I read an article about the Darwin Awards a while back on Wikipedia. It basically congratulates people who “do a service to Humanity by removing themselves from the gene pool”. The idea is hilarious! I especially like the special 2007 winner: this genius inserted 1.5 liters of alcohol anally and died of alcohol poisoning. We should thank him for doing humanity a service [Link]

It’s interesting that sometimes in hotel lobbies (not in the gulf) you find an alcohol display for expensive champagnes or other kinds of alcohol.
I stayed at a hotel in Dammam last week and I saw the same kind of display. At first glance, it looked like a bottle of wine. But after taking a closer look it turned out to be “Bling H2O”!

Bling bling!

There was also a book of fine waters in the display

The water bottle costs 175 Riyals ~ 50 bucks

I could swear i felt a small yet long(10-15 seconds) earthquake yesterday around 11:45 pm, but i didn’t hear any news mention it so far, and everyone @ home was asleep and obviously did not feel a thing.

It is quite ironic because i was yesterday discussing with Chahe the large earthquake and tsunami that scientists are predicting in Lebanon soon.

Now it might be the thought of an earthquake that made me feel there was one, or some phobia, but it is not like i can’t sleep out of fear of earthquakes or start screaming or any of those symptoms, so it can’t be an earthquake phobia or Seismophobia.

If you want to check all earthquakes occuring worldwide, here is a cool website. I couldn’t find any in Lebanon but the website may not report them due to a lack of information, since it is based on Google maps API, or maybe i am mistaken :-)

I was at the airport picking up a magazine when I spotted Maya’s book for sale at the cashier so I picked up a copy for $12 which is a pretty fair price. I managed to finish the book while waiting to board the plane and I found some of the illustrations really funny. The only thing I thought wasn’t necessary was the small copy at the bottom of the page after every story explaining or talking about the subject in the illustration above it. I thought that took away a bit from the experience and I personally didn’t think the illustrations needed it. Overall its definitely worth picking up at the very least to support a talented blogger like her.

If you don’t know who Maya is click [Here]

Awhile back I read on one of the Lebanese blogs (I don’t remember which) about how the nightlife in Jounieh was picking up so i decided to check it out tonight with Najib. We parked our car in the main Jounieh square next to two Super Night Clubs and decided first to pass by Lush and check it out. The place was packed and there was no place at the bar and all the tables were full. So we decided to keep walking to another pub nearby called Barly (or something like that). Again it was extremely packed with only a single table that was empty but booked for someone else. We then walked to a third pub further down the street called Hooligans. The bar was full but we found a sweet spot in the corner of the place (picture above) and sat down only to be told that table was booked.

It was like a big WTF? We’re in Jounieh not Gemayze whats going on here?

We finally found a pub called Tonic which had some empty seats at the bar. The place looked like it was getting spillover customers from all the other packed pubs but it didn’t matter, an ice cold Almaza tastes the same no matter where you are. It’s pretty cool how the night scene is coming to life in Jounieh, there is a lot of potential there and it’s a great alternative to Gemayze specially if you just want to grab a drink without having to waste your time driving down to Beirut.

Update: Found the blogger that posted about Jounieh, it was Ivy Says [Link]

A very thoughtful gift from Chahe.

It practically lets you focus better on driving among crazy Lebanese and still enables you to let them know what you think of them when they cut you off (among other things).

You basically stick the finger on the window:

And squeeze the small pump to show the finger:

PS: Use this weapon carefully as it can get you injured, beaten up, shot at or even killed in Lebanon lol

Spotted my first ever twister today. I was on a photo shoot in Seheili when we spotted a twister over the sea. It looked pretty cool. The picture above is a picture of a picture on a laptop screen which a friend took. Will try to get the original photo tomorrow.

That is a funny article i received today that lists the newly invented French words by the Lebanese.

Ces libanismes, ces confusions de sens, ces inversions existent quasiment depuis la nuit des temps… Les plus surpris sont généralement les Français qui entendent pour la première fois la langue de Baudelaire revue et corrigée par une copine, un chauffeur de taxi ou une « tante » assise à la table d’à côté.

Here are some “Lebanonized” French words and sentences:
- Bonjourak
- Bonsoiren
- Bonsoir, tous les soirs
- Mhastra (Hysterique)
- Daprass (Depression)
- Pannak (Panique)
- Tmaqyajit (Maquillage)
- Cousinté (Cousine)
- On fait du sport « un jour oui, un jour non » avec ses nouvelles « espadrines »…
- Les Libanaises vont chez la « manicuriste », la même que la femme de celui qui « est descendu aux élections »

The funniest of all are some Lebanese families who want to sound classy and turn their family names into french ones.
2ostphen – Estephan
Gad3oun – Gedeon
Dekkanji – Deconji

Read the rest of this entry »

I saw this note in the American University Hospital in the elevators. It is kind of weird to see such a note in a hospital. Who is stealing from whom in the elevators ?

I went yesterday to watch Shutter Island, the new Martin Scorsese movie in Cinemacity (City Mall, Dora).
The movie was not as good as it sounded in the trailer to be honest, but it is still a must-see.

However i’ve noticed that it is much shorter than mentioned, or maybe that it was censored by the Lebanese authorities. The movie is 138 minutes long, but barely took 120 minutes !!!

It felt like some scenes were taken off at some point, but considering how twisted the story is, you could not assume it is due to censorship.

The only way to see whether it was censored or not is downloading it online.
This reminds me of the time Basic Instinct was broadcasted on LBC, the whole movie took around 30 minutes !
Riz2allah 3ala 2iyyem el C33

For your birthday I got you a 100 trillion dollar bill.
Don’t go crazy and spend it all at once :)

Chou ya Chahe ? In ?

Too bad Mark is gonna miss out on it :P

A l’occasion de l’exposition ” La France au Liban “, la Francofolie crée l’évènement à Gemmayzé mardi 16 mars 2010 à partir de 20h30 !

[More from beiruting]

Taste of America is organized by the U.S. Commercial Service with support from CITYMALL and the American Lebanese Chamber of Commerce. [More]

I am looking forward to go check it out, though it is being held for only two days (Weekend) and in the busiest and most crowded mall (City Mall) in Lebanon.

Event: Ski & Fashion Festival 2010
Date & Time: March 6th, 11:00 a.m
Location: Mzaar Intercontinental, Faraya.

Below are few selected pictures of the K-Lynn lingerie fashion show.

More pictures of the whole festival here and from the K-lynn fashion show here.