“Their Circular Life” is yet another fascinating photography project that captures the very essence of the transient nature of life when studied against an exploration of human behavior.
Using interactive time lapse photography, the project investigates the link between different urban places and the behavior of the humans who visit these places within a 24-hour timeframe. Using a scroll wheel, you can scroll through a day in different places in Italy.
Yes, because your surrounding knows you better than you know her.

Paintings exhbited at Tokyo’s 2004 Design Week. Very cool… I love the way the painting is whole yet incomplete.
I strongly recommend skimming through Tokyo’s 2004 Design Week slideshow, it has some very interesting stuff. The Japanese never fail to amaze me.

This is Jeeda Dallal, my unbelievably adorable 2-months-old baby cousin, who’s basically one more girl to add to a family dominated by boysies.

“But you can’t buy it. You can only view it here. I guess it’s more like art or something.”

+Planet Dan

Lyrics of No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak”

You and me
We used to be together
Every day together always

I really feel
That I’m losing my best friend
I can’t believe
This could be the end

It looks as though you’re letting go
And if it’s real,
Well I don’t want to know

Don’t speak
I know just what you’re saying
So please stop explaining
Don’t tell me ’cause it hurts
Don’t speak
I know what you’re thinking
I don’t need your reasons
Don’t tell me ’cause it hurts

Our memories
They can be inviting
But some are altogether
Mighty frightening

As we die, both you and i
With my head in my hands
I sit and cry

Don’t speak
I know just what you’re saying
So please stop explaining
Don’t tell me ’cause it hurts no no no
Don’t speak
I know what you’re thinking
And I don’t need your reasons
Don’t tell me ’cause it hurts

It’s all ending,
I gotta stop pretending who we are…

You and me
I can see us dying… are we?

Don’t speak
I know just what you’re saying
So please stop explaining
Don’t tell me ’cause it hurts no no
Don’t speak
I know what you’re thinking
And I don’t need your reasons
Don’t tell me ’cause it hurts
Don’t tell me ’cause it hurts
I know what you’re saying
So please stop explaining
Don’t speak don’t speak don’t speak
No I know what you’re thinking
And I don’t need your reasons
I know you good I know you good
I know you real good oh

La la la la la la la la la
Don’t don’t ooh ooh
Hush hush darling
Hush hush darling
Hush hush don’t tell me ’cause it hurts
Hush hush darling
Hush hush darling
Hush hush don’t tell me ’cause it hurts

Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” is one of those paintings that I can’t quite decide whether I love or hate. It is, after all, a direct symbolism of what myself and so many other people feel like at various times in our lives, and a feeling I would spend my life trying to avoid.

Munch painted this work to express loneliness and awful despair. Standing, screaming…

That’s what I call great advertising.

+Signal Vs. Noise

The flashing dance floor on which John Travolta strutted his way to stardom in “Saturday Night Fever” is being put up for auction. Wow, that’s something I’d love to buy!

+Yahoo! News

Alright, picture sharing mood, for after all, sharing is caring, and this is the first time I see these pictures so I’m rather excited.
Syria department trip again, this time we’re all playing Monopoly(my back to the camera) late at night and eating brick-oven grilled chestnuts.. Fadi and I cheated our way to victory…
Yes, I know, we’re a pleasant bunch.

There are tons of horribly ugly fonts, and worse yet, there are tons more people who exploit ugly fonts(like I’m exploiting Comic Sans now). And maybe thats why fonts become ugly, because when you think about it, if certain fonts were only used in the right instances…
According to Ban Comic Sans,”These widespread abuses of printed type threaten to erode the very foundations upon which centuries of typographic history are built. While we recognize the font may be appropriate in a few specific instances, our position is that the only effective means of ending this epidemic of abuse is to completely ban Comic Sans” Ok, they might be taking it too seriously, but whatever, I agree.

Ban Comic Sans!(Or alternatively, you can join the Comic Sans Appreciation Society)

+Shiny Shiny

One of the most fascinating scenes we saw in Egypt. Very dusty, very old, obviously untouched for at least a decade, and with 50% off! Bargain.

Wow, I just found this picture , and I don’t remember it even being taken! It’s from a department trip to Syria almost 2 years ago. We had just finished “studying” the Ummayyad Mosque, and we were all tired and hungry, then, Candy!
Anyhow, I think this is a good picture. I love the way the candy looks… The old walls as the background, the rusting trolly… Syria is a very interesting country.

Picture courtsey of Fadi.

The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) has recently set up a committee charged with making Amman a more beautiful city. In addition to combating illegal practices, the Amman Beautifying Committee is set to go into partnership with the private sector. GAM has also started a competition seeking to engage Amman residents in general, and the youth in particular, in efforts to make the capital a more beautiful place to live.

[Via Aquacool,Jordan Times]

:)

Yes, that’s “Virtual Roba”. Not sure about the haircut, but maybe if you remove about half the volume and mess it up it’ll look more like mine, and of course, forget the facial features. I now know to always stand facing people because my “karsh” shows when I’m standing sideways…

Anyway, it’s cool, and I can actually use it to try on clothes whenever I shop online at several stores. Not that I shop online… Still cool.

You can create your “My Virtual Model” either on the company’s website, or directly on the site you want to shop at(note to self: NEVER shop at Sears, horrible shoe choices).

Oh, yes, its 4:31 AM. And I will not watch the NBA All-Star game. Well, at least there were no Fantasy NBA lineups this weekend(the boys hog the computer otherwise)….

4:55 AM. Rise and shine!

+Popgadget

3:17 AM. Can’t sleep. Need to wake up early. Feeling very annoyed at something. Only have 8 people on my messenger list and they are all away/offline. Everyone in my phonebook is probably sleeping. AH!
Yes, I know this is not a diary.

3:34 AM.Again, not feeling particularly eloquent. Can’t really type because everyone’s sleeping. Will modify lyrics to embody my frame of mind. Love Control+V.

Hello.
Is there anybody out there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone home?
Relax.
When I was a child I had a fever.
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I got that feeling once again.
I can’t explain, you would not understand.
This is not how I am.
I have become comfortably numb.

From Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”.

3:42 AM. Sharing art now:

I love Van Gogh. Would you cut your ear for love?
The Catholic church refused to allow Vincent’s burial in its cemetery because Vincent had committed suicide. A nearby church agreed and the funeral was held on 30 July. On my birthday. Ironic.

Ah. I need to cut down on the coffee.

I haven’t used my Yahoo! email to reply to anything in ages, and today, while replying, I was surprised when I got this window as I pressed send:

Alright, aren’t we taking this a little too far? I’m all in for anti-spam, but figure out a better way! I avoid commenting on blogs that have this “Character string technology” because it always takes me several tries to read the characters correctly, so how am I supposed to handle having to squint to figure it out every time I send an email?!

P.S. I already wear glasses

I love No Doubt, the old No Doubt anyhow(yes, not that commercialized crap they’re selling now, although I do respect their trying to reach out to the younger generations).

You must understand, No Doubt are VERY different from what I usually like to listen to(I prefer my music heavier and more intense), but no one manages to reach down into my soul and touch me except No Doubt. “Return of Saturn” remains to be one of my favorite all-time albums.

Well, anyhow, today, I was listening to “Return of Saturn” and I was utterly amazed at how this album manages to so perfectly portray my state of mind at very different phases in my life. I know that it’s lyrics aren’t 1/10th as deep as Pink Floyd’s, and that the music isn’t as great as Led Zeppelin’s, but I still find the music magical and the lyrics so beautiful.

Lyrics to “Comforting Lie”

“I started out on the wrong foot, now I’m not myself
I am Jekyll, I am Hyde, found this place to hide, come seek me
Oh, so up and down, so back and forth, so insecure
Can’t get this taste out of my mouth, swallow it down, pretend

And hold it, hold it all in
Let it build up, oh, build a bomb
And blow it, blow it away
And clear it all out, just end it

I’m just a normal person without those problems, when did it change?
Admission so embarrassing, I’m on the verge of tears again

Oh look, I took the band aid off. did I take it off too soon
Hysterical confession, my big courage is blue

Oh, hold it, hold it all in
Let it build up, oh, build a bomb
And blow it, blow it away
And clear it all out, just end it
And sort it, sort it out
Oh, just give it back, no thank you
And toss it, toss it away
Eliminate, just give up

I, I can’t decide this tug of war
I’m feeling weak, yeah”

Haha, I sported pink hair for a while.

It’s been beeeeee-yooooo-teeeee-fulllll! Nice enough for a picnic and I’m not even a picnic person! I’m still figuring my way around a 4-season year(in Saudi Arabia, you only get Fall and Summer), and I really hate being so cold.

Note to self, weather becomes nice around the end of February in Amman(so that I wouldn’t have to kill myself waiting next year).

Naturally, every long-living cartoon character will need to evolve some how, just like the graceful evolution of what has now become a living, breathing legend-Mickey Mouse.

Now, “hoping to breathe new life into its animated Looney Tunes franchise and prop up the WB television network’s slumping Kids’ WB line-up”, Warner Bros. is planning to launch a new cartoon series this fall based on “re-imagined” versions of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tasmanian Devil, Lola Bunny, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. Hm… reimagined? I’m thinking more among the lines of “monsterized”.

“Loonaticky” indeed. I mean, I’m all for superhero’s and stuff, but you don’t have to make them look so evil!
Reminds me of shock I recieved when I saw this decade’s popular toys last month.

I don’t have any kids around me, are children these days so different?

+ Post Gazette, Boing Boing

Update: Intrestingly, it turns out that “Buzz” is the name of a copyrighted character created by Dutch freelance designer and illustrator Metin Seven. Wow. That’s going to cause problems for Warner Bros. Thanks Buzz!

I hate routine, really, I do. I’m furtherly very much the night person, so I also hate the day time. Finally, I usually don’t mind school, but I do mind it when all my classes are along the lines of “Environment Studies” and when my days all start before 10:00 AM. So yes, if you don’t want to listen to me whining(which I hate doing), you can read about making yourself a homemade coffee machine here.

So yes, basically, school starts on Sunday(I think, my friends say it starts on Tuesday and the JU website says it starts on Sunday, I don’t know who to believe, does anyone have any idea? Nader? David? Ammar?) My biggest concern at the moment is pushing my waking hours back into the day-time so that I can wake up at 9:00 AM on Sunday instead of 3:00 PM. Well, at least the second semester always goes much faster than the first.

The picture, by the way, is of our much prized “Big Ben”, and there’s Abu Yahya the university’s photographer glaring at me for not using his services(alright, you can’t really see him, but he’s always glaring).

Wow, I really thought I had so much more to whine about. See? I told you I’m a very easy-going person.

Oh, yes, thank you if you read through to the end of my whining.

Update: Alright, apparently school starts tomorrow(Ammar, thanks). How cool. Sami, sheklo I’m going to sleep through the first week myself ;) Hahaha, ROAR! :P

I think this ashtray is great on so many levels. First, it’s very creative, I absolutely love the idea, and second, it actually has a point- Smoking is suicide.

+Sawaya & Moroni
+Cool Hunting

Although I’m a very peaceful person, I love to “fight”, especially when the other person is my size. Unfortunately though, everyone around me is much too big to wrestle, except for my youngest brother Ghassan. I always win, and apparently, “Google Fight” has his sources :P

Well anyway, there are many more cool “Fight” examples with “Google Fight“, like God vs. Satan, and Pamela Anderson vs. your girlfriend.

+Josh Rubin

Introducing Abdo, a waiter at “Cups & Kgs”, who dresses up as Santa during Christmas, wears a black tux when its Eid, and spends the rest of the year inviting coffee-lovers to try his coffee. Ok, tell you the truth, he creeps me out, but I must admit that his coffee is probably the best in town. I also love the location- between the 3rd circle and Shmesani, amidst a very crowded Amman-style “main street”, and I love sitting outside watching the cars speed by. I also love the fact that since it’s just a little coffee bar, so it’s very practical for rushed coffee.

Sharing some pictures:

View from outside

My favorite drink is Hazelnut Caramella, along with their very yummy white chocolate brownies.

Did you know that I’m completely addicted to caffeine?

“50 First Dates” hand-painted rural Russian movie poster showing Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.

I’m posting this because it reminds me of Concord Cinema in Jabal Al-Hussein-slash-Shmesani. Back in the day, it used to be the best cinema around, and going there was a treat.

Anyway, point is, they still hand-paint their movie posters, though I must say, they do a much better job than these Russian people(weird, Russians are amazing painters).

+Design Boom
+Boing Boing

Air guitaring to Led Zeppelins “Since I’ve Been Loving You“. Damn good.
Sharing the lyrics of another amazing Led Zeppelin song, Kashmir:

Oh, pilot of the storm who leaves no trace, like thoughts inside a dream
Heed the path that led me to that place, yellow desert stream
My shangri-la beneath the summer moon, I will return again
Sure as the dust that floats high and true, when movin’ through kashmir.
Oh, father of the four winds, fill my sails, across the sea of years
With no provision but an open face, along the straits of fear
Ohh.

P.S. I really like Asala.

I don’t care if no one will understand why this cake is funny, but I’ve been cracking up for the past 10 minutes.
Let’s just say, Jeddah Gheir, stuck in Abha for your birthday, you’ve got nice friends.
Oh, yes, picture courtsey of Sara.

Flashback- Me trying to make my friend real coffee without an actual coffee machine, horrible mess of sieves and too many coffee pots, I wanted a coffee machine. End of flashback(haha, I’ve become a total geek, I resisted writing “/flashback”).

No more wanting a coffee machine, the geniuses at Engadget are helping me maintain our we-make-our-own-stuff deal(yes, lipbalm, paper, exfoliating soap, window insulation, trollies, cards, etc., etc.)- a home-made coffee maker. Yay, using a silicone gun(I have an obsession with epoxy). Portable.

Not feeling particularly eloquent at the moment. I’m going to go make myself some coffee.