History

The Warrior of Arabia

Posted on by Nazim Kemmoun / 5 Comments

So for those who know me, I am a history geek. I love ancient stories, impressive feats, unique anecdotes and great quotes. Even more so I like to read about ancient empires, fate-changing battles, and notable commanders. I like to ponder about certain events and think about “what if”-situations. Situations which, with the benefit of hindsight, could be brought to a much more positive outcome with relatively simple logic, like for instance World War One.

Today, however, I want to write about a military commander. One which most of you would not know about even though he could be placed on the list with the likes of Alexander The Great, Hannibal, Gaius Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte, but not as famous as them in the West. No, I am not going to write about An-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, better known as Saladin (don’t worry it will happen), but today I am going to write about Khalid ibn al-Walid.

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Anime/Series

Castlevania (2017)

Posted on by Nazim Kemmoun / 4 Comments

This time I am going to write about an anime show I recently saw on Netflix. Yes, an anime. If you’re still with me let’s talk about a great show called Castlevania. The story follows how the lands of Wallachia is under siege by the vampire Dracula and the unlikely hero Trevor Belmont who is trying to stop the vampire, but more on that later.

I have to admit: the first minutes did not appeal to me. I stopped watching after the first dialogue mainly because I am used to watching anime in Japanese and it felt a bit wrong in English. But then I had nothing to do so I watched it anyway and I have not regretted it.

For those who don’t know the Castlevania series, the anime is based on the video game series of the same name. This anime show is particularly based on the game: Castlevania III: Dracula curse (1989). I have never played any of the games but it did not stop me from enjoying the show. The anime tells a story on its own and is good at creating interest in the characters.

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Movies

Dunkirk (2017)

Posted on by Nazim Kemmoun / 2 Comments

For me, the long awaited movie by director Christopher Nolan was certainly no disappointment. I had high expectations from one of my favourite directors who made such an incredible list of movies which are loved by so many; Memento (2000), Insomnia (2002), The Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012), Inception (1010) and Interstellar (2014).

The first time I heard that he would make a World War Two movie I was immediately hyped and hooked. More so when I found out that it would be about the battle of Dunkirk. As far as I know, it has not been done before. However, it gave me some concern about how he would pull such a movie off. For those who don’t know about Dunkirk, it was more an evacuation operation than a battle. Here’s a little background information about Dunkirk.

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