Elia Abou Madi's Awrak al Kharif (by Tarek Chemaly on 7UPstairs Publishing)

Please welcome our new outing on 7UPstairs Publishing. Elia Abou Madi's poem which has been typographically illustrated by yours truly based on old movie posters, book jackets and vintage advertising. The cover's artwork is by Desclozeaux (used under the fair use of the image doctrine for non-commercial purposes) and illustrates perfectly the melancholic words of the poem.

As one of the thousands of students who had to memorize the poem when I was 9 (owing to the book used back then for Arabic in schools) it brings back vivid memories of a delivery way beyond my years which left the teacher (Madame Layla) moved to tears. Enjoy the book, as usual, this is a labor of love! Feel free to spread.

Nadim Nasr iPads me

Image credit: Nadim Nasr

On Saturday May 11th, I had the pleasure and the honor of giving a conference at the 4th section of the Lebanese university in Deir el Kamar. It was truly one of those incredibly delightful days (the weather was horrible though!) and the section was bubbling with student work of very high caliber. As a follow up to the conference, Nadim Nasr who attended the conference and who is a student in first year graphic design chose me to do an iPad cover for his project (apparently, the choice was "someone who inspired you"). I am truly delighted to share the outcome with you! Seriously, this beats all the awards in the world - when you know you touched someone so deep. 

Carcheology in Lebanon (on Flickr)

Did you know that a page existed about "Classic cars in Lebanon" on Flickr? As part of renault1987200 massive collection, who has previously published by 7UPstairs publishing (here and here), the pictures are right there in shiny colors for all to see. Sure, Carcheology is much more difficult science that ArcheWALLogy (hey, when was the last time you saw a wall move?), but has its own pleasures (and a bigger share of disappointments - lack of camera on the spot, not being fast enough, not being talented enough). But all in all, the results are not too shabby. More to come hopefully.

BEIRUT/NTSC IS BROFESSIONAL REVIEW

Here is it - the whole naked truth. Today I shall reveal who Brofessional Review is.
I AM BROFESSIONAL REVIEW.
There, I said it. I am all of them combined Admin I and Admin NK and whomever else there is on the admins list. If I am writing this, it is because I am siding with every blogger in town - yes, including those I am mentioning below because "first they came for the Jews" (read the entirety of it here). Because next time you will be attacked - not your words, your character - I will be there for you as I am for Brofessional Review today.
It is with much disappointment today that I saw leading bloggers sharing a link exposing the identity of the alleged members of the Brofessional Review gang.  Sure, they may be journalistically untrained due to lack of experience but if today's events are of any guidance, then I am ashamed to say that even our most outspoken bloggers are also journalistically unprofessional - and the person who speaks today is Tarek Chemaly who has started a career in print media as far back as Nov. 2nd 1993 (that's a lot of time, yes).
First, before you endorse any source and start circulating it, you double check its facts. Do we know for sure the information there is correct? Ideally, do we have other sources that confirms this? (I know Brofessional Review were guilty of this, but it is no reason to perpetuate the error and the bias elsewhere). Did anyone of those bloggers sharing the link I am mentioning bother to double check its content with the people it talks about?
Second, if you happen to agree with the source in question, and you have made sure its content is corroborated, do you agree with its wording? With the way it was stated? If so, then several of our leading bloggers in Lebanon are outright homophobic people (including those who were supposed to be homosexuals). Because they were circulating a link - in its entirety - that not just exposed the supposed identity of Brofessional Review bloggers but also contained character defamation regarding their sexual orientation, their looks, and many of their personal attributes.
So is this what our freedom of speech which we have been trying to propagate throughout the blogosphere has come down to? Sharing unconfirmed links which contain personal insults about other bloggers? No matter how much we disagree with their opinions, we cannot do so to them as people - criticize the work of Brofessional Review as much as you want (something they did to other people) but never, ever, attack them as persons (for ALL their faults, their lack of fact checking, they never attacked the person behind the work they were criticizing).
But next time anyone of you bloggers who circulated the link claims they care for human rights or for journalistic ethics, or whatever, my answer will be "first you came for Brofessional Review" and none of you stood up for them as humans. So before anyone talks to me about illegal curfews for the Syrians or standing up for migrant workers, why not try applying that to fellow bloggers?
You want to attack the person(s) behind Brofessional Review? Great, give ME your best shot because:
I AM BROFESSIONAL REVIEW. 

Kapoor vs Maroun: German customs in double standards

A while back I blogged about the very powerful works of Johnny Maroun. Johnny was supposed to exhibit in Casa Gaudi in Barecelona but his works never made it beyond the German customs who found the method used to make the works disturbing and were investigating them (Johnny is using violence in art by shooting acrylic from a pellet gun to generate the effect of blood). Below is one of the works from the Sang Facon series:

But today, I found that another artist using wax to simulate blood has been given the clearance to do a major show - one of the most celebrated sculptors in the world Anish Kapoor will be exhibiting his piece "Shooting in the corner" which involves a canon shooting red wax pallets on a wall has been given a room all of its own in Kapoor's new show (entitled "kapoor in Berlin). Below is the photo of the work:

Which begs the question to the German authorities: When does a work merit further inspection when it involves "blood" (or the effect of blood). When it is attached to a super-known name in the world of art, apparently there's no problem. When a budding Lebanese artist is trying to make a statement about the senselessness of violence, the works get confiscated. Isn't that double standard? No, better, it is a double edged sword - it cuts both ways. 

Dima Tannir is going places

Being a "designer" in today's world is not an easy thing - first the appellation is being used left and right by anyone capable to do anything (actually, when was the last time you went to a "barber"? No, you went to hair design studio!). So with this logic (or rather illogic) in mind, it is comforting to know some people have their own identities and capable of bringing fresh outtakes on matters. Which is why Dima Tannir's work has been interesting me for quite some time. Below are samples of her works:

Take here "VICE: It's Iranian men" series. It blends retro kitsch, colours but with a serious socio-cultural streak. Her ability to - not just work with archive - but interpret it as well is very interesting in terms of narrative.

Her cover for Brownbook was nothing short of fun, intriguing, but also thought-provoking. The theme was the "slow movement of the Middle East" (hmmm, it is slow all year round and dead in Ramadan!) but to be able to invoke the nostalgia without delving into pinch-me-so-that-I-can-cry is in itself an achievement.

The poster she did for the Step conference was pop-minimalist if such a genre exists. It suggested playfulness all while conveying innovation and pushing envelopes. It reminded me of a love child between "Gilbert and George" and "Keith Haring". Just the right amount of fun and subtlety.

Her work for Revolver, a newly opened mod bar (as a reference to the swinging 60s in London) was a delight to see. It blended collage, pop cultural references and a degree of obliqueness. Above is one of her interpretations - I truly defy the quasi majority of Lebanese designers to even think of including (the original supermodel) Twiggy in their designs for the simple reason that they wouldn't even have heard of her in the first place. But immersing Twiggy in a Lebanese sauce (look at the reflected images in the sunglasses - Plage St. Simon no less) is in itself a daring feat.

Disclaimer: All works above are copyrighted by Dima Tannir, they were used in a non-commercial way for the purposes of this article.

Stop in the name of... burgers!

Just when everyone was bitching about all those upscale burger places invading town.... Comes your local cheap, cozy, cool, and super trendy alternative... Burger Stop. The one pictured above is present right before the Bourj Hammoud bridge on the highway (next to Agha Sarkissian). According to the employee there's seven of those scattered strategically all over the place. This camper was graffitied by Kabrit (haven't seen the others to know who did the rest). Oh well, don't you just love it when the city gives you such delightful surprises as both ArcheWALLogy and Carcheology?

Inhabited ruins at District//S?

 

Photo credit: Habib Battah

Blogger Habib Battah has been physically assaulted at the construction site of District//S - mind you Beirut, like Rome is one of those cities where you cannot dig and NOT find ruins. It is interesting that ruins were found under Annahar building and never been spoken of, in addition Hans Curvers and the totality of the Solidere policy has been severely attacked in the past. Still, I retrieved from my archived this page from my book (TRI)ArcheWALLogy taken from the walls of District/SS:

Interesting as the walls say "Architecture is inhabited sculpture - Constantin Brancus"... So that makes ruins uninhabited ones?

Eat my dust (I'm not biting the dust)

Photo credit: Lebanese Blogs

And so another one bites the dust.... Homos Libnani just quit. And he did went down bringing the whole house (of cards) with him, naming names and conspirators and all of that (perhaps he hoped he would be getting a deal with the judge or something - this is what happens when one watches too much CSI). I will not take credit for launching this whole debate with the stunt I pulled a couple of days ago but it is much pleasing for me to know that it's all out in the open now and that the gloves are off. But what was arresting about his leaving is what Mustafa wrote him in the comments section:
"Or you can name things by their actual name: You're quitting. You're surrendering, you're giving up. You lost steam. You're bored."
See? Maybe Mustafa and myself don't agree on things (case in point the Mashrou3 Leila spat - you can see him (t)here and me here), but in case anyone forgot - maybe this IS the basis of free speech. This is the corner stone of debating. It doesn't mean we will end up concurring, it doesn't mean we will convert our point of view, but it also doesn't automatically imply doing it with daggers drawn and insults ("min el zennar w bil nezel" - below the belt), and for the millionth time I repeat my position about the Brofessional Review vs Maya Zankoul issue (I was not siding with anyone, I was just saying I did not see their opinion of Maya as an attack on her character as opposed to a displeasure with her work. They did it before with Rana Salam and the furore did not erupt).
For these reasons and more, I am including the Lebanese Blogs website icon (initiated by Mustafa himself) on the right hand side of my blog. Now that google reader is about to be dead, it could be a handy replacement for those who were trying to follow up on what is going on on the blogosphere (can we still call it "Lebanese" blogosphere? Heck, it's full of expats and people outside Lebanon!) as some sort of official partner or whatever you wish to call it. Now in other news:

Very happy to welcome bloggers @healthnhorizons @aymanfarhat & @smex to our platform lebaneseblogs.com
— Lebanese Blogs (@LebaneseBlogs) May 12, 2013

And to all those who sent me hate mails yesterday... I missed you too. You can bloody well eat my dust, I am not biting the dust!

Super Geek EXCLUSIVE interview with Sareen Akarjalian and Ralph Aoun

Yesterday, minister Nicolas Sehnaoui announced the newest addition to the Lebanese online community – it was Super Geek! Some sort of a super hero who will come about and help us online fellows be able to shake the system and make a change around us. The hero in question was the visual brainchild of Sareen Akarjalian best known for “Ink On the Side” (as I said yesterday, her ink is never on the side, it is always the main dish)… So Sareen and myself took time off from pranking the Lebanese blogosphere for a serious – no laughs, it’s rude! – discussion. In addition, apart from the final product, I also made Sareen cough up the original sketches she worked on – this is called an EXCLUSIVE boys and girls, and this is what good blogging is all about (Remember - I earned my bragging rights).

So here’s what Sareen has to say:

How difficult was it to work with an official body, ministries are not exactly know to be flexible?

 S.A.: I swear I'm not exaggerating or sucking up, but it was seriously not difficult at all! Telecom minister Nicolas Sehnaoui was extremely lenient with the ideas I was coming forward with and he gave me a lot of creative freedom. Basically he said "You're a genius Sareen, you know everything in the world. And you can-" Ok ok, fine, I'm kidding, he didn't actually say that but he really did give me a lot of freedom.

Regarding the aesthetics of Super Geek, how did you come up with it and what were the inspirations so not to fall into something totally déjà vu?

S.A.: The idea behind it was simple. What does a geek look like? And apparently, being one myself (God remember when being a geek was a bad thing? Who's cool now my high school friends?!)  I kind of knew the basic look I was going for. I wanted him to wear glasses and have messy hair whilst looking confident and happy. You can see in the picture I sent you a few kinds of geeks I came up with on the spot and Nicolas chose the first one.

The word Geek doesn't always have positive connotations, so how did you manage to pull a hunk as a final product?

S.A.: Hah! Didn't you hear the news Tarek? Being a geek is apparently "hip" these days and "totally out of this world" (is that phrase still cool?). 

Was it based on me by any chance?

S.A.: Uhm..wait, what did that - *grabs pre-printed answers* Ah here we go, ahem "it was inspired by the amazing Tarek. He was just so geeky and awesome that I, Sareen, couldn't help but be inspired by his indubitable greatness. His sarcasm, wit, humor, and charm was what made Super Geek happen. I say this on my own will and definitely not Tarek, who is awesome by the way." ......wow..really Tarek? You'd better pay me for that. (We, however, have strong suspicions another person was the model of the design, except he is a minister and we can’t really reveal such sensitive info!)

Luckily, Beirut/NTSC also managed to talk to Ralph Aoun who is acting as social media advisor to minister Sehnaoui. So we asked Ralph the following question:

Practically speaking how will these adventures pan out? What will Super Geek be doing and how will the rest of the community help make this a reality?

R.A.: While Super Geek is a strong Super Hero that Leads, he is also one that Follows. He follows the targets and aspirations of the young Lebanese Digital Community. This Digital Community that Minister Sehnaoui calls "The Lebanese Digital Lobby" is proving to have immense power to change Lebanon, day in and day out, through blogs, tweets, facebook posts and viral campaigns. The idea of this Lobby started with the #protectprivacy campaign, when everyone made themselves heard clearly and showed the power of Social Media to raise the voice. Such a group power is needed to carry on the Digital Sector reforms and to lobby for it. However, the potential is so huge that we may all join forces to surpass the Digital frontiers into even the Social ones. As this idea is still in its birth phase, the Mission of this Digital Lobby, as well as the Mission of Super Geek, are yet to be brainstormed and clearly defined by this Community itself.