According to Al-Akhbar website, Lara Fabian is after all coming to Lebanon after news spread that she had cancelled her performances after being threatened.

I am not sure how accurate this information is, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

A march against Lebanon’s backwards rape laws is being organized by Nasawiya on January the 14th at 12pm from the Ministry of Interior in Sanayeh to the Parliament in Downtown.

This march comes after the large media campaign Kafa has initiated two weeks ago in an attempt to fight marital rape in Lebanon, which is not considered a crime, where they incited Lebanese not to vote for MPs against passing the law. [Link]

While I am all supportive of these demands, I unfortunately don’t see any change in this matter occurring anytime soon for all the reasons Mustapha pointed out earlier.

I can also add that most MPs and political parties rely on religious figures to get their votes and will not risk losing their support for passing a law against marital rape.

Nevertheless, there’s no harm in showing support for this righteous cause and spreading awareness.

” Only an exclusive few will realize the greatness of this event and take immediate action to be part of it. The World’s #1 DJ Armin Van Buuren accompanied by the biggest ever selection of international performers and the most extravagant and high-tech setup for the one and only NYE’s eve pre-party of the decade at Biel”.

I stopped listening at “pre-party”. I don’t know about others, but why would I want to attend an NYE-1 party? What’s the point of celebrating NYE a day earlier? And how will I be able to attend another NYE party the next day? Are Pre-NYE parties popular around the world?

I heard there’s an NYE-2 party in Lebanon as well but I forgot where it was.

It looks like Lebanese women were so bomb they scared him away.

The ninth edition of the Beirut Marathon will take place tomorrow with over 30,000 runners registered. This year’s slogan is “Take it to the street” and you can listen in the YouTube video embedded above to Beirut Marathon’s official song by Guy Manoukian.

[From Google]

[YouTube]

I really don’t understand the big fuss being made because of what Miss Lebanon 2011 Yara Mikhail said in her interview with judges for the Miss World 2011 competition. Not that I am defending her or anything, but what she said was not that harmful. It’s just a stupid comment.

She did not insult Lebanon, she just said it’s a very busy country and there’s a lot of traffic, which are true, and not necessarily bad things. New York is also a busy place. Plus she added she likes to travel to Congo which is a relatively calm country.

However, my two questions to Yara are:
- Why did you feel the need to talk about Congo that much in the interview?
- Why don’t you visit the Cedars, Chouf, Faraya or a zillion other beautiful and peaceful towns in Lebanon if you want to relax? It’s much closer than Congo!

My question to those criticizing her now: Did you hear her interviews at Miss Lebanon 2011? If yes, then you should have seen this coming.

[YouTube]

Make sure you check the comments at 0:48 and 1:11.

I went to Virgin Megastores yesterday and bought my parents two tickets for the Tom Jones concert on November 13th at the Forum de Beyrouth.

I was reading a bit about Tom Jones’ career and this guy has been throwing concerts since the 1960s and it doesn’t look like he’s going to stop anytime soon.

One funny feature about Jones that Chahe mentioned to me is that girls like to throw their panties at him at the end of the concert. This idea was originally initiated by his producer to enhance his supposedly “sex symbol” persona. However, I don’t think he’d still want his 50-60 year old female fans to throw their panties at him.

I won two tickets to watch the Harlem Globetrotters in a competition Roadster Diner organized on Facebook.

I’ve always wanted to watch the Harlem Globetrotters as a little kid, not sure if I will enjoy the show as much now, but I am definitly going.

I was in Beirut today until 3 pm, and didn’t see any planes in the sky. It must have started later.

Seven jets took to the sky over Beirut Saturday afternoon for a synchronized air show.

The pilots, the jet team of Swiss watch manufacturers Breitling, performed 25 minutes of maneuvers above Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, which was closed for 50 minutes for the show. [DailyStar]

LBCI has some more pictures on their website. Check them out [Here]

Anyone knows why Raul di Blasio’s concert has been postponed twice already? I was planning on watching it the first time but I was flying to Italy on the same weekend, but I just found out it got delayed few days back then and after that a whole month.

I think they might be having problems selling the tickets because there are still plenty available for October 15th and 16th shows.

That is quite surprising if you ask me. I thought people in Lebanon liked di Blasio. I wonder now if Tom Jones’ concert is gonna sell out. Can’t believe this guy is still singing!

I went yesterday to Shtrumpf’s 19th Beer Festival and it was more fun than I had anticipated. Last time I went there was back in 2006 or 2007 when Shtrumpf was still called Schtroumpf.

I was expecting traffic once I got there, but it was well organized and we were able to park our cars instead of giving it to the valet, which is rare these days.

Unlike the previous years, we had to buy tickets at the entrance and wear a yellow bracelet before going in. Tickets were priced at 22$ per person including open beer and peanuts.

The festival was held outside around the pool as usual, with few corner lounges added to the setting.

Once seated, we got a beer mug each (relatively small) and there were waiters passing by all the time to check if we need a refill. The service was quite fast and the food we ordered came in a reasonable time. Beer however didn’t taste like Almaza was supposed to, as it was light and sweet.

Around 10:30 pm, groups of dancers and artists took the stage and delivered some really cool performances keeping us entertained until Midnight. What was supposed to be a beer festival quickly turned into a wild party.

The whole event was very nice and the performances very entertaining. Your last chance of attending the festival is on Sunday as other nights are fully booked.

For more information, check out Shtrumpf’s website [Here].