Asides | Saudi Jeans

I have been following this photoblog for a while. Michael is a Swiss photographer who works with a publishing company in Jeddah, and he has been posting different pictures from the Kingdom. I have frequently linked to them on my link blog, but today I was dismayed to read that he removed a series of abaya pictures that he previously posted because he was afraid that his “association with KAUST could get the university in trouble.” I’m not a KAUST basher, but I’m a KAUST skeptic, and removing these pics only deepens my skepticism. UPDATE: I talked to Michael and he said he will repost the pictures.
Indonesian housemaids who want to come work in Saudi Arabia must take a Sharia crash course before they can come here. The course will include prophet’s teachings about black magic and the punishment of those who might use it, as well as some basic Arabic vocabulary. The Saudi government hope that such program would reduce the number of runaway maids who eventually get employed in the housemaids black market.

Smile. Whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day today or not. Just smile. Check out this video that Asmaa and her colleagues made:
It’s been more three years since we first heard about MOCI’s plan to allow new radio stations to broadcast in the country. Last month a media company owned by Prince Khaled al-Faisal won the first FM radio license for a reported price tag of SR75m. I was surprised. Is an FM radio license in Saudi Arabia really worth such costly price? Or is this simply a tactic by MOCI to put a high barrier to entry so they would only give the license to certain people? Yesterday the second license was sold for SR66m. Winners of the remaining three licenses will be announced over the next six weeks.
Saudi Valentine’s FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! (via rt)

Arab News reports on the campaign to boycott ‘manned’ lingerie shops that I wrote about a couple of days ago. Fellow blogger Eman al-Nafjan is quoted in the story.
Tariq al-Maeena: “Yes, tomorrow is different to some. And depending on which side of the fence you sit, the color red will definitely have some say.”
The young Bin Baz continues to make headlines. Here, he is interviewed by al-Watan daily where he reaffirms his not-so-orthodox opinions about women’s driving, mixing, khulwa, and birth control.

This is awesome: “Nouf wears a lab coat instead of an abaya when she is in public. She likes people to think she is a doctor. But she is not.” While she does it because she wants people to believe she is a doctor, other Saudi chicks are doing it simply because they don’t want to wear the black abaya. Nice one, gals. (via MMW)
My friend Bandar Raffah has been on a roll with some really fine iPhone apps, and his latest creation is proving to be a great success. 2Do is an award-winning and beautifully designed time management that is available for $6.99 in the App Store.
Roba posted about her favourite snacks that she grew up with in Saudi Arabia. Her absolute favourite was “Salad Chips,” or more correctly Salad Snack, which she could not find a picture of. But since this one is also a favourite of mine, I thought I would get her the missing picture. Enjoy!

Sheikh Ahmed Bin Baz is the son of the former Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, and he has been saying some interesting things for someone with a famous lastname. Saudi Gazette profiles the young upstart scholar.
A Saudi embraces Islam. Seriously. He says his American mom, whom he has been living with for the past 23 years, did not mind because he is an adult and can do whatever he wants. Now imagine if it was the other way around. Would his Saudi father accept his son’s decision to become Christian? Hmmm… UPDATE: here’s the story in English from Saudi Gazette.
The Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice detained two males and three females on charges of “khulwa.” How come?! They are five people! How in hell they were in “khulwa”? Somebody stops these morons before people start shooting them.

It took a handshake between Prince Turki al-Faisal, former Saudi ambassador to the UK and US, and Israeli deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon to settle a seating spat at the Munich Security Conference. Depending on who you are, this may or may not be a big deal. Here’s the video:
King Abdullah is popular in Egypt and Jordan. Yipee! Woohoo! The King is also very popular here. What I really hope for is that he would take advantage of this popularity to push for more radical reform in Saudi Arabia. People say he has to be cautious, but I disagree. If you are this popular then you can certainly afford to make some bold moves.
Two TwitterCamps in Jeddah and Khobar today. Twitter users in the country are invited to discuss Twitter services, features, tips and tricks, as well as twitter clients.

We have no movie theaters, but that won’t stop young Saudis from making movies. BBC has a short reportage about these young men. I have met most of these guys who appear in this reportage, and got a chance to watch some of their work. They are talented, creative, and determined. Too bad that our government refuses to acknowledge their talent.
And speaking of Saudi talents, here’s that latest single from ReD CoasT, a band from Jeddah:
Surprise! Surprise! BAE Systems will plead guilty to offenses of false accounting to settle bribery allegations made over al-Yamamah arms deals. BAE will pay $400m but only in the US, and not in the UK where the SFO dropped their investigation into al-Yamamah due to a request by former prime minister Tony Blair.