Michael Abou Sleiman should be banned from Television

I usually don’t watch TV, let alone Lebanese TV, but when the show “Dancing with the Stars” became so popular, I was curious to know what all the fuss was about.

I have to admit, the dancers, the celebrities, the dances, the costumes… the entire show was truly very nice.

Apparently, one of the starts on the show, Mirva Kadi, had some type of wardrobe malfunction that showed a little more than was intended, I didn’t see the scene. Naturally, the tabloids went crazy, and as if there isn’t enough “on purpose” flesh on TV for them to watch; they had to emphasis the “by accident” flesh.

Anyway, what drove me to write this blog was not Mirva’s outfit or the general public opinion about it, but Mr. Michael Abou Sleiman’s (the co-host of the Lebanese talk show “Talk of the Town” on MTV Lebanon) disgusting, vulgar, inappropriate, ill-mannered, unacceptable comments about the incident when Mirva was a guest on the show.

The moment Mirva walked on the set of “Talk of the Town”, Mrs. Mona Abou Hamzeh gave a brief summary of Mirva’s modeling career and achievements, and then started at her regarding the costumes she wore on the show, especially the last one.

No matter how much Mirva tried to cut the debate short and stand up for herself by emphasizing how she is always careful in selecting her clothes, and that they don’t rehearse while wearing the costumes, and that it wasn’t such a big deal, Michael kept making those very dirty jokes about the costume and about the last Buzz commercial she did where the electricity generator pops and she asks her nerdy, chubby, unattractive neighbor to help her fix it, then joins him and his friends for karaoke.

I don’t know why is it ok for talk show hosts to pass dirty, sexual jokes and insults to a young woman on national television on a show that is watched by all types of viewers.

Mirva deserves an apology and Michael Abou Sleiman deserves to be kicked off television.

For those of you who understand Arabic, below are links for what I’m talking about.

Buzz Commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUUZpgSzZO8

Mirva Kadi on Talk of the Town:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0NnXbMoUmk

W Halla’ La Wein?

(Seriously, if you haven’t seen the movie and are planning to, then don’t read this post.)

It will make you laugh, cry, think…it will inspire you, depress you, and then lift you up… that’s Nadine Labaki’s new movie: W Halla’ La Wein?

It takes place in a distant and isolated Lebanese village during the Lebanese civil war, during the time of conflict between Muslims and Christians. The villagers are a mixture of both religions determined to live in harmony while trying to ignore the war going on around them; well at least the women are.

This movie is full of hidden meanings, and each scene or situation could be interpreted differently.

It shows how the Lebanese community doesn’t really have any problems within it except those that come from the outside; be it politics or regional conflicts. On the other hand the same scene could really be an indication of how fragile the Lebanese community is. It shows that religious figures such as a sheikh and a priest struggle to calm the people within their ranks because both religions are about peace and love not hate and bloodshed. It shows how women are greatly impacted by the war; especially on an emotional level either by losing their husbands or children, thus making them more eager to preserve the peace. Or it can reflect how women have a very significant role in calming angry hearts and distracting the men from the conflict. The movie even addresses forbidden love between two people from different religions, and how silence is better than stirring the hidden intolerance.

Nadine was very careful in keeping the balance between both sides. She was clear in portraying how both sides lost, and could continue to lose. She shows how both sides are equally intolerant, and equally savage and ill-tempered. Call it feminist or not, the movie really puts men in the bad seat, since they are more reluctant to thinking before acting even if their actions have deadly consequences.

When it comes to the actors, none are really famous, except for Nadine Labaky and Adel Karam (who has a small role in the movie) however, all played their roles extremely well. Unlike those Lebanese series were actors seem to be reading their scripts while the cameras are rolling, Nadine’s cast is really able to immerse the audience into the center of their everyday lives, make them feel what they feel and go through what they are going through.

Amid the current critical political and social situation in the country, the movie came as a wake up call to those who act before thinking, who play with the social balance, and who think that civil war is easy.