Picture Borrowed from http://bit.ly/iJYZmT

My Internet connection recently stopped working at home. It was in the afternoon when it happened; so I left the house hoping it was a routine problem from the ISP and it will be fixed by the time I returned.

I returned late that night and it was still down, so I had no choice but to call the 24/7 customer service hotline they are so proud of. Here is what happened.

(KB = Me; ISP = Customer Service Hotline Staff Member) The conversation took place in Arabic.

*ring ring*

*phone is picked up* (I hear a squeaking chair sound, as if someone has jumped from his/her seat)

ISP: Hello (his voice clearly indicates he has just woken up)

KB: Hello, my internet is down and it has been down since this afternoon.

ISP: Aha, aha ok..please hold for one second.

KB: Sure.

(I hear sound of phone being put on the table)

*holds*

*holds*

*holds*

(I hear complete silence)

I stayed on the line for 6 minutes

KB: Hello? Hello? Anyone there?

Picture Borrowed from http://bit.ly/wlcERX

I hang up.

I call again and the line is busy; I tried calling for 20 minutes and the line was busy. The only logical explanation to me is that the guy fell asleep again and left the line open!

I have never had proper assistance from my ISP’s customer service hotline, it was either they don’t pick up or they can’t do anything about the problem or in this case they pick up and fall asleep while I hold.

Thank you ISP, please consider hiring 2 staff members during the night shift.

Picture Borrowed from http://bit.ly/xXgPSo

Here I am, as you can see my face is not visible. The plan was to be just an iPad floating around, hope it worked.

And the night begun…

Wednesday from The Addams Family was my date for the evening!

Winnie was fun to meet! He came with Barney.

Bill from Kill Bill kept threatening to cut the iPad in half with his samurai sword throughout the night.

The Queen of Hearts and V from "V from Vendetta" were very cool to hang out with!

This Bavarian Lady is as fun as she seems to be!

Matilda from "Leon" was scary to be with you'll see Leon in a bit!

A Japanese Geisha was there too!

Here he is, this is Leon to my right and Almaza Beer to my left (that's what she claims to be at least).

I ran into Angry Monkey as we were taking a walk in Gemayzeh.

Army Woman was weird to meet, luckily she had her body guard with her at all times, too many wackos that night!

The Chef made me a sandwich to recharge my battery!

Gelsomina from "La Strada" came all the way to Beirut just to party with us that night! She wasn't very happy though...

Group Photo before we went home: (Left to Right) Wednesday, Almaza Beer, Some Sort of Weird Bird, Leon, Matilda, Geisha & iPad

That was about it, we had fun, I enjoyed my iPad costume, we met some nice people, and went back home. Happy Halloween everyone!

Happy Halloween!

!توافق، تعايش، وحدة وطنية

Ironic advertisement I spotted a few minutes outside Beirut. I wonder how they ended up together like that.

]]> http://karimbekdache.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/lebanon-on-a-cheesy-scale/feed/ 0 karimbekdache Ironic Advertisement http://karimbekdache.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/to-the-cast-crew-of-the-baghdad-monologue/ http://karimbekdache.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/to-the-cast-crew-of-the-baghdad-monologue/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:13:15 +0000 karimbekdache http://karimbekdache.wordpress.com/?p=226 ]]> It is Tuesday, April 5, 2011 and it’s almost 6:00 pm and almost time for us to open the doors for the audience to enter. I wrote something for the cast and crew who worked with me on the play and made it possible.

I just called everyone to the stage and I’m asking them to read this post before I publish it.

That's Almost Everyone. Our Team Consisted of Around 15 People

Dear

Imane: I am sorry I could not help you in your play as much as you helped me. I will never forget how much time and effort you put into this play, whether it is painting the leaves, going “yalla, yalla saret 7:30″, or organizing so many things for us to work faster! I wouldn’t have dreamed of a better Technical Director.

Maha: I laughed when I wrote your name. I guess it’s because how much fun it was with you being around no matter how much work we had to do; you always seemed to have a way to make us all laugh, and frankly that’s something AMAZING especially when you’re the Stage Manager.

Toulyn: You joined the team as a stage manager at a later stage and you were the element that was lacking in our crew! You were always ready to help in anything even if it wasn’t your job! I love that about you! I don’t know how to thank you!

Hussein: You did more than just designing and EXECUTING a beautiful set! You have been there for me and the play since the beginning and you did it for so many reasons but mainly because you are so passionate about theatre. I know that you will succeed in this domain and that very soon you will be realizing your dream, I know that for a fact!

Layal: I am proud to have you design the lights. It is the first time you’re doing this and I’m sure that people will not believe me when I tell them that this is your first official lighting design work! You did a marvelous job and it added SO much to the play!

Rayssa: Happy birthday! You weren’t my sound designer in the play (event though the music you chose was amazing), no you were a true friend. Someone who will always be there for me and to whom I will always be there for. (I hope I used the “whom” correctly, as if you’d know ) Oh and your tweets meant so much to me, for so many reasons and you know them all.

Gassig: I’m glad we agreed on the costume at the end, it was the perfect one. I told you this before and I want to say it again: just knowing that you’re around in rehearsals or that you’re just a “whatsapp” message away made me feel relieved and kept me going. Thank you for everything you did this past month! Oh and…actually never mind .

Mazen: My last minute make-up designer! Thanks for helping out at the last minute. I couldn’t imagine the play being complete without you having your crazy fits at some point! Thanks.

Dounia: Those people outside are here because of your design. You did an awesome job! I don’t know anyone who would design a poster for a play better than you! Thank you so much! Especially for being patient with all the changes made! The program isn’t ready yet but I’m not worried at all, I know it’ll be as good as the poster.

Camelia: The minute you found out I started working on the play you came to me and said “I want to help! What do you need?” It’s not easy to do the publicity of a play, but you did it; and you did it perfectly, I knew I could trust you with anything. After all you ARE my first “rencontre” at LAU!!

Ali: Everyone loves to work with you because you are “3ayesha” as we were discussing a few days ago. I hope you never loose that, it shows how passionate you are in what you do. Thank you for everything that you have done, LAU’s favorite light operator.

Majed: You’re a pro when it comes to sound operating. Some might say it doesn’t require a lot but I’ve been in your position many times and I know how much concentration it requires. And I know how boring it could get when you’re not doing anything up in the control room but you have to stay because they’re fixing something on stage. Believe me that I tried to speed things up as much as I could while working just so you guys in the control room don’t feel what I feel when I’m operating the sound or lights! I’m sure it didn’t work though

Mohammad, Thea and Mohammad: My stage hands! Without you, the play would not be the same! Sitting on the catwalk is not comfortable, thanks for enduring that! I’ll do that in your plays if you need me to I promise!

Fuad: Where do I start? I’m not even going to bother counting the things you helped with in this production! You helped in everything! I don’t know what to write, I really don’t know. Actually, I don’t know how to thank you for everything you have done this past month and I don’t think I’ll ever do. One day I will try my best to buy you the Kinder factory perhaps, or try to help you direct 2 plays a year, one feature film every two years and 1 short film every two months or all of those together! Oh and starting that egg project we were thinking of! I don’t know, it doesn’t matter because all of that might never be accomplished but know that I will always be there to help you in anything, no matter how irrational it may sound, we’ll try to make it come true!

Fuad Halwani who plays Kamil's Father (right) and I (left) during one of the rehearsals in our beloved room G013.

On another note, what’s great is that I had NO ONE to show this to before Tuesday since all of my closest friends and the people I love the most were working with me in the play!

Anyways, I guess it’s time, Fuad please click the “publish” button on the right and let’s open the doors.

Poster of the production designed by Dounia Nassar

Enjoy YOUR performance! You made it happen!

Thank you everyone,

Karim

The poster was designed by Dounia Nassar. (Click To Enlarge)

It is the first time I direct a play. I have worked in many theatre productions before and in different positions, but this is the first time I direct a play! It’s exciting and I’m enjoying it.

The Team During Rehearsals. Unfortunately we don't get to rehearse in the theatre before the 5 day period right before the performance (what we call "The Get In") because so many plays are being staged this semester.

As communication arts students at the Lebanese American University (LAU) each of us has to direct a one act play as part of the Play Production I course we take in our second or third year; and I chose “The Baghdad Monologue”. It’s not as easy as it seemed but we’re working well and hopefully we’ll have a beautiful performance, I have an amazing team helping me out.

Fuad Halwani is acting in the play. I'm glad he's acting with me, he has acted in so many plays before and has a lot of experience. He's also a good friend.

The play discusses the war in Iraq from a media perspective, told by an Iraqi father who has lost his son. It is written by Alejandro Viñao, an Argentinean playwright and will be staged on April 5, 2011 at 6:00 PM in LAU’s Irwin Theatre for one night only.

Here is the list of cast and crew:

Cast

Fuad Halwani

Crew

Technical Director: Imane Khozam
Stage Managers: Maha Bracks & Toulyn Lababidi
Set Designer: Hussein Nakhal
Lighting Designer: Layal Kreidieh
Sound Designer: Rayssa Kanso
Costumes & Make-up Designers: Sarag Payelian & Gassig
Karamanougian
Poster Designer: Dounia Nassar
Publicity Manager: Camelia Arab
Director: Karim Bekdache

Facebook Event: http://bit.ly/tbmlau

Click To Enlarge

I was in that bathroom (above) a few days ago at this very good restaurant in Beirut. The toilet seems a bit dirty and might get you not to try the food, well it kind of is dirty but the food is truly great and clean, I tend to ignore the dirtiness of the bathroom.

But what I really can never ignore is the sign above the toilet. Check the picture below for a closer look.

Click To Enlarge

The sign says “Don’t throwd tissues n d toilet bowl!!!”

To figure it out just replace “throwd” with “throw”, “n” with “in”, “d” with “the”, and “bowl” with *empty space* (toilet bowl is a technical word used to describe the lower part of the toilet…truly unnecessary and out of place in this extremely misspelled sentence). The sign should translate into “Don’t throw tissues in the toilet!!!”

It really wouldn’t be hard for them to ask someone who speaks english to write it! The place is always filled with university students and tourists!

Picture borrowed from http://bit.ly/h7djSE

I recently learned something about restaurants/pubs/cafes… in Lebanon. There’s this system which most restaurants/cafes/pubs… use with their waiters and waitresses when it comes to tips.

What happens is that each waiter/waitress has to pay the restaurant a certain percentage of the bill of the table he/she is serving (usually between 2% and 5%) no matter how much the people at that table leave as tips. If a customer chose not to leave a tip for the waiter/waitress, he/she still has to pay that part of the bill; whereas if a customer leaves the average 10% to 15% tip, the waiter/waitress is safe and doesn’t have to pay out of his/her own money.

Now I don’t really know if this is something you’ve heard of and/or that everybody knows but it’s the first time I hear about it. Anyways, consider this post as a reminder for us to always leave a generous and reasonable tip wherever we go, also because some waiters/waitresses really do rely just on the tips they earn.

Enjoy your outings!

Photo taken by @gassig and her iPhone (I hope you're satisfied with the caption!)

For those who don’t read arabic, the arabic text should translate to “Imported Red Apples” but this supermarket decided to use “Red Apple Delicious” instead.

Not only did they write a very weird phrase but they translated the word “Moustawrad” (which means imported in arabic) to english and came up with “Delicious”!

Are they also implying that anything imported is delicious? Better? I don’t think so… I guess it’s just a silly mistake, a big one actually.

But nevertheless ALWAYS support LEBANESE goods! Especially our apples! We’re famous for that!

Delicious, imported..who cares!

Professor: Do you need extra credit on your average?

Class: Yes!

Professor: Men, grow a mustache; Women, apply “henna” on your entire hand.

This project is an autoethnographic experiment.

Auto-ethnography is defined as a form of autobiographical personal narrative that explores the writer’s experience of life. In auto-ethnography the researcher becomes the primary participant/subject of the research in the process of writing personal stories and narratives.

Dr. Khaled Nasser (notice how HE has a mustache... coincidence? hmm?)

Here I am (right) Very Happy With My Normal Look

Here I'm Very Sad With My Silly Mustache..Counting the days till January 20!

LAU student Rayssa Kanso (www.twitter.com/rayssaka) is putting on her theatre production (The Gas Heart written by Tristan Tzara) on November 30, 2010 at 6:00 pm in Irwin Theatre at LAU’s Beirut Campus. Rehearsals started a few days ago and we’re still in the process of reading and writing.

I am currently in the rehearsals room and we just took a break after reading the text and discussing it a bit; I still don’t know what I do in the play whether I’m acting or helping out backstage but I’m enjoying the rehearsals, the text is very interesting but also weird and pretty vague which is cool..we’re exploring it as much as we can so we can start with the blocking, characterization and so on in the coming two weeks..

Follow my tweets (www.twitter.com/karimbekdache) for updates about the rehearsals period as well as general info about the performance..Facebook event will be created soon..