Seems to me no one’s checking pictures before publishing them at the Beirut Night Life, or maybe they just don’t care. [Link]

I saw the flyer for this event few days ago and saw some pictures today on Joe’s blog. [Link]

It looks like a really nice show and it is good to know some people in Lebanon are keeping such classic cars which at some point belonged to great men in Lebanon intact and working.

The event will take place from July 8th until July 31st at the Beirut Souks, from 4 pm till 10 pm. [Event]

Pictures of the fire that caught the plastic industry belonging to no one but our dear minister of tourism Fadi Abboud.

I wonder if the necessary precautions are being taken by the ministry of health to avoid any harm on the nearby residential areas and if the minister in question is going to justify the incident or not.

On the positive side, Fadi Abboud did leave the Miss Lebanon ceremony after hearing about the fire. [Link]

Thanks Cyril for the pics

I spotted this guy while changing oil to my car. Anyone remembers who’s the guy on the right?

Hint: Not a big fan of jokes.

[Pic from Moby's concert]

And no one is filming them and making them into DVDs.

I remember when DJ Tiesto came the first time to Lebanon, he had the craziest party ever and it was one of the most memorable concerts I’ve been to and I asked over the years if the DVD for the concert was released in vain. I even asked yesterday if the Scorpions concert will be available but that’s not gonna happen as well. Quite surprising considering this is their last tour ever.

Are the rights to record such events that expensive? Aren’t the organizers interested in keeping a copy of their past events?

The two parking lots next to the office where I work in Achrafieh get filled up pretty quickly; if you get there at 8:45 instead of 8:30, there’s a good chance that you will not find a spot.

The next best option in this case is parking in the designated areas along on the street. It costs 250 LL for 15 minutes, and you can pay only a maximum of 2,000 LL at a time. You can pay by either putting coins in one of the machines on the sidewalk or buying a prepaid card from the some the guys on scooters that ride along the streets all day long.

So once in a while, I have to park in one of these spots and go back every 2 hours to put more coins in the machine. And of course, whenever you need to buy a card from one of those guys on scooters, you can never find one!

I don’t usually carry change, so I start going into shops and asking random people to exchange bills into coins. 2 weeks ago, I couldn’t get enough coins to pay for the park meter, so I ended up getting a 10,000 LL ticket.

You can pay your ticket by either one of 3 ways:
- Buy a card from a guy who works for that company
- Pay in any Libanpost branch
- Pay in coins

By the time I’m done with work, Libanpost is already closed and good luck finding a guy on a scooter.

So my only option is to pay in coins…

And in addition to that ticket, I got another one last night next to Capitole in Downtown…

So I stood next to the machine this morning and fed it 20,000 LL in coins to pay off my 2 tickets…

Oh, and if you don’t pay within the specified period, the ticket goes up to 40,000LL! Good luck finding 40,000LL in coins!

Cool video by White on Clubbing in Lebanon.

Via Gino’s Blog

It is pretty amazing to see those guys still playing, knowing that the band has been active since 1965!

More than 18000 fans attended the three scheduled concerts part of the Byblos 2011 Festival. This is the Scorpions’ last tour after which they will officially retire. I remember listening endlessly to their Greatest Hits cd and specially to my all-time Scorpions favorite song “Always Somewhere”.

For more pictures of the event, check Beirut Night Life’s page. [Link]

Here’s a cool timeline of the Scorpions band members. [Wiki]

When I bought my PS3 almost two years ago, I paid for it 485$, including two joysticks and one game from the Beirut Duty Free stores.

My friend wants to buy one now and for some reason PS3 prices are up, but the funny thing is that when we called some stores to ask for prices, they would not give it to us over the phone.

At the Beirut Duty Free, PS3s are priced at 425$ including one joystick, and 529$ including two joysticks and one game.

The Sony dealership is selling it at the same exact price, even though they hesitated to give me the price over the phone at first.

Khoury Home are selling it at the same price as well. Mazen World would not give us the price over the phone.

It doesn’t make sense that PS3s become more expensive with time, nor that some stores keep its price to themselves, but I guess there’s not much price regulation to anything in Lebanon.

Of course, it is always cheaper to buy it from Bestbuy or Amazon if you have someone coming from the states. New Games are also at least 20$ cheaper outside than in Lebanon and there are great discounts on old games.

[Excalibur Show]

More than 30 Kuwaiti women have filed for divorce after they discovered that their husbands spent the New Year’s Eve in Lebanon while claiming they were performing Umrah in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. [Link]

Mark had posted back in May that Fudds is opening in Lebanon, well the place is almost finished, already hiring and is expected to open soon.

I’ve only heard good things about this place, so I am kind of looking forward to trying it.

The ad says for those unable to read it: “The location you don’t dare miss”, in reference to the V Verdun building.

Why wouldn’t I dare miss it? Are there snipers on the roof shooting people who don’t stop to look at it?

I don’t know who’s behind this company’s (Mercury Rizing) ads, but that’s their second failed ad.

[YouTube]

Two more commercials brought to you by Cheyef 7alak.

[YouTube]

Talk about self-respect and dignity.

It could be taken as a compliment though, if he meant for example “You Dawg!”

I was craving a burger all week and decided to forget my diet on Saturday and have a burger at Classic Burger Joint in Jal el Dib.

This post is not a review of the place but a funny incident that we had and that would only happen in Lebanon.

We came in and sat down and ordered our burgers. Some 20 minutes later, while we were eating, electricity went off and UPSes start beeping. The place was closed, AC and ventilation were off, and the grill was still on.

CBJ’s staff were expecting the famous “moteur” to get the electricity back on but it did not happen and we had to wait some 20 minutes until it came back. Meanwhile, the place was filled with smoke from the grill and even though there were nice smells, we were almost suffocating.

After opening few windows and making some calls, electricity went finally back on but the good thing is that the management did not charge anyone for their meals because of that incident.

Considering how bad the customer service is generally in Lebanon, CBJ management’s gesture was excellent noting that I insisted that this is Lebanon and such things happen but they wouldn’t let me pay.

PS: If you notice in the picture above, they gave me the archaic Mirinda bottle when I asked for one while they had cans for the seven up. I didn’t even know those Mirinda bottles still existed.