Author Archive | Rami

Lebanese Nizam Shalak Stranded in Ecuador Airport for Over 40 Days Now

By Rami on June 13, 2018 in Social

Lebanese Nizam Hussein Shalak has been living inside Jose Joaquin de Olmedo airport in Ecuador for over 40 days now an we unfortunately wouldn’t have heard about his case if it wasn’t for the foreign media outlets.

The man visited Ecuador two months ago, but on his way back to Lebanon he stopped in Barcelona where he was detained after losing his papers and credit cards and was sent back to the Ecuador. He is now living off food coupons that airlines offer to him and gets to shower every few days when he is allowed to do so.

What’s puzzling though is that the Lebanese consulate in Ecuador didn’t know about Shalak until the media there reported about him, so I think the ministry of foreign affairs here in Lebanon doesn’t have an idea about the matter as well, and chances are he will have to wait several more weeks until they figure out how to issue new papers for him.

His situation is not unique by the way and many other people ended up somehow living inside airports around the world after they lost or got rid of their personal papers (check here), with the most notable case being that of an Iranian man who lived in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris for around 18 years!

AUB Sets a Guinness World Record By Creating The Largest Mosaic Flag

By Rami on May 12, 2018 in Culture, Events, Guinness

A group of students at the American University of Beirut set a Guinness world record in a project called “Share the Flag” by creating the largest notebook mosaic flag made of 60,000 notebook that were placed in the green field.

The event took place few days ago on May 9th and it took them around 24 hours to make it possible. Moreover, as a tribute to the Lebanese Army, the son of martyr Colonel Danny Harb (Rayan Harb), completed the Lebanese flag by placing the last red notebook.

The best part about the whole thing though was donating all of the notebooks that were used to create the Lebanese flag to a large number of public schools in Lebanon. It may sound insignificant to some but needful families will definitely appreciate any contribution to their kids education no matter how small it is.

Check out this time-lapse video showing how they did it.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri Greeted With Animals Painted in Blue!

By Rami on May 2, 2018 in Elections, Politics, What the fuck!

I’m not sure where these photos were exactly taken, but they clearly show people painting camels and sheep in blue to greet Prime Minister Saad Hariri in their hometowns as he campaigns for his party ahead of the elections this weekend.

I totally understand people get over excited in some remote areas where politicians barely set a foot, but needless to say this is just too much…! I doubt people who come up with such ideas are mentally mature enough to choose their representatives in the parliament.

Ziad Rahbani to Perform at The Grand Opening of Beiteddine Art Festival

By Rami on April 27, 2018 in Events, Music

Beiteddine festival is taking place this year from July 12th till August 15th, and Ziad Rahbani will be opening it with a couple of concerts on July 12th and 13th.

According to the Beiteddine.org, Ziad will be reviving songs from his 40 years’ repertoire which basically promises that this concert is going to be one of the best since many years. Apart from releasing Bennesbe Labokra Shou and Film Ameriki Tawil in cinemas, the last time Ziad really amazed was back in 2008 when he presented Mni7a at the UNESCO Palace in Beirut and in 2007 when he performed in Damascus. The songs selection was great, there were several hilarious moments, and the singers who were with him were also incredible. Since then I attended one concert he held at the sea front but to be honest it was quite dull compared to the previous ones.

I already got my tickets for Beiteddine and I really hope the it will be up to everybody’s expectations! If you’re interested then tickets are on sale at Virgin Ticketing.

Review – Avengers: Infinity War

By Rami on April 26, 2018 in Reviews

I don’t usually write movie posts but I’ll make an exception for Avengers: Infinity War. The movie is absolutely amazing and is my favorite among the Marvel films so far.

I actually attended the movie premiere at VOX two days ago and the event coincided with their 5th anniversary in Lebanon. Featuring most of the character from the Marvel universe, you would expect some to appear less special than the others, but the movie is 150 minutes long for a reason, and in my opinion each one of them got the deserved time to stand out.

The movie is of course everything you would expect from a Marvel movie plus a lot of humor and some emotional moments. This time, the avengers are uniting to face Thanos who’s on a quest to collect all of the 6 infinity stones to abolish half the universe. I won’t spoil rest but do yourself a favor and go watch it in theater. It now has a 9.2 rating on IMDB and I agree with Anis that the movie will definitely stand for years to come.

Avengers: Infinity War will be available in cinemas as of tomorrow.

Parliamentary Candidate to Extract Petrol from Bourj Hammoud Landfill

By Rami on April 24, 2018 in Elections, What the fuck!

I was thinking some parties were making exaggerated promises to get people to vote until I heard what Sarkis Sarkis has in mind for the Bourj Hammoud Landfill, now I believe they’re quite modest and realistic. The man believes petroleum can be extracted from there.

As I read in the news, this is one of the candidates who are almost guaranteed to win the elections, so it will be quite interesting following him over the next 4 years given his obvious lack of brains and public speaking skills.

MEESOO Tiramisu

By Rami on April 20, 2018 in Food, Reviews

I’ve been meaning to write about MEESOO for a while now but it’s better late than never I think! MEESOO is a relatively new Italian machine that instantly serves tiramisu cake. You can think of it as an espresso machine but for tiramisu instead. I happen to work in the same building as their head office, that’s why the first time I tried it was at their premises when they were holding tasting sessions for their neighbors and I totally loved it.

The secret for the good taste lies in the Italian mascarpone cream cheese that is kept fresh inside the machine which takes a few second to serve you a cup, and from there on you get to prepare your dessert the way you like. The one I tried had ladyfinger biscuits in the bottom with cream and cocoa power on top, but others may also opt for other ingredients, for example I’ve seen people adding strawberry syrup instead of the cocoa powder, and another brewing a shot of espresso and then pour the cream on top. Still no matter what mix you come up with, you will always feel that rich cream flavor.

In all cases, the idea is to have the same good tiramisu wherever you find MEESOO just like when you order an espresso. And bottom line, I highly recommend you give it a try. MEESOO is now available at several restaurants and coffee shops, and you can check their Facebook page for a list of the places offering it.

Video of the 3D Mapping Show on Beirut National Museum

By Rami on April 19, 2018 in Videos

Cre8mania staged a cool 3D mapping show on the National Museum of Beirut as part of La Nuit des Musées last Saturday. I personally missed the event but fortunately for us here’s a video to show how it looked like.

Make sure to watch it in high defintion.

Photo via Nabil Ismail

Electoral Camapaigns Bi Gheir 3alam

By Rami on April 16, 2018 in Politics

I’ve been watching for a while now what the parliamentary candidates have to say about their electoral programs and the amount of literal bullshit you get to see and hear is sickening. The promises almost everyone is making are so ridiculous and fanciful that I can’t believe there are real people supporting them and their programs.

Take for example this video by Nicolas Sehnaoui which promises a solution for the chronic traffic congestion.

They’re proposing widening the northern highway, increasing the number of buses, fixing the roads, organizing the public transportation system within the capital, and best of all establishing train lines between the main cities. Wlik w a*rrrr! Shu 3eyshin bi London?! I’m not going to put energy into explaining why each and every idea is impossible to apply with the current system in Lebanon, but seriously how do some people accept contributing to such ads? I really doubt the girl in the video is even convinced with what she’s saying.

In parallel with the above plan, this gentleman named Nazih Najem wants to also build 13 dams covering the whole country.

We live in a country where a pothole takes forever to get fixed, yet this candidate wants to convince us that 13 dams can be built with the flip of a switch.

I really have nothing personal against Sehnaoui or Najem, the above two ads just happened to have appeared on my Facebook feed and I’m pretty sure other candidates are promising similar stuff. The thing is, why can’t they keep it real? First of all, members of the parliament are in principle supposed approve laws and governments expenditure. Initiating projects on the other hand falls under the duties of each ministry, so how on earth can these candidates promise projects?

Anyway, I personally don’t care who wins and who loses, and I’m not interested to see new faces winning because thank god neither my life nor my income depend on any of them. In fact, I won’t even bother voting for anyone because I’d rather put the energy for going to the polling station into something more useful for myself. I just pity those who actually believe such campaigns and waste their time and effort supporting these candidates.

La Nuit des Musées 2018 is Taking Place This Saturday

By Rami on April 11, 2018 in Culture, Events

The Ministry of Culture is organizing the 5th edition of La Nuit des Musées which will take place this Saturday April 14th. This year, 13 museums around Lebanon will be open for free to the public starting 5:00PM until late at night.

Free shuttles will be available at LibanPark parking in Mathaf area for people from Beirut who wish to visit the museums in the north and south, but reservations are mandatory through Virgin Ticketing box office to secure your place.

I highly recommend you use public transportation to visit the participating museums in Beirut by the way because it tends to get very crowded around them on this day.

Here’s the list of the participating museums:

MUSÉE NATIONAL DE BEYROUTH
de 17h00 à 23h00
“Mathaf”, rue de Damas

MIM, MUSÉE DES MINÉRAUX
de 17h00 à 23h00
Campus de l’innovation et du sport, Université Saint-Joseph

MUSÉE DE PRÉHISTOIRE LIBANAISE DE L’UNIVERSITÉ SAINT-JOSEPH
de 17h00 à 23h00
Rue de l’Université Saint-Joseph, quartier Monnot

VILLA AUDI
de 17h00 à 23h00
Rue St Nicolas, Achrafieh

MUSÉE NICOLAS IBRAHIM SURSOCK
de 17h00 à 00h00
Rue St Nicolas, Achrafieh

MUSÉE ARCHÉOLOGIQUE DE L’AUB
de 17h00 à 22h00
Université américaine de Beyrouth, Ras Beyrouth

MUSÉE DE LA BANQUE DU LIBAN
de 17h00 à 23h00
Locaux de la Banque du Liban, Sanayeh

SENTIER CULTUREL À SAÏDA
MUSÉE DU SAVON
PALAIS DEBANNÉ
KHAN SACY
KHAN EL-IFRANJ
KASR OLA
de 17h00 à 23h00

MUSÉE DU CATHOLICOSSAT DE CILICIE
de 17h00 à 23h00
Antélias

MUSÉE DES ORPHÉLINS DU GÉNOCIDE ARMÉMIEN “ARAM BEZIKIAN”
de 17h00 à 23h00
Jbeil

MACAM – MUSÉE D’ART MODERNE ET CONTEMPORAIN
de 17h00 à 23h00
Alita, Jbeil

MUSÉE ETHNOGRAPHIQUE DE L’UNIVERSITÉ DE BALAMAND
de 17h00 à 22h00
Koura

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