So apparently, a diamond is not forever

Here's a small tidbits in economics - the scarcer the good, the higher the price.

So technically emeralds should be higher in price than diamonds due to scarcity.

Enter De Beers and "a diamond is forever" campaign, which basically created the modern engagement ring in the process.

So basically, via marketing not economics, diamonds skyrocketed in value and price. Well, not anymore.

It seems diamond prices are in freefall, due to many reasons. The first is that lab grown diamonds are entering the market in full force. Considering a lot of diamonds have politically questionable origins, well, when you know your diamond is coming from a lab all ethical reservations seem to fall. Also, it seems millennials are diverting their spending more towards events and travel as opposed to jewelry and expensive objects. 

Sure, no one is talking that diamond trading giants are going bankrupt, but apparently prices are in such freefall that India, the place where 90% of diamonds are cut and polished is giving heavy signals for mines to decrease their productions. Also Alrosa and De Beers are both taking precautionary measures - the former stopping all sales, the latter allowing customers to refuse stones they were technically bound to buy.

Sure, if you take the Alrosa logic, you play with supply, ergo the demand will increase along with the price (mind you this brings us back to the beginning and to the fallacy of the price in itself had it not been for the De Beers marketing campaign). 

But hey, they'll always be a girl's best friend. Or a Shirley Bassey enduring gem.

Summer 2023: Is Lebanon back to its old shenanigans?

Portemilio resort ad from my archive

At a time when the salary of most people working in the public sector is now at 100 USD, when most people are "making do" and barely making it till the end of the month, Lebanon goes back to its old shenanigans - which ones? Wherever I go on the net, titles such as "Is Beirut back as the shopping capital of the Middle East?", "fully booked long hot summer awaits", and the list goes on.

Here's the deal: for a very very long time, the banking sector which has now totally collapsed taking with it people's money, along with the construction industry which has almost vanished at this point (every person no matter their background called himself - interestingly herself was almost non-inexistent - a "promotor"), and tourism were the backbone of what was holding the economy together.

And now, it seems that tourism is the only one left standing. 2010 was a booming summer in terms of tourism in Lebanon, people were flush wish cash, expats were returning in droves, Beirut was making it to the top of must-visit cities in the world and the list goes on. 2019 along with the crash it precipitated, followed by hard-hitting Covid in 2020-21 (and the 2020 explosion in Beirut), ushered the closure of around half a thousand HORECA (Hotels, restaurants and Cafes) establishments. 

This without counting the usual shopping places - I already spoke of Kaslik (here) and last time I went to the originally very vibrant Beirut Souks mall, only 7 stores in all the mall were open. The Librairie Antoine for example which occupied 3 floors closed down its branch there. Aishti - the nation's most luxurious shopping destination (with its flagship store in downtown Beirut one street away from Beirut Mall) - had to bankroll its own fixing after the 2020 explosion since (according to its CEO Toni Salame) banks were in not the mood to lend money to anyone. Do note, I am neither defending Beirut Mall or Aishti or slandering them - it is just that at some point, the area below the ring bridge became.... a ghost town for a long time.

And now what? Now we are back to promising people things. Now we are back to bathing them in dreams. Just to give a small example: suppose this is indeed a great summer for tourism, how will Mr. and Mrs. Average Lebanese profit from it? I know your thinking - "oh they will be hired in hotels or restaurants for the summer". Well, what's with the level of poverty, the presence of Syrian workers, the fierce competition for any salary, the ones who will accept the worst conditions will be recruited.

As it is, electricity bills have gone 10 fold to eye-wateringly obnoxious figures, it seems the internet will follow suit soon, and the list continues. All this without factoring the new "customs Dollar" which will push any imported product by about 10-15% in price. 

As a side note, the new price list to go to beach resorts has been published for the summer of 2023 - in Dollars mind you - and there you go, the prices do make you wonder how can anyone afford spending a day there. How people hope and cope is beyond me. There is zero logic to all this "positive vibes" being spread, unless of course it is "fake it till you make it". 

I was never part of the "fake it" crowd. And I am not joining for the summer 2023 season.

Car ads - remember those?

And then there was none! Remember when car ads used to be so rampant? All you needed was a bank willing to believe you were making 3 times your actual salary to give you a loan, a car (exclusive) dealership which was willing to cut the price of the old stock to make way for the new, and people wanting nothing but to impress one another by driving the latest model.

I know a company owner who told me (prior to the 2019 crisis) he needed to exchange his car yearly with the newest model, so that his competitors would never assume he is making a loss. But now of course, things have completely fallen apart. So fallen are they that well, even the second hand car dealerships seem to be sounding the alarm that many might be closing down.

Actually it was a perfect storm - not just the collapse of the banks and people no longer being able to touch their money, but also the high unemployment rate, the skyrocketing price of the fuel, the inability to pay by installments, and the list continues. 

At this point, car ads are a rarity. Last time I went to town, two ads for two different brands were running concurrently each on one unipole - this in itself was a statistical oddity. Bank ads, insurance companies, loans, car loans, ads for car brands are part of a distant past at this point. I know many think the country is doing great what's with everyone sharing images of bars and clubs filled to the brim, but the non-instagramable reality is still much harsher, much darker, and very grim.

We are fine in Lebanon, set our mind at ease about you.

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

In 2021, I wrote about the fact in Lebanon, problems shared are not problems halved (here).

But 2021 seems like a different life altogether even if problems were still going strong. Because now we got turbo-charged and the whole country seems completely adrift on all levels, specifically economical level - oh mind you, the fact that we have no president, a caretaker government and a parliament which is hanging by a thread seems like something "in the background of the photo". If you have not bought anything as of late, you might be excused not to understand, if you did, you might be excused to be too exhausted to lament.

Still, I often wonder - is a problem a problem? No matter the magnitude, the scale, the proportion? I keep hearing from people I know in the UK that tomatoes are no longer present on the shelves in shops. A friend in Brussels wrote about how people are renting a bed in a room for 750 Euros a month. Oh yes, and the French are up in arms because of what is supposed to be the retirement age going up from 62 to 64. And the list goes on.

Why am I writing this? I honestly don't know. I mean, a friend in Germany tried consoling me saying "oh just have a mug of hot chocolate" - until I linked him to the page of a local supermarket and translated the prices of the said hot chocolate options. His eyes popped.

I mean seriously, I am sure there are parts of the world where the situation is worse than Lebanon. Hey, even in Lebanon, you might say I am remnants of what used to be the middle the middle class (for an analysis of the middle class go here) meaning I still have means of survival when others do not (ergo, "why are you complaining?"). 

But again, it is like we are drowning in problems, yes, even the remnant of the middle class is. A person I know - who prior to the crisis was extremely affluent - had to forego his rented apartment and moved back to the villa of his parents and he has to readjust the basement floor to fit him, his wife, two children, mother in law while his mother and househelp where in the first floor - honestly I felt for the man as his wi-fi kept breaking in the basement as he called me as he does periodically and explaining to me that he is adjusting the screws of one of his children's beds.

This is where the "but there are people worse off than you" kicks in. Or - what someone told me lately - "Tarek the rich man is not the one who has the most but the one who needs the less". Well, I have always been frugal, I have always needed very few things. Then why is it that when going to the store it looked as if I robbed Fort Knox while leaving home? I was carrying a wad of cash so big it was embarrassing.

I am reminded of the wonderful satirical song by Khaled El Habr "we are fine in Gaza, set our mind at ease about you" (nahou bi kheir fi Gaza tamminou ankom). So, I guess we are fine in Lebanon, set our mind at ease about you.

The Lebanese crisis and the wedding industry

A vintage PVC cut-out illustration

If you were not living in Lebanon prior to the crisis, then you must have missed the weddings. Someone I knew who was getting married tried to explain to me the expenses then she just sighed and said "ca facture!" (it adds up!). The average price of a wedding in Lebanon prior to the crisis was in the order of 60,000 USD - about 40% covered by people pitching in to the newlyweds "marriage account" which would be at an Alpha Bank and clearly referenced in the wedding invite. The rest would be forked by (mainly) the wife-to-be's family. 

The of course came the honeymoon. For those less fortunate, it would be Turkey and for those wishing to do it on a higher level, then Thailand/Bali would be a good bet. A 300-400 guest wedding was par the course, and anyone who is anyone labelled themselves a "wedding planner".

But those were the days.

I live in  a Christian village and in the last 3 months there was about 4 weddings in my street - they ranged from a mother putting her daughter in a car and then going to the church, to one where "jeha w ahl bayto" (a local expression that means "just the family is enough") to one where there was not even the usual pre-marriage party. Mind you, funnily, in Lebanon there is a pre-wedding party where the groom-to-be crashes the bride-to-be's party and midnight (usually his own party starts a bit earlier) and they end up partying together. 

Interestingly, Lebanon being the hybrid mash of "things", there would also be pre-crisis a fad of "bachelor" parties when technically, the pre-wedding party was the bachelor party (funnily, someone I know said his soon-to-be wife was present at his bachelor party to make sure nothing hanky panky happened).

So basically, now that the whole brou-ha-ha and the let's-invite-everyone (seriously, a Lebanese blogger once wrote that one of the marriage questions "every couple asks" is "do we invite the company driver?") factors have been taken away. There is a new wedding industry coming up from the ashes - a non-industry of sorts. One where things are stripped down, the one where two people want to really, really, get married and become a couple and ultimately a family. Actually, all this joins my earlier advocation for a redefinition of the middle class in Lebanon (here).

And Alpha bank wedding accounts be damned.

Oh and by the way, please enjoy below a selection of marriage-related ads from days gone by...

Burger King: The combo offer that is an inflation indicator

OK, it has been ages since I have been to any Burger King branch. Just to be clear, it is not their fault, it is me with my super minimal outing - though thrice vaccinated am still trying to limit where I go.

So, Burger King has an offer - a combo meal for 50,000 LBP.

Here's what their facebook page says about "The Prince Meal":

"Let’s tell you more about it, it’s exactly like its father the Big King XXL.

Flame Grilled, 100% Beef Patty, crispy lettuce, fresh onion, pickles, cheese slice and the famous Bing King sauce!

Available in chicken option as well."

Naturally, the interesting part is that now 50,000 is the new price for a combo. Now this is noteworthy because right before October 2019 when all hell broke lose and inflation starting increasing (before exploding completely) a combo (close to this one I presume!) was offered at 10,500 LBP (see here). So this means that between September 2019 and February 2022, the price of a combo has gone fivefold.

I think this in itself is a clear indicator where we are now in Lebanon.

Labor Day: Am I unemployed? It's complicated.

Source

So yesterday was Labor Day, which begged the question: What am I to celebrate? Am I - gulp - unemployed? Actually, it's complicated. Sometime in 2006 I was working as an advisor to a professor at a very reputed university in Lebanon, the professor in question looked at me and said "you know you are on your way to become unemployable. Not unemployed, unemployable" - and of course she saw what I did not see myself at the time - I was swiftly disentangling from the classical "work". You know, the one everyone moans about - inside companies, on a very strict timetable, etc, etc... What was I replacing it with however? Well, unbeknown to me, there was a different equation being set up.

When I shifted from regular (read "classical") work, I went on to morph to become more and more as a teacher and consultant. Sometimes I dabble in naming, logos, strategies, run of the mill conceptual copywriting, etc. Sure, if you are reading this you know me via my "public image" (the blog, maybe also the art), which was kept very aside from the main money-making business (many people suggested I entangle both but I still think this will not be "me" as I insist on keeping the two entities separate). 

Of course, in the meantime, I was stashing money on the side, but with Lebanon falling apart at the seams on all fronts - all the planning and very wise money-management all came to naught. All of last year, save for a two very small projects (one of them was supposed to be humongous but got killed by the Corona) there was nothing. The Hollywood film did not materialize, and the project in Oman died with the Sultan - both where supposed to be exceptionally lucrative.

Still, here we are this does not answer the question: Am I unemployed?

Well, to misquote Star Trek: "it's jobs, Jim, but not as we know it". So yes, I do not consider myself employed in the way people expect employment to be, and having left my teaching job in 2019 because it became more cost-effective to remain home, it does not mean I am out of the game (seriously, if you only know how many theses I am involved in behind-the-scenes you'd faint), but again: What works for me does not work for anyone else, am fine thank-you-very-much. So I indeed still employed but not in capacities that people associate "work" with. 

So I did celebrate Labor Day. Not that I did much though! Wait, isn't that the point?

Ramadan in Lebanon: The unatatinable milestones

Ramadan offer - the mousaharati tambourine!

Yes, I know, as adults, celebrations - from Christmas to New Year to Ramadan to Eid to birthdays to job starts - change in flavor. They decrease in intensity and lose their glow. My mother once had to remind me it was actually my birthday. If I am saying this at the beginning of Ramadan it is because in Lebanon, milestones seem unattainable. I mean Christmas was too lackluster, and New Year too negligible, and Valentine's and mother's day came without a whimper. Easter was lost in the melee, and - I read this recently - that a fatoush dish will cost 18,500 Liras to make, whereas the same dish cost 6000 in 2020, and 4500 in 2019. Actually a full Ramadan meal would cost 555,000 which is 85% of minimum wage. Try to multiply this by a full month of meals and expect your head not to explode.

Which is an additional reason for things to be on the low-down. Some people say it is best - as all religious festivities have been too commercialized and Ramadan is no exception. Apparently, people would find the real meaning in slimmed down rituals instead of the excess which marked the decades that passed. 

I have spoken enough about how Lebanon is facing a perfect storm where all elements are feeding on each other. To say we, as a population, are tired from all this is the understatement of the century. People tell me it is the same in Europe and all over the world? Really? Do people in Europe also have no access to their bank accounts and face a devaluation of their currency so acute it is even difficult to express? Anyhow, with Ramadan upon us, Ramadan Kareem for everyone celebrating it. Here's to another year - hopefully the next in better circumstances.

Dear Lebanese, believe it or not, this too shall pass.

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

Well, maybe it is best to begin saying I am not exactly an optimist by nature. If I say so, it is because this post implies a large dose of optimism. But in the last few days, as I was researching a new art series I was working on - OK fine, one of 72 new series am working on - I came across footage from the currency devaluation of 1986 and 1987, which funnily an economist said it was the benchmark of the Dollarization of the Lebanese economy which lead to this current catastrophe we are currently facing with banks.

Long story short to quote "Throw Away Your Television" by Red Hot Chilly Peppers "it's a repeat of a story told, it's a repeat and it's getting old". Save for some fashion changes (and the absence of large barricades courtesy of the next door Ministry of Interior), the footage told me that things have not changed that much. People manifesting, trying to break into exchange offices, beating and smashing the signs of said exchange offices with a lamppost that was snatched from the sidewalk (I can estimate it is Hamra opposite the Red Shoe near what was then the Modca Cafe). Oh and there were military people trying to secure the Central Bank while failing to reason with people (that the salary of these same army people was in itself slashed to pittance tells you about their own confusion).

Sounds familiar? (OK, fine, save for the humongous barricades)

It does, this is 2020 and its "thawra". The anger, the disbelief, the helplessness, but also the bonhomie and that idea that such acts can lead to change (they did not back then, and so far, based on 2020 I see no change either). So where's the optimism bit?

Here's it is. My late father was a government employee whose salary went to three quarters nothing, we were three children who arrived basically back to back (I was the youngest born in 1974), all of us at school, all of us growing up, all of us on hand me downs clothing, all of us with distinct personalities, but also all of us with birthdays (and homemade cakes), and loves (sometimes the same loves, and I would tell you to avoid that), and friends, and teenage years, and films (my first was Jacky Chan's "Sword of Honor" at Sagesse movie theatre).

So why am I telling you this?

Because things went on, and the crisis (crises) was (were) overcome. We managed to survive in very tight times. Sure, I am not preaching some happy-ending story to be made into a film (though it would be nice if Thimotee Chalamet played me), the point is: Even that very bleak time actually tended to end. Was it trying? Ask my parents and their ubiquitous daily Tranxene 5 mg or their chimney-smoking Marlboro (tehrib - smuggled). It would take them forever to kick both habits (OK, to save money they switched to the local Cedars cigarettes at some point though).

You still cannot see the upside of the situation, can you? I do not blame you, the situation is indeed bleak, but revisiting that footage, oddly, reminded me - not of an economy collapsing and savings squandered and day to day hardship - but rather of sunny summers, of cousins living in the upper floor, of outings to the CMC (Club Mountain Cubs) every night, of a blossoming teenage love and of songs played on Pax Radio (as music blasted heavily from the Arabic Jabal Loubnan station from the neighbors' own boombox).

Yes, after a while, what seemed like heavy burdens appropriate for your age tend to ease up, which for me back then centered around a horrible math teacher (no wonder we tend to look at the past with rose-tinted spectacles). So, in several years, the deadly pandemic coupled with an economic crash and a major fear of losing our money stuck in the bank and the wonder if I will be able to secure my mother's medicine, all this will vanish.

And this too shall pass.

AUB: To have WHAT more abundantly?

La lil 10% la lil imperyaliye
(Artwork by Tarek Chemaly from the series Abou Fouad)

Well, the AUB motto is (and it is etched in marble on its main gate): "So that they may have life, and have it more abundantly"... The title of this post comes from an article in the sadly now dead Campus Newspaper when there was an open clash between the students and the Internal Security Forces (circa 1994) at the AUB grounds due to tuition hike. Yesterday the same scenario happened it seems. This time the clash was with the riot police.

Like everything, there was the students' version (inflammatory in tone), the AUB version (completely antagonistic and exonerating to the University), the armed forces version (no official statement), and the truth. Do note that 800 AUB employees were sacked not long ago, although some of the said employees did go back voluntarily after the August 4 explosion to help with the massive scale of the hurt people (without pay mind you).

This being Lebanon one cannot isolate problems, the devaluation of the currency, while some bits of the economy still work on the 1515 Liras peg while others are dealing with the banks' 3900 and others with the black market rate of more than 8000 makes it a total Capernaum. That the economy is not just teetering at the edge of the abyss but rather being in the total abyss makes any decision - even if financial survival depended on it - very politically tricky, and no doubt, want it or not AUB is politically connected on all levels (see here and here).

To be clear though, although AUB is my Alma Mater, I am - apart from giving the occasional lecture there based on kind invitations - very far removed from the atmosphere. But what is certainly true is that - with MEA only accepting fresh Dollars for their tickets - the point of no return has been reached in Lebanon. 

Interestingly one of the most famous protest slogans "la lil 10% la lil imperyaliye" comes from the famous semester long the AUB students held in 1974. No for the 10% no for imperialism....

Second hand: Is there a paradigm shift in Lebanese shopping?

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

Are the Lebanese finally changing their consumption habits? Signs are exposing cracks in that picture perfect way the Lebanese liked to portray themselves. A middle class that just spent four days in Turkey, got clothes there on the cheap, and eats at McDonald's while eyeing the new Zara collection as they drive in a Nissan they pay on monthly installments.

For several years, I used to dress exclusively from Souk El Ahad, or the low-income Sunday market (which actually was held on Saturday and Sunday hence the misnomer) - and where I would get second hand clothes. I usually went with a French friend, his girlfriend and his brother. It was really wonderful to get things at such discounted prices. Sometimes we would strike gold, like that Dries Van Noten shirt, and other times it was the thrill of discovery. When I moved from Beirut in September 2010, almost all the clothes in question were donated.

But to many, the idea of buying second hand was a total taboo. Which is why my praise for Depot Vente is still enormous, as Nawal showed everyone that second hand meant rarities, one of a kind, and things that fast fashion stores could not compete with (read here). Whereas not second hand, if you aim for deadstock material (which is not new either), you might want to check Vntg Smtng for their pristine stock of sporty goods (their Iril polos are to die for). But now, with Zara increasing its prices to match the black market price of the Dollar, with many such stores changing prices almost daily (read here), and others quitting the game entirely (Adidas is exiting the market at the end of the year), something has shifted deeply in the remnants of the Lebanese middle class.

The explosion of August 4 only made things worse in the sense that suddenly everyone, from all socio-economic classes were affected (read here). Garage Souk which dubs itself a community financial empowerment tool to buy/sell/earn/learn/swap/thrift has been gaining momentum. It is supposed to empower women and students and get them extra income. But not only this, thrift stores (more like pêle-mêle vide greniers) have been mushrooming all over Instagram with mostly girls and women selling barely worn items from their closets - mostly fast fashion clothing and accessories - at discounted prices. But even higher end online stores exist - some with physical footprints not just virtual accounts (Preporter Luxury, Chic Beirut, or Garage Luxe).

The idea of second hand, with current prices soaring and imports estimated to have declined 90%, previously owned items (barely worn, back when people would buy, show off, and discard) suddenly seem a viable option. Am not saying people will go to Souk El Ahad yet, but many taboos seem to have fallen.

In Lebanon, what back to school?

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

In certain countries, the back to school spending is one of the biggest non-holiday spending times. In Lebanon a little less so, but still, between books (often imported), clothes (often dictated and issued by school), stationary, and the ever increasing tuition, the money spent is gob-smacking. Am thinking mostly of non-governmental schools. For those attending government schools, the task is a little easier, but not by much. Usually these schools are frequented by a lower socio-economic class to whom the symbolic tuition and books make - proportionately - almost the same percentage of spending as those in the non-governmental ones. Do note, this is by no means stereotyping, because a good student is a good one, and a student wanting to learn will find a way to learn.

But between spiking Coronavirus rates, between the schools that vanished in the Beirut explosion (am hearing 130 schools), between the local currency that lost 80% of its value, between parents who either completely lost their job or are working for a meager pay or one which now means peanuts, I wonder what back to school season do we talk about? To go on, continue, and still be productive, is a colossal challenge in Lebanon. And sometimes, no, we do not have that energy.

Lebanese banker Marwan Kheireddine, who bought Jennifer Lawrence penthouse gets backlash in NY.

 

Lebanese banker Marwan Kheireddine, who bought Jennifer Lawrence penthouse gets backlash in NY. The penthouse, at 9,9 Million Dollars comes at a time when Lebanese people are unable to retrieve their money from the bank. Already local faith in banks is at its lowest with people moving to cash rather than savings. Kheireddine's house is but another example as to why. "With the blood, sweat and tears of the Lebanese people" as the pinned flyer attests.

Advertising revenue is down 90% in Lebanon

At the beginning of the year, trusted media and advertising personality Naji Boulos forecasted that the 2020 expenditure in Lebanon was going to be 100 million Dollars or 25 Dollars roughly per person. How wrong he was.... In a private chat with him he estimated the figure will be around 20 million by the end of the year. COVID, lockdown, inflation, devaluation, capital controls, all played a part - add to that the digital migration of advertising (seriously, why would anyone use OOH anymore? I explained that here). Agencies estimate that the revenue is down 90% now that we passed mid-year. Numbers are unlikely to get better or increase with the impeding factors here to stay. 

FabricAID the timely initiative in Lebanon.

I am not someone prone to easy superlatives, but without any doubt the crisis currently hitting Lebanon and affecting people so totally drastically is one for the books (notice I did not say "unprecedented"). Still, if this is not the time to stand by one another, then I wonder when is? FabricAID is a great initiative, which gathers clothes and resells them at an abysmally low price to people in need.we all have pieces. We lost or gained weight, we made impulse buys, we grabbed something as a retail therapy and the list continues.... The FabricAID bins are strategically placed and as their ad says "little can become a lot".... Visit their site here.

The history of Lebanon: Simulacra and simulation. (Official release)

Watch HERE:

Based on the philosophical treatise by Jean Baudrillard. This art project is an attempt to retrace the history of Lebanon through signs and signifiers.

Simulacra are defined as copies that depict things that either had no original, or that no longer have an original, whereas simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time.

Lebanon has not had a common official history book since before the war, students still study in archaic books that end somewhere around 1972. The reason for that is simple, since history is not the real version of the events but simply the narrative dictated by the winner, and since there was no clear winner of the Lebanese war at the abrupt end of it, then the saying by Bill Farrell - the late New York Times reporter in Lebanon - "there's no truth in Beirut, only versions" still holds.

To make things worse, the same political families which ruled Lebanon during the war, are still there and refusing to look at their past and be able to understand what they did wrong or assess their legacies in the bloody events. Still, all is not lost, for - no matter in which shelter one was in the Lebanese war - we were all listening to the same ads, jingles, watching the same soap operas, using the same products, going to (different) cinemas which were showing the same movies, enjoying the same heartthrobs - be they in roman photo (translated Italian photoromanze) or singing sensations, and the list goes on.

Only the signs and signals of pop culture of Lebanon will be able to join us when "politics" divides us. Politics stems from the two Greek words, "polis" and "ethos" - polis or the "heart of the fortress" and ethos which means ethics. So the original meaning of the word meant "the ethics of living in a community" and if that had to go through advertising jingles, then so be it. 

The project aims to use pop culture, in terms of symbols, names, catchphrases as a way to unify the Lebanese around the same concepts and ideas, and using the said elements as emotional triggers to help preserve memories both personal and collective.

Baudrillard has said about the iconoclasts: "One can live with the idea of distorted truth. But their metaphysical despair came from the idea that the image didn't conceal anything at all". Should this be true then the images of this project do not conceal anything either.

The project is composed of "episodes" each being a video art 13,5 seconds long, with each video containing 9 high resolution related images (thematically, geographically or time wise) with a total time of 120 minutes. Along with a two-hour long soundtrack which explores the Lebanese collective memory in terms of audio rarities and songs (specifically related to the war era).

SMS Money counter - a solution to a new problem

Well, here is your solution to when counting large amounts of money - presumably Lebanese currency. Because if you were that awash in cash you'd probably not be Lebanese or at least average Lebanese. But again, exchange offices aside Lebanese are buying mini safes and perhaps counters as well since trust in banks are minimal and everyone is keeping stashes if cash if late in safe places at home. There you go, new problem? Improvised solution!

On the price of things in Lebanon

With the Dollar exchange price varying daily here are some cases I witnessed:

A store owner I know is opening his shop haphazardly with no fixed hours because the price of the merchandise is increasing constantly.

Another store owner who is seeing things fly off the shelf knows it is because she priced the goods at 2600 Liras to the Dollar and openly warned her customers this was not a sustainable strategy. She privately told me "sales are through the roof but [monetary] gain is "batata" (potatoes)".

An apartment owner prefers to keep his apartment empty rather than rent it and lose value in the short-middle run.

Another just rented his at the old rate of 1500 Liras because he fears an empty apartment will not be looked after.

International chains such as Zara are increasing their prices accordingly for their new collections.

Others such as Adidas are exiting the market (at the end of the year).

Another children clothing chain labeled its goods from A to Z each with an increasing price point. Interestingly, only labels G and above existed in the store.

Barter is starting to become acceptable as a strategy between people though the practice not taking off yet.

In the example above (in the photo) a high end sports store is offering a new model at 1,145,000 the comments - now deleted - include:

"Does it come with a passport?"

"The price includes registration at the Department of Motor Vehicles?" 

"Are kidneys accepted?"

"When I will buy it I will give it and ID card, send it to school, right? Maybe give it a name, teach it how to drive...."

Whereas the comments run as jokes, it is obvious that there is no clear strategy as to how prices are being set. Suffice to say 60% of the butcheries in Lebanon closed down due to meat price becoming out of reach to the populace.

The plot thickens sadly, and the belts are tightened.

Lebanon made in China: Barbarians at the gate

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly based on a Chinese cultural Revolution porcelain statue

Never a dull day. Right after news broke that talks between Lebanon and the IMF broke down, it transpired that China is interested in our electricity company and railway system - or what's left of both. Before anyone goes about the Chinese human right abuses, those enamored with Saudi Arabia, Iran or the United States (the three most popular allegiances excluding Germany-Brasil in football) should do some basic checks. 

A Lebanese saying goes "min ma akhad emme sar 3amme" - whomever marries my mother becomes my stepfather. And well, seems the Chinese will become Mao stepfather. It is really a deus ex Machina situation saving the situation in extremis. But hey, the Chinese are certainly not doing it for the meager money that will come out of our electricity taxes or our now defunct trains. 

As I said, never a dull moment in Lebanon. Am sure the IMF is baffled.

黎巴嫩中国制造 - that's "Lebanon made in China" for you.

On the joys of being a juror at an ad festival

The PHNX festival just closed its jury grading window. I must have graded more than 2500 ads.

The PHNX was a bit of an anomaly though: Being free to enter some people plugged their portfolios to the cringing reaction of the jurors, there was an incredible mismatch in the categories which also sent the jurors over the edge, and many entries were not eligible due to their broadcast date being earlier than was stipulated.

To be a juror means either you are a masochist or you have enormous dedication. Remember, you need to finish the category you started because either your vote will not be counted or you will skew the average if you do not fulfill the whole category. With around 250 entries per category on average this becomes a drudgery.

Yet, again, in my case not only passion but dedication is there. For the PHNX, I was given a full day head start in judging because I am incredibly fast at doing so (when I used to teach at university level I immediately knew if I liked the creative idea the student was presenting or not), and because I was able to pinpoint technical errors and immediately report them.

Just to clear though, the PHNX which was a one time only festival and the Epica Awards where I have been judging since 2016 are no walk in the park. Both online and as a physical juror. When you sit about 16 hours in the same room putting grade after grade, or when you do that at home doing the same amounts to pseudo-insanity. The problem? An ad which is a total disaster in the film category actually has a great use of sound, one with a horrible activation strategy is excellent in its branding, hence the need to be alert as to what category you are judging and to combat mental fatigue.

Another issue? Peer pressure.

Many ads fellow jurors fell in love with left me incredibly cold. At times I would throw another glance at the ad in question only to say - "nope it still leaves me cold". It really takes a lot to make me change my mind. But again, you need to really hang on to your opinion and not say "Oh so-and-so-head-of-agency-liked-it-so-must-I". You have your opinion and head-of--agency has theirs.

Of course, one also needs to be fair. Normally as a juror you are denied voting on work from your own country. But work for the Lebanese market is often presented from Dubai so I end up judging it - often poorly - without playing favoritism.

With all its folly, the excitement of finding the next great ad overcomes all the insanity and frustration. And this alone is a tremendous joy!