le weekend

Well there is a lot of stuff going on this weekend...

Tonight

Electro party at Zouk

House music night tonight at Zouk from 10 till 3.


Thursday

The Soapbox Race

There is of course the first ever Red Bull Soapbox race that takes place over in Bowsher, it starts at 2pm and runs until 6pm.

The Art of Living Carnival

Starting at 10am and running until 10pm at the Fun Zone in Qurum is the day-long event with activities for all the family, in the name of charity. There's a facebook event page here with more information.

Treasure Hunt in Muttrah - THURSDAY 25th APRIL (NOT THIS WEEKEND!)

The Centre for Omani Dress (preserving traditional Omani cultural dress) is hosting a scavenger/treasure hunt fund-raiser between 9am and 1pm. Pre-registration is required to participate, and the price is 25OMR to register per team of 2-4 people (age 12+) and at least one team member is required to have a camera or phone with a built-in camera to participate. Prizes will be awarded to the top three based on most correct answers and best time. Maps of Mutrah souq will be provided and gift bags for all participants.



Wig party at the Hyatt

It's been quietly rumbling along and this will be the big party of the night, with numbers of expected guests to be in the mid hundreds - go get a wig, dress to impress, and go get your drink on (if you're into that sort of thing) at the Hyatt's outdoor venue, Marjan, by the pool. I'll give a free pat on the back to the first drunk person to jump in the pool. Here's the Facebook event page for more information. It kicks off at 7pm and runs till 10pm, before moving up to the John Barry bar for the after party which will run till midnight.

Friday

Beverly Hills Brunch

For those who enjoy the finer things in life, genuine Moet et Chandon bubbles will be served, free-flowing, at the newly launched brunch at the Hyatt. RO 49 for the free flowing bubbles, RO 22 for soft drinks or RO 35 for freeflowing dB wines and selected spirits and cocktails. Here's the Facebook event page for more information, starts at 12:30 and runs until 3:30.

Jazz night

British Jazz singer Matthew vanKan is coming to the rebranded for one night only Copacabana "Jazz Club". VIP tickets are already sold out, and the show starts at 8pm. Here's the Facebook event page for more information, to book tickets you can call 2464 1234 or email muscat.dining@hyatt.com

That's quite a full weekend!

Have a good one everyone....

le fin.

Jazz night at the Grand Hyatt this Friday

This Friday night, the Grand Hyatt are transforming the Copacabana night club into a jazz club for a special performance by jazz singer, Matthew vanKan this Friday 19th April from 8pm. Matthew is a resident singer at The Savoy in London, so obviously must know his stuff! This will be the third Coco Latté event of the weekend at the Grand Hyatt, following the Wig party the night before and the Beverly Hills Brunch earlier on Friday.

Joining Matthew for the concert of upbeat jazz and swing classics is pianist Gabriel Mantell.

Tickets are OMR 10 each including a welcome cocktail on arrival and VIP seating OMR 20 including a glass of Moet & Chandon on arrival.

For reservations, please call 2464 1234 or email muscat.dining@hyatt.com / here is the facebook event page for more information.

le fin.

Wig party at the Hyatt next weekend

Next Thursday, 18th April at the Marjan at the Grand Hyatt (the restaurant by the swimming pool) there is a pretty great party planned: House music with unlimited drinks for RO 25, all you need is a wig, in Muscats first ever Wig party.

I've seen a few wigs in Ramez, a few more in Daiso (mind you unless they restock I think they're gone pretty soon) and there's the opportunity to buy a wig on the door as well for RO 6.

Here's the Facebook event page for more information. It kicks off at 7pm and runs till 10pm, before moving up to the John Barry bar for the after party which will run till midnight.

More later!

le fin.

Times of Oman writer gets mad at local blogger

Covering note: I assure you that I am neither a Zionist zealot, termite or a virus seeking to corrode society within Oman - I intentionally avoid politics and religious issues on this blog as much as possible, but this latest missive from the Opinions Editor at ToO is really worth highlighting.


This morning I was amused to read this article from Times of Oman author, Debasish Mitra, which is aimed at fellow local blogger, Andy in Oman. Debasish's rather colourful article was in response to Andy's post here about the ToO's recent article, "World would be a better place without Israel".

Andy's post on the ToO article above was merely to state that it was not the first time that the Times of Oman had published articles which are about Israel, and in Andy's definition, anti-semitic.

For those of you not in the know, Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is prejudice, hatred of, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. A person who holds such views is called an "antisemite" (definition lifted from Wikipedia).

Andy's post on the matter pointed out that there was a clear hatred of Israel from the article on the ToO written by Mr Mitra, and then linked to the one other blog post he had written way back in 2010 relating to Antisemitism at ToO, and an article written by the Undercover Dragon on the very same subject at the ToO written in 2009. The reality is that Mr Mitra was Anti-Zionist in his latest piece aimed at Andy, and in the original article, he was indeed also Anti-Zionist. Although, in the first paragraph of his article (World would be a better place without Israel) he did write, "Hypocrisy thou art is a Jew" - basically saying all Jew's are hypocrites, which could be construed as antisemitism.

So this brings me onto the point of this blog post today.... Mr Mitra's response to Andy published today! Here's the link to the post: Mr Blogger, shed your biased mindset please! In the article, the clearly fired up Debasish writes,"They have been lurking in the shadows and their plan was to corrode society in Oman from within, like termites in wood works. They are the Zionist zealots who have been living like parasites in the Sultanate running blogs that, more than anything else, seek to justify the atrocities Israel has been perpetrating —sans remorse— against the humanity in general, and Palestinians in particular. These termites, nay Zionist virus, have recently been exposed, caught red-handed in their attempts to contaminate people's minds, polluting Oman's social mosaic. Their sinister design to malign Arabs and muffle voices that expose Israeli shenanigans now lie completely stripped of all camouflages".

How's that for an opening salvo?! Gee, I wish he told us how he really feels! I am quite shocked to learn that Andy, who runs the hugely popular Andy in Oman blog, has actually been making it his top priority to "seek to justify the atrocities Israel has been perpetrating...". Apparently 2 posts in 3 years relating to the Times of Oman's articles on this subject mean that's his top priority with his blog. We will just quickly jump over the 100's of posts Andy has made about life (and the fabulous quality of it) here in Oman that have been read over 1,000,000 times and counting - that means nothing, his main objective is clear. I wonder how many tourists to Oman have used his blog in some way or other?

Now I'm not going to comment upon the situation in Israel other than that it's a sorry mess and there is clearly injustice there, I'm glad that I'm not living in that region, and I wish that there could be a resolution found to the situation, because after-all - who doesn't like peace?

I think what Andy was trying to say was that should the nations oldest English language newspaper be carrying such opinion pieces? Living in an Arab country it is obvious what most peoples opinion of Israel is going to be, and of course it's really easy to get public opinion on your side by saying people are pro-Israel (Zionists), but the reality is this, these opinion pieces incite hatred towards a religion and insults an internationally recognized state.

Which, as it happens, breeches the 1984 Press & Publications law. Amongst many other things, the law states:

1. Newspapers are not to publish anything that is politically, culturally, or sexually offensive;
2. Newspapers are not to publish anything that ... creates hatred toward ... any ethnicity or religion;
3. Newspapers are not to publish anything that ... promotes religious extremism;
4. Newspapers are not to publish anything that ... insults other states.

Furthermore, these same requirements are stipulated in Omantels (at the behest of the TRA) terms of service which all businesses must sign and adhere to. Oops.

My thoughts on the matter are, why on earth are ToO publishing articles like this? There are literally SO many things one in such a privileged position as the Opinions Editor for the Times of Oman could write about and help spread awareness for, why stir people up with such articles? I'd like to read the OP-ED's thoughts on things that I care about, like things to do WITH OMAN, that are WITHIN OMAN and that directly AFFECT OMANIS and those living here.

Perhaps next week his opinion piece will be on the rising cost of bread in Costa Rica, or perhaps the recent snow-falls in the UK, or maybe the chronic chop-stick shortage in Gabon.

Lets keep a local papers opinions local eh?

le fin. 

Maz Jobrani live in Muscat

Most of you may already know, but in case you didn't, Maz Jobrani is coming back to Muscat for another comedy gig, this time on his I come in Peace tour. Tickets are RO 20 and are available in all the usual outlets.

le fin.

Sponsored Video: Find the lost documents to win stuff!

I was recently contacted asking if I could write a little blog post about the video below. Basically, Hyundai are having a global marketing initiative for their new Santa Fe model. The reason I'm blogging about it is because its based almost entirely on Facebook - you interact with three films in the special app - one in NYC, one in London, and the other in Dubai. If you go through all of the three films you find the "secret documents" which is amusingly chosen as one of your existing FB contacts (you pre-select five for each location).

The three videos are fun, and it was amusing watching the Dubai one, and wondering if that car in the distance was actually a police car or not - I can imagine they had police escorts when filming the footage for the short film! It's nice to see marketing campaigns tailored to our part of the world though, instead of a modified ad from another market as usual.

I went through all three missions and retrieved my missing document in about 10 minutes, it was a fun little time-killer, but I also learned a bit about the new Santa Fe, which now makes me think my 5 year old Santa Fe needs a new, bigger, sun roof!

I was rather disappointed that I didn't get to shoot my facebook contact in Dubai at the end though! Anyway its not all just a time-killer, there's a couple of prizes to be won as well, and you gotta be in it to win it :) The prizes are: 1 Macbook Air, 2 Ipad Minis, and 20 $50 Facebook credits so you can buy those Must-Have Farmville/Texas Hold'em Poker bits and pieces :)

This is a sponsored post, but all of the words are my own!

Hyundai Global FB page
Hyundai Oman FB page
Hyundai Oman - The Chaser game link on FB

le fin.