three

3 is a lucky number for many...so be it for me...just for a while so to c; otherwise, let's stick to the heart....And as such, i can say, am lucky....for having a heart....but what would i do with a heart in this world??

Mark Twain said & I can't but agree!!

Life is short Break the Rules Forgive quickly Kiss SLOWLY Love truly Laugh uncontrollably & Never Regret ANYTHING that makes you smile!!

>

Live Love Laugh

There is an Irish motto that goes like this: "Don't look back unless you can smile; don't look ahead unless you can dream."

 

We are almost done with 2010, I don't regret any sec on of it! When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile. As John Lennon said: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - I just regret the time I've wasted with wrong people... It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense. Need to make some cleaning around...Re-draw my circle... Maybe, all i'll have to do is delete ALL bad vibes that invaded my energy field & sucked up my wonder mega power...

Another thought comes to mind: "Poetry is indispensable - if I only knew what for," remarked Jean Cocteau...

I should stop cuz I'll just mess it up with rambling incoherence like this one!! 

'Live Love Laugh' that's a motto I'll definitely stick to; you should too.

★ .° •＊ ☾. • *★ .° •＊ . • .° •＊☆°˚°⋄.¸¸.ღ☆°˚°⋄.¸¸.ღ ☆°˚°⋄.¸¸.ღ ☆°˚°⋄.¸¸.ღ 

I LOVE RIEN!!

I love Rien et c'est comme çaaaaaa, lalala---la!! Meanwhile.... Je suis toujours à la recherche de l'indigo!! Et Voilà!! All is good!!

& since Am listening to The Doors right now, here we go...
"...YOU KNOW THAT IT WOULD BE UNTRUE...YOU KNOW THAT I WOULD BE A LIAR...."
Cmon' baby light my fire.....

& to top it all, a rock-my-world soundbite:
"I see myself as a huge fiery comet, a shooting star. Everyone stops, points up and gasps " Oh look at that!" Then whoosh, and I'me gone...And they'll never see anything like it ever again--and they won't be able to forget me, ever." --James Douglas Morrison
*reportedly, yet unconfirmed quote

Chaos kayoed with the help of a peacock

I have always believed one must get lost, in order to find his/her path.... Same goes for anything in life, to meet happiness, must encounter pain; to succeed, must fail...so on so forth...Got the picture, right? Wanderers, errants are bound to meet the unexpected, as they go with the wind, follow the rainbow, grab their ticket to the moon, with no planning.... I, myself, too often tango with my mood swings, mash up what I find in my playground, with nothing close to a plan, or a map identification, or a route of choice; rather, I embark on the storytelling bandwagon with some tools & material, a blurry mind but ready for a free round of creative energy flow. Nonetheless, there is always a vision, more of an image that seem to stick around... Lately been seeing peacocks...Squids....baboons.... Lion fish....jelly fish....ladybirds.....
Then I go on mix and unmatch what is believed not to be mixed and matched.... In short, i firmly believe that To CONSTRUCT, must start with DECONSTRUCTION. And here we are, me, myself & my visual blabbering on a zone at Posterous, my lab for playful design expressions & creative inspiration. And since anything boring in life is made up of oneness, as one mind, one block, one thought, single, one & only, dogmatic when not fanatic, my world is rather all patchwork jazzed up to the max., and as sweet as a strawberry cream Chupa Chups lollipop or bombastic as la Durée's macarons... "SNAP, CRACKLE, POP," it's munchies' hour....

"A madman is not less a musician than you or myself; only the instrument he plays is a little out of tune," wrote the master, Gebran K. Gebran.

Whether, my digital visual narratives are a little, a lot, or massively out of tune, well one thing am definite about is that visual thinking spice mode are bloody healing to my soul & my design samplings greatly contribute in fine tuning I & my reason to be...

For now, am madly in luv with colors....Soon, aim to dedicate my time and efforts to make some noise so that the art of communication makes social change its ball game.
Till then, eye-candy kaleidoscopic stories will keep on bouncing by here while sugarpoppy ravin' n' ramblin' roll with the 'zénitude' of a peaceful warrior.
Salam & peace out!!

One more thing: la vie set MOSAIQUE!! Et ma bulle plus que tout; souvent chaotique, et je m'en fous... (là, c'est juste pour la rime....)

In luv with colors

When sense is remixed with nonsense the result is obviously blindingly flashy, yet feels like a spanking breeze. This merry collage is one of such: a snappy conversation between me & myself on a crisp, frosty night in Beirut....Cheers!

Sparking me...

As Xmas is nearing I guess felt like messing around with myself...As a result, created this wallpaper with the help of some cool entertaining iPad apps including doodle for kids, photopad, photomess....trying to move with my photo library to a new level...whether good or bad, who cares, since the fun is at its peak...

P.S: Forgot to inform whoever happens to pop by my little undefined zone that my middle name is confusion, nickname spice pop or sugarpop(py) depending on moods & activities...
Real name is to be revealed when serious mature stuff end up shared around here. For now, this is more fun, as it spares me to take myself too seriously.... Later, bound to switch to professional mode....Merry X-Mas from Beirut with love & sparks...Cheers.

Pop n' Zesty

In Life, Luv is d True Adventure;-! Pop n' Zesty is mine

Stop Whole Body Imaging

Stop Whole Body Imaging
Originally uploaded by freestylee

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Benjamin Franklin


"where should we draw the line..." Maybe when they introduce cavity search. It is important to educate ourselves about these invasive body scanners. These machines are not just showing up at airports, but also showing up in court rooms, government buildings and where next? schools, stores, malls, offices?

Ms. Napolitano said that the images will not be stored. Just recently 100 of these images turned up on Gizmodo from a scanner at a federal courthouse in Orlando, Florida.

That's one problem, the greater problem we must be mindful of is radiation danger. I came upon this news headline recently " World’s Pilots Reject Naked Body Scanners Over Radiation Danger, Privacy Breach" The largest independent union of airline pilots in the world (Allied Pilots Association) is urging its members to boycott body imaging machines currently being rolled out in airports all over the globe, they are not willing to subject themselves to these body scanners for fear of radiation and privacy issues but WE Fryers should

http://www.stopdigitalstripsearches.org/

Untitled

If I had a choice I would believe it was a dream because dreams have this thing they make you believe they can come real some day Now when the damage is done & the realization profound the scars and marks though covered still lurk around I wait though I have heard dreams once dreamt come back is absurd but for I am a believer & hope is not what I lack the day would come when the dream shall come back

Untitled

We are all dysfunctional, aren't we?

A Buddist saying comes to mind only to remind me to stay focused...keep the blahblah on the leash, as "we should talk only about things that remain valid for 50 Years." Copied Roger...

Untitled

Here is a collage of mine created with glue, scissors & magazines cut-outs...dedicated to a marabout who has put a spell on me...;~}! Reminding me how silly we can be!!

Ghada Azzi
Managing editor

ArabAd Magazine
T +961 1 204 662
F +961 1 201 857

Email:Ghada@arabadmag.com
Website:www.arabadmag.com

Sent from my iPad

Think Time Girl

I am only happy when it rains...

Sugarpoppy's series of 9 pop art portraits remixed on Foto Editor & Photopad iPad apps
Originally uploaded by Sugarpoppy

9 flashy-splashy pop art portraits reflecting my cheerful upbeat mood swings, which happen to pop up only when it rains.... & guess what???
Was raining mad all day today in Beirut...
Result: a bunch of digital collages using ma dope-- l'iPad en l'occurrence... So many great apps for photography & digiarts inspiration...

Whispers of Arab Telephone

A friend interrupted me with a phone call weeks back while I sat reading the political section of my favorite newspaper peacefully in Balima café, downtown Beirut . He wanted me to suggest fun untraditional games to play during his wife's birthday. My mind raced and I suggested ‘Arab Phone’--الهاتف العربي, or ‘le téléphone cassé” in French, a hilarious game I played with my friends as kids in parties. It is originally called “Chinese whispers” and also known as “Broken Phone”, or Gossip among other names; a wicked game that leaves the players confused and laughing their heads off. Coincidentally, I had just been reading on the tragic case of the shooting that occurred weeks back in Maison Blanche, (White House, the former bling bling Crystal night club) in Beirut, Sodeco quarter, Ashrafieh. It has been reported that Antoun Sehnaoui had an altercation with a former business partner and things turned really nasty that night. I paused for a second as I explained Arab Phone to my friend where the first player whispers a sentence to the next player. Each player successively whispers what that player believes he or she heard to the next, and so on so forth; as that sentence must be revealed by the last person seated at the end of the chain. I paused again as my mind worked parallel trying to decode rumors I had just heard after the shooting in the club. Unfortunately, this was no game as I heard from one friend that Mazen el-Zein had provoked Antoun Sehnaoui upon seeing him entering the place by flickering him with the middle-finger in front of the public; add to it, Mazen also calling in a bunch of friends to confront Antoun Sehnaoui and his men; which in turn aroused a greater fury, made the latter over-protective, hence the shooting. Another person back in the sit-in, when I first heard the zealous storyteller, informed me that 100 bullets were shot and 7 partygoers were also injured, while a local paper confirmed yet another version, stating that 11 instead of 7 were injured. Amazingly, I felt, the Arab telephone is in play, and all the reported versions of the Maison Blanche shooting bear little or no resemblance to the contextual facts, because of the cumulative effect of the numerous variations and wrong versions along the line. Here is one more angle, where another friend insisted he holds the truth (the whole truth, nothing but the truth ;+] as a friend of a friend witnessed the unfolding of the scene before his eyes.

His version says, Antoun Sehnaoui, owners of the best clubs in town was refused a table at Maison Blanche, which provoked the western-like turnout of the night. Indeed, those who fed me what they believed to be the truth were actually whispering, "Antoun hopped on a flight to Dubai the same night right after the shooting then he flew to Italy with his Italian girlfriend having to bribe custom and police people so to facilitate his escape." I was not too convinced with that last piece of information because in the game i know some messages end up unrecognizable after only a few steps; but mostly because a close buddy of Antoun confirmed to me he is currently residing in France and preferred to go back till fury settles down, as things in Lebanon are known not only to fallacy echo but mostly to massively flesh out. "Allo, Allo," my friend's voice sprung through the phone. "Are you still there? I like the game, how does it end?" The last player announces the statement he thinks he heard to the entire group. Mischievous errors typically accumulate along the way the téléphone cassé game, so the statement announced by the last player usually differs significantly, and often it is really amusingly way off from the one uttered by the first. The more people playing the funnier it gets and if they are drinking alcohol it turns into chaos. Well, there was a lot of drinking going on that night and the last sentence whispered to me, weeks back by a friend of mine present at the club that night, was that Mazen asked the owner of the Maison Blanche night club to kick out Antoun and his entourage, who refused, replying, "My nightclub is like my home and I cannot expel my guests; he's an invitee, same as you." My friend liked the game and decided to use it. As for my metaphorical mind, I was also convinced that the shooting has become a public drama brewing Lebanon's political scars through the many false versions just like the Arab Phone. However, the difference between the game and the reality is that no one is whispering and the well orchestrated campaigns, on social networks such as Facebook and YouTube along with the various dynamic media and the exploitation of the incident by influential political figures, are screaming loud what they think they heard but no one has tapped the sheer truth yet. The worse of it all is that no one is laughing and the damages are far from being a joke.

Oh, yeah, one more thing; The game has no winner!! & the Chinese whispers are far more charming than the Lebanese shout outs. Peace Out for now!

We are all NEDA

With every powerful people's movement for change, a symbol emerges--an image that can change the world. For the Iranian democracy movement, that image is of Neda, the 26 year old Iranian young woman struck down by a bullet to the heart.

Order a shirt. Proceeds will go to support projects that enable Iranians to freely access the internet.

Aung San Suu - Freedom to Lead

This Human Rights cause "Democracy In Burma" is something Shepard Fairey believe in strongly. He created this portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi to raise awareness of her situation and the overall situation in Burma.

To learn more go to www.uscampaignforburma.org and www.humanrightsactioncenter.org

abusing our votes

abusing our votes Originally uploaded by A1one

Graffiti work-- I love--from Iran; by A1one

where is my vote?

where is my vote? art on wall Originally uploaded by A1one

Art on wall by Iranian street artist, the one & only A10ne.

~ Ewww..... (cool) ~

~ Ewww..... (cool) ~
Originally uploaded by ViaMoi

A kick ass critter shot by a brilliant photographer living in Canada who goes by the name viaMoi. His work can be viewed on Flickr. Jaw-dropping stuff, truly!!

La' lil Taefiyat

No!
Originally uploaded by Sugarpoppy

Graffiti made in Lebanon that call for wisdom and aims to generate awareness about religious sectarianism and the wrong use of religious matters for political purposes...This is what street art should be all about...Conveying food for thought, tagging it on the walls, bombing it in the minds...Hoping to blow up & renew spirits...

Arabic Tags

Arabic Tags
Originally uploaded by Sugarpoppy

Graffiti made in Beirut...Good stuff worth viewing...

Son of la Niña de Gibraltar

Just finished watching for the eon time "Corto Maltese: La Cour secrète des Arcanes," based on the Pratt novel "Corto Maltese in Siberia;" also finished watching the 3 dvds of Corto Maltese adventures for television, produced by Canal+, adapting the stories 'La Ballade de la mer salée,' 'Sous le signe du Capricorne,' 'Les Celtiques and La Maison dorée de Samarkand.'

Corto is one of my favourite heroes of all time...

Corto Maltese is a sailor-adventurer, with a somehow complex character, born in 1887, son of a British sailor and a gypsy Andalusian prostitute, known as "La Niña de Gibraltar."

It was created by Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967.

The Corto Maltese series has been translated into many languages. Stories range from straight historical adventure stories to occult dream sequences.

Who is Corto Maltese?

As a boy growing up in the Jewish quarter of Córdoba, Maltese realised he had no fate line on his palm and therefore carved his own with a razor, determining that his fate was his to choose. Although maintaining a neutral pose, Corto instinctively supports the disadvantaged and oppressed.

The character embodies the author's skepticism of national, ideological, and religious assertions. Corto befriends people from all walks of life, including the murderous Russian Rasputin. He also knows and meets various historical figures, including Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Herman Hesse, Butch Cassidy. His acquaintances treat him with great respect, as when a telephone call to Joseph Stalin frees him from arrest when he is threatened with execution on the border of Turkey and Armenia.

Corto's favourite reading is 'Utopia' by Thomas More, but he never finished it. His name is said to be possibly derived from the Venetian Courtyard of the Maltese.

A must see, watch, read; also, check out the new --& old-- posters made available for sale here

In 'Gli Scorpioni del Deserto' (The Desert Scorpions), Corto Maltese is described as disappearing in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

Visual Dialogue

I have loads to say to some of the people I know who have been hanging around me for a while now; can't call them friends, as this title appears to be a degree that should be earned, mastered & experienced; so, feel the urge to talk to my acquaintances; however, & due to my blunt, often straightforward, unpolished, non-diplomatic & NO-POLITICALLY CORRECT learning ever; the fact of the matter is to do some allegorical exercise, where I will use visuals to speak my mind &... heart... to people I know; people I like to call "thirsty passer by..."

So If YOU reckon yourself, well don't be surprised, this is surely to you that am offering tonight a moment to ponder THINGS OF LIFE...THINGS THAT MATTER IF YOU THINK THERE ARE THINGS THAT SHOULD MATTER...IN LIFE...OR ELSEWHERE...IN THE HEART FOR INSTANCE....OR BETTER....ON BRAINY LEVEL....WHAT do you say?....THIS is MY Say.....

Tonight's Mood goes like this...

Political engaged art

I passionately believe in cultural activism and can't but advocate for the importance of art that engages socio-political concerns. As such, Ma Boule Ma Bulle is keen on promoting artists involved in contemporary politically engaged art, specially when it comes to solidarity activities with Gaza & the Palestinian people.

For more, check ArabAd's blog or my new blog DESIGN 961 on all political design, social related creative communication & anti-war design expressions.