Dear reader, come with us and watch two Arab News reporters while they endure the procedures of renewing a driver’s license by our really overpaid pencil-pushers. “IBM, the apocryphal acronym for the three stages of dealing with government departments, is well founded. It is a testimony to the mangled hopes of a well-disposed citizen wishing to comply with the law and his eventual frustration at the combination of confusion and obfuscation that surrounds the simplest of official paperwork. IBM — Inshallah (God willing); bukra (tomorrow); maalesh (Sorry or take it easy)!”

Asharq al-Awsat interviews Rajaa al-Sanea, author of the controversial novel Banat al-Riyadh (Riyadh Girls).

Michael Jackson was seen shopping in Bahrain on Wednesday, wearing abaya. (via Sabbah)

During the first Club World Championship, FIFA president Joseph Sepp Blatter was asked about his opinion in the Saudi team al-Nassr, which was representing Asia at the tournament. Being the diplomatic guy that he is, Blatter praised al-Nassr, saying it was a good team. Al-Nassr went out of the tournament at the first round after losing two matches out of three. The thing is, Blatter was just being nice, but al-Nassr have taken it seriously and came back to the Kingdom bragging about the so-called endorsement they got from the president of the highest football authority in the world.

The same thing has just happened this week, when the Brazilian football legend Pele was in Jeddah as an ambassador for MasterCard, to launch a campaign for the National Commercial Bank. “It is my expectation that Brazil will meet Saudi Arabia in the World Cup final,” he said in a press conference. He either was joking, or simply just being nice, but the Saudi sports media, as idiotic as usual, carried that statement as the main headline the next day. I don’t think that the disaster of 2002 will be repeated this year, but with this kind of idiotic media that we have here every possibility must be taken seriously. Seriously? I’m afraid our media have no idea what that word means.

You can buy books by the kilo in Sawarikh market in south Jeddah.

Fouad al-Farhan has some photos from his interview on CNBC Arabiya.

BTW, the website Lasyk Networks is a great resource for the owners of Sony Ericsson mobiles looking for themes, wallpapers, games, and much more.