Tag: Lebanon

  • Impressions from Geneva

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    Here’s a belated overview of my impressions from the trip to Geneva. What do you think about how Lebanon compares to European coutries?

    Hope you’re having a lovely day, here’s a song to brighten things up 🙂 Diana Krall’s ‘Walk on By’. Enjoy!

    05 Walk On By

  • A flag Q&A

    Just a quick thought during the flight to Geneva! 🙂

  • Add Ma Baddik! [As much as you want]

    Presenting… my latest animation! 🙂

    Here’s the original post that the animation was based on.
    [Youtube blocked at your work? See it on Vimeo. Vimeo blocked at your work? Change your job!]

    I’d like to give a BIG thank you to Toni Yammine who offered to help with the sound, making the animation much richer and more fun!!!

    Here’s a sneak peek of the making of, enjoy!

    I will end today’s post with a song by an ‘underground alternative’ Lebanese band from the 80’s, the Quiminboos. This song, called Behsos, is impossibly cute, authentic and funny [mostly if you understand Arabic & Lebanese accents]. It’s from the CD compilation of Lebanese alternative music, Banadoura. Have a lovely day! 🙂

    03 Behsos

  • Ode to Municipal Elections

    Ode to Municipal Elections: On a breezy April morning, just like a divine call The holes where my car was accustomed to fall Suddenly disappeared, all On that same [once un]fortunate path That used to host drivers' wrath Flamboyant roundabouts have blossomed Midst this jolly festival I ask myself: what the h##l? Must be municipal elections already! Maybe we should make them yearly? For road adjustments more regularly!

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    Ode to Municipal Elections: On a breezy April morning, just like a divine call The holes where my car was accustomed to fall Suddenly disappeared, all On that same [once un]fortunate path That used to host drivers' wrath Flamboyant roundabouts have blossomed Midst this jolly festival I ask myself: what the h##l? Must be municipal elections already! Maybe we should make them yearly? For road adjustments more regularly!

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    Ode to Municipal Elections: On a breezy April morning, just like a divine call The holes where my car was accustomed to fall Suddenly disappeared, all On that same [once un]fortunate path That used to host drivers' wrath Flamboyant roundabouts have blossomed Midst this jolly festival I ask myself: what the h##l? Must be municipal elections already! Maybe we should make them yearly? For road adjustments more regularly!

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    Ode to Municipal Elections: On a breezy April morning, just like a divine call The holes where my car was accustomed to fall Suddenly disappeared, all On that same [once un]fortunate path That used to host drivers' wrath Flamboyant roundabouts have blossomed Midst this jolly festival I ask myself: what the h##l? Must be municipal elections already! Maybe we should make them yearly? For road adjustments more regularly!

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    Ode to Municipal Elections: On a breezy April morning, just like a divine call The holes where my car was accustomed to fall Suddenly disappeared, all On that same [once un]fortunate path That used to host drivers' wrath Flamboyant roundabouts have blossomed Midst this jolly festival I ask myself: what the h##l? Must be municipal elections already! Maybe we should make them yearly? For road adjustments more regularly!

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    Ode to Municipal Elections: On a breezy April morning, just like a divine call The holes where my car was accustomed to fall Suddenly disappeared, all On that same [once un]fortunate path That used to host drivers' wrath Flamboyant roundabouts have blossomed Midst this jolly festival I ask myself: what the h##l? Must be municipal elections already! Maybe we should make them yearly? For road adjustments more regularly!

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    Ode to Municipal Elections: On a breezy April morning, just like a divine call The holes where my car was accustomed to fall Suddenly disappeared, all On that same [once un]fortunate path That used to host drivers' wrath Flamboyant roundabouts have blossomed Midst this jolly festival I ask myself: what the h##l? Must be municipal elections already! Maybe we should make them yearly? For road adjustments more regularly!

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    Ode to Municipal Elections: On a breezy April morning, just like a divine call The holes where my car was accustomed to fall Suddenly disappeared, all On that same [once un]fortunate path That used to host drivers' wrath Flamboyant roundabouts have blossomed Midst this jolly festival I ask myself: what the h##l? Must be municipal elections already! Maybe we should make them yearly? For road adjustments more regularly!

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    Ode to Municipal Elections: On a breezy April morning, just like a divine call The holes where my car was accustomed to fall Suddenly disappeared, all On that same [once un]fortunate path That used to host drivers' wrath Flamboyant roundabouts have blossomed Midst this jolly festival I ask myself: what the h##l? Must be municipal elections already! Maybe we should make them yearly? For road adjustments more regularly!

    I hope you like my poem. I felt like writing it to express my amazement at the latest road adjustments in Jounieh. Note that this is freestyle poetry so don’t judge the rhymes or syllables 😛

    Now for the true poetry, here’s Ella Fitzgerald singing ‘Ev’ry time we say goodbye!’ Have a beautiful week! 🙂

    1-01 Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye


  • Crest Smile – UPDATE

    If you support this, you can now vote or comment HERE! Thank you Crest for approving the submission after all! 🙂

    No song today, I have the flu and need to catch up on some sleeping, so have a beauuutiful day all!

  • Smile like you mean it!

    What's with the whole "vote for my smile" contest for femme magazine cover?

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    Come on! We already have enough voting to do with the municipality elections!

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    So femme and crest are doing a competition for best smile cover girl

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    so i thought.. why not show my smile for crest and femme?

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    my submission, which got rejected...
    I wish they had accepted my submission! Their moderator doesn’t seem to have any sense of humor at all…
    I hope the girls submitting their photos read the terms well!

    “8. By sending her photograph, a Participant assents to its free-of-charge publication at any time by the proprietor of the “mycrestsmile.com” domain.”

    If you want to know what I’m talking about, you can see the campaign site here.

    In other news, I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about another war happening in Lebanon soon… the thought of which brings out very ugly feelings in me. Here’s this song (&video) by Meen produced in 1 day only during the 2006 war. Hoping this is all only talk and Lebanon will keep on growing like it has been doing for the past 4 years. You can listen to the piano version of the song here.


  • Lebanese Laïque Pride

    I am NOT telling you my religion because it”s about time we learned in a country like Lebanon that you cannot judge and stereotype a person based on something that, in 99.9% of the cases, (s)he was born with.

    Tomorrow is the Lebanese Laique Pride. See you at 11:00am near Ain El Mreisseh.

    As for me, if you must know, well I believe in music. It”s the only thing I truly believe in. Here are 2 beauties for you today: Ella”s fantastic Mac the Knife, and Lhasa de Sela”s fantastic Pajaro.

    02 Mack The Knife

    09 Pajaro

  • Briefly in the elevator

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    The guy managed to tell me his autobiography from the ground to the 14th floor. It was interesting and I felt it’s really a Lebanese superpower to be able to converse deeply with anyone you face, in any situation, at any time!

    Today’s song is Tarzan Boy’s Baltimore. This tune is full of positivity! Have a great day/weekend my darlings! 🙂

  • CC Beirut highlights

    To those who don’t know, Friday April 16th was the 1st Creative Commons Salon in Beirut. Creative Commons in a type of ‘flexible copyright’ that allows you to share your work with less restrictions than the classical coypright. All the content of this blog is under a CC license [see bottom of right sidebar], which means you can take the comics, use them and abuse them, as long as you mention the source without making money out of them.

    You can check photos of the event here and here. You can check a video here [thanks to Hyperstage.net]. For more details about the presentations lineup, check the Facebook page ‘description’.

    A big thank you to Donatella, Mohamad, Naeema & Habib with whom I worked closely to make this event possible. Here’s Donatella’s announcement of the Salon.

    In short, it was a fantabulous event. Thank you to all who helped and attended! Hopefully this will be the first of many! Let’s spread the spirit of sharing our work 🙂

    In the spirit of Creative Commons and sharing, Slutterhouse just released their first single EP “Inside the Station – remix EP” in all digital stores worldwide, AND for download. For more about this Lebanese ‘electro-rock with a twist’ band [whose music I love!!],  check their website www.slutterhouse.com, or start your Monday with their song 🙂

    Slutterhouse – Inside the Station (Pushtronic mix)

  • A day in Hasbaya

    During this long week-end, I visited Hasbaya, the village I come from South of Lebanon

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    Of course, after the classic stop at al baba sweets in Saida. I'll have the honey and pine nuts ice cream

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    Hasbaya is a village full of history, a perfect example of Lebanese diversity

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    In the village, people visit each other everyday. This is abu assaad.

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    In the house, I found a box of old images

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    Why were oldies so much more elegant in the old days?

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    Then, I picked up flowers and made 2 bouquets

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    Watching granma in the kitchen

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    But in all this serenity, one thing broke my heart...

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    the chehabi citadel is crumbling down and noone seems to care!

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    this citadel is a historical, architectural and cultural treasure

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    This boy is a prince by blood, he lives in the citadel. His family cannot afford to maintain it, leaving most of it falling apart. They are willing to let go of the property for someone who could take care of it... but nothing has been done about it!

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    Wish box: I HOPE THAT THE CHEHAB CITADEL IN HASBAYA WILL BE WELL PRESERVED BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE, THAT IT WILL BE DOCUMENTED AND PROPERLY ORGANIZED TO WELCOME PEOPLE INTERESTED IN KNOWING MORE ABOUT THE AREA'S HISTORY, ARCHITECTURE AND CULTURE. IF ONLY SOMEONE COULD HEAR AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

    If anyone of you knows a path that could lead to the realization of the above wish, please let me know. I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend & easter vacation! Now it’s back to work, and when we say work, we say music to compensate! Here’s Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong singing ‘Our Love is Here to Stay’. Have a wonderful day! 🙂

    12 Our Love Is Here To Stay

  • Mini-vacation

    Guys! I’m heading South [Hasbaya] for the next three days, with no internet connection [how will I survive that, do not ask!].

    Meanwhile here are the latest illustrations for ELLE Oriental to keep you entertained 😉

    In French:

    And in Arabic:

    Have a great long weekend and see you soon! 😉

  • Here’s the thing…

    [If you can’t see Youtube, download the video here]

    As we say in Lebanese, تعيشو و تاكلو غيرا! [hope you’ll live to see more pranks 😉 ]

    Thanks a lot for the AMAAAAZING reactions that you guys sent out regarding the TV show… I was so happy that I actually put them all into a collage [from FB, Twitter and the blog] and you can check them below!! [click to enlarge]

    A big big thank you goes to the brilliant Habib who brainstormed this with me yesterday last minute when I still didn’t know what today’s prank would be 😉

    Last but least, let’s end it with a beaaautiful tune by Pat Metheny, “New Chatauqua”

    03 New Chautauqua