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.

Mama Exotica, why bad nose! So what?

Exotica's Recent Mother's Day Ads
You know, the whole fuss on the blogosphere and twitter that has been going on about Exotica's ads, to which I didn't really react or respond... Finally, I now have something to say about it, because it's taking too much of our lives, I might as well nag.

For me, the big nose and big ear hereditary thingie, was simply a case of "I see, I get, Exotica changed their way, no use of flowers, riskay, I like and I wasn't offended at all". Because for me, I won't stand in front of mom and tell her:

"Mom thanks for everything you gave me (however I perceive beauty that is) but the nose... not so much, I mean how could you? You know, if I were you I wouldn't have gotten married so I don't risk giving a bad nose to my children, or maybe mom, you should've waited till the genetic engineering would have really advanced on the subject!"

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Thank you, no good no bad... just Thank you
For me, when I say thanks mom, I don't say thanks for the good, or thanks for the bad, I just say Thank you mom, I love you for who you are and what I am because of you. In my opinion, if I wanted to criticize Exotica, that would've been it. Just thank you, yet I really respect the fact that they risked something out here, and mentioned both good and bad so they can get out of the cliché. Why the big fuss though and bashing exotica, it was beyond me. Fellow blogger Maya found it offensive, and many others showed their frustration on twitter as well.

Some offended by Exotica's Billboard Ads
However, and this is where I agree with Maya, the Moukarzel ad, which I saw some time ago, even before March 8 - the International Women's Day, and there is also the C&F ad, they're plain silly. Especially the Moukarzel one, when I saw it, I knew who it was targeted for.



Not only Jewelery is my right, but a 2010 Bentley!
I can never imagine a woman going to her husband and telling him:

"7ayeteh Afif, ana bejle w bnaddif w bkannis w jeybe wled w inta bit massi7 fiye el ared eddem el jiran, w marra shaba2tneh kaff la2anno 7atet mele7 zyede bil mjadra, HOWEVER (language turns English, because they have better women rights then us), I DEMAND TO RECEIVE JEWELERY, YOU SEXIST PR*CK "

Oh well, as Maya and Plus961.com put it, Exotica listened (although for me it wasn't necessary, yet it is nice to see Exotica acknowledge the importance of social media nowadays), so I join my voice to Maya and hope that Moukarzel (ah I just remembered his other horrid ads in which he stands in the back, his skin color so different from the model's) and whoever else diminishes the importance of a mother by a perfume, or a Tefal, or a carpet, to listen and start doing real impressive creative billboards.

(So, do we as bloggers get something from Exotica because we've been talking about you so much? Come on, incentive? Send me white daisies, I love daisies)

Photos Courtesy of Jobox.blogspot.com and MayaZankoul.com, Comic courtesy of Maya of course!

Young Leaders Social Media Café launch in Beirut

There has been all these talks about Social Media in Lebanon and the Arab world lately, and it's definitely nothing new. There is the web 2.0, the latest extremely popular social networks such as facebook and twitter, there is mostly the sharing spirit such as youtube, the manifestation of talent or simply good times such as flickr, the new way of knowledge stream such as wikipedia, and the window to the world such as giant search engines, i.e. google, and the blogosphere (sustained by blogger, wordpress...), all this is what everybody has been experiencing in this virtual yet so real world and can feel like it's no longer just logging into the internet, checking your emails and sharing some photos.

The project is initiated by the Swedish Institute, and coordinated by Hiba FARHAT in Beirut. More on their blog.

Young Leaders Social Media Café (YLSMC) is a part of Young Leaders Visitors Program which was successfully launched in 2008, and yesterday, Saturday March 6, was the launching of YLSMC in Lebanon, precisely in Zico's House, it will continue to happen almost once a month in many of the MENA region. The program included fast-paced presentation by International and Regional Speakers including the most influential figures in social media worldwide.

The main purpose of these presentations is to incite young persons out there to think outside the box, to work hard, do what they love and are passionate about, and definitely use social media for their benefit in a constructive way.


Mark COMERFORD was one of the presenters who participated in YLSMC, he is from STOCKHOLM University, he gave a pretty unconventional and heavy presentation about how Digital Media will F*ck you up. For him it's not the fact that social media changed the way we deal with life, instead he mentioned that before, we used to do things in private and we decide if we want them to go public, yet on web 2.0, it's the opposite.

He was barefoot, I asked him why? He said he's been doing it for the past 15 years in all his presentations, and that he doesn't remember why, I didn't believe him of course, but I respected the fact that he didn't want to elaborate more, yet he continued saying:

"I walk around a lot".

Another presentation was done by Sami BEN GHARBIA - Advocacy Global Voices Online.

This presentation certainly shed light on some pretty shocking numbers which awakened in us the sense of solidarity with many people who get arrested even jailed because of blogging and the censorship that is being imposed in their country on them. The point of the presentation wasn't to scare people away from blogging, instead it was there to encourage people to find different and various methods to keep blogging and sending out information concerning their situation. You can view the presentation "Digital Activism and online free speech" here.

I was also very happy to know about the WIT (Women in Technology) initiative which is there to help and encourage women over 50 - which generation didn't get the chance of learning how to use a pc and the internet - how to extend themselves through these online tools, the presentation was given by Nada Hamzeh. Another speaker "Jessica Dheere" actually stressed on that same point:

When you're using media, you're basically extending yourself, be it a paintbrush, a camera... 

Nada showed us a video about women in Lebanon who learned how to use a computer and about blogging, and were sharing their experience in blogging. Some of these women blog in order to promote their business abroad. WITLebanon basically train these women in order to obtain the skills mentioned earlier.


A woman said:

I used to just clean the dust from off the computer, now I use one and have a blog.

Another nice project was presented by Simba and Edd Abbas from Taste Kulcha.

Taste Culture organizes various cultural events like film screenings, African / Asian cuisine, photo exhibitions, installations, hip hop, music and public discussions so as to link African, Asian and Arab cultures and struggles

Moreover they spoke about the recent events they've been holding, such as "7keeleh", which is an open mic session at its best for hip hop, poetry, spoken word and music. It is hosted by Fareeq el Atrash.

We were lucky enough to hear a small jam by Edd, an incredibly nice song, genre hip hop.

Many other speakers participated, you can read more about them here.

Live tweeting was taking place yesterday, reporting live on speakers and presentations content, audience's mood and interaction, and the whole ambiance in general, it was done on twitter, and you can read them here.

Thanks to Hiba who gave me the chance to be part and help out yesterday, nevertheless in reality watch great presentations and speed network with great persons out there.

My advice would be when YLSMC comes to your country, make sure you attend. Food for thought.

Maliks and Biodegradable bags in Lebanon

This is a great initiative from Malik's Bookshop.
This is a "totally biodegradable bag", therefore in 2 years it won't
exist anymore.


When we go to the supermarket, once or twice a week, and buy things, and stock them in plastic bag, and then what do we do with these bags? We don't use the same ones to stock what we buy, instead we either throw them as is, or make them a bit useful by putting garbage in them. But even when they become garbage bags, where do they go? Do they burn them? Of course they don't recycle them.


This is definitely something that is very under the table and rarely ever mentioned. But there are several supermarkets out there offering re-usable bags from cloth, which can be used over and over again in the supermarkets, instead of wasting bags that are not biodegradable.


Kudos to Maliks, and let's hope more will join.

Municipality elections don't make sense to me

There are times when a loyal citizen should state what bothers her in her own city. So there are the municipal elections coming soon (or maybe will be delayed for another 2 months), but my real problem with this electoral law (Daily Star), isn't changing the voting age from 21 to 18, and it isn't about dividing Beirut into 3 districts, it's merely, simply about being able to vote for the municipality where I live and now where I'm from.

I am from the North, but I rarely go there, I live in Matn, and I would like to vote for the municipality of the city I live in, why? Because I am sick and tired of the fact that we are affiliated with a certain municipality, who basically takes care of their own region, and ignore the rest of us.

One of the silly problems I would like to see tackled and I want to vote for someone qualified enough to do it, is the fact that we have few garbage containers where I live, the nearest one is 300 meters away. What about those shops who reserve the parking spot in front of them, not allowing us people who live there to park our cars, day and sometimes night.What about those huge pot-holes that keep breaking our cars? Cleanliness of the streets? Decorations on holidays? Recycling
garbage containers? The sense of feeling appreciated and respected as a citizen who pay their yearly "municipality" fee.

Lebanon needs a whole new system. We are not progressing, we are only regressing and quickly. And this is just plain sad and pathetic.

Did you know someone who died in a car accident?

You would think that wearing a seat belt while driving is NOT important. Well think again. I immediately put my seat belt one when I get in a car, and thankfully I did so or I would smashed my brains and jaw while being in the passenger's seat and the accident happened in a parking!

Kunhadi's continuous campaign for road safety (such as the latest found on our billboards about the importance of wearing a seat belt) is to respect and to carefully watch and understand. Their pain is big, and they're trying to prevent other parents from feeling the same.

By the way, check Kunhadi's website, it is nicely done and full of helpful information.

And don't leave this post before you watch this video, truly amazing.

And so we're racist

Since the tragic incident of the Ethiopian Airline plane that crashed last Monday just after take-off, the ET409, which was leaving Beirut towards Addis Ababa, carried 90 passengers of several nationalities, mostly Lebanese (51), Ethiopians (31 - whom 8 were crew), two British, one Canadian, one French (the French Ambassador's wife in Beirut), one Iraqi, one Russian, one Syrian, and one Turkish, whom all are now presumed deceased.

After 7 days almost, around 30 bodies have been recovered, and the others are still in the deep Mediterranean sea.

In addition to how sad this incident is, how tragic and shocking its impact was on the families of these passengers, and how touched people in Lebanon and Ethiopia felt because of their country's involvement, there was an emotion that existed which I personally was very bothered when I read about it, and it was racism.

Lebanese have been accused as racist especially because many Lebanese hires domestic workers from several Asian and African countries including Ethiopia, and because some of those Lebanese mistreat their domestic workers. The persons who were from the Ethiopian nationality who were on that flight, were all domestic workers. Some of which have just finished their 3 years contact and are going back home.

Patrick Galey mentioned in his article here that Lebanon's racism was exposed due to this incident.  

A normally well-respected broadcaster conducted a live piece to camera outside a hospital with their Beirut correspondent on Monday night.
An Ethiopian, wracked with grief, unwittingly wondered into shot only to be literally hauled out of view by the Lebanese crew. Had she been Lebanese, it is unthinkable she would have been treated like this.

Moreover, in Simba Rousseau's blog "Witnessing Life", she humanly shed the light in her article here on an Ethiopian lady who migrated to Lebanon to work who rushed into the airport to see if she knows anyone who was on that plane:

According to Mebrat, when she other women arrived to the airport they saw Lebanese who had lost loved ones yelling at the Ethiopian women who were also mourning the deaths of their friends.

But what bothered some people the most, is when Elias Murr, the Lebanese Defence Minister, said:

A traffic control recording shows that the tower told the pilot to turn to avoid the storm, but the plane went in the opposite direction,

 He continued: 

We do not know what happened or whether it was beyond the pilot's control.

I personally thought it was premature for him to say something like that, he's usually more careful with his statements, but after a long day and the media hassling them on telling them the reason behind this crash, which basically is still not 100% known until now, because the black box is not recovered yet.

Hani Baal in his post that took part of Kolena Leila initiative that took place on the Arabic blogosphere in the last week of December 2009, he wrote about several Leilas, who are domestic workers in Lebanon and getting abused by their employers. The statistics say, one Leila (domestic worker in Lebanon) commits suicide per week. Shocking number.

The purpose of this post is not to deny the Lebanese racism, and not to defend it, it's just here to lay facts, possibly the reasons, and hopefully the possibility to end it.

The reasons why Lebanese are racist? I am no sociologist, but I think the war really messed us up. And yes, we should snap out of it and get over it already.

At first when I read some articles manifesting the Lebanese as racist, I was really upset with those writers, but deep inside I knew they were right. I don't know the exact number or percentage, but many Lebanese are racist, there are many degrees to it.

• Some people in Lebanon think they're better than others, and when it comes to race, black are inferior to us (some people think).

• Some people still call a black person a "slave", in Arabic "3abed". Need I say that slavery centuries ago was not exclusive to black people?

• Some people in Lebanon still think that domestic workers are nothing but "maids" and "cleaners", and that they're not human beings, have no feelings, brains or emotions.

• Some people in Lebanon do not give a day off to these domestic workers, make them work from dawn till after midnight.

But the ray of hope is that there are some Lebanese people who made an organization to defend those who don't have a voice, and lay down some better rules and law of labor for them.
 
As for the media? They did not do any worse than any other media that in any disaster focuses on their own sons and daughters.


For what it's worth, I'm sorry for what happened. Moreover, I truly am sad for those who were returning home to Ethiopia after years of work in Lebanon, whom some were abused, and some in prison, instead they left this world in a horrid way. I offer my condolences to the families of the victims of ET409 (whatever the nationality, Syrian, Iraqi, Canadian, French, Russion, Turkish, Ethiopian and Lebanese).

In the face of disaster, there is no nationality, there is simply a human being.


Sources: Wikipedia.org, simbarusseau.wordpress.com, huffingtonpost.com, hanibaael.wordpress.com, timesonline.co.uk

Ethiopian plane leaving Beirut Airport crashes

Around 2:30 am the morning of 25 January, an Ethiopian plane that just left Beirut Airport, crashed in the sea close to the southern Lebanese shore, the plane carried 90 passengers of which 53 were Lebanese.

Some eye witnesses say the cause of this plane crash is because a lightning hit the plane which led it to be on fire and fall into the sea.

The Lebanese navy and the UNIFIL are searching but the weather conditions are making it hard on them. Until now there is no word of survivors. Some bodies have been found.

Very sad news this morning, hope some survivors are found.

Prime minister Hariri just declared today as an national day of mourning.

For minute by minute follow-up, check www.lebanonfiles.com, www.nowlebanon.com and www.tayyar.org

Source of picture: NowLebanon.com

Update:  

• The parties involved in the rescue mission are the Lebanese army, navy and forces, the civil defense, UNIFIL (which includes several countries) and an American fleet which should arrive soon.

• The number of deceased people (total of bodies that arrived to the national hospital) is 20.

• The rescue mission continues at night, the total time for the rescue to take place will be for 72 hours. 

• There was a problem identifying the bodies, which led them to rely on DNA tests, asking parents of the ET409 passengers to go to the hospital and do the DNA tests.

• A special hotline was put for the parents of the deceased / missing so far, and it is: 03-737475

• The reason behind the crash is still unknown, knowing that last known plane crash due to lightning was in 1967. The Ethiopian airlines is known to be of the best airlines in Africa. Terrorism or sabotage is unlikely. For now, the pilot has been sort of blamed, saying he had the full freedom to halt this flight.

• I personally think it's too soon to speculate anything. Hope for survivors is dim, but look at Haiti as Minister of Defense Elias El Murr pointed, some survivors have been found after 11 days.

Condolences to the families in Lebanon and Ethiopia for the passengers who were on ET409.

Nokia's new comparative AD with Blackberry

Even though fellow blogger Rami already blogged about this AD circulating our mailboxes lately on his blog Plus961.com, I want to still shed the light on this AD, because I think this is probably the first comparative adverstising we see in Lebanon, and I want to enjoy this moment in Lebanon's advertising history. If there was any other comparative AD in Lebanon before, please do enlighten me (I'm no expert here).

Here you go!

Hope to see more of these comparative ads in Lebanon!

No snow yet in Lebanon

By now, all ski resorts should be open, and ski lovers should be skiing, snowboarding, skidooing, any snow activity you can think of, they should be doing, and even have fashion shows and competitions . Yet, there is barely some snow in Arz (Cedars) and Sannine and a couple of other high mountains, of which only their summits is covered.

Faraya ski resort is still not open. Most Faraya residents rely heavily on the winter season to draw their income. Last year was one of the worst years (I even joked that Lebanese will start skiing in Dubai), as there was a bit of snow during January, but at least all major ski resorts were open. However winter 2009-2010 is worse than 2008.

Comparison of Faraya ski resort taken from skileb.com between 9 Jan 2008 and 9 Jan 2009.

Could we be heading to desertification? Climate change experts warned of this some time ago. They warned of many things, but because of our imperialist / capitalist forces out there, the December 2009 Copenhagen negotiations led nowhere.

According to BBC News, many airports in Europe such as UK, France and Dublin's closed because of the icy weather. In other countries such as Sweden, Poland, Germany and others many people have been reported dead due to the very cold weather, they froze to death, most of them are homeless. Crazy traffic jams were caused, bus services decreased and trains halted because snow powder entered under the hood, and some engine oils were frozen.

The current big chill is a result of high pressure over the polar region, which has pushed cold air out of the Arctic towards much of northern Europe, parts of Asia and the US. Winds from the north and north east, rather than the south and south west, have brought freezing temperatures to the UK.

However the temperature degree in some parts of world decreased compared to the last 30 years, others are warmer, such as Alaska, northern Canada and the Mediterranean.

As they say, God Save Us all. We are heading to the worst. And our chances were blown less than a month ago for actually doing something about it.

Fun(d) Raising Newest Event: Who does not like cookies?

The Fun(d) raising project is going really well, 2 events occurred so far, the Bowling at Link and the Wordpress tutoring at Rootspace.

The next event will be in Edde Yard - Jbeil on Sunday December 27th, and it is about making cookies yourself, DYI, funnest concept ever, and this is thanks to the famous online tweeple Cooki3man, who well... basically makes & sells cookies, but not in the conventional way! More about him here.

Anyway, meanwhile, with the toys collected from these events and direct door to door (or car to car) toy transfer, and the money made during the events which led us to buy toys, so far these toys have been donated to 2 associations, Mourouj Al Mahabba and ACSAUVEL.

Moreover you can read Global Voices post on Fun(d) Raising here.

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

Books and Arabic and Signings and Guiness...

Beirut Arab and International Book Fair 53

Another event following Beirut being the world capital of book for 2009, the Beirut Arab and International Book Fair 53 opened on the 11th of December and it will be there until the 24th of December in BIEL - Downtown Beirut.

Biggest Book in the World

I visited the book fair yesterday for about two hours, there are so many exhibitors and publisher houses down there, the exhibition is huge. Speaking of huge, the biggest book that has recently entered the guiness book of records is also available there, it's 3.85m wide and 2.77 m long, weighs 1060kg. It's a photography book, "Beirut's Memory" that compares Beirut before and Beirut now by Ayman Trawi.

Abu Salim's new book
While checking one stand after the other, I saw the famous "Abu Salim" signing his new book Ayyam Min Zakirati (Days of my memory)

Book Bazar
And the story is only beginning, I visited Book Bazar and saw national geographic magazine that were printed in 1960! I bought myself 3 copies, they're 40 years old. We also visited several other book bazar kind of libraries, and some books value is equivalent to gold because they're ancient and they just look like they came out of national treasure movie.

Dar Onboz
I also saw a stand full of extremely creative drawings, comics, books, shapes, photographs, etc... it's called Dar Onboz. You can check their website here www.daronboz.com, the person behind this is Nadine Touma, she is available at the stand. Dar Onboz, simply put, is here to promote the Arabic language using creativity.

Glad to see many artists having more opportunities to showcase their work. Let's hope we'll see a whole exhibition in Lebanon made for artists of all kinds.

Don't forget to visit it, of course Arabic books are ubiquitous, but it's not exclusive to Arabic only, there are many books in many other languages.

All Lebanese should go through the driver's test again and with no wasta

I only learned today that hazard lights (Lebanese refer to them as "flash light") should only be turned on when the car is stopped 'cause something wrong happened or there is an accident. Meaning if there is heavy rain and visibility is short, hazard lights should not be turned on. So when the other drivers see it, they know your car is not moving and can pass you over.

In Lebanon we use these lights when there is strong rain, which is apparently wrong to the standard. Yet in Lebanon we have a cognitive different understanding of these lights and it wouldn't cause us a problem like the guy said here.

Another common belief in Lebanon concerns when flashing your headlights in a repeated manner. It has two meanings:
1- if it's being done fast, it means that it's telling the other car to stop
2- if it's done once or twice, but slowly, it's telling you to pass. Really! This is Lebanon.

The purpose of this post is to honestly point out that we do not have a decent driver's license exam, we now have a test on the computer, but usually the guy, who's testing the applicant, does the test for him/her. Safety is over-rated apparently.

We still get our driver's license without doing an exam, do you know anyone who failed a driver's test in Lebanon?

Some people drive without licenses, and without properly learning how to drive and without anyone teaching them the importance of signals, and stopping at crossroads and high headlights being turned on which blinds the person coming from the opposite direction, the use of hazard lights. Actually in Lebanon many people don't know that they shouldn't only slow their cars when an ambulance is passing by (and we'd be lucky if they did do that), the cars are actually supposed to fully stop and allow pathway to the ambulance vehicle!

That is how much ignorance we bare in our knowledge concerning driving, there are really good drivers in Lebanon due to the fact that we still have chaos and it's important to be in control, however there is a lot of bad manners and a lot of misconception of rules.

Fast but Cautious, with Abdo Feghaly & Yasa

Even though the event will take place in half an hour in ESIB campus Mar Roukoz, I still think it's important to mention it here. It is a great endeavor done by the infamous Abdo Feghali, who won several rallies, and also by YASA. Today Abdo Feghali will talk about his experience and the importance of responsible driving.

And to make all those speed enthusiasts happy, he will perform a breath-taking drifting show.

Remember this event is by YASA, so it is there to discourage reckless driving and irresponsible speeding.

Note that all car racers tell us that their cars are especially equipped for speeding and drifting, their car is better handled than our own modest cars, so let us not try to attempt the same thing in our own cars.

Can you name one person who doesn't know at least one other person that died in a car accident?

Drive safely.

What's Lebanon's status on AIDS?

December 1st is World AIDS day, which happens to be today. I just want to shed some light on this issue, knowing that is a semi-taboo topic in the Middle East. The statistics on the subject are not accurate because the governments refuse to admit the number of patients who have AIDS. People still get ashamed to have AIDS, and they're scared to tell anyone about it, why? Because people judge.

Maybe this day will help us understand this illness more and will humble us enough not to judge anyone who has it, and instead, show support.

I don't want to re-invent the wheel, and especially because I cannot invent it as good as this excellent post which is written by Paola Salwan on her blog "Café Thawra", which tackles the AIDS and HIV issue especially its status in the Middle East.

STOP AIDS. KEEP THE PROMISE

Photo courtesy of the talented Lara Zankoul.


More posts on the subject by fellow Lebanese bloggers:
AIDS... in Lebanon? By Maya Zankoul
World Aids Day By Chantal

إلى الأمام سر

People ask me over and over again why I stay in Lebanon, especially that I do have the opportunity of leaving this country and living abroad, my answer was revealed to me today and it's so simple and straight to the point.

What's better than being part of a country that is getting on its feet, being developed and making something of itself. I want to remain a part of this. I don't want to leave and wait for others to fix and then come back and reclaim victory. I want to assist with this path of my country growing up and growing.

Happy 66th Independence Day.

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"

We have a government again?? No!

Apparently, the opposition finally approved the national government of unity which Saad Hariri proposed, later today everything should become official. I honestly did not notice not having a government, but then again, I didn't notice when we didn't have a president for 6 months either. But the good news is, Independence day this year will have both a President and a National Government of Unity, and most importantly Gibran Bassil as Minister of Telecommunications! 3GS anyone?

Read more here, the article is in Arabic.

Why did "Ain't No Smoking 2nite" fail?

If you remember, there was going to be a "Non-smoking night" in Gemmayze in about 35 pubs yesterday October 28th. More here. Being a non-smoking advocate myself I asked several friends of mine about their encounters yesterday in several pubs in Gemmayze and their opinions. They said that most of them had people smoking inside although these pubs were supposed to be part of the "Ain't no smokin 2nite" campaign that was organized by Rotaract.

There were people smoking even in pub-restaurants such as Olio. You would think that they would be busy stuffing themselves instead of smoking.

A friend of mine even told me this: "There was also one pub that had a sign that said Smoking Friendly"

Another friend said only few of the pubs stuck to the campaign, one of them was Berlin. But the others allowed people to smoke.

There are several studies done around the world, in Europe and in the US, saying that banning smoking in public places has decreased the number of deaths caused by smoking! But why should we believe scientists right?

My favorite smoker's argument is this: "Why should I forbid myself from smoking, so what if I die 10 years earlier, at least I would've done something I enjoy!"

So basically, the 10 years prior to that when you have lung cancer is enjoyable?

There is a new article today suggesting that Lebanon must move to ban smoking, Syria did? Are they better than us?

What I don't understand is why do Lebanese people stick to rules abroad, but tend to be anarchists in Lebanon? And anarchist for what? For telling you not to smoke because it endangers your life and the life of the strange people that are beside you and you have no right to bother them?

Smoking bothers me as much as if someone was picking their nose or playing with their toes, so why should I be okay with them when they smoke? Bala 2arafkoun! I don't mind people smoking, I just do when it's a closed place and when I am eating, is it too much to ask for? some oxygen and to actually be able to taste the food?

Congratulations fellow Lebanese on one of your other lousy sense of humanity, logic and respect. Kudos! Ya3tikoun el 3afieh. I am glad I didn't go to Gemmayze because if I did and had found people smoking, I would've probably caused a scene.

Finally, why did those hypocrite pubs sign into this campaign if they were going to act like a cheating newly wed red-eyed husband?

Sign Petition to pass an electoral law to ban smoking in public places here.

This is HUGE! 24 October, It's Happening! 350

I am getting goosebumps when I keep seeing these photos, these people, every where around the world are showing the number 350. Keep checking www.350.org.

Here are some pics. And SOON we'll be getting a picture from Groupe Saint-Vincent Naccache of the Association of Scouts in Lebanon, who will be climbing the highest peak in Lebanon, Kornet el Sawda and taking a photo here. Info courtesy of Beirut/NTSC. More actions are taking place in Lebanon as well. I will try to get pictures about them too.

Now enjoy the positive energy!








And finally from Lebanon, Tony Dagher & Johnny Maroun hiked for a long time and reached the highest peak in Lebanon (3088 m) Kornet El Sawda.

Man in the cube in Ein El Mreisseh and the dead fish

Don't forget to check the Man the Cube (Rami Eid) in Ein El Mreisseh, facing Mc Donalds. This event is organized by IndyACT aiming to raise global urgency on the critical dangers of global warming and to urge world leaders to take fast and effective action against climate change in Copenhagen this December.

Rami, or the man in the cube, has been there since yesterday and will continue to be there until tomorrow October 18th. He represents “the last man on earth” enduring a fierce struggle for survival against climate change effects. He will be living in the a transparent cube where everyone can see what he's doing.

He has a chair, a laptop with internet access where he blogs and tweets his experience and what's happening with him.

From the things the Man in the Cube said:

I just drank some cold water, and it was so refreshing. Since we're on that topic. Limit your showers to 5 minutes, or less if you can.

I will be going to check him out tonight, I have some questions to the passers by, I will let you know what they say.

Updated: I got some photos posted below. The water level has risen yesterday enough to stop Rami from standing on the ground. So he remained on the chair, not being able to move freely anymore in his world, completely bothered and cornered if we may say. The man in the cube tweeted his last message today hoping that everyone learned a lesson like he did.





Many passers-by were interested, so several IndyACT volunteers explained to them about the message they were trying to convey, and many passers by, especially young children threw stuff at Rami, a kid even through a dead fish on him. Ironic but actually makes a lot of sense as the climate change will result in having many water species die.

Age of Stupid in Lebanon

The Age of Stupid is a new cinema documentary about this enormously ambitious drama-documentary-animation hybrid stars Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as an old man living in the devastated world of 2055, watching 'archive' footage from 2008 and asking: why didn't we stop climate change while we had the chance?

You can watch the trailer here.

And the great news is: this movie that has been an amazing hit all over the world will be playing in LEBANON

Venue: Empire Sofil
Date: 25 / 26 Oct
Time: 6pm

Tickets sold there.

Ain t no smokin 2nite at Gemmayze on 28 Oct

35 pubs and restaurants in Gemmayze street are participating so far in the Rotaract campaign "Ain't no smokin 2nite". The event will take place on October 28th.

The below poster was designed by a fellow blogger Maya Zankoul



You can check the facebook event page here.

What to blog about on Blog Action Day, this October 15th

Il Siciliano Restaurante, my take

Due to a happy occasion last Sunday, I had the pleasure of having lunch in Il Siciliano, Abdel Wahab El Inglizi St, Ashrafieh (view map, tel: 00961 1324 001, 00961 1324 003), and luckily just one day before I start my diet, I can give you my amateur opinion on this restaurant and tell you that it is definitely a wonderful experience from the minute you walk in until the minute you leave.


We were greeted with a welcome shot at the restaurant salon in the ground floor, afterward we went up to the restaurant, women greeted as Ladies and men as Sirs, makes you feel good to be honest, asked which kind of wine we would like to drink, and what the main course is going to be... In a nutshell the service was very classy, they appear as if they really know what they are doing, and I think it is because they do know.

After the first course, the salad, came the pasta, and that is the most important part of this review, there were two kinds, very nicely put together, the plate looked swelling.


It contained tortellini with white sauce and penne with tomato sauce, I usually go towards the white sauce, but for the first time in my life, I enjoyed the penne with tomato sauce so much I did not want that plate to end. I have eaten in many Italian restaurants based in Lebanon, and Par Excellence, in Il Siciliano lays the best pasta I have ever had.

The main course I chose was grilled chicken, it was not bad at all, but being a pasta fan, this is where all my focus went.

And all this eating was accompanied by the music of the giant tenor singer Andrea Boccelli, definitely puts you in a relaxing mood.

After a while, a fast-paced music came on, and the chef gave us a really interesting show for 2 minutes approximately. It gave the ambiance a really nice touch.


We were invited so I can't tell you the exact pricing, however from what I have been told and what I saw, it is not a modest restaurant and it does require a certain budget, so be prepared, this is not Mezzo - Cinema City.


The restaurant looked very neat. I personally am a fan of decor and the bathroom's as well, and it had this old feel for it, moreover I loved the fact that there were many towels in a small wooden open closet, you pick one which you can dispose right after use.

To complement such a culinary experience, there comes the dessert, a fruit salad with an Italian scoop of sorbet, mine was Lemon, and it was a treat!

For next time, I will surely try the pizza, and yes there definitely is a next time.