Tag: Lebanon

  • Exotica… The Comeback! Moukarzel… The Fall Down!

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    And if I might ad, the execution of the C&F ad is terrible, as it is clearly a cushion inserted into the woman’s clothes, and not a baby.

    Again, I’d like to thank Exotica and their creative team for responding positively to the criticism of their campaign [I knew from trusted sources that the reason they updated the campaign is because of the reaction they saw through social media]. If that’s the case, then they are pioneers ๐Ÿ™‚ What do you guys think about the other campaigns I just shared?

    Exotica is now all over the Lebanese blogosphere: Raafat Hamze analyzes the campaign change here, and there isย Plus961‘s, Liliane‘s & Joe‘s take on this.

    On another note, I got back from Zahleh [as you might have noticed :P] and will update you tomorrow! Have a beautiful day with this smooth song from Spirited Away soundtrack by Joe Hisaishi!

    21 Always With Me

  • Sunday updates (+Fanart #10)

    Yesterday, Saturday 27th February, I got the chance to give a presentation to the children of the Armenian Thorossian school in Bourj Hammoud. We talked about drawing, blogging, going after what you truly like doing in life. And we had a lot of fun! I only have this terrible photo that I took with my phone from where I was presenting.

    In other news, yesterday was also the book signing of the illustrated Arabic poetry book Haltabees (ุญู„ุชุจูŠุณุŒ ุงุดุนุงุฑ ู…ู† ุณู…ุณู… ูˆุฎูŠุงุฑ), result of the collaboration between the incredibly talented David Habchy & Rania Zaghir. Mashrou3 Leila also sang the poems, and cucumbers & semsom were given away with the book. Beautiful combo & beautiful people! AND I got my copy signed! ๐Ÿ˜‰

    I wish you a beautiful Sunday, and I can only tell you one thing: you’re in for a special surprise tomorrow!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰ So stay tuned! And while you wait, I leave you with Lhasa de Sela’s Desdeรฑosa.

    Un, deux, trois. Deux, deux trois…

  • For better & for worse

    Last week on my way to work, I bumped into the latest exotica campaign for mother's day. It showed a mother and daughter with huge ear, and the slogan was "For the good and the bar, thank you Mom". Oh my! Where have their chic visuals gone?

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    Then few meters later, another, except this time mother and daughter have oversized noses. "Hmm.. Are they seriously profiling certain physical traits as BAD?"

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    Class Setting. Lebanese Society 101. "In the look-obsessed country we live in, we often see scenarios as follows".

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    This campaign reinforces the complexes a lot of young girls have about how they look. Now, they might start blaming their mothers for genetic inheritance, instead of them understanding that a big nose -ear is actually, NOT, bad.

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    .If I want to associate their slogan with a visual, it would not be as funny. Billboard showing mother beating child.

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    Or... HIV positive mother and daughter

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    As you can see, there are far worse things a mother could give to her children than a big nose - ear. Things they, in fact, could never possibly thank her for. In all cases, I have one thing to say: Thank you Exotica for the good and the bad! ;) In the hope the next campaign will catch up!

    You might say I am overreacting. However, the reason I am, is because I believe huge billboards have great influence on the large amount of people who cross them daily. Big corporations should thus think twice before shouting such messages at us. And I do know that “it got people talking about it”, but wouldn’t it be better if it also, on the way, got through a more responsible message?

    Anyway, I just had to say what I think about this campaign, it’s been bothering me everyday when I pass by it. Now, back to music, here’s Sarah Vaughn’s Broken Hearted Melody. Have a wonderful day ๐Ÿ™‚

  • iPhone Apps for Lebanese needs

    Post featured on itoot.net

    I was very excited to collaborate again with the amazing Qifa Nabki on designing icons for iPhone Apps tailored to fit the Lebanese lifestyle needs!

    To know the story behind every app, click on the image below!

  • Curiosity killed the cat

    Finding some old video tapes

    I can’t believe the DVD guy WATCHED the videos I sent him. Not only did he watch them, but he also had the guts to comment about the fashion & lifestyle of the 80’s and how we spent our time back then. Wlak at least don’t SAY that you watched them! Apparently he didn’t have much to do during the day. Lebanese & their curiosity.

    Anyway, I just felt like holding a pencil and scribbling & here’s what came out ๐Ÿ™‚ Couldn’t possibly let you go to your weekends without a quick post!

    Have a lovely weekend my darlings! And here’s Chick Corea’s “Love Castle” from his album “My Spanish Heart”.

    01 Love Castle

  • The return of the kamikaze

    Remember when I told you about the kamikaze phenomenon about a year ago?

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    Well, I witnessed a highly enhanced version of it. On Dora highway. Which proves that our population is getting more and more enlightened.

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    Presenting.. the kamikaze family! "Yalla mama, when I say go, we run!"

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    .Go!

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    Mother and children crossing highway

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    .Mother pauses in middle of highway, wondering whether she should grab the papers dropped by her son. Cars around start panicking.

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    .They eventually crossed the road. And the boy cried for his papers.

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    .When will people wake up and smell the hazard of walking through a highway?

    I was horrified to see a whole family crossing the highway (autostrade) by foot!! What was the mother thinking? Has common sense disappeared from humanity? She even had a “thinking break” right in the middle of the highway to contemplate whether she should take the papers dropped by her little kid! Suicidal! This is just beyond my understanding, and the scene has been replaying in my head for the last two days. It was that disturbing and does not make sense to me. Thought I’d start the week with some road awareness, we can never get enough of that! Road idiocy is born with humans apparently.

    Here’s a song to brighten up your day by my very adored Nick Drake. “Time has told me”. And check the lyrics for extra beauty.

    Have a lovely week! ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Insurance comic

    Commercial Insurance decided to spice up their car accidents booklet. They approached me to illustrate the opening page: explain the post-car accident steps through comics. Very cool to see comics being implemented for such serious booklets! The text was needed in French & Arabic, but I translated it to English myself just for you guys ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Arabic:

    Commercial Insurance Lebanon Illustration

    French:

    Commercial Insurance Lebanon Illustration

    & home-translated English:

    And before I leave you, here’s another Andy McKee (Drifting) since I got lots of positive feedback about his music ๐Ÿ˜‰ Enjoy!

    03 Drifting 1

  • Sunday updates

    No comic today: it’s Sunday. Instead, here are the latest TV interviews I participated to this week (yes I know it’s weird, 2 interviews in the same week!)

    The first was on BBC Arabic, and was about the blogging experience in Lebanon compared to other Arab countries. Here it is:

    For the full episode, check out fellow blogger Samer Karam’s post who was also interviewed.

    The other was on mtv and was about the blog, book, exhibitons, comics, illustrations and life. Here it is in 2 parts:

    Have a great Sunday! ๐Ÿ˜‰

  • Freestyle slalom

    It's the season for... Freestyle Slalom!

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    Maya appears in full ski outfit and holding ski sticks

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    Let's do this thing! Maya puts on ski glasses

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    Our challenge today is to cross the 2 km from home to highway WITHOUT hitting the obstacles

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    The obstacles: 1- potholes (or "joora" for the experts)

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    Obstacle 2: fixed potholes! (or "mtabb" for the pros)

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    .Car shown from top view crossing road full of pothole. Depending on combination of pothole in an area, it is tagged "difficulty level 1 or 2" or even "oops... trap!"

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    .Success! (car crosses ribbon)

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    .What can I say? Living a video-game-life is such fun!

    And here’s how the daily pothole-crossing phenomenon is turned into fun! Any volunteers to turn this into a video or flash game? ๐Ÿ˜› Oh and by the way, I’ve never skied in my life and don’t intend to learn ๐Ÿ˜€ Hope you all have a beauuuutiful Monday, and here’s another jazzy song by Lisa Ekdahl whose music has been making my days sweeter. “My Heart Belongs to Daddeh!” Enjoy ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Illustrating for ELLE Oriental

    No comic today, just some illustrations that I did for this month’s ELLE Oriental magazine! More specifically for their report “ELLE en parle” which tackled the topic of “Hospitality in the Middle East”.

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    Click to enlarge – ELLE en parle spread 1

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    Click to enlarge – ELLE en parle spread 2

    Great stuff in this issue. Go get it now!! ๐Ÿ™‚

    And have a lovely weekend!

  • High-priority salutation

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    GRRRRRRRR! Can you believe it? All this honking turned out to be a very creative and thoughtful way of saying hello to someone you cross in the middle of the road.ย Regarding the “truck that fell 3 days ago” that I’m referring to, here it is and here’s the aftermath. And before I leave you to your busy days, here’s a song for you! ๐Ÿ™‚ Sarah Slean, Get Home. Have a great day!

    <– If this gives you “file not found” you can listen here.

    On a side-note: my designer-colleague Arine left the office to do her masters yesterday! I wish her all the best of luck for the coming year, will miss her a lot!

  • The kissing predicament

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    Seriously! It’s the same story EVERYTIME! How am ย I supposed to know if it’s one or two or three? You always end up having to throw a “oh hehe I give 3 kisses Lebanese style!” or “oh! hehe you want to greet Lebanese style?” I guess it’s better to just stop greeting people completely ๐Ÿ˜›

    Oh!! First post of 2010 ๐Ÿ˜€ HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU MY DARLINGS, love you so much ๐Ÿ™‚ And because I do, here’s a song (that I absolutely adore) ย dedicated to you to start your year with ๐Ÿ™‚ Kiss Me, by Sixpense None The Richer – it’s a classic!


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