May 24 2004

Miss Lebanon: The Third Prime

So the last week was a very busy one indeed. I have so many things to talk about, but no time for them all, therefore I’ll be talking about some of the things quickly. As a start let me talk about HAIFA WAHBI in the Miss Lebanon 3rd prime. Actually I’ve always heard people, artists, and reporters criticizing Haifa Wahbi one way or the other. They either talk about her looks or her personality. They criticize the way she wears makeup, her dressing style, and the plastic surgeries she’s gone through. On the other hand, we hear of men and teenagers hanging her posters in their bedrooms closets and on their desks! I read a lot of articles, in which she sounded really smart in the interviews, and where she revealed a side of her personality that doesn’t focus on sex appeals as much as the brains. But then I read this article where she was saying that Elissa is feeling jealous because of her looks. That was the interview that made me laugh my head off and make sure this Haifa Wahbi is so obsessed with her looks and thinks she’s the best looking in the world. Anyway, the picture got clearer when I saw her in the 3rd prime on Friday, unfortunately I couldn’t watch it all, but a part of it, which was actually enough. I saw Haifa Wahbi, and GOD!!! I can’t believe how much people have become obsessed with showing off their bodies!! They make you feel they’re doing you a favor when covering the few parts of their bodies that were left uncovered!! Haifa was wearing basically nothing from my point of view, being so so happy that people give no damn about her talent (maybe because she has no talent in the first place) and are just enjoying her “provoking dance” in which she tried to show off her “so called dress” pulling her hair away from her back and shoulder to show her backless style dress, and pulling together the lower part of her dress to show the side cut and to help the transparent piece of cloth show more of her body!!! That was so pathetic. And what made me really angry, is that such irresponsible shameless acts affect teenagers the most. Poor young boys were about to have a heart attack while she was smiling at them, blowing kisses their way in her custom!! I simply hated this, and I hated her voice, and her moves, and even her comments! Being asked about latest activities and latest albums has nothing to do with mentioning how she met Omar Al Sherif!! She just tried to spread the news that she met celebrities and stuff, and then in future interviews, she goes like: Oh, I’m not arrogant, I wasn’t the one to talk about myself and whom I meet, it’s the media!!…. AAAAAAAAH, she gets on my nerves!! And to compare this with Elissa’s presence, you can’t but say that Elissa is so mature, she’s so classy, and so respectful. Although I’m not much into most of her video clips, but still, she’s a true singer. Beautiful voice, good looks and respectful elegance (relatively speaking). She’s not much of a good speaker in live interviews though…
Anyway, once again, reality TV is a nice idea, but it was one hell of a failure in the case of Miss Lebanon, for one reason, the silliness and rude (stab in the back) fights between the ladies. I tune in to watch them whenever I have the time, I think: maybe I was unfair. And then a verbal fight begins, showing a very ugly side of the ladies who are supposed to represent beauty in the face, body, mind and soul… I believe that if they were better persons then this reality TV would have been the most successful and enjoyable.
Anyway, if you missed the 3rd prime you can take a look at some pics provided online here .

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May 17 2004

Ruslana Won The Eurovision

The Ukrainian contestant Ruslana Lyzichko won the Eurovision Song Contest with her song: Wild Dancers. Ruslana has composed the music of the winning song herself.
After winning the competition ahead of Serbia and Montenegro and Greece, Ruslana said she hoped Europeans would get to know her country better when the contest comes to the Ukraine in 2005. Details .

Die Ukraine Ruslana Lyzichko hat zum ersten Mal den Eurovision Song Contest mit ihrem fetzigen Song “Wild Dance gewonnen. Ruslana überzeugte Europa “. Der deutsche Vertreter Max musste sich in Istanbul mit dem achten Platz begnügen. Die Sängerin und Komponistin kombinierte Popmusik mit Tanzelementen aus den Karpaten. Zum folkloristischen Ambiente trug auch der Liedtext in Englisch und Ukrainisch bei. Dazu knallten Peitschen, und Flammen loderten auf den überdimensionalen Bildschirmen auf der Bühne.
“Ich musste mich erst ein bisschen an den achten Platz gewöhnen, aber ich komme damit zurecht”, sagte Max am frühen Sonntagmorgen. Der 22-jährige Abiturient aus Waldshut-Tiengen im Schwarzwald hatte sich selbst einen Platz unter den ersten Fünf erhofft. Mehr über Eurovision

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May 17 2004

SuperStar 16.May.04: The Toughest Decision!!

Yesterday’s episode was one of a kind. Despite the fact that all participant who have passed to the second level were very qualified, yesterday’s participants were all over qualified. The episode was a collection of the strongest and most talented. It is very very hard to choose and compare. Each has a special good side, and all had the beautiful voice. Of course that doesn’t mean that the ones earlier were less talented or had worse voices, it’s just that yesterday was a very unfair gathering for voices of such beauty and power.
The participants were:
From Jordan: Nancy Petro
From Tunisia: Ashraf Al Kshou
From Lebanon: Mohammad Barraj, Fayyad Younes,
From Syria: Houssam Madanyeh, Samar Touieity, Mahmoud Kassir, Hala Erslan
From Libya: Rida Jaafar, Ayman Al Aatar
From Iraq: Rahma Mezher, Shaza Hassoun
From Egypt: Mahmoud Abdelaziz
From Saudi Arabia: Mamdouh Abdel Hai

That is so unfair, I mean all those talents will be relying on luck rather than qualifications, so much will be lost and only one will be lucky enough to continue.
But I personally loved: Nancy, Ashraf, Fayyad, Houssam, Hala, Rida, and Rahma… Oh, no, GoD!!! They were all good!
Can’t wait to know the results, specially that there will be 2 results tonight: the 2 who’ll pass yesterday’s episode, and the ones who’ll be given a second chance.
Good luck to all…

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May 14 2004

Holiday Park Hires Shrink :)

A German amusement park in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate “Holiday Park” in the city of Hassloch has hired a psychologist to help park visitors get over their phobia of plunging down massive steel tracks, winding around bank turns and falling at speeds exceeding 120 kilometers (76 miles) per hour… so good news for me 😉
Holiday Park is home to one of the world’s largest rollercoasters. The Expedition GeForce has an incline of 62 meters (68 yards) and flies through the tracks at over 100 kilometers per hour. The German airline Lufthansa has offered seminars aimed at countering fear of flying for over 20 years with a success rate of 94 percent, and Holiday Park is hoping for similar results.
Details

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May 11 2004

Miss Lebanon … Reality TV

The other day I saw this Miss Lebanon thing on TV, which I’ve discovered later on, is a reality TV showing contestants in their daily life activities.
The minute I realized this I couldn’t feel but sorry for people being offered such pointless and weak programs. And even worse is the fact that many people disagree with me, and believe that spending their time in front of TV just to watch a bunch of girls eating, gossiping, shopping or exercising, is one of the most joyful and exciting things they’d ever do.
Today I came across “The Ugly Side Of Reality TV” by Beirut- Beyrouth , where you can find funny pics and comments concerning this topic. Actually I couldn’t but express my appreciation for reading what she wrote, because it really expressed what I felt towards this nonsense. And since we still didn’t have our receiver last year, I didn’t know of this show earlier. It was only this year that I’ve discovered it. God I’ve missed some big time :PPP
I don’t understand how do people manage to find all that time to waste on watching some girls living! I mean what is so interesting? Ok, I might be curious to know more about the girls, but definitely not curious to watch them eating, or talking in the lift or waking up. The only advantage I see in this Miss Lebabon reality TV is that it stresses a saying I personally believe in : MAKEUP WORKS WONDERS 😛

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April 26 2004

Dido Is Different

In our time it’s really hard to find singers who deserve our respect, admiration and love. Because almost all of them have decided to focus on looks, sex appeals and inappropriate language to get people’s attention.
Turning on TV, most of the video clips are some revealed bodies of both men and women dancing in the background with the singers in front hugging, touching and kissing.
If it’s a woman singer, then you’ll find her dancing and shaking her “thing”, wearing the minimum limit of clothes to show off her body. And if it was a man then he’ll be surrounded with 80 to 90% naked women touching him and blowing kisses at him. That is just pathetic. It’s rude, desperate, uncreative, cheap, humiliating, and brings back women to the beginning of life on earth when she was nothing but a sex object. It’s anything but art and music.
And when you find someone who doesn’t depend on provoking sexual desires, and who offers great music, meaningful words and a wonderful talent, then you can’t but admire and respect that singer. And this is the case with Dido. Besides her beautiful angelic warm voice and her good looks, Dido offers music and songs that respect the human dignity show appreciation to her fans’ taste and most important of all, she never risks her reputation as a singer, she never looks for being a sex-idol, that’s why she succeeded. Day after day, Dido proves that she’s different than others. I love her songs and music. I love the respects she shows to audience and herself in her video clips. She’s simply amazing. I wish there is only more of her in this crazy world that have become nothing but a big zoo where women and men are looking for nothing but sexual intercourse, killing all beautiful meanings of this life, and losing all the superiority human beings once had.

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April 26 2004

Star Academy’s Concert Tickets!

I heard the tickets for the concert were 15, 20 and 50 TND, now if that’s true then something has gotten into the heads of both the ones who are arranging for the concert and the people buying the tickets, specially when I get to know that since last week tickets were actually SOLD OUT!! Lol, I can’t believe this. I liked the Academy students, and I found them vital and full of excitement, but I wont pay that amount to attend one of their concerts. With all the respect to all of them and all their admirers, but they possess neither the good voices, nor the professional skills for me to go pay that amount! I mean give me a break, Saber Al- Ribai’, this great voice, and this big history of records and albums had his concert tickets sold for 10 and 15 TND maximum. Majeda Al-Roumi had it at the same price, and then comes the managers of the Arab Star Academy ask for more!!! But well, they have the right to ask for even more than that as long as the people out there have completely lost it to buy every single ticket and I’m sure they’re even willing to pay whatever it takes for their beloved star academy students! I call this taking advantage of the audience and fans.

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April 20 2004

What’s Up In Tunisia!

The European Film Festival:Tunisia will be hosting the European Film festival which will start on the 21st of this month and end on the 8th of May. Germany, England, Austria, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden as well as Tunisia will be participating in this festival. The festival will take place in Tunis, Sousse, and Sfax.
More details are available Here in Arabic.

The International Book Exhibition:The opening will be on April 22, it will take place in the Kram Exhibition Hall as usual. The exhibition offers a wide range of international books of all fields: science, medicine, literature, cooking, novels, short stories, catalogues of countries, encyclopedias and much much more. Last year it was really huge and it was very interesting, and although there are books in different languages, mainly French, Arabic and English, but unfortunately French are the most available on the shelves. And the funny part is that all books that draw my attention are in French, lol, and even funnier is the fact that they choose to have the exhibition in the last week of the month, when people are hardly managing to go on with what’s left of their salaries. But well, whether you’re gonna buy or not, just hanging out with people and enjoying the sight of the books is enough to make your day. Make sure not to miss it.

Arab Star Academy Concert: The Star Academy members of the first Arab Star Academy ever will be holding 2 concerts, one on May 1st, and the other on May 2nd. Mosaique FM is taking care of the advertising campaign 😉 and is informing people about where to get their tickets.
I think so many people can’t wait to go watch a live concert for the Star Academy people, specially that there are two Tunisians, Bahaa and Ahmad among them. And talking of them, they had nice voices, but in my opinion the Star Academy program was unfair to Ahmad, he had a really really beautiful voice, was able to sing in different accents, he should’ve reached the finals, but then again, it’s a matter of luck and a matter of voting.
Anyway, all of them are sweet and I guess their concerts will be a great success 🙂

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April 12 2004

Vote for Arab SuperStar 2

So yesterday was the performance of the first group of the first 14 participants that have reached Beirut. They were all AMAZING. And everything was just so perfect.
The participants were:
From Palestine: Ammar Hasan.
From Syria: Wa’ad Al Bahri, Mohammad Daqdouq, Reem Mahrat, Hala Qaseer.
From Lebanon:Zahi Safiyyeh, Eli Kallas, Hadi Al Mallah, Raneen Al-Sha’ar.
From Morocco:Nadia Al-Kirkabi.
From Oman:Issa Shbibi.
From Jordan: Rose Al-Wirr.
From Saudi Arabia: Abdelmajeed Ibrahim.
From Kuwait: Salim Msa’id.

Actually it’s truly hard to choose, they were all wonderful, but the best according to me were : Ammar Hasan, Eli Kallas, Abdelmajeed Ibrahim, and Rose Al-Wirr. And I’d vote for either Eli or Ammar. I think they’re on the top of my list. And it’s not because Eli has a handicap as a result of an accident, but because I’ve never seen someone emotionally involved while singing like him, add to this his warm beautiful voice, I guess that qualifies him. And Ammar has a great beautiful voice and deserves to win as well.
What about you? You still have a chance to vote till tonight at 9 p.m. so don’t miss the chance and vote .
For a total Arab SuperStar coverage ClickHere .

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March 31 2004

Star Academy on LBC & WorldBest

Of course I don’t need to get into introductions since this Star Academy Show have had so much attention and success in the Arab World similar to its success in the European world.
Everybody talks about it, people are stuck in their homes just to watch the participants’ every day life, websites have dedicated themselves to cover its latest updates, and, and, and…
Actually, I’m not against having good programs, even if they were an imitation of someone else’s idea as long as they try to make it match people’s tastes and respect their traditions. In short, sometimes programs of a certain kind are considered extremely open to eastern countries, just like many programs are considered rather conservative to western ones.
So it’s not wrong to choose a program that was a great success, but it’s smart to modify it with one’s own touches, to give it a creative more suitable spirit than just having it as a copy.
Anyway, the Arabic Star Academy of Lebanon has gathered thousands of audience, and succeeded in getting both their attention and support. Whereas some other people thought it was
unsuitable in terms of religion or politics . According to some religion people, Star Academy doesn’t match religious morals, in the sense of having people of both sexes put together all the time, and exposing their everyday life which should be kept private. On the other hand, they consider it a cheap imitation and request modifying some certain aspects. Some went as far as boycotting the whole program, which I find so tough. I mean I do understand what they’re trying to say, but life isn’t only black or white, there should be some flexibility. And instead of stopping some show that has got the youth’s attention, we could work on it to make it even more successful in our own terms.
Now to politicians, some believe that such a program keeps the youth away from getting involved in their own countries’ political concerns. They believe the program draws their attention far away from some core problems and true concerns that will never be solved without their participation and their attention. I agree with them on one point, that this generation is way out off track when it comes to belonging to their homelands and trying to play a role in solving their own problems. But this isn’t only the fault of the so many fun-shows on TV, it’s the fault of the society itself that doesn’t raise them on a strong base of political knowledge and doesn’t encourage them to try to be useful members of society.
How would youth express themselves freely when they know they’ll be put in prison if they said something “against” the policies applies in their countries?
Therefore, before blaming it all on Star Academy or any other program, let’s clean up the infrastructure of our brains and organize our societies as a whole. In this way, not only Star Academy, but even 10 similar programs wont stand in the way of people being involved in building a healthy society.
Yesterday, we watched WorldBest. Unfortunately we missed some of it, specially the part of the Lebanese Bruno performing. But well, at least we watched the results. The French Elodie was the one who won, she truly deserved it. She has a beautiful voice, sings right and is elegant as well. Of course, others who didn’t win shouldn’t be sad, because they reached advanced levels. Not to forget that not all were singing in their mother language, and this plays a very big role. The confidence of someone singing in a foreign language, even if they’re fluent, is less than those who are singing in their own languages.
I really wished Bruno will get higher positions, but never mind, he participated and represented Arabs over there and this is wonderful by itself. I liked the voice of the Chilean Monica, and the Argentinean Emanuel, they were really good. But I was shocked with the Russian 17 year old Julia. I mean in the review of her songs and all, she had a great voice, but unfortunately she chose Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”, which doesn’t match her beautiful voice, and although she sang with feeling, and she did it right, but still the layers were unfair to her strong voice.
Anyway, I wish all participants the best of luck, and hope they’ll be all happy for those who win.
For the details of WorldBest in French Click Here , for Comments on it in English ClickHere

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