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Last week I got to enjoy Ivan M., one of the world famous saxophone players from Cafe Del Mar, playing live in Amethyste Lounge Phoenicia.

Below is a small video I recorded during his performance. The light is very low so you wont be able to see how the ambiance really was… but you will still enjoy his tunes.

Good food, great music, what more can one ask for?!

Ten Playboy models were brought to Lebanon by Nathaly’s agency for a 6 days fashion event from May 14 till May 19, advertising photo shoot, catwalk shows and mega after parties at the trendiest venues in Lebanon.

I am very proud to announce that, in coordination with Outlook, AUB’s official newspaper, Mind Soup is hosting the first Lebanese Bloggers Convention at AUB.

During the convention/workshop, Lebanese guest bloggers will introduce the world of blogging to students and encourage them to express their ideas and opinions using personal blogs.

Also on the agenda is discussing the impact of blogging on the freedom of speech in Lebanon and the effect of blogging on the Lebanese society and culture.

Everyone is welcome to attend! If you are a non-AUB student and would like to attend, please send an email to moudz.mindsoup@gmail.com so that your access to AUB’s closed campus can be facilitated!

If you are a blogger and would like to be featured in this convention, please fill in this form: http://www.jotform.com/form/1200341481 after reading the rules below.

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Rules for applying (as guest speaker):
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- You should be a Lebanese blogger or an Arab blogger operating in Lebanon and can attend the blogger convention in AUB (Beirut)
- You should be 18 years of age or older.
- You should own a self-operated blog.
- Your blog should be at least 6-month old (updated on a weekly basis) or 1 year old (updated on a monthly basis).
- The convention is probably going to be in the English language, so you should be fluent in English.

Event’s page on Facebook

Update (05/07/2010):
The event has been rescheduled to May 19th 2010 at 5:00 PM

Update (05/18/2010):
The event has been canceled due to the tuition increase protest.

Few days ago I posted about the Lebanon Motor Show which is held at BIEL, downtown Beirut. So today is time to publish some photos from my visit!

I went there on Sunday evening, and there was a huge traffic on the entrance! So I advice you to go on weekdays, just don’t wait till the weekend (it ends on April 18th) because I’m sure it will be very crowded.

The show has 4 halls, 2 for showing cars, 1 for banks (where you can get good deal until the show ends), and 1 for car accessories. Overall it was nice and I recommend that you go check it out.

I leave you now with the photos I got, be careful if you’re a faint-hearted!

Photo via Exoleb

Make sure not to miss Lebanon Motor Show 2010 from the 8th till the 18th of April at Biel Downtown Beirut.

According to Promofair the organizer of this event, the number of visitors will be around 150,000 and exhibitors will vary from car importers to banks, insurance companies, and car accessories.

I’m definitely going there in the next few days and will hopefully get back to you with some cool photos.

UPDATE (04/13/2010):

I just posted photos from the show on this link.

The long awaited and highly anticipated ArabNet conference kick started today, with over 500 participants attending the opening ceremony, including internet and tech leaders from around the world, investors, media, entrepreneurs, bloggers and professionals from the tech industry.

The opening ceremony and the conference activities that followed were broadcast live online, giving an opportunity for everyone who couldn’t attend to be part of this unique and first-of-its kind event to ever happen in the Middle East.

Under the direction of Samer Karam and a dedicated team of geeks and coders who worked 24 hours a day for the past week, a custom-designed, cutting-edge system was developed that allows for live broadcast of video, illustrations and tweets directly from the conference. The platform also integrates a voting mechanism to allow attendees to vote for their favorite startup or idea via the live website – live.arabnet.me

Throughout the past couple of months, ArabNet has been able to nurture a grassroots movement, an online community of enthusiasts through an outreach program intended to engage young entrepreneurs and techies across the Arab World. In less than two months, we have gathered over 1,000 followers on twitter and more than 600 fans on facebook.

40 top-notch speakers, 11 supporting partners, 18 media partners, 35 startups, 50 ideas, 25 ambassadors, 12 official bloggers, and over 300 decision makers, investors, and entrepreneurs from across the MENA, Europe, and Silicon Valley have come together gather today at the Habtoor Grand Hotel to network and discuss emerging opportunities in Arab web business. Even before the conference started, the #ArabNetME twitter feed was overwhelmed with tweets from all over the world from people who believed in ArabNet’s mission. And just a few hours later, following the opening ceremony, ArabNet was trending globally on the site!

A huge thanks goes to Beshr Kayyali and Mohammad Saleh Kayali from hyperlinkpodcast.com, an ArabNet media partner, who have helped in setting up the live micro-site, as well as Maya Zankoul, the famous Lebanese illustrator who is live illustrating the conference, as well as to official ArabNet bloggers and ambassadors, and the millions of tweeters and enthusiasts from the world over who tweeted, messaged, and voiced their support in more ways than one.
Without them, ArabNet could not have gone global!

Last Friday I was invited to the launching of Shankaboot, the first web drama series in the Arab world, which took place at Art Lounge Karantina, where we were introduced to the project by the producers and also got to exclusively watch 3 episodes of the series (Episodes 1, 2, & 6).

This webseries tells the story of Suleiman, a 15 years old boy running his own delivery business in the streets of Beirut, who one day accidentally bumps into Ruwaida, a young beautiful girl dreaming of becoming a star, and his friend Chadi who got him into a trouble.

Here’s a video of the producer Katia Saleh introducing the project, recorded using my phone.

And below is a summary of the project taken from the press pack distributed at the event.

Shankaboot is a collaboration between four organisations based in Beirut and London. In mid-2009, the BBC World Service Trust teamed up with Batoota Films, Zico House and the Welded Tandem Picture Company to develop the project. The idea was to create a fresh and challenging drama for young Lebanese audiences; the vehicle was to be the Internet.

Web drama remains new and relatively uncharted territory. Whilst several UK and US productions have gained massive followings, there is no established recipe for success. From the outset, there were clear risks attached to making an Arabic web drama. Would it take off with a young Lebanese audience? Could local Internet connections cope? At first, the answer was “we hope so”. Six months down the line, with some of Lebanon’s leading creative talents on board and growing interest from web users across the country, the answer is most definitely “yes”.

A well established producer and filmmaker, Katia Saleh was the obvious choice as the driving force behind the series. She has been assisted throughout the development process by Welded Tandem’s Chris Carey, who brings nearly two decades of drama and reality-TV experience to the project. The BBC World Service Trust provided the funding as well as a long track record in devising socially responsible media content. Over the past six months, the production has been based at Zico House, one of Beirut’s leading creative arts agencies.

The first challenge was to source a writer or, preferably, a team of writers. The makers’ determination to uncover and mentor fresh talent led to the decision to invite young writers from across the Arab world to pitch their ideas. The response exceeded expectations and a small team was selected to take part in an intensive story-lining workshop in Beirut. It was here that Shankaboot was conceived. Following the first workshop, six young writers from Lebanon, Egypt and Palestine were commissioned to write the first episodes of the series.

The idea had always been to exploit the internet’s potential to facilitate interactivity and audience participation. Shankabooters will not be passive viewers. Through Shankaboot’s bespoke, bi-lingual website users will be able to communicate directly with the characters; propose solutions to specific challenges; and help to develop future storylines.

The first season will comprise around 30 webisodes of 4-6 minutes each. The episodes will be released on an ad hoc basis – dates and times will be published on the website. Shankaboot’s audience will be largely responsible for shaping the second season.

I leave you now with the first episode, don’t miss checking the website www.shankaboot.com.

K-Lynn Lingerie held their annual winter fashion show at Faraya Mzaar last Saturday, March 6 2010, which is usually inspired by Victoria’s Secret fashion shows. Here are some of the photos I found on the web for the event!

The ArabNet Team held a pre-conference workshop on Thurday, Feb 25 2010, in Beirut, Lebanon. Omar Christidis, Samer Karam, Amber Lauletta and Sana Tawileh, organized Workshop 1: Preparing a Business Case to help entrepreneurs translate their ideas into clear and solid business cases.

The workshop started with an introduction by Omar Christidis about ArabNet, the reasons which led to its inception, and his belief in the potential of the Arab web business industry. The conference is keen on bringing together speakers from Silicon Valley, Europe and the Middle East, as well as providing opportunities for entrepreneurs with ambitious e-ideas to network with high profile investors and internet executives from the Arab world, he explained.

Samer Karam discussed the importance of the community and explained how the online ecosystem has been the most effective and interesting vehicle to engage with different and disparate audiences across the region. He also touched upon the importance of leveraging the synergy of the crowd to harness great ideas.

Karam went on to detail the core pillars of a business case, from value proposition to revenue streams and target audience. He also introduced the ArabNet Ambassadors Program, an integral part of ArabNet’s community-building initiative, which is open for applications and has interesting perks! http://blog.arabnet.me/?p=117

Sana Tawileh and Amber Lauletta, who are leading the ArabNet Startup Demo and Ideathon, detailed the requirements for submission and the selection process for their respective programs, delivering strong pitches for participation! They then presented an idea for online food delivery, collaborating with workshop attendees to pull together a business case around it.

Lauletta and Tawileh highlighted the Startup Demo and Ideathon as unique opportunities at ArabNet – for early-stage startups, young entrepreneurs, and innovators – to network and connect with investors, get media exposure, and win valuable prizes!

Samer Karam further coached attendees by crowdsourcing a full business case from a simple word, “fashion”. The simplicity of the process encouraged everyone to submit an idea to the Ideathon.

After that, some attendees discussed and developed their ideas with ArabNet Team members in one-on-one sessions; others networked and connected, forming an impromptu community.

Positive energy and synergistic interactions highlighted Workshop 1 appeal and the value of ArabNet’s community initiatives. There was a great spirit of friendly professionalism, eagerness to be involved, and unrelenting curiosity. The follow-up was great: participants and organizers connected virtually the next day, to discuss and comment on their workshop experiences.

Highly anticipated and finally here is the first international conference for the Arab internet industry: IBAG, International Business Alliance Group, presents ArabNet 2010: Trends and Opportunities in Arab Web Business. The conference will be held in Beirut on March 25-26, 2010 with the support of Endeavor Jordan, the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship, the Syrian Young Entrepreneurs Association and YallaStartup!.

ArabNet is bringing together the internet community to network and help launch the hottest startups from across the region — that means you! Top investors, internet executives and leaders from Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, AdMob and Intel will adress subjects that are critical to the Arab Web Industry including: e-commerce, gaming, mobile, content, online advertising, social networking, new media, and start-up fundraising.

Key to the conference are pitch sessions: Ideathon & Startup Demo.  This is the place to match talent with opportunity.

The Ideathon is looking for 10 select entrepreneurs to introduce their fresh startup ideas to eager investors in a rapid-fire pitch session.  Similarly, the Demo will select startups with innovative products to pitch and exhibit their companies for the duration of the conference.

We are currently accepting applications from entrepreneurs and startups from all over the region with strong ideas and products.

Visit ArabNet.me to learn more and apply.