Bushra’s Blog

A couple of months ago, I was sitting in the living room over at the Kimchi Ninja’s, place hanging out with a few people when I was asked if I wanted to watch America’s Best Dance Crew.

“What’s America’s Best Dance Crew?” I asked. I almost thought they were joking as that couldn’t possibly be the name of a real TV show.

There was a pause as everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me.

“You don’t know what America’s Best Dance Crew is?” someone asked. I don’t remember who but everyone was thinking the same thing so what does it matter.

I went home later, confused about this show I never heard of. I chalked it up as some random show that only my friend and a handful of people watched.

That was the first time I ever heard about the show. Turns out, it wouldn’t be the last time.

The next day I turned on the TV as background noise as I worked on my laptop and MTV was showing America’s Best Dance Crew. My sister came home later that day and mentioned that she wanted to watch America’s Best Dance Crew, which was on the DVR. Later, I found out another good friend watched the show. The whole world was watching ABDC but me. It’s like no one ever told me because they knew I would make fun of the show before grudgingly accepting that it was good.

Before I knew it, I was hooked too.

I became quite attached to one crew in particular, Supreme Soul. Not only were they from the Bay Area but I really like their style. A couple of weeks ago, they were booted off so I dedicated my voting efforts to make sure that the other crew I thought was cool, Super Crew, would not suffer the same fate - getting voted off the show while other mediocre crews stayed on.

Last night was a pivotal episode as Super Crew was pitted against Fanny Pak to determine who would get to go on to the next show. Meanwhile, the third crew, So Real Cru, was already safe as they had the most votes despite the fact that they are not as good as the other two crews. A travesty as this was entirely unfair.

Both crews danced awesomely last night and despite the fact that I was favoring Super Crew, I thought for sure that the judges would pick Fanny Pak to move on to the finals. But they went with Super Crew. I was happy to see Super Crew move on but sad that this was the end for Fanny Pak.

Until next week…

Vote for Super Crew folks. They MUST win over So Real Cru.

The following includes views on death and religion so if you’re not interested in either subject (which is fine) step away from the entry…

Yesterday, my brother in law’s (Vasim’s) father passed away. He’s had some sort of cancer for a few years now and in these past few months, he took a turn for the worse. He finally succumbed to his sickness yesterday after being bedridden for a while. He had suffered quite a bit all the way up until the end.

We have this thing in Islam that 1) everything happens for a reason, even if you can’t see why and 2) and any kind of suffering endured in this life - which could be something as simple as hurting yourself when walking into a door - is less suffering one has to go through in the afterlife for his/her sins.

Trust me when I say that the above makes dealing with things a lot easier.

At the funeral prayer yesterday, people were making the obvious comments of comparing him to my dad - their sicknesses, how it all ended, etc. I understand that it’s not always about my dad and he’s not the father to die and all that, but I just couldn’t help thinking about him yesterday and missing him so much.

I remember that when my dad died, I took solace in the fact that he wasn’t suffering anymore. It was so hard to see what he had become in a span of 3 months and I knew he hated it. The only way I was even able to deal with what was happening to him was my belief that things happen for a reason and therefore there was some reason he had to endure his tumor and subsequent suffering.

I saw Vasim’s mom yesterday and my heart went out to her. It will be a while for her and her family to be able to move on. I wish their family the best right now and hope that things get better for them, InshAllah (God willing).

I never thought myself much of a baby/little kid person until my nephew was born a bit more than two years ago. I remember being at the hospital, looking at this baby and overwhelmed by the fact that he was my nephew. He fell asleep in my arms the first time I held him. Two years and a few hundred pictures of Raza later, he has grown into quite the cute kid.

And now, we all have to deal with his ‘tude.

Yesterday, I spent more time with Raza than I had in a while and discovered a few things that seemed to have come up just recently: He doesn’t like being called “baby” and he really does not like being laughed at, two things that didn’t seem to be a problem just a few weeks ago for his Bushra Khala (Aunt Bushra) to do.

So yesterday he and my sister were over at our place and I was hanging out with Raza when he picked up something off the floor. Realizing he was going to stick it in his mouth at some point, I asked for it. He gave it to me but then asked for it back soon after. I pretended not to have it and he took my hand and checked it thoroughly. He asked me where it was and I feigned ignorance.

“I don’t know,” I told him, shrugging my shoulders. He then looked at me with a knowing smile, and said, “Bushra Khala use magic?”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed. Then something completely unexpected happened: he took offense. His brow furrowed and he walked away from me towards my sister. He pointed a finger at me and said “baby!” as an insult and proceeded to seek comfort with my sister. I apologized but he continued to ignore me and after following him around for a while I told him that every time he does something and apologizes, I accept the apology right away. And yet, he doesn’t accept my apology? (I had fake tears in my eyes at this point). He looked at me, said “sorry” and gave me a hug.

All was well.

I made a mental note that he can now tell when I’m mocking him.

A while later, my sister said something about bubbles so I chipped in with a “Bubbles is a character in The Wire”. Raza comes up to me and says “Bushra Khala, can you show me the bubbles in the water?” It was obvious he misheard me. So I laughed.

Oops.

It took me a while to get back in his good graces again.

I watched Batman: Gotham Knight last night. This is the third movie in the recent trend of straight-to-DVD animated features from DC Comics and Warner Brothers. This is how I would rate the movies thus far:

-Superman: Doomsday - Only ok. However, it was at least better than Superman Returns (but seriously, what wasn’t?)
-Justice League: New Frontier - Better
-Batman: Gotham Knight - AWESOME

The movie is broken up into 6 stories, each drawn by different animators, which are self contained yet interconnected:

-Have I Got A Story for You
-Crossfire
-Field Test
-In Darkness Dwells
-Working Through Pain
-Deadshot

Timeline wise, the film falls after Batman Begins and before the upcoming The Dark Knight. The 6 stories are in chronological order, as this is not a Tarantino movie, and bring together a film in which Gotham City is still trying to get used to a vigilante in a Bat costume and Bruce Wayne is getting used to being Batman. Therefore these stories represent different aspects of Batman: how Gothamites view him, how the police view him, and how he views himself.

Although it does tie in with the two live action films, don’t look at this animated film as a method the production studios can capitalize on the attention Batman is getting with the upcoming feature film. There is an emphasis on quality storytelling here and combined with the stellar animation that utilizes the Japanese anime style, Batman: Gotham Knight is easily on par with Batman Begins and the upcoming The Dark Knight, which is already drawing raves.

As an aside, I was a bit distracted while watching the first story because its plot was the same as an episode of Batman: The Animated Series in which Gotham City kids talk about their stories of Batman. In the episode, each kid’s account was wildly different and conflicted with each other. Before I could pat myself on the back for making the connection, I found out that this particular episode, Legends of the Dark Knight, is included on the special edition DVD.

Highly Recommended.

By the way, this doesn’t mean that I have lost my love for Superman who still ranks as my favorite superhero. I’m still allowed to appreciate Batman, especially because this character always seems to have the best animated series and movies connected to him. I have to admit though, in my mind Kevin Conroy is Batman so when he doesn’t provide the voice acting, as he doesn’t in WB’s The Batman, I won’t bother watching it. However, everything else has almost consistently been great (ok, maybe not Batman: Sub Zero as much but even that was still pretty good).

Until next time (which I believe is Wonder Woman)…

A few months ago, I bought my first SLR because I really like taking pictures and I wanted to go beyond my point and shoot. So I got an entry level Canon SLR and while I have not spent too much time learning all the functions, I look forward to using my camera when I can - like at weddings I attend, etc - to improve my picture taking skills. I understand that I still have a long ways to go. This point is important because here’s the thing…

I was at Santa Cruz for my sister’s annual 4th of July BBQ and took my camera. One of my brother in law’s friends seemed to have serious issues with the other people who had SLRs. He was walking around, carrying his own camera and feeling threatened by the other people with SLRs. I overheard him saying “…and Bushra has one and [other person] has one.., etc”

I felt like I had to make him feel better about himself by telling him that my SLR is an entry level model and that I’m still figuring it out. He tested out my camera, changing around the settings, and snapped a few pictures. We talked about lenses for a bit and I tried to reassure him that yes, he knows more about cameras than me and that I’m not pretending to be some renowned photographer. I just like taking pictures.

I only took a few shots that night. I ended the night with a few pictures of the beach and sand in my camera. I just like taking pictures folks. I don’t fancy myself as an actual photographer because I’m not. I won’t pretend to be something I’m not. Really, I swear.

David Pogue over at New York Times has questions and answers about the new iPhone. It makes for good reading.

A few highlights:

-People with the first iPhone are in fact eligible for an upgrade to the iPhone 3G and can therefore pay the low price of $200 versus the “I don’t want a 2 year contract” $600

-The unlimited data plan for the iPhone 3G is $30 per month. 200 text messages will cost the user an additional $5 a month. The plan for the previous iPhone is $20 for unlimited data per month, which includes 200 text messages. All of this is in addition to the voice plan, of course.

-You can pass on your old iPhone to a family member.

I meant to post about an issue close to my heart a while ago…

Netflix will soon be abandoning separate profile queues for one account.

This is absolutely ridiculous because it is such an awesome feature. You see, I only want one movie at a time. Back when I had my own account and was receiving 3 movies at a time, I realized it was a bit much for me. So, I canceled my account and started my own profile on my brother’s account, only receiving one movie at a time, which suited my tastes. My brother and I did not have to compete as to who’s movie got to ship next. Instead, he was doing his own thing with his one queue and I was doing my own thing with my own queue. When I returned a movie, the next film in my queue would ship. The movie would arrive with my name on it.

Anyways, you get the picture.

But after September 1, my queue and profile will simply go away.The queues will not even be merged. I don’t want to resort to competing for movies. My brother said that I can make my own account again and only do the 1 movie at a time option. Not only will that be a pain, but it will also be a bit more expensive than just getting that 1 more movie from my brother’s account.

Not cool, Netflix. Not cool.

David Pogue of the New York Times discusses this in his blog here.

UPDATE: Due to the overwhelming number of complaints, Netflix has decided to keep the profiles feature. Woohoo! This means I can go back to mooching off of my brother’s account.

So here’s the thing - I don’t really consider myself a geek. Maybe halfway there, but not really. However, compared to some people, my ‘normal’ would be considered incredibly geeky.

Case in point:

I was hanging out with my good friend Noureen the other day. I went for lunch with her and her husband Kamran when the discussion came to the Sex and the City Movie. The two of them liked it while I had never seen it or the show it was based off of. They talked about the character Samantha, who I know to be Kim Catrall so I just offered my take on her:

Me: “Yeah, I just know her as the Vulcan in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”
Kamran: “She was in that show?”
Me: “No, just in the movie.”
Kamran: “Was she an alien?”
Me: “She was a Vulcan.”
Noureen: “What did she look like?”
Me: “She was a Vulcan.”
Kamran: “Yeah, but what did she look like.”
Me: “She was a Vulcan.”
Noureen: “Vul…can?”

I mentally slapped my forehead at that point. I kept on repeating “Vulcan” because I assumed they would know what kind of character she played based off of that one word description.
“She had pointy ears.” I finally said.
“Ohhh,” they both responded. Now they got it.

Note to self: Not everyone knows anything about Star Trek so don’t assume they do.

Update: The Kimchi Ninja conducted a poll to discover if the general public knows who Vulcans are.

Yahoo published an article today about airport scanners:

Scanners that see though clothing installed in US airports

They have one of these at SFO. My sister was told to go through it when she was on her way to Egypt but argued her way out of it. I saw the massive scanner as I made my way through security when I was going to England, wondering what I was going to do or say if they said I had to go through it.

Luckily for me, I just got a pat down.

I have to admit, these scanners scare me a bit because of all the detail they give. My brother was wondering what the big deal was when we were discussing it a while ago and I was like, dude, don’t you know how intrusive these things are?

According to the article, a lot of activist groups have issues with it as well:

“People have no idea how graphic the images are,” Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program at the American Civil Liberties Union, told AFP.

The ACLU said in a statement that passengers expecting privacy underneath their clothing “should not be required to display highly personal details of their bodies such as evidence of mastectomies, colostomy appliances, penile implants, catheter tubes and the size of their breasts or genitals as a pre-requisite to boarding a plane.”

Fortunately, you can apparently choose between the scanner or the pat down if security singles you out.

USA! USA!

Over at PC World, there is a list of the top 100 “tech gems” as picked and voted on by PC World editors and readers. For no special reason whatsoever, I went down the list and picked out the sites/tech products that I either utilize or have used a bit.

1. Hulu - I have used once or twice.
2. Apple iPhone
3. Facebook - Ok, ok, I admit I’m on Facebook. Happy?!
4. Windows XP - still on my HP laptop!
9. Rock Band - I don’t have it but I’ve definitely played it.
10. Wikipedia - I heart this
11. Netflix
14. Craigslist
17. Apple Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard - Came pre-installed on my Macbook Pro
19. Twitter
21. Mozilla Firefox 3
22. Safari (mobile browser, free) - makes browsing the internet on the iPhone just like real life!
23. NPR.org - Although I admit I don’t visit as much as I should
25. Google Maps (Street View)
26. Apple Macbook Pro (Penryn series) - My first Mac!
30. Flickr
41. Google Gmail
46. Yelp.com
48. The Consumerist - This blog recently earned a place in my RSS Feeds.
52. NYTimes.com - I probably visit the tech page the most.
81. Youtube - Hasn’t everyone used this site?
90. Ubuntu Linux - I’ll be installing this on my HP any day now…
92. Digg
99. Lifehacker - Once again, I added to my RSS Feeds not to long ago