+961

A Lebanese Blog

Month: June 2009

  • Are you kidding me?!

    I was in Zahleh yesterday and I encountered this at the entrance of the Berdawni.

    chinese-italian-balloon

    Fi shi bi 3a2el, w shi bala 3a2l, hay masalan bala 3a2el!

    Does the chinese make fake balloons? or does the italian make ones that last longer?

  • Ghada Eid Vs. MP Ibrahim Kanaan

  • Dabke record for the Guinness Book!

    dabke

    Wanna contribute in making history? If you live in Montreal, then here’s your chance!

    Tollab, a federation that unites all the Lebanese student associations of Montreal, are planning to set a world records on the 20th of June by forming the biggest Dabke chain that will place Montreal in the Guinness Book of records. Their aim is to gather at least 3,500 people at the Marcelin-Wilson Park on the 20th of June to dance the dabke, hand-in-hand, for at least 5 consecutive minutes.

    This event will be part of the “Festival Libanais de Montreal” from 19 to 21 of June 2009 at the park located in “11301 Bd de l’Acadie”.

    Keep in mind that this event is not exclusively for the Lebanese living in Montreal, so regardless of your nationality you can participate in setting the world record, as the main  purpose of the event is to unite all Lebanese and Montrealers of all colors, religions, names or cultures, who are willing to participate.

    Forming the chain will start at 7:30PM on June 20th, so make sure to show up beforehand if you’re willing to participate in otder to organize things well.

    For more information, you can refer to the even’t page on Facebook, or Tollab’s website.

  • Michael El-Murr threatening a priest

    After Jounblat and Arslan’s videos, it’s Michael El-Murr’s turn! In the below video you can hear Michael El-Murr threatening a priest in Metn and admitting that he paid bribery, in addition to illegally using the authority of his son Elias El-Murr in the ministry of defense.

  • Honest comment on the Elections

    I stumbled upon this photo few minutes ago on Facebook.

    khara-3laykon

    The paper says:

    Shit upon you and this elections, “Banana Republic”
    Signature: A good citizen

    And who rule the Banana Republic? Monkeyyys! 😀

  • Photos from the elections day

    So it’s June 7th, the elections day! I went to two areas in the morning, Tarik Al-Jadida and Karantina.

    Tarik Al-Jadida was a living hell, people were everywhere around the polling stations, and it took the lady with me around 1 hour and 30 minutes to cast her ballot. On the other hand, it took me 5 minutes to get in and out at the Karantina polling station, and I got back with these photos (You can click to enlarge)

    hizbullah-flag
    Hizbullah supporter at Ras El-Nabeh

    kaskas
    Khaled Bin Al-Walid polling station at Kaskas

    kaskas-1
    Khaled Bin Al-Walid polling station at Kaskas

    lebanese-army
    The Lebanese army on the way from Kaskas to Tarik Al-Jadida

    tarik-jadida
    People gathering outside one of the Future Movement stations in Tarik Al-Jadida

    tarik-jadida-1
    One of the Future Movement ladies giving me a bottle of water while saying

    tarik-jadida-2
    These two boys thought I’m a journalist (due to my big size cam!) they told me they will be waiting for their image to appear on TV tonight! I said OK!

    tarik-jadida-3
    Yet another Future Movement station

    karantina
    This is a polling station at Karantina, no traffic jam there.

    tarik-jadida-4
    On the way back, Charles Helou road was almost empty

    charles-helou-1
    Chales Helou road again

    I wish I was able to take more photos but I was driving at the same time! Not to mention that it is somehow difficult to take photos while army, bodyguards, and internal security forces are all around you!

    Anyway, in addition to these photos, I also filmed the whole voting process using my cell phone!! (Illegal??) And I will try to upload it as soon as I can.

  • Je suis belle et je vote orange

    I couldn’t but post this photo! “Je suis belle et je vote orange”, mish ghalat 😛

    je-suis-belle

  • The last sunset

    No, I’m not dying tomorrow, but I thought of marking the day before June 7th with a photo, the last sunset before the 2009 elections.

    last-sunset

    It is the end. The end of the stressful discussions between the colleagues at work, the end of the expensive advertisement campaigns, the end of Marcel Ghanem’s daily talk show “Parliament 2009”, the end of the ping pong games between Aoun and Murr, the end of the irritating convoys, w heik…

    Anyway, careful to whom you will be voting tomorrow, and remember that you can vote a white paper if none of the candidates meet your standards.

  • Sharek 961

    sharek-ya-shrik

    Haven’t you heard about Sharek 961 yet?

    Sharek 961 is a project where the Lebanese people make the news by sending in reports through several mediums to the website. So wherever you are, you can report to them an electoral incident for example and the news will be displayed on their homepage under “User Feed Stream” along with the geographical location of where the incident has ocurred.

    From their About page:

    Sharek961 empowers Lebanese citizens to promote transparency by sending in eyewitness reports on all election-related incidents or issues. People across Lebanon can send in reports through SMS, email, and the web.

    Sharek961 is intended to improve transparency and accountability through civic participation. Information you send in is made available to all citizens, media outlets, and organizations to view publicly online.

    Reaching them to submit a report is so easy, and you can do it via any of the following channels:

    1. Send an e-mail to sharek@sharek961.org
    2. Send an SMS to 71-189118
    3. Send a message on twitter to @sharek961
    4. Fill out this form

    I’ll be trying to send them some photos from Beirut on the elections day! How about you?

  • Follow the Lebanese elections online

    Spending all of my time at work in front of a computer, like almost everybody else, I usually follow the news via the popular Lebanese news websites, i.e. Tayar, NaharNet, Lebanes Forces and the alike…

    For the Elections 2009 news I found some dedicated websites that you also can use if you’re interested:

    1. LBC News: Parliament Elections 2009
      Includes up to date news, polls,  forum, and an electoral guide for the voters.
    2. El Nashra
      Includes up to date news, polls, electoral maps, and candidates CV’s.
    3. Lebanese Forces
      Includes up to date news, multimedia, in addition to a list of the Lebanese Forces candidates.
    4. Free Patriotic Movement
      Includes up to date news, and a list of all the opposition’s candidates in Lebanon.
    5. Demotix
      A collaborative project delivering news by Lebanese citizen journalists.
    6. Lebanese Ministry of Interior Affairs
      Includes general information for the voters, in addition to a polling stations locator.
    7. Lebanon Files (Thanks to Dania)
      Up to date news on the elections.
    8. Lebanese Elections 2009 (Thanks to Liliane)
      A foreign blogger posting personal analysis and updates on the elections.
    9. Elections LB
      Contains general inf ormation for the voters.

    Have you got any more websites that I can add to the list?