ammaro.com

Thanks!

2010-02-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

I'll get back to you soon. Back to Main Page.

Navigating the Website

2007-11-20T02:57:00.000-08:00

Use the links above (Main, Galleries, etc) to go to the correct section.

Thanks!

Blogs I read (or don't)

2007-11-19T03:57:00.000-08:00

Everyone has a boring old list of blogs they read and stuff, right? Well, in favor of going against the tide and coming up with something more creative, i've decided to turn all my links into a bit of a story. Enjoy!

Some of these are worth nokting, some of these aren't. But overall, if you have nothing better to do (and if you're still on my site, you probably don't), they're worth checking out:
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I sat and contemplated how my life in Bahrain was. It was sort of odd how my life went, the chaotic randomness shifting my moodz one day after the next. I felt like I was living in a little den, separated from the great world out there; "I feel like an outkast", I wrote in my journal, "ah, but that was the serendipity that life had given me".

It's just another day, so enough with the drivel and random thoughts going through my head. Even though I felt unsettled, lost, sort of like Ibn Battuta, I was sure that there was asilver lining to this grey cloud called life. Enough with me being concerned about how bad things were going, sitting in this restaurant at the corner of the city, all these crazy ideas in my dome; I need to start thinking about this huge taqo and the cool red glass of strawberry juice full of ice infront of me before I die of hunger. Twenty minutes (and a half eaten slice of oreo cheesecake) later, I was full, I was happy, and I didn't feel blue anymore. As I got up to leave, I spotted some cute little cupcakes by the counter, but as I had already filled myself up, I decided against getting them and loosened my belt.

I wanted to pay with my card as I didn't have any cash on me, but the waitress (who from the expressions on her face, probably thought she was some sort of princess or diva) didn't have a pen for me to sign the slip. I said "eshda3wa 3aad", and she raised her eyebrow, so I said "it's Okay as I went to search for the nearest ATM to reload my wallet with cash.

As I stepped outside into the light of the sun, I saw a cat in the garden chasing a butterfly, totally entangled in the chase, and purring as it missed the butterfly that effortlessly flew away every time. N.eway, I was about to cross the road when some guy swerved off from the fast lane and almost hit me (probably Saudi?), and screamed "get out of my way!" as he drove off. Ah yes, that's just what humanity has become; a monster. This person was just another icon in the diary of man, showing how low we've come. 'Garbage', is what I call this tome in the chronicles of mankind.

Semaj, sorry, I really didn't know how to add you here!
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If yours isn't here yet, don't worry, i'm adding them. Slowly.

Want to speed up the process? Or add yours? Contact me:

Old Food, Sweets & Drinks 3

2007-11-05T05:47:00.001-08:00

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Old TV Shows 3

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Old Toys 4

2007-11-05T05:35:00.000-08:00

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Anonymous Old Stuff 3

2007-11-05T05:26:00.000-08:00

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Old Toys 3

2007-11-04T05:18:00.000-08:00

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Old Toys 2

2007-11-04T05:17:00.001-08:00

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Anonymous Old Stuff 2

2007-11-04T05:12:00.000-08:00

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Old TV Shows 2

2007-11-04T05:05:00.000-08:00

The Flash! Not to be confused with the washing detergent...

Mario Bros, from the Nintendo video game fame

The scary George Michael, here as an innocent kid. Remember Careless Whisper? I'm never gonna dance again...

Hello? Batelco? Is it me you're looking for?

The Ex-King of Pop. And man, could this guy dance.

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Old Food, Sweets & Drinks 2

2007-11-04T04:56:00.000-08:00

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Old TV Shows

2007-09-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

Some of the old TV shows we used to watch:

Remember Knight Rider? We all wanted this car when we were kids!

Takeshi's Castle, or الحصن as we knew it! A crazy japanese game show:

The A-Team: I pity the fool!

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Anonymous Old Stuff

2007-09-02T04:29:00.000-07:00

Anonymous stuff from our past, see what you remember! (Click on the thumbnails to zoom)

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Old Food, Sweets and Drinks

2007-09-02T04:20:00.000-07:00

Time to look at all the old foods, sweets and drinks we used to have back in the day! Most of these don't even need a description; take a look!

(Click them to see bigger photos)

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Old Toys

2007-08-30T05:18:00.000-07:00

See if you remember any of these old toys we used to play with back in the day :) Click on the photos for larger images. Feel free to send me any more photos etc if you have any, and i'll add them up here! Thanks:

Trolls; Somehow, I remember a period of time where there were millions of these all over the place!

The sliding penguins, that go up the stairs, over, and back down again, and over again, and again...

Remember this, on your old Atari? ;)

I used to love these nintendo handheld LCD games :)

I don't remember what this was called, but it was a football game I used to play, with a very annoying music tune :p

Monopoly; still a classic!

Pac Man, one of the classic arcade games:

Paper planes :)

These sticky men that used to tumble down the side of the wall:

Toy Soldiers, do I need to say more?

Twisty, colored pencils

Fuzzballs. Or something.

What a classic! I'm sure a few other people learned to drive when they were 3 years old using this ! ;)

The infamous fishing game!

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Old Cartoons 4

2007-08-29T04:10:00.000-07:00

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Teddy Ruxpin

Pink Panther

This guy was like, the KING of cool. A true cartoon pimp.

Little Lulu - لولو الصغيرة

Laurel & Hardy

Lady Oscar - ليدي اوسكار

Heathcliff

Grandizer - غراندايزر

G. I. Joe

Sort of like, the American army taking over the world! Hmm...

Georgie - جورجي

Inspector Gadget

Felix the Cat

Duck Tales

Cities of Gold - مدينة الذهب

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Old Cartoons 3

2007-08-28T06:17:00.000-07:00

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Mr Magoo

Looney Tunes

Bugs, Daffy, and the gang. Ridiculous fun.

الليث الابيض

Treasure Island - جزيرة الكنز

Heidi - هايدي

Flona - فلونا

Flinstones

The Fantastic Four

Dennis the Menace

And previously our very own Dairy Queen blizzard mascot! :)

Defenders of the Earth

The Chipmunks

ThunderCats

Serendipity - ميمونه

Sally - سالي

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Old Cartoons 2

2007-08-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

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Shanakel - الشناكل

Like the underwater version of The Smurfs

Sinan - سنان

Open Sesame - افتح يا سمسم

Scooby Dooby Doo

Sasuki - ساسوكي

Sanshairo - سنشيرو

This show was ridiculously a lot of fun; it was about minature robots, controlled by small portable laptops - yes, before laptops even existed; now these guys had vision!

رغيف العجيب

Emmm... A flying piece of bread..

Popeye

The infamous; "I eats me spinach!"

My Little Pony

Ninja Kubumaro - نينجا

Mighty Mouse

Mazinger - مازنجر

Captain Majed - كابتن ماجد

I don't even need to explain this cartoon; i'm sure everyone who lived anywhere near or around the Middle East knows Captain Majed, and how running from one side of the playing field to the other to shoot and score actually took like 3 or 4 episodes :p

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Old Cartoons

2007-08-07T04:52:00.000-07:00

See which of these you can remember! So far I have photos of a LOT of old cartoons up, but pretty soon I will be updating the page with videos and sound clips. By the way, some of these cartoons are available in different languages depending on the country, so you might not recognize the titles, but take a look anyway. (Click on the photos to enlarge)

I'm looking for any old cartoons, TV shows etc, so if you have any photos, sound clips or videos you can send, let me know and i'll get them posted up here! Please let me know about any feedback you have, whether you just want to find a specific cartoon.

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The Adventures of Maya the Honeybee - زينة و نحول

Woody Woodpecker

Transformers

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - توم سويير

Time Machine - Time Bokan - الة الزمن

Tom & Jerry

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

Turtle Power! 4 turtles that through some sort of toxic slime turned into Ninja fighting half human mutants! There was a huge rat that used to live with them as well in the sewers. Ahh.. The stuff we used to believe when we were kids...

Speed Racer

Really admired this growing up, go speed racer go!

The Smurfs - السنافر

Adventures of Sinbad - مغامرات سندباد

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Bahrain in the 80's & 90's

2007-08-07T04:41:00.000-07:00

If you've lived in Bahrain through the 80's or early 90's, and more especially if you've lived there till today and witnessed how everything has changed, look through this list, and see what you can remember! (Probably more relevant to those born in the late 70's early 80's... Take a look!)

If you remember anything else you feel could be added to this list, let me know!

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Remember the days when...

If you wanted to go to Saudi, it had to be by Plane or Boat! The Saudi Causeway didn't exist!

All phone numbers in Bahrain were only 6 digits; Even mobile phones were like 456654

When Awal Cinema was the only cinema showing Western Movies in Bahrain! And at 7.15 every Thursday seems half of Bahrain was there to catch the new weekly movie!

The Juffair road was a totally empty area! No restaurants or coffee shops there!

When GOSI cinema first opened and everyone thought, WOW! 2 cinema screens! Now we have a choice!

No Satellite TV, Showtime, Orbit, or even MBC 2 and MBC4.. Even BTV didn't exist; back then we had Bahrain channel 44 in arabic, and channel 55 in english!

When McDonalds first opened back in 1994 and was the place to be!

Seef, Dana Mall, Bahrain Mall and all those others didn't exist! Back when the place to shop was Yateem Center!

If you wanted to go to college, you go to University of Bahrain! AMA, NYIT, UCB and all those other colleges didn't exist

There was only ONE bridge from manama to muharraq!

Cool places to hang out: Sindbad in Exhibition Rd for video games, Qassari waterpark, Bushehri, Funland!

When Seef first opened and Debenhams was the end of the mall!

Internet? What's that?

Way before mobile phones existed, and the "cool" people used to have Pagers/Bleeps!

And if you wanted to call someone, you either used the house phone, or a pay phone! No mobile phones!

Remember paging someone with a bleep code? Eg. 143*010

We didnt have Bahrain Financial Harbor, World Trade Center, Muayyed Tower, NBB Tower etc.. Back when the tallest tower was maybe Hawaj Tower in Salmaniya?

Back when we actually had a 1 FILS COIN! Also, 20 dinar notes were purple, and 100 fils coins were all silver

And 500 fils used to come in a note, not a coin!

Baba Yaseen, Um Hilal

Remember the old commercials? Beeb Beeb 7aleeb 6azej! El meera el meera, 6areeq el damam!

Back when Dairy Queen was not "Grill & Chill", and all DQ's used to be Red and Maroon (remember the original DQ Salmaniya?

Before flash drives, DVDs and CDs... And before regular disks, we had those huge soft plastic disks; thats where the word FLOPPY DISK came from!

Video games; playstation didn't exist, we had Atari! The black box with 3 million games, and the black joystick with the red button Family game and sakhr video games!

Old cartoons; 3adnan wa Lina, Senan, Lady Lady, Transformers, G.I.Joe, Sanafer etc...

TV Shows; The A-Team, Knight Rider, khalti gmasha, el bait el 3od, al manahel, eftah ya simsim...

3ain 3athari was actually open to the public, and yes, the 3ain actually had natural spring water!

Remember when Pepsi, Coke etc used to come in glass bottles that you can only open with a bottle opener? And they used to cost 125 fils, but if you take the empty bottle back you get 25 fils... lol...

Back when newspapers were only 100fils, and bread (5ubz 5abaz) only cost 10fils each

Ice cream el qursaan (pirate), ameera (princess), Muharej (clown), sarookh (3 color icecream), the small icecream cone with a small chewing gum ball at the bottom

No DVD's or VCD's... But we had two types of video tapes! VHS and Betamax (the small video tapes)

Televisions had no remote control! We actually had to get up to change the channel or volume!

Remember all TV's needed antenna's (ariel), and we had that little box we rotate to get clear reception

For what? Formula 1? Whats that??

Back in the days when MSN messenger didn't exist! When we first got internet in Bahrain and everyone started chatting using Freetel or MIRC. Then everyone moved to ICQ!

Back when Salmaniya Roundabout was actually a Roundabout! (Ok that wasn't really too far back...)

But no matter how things evolve in Bahrain, how fast it moves, how developed it gets, or how many things change in it, it will always be home to us, and we will love it no matter what!

Old stuff from the 80's & 90's

2007-08-07T04:27:00.001-07:00

This page is dedicated to all the things we grew up with as kids; if you, like me, were born in the eighties, you will probably remember some or most of these things! Take a look at the different sections, and enjoy guys! If there is anything you want added here, remember anything, or if you have any photos you wanna send to be added here, let me know about it! (The section is being updated with time; keep checking back):

Remembering the 80's and 90's in Bahrain

Old Cartoons

Old Toys & Games

Old TV Shows & Movies

Old Food & Drinks

Anonymous Old Stuff

Bahrain

2007-08-07T04:23:00.001-07:00

The country where I come from; i'll be creating guide to the country soon, but until it's ready, you can check out Wikipedia Bahrain Guide

Video / Movie Productions

2007-07-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

Music Video: Bahrain Unite

Cruisin' Manama 2011 Video

Music Video: Flipp - Hold Up

Short Movie Parody for Ramadan; The Last Vimto

Music Video: Dub G - You N Eye

This section will be completely redone pretty soon, since there have been a LOT of changes over the past few months, keep an eye open for it! For now, there are a few direct links to a few videos below, or you can check out my YouTube channel for a ton of old cartoons, racing compilations, funny vids, and random stuff here and there. A good way to waste your day:

ammaro's YouTube Channel

Short movie (2 minutes) The Package (2008) - I produced this for a movie competition on MBC. This movie was actually aired on their TV channel to millions of viewers!

I am currently also working on producing a few short movies, and will post them here as they are completed, but the remaining videos are just general compilations of raw video with back tracks to match - events such as drag races, car shows, and other auto events.

The first video is from Speed Trip 2007 at Bahrain International Circuit. This is an exclusive private event bringing together some of the most affluent people, and some of the fastest and/or most expensive cars around. The even also included a full Harley and Chopper Bike show, drift show on the side, and a drag race. Take a look:

Speed Trip 2007

This second video is a short bit of editing to a friend's Z06 at an empty parking lot at night. Lots of fun ;)

BRN345

Race between two friends; a Camaro LT1 vs a Jun Evolution + Outtakes:

Jun vs Evo

More videos will be available soon.

My Music

2007-07-26T05:52:00.000-07:00

I use MySpace and SoundClick to host my music; the links below are for Soundclick, but you can take a look at my MySpace Page here. The tracks below can be streamed or downloaded. You can also click on LYRICS for the lyrics to some of the songs.

No professional equipment has been used; everything was made with a laptop and a small mic, so please mind any rough edges around the music. Hopefully within the coming period I will be getting some more professional equipment to be able to more professionally master the tracks. Either way, let me know what you think.

Click on the Hi-Fi or Lo-Fi buttons to play, or 'download' to save the track on your PC.

Throw yo Hands in the Air
Produced 10 July, 2007

Chillin' Intro
Produced 13 April, 2007

The Final Hour (Stolen Beat)
Produced 15 March, 2007

The Attack (Stolen Beat)
Produced 13 March, 2007

Freestyle (Stolen Beat)
Produced 12 March, 2007

Produced Beats:

Gleaming Metropolis
30 June 2007

Intensely Established
31 may 2007

Undercover
16 May 2007

In Hiding
27 May 2007

Flawless Shine
24 April 2007

Susceptible to Grave Danger
24 April 2007

Smooth like Big Poppa
24 April 2007

MYSPACE: MySpace Page

My Hip-Hop History:

If you don't already know, music makes up a large part of who I am. I've been influenced by hiphop music since back in 1989, with Eazy E and NWA. Not exactly the most radio friendly music, it had mostly a shock influence, but at the same time brought a sort of enlightenment; that no one will hold people back from saying anything they want to say. Since then i've had a pretty strong connection with rap and hip-hop.

My bond with rap became strongest between 1992-1994. With the West Coast G-Funk music blowing up, it totally took my heart and soul with it. Death Row Records especially was the love of my life; everything from Dre's producing and beats, to Snoop Dogg's flow, to the soul Tupac brought altogether. It was total love for me, and even though I wouldn't relate 100% with all the shootings, drug deals and riots, a lot of the music made sense, and I could relate to a LOT, growing up in some rough areas brought it out in me.

As for my own music, I used to rap back in school starting around 1992/1993 (I was around 12). Small things, making fun of other people in class, beatboxing, etc. All the people in school used to push me forward so it kept me going on. This continued all the way till high-school around 1996, where me and a friend came up with our own tape. Not a professional or fully mastered release by any means, but still a reasonable effort ten-track mix tape. Unfortunately, that tape got lost somewhere in the realm of space and time. If anyone does find a tape entitled "Da Dope Dillaz" (ie, the dope dealers, cheesy I know) thrown away somewhere, I would pretty much pay you whatever the hell you want to have it back. Let me know!

After college I pretty much calmed down a little, and when I started working I got too busy for my love of hip-hop. It was only very recently that I managed to take a few months off, and with all the extra time, I decided to start again with my music. What does it sound like? Most people say my flow resembles Snoop; chilled out and relaxed, with a west-coast vibe, with a lyrically conscious twist. Listen and you'll know.

About Me

2007-07-24T00:55:00.000-07:00

January 12, 1981:

The very popular television series "Dynasty" first premiered on ABC. What a great day for TV lovers all over the world; the show was welcomed with open arms, and thousands sat infront of their TV's ready to watch the series which later became the hallmark of the American primetime soap operas of the 1980s.

That event overshadowed my birth, which came just one day later. Totally bad timing. As I was being born, everyone was glued to their TV watching Dynasty. Anyhow, I guess life took a dramatic turn after that and managed to get a little more positive, although I still do resent the producers of that Dynasty show. I can't seem to get the theme tune out of my head though.

Anyhow, 26 years later, a lot has happened; after living my life in a number of different countries (Kuwait, UK, US, Bahrain, UAE), working jobs in a bunch of different sectors (insurance, management, mortgages, retail banking, treasury investments), and being exposed to all different sorts of people (idiots, geniuses, drug addicts, politicians), i've ended up here. I'm not a millionaire yet, although I did promise myself I would be one by the time I was 18. I also do not own a Lambourghini (also something I promised myself I should own by now).

Right now, i'm a dealer at Ahli United Bank, one of the bigger regional banks of the Persian (Arabian?) Gulf. It's interesting, but gets a bit frustrating at times (I deal with a lot money that I unfortunately cannot transfer into my personal account). Previous to this, I was working with mortgages in Boston, USA for about a year, a Team-Leader at a BBK (Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait) Financial Mall for a while, a Financial Analyst at a Jordanian bank, and a very famous actor featured in a number of really big Hollywood movies (one of those isn't true, by the way. Guess which one).

It's great that you dropped by my website; i've almost always had one since around 1996 or so (free 10mb storage provided by Geocities, back then). You can take a look at my old website here, if you're interested in having a laugh.

Why "ammaro.com" and not Ammar? Well, it seems some French dude also going by the same name managed to scoop up that URL before I did. He was also not amused when I offered him the generous sum of $20 for it, so I guess i'm stuck with ammaro. What does ammaro mean? Well, it's a slang way of saying Ammar in Bahraini (which is my name by the way, if you haven't worked that out already).

Take a look around the page, hope you enjoy your time here! Thanks!

(Need to get in touch? Email me)

Productions

2007-07-24T00:53:00.002-07:00

I've recently started working on a few personal productions; making music, remixing songs, producing videos, etc. I've actually been doing this for quite a while now, but never in any sort of organized manner. From now on i'll be posting up any sort of production I make here and archive it, for you to take a look at. What is here right now is some stuff i've put together quickly, so it might be a little rough around the edges; keep a look out over the next few weeks though as I produce some more professional cuts.

Music
contains links to music i've created. Mostly rap (with explicit lyrics, so watch out!). I'm still working on it so there's not much there yet, but its growing!

Videos
are a number of movie/video productions i've made. Currently only a few in here, but will be increasing very soon.

Fun Stuff

2007-07-24T00:53:00.001-07:00

This section is still under construction, but as I update it I should be adding things about movies, music, cars, travel, etc! So far I have worked on lists of things you might remember from the 80's and 90's in Bahrain ;) Old cartoons, movies, things we used to do, places we used to go! This list it open to contribution, contact me if you have anything to add to it! Thanks!

Memories from the 80's and 90's

Galleries

2007-07-23T23:35:00.000-07:00

This section includes various photos and images i've taken. I'm not a professional photographer, but I enjoy taking photos of events, friends, cars, etc; the below links will take you to the different galleries. I add new photos every now and then, so you can check them every once in a while :)

Random Bahrain Images
Different shots i've taken from all around Bahrain. More photos added every week :)

Cars/Auto Shows
The Cars/Auto Shows galleries are photos of my cars, friends cars, and a number of various auto shows/events, such as Car shows, drag racing, circuit races, etc.

Old School
Old School galleries are photos of me and friends from anywhere from the early 1990's to somewhere around 2002. Some photos from school, outings, and just being useless teenagers in general.

Navigating the Galleries:

After clicking on each gallery, you will see a number of folders, or Sub Albums. Click on whichever one you're looking for to enter. This might be divided into more folders, or the images might be there. Click on each image to view it in larger size. Click on each photo to see it in larger size, and "FULL SIZE" to view it in, well, full size.

Some folders may currently be empty; that just means I have not gotten round to updating the photos yet; its a big task, lots of photos to upload! Keep checking back as I will keep updating the galleries every now and then.

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