Tuesday, 7 June 2011

Who's line is it anyway? FREE TICKETS WINNER!

Tomorrow night, at 8pm, at the Crowne Plaza, the last Alive Events comedy event until September gets underway.

There are still tickets available and you can buy them on the door - first come first served.

But now, the winner of 2 free tickets generously donated by the kind people at Hi FM (they updated their website... something I can use in the next Radio Wars blog!)






I'm happy to report that a reader who has entered for every free ticket give-away - Congratulations to Ali Al-Lawati!

More tomorrow. Dont forget to vote in my latest poll!

le fin.

Monday, 6 June 2011

Merge 104.8 Now on air, website now online



Just a little blog to mark the occasion that Merge 104.8 and Chris, Rumaitha and Sayeh will be presenting daily. And Sami will be showcasing Omani talents every Friday evening.

They have a website here (be sure to check out the poll).

They have a Facebook page here.

They have a Twitter identity here.

Good luck!

le fin.

Kuwaiti Politician: It's ok to have Sex Slaves!

Hot on the heels of the Linoleum Surfer's recent article about prostitution in the Gulf, is this incredible article in The National.

The article is republished here, in case it goes missing....

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Men should have sex slaves, says female Kuwaiti politician

Jun 6, 2011 

KUWAIT CITY // Salwa al Mutairi, a former parliamentary candidate, said in a video posted on You Tube last month that sex slaves should be legal and prisoners from war-torn countries, such as Chechnya, would make suitable concubines.

Ms al Mutairi said she asked Saudi muftis what the Islamic ruling was on owning sex slaves while on a trip to Mecca because she had a male colleague who was "young and something of a womaniser".
The mufti told her it is not haram, or forbidden, she said. "The context must be that of a Muslim nation conquering a non-Muslim nation, so these jawari have to be prisoners of war."

Jariya is an Arabic term meaning "concubine" or "sex slave". The plural of the word is jawari.
Ms al Mutairi said free women must be married with a contract but, with concubines, "the man just buys her and that's it. That's enough to serve as marriage".

The ruling was confirmed by "specialised people of the faith" in Kuwait, she said. "They said, 'That's right, the only solution for a decent man who has the means, who is overpowered by desire and who does not want to commit fornication, is to acquire jawari'."

Offices could be opened to run the sex trade in the same way recruitment agencies provide domestic labourers, Ms al Mutairi suggested.

"One of the countries where [I see this trade is possible] is Chechnya. The country is at war with another state, so there are some captives for sure. I say go and buy those captives, they might just die of hunger over there. I say go and buy them and sell them to merchants here in Kuwait who may otherwise commit a sin."


"I don't see anything wrong with it, nothing at all," she said, adding that the caliph Haroun al Rashid had one wife and more than 2,000 concubines in his possession when he died.
"So there's no shame in it and it is not haram, our Sharia law allows it," she said.
Haroun al Rashid ruled over an area covered by modern-day Iran, Iraq and Syria 12 centuries ago.
Ms al Mutairi's video on You Tube has been viewed more than 84,000 times since it was uploaded on May 24.

Ms al Mutairi finished 23rd in the fifth constituency with more than 1,200 votes in the parliamentary election in 2009.

Candidates who finish in the top 10 are selected for parliament.
* The National

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That's just incredible! Props to Suburban from Other Oman for bringing it to my attention!

le fin.

Sunday, 5 June 2011

Just a quickie: Rain / Thunderstorms predicted for Friday/Saturday.



There has been lots of emails and text messages flying around the country lately about a large thunderstorm that may hi Oman soon.

For up to date and accurate weather information for Oman, I strongly recommend you check the Weather Underground website.

It is currently predicting a 50% chance of Thunderstorms on Friday and a 70% chance on Saturday.

le fin.

Congratulations to Muscat Daily.

So I was playing around with Blogger the other day and decided to run a poll. I thought to myself I'll be lucky if 50 people vote in 2 weeks, having had low responses to polls in the past on other websites.

I was wondering what Oman-based English newspapers you all read and so decided to ask. I have been amazed that there was 206 votes - thank you to everyone that has voted.


The results show a clear winner - Muscat Daily, taking a massive 65% of the vote (135 votes)

The online news outlets took 2nd place, with 15% of the vote (31 votes)
Times of Oman came next with 10% (21 votes)
Then the Observer, with 4% (10 votes)
And also 4% of you (9 votes) did not read any of the news papers or online outlets!

I will be announcing the winner of the draw for the free tickets to the Who's line is it anyway? comedy night (at 8pm on Thursday evening at the Crowne Plaza) on Wednesday morning - so make sure to enter the competition if you fancy winning 2 tickets.



le fin.

Wednesday, 1 June 2011

Reblog: The Linoleum Surfer - Arabs got prostitution

So I was reading my comments and saw some from a new comer to my blog - The Linoleum Surfer. As it happens he writes a blog, and is an extremely talented writer, and makes me jealous at his word-smithery.


He has written a very good article on prostitution in the Gulf. It is an excellent read.

Go check it out by clicking here.

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In other news:

The results from The Omani Cuisine Ice Cream crawl are in - the winner is  COLD STONE CREAMERY at the Qurum City Centre mall. Personally I'm rather intrigued by this ice cream place in Ruwi called Softy - I plan to check it out!
Last night, Tuesday May 31st, saw the very last ever day of trading for the Muscat Rugby Club's clubhouse. It was a nice gathering and thanks to everyone that has helped out and attended the various events that have been put on there over the years. Through strong support from the local community, an extremely large amount of debt has been cleared off. There are still tickets available for the Oval Ball this Thursday at the Hyatt - RO 45 - if you would like to come, you can call T on 9944 6746 - everyone is welcome.
Have a great weekend everyone. Dont forget to enter to win free tickets to the Who's line is it anyway? show next Thursday at the Crowne Plaza.

le fin.

Monday, 30 May 2011

Radio Wars: A New Hope


This is a continuation from my previous post, The Phantom DJ (which you can read by clicking here)

We left off with the Galactic Empire (Hi FM) having banished the Ewoks (Sultanate of Oman Radio) to their tree village, and busily setting about running their empire (radio station) in the galaxy (Oman). This might make more sense to you if you watch the Star Wars films. Or not. Is there really anyone out there that has not seen a Star Wars film?

And so, as it seems impossible to satisfy everyone with one single radio station, a new rebel alliance was formed to take on the dominating Hi FM. And so the rumours began at the end of 2010 that there was going to be a new English language radio station coming to Oman. The rebel alliance was growing, and eventually their name and branding was leaked online by the Undercover Dragon in April this year. Previously people were referring to it as "Sabco Radio".

Merge 104.8 now had a name, and shortly after the leak announced that they plan to launch at 7am on Tuesday the 7th of June. Just like HiFM, Merge have begun their test transmissions around the city (and country?) and you can listen in on 104.8 on your radio dial right now. I understand they are only broadcasting during some hours of the day, but the music sounds pretty fresh, but at least to my ears, from the same playlist that Hi FM is playing from.



The lines are now drawn: 7am on Tuesday the 7th June (thats next week) Merge will launch their assault upon the Galactic Empire that is Hi FM. I wonder if the Ewoks Sultanate of Oman Radio 90.4 guys and girls will roll out anything new as well at this time?

Hi FM have already changed their presenters (Erin last year, Rachey Roo (Now on Dubai 92.5) & Chris Marsden removed, and Marcus added recently this year, along with syndicated shows from Roger Sanchez and Ryan Seacrest) and have notably changed their sound and are playing more US Billboard top 100 music in the day and more dance music in the evening. Darren and Kathy are still going strong too. I wonder if they will finally start reading the news?

In contrast, Merge have the talented (and regionally experienced - in Dubai) presenter Chris Fisher for the morning show (so going head to head against Darren) and British lass, Sayeh Stone pulling the evening drive-time show and will be facing up to seasoned HiFM presenter, Erin Fleming.

Merges secret weapon appears to be dance music, with radio shows from the following acts lined up for each night (which to be honest looks awesome): Hed Kandi, Paul Oakenfold, John Digweed, Carl Cox, Armin Van Buuren, Adam Beyer and even Eddie Halliwell. It'll be interesting to see how Hi react to this, as they currently have Roger Sanchez, Global Dance Sessions and Aly & Fila Future Trance in their dance line up. Being a fan of dance music I'm pretty pleased about this development!

A special thanks to @O3mer for the image

HiFM have already made a pre-emptive strike against Merge by rolling out a forced listening campaign (as it's known in the biz, I'm told). Hi FM are giving away business class tickets to Paris to see the Black Eyed Peas in concert, VIP backstage passes, and also the hotel - all you have to do is wait until the alarm is sounded in the morning or afternoon drive time shows and then text in - it's a clever campaign because it'll surely keep people listening to them for a chance to get the tickets.

And to us, the listeners, go the spoils of war... more music, more choice, more prizes. As Mr Burns likes to say - Exxxxxxxxcellent.

Lets see what Merge have up their sleeves next week then!

More tomorrow.

le fin.