24 September, 2006

Last Thursday...

Last Thursday...

Hearing churches' bills tolling for a wedding at sunset in webdeh,

Meeting my best friend for the 1st time in 2 months, with 4 years of nice memories passing in my head in the moments we were approaching each other smiling,

Hearing the sounds of Athan for the evening prayers and its echoes in a moment of absolute silence,

all those made me think .... deep, very deep...
“Thinking” liquefies some tears in the eye,
“Thinking” awakens a karma in the spirit,
“Thinking” strengthens your belief,
“Thinking” sharps the quality of your life, and your vision in it.

I do really need such Thursdays! Because I “Think”!

21 September, 2006

Amy Lee telling us about "The Open Door" meanings

Look what I found on VH1 via a fan blog out there! amy lee telling us about the meanings of the tracks in “The Open Door”

"I couldn't have written this album four years ago," admits Amy Lee, as she takes a breather from recording at http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/evanescence/artist.jhtml?extPop=popVspot%281540915,107964%29. "I couldn't have played it four years ago. I've grown a lot as a musician and a singer. I'm challenging myself a lot more."


"Sweet Sacrifice"
The dynamic opener, all chugging riffs and vocal arabesques. Evanescence is back.
It's the one song on The Open Door that's about the same abusive relationship which was the source of all the songs on Fallen. It was appropriate to put this song at the beginning, but it comes from a much stronger standpoint than Fallen. It's not saying, "I'm trapped in fear and somebody save me." It's saying, "Fear is only in our minds ... I'm not afraid anymore."

"Call Me When You're Sober"
Lee plays the woman scorned. Key lyric: "Must be exhausting to lose your own game."
It's very obvious who it's about. I know that people would read between the lines and think it's about my ex-boyfriend Shaun Morgan [of Seether], but I wanted to be completely clear. I needed so bad to say exactly what I was feeling for so long. Music is therapy for me. It's my outlet for every negative thing I've ever been through. It lets me turn something bad into something beautiful.

"Weight of the World"
A relentless rocker with Eastern motifs and distorted vocals.
I live for the rock songs. With the line-up changing, I think a lot of people thought it would be more of the "My Immortal" stuff. But "My Immortal" was Ben [Moody]'s song! I was always trying to pull us in a crazier direction. Songs like "Weight of the World" and "Sweet Sacrifice" and "All That I'm Living For" are so amazing to me because of the adrenaline. Especially when we play them live.

"Lithium"
"Don't want to forget the fear of lithium." One of several songs Lee sings in a lower register.
I wrote the chorus on the guitar when I was about 16. I always thought it was a cool chorus, but I never used it for anything. I started playing it on the piano and the verses came out. I have a pile of pieces stowed away in my mind that maybe I'll use some day. In a way it's an old song, but not really. It grew up.

"Cloud Nine"
A vocal tour de force, using strings, studio effects and Lee's own layered moaning.
It's about breaking up. There are a lot of relationship struggles on the record. I always write about what I was feeling, because then it's genuine. I was struggling with a relationship and felt like a waste of space. The first lyric says it all, "If you want to live, let live/ If you want to go, let go/ What are we doing here?/ Because I can live without you."

"Snow White Queen"
Industrial beats usher in one of Lee's most powerful vocal performances.
I went through some weird experiences with stalkers. It's weird how it works. My lyrics are so intimate that people feel like they really know me, and I don't know them at all. My privacy had been completely invaded and there were a couple of nights where I couldn't stay at my house. So I wrote a song about it through the eyes of the stalker, and with my perspective, too.

"Lacrymosa"
It means "related to sadness." Which becomes obvious when you hear it.
I saw Amadeus when I was nine years old and fell in love with Mozart. The part of Mozart's Requiem called "Lacrymosa" is my favorite piece of music ever. I always wished we could cover it, but with programming and guitars and make it cool. It's our moment to try all the things I wanted to and couldn't, so I started messing with it in Protools. Terry wrote some riffs and turned it into this awesome metal epic.

"Like You"
Tense, mournful ... and the closest The Open Door gets to Fallen's world-beating ballads.
"Like You" is maybe the most intimate song on the record. It was about losing my little sister when I was a child. On the last record, I wrote "Hello" about her. "Like You" is her place on this record.

"Lose Control"
"You don't remember my name, I don't really care." The anger's in the music.
Terry uses a lot of delay and noises. His guitar playing is really creepy! He also uses a lot of half-step two chords, which I love. I felt like I wasn't really allowed to use stuff like that before, because Ben didn't like it. But songs like "Lose Control" go from C to a C sharp, back and forth. I love those. It's that Portishead influence.

"The Only One"
Like Sarah McLachlan if she was singing in the ninth circle of hell.
The song is about some of my experiences as a teenager with close-mindedness. I thought the people around me seemed lost in a world that I really didn't belong in. It's kind of spiritual. We originally called the track "Tuna Afternoon," because I made tuna noodle casserole that day. We still call the song "Tuna Afternoon." Sometimes it's hard to get past that working title.

"Your Star"
The jet-propelled coda was inspired by Terry Balsamo's Pantera fixation.
A couple of years ago, I felt so alone that I was dreading going on tour. We had just arrived in Lisbon and I was in my room feeling jet-lagged, weird and tired. I had just been home where I could see the stars at night. But when I looked out the hotel window in Lisbon, I couldn't see anything because we were in this big city. That was the last straw. I felt so depressed, I just started singing this song.

"All That I'm Living For"
An opening salvo of guitars keeps up the momentum, in spite of Lee's delicate delivery.
I love that song. It feels really different for us. The lyrics are about my writing process-how I put the song together, why I do it, and how I'm trying to fix all the things that are wrong with me through music. The first line says, "Save me from the night again/ I can feel the separation from the living." It's always night time when I start writing, just as the dusk is setting.

"Good Enough"
I'm okay, you're okay. All pianos and gentle vocals, ending the album on a hopeful note.
I had gone through a lot of difficult things during the writing of the whole album, and by the end of it, I had stepped away from those bad situations. That's really hard. You have to be really brave and strong about it. After doing that, I felt so amazing. For the first time I felt like I could write a song based on how good I felt. I have never done that before ever.

Source: VH1, via Evanescence The Open Door Blog

18 September, 2006

An Interesting Australian Visitor :)

I woke up today with a huge visit to the blog, by someone from australia, a 10 minute visit with over 35 hits !!!

The Visitor's Info:
Referring Link: http://www.jordanplanet.net/
IP Address: 59.100.14.14
Country: Australia
Region: Queensland
City: Richmond
ISP: Aapt Limited
Visit Length 10 mins 48 secs

The visit navigation path:






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Pope is not Christianity, and Muslims are reacting on Christianity!

It wasn't enough that the pope, by the name of who wants and who doesn't from whom he claims to be representing along with the Vatican, declared that Islam is an aggressive religion... but Muslims their selfs worked, as a reaction on his comments, to prove exactly what was commented by him!

I mean, what even more stupid can be, the reaction of some stupid Palestinians (that claim Islam on their side) by throwing bombs in the churches and cathedrals of Palestine, where the massive majority of Christians, as in any other Arab country, are Orthodox, who do not even believe in the right of the Vatican and their pope to represent Christianity as a religion!

And do Palestinians really need more conflict than what they are already in! The conflict with Israel, the internal governmental conflict, the internal groups (cause political parties do not act like Hamas and Fateh do for sure!) conflict, and do we really need now a religious conflict?! SIGH!

Loads and loads of people, and organizations commented on the popes speech the other day like if the pope and its Vatican is representing Christianity and Christians all over the world! A thing that is absolutely wrong! Because all eastern Europe countries' (including the greatest Russian) Orthodox patriarchies for example deny the rights of the Vatican and their pope to represent Christianity and Christians, that is as far as the european church is concerned. While the oldest 3 churches of the world: The eastern orthodox church (in Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon), the Egyptian Coptic church, and the Syriani Orthodox Church (in northern Syria, Antakia, and turkey in general) all deny the Vatican's right to represent Christianity, and the way its representing it. And those last 3 mentioned here have been living side by side with Islam for the past 1400 years ... so why now, are some of us, Muslims, taking such ugly reactions against Christianity rather than the Vatican as a fake entity for Christianity, that was generated by the mid-age centuries rulers, and re-empowered by todays huge powers of the worlds!

If the action taken by the Vatican's pope was wrong, then the reaction on it taken by some Muslims was worst. Its just a game of teasing, and some stupid people easily dropped into the hole!

10 September, 2006

Evanescence's New Album in FULL, THIS TUESDAY on RJ FM 96.3



Yes, The Open Door, Evanescence's latest album will be featured in full THIS TUESDAY, starting 10 PM on Radio Jordan FM, on the middle of the road show with Dj Safana Bustami.

The album is being feature exactly ONE MONTH before its release in the market, and exclusively in the region on Radio Jordan FM.

This Demonstrational airplay is most probably a policy to get stringth back to evanescence, similar policy was used with System of Adown's album Masmerize, which was out of stock in Prime megastore for example right from the 1st day of its availability due to the high popularity it had on Radio Jordan before its official release and availability in the Jordanian Market

07 September, 2006

The Trip in photos

As previously promised , here are some photos from the trip i concluded by bus to romania.

This photo illustrates the only building that can be seen from the air in bucharest, the romanian capital, its the ex-communist leader (Cheaushesku)'s palace. in case you dont know, the only building that can be seen from the air in amman is Le Royal Hotel.



This is just outside the building where i live in romania, you look to the right & you find this.... any one missed some greenary in jordan :)


Romanians, the rich ones out of them really do care about getting a "Cool" car, just like this one :)


& Since my trip was by bus, I have took lots of photos from turkey, since the trip includes around 1600 Kms accross turkey.

This is Antakia's new bus station, in the inside of the station, its not big, for a small city in southern turkey and only 50 Kms away from syria, but its too neat & nice!



This is the bus I travelled with in Turkey, A Mercedes Intouro .. & Yes, with HAS, the company linked out here. & Yes, thats a personal 4-channel Audio System :)


Istanbul Bus station is another success in the Turkish transport system, it has 2 levels! the people get their buses from the 2nd floor :) this is the station from the inner side, where cars and taxi's are allowed, on the other side from this circulatic building the buses park in their lanes.




This is Mercedes Travego, the most luxurious coach bus mercedes ever made



Taking some pics of istanbul, this is how the asian side looks from over the bridge on the bosphors.

whilist, this is the european side,

& This is the bosphors, also in the photo the 2nd bridge over this piece of narrow sea, and Fatih's castle, which was the 1st place he gained in europe in his battels with the bizantian emperor.


Istanbul of course is a typical european city after all, with loads of high buildings


from harem on the asian side, ordinary turkish people take the fairy boat to the european side, istanbul is that big so that getting to the bridge will take alot of time, not forgetting the money, and the bridge tax in case of having a personal car.

also taken from harem, this is an oversea view of topkapi palace, which was the center residence for the otoman rulers, appearing in the picture is SultanAhmed's mosque, and Aya Sofia cathedral, which was built also as a mosque-alike architecture.



in istanbul, there are 100s of bus routes, and no supporting information system for them! simply everyone knows what bus to take anywhere, this is what is called an urban public transportation friendly community.
beside the euro standard urban buses, those turkish made "OTOKAR" are also in use


& last but not least, the radio airwaves around turkey are soooooooooooooooooo jammed, the TV as well with around 95 TV stations working in turkey.

just have a look for a hill in istanbul & u'll know what i mean.

06 September, 2006

Ads making visual polution in Bucharest

I guess most of you right now know what the term "Visual Polution" means ... Ads, Ads, and yet more Ads .... everywhere!

in case you thought amman is full of ads ... then have a look at Bucharest, Romania's capital city.

UglY!

Probably the most annoying thing i saw was what is in the next photo... Ads sheets covering buildings faces and windows! UGLY!

old historic buildings that are 100 years old or more, instead of being reinovated, they are used as spaces for ads... this building in the photo is being used and located!



Here you can see what is called, Ad Poles, they became more like Ad shawerma,since those advertisers dont even have time to remove whats on it, they just STICK IT!






Now can you believe this is one of bucharest's biggest shopping centers, that has been there since the communists were ruling, Unirea Shopping center has been reinovated from the inside and the outside with a modern face of tined glass and fibers ... but look! its now an Ads huge panel .... some times you cant even figure out there is a building behind there.

Tuning in home!

While I was in Romania (by the way, I got back from there in case you didnt know, just several days ago, by bus as well of course).. I had the chance to get my hands on a SOLO 500 TECHNO-IASI radio that was made during the 1970s.

The over 30 years old radio “instrument” was made by TECHNO-IASI in the city of IASI (spelled IASH) – Romania.

The radio receives ( still ... ) broadcasts on 4 bands, including SW (The Short wave) which is entitled by the communist culture at that time on the radio as (The US band!), most probably because the western Short wave band was the way the west was broadcasting for the USSR and Eastern Europe's nations through radio stations like Radio Free Europe, the BBC, VOA, and others.

Anyway, I used this 30 years old radio that i found in some friends radio in the romanian country side to tune in home throughout the shortwave SW... and, I succeeded :)

I was able to hear the 2 PM news from Radio Jordan's Arabic Broadcasting throughout an SW frequency that i didnt know its orientation, because the signal was some how weak. (In case you do not know, Radio Jordan Broadcasting's Arabic Service broadcasts on over 9 SW frequencies at different time of the day for different regions of the planet), and heard several “Jordanian” songs after the news including “Bel 3askaria” by Bashar Al-Sar7an :)

Laters on, around 4 PM in the evening, I switched the frequency to SW 11690 Khz, and bingo, its my favorite radio station in Jordan, Radio Jordan FM (or well, not that FM using SW), didnt really expect to get it with such an old radio, especially that 11690 Khz is oriented towards Western Europe & North America, whilst I was able to get it in a good-V.good signal in easter Romania, just around 150 Kms from the ex USSR frontiers! Interesting :)

It was really nice to tune in for 3.5 hours to our home station (Jordan FM) internationally on the SW, and it was even nicer to hear lots of great tracks from the 70s till the latest exclusive hits on Jordan FM, tracks that are that new so that no radio station in Romania even “know” about it!

And on SW! Again, its Short WAVE! Amazing!

And really made me proud!

Just for your information, I was able to get in addition to the 2 Jordanian radio station: BBC Arabic (Of course), Radio Cairo, Radio Quran of Saudi Arabia, and an Iraqi-lengo speaking radio station (Not really sure if its the Iraqi government's, or VOA's, or the kurds, or maybe Iran's!)