the Florida Family Association (isn't this the same State that sold George 'Dubya' Bush the 2000 Presidential Election?) has taken issue with a show called All American Muslim based entirely on the lack of fundamentalism and jihadist ideology portrayed in the series, makes one wonder if he would have preferred a show depicting American Muslims as merciless terrorists. THIS is the guy heading up a 'family' association? Seriously?

So let me get this straight.
Produce a show which depicts your average American Muslim as peace-loving and uninterested in violence, and it causes an uproar for lack of violence & senseless killing.
Produce a show which depicts your average American Muslim as a bloodthirsty fundamental terrorist, and conservative Americans are deliriously happy, chanting "See! We told you so!"

I place the blame squarely at the feet of Reality TV.

Before this scourge on society came along, I was blissfully and ignorantly happy knowing that Christians were bible-thumpers who all lived for Christ and did no wrong, Mormons all drove horse-buggys and dressed like a black-and-white version of That 70's Show, Hindus only bathed in the Ganges and the men never wore shoes or shirts, Jews were... well they produce most shows so I'm forced to believe they are all funny and look like supermodels and are never portrayed as the bad guys, and lastly that all Muslims were packing bombs. Even those who invited you over for Sunday biryani and sent you home with a plate of samoosas.

Reality TV as it's sole purpose is to captivate an audience by sheer shock-value. The more ridiculous the show, the higher the ratings. Along comes a show with a tinge of normalcy and void of the four core ingredients to a hit-cake, S (Sex), N (Nudity), V (Violence) & L (Language), and suddenly we cry foul. Well when I say 'We' what I really mean is 'Conservative America' or as they're more commonly known, The Republicans.

One of their clan members, in trying to justify David Cretin's call for a boycott of the show, asked this poignant and well thought out question :"What would happen if conservative Christians decided to produce shows promoting our religion on national TV?"
Really?
No less than 17 Christian channels being aired 24 hours non-stop nationally, with close to 100 radio channels dedicated to preachings from the pulpit, and you're scared of 1 american muslim show? Not even a channel?

Yes folks.
This new weapon of mass destruction will undoubtedly wreak havoc unless we do something about it.
Unless we confront this evil known as FEAR, with something even more powerful.
Something so potent and indestructible, it has survived hundreds of years or persecution.
Something I like to call Common Sense.

How about we give that a try?

Listening To The Silence

A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe.

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

When Good Kiddies Books Go Bad

I laughed so hard when I first saw this video, I had to stop it halfway through!

I especially love how she keeps reading and doesn't stop until the end.

Thank you to Goatville for this link.

10 Questions

Once a year, a dear friend of mine and I have this conversation where we ask each other 10 random questions, and we expect 10 completely honest answers. We've been doing this for so long now, it's become impossible to even try and sneak as much as a white lie into the conversation.

The questions range from family and life in general to the hypothetical and sometimes even bizarre. Did I say bizarre? I meant bazaar. Well both really.

So yesterday I asked her if she'd come to my funeral if I died, and what would she say at my eulogy.
You thought I was kidding when I said bizarre, didn't you?

She said "Kaloo, everything I've ever wanted to tell you, I've told you while you are alive. Why would I leave anything for when you're no longer around?"

How awesome is that?
Also, how often do we leave the really important stuff for when it's quite frankly too late?

How often have we heard a eulogy which includes the following phrase :
"If (insert deceaseds name here           ) were with us today, I'd like to tell him/ her how much I love/ trust/ adore/ admire him/ her."

Tell them while they're still alive, before it's too late.
Taking flowers to a grave only makes the lumpy soil look beautiful.
Taking flowers to a friend makes the both of you look beautiful.

In Search Of A Pyramid Scheme

As a South African, I find myself living in this cocoon where I keep thinking that all the changes and revolutions our brothers up north are experiencing won't affect my fragile utopia. This is a foolish thought admittedly, but even more foolish would be imagining that my utopia is anything but fragile.

One of the bloggers whom I follow, an Egyptian who's writings are nothing short of inspiring, has presented such insight into the revolution that it made me wonder why South Africans have not been more radical in our demands for change. Dalia Ziada is my blogging hero, and some day when that revolution arrives, and it will arrive, I shall read back on her words and be thankful that I heeded them.

The Egyptians may not have given us much that affects our lives on a daily basis, unless you smoke hubbly-bubbly or eat sheesh-kebabs as often as I do.
Sure there were the pyramids, but let's be honest those haven't really improved our quality of life.
Then there were the ancient scrolls and the mummies, but again neither are historical marvels that make me sleep better at night nor lower my cholesterol. If anything, those mummies give me erratic sleep patterns.

Along comes the Egyptian Revolution, and suddenly I'm sitting upright and taking notice.
Boy those guys know how to throw one heck of a revolution, right?!
The crowds in Tahrir Square numbered millions, and they stayed with steadfast determination for days!
Maybe they were on rotation, and came and went in shifts. I don't know. I mean I highly doubt Tahrir Square was designed with a revolution in mind. I'm thinking toilet and shower facilities, sleeping quarters, the food and beverage logistics. I just can't see it. So yeah maybe they had some sort of rotation system going on, but even that was impressive.
Add to that the fact that the planning was done after the Internet and mobile services were shut down!

So I couldn't help but wonder how such a revolution would go down in South Africa. Firstly I assume it would have to start and have it's base in Sandton. This is after all the financial capital of the country, and the essence of the revolution has got to do with change and how the bankers and politicians haven't been giving us any. Well that's not entirely true I suppose. They've been keeping the notes, and we've been getting the change.
So when this revolution eventually begins in Sandton, I assume again it will start at Nelson Mandela Square. The irony won't be lost on anybody. The fact that the country starts a revolution against corruption and corporate greed right underneath the bronze sculpture of the man who brought us freedom to begin with. A revolution the country and it's people will be fighting, against the very party once started by the great Nelson Mandela himself.

It sure as heck won't start in Cape Town, where Aunty Helen has a firm grip on things. She'll offer prizes to people who don't take part in the revolution, much like she did to those taking voluntary AID's tests.
Know Your Status. Win R50 000.
Don't Join The Revolution. Win A Grocery Hamper.

ANC supporters will laugh at this, until they realize that the revolution is actually against their leaders.
DA supporters will be fuming, because we all know they believe Aunty Helen is the Messiah, and as such she can do no wrong.
Me personally, I don't care very much for either side. If the truth be told, there isn't a political party I trust in this country. They have more hidden agendas than a pack of lawyers at a Human Rights convention.

I'll support the revolution with my heart and soul. What happens after that is anyones guess. I would hope that somewhere in this beautiful country of 50 million people (if those Census people are to be believed) we can find another handful of political hero's and champions of social causes. People like Chris Hani and Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela and Helen Suzman and Oliver Tambo.
Surely we can find these young lions ready to take this country onward and upward. Surely their voices are waiting to be heard. Maybe we need a revolution to stifle the corrupt and finally listen out for those voices.
The alternative is a rather scary option.