Arabic Sound Bite n° 2

I haven't been able to watch LBC and thus follow the Arabic Music hits, so maybe everyone already knows this and I'm just out of the loop, but a guaranteed hit for the summer is Fadi Andraos' song "Falasteen wa Lubnaan" (Palestine and Lebanon).

Watch it here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8z7j5_fady-andraos-flestine-we-lebnan_music

I think he looks kind of sexy with his excessive beard in this video. In a hobo-esque kind of way



For those of you that remember, Fadi won the hearts of Arabic women everywhere when he was on Star Academy 3 in 2005. Me? Personally, I thought he was arrogant and narcissistic, with his little shaved line in his eyebrow. (Anyone remember that?)

Witness old, line-through-the-eyebrow, full-of-himself, Fadi. I like to think he's since become more humble.

But then I slowly began to like him, first with Bi 2albi Dalli (Stay in my heart), Hayda Mish Ana (This is not me) and finally, Falasteen wa Lubaan. (Wow, the titles sound a lot better in Arabic don't they?) The songs really do keep getting better and better.

Also, you have to give him credit for successfully bringing rock into Arabic Music, definitely a first.

Anyway, back to the song. It's really moving I think (provided it is a pop-rock song) because it speaks of his own life, and that he is originially Palestinian but born and raised in Lebanon.
I particularly like the lines: "Falasteen, ya gir7hee ana" and "Lebnaan, shu b7ibuk ana....wa kirmaaluk bmout ana." I'm not even going to bother translating those because it will completely ruin them.

Sorry, I'm a sap.


~LZ

The 18th Sect We Don't Talk About

This post from the Lebanese Inner Circle reminded me of one of my previous posts on the Jews in Lebanon.

Apparently, the Minister of the Interior, Ziad Baroud, submitted a proposal to be discussed by the cabinet on Apr. 28 that proposed "the Cabinet amend the legislation that currently labels Lebanese Jews as 'Israélite' to 'Jewish Lebanese'."

Currently, Lebanese Jews are identified as Israelites on their IDs (I thought this was taken off post-Taif along with everyone's religion??) and on electoral lists.
According to the Daily Star:

Baroud's proposal asked the Cabinet to adopt a draft law to differentiate between a sect "whose rights are legal and protected by the Constitution and between the subjects of an occupying entity."

I think it would be worth going back to my previous post and looking at the NowLebanon article I link to that interviews a Jewish woman named Liza living in Lebanon and how she has been struggling her whole life to be considered Lebanese. Might help to get a better perspective of what this legislation, if it is put into effect (how likely this is I have no idea) would mean.

Also, I love how in Lebanon we like to show off and say "we are so diverse, we have 18 different religious sects that all live together in this one tiny nation," except no one likes to say that that Jews are absolutely unaccepted and probably have to hide their religion or face prosecution. Yey diversity!!

So finally, someone is taking a step forward and is doing something to get rid of this ignorant notion that all Jews are Israelis.

Now to tackle women's and gay rights...

~LZ

Li2mi Zgheeri (A Little Taste...) n°4

The once tacky Lebanese designer Georges Chakra is reinventing himself, as seen with the recent popularity of his short white dresses. I remember when I used to see his fashions in Arabic magazines and it was the tackiest thing you had ever seen with ridiculous mixtures of bright colors, feathers and such....but he seems to be doing much better for himself nowadays.

Carrie Underwood, American singer

Mischa Barton, American Actress

Carrie Underwood

Seems someone I had previously written off may be someone to follow.

~LZ

Continuing the Chain(of thought)- Smoking

To continue on Baba's line of thought, I was on a bus trip to Barcelona recently organized by a French university. On the way to Barca we took one hour breaks every 2 hours so that all the students could smoke. On the way back, we stopped off in Spain near the French border not so that we could buy dinner (mind you it was 8pm and we wouldnt be stopping again for another 2.5 hours) but so that everyone could buy cigarettes which are cheaper in Spain than in France. I kid you not. Sorry, but coming from the USA this is absolutely ridiculous.


It made me wonder about the rest of the world, and Lebanon in particular. We are a small country, but I am proud to say we hold many acheivements, records and prizes. Sadly, amongst those are the following:

World Female Smoking Percentage
World Male Smoking Percentage

Yes, that's right. Lebanese women hold the world record with 57.1% of them smoking. Lebanese men, on the otherhand, come in 6th, with 61% of them smoking.

Can this possibly be true??? More than half of all women and men in Lebanon smoke?? What happened? How did it get so bad?? Is anything being done about it?

~LZ

PS: I'll have everyone know that BG recently quick smoking for several months before, sadly and much to my disappointment, picking it up again

Smoke . . . or DIE???

So the normal adage goes: stop smoking or keep smoking and risk dying.

But the Chinese have a new twist to that.

To stimulate the local economy, Chinese in Gong'an county have to smoke 230,000 locally produced cigarettes or risk being fined or punished (and we all know punishment in China can't be all that pleasant).

I just can't get my head to wrap around this one!! I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more media attention, or hasn't incurred the wrath of left liberals yet!

LINK

BG

Forgetfulness

I lay in bed trying to sleep
Everything around me is calm and peaceful
Ideas cross my mind
Like cars on a highway
Going as fast as shooting stars go
So fast that they are hard to interpret
Or maybe because there are a lot of them
But nonetheless, they are too hard to ignore
And every once in a while
I catch a glimpse of one
A slow moving one
I feel so lucky to catch it in flight
But then again not so lucky
Because only the burdened ones
Are the ones that move slowly
And suddenly it’s not calm and peaceful anymore
And I sure don’t feel lucky either
Many twists and turns follow
Restlessness
Sadness
Anger
Disappointment
I continue to tumble in bed
Perhaps in a lame attempt
To shake these ideas off of me
Many twists and turns follow
Many twists and turns follow
Restlessness
Sadness
Anger
Disappointment
Forgetfulness
Forgetfulness
Sleep


BG

Israel . . . wiped off the map.

Is it just me, or does Israel tend to overplay every hand it gets?
I mean for fuck's sake, why is everything a big deal with these people?
Some things are just innocent mistakes or are what they are. Not everything is anti-semitic!

BG

Stupid of the Day Award

So, people in Lebanon are celebrating the release of the 4 generals after years of imprisonment.
If you ask me, the release is a good thing in a way. If these generals were imprisoned unjustly then it's good that they are released.

But I'm not actually gonna get into that right now.

I'm here to present to you the Stupid of the Day straight from Beirut, the city I've learned to have a love/hate relationship with.

The absolute Lebanese requirement for any celebration, is gunfire followed with some baklava mixed in with some fireworks.

Usually people take precautions with these kinds of things, but eh, we have hospitals, don't we???



Holding an ENTIRE box of fireworks with his BARE hands.


My absolute favorite: when you incorporate the essential cigarette into the mix!

most probably a Marlboro!

BG

Arabic Sound Bite n° 1

So I know that there are significantly more important things happening now in Lebanon like the release of 4 of the suspected murderers of Hariri, but forgive me for not wanting to get into that right now.

Instead, I am sure everyone would benefit much more for from watching this monstrosity, and then proceeding to mark it on Youtube as Inappropriate Content so that it gets permanently removed and minimal damage is done to the reputation of Lebanese music.

I give you "Funky Arabs" by il moutrib Jad Choueiri:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4D6hJA846M

My god man, what were you thinking??? REALLY?

How did this man come out of the same country as Fairouz?

~LZ

Un-Kosher Flu

You just gotta love the Israelis.
So apparently, Swine flu is un-kosher, and it has to be renamed Mexican Flu!

Gotta be the funniest thing to come out of Israel in a while!

BBC
TIME

BG

Li2mi Zgheeri (A Little Taste...) n°3

Not to always hate on Zuhair Murad, I did love his dress for Miley Cyrus (lets save my thoughts about her for another post) for the 2009 Oscars.

Looks like a beautiful flower, and somehow despite the fact that it is a big and very detailed dress, i don't think it's over the top. I bet it weighs a ton though...


~LZ

"Gossip Girl Here..."

Anyone watch the latest Gossip Girl episode (American series that makes you lose 20 points of your IQ each time you watch it but that is the guilty pleasure of women everywhere)?

See around 10:30

Blair Waldorf is getting a personal fitting for a Reem Acra dress in her NYC atelier. At first I thought the lady doing the fitting was Reem but it's not.

Despite the fact that I despise that I watch this made-for-teens-glorified-soap-opera, this is absolutely huge for Reem, Gossip Girl is THE show to watch right now, and abolsutely sets the trends for fashion.

Having grown up in NYC myself I would, for the record, like to tell any GG fans out there that this is NOT at all how real people live in the city; but then again that would be why this show is so popular

You go Reem!

~LZ

"Working" on Vay-cay

¡Hola¡ No, not holla, hola, as in spanish! I spent the past 9 days in Spain and this is why, as BG explained, I was AWOL :)

I have to say, I LOVE the Spanish. I had no problem with the French until I went to Spain. The Spanish are SO DAMN nice, relatively you realize how freaking mean the french are! I swear, I spoke like 3 words of Spanish, and those Spaniards put up with me butchering their language and were all smiles about it. In France, how DARE you not speak French you lowly creature! (Con!) You are not even worthy of a response if you are not francophone.

I even prefer being hit on in Spanish! No seriously, I was offered free sex (¡¡¡free sex chica, free sex¡¡¡) and other stuff I am too polite to mention, which in Paris, would have resulted in me getting extremely pissed off and cursing (i'm polite, i swear it!) back, but in Spain¿¿¿ Oh no, no, no; there's something different about the way they hit on you, it's just more friendly and in good fun--I can't explain it.

Oh, the best part was when me and three girlfriends took a night walk in Seville to see the Cathedral and stood under an awning to be sheltered from the rain, and, I kid you not, 3 seconds later two guys have stopped to talk to us, and then another group of guys passes by, who still, despite the other 2 guys, proceed to hit on us, and then to ask us if those other guys are bothering us. (My friend later translated this whole confusing ritual). But then, instead of these guys getting into a brawl, the two groups start to chat, introduce one another, and ask about where in Spain they were each from, leaving us girls to stare at them in utter confusion.

It was marvelous.

Anyway, point being, the Spanish people are absolutely amazing.

So apologies for not blogging. I did however continually think about this blog whilst I was away, especially when I was shopping at Mango in Marbella and came across this:




Apparently, Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad is doing a limited collection for Mango.

Honestly, other than these shoes and maybe one short dress with a bow tie across the chest, I really didn't like anything, quite tacky and really cheap polyester material. Apparently it's the fourth time he works for them, so I guess its quite popular in the Middle East...

umm...sadly not surprising

Elie and Reem still reign!

~LZ

Fashion with a twist

I know this is SOOOOOOOOOOO not my area and fashion posts on this blog are a specialty of La Zaytouni, but I can't let this pass me by. Not to mention she's AWOL in Europe!

Especially so that it is related to my Drama with a Twist post.

It appears that inmates in Lebanon are a busy bunch. Besides putting on a theatrical performance (refer to Drama with a Twist), they are now producing handbags. And these are not just any handbags, celebrities and royalty are shown sporting these things!!

This started with Sarah Beydoun when she was writing her thesis about prostitution and women prisoners in Lebanon.

BIG kudos for selling things made by inmates. At least when they get out (if they do), they would have at least accomplished something while being locked up and/or learned a skill that they can put to use outside. I know this is not much of a big deal for people living in Western countries where inmates are rehabilitated, but for Lebanon this is HUGE.

Some of these bags are not bad.

Refer to this BBC article, where Catherine Deneuve and Queen Rania are spotted carrying some of their creations.

BG

Li2mi Zgheeri (A Little Taste...) n°2

Angelina Jolie in Elie Saab at the 2009 Oscars

Simple and elegant. I like the see-through slit, gives the dress a little more appeal than just another black dress. Of course the emerald earrings match perfectly, and it helps to be Angelina. Not so sure about that clutch though...

~LZ

Sad 2

[For the past four months, he said, officers have been engaged in a "campaign to clean up the streets and get the beggars and homosexuals off them."]

cuz, you know, the're EQUAL!

BG

Li2mi Zgheeri (A Little Taste...)

Halle Berre in Reem Acra

Very elegant, love the fabric and the color really matches her skin tone.

~LZ

An (Lebanese) American in Paris

I have been a very, very bad blogger and I am très desolée. Excusez-moi

When I was stuck in my NYC office, it was very easy to blog, a little too easy--I was up to 3 blog posts a day.

Now that I am in Par-ee, this is simply not the case.

But alas, my return is long overdue. Poor Baba has been blogging all on his own, and what is Baba without LZ?? rien. de. tout. (ahh, mais je blague!)

Is my insertion of random french words ridiculously annoying? too bad, i love it. it screams "yes, i live in paris! be very jealous of me!"

i apologize. the parisians have gotten to my head.

also, can we please discuss how EVERY FRENCH MAN is ridiculously attractive? i'm not kidding. from the métro drivers to the security guards to the construction workers, they all look like models. its wonderful.

also, i would like to say that my arabic has been more useful than my french here. really.

everyone loves lebanese people in paris! not only are there lebanese people EVERYWHERE(in my area alone there are 6 lebanese restaurants that i have discovered, if you're standing in one particular spot you can see three of them at once) but there are plenty of algerians/moroccons/tunisians that love lebanese people, especially lebanese girls, which means i have been getting free things and first class treatment everywhere.

like the cute little old tunisian man that works at the épicerie near my place that always gives me free stuff and kisses my hand every time i see him (in a non-creepy way guys, trust me!)and the algerian bouncers that weren't going to let me and my 6 girlfriends into "World's Place" (some show-offy club that thinks its the sh** because its owned by Johnny Depp and Sean Penn) until I spoke with him in arabic and we floated on through and the egyptian men who owned the hookah bar that somehow found room for me and my friends even though the place was full.

yep, speaking arabic can really help you out in paris--maybe not actually being moroccan, algerian or tunisian--somehow i get the feeling that they are not adored here, but speaking arabic or being a lebanese girl; you got it made baby.

On a side-note, if a lebanese guy who is give-or-take 10 years older than you tells you to consider him as your brother for the duration of your time in paris, do not believe him. i repeat, DO NOT believe him.

if he asks you what perfume you were wearing or invites you to eat mnaeesh for breakfast, don't think he's just being friendly and trying to make you feel at home; RUN FOR THE HILLS. or lie and tell him you have a lebanese boyfriend who's father is (a) elie hobeika,(b) samir geagea, (c) hassan nasrallah, (d) milheim barakaat (what? i think he's really creepy...). that is all i have to say about that.

Just to show you how much the Lebanese are adored here:









Yes, I am THAT important, Sarkozy put this up all along the Champs-Élysées, in front of the Arc de Triomphe, the Grand and Petit Palais and the Invalides just for me, oh, and for Michel Suleiman's 3-day visit at the end of March (which was Sarko's first visit by an Arab head of state).

But really, it was for me.



Promise to write again soon!

xxx

Bisous

~LZ

PS: If you are in Par-ee and crave a quick shawarma or falafel sandwich, try Al Dar or Chez Le Libanais

Sad

Well that's one way to cure homosexuality.

BG

Photoshop, Middle Eastern style! 2

I am loving this whole photoshoping Middle Eastern thing!

Now the Jews are doing it! Maybe it is genetic after all, like a ME trait or something.

Apparently a bunch of ultra-orthodox yahudis have a problem with women's photos, or maybe just women in general. Two newspapers in Israel cropped out the photos of the two female ministers in Bibi's new government and replaced them with two men.

I wonder who these guys are?

Here's the link

BG