the book.

Last Sunday, I launched the Our Man in Beirut book. The launch party was a huge success thanks to all the amazing people who showed up, my publishers at Turning Point Books, the great setting at Secteur 75 and the vodka offered by Russian Standard Lebanon which kept everyone chatting and mingling. I’ll write a ...

the impossibility of pride.

This was originally published on my blog, Our Man in Beirut. Sometimes it’s tough to figure out how you’re supposed to feel about being Lebanese. I got called unpatriotic for not getting behind the Vote for Jeita campaign. Apparently, I had to blindly support something purely on the basis that it was something everyone in ...

on the telly again.

Had a great time at Men El Ekhir with Pierre Rabbat and the panelists. Probably the best show on Lebanese TV.

the loneliness of the blackberry user.

I wrote a lil’ sutin’ over at keeward.com about how lonely it feels to be a Blackberry user these days. “When the world of Blackberry collapsed in October during a widespread 3 day service disruption, there was a hilarious tweet that went something along the lines: the worst part of the Blackberry outage is that I have to admit ...

something meaningful on a post-it.

    Write something pseudo-meaningful on a Post-It. Take a Hipstamatic photo of it. Post to Facebook.

music, books and the future of consumption.

I wrote a lil’ something over at the keeward website. I work at keeward as a media and publishing consultant, which means I get to work on lots of interesting projects and think about things like the future of digital creativity. “Living in Beirut has its advantages, the main one being 300 days of sunshine ...

nation blanding: hedonism and the underselling of beirut.

This post was originally published here.  There’s a video currently making the rounds, featuring an over-excited Richard Quest extolling the virtues of Lebanon’s hedonism and joie de vivre, while he prances around its handful of rooftop clubs dressed like that weird uncle in your family no one talks to, who hits on 16 year olds ...

interview in L’Officiel

So I got interviewed by L’Officiel Levant’s Medea Azouri about my blog and upcoming book. I tried to sound smart in French, but came off sounding mostly pretentious and slapable. Which is appropriately French, I guess.

the week of commenting dangerously.

The last week has been what you would call the opposite of a slow news week. It started off last Friday when a delusional terrorist (is there any other kind?) decided to take the lives of 68 innocent people in Oslo. The following day Amy Winehouse was found dead in her apartment at the age ...

life in beirut: public parks, dolph lundgren, greek mythology and misleading titles.

This post was originally published at Our Man in Beirut. Anyone who’s ever met me knows I’m pretty obsessive compulsive. I arrange everything in a neat grid system on my desk in what can only be described as a veritable orgy of parallels and perpendiculars. I fluff up the cushions on my couch the second ...

the fog of war.

This post was originally published at my blog, Our Man in Beirut. “Only the unknown frightens men. But once a man has faced the unknown, that terror becomes the known.” – Antoine De Saint-Exupery So it would seem we’re in for another few months of what foreign media outlets will inevitably euphemistically call turmoil. Last ...

I miss IKEA.

This was originally posted on my Our Man in Beirut blog. I’ve recently embarked on a quest to find the perfect coffee table. And when I say perfect, I mean an adequate coffee table that won’t require me to sell my right kidney to an Uzbek organ dealer to finance it. That sounds pretty simple, ...

buns of meal. a history of the hamburger in lebanon.

  This post was originally published at Our Man in Beirut. I’m not normally one for scathing restaurant reviews. Come to think of it, I’m not one for restaurant reviews of any kind. The truth is, contrarily to my approach to most things in life, I’m resolutely unadventurous when it comes to food. I stick ...

attack of the killer channel.

This load of drivel was originally posted over at Our Man in Beirut. So, it’s Thursday night and I’m flicking through the modicum of channels I have left on my TV. My friendly neighbourhood pirate cable provider, the one with three teeth I’ve mentioned before, has gone AWOL and he seems to have taken most ...

The Quest for the Holy Grill.

This post was originally published on my blog, Our Man in Beirut. Every office around shares a certain set of dynamics. For example, walk into any neon-lit place of corporate endeavor at 11am and you will find an army of morose humanoids stirring their second cup of coffee of the morning, staring blankly into the ...

Twelve Angry Lebanese.

This was originally posted on my  blog Our Man in Beirut. When I went to watch 12 Angry Lebanese – The Documentary on Sunday, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I’d read bits and pieces about the play, a version of the 1950s American play and film 12 Angry Men, and knew it vaguely ...

Attack of the Nostalgia Whore.

I was flicking through the first issue of Monocle Meditteraneo, a broadsheet-format edition of the eponymous magazine targeting bronzed loafers-without-socks Med types, when I came across a most vexing article. Some pompous Luddite took it upon himself to chastise his friends who send him thoughtful text messages whilst abroad for being lazy. Apparently a nice ...

Red-eye.

Visit the New York Times opinion page, where illustrator Christoph Niemann will expertly guide you through the many pitfalls and perverse pleasures of transatlantic air travel.

Get Married or Die Tryin’.

Here’s a post from my other blog, Our Man in Beirut. This was one of the more popular entries, since I think it tapped into something pretty universal in Lebanon and beyond. Plus it’s a neat wait for me to get you to go read through my other websites.

The wedding invites are piling up on the mantel piece. “Save the Date!” they shout out every day as I walk past them. It seems everyone and their mother is on the road to wedded bliss. I mean in one sense its normal. I’ve just turned 27, so it’s hardly surprising that friends around my age are tying the knot. But I’m sometimes alarmed by the absolute necessity which marriage seems to be in Lebanon.

I’m a guy, so it’s actually quite bearable for me. I get a few questions here and there about the existence or not of an unlucky lady in my life. But being a woman must be an absolute horror. Girls get molded into aspiring wives when they’re still potty-training. Two thirds of the female population grow into aggressive husband-hunters, whilst the rest actively reject this social imperative and try and delay things by a couple of years.