Movie Trailer: Sunshine (2007)

Hello people,

I saw this one movie last night called Sunshine. It is one of the best sci-fi movie I ever saw. I was totally engrossed into. It wasn’t a typical Hollywood film, which gave this movie a refreshing change. None of the Armageddon or Deep Impact hullabullo, but stuck close to the tight knit group of people on board and the moral dilemma they go through. What was rather refreshing in the movie was that the issue of faith was brought up which is very rare in any sci-fi movie. Deeper spiritual issues are also touched upon throughout the course of the film, such as mortality, the corruption of the spirit and, most profoundly, the last judgment. The question of whether or not it is right for man to mess with the laws of nature and what God has decreed is also addressed, but I won’t get into much details. I will the let trailer speak for it self. And oh yes, the title song, what can I say about it except that it has totally mesmerized me. It’s called Avenue of Hope by an English band from Manchester I Am Kloot. Great song, so much so, it made me love the movie even more when listened to in context of the movie.

 Mansur

Filletofish?

Hello friends,

So one fine evening, I decide to order McDonalds (yes people, McDonalds does home deliveries in Pakistan!)

I dial 111-BIG-MAC. After a few seconds I was routed to a guy who takes my order.

Me: Hi. Can you take the order?

Him: Hello. May I know your address?

Me: Yeah, this is Mansour. I live in Siddiq Trade Center, Apartment 704, in Gulberg.

Him: Ok, I got you on the system. What Gulberg is it? 1, 2 or 3?

Me: Um, I don’t know. I am new here.

Him: Sir, we cannot dispatch your order till we know what Gulberg you are in.

Me: You just told me you got me on your system, so you should know. I mean, I live on Main Boulevard, and there is only one apartment building with the name Siddiq on it, so you can’t miss it.

Him: Sorry sir, we can’t take your order till we know what Gulberg you are in.

Me: What kind of service is this? Just because you don’t know what phase I am in, you won’t deliver. This should be your business to know where my building is.

Him: Ok, sir, just hold on.

Me: No, don’t put me on hold. I want to talk to the management.

Him: There is no manager here.

Me: I don’t care. Give the phone to someone who can take my order and get it delivered.

A brief pause.

Him: Ok, sir, don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get it.

Me: That’s better. Ok, so I want one Filet-o-Fish.

Him: Double Patty?

Me: Huh? I want Filet-o-Fish.

Him: Sir, do you want double patty?

Me: NO! I don’t want this double patty, I just want one Filet-o-Fish!

Him: Yes sir I know you want filettofish, but do you want double patty?

Me: UFF! Why are you confusing me? What’s this double patty business?! I just want one Fish! Bus!

Him: Sir, double patty is you have two filletofish!

Me: But I want one fish only!

Him: OK, sir. What else?

Me: Nothing else. Just one Filet o Fish.

Him: Sorry sir, we can’t deliver just one sandwich.

Me: Why is that?

Him: We have a minimum delivery order.

Me: Ok fine. You keep your sweet double patty filettofish to yourself, and have a pleasant night!

With that I shut the phone down!

That was the first, and the last time I ever did home delivery for McDonalds!

Mansur

Freedom of Speech? (WordPress may be BLOCKED nationwide soon!)

Hello friends,

Before WordPress gets blocked nationwide, I’d thought I’d quickly let you know that if you see a rather long absence of me on here, then understand that it must be because the website would be blocked. I am not able to access Blogger at all because a certain website on that platform, Emergency Times, which has been started by students at LUMS, has been blocked.

 Emergency Times is very critical of President Musharraf, and the blog posted all sorts of information regarding the short emergency that was imposed on Pakistan recently (we are living in times of emergency anyways). The blog also mentions all protests/ rallies that takes place in the nation and acted as an information guide for anyone who would want to stand up. The current government didn’t take it too kindly and thus had the Emergency Times blocked. Dawn newspaper has the article in the print edition, but is missing from its online edition!

 Now, what I don’t understand is why WordPress has to be included, and why the ENTIRE blogspot domain has to be inaccessible!!?? So much for  the so-called freedom of speech!

 Mansur

Suicide Bombing in Lahore!!!

Hey all,

I would always read about the suicide bombings in Iraq. I would always wonder what the family of the killed ones would go through. I always wondered why people would go blow themselves up. Pakistan had a massive suicide bombing in Karachi when Benazir Bhutto was going in a procession. Scores of people were killed and injured. Then there were bombings in Islamabad. Then, the grim reality struck home.

Lahore witnessed a horrible suicide bombing itself, where 23 people were killed, 19 who were police-men. Scores of people were injured.

I was at work with my architects, and I received a message on my cell phone. “Suicide bomb explosion kills 10 outside High Court, many were policeman.” That second was very surreal. Lahore and suicide bombing don’t go together. Lahore has relatively been a peaceful city compared to Karachi. Then, I started getting a bunch of Breaking News alert on my cell phone that updated me on the reality of the situation. The number of dead kept rising, till it came to 23 dead and 78 injured.

My sister’s workplace is close to the High Court, and the first thing I did was to call her up and tell her to leave her work as the surrounding areas were being cordoned off and total chaos ensued. She was thankfully out of her office going to a meeting away from the affected area. There was so much tension the whole day as people talked about why Lahore witnessed a suicide bombing. There were rumors spreading around, by word of mouth as well as on radio, that there were two more such bombings in other parts of Lahore. No one was sure how many bombs there were nor who did it and why. As details became available, it turned out that a lone man approached the scene, where a rally was set to begin by the lawyers, and upon his refusal to enter the area by the police, the lone man rammed his motorcycle and blew himself up. He was obviously killed, but they managed to find his head and doctors at the hopsital tried recreating his face.

When something like this happens 15 minutes away from where I live, I worry. I’ve always read about suicide bombings in the papers, but when I know it’s happened in my own backyard, it makes the reality hard hitting. It makes me get up and realize what’s happening. However, the most frustrating thing I’ve been going through is actually listening to some people here justifying such bombings. I tell them there is absolute no justification for killing of innocent people. There is absolutely no justification for suicide bombings, no matter how much cornered you are and are acting in self defense (as some people claim), there is no way a suicide bombing is all right. I wonder how much innocent blood the suicide bomber will have on his hands. I wonder if the families of the people killed will ever get justice.

Lahore is tense. No one knows what the future is like. Will we have elections? Who will win? Does it even matter who will win? I fear for Pakistan’s future, and it’s important to save the country now before it’s too late!

 Mansur