Mind Soup

With an extensive background in computer science and information technology as well as the entertainment, music and mobile industries, Elie Habib and Eddy Maroun crossed paths and founded Anghami, a platform providing access to over five million international and Arabic songs through a convenient, user-friendly application allowing users to stream all the music they want on their mobile. Anghami has agreements with over 4,000 record labels, thus granting users access to the widest variety of content in the region. The mobile application is available for download on different smartphones, including iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, and Nokia devices. The company offers a free, ad-supported version of the app, which allows usage only with an Internet connection. Anghami+, the premium ad-free application, allows users to stream an unlimited number of songs and to access playlists when offline. Anghami has partnered up with MBC and added songs from popular shows lik...

Twitter users and the media are amazed and impressed by the amount of followers that celebrities and some influencers have acquired since they started using twitter. To avoid any sampling bias from myself, I chose to use the " 20 Most Powerful People on Twitter in Lebanon " list by 2famous.tv . I then used a service by Status People that allows you to figure out the percentage of fake followers a user has in addition to the percentage of inactive and good followers. I obtained the following results: So what do we take from the above figures? Most celebrities (singers, actors, presenters, etc...) have a big percentage of fake and inactive followers. This is mostly due to them (or their agencies) buying followers for bulk. Notice that most celebrities have 40% or less good followers. Notice how evident this is with Zaven's follower analysis: 69% are fake (which is a whopping majority) and only 11% are real followers. If we do the math, he would easily be ...

I am a firm believer of the work of NGOs especially in Lebanon where politics and the government do nothing toward a more civilized society. A recently founded NGO, " 4 a Cause ", organizes events of which the profits go to associations and causes in need. The events are variated, fun and offered to the youth to raise awareness about where help is needed. The first event is going to be a concert: Music 4 a Cause in which the profits will go to Baitna , a non-profit charitable organization, that aims to provide homes for impoverished mentally handicapped people, particularly orphans and those uncared for to welcome them in a family atmosphere. So save the date, this August 30th , Bands and DJs are on board with us to entertain you 4 a very noble cause! Standby is opening 4: - Joy Fayad - Lazzy Lung - Meen the Band . They're followed by: - Mini B (NRJ) - Underrated . Doors open at 6.00pm. Presale tickets: 20$. But you'll also be able to get a ti...

Whitney Houston, one of the best female vocalists and great artists of modern music, passed away last night  (February 11, 2012) at the age of 48. Cause of death is still unknown. The world has lost a legend and indeed it was too early for this loss. We will always love you Whitney. May your soul rest in peace :'(

Following up to my earlier " What's missing in Hamra " post and after the awaited reveler for the unfortunate teaser campaign (online and offline), it became apparent that this campaign is for a "clubbing" experience by the Democratic Republic of Music having free-entrance clubbing parties every Saturday. After getting reaction from many people online and in my office, everyone agreed that the "What's missing in Hanra" teaser campaign was inadequate for this campaign for many reason, primarily because Hamra is not lacking such "parties" especially that it is slowly becoming a new Gemmayze, Everyone was expecting something more meaningful from such a campaign like a public library, public garden or something that would benefit the general public. But this is not the bad part. After being criticized by many on facebook, they have failed to respond positively to criticism. In a facebook message sent to the attendees of the facebook eve...

Screenshot of " A Separate State of Mind " MIND SOUP :  A Separate State of Mind  is a new blog on the Lebanese blogosphere which discusses life, music, politics, movies and thoughts of a Lebanese youth, Elie, who is one of my best friends. I have been trying to get Elie to start a blog since I created Mind Soup two years ago (2nd birthday coming up on Feb 21 :D) but his laziness and procrastination delayed it. He has had some guest posts here on Mind Soup but now he took the plunge and after some quick trial with tumblr, he started his full wordpress.com blog:  http://stateofmind13.wordpress.com . A few things you might want to know about Elie: He's a huge Carrie Underwood fan that I started calling him a Carrieoholic.So you should definitely expect to see some posts about her. He likes country music and pop (Britney Spears anyone?) He likes to watch movies, and I mean a lot of movies, so he will be posting some movie reviews. His taste in mo...

Under the High Patronage of the First Lady of Lebanon Mrs. WAFAA MICHEL SLEIMAN The Soins Infirmiers et Développement Communautaire (SIDC) is organising, in collaboration with Vivre Positif and the Centre de Santé de l’Université St. Joseph and with the attendance of Miss Lebanon 2010, Ms. Rahaf Abdallah, a concert on the occasion of World AIDS Day. Ms. Grace Deeb   and: Violinist:  Joelle Saadé Pianists:  Vladimir Kurumilian and Liliane Chlela Pop Rock:  The Weirdos The concert’s proceeds will go to support needs people living with HIV (PLHIV) Date and Place: 10 December 2010 at 8:30 at Pierre Abou Khater Auditorium, USJ, Rue de Damas RSVP: contact  info@sidc-lebanon.org  or  call +961 1 482 428, +961480714 Tickets will also be available at the door. Follow SIDC's account on twitter  here

MIND SOUP : Everyone knows that blogging has exploded recently in Lebanon. There's even a Blogging Convention in a mere couple of weeks where our very own Moudz will be in attendance! With that said, as blogging in general is becoming more and more popular in Lebanon, so are Lebanese LGBT blogs. The blogs are very new, less than a year old and two new ones popped up just this month. The themes of the blog are as diverse as the Lebanese LGBT community itself. Posts include favorite music, coming out stories, bad dates, and complaining about Lebanon (the hallmark of a Lebanese blog). Most of the blogs are anonymous (due to privacy concerns and the rampant homophobia still present in Lebanon). Beirut Boy : The author is a young, Lebanese businessman in his 20s. He posts about dating, music, fashion, and is an activist for gay rights in Lebanon. He (as well as many other bloggers) has joined the Save Aya campaign. Gay in Beirut : This blog mainly has humorous and light-hearted pos...

Date:  Tuesday, November 9 · 8:00pm - 10:30pm Location: AUB West Hall Bathish The AUB Music Club in association with the AUB President's Club is proud to present November Rain! This is the first of hopefully many awesome events that will take place throughout this year. AUB's talented muscians will be performing on the stage of Bathish (West Hall). They will be covering different musical styles including blues, rock, jazz, alternative and more... Bands that will be performing: Lazzy Lung Home Made Plugged The Passive Standouts Along with other classical, jazz & acoustic solo pieces... -Ticket Price: 5,000 L.L sold as of Monday November 1st on the Music Club stand outside West Hall and at the door. -Non A.U.B students must bring their official ID! - Check out the event's Facebook page . Hope to see you there!

Okay so this is a very very old song (even before I was born) but its the only song that gets me to sleep lately (especially if its on rewind and I've heard it over 5 times). Enjoy!

Poster for Cirque Du Liban Below is a message from the AUB Music Club who will be participating in the Hamra Street Festival which will take place on 10, 11, 12 September.  The festival will include two major events: September 10: - Inauguration of the Festival under the patronage of the Prime Minister, Beirut Deputies and the Hamra Committee. - The Big Hamra Parade  September 11 and 12: - Stands Activities, Street animations, Music concerts, Dance, Plays, Kids Arena, Fireworks etc... The AUB Music Club would like to invite you in participating in this festival through: Big Hamra Parade (September 10)  - The AUB music club will provide you with comfortable/funky costumes and percussions. You just need to wear the costumes, show up on time, improvise on your percussions (IF you want) and have fun! The parade will take place at 5.30 p.m and will last for two hours tops. - The AUB Music Club will provide you with a two-meter banner, printed with the logo of the AUB Music Clu...

Click on continue reading (below) to read the lyrics.

YAHOO : If you want to avoid the worst-paying college degrees, think twice before choosing a college major that involves children. Included among the 20 worst-paying college degrees are elementary education, special education, social work and child and family studies. That's the conclusion of the latest annual study of college degrees by Payscale, Inc. that compiled starting and mid-career pay for dozens of college majors. Child and family studies earned the honors as the worst-paying college major. The average graduate earns a beginning salary of $29,500. What's equally discouraging is that the salary of someone in this field will barely budge after 15 years in the profession. Food is another common theme for students who major in the worst-paying college degrees. Students who earn degrees in horticulture, dietetics and the culinary arts are more likely to end up struggling financially. College Degree Starting Pay Mid-Career Pay 1. Child and Family Studies $29,500 $...

Click here to download the song in MP3 format.

Fairuz MIND SOUP : News of Fairuz, the famous Lebanese legend, being banned from singing in Lebanese territory has emerged to the news scene recently, and it has been discussed on several sites and blogs. As the usual hype surrounding celebrities is filing the place, it seems that many fans of Fairuz are angry and disappointed about such news, and instinctively taking her side. However, what they don't know or don't care about is that Fairuz is violating Lebanese law by signing songs from plays that are copyrighted, without sharing the profits with the rightful owners. The Rahbani sons have launched a lawsuit against Nohad Haddad (Fairuz) because she is unwilling to share the profits of her concerts (that she sings copyrighted songs from plays) with the copyright holders. In a press release issued by the Rahbani sons on Wednesday, they claimed that Fairuz is trying to "delete the Rahbani brothers (Mansour and Assi) from the music scene." The brothers deni...