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A Lebanese Blog

Tag: Lebanon

  • AUB 150th Anniversary

    american university of beirut

    This year marks 150 years since the establishment of The American University of Beirut in 1866.

    AUB is by far the oldest university in Lebanon and has to some extent played a role in shaping the history of Beirut by influencing the culture of the surrounding area in Hamra and making it a meeting place for avant-garde thinking and revolutionaries during the 60s and 70s.

    I have always admired their campus which is in my opinion the most beautiful one among other Lebanese universities, and a stroll in their green areas always feels like an escape from Beirut’s polluted atmosphere.

    To celebrate their 150th anniversary, AUB built a dedicated website http://150.aub.edu.lb that has their calendar of events throughout the year, in addition to a history timeline highlighting their milestones and accomplishments, and a cool page sharing the stories of couple that have met at AUB.

    I highly recommend you check out the website for some bits of history and interesting old photos of the university.

    photo via flickr

  • Blink My Car – The Latest On-Demand Car Wash Service

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    “Blink My Car” is a new mobile app that allows people in Beirut to book a car wash for their car or motorbike wherever they are around the city. All they have to do is place an order through the app and a team will show up at their place to clean the vehicle using waterless products.

    The idea is not new to the market since two similar services were previously launched in 2010 (Yara Service) and 2014 (Just Wash), but Blink My Car seems easier to use since it doesn’t involve calling any phone number.

    I actually downloaded the app and it required me to register and enter basic details about my car in order for them to identify it once they arrive (car model, color, and plate number). I’m not sure though how much helpful will these info be in crowded areas, but anyway I was mostly curious to know how much is their fees. It turned out they charge $10 per car/motorbike and an additional $2 for the car interior, so that’s a total of $12 of 18,000L.L to properly clean your car.

    I honestly found the fare a bit too high since I usually can get my car cleaned for anything between 5,000L.L and 10,000L.L. But then again, if I ever felt like I really really need to wash my car ad was unable to go out, then I will probably consider using “Blink My Car” and will be willing to pay the extra 8,000L.L.

    I wish their team all the luck anyway!

  • Seven Lebanese Among The World’s 50 Richest Arabs in 2016

    50 richest arabs

    Arabian Business released their list of The World’s 50 Richest Arabs for the year 2016 and 7 Lebanese made it this year.

    2- Joseph Safra ($12bn)
    23- Najib Mikati ($3bn)
    24- Taha Mikati ($3bn)
    30- The Hayek Family (3bn)
    43- Saad Hariri ($2bn)
    45- Fouad Makhzoumi ($2bn)
    46- Robert Mouawad ($2bn)

    The richest Arab is unsurprisingly Prince AlWaleed Bin Talal with $25 billions, but if Carlos Slim had the Lebanese citizenship then he would have definitely topped the list with his $77 billions.

    Needless to say, 4 out of the 7 mentioned are into politics, which logically makes it the most profitable “business” in this country!

    You can check the full list here.

  • Things to Do This Week in Lebanon – January 27th 2016

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    Here are my picks from Lebtivity for this week. Movie buffs may be interest in the 22nd European film festival taking place at Metropolis cinema for the next 10 days. You can check the full festival program here.

    1. 22nd European Film Festival in Lebanon
    2. Stress Management workshop at Skillz
    3. Vicente Guallart at BDD: Prototyping the City of the future
    4. La Nuit des idées
    5. DOCUMENTARY NIGHT: WONDERS OF THE UNIVERSE / PART 2
    6. Iyad Sfeir and The Proud Music Society at Junkyard Beirut
    7. Launching the New Collection of Blown Glass from the GREEN GLASS RECYCLING INITIATIVE-LEBANON
    8. InterNations Beirut – A Fiery 80’s Night @ Smoking Barrels!
    9. Burns Night at Eau De Vie under the patronage of the Caledonian Society
    10. Semaine de l’Orgue au Liban – Lebanese Pipe Organ Week – SOL 2016
    11. Discover / Découvrez Mtein & Khonchara avec Tourleb
    12. Les Caves de La Creperie Opening

    Make sure to check Lebtivity.com for much more options.

     

  • A Very Subjective Opinion on “Bennesbeh Labokra Chou?” The Movie

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    I finally managed to watch “Bennesbeh Labokra Chou?” in cinema a couple of days ago and was so delighted to finally see the original acting instead of imagining the scenes in my head!

    The work that M Media has done is definitely remarkable since the movie is actually made out of several amateur recordings of the play that were carefully reconstructed and arranged to make a relatively smooth movie. But as much as I enjoyed watching the whole thing, I couldn’t stop thinking the whole time that “Bennesbeh Labokra Chou?” is so perfect it deserved a way better video quality.

    The videos are basically all grainy, out of focus at times and shaky at others. I don’t mean there was anything that could have been done better… Retaking a shot is absolutely not an option in our case and the producers were obliged to work with anything Ziad was providing. However, the end result was unfortunately a movie that I don’t feel like watching again unlike the audio plays that I never get bored of. Ziad El-Rahbani is probably the only one to blame for not taking the shooting seriously back then.

    “Film Ameriki Tawil” will soon be also showing in cinemas, and I just hope it is recorded in a more professional way. Ziad’s play are timeless and deserve to be treated the same way some Egyptian classics like “Madraset Al Moushaghibin” and “El Wad Sayyed El Shaghal” are still being aired on TV sometimes.

    Anyway, what I’ve wrote should never keep you from watching “Bennesbeh Labokra Chou?” on the big screen. And despite the bad quality of the video, I guarantee you will still enjoy finally seeing the original acting, especially the part where Joseph Sakr sings “3a Hadir El Bosta” with everyone around him dancing to it.

  • Lebanon’s Pablo Escobar is Making Rounds on TV Stations

    nouh zaiter

    Noah Zaiter, the infamous drug lord living in Bekaa, has for some reason started to make rounds on Lebanese TV stations the same way you see some singers moving from one show to another over a short period of time. A  few days ago he was interviewed by one of Tele Liban’s comic shows, and he’s also set to appear on Aljadeed next week with the super dramatic Tammam Bleik.

    The guy can seriously be compared to Colombia’s Pablo Escobar as he claims to be helping the poor people out of the drug money he earns. I’m not sure though about the messages he’s trying to deliver through his appearances now…!

    What puzzles me the most however  is that TV stations can easily reach Noah Zaiter for interviews while the Lebanese authorities will probably never be able to arrest him.

  • Things to Do This Week in Lebanon – January 20th 2016

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    Here are my selection from Lebtivity for this week. I recommend you check on the PecheKucha gathering happening tonight as it has some pretty cool speakers attending.

    1. PechaKucha Night Vol.24
    2. Souk El Tayeb in Gefinor – Every Wednesday
    3. Social Media & Internet Workshop for Moms
    4. Festival Photomed Liban 2016
    5. #RecycleLebanon Beach Clean Up Days
    6. Film program | Monumentum: Screening and Q&A with Fadi Yeni Turk
    7. Fitness Challenge Drop a Jeans Size in 21 Days
    8. FOCUS ON YOU
    9. The Art of Wine and Beer Making – Batroun Tour & Tastings with Lunch
    10. 50 days at 50% OFF in downtown Beirut

    Don’t forget to check Lebtivity.com for much more options.

  • Some Lebanese Movies Are Available for Streaming

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    Everytime I landed on M Media’s website I never went beyond watching the trailer they have of Bennesbeh Labokra Chou, but I recently browsed their film section and was surprised that they actually made several Lebanese films available for streaming.

    Among the titles you will see Blind Intersection, One Man Village, Cash Flow and many others, in addition to some foreign movies as well such as “A Separation”.

    Playback is available in HD, and if your connection doesn’t help then you can avoid buffering problems by using some browser extension to download the movies and watch them later.

    You can check M Media’s film section by clicking here.

  • Al Joumhouria Publishes the Darndest Articles

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    A Lebanese lady who had her credit card information stolen and used to make several transactions reported the incident to some journalist in Al Joumhouria last week. And unfortunately for us, the latter decided to take matters in her own hands to investigate the issue and came up with some really messed up conclusions.

    According to the journalist, it seems like TV receivers now pose a threat because they can get infected by a virus named “talk talk” through the satellite dishes, in addition to a new device that costs $200 to build and can steal a card information by simply placing it next to it… yeah a sane person holding a degree in journalism is actually convinced about that. Make sure to read the full article here.

    I have no idea how on earth is a TV receiver supposed to steal some card information… but a simple Google search shows that “talk talk” is actually a telecom operator in the UK that had some of its customer data stolen a while ago, so there isn’t any virus by that name. Moreover the $200 device is impossible to build but there exists what is called a “skimming” instead which involves actually swiping the card.

    Next thing you might read in Al Joumouria is most probably about a car-theft gang that is teleporting cars from Beirut to Brital!

    Update: I definitely did not mean to endorse punishing journalists by the previous title. The idea is just that such articles cannot be justified at a time when information resources are very accessible and facts can be easily double checked.

  • 3 Reasons to Avoid The Early Screenings of Bennesbeh Labokra Chou

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    Don’t get me wrong, just as you guys probably felt, I was also super excited to learn that Ziad is finally releasing Bennesbeh Labokra Chou in cinemas and I’m already planning to go see it but I personally really prefer to skip to the first few screenings for these reasons.

    1. Ziad fanatics

      We all have that one annoying friend who literally worships Ziad Rahbani and takes every possible opportunity to quote a line from his plays. Some even take it a bit further and imitate the way Ziad speaks. These guys have definitely already booked their tickets and will be all present at the early screenings. Chances are no one wants to be present wherever these people gather and start talking to each other… at least I dont!

    2. The joke spoilers

      Some people can recite the play like the alphabet since they know it by heart. To prove their skills, they will be spoiling every single joke before the actors even start with it. These ones will also be there for the early shows and you probably don’t want to be with them in the same theater!

    3. We all know the ending anyway

      There’s no way for someone to ruin the play for you since we’ve almost all heard it a thousand times and know how it ends. I personally want to go see it because it’s a privilege seeing Ziad Rahbani and Joseph Sakr performing together after 35 years of hearing them on the radio, so waiting a little until the craze cools down a little bit won’t hurt.