Nour Kabbara on Helwi Beirut - Tripoli Photography

Here it is, my TV interview on LBC's "Helwi Beirut" from last night:

GOOD NEWS FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE BAD NEWS:

"You ever look at a picture of yourself and see a stranger in the background? It makes you wonder how many strangers have pictures of you. How many moments of other peoples lives have we been in. Were we a part of someone's life when their dream came true? Or were we there when their dreams died? Did we keep trying to get in? As if we were somehow destined to be there? Or did the shock take us by surprise? Just think, you could be a big part of someone else's life, and not even know it..."

- Lucas Scott, OTH

Fayhaa Choir Advance To The Finals On AGT!

Last night, I went to watch the Live shooting of Arab’s Got Talent! The event is held at the ex Ice-Skating Arena in Zouk and to tell the truth, the whole setup was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but it filled a lot more than I thought it could:

The ticket said that we had to be there an hour earlier, at 7:00PM, and so by the time we got there at 6:45PM there was a huge crowd at the entrance. And by the time they opened the doors and the audience rushed inside, we were lucky to find a couple of good seats at the top right, right beside the camera. Unfortunately, we didn't take into consideration the fact that sitting next to the camera would mean that we wouldn't show in the filming; though I could almost swear there were parts I could see my hands clapping at the far right end of the stage while I was re-watching the show!

The audience was on fire, and there was a huge support group with signs for Fayhaa Choir who we were lucky to end up sitting next to. The entire time I felt so excited, it was after all my first experience with live television shooting! There was a stage manager who would stand on the side and tell us when to stand up, cheer on, and keep cheering on! I have to admit by the time the show was over, my arms and hands were aching from all the clapping but it was worth it! My friends and I were also hoping to get a photo op with the awesome judges, or at least two of the awesome judges: Najwa Karam and Ali Jaber. But during the breaks we couldn’t go near them as security stood around their area, and right after we went off the air, they were led back inside before the audience could jump to them. That’s my luck with celebrities, LoL!

But on a much brighter note, Fayhaa Choir did us proud, they actually won second place and moved on to the finals, they're our local heroes now! I mean, how can you not love them after this breathtaking performance?:

Fayhaa Choir On Arab’s Got Talent

Let me start this post off by reminding you of this, the amazing performance of Tripoli’s famous Fayhaa Choir (led by Maestro Barkev Taslakian) during their winning audition to Arab’s Got Talent about a month ago:

Rami, a colleague at work, and several other acquaintances are all part of the choir and tomorrow, they’re going to be performing for the semi-finals knockout stage. Only two out of eight performers are going to advance to the finals: one picked by the audiences’ voting, and one (from the audiences’ remaining top two favorites) picked by the judges (Najwa Karam, Ali Jaber, and Amr Adib).

I asked Rami how I could get tickets to watch them live, and he told me to call MBC Studio’s Office in Gefinor Hamra. I called them last week to reserve five tickets for this Friday, and I was told I could pick them up between Monday and Tuesday. But, their office being in Beirut and me in Tripoli, I asked my friend TJ (who was kind enough) to pick the tickets up for me and mail them over. And I just received them this morning, here they are:

So tomorrow, between 8:00PM & 10:00PM Beirut time tune in to MBC4 for Arab’s Got Talent and VOTE FOR FAYHAA CHOIR! :-)

Bree's Emotional Box

This is just so funny to me, I was watching the fourth season of Desperate Housewives back in 2008 and this part in one of the episode came up, making me fall into a fist of laughter! Today, I was feeling a little like Susan was feeling at the time, and I couldn't help but remember Bree’s emotional box:

Susan: Oh I just can’t control myself like that.

Bree: Oh, sure you can. Whenever I feel my emotions getting the best of me, I simply picture an empty box and I take whatever I'm feeling and put that in the box. And then, I picture myself putting the box away in a big, empty closet and closing the door. Then, if I have time, I go back and open the box and deal with the emotion, in private, like a lady.

ASK-I MEMNU

So last night was the final episode of the Turkish hit TV-Series, Ask-I Memnu (L3ishk Lmamnou3/ Forbidden Love). I cant believe I got hooked on it! I NEVER watch Arabic television series (or movies) but ever since I caught my family watching it almost every night, I started watching it too! *Spoiler*

It tells the story of Samar (played by the beautiful Beren Saat), a young woman whose mother had an affair which led to the death of her father. As an attempt to get back at her, Samar marries Adnan, a much older rich man that her mother had her eye on…. Adnan is a widower, with two young children, Nihal & Mourad. There is also a boy named Mouhanad (played by the beautiful Kivanc Tatlitug) whose parents died when he was a child, and since then, Adnan took him in as his own, and he lives with the family… Mouhanad has a reputation with the ladies, and when Samar moves in to the family, she hates Mouhanad, especially since her sister was one of the women he used to date, and he broke her heart… Eventually, sparks (the good kind) began to fly between Samar and Mouhanad, and they started having affairs, unbeknownst to anyone. They kept cheating and cheating, fighting, making up, loving, and cheating… Several of the servants at the house began to notice, and eventually, Samar’s mother noticed as well. So, to put an end to it, she told Nihal that Mouhanad was in love with her. Nihal was ecstatic because ever since she could remember, she was in love with Mouhanad too. Mouhanad eventually had no choice but to propose to her and it all continued downhill from there… Samar tried to get Mouhanad to leave Nihal, so she could leave Adnan too and they could run away together, but Mouhanad was never man enough… And ever sine the engagement and up to the day of Nihal and Mouhanad’s wedding, Samar was falling apart. The last episode, Adnan and everyone else finally find out the truth, and as he runs to catch Samar and Mouhanad standing together in his room, both of them crying and with Samar a gun in her hand, she kills herself infront of them both… All because of this ASK-I MEMNU… (L)