Mahmood's Den

Well, model in the sense of a devout and pious young gentleman tested in Islamic and worldly knowledge; things like actually washing the dead to prepare them for burial, counseling pregnant women out of wedlock and helping orphans.

This reality show happens in Malaysia to great acclaim and a huge following. Their Facebook page has about 45,000 followers and press reports suggest and even greater following among young Malaysian women, all hoping for one of the contestants for a husband.

What do they win? Well, other than the assigned cleric’s blessing, the winner gets an all expenses paid trip to perform the Hajj in Mecca, a car, a laptop, a small cash grant and a scholarship in a main mosque in Madina in Saudi Arabia.

Is this creativity at its best or simply pandering to the lowest common denominator and using modern entertainment programming and spin it so that the maximum advertising/subscription revenue possible is milked?

Regardless, I applaud the Malaysian TV channel whose brainchild this is. They obviously recognised a niche and went with it and found success.

I’m quite sure that this new wave of entertainment is going to grace our own meagre Middle Eastern TV offerings very soon, but as usual, I’m afraid that they’re going to make pretty hash job of it. I hope that should it be replicated here or elsewhere; however, it will be done to propagate tolerance and understanding rather than increase the sectarian rift and strife in our part of the world. I somehow think that knowing the kind of religious stations we have here, it will be the latter that will be emphasised.

Not succumbing to frustration of having to wait for games to be brought to Bahrain and then made available at extortionist rates, Abdulla took matters into his own hands by researching the games market in Bahrain more thoroughly to take established businesses head-on. A challenge he was happy to take.

He successfully gained the representation of the largest games distributor in the region giving him the opportunity to release games on or before their international debut: even at 1 minute past midnight – resulting in queues of gamers waiting in the dark outside his shop to lay their hands on the latest release at the games suggested retail price or even lower, equating to less than half of what they were regularly sold at his competitor’s!

Abdulla talks here about the birth of Game District and his plans for it in the future.

Fear is out of the equation for this young entrepreneur. His passion is what drives him to take an ordinary idea and convert it into an extra-ordinary experience.

Hasan reflects on the idea of delivering DVDs direct to homes through his venture Film2Go, making Bahrain the first country in the world to have such a service.

In spite of the “severe” objections from Islamist MPs, Hayfa sang last night at the Gulf Hotel and thrilled the audience who filled the hall with all tickets sold!

What does this demonstrate? Does it demonstrate that the MPs have no authority whatsoever, or is it that the government chose – in its wisdom – to simply stall and ignore them completely and do nothing to let the concert go on?

To me, I think it clearly demonstrate the at the very least the MPs did not choose their battle wisely, they rushed things, polarised opinions, stepped on multiple toes and in the end, the lady sang despite all their objections, resolutely poking her fingers in their wandering eyes while thanking them, even subliminally, for making her show a memorable sellout concert.

Hang on, maybe it was that in the first place, both Hayfa and the MPs were in cahoots. It was a planned PR and marketing exercise to ensure that the tickets – even the expensive ones – sell out completely!

Smart! Those MPs are very very smart!

Or at least that’s what our dear parliamentarians and their Islamist sympathisers think. So what’s so special about this lady then, that would make her so damnably dangerous that they’re all frothing at the mouth to bar her from performing in Bahrain?

Well my friends, I hope this vlog will demonstrate that there is really nothing unusual about her, other than being a beautiful lady who can’t sing! But those qualities could hardly be held against her, she is not the first and most certainly not the last person to use what Allah has given her to her advantage.

So sit back, relax, and watch what you will be missing if she decides not to bother with a little sand-pit called Bahrain because of a few neophytes’ deafening braying.

If you’re a Muslim, you know how sensitive Muslims are about their religion. Heck, wars are still being waged for what some might regard as frivolous excuses. So going on a stunt like the following demonstrates either the stupidity of the person in question, or maybe that alcohol is really not good for you as it impairs one’s judgement.

3 أشهر لخليجي غنى في مكبر صوت مسجد

أدانت المحكمة الصغرى الجنائية الخامسة برئاسة القاضي علي الكعبي وأمانة سر محمد مكي أمس (الاثنين) بحبس متهم خليجي 3 أشهر بتهمة تعد بإحدى الطرق العلانية على الدين الإسلامي بأن دخل مسجداً بحذائه والسيجارة بيده، وقام بالغناء. وتعود تفاصيل القضية إلى أن المتهم قام بالغناء داخل مسجد جسر الملك فهد وهو مرتد حذاءه والسيجارة في يده، وعند سماع رجال الأمن صوت غناء يصدر من مكبر صوت المسجد قاموا بالقبض عليه.

The Lower Criminal Court yesterday (Monday) sentenced a Gulf national to three months in jail after entering the King Fahad Causeway mosque without removing his shoes and while smoking a cigarette. He also proceeded to sing a song through the mosque’s pubic address system. The court charged him with denigrating the Islamic religion in a public way. Causeway police arrested the gentleman when they heard his singing on the mosque’s loudspeakers.
Al-Wasat – 15 Apr 2008

What a twerp! The fool should be thankful for being caught and sentenced in Bahrain. Had that been a few meters away – literally – he would have gotten a lot more than he bargained for. Head chopping wouldn’t be too severe I should think.

Unfortunately the news piece did not carry any information about the song being sung. Has anyone any idea what it might be?

We went to STOMP tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it, so did the crowd. There was hardly a seat free at the excellent Arad Fort venue and this is one of the last Spring of Culture activities for this year. I think it’s on for a couple more nights; if you have a chance, I highly recommend you go see it.

We thought we would go to a special and different dinner to celebrate our daughter Amna’s 18th birthday a few nights ago and decided to go to the oldest Japanese restaurant in Bahrain; Sato at the Gulf Hotel. As it was mid-week, it wasn’t difficult to get a table.

We were received on arrival by the maitre d’ and led to one of their Japanese rooms where you sit at the table with your legs in a hole beneath it giving you the impression that you’re actually sitting on the floor Japanese-(or Arab)-style but you’re actually just sitting “normally”.

As the restaurant wasn’t that busy, we were soon attended to and placed our orders. We were all looking forward to a nice quality family night. Unfortunately, Sato’s had other plans.

I must admit that our knowledge of Japanese food is minimal. I prefer some kinds of sushi and teriyaki, but couldn’t tell you the contents nor do I know all the names; however, the minimally explained menu somewhat indicated what we can expect to get. We all stuck to the teriyaki side of the house that night, thinking better be safe than sorry. Amna, probably did the best thing and chose a set menu.

We chatted a bit after placing our order thinking that – as in a normal restaurant of its ilk – the order will take a while to arrive – something I generally enjoy – but I was mistaken. No sooner than the drinks were served then the first course arrived. Amna’s course, that is, while everyone else was left waiting much longer to get theirs. One would have thought that the arrival of food for all patrons at the table would be coordinated; not this one. That mish-mash of mis-coordination was symptomatic of the whole evening, leaving us at various stages of dinner, capped by them forgetting to bring my main course until almost everyone had finished!

That could all be forgiven of course had the food at least been acceptable. It was far from it.

I don’t think you will find me at that restaurant again by choice. If I ever want to enjoy Japanese food again, I would be much better served by picking up a Japanese meal from Al-Osra and enjoy it at my own pace rather than be hurried and harried as we have been at Sato’s. What a disappointment.

I am so gratified that we have visionaries in this society and am doubly so when I find an honourable member of the reigning cabinet extends himself even further by bridging the cultural gap that maatems^[1] traditionally play in society.

For instance, what is wrong with local maatems, like the ancient and quite famous Ma’atem bin Rajab, holding meetings to celebrate the healthy return of our beloved king? What is wrong with almost all the maatems in Muharraq putting up boards of welcome and well-deserved congratulations for our illustrious prime minister for receiving the honour of the UN Habitat Medal? Of course this is part of their mandate as they reflect the people’s views from the grass-roots up and their love of this country. It is – I understand – nothing to do with positional politics at all, but a clear and an unadulterated fiesta of gushing love to our beloved leadership.

I shall of course attempt to be present at this national festival of love and urge everyone to do their utmost to do so too.

I wish to congratulate the right honourable excellency Mr. Mansour Hassan bin Rajab for taking this very much needed initiative and pray God that that ancient area of Manama which embraces his family’s maatem not to suffer any electricity blackout during the celebrations and poetry recitals.

[1] Maatems: plural, religious halls of mourning frequented mainly by the Shi’a.

I think that cinemas using their 34 screens to show Harry Potter’s latest movie in Bahrain should strive to involve the community considering the considerable takings they will reap from that film.

So in keeping with Harry Potter’s world-wide tradition, why not let people in appropriate costume watch the movie for free? And what better reward that the niqab costume wearers can hope for? They are perfectly represented in the movie. If the cinemas deem that as not their policy, at least make a special section in their halls especially reserved for those people.

So come on, let’s start a petition: Bahrain Cinema Company must allow niqabettes to watch the new Harry Potter movie for free!

Who’s with me?

You know how it is always difficult to get good broadcast or studio engineers? Well, okay, you might not, but take my word for it. Anyway, I think both Bahrain TV and Orbit should knock on the public prosecutor’s doors offering him a new and novel way in correctional activities. Let them serve their sentence in their own studios rather than prison!

You see, someone ratted a couple of guys to the Ministry of Information – that bastion of copyright protection – telling the ministry that an illicit operation exists in Bahrain which deciphers satellite channels and retransmit them to customers in their neighbourhood for BD5 subscription a month. Their operation has become so successful apparently that they started similar operations in Hamad Town and Muharraq too.

Now look at the equipment in the picture; this is professional kit! TBCs, frame synchronisers, amplifiers, etc which don’t come cheap and are sophisticated. I very much doubt if Bahrain TV or Orbit can actually compete with this operation and the beautiful racks of equipment you see here.

So the Good News™ in this story is this: these guys get BD50 a month and they are running such a sophisticated operation from their apartment; therefore, Bahrain TV and Orbit can use them as consultants too to reduce their overheads appreciably in both staff and equipment while hopefully upping their game as far as programming in their bouquets with the tremendous amount of monies they will save by emulating them and following their advice.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ms. Alicia Keys.

Shady outfits can damage a country’s reputation faster and more thoroughly than almost anything else, especially if it a promised top-rating event, tickets sold and people arrive from all over the Gulf specifically for that event end up being shafted.

Tickets were sold by someone called Ayman Al-Hamad who supposedly owns an outfit called B&D Entertainment and roped a lot of people in selling tickets to be part of DJ Tiësto‘s show in Bahrain. I don’t know and have never heard of this DJ before, but I am reliably informed that he is currently ranked #1 in the world. Tickets were priced up to BD100 and drinks – even water – was sold for up to BD12 per bottle (for something that normally is sold for BD0.100, you can count the criminal uplift – actually usury – yourself), but the world-famous DJ never showed up, much to the chagrin of his fans.

The DJ turned out to be smart too, as he refused to make an appearance unless he is fully paid before doing so. He smelt the shit, I think, and demanded his pay before hand. The money was not forthcoming; hence, he refused to budget from his position.

The so called “businessman” was caught running away in the early hours of the morning by the Causeway police with a reported BD25,000 in his possession. Rumour has it that he actually stashed hundreds of thousands of Dinars from the proceeds of ticket sales for this event.

Abadi, the Lebanese blogger in Bahrain has the full story here and apart from the full anger felt by the poor guy, it demonstrates the damage this Ayman guy has done to this country and the DJ’s fans. I hope that now this prick will be stripped completely off his holdings, refund the money (including costs) in full to the hapless victims and he never again be allowed to go into business in Bahrain. Jail is far too good a place for him and his like. This is a total breach of contract and confidence.

I’m a definite fan of Paul Potts. I don’t go for these ‘Idol’-like shows, I don’t bother with them at all actually unless chance puts me in front of a television with that sort of show is insisted upon by the kids. This one; however, was brought to my attention by my friend Sofyan while I was waiting for my MacBook to get fixed! (You don’t just get excellent coffee while you wait for your Mac to get fixed, you also get treated to good friendly company! okay, I’ll stop! But don’t blame me I do like the guy )

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. I certainly will buy his CD when it comes out.

Not to be outdone once again by Bahrain, Dubai will be getting some Hooters pretty soon now, even though Dubai is not in Hooters’ expansion plans,

The investment requirements of the world famous franchise are not that onerous, on the contrary, these are easily available in any of our countries. The issue; however, is not the required investment, the entertainment, nor tourism value of such an enterprise. I am not against the move per se, it doesn’t make any difference to me and I have enjoyed visiting Hooters before – in a journalistic research capacity of course! It is up to the patron’s own set of values if they wish to enter such a restaurant or any other establishment, it is a personal choice after all.

The issue; however, is the continuing disappearance of the Arab and Muslim culture from that thriving city, a fact which has been quite evident for some time. If they understand and appreciate this state of affairs, then all power to them. I hope they make their residents and visitors happy. But is there space for both to coexist?

In Bahrain we have seen already several instances where these issues have come to the surface, and although ours cannot be compared in daring as what is being proposed in Dubai, feathers continue to fly in our parliament. Fortunately this time the liberals were not afraid to clearly stand against the Islamists and come out vehemently against them. I hope that this will be the turning point in which the Islamists will understand that there is a growing reaction to their pompous morality police mentality, and that the liberals do not let their guard down and stand their ground against that retroactive mentality.

I am wondering though if in fact Hooters becomes a reality, will that affect the countries around Dubai as well? Will that sort of openness drag its neighbours into the same era, if indeed such a thing could be regarded as modernity?

If Hooters does open in Dubai; though, they should first and foremost hire burly bouncers to keep the peace even before the first stick of furniture is ordered! Can you imagine its patrons living by the rule of “look but don’t touch” after a drink of two? Especially if bodyshots are also included on the menu?

I think I will pass on the opportunity of checking that restaurant out! But that should be quite a subject for a documentary!