Is that funny? Am I missing something or is that the lamest thing you’ve ever read?

“The Link” is a bowling place in Antelias.

Spotted at Roadster Diner – Dbayeh

Why would someone spend tons of money renovating an old restaurant and turning it into a really attractive place, serve really bad food and allow a bunch of incompetent people to run it??

After swearing that I would never go back to Taxi Diner after the last time I was there, some colleagues of mine and I decided to go to watch the first half of the Germany-Serbia game and to have a late lunch. I should have reread Najib’s post and comments of several readers (including mine!) to remind me of how crappy that place really is!

To be honest the place looks very nice. They have private viewing rooms on the bottom and top floor. There are TVs all over the place to enjoy the game while eating and drinking.

We reserved two hours before we went and we couldn’t manage to get a table in the non-smokers section. The restaurant smelled like an ashtray.

The minute you walk in you feel that they are understaffed, unlike Roadster Diner which has a really high Waiter/Customer ratio.

We sat down exactly when the referee blew the first whistle.

Highlights:
0 minutes: Because of our previous experience with this restaurant, one of my colleagues asked the waiter how long it would take for the food to arrive. He told him “7 minutes for appetizers and maximum 22 minutes for the steak, everything else between 10 and 15 minutes”.

7 minutes: Lunch and drinks ordered. No steak ordered so maximum ETA for the food was @22 minutes

21 minutes: Drinks arrive

25 minutes: Man with vuvuzela walks in.

30 minutes: Man with vuvuzela starts vuvuzela-ing

35 minutes: Nothing

38 minutes: Serbia scores a goal and German fans everywhere can’t believe it. (This one’s for Najib). On a side note, did you notice how everyone is saying that this world cup is not fun because all the big teams are losing? Turns out the guy with the vuvuzela is a fan of the German team and does not express his joy by playing the vuvuzela

40 minutes: Waiter promises that the food will be on our table in exactly one minute.

45 minutes: Nothing. Table next to us get their food despite arriving after us.

Injury time: Nothing. We complain to the manager. The waiter gets annoyed and looks like he’s gonna cry.

Injury time + 10: We pay for the drinks and leave.

Injury time + 15: Eating chicken shawarmas at Hawa Chicken. Yum!

Never going back there again, that’s for sure! I highly doubt that this place will stay in business for long. I really hope the owners are aware that the place is run like a zoo, not a restaurant.

In a piece of cutting political commentary, a group of artists have protested about heightened security in the Russian city of St. Petersburg by drawing a giant 220ft-long penis on a drawbridge. [Source]

This is hilarious and genius!
They drew it on the bridge while it was still open and at night when it closes, the penis stands up looool

[More Pics]

One of the worst ecological disasters in recent history. You can see from the picture that the area covered by the oil spill is several times bigger than Lebanon! That’s a pretty big oil spill!

[Link]

Haddaway – What is love

I suddenly feel really old! There are more and more 90s nights events being held in clubs! So the songs I used to listen to as a kid have become “retro”!

Haddaway will be performing tonight at Beiruf.

This has to be their best album ever. It’s just completely different than anything else they’ve done before, it’s the album we’ve been waiting for ever since Dig Your Own Hole in 1997. Buy it or steal it but just get it and play it loud. [Link]

This sounds too good to be true so I hope it’s not some sick joke. It seems we will now have free WiFi at the airport but not only that, starting next month we will also have free wifi on-board some MEA flights! Check out the blog Armigatus for more details. [Link]

Update: The blog provides no source at all for this information and I can’t seem to find anything about it online. Looks like BS sadly.

“Pele should go back to the museum,” Maradona said about recent criticism from the Brazilian great about his coaching ability.

“We all know what the French are like and Platini as a Frenchman thinks he knows it all,” Maradona added after the UEFA President said Maradona was not a good coach as a player.

[Eurosport] [Youtube]

The Brazilian team barely was able to get past North Korea yesterday and only won 2-1.

Even though having a good defence and great goalkeeper, the Brazilian team was very different from what we were used to. Of course i am not that dissapointed if Brazil is weak. On the contrary, i would be very happy to see them exit from the first round!

Anyway, i got an email today that further proved how bad the Brazilians were yesterday against the 105th ranked North Korean team.

Apparently, Lebanon, ranked 160th as of 2010, had won against North Korea a year ago 1-0!!! [LB football results]

Something went wrong with my Iphone yesterday and i couldn’t hear anyone calling me unless my speaker phone was turned on.

I restarted many times and tried everything and it wouldn’t work. On my way back home, i passed by ABC Achrafieh and asked few cellphone stores if they know what could be the problem.
- One guy told me the speaker is messed up and it needs to be repaired.
- Another told me something is wrong with the board.

I honestly wasn’t convinced because if the speaker is messed up, i shouldn’t be able to hear at all. Similarly, if there’s something wrong with the board, then it is better if i throw away my phone or replace it.

I didn’t leave my phone and decided to search the net looking for similar problems. Turns out it is a simple glitch that occurs when you unplug your earphones when listening to a song.

You resolve it by plugging the earphones, stopping whatever song is playing and then unplugging it back.

I am pretty sure the two shop owners knew it was that simple and were probably going to charge me 40$ if not more for it.

While armchair viewers admired the 36 gorgeous Dutch girls supporting their team against Denmark, the World Cup organisers were rather more suspicious.
And when the half-time whistle blew they moved in and gave all 36 the red card after it was revealed they were part of an elaborate piece of ‘ambush marketing’ by the Dutch beer company Bavaria who are not official sponsors at the tournament. [Source]

One thing is for sure. The company behind this ambush marketing campaign got more publicity from this than it ever imagined.

We sure are gonna miss them!

On the 9th of June 2010, Liliane Atallah left her residence in Mastita, Jbeil early in the morning and headed to her work in Jounieh.
She had reached Nahr Ibrahim road when an Infiniti car going at 90 mph hit her in the back before another car who was racing with the Infiniti kicks her all the way to the other side of the road. [Original Article from LOrient LeJour]

The 45 year old woman died instantly.

The two drivers were arrested and put in jail, however they were released the next day somehow!! Today, a group of journalists (since Liliane was a journalist) gathered to protest against this nonsense and for implementing the law and giving justice to Liliane.

I don’t envy Ziad Baroud for the tons of issues he has at hand and I admire the guy for his achievements, but speeding and driving in general in my opinion are not being given the needed attention as they are crucial issues that should be resolved in a swift and efficient manner.

FYI, car accidents are the number 1 cause of death in Lebanon. [Kunhadi]

Spotted in Mocean beach resort in Kaslik. I think this is the worst ever advice you can give to a guy going to pee. After all, a good aim is the first requirement to clean toilets!!