Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The Name is Back

Kabul
After leaving Israel after five years there, I thought that it was relevant to change the name of the blog to reflect the my new assignment, and tossed about many names but after some 300 entries I reflected back, realised that I could not come up with a better name that somehow even here in Afghanistan "Unholy" has more relevance than "Mind the Gap" .... lets be honest that title did not have the same irrelevance as Unholyland , so as I wrote in my last blog about "there back & the Taliban" thus Unholylandnews is back.
Mal

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know Mal, Unholyland applies to just about anywhere you go anymore....doesn't it, and especially when you go to the nasty, dirty, dark age places you tend to hang out in. If I had a blog I'd probably call it...Holy Crap! Sometimes when I take a look around me those are the first words that come to my mind. Since following your work for about 7 years...since that first time you were in Afghanistan and then in Pakistan...I have been thinking...although it isn't PC to do so....that maybe we should just kill the bad guys and leave these places cuz no matter what we do they just go back to thier old ways and don't seem to like modernization and civilization at all. I also get the feeling that they kind of like killing each other off at unusually high rates. I am beginning to see a trend here and wonder why any of them want to move down the canyon from me. We actually wear T-tops and levis like your airline people (which was a little unusual I thought), never wear a headscarf, (peeking through a slit just doesn't appeal...know what I mean?)... eat bacon and ham alot and don't take no shit off of men. They really don't seem to fit into my neighborhood......but still they come. You'd think I had built a baseball field here or something. I don't know Mal, but I don't turst them...here or over there where you hang out. I hope that fella you got guarding you is watching your back good. I watch my own. Face it Mal, if you don't laugh a little.. it all darn near makes you want to cry...doesn't it? Our Military guys are still the best and we hope you get to talk to them some in Afghanistan because we like to hear what they think....and we care a lot about them. They are our guys. Thanks for all you do and have done for so long. Mal, Do you still take your camera to dinner with you? You are the best cameraman Fox has so don't get hurt over there. We need good guys like you. We are fighting a war after all. We like your new title...which really is your old title. After all a rose by any other name is still a rose....isn't it.
Your long time readers and watchers of your filming...
a&n

Anonymous said...

It just feels right, doesn't it Mr. James? Unholyland News. Yep that's it! You inspired me many years ago with you great camera work. So much so that I bought a camera and decided to film a stanpeeding herd of horses in our horse pasture. I accidentally stampeeded them over the top of the boss which wasn't too good as I got fired but you should see the footage I got. It was awesome! And I owe it all to you. Some nights working in a convenience store isn't to bad, However, I do miss the horses. Thanks so much for the blogs. They still inspire.
n

Anonymous said...

Without looking it up on the google map..Kish is an island.. part of Iran...its well known around the UAE since discrimination and class distinction is so rife here..if you're a western expat and you need to change your visa or do a "visa run" as we call it..you go to Oman, Bharain or Jordan unfortunately for the "lower levels" of society the place is Kish..where conditions are quite appalling.
As for glitzy glamorous Dubai if you scratch beneath the surface you find its actually all what I term "chocolate covered shit"

Anonymous said...

I personally am glad the name came back. Keep everything in perspective that Israel was crazy, shitty drivers, rude people, and so on but the rest of the world has similar, deferent or just other problems. The truth being that I've been lax in reading your words since you left, but every now and then know that you are remembered, and missed.

21stCenturyMom said...

Unholyland News is a brilliant title. I'm glad it's back.