Thursday, April 28, 2011

Kamal Salibi's crossroads less travelled by....




Pity this book is not mendatory reading for every Lebanese.
Pity it was in front of my nose for the last two years and only now did I pick it up.
Pity we didn't learn anything.
If you manage to get a copy from a library (or most logically a university library) near you, make sure to read it.
The part below is taken from the introduction to the book:

Jotham’s fable




One day the trees went out

to anoint a king to rule over them.

They said to the olive tree, “Be our king!”



The olive tree answered them:

“Must I forego my oil

Which gives honour to gods and men,

to stand swaying above the trees?”



Then the trees came to the fig tree,

“Come now, you be our king!”



The fig tree answered them,

“Must I forego my sweetness,

forego my excellent fruit,

to stand swaying above the trees?”



Then the tress said to the Vine,

“Come now, you be our king!”



The vine answered them,

“Must I forego my wine

Which cheers the hears of gods and men

to stand swaying above the trees?”



Then all of the trees said to the thorn bush,

“Come now, you be our king!”



And the thorn bush answered the trees,

“If in all good faith you anoint me king to reign over you,

then come and shelter in my shade.

If not, fire will come from the thorn bush

and devour the cedars of Lebanon.”



Judges 9:8-15

The Jerusalem Bible

Exotica, and the campaign that came one month too late!

I would have loved it if this campaign was Exotica's mother day campaign instead of the other one.I can imagine this same visual of (a tree being marked for height the same way children are) with instead of this line (they grow up too fast), something like "Sharpen your motherhood instincts"... Well, at least in this campaign, Exotica got rid (once more, and hopefully once and for all)  of the human element which was consistently bringing their ads down. And yes, it is cute for a "summer campaign" but it would have a super mothers' day campaign, if it wasn't a month too late.

What's new copycat?... Hallab v/s Lurpak


Hallab sweets (and therefore TBWA/Rizk) has been caught red handed. The same gimmik of "ma3moul bi atyab zebde" for Lurpak has now been used for Hallab "ma3moul... bi hob" (done with love).... People, I don't care WHEN the idea was presented to the client, just pay attention that a couple of weeks earlier Lurpak came with the same idea - which makes yours (not matter how fresh when it came out of your minds) rather obsolete (and worse, it looks like a theft).

Beit Misk finally gets it right.


After the rather silly launch campaign (which I am sure it did not deter people with money to invest anyway) Beit Misk, a "village" 15 minutes away from Beirut made of nouveau-faux old houses imitations, has finally got it right for its ads. The new campaign shows "slices of life" (people more happy than anyone of us ever will) with the slogan "I am from Beit Misk" - which means "I come from Beit Misk" (establishing it as a real village) and with the double-entendre of "I am from the Misk family" (the same expression in Arabic means both)... Judging from the quality of the printing which was already tearing up, I wonder about the houses or how strong these family bonds really are.

On a billboard near you.




So this is what has been happening as of late:
Audi Bank has yet another card - this time it's the new born (hey, why wait to make people customers when you can nail them in the bud!) - and the line is a Lebanese proverb "the child comes with his own money with him" (el walad byeje w rez2to ma3o) which is the usual motto that poor and uneducated people use to proliferate like rabbits.
Another bank, this time it's Banque Libano-Francaise, promising you (like every other bank really) to take you to heaven (and hopefully back without a crash). Sami (who reminds me of Auxilia's now infamous "fadi ma sa2at") owns a hamburger join, next thing he's on the cover of Time magazine (only it is called "Cash up" in the tv ad - maybe a small hors d'oeuvre reminding Sami of how much he has to pay!)... And get this: London busses are not too busy with the Royal Wedding, but are rather putting up Sami's fanchise.
Electronics brand DeLonghi has this interesting ad about dehumidifiers - "Drink water but don't breathe it"...
And last but not least, finally a "Clementine" worth looking at: Balkis natural juice has introduced its "Afandi" (clementine) flavor....

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

"Les lettres violettes de l'emigre (d'apres Georges Schehade)" by Tarek Chemaly - a new release from 7UPstairs publishing



Welcome to my new book...   “Les lettres violettes de l’émigré” is a book inspired by Georges Schehade’s collective works, but more specifically his plays “les violettes” and “l’émigré de Brisbane” in addition to his poems - in particular “Poesies II, poeme III”. The book tries to explore the concept of roots, longing and home in a gigantic mood board which includes actual mementos sent by immigrants taken either from my own backlog or found in a shoe box at the flea market. 
“The essence of "home" is the ability to exclude others. Those who have homes may seldom exercise that right: neighbors, guests, and distant relatives may come and go. But the person who is at home knows he can exercise the right to be left alone any time he pleases". That’s what Lars Eighner, famous for his book “Travels with Lisbeth” depicting his homelessness days when I was writing a story about social stratification a few years ago.
I guess it all boils down to: Where's home? And knowing the answer, are you there?

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Tania Saleh - CD launch

Not only is she talented, but the album is super worth it... And, if nothing else, the video clip is breathtaking (as anything else with David Habshi's touch is, in addition to Amin Dora from Shankaboot fame and Saleh herself!)....

Tracy Yaghi: Pitstop, parce que je le vaux bien....

Credits: Concept, photography and art direction - Tracy Yaghi
I love this one! I saw it on the highway the other day and pointed out to a friend... It does to you car what l'Oreal does to your wife. But whereas your wife screams going at 120 Kms/hour, your car will handle itself beautifully thanks to pitstop. And get this: Tracy is not even a graduate yet! She is supposed to graduate at the end of this semester... Sometime after midnight (a joke only she can understand)...

It's a bit early, but... Al Massih Kam, hakkan kam....

The last supper has been spoofed so many times (with Simpsons' characters, Hollywood celebrities, pop culture icons, et je passe..), the one above is by British artist Damien Hearst... And now I copy what I wrote last year:
"And with this Beirut/NTSC goes for the very serious task of egg hunting, Good Friday ritual and other simple pleasures of life.

"Al Massih kam... Hakkan kam" (The messiah has risen - Indeed he has) The beauty of this is that it takes two people, two believers, to assert the truth about the resurrection. So instead of just saying "Happy Easter" as in English, in the Arabic version it takes two to corroborate the news of the miracle."

A same-sex wedding advert?

After the threesome proposed by BLC, now comes this... Now that weddings season will soon be kicking off in full gear, photographers, hairdressers, make-up artists will soon (if they haven't started already) be displaying their packages to brides-to-be... Except that George Mattar's (hair and beauty salon) comes with a twist - I believe it tackles some sort of same-sex marriage. The image, displaying an intimacy moment between (what? Two brides? A bride and a bridesmaid? A lesbian couple?) - whereas I am still puzzled about this image, I could not but be reminded by the "master" himself: Guy Bourdin and the mythical image he created for the Roland Pierre campaign in 1983...
So if you want to go into Lesbianism territory, just know that there are some references in the field already....

Go to Easter on an egg...

Forget "go to work on an egg".... It's Easter you ought to be concerned about...  By the way, agencies are not kind enough to save stuff in JPEGs anymore, everything has to be flash! So it's really a pain to get those photos off the websites.... Still, there's something pretty cool about the way it was done, at least it's fresh and easy on the eye!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Easter-related - Lurpak

Photo credit: Johnny Maroun
This year's crop of Easter related ads has left me quite indifferent until I saw the amazing Lurpak ad... Maamoul is the traditional Easter cookie in Lebanon, the words means "done with" so the three tastes are: Dates, walnuts and pistachios. So if you say "maamoul bi jawz" it means "done in walnuts".... And this is where Lurpak gets it so right: "maamoul bi chou?" - or "done with what?"... Lurpark of course.
My only regret is that this is supposed to be a teaser with the revealer saying, "maamoul bi atyab zebde" (done with the most delicious butter). They could have easily disposed of the answer, because in itself this part of the ad was much more interesting... But still, I love it.

*aatar w *eit: Bring the money in unmarked bills and do not call the police.....




I wish I can say more... But, I really want them to bring back the Z alive!.....
PS: All of you marketeers dabbling with bloggers, LEARN from this!

Palm Sunday - we didn't start the fire (no-so) Billy Joel



















Yestarday was Palm Sunday, a day to commemorate Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem, and a day for children to get new clothes and do the three turns around the church while holding their candles. Did I say candles? Oh dear, this year I was struck by how the Palm-Sunday-Candle-Industry has evolved from a small thing wrapped in an olive brand when I was a child to... this! The photos tell all I suppose: you had candles in the shape of flowers, others done in Burberry style, one of them - judging by the feathers - must have been commissionned to John Galliano (disgraced creative head of Dior), the Barbie doll is also part of a candle, the ladybug as well, there were easter eggs (hopefully of plastic), a cuckoo clock, and (one that I missed shooting) had mini-skateboards on it.... Just to think that after the triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, Jesus would be curcified this Friday (but... he resurrects!).

Monday, April 11, 2011

Resurrection@33 - commemorating the onset of the war (4/4)

These slogans were found on the walls of Beirut 33 years ago, yet, today we still understand them because we're still stuck with the same names, same parties, and same people. But if there's anyone to blame, it is simply us. Hopefully, after 33 years, we'd have understood, or at least we'd have done a step forward. April 13th, the "commemoration" of the Lebanese war.