I was in London last week when I decided to pass by the very popular Tate Modern Museum of Art. I’m not a big fan of museums but I went there hoping to see if the installation for the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was still on display. The original installation was removed but they had a smaller version in one of the rooms upstairs which was still cool to see. After leaving that room and I was wondering around slightly bored when suddenly I spotted a black plastic watch with a picture of General Aoun on display. I froze and was like WTF? And then I looked at the tag underneath it and read Omar Boustany which is a friend of mine and I just cracked up. If you knew my friend you would understand why it was funny to see his name under this object but I was still bewildered to what my friend and this General Aoun watch were doing at Tate.
Turns out I walked into a room where Lebanese artist Lamia Joreige was exhibiting her work on the Lebanese war and “how memory and trauma can be embodied in personal objects”. Walking around the exhibit I saw various objects ranging from obvious war related ones like radios, flash lights and empty plastic gallons to more personal items like a book or a key. It was pretty interesting to check out.
I left the room and continued walking around the gallery when I spotted some interesting black and white photos on the room. The one that grabbed my attention specifically was of “abou 3adal”. So I checked the description on the wall and it turned out to be a room full of photos by a Lebanese photographer called Hashem el Madani. Hashem was a studio portrait photographer who began working in Saida back in 1948. The photos were chosen and taken from his studio by Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari. There were some really great shots which you could check out on the Tate website [Here]
Two rooms full of Lebanese work at the Tate. That’s a pretty cool accomplishment.
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]
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.
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.
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]
