A guide to the city of Al-Khobar Part 2

amaniism.com

As promised, I said that I would provide a review for the LOUD Art Exhibition. Hosted at Desert Designs from May 29 to June 7, this is the art event's third year.

Watch these Saudi comedians make fun of students living abroad

Wow wow wee wa. I met so many people today and I learned so much! Everything that I want to type out will probably have to go into more than one blog post. That's OK though, that’ll keep you, dear reader, coming back for more. :)

A guide to the city of Al-Khobar Part 1

pinoy-ofw.com

Last night I met up with my newest friend Afnan, whom I met at the Cultural Night. Now I have a total of three friends here! Yessssss.

How to win and lose at an international film festival

flipkey.com

Congratulations to director Nuri Bilge Ceylan! His film Winter Sleep just won the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The Turkish filmmaker's work is about an Anatolian hotel owner and his relationships with those around him.

What radio show to listen to in Saudi Arabia

megaclubmusic.com

I honestly think that I'm the only one of my friends left that listens to the radio in the car. The compound has its own station 91.4 Studio 1 FM, and its Top 40 show is The World Chart Show. TWCS compiles a list of the top songs from around the world. Kinda cool that it's not just American music, although it basically means you get more from the UK.

ATTENTION PHARRELL: Tehran's chief of police is not "Happy"

                                          YouTube

My mom just sent this video to me on Whatsapp, after getting it from our family friend that lives in Bahrain. It's the music video inspired by the award winning song "Happy" set in different countries around the world that we’ve been seeing around the interwebs lately. To be honest, I'm kind of bored already with these takes on Pharell Williams's hit.

Heavy table refuses to be used as a prop in political discourse

                                          YouTube

As one TV talk show host in Jordan learned, it pays to have a sturdy and well built table.

This is why social media isn't the downfall of humanity

Inquisitr

A man in Saudi Arabia, paralyzed and in hospital from a car accident, recently tweeted for someone to please visit him. What happened next is a story that just warms your cold, dead heart.


Inquisitr

Ibrahim was left bedridden after a collision on the road over half a year ago resulted in paralysis and the need for a surgery that he could not afford. Sadly he was also left alone as his family had stopped visiting him for months. And so Ibrahim turned to using the power of social media. He tweeted for someone to visit him at the King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh and within a day, it became the most retweeted message in the country's Twitter history. A user created the hashtag #VisitIbrahim and that was retweeted over 200,000 times. That’s not too surprising as Saudi Arabia is one of the 23 countries with more than 800,000 active Twitter users. Saudi has more than 32 % active Twitter users. According to the BBC, it’s so popular because Saudis can express themselves more freely than in person, unless the tweets question the royal family or Islam. But I digress. The most important thing out of this whole situation is that people came to visit Ibrahim in his hospital room. And even more important than that, a visitor brought pizza!!

                                Inquisitr

In fact, so many people came to visit that the hospital had to put a temporary ban on the number of visitors. Hundreds of people across the kingdom came to visit and even donated money to pay for his much needed surgery. It is hoped that Ibrahim will be flying to Germany soon for the medical attention he needs. Congrats and good luck Ibrahim!

Did you see this hashtag trending on Twitter? Did you retweet it? Let me know in the comments section below!


Inquisitr 

How patriotic are you? Let me show you!

imgur

Nationalism is in the air. What with Narendra Modi winning Indian elections to be its next prime minister and everything happening in the Ukraine, you can't turn on the news without hearing about it.

How to get free perfume in Saudi Arabia

Last week my mom's friend was invited to a cultural night and I tagged along. It was hosted by Saudi women at a family compound downtown.

Here's some Saudi artwork that I like

                                          Arab News

This image appeared in the Arts and Culture section in the Arab News. Can you believe it? The article covered the artwork by Saudi artist Qaswra Hafez. I actually have it ripped out and taped to my bedroom wall. It depicts a person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and a shomagh without the agal.

Dear George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin

 

       Yahoo!

You know you've made it in life when people you've never met pen open letters to you and publish them on the Internet.

What Saudi can learn from India about driving safely

Wikimedia

It's pretty well known that Saudi Arabia has a driving problem. Without even touching on the issue of women, men behind the wheel in Saudi either don't know how to drive properly and/or don't care to drive properly because they know that no repercussions will ensue.

Watch a couple of Emirati brothers travel the world

Peetaplanet

Mohamed and Peyman Al Awadhi both host and produce Peeta Planet, a TV-web show where they travel the world and you, dear audience member, interact with them through social media. You tell them where to eat, where to go, and what to do.

Join the mile high club with Etihad Airways

Forbes

I was going to post this yesterday but I didn't get around to it! So Etihad Airways just recently debuted its newest cabin, called The Residence, and it is probably the size of about 235347 economy seats.

Love will always find you

                                          YouTube

I heard about YouTuber and online comedian Thabit Al Mawaly from a friend of a friend about half a year ago. I finally had a chance to look at the videos he uploads to his YouTube channel and I’ve included the one I like best above. I don't want to give away the plot as it’s a fairly short video and even though you pretty much know what's coming from the beginning, it's still funny.

A (sort of) ComicCon in Bahrain

Over the weekend I attended ComiX, a comic convention hosted in Bahrain. While it was 1/16th the size of Dubai's recent Comic Con, I still felt like the noob of noobs. Here are some photos of me not fitting in with nerds.

How one reporter stood up for what he believed in

                                          YouTube

On Sunday the non profit press monitoring and analysis organization Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) posted a clip from an Egyptian news program Al-Hayat TV. During the broadcast the TV host, Moataz Al-Demerdash, stops a guest during an interview when he disagreed with what the latter said.

Watch these ads and learn to live a healthy life

YouTube

In another nod to OSN, I love what they've been doing recently for increasing the public's awareness on health issues. I mean it's not all altruistic as it's part of their corporate social responsibility campaign "Live More," but they point to real problems that face the Middle East.

Hurry up and watch our reality show on making it in New York City

                                          YouTube

In my household we watch OSN and they've been showing trailers for this new reality show called #Yalla NY. (Is the hashtag still used when you're not tweeting?)

If DJ Snake and Lil Jon made a music video in Iran

2pause.com

If you haven't seen DJ Snake and Lil Jon's "Turn Down for What?" music video, you are are missing out. It'll have you saying either What! or Yeah! in the titular Lil Jon fashion.

Why I started writing stuff on the Internet

Cardiff University

Welcome to my blog!                                                                                                           !أهلاً و سهلاً