The (tight) lip service

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani has put a clamp on Pakistani ministers on issuing political and strategic statements from now onwards. Only Sherry Rehman, Minister of Information, or Akram Shaheedi, Pakistan’s Information Secretary, would be entitled to issue statements in the future.

In another similar development, all Pakistani private channels have voluntarily stopped airing Taliban comments on the continued military operation in different parts of the North-West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan. Under this change, the channels will not air views of the Taliban leadership against the ongoing offensive.

Anchors at Dawn News and Aaj TV were seen calling the militants as ‘Taliban’ and reporting solely on the military progress and activities.

This is a complete turn over from the same media houses that have largely been skeptical of the Armed Forces offensive against (as they used to put it) alleged terrorists in the North. One might wonder what ever happened to that point of view now that they all have voluntarily decided to ban any pro-taliban stance what so ever. Perhaps they were paid the right price this time around.

Guess what’s the latest in spa pampering? Fish Pedicures!!!

Would you ever put your foot in to a fish bowl and let the fish nibble on your toes and skin?

The sensible answer to this, one might wonder, would be NO but hold up; fish pedicure is the most recent addition to spa treatments and is gaining massive popularity! No this is no joke. I’m serious! Dead serious!

What a unique alternative to the razors used for scraping away dead skin is this! And the way it works is simple. You put your foot in the water and the little fish called garra rufa aka Doctor Fish get to work. They nibble on the dead skin, cleaning it all away as that is their food source so to speak. Do they bite? Not at all. They got no teeth you see so its perfectly safe and all who have tried it have loved it stating the experience to be slightly ticklish.

Wonder if this would come over to Pakistan!

Click here to read more

Alison Nelson :: The Fashionable Chocolate!

Image courtesy of Alison Nelson Website

You might never taste chocolate in the same light after savoring an Alison Nelson Chocolate Bar, a chain of gourmet cocoa emporiums!

Make way for the utterly fashionable trend in the luxurious chocolate market today for Alison Nelson is coming to town!

The venture is being set up in India and Pakistan thanks to a partnership with Dubai based HFK General Trading.

The Alison Nelson chocolate bar is an amazing brand and a unique concept that offers no only a chocolate cafe, but also a fresh, vibrant blend of fashion and art, which is exactly what our customer is looking for. I am sure it is going to be an unprecedented success.

Hassan Khan, CEO: HFK General Trading

Known for its cocoa and unusual flavor combinations such as ‘salty pretzel’ and ‘malted milk’, Chocolate Bar employs an artful approach, using graffiti-influenced chocolate-bar wrappers designed by iconic New York-based artists.

Consumers will join Chocolate Bar’s A-list fans such as celebrity Sarah Jessica Parker, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts, Scarlett Johanson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Uma Thurman, who all rave about the presentation and most of all the adventurous flavor combinations: Nelson’s boutiques prove that the
world’s favorite sweet goes with everything: at the sleek outlet in New York’s upscale Henri Bendel store, a typical sandwich is made from a melted dark 72% chocolate bar dabbed with olive oil and sea salt. Gourmet chocolate from high-quality cocoa beans can be eaten, drunk, or even used in the
store’s own line of cocoa-based beauty products.

Yummylicious!

So will the new trend in the chocolate market jolt already present icons like Patchi and the Chocolate Fondue Fountain in Karachi?

Only time will tell!

Related Links:

Alison Nelson’s Chocolate Bar to Open First Gourmet Concept Stores in Pakistan [ Pakistan Daily ]

Alison Nelson Official Site [ Alison Nelson Chocolate Bar ]

WeCite Link-Fest

Britney working on new album [ Todays Zaman ]

Super cinema excitement in full swing [ Lahore Metblogs ]

Spanish police discover 400 websites inciting anorexia [ Terranet Plus ]

Supermodel Kate Moss makes brain-damage claims [ Stuff ]

Miley Cyrus wants to do Sex and the City for teens [ Holly Wire ]

Madonna, Britney joining forces again [ MSN Entertainment ]

New iPhone music to your ears [ Stuff ]

Tom Cruise for Top Gun sequel? [ Times of India ]

Don’t look if you are afraid of snakes [ Bella Sugar ]

Terminator Salvation Trailer [ Pop Therapy ]

The Dark Knight smashes records!

All the hype and the trailers had us all convinced that Batman would be big… but we didn’t know it would be THIS big! The Dark Knight has posted the biggest box office opening ever over the weekend! The film snatched more than $155 million, overtaking Spider-Man 3 ($ 151.1 million) from last year.

And that ain’t all folks! The Dark Knight also broke Spider-Man 3’s IMAX record. The caped crusader already set a record for its opening day haul. According to the acclaimed box office tracker Media By Numbers:

“DARK KNIGHT” RECORDS THUS FAR (IN ORDER OF OCCURRENCE):

1 – LARGEST NUMBER OF OPENING THEATRES WITH 4,366 (MORE THAN THE 4,362 DEBUT THEATRES OF “PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END IN 2007).

2 – BIGGEST MIDNIGHT PREVIEW GROSS WITH $18.489 MILLION IN 3,040 THEATRES (THIS BEATS “STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH” AND ITS $16.9 MILLION IN 2,915 THEATRES IN 2005).

3 – BIGGEST IMAX MIDNIGHT PREVIEWS SET AN NEW RECORD WITH $640,000 (THIS AMOUNT WAS APPROPRIATELY INCLUDED IN THE $18.489 MILLION PREVIEW NUMBER).

4 – BIGGEST SINGLE-DAY GROSS IN BOX-OFFICE HISTORY WITH $67.850 MILLION (THIS BESTS THE $59,841,919 SET BY “SPIDER-MAN 3” IN 2007).

5 – BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND GROSS IN BOX-OFFICE HISTORY WITH $155.340 MILLION (THIS BESTS THE $151,116,516 SET BY “SPIDER-MAN 3” IN 2007).

6 – BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND GROSS FOR AN IMAX RELEASE IN BOX-OFFICE HISTORY WITH $6,214,061 MILLION IN 94 THEATRES ($66,107 PER-THEATRE!) (THIS BESTS THE $4.7 MILLION SET BY “SPIDER-MAN 3” IN 2007) – IMAX SHOWING AT FULL CAPACITY $1.9 MILLION ON SATURDAY ALONE.

Need we say more?

Coming soon to a cinema screen near you!

Fragrance Launches 2008

A while back Fauzan and Selina compiled a list of events that will happen in the future till the 23rd century. Well I am not going to make any such claims but what I will share with you is an article on one of my fav websites ALL ABOUT THE PRETTY that lists down all the fragrances that are set to make their name in the market this year. It’s a long but mouthwatering list nonetheless so as the website says: II suggest you get a fabulous journal, a beautiful pen, a great cup of tea, start making your list, and checking it twice.

There are separate lists for pour homme and pour femme launches as well as unisex fragrances. I am putting in the list for the current month of July while you can check out the rest at the link here.

July 2008

Women’s Launches

B-spot by Benefit
Covet Pure Bloom by Sarah Jessica Parker

David Yurman by Clarins,

undefined by Van Cleef & Arpels

Fig by Marc Jacobs

Gardenia by Marc Jacobs

Geisha Blanche Eau de Parfum from Aroma M Perfumes

Jeanne Lanvin by Lanvin

Lavender Joyful Mood Touch by L’Occitane.

Roses des 4 Reines Fragrance Touch by L’Occitane.

Sensuous by Estée Lauder

Men’s Launches

undefined Black Diamond

Carolina Herrera 212 Sexy Men

Unisex

undefined’h

WeCite Link-fest

New Yorker cover shows Muslims, US flag burning, Osama-loving, Fist-bumping Obama! [ Huffington Post ]

iPhone 3G: great for new buyers, but upgraders beware! [ About.Electronics ]

Miley Cyrus Caught Up In Snap Scandal – Again! [ Female First ]

Fashion’s gone bulletproof for the super rich! [ The Economic Times ]

This Week’s Fab Favorite: Anne Hathaway Does Black and White Just Right! [ Fabsugar ]

Sex curse found at ancient Cyprus site [ ABC News ]

Aisam enters doubles final in US! [ Dawn ]

Salman Rushdie sets his sights on the ‘Bollywood Jordan’ [ This is London ]

Michael Caine: ‘Ledger Will Land An Oscar Nomination’! [ Female First ]

Lust in space: NASA must iron out the kinks in space sex if man is to settle on Mars! [ Telegraph ]

‘World’s oldest blogger’ dies at 108! [ ABC News ]

Blackberry Thunder: First Live Pictures! [ Slippery Brick ]

Shoaib Akhtar: Pay per Play !

Pakistan Cricket’s king of controversy is back in the limelight!

The latest on Shoaib Akhtar is that he might not be a part of the squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy after all!

Reason: He has yet to pay a fine worth seven million Pak rupees to the Pakistan Cricket Board!

Although his 5 year long ban was reduced to 18 months, the fine slapped in him by the board had always been there. Now, even with the relaxation that he can play international cricket, it has been decided that he will not be picked for the probable 30 if he does not pay up!

With July 15 being the last date to announce the squad, Pakistan better move quick to resolve this issue. It’s a classic ‘pay per play’ situation for our speedster!

Trust him to land in such situations at the drop of the hat! *chuckles*

WeCite Link-Fest

Fans queue in Asia 2 days before new iPhone launch

[ Yahoo News ]

Bin Laden’s son in web terror rant

[ The Sun ]

Barrymore and Boyfriend call it quits

[ Boston Herald ]

The name game: The new celebrity baby naming rule

[ The Independent ]

Bollywood dancers break Guinness World Record

[ CBBC ]

Brothel offers customers petrol rebate

[ Yahoo! xtra ]

iPhone 3G gets reviewed

[ I4U News ]

Xbox 360 rumors flying; 60 GB in, 20 GB out and more

[ Slippery Brick ]

Angelina Jolie doesn’t endorse the Massage Hoop

[ Pop Therapy ]

Tim Flattery’s Transforming Air-Craft Carrier and more

[ Tim Flattery ]

The World Ahead – A Look In To The Future!

Ever since man has started grasping the logic of Time and Space… he has been equally excited and worried about what to expect ahead. We all do in one way or the other I suppose.

When will our next salary come? When are we going to die? What will become of the world after a 100 years? The list is of course endless.

WeCite’s Fauzan and myself have taken some time to provide you a fraction of the answers to what the future holds. We might not be able to predict your death (because some things better be left to Faith and Fate alike), but we can tell you of some exciting and amazing things that are set to happen till the 23rd century!

We are in the 21st century by the way… in case you did not know!

While the chairman of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates is set to step down from daily duties after three decades on July 31 this year (shoot yourself right now if you did not know this!), we will start our estimations and predictions from the year 2009 and move forward 2009… 2010… 2015… 2020… 2030… 2040… and so forth.

Please note that these predictions are based on current trends and estimates. If things don’t happen the way they are listed here, you better not blame us! The list does not cover each and every event that would happen around the world. So if you are looking forward to finding out of they would ever make the sequel to Sex and The City, you’re on the wrong website! Sorry!

On a personal note, both Fauzan and I have been swept by amazement and sadness while compiling this list. There are certain events that only our children or our children’s children will witness or hear of. The likes of us would have long perished… returned from where we came from… dust to dust. The future holds many hopes and promises. It also holds warnings and disasters in the making. The decisions we take now, in our present, can affect the outcome that our next generations will either enjoy or suffer from.

So read on fellow earthlings, about what is yet to unfold…

Leaving A Bad Taste In The Mouth!

CORRECTION: There were TWO suicide bomb blasts in Islamabad recently… not ONE!

Firstly, at Melody Chowk that resulted in 15 dead and over 50 injured. On the eve of the Red Mosque Operation’s first Anniversary, a suicide bomber decided to unleash yet another wave of terror that Islamabad in particular has suffered from countless times now.

Was this a vengeful ploy by the mullahs/suporters of the Red Mosque for what they believe was a illegal and wrongful act against presumably innocent clerics and students?

Was this a back lash by the Taliban over the recent Operation Sirat-e-Mustaqaeem in Khyber Agency? Surely it is not uncommon for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)  to respond in such manner when their backs are against the wall.

Or perhaps there were foreign hands involved, bent upon destabilizing Pakistan and pitting the nation against each other by means of the ‘divide and conquer’ rule?

We might never know for sure. Some secrets, unfortunately, shall always remain so.

The second suicide bomb was triggered by the man we have all come to know as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear power: Dr. A Q Khan. Although he has already set off the bomb with his recent ‘spilling the beans’ interview to media (local/international). the echo and impact of this blast will be heard in due time. We all know you and Musharraf don’t see eye to eye. You have your versions and he has his. That is fine. But at the very sensitive moment in time when our so called friends and enemies alike are looking for every excuse they could find to build a case against Pakistan and its nuclear arsenal, you decided to further humiliate us. I’m sorry Dr. Khan but as much as we adore you, your actions have made us see you in a different light. You were once a man of vision and wisdom. Now, as age has taken its course on you, your vision has impaired and your wisdom has deteriorated. You are merely an angry old man who has vowed to go at any lengths possible to take back the eight or so years you spent in confinement. That is all that matters to you know. Not the future of Pakistan or its nuclear assets. Your disposition and your comments indicate that beyond any thing else.

Granted that ‘In The Line of Fire‘ raised quite a few eyebrows. There is also no denying the fact that the President made certain wild accusations and speculations in his book that amount to national secrets and should have remained secrets. Agreed. But was it really necessary to stoop down to the same level and put the nation at risk? The very nation that adored you is now at the mercy of those who will mould and bend your statements (or even you in days to come) to give an ugly shape to our nuclear program. Thanks to you, we’ll once again see our politicians being invited to Washington, pressurized and eventually sell out more of Pakistan. Bravo Dr. Khan!

The suicide bomber at Melody Chowk might have killed more than a dozen policemen. But yours has the potential to obliterate a nation.

I wonder, how do you sleep at night after knowing what you have set off Dr. A Q Khan?

Asia Cup 2008 – Epic Battle with Front-liners Missing!

Come June 23rd, and the cricket frenzy will once again hit Asia like a thunder-bolt!

This time… It will be the ASIA CUP 2008!

Although the line-up of contestants for the glory include minows like Hong Kong, U.A.E and the underdogs Bangladesh… the real battle is a three way, horns-locking, rampage of the titans: Pakistan – India – Sri Lanka!

By no means will this event be over-shadowed by the heat waves engulfing the host nation Pakistan these days. Players and fans alike will push the thought of sweating profusely under the sun aside and draw battle lines in this epic tournament.

On paper, all three are equally balanced and a force to reckon with. Unfortunately, by sheer coincidence, the three giants are all missing their front line attackers as well!

Get Smart ‘out smarts’ at US BOX Office

Have you seen the new INCREDIBLE HULK that is being shown around in major Pakistani cinemas? You think its THE thing eh? Perhaps you’re right but it’s still not making enough dough when it’s put to the test at the US Box Office!

GET SMART, the new movie starring former wrestler, The Rock (The Game Plan, The Mummy Returns), Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada, Havoc), and Steve Carell (The Office, Evan Almighty) has outnumbered other giants like The HULK, Kung Fu Panda and so on. Currently, in its opening week, the movie took over $ 39 million in sales!

Here are the top 5:

1- Get Smart [$ 39 Million]

2- Kung Fu Panda [$ 21.7 Million]

3- The Incredible Hulk [$ 21.6 Million]

4- The Love Guru [$ 14 Million]

5- The Happening [$ 10 Million]

From Jay To Juggan

Everyone knows who Juggan Kazim is. She’s a hot favorite among guys. She’s a model, a mother, and a media personality.

But do you know Jay Kazim?

Maybe… or not!

If you do then hey good for you. If you don’t then don’t feel left out because this year you’ll get to see her in a re-release of an Anglo-Indian production called Sweet Destiny. Actually the movie has been around since 2005 but back then it was titled Pink Ludoos! Does that ring any bells?

Jay or Juggan Kazim (as most of us commonly know of her as) plays the leading lady in the movie as a free-spirited and seemingly rather quite horny girl who ends up getting pregnant with not one… not two… but triplets! Eat that Juno! And the story goes as it typically does that she gets abandoned by her family and she is left on her own to take care of the matter she has gotten her self in to on a hot and heavy night.

It’s funny. How come we never really heard about this so much? I think I found the answer myself when I viewed the trailer of Pink Ludoos. The opening scene is a car shaking violently with moans and groans in the background. Juggan and a guy are seen ‘getting in the mood’ for some ‘fun’.

A-HA!

I asked a few of my friends from here and there and one of them said she had seen the movie some years back and that it was simply idiotic a notion that it was compared to the likes of Bend It Like Beckham. ‘Just cuz Jay’s mom’s character is played by the same actress who played the mother’s role in BILB doesn’t mean it is in the same league’ she said over a chat session last night.

So our Juggan darling gets to jiggle in a car, smooch her way around and ends up with triplets! (I know I am repeating the facts but I can’t get over the triplets part! It’s beginning to sound all too comical. Did they think using three instead of one child would give the movie more ”weight’?

I don’t know from where to get my hands on Sweet Destiny. It’s prolly not yet available in Pakistan. Good luck wishing this one to be reeled in on Pakistani cinemas!

Miss Headscarf 2008? You have to be kidding!

The Danes are getting really desperate. I think they are beginning to realize the sheer impact of the hatred they have fueled against themselves from Muslims all over the world! A week ago there was a suicide bomb blast at their embassy in Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad by Al-Qaeda. If this gave them a wake-up call, they came up with a really odd plan to cool off some of the anger.

Miss Headscarf?

I never knew such a thing even existed!

Judges picked 18-year-old, Iraqi-born, Huda Falah from photographs of 46 contestants in an Internet-based pageant organized by Denmark’ public broadcaster DR1’s teenage show. Falah was chosen because the light blue Islamic headscarf was “a fantastic and shocking colour!”

First prize in the contest included an iPod, a headscarf designed by a Danish fashion boutique and a one-year subscription to the English-language Muslim Girl Magazine.

Make up your mind Denmark! Are you done ridiculing Islam or are you only trying to be a wolf in a sheep’s clothing!

News from Canoe.Ca