MALALA

DIARY OF A PAKISTANI SCHOOLGIRL
Private schools in Pakistan's troubled north-western Swat district have been ordered to close in a Taleban edict banning girls' education. Militants seeking to impose their austere interpretation of Sharia law have destroyed about 150 schools in the past year. Five more were blown up despite a government pledge to safeguard education, it was reported on Monday. Here a seventh grade schoolgirl from Swat chronicles how the ban has affected her and her classmates. The diary first appeared on BBC Urdu online.

MALALA BLOG
DNA INDIA



I was watching CNN the other day, they said she was shot point blank on the head and the bullet exited through the back of her neck.. and miraculously she survived.



WHO ARE THESE GUYS ???
Even before 911… the Twin Tower had been bomb before, I remember seeing from the television of employees walking out from the building with black stuff smeared throughout their mouth and noses from breathing through the explosion's black smoke. The building stood still then, and even after 911, I knew then it was from an Extremist Islamic Groups.. and it's an act of Terrorism.. But I never really got into the details of knowing there are different sets from the same Extremist Islamic roots.. obviously, other Muslims are also being killed. I never really got into the details until today.. Specially after seeing a Documentary about Malala in youtube, her assassination gave me more less of a doubt that these people who attempted to kill her are really unto no good at all. Well I knew a little bit about why and who they are.. it's always on the news and online. Other than the Biblical story of the first sinner Eve, there's really nothing to understand and explain why would anyone should even join their groups, unless they are really made to destroy this planet.. and in someone else's political power gain. Hey man, I ain't pointing fingers here.. what I have is just the wanted sign already posted on line.. I just think people with positive notions isn't good breathing the same air with these type of people who would willing to kill someone like Gandhi, Dai La Lama, and Mother Teresa.

Sure there are all kinds of terrible things happening in the world more, like Ethnic Cleansing in Burma against the Rohingya Tribes, Brutal Cartels from the Latin World, Killings of Children in Syria, Torching people alive in Africa, Animal Poachers of Exotic Animals, Cyber Criminals you wished you can punch holes through their foreheads, Americans from the suburbs are unto prostitution rings due to foreclosures, and etc.. But this is what I chose to blog.. I really think educated mothers will make some positive changes in the long run. There are good mothers either way.. no doubt.. but see, these type of mothers were educated through good traditions that survived in many years. In the contrary, time has change.


ESSENCE OF RADICAL MUSLIMS
Just to recognized the two, The Taliban and El Qaeda… and which are whom.


AL QAEDA
An Extremist Islamic Group with no boundaries.. Mission is to change worldwide leaderships unto Islamic Government. Their tactic to accomplish their goals are through Wahhabism. That includes hardcore Jihad, Suicide Bombings, Brutal Beheadings… basically an Art to Terrorize that they believe permitted by God. And if you become a Martyr you get many gifts from God up in the heavens… somewhat like an awesome Christmas presents from Santa Clause in the Western Civilizations, only if you have not been naughty.

They usually make threat videos.. with Al Qaeda Flag in the Background.. with an AK47 Pistol beside them. Face are not usually covered, they want the whole world know who they are. Like a president we all recognized from the televisions.


Here are few familiar faces of their Sleeper Agents…



They even have Training Videos, or clips from the movie The Delta Force starring Chuck Norris, or from the movie American Ninja Series.

The Delta Force
I've seen this in the movie theater back in the Philippines when I was 11 years old with my big bro at that time named Noli. The beating scene of the Navy Passenger by one of the high jackers was really brutal to see then, then came the super hero Mr. Chucky Man Norris.. lol rocket launchers from the front and ass of his motorcycle.



American Ninja Series
Original movie was shot from the Philippines.. Filipino Mestizo Actors speaking in Spanish and having treaty negotiations with the bad guys. The Ninjas does looks like El Aqaeda. Maybe in Afghanistan, they see this movie like how I see that movie 300.


Some Al Qaeda Troops in Training. School Yard Monkey Bars. They probably turned some elementary school unto a terror training camp. Like that one elementary school in Cambodia that the Khamers used as a torture chambers.


Osama Bin Laden participating in the training process…





THE TALIBAN
Lately, these are the guys that caught my attention.. again. The Taliban doing all types of execution styles against Pakistani People and their own troops. The once accused of shooting Malala for being an activist for girls to have rights to go to school. The Taliban at first consisted of religious students who were very much conservative. They believed more in Sharia (Islamic law). The Taliban, dominated by people with Pashtun identity, controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Though ousted from power in 2001, they have embarked again, spreading terrorism around the world.



I found this video online. It says these guys being executed are Pakistani Troops, and corrupt Pakistani Police.. Perhaps some are Teachers.


DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TALIBAN AND AL QAEDA
I found this article from here.
Taliban vs Al Qaeda

Taliban and Al Qaeda, the two terrorist organizations born out of Islamic roots, seem to be almost one and the same. Though the two talk of an Islamic world, there are much differences between the two.
While Mullah Mohammed Omar, who was an extremely enigmatic person, founded Taliban, the credit for Al Qaeda goes to Osama Bin Laden.

Al Qaeda consists of Sunni Muslims who practice Wahhabism, which is considered to be the most extreme form of Islam. The Al Qaeda wants to establish Islamic rule and that all governments should be replaced by Islamic leaders.

The Taliban at first consisted of religious students who were very much conservative. They believed more in Sharia (Islamic law). The Taliban, dominated by people with Pashtun identity, controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Though ousted from power in 2001, they have embarked again, spreading terrorism around the world.

Coming to the etymology, both Taliban and Al Qaeda are Arabic. The meaning of Al Qaeda is “base”. Taliban means talib that means “student.”
The origin of Al Qaeda can be traced to the writings of Sayyid Qutb, an Islamic thinker. The basic ideology of Al Qaeda is to establish an Islamic state, with focus on Sharia. They want to get rid of socialism and nationalism, which they consider as non-Muslim concepts. The Taliban's extremist ideology is only an innovative form of Islam in combination with Pashtun tribal codes with Deobandi interpretations.

While the Taliban are restricted to a particular region, the Al Qaeda has no boundaries.
Coming to the origin Taliban, two stories have been told. One story is that Mullah Omar and his students were agitated after the rape and murder of boys and girls of a family who were traveling to Kandahar. Another version is that Pakistan based truck shipping mafia had sought the support of Taliban to clear the road across Afghan to Central Asian Republics of bandits.
Al Qaeda is considered to have formed in 1988 after a meeting between Osama Bin Laden, leaders of Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Abdullah Azzam.

Summary:

1. Mullah Mohammed Omar founded Taliban and the credit for Al Qaeda goes to Osama Bin Laden.

2. Al Qaeda consists of Sunni Muslims who practice Wahhabism, which is considered to be the most extreme and violent form of Islam). The Taliban, dominated by people with Pashtun identity.

3. Al Qaeda means “the base” or “the foundation”. Taliban means talib that means “student.”

Akai MPKmini - Unboxing

I've been producing like mad since I got this unit few weeks ago.. It's so portable, so it's really comfortable to just stay in one place and jam to it. I haven't really sat down and made a proper tracks yet like sequencing and layering. Mostly tests. And so far so good.. this is really great portable laptop midi-keyboard. I am OK with the small keys since I am already used of the Microkorg Vocoder which the keyboard has similar feel to them.

If I have enough space in my room - I would also get me the Akai MPK 61. For the fact that it has 16 Pads.. has Knobs, and Sliders. Unlike the MPK mini where it only has 8 keys. MPKmini PADs can be really tricky to use in realtime sessions or in sequencing alone. So I only use the Keys. They work and all, but using them in Reason's Kong only works on BANK A from Pad 9 to 16. But Bank B only gets me to Reason's Kong PAD 1 to 4 from MPK mini's PAD 5 to 8. Pads doesn't have ARPEGGIATOR, only the Keys does. Bottom line, it's all good.. I may not even get the Akai MPK 61 at all. Plus the Akai MPK 61 is too big just for a "midi-controller". For it's size, It would be really great if you can actually import samples and drum kits into it.. Like the traditional MPC drum machines / samplers. Has a Hard Drive and Flash Cards etc…

Here are several samples of what I've done using few of my favorite Virtual Synths, with the Akai MPKmini. You may wanna turn your volume just a little bit higher. And adjust your Bass and Treble. These tracks are not processed yet.

Unboxing…

The delivery box from Amazon.

There she is.. 

Outta the box.. Box is new, no seem to be a scam here.

The back of the box.. some quick guide here. Plug and play with a laptop.

There she is again.. with the USB adapter next to it.

Guide Booklet and Installation DVD.

So damn weightless. Like a toy almost. First impression about the weight is my question of it's durability, and then I thought about the price which is under 80 bucks.

I say it's as thick as the iBook G4 Laptop. Just the right thickness.

The USB port. No power chords man. Just plug the USB through this and to your Laptop. And good to go.

The Pads, doesn't pressed down, like the other Pads I've had previously.

The Keys are tiny. Some reviewers has complaints to them. But I am all good with it.. the keyboard are pretty similar with the Korg Microkorg's keyboard, which I am used of using as a synthesizers over the pass years. Man some producers even uses smaller keyboards from an iPhone apps with fat fingers and can still make something out of it in a studio.

This is great.. portable knobs.. less use of the mouse for it.

Has an Arpeggiator… and you can select the tempo. 

Don't let the size fool you, this is a King-Kong Monster.. disguised as a cute cuddle monkey.

So that's my review on this Akai MPKmini…

Hopefully I'll have time to produce some full tracks out of this… I really wanna thanks Akai for this one. Great job.

RIP - Dolphy Quizon

Rodolfo Vera Quizon, Sr. July 25, 1928 – July 10, 2012.

One show that I remember him most was from this show… "John and Marsha", It's a Filipino Sitcom. It was on a channel that was only clear from statics in the evening before bedtime. And it was titled John & Marsha. The setting of the show is pretty much a common class for every home from the Philippines. Pretty funny dude.

Man.. more and more of these cool characters are going away. I think Patrick Swayze is gone too now right? damn… for some reason, I feel like watching that movie Red Dawn. I just find out there gonna make a remake? It's better be good.. because the original is a masterpiece. The Movie is about the Russian and Communist Cuba invading the US mainland.. and how these youth from a typical small American town calling themselves the Wolverine became rebels against the invaders. 

Since I am also Filipino, some memories are left behind where I used to watch televisions during summertime from my wawa across the street (grannie's nick names). I used to work for her knotting garlics for 20 pesos at the end of the day. I would stay over a bit longer since my Grandmother would stop by, along with her set of wawas and plays Pekwa (card games). And they used seeds as betting token. Then I would read some Filipino Comics afterwards.. about Zuma and some other cool classic comics, I can't even remember the names.

As far of Filipino Films in general. Philippines has a lot of dope classic movies. I'm not sure if they even have archives of collected classic movies today.. but if they do, I'll change career just so I can afford to get a hold of the classic films. Even some of their Black & White films were awesome man. I didn't understand tagalog then but I used to get really in tune to the stories, by watching their actions alone. Typical stories would be a good family splitting apart and then reuniting.. a rich family being mean to some kid house keeper, not knowing he/she was the baby they lost from WW2. I'm guessing today those films were from the late 40s, 50s, to 60s.

Back in the 80s though, most of the film they used had too many grids, scratches, and dirts in them.. some are cut out. American porn would pop out in between reels for half a second. I am thinking what if they dubbed over some earlier films that was filmed from the 60s.. and if they did, thats got to be a lot of them man. And mostly comedies too.. even Bombas (soft porns) I am not downing their comedies either. Philippines had a lot of funny ass characters, I can still laugh about them today when I see their faces in the internet somewhere. And that's from the 80s. Just the right time for people to find something to laugh about. 

As far of cinematography, sometimes the camera would just focus on one scene for 15 minutes or even longer.. and no close ups.. two actors would have conversations from 30 yards away from the camera.. lol. Thats when you know, most of these filmmakers probably didn't take any proper film lessons.. but they had a lot of sense of humor. As far of cinematography, films from the 60's, had more art to them. Then came the 70s, then the 80s that are full of comedies.. then the 90's, thats when they start to experiment on some editing a bit. Some close ups etc. But the stories were very much the same story. 

Even amateur Hong-Kong Kung-Fu film-makers would come to Manila and make action movies in the 90's.. No exposure to Philippines own martial arts like Arnis, Kali, Escrima, since these arts was pretty much a secret in the Philippines.. Most Filipino action directors were probably only known to Chinese Action films and American films with actors like Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, and Elvis Presley.. making Filipino Martial Arts not as exposed as much. And whoever that director was, he probably had all the access to all the films to use. Even if they did dubbed over some of the films they took before that.. they gotta have some VHS or DVD copies. At least the Beta-Max versions man. Sometimes I do see them in the B Movie Section at Rasputin Record Store near by where I live. Some are in English. Actors like Eddy Garcia and some fine ladies I even forgot their names. And I buy them. In VHS. 

I did found this in the internet. A blogger from Critic After Dark that shows the blogger's list of 100 Best Filipino Films.

And this one.. from Kabayan Central mostly even earlier ones from the 30s. 

Some may not know this, but I've read somewhere that a filipino actor named Eddy Garcia and Jack Nicholson used to hang out together in the Philippines. I think it was a Biography TV Show about Jack Nicholson. And this well known actor from the Philippines named Eddy Garcia used to coach Jack Nicholson on how to be a better actor.. even on how to drink hard liquors.. and specially about women. It could be some other actor.. and whoever he was, Jack turned out to be on Oscar taker in Hollywood from 1976 and so on… 

Back to Dolphy, here is some comedy movie clip with him in it. It's in Tagalog… the Water Buffalo is funny.

Also my condolences for those folks that lost their lives at Colorado's Movie Theater.. I guess some idiot didn't get enough butt slaps as a kid from his mama, just to let him know not to play with fire. Specially on other people. If he wanted to prove a point he should of use some water balloons and no one had to die. And no psychotic fan of the Joker dies.. but in reality, tragic things like that happens.. expected or not expected.

FULL ARTCLE