2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

I am currently in a studio up in the mountains where they are working on the color grading of the MTC Atheer commercial. Yesterday after the commercial shoot they dropped the films here where they were developed and converted to video, a process called telecine. Now we are working on the color grading of the video which is the process of altering or enhancing the colors of the video. When you pull the video off the film its in very raw form and needs to be color graded before use. The commercial director and director of photography are both present for this process.

I have a few pictures and a short video I want to post hopefully today from yesterdays shoot but I am waiting to get permission from LBC. Once I do I will put them up.

Today I had the MTC Atheer commercial shoot with Ilham Al Madfai and Shada from Star Academy. I woke up at 7AM and was on the set by 8. The whole shoot took place in an old house/museum here in Lebanon and it was a really beautiful location. The shoot started at 8:30AM and ended 16 hours later at 12:30AM. It was extremely exhausting with only 1 short break for lunch.

Its now 2:15AM and I just got back to the hotel room. I am posting three pictures from todays shoot for now but will try to post more pictures tomorrow with more details.

We were done with the music recording at around 7PM and so I came back to my friends place where we played some Nintendo Wii. I think I am over the Wii, its not as fun as I imagined it to be and its really exhausting to play. When I pick up a joystick to play a video game its because I want to relax and chill out in front of the TV. The Wii on the other hand demands physical effort which I really don’t want to give. I think I am going to get the Xbox 360 instead. Forza Motorsport 2 is coming out in May and thats all I really need, oh and an NHL game.

Both Ilham Al Madfai and Shada are in the studio recording the song we are going to use for tomorrows commercial. Here are two pictures I just took of them. The light inside is kind of dim so the pictures are a tiny bit blurry but I will try to take better shots once they are done.

update: I had to remove Shada’s pictures because LBC didn’t give us permission to publish them.

I just got to the recording studio awhile ago, they have wifi here which is pretty cool. I am in Lebanon on an MTC Atheer (Iraq) commercial shoot involving Shada from Star Academy and Ilham Al Madfai. Currently Shada is inside recording and we are just waiting outside until she is done. This studio is really huge, so huge they actually have their own restaurant inside.

Today we are recording the soundtrack to the commercial but tomorrow we will be actually shooting it. The picture above is of the large set at this recording studio.

update: Ilham just arrived and said hi to everyone. He seems like a cool and down to earth guy.

I just find this Obese Confession guy weird, been browsing through his videos and I still haven’t figured out why the fuck he is video blogging from his car! Check out his other videos on YouTube. [Link]

The money here in Lebanon is ridiculously huge.

This page has pictures of the biggest passenger ship in the world. I was going through them and most of them look like pictures taken inside a large shopping mall. [Link]

A friend emailed me this link, its pretty funny. Makes you wonder what was the referees previous occupation, a ballerina or something probably.. [Video]

This is cool news, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co have agreed to purchase a stake in Aston Martin. Yabeela! [Link]

The Annual exhibition by KASA (Kuwait Architectural Students Association) is being held at Bayt Lothan from 10 to 14 March. The exhibition is open from 7PM to 9PM and will be displaying work done by architecture students. Bayt Lothan is located in Salmiya adjacent to Marina Mall.

Has anyone ever survived a water landing by donning a vest or using a raft? An interesting short article I read yesterday. [Link]

I arrived to Lebanon I think around 1:30PM Lebanon time, left the airport and came straight to the hotel where I just lazed it out. Today is the only day where I can relax and do nothing so I am taking advantage of it. In a bit my brother is coming to pick me up and I will probably go have a drink and a bite to eat with him somewhere.

My rooms view is pretty sweet, I got the sea view this time around which is great. One thing I forgot to pack is a swimsuit, the hotel here has a roof top pool which overlooks Beirut, its an incredible view which makes swimming very tempting. Oh yeah, the weather here is like Kuwait… winter is over.

Best thing about this hotel is the location, its near the American University of Beirut which means there are a lot of things to do here when I have free time. By a lot of things I mostly mean food.

I need to go down to Beirut for a few days to shoot a commercial and I should be back Friday night. My flight leaves at noon so I have to pack everything tonight. I will have Internet access from my hotel room so I will continue to blog from there.