Star Scene

By Rakan Diab

Music lifts us beyond our earthly beings, whispers joy fused with sorrow and bravery merged with fear. It’s a field of contradictions and conflicting thoughts and feelings. At times, music is heaven on earth, rustling the sounds of joy, and transforming you far into a world of contentment and felicity. At others, it’s a raging flame of sadness and depression accompanied by sorrow and grief; all of this is embedded in the power of music.

Seven Italian musicians gave a heartfelt performance last Tuesday at Al Bustan festival that I will never forget. Timelessness best describes the work of such composers as Vivaldi, Scarlatti, and Corelli. The performers certainly represented this immortal art in high class acts.

The musicians gave us a nice blend combining the slow “Adagio” and “Largo” to the cheerful “Allegro” passing through the fast lively pace of “Vivace” and “Presto”. In short, it’s a rush of conflicting emotions; you can’t help but sway and drift with the outstanding sounds of the original age old instruments with the immortal legendry compositions merging with a modern performance of the Italians. It’s where time stops and seizes to exist.

The audience almost filled the auditorium with their presence and made their appreciation clear to the cavaliers with rounds of endless applause; where in turn the Baroquian musicians returned the favor by playing two extra sets from the music of Mozart and Bach.

In these times when trance, RnB and hip-hop are most popular, and when classical music is rarely pursued by the young , I call upon my generation to preserve , listen to, and experience this age old music that has struck the hearts and souls of nations for hundreds of years. Take it from this 20 year-old: it’s a must-see and it’s a lot of fun.

Photo taken from Concerto De’ Cavalieri

By Rakan Diab

Angelino Abdel Karim, a 17-year-old youngster from Balouneh, Lebanon and the author of yet another chapter in the book of tragic road accidents in Lebanon.

Lino, as his friends love to call him, went into a coma due to a violent collision with a truck. After nearly a week or so from the incident, Angelino is showing signs of improvement and is on the right track to a full recovery defying all the odds and conquering the might of death. Although of his critical state, he is showing signs of recovery and improvement.

Lino owes his new start to the prayers of over a thousand friends and family members that joined together on a Facebook group sharing their love and prayers and asking for his early and complete recovery. But sadly not all stories have a happy ending like Lino’s.

Thousands of stories just like this one happen quiet often around the year on Lebanese streets. The reasons behind the constant car accidents are plenty ranging from people driving under the influence, reckless speeding, unlit streets and highways to the inattentive driving behavior of truck drivers. The result, however, is one and death wins almost every round.

We owe it to the tears shed, to the souls of those who lay dead and to the mother’s heart and the memory of her son’s depart to find a solution to our daily fear and tragedies of the road. Those who have passed will never have justice but maybe the death of someone would help enlighten the minds of our drivers to prevent further mistakes. Take “ Kun Hadi “as an example , this  organization emerged from the womb of disaster , from the death of a young soul and today they are working around the hour to provide campaigns that will raise awareness and just maybe save a someone’s life.

My call upon our government is to implement the current legislation enforce higher fines, more jail time for those who defy the law, light up the roads especially the highways. What a simple demand this is in a time of advanced technology. We should all take responsibility in the future of our country by learning lessons from others and obeying simple rules that might save your life and others.

By Rakan Diab

On this holy night of December, 2000 years ago, a savior was born and his name was Jesus.  Every year since that date, Christians around the world celebrate in remembrance their god’s decent from the heavens to embody a complete human.

But Ladies and gentlemen our priorities have changed and the children are the evidence.

I took it upon myself to ask some kids about what was the first thing they thought of when Christmas is around the corner and the answers were an eye-opener. Many said Santa Clause; others said gifts, decorations, a tree or even a turkey; A selected few said caroling or Jesus. I was stunned and disappointed.

It is all about Santa and decorations now. You could just go to your nearest mall to believe it.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of decorations, malls competing who has the biggest tree, parents looking for the gifts their kids wanted from Santa and I even saw some Kurds selling Santa hats and miniatures.  Commercial enough?

Suddenly, the remembrance of the birth of the God of the poor was owned by the rich; whereas the ghettos of Beirut and the whole of Lebanon are cramped with little children who can’t even spell gift. Frankly, those are the people who know the true meaning of Christmas since they’re not preoccupied with everything Christmas-related but the birthday boy.

Have we forgotten that the son of god is born in a stable, not a castle or a modern day villa? His gifts were humble myrrh and Frankincense not an IPOD or a cellular phone.

There is no ending for such a story, but I urge you to remember the reason behind this holiday. Say happy birthday to the one child who never really gets a gift. But perhaps this is where the story reaches its might; the birthday boy gives unconditionally and never asks for anything in return.

Aside from the lecturing, the Star Scene team and I would like to wish you a jolly holiday season.

Merry Christmas!

Ladies and gentlemen, we got it! On December 12th, the FIBA central board awarded four wild card entries to four biding countries. What is a wild card, you ask? The term wild card refers broadly to the entry of country to the championship as an invitation. Lebanon along with Lithuania, Germany, and Russia had that privilege.

Lebanon will be attending for the third consecutive time the FIBA basketball world cup. And To give you a taste of what exactly Lebanon accomplished, these are some of the countries we had to surpass in order to get the wild card: Great Britain, Nigeria, Korea, Cameroon …and many other top notch basketball teams.

So how did we get so lucky?

Luck certainly played a role, a small role compared to the tremendous efforts of Mr. Pierre Kakhia and the Lebanese National Federation. Yet the efforts of the FLB wouldn’t have caught fire if it wasn’t for Prime Minister Saad Hariri who personally lobbied Turkey and successfully convinced them to support Lebanon’s bid. And Since Turkey is the host nation; its recommendations played a big role in the FIBA’s decision.

A combined Lebanese effort indeed got us to Turkey, an accomplishment that will imprint Lebanon’s name in the hall of fame of international sports for decades to come. This is certainly an early Christmas present for the Lebanese people and basketball fans.

P.S. Be sure to watch the draw for the world cup that will be held in Istanbul on December 15th at 10:30AM (CET)

By Rakan Diab

It’s a well known historic and scientifically proven fact that laughter is the best medicine. But trust me, if you watch “Fools” you might DIE from laughter!

Last night, I had the privilege of watching “Fools”; a play directed by Tony Kahoush with outstanding and surprisingly professional performances of the Jesus and Mary drama club.

“Fools” is a play about the town of Kulyenchicov and where centuries ago, the town was cursed to live in complete ignorance with I.Qs reaching record breaking low. Out of the Blue, a courageous and surely optimistic young teacher with the name of Leon (Maram Barakat) emerges as a savior and final hope of regaining intelligence. But the latter had an ulterior motive: Sophia (Elsa Saade), whom he initially came to teach, but cupid had others plans for this young lad, four letters that will pace his life forever love. Poetic, I know.

The play reaches its apex when Leon finds himself at a crossroad; either to leave the town and with it his one and only shot of true love, or try to lift off the curse in no more than 24 hours. This might seem at first an easy discussion but here’s the catch, if he fails, his lifelong acquired knowledge will disappear  leaving the chap with the intelligence of a rotten piece of wood. Brains or Love?

From loosing sheep to naming flowers based on fish names, this play is hilarious. The lighting and the theater setting feeds the stupid purpose even more with extremely funny costumes made specifically for the fools of Kulyenchicov proving that their brilliance in Math and Philosophy go along with their sense of fashion. The play showcases the affect of society as a whole and its influence on the individual along with the influence from family and relatives.

The play will be performed again at American university of Beirut on the, 4th, and 5th of December. If you love a good laugh, I would certainly advise you to watch this play, but be careful, some say stupidity is infectious.

By Rakan Diab

To the reader of this article, a few simple words “Farmville is deceiving”. This ridiculously addicting Facebook game that I love, gave me the wrong impression about harvesting crops.

A click and you harvest….oh boy! How far from reality is that! Lucky for you, I’m here to uncover the hard truth.

This past weekend, my family and I went to our hometown Ain Ebel to harvest this season’s crop of olives. We started Saturday morning and quite frankly, I never knew that mornings could start this early!

I kicked out the Sandman to start my day and just to let you know, that guy is cranky at dawn. First things first,  I chugged down a humongous cup of coffee that could wake up a hibernating chipmunk in the middle of December and I was off.

Upon arriving, an amazing feeling of self satisfaction hit me. The land I was walking on was actually my family’s and I suddenly became so understanding of feudalism; I really don’t know why.

Anyways, after that the real work started, and the harvesting began, life became a little bit more difficult.
Long hours under the sun, sweating , getting dirt all over myself, receiving various cuts, and add to that numerous occasions of life threatening falls, yet I wouldn’t trade that for the world! I was working on my land.

Shocking! I know, I can’t believe I’m saying that either.

Several times during the day we were able to take breaks, and in those 15-minute lapses of work something amazing hit me. I didn’t think about my troubles for a second that day!

School work was the last thing on my mind and worrying was a thing of the past. As the strange aura of calmness suddenly took over me, I began enjoying the simple things in life. Whether it was the smooth breath of cold air or the amazing site of nature’s generosity; I was surely happy. Or it was simply a sun stroke. I really don’t know and I surely don’t care.

Here is what I brought back with me: nature would never turn you down, give it your best and it will return the favor. Take pride in working in it and most important don’t sell your ancestor’s legacy because it’s not just a piece of land, it’s your identity.

You could also find Rakan at Rakan@patriotismatitsbest.com

By Rakan Diab

Journalism 101: Make sure your information is factual. Journalism 102: credibility is fragile.

And who forgot these simple aspects of any journalism career? The beloved Oprah Winfrey.
In a promo clip for her upcoming episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” explaining how fans can be so fanatic sometimes in all parts of the world. Oprah described Nancy Ajram as “the Britney spears of the Middle East”. She also noted that her sexy dance moves  “caused quite the controversy in this deeply conservative country” along  with photos of veiled women sitting in the desert; two photos that have nothing to do with Lebanon but more to do with Afghanistan. And I’m pretty sure Ajram is Lebanese!

I guess someone and their research team did not do their homework.  Let me educate you a bit about this “conservative” country.  This year alone Beirut was named “World Book capital of the year” by UNESCO and was said to be the number one party city in the world. Some years ago, Sky Bar was named Number one bar in the world. And if that’s not liberal enough, just ask your fellow celebrities.

You could just ask Snoop Dog who actually performed in Lebanon and featured it in his video. You could ask The Pussycat Dolls (I don’t think these ladies would be allowed in a deeply conservative country) or Akon, or the large variety of international artists that performed in Lebanon this year.  But if you are still skeptical, just watch your local news.  CNN’s Cal Perry reported that Lebanon’s party scene is world class. BBC news described Beirut as “the most liberal and diverse city in the Middle East”.

One can’t help but think that Oprah attempted to distort the facts to fit the theme of the episode and to fit her lifelong image as the advocate for woman’s rights; defending their causes and crusading for their liberation around the world. Now since we love Oprah we will act stupid and just say it was simply a mistake. An offensive one, if you ask me!

All in all dear Oprah, whether it’s the researcher’s mistake or yours, you have an obligation to your audience including us to set your facts straight and for that I invite you to visit and experience Lebanon. Maybe then you would know that Beirut is simply not Kabul.

P.S. I think you have an apology to make for Ajram too!

Check out the promo clip:

By Rakan Diab

On a Friday night, bored and not knowing what to do, my friends and I decided to head out to the movies to enjoy the 3D experience of Final Destination. There were 10 of us, and since it was almost sold out, we were left with front seats; a decision we would all regret later.

Before the movie started we went to get snacks and I got the classically humongous coke that no man in his right mind and body would finish. And so the 3D experience kicked off when the clerk distributed goofy 3D eyeglasses that are apparently in style in Jupiter. They looked childish but frankly their effect was “for mature only”.

All mayhem broke loose, panic spread and people got scared and started to scream. That was coupled with explosions, blood baths, heads flying over, and cars flying right at me; all seemed so real that I almost came to a point where I actually wiped the blood off my face!  Ducking was quite popular at the moment as well. But the girl next to me was so taken by the movie’s real action that she covered her eyes the whole time rather than…simply taking her glasses off.
So it wasn’t just the girl, I actually panicked; I even started writing my will right then and there. I sent messages to the people I love and asked god for forgiveness.Yes, I’m exaggerating!

Then, I looked down, saw my coke and I knew I had to accomplish something before I got stabbed or something! So I said to myself: I shall sip on this till I finish it!  I knew those moments were going to be my last, even if I had survived the first couple of explosions, I was sure that I was next. As you can imagine, I started to drink up.

In a matter of seconds I was done, and an amazing sense of accomplishment suddenly hit me, well… it was either that or the massive amount of sugar that entered my blood in record-breaking time.   I thought now I can “rest in pieces”.
Suddenly the movie was over, and to my surprise I was still in one piece. Where did all the explosions go? 3D.

The crowd started clapping for that truly was a great simulated-3D-near-death experience that we all happily survived. And yes I sprinted to the bathroom like I was running away from one of the car’s flying at me.

3D is worth your while!

By Rakan Diab

Ladies and gentlemen this just came in: Gangsters are invading Lebanon. They are taking over the scene and terrorizing our neighborhoods. Be aware!

Alright so now that I got you reading, I’m actually talking about gangsters but not the typical murderers and criminals who happen to know how to rap, but instead they seek to spread “the truth” and they are Lebanese gangster rappers. Born, raised and had an awful life, locally.

Not only do they rap about women, “bling”, fancy cars and money, but also they rap against poverty and drug dealers, speak out about war and peace, and criticize government corruption. You can tell they’re Lebanese.

They adopted the same style of the known gangster rap in their songs, nicknames, and even clothes. Some of the popular rap crews are “Erhab records”, “Modehame”, “Mafia Crew” and many others. Some of them have begun rapping and producing albums since 2001.

On September 24, Erhab records in association with Mafia Crew, held their first ever gangster rap concert in Lebanon at Electro Mechanique in Gemayzeh and fortunately for you, I was there. The tickets to the concert were only 5,000 L.L. and as the crew explained the price was reasonable so that anybody can afford to come.  I guess there are a couple of things they didn’t adopt.

The rap crews were fashionably late; let’s face it if they were on time they wouldn’t be Lebanese.

The crowd was excited to witness this new genre on the Lebanese local scene. They were also excited to experience music that actually spoke to them in some way. They found refuge in this music or perhaps the truth about experiences they all were living. To put it simply, some came to see their lives being narrated in music.

The band came on stage, the music became louder and what I saw was unexpected. The crowd simply went wild. They started singing along as if they heard these song a million times before, people were dancing and some even went on stage to rap with the guys. I think it was an electrifying performance; one can’t help but notice the power of their songs and its effect on their fans.  Music possesses an influential power and witnessing this “rapping power” was an eye-opener.

And for this I call upon you peaceful gangsters of Lebanon to use the power you now posses for the greater good of the community by spreading the word against drugs and violence and encouraging peaceful living and music.

Plus, we have it all for gangster rap to become popular; we have the “pimped out” yet rundown cars, the pretty girls and the talent…except for one thing: Cool names!