Archive | February, 2012

Where are the gasoline prices going?

The gasoline prices have been significantly increasing over the past few weeks, and have reached today 35,600L.L and 36,200L.L for 95-octane  and 98-octane respectively.

I wonder why all politicians are silent about the matter now while a year ago Gebran Bassil and Raya El-Hassan were “competing” to cut the flaming prices by 5,000L.L!

Anyway, I hope we’re not heading towards paying 40,000L.L/20 liters anytime soon!

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Alfa Sunday promotion

Alfa’s latest promotion is more like imposing a ridiculous entrance fee at a discount store. Why should people pay $1/week to benefit from a 40% discount on local calls during Sundays?!

Knowing that a minute costs $0.36 for prepaid users, you’ll be saving $0.144 for each minutes, and therefore you will have to speak a minimum of 7 minutes to cover that $1 you initially have paid ($1/$0.144=6.94), so you won’t start really saving until after you have spoken the 8th minute.

Bravo Alfa! Keep the good promotions coming!

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Leil Nhar & Classic Burger Joint coming to Hamra

I was passing by Hamra yesterday and noticed that Leil Nhar and Classic Burger Joint will soon be opening at the end of the main street next to Pastai.

Leil Nhar is by the way replacing Burger Nation who’s service has deteriorated drastically in the last few months!

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Irish film week at Empire Sofil

“Worlds Alike” is a Lebanese new annual film festival that will be showcasing each year films from a country with a similar recent history to Lebanon. And in its first edition, 9 films from Ireland (listed below) will be showing at Emprire Sofil Cinema in Achrafiyeh.

  • The Butcher Boy by Neil Jordn – February 29th at 8PM
  • Borstal Boy by Peter Sheridan – March 1st at 6PM
  • Hunger by Steve McQueen – March 1st at 8:30PM
  • The Pipe by Risteard O’Domhnaill – March 2nd at 6PM
  • Bernadette: Notes on a Political Journey by Lelia Doolan – March 2nd at 8:30PM
  • Angel by Neil Jordan – March 3rd at 6PM
  • Bloody Sunday by Paul Greengrass – March 3rd at 8:30PM
  • The Secret of Kells by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey – March 4th at 6PM
  • Breakfast on Pluto by Neil Jordan – March 4th at 8:30PM

Tickets will sell for 5,000L.L and you can check Metropolis’ website for more information.

 

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Taxi El-Balad

Yet another Lebanese movie!

On his 36th birthday, the underachieving Youssef finds himself alienated from his friends and family for being single, penniless and with no ambition; he leaves his small town and moves to Beirut to start anew. While living out of his car, relying on both his quick wit and a bulletproof
business plan, he obsesses about becoming the greatest taxi driver in
the city.

Prowling the streets at night in his impeccable 1966 Benz, he meets Jordan, a bored American pilates instructor working at a twenty four hour gym with no customers; both disillusioned with their careers and sharing a similar dissatisfaction with their personal lives, they form an unlikely bond. With his passion for telling stories of a past time, and her desire to hear them, together they cruise through the back alleys of Beirut celebrating hope, resilience, and the healing powers of storytelling.

Taxi El-Balad is coming to theaters on March 8 2012.

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Downtown’s famous street seller

If you go around the Nejmeh Sqaure at night, there’s a high probability you will be frightened by a street seller yelling “BEIRUT!!!” from behind your back in an attempt to later sell you images of old Beirut. To my knowledge, this man, Saadallah Basha, is probably the only street seller in Downtown Beirut…

It was probably about time someone writes about him, and yesterday he made it to The Daily Star!

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Underground parking space at Martyrs Square

According to this article in The Daily Star today,the municipality of Beirut is planning to start constructing an underground parking (with a capacity of 2,000  cars) at the Martyrs square by the end of 2012, to “improve” the appearance of the downtown area. And a garden will later be created in the square once the project is done.

“Work will start before the end of this year. Once finished, the parking space will accommodate between 1,500 and 2,000 cars,” Hamad said, adding that a Build, Operate and Transfer contract would be signed by the company selected to carry out the project. Under the BOT contract, a company will build and operate the facility – earning revenue – before the municipality assumes ownership. Source

There’s no reference however to what’s going to happen to the current parking spaces around the Martyrs square, Solidere might be planning to build some new towers there?

The article also mentions a similar project in Ain El-Mrayseh where a parking space with a capacity of 680 cars is set to be built, in addition to a 7,000 square meters produce market between Tayyouneh and Shatila.

Photo via Stefania Facco

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Horsh Beirut

You probably have seen this at several places in Beirut “ليش حرش بيروت مسكر؟” (Why is Beirut park closed?) among other stencils as well, which appear to be part of a campaign to open Beirut park to the public.

You might be surprised, but I’m actually with keeping people away from this park until they really deserve it. I mean look at all the public spaces in Beirut, are we treating them good? The corniche at Ain El-Mrayseh for example looks like one big shisha cafe now! Young boys come in their 1990 BMW and Golf cars, turn up their radios to Ali El-Deek songs, set their shishas, and start dancing Dabke! Wala anawran min heik.

The possibilities are endless with what they may do to Horsh Beirut. Littering? BBQ parties on weekends? Ripping out the plants?

So until we learn how to treat our public spaces really good, keep Horsh Beirut closed please!

 

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Lebanese sushi at O&C

The sushi menu at O&C includes a Lebanese sushi that is made of Philadelphia cheese, avocado, crab, cucumber, and mango, all wrapped in Lebanese bread!

Does this qualify as sushi? It’s more like a sandwich cut into small chunks.

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