Tag Archives | Lebanon

Things to Do This Week in Lebanon – October 26th 2016

By Rami on October 26, 2016 in Events

Here are my picks from Lebtivity for this week. If you will be around the north this weekend then I highly recommend you attend Tania Saleh’s concert in Kfifan on Saturday night.

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

Follow Fadi Bou Karam As He Visits All The Lebanons in USA

By Rami on October 25, 2016 in Travel

Fadi Bou Karam is a Lebanese photographer who’s currently in the US on an unusual yet cool quest to visit all the towns and cities called Lebanon there.

The number of cities he’s planning to visit are 43 and it will take him around 5 months to go over all of them. His starting point was Seattle where he rented a used caravan in order to save on hotel costs, and the closest Lebanon town to him right now is 1 week away in North Dakota. This massive road trip he’s doing should end in San Francisco around March 2017.

You can follow his news and the photos/videos he will be sharing on the blog he set up LebanonUSA.com.

His first post included a cool find from the 1950s about the late president Camille Chamoun who invited the mayors of 7 American towns called Lebanon in order to introduce them to the “real” Lebanon. Back then they spent two weeks touring the country and each one was given a small cedar tree as a souvenir on their way back to the US.

Wishing Fadi Bou Karam good luck in this fun quest! It’s hard not to envy people who go on such long trips by the way as I always dream of doing something similar in the far east!

via @ritakml

Penalty Reduction on Mecanique Fees Until February 2017

By Rami on October 20, 2016 in Automotive

I rarely give any importance to the laws passed by the Lebanese parliament, but I know this one matters to lot of people and that’s why I’m sharing it here.

The parliament authorized yesterday a reduction on mecanique fee penalties for people who have not paid their dues over the past years. The reduction is expected to be up to 90% and you have until the end of February 2017 to benefit from it.

However note that the inspection centers are currently closed due to the transportation unions strike, so you might have to wait a bit before you can inspect your car and pay your dues.

Things to Do This Week in Lebanon – October 19th 2016

By Rami on October 19, 2016 in Events

Here are my picks from Lebtivity for this week. Movie buffs can enjoy a couple of film festivals happening this week, the ARTE Film Week and The Russian film festival which will both take place at Metropolis Cinema.

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

Battlefield 1 Now Available in Lebanon and it’s Epic!

By on October 17, 2016 in Games, Reviews

If you follow gaming news and are interested in first person shooters, you probably know that Battlefield 1 is due to be released on October 21. However, some retailers in Lebanon already have it on their shelves (some had it as early as last Saturday).

I bought it. I played it. It’s Epic.

This latest installment in the battlefield franchise takes you back World War I and lets you experience the dawn of all out war.

I played a few hours of the single player campaign and fought my way through a few online rounds and I can tell you this game is the most engaging, cinematic, and visually breathtaking first person shooter I have ever played, and I’ve played a lot.

The single player campaign tells the war stories of multiple soldiers spread over various locations during the first world war; and you can choose which story to play first. The locations are so visually pleasing that you’ll be spending some time just looking around you at the detailed environment of the Italian Alps and the Sinai desert (while aiding Arab rebels fight the ottoman empire) just to name a few.

The Bf1 multiplayer is as epic as you’d expect it to be. You are seriously able to wreck havoc with the tools at your disposal. The way weapons handle and their sounds are so genuine. Explosions are just eye candy. Having played the open beta, the retail version is much more polished with no bugs so far.

Now excuse me. I got an online match to play.

Where Does The Extra $1 Go?

By Rami on October 14, 2016 in Commerce, Rants, Telecom

If you’re subscribed to one of Touch or Alfa prepaid plans then you definitely buy a recharge card every 1 month or so.

You basically have two ways to pay for these cards, either electronically through mobile carrier websites and bank ATMs, or by physically getting them from mobile phone shops, and I personally always have a problem with the latter!

Everywhere in the world you’re expected to pay the price indicated on the recharge card whenever you buy one, except in Lebanon where you always have to add an extra $1 charge! So you basically pay 39,000L.L ($26) for a $25 recharge card for example, and some shops that feel like being competitive sometimes reduce the price to 38,500 or 38,000L.L.

All the sellers I’ve asked about that extra charge claimed it is their profit margin and that the price on the card is actually their cost price. But this isn’t logic honestly since bank ATMs sell the same cards at the published price and there’s now way they’re not making any profit out of it.

I know that an extra $1 per month is not going to make me poor, but seriously, and out of pure curiosity, who the hell takes it??

Hala Wardé Selected to Design Beirut Museum of Art

By Rami on October 13, 2016 in Art

Following an architectural design competition that was launched last year to build the new Beirut Museum of Modern Art, 13 designers were chosen by the jury to compete in a series of rounds and I just read on The Guardian that the Paris-based architect Hala Wardé was selected to design the new museum.

Wardé’s design comprises a 124 meters tower divided into a dozen 12 meter cubes that will house a library, several galleries, exhibition spaces, artists in residence and classes. The museum is set to open in 2020 and will be located on piece of land owned by the Saint-Joseph University opposite to National Museum in Mthaf.

The area there between Mathaf and Ras El-Nabeh is one of my favorite parts in town and the new modern art museum will definitely make it more glamorous!

bema-4

Photos are all via The Guardian

Things to Do This Week in Lebanon – October 12th 2016

By Rami on October 12, 2016 in Events

Here are my picks from Lebtivity for this week. I personally will be attending the Geitawi Car Free Day since my kid is usually enjoying the car free events organized by Achrafieh 2020, if you have kids then I recommend you go too but make sure to arrive a bit early in order not to miss the kids animation.

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

Review – “Film Ameriki Tawil” 36 Years Later

By Rami on October 11, 2016 in Cinema, Reviews

Last night was the avant premiere for the highly anticipated Film Ameriki Tawil and I had the privilege to be among the attendees. Needless to say, it was really awesome to finally see the original footage of this play since I have always enjoyed listening to this masterpiece by Ziad Rahbani on the radio!

As in the case with Bennesbe Labokra Chou, M Media did a fantastic job by reconstructing several old videos in order to create this movie. However, unlike last year’s end result, Film Ameriki Tawil has a better image quality, looks much smoother thanks to the use of fixed cameras during the original recording, and has an almost consistent audio level and quality. So if you felt annoyed by the shaky image in “Bennesbe Labokra Chou” then I can guarantee this one is much more better and has much better scene transitions. In my opinion, this movie does more justice to Ziad Rahbani’s work than the previous one.

As far as the acting is concerned, I believe I would be stating the obvious by telling it was impressive. I mostly loved the authentic performance by Joseph Sakr, Ziad Abou Absi and Rafik Najem. Watching Sakr singing three time during the play/movie was alone a treat for me! So, to make a long story short, I highly recommend you go watch it and take older people like your parents with you because they’ll definitely get some good memories and laughs back! The official release date is set for October 20th, and for those who would like to get a sneak peak of it I have shared a beautiful video on Facebook of “Raj3a bi iznillah” with the whole cast dancing to it. (link)

However, as I recommended last year, do yourself a favor and delay booking your tickets a bit, Ziad’s diehard fans will naturally attend the early screenings and my opinion about them still stands, they’re annoying! One guy was sitting behind us last night and almost recited the whole scenario while the movie was playing.

On another note, I have a good new to whoever missed watching Bennesbe Labokra Chou last year, the guys from M Media will soon be officially launching their streaming service which will allow you to watch their productions for $5 per month (think of it as a Lebanese Netflix) and that includes Bennesbe Labokra Chou which will also be available for watching on their website.

What’s All The Fuss About Automotive Inspection Fee Hike?

By Rami on October 7, 2016 in Automotive, Politics

Have you ever been through the horrible experience of taking your car to one of the “mecanique” inspection centers in Hadath or other areas? The last time I went there 2 years ago I spent 6 hours there waiting in endless queues. The whole experience makes you pray for your car to pass the inspection not because you hate going to your mechanic, but rather because you want to avoid wasting another day over such silly task!

A while ago, it was announced that a new company called Autospect won the bid for running the existing inspection centers, and that part of its plan over the next year is to increase the number of inspection centers from 4 to 17 across the country which will help reducing the time needed to go through the inspection to 15 minutes, with the possibility to book your appointment online. This however will be at the cost of increasing the current fees from $22 to $33 out of which $5 are a new government tax.

Next thing we know, public transportation drivers started protesting the price hike by closing vital roads around Beirut every week or so. Disregarding how much I hate it when a group of people start blocking streets to make their points, I found their protests to be utterly weird.

Out of all the fuck ups in our country, this $11 or 16,500L.L increase is seriously the reason why these drivers are wasting their precious time to organize these protests? I bet each and every one of these people earns more than that amount per day, but given how sensitive they are about such increase, how on earth can they afford sacrificing their income by going to such all day protests?

I personally think it must be one of two things, the protesters are either not public drivers but rather people who for some reason believe the new developments are not of their interests, or the transportation unions are simply controlled by some influencing figures/businessmen who didn’t win the bid.

Either ways, whoever is willing to reduce the inspection time to 15 minutes can take my money because I’m tired of finding a “simsar” each time I have to take my car to the Hadath center! Protesting against such progress is ridiculous, and no please don’t demand for the government to handle the inspection process instead!

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