I found this poster on the front door of a shop in Achrafieh. Looks someone’s been spreading your idea around Mark!

Here’s a link to a better looking poster for those who want to stick it in their office or out on the street. [PDF]

If you don’t know Lionel Richie’s song, listen to it [Here].

That’s some great news but a bit hard to believe to be honest. I wish they could provide more information as to what criteria are being considered when ranking those towns?

According to this list, Beirut is ahead of Las Vegas, Rio de Janeiro, Ibiza, Budapest and many others.

But in spite of its history of violence, Beirut puts great stock in having a good time. And there’s no shortage of trussed-up beautiful locals keen to be seen in Beirut’s bars and clubs.

Don’t even think about going out in Beirut before 10pm – and even then, it had better be for dinner. Dancefloors are dead until around 1am.

While there are a raft of upmarket clubs around town – such as Sky Bar, the ultra-glam venue affording a panoramic view of the Mediterranean coastline and boasting a filthy rich clientele of local celebs – we prefer the quirkier nightspots. [TNT]

BBC have a video up on a beauty parlor in Beirut for girls aged four years and up. That can’t be good. [Link]

Under the patronage of the minister of public work, and in the presence of Miss Lebanon 2011 Yara El Khoury, Antelias municipality officials launched their first annual outdoor activities for children including:

1- 3k run on a busy highway from Jal el Dib bridge till Antelias bridge. Competitors are allowed to jump between cars to gain positions and can run against the traffic as well.

2- Crossing under the Antelias bridge competition organized for the first time in Lebanon. LBCI will be covering the event to recruit talented competitors for future “Cheyef 7alak” ads.

3- Dirt Biking from Admideast until Saniour Restaurant. Road has been demolished and destroyed for weeks now, preparing for the competition. Restaurants and pubs open there and enduring huge losses were encouraged to serve free food and arguile to the viewers and participants.

The opening event was a 10k bicycle race for children under 12 from Antelias municipality back and forth passing by the Antelias bridge (See Picture of winner above).

I noticed BHV now carries the Dyson brand of vacuum cleaners. I’m starting to like BHV a lot more than before and it mostly has to do with their house ware section. They now carry a lot of my favorite brands including the likes of Kitchen Aid mixers, OXO kitchen tools, Bodum glassware and now Dyson. The prices of the vacuums are slightly more expensive than they cost on Amazon which is not bad. Word of advice, if you’re interested in one make your research on the different models online first since the two sales people I spoke to knew less about the brand and vacuum models than I did. They also carry the cool Dyson fans although I always found those a bit over priced.

A reader pointed out the fact that Balkis Afandi has Clementine in it and not Tangerine and I checked it out today and it’s right.

Pretty weird.

Still short of the Jager train’s record by some 3000 shots. [YouTube]

Almaza is giving away glasses with cute cartoons on them with every 6 pack you buy. I don’t like the shape of the glasses they’re giving away, would rather they were shaped like regular pint glasses or even beer mugs.

While I was in Lebanon last week I passed by this cute little place called Kitsch in Gemmayze. It’s like a small boutique that sold some random items as well as some clothes and it had a small coffee shop as well. Seemed pretty cozy.

Here are 6 ways to Get Your Mind Off The Political Drama In Lebanon from Ivy says.

I like Option2 most!

1- Go to Armin Only Mirage On Saturday the 22nd

2- When the clock hits 5pm after work, head straight to a Happy Hour at your nearest neighborhood bar

3- Go shopping; nothing gets your mind off Lebanese politics like a good shopping spree

4- Do not under any circumstance turn on the radio to any Arabic –speaking channel at any point in time

5- You can spot the frustrated ones right away.

6- See no evil; speak no evil, and most importantly HEAR NO EVIL.

7ayet el jagal so3be …

Danielle from ThisisBeirut had her family over during the vacations and her grandfather wrote a small note describing his visit to Lebanon which i found very true. He also stated that Lebanon reminded him a lot of Trinidad and this is honestly the first time i heard that, so it would be interesting to have someone share his/her experience if he/she’s been to Trinidad.

“Our Lebanese experience was fascinating. In many respects it was as I had expected and in others completely different. The history of any country is interesting but I feel there is no comparable “space” that can have had a more tumultuous past or a more varied cultural inheritance. Being physically “present” in some of the areas where thousands of years of great civilizations have gone before is truly humbling. The relative proximity of the Mediterranean to the snow capped mountains and the Bekaa valley was hard to grasp until the experience proved it so.

My greatest interest was in getting a truer sense of the social and cultural reality of today’s Lebanon and its people. Not least to place modern Lebanon in its rightful context in the region as a whole. In that search I must confess that the time available was never going to be enough. I got some insights from those I met and enjoyed reading the local news and listening to television coverage that was relevant to the region and not obsessed by US electioneering. My learning from this will lead me to look and listen with a more open mind in the future.

The food we enjoyed was exceptional and the hospitality and welcome were incomparably warm. Still I am left with the most compelling impression being that Lebanon is, above all, contrast. So that there is opulence alongside destitution, antiquity alongside “glitzy” modern, sophistication alongside parochialism, tolerance alongside extremism, erudition alongside backwardness, grandeur alongside squalor. Similar contrasts exist in many small societies that are made up of varied ethnic, cultural and religious traditions and backgrounds. I got the feeling that the contrasts are deeper, and their resolution a greater challenge, in Lebanon than in many other places that I know or have visited. Hopefully the vibrancy of the education system and the evident confidence of investors in the economy will contribute to a future that fulfils the present promise.”

Then why do they have eggs and milk inside of them?

I always enjoy reading Angie’s humoristic posts on the Nowlebanon blogs and one of yesterday’s posts was very true about Lebanese women.

Why do some chicks go to work dressed like they’re ready to hit the club, guzzle down a bottle of vodka and hunt for some ‘Grade A’ man meat to devour in one sitting?

Indeed, why do they do that and when do they have time to do all that makeup in the morning?

I practically saw a woman today dressed like she was going to a wedding, yet too lazy to take off her sunglasses and park properly in an underground parking, which brings us to a whole new issue: Lebanese men and women and sunglasses.

What’s up with people wearing sunglasses to parties? or sitting in a cafe in the afternoon or at night wearing them? I thought this trend died a long time ago.

I think Almaza should do some new ads on those clichés using their slogan “hayda jawouna, hayda ne7na”.

So he did, after 65 days of hard work Michel ended up looking like a Spartan on Halloween! You can check out his costume pictures [Here] and also watch an interview with him on MTV [Here]

Amazing!

A friend of a friend of mine who is in Lebanon came up with a cool idea for Halloween, he wanted to dress up as spartan since he’s a huge fan of the movie 300. He had 65 days till Halloween and he was overweight and unfit. So he decided he would go on a strict diet, exercise his ass off and document his journey on a blog. There is now 11 days left till Halloween and as you can see from the picture above he has practically achieved his goal. I think that is just amazing. When you see the before and after pictures in magazines you don’t think much of it but this guy is real and managed to achieve all that in just 50 days. Check out his blog [Here]

He is now planning a charity event where he will parade in Beirut with other Spartans. Once I get more information on that will post about it.