Screenshot from JaySean‘s twitter account

Jay Sean is performing tonight at Edde Sands.

Picture Taken by KingRoudy via Elie

So they pressured Mashrou3 Leila to drop their opening act but went(or probably sent one of their supporters) to the concert to protest? I am not sure the guy is a BDS fan or member but it sure looks like one.

Edward Maalouf is the only Lebanese athlete competing at the Paralympic 2012 Games in London. He already participated in the Men’s Individual H 2 Time Trial on September and ranked 9th [Results]. His next and last event will be today at 18:32. [Schedule]

Best of luck to our great champion!

Update: Edward was unable to win another medal for Lebanon this year as he ended 11th in the second and last event today. [Results]

Picture from KunHadi’s Facebook Page

I was wondering yesterday why there was so much traffic on my way back to Jounieh. As it turns out, there was a huge accident on the maritime road near Holiday Inn Beach. According to KunHadi, The crash resulted in the serious injury of Stephanie Georges Makhoul and the death of sergeant Joseph Elias Youssef, may he rest in peace.

I looked at the picture several times and still can’t figure out how the BMW on the right ended up like that.

Here are some early pictures of the RHCP concert yesterday in Beirut uploaded by BeirutNightLife. I was told it was one of the best concerts in years. More photos will follow during the day.

As you can see, the BDS call for boycotting the concert was very successful (mahek?).

Beirut/NTSC is spot on. Pope Benedictus XVI is coming next week and we still haven’t figured out a slogan.

It was much easier with John Paul II (“John Paul II We love you” or “Youhanna Boulos el tene, habib el cha3b el lebnene”) but it’s gonna be a hassle with Benedictus XVI. I suppose we can use “Taratata Benoit16″ or “Jeyeen Nsalle wou Nor2ouss kermel Benedictus” lol!

Suggestions anyone?

Red Hot Chili Peppers are in town and Chad Smith has been tweeting about it. Check out his twitter account [Here]

I went to visit Zaatar W Zeit last week and noticed they have now a Light Menu consisting mostly of wholesome multi-cereal dough sandwiches. Add to that Light Halloumi (less salty) in the pan and two really good salads, the whole-grain pasta and Quinoa Tabbouleh.

Even though it’s a Manakish place, ZWZ surprisingly has some great salads like the Chicken Salad, Z Fattoush and the newly introduced Whole-grain pasta. As for sandwiches, the Oil-Free Zaatar is a must try. It’s the perfect healthy alternative for the everyday Zaatar Man2ouché.

There’s one thing I did not like though, is that they don’t serve bread anymore with the Halloumi pan and charge you for ordering it. If the freshly baked bread that comes for free with the original Halloumi in the pan platter is not considered light, they can always serve multi-cereal bread. Added to that, it wouldn’t hurt to be a bit more generous on the tomatoes and cucumbers.

For those interested, you can check out the new menu [Here].

Comment #51. Mabrouk to M!

Thank you all for participating.

Origins of BDS?

I always used to doubt boycott campaigns but I was proven wrong with the Red Hot Chili Peppers boycott as it achieved unprecedented successes that we, Lebanese and Arabs, should all be proud of. In fact, aside from convincing Lebanese band Mashrou3 Leila to drop their opening act in the RHCP concert, the boycott achieved the following:

- The UN met in an urgent session and asked all countries to cancel any upcoming RHCP concert. The decision was taken unanimously for the first time in the UN’s recent history.
- Microsoft/Google/Apple and other multi-national corporations decided to close their offices in Tel Aviv.
- Red Hot Chili Peppers decided to end their career in Lebanon as they stated they could not handle any more pressure.
- Palestine was liberated and all Palestinian refugees in Lebanon came back to their beloved country.
- YouTube took out all RHCP videos and replaced them with a waving Palestinian flag.
- Einstein Bros. Bagels changed its name to Arafat’s Bros. Bagels
- Lara Fabian issued a statement saying “Je ne t’aime plus Israel”.
- The Jewish candle was removed from all Tom & Jerry episodes.
- Zionists paid Lebanon 10 billion dollars as a penalty for pretending Hummus is theirs.

And the list goes on and on.

Morale of the story: Boycott works.

PS: Few ideas are inspired from LeSoupi‘s tweets.

Update: Poll is closed. I will be announcing the winner in few minutes.

Following my review last week, St. Elmo’s were kind enough to send a dinner invitation for our readers to win.

For those of you who haven’t been there yet, here’s your chance to try one of my favorite places at the Zaytounay bay.

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post with a proper email address. I will pick a name randomly by the end of the day. Prize is worth 100$.

If you wish to read more about St. Elmo’s:
[St. Elmo's Facebook page]
[St. Elmo's website] [Menu]

NB: You need to put your proper email in the email field while commenting since winner will be contacted by email. You can only comment once, anyone caught commenting more than once will get disqualified.

Picture from the Daily Star

According to their study, there should be no amendments to Law 174 as this will harm not only people’s health, but the national economy as well. The study comes as a response to the original E&Y study made earlier this month.

Following the spread of inaccurate information regarding the alleged negative impact of Law 174 on the economy and touristic establishments, the AUB Tobacco Control Research Group and activists from Lebanese civil society decided to hold a press conference on September 4, 2012.

The estimated drop in tourism revenues is erroneous and entirely based on guess estimates: The analysis assumes that since the interviewed restaurant owners said that 25% of their revenues are based on tourists, so the analysts directly mapped this into an expected drop in tourism revenues. They have also linked this to shisha-loving tourists fleeing Lebanon after the ban. This is a highly reductionist view of the tourism potential of the country, since it is very doubtful that tourists flock to Lebanon only to have a taste of shisha.

Read the full Article [Here]

And if you find a local talented, yet unknown to the world, band ditching an opportunity like the one presented to you, let me know please.

I was told they received threats from BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions) and other groups since RHCP will be performing in Tel Aviv in a week time, but I’ve come to know that’s not the way BDS operates, regardless of whether I agree with what they do or not (I am totally against such groups just for the record). This being said, I understand that they have the freedom to decide on whether they will open for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers or not but I also believe Mashrou3 Leila fans deserve an explanation from the group.

All in all, I won’t bother explaining once again why cultural terrorism is bad and can only harm Lebanon and the Lebanese. If anything and I agree with Liliane here, “Mashrou3 Leila should go and open and sing for Palestine in that same concert, for those who believe Art is political”.

More than 25,000 people support the campaign to enact animal welfare law! Thank you to everyone who signed the petition to take a stand against animal abuse. Over the next weeks the petition will be presented to the President, Prime Minister, Speaker of Parliament and Minister of Agriculture so they know Lebanon is a country that does care about animals. Together we are going to make animal abuse illegal!

www.animalslebanon.org