April 20, 2013 by Farrah Berrou - 0 comments

5 Conspiracy Theories You Never Think About

1. Movie Star Foreign Accents

You’re a celebrity who’s spent their life reading English scripts, you’ve been in an English speaking country for over 20 years of your life, and you still speak with a thick accent or improper grammar. Look, if my dad can talk like he grew up in Brooklyn when he’s actually from the Jnoob (South Lebanon) while only making rare mispronunciations with certain words due to his French high school education, then Salma Hayek and Jackie Chan can cut the bullshit. I’m so sure they speak with perfect accents but Salma knows it makes her sound sexy and Jackie – well, I can’t explain that one because it’s just annoying. The only person who should be allowed to get away with this is the Governator because it makes him the Governator.

2. The Hipster Loop

If everything’s too mainstream for you, you’re a hipster. So when hipster becomes mainstream, are you a hipster hipster? Or does it cancel out and you go back into the mainstream category? And if all hipsters don’t like anything mainstream doesn’t that effectively become a mainstream ideology? Therefore, there is no real hipster culture, just people in Converse, plaid pants, and black frames talking about quinoa tabbouli. Just eat the borghol.

3. Space Station Life

There has been talk about people living on space stations since…the 1980s? Let’s just say the 1980’s thanks to Kubrick to sound sophisticated. In reality, ever since you saw Zenon on Disney, you thought you could wear horrible neon styrofoam lined clothing and put tin foil in your hair. You could live in a floating watergun in space. By 2049, you’ll be dreaming about Earth’s simpler times, tracking down vintage Chuck Taylors, growing synthetic tomatoes in test tubes and humming Protozoa’s classic hit. It’s all lies. You’ll be doing exactly what you’re doing now and absolutely nothing would’ve changed except that everything is owned by Apple and Oprah.

4. Unfinished BIC Pens

Where do they go? In your academic and professional life, how many of these have you purchased? And out of that number how many have you actually finished and thrown away? Less than 2% – because you lose them. Or they’re borrowed and never returned (i.e. lent to friends and annoying peoplewho ask you for a pen before an exam as you unzip your pencilcase so you can’t say no). Or MAYBE there are BIC elves stealing them to extract the ink so they can make robotic jellyfish more realistic in espionage missions. Totally not far-fetched.

5. Google & Facebook Employees

…know your deepest darkest secrets. They have access to your entire life. They read your message threads, your gchat transcripts, and they know how many times (and how much time) you spend on each person’s profile. Since they’ve become such big corporations, there is at least one person from your graduating class that is or will be working for them and will, as a result, have the ability to own you for life. Even with confidentiality contracts that bind them and keep them silent, you will never know what they’re really asking when they ask “so how’ve you been?” “Oh, I’ve been fine.” “Yeah, I know.”

…Uhm, what?

April 19, 2013 by Farrah Berrou - 0 comments

Bambi’s Boxes, Part VI

New box found!

Location: Stradivarius, Le Mall Dbayeh

Concept: Air Mail framing of window with travel theme, suitcases held up by balloons with a vintage world map backdrop. It’s all very dreamy and whimsical – perfect for the upcoming summer season when everyone wants to pack their bags and get away.

Le Mall Dbayeh is my new favorite mall because it has all the stores for good twenty-something shopping and some great restaurants too. The fact that the ceiling is all glass plates makes it well-lit on good days so you don’t miss out on the beautiful weather while still being indoors. Another plus: vertical gardens on the entrance to the parking lot:

April 18, 2013 by Farrah Berrou - 0 comments

Lebanon’s Turn: Global Street Art with MOCAtv

As said in last week’s post, a series about street art in the region is being produced and Lebanon’s was released a few days ago. I haven’t even seen some of the pieces featured in the clip but I’m sure many will recognize the artists in there from their tags. Sadly, I think there is so much great work that didn’t get its proper dues but this is probably due to time constraints.

April 13, 2013 by Farrah Berrou - 3 Comments

Ma Tishrab w Tsouk by Ashekman

The Ashekman twins have painted the walls of Beirut once again – this time with a great message: “ma tishrab w tsouk” or “don’t drink and drive.” The very large piece of street art is located near Monot and Sodeco, along the same street as Falamanki and right after La Piazza. If you had noticed before, there were existing pieces of graffiti on this strip, some focusing on the same issue, before the Ashekman twins took it over with their striking orange/turquoise on black combo. As is their style, it’s a lovely example of Arabic typography (which is also used in the tshirt & sweatshirt designs sold at their store in Hamra).

Although already notorious for their work throughout the city, I feel this one is quite special because of it’s message. There is nothing original in what it is saying but it is vibrant enough that it will hit you when you see it – as it should because drunk driving is a preventable problem. This tag in specific was done for Kunhadi, an NGO focused on youth awareness for road safety. Too many people, many of them too young, have been victims of reckless driving. Based on the The Lebanon I Dream Of documentary from 2009, car accidents increase 13% annually leading to 700 deaths/year. Based on Blogbaladi via YASA (Youth Association for Safety Awareness), a 20% increase in accidents is expected for 2013. Drunk driving is one of the “accidents” we can avoid.

Click Me!

April 13, 2013 by Farrah Berrou - 0 comments

Bambi’s Boxes, Part V

There’s always something to see in Hamra

I haven’t done one of these in a while because 1) there wasn’t anything that particularly caught my eye and 2) they don’t seem to be very popular with readers. Plus, it seems that there is always a tie between the two big display-design experts: Aizone’s Sagmeister/Walsh & the great Louis Vuitton windows and I wanted to feature something else for the next one. So here we go:

This Box was found today while wandering in Hamra. It features a little member of society: Librairie Antoine. Very similar to the Louis Vuitton flying papers of this season (I’m sorry but I can’t help but praise them – even in Singapore, I’d stop and admire each display even though they were all identical). Back to the point. Librairie Antoine has a small bicycle featuring a crazy cascade of book pages flying all over the span of the vitrine. You should stop by just to take a look and read some of the pages.

Sorry, not the best shot with all that reflection (all the more reason to go see it!)

Louis Vuitton, Singapore

Besides this, there’s a new selection of notebooks available: the OGAMI Collection. As said on the label:

“OGAMI uses Repap in all the products lines. Repap is made up of 80% calcium carbonate (CaC03) and a small percentage, 20%, from non-toxic resins (high-density polyethylene). The calcium carbonate present in Repap comes from the limestone recovered from caves and used in creating Repap, a resistant and durable, as well as a waterproof paper. A paper that is also soft, smooth, bright white.”

Their tagline is “Paper made from Stone.” Best part is they’re not that expensive. A small mini notebook for your purse costs 9,000 L.L. ($6) and an A5-sized one is 13,500 L.L. ($9). A5 is half the size of your regular printer paper. As a friend said, “writing on this paper is magical, everything looks better.” Yes, she is a designer too. Check out their website here.

My mini OGAMI notebook & Keel’s Simple Diary

April 7, 2013 by Farrah Berrou - 1 Comment

Under the Bridges of Sfeir

On the edge of Haret Hreik and the outskirts of Dahiyeh, there is a highway made up of a series of bridges that connects to Hazmieh. These bridges cut through the neighborhood of Sfeir. That is where there are a few hidden pieces of street art that most people don’t know about:

Believed to be a collection of names of Islamic figures

Details

“B’ismillah Irahman Iraheem” = “In the name of God, most gracious, most compassionate”

Panorama of a wall underneath one of the bridges

“Moukawama” = “resistance”

Water damage so it’s not very legible…any ideas?

Muhammad

“Shaheed” = “martyr”

“Lanatrok Alsilah” = “we will not surrender our arms/weapons”

“Ya Mahdi”

“Children of the Neighborhood”

Stencils about Bahrain

Stencil of Imad Mughniyah

Souraya Morayef, Egyptian blogger from Suzee in the City, has started a YouTube documentary series on street art in the Arab world. It’s being commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. There’s already 3 episodes up on MOCAtv, the Museum’s channel, featuring Egypt, Libya, and Palestine. Lebanon’s to be released next week!

April 5, 2013 by Farrah Berrou - 0 comments

In This Economy…

HA. This is not about the economy. It’s about flying Economy. 3al Libnené.

Assuming that luck has not been on your side [ a) you were not upgraded b) there are lots of babies on board c) there are no empty seats near you d) you got no spare pillows and you’re caged in a non-window non-aisle seat surrounded by people with whom you share no common language], then let this be known: you are not alone in your struggle. Others have been there too.

Before boarding, you will have to say bye to your departure-team of peeps who will preach about the airport being a metaphor for life; people coming & going and there being a sacred bond between those you see around you saying goodbyes and others being reunited with those that were temporarily lost to them as they were suspended in the air. Yes, my team is my parents and it is all morbid and profound.

Immigration control at the Beirut Airport is like watching MBC dramas without subtitles – you can create your own stories. In the line for “foreigners”, travelers with non-Lebanese passports, there’s a bunch of dual-nationality Lebanese people with 3 purebred white Americans. Everyone in this line is wearing sneakers and there’s at least one guy with a fanny pack (banana hammock). Two very Arab looking men with no luggage, who you will automatically nickname The Osamas, will be discussing their kids’ Australian tuition while you wonder where they’re keeping all their travel gear. One Osama only has a neck cushion and the other is just wearing this military khaki vest. He opens said utility vest to reveal multiple pockets and you’re like “ohhhh, note to self, tell Air Marshal.” Another victim of the media’s effective brainwashing. Your racial profiling dudes who could basically be your own dad. The 3 legit foreigners turn out to be 1 French man who has no patience for this merde, and 2 Americans who happen to be from the same town. Or at least that’s what the guy said to get the girl talking, “NO WAY, Bayford Junction?” The Lebanese-passport line is a bunch of Pointure boots attached to entities with chronic bitchface.

After being delayed because of some “mechanical issues” – oh, that’s comforting – you’re nice and snug in the seat that might as well be a glorified barstool. You’re in for a real treat; you can watch the plane take-off because they’ve got cameras installed on the belly of the aircraft. How nifty technology can be. These kids from Melbourne are bouncing around behind you with their adorable little accents that make a destination sound like an endangered species from down under. Or a house elf. “Mummay, are we going to stawp in the eyre above Aboo Dahby?” As it turns out, they’re watching the take-off too and no, you’re not eavesdropping because it’s Economy, everyone just has one big conversation. Since you’re taking off at midnight and the resolution is worse than a Skype call on dial-up, there’s not much to see but you stare at the runway lights that melt into stars.

“Look mum, it’s granddad.” “Yeah we’re a bit closer to him now.”
Oh, bloody hell now you’re tearing. Everyone’s a poet.

A selection of 97 movies with classics including Dial M for Murder, Roman Holiday, and a bunch of stuff from Bollywood- but you will scroll through them all, save one for later, and still manage to go “meh, I’ll just watch Friends again.” Just goes to show, people will never be satisfied.

What a cute menu! Oh you’re having the fish with a side salade Chinois, assorted cheeses & crackers, and mango cheesecake? Look, unless you’re in First Class, the chicken tastes like the fish and the fish tastes like the chicken, that other stuff is what they decorate entrees with in real restaurants, and you know that cheesecake came out of a can. BYOB: bring your own buffet. Just don’t pack it in the…

Carry-on in the overhead compartment. Because everyone placed the equivalent of a mid-sized sedan trunkful in your little designated spot, you had to jam your Swiss carry-on 5 rows down. Not only can you not get to your bag easily during the flight but you also have to wait for everyone to disembark the aircraft when you want to leave because no one is going to let you go backwards down the aisle when they want to GTFO. Sit tight because that bought you an extra 45 minutes in the same position.

Eight hours of pure nothingness pass. Time gets screwed when you’re up in the air. First, there’s “airplane eternity sleep”. Remember that time you woke up after a night out and you were like “LOL it’s 3 pm, so what’s for lunch?” It’s like that, only you didn’t sleep 14 hours, you’re still flying over India, and that armrest has nudged itself into your back again. Where’s that damn pillow? Then, the last 3 minutes of a flight are in microwave minutes: it’s just like when you’re heating up a plate of leftover Szechuan chicken and the last 15 seconds go slower than the first 120 just because appliances are secretly evil. You will trudge out in your sweatpants looking like you rolled out of a tapestry without the effortless sex appeal of Cleopatra. You’re a frumpy mess that’s 3 hairbrush-strokes away from Mufasa. You will search for a normal sized bathroom stall that doesn’t smell of humans and Detol. You will spend the next week possibly jet-lagged and groggy.

And you can’t wait to do it all over again.

March 29, 2013 by Farrah Berrou - 7 Comments

The Booby Font

This week, I read about a newly designed font based on a female silhouette on glass. Oddly enough, the typeface I designed last semester is called “Body Language”- aka “the booby font.” I had wanted to pursue a similar feat to the one in the article but could not figure out how to do so (and the thought of going to that extreme didn’t occur to me), so I did it based on the outlines of a female’s body instead. It’s a bilingual typeface but only the Latin glyphs are functional as a font on the computer.

Below is the brochure; if you would like to download it for personal use, please let me know.

March 29, 2013 by Farrah Berrou - 2 Comments

The 10-Year Project: Beirut Digital District

Some of you may recall a post from the beginning of this month that was about my weekend in the Beirut Digital District. Sari Awada, my fellow tweeter at the Beirut Service Jam, brought this video to my attention and I think it deserves a post all on its own. It’ll be interesting to see how this project comes together, no?

March 24, 2013 by Farrah Berrou - 16 Comments

10 Architectural Wonders in Singapore

1. Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Possibly the biggest and most well-known chunk of the Singapore skyline, the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino is made up of 3 towers with a giant boat-like structure joining them at the top (57th floor). On said floor, there’s an infinity pool overlooking the entire central district, a restaurant/chocolate bar, and the popular club, Ku De Ta. The ground level connects directly to the metro system and has it’s own shopping mall complete with gondola pond, skating rink, and food court. It’s the most expensive standalone casino property valued at $8 billion. It was designed by Israeli/Canadian architect, Moshe Safdie who says it’s design was inspired by card decks.

2. Helix Bridge

Due to the fact that this bridge brings together science and design in one structure, it is one of my favorites. The helical bridge leads straight to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the Artscience Museum (how appropriate). Designed by Australian and Singaporean architects and engineers, it was opened in 2010. Although I didn’t get to see it up close when lit at night, I’ve read that it’s lit in alternating colors to represent the nitrogenous bases of the DNA double helix. Don’t you love the level of geek?

3. Esplanade

This center for theatre and the arts is located by the Bay and you can’t miss it because of one simple architectural detail: it looks like a huge durian. Now why anyone would want to design a building to look like the most vile smelling fruit on the planet is beyond me but it’s probably because the spiky organic grenade appearance is funky when applied to a gigantic 3D space. The building opened its doors in 2002, has triangular panels applied to its exterior, and is lit up at night – and no, it doesn’t smell.

4. Artscience Museum

Also designed by Moshe Safdie, the museum’s shape is a blossoming lotus flower. It has 21 gallery spaces and usually hosts exhibitions that are shown at museums around the world. This February, they had the “Art of the Brick” exhibition for NY-based Lebanese artist, Nathan Sawaya. He builds sculptures using Lego pieces. There was also a photography exhibition that had a disposable camera under glass as if it were something sacred from the past. It seemed ridiculous but that didn’t stop me from feeling older than Maggie Smith.

5. Louis Vuitton by the Bay

The LV Island Maison is a glass pavilion that sits on the water surface right outside the MBS hotel. The store has a nautical theme and resembles the Avalon, a club not too far down the strip that has a similar geometric glass box shape. It was a collaborative design by Moshe Safdie (again) and Peter Marino. The glass panels are fit with UV-resistant membranes so that the luxury goods inside are not affected. My picture doesn’t do it justice so watch this to see/learn more.

6. Ion Shopping Center

Being one of many underground shopping malls located on Orchard Road, Ion was the first I went to – and the only one I kept going back to. It’s curvaceous glass exterior makes it seem quite other-worldly. Even the MRT station entrance (the bubble between the two red columns in the photo) looks like a teleportation system from Kubrick’s Space Odyssey. The first few floors, which are above ground, are high-end luxury retail shops. Those below are the more pocket-friendly. It’s sort of like the Titanic, the lower you go, the cheaper it is.

7. Colonial Buildings & HBDs

A lot of the non-skyscraper architecture of SG dates back to the colonial period; there are lines of shophouses (imagine those townhouses on a typical San Francisco street) and black & white bungalows. According to Wiki, “In Singapore, they were built from the 19th century until World War II. The style incorporated elements of UK’s Arts and Crafts and Art Deco movements as well as the need of wealthy expatriate families for airy and spacious family homes. Black-and-Whites were built by wealthy families, the leading commercial firms and above all, the Public Works Department and the British Armed Forces.”

These old-style residences are usually up against the backdrop of towering HBDs (Housing and Development Board), which are complexes that are a form of low-cost state-built public housing. The most colorful HBDs I saw were found in the area between Bugis & Arab Street – they reminded me of the pink and yellow houses of Ashrafieh.

8. The Gardens by the Bay

The two domes

Inside the Flower Dome

The Falls – inside The Cloud

The mountain inside The Cloud

Taking a walk through the Supertrees

Recently opened in 2012, the 350 billion dollar project “Gardens by the Bay” is made up of two large domes, various gardens, and the Skyway. The two biodomes, The Flower Dome and The Cloud, house various species of flora within a temperature controlled environment. The Flower Dome has species from different parts of the planet divided based on geography/climate. The Cloud focuses on endangered flora that grow at higher altitudes – now at risk because of global warming. The Skyway is comprised of large tree canopies (also known as Supertrees) that are fitted with solar panels, hanging gardens, and rainwater catches. There’s a walkway that joins two of the trees so that you can walk across the 22-meter structures and take panoramic pictures of the gardens and the rest of the SG skyline.

9. Star Vista

The Star Vista is another shopping/food plaza that also houses a large auditorium for shows. Located right outside the Buona Vista MRT exchange, it is one of the only shopping centers in SG without air conditioning. “The 15-storey mixed-development building keeps cool by optimising wind flow and air movement through open-air walkways and a 33m-high grand foyer that is not closed up so air can flow in. The shops, however, are air-conditioned.” (source) The $976 million project was brought to life by American architect, Andrew Bromberg of Aedes architectural firm.

10. Red Dot Traffic Building

Pretty Red Mailboxes

What used to be a traffic police headquarters is now home to restaurants and the Red Dot Design Museum. It’s located on Maxwell Road, walking distance from the Maxwell Hawker Centre so you can have a plate of chicken rice after you’re done sifting through the winners of the Red Dot Design awards (entrance to the museum is S$8, S$4 for students). When at the food stall, make sure to get all the little tubs of sauces and be generous with the combination that you prefer. When it’s boiled chicken, we all know the truth: it’s all about the sauce.

Disclaimer: These are just a FEW of the many architectural wonders of SG.