IT is the eve of Valentine’s Day in Saudi Arabia - and as usual the florists are hiding away their red roses.
Toy stores have cuddly red teddy bears and candy merchants have heart-shaped red boxes of bon bons in stock, but all are kept out of sight.
It is the annual battle between Saudi romantics and the feared Muttawa, the Islamic police, who each year try to convince the public that Valentine’s Day on February 14 is a heathen holiday not suitable for the homeland of Islam.
This year is no different - reminders have gone out from clerics of a years-old fatwa reminding people that Islam does not recognise Valentine’s Day, which originally commemorated one or more Christian martyrs called Saint Valentine.
According to media reports this week, the education ministry sent out circulars about the proscribed day in an effort to prevent the most vulnerable - dreamy-eyed students - from succumbing to Westernised thoughts of romance.
Meanwhile supermarkets have tucked away red gift items that might get them shut down for a day or two, and chocolate shops have done the same.
Two days before the big day a florist in Riyadh’s upmarket Suleimaniya district was shipping out wreaths of red roses and crimson apples in the middle of the afternoon, the time that everyone else, including the Muttawa, is at rest.
“Every year they try to stop Valentine’s Day,” said a Pakistani deliveryman as he packed the wreaths into a van. “The Muttawa will come tonight. If they catch me they will take all of these and destroy them.”
The Western version of Valentine’s Day - lovers raining flowers, chocolates and toys, all with a red theme, on each other - would be a challenge in Saudi Arabia at any time of the year.
Strict Islamic religious rules keep men and women separate until they are married - and marriages are usually arranged by their families.
There is no taking a girlfriend out to a coffee shop or restaurant: the cafes and restaurants all have separate sections, one for single men and the other for women and families.
But the Muttawa - which go by the official name of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices - are only a nuisance, not a reign of terror, said a choclatier in front of his shop on Wednesday.
His Valentine’s assortments are mixed colours - red, blue, green etc - so that he doesn’t attract undue attention.
“Sales are still good,” he said, not wanting to be identified to be on the safe side.
For Valentine’s Day I am making the ‘ultimate’ sacrifice - by taking my wife to see “Australia”, which she has asked me to do - despite my ‘non appreciation’ of Nicole Kidman’s pretence at being an actress. Ah - it must be love ;)
Cheers, Kevin
[ Edited: 14 February 2009 12:49 AM by Kevin Goddard]
I see that Mark Driscoll has an intersting view on this day. His full article traces some interesting ‘history’ about who St Valentine was :
Valentine’s Day by Mark Driscoll
Valentine’s Day is often loved by women and loathed by men, who drop their cash on flowers, jewelry, candy, and cards. Perhaps comic Jay Leno expressed the male dilemma about Valentine’s Day best in one of his monologues: “Today is Valentine’s Day—or, as men like to call it, Extortion Day!” Conversely, the hopelessly romantic at heart enjoy the opportunity that Valentine’s Day affords for thoughtful romance and unbridled passion.
Whether you love or hate Valentine’s Day, the fact is that it has evolved into an enormous holiday. The question remains, however, who is Valentine and how did he come to be associated with everything from the color red to some secret known only by a woman named Victoria ? .....................
For Valentine’s Day I am making the ‘ultimate’ sacrifice - by taking my wife to see “Australia”, which she has asked me to do - despite my ‘non appreciation’ of Nicole Kidman’s pretence at being an actress. Ah - it must be love ;)
Cheers, Kevin
For Valentine’s Day I am making the ‘ultimate’ sacrifice - by taking my wife to see “Australia”, which she has asked me to do - despite my ‘non appreciation’ of Nicole Kidman’s pretence at being an actress.
I thought that I should do a follow up review of the experience. We went to the new 8 screen United Cinemas movie complex at Narellan Town Centre ( between Campbelltown and Camden ). A grand venue with lots of pizzazz - long, long spiralling walkways to get to the next floor above - and lots of freshly painted walls and bright twinkling lights on all the ceilings. They have really put an effort into the ‘movie experience’ for their patrons.
However, things then got off to a bad start when we went to order ice-cream - you know those waffle cones where you select different flavours from an alluring display of 12 tantalising flavours to pile one on top of the other. You see, the freezer wasn’t - ‘freezing’ that is ! All those tempting beautifully coloured flavours before our eyes - and all mostly just mush. ( Sadly no boysenberry and rum ‘n raison for us that day.)
Well “Australia” lived up to my expectations - which wasn’t much. Technically, I found it one of the worst movies that I’ve had to endure. ( Ed Wood would have loved it - in fact it was probably he who directed it ! ) Sure there were moments of brilliance - but it was like looking for opal in a mine - only a splash of the real stuff appearing now and again. It was the ‘continuity’ issue got to me. Many ‘mistakes’ appear before our eyes. In the same scenes wet shirts suddenly are dry, rum bottles change shape and go from being almost empty to full, a clean shirt gets mud on it in the rain then suddenly it’s all clean again, fires are lit in the middle of the night - then the cattle immediately start to stampede in broad daylight, the boy’s horse changes colour (and markings ) during the drive and many others. In one scene, Drover is moving around inside a room and I’m sure I saw Hugh Jackman’s microphone battery pack attached to his back pocket ! Now for many folk, maybe this doesn’t matter - but it sure gets up my nose. If I was spending $140 million I would be demanding better attention to detail - and better editing in the cutting room.
There were indeed some very good acting efforts from lots of familiar ( and some unknown ) Australian faces. And whoever did the make-up on that injured Jack Thompson character deserves some special award. However, I did not warm to Nicole Kidman’s caricature of an English upper class lady - but was amazed how, by the end of the film, she had somehow lost all her toffy accent and had evolved into someone who was now speaking almost like a local. ( Perhaps she was just auditioning for Transformers 3. ) And Hugh Jackman’s natural acting abilities and great physique would have been greatly admired by the ladies I’m sure.
But there were just too many things that annoyed me throughout this film to really enjoy it. The main highlight for me was that purely magic low level flight over the beautiful Australian outback scenery - which reminds me of a certain linked Tourism series of ads that Baz was also involved in at the same time - which could explain his lack of concentration on the movie.
Now I know that others have declared how great this film is. And that is fine too. We all see movies through differing eyes - but, personally, I really struggled through this one. I must check out what Margaret and David had to say about it - but I can only give it 3 out of 5 stars.
Lynette says that she “enjoyed it. It was a romantic story ... with beautiful scenery. But it was just fiction.. not real events.” But she also stated that she doesn’t need to see it again.
Incidentally, Margaret and David gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 ( compared to my 3 ).
Sounded boring to me. Hoping to get out of it. sounds boring to Joan, too, I think. [Said the bloke who is watching the complete Get Smart most nights, and has just finished series one.]
Sounded boring to me. Hoping to get out of it. sounds boring to Joan, too, I think. [Said the bloke who is watching the complete Get Smart most nights, and has just finished series one.]
Most of all I missed my boysenberry Ice cream cone ! Regarding Get Smart- now that was Classic Comedy ! Did you catch the recent movie version with Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway?
Did you enjoy the new Get Smart movie, Kevin? I couldn’t imagine anyone other than Don Adams being Maxwell Smart, nor Barbara Feldon being 99 or Ed Platt being chief of CONTROL.
[ Edited: 19 February 2009 06:00 AM by David McKay]
Now that we know what you’ve been eating, that explains a lot about your sharp wit and pointed comments. Do you prefer tomato or rust flavoured soup ? But overall, I just think it’s tacky ;)
Yes we did. It’s was over 8 months ago, but I still recall feeling happy that they didn’t try to re-make the TV show at all. Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway were a formidable couple, the script flowed well - with enough laughs and gags - and the story line was ‘believable’ in it’s own right and flowed efficiently. There was also plenty of action to please fans of “comedic violence” as it was labelled at the cinema. It’s PG rating ensured a wide audience - and Terence Stamp obviously enjoyed playing the villain. ( And I’m sure that we had boysenberry choc tops that day too ! )
I enjoyed Get Smart too, though it was in the cinemas a while back. Can’t compare it to the TV series as I wasn’t really a fan (wasn’t old enough when the originals were on TV!)
We have begun the second series now, and though we had already met Fang, Harry Hoo, Hymie and Agent 44, the whingeing bloke who hides in the cupboard, and others, we have not yet encountered Shtarker or Siegfried.
Max has used most of his catch phrases, but only in one of the last episodes did he say, with his arm around one of the villains, after realising he is about to get a pummelling
Say, Mr X. I hope I wasn’t out of line with that crack about your whatsaname.
And it wasn’t until the first episode we watched on the first disk of Series Two, that as Hymie jumped out of the window and crashed, Max remarked
One of my pet peeves is the loss of the expression you and me. People don’t say it any more, but repeatedly say “you and I” where they should say “you and me.”
But where did this begin? I think I’ve found a clue.
In Series Two of Get Smart, in the episode A Spy for A Spy, Max says to the chief at the end of the episode,
That just leaves you and I, Chief.
Tsk, tsk. The old nominative confused with objective trick.
One of my pet peeves is the loss of the expression you and me. People don’t say it any more, but repeatedly say “you and I” where they should say “you and me.”
NOT :
I Am the Walrus!
I am he
As you are he
As you are me
And we are all together.
BUT MAYBE :
“You and Me” is a song by The Moody Blues from their 1972 album Seventh Sojourn. It is the album’s fifth song, and it is the first song on side two (on the original LP).
But Bob Dylan claimed “It ain’t me Babe..” ( And didn’t the Turtles also stick their neck out and release a cover version ? )
And Micky And The Motorcars -sang this in 2007 on their Careless album :
It took the darkest night
To find the morning light
You held a candle from afar
Yeah, you’ve got me babe
You can go anywhere
There’s no place like here
But You’ve got me babe, you’ve got me babe
You’ve got me running when you call
I’m somewhere that I thought I’d never fall
You’ve got me turning baby, all around
You’ve got me baby
You’ve got me baby
You’ve got me, you’ve got me, you’ve got me baby
You’ve got me, you’ve got me, you’ve got me baby
And I can still hear Sonny & Cher screaming their last refrain of “You’ve got me Baaaaabe “.
Not forgetting Lifehouse’s “You and Me Lyrics” :
what day is it
and in what month
this clock never seemed so alive
I can’t keep up
and I can’t back down
I’ve been losing so much time
cause it’s you and me and all of the people
with nothing to do
nothing to lose
and it’s you and me and all of the people
and I don’t know why
I can’t keep my eyes off of you…
Let Jim Carrey have the last word between “you and me” and “you and I” at :
[null]Jean Pakter Dies at 101; Women's Health AdvocateNew York Times[{}]Abortion was still illegal during Dr. Pakter's early years in public health, and she had the task of compiling reports about the commerce in abortion. These reports provided some of the few reliable estimates in the country about the number of women ...
[null]Is the Church Becoming Less Catholic?New York Times[{}]That said, there is more to the Catholic Church's position on abortion than Maureen Dowd cares to acknowledge. The church views abortion as the murder of innocents and thus as an absolute evil, so “absolute intolerance” is not an inappropriate response ...
[null]Does It Mean Anything that a Record Low Are 'Pro-Choice'?New York Times (blog)[{}]Asked to pick one of the two labels applied to the abortion debate, a full 50 percent said they were pro-life, whereas only 41 percent said they were pro-choice, down from the previous low of 42 percent recorded in May of 2009. Republicans are the most ...
RSS Feed