I received the below images by e-mail today showing how Nahr El-Mot interchange should look like in I dunno how many years from now. If the contracting companies will continue working at the same rate, that is 1 bridge per 3 years, then my son will probably be able to go through Nahr El-Mot without getting stuck in the traffic jam!
You can click on the images to enlarge them.
Here’s another video that caught my attention yesterday.
In this video, Wayne Madsen (an investigative journalist) claims that Dick Cheney had his own death squad CIA unit which he ran from the white house. And by the orders of Cheney, the assassinations unit killed Elie Hobeika (Lebanese Forces chief) on January 2002, and Rafic Hariri on February 2005.
I have no idea how true is that, but I am pretty sure we will know everything in 10 years from now, when all the involved parties will be eventually admitting what really happened to documentaries. Just as in the case with the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), most of what we know now is through the documentaries that were released in the past few years.
I was in Hamra last night when I noticed few guys sticking some papers on the walls. It turned out they were greeting us on the Labor day, but in their own way.
Here is a sample of their greetings.
Happy labor day to those who are ma3moul fiyon il 3ameiyil! (including myself)
Almost three weeks ago, Liliane (from lilzi.blogspot.com) blogged about this cool billboard at Antellias:
The billboard says “Sara… Will you marry me? Cedric”. At that time, I think every girl was envying Sara and wishing to find a guy like him. And I honestly felt jealous of him!
But just today, Tarek (from beirutntsc.blogspot.com) revealed the truth! It wasn’t a real proposal, it was a pure advertisement for Sleep Comfort.
The girls can now breath I guess, men like Cedric do NOT exist!!
On April 25th 2009 Maxime Chaya reached the top of the world, the North Pole, and planted the Lebanese flag there! And on the occasion, Maxime called the Lebanese president Michael Suleiman to report to him his great achievement (Video available on YouTube)
Today Maxime returned back to Beirut with yet another success, and he’s now officially the 1st arab and only the 12th person in history to complete the Explorers Grand Slam.
Welcome back Maxime!
As of yesterday, Beirut is the new book capital of the world.
BEIRUT: Culture Minister Tamam Salam is expected to fly to Paris next week to take over the presidency of the “World Book Capital 2009,” his media office said on Wednesday. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced in April 2007 the nomination of Beirut as the “World Book Capital 2009.” “Beirut should raise awareness about the importance of reading, books and publications all through 2009,” Salam addressed reporters during a lunch at Le Bristol Hotel in Ras Beirut. The official program of Beirut World Book Capital 2009 starts on April 25, 2009 and ends in April 2010. Beirut is the ninth city to be designated World Book Capital, after Madrid, Alexandria, New Delhi, Antwerp, Montreal, Turin, Bogot‡ and Amsterdam. According to a statement by UNESCO, the city of Beirut was selected “in the light of its focus on cultural diversity, dialogue and tolerance, and of its diverse and stimulating program.”
Source: The Daily Star
I believe minister Tammam Salam has to do double the effort here in Lebanon and the Arab world, as our people simply hate to read. I don’t know the average number of books an Arab reads per year, maybe half a paper? Could be!
Do you recall all the fuss that was made over the ban of Marc Abi Rached’s movie titled “Help”? (In which I have contributed!!)
Well, few days ago I was surprised to know that the movie is now being sold at the DVD stores in Beirut! So I went to Bourj Hammoud and bought it for 1,000 L.L ($0.66), though I am against getting illegal copies of Lebanese movies prior watching them in the theaters because I believe the Lebanese producers and directors should at least get support from the Lebanese audience.
Anyway, let’s move to watching the movie… just as the movie started playing, the license number obtained from the general security of Lebanon appeared, so I assume this copy is the one that was supposed to be shown in the theaters, and for some reason someone from within the general security decided to leak it out, and the result is of course Marc Abi Rached ending up being screwed twice! (banning it + leaking it)
The whole movie is a chaos, and the chaos lasts for around 1 hour and 15 minutes, it’s about a prostitute names “Thuraya” who is being tracked by a some business man to kill her but at the end gets saved by a teenager named “Ali”. And no they don’t get married at the end.
I think paying 10,000 L.L to watch “Help” in the cinema would have been a total waste of time and money. The story doesn’t make sense at all which made the movie more like an amateur x-rated video where a group of people got together just to show up naked, if the movie was just 5 minutes longer we could have seen Marc Abi Rached himself getting naked for the camera!!
It’s a cheap movie, or less than that, “akel hawa” maybe, and it definitely deserved to be banned.
Happy Easter to all my readers! 🙂
Last Sunday I thought of taking advantage of the nice weather and go shooting some sunset photos at Ain El-Mrayseh, but the outcome turned out far away from what I had in mind.
For some reason, every single Beiruti has apparently chosen to go have a ride on the corniche, so I ended up getting stuck in a traffic jam for more than 30 minutes… and you think it was boring? Hell no! It was not!
Next time you get stuck there like me, try to look for the clowns who drive their cars with their feet. YES WITH THEIR FEET!
(Click to enlarge)
So, this guy decided to stand up like a monkey on the driver’s seat, in the middle of the road, and control the steering wheel with his feet, without forgetting to raise the radio volume to the max while listening to Goerge Wassouf (you thought he was listening to Nostalgie? you silly..!)
And it looks like being cool these days is associated with getting out of the car window when you’re going for a ride on the corniche! Then you’ll get to open your mouth to the air and literally “teikol hawa” like our 2 friends below.
Conclusion:
Ain El-Mrayseh + Sunday Afternoon = Bad Idea. New York (aka Hamra) could have been a much better option.
No it’s not an April’s fool prank, try to go to www.google.com.lb, it really works! And it looks like the domain has been activated since February 4th 2009, as per this lookup on AUB.edu.lb.
If you have experience in registering a domain name ending with “.lb” then you probably know that in order to register your domain you must issue several official documents including a trademark file and “Iza3a tijariyya”, then present them to the American University of Beirut which acts as the registrar for the .lb top level domain.
I’m curious to know who presented these papers on behalf of Google… is it a sign they will soon be opening an office in Lebanon? (2addamna CV??? :p )
