21st Century Picasso

After getting up in the morning the first thing I do is click on the "Latest Headlines" tab on my Firefox browser. I don't go through any of the trash news of the world like stock market collapse, recession, oil spill or US-Russia relationship, rather I look for the unusual and novel issues. I am not a big fan of the British Media; I'm quite sick and tired of their hypes and exaggerations they create to bring some uninteresting topic to hit the news headline.

While browsing through the headlines I stumbled upon the topic "10 year old British school boy hailed as Next Picasso", and couldn't hold myself back from clicking on. I got really curious sensing another British Media hype and couldn't wait to criticize over the fact. Surprisingly, I was left a little disappointed seeing the news which was not at all a media hype. Rather, I was absolutely awe stricken after reading the news. Hamad Al Humaidhan, started painting when he was just 7 and now at ten he paints not only like a professional but so well, that he is now being compared to the great Picasso. This genius knows how to paint his imagination on canvas. Each and every of his paintings literally tells you a story. Referring to one of his paintings which he calls, "Crazy City", (the painting in the picture, behind Hamad), he narrates, a person was playing with his skate board and all on a sudden the skate board falls in a dark hole, and when he went there to retrieve it, he found three giant birds laughing and breaking down his skate board. Well, the story may not carry any meaning for a person like me with low perceiving abilities, but it will definitely carry some meaning for a lot of my readers.

Hamad's paintings were being exhibited in two art exhibitions and sold 22 of his masterpieces already, and next month his arts will be displayed at another art exhibition in Birmingham. When he was asked about his feelings when his art is being compared to that of Picasso's, he replied, "some people say that the style of my art is similar to Picasso, but I would like to call it Hamad style", now that is what I call confidence.

Face/Off: From Fiction To Reality

The idea that was conceptualized in the 1997 blockbuster movie Face/Off has been finally realized in reality at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona. A 31 year old ex-farmer known as Oscar had accidentally shot himself in his face while working in the farm that completely destroyed his facial structure. He had been left unable to breathe, swallow, or talk properly after the accident which occurred five years ago.

A medical team of 30 experts, Led by Dr JP Barret carried out the 24-hour long operation which replaced Oscar's nose, lips, maxilla (the mustache bone), palate (the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals), all teeth, cheekbones, and the mandible (an inferior maxillary bone that forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place) and transplanted several facial muscles. However, unlike the movie, Face/Off, where it took only a few hours, Oscar would need several months of facial therapy in order to gain a complete control over his new face and improve clarity in speech.

The surgery was a first of its kind and is considered as a revolution in the field of medical science. A round of applause for Dr JP Barret and his team for this phenomenal achievement and High5s to John Woo who had shown "this could be done" 13 years ago. :D

Tribute to the King of Pop

A year has gone by since the demise of the King of Pop Michael Jackson, but seems like it was just yesterday I saw him live on TV dancing to the beat of Billy Jean, Beat It, Thriller, Black or White and Dirty Diana.  It was my friend from Canada who called me up at to convey the news of my icon's death. I was shellshocked hearing it and at the same time didn't want to believe what he was saying. Imagining a world without M.J. was absolutely impossible for me.

The year was 1987-88 right after  Bad was released, I remember M.J.'s music was everywhere - on the streets, in the restaurants, fast food joints, clubs, community centers and where not. 'Then' he was moving the world with his Moon Walk, 360 Spin and Toe Stands, and so was I moved with his every stunt. Later, when Dangerous was released I was hypnotized once again by the new tunes, the lyrics with strong "statement" and last but not least, the music videos. The guitar solos from "Slash" was the Icing on the Cake. You just couldn't ask for more from a musical album and the accompanying concerts; where two of the world's greatest entertainers were giving off electrifying performances with Black or White, Remember the time, In the closet, Give in to me and so many stupendous tunes.

However, every good thing comes to an end and so was the popularity of the King of Pop. Scandals started to crawl up and the tabloids were leaving off no chances to make money out of it. Even after his death, the tabloids are after establishing the fact if Michael Jackson is really the biological father of his three children. In the process they are not only trying to dissolve M.J.'s reputation as the King of Pop but  also ruin  the life of the kids.

Michael was just 5 year old when he led Jackson Five and helped it grow into a world renowned musical band, and he was just 50 when he put an end to his music. A Legend who rocked the music world for more than four decades, soothed our soul with numbers like Heal The World, Gone Too Soon and Will You Be There; made statements against disparity with Man in The Mirror, Earth Song and Black or White.  M.J. should be remembered for his outrageous dance moves, his close to life music and his 'humbleness and care' for the Living. Rest-In-Peace the King of Pop, your legacy will continue to live on.

A Midsummer Evening Movie

Summer is always a party time here in Sweden. The winter gets so unbearably cold and rough that people can't afford to waste a single moment by staying home during the summer. Since the country is located at the very north in the globe so, the days are pretty long during this time of the year. You may be wondering "how long?", well it's like 20 hours of daylight and 4 hours of twilight time, now hows that!! So, apparently we don't have any thing called Night during the warmer days. However, it doesn't seem to bother us that much as the shorter days of the winter; where we hardly get any sun for weeks. It's like living in the Vampire's den. Would you believe, the sun rises (starts rising) at around 10 am and sets at 2 pm. The people who comes from the part of the world where the day-night cycle is a more conventional one suffers in trying to get accustomed to this alien setup. Whereas, the Swedes are like the needles of the clock; as long as there is the clockwork they would not bother about the sun rising or setting at all - they will get their work done like always.

During the summer every city commune arranges several cultural festivals and shows (a privilege of being a resident of a first world nation :-) ). You will find concerts, plays at theaters, carnivals, folk festivals and so many other activities all over the country. Last evening a friend of mine invited me to a one such program which was indeed a very unique experience for me. The commune was showing a hollywood movie on big screen. The tickets were free, the venue was the Central City Park crowded with Swedes mostly and a handful of international students. They were showing the movie "Hangover" and surprisingly I came to know (after so long of my stay in Sweden) that Swedes also have humors :-). They laugh over the same subject that we laugh on, WoW!! Since the movie was full of shitty stuffs so it was quite fun to watch with the crowd. It was quite a setting, everyone brought in there sitting mat, some comforter to warm them up and get cozy with their girl or boy :-), and had beers and food, everyone was having a fantastic time - no doubt about that. The fun is not going to stay long as winter is approaching, but not before another month and half. The coming weekend we will be going to a beach :-) let's see what excitement is waiting for me there.

A Head Start

It says that a picture tells a thousand words, but it never can replace the true feeling of living "in" the picture. Ever since I was a kid all I got to know about the West specially Europe was from english literatures and geography books those were taught in school and some from the travel documentaries shown on TV. A dream was always there, a dream to go beyond the borders of the continent I was born in and migrate to the most culturally diversified continent, Europe.

I was born in a country called Bangladesh. A small land situated in South Asia and bounded by the borders of India, flanked by some area of Burma due east. A country with a population of almost 150 million having a population density of approximately 1000 people per square kilometer. The daily chaotic life and the rush hour traffic is enough to diminish the hopes and desires to live for one more day, let alone the desire to dream about one's future. Regardless of all these negatives thousands of us manage to complete formal education and migrate to a better land for higher education and a better life.

Once the primary selection for higher education used to be in universities of  US, UK, Canada or Australia. The students always had chosen the English speaking countries even though they were aware of the availability of better quality education in Europe. They could never choose Europe because the mode of language of communication in the institutions of Europe used to be the local language of the respective countries. Revolution occurred when several European universities have decided to introduce English medium Master program. Since then thousands of students have started to take admission in the European universities - US, UK, Canada and Australia were then accompanied by Germany, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. Globalization took one step forward and so did I, with my decision to come to Europe for higher education. My dream of migration to Europe finally realized.