Ashekman, the Urbanista graffiti

The Ashekman boys (who like me, will be part of the "White Wall" exhibition at Beirut Art Center - albeit in an off-roaster way (again like me)) have juse completed this cool mural for "Urbanista" in Gemmayze. Using a 70s font full of pyschedelia it reminded me of the "3imlak" font they used for "Tarek: 3a2ilat al fada2" (Tarek, the space family). I nicked that logo because - duh - that's my name written over there. Impressive piece.

Sunscream - from "Later that same bay"

I shall soon be releasing a mini-poetic anthology, compared to the "Getting the news from poems" released in 2009, and made up of 309 pages, this 25 page adventure is nothing but a kiddy affair. Above is a page of the book containing one of my favorite poems - and it's very short, too.

Armstrong: Could this be a place of historical importance?

Original artwork: Braco Dimitrijevic and public images
Today's news is dominated by two Armstrongs - Neil and Lance. To a generation which grew on the Livestrong yellow arm bands - perhaps not even understanding their meaning and sporting them as a fashion statement - the first might not even have existed. More people have paid attention to the cycling champion being stripped of his Tour de France title than they did for the death from surgical complications of the first man to land on the moon. News have become entertainment and entertainment has become news.
Braco Dimitrijevic's artwork focuses on putting the plaques installed in vartious public locations, and even inscribed some of them with names of passers-by; in his own words: "Take, for instance, the already mentioned example of the marble plaque on Berlioz’s house on which the sentence ‘Berlioz lived here’ is written. The basic system is linguistic, but substituting the linguistic code for the message of its presentation gives us the statement ‘Genius lived here’. It means that the implied message of all places without a memorial plaque is ‘A genius never lived here’."
Neil Amstrong is not Lance Armstrong. But wait:
Breaking news: Kim Kardashian just....

Le petit bhersaf illustré

"Heik el manekh 3enna" this is how our climate is. Am I reading too much into this or - blimey - this is the famous "semeuse" of Larousse who just landed in Tilal Bhersaf? Perhaps she took an Air France flight via Beit Misk? Yes, I can already feel the excuse coming "it's just a stock image" and "any resemblance to other brands dead or alive is purely coincidental." So what do you think a case of "inspiration" a la Impact BBDO or do they get off the hook this time? Maybe the headline should have been "A bhersaf on s'aime a tout vent"....

Rape in the first world: You asked for it!

The text for Vaseline reads: Shut up, get on your knees and swallow. You know you want it
Todd Akin, the Republican candidate for senate in Missouri, said in an interview released this weekend that he did not support abortion for rape victims because: "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Furthermore, according to British MP George Galloway: "Woman A (personal note: The Swedish judiciary system protects the identity of the plaintiffs) met Julian Assange, invited him back to her flat, gave him dinner, went to bed with him, had consensual sex with him, claims that she woke up to him having sex with her again. This is something which can happen, you know. I mean, not everybody needs to be asked prior to each insertion."
The above examples happened in the US and in the UK. What's next? Going back the "you asked for it" mentality? Above is a selection of rape related advertisings. It was John Lennon who sang "Woman is the nigger of the world." The statement is still valid. Nasawiya, where are you?
Lebanon, a "developing nation" (or third world) has had a storm caused by the misogynist lyrics of  Mohammad Eskandar's "Joumhouriyet Albi" (the republic of my heart) which still has to calm down, but it transpires that no one is in a position to give advice from the so-called first world. It seems even if we climbed the two words of difference, women's position is still where it is - just pick what position it suits you from the Kamasutra. No other position is deemed necessary.

The Neckermann Beirut cult commercial.

Forgot those "is it Rio?" ads, or whatever has been used to market Beirut, this is the original and unequalled take of Neckermann on our city. Yes "it's like Beirut" back when the city was bubbling with champagne and underneath a whole society was bubbling to reach the war - for let us not forget that the jet setting excesses contributed to the overall souring of the mood. But that was reading the events in 20/20 hindsight... So enjoy this clip, a reminder of what once was - or perhaps never have been.

Maktab al tahrir fi khabar jadid*

Ads: ArabAd archive
Remember when I told you the story about "Voix du Liban" and how one sentence eventually reclaimed it? "Sawt al hourriya wal karama" (the voice of freedom and dignity). Well, now I managed to get those two ads (from the early 2000s id) for that radio station. The first says "houna sawt Loubnan" (this is (where) the voice of Lebanon (is)), the second talks about their famous news broadcasts timed at the quarter of the hour "7 and a quarter, 8 and a quarter, 2 and a quarter, 5 and a quarter, 7 and a quarter... News and a half" - in Arabic when "and a half" is added to anything it means "in all veracity" or even "with so much more"...

PS: The title of the post means "the editorial room in a new development" - which is how their news flash would erupt when a developing story was breaking. 

Talk(ies) the talk, walk(ies) the walk....

Source: Arabad archive
Ah, isn't nice when a production company knows how to do good advertising? Not just for its clients, but for itself as well? Meet the talkies, one of the leading production houses in Lebanon. This campaign caught my attention with its witty and smart tongue in cheek all while refering to their own staff and how they would handle situations during the production process.... They don't make them like they used to, right?

Beirut/NTSC red plate* - private and public

I am not exactly sure why I am writing this, but lately a friend has been pestering me about joining facebook at a time when people are basically on the way to deserting it (and I am not talking about investors dumping the plummeting stock). To quote Rana Salam when she knew I wasn't on the social media website "you cannot not be on facebook." Well, I am not. Discussing this with my students a few years ago, one of my (frankly not so witty but very provocative) students asked "why? what have you got to hide?" - well, "everything."  In the words of a very, very rich friend of mine "the biggest luxury in today's world is a bit of privacy, and that cannot be bought."
Which is why, I am always amazed how stars ask "to respect their privacy" (through their spokespeople of course) at times of divorce, when they make sure media is there when they get engaged or married. In the over-mediatized feud between actor Daniel Craig and reality TV star Kim Kardashian, Craig's most powerful statement was "You can't buy it back — you can't buy your privacy back. 'Ooh I want to be alone'. 'F*** you. We've been in your living room. We were at your birth. You filmed it for us and showed us the placenta and now you want some privacy?'"
Sure, it all seems like a "whore lecturing on chastity" - a relatively well-read blogger and online publisher is preaching about privacy. But truth be told, apart from my public persona which I give to you, what do you know about the behind-the-scenes person? I am not on Twitter either, which means you do nor know where I am or what I am doing or track movements on day to day basis I often joke that if everyone is "following" everyone on Twitter, then no one is in the lead and they are all running in circles....
But perhaps, it's not that complex after all, "On ne sait rien de soi. On croit s'habituer à être soi, c'est le contraire. Plus les années passent et moins on comprend qui est cette personne au nom de laquelle on dit et fait les choses," (we do not know anything about ourself. We believe we are getting used to ourself, it's just the opposite.The more time passes the less we understand who that person is on the name of whom we say and do things) and that's according to Amelie Nothomb's Les Catilinaires. Perhaps I have become what you have made of me.

*The title of this post refers to how taxi cars which have their license plate in red are called "3moumi" which also means public as opposed to private cars called "khsousi".

Everything you wanted to know about censorship (but were afraid to ask)

As the issue of censorship comes to the forefront of the Lebanese debate arena, here's my cents about it.

Beirut5ampere: Concerts for the "moteur" generation

Images copyrighted to Beirut5ampere.org

Just in case you were busy with the Baalbeck, Byblos, and Beiteddine, you might have missed this series of awesome concerts offered by the guys from Beirut5ampere.org - namely "Jimmy Almouhandrix" (the engineer in case you didn't get it), Led Zepplin singing "Mar2ad anze" LP tour (too difficult to explain) including the hit single "Sellom bel 3ard" (holding the latter vertically - but also a word play on "Stairway to heaven"). Oum Koulsoum will grace Madison Square Garden in an effort to ease up Michele Bachmann anti-Islamic witch hunt, and Pink Floyd (yes, the old line up) will be doing the audio-visual bonanza of "Dark side of Bhamdoun" including the hits "See Oum Elie play" (as a reference to "See Emily play" - one of the very rare songs along Billy Idol's "Dancing with myself" which tackle the topic of... playing with one's self!) - do note the difference in pricing for Lebanese and Gulf tourists however. Tickets to be sold at Whore Megastore flagship branch in Martyrs' square. Start queuing!

Exotica and Ksara: Break an egg and don't wine...

 Exotica ad: Courtesy ArabAd archive

Ksara ad courtesy Assaleh Era

The Exotica ad (how eggciting!) dates back to the late 80s, whereas the Ksara at is from the 70s. Sure, you might say that such ads do not make brands, but to be honest I'll have my wine riding its bicycle rather than having it dipped - like any other wine and therefore making it completely indistinguishable from its competitors - in earth tones and burgundy colors. As for Exotica, need I say more? I'll have this ad any day as opposed to what is being generated now. Oh and did you notice that this was the time where Exotica had "baydat" (that's eggs and balls in Arabic - same word) to actually speak with Christian symbols around Christian holidays instead of diluting the whole thing in a very let's-not-alienate-our-shopper-in-Verdun way?
I think as time progresses, a formulatic equation gets to a brand (Almaza is the worst example) making the ads in themselves so close to each other that one barely notices the diffrence. I don't mind having "grids" in ads, it's the platitude of the content that gets to me. We have come to a time where too much strategizing (and bad one at that) is making all brands from the same sector look alike (Among the wines, only Ixsir managed to break free).
Maybe it's about time we hailed back guerilla marketing and unorthodox methods (without having the Cannes Lions in mind) - for the sake of the brands, for the sake of the fun, for the sake of the viewers, not for the sake of the awards or for the sake of the client or for the sake of the money.
And so that was where I stand today!

TURB(ul)AN(ce)S

Photo credit here

I going to keep this short. After the news of the Sikh temple shoot out in the US, the floawed reasoning seems to be: A white guy mistook some Sikhs for some Moslems. Therefore, it is OK to target Moslems but not to confuse them with Sikhs. The above photo shows the Sikhs among us (part of the UNIFIL in the south), just don't mistake them with Moslems (whom you are allowed to target).

"bubblegumntsc" now out on 7UPstairs Publishing

Open publication - Free publishing - More beirut ntsc

To be very honest I did not expect to release a book so soon but now is a good time as any. After soft-launching it a few days ago among friends, please welcome the newest addition from "Devoirs de vacances"  the memory-exploring sublabel of 7UPstairs publishing. Only this time I am asking the same questions I asked when I shared with you "A Case of Mistaken Identities" - enjoy and share! All of this is done for free and for you to like and propagate.... So "go forth and multiply" my viewers. :)

Waterman, a priceless possession, an even more priceless ad.

"My 1949 Chateau Lafite, they say, is too valuable to drink.
My Studebarker Classic should never be driven.
Don't even think of eating off the English China.
All I can say is, thank goodness for my Waterman.
Finally, a priceless possession I can actually use."

VW camper ArcheWALLogy/Carcheology

Underground fiesta goes above ground.... This VW camper, stationned for a long time now at the Golden Beach parking deserves an honorary mention in the pantheon of archewallogy with a carcheology cross-over. Hats off to the bold owner... Truly, this is the kind of image the whole "Smile" by Brian Wilson was built upon (and all the Beach Boys back catalogue)...

Ramadan(dot)com Kareem!

 The Zakat (the 2.5% contribution) campaign this year of Sandouk al Zakat has a facebook flavor to it - naturally it took apps a lot of work and meetings with the facebook people to get them to use the "like" sign, but here in Lebanon we can do it freely. I must however say I truly love the campaign, because it make this "demodé" gesture of religious tradition seem cool and up to date, with a nice casting of old and young which delfies the stereotype. Well done!

And Apple has nothing on Agialouna, if the Zakat tackled the campaign with facebook references, Agialouna dips it in the late Steve Jobs sauce - iOuzakki is the newest gizmo to hit town. Maybe the ads are not as cool as the branding but still - to make the act so close to a newer generation of donors they had to use a language close to them. Not bad either!

The Outpost campaign

 

Remember the Grand Cinemas campaign and the "what if" theory they produced which we all agreed was a tad corny? Finally someone is here in the market the ask the right kind of "what if" questions! Introducing The Outpost a new magazine which will hit the market in late September and just by looking at introductory campaign and their well-designed logo (do I see a flag through binoculars here?) makes of them the right mixture of avant-garde with a dash of classicism. In support of new talents I shall be placing an icon on the right hand side of the blog to direct traffic to their facebook page.