1950s Lebanese Mafioso

A couple of days ago, I was watching Serpico, a 1973 (true story) movie starring Al Pacino.

Unlike other cops, Frank Serpico was a police officer who didn’t accept any kind of bribes. In fact, he was the first one to fight the organized bribe collection.

At some point, a police chief tells him (Frank Serpico) “This could be the biggest thing...since the Harry Gross case.”

And since I love searching for these stuff, I looked online for Harry Gross, and I found two New York Times articles:

•           The lonely death of a man who made a scandal
•           Harry Gross Is Suicide; Bookmaker in '51 Case

Harry Gross was a bookmaker convicted in running multimillion-dollar gambling operations, involving hundreds of corrupted policemen, some of them were convicted, and others resigned or dismissed.

He was also convicted in some drug operations, and beating his wife’s grandfather to death!

Why am I sharing this?

If you read the second article (Harry Gross is suicide; Bookmaker in ’51 Case) you can’t but notice that this historical/hysterical guy had a Lebanese partner called Najib Daoud!

And this is how we roll… since ever!

The Real Christmas Spirit

As soon as December starts, you start feeling the Christmas spirit all over the country.
Some of us enjoy checking the decorations everywhere, buying gifts for friends and family, special dinners...
That was the reason of my Christmas spirit a couple of years ago.
What gives me the true heartwarming feeling is something called 'Tournée Père Noêl' or Tour of Santa Clause.

Who does that?
There is a scout group in Jounieh called GSS (Groupement Social Scout).
This group is composed of multiple units and each of these units focuses on different topics. One of these units is called 'Unité Service Social' which takes care of a large number of poor families and old people all year long.
These families usually have some very specific cases:

• Very poor families.
• Orphans.
• Terrible parents.
• Old and disabled parents...

Other than providing provisions, medications and support for old people, and organizing a 3 months full-time summer camp for all the kids of these families, on the 24th of December, at 7h30pm, this unit has a very sacred mission to do. That would be the ‘Tournée Père Noêl’.


What is it all about?
They gather in Collège des Apôtres - Jounieh, split into multiple groups, which each of them has one Santa Clause, and a specific region to cover.
This tour consists of passing by all these families, dancing and caroling with the kids. Then Santa gives each kid a couple of well-chosen gifts, after listening to him/her singing a Christmas song, while others put a pack of provision in the kitchen, if exists.

Seeing these kids happy, and the parents/grandparents (or other family members) shedding tears silently makes me come back each and every year to take part of this tour.
Even though they have the most horrifying cases, I'm always amazed by their happiness and thankfulness.

What can you do?
If you feel like helping, you can help by either donating money, or any provision unit.
For more info, visit their Facebook page, and you'll find all the needed details for a heartwarming Christmas.
They need us to keep this going and growing.

The look that makes me come back
 (taken from the website of @Krikorianm)

Joining our Angel... Myriam

While the play came to an end, Saint John (@BigDaou) stood up in the middle of the stage for his final speech, said a few words and... Silence! he completely forgot the script.
I was sitting in front, trying to control my laugh, when I hear a sweet and very loud laugh next to me... And that was Myriam! :)

This last Sunday, my good old friend Joe and I were remembering this funny moment that happened years ago, saying how funny her laugh was, and how funny Myriam is, and we both looked forward for the upcoming scout Christmas evening (Veillée de Nôel).
The next day, Myriam went missing, and you know the rest...

Anyone who knew Myriam can't but mention her faith, her smile and her amazing laugh.
What gives her parents, family and friends a bit of consolation, is their confidence that she's next to her creator, smiling peacefuly from up there.
When checking the video below, you'll have an idea of the amount of faith this family have.

I've read lots of articles, blog posts and comments about this heinous crime for the past few days, and I thought I'd share an opinion
First, Myriam was not raped! SHE WAS NOT RAPED, she fought it until her last breath.
Take a minute to read Liliane's post! 
Second, concerning the report on Kalam Ennas, I was there when they recorded it, and it was just after knowing that the murderer used to be in the Syrian intelligence (which explains his cold blood) and that he might escape somehow! 
All what the family was saying is that they will act IF and only IF he gets released somehow.
If he gets released, not only we should act against him, but also against the whole cabinet, the officials and the president, and R.I.P. our government.
Third, this is no sectarian crime, and the family knows that. He's just a psychopath that should stay alone in a prison for the rest of his life.
Since everyone is thinking about keeping a pepper spray or a taser gun with them, it is important that we all join Myriam, the Achkar family, friends and Patriarch Bechara Rahi for a mass in Bkerki, tomorrow (Sunday) at 10h00 am to pray for Myriam and shout for justice. For more info check this facebook event.
Myriam, May your soul rest in peace, we will never forget you.

LONDON

After the success of the 'Missing Z Domination' campaign on Facebook and all related posts and comics, most of you knew that I was the winner of Zaatar w Zeit's competition, and the prize was a trip to London for 6 days + Hotel + Breakfast + Class A football game ticket!
First of all, a BIG thank you goes to Zaatar w Zeit for the beautiful prize and because everything was perfect there!

I can easily say that I went through all over London... Ok except China town.
From Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and London eye to London Bridge, Saint Paul's Cathedral and all around the amazing huge parks!
And since I was there on Halloween, I enjoyed the fully crowded streets of the Covent Garden, Oxford and Piccadilly circuses with all kind of scary/funny costumes, and I enjoyed the London Dungeon at it's best, plus a 5D laser ride!

And to make my visit perfect, I went to Stamford Bridge to watch the amazing Chelsea vs Arsenal game, that ended 5 - 3 (lucky me) for Arsenal unfortunately! (since I was a Blues fan back then... back to roots now ;) )

Enjoy the photos.

Welcome to Stamford Bridge

41,801 fans! Including me.

The breathtaking Saint Paul's Cathedral. 

No photos inside. Yeah right :P

And the protesters outside

Tower of London

London Bridge

Wellington Arch

Buckingham Palace (after the changing of the guards)

The Chimes of Big Ben at 12 o'clock.

The wonderful leaning Big Ben!

الحرية والعدالة لفلسطين - Next to Big Ben

London Eye :) with the Aquarium penguin

From up there!

Saint James' Park

Amy Winehouse.

Obama next to the president :P

El Führer with something stuck in his nose.

Bruce Willis. Amazing details.

Hyde Park

Kensington Palace gardens.

For landscape photographers, Hyde park and Saint James' park are the places to be, especially in autumn.

I got a small conclusion from this trip:

• London is a very beautiful, clean and organized city, and people there were very nice and respectful (when I was there at least). And just to mention, England doesn't have any independence day and was never occupied.
• Lebanon is a very beautiful, unclean and disorganized country, and people here are very arrogant and mean (for my last 25 years). And just to mention, Lebanon has many independence days, and was occupied by more then 5 countries.

If you find this conclusion logic, then good luck!

Monday Moaning: Ziad Rehbani

I was in Mojo – Hamra on Saturday watching “Georges Nehme and the band” (or “Band Jaze’e”).

These guys are amazing, and they master Ziad Rehbani’s songs!

While enjoying “Ya Zaman El Ta’ifiyi”, I realized that someone has to send the following letter to Ziad:

“Dear Mr. Ziad Rehbani,

Where are you?!

Seriously! You can’t just leave us!

We’re desperately waiting for one big classic concert! Just one more…

Sincerely,

All your fans”

Like Liliane said, choose any country you want for your next concert, and we’ll be there! But please do!

Check this YouTube video, it might make you feel better.

Monday Moaning: Embassies' rejections

It's been a while since my last post!
The reason is that I work in the IT industry, and I was rudely trying to meet my deadlines.
If you know about IT, you'd know that us and deadlines aren't best friends!

Each time I will have something to moan about, it will be posted on a Monday moaning euuh morning, to start your week happily! :P

This Monday moan is about most of the embassies that enjoy rejecting your application!
So, you apply online, get all the specified documents, and book an appointment.
You go there on time, take some photos, give some fingerprints, pay and leave.
After 10+ working days, they inform you about coming and picking up your result.
You open that envelop to find a big "REJECTED" .

Why?
You mentioned something in your application without signing a seperate paper about it.
Instead of calling and informing you about that missing document and giving you a couple of days to get it, they take your money and discard your submission. And to make it worse, you don't get any of your documents back!
They could've informed you about it before rejection and then, you'll only be the victim of your own crime.
All you can do now, is running from mayors to translators to studios to get all the documents again, pay again, and pray more!

I read once that the embassies make millions of dollars per year from applications rejections.... in each country.

How a Lebanese Conversation Starts

Each time, two Lebanese persons meet, this is how their conversation starts for around half an hour (and it gets on my nerves!):

 

P1: Hi

P2: Kifak?

P1: Mni7?

P2: Kello Tamem?

P1: Cava?

P2: meche l 7al?

P1: Bien?

P2: Good?

…

 

And it keeps going like this to cover all the “How are you” synonyms in all known languages until one of them surrenders (shame on him) and says:

‘Mni7 w enta?’

Common people! Listen to each other and try acting interested in knowing the answer!