kerbstreet

a couple of hours before leaving i received this link for a street blog exhibit in madrid. the drawings seem to be in their real environement.

a couple of things

i added some links, and a news section to announce the concerts and projects. please check it out regularely. you can also add your email on my mailing list just by sending an empty email with "mailing list" in the subject field at the following address: mazen[at]kerbaj[dot]com.
i might not update this blog during the tour (aaaah, 13 days with no screen!), but i'll be surely drawing and there's a lot coming afterwards. especially a project collecting all kind of old drawings related to war and/or beirut somehow under the title "before the war it was the war". keep posted for the announcement. i am also working on an animation that will be soon available somewhere (started before the war and waiting to be finished). and this whole blog is searching for a publisher and should exist as a book soon enough.

i am posting this as if i was sending an email to a friend to tell him i'll be absent for a while.
it's funny.

211

i feel that tonight, i am going to sleep.
for real.

Sunday 27th of august 2006

that’s it.
it’s over.
the book is finished.
me too.
i didn’t draw today.
i didn’t watch tv.
i didn’t think.
i didn’t.
i did nothing.
i am preparing myself to leave tomorrow for a 10 days tour in sweden and norway.
my first “break”. how is it now in sweden? i thought for a moment that it’s going to be funny to be in a place where we won’t speak about the war for a couple of days. actually we won’t speak of something else. will the swedish airport security like my beard?
shift the brain.
the war is over.
they said.
the next one will take a moment to come.
shift the brain.
the holydays are over.
you’re going to work.
you are a musician.
go clean your trumpet.
pack your crap.
forget about it.
erase.
that's it.
fill your time now.
unitl?

26th of august 2006

A CALL FOR COLORS FROM:

the blind birds
the roasted flesh
the stars' sound
beirut's sky
and from my tired eyes

latest news from both of us

24th of august 2006

"one more year on the initial counter"

"one less year on the final counter"

at the end of the civil war in 1990, i calculated that when i'll be 31, i would have lived more in time of peace than in time of war.

super heroes collection

MY SUPER HEROES

captain laure
raed kabuto
wonder rasha
commander makram
karate evan
doctor mark

without heroes you cannot go to war.

my own personal super hero

SUPER SHARIF

sharif went back to france yesterday. when the war began he was in beirut, and he refused to leave before the end of the war.
how would i have done without you?

a daytime nightmare (to peter and michael)

4 days of constant wake-up from a nightmare

knot knot knot

TODAY

beirut's sky is blue
and i hear honks
and the hitachi is sleeping
i filled up the car with gas
i drew with colors

BUT THE KNOT IS GROWING BIGGER

202

from under the lebanese earth
more than 1500 persons are asking themselves


why?

beirut time

time remains

and we pass.


time passes

and beirut remains.

200

17th of august

after the days of anger

came the days of despair

mom?

war blues

traffic

today, the traffic came back to beirut.

"i didn't miss you"

still resisting?

it's 3:30 am.
there is no electricity.
i cannot upload yesterday's and today's drawings.
the war is "over" since monday.
they are still finding corpses under the fallen buildings.
we still freak out each time we hear a scooter or a truck. we think of the planes.
tomorrow we're recording a "war quartet" with sharif, charbel and marc on electric guitars.
i am still drawing.
i am waiting for the day when i can sleep.

196

195

together again

you and me together in beirut, it is the great reunion.

i think the same but i don't knowhow to say it, so i say: "i love the smell of your car."

it is called patapouf

torino in the afternoon

15 aout

i don't
know
what i should
do

zzz

silence

night of 14th to 15th of august.

5am

silence.

silence.

silence.

and a bitter taste in the mouth.

happy you

before you went to bed, you told me:
"it's very weird that i am not afraid of going to sleep"

this page is only for your eyes.

the statue of liberty

american doll?

untitled

de-construction games

the souther subburbs today
monday 14th of august 2006

the eternal return

despite the warnings from israel against the circulation beyond the litani river, thousands of cars overloaded with people and luggages took the road toward their villages' ruins today, starting 8 am.
the stubborness of the lebanese people will remain for ever a rejoicing mystery to me.

why?

real real news

181

14th of august

they are saying that today, at 8 am, the war ended.

and i said that when the war will end i'll stop drawing for a while. i'll rest.

and there is a girl with very beautiful eyes in the torino.

and there is a smell of life in beirut. only a smell.

very beautiful. more than what i can draw.

i don't know why i feel that i'll have to still draw for a long long time before i rest.

bombs blues

night of 13th to 14th of august

we are waiting.
WHAT?
and until when?

bagdad boom

today's free game

THE SUMMER CONTEST
answer the following question and win 3 (three) hand grenades.

THE QUESTION:
are the invaders the sons of david?
or the sons of goliath?

PLEASE
send your answers to mr ehud olmert or to the closest mc donald's

today's joke

20 bombs
in less than one minute
on the southern subburbs
while i am writing
that the war is over

cease-fire blues

THE WAR IS OVER
they are saying

how many
times
did
i hear
this sentence?

saturday late night show

torino black-out

darwin was right

the evolution praxis

today: a new emerging species

the light-man

melody 1701

dam on the phone

de prague

hit in the centre

night of 11 to 12 august 2006. 2 am

165

hit the target

a colorful poster for the streets of your city

dear all,
a lot of people are asking if they can print the poster with the war games (let's play).
please do. it is available in large format to download (click on it then enlarge it on flicker).
by the way, i repeat here for those who didn't look at all the archives:

you can use the drawings/music on my blog for any non-commercial printing (posters, flyers, emails, etc.) or airing (for the music) to help promoting the blog and thus to help the lebanese cause.
please do use the screen resolution for printing.
please do use them with NO editing/croping/mixing or anything else.
please do put my name AND the address of the blog next to it.

for those interested also, you can find ready to print and stick on your neighborhood walls A4 drawings on the link of my friend paul keller from amsterdam.

fernando's word

"who will ever save me from existing?"

"when he was writing this sentence, pessoa surely knew that it was precisely the fact of writing this sentence that was saving him."

"you bet on it."