by Natasha Tynes | Apr 22, 2005 | Everyday me!, Media watch
I’m not in the best of moods today and I have this irresistible urge to lash out at something. I think I will just go ahead and slam this commercial that runs constantly on Arabic satellite channels. It is a well-crafted ad for a lotion that makes women "fair" and "lovely."
I personally think this ad should be banned due to its racist nature. Arab Women activists — if they really care — should follow in the footsteps of their counterparts in India and get this advertisement banned forever.
For those who have not seen the ad, here is the gist of it: A women who is ‘not that white’ decides to become "fair and lovely" by applying this lotion to her face. After she becomes "lovely" she gets a job as an interviewer on an Arabic satellite channel. The ad concludes with the woman’s mom shedding tears of joy as she watches her daughter on TV.
The theme song of this outrageous piece of advertisement sings "achieve your dream on your own." I’m assuming the dream in this case is to become white enough to get a job as a TV presenter at one of the major Arabic networks. If this is not racist I don’t know what is. I guess it goes back to the mentality found among many in the region: "fair" is beautiful.
In this part of the globe, fair women are always the best candidates for marriage and fair babies are always cuter than their darker kin. In a nutshell, if you are dark, you are cursed. I know this sounds outrageous but sadly enough this attitude is widespread. Let’s ban this ad!
by Natasha Tynes | Apr 21, 2005 | Jordan, my nation, Media watch
A Jordanian national is suing U.S. cable’s CNN for scaring him by reporting an earthquake could strike in Jordan. The CNN report said a massive earthquake measuring 9 on the Richter scale might destroy Jordan, causing panic among many Jordanians, the lawsuit charged.
"Since CNN enjoys large credibility among the Jordanian audience, the law suitor took the report titled ‘Bye Bye Amman’ very seriously and was in a state of panic for several days," the lawsuit said. CNN Amman coordinator Mohammed Assaad told UPI he did not receive any court notification about the case.
Source: [Pittsburg Tribune Review]
Did anyone see this report? Was it really that scary? I remember reading some reports in the Jordanian press refuting allegations of an upcoming earthquake in Jordan. I guess they came in response to this controversial report that aired on CNN.
by Natasha Tynes | Apr 20, 2005 | Doha affairs, Film, Shutterbug
Because of our tight time table, we were only able to sit for one documentary in the Alajzeeara documentary festival. The one we saw was a Radio Canada production entitled: Maher Arar, detailing the story of a Canadian/Syrian citizen who was arrested and deported to Syira on suspicion of belonging to al-Qaeda. Unfortunatley the film was absolutely crap. Technically, it was very poor and the content was sensationalist, unbalanced and lacked any real deep research. I hated it!
Nevertheless, the outing itself had a wonderful upside, as we were sitting one row in front of famous Egyptian actor Nour Al Sharif. I got really excited when I saw him sitting right behind us so I jumped up from my seat and asked if I could take a picture with him. He was very sweet and extremely down-to-earth. We even shared the same popcorn while waiting for the movie to start. I think I should write this down: I munched on popcorn with Nour al-Sharif. Here is a picture taken via Amal and her Nokia mobile.
by Natasha Tynes | Apr 19, 2005 | Doha affairs, Media watch
Aljazeera’s documentary film festival might be one of the most exciting things that happens in Doha. Documentaries from across the world are being shown here and it is all gratis. Instead of making sure to watch every single one of them, I’m home blogging about the event from far way.
Life has been very hectic lately for us, for reasons that I will explain in a future post. Time is not on our side. We are struggling to finish a very long list of things to do before the end of this month, which will mark the end of our Doha stint here. I will reveal more details in an upcoming post, I promise.
by Natasha Tynes | Apr 18, 2005 | Doha affairs
I found this in the Gulf Times today:
Heavy penalties are expected to be imposed on the violators of the new law prohibiting the use of child jockeys in camel races, said Dr Ghalia bint Mohamed bin Hamad al-Thani, member of UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The warning is intended to deter any possible offences at "private" races. Dr Ghalia told reporters yesterday that the new regulation banning child jockeys had stemmed out of Qatar’s respect to the children’s basic rights, saying that she played a role in drafting the law, putting an end to the use of child jockeys in Qatar.
I guess this explains why the officials at the camel race freaked out when we took pictures of the jockeys last week.
I’m not in the best of moods today and I have this irresistible urge to lash out at something. I think I will just go ahead and slam this commercial that runs constantly on Arabic satellite channels. It is a well-crafted ad for a lotion that makes women "fair" and "lovely." 
