Mind Soup

Inspirational People from the Lebanese Online Community In an attempt to promote inspiring stories about people from the Lebanese Online Community, we, at Cloud961, have decided to dedicate a monthly column to interview an inspiring figure that has left a mark in the Lebanese online sphere. For your suggestions for this column, feel free to email me on mhijazi@cloud961.com . This month’s inspirational member of the Lebanese Online Community is Rawad Habib, one of the few Lebanese Youtubers. He moved to Paris at 17 years old, alone, to study Medicine, and it was the "tournant" as the French put it, the turning point, that led him to ignite the fires of creativity within and begin snapping photos with his first own phone, took part of Lancôme's facial product as one of their faces in minimal coverage ads, partied with international designers and photographers and danced with Rihanna in Palais M one night. There, Rawad renounced to the planned safe life for him, and...

Today, March 12, is the world day against cyber-censorship. This day was initially launched by Reporters without Borders in 2008 and "is intended to rally everyone in support of a single Internet without restrictions and accessible to all." Below is a quote from the March 12 website: The fight for online freedom of expression is more essential than ever. By creating new spaces for exchanging ideas and information, the Internet is a force for freedom. In countries where the traditional media are controlled by the government, the only independent news and information are to be found on the Internet, which has become a forum for discussion and a refuge for those who want to express their views freely.  However, more and more governments have realised this and are reacting by trying to control the Internet. Never have so many countries been affected by some form of online censorship, whether arrests or harassment of netizens, online surveillance, website blocking or the adop...

Before I start getting disgusted looks and weird boggly eyes, I should point out that this title is misleading - kinda the point of this whole post and advertisement. (And yes it is suitable for work - don't worry :P) And yes, I find it very creative, appealing and eye-catching for the following reasons: Jennifer Aniston <3 Lip-syncing toddler Acknowledgement of the online community, viral videos and including "internet geeks" Cute little animals crawling all over the place Talking parrot that refers to the show "Friends" by calling Jennifer Anniston by her character name "Rachel" Skate-boarding dog in the background Dancing babies Double-rainbow guy parody Kicking a guy in the balls (which is apparently worth 100,000 hits) Herbal Essences sort-of ending which targets the sexy appeal The daring title Some people might not be as daring or risky in a marketing campaign but I think it works. The video has something for everyone and can p...

I've seen some pretty funky marriage proposals on TV and YouTube, but this takes the cake! I love the amount of effort the guy put into this (there's dancing and back-flips involved!). Totally worth watching.