Shankaboot - Arabic Web Drama in Beirut

Shankaboot - the world’s first Arabic webdrama – takes us into the beating heart of modern Beirut street life through the eyes of Suleiman, our 15 year old, happy-go-lucky delivery boy. Along for the ride are the beautiful Ruwaida and the mysterious Chadi, along with a host of other memorable characters.

Shankaboot is produced by Batoota films, in association with BBC World service trust and supported by Zico's house.

The media launch of this web drama took place in Art Lounge - Karantina,  last Friday March 12. Three episodes are available online now for everyone to se They can be found on Shankaboot official website www.shankaboot.com.

I liked the sense of sincerity and lightness of this web drama. The idea is very nice, and the execution of the movie and the directing so far looks amazing. Moreover it is quite enough to judge the professionalism of this work by their website which I find to be very well done.

Christmas tree in Downtown Beirut

It's one of the new traditions in Lebanon, it is part of Beirut Celebrates series of events. What makes this tree special, is its presence near one of the biggest mosques out there! Now of course we would hope to think sectarianism doesn't exist in Lebanon, but unfortunately a form of it still exists.

Photo courtesy unknown, I received it by email.

2nd Photo courtesy yours truly

My response to that catholic school

Some catholic school sent the above flyer to parents, in a nutshell they warned parents that there will be a concert where gothic people (who have the culture of death) will lure kids in to some satanic rituals and give them drugs, and they wondered, why aren't there any cameras allowed? What are they trying to hide? So here is my answer below!

That's definitely an old subject being opened up, I don't remember the exact year, but I know it was mid 90s to the beginning years of 2000 where the music Rock and Metal were considered Satanic and everyone who likes this music worships Satan and many got arrested for having long hair and an earring in their nose.

Well I used to listen to metal and heavy/hard rock music a lot in my early 20s and I have never worshiped Satan, he doesn't exist you see, him and his stupid red horns.

Drugs and cults exist everywhere irregardless whether their members like rock or samba, if they do, it's mere coincidence, but it's not an equivalence formula, because most people who like rock and metal music just like music for what it is and are not a part or members of any satanic cults.

I used to attend so many rock concerts in Lebanon, and today I was at the mentioned concert where 4 bands in total played, 2 of them were local bands, moreover there was To Die For and Anathema (the latter is a great band which I really like), and the reason why they said no cams, wasn't because we were all going to do a big circle and chant to Satan, it was simply a marketing thing and the organizers probably wanted exclusivity on the photos. BUT TO YOUR SURPRISE there was at least 500 cameras down there, why don't you go ahead and check the videos, you will see there was nothing harmful there, just people happy and singing along and jumping!

If by any chance a group of people did any drugs, it's (I believe) their parents problems and responsibility, plus no one was forcing anything there.

I am sick and tired of catholic school's war on this music, if you're afraid a kid might be drawn into drugs, alcohol and into a cult, well I suggest you check his or her family's situation, how their parents are raising them, and see what the real problem is that caused this kid to be so susceptible and fragile. Let's not blame rock and let's see what really causes some kids to become suicidal or confused or looking like a Gothic (which is really trust me on this, just a fashion look for most of them). Also note that a screwed up kid will not resist temptation in the bathroom of his own school, so will you not send him to school either? Or will you see what his problem is and fix it and not throw blame on other things?

And guess what, the concert was amazing, Anathema rocked the stage and no one offered me drug or told me to dance wouha wouha to Satan!

Updated: Here's an excellent post about the matter from the fellow blogger Tony. "Cultural Segregation"
And here us L'Orient-Le jour's article on the matter: "Le Centre catholique d’information au service de la censure"

Beirut Rock Festival 2009

Click on image to enlarge!

Beirut Rock Festival to take place on November 11, 13 and 14 at the Forum de Beyrouth. It's great to finally see Lebanon hosting such events again, I think if I'm not mistaken, this is the first Beirut Rock Festival, and for a start it's hosting some good bands, including one of my favorites "Anathema". I am sure year after year it will evolve to something that will attract more international visitors.

Tickets on sale at the Virgin Ticketing Box Office!

Brazilian Carnaval in Lebanon

I can proudly say I did not have my camera on me yesterday, so no pictures available, however this should actually be of motivation to people who live in Lebanon and I highly advice you to go see this event as it rarely ever happens in Lebanon. It's a micro Rio de Janero carnaval, nonetheless worth seeing. It is organized by Café Najjar.

It took place yesterday in Downtown Beirut, it will tonight as well (24 Sept) in DT Beirut, then it will be moving to Zahle (Sep 26), Batroun (Sep 29) and Tyre (Oct 1). Public workshops will also be given throughout the carnival to get your bum shaking Samba style.

For more info click here

Photos courtesy of Tony Yammine and Darine respectively, for which Darine also shared her experience in this post.

Twestival Beirut suppording IndyACT & Climate Change

Twestival will take place Globally in more than 133 cities worldwide and is happening in Beirut for the first time. It will be tomorrow Sunday September the 13th at 4pm in Rawda Cafe, Ras Beirut.

Ticket: 10$

In Beirut, Twestival is supporting IndyACT, The League of Independent Activists, in its continuous campaigns to fight the increasing climate change crisis. There is less than 3 months to Copenhagen where world leaders will come together in the most important meeting of a generation to decide if they will save the planet or not. Unfortunately, our Arab governments still lag behind with no true leadership and avoiding responsibility. Twestival Beirut with the help of volunteers and civil society will help change that. They will call for climate change action and moving away from the path of destruction, continued poverty and despair.

Fete de la musique - Program

Fete de la musique will take place this Sunday 21st of June starting 8pm, in Beirut in the following location. Facebook event page here.

PLACE DES MARTYRS:
20h00 Limelight (Rock)
20h40 Khat Ahmar (Arabic Hip Hop)
21h35 Katibe 5 (Arabic Hip Hop)
22h05 Malikah (Arabic Hip Hop)
22h45 Anne (Rock)
23h30 Arcane (Rock)
00h20 The Kordz (Rock)
01h10 DJ Lethal Skillz (Scratch / Hip hop)


JARDIN SAMIR KASSIR:
21h00 The Narcissist (Dubai / Hip hop)
10h45 Sandmoon (Folk)
23h20 Sylvain Nassar (Rock)
23h55 The Incompetents (Folk / Indie)
00h50 I-Voice (Arabic Hip Hop)


THERMES ROMAINS:
20h00 Bayat (Oriental)
20h40 Champlain (Chanson française)
21h15 Elias Diez (Rock français)
21h50 Karimbo Mixity (Rap)
22h25 The New Government (Rock)
23h15 Mashrou’Leila (Pop rock)
00h00 Fareeq el Utrush (Arabic hip hop)


GEMMAYZE (escalier St Nicolas):
20h00 Toni Bayeh (Oriental)
20h35 Cristobal (Indy-folk)
21h15 Youmna Saba (Lebanese Folk)
21h50 ShaBa wa l Kaylou tafaha (Comic critic)
22h05 Omarz & Grandsunn (Hip hop)
22h35 J-Electric (Funk / Jazz)
23h30 Meen (Lebanese rock)
00h20 Arnab (Live Drum n’bass)

DOME:
21h - TRIX - DJ SET - DEEP HOUSE
22h - CHARLY SHAWLLPORN - LIVE - MINIMAL
22h30 - STEPHANIE MERCHAK - LIVE - ELECTRO TECHNO
23h - TRASH INC. - LIVE - ELECTRO BREAKS
23h30 - ASPRO (FRANCE) - LIVE - DEEP HOUSE
00h - JADE & DIAMOND SETTER - DJ SET – MINIMAL / TECH-HOUSE
01h - AAA - DJ SET - TECH-HOUSE / DUBSTEP
02h - JAY K - DJ SET - TECHNO
03h - FADY ASWAD - DJ SET - TECHNO
04h – E.L.I & RABI-H - DJ SET - TECHNO

Visuals by KAMA (ITALY) – LA MIRZA – MOSIG – LABO & STRONGSKY

HAMRA (Next to Fransabank):
20h00 Nahna El Nas (oriental)
20h40 L’Fahrass (Arabic hip hop)
21h00 7 Ta2at (Arabic hip hop)
20h20 Bicro-phone (Arabic hip hop)
20h45 Plugged (Alternative rock)
21h25 The Crave (Alternative rock)
22h05 José González (Flamenco)
22h55 Sphere (Rock)
23h35 Vibrations (60’s rock)

Downtown Beirut Back to Life, sorta!

As soon as the opposition dismantled their tents and removed every last trace of their presence that has been ongoing since December 1, 2006 in the purpose of overthrowing the Siniora Government back, due to the recent dialog that took place in Qatar and resulted in agreement between both factions, the opposition and the government, Sunday will be crowned (crowned??) by a new President for Lebanon, General Michel Suleiman and downtown Beirut is back to life, sort of!




I went to Downtown Beirut tonight, as our friends were there, and we thought we'd join them, as I heard yesterday that downtown is overbooming, and everybody's hanging out there again, so I thought, let me check out what the fuss is all about. Don't wanna sound hypocrit, downtown beirut used to be one of my favorite hang out places, even before it had so many restaurants and such.



Unfortunately, the central district of Beirut, even if it tried so hard to embrace the so many people visiting it and remeniscing the old times, the restaurants, the few of them that were still open and did not close during the past year, the few ones that still had staff and enough food to feed the hungry people.



Many places were still closed, so my friends and I went to our usual favorite restaurant, Roadster's Diner, but an unusual branch, the downtown one. It had only 5 staffs, and on average, you get your meal after 10 minutes of ordering it, but tonight, it took more than 40 minutes! Oh, it was not my first order, because they did not have food for first order. Fine, it's okay, I kept encouraging those hard working waiters.



Moreover, I saw a couple of Ferraris on the road tonight. And they say there is no money in this country!