[YouTube]

Via LBC

[YouTube]

At Ro Ro’s Chicken — a famed Lebanese joint in Hollywood — the manager says shawarma sales jumped 80% in the days after the movie opened. We’re told the same thing happened a few years back when a baba ghanouj joke was featured in “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.” [Link]

Boubouffe (Achrafieh) should consider opening a branch in LA soon. This place has the best Shawarma you’ll ever taste.

Game 5 between Anibal Zahle and Sporting will NOT be played today as scheduled but will take place tomorrow at 4 pm 6 pm in Manara.

Added to that, Ismail Ahmad might be allowed to play well despite his 1-game ban. That’s unfair, especially after what Riyadi has done.

Picture from the DailyStar

Game 5 between Anibal Zahle and Sporting club was cancelled tonight because Riyadi fans blocked the roads leading to Manara and invaded the Riyadi basketball court. Game 5 will be played tomorrow in Antranik at 4pm.

I think it’s time to penalize Riyadi and kick them out of the semi-finals, maybe then they will learn to control their fans.

[Picture from Naharnet]

Two stand-up comedians have been detained for breaching public morality. Edmond Haddad, known for his role on al-Jadeed television’s Chi.N.N. comedy show, and Rawiya al-Shab, who is a theater and film actress, were detained for a stand-up show they presented in 2009 at a pub in Gemmayzeh. [Naharnet]

The article says that a local media outlet was covering the event and reported that their act had violated public morals. In fact, during the sketch, Haddad showed some of his underwear, much to the disappointment of the unnamed media outlet.

Does anyone know which media outlet they are referring to? So what if he showed his boxers? With everything that’s happening in Lebanon, this is the only thing considered as a breach of public morality?

The funny part is that the Beirut judge in charge of the case “has held Haddad and al-Shab on charges of breaching public morals based solely on the newspaper article that initially made the complaint, said al-Akhbar. The judge did not even consider viewing a dvd recording of the comedy show, it added.”

That’s just sad.

For those who missed this story today:

Two young Lebanese men have been detained for daubing graffiti on Beirut walls in support of the uprising in neighboring Syria, their lawyer and fellow activists said on Saturday.

Fadi Tawfiq, a writer and rights activist, said Ali Fakhri and Khodr Salameh were detained on Friday night for painting the flag used by rebels in Syria and “The revolution continues” in a district considered supportive of the Damascus regime. [Source]

Graffiti is accepted as long as it does not involve drawing on someone’s property or damaging public property. I’ve rarely seen decent graffiti in Lebanon, however most of them were on old deserted buildings or old walls. Having said that, and regardless whether you consider Graffiti to be an art or pure vandalism, I strongly believe our security forces should dedicate more time to catch criminals and terrorists rather than go after activists drawing on walls.

The good news are that both activists were released few hours ago after Prime Minister Najib Mikati got involved personally, following a massive online pressure on him, mainly on Twitter. I am glad that he chose to resolve this issue on the spot rather than ignore it like most politicians and officials do.

Here’s a footage of the small protest that occurred in the afternoon asking for the release of Ali and Khodr.
[YouTube]

A dog roaming the Corniche of the coastal city of Sidon for nearly an hour frightened bystanders early Thursday morning before a policeman subdued the animal and took it away.

…

Sidon Municipality Police arrived at the scene and were about to sedate the animal using a stun gun. However, a policeman from the Internal Security Forces who is a longtime pet owner was able to calm the dog without using force and put a chain leash on it.

Hard to believe no one tried to shoot it or run it over. Even the cops were planning to use a stun gun and not real bullets. I’m impressed. [Link]

[Thank you ArzLeb]

I was just told that F1 Driver Kimi Räikkönen is as we speak meeting the President of the Lebanese republic Michel Suleiman in Baabda. I don’t have a picture yet but I will post it as soon as I have one.

He is expected to show up at the launching of the Lotus cars in Beirut tonight, which I will be attending thanks to a good friend of mine!

If you want to know more about Kimi, read [Here] and [Here] and watch him on Top Gear [Here].

[Source]

Cheapflights.com (www.cheapflights.com) has come up with a list of top 10 places to celebrate Easter, with Lebanon ranked 3rd. Here’s what they say about Lebanon:

Visitors will notice the ornately decorated streets, shops and restaurants filled with all things Easter from bunnies to chocolate, painted eggs and even live baby chicks in some places. Good Friday is marked by mass. Easter Sunday is a huge celebration where absolutely everyone goes to church. After taking communion, the 40-day fast comprising a strictly vegan diet, is broken with a feast featuring lamb and lots of egg breaking. Get your hands on the delicious Easter sweets called Maamoul. These are little cookies made with a mixture of semolina and butter then stuffed with either dates or ground sugared nuts and dusted with icing sugar. [Source]

They sure are right about Maamoul. If you are interested in knowing how to make Maamoul, check out this awesome post at the Food Blog.

Full rankings are a follows:
1 – Argentina
2 – Greece
3 – Lebanon
4 – Scotland
5 – Spain
6 – Sweden
7 – France
8 – Germany
9 – United States
10 – Canada

Via A Separate State of Mind

I just read a blast was heard in ABC Dbayyeh’s parking lot. First reports are saying it’s a cocktail Molotov. No injuries or damages reported.

Criminals and terrorists are getting pretty cheap if you ask me.

Update: Here is a link to the story on Naharnet [Link]

[Source]

Regarding the hippodrome, the leaked correspondence shows that the culture ministry agreed to “the reintegration of the whole southern section of the ruins into the structure intended to be built by keeping it in situ, and the dismantling and re-installation of the central course and northern sections.”

Layoun vociferously defended his decision when he spoke to Al-Akhbar.

“What we did is an important achievement. It corrects the mistake by Solidere, which deceived property owners by not informing them that there were archaeological finds before buying the property,” he said. [Link]

I am not surprised to read this one single bit. In fact, I am a bit happy that they will actually preserve the site by “integrating” it into an upmarket commercial development, because I don’t expect better from this government or any other one. When you hear about filling up an archaeological site with sewers in Beirut in order to build a monument on top, you should not be shocked to hear this.

Few days ago, I read on a Lebanese news portal that a man by the name of Zakaria Ahmad Hankir was arrested outside a Palestinian camp in Lebanon with a “Doshka” in his trunk. The weapon was confiscated and the man put behind bars.

Surprisingly, the man was released today because, and I quote, “he was using the weapon as a decoration item”.

صوت لبنان 100.5: اخلاء سبيل زكريا أحمد حنقير بعدما تبين أن الاسلحة التي كانت بحوزته هي قطع أثرية كان يستعملها للزينة

Doesn’t look like a decoration item to me!

Miss Farah has taken online education in Lebanon one step further, by introducing Brainy, an interactive and educational website for kids between 5 and 10 years old.

Brainy’s aim is to help kids who need extra help or just more practice on a certain skill. After all practice makes perfect right? At Brainy your child can play educational games in English, Math, Science, Computer, Drama, Art, learn new songs, and read online stories with audio. [Source]

There’s also a weekly treasure hunt game that all children can participate in and collect a signed certificate from Miss Farah if they win.

Thumbs up for the great job and Happy Teacher’s day to you Miss Farah and all the teachers out there! Click here to check out [The Brainy Website]

For those of you who don’t know Miss Farah by now, you can read more about her [Here].

[Source]

ABC’s smoke-free environment campaign is definitely a step in the right direction, even though restaurants and cafes will only have to abide by this non-smoking initiative on Mondays only. Some say it’s not enough and smoking should be banned all week long but I think it’s unfair:

1- Because smokers should be allowed to smoke in designated places and I honestly don’t see how Arguile places in ABC are going to manage that, such as Leila and Cafe Blanc (Assuming arguile is also considered as smoking).
2- Because ABC is not ready to endure major financial losses and be the only mall to ban smoking.

Among those present at the official launch of the happy smoke-free campaign at ABC Achrafieh were Minister of Public Health Mr. Ali Hassan Khalil and Minister of Tourim Mr.Fadi Abboud. I was glad to hear Minister Abboud is planning to increase the price of the cigarette pack, but his statement on the non-smoking law in the airport was a complete joke.

He also reminded people how they believed it would not be possible to implement a non-smoking law in the airport and they were proven wrong. [Source]

In fact, the most difficult task awaiting ABC at the moment is making sure no one is smoking and being able to kick out those who refuse to turn off their cigarettes, because last time I checked, no one cared about the smoking ban at the airport.

[Link]