Monthly Archives: June 2012

Elissa’s New Song: As3ad Wa7da

As it is with Lebanese artists, you’d have no idea they are releasing an album until the album actually drops. There’s no such thing as releasing a single ahead of an album launch in order to promote it or setting a release date way in advance.

But I like Elissa. I appreciate her candidness when it comes to many issues. Yes, her political views being one of those issues she’s honest about.

Elissa’s album, titled As3ad Wa7da, will be released on June 25th. I’ll attempt reviewing it then but no promises for that. The title song off the album was released today. Bakkir, eih?

Here it is:

A few comments.

1) When will radios learn that inserting those annoying voice overs only ruin a song for the listener? What are they trying to achieve with their annoying “Rotana exclusive” balderdash thrown every 30 seconds?

2) When will the current top female Lebanese singers actually release a Lebanese song as their first single off any album?

3) Based on the previews of the album that I’ve listened to, there are far better songs than this one. I don’t think this one is bad – just very similar to what Elissa has released before: Start off normally then insert a trance-ish beat out of nowhere, revert to normality and repeat. But I like it nonetheless.

4) I’m not getting the idea behind the album pictures that were released so far. Is she trying to go all “virgin Mary-ish” with this one? It reminds me of Harissa for some reason.

Also, what’s the point behind the following one?

Yes, that expression on your face was the same as mine when my brother emailed me this picture. Horrible covers aside, what do you think of the song?

 

Update: the official cover of the album:

The Pope Might Cancel Lebanon Trip… For Security Reasons.

The September 14-16 visit of pope Benedict XVI to Lebanon is no longer set in stone and might be canceled at any moment, as reported by Naharnet. (Source).

The reason for that? The troubling situation in Syria and whatever effect it might have on the security of Lebanon.

The last Papal visit to Lebanon was in 1997 by John Paul II. Back then, the Syrian army roamed free in most of Lebanon and the Israeli army occupied the South. However, that didn’t deter the late Pope from coming in to see his people, who had been waiting for such a visit in persecution for a long, long time.

If Pope Benedict XVI ends up canceling his trip, I’ll be disappointed because of what such a cancellation represents: the fear of a Pope for his own life, when in reality there’s no threat, more so than the lives of the people he’s supposed to be visiting.

What a Pope’s supposed to do isn’t hide away behind security pretentiousness and actually visit the congregation that doesn’t have that prerogative and who has been through ordeals upon ordeals, partly because of the faith of which he’s the current “reference.”

The sad part is the pope actually visited Israel, Palestine and Jordan back in 2009. I guess there are no security concerns in Occupied Palestine. None at all.

A Vatican high-horse is better than Lebanese hole, apparently. Truly inspiring from the Pope. I feel more Christian already.

The Lebanese Brew Ad Campaign: Try Something Brave… the Last Summer on Earth

I blogged several months ago about a great ad video by Lebanese Brew: Courage is Contagious.

The message behind that video was about the importance of being courageous enough to be free in life. And it extremely well done.

Well, who knew Lebanese Brew can come back with an even better campaign this time around?

Not straying away from their previous message, the Try Something Brave campaign is here: Going out of your comfort zone and doing things that you never thought you’d do, on the last summer on Earth.

All of these amazing ads are part of a video that has creativity & ingenuity written all over it:

Can I say brilliant? Can I say awesome? Can I say I got goosebumps?

This is probably the first time I’d want to try something after an ad campaign. I really want to have some Lebanese Brew right now.

Check out the campaign’s website by clicking (here) – it will redirect you to their Facebook page where a countdown for a smartphone app (for both iOS and android) is taking place. Almost 90 hours to go until you can get the app and try something brave. I’ll make sure to let you know about the app too.

Cheers to Lebanese creativity!

Update: The agency that did these is Interesting Times. I mention this because I think these ads are such a breath of fresh air that I need to congratulate the agency, even though they don’t need me. They have this feel of Lebanese friends sitting together and coming up with them – very authentic and very refreshing. A job truly well done, Interesting Times! 

Because Father’s Day is Important Too… Exotica’s Awesome Father’s Day Ad

With each passing year, we have two different days to celebrate our parents: one for our mothers and another for our fathers. The latter takes a very far backseat compared to the former.

But Exotica isn’t happy with the status quo.

No one ever forgets mother’s day, but Father’s day is not commonly celebrated. This time, Exotica is dedicating one whole week for our fathers, they surely deserve more! Show them how much they mean to you and how much you love them this week!

And they have an absolutely awesome ad as well.

Great job Exotica. I guess I need to start thinking about a birthday/Father’s day gift for my own father. Yes, my dad was born on Father’s Day. Makes him all the more awesome.

The Conclusion of the Myriam Klink and Nemr Abou Nassar “Cat” Fight

This is a Lebanese meme done by twitter user @RachaMneimne and, even though I said I wouldn’t blog about the whole thing again, I think this is way too spot-on to be passed on.

Racha has also had the following to say, as a reply to Nemr’s 30 minute rant in which he declared Myriam Klink and other like hers as being “whores” who couldn’t take criticism but can take other things easily, “full pun intended.”

Hey Nemr Why So Angry? “Have a Sense of Humor, For The Love of God!”

 As a sum-up, here’s what Lebanon has been busy with for the past few days.
  1. Myriam Klink’s performance of her song “3antar” surfaced. (Check it here)
  2. Nemr Abou Nassar noticed the video and made a big deal of it. Twitter drama with Klink ensued. Everyone started making fun of her as well. (Check it here).
  3. Nemr Abou Nassar went on his radio show and had a full-blown rant about the state of the music industry. I’ve seen many people call it EPIC. I see it as everything but. (Check it here).
Finally, thank you Racha for telling it like it is.