[YouTube]

Not quite yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if she does one day. After all, it’s not everyday that all our politicians agree on one thing (unless it involves a substantial increase to their own salaries of course).

Speaking of Talk of the Town, I think it’s one of the most decent talk shows we have in Lebanon and I am glad it’s back with a new season.

People of Leb is a new iPhone app that offers information about famous Lebanese figures as well as statistics on the Lebanese as a whole. Some of the stats provided consist of the number of voters by religion in Lebanon and the biggest families with their count.

It’s an interesting app to have if it gets updated frequently but I am not very encouraged to buy it when there’s so little information about it. The company behind the app should tell us more about the stats and information they are selling us and more importantly the source of that information to see if it’s worthy buying or not.

You can check it out or buy it [iTunes].

That’s not the Clásico I am talking about

For those of you who thought watching El Clásico, the most followed club football match in the world between Barcelona and Real Madrid, was hard, think again as BDS (the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement) figured out an intelligent way (surprisingly) to get free invites to the game. For other BDS noticable achievements click [Here].

Now read and learn how you can defeat the Zionist conspiracy and regain the invaded Palestinian territories and free the Shebaa farms by simply going to the Camp Nou. I am trying to see if Shalit is invited to the next Clásico at Santiago Bernabéu so I can gather my friends, start a boycott campaign and maybe win tickets to Madrid.

On September 28, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement called on Barcelona FC not to host Shalit, saying there are “more than 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners remain rotting, many in isolation, many with no visits, many on hunger strike with no attention or care for them to be released.”

Fifty five clubs and individuals have signed the BDS online petition to urge Barca to go back on its decision.

Realizing that a fiasco is in the making, Barca club officials announced that they invited three Palestinian figures to attend the game in an aim to counter-act Shalit’s presence. Two officials attended, while Palestinian national team footballer Mahmoud Sarsak, who was held by Israel without official charges, decided to boycott. [Link]

The funny part is that they were asking Barcelona not to host Shalit, then ended up accepting three invites, which means that not only did they go against their demands but they equaled an Israeli prisoner to 3 Palestinian prisoners. If this story doesn’t prove how useless boycott is, I don’t know what does.

Rmeil/Geitawi district will welcome on November 4, 2012 a pedestrian day from 8am to 6pm. Running, cycling, yoga, zumba, art display, rollers/skateboarders, Souk el Tayeb, street performers, human space, environment quarter, garage sale etc …
This culture is sneaking in and Achrafieh will be reinvented!

Check out Achrafieh2020′s Facebook Page [Here] for more updates on the car-free day.

Update: The person, Nicole Bekhaazi, who wrote those comments no longer exists on Facebook. It’s either she got kicked out or closed her account.

After May Chidiac announced her intentions to run for the 2013 elections in the Keserwan district on Saturday, she was subject to a harsh and discriminatory online attack. Honestly, only a sick person would leave comments such as the ones portrayed above! Tfeh!

Here’s the report by LBC:

[YouTube]

Anishah Smoking Hookah at Falimanki’s fairytale courtyard, Beirut, Lebanon

Anishah talks about her visit to Lebanon and how she found Beirut unlike any other city she’s ever visited. Read more [Here]

Until now, Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro at carnival was my favourite world city for glamourous girls (and ladyboys), edgy neighbourhoods, funky districts, pristine beaches and cosmopolitan ambiance. I loved Marrakech’s contrasting eclectic mix of sensuality, tradition and nouveau. Las Vegas was incredible for it’s pure unadulterated guilt-free fun.
Beirut, has just blown Rio, Marrakech, Monaco, Miami and Vegas out of the water, for a city with a Middle Eastern heart!

After promising to take “severe disciplinary actions” on Tuesday against the two staff members involved in a racist incident, MEA stated today that it fired one of the two employees over racist allegations. [DailyStar]

For those of you who missed it, you can read the whole story [Here].

To be honest, I was informed of the incident but didn’t post about it because I strongly believe the problem will not be solved by pointing out random incidents from time to time, for this is not an isolated case but “a wide-ranging and systemic problem”, as Mustapha argues.

It’s good to hear that MEA has responded positively to this incident by firing the female employee (whose name was not mentioned for some reason), but this doesn’t meant such incidents won’t be repeated in a more discreet manner.

Only yesterday tens of Syrian workers were attacked in their residences in Achrafieh and beaten brutally for no reason whatsoever and no one bothered even mentioning it or signing a petition for it. The same happened with Sudanese workers who went on a hunger strike yet no reaction whatsoever. Add to that the Ethiopian maid who was beaten up in front of her embassy, the racist beach resorts and the list goes on and on …

Racism is a major problem in Lebanon and it should be dealt with by raising awareness, providing trainings and banning such practices inside schools, companies, banks, governmental institutions etc …

Also and more importantly, parents should raise their children to respect others no matter what their races, colors or religions are.

Picture taken from the DailyStar

Lebanese Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud met Miss Lebanon for the year 2012 Rina Chibani on Monday and praised the success of this year’s pageant after years of corruption allegations. He also praised the contest calling it a “real taste of beauty, education and culture” in contrast to the “commercially controlled pageants of the previous years.” [Source]

If what Fadi Abboud is saying about corrupted and commercially controlled previous pageants is true, then he is indirectly accusing himself of being part of all this since he has been serving as a Minister of Tourism since 2009 and is part of the organizing committee for the previous miss Lebanon editions. In fact, not only did he help organize Miss Lebanon last year, but he even went through the Miss Lebanon 2011 applicants in order to ensure the competition’s high standards.

Maybe we should get our new gorgeous new Miss Lebanon to visit all the ministers and politicians and make them say things they might regret later.

From October 12 to October 18, you can be part of a wild social experiment. Held in Beirut and organized by Ashkal Alwan, the idea is to have workshop participants talk to taxi drivers while recording their stories and interactions. The talks will then be aired on the radio (station still undecided.) [Link]

Now that ought to be a very interesting workshop. I bet we will be hearing tons of conspiracies about Lebanon and the Middle East.

In this workshop, participants will travel by taxis, talk with drivers, record their conversations, and return with stories which will be disseminated by public radio during hours negotiated with a radio station. The taxi will be regarded as social place, as carrier and interface of public voice, knowledge/history, often across generations. By choosing the taxi, the project also subtly touches upon two major urban management issues in present-day Beirut: lack of public space (spaces of collectivity) and transportation. [Link]

and this is what you get!

Ghaleb is a very good basketball player but WTF did I just read?

Taken from Lebanese Basketball Group

[High-Res]

If you read closely what is written in the two hearts below the iPhone, you get:
- Think twice before you cheat on her: Buy your husband an iPhone and we will teach you how to monitor him.
- Think twice before you cheat on your husband: Buy your wife an iPhone and we will teach you how to monitor her.

They should have said: Why buy an iPhone 5 when you can buy 3 iPhone 4 at the same price?

Thanks Rachel!

Can you spot it on the menu?

Picture taken by AlJomhouria

It looks like we are going to have another long and cold winter this year.