Guess who’s back with a brand new rap?

Five months and a South African adventure later Umm Lol Cats is back and she is here to stay. For starters I would like to dedicate the first post to Ruqaya of Bahrain who made all Muslim women proud by winning a Gold Medal in Beijing.

Of course here is the mandatory Korean picture. 🙂

P.S: That’s not me, its Han Ga In, a Korean Celebrity.

Korean Celebs, American Celebs ….

Is it just me or many Korean celebs like to dress exactly like their American counterparts? And I do mean exactly. You can see examples of these this phenomenon at Popseoul, here, here, here, here and so on and so fourth. I don’t know what to make of it. Is it just coincidence or they are actually copying their style? I don’t want to get all too philosophical with the pop industry but what does this phenomenon imply?

What the … Cyber Actresses

Yet another example of how technology can change our perception of reality. Meet JoA (I think they named her after BoA, a famous Korean singer) a digital actress. She even has an official biography according to which she was born on December 20, 1986, is 169cm tall and weighs 48kg. This makes me wonder if I can trust the digital media anymore. With the internet anyone can pretend to be anyone. Who knows who the person on the other side of the blog is. Here is my list of conspiracies:

May be Aafke is actually Chinese veterinarian living in the African Savannah? What if Lofter actually lives in Mexico city? Stinger is an Urdu Speaking Russian living in Taiwan? Shahrzaad is actually French? What if Baekho is a marine biologist studying whales near the coast of Chile? Darvish is James Bond.

Teach your langauge to your children otherwise don’t complain!

People of the blogsphere, heed my advice. If you are from country A and decide to live in country B so that your kids grow up in country B and never went back to country A AND you also don’t teach your children about your culture AND also do not teach them much about YOUR language then don’t complain if they take country’s A language as their own. Its NOT their fault that they have to use English subtitles to watch a movie or a TV drama in their supposed mother tongue. Ok? got it? Are we all clear? Kapish? May Allah guide us all. Ameen.

Regarding the picture, I was looking for a picture of a furious looking Korean girl and Kim Seon-Ah here fits the bill. The poster is from the Korean Movie, “She’s on Duty.” Here is the synopsis of the movie from IMDB.

“The film deals with a boisterous undercover female cop who gets sent to an all-girl’s school in order to get close to a criminal in hideout by befriending his teenage daughter. The general set up and the fighting antics of the female cop play close resemblance to Stephen Chow’s classic Fight Back to School.”

Addition #1:
P.S: How do I know this? From experience of course!

Addition #2:
Since its not obvious to some people then let me be more clear substitute country A with Korea and substitute country B with the United States. Do you get it now people? Kapish?

K-pop guide to Muslims: Yun Eun Hye and the Environment

Here is Yun Eun Hye wearing a T-shirt in support of the environment. She started her career as a pop singer in the group Baby V.O.X. but later moved to acting which has proved to be more successful. Despite initial skepticism her role in the drama Princess Hour was able to win over her critics. So she is not just another pretty face. Speaking of environment, environmentalism is not something which people usually associate with Islam or with prophet Muhammad (pbuh) but there are ample examples from the life and saying of prophet Muhammad (pbuh) that can bolster the claim for an Islamic idea of environmentalism. Consider the following sayings of prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

• “No Muslim, who plants a shoot, except that whatever is eaten or stolen from it, or anyone obtains the least thing from it, is considered [like paying] almsgiving on his behalf until the Day of Judgment.” (sahih Muslim)
• “There is reward in [caring for] every living being.” (sahih Muslim)
• “Faith is some seventy branches, the highest of which is “There is no god but God, and the least is removing obstacles from the path of people. (sahih Bukhari and sahih Muslim)

It makes me wonder, we do see the effects of urban sprawl run amok in many parts of the Muslim world and environmental degradation also. We should learn from the example of the prophet (pbuh).

K-pop guide to Muslims: Tonight’s Episode Ivy and Rights

Here is Ivy, a Korean singer. She has a nice voice but her debut was via the “sexy route.” The record company that launched her decided to promote her in this manner which is too bad. She was later able to reverse some of this image but her albums did not do that well so she again took the controversial route. If you get a chance, check out here songs. And you all pervs out there the whole video thing is just made up. :p Speaking of controversy, one of things that frequently comes up in the media is women in the Muslim world. To some extent Muslims are to be blamed e.g., according to Islamic law the possessions of a women after marriage do not get transferred to her husband and she has no obligation to spend money on her family. However the same does not apply to a Muslim man who is required to spend money on his wife and his family. In theory the wife can keep her money AND spend money from her husband. In reality this rule is not followed by a lot of Muslims but interesting ain’t it.

Still confused about the K-pop and Muslim remix?

Merry Christmas

To our Christan brothers and sisters Merry Christmas!

(By the way, that not me in the picture. The image is that of a Korean Movie)