Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum
On a recent flight, I found an insert for the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum, the Doha equivalent to the Tarek Rajab Museum here in Kuwait. I have visited both of these museums many times – and have marvelled that private individuals would amass such great collections and share them – free – with the public.
You have to be invited, or you have to ask (groups often do) if you can visit; it is not open daily the way the Tarek Rajab Museum is.
You can find the museum online at Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum.
Kingdom of Heaven and IMDB
Adventure Man and I finished Rome, The Final Season, and weren’t ready to start anything else . . .you know how it is when you finish a really good series?
So today, we sat down to watch a movie I saw on a plane, Kingdom of Heaven, which Adventure Man had never seen. And the truth is the movie was a lot like the movie I saw on the plane, but was so much longer, and so much more full of detail. And – oh what fun – in one of the earliest scenes, I said to Adventure Man “Look! There’s Vorenus!”
“Noooooo.” he denied I had seen Vorenus in the entourage of Orlando Bloom’s Baron father.
Not long afterwards he had to do the ceremonial apology. (It’s a family tradition.)
First he looks over at me to see if I am going to say anything. It’s pretty clear that it really IS Vorenus.
Then, seeing I am not going to lord it over him, he concedes. “Well done, Intlxpatr. You are right. And I was wrong. That is very sharp of you to spot Vorenus.”
(The tradition is that you have to say “You are right, and I was wrong.” But he gave it extra grace by cloaking it with additional flattery.)
(No, he doesn’t really call me Intlxpatr, but I really do call him Adventure Man.)
So now we are watching the back-story, the history behind the movie, and it is fascinating. Earlier Adventureman looked up all the mistakes in the film on IMDb.
You don’t know what IMDb is? It stands for Internet Movie Database, and you can look up all kinds of things about movies or TV series, or your favorite actors and actresses. There is also a list of mistakes, anachronisms or lack of continuity, and we thing this is a lot of fun.
So you put in your title name Kingdom of Heaven and you go to the film page.
Over on the left hand side are all kinds of things you can choose from, including a section called Fun Stuff, under which you find goofs.
Here is a partial list of goofs Adventure Man found at IMDb:
Crew or equipment visible: In some scenes involving horses, modern orange cones can be seen on the ground directing the riders on the path past the camera to follow.
Factual errors: When the Muslims are praying near Jerusalem they are praying towards the setting sun, west, not towards Mecca which is to the south south east.
Continuity: During the battle for Jerusalem, the crescent moon and the star nearby, change positions during a short period of time. First, the crescent is horizontal, with the star a short distance above it. In the next scene, the crescent is on an angle, and the star is where the unlit part of the moon would obscure it.
Factual errors: A few times during the movie, the Muslims are shown praying while the prayer call is being delivered. The prayer call precedes the prayer.
Anachronisms: During the movie, flags from Castilla y Leon kingdom are shown several times. At that time Castilla and Leon were separate kingdoms. They became one in 1230.
Continuity: The size of the hole in the sand made by the sword when Nasir is down after the fight for the horse changes going from large and uneven to even
Revealing mistakes: When the messenger of Saladin is stabbed in throat by Guy de Lusignan. The blood that is squirted outward sprays from the left side of the neck where he was not stabbed.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Guy stabs Saladin’s messenger in the throat with a small dagger. When the messenger falls, Guy is holding a bloody sword, rather than his dagger. This is corrected in the Director’s cut, where Guy proceeds to behead the messenger with his sword.
Continuity: At 2:08:09 surrender of Jerusalem, the scar to left and below Bloom’s eye disappears.
Anachronisms: In the Director’s Cut, Sibylla tells her son, soon to be Baldwin V, in his geography lesson, that the King of England is Richard, the son of King Henry. Richard I did not succeed his father until 1189, three years after the death of Baldwin V.
Factual errors: Sibylla claims that she was married to Guy de Lusignan when she was 15 years old. In fact, she was 20 or 21 when she married him in 1180. She had been about 17 when she married her first husband, William of Montferrat, in 1176.
Anachronisms: The so-called ‘Templar’ who attacks Balian before the battle of Hattin (in 1187) wears a white surcoat bearing a black cross: the arms of the Order of St Mary of the Germans (aka the Teutonic Knights). This order was not founded until 1190 at the very earliest.
Miscellaneous: When Balian is building the timber water channel he places the lower level duct on top of the higher one. This should be the opposite way round as in its current state any water running down would run under the lower duct and consequently be lost.
You can read the rest of them (if you care) HERE.
What is cool about buying this movie is that you can watch it again and spot the goofs for yourself, and you can watch all the extra things about making the movie and about the history behind the movie.
We both liked this movie.
The other movies we watched were Ghostbusters 1 & 2. It always makes us laugh.
The Arab Way
My husband and I were very young when we first came to live in the Middle East, back to back embassy assignments, first in Tunisia, and then in Jordan. Before those assignments, we had spent two years learning about the culture, and my husband spoke Arabic and I spoke French. It didn’t matter. We were still woefully ignorant. (And we are still learning!)
People would call us, asking for favors, especially visas and getting their kids into U.S. colleges. We would look at each other in astonishment. How could they think their kids could get into college without passing the tests? How did they think their cousin could get into pilot training when there were other, better qualified candidates? And we learned, that with the right connections, exceptions are made.
We got smarter. We were travelling back in Germany, and wanted to stay in military lodging, but all the rooms were taken. We decided to go get something to eat, and at dinner, I said to my husband “let’s try doing it the Arab way.” He looked at me and said “Whaaaaaattt?”
“Take your orders that say we are with the embassy and on special leave” I told him. “Tell them we just got in, and just need a place for tonight.”
“But they don’t have any rooms!” Adventure Man protested.
“They always hold rooms back for special circumstances, for pilots, for emergencies,” I countered. “Make us special.”
We finished dinner, and felt better with our blood sugars back up. Adventure Man became his charming persona, and we went back to the hotel. He was inside for a bare two minutes, and came back out grinning, and holding a key.
We have learned an important lesson. Yes, there are policies. Yes, there are rules. Yes, there are the way things are done, customs, traditions, inviolable.
But there are also exceptions, and they are based on personal relationships.
Our insurance company told us they would no longer insure our Florida house, too much risk exposure in Florida. We went to a lot of trouble to try to meet a guideline that would allow us to be an exception – to no avail. Yesterday, I spent an hour on the phone with one person who was persistently pleasant in telling me it was not possible. I told her that telling me what a great customer I was, and how they valued our loyalty didn’t ring true when they would abandon us after all our years of being good customers. I didn’t blame her, personally, but neither was I buying all this pleasant stuff, when the bottom line was money, not loyalty.
I hung up the phone with a huge pit in my stomach – this cloud, this worry has hung over my head all summer, and now my worst fears had come true and I would have to seek new, less reliable, insurance. But I decided to put it off until tomorrow, no point trying to do something when you feel really depressed.
Late last night, we were in those early hours of dead-drooling sleep, the phone rang, and it was the insurance representative calling us back. Four hours after our phone call, the phone call which had been “the final answer” she was calling me back to say she had found a way, and our policy was being re-instated.
Thanks be to God! The Arab way worked, even though I wasn’t consciously using the Arab way, probably my thinly veiled anger and frustration and bottom line TERROR had gotten through to her. I thought it was over, but God was working behind the scenes, and a miracle happened.
We are still learning; we still have a lot to learn, and living in this culture helps us continue learning a new tools, additional strategies, for our tool box.
Apples and Honey Mustard
This is one of my favorite mid-morning snacks. It also works as a last-minute delicacy you can set out when friends show up unexpectedly. As good as it tastes, I hate to tell you, it is also good for you.
Slice apple into eighths. Cut out seeds. Mix 1 Tablespoon honey (some great Yemeni honey is best) with 3 Tablespoons mustard. Place in small bowl, arrange apple slices around bowl, serve! Did it even take 5 minutes? No!
Use a good mustard:
Monsieur Fallot’s mustard is, amazingly, available in Kuwait at the Sultan Centre stores.
Dawn’s Early Glare
August heat has set in with a vengence. The temperatures are the same, but the humidity is rising, clothes are wilting, and bodies are glistening. Nights are cooler, thanks be to God.
This morning, there is one great glare of sunlight; no differentiation between sea and sky, just 180° of colorless glare:
Officially, the temperatures are dropping. Today, a big drop to 111° F, down from last week’s 118°F temps.
Back it Up! #1
It’s easy to get discouraged when bad news strikes, and especially when a lot of bad news strikes at once.
In the midst of the Turkish blogging blockage, and in the midst of the Kuwait blogger crisis, the heavens open and a great light brightens the whole day:
I guess the Kuwait Times didn’t think this story was important enough to put it online, but in Sunday’s Kuwait Times (August 19), page 5, there are two photos of ARLA Food staff members helping out the 1,300 Bangladeshi workers who have been in on strike trying to get paid and to get decent, reliable living conditions.
Now this is what I call backing it up – they show up with food, AND they donate a refrigerator to keep the cold food cold. (I hope there is someplace the workers can plug the refrigerator in!)
“The Arla Food staff members were accompanied by Reverend Andy Thompson, who oversaw the distribution of the aid.”
I know the good Reverend Andy Thompson. He is passionate about his faith, and he lives his faith. He is appalled that we can become so callous, so hard hearted about the conditions of these workers, the poorest of the poor, earning KD20 a month, and trying to live, eat and send money home on those wages – when they get paid.
But Andy Thompson is doing something about it. Working with other committed local citizens, he is working on the most basic level to make sure these workers are getting food to eat, while at the same time trying to find some way to make sure these workers get their lawful rights.
I read the Qur’an, but I am not very good at remembering where I read what I remember. I remember a verse about being sure the sweat has not dried on the laboror’s back before you pay him. How can an employer not pay his employees?
Bless you, ARLA Food staff members, for your generous donation, and your caring service to these workers, and bless you, Father Andy, and prosper the work of your hands!
WordPress on Turkish Block
From Matt, at WordPress on why WordPress has been blocked in Turkey. Below is an excerpt from what purports to be – and sounds like – an official government communication.
So we have become obliged to apply to Turkish judicial courts to stop this defamation executed through your services. By the decision of Fatih 2nd Civil Court of First Instance, number 2007/195, access to WordPress.com has been blocked in Turkey.
The organization, which is led by Edip Yuksel, responsible for these defamation blogs in question are currently up for crimes such as “building an organization to commit crime” in Turkey. The sites of Edip Yuksel, http://www.yahyaharun.com, http://www.19.org, http://www.calinmisgenclik.com and also the blog under your site with the user name http://adnanoktar.wordpress.com have been blocked by Turkish judicial courts in Turkey before(by Gaziosmanpasa Civil Court of First Instance, dated 06.04.2007 and decision number 2007/130 D. Is) . We have also sent you the official documents on this judicial decision in one of our applications to you.
Bottom line, it sounds like if a Turkish blogger says something bad about someone in power in Turkey, it is not allowed. Good thing Kuwait has freedom of the press, eh?
To read the entire statement from the Turkish government to WordPress, and their demands, and to join the ensuing discussion on free press, CLICK HERE.
. . . And then there was light
There are times – not too often, but it happens – when I want to have a whole crowd of people in, and I regret not having a larger place. Every morning when I get up, the view takes my breath away. You would think it is the same old/same old, but every day is different. One day, the sea may be like glass, another day with white caps. One day the sky is crystal clear, the next, there may be a sandstorm, and I am surrounded by orange light. One day, we even saw dolphins lazily swimming by.
Our window on the world is a never ending thrill.
99.9% of the time, I am content – even more than content. This morning, circumstances once again conspired to have me up before sunrise. Wooo Hooooo! I can always take a nap later.
You might get tired of my sunrise photos, but I never get tired of taking them!
The still, quiet world just before dawn – wouldn’t you like to be out in these boats while the fish are biting?
And then . . . a miracle happens!
I think that band that gives the photo the darkness is actually a low lying cloud of pollution, but it makes for more dramatic photos. This is the actual photo. There is no retouching, resizing . . . It is the photo just as it appeared.
WeatherUnderground for Kuwait tells me the temperatures are dropping! Only 113° F. /45°C today! And dropping down to 82°F/28°C tonight! Feel the frost in the air! 😉
WordPress Blocked in Turkey
My nephew Earthling informs me this morning that he got a notification that WordPress is now blocked in Turkey.
Blogger Esra-a, out of Bahrain, writes:
WordPress, a growing blog publishing system, has recently been blocked in Turkey. Founder and main developer Matt Mullenweg is asking for suggestions on ways to go about accessing WordPress within the country, after expressing his disappointment over this decision, which seems to be another strategy for Turkey to curb freedom of speech.
You can read the rest of the story on MideastYouth.com.
Kuwait Fish Market Artistry
They’re in! The first of the season’s Kuwait shrimp! Did I buy any – you bet! Shrimp for dinner tonight. Yummmmmmm.
As I was having the shrimp cleaned, we noticed that someone had gone to a lot of trouble to put the fish out attractively. Doesn’t it make all the difference?
(Photos taken at the Sultan Center)
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