Citizen Cope - Nite Becomes day

In my mind I can only go so far back in my life, and remember the ease of being a child. I remember not having to succumb to any amount of fear that I would not be able to over come. Childhood was a time of adventure, where we were able to do anything. Then next thing you know you are graduating high school, experiencing university, and then eventually sitting and wondering where all those moments went. Being young we could not wait to get older, but now childhood is the one thing we miss. That feeling of complete freedom, laced with the boredom of a child with no patience to well, be a child.

Brainwashed by the Westboro Baptist Church (Part 1/2)

This documentary talks about the The Westboro Baptist Church, and how it has become one of the United Sates most hated organizations. The WBC is a branch off of modern day baptist churches, but Westboro Baptists have more "old school" ideologies especial towards homosexuality. It actually blows my mind witnessing the hatred that some people have in this world. The funny thing is that we have this sort of mentality almost everywhere in the world. It would be nice to live somewhere, in solidarity.

John Butler Trio - Zebra

This is John Butler, he's one of three members in the John Butler Trio. I've been following this guy around for sometime now, and he is incredibly talented. Its really a shame that not more people know about him and his band. I guess being commercial is in now.

Atatina

I am sort of in a rut to try and get posts up on this blog, and it is not something that should be too hard. I actually have no excuses. Right now my lack of interest in wanting to write something is probably because of the dwelling I call home during the week. Well, I'd like to believe that.

Atatina, the residence “made” for the young intellectual while attending college. More like the place where you want to pretend like the pretend luxury is true. Atatina is one of the several residences in the Qalhat and Fih area close to Balamand. It’s literally a 3 minute drive from the university and its location is premier in the residence scene. It consists of two buildings: Atatina 1, which is more like a dorms style building, and Atatina 2, which is more like an actually apartment building with living rooms and kitchens. The buildings also come  with a gym which holds one bench press and a 1970’s treadmill. I know. I can barely keep the excitement in myself. But other than that, the residence also houses the headquarters of an animal adoption agency “Animal Impact”, which is run by a group of friends who share their enthusiasm for animals.

Living here hasn’t been the most luxurious experience, in a not so modern living environment, but I have come to call it home.   

Photography assignment

I was asked to take photos for class to portray certain ideas that were given to us. I was asked to give imagery to the topics: Water, something red, yummy, pattern. architectural design, joy, breezy, and picture of the day. I'm not a photographer so please don't judge the quality of the pictures.

Breezy 

Although there wasn't any breeze that day i thought this would be cool to photograph. This is  the walkway right after Nahr el-Kalb. The trees are permanently formed like that due to the constant "breeze".

Architectural design

I've been to this building once with my school in grade 8, but i don't really remember its actual purpose. It's located in the  Marina of Dbayeh.

Water

I thought this would be a good shop incorporating water with the way of life of these people. Fisherman are here on a daily basis fishing either for themselves or so they can sell to restaurants. This picture was taken at the end of Marina Next to Antelias.

Pattern

For the pattern photo i wanted to take something a little outside of the box. This is a picture from a bridge above the highway in Jounieh. The cars in this area are a never ending pattern of red and white lights from the constant traffic and cars.

Yummy

I don't need to say too much about this photo. Almaza is considered the finest brew in the Middle East and sort of the "pride and joy" of Lebanon. Depending on who you speak to of course. This was taken the balcony of my apartment in Qalhat.

Something red

I could of been all patriotic and taken a picture of the Lebanese flag, but I decided to take it down on the cheesy level. Simply put, this are the color of my curtains in my living room. sad, I know.

Joy

Here's a picture of my brother "breaking it down" with my uncle George. It's always a joyful experience when you are with family.

Picture of the day

This is a picture from the village of Fih. I have always loved this view, so i thought i'd take a picture. It's always a nice day when you hangout around here and take the view in.

Oh wait, i think I've seen this one before

                It is sad to see an image of your country deteriorating in front of you. It is also sad when you know that it is coming. Since the Syrian crisis, Lebanon has had stages of ruckus as well. What is happening in Syria is a very disturbing image placed in our minds because of what the media throws at us. This leaves us people who are not following any sides in a state of total confusion. It undoubtedly leaves many people wondering when this needless fighting and killing will end.

                On Friday, October 19^th was a day that put a hole in the thin cover that was keeping Lebanon somewhat together. The bombing of Achrafieh was a random attack on a man who believed in keeping Lebanon a land for the Lebanese people, and believed in unity of a nation. It is very apparent what kind of society we live in.

                You can take my generation as an excellent example. There are thousands of young adults, who should be smarter about knowing their politics. They should know that as long as there is a political system that is more or less religion based, Lebanon will never see peace. There are too many political parties with their own ideologies, and almost have this blood-thirsty mind set, as in “we are right, any opposition is invalid”.

                This country has way too many “political” sects for its own good. And the phrase “wake up, and stop being sheep” has been uncomfortably repeated on thousands of occasions. But how come it doesn't sink in? How brainwashed can people in our generation really be? The answer is that our modern day Lebanon is simply developed by intense propaganda, meaningless political parties only fighting for their own greed, and a pretentiously super squad of followers and their ideologically correct leaders.

                This country was, and still is one of the most beautiful countries in the Middle East, and I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to live in a country where walking down the street you aren't being stared at or hassled. I want to live somewhere where I can go out and be proud of the organization and maintenance that are put into effect on the country. I want to live somewhere I can drive into the city and not smell the unbearable stench of waste and slaughterhouses.

                Why can’t this somewhere be Lebanon? Why are we forced to live in this country that thrives off of immature politics? There is so much hate and greed in this country that in the end we are all becoming greedy and hateful.

                We need our people to come together, and throw away all this political and religious BULLSHIT. Then again, this is just another blog of thousands who all believe in the same idea of a shared and cared Lebanon. Let's be free, and believe in our country, and ourselves.    

First post

I was asked to make a blog for one of my mass communications courses. So I am guessing that this is counted as our first assignment. I have had this blog for almost a year now, but never got around to posting anything. This will obviously be changed now due to my professor’s enthusiastic love for blogging. So now that I have this opportunity, I plan to keep a steady flow of blogs along with new music I hear or find out about.

My name is Mike Nammour and I was born in hick town Southern Ontario, to parents Cheryl and John Nammour, June 3rd, 1991. I lived there until I was four years old when my dad got a job offer in paradise, also known as Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. To be honest I had the time of my life goring up in the desert. Although being kind of enclosed to everyday Saudi life, I had always managed to make the most of it. Growing up there was really a stage in my life where I could never regret. And because you have such a close knit society in which you could live in (compound life), you tend you make really good friends.

I basically did my k-12 in Saudi other than those 2 years I spent in Lebanon due to the bombings that were happening in Riyadh. Eventually we went back and I stayed there until I graduated high school. I graduated from the American International School of Riyadh in 2009.

After graduation I travelled back to Canada where I was accepted into Carleton University in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario. I applied and started off as an economics major, but shortly after realized that all those numbers and graphs were nothing of what I wanted to be. Although that took me 3 semesters to realize, I decided to change my educational path and be involved in something that I could use my love for music, filmography, and marketing all in one field. I then decided that I would give mass communications a try.

I have always had an interest for media, and how companies can manipulate what they are previewing, and somewhat convince people of the most outrageous things. So getting involved in this field I feel will enable me to have an understanding of how the media actually works, and maybe one day use its magic.

This is actually my first ever, so I’m still trying to find what kind of voice I want to put out through here. But that’s why I’m here. I'll leave you with a song by a band that was a constant soundtrack to growing up in the Middle East.