A new weapon in public diplomacy? A new front in the Arab culture wars? I don't know... I just feel that it's my duty to reproduce this al-bawaba story on Haifa Wahbi in all of its insane glory. You can pass the time by counting sexual innuendos!
"Haifa Wahbi reincarnated into a butterfly:
"Lebanese singer Haifa Wahbi is living a state of extreme ecstasy after winning the award for the most popular Arab singer at the Murex D’or Music Awards. ....
According
to the London based Elaph, Saeed revealed that the new clip for Haifa features an idea never presented before showing her in four different phases. Haifa is seen born again like a butterfly, who begins the struggle to live. Saeed noted that the clip is in fact the story of Haifa’s journey, which features good and bad times and ends with her reaching her dream of being on top.
"On a different note, Revlon Middle East has launched their new, sensual Sultry Look, especially for the Middle East region and is inspired by the beautiful Arabic look. It was revealed that many believe Haifa is a symbol of beauty and how she has the power to influence the opinions of Western people showing them the extent of beauty present in the Middle East.
****
In case you're worried that Haifa's "power to influence the opinions of Western people showing the extent of beauty present in the Middle East" might in some way detract from the power of Nancy Ajram, the eponymous symbol of the Nancy Ajram Culture Wars, never fear.
From the same edition:
"Nancy Ajram quenches her thirst with Coca Cola:
Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram has taken advantage of her stay in Cairo and filmed the remaining scenes of her first television commercial for the International Soft Drink Company Coca Cola. .... 
"The singer underwent a major makeover to appear in a new look especially for the commercial. Sources have revealed that Nancy received a wage of two million US dollars to take part in the commercial, which is one of the highest rates given to any Arab singer by an international company.
***
No word on whether quenching her thirst with Coke left Nancy living in a state of extreme ecstasy.
What can we say about Haifa and Nancy... good soldiers in the culture wars...challenging the conservative sheikhs... and influencing the West through the power of their beauty... and now they live in extreme ecstasy after reaching their dream of being on top.
[Aardvark's note: I'm sorry.. this post is very silly. Forgive me. But I've spent so much fricking time cleaning up the html that I'll be darned if I'm going to delete it now!]
You have nothing to apologize for. This was sheer brilliance.
Posted by: praktike | February 17, 2005 at 02:56 PM
And they are much more attractive than that new habit of Friday cat pictures in certain blogs. Besides where else can US Americans learn of Arab culture?
Posted by: bigd504 | February 18, 2005 at 12:54 AM
bigd504 - I think this is American culture, even if indulged in by Arabs. Far be it from me to stop them though, in these instances.
Posted by: chris | February 18, 2005 at 04:24 AM
What's really interesting to me about sultry Lebanese music videos is how they're strongly influenced by American rap videos. Bling and booty everywhere!
Posted by: praktike | February 18, 2005 at 10:11 AM
Of course you did see the photos from Lebanese Fashion Week:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4255023.stm
Posted by: nur al-cubicle | February 18, 2005 at 10:33 AM
There was a pretty funny story in the Daily Star last year that basically said a lot of the Arab designers refuse to use Lebanese models because they couldn't behave. So they use Russians and Eastern Europeans.
Ever since Nancy Ajram started getting really famous (was it fall 2003?), she's tried a little hard to be sultry. Should've stuck with cute.
Haifa Wehbe went out with Cuba Gooding Jr. when he visited Beirut. Apparently he drank too much and took his shirt off at a nightclub.
Posted by: Jeff | February 18, 2005 at 12:01 PM