Author: Maya Zankoul

  • Let's talk about the weather (Blog Action Day'09)

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    2-move-away-sam

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    3-blog-action-day-lebanon
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    4-climate-change-not-important

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    5-GMC-savagery

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    6-car-prestige-show-off

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    7-global-warming-blonde

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    .8-disappears

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    .9-global-warming

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    10-laugh

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    .11-more-effort-climate-change
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    That was my humble participation to Blog Action Day ’09 whose topic for this year is Climate Change. Whenever I try bringing the issue up, I am faced with rejection/sarcasm/misunderstanding etc. I hope that today’s event will help raise awareness about the importance of such issues, especially in a country like Lebanon where it tends to be forgotten due to more pressing issues of political nature. Have a green day! 🙂
    Fellow Lebanese bloggers’ take on the topic:
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    Since it’s blog action day, let’s make the most of it. Just got another idea to share 🙂

    global-warning
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    May this day be a warning of the harmful consequences that humans are causing to their environment!



  • Illustrations + feature in ArabAd

    I was fortunate to meet Ghada Azzi, managing editor of ArabAd magazine at the book signing. We have since worked on illustrations for the ‘Advertising in Lebanon’ special report of October issue, along an extremely kind feature that Ghada wrote. Thank you so much Ghada for your invaluable support! I won’t keep you waiting too long, you’ll find below the illustrations for the special report along with the article and illustrated Q&A’s (you should get the magazine now for the extremely interesting content and report about Leb ad industry!). Have a wonderful day! 🙂

    1-confessions-of-a-CEO


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    2-confessions-of-a-CD

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    3-success

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    4-IAA

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    5-creativity-is

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    5-smartass-mug

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    7-lebanese-ad-industry

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    Illustrated Q&A’S

    • What do you hope to achieve through design?

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    • What prompted you to publish the book?

    2-urgency

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    • How do you perceive the lack of opportunities in the design field in Lebanon?

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    • Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

    4-no-planning

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    And finally, the article! 🙂 (Click to enlarge)

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    ArabAd_Maya-Zankoul_Interview1

    ArabAd_Maya-Zankoul_Interview2

    ArabAd_Maya-Zankoul_Interview3

  • Comics on Ceramics!

    1-hiding-at-the-lounge

    2-painting-comics

    3-new-characters

    4-when-october-28

    5-almost-forgot

    6-good-morning-mug

    7-see-you-october-28

    Et voilà, that’s the big secret behind my more-than-usual absence! I missed you so much, glad to be back posting and updating you! So the idea is that a book signing is planned on October 28th, 2009 at Ceramic Lounge, Saïfi Village, starting 6 PM. You will also be able to paint your stress away with the special edition comics I’ve illustrated exclusively for Ceramic Lounge, that you can trace on ceramic items. You can also get mugs that I painted for you… Click here for the Facebook event page.

    Here is the flier promoting the event. Hope to see you all there!! 🙂 Have a beautiful day

    maya-zankoul-ceramic-lounge

  • Ain't no smoking 2nite!

    First, I am so sorry for posting so slowly lately 🙁 (Too much work and I’m late in all of it and doing my best to finish asap to tell you about it).

    That said, today I will show you the poster I illustrated for ‘Ain’t No Smoking 2nite‘ event that will take place in Gemmayze on October 28th in 35 pubs. The reason I was approached for the design of the poster is this anti-smoking in closed areas post. I hope this will become a regular thing and not just a one night event. Have a lovely week end 🙂

    no-smoking-campaign

  • My daily bread…

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    5-waiting

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    6-done-waiting

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    11-elevator-help

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    12-stuck-in-elevator

    Just when I thought I had enough problems for one day! Sometimes I’m glad I’m not armed, because I would’ve had an appropriate answer to the “ma twekhzina danzelle” when Lello got to his car. I can’t stand it when visitors of the building block the way out for other cars, I’ve been through this countless times! Anyway, I wish you all a beautiful autumnal day! 🙂

  • Trip to Tripoli

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    2-meeting-for-real

     

     

     

     

     

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    5-tripoli-vs-beirut

     

     

     

     

     

     

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    The Tripoli tweetup was a great chance for me to meet lovely people in a beautiful area of Lebanon that I was not familiar with. I loved Tripoli for its authenticity, its vernacular streets, smells, colors, political posters – not to mention the amazing hospitality of the ‘traboulsiyyeh’. Oh it’s great to be a tourist in your own country, and in Leb, you can never get enough! I recommend all of you who haven’t been there to visit it and enjoy its beauties. 

    Who was at the #tripolitweetup? @funkyozzi, @azzi, @dashkoun, @sunkentreasure6, @sdarine, @beirutspring, @larazankoul, @ghassanb, @danyawad

    Last but not least, I met someone in the tweetup who will probably never know what twitter is.

    rabih

    I had a lovely little talk with 14 year old Rabih, who was working on the boat, just like an adult! Made me wonder about child labour in Leb. I don’t have any idea about the ‘numbers’. But this boy’s eyes were so full of a weird mix of innocence and harshness. He went to school for 2 years only, but then spends his life working just like an adult. It’s too sad to see how basic education can be neglected due to poverty.

    Anyway enough for now, I should get back to work (I am super-overloaded in the coming days!)  Wish you all a great week! 🙂

  • Meeting with French press

    As you should all proudly know, Beirut is currently hosting the VIèmes Jeux de la Francophonie. The event has put our country into focus, especially by the french reporters and press who are getting to know and show how Leb really is.

    This week, Laurence Le Saux, french journalist, got in touch with me for an interview about the book, that she saw at Virgin.

    We met at Torino Café in Gemmayzé, where I also got to meet Emilie Mazoyer, who interviewed me for the french radio le mouv”. (Charbel from Scrambled Eggs was also there being interviewed). You can listen to the interview .

    I”m also posting you the interview right below (Thank you so much Patrick Semaan for helping me with this!)

    As for Laurence”s interview for Télérama.fr, you can see it here.

    What can I say… Vive la France! Sorry for not posting as usual in the last days, I am so overloaded with work, but hopefully things will get back on track after the weekend! On Sunday, I will be attending the #tripolitweetup, so if any of you are in the Tripoli area, it would be a great chance to get to meet you! Have a great week-end!!

  • Amalgam in TimeOut Beirut!

    As Mustapha kindly announced it on Twitter, Amalgam is featured in October 2009’s issue of TimeOut Beirut magazine! And because I love you all so much, I scanned it for you to check it out. I recommend you to run get the issue because it’s full of so much more interesting things (where to eat, what’s the latest music, latest art events, cultural events, etc.)

    On the cover!! 

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    On the 1st page!

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    The way too nice article! (Thank you so much Natasha!) Click to enlarge

    TimeOut_Article

  • Wedding bells

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    7-at-wedding

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    First, I’d like to thank you all for your lovely comments on yesterday’s post! You made my day… As for the style, well I felt like experimenting a bit as I had been advised many times by people (who will recognize themselves :P) I wish I had more time to do so more often… In all cases, I had to go to this wedding, and got to observe the attendees, and that was my report about it! Lebanese weddings are special! Not to mention the zaffeh creativity (hawaiian zaffeh, mexican zaffeh…) the who-spends-more-on-their-wedding competition, etc. I hope I’ll have time to get in more details into this issue soon. Until then, have a lovely day 🙂

  • Just like that…

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    3-just-like-that

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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    ‘Les grandes personnes ne comprennent jamais rien toutes seules, et c’est fatigant, pour les enfants, de toujours leur donner des explications.’

    – Le Petit Prince, Antoine De St-Exupéry

    I know this is an unusual post, but I just felt like adding something a little bit more personal than usual. This is dedicated to my little angel Nour, who always gives sense to my life when everything seems blurred or dark. Nour, I adore you. Nour checks the blog every morning when she wakes up, and I’m sure she will recognize herself in this post. We are the ones who should be called ‘with special needs’. We need special people like her around us to show us what life really is about.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UOMCYWpNbI]

  • Moron Island

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    10-no-to-cedar-island

    I was reading TimeOut magazine’s September issue, and I saw an article about the Cedar Island project. I had forgotten about it, when billboards reminded me of it again. In the article, the people intending to build the island were clear about how they don’t care about the environmental hazards that this project would cause. Even if Dubai built palm-shaped islands, we don’t have to do the same! We don’t NEED to do the same. Lebanon’s beauty is natural, and the issues we have are not a lack of touristic landmarks. I hope that this project will be resisted and will not take place. Otherwise I would believe it to be a major disfigurement to Lebanon. And that was the thought for today. Have a great day! 🙂




  • Book finally available online!

    And here”s the moment I”ve been waiting to announce you for a while now:

    The book is finally available online on adabwafan.com for people living outside Lebanon to be able to get it!! 

    maya-zankoul-online