Posts from — March 2009

I figure any kind of analysis of the finale of Battlestar Galactica on this blog wouldn’t compare to the full on geek debates that have been raging on the web so I’ll forgo that and just say that I’m going to miss BSG.

I have to admit, I didn’t start watching from the moment it came on TV. Even though my brother watched it and it was definitely a show that someone like myself would watch, I didn’t bother with it. My coworker/friend convinced me to start watching it and I was hooked from the miniseries that started it all and berated myself for taking so long to get into it. I quickly caught up with it and by the time the second part of second season started, I was ready. Not every episode has been perfect but overall, it’s been a great show. It was so much more than just a science fiction series.

Here are some random moments/things from the series (SPOILERS!) that ‘got’ me in one way or another (not comprehensive by any means):

-The fact that only around 50,000 people in the entire human race were left after the initial cylon attack in the miniseries.

-Bill Adama’s rousing speech in the miniseries that he WILL lead them to Earth. So Say We All! (although he didn’t really believe an Earth existed).

- That President Roslin’s justice involved ejecting a cylon out of an airlock.

-Boomer completely unexpectedly shooting Bill Adama after a successful mission when he was going to shake her hand.

-In the episode ‘Downloaded’- finding out that Caprica Six saw a vision of Gaius Baltar the same way Baltar would would see a vision of Caprica Six.

-The entire rebellion on New Caprica - I particularly remember when Roslin was being held captive and Baltar insisting that there was no torture being conducted.

-Galactica’s rescue mission on New Caprica. Oh man, the part where Galactica descended and then jumped out? Whoa.

-The reveal of 4 of the 5 final cylons.

-Realizing that the Earth they have been searching for was a radioactive wasteland.

-Dualla blowing her brains out after a pleasant evening with Lee to avoid dealing with the above point.

-The role of All Along the Watchtower.

-The fact that Kara Thrace had known the notes to the above since she was a little girl.

Maybe I didn’t entirely get everything that happened in the series finale but I was still pretty satisfied with the way things turned out.

Also, I just want to say that I loved the relationships in BSG, especially the father/daughter one of Bill Adama and Kara Thrace.

Oh, and…

Least Favorite Episode: Black Market

Salaam all, I know it’s been a while. After 8 months of not having a job, I started work again just last week. It’s been interesting. By the time I get home, I only really have a couple of hours to do what I want to do before it’s time to go to sleep and start the whole work day process all over again.

However, while I really treasured my time off after I quit my last job, it’s really nice to get back to work and have a structured schedule to work around. Oh, and paychecks are cool too

I started last week, which coincided with a 3 day off-site thing for my department. The first day, we had a scavenger hunt around Jack London square (which was really cool) and the next couple of days were a mix of presentations, free food, and team building activities. I always thought the idea of team building was hokey. I mean, c’mon, y’know? But in reality, not only did the activities we did allowed for more insight about who our coworkers really are, but the activities themselves turned out to be good metaphors for work related issues. And while I got to know my coworkers, I found that it was really easy for me to just be myself and let everyone get to know me.

So work is going well so far. There’s a lot of stuff to learn but it helps that I’m working with some pretty cool people. And I totally don’t mind that I’m working on 3 projects already (seriously folks, the day flies by when you’re busy). In the end, I really am grateful that I was able to find a job in a time of such economic turmoil. I’ll try to make the most of it, InshAllah, and be aware of how lucky I am.

Oh and cousin, if you’re reading this, sorry for the large gaps in between posts.

Lately, I’ve been trying to learn more about photography. This entails becoming one with my entry level SLR and messing around with the settings to see what works and what doesn’t. The other night, I went to a spoken word/hip hop event sponsored by a Muslim organization at a cafe in Berkeley and thought it would be a perfect time to bring my external flash into the mix since I haven’t had too much of an opportunity to work with that.

Things didn’t quite work that way. Y’see, I was sort of tasked with taking pictures of the event.

I really didn’t mind but the fact that these pictures needed to come out well meant that I couldn’t afford to mess around. I wasn’t sure what the optimal settings with the external flash would be. Therefore, I *cough* kept the settings on automatic. Not only that, but I was so nervous about getting good pictures, I took about 400. I know, I know, but what could I do.

I really need to read up more on photography.

DJ March the 5th doing his thing

For those of you who don’t know, Dish Network offers a variety of international channels that many Pakistani and Indians in the West salivate over. We have about 3 or 4 of those channels ourselves, as my mom watches a lot of Pakistani dramas. The siblings and I don’t really care for these dramas because they seem to be about the same thing all the time, family and relationships, and portray those in a manner that have all of us shaking our heads in disbelief as my mom says “Hota hai, hota hai.” (It happens, it happens).

I happened to be downstairs one morning when my mom was watching a Pakistani drama so I ended up watching a bit of it as I was eating my breakfast. The scene that was playing out before me depicted a woman in a hospital bed with her brother by her side. Apparently, this woman’s parents had forced her to marry this one guy who turned out to be abusive, which was why she was in the hospital. Her brother told her everything was going to be ok and in the next scene, he was with a lawyer to discuss getting her sister out of the marriage. Here’s what the lawyer said:

“Well, as the girl, she can’t initiate a divorce, but we’ll try to figure something out.”

HUH?

Horrified, I said to my mom: “What?! That’s not right!”

And it’s true. Islam specifically provides women’s rights in this area, granting them the ability to ask for a divorce. AND Pakistan is a Muslim country.

My mom said, speaking of the girl in the drama: “When they performed the nikah [marriage] and signed the papers, they crossed out the line that said she could initiate a divorce.”

I was a bit dumbfounded at that statement. My mom then told me something crazier - that’s what it was like on her nikah papers as well. For some reason my mom had only seen that it was crossed off recently, when she happened to be looking at these papers. She had no idea that the line had been crossed off on the papers when she had signed.

Unbelievable. I had no idea this kind of practice was being perpetuated in Pakistan, a so-called Muslim country. Islam gave women many rights which, even in this day and age, the country is refusing to recognize.

I’m really disappointed in Pakistani dramas.They have an opportunity to teach and to inform the masses that things could be different, that this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. They’re modern in every other sense, their clothes, actions, etc. (I’m pretty shocked sometimes), and yet they can’t recognize that taking away this fundamental right negates all their other methods to be modern and sets them back instead. I’m still horrified.