Antara ibn Shaddad

'Antarah Ibn Shaddād al-'Absī عنترة بن شداد العبسي was a pre-Islamic Arabian Najdi hero and poet (fl. 580) famous both for his poetry and his adventurous life. What many consider his best or chief poem is contained in the Mu'allaqat. The account of his life forms the basis of a long and extravagant romance.

Antarah was born in Najd (the northern Arabian Peninsula) , He was the son of Shaddād, a well-respected member of the Arabian tribe of Banu Abs, his mother was named Zabaibah, of whom it has been claimed was an Ethiopian woman, whom Shaddad had enslaved after a tribal war. This foreign Ethiopian origin however is later speculation, as Arabs frequently enslaved each other as a result of tribal wars. The tribe neglected Antara at first, and he grew up in servitude. Although it was fairly obvious that Shaddad was his father. He was considered one of the "Arab crows" (Al-aghribah Al-'Arab) because of his jet black complexion. His being jet black does not cast doubt on the purity of his Arab blood. Antara gained attention and respect for himself by his remarkable personal qualities and courage in battle, excelling as an accomplished poet and a mighty warrior. When the tribe needed his assistance to fend off another tribe in battle, Shaddād acknowledged Antara as his son, and granted him freedom.

Antarah fell in love with his cousin Abla, and sought to marry her despite his status as a slave. To secure allowance to marry, Antarah had to face challenges including getting a special kind of camel from the northern Arabian kingdom of al-No'man Ibn al-Munthir Ibn Ma' al-Sama'.

Antarah took part in the great war between the related tribes of Abs and Dhubyān, which began over a contest of horses and was named after them the war of Dāhis and Ghabrā. He died in a fight against the tribe of Tai.

Antarah's poetry is well preserved, and often talks of chivalrous values, courage and heroism in battle, as well as his love for Abla. It was immortalized when one of his poems was included in the Hanged Poems. The poetry's historical and cultural importance stems from its detailed descriptions of battles, armour, weapons, horses, desert and other themes from his time.

The Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote his Symphony No. 2 based on the legend of Antar.

One of the seven clans (tribes) of Bethlehem is called the Anatreh, named after Antarah, and in past centuries acted as guardians of the church of the nativity.
In 1898 the French painter Étienne Dinet published^[1] his translation of a 13th century epic Arab poem Antar which brought Antar bin Shaddad to European notice.^[1] It has been followed by a number of derivative works such as Diana Richmond's Antar and Abla^[2] which furthered western exposure to the Antar bin Shaddad legends.

Tecmo Koei Singapore to launch 'Jollywood' Thursday

TECMO Koei's Singapore studio will be leading the Japanese video gaming giant's charge into the hot new area of social games.

On Thursday morning at 7am, Tecmo Koei Singapore will launch Jollywood, its first wholly made-in-Singapore game and the group's maiden international foray into a new game genre popularised by the likes of Mafia Wars and Farmville.

In recent years, social games, a relatively new genre that emphasises softer aspects like community and do not have pre-set victory conditions compared to traditional achievement-oriented video games, have enjoyed explosive growth alongside social networking sites like Facebook.

And unlike charging players a one-off purchase for the game, social games make money by getting their players to make smaller, but more frequent in-game purchases like bonus items.

The business model has turned out to be hugely lucrative for social game upstarts like Zynga, so much so that some market analysts are suggesting they may be worth as much as older, far more established players like Electronic Arts.

And Tecmo Koei, formed from a 2009 merger of Tecmo - the company behind titles like Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden and Koei, the famous studio that created the Romance of Three Kingdoms franchise - wants a piece of this action.

New Chinese Movie Posters Unveiled at Cannes

A number of new Chinese films have unveiled their movie posters at the Cannes Film Festival over the past few days, and here is a selection of them for your viewing pleasure.

 

WHITE VENGEANCE
This one is a historical epic starring Leon Lai (BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS, FIRE OF CONSCIENCE). Directed by Daniel Lee (DRAGON SQUAD, THREE KINGDOMS, 14 BLADES), the film tells the story of a famous Chinese banquet that involved the two key characters in the overturning of the Qin Dynasty. Zhang Hanyu, Liu Yifei, Feng Shaofeng, Anthony Wong, Jordan Chan and Andy On co-star. I have always found director Daniel Lee's movies to be mostly entertaining despite the (very) often messy narrative. So this one should be a fun, if forgettable, historical film. Plus the strong cast could really help lift this film. 

Fattest Kid in the World

Seven-year-old Jessica Gaude differs greatly from her pals. With 222 kilograms, she is the fattest child in the world.

She eats 10,000 calories each day in Coca-Colas, 15 hamburgers with fries and several kilograms of chocolate. What she eats in one day some children eat in half a year.Her breakfast consists of white bread, potato chips and two litres of coke. And she wants more.

When she last visited the doctor four years ago she had 110 kilograms. Unfortunately, she can no longer run and instead of walking she drags herself on the floor. Under such bodily weight her bones have already become distorted.

Mother Carolyn gives her daughter whatever the child wants. In the first week after she was born, when the baby cried because of stomach pains, the mother calmed her by feeding her with a bottle because she thought the child was hungry. “I gave her the bottle and she wanted more and more. It was not enough for her and she was constantly hungry”, Jessica’s mother says.....

Eminem and Justin Bieber win Billboard Music Awards

Rapper Eminem and teen star Justin Bieber were the big winners at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas with six prizes each.

Eminem, who was not at Sunday's ceremony, won artist of the year, the night's top prize.

Bieber thanked "everybody who helped me get out of my home town" at the event - the first televised BMAs since 2006.

Briton Taio Cruz won best single for Dynamite, while other winners included Katy Perry, U2 and Beyonce

More developers being sued over app tech patents

The mobile app space is getting more volatile, thanks to yet another round of patent lawsuits from another technology company that’s going after app developers.

This latest batch comes from a U.S.-based company called MacroSolve, according to the U.K. paper The Guardian, which has already issued lawsuits to 10 mobile app developers. The company claims the developers are infringing on its patent for a “system and method for data management,” which “covers the collection and transmission of data for questionnaires and puts them online.”

MacroSolve’s CEO claims the patent covers “thousands of existing apps,” which gather data and return it a server over the Internet. The company isn’t going after Apple (AAPL) (or Google (GOOG), or Microsoft (MSFT), which also have smartphone operating systems that developers create apps for), though – it’s instead focusing on smaller app developers, who might struggle to defend themselves against patent infringement lawsuits.

About a dozen other developers have received patent lawsuits from another company, Lodsys. That company has a patent claim on apps that use in-app purchases to sell content, and like MacroSolve, Lodsys is focusing on smaller developers and asking them for a cut of their profits, rather than stepping up against the big players like Apple and Google. Both those companies already have licenses for Lodsys’ technology, but those licenses don’t get passed down to other developers, Lodsys claims.

Apple has reportedly started looking into Lodsys’ claims, although there hasn’t been any motion from the company on the issues. Developers and analysts fear that the mobile space is starting to attract “patent trolls,” companies that can make patent disputes and tie up small developers in court in battles they’ll struggle with and won’t have the resources to fight. Lodsys has requested 0.575 percent of revenue from apps that use its in-app purchasing technology (it’s not clear yet what MacroSolve wants), but if more and more companies start to take a bite out of developers’ profits or tie them up in court, it could have serious consequences for the mobile app space in general.

In the meantime, it seems that developers are in a holding pattern, unsure of how to proceed. They can’t do much without involving Apple, and Apple is taking its time to figure out where it stands on the issues involved. How these patent disputes shake out and whether they draw more like them, however, is sure to be a major event for the evolution of app development in the future. It could also have a serious effect on what companies can afford to make apps, and what those apps are capable of doing.

SCHWARZENEGGER SEX SCANDAL ROCKS ROYAL VISIT

THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s royal visit to the US has been thrown into chaos by their Hollywood host Arnold Schwarzenegger’s love-child scandal.

Ex-governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger was due to show the couple improvements the state has made over green issues during their three-day official stay in July.

But aides are now in crisis talks over fears the sex scandal could engulf the entire visit.

Prince William and Kate Middleton flew back to Britain on Friday after a ten-day honeymoon on North Island in the Seychelles, as St James’s Palace aides attempted to finalise details of the tour.

Arnie’s sex shame broke while the royal couple’s team were in Canada and the USA last week checking arrangements for their arrival.

One royal retainer said: “There is a very big question mark over whether the former governor can be part of the visit now, or if he’d want to be.

“This clearly isn’t going to go away in a few weeks.”

St James’s Palace was expected to announce further details of the visit this week when the role, if any, of the Terminator star should emerge.

Arnie has already put all his movie projects on hold while he tries to cope with a potential multi-million dollar divorce from wife Maria Shriver.

He faces another punishing legal battle with Mildred Baena, the housekeeper whose love child by Arnie is now 13 years old.

His office said: “Governor Schwarzenegger is focusing on personal matters and is not willing to commit to any production schedules or time lines.”

A royal aide added: “His presence is now very difficult for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge but, of course, it is a matter for their hosts to make a decision on.”

The pair have stressed they want to make the 12-day visit as informal as possible with a minimum of staff and baggage.

Palace officials have been discussing whether the couple and their entourage could fly out and back on scheduled flights to give the tour a less formal feel.

But aides are struggling to cope with the sheer bulk of the kit needed to keep the couple on the road for nearly two weeks.

The Royal Canadian Air Force is laying on a flight just to get the couple’s clothes and office equipment around the country.

The plane will travel ahead of the royal couple so their kit can be laid out for them before they arrive at the next stop.

Kate’s fashion team has hand-picked more than 50 outfits and hundreds of accessories they say she must take with her for such a high-profile tour.

An aide explained: “The Duchess is going to be a walking showcase for British fashion. She will not be able to cope without professional help and lots of it.

“A dresser will be essential just to keep track of which clothes have been worn.”

Yesterday William and Kate were believed to be heading to their home in Anglesey, North Wales, after what they described as a “memorable and special” break.

A St James’s Palace spokesman said: “The couple thoroughly enjoyed their time together and they are grateful to the Seychelles government for their assistance in making the honeymoon such a memorable and special ten days.”

William and Kate were at the centre of an extraordinary security operation for the break that meant even the Seychelles government couldn’t say where they were staying.

The couple took over a £4,000-a-night estate on the Indian Ocean paradise island, where celebrity guests like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and David and Victoria Beckham have stayed.

A massive security operation involving the couple’s Scotland Yard bodyguards, local police and the Seychelles coastguard kept prying eyes at bay.

On Friday grateful William and Kate invited the coast guard troops on to the beach to thank them for their efforts.

Seychelles Foreign Minister Jean-Paul Adam yesterday said: “We are proud to have been able to offer them a peaceful and private getaway.”

Seychelles High Commissioner to Britain Patrick Pillay added: “They bring a welcome and much-needed breath of fresh air with their warmth and humility.”

Silence and scandal in the Cannes bubble

Cannes is a bubble, an opulent bubble of glamour and art that, from the inside, feels like the centre of the cultural universe. It lulls the media horde into fabulous delusion. Faithfully dragging ourselves to the Palais each day at 8 a.m. (to get a good seat), we’ve been assembling as a 2000-plus congregation in the Lumiere cinema, listening to soft jazz and reading the trades as we wait for the lights to go down, trying to remain awake as the  the classic Cannes trailer rolls to the fantasia strains of Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals—a set of red-carpeted steps that rise from an aqua sea, into a sky that turns indigo then black until we’re officially in heaven.
This is life in the bubble. It’s like undergoing mass hypnosis. And as we follow the 11-day program of the official competition, which has it’s own epic narrative, we blog the over-heated triumphs and scandals as if the world hung in the balance—forgetting  that back home all people care about is Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Still, Cannes is a fascinating bubble, a fairy tale cosmos where the usual rules of commercial gravity don’t apply, where directors are more exalted than stars, and where the films light up the zeitgeist.
Even though, on this Victoria Day weekend, I doubt anyone is paying attention,  I feel some reflection is in order while I’m still in the mood. Before the bubble bursts and the red carpet is ripped up. The awards are announced tonight. Best do it now, before Cannes is reduced to a minor sports result.
Overall it was an unusually rich festival. Those hard-core cinephiles who measure the quality of a film by its level of difficulty (for the audience) may have been disappointed. But what made this Cannes competition exceptional was the number of films that bridged the gap between the art house and the audience. The festival premiered several flat-out crowd pleasers with artistic pedigree—from The Artist, a silent black-and-white romcom, to Drive, a customized piece of pulp fiction driven by a mostly silent performance from Ryan Gosling. Even Sean Penn’s half-silent, sotto voce performance as a faded rock legend in This Must Be the Place played to the crowd with its mime-like minimalism.
Silence was à la mode on and off screen. Terrence Malick did not speak a word to the press for the premiere of The Tree of Life, leaving Brad Pitt to do the heavy lifting. Pitt argued, convincingly, that he didn’t see why the architect of a film was also expected to be its real estate agent, selling and explaining his creation. (It goes without saying that stars must do media.) Not everyone was silent, however. As one industry observer quipped, “This festival was the story of the man who wouldn’t talk [Malick] and the Man Who Said Too Much [Lars Von Tier].”
If ever there were an argument for a director keeping his mouth shut, it was the Von Trier scandal, in which Denmark’s auteur provocateur made a string of ill-advised quips about Nazis, Jews and Hitler at a press conference, trigger a furor that hijacked the festival narrative for days. Pedro Almodóvar’s cosmetic surgery thriller, The Skin I Live In, was completely overshadowed because it premiered just before the festival’s board of directors decided to ban Von Trier from the premises. Holed up outside Cannes for the next few days, Von Trier talked to journalists—not about his movie, Melancholia—but about his banishment.
The scandal hurt his movie,  infuriating its distributors and alienating the stars who were ready to promote it (Kirstin Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg). Which is too bad, because despite flaws, Von Trier’s latest work is a powerful, haunting drama. And its image of a ridiculously lavish wedding in a castle by sea overshadowed by a killer planet called Melancholia could be a metaphor for Cannes itself. Depression was certain on the agenda in the films, affecting everyone from the willfully comatose prostitute in Sleeping Beauty to the damaged rock legend played by Sean Penn in This Must Be The Place.
Another prevailing theme was conflict between fathers and sons, notably in The Tree of Life, The Kid With a Bike and Footnote. But perhaps the most startling trend was the strong presence of women. Aside from the fact that four out 20 competition entries were directed by women (compared to none last year), we saw an unusual number of powerhouse performances by women, not to mention a couple of sisterhood spectacles with ensemble female casts—the whores in House of Tolerance and the Arab villagers on strike against their husbands in La Source des femmes.
Who know how the awards will go tonight. I’d like to see Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki win the Palme d’Or for Le Havre. However, I’d be neither surprised nor disappointed if Malick wins for The Tree of Life (unlikely according to the gossip), or if Nicolas Winding Refn wins for Drive. Certainly Drive, which owes something to Taxi Driver, is the film closest to the sensibility of jury president Robert De Niro. If, on the other hand, the jury wants to pick the biggest crowd pleaser, that would be The Artist, another decision I’d happily support. If I had to put money on the Palme d’Or right now, I’d bet on The Artist. It is, in some ways, the most conventional diversion of all the major contenders—ironic given that it’s black-and-white and silent. Best actor should come down to a contest between Ryan Gosling for Drive and Sean Penn for This Must be the Place. Gosling should win. And Tilda Swinton is the overwhelming favorite to win best actress for her harrowing role in We Need to Talk about Kevin

Box office update: 'Pirates of the Caribbean' captures $35 mil on Friday

Jack Sparrow may be losing a bit of steam, but he’s still got it. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth movie in Disney’s hugely successful franchise, opened to $35 million on Friday according to early estimates. If the estimate holds, it will just barely beat Fast Five‘s $34.4 million gross to score the year’s biggest opening day. Compared to prior Pirates films, there’s a definite downward trend, at least domestically. The second film, Dead Man’s Chest, plundered $55.8 million its first day, while the third movie, At World’s End, took in $42.9 million. Still, On Stranger Tides‘ smaller debut is no cause for mutiny, as the 3-D adventure film is headed for an opening weekend of around $88 million, which would be the year’s best so far. And Johnny Depp and company are doing gangbusters overseas, where the movie has already earned $92.1 million in three days.

In second, the R-rated comedy Bridesmaids slipped a mere 19 percent from last Friday and is on pace for a $22 million weekend. Clearly strong word-of-mouth is propelling the film, as are its positive reviews. The god of thunder was hit hard by Pirates, as Thor tumbled 52 percent for $4.4 million. The PG-13 superhero movie will finish the weekend with about $16 million, pushing its three-week cumulative total past $145 million. The street-racing flick Fast Five landed in fourth, grossing $3.2 million and headed for an $11 million weekend. And Priest lost moviegoers’ faith, as the horror action film dropped 74 percent for $1.5 million.

In limited release, Woody Allen’s romantic comedy Midnight in Paris, starring Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams, collected an astounding $171,000 from just six locations. Its per-theater tally of $28,500 is the year’s largest opening-day average by far. Check back here on Sunday for the complete box office report.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides — $35.0 mil
2. Bridesmaids — $6.4 mil
3. Thor — $4.4 mil
4. Fast Five — $3.2 mil
5. Priest — $1.5 mil

Funny inovations from Japan

What can I say for this :)??? Who will buy that, have much bigger problem then cold illness :).

94 year old Ramajit Raghav Becomes Father For the First Time

The wait to hold his own child is finally over for Ramajit Raghav, who became father to a son for the first time at the advanced age of 94.

Ramajit hails from a small village in India and has been working at his landlord’s farm for the last 22 years. He got married to Shakuntala, his second wife ten years ago who is believed to be in her 50s presently.

Shakuntala was admitted to the Kharkoda town Government civil Hospital last month where she delivered normally a baby boy.

The proud parents have named their baby Karamjit and his father insists that he is ‘God’s gift’ to him. He also adds that his age is only a number and he has a clear, clutter-free mind.

When asked whether he was worried about his child’s future, the new dad insisted he is in good health and that he would still be around in a decade.

‘Nothing will happen to my child as I will die only if a black snake bites me and that is very far,’ he said.

‘Visit me after 10 years and you will find me in the same appearance.’

Dr. Mahendra Kumar the senior medical officer of the hospital confirmed the birth of the child and said that though it was a remote possibility to have a child at this age; it could not be completely ruled out.

‘Having babies at such age is remote possibility but then it can’t be ruled out as it just needs one sperm to fertilise the egg.’

With this birth, Ramajit has beaten the previous holder of the oldest dad crown in India, a 90 year old Nanu Ram Jogi, who became a dad to his 22nd child in 2007.

White Rock dad busted after baby son calls 911

A baby boy playing with his dad’s telephone accidentally called 911, which led police to their house — and a 500-plant marijuana-growing operation.

Police said Tuesday the incident happened at about 11 a.m. Friday in the 14800 block of Goggs Avenue in White Rock.
When White Rock RCMP officers arrived at the rental house, they found the 11-month-old child fiddling with the phone while his 29-year-old dad sat watching television.
“He was surprised to see us,” Const. Janelle Canning said.
The 911 call was a hang-up call and police had heard no voices. The dad, whose name has not been released, protested that he hadn’t called 911 and his son didn’t know how to use the phone.
Nevertheless, police checked the place out because of the amount of condensation on the house’s windows and found the pot-growing operation in a locked room.
The dad was then arrested and was expected to appear in court in early April on charges of mischief and production of a controlled substance. The child, who Canning described as being a “very cute little boy,” was picked up by Ministry of Children and Family Development workers and released into his mom’s custody.
She is separated from his father and didn’t live at the house. “The mother claimed she had no idea what was going on,” Canning said.
“The ministry will continue their investigation to ensure ongoing protection of this child,” she added.
Police are especially concerned when children are living in houses used to grow pot. In this case, Canning noted, the child had no access to the locked room. But condensation, which encourages mould growth and the presence of spores in the air, is a health concern. So is the risk of fire from illegal hydro bypasses, though police didn’t find a bypass in this particular case. There’s also the risk of being targeted for a “grow rip,” or robbery.
“There’s a whole multitude of problems with having a grow-operation,” Canning said. “That’s why the ministry was called immediately.”
Canning recalled a case in south Surrey about two years ago when a newborn baby was taken into protective custody after police found the child in a house containing a pot-growing operation.