SNL - Chronicles of Narnia Rap

I watched SNL after a long time this past weekend and they had this one really creative and ridiculously hilarious skit with Chris Parnell and with a new face, Andy Samberg. It was a rap video about their venture to go see the Chronicles of Narnia. I thought it was very original and well written and coincidentally my brother found it online at youtube.com, I urge it's everyone to see it! LINK

I found the lyrics posted online:

Lazy Sunday
Lazy Sunday, Wake in the late afternoon
Call Parnell just to see how he’s doin’
Hello? What up Parn? Yo, Samburg what’s crackin’?
You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’? NARNIA—man it’s happ’nin’
But first my hunger pangs I’ll stick it like duct tape
We’ll hit up Magnolia And mac on some cupcakes
No doubt, that bakery’s got all the bomb frostings
I love those cupcakes like McAdams loves Gosling

Two no six no twelve — baker’s dozen!
I told you that I'm crazy for these cup-cakes cousin
Yo where's the movie playing? Upper West Side dude.
Well let's hit up Yahoo Maps to find the dopest route.
I prefer Mapquest. That's a good one too!
Google maps is the best. True dat, double true!

68th and broadway, step on it sucka!
What ya wanna do Chris? Snack attack, motha-fucka!

Yo stop at the deli, the theater's over-priced,
you got the backpack, gonna pack it up nice,
don't want security to get suspicious,
Mr. Pibb and Red Vines equals crazy delicious!
I reach in my pocket, pull out some dough,
girl acted like she never seen a 10 befo'
It's all about the Hamilton's baby!
Throw the snacks in a bag, and I'm ghost like Swayze.

Roll up to the theater, ticket-buyin while we're handling,
you can call us Aaron Burns, from the way we're dropping Hamiltons,
Punks in our seats Movie trivia’s the illest
What friends alum starred with Bruce Willis?
We answer so fast it was scary
Everyone stared in awe when we screamed Matthew Perry
Yo quiet in the theatre or it’s gonna get tragic
We ‘bout to get taken to a dream world of magic

The chronic-what-cles of Narnia! (X4)

SharonCobb: Is "Munich" Anti-Israel?

How about an Eid Sale at Macy's?

By Sabiha Khan, Sabiha Khan is communications director for the Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CHRISTIANS no doubt welcome the movie version of C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," but many Muslims do as well. Neither my fellow Muslim moviegoer nor I was offended by any of the movie's Christian references, and, in fact, we thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to see smart storytelling on the big screen.

That may come as a surprise in light of popular myths about Muslim beliefs and practices. But Islam teaches Muslims to respect and understand other religions, especially the religions of the people of the book, among them Christians and Jews.

Many Muslim core values — freedom, justice and peace — are shared by followers of the world's other great religions. And Muslims revere Jesus as one prophet of God in a long line of such prophets, among them Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist and Muhammad.

American Muslims believe that Christmas celebrations should not be watered down or banned because they might offend people of other faiths or non-faith. Acknowledging Christmas — or any other religious holiday — in the public square does not infringe on my sensibilities or my right to practice my religion.

Indeed, many Muslim families will take their children to see the beautiful decorations of Christmas lights on homes to share the happiness they produce. Similarly, Muslims will play host to Muslim and non-Muslim friends during the Islamic celebrations of Eid-ul-Adha (Festival of the Sacrifice) and Eid-ul-Fitr (Festival of the Feast).

Perhaps the talk about a movement to de-Christianize Christmas aims to scare people into thinking that Christianity itself is under attack. We should be wary of those who try to turn this emotional issue into a rallying point against non-Christians or even secular Christians who don't share the religious right's agenda.

Many non-Christians merely want their religious holidays to receive the same recognition and acceptance as Christmas. For instance, why shouldn't Albertson's put lamb and hummus on sale during Ramadan? Or Macy's set aside a one-day blowout sale on clothing the day before Eid? Or the local elementary school stage an Eid production with traditional songs?

The Constitution states that government may not endorse one religion over another. This does not preclude the public celebration of our country's many ethnic and religious holidays.

In the movie "The Chronicles of Narnia," the evil White Witch turned Narnia into a perpetually cold and wintry land where Christmas was banned until she was defeated. What a sad, long winter it would be if we Americans unwittingly distilled our diverse religious celebrations into a neutral, nondescript "Happy Holiday."

Source: LA Times

Asian Tsunami Disaster

Asian Tsunami Disaster
Originally uploaded by sohailstyle.

A mosque stands alone among the devastated area on the West coast Aceh province in January 2005. In the space of a year, a tsunami, an earthquake, brutal storms and floods have claimed more than 300,000 lives and cost at least 100 billion dollars in damage. (Source)

Originally uploaded by sohailstyle.

Another, closer look.

RFID

Indiana University has introduced RFID technology into their Kelly School of Business (story). This just another example of the eroding privacy we face today. Spychips.com is an excellent source to get the general background on Radio Frequency IDentification.

Nas & Rival Jay Z Perform Together

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Bling took a back seat to brotherhood as Jay-Z surprised bloodthirsty fans by performing side-by-side with his rival Nas in a concert dedicated to squashing rap beefs.

The star-studded event at Continental Arena on Thursday night was promoted by New York radio station Power 105 as "Jay-Z Declares War," presumably against his rivals in the treacherous rap world. Leading up to the show, the station quoted Jay-Z as saying, "I gotta smash a couple people... everybody better make up and be my friend."


Fans stood as the curtains parted to reveal Jay-Z as Commander in Chief seated in his Oval Office, flanked by four Secret Service men. He rocketed into his performance with "Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is HOV." An spectacular fire and light display emphasized the magnitude of the moment.

The crowd roared for Jigga Man as he displayed a youthful hunger and
Michael Jackson mystique behind aviator glasses and a navy military blazer with all the trimmings. Standing alone on stage with no entourage, he went from hit single to hit single, encouraging the crowd to say the name they've grown to love.

He was flawless with his vocal delivery, paired with choreographed hand movements reminiscent of Caesar addressing the Romans. The masses, on the other hand, wanted to know whom Jay would attack. Several web sites had speculated on the victims: Former partner Damon Dash? Harlem hothead Cam'ron? Movie star 50 Cent?

The crowd wanted war. But first they had to sit through a subpar performance from Teairra Mari and an Usher clone, which took the wind out of the action-packed show.

And then expectations were shattered.

T.I., the high-energy rapper from Atlanta, took the stage alongside Jay-Z, instantly smashing rumors of conflict (although T.I. had trouble keeping the crowd's attention due to faulty mic).

Young Jeezy, a.k.a. the Snowman, performed "Soul Survivor" alongside Akon. Akon brought excitement to his part, but Jeezy seemed stuck to the stage with double-sided tape.

A newly freed Beanie Sigel showed up to give Jay-Z support. Then Jay-Z (now on his third wardrobe change), Freeway, Memphis Bleek and B Sigel helped revive the energy level with gutter word play and lessons from Handgun 101. The crowd loved Jay for it.

The peaceful plot started to reveal itself once the Lox got on stage next to Beanie Sigel. These two camps have fought vicious mixtape battles, but Thursday it was all about the Benjamins. The Lox also performed with their old nemesis Sean "Diddy" Combs (without the infamous shiny suits this time) as Diddy brought his energetic yet dated antics to the stage.

Kanye West showed up as advertised, but he didn't get a rise out of the audience until he blurted out, "White people, this is your only chance to say n-----," referring to his song "Gold Digger."

But the story of the night was Nas and Jay-Z, two stars who haven't had a kind word to say about each other for years. They performed "Dead Presidents" together (Jay sampled Nas' voice on the track from his classic debut album, "Reasonable Doubt") before Nas kicked off his own set.

Jay-Z and Nas finished with Jay's horn-drenched "Encore" as LeBron James hit the stage like micless hype man - a fitting basketball-related finale on the home court of the New Jersey Nets, of which Jay is part owner. Jay-Z may be "retired," but with the Nets moving to Jay's hometown of Brooklyn, no way this king will be able to resist another return to his court.

-The Associated Press.