fedderschei

Grafitti on the back of a bus seat

2011-01-03T11:46:00.004+02:00

1 LIFE
2 SHORT
3 YEARS
4 WHAT

To Immortality... And Beyond!

2008-11-02T09:29:00.003+02:00

Slightly emotional today after hearing "My Heart Will Go On" on the radio while driving to work...

Walter Sobchak: "GOD DAMN IT! Look, just because we're bereaved, that doesn't make us saps!"

Opus is resting in peace. Berekeley Breathed retired his beloved icon after 28 years of entertaining us. Kudos to Salon.com for printing the comic strip run in its entirety. For full impact of the final storyline, I recommend starting with the August 31, 2008 strip and reading to the end. The last strip posted will direct you to a link to see the touching last cartoon. Also see this interview for Breathed's thoughts. Breathed says that Opus will be in every story he writes... I wonder if he means metaphorically or if we can find drawings of Opus if we look really closely at Breathed's new books (getting great reviews!).

In other news, Bowler Dies After Rolling Perfect Game. We can't help but emphasize how life imitates art; art of the highest order, The Big Lebowski-style. The bowler's name is even Don (like Donny)! Some comments that have already appeared online with the story:

"OVER THE LINE!"
"Don't fuck with the Jesus."

I would like to add:

Walter Sobchak: "Donny was a good bowler, and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man who loved the outdoors... and bowling, and as a surfer he explored the beaches of Southern California, from La Jolla to Leo Carrillo and... up to... Pismo. He died, like so many young men of his generation, he died before his time. In your wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Langdok, at Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. And so would Donny. Donny, who loved bowling. And so, Theodore Donald Karabotsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. Good night, sweet prince."

Amen, and keep abiding along the path of Dudeness.

what's going on in jerusalem?

2008-06-25T21:15:00.003+03:00

Finally made time to write on this thing. Today I thought about the Twitter service, and if micro-blogging or whatever would help me update more or if it would just be another thing I download and don't use.

Wrote a book review for greenprophet.com. Here's a link to the review. The whole site is worth checking out for positive things about the environment in Israel. I wish I could have mentioned more connections to Israel in the book review, but here's a footnote that I found interesting: John Strutt (the 3rd Lord Rayleigh), a mathematics genius, was discovering new properties of ozone in the laboratory and in an outdoor experiment in 1918. He got special permission to use a Zeppelin airship during "a blackout rule" through his uncle, Arthur Balfour (1848-1930; Prime Minister, 1902-1905), who was then Foreign Secretary in the administration of Lloyd George (1863-1945; Prime Minister, 1916-1922). Anyway, Rayleigh's photographs that he made while on holiday show that there was not much ozone in the lower atmosphere, but must be at higher altitudes. [p. 65, emphasis mine.]

So there are some names we recognize as streets around Jerusalem. Airships would seem to indicate that we have entered a parallel world, according to some conspiracy theorists and screenplay writers. Here's hoping the Watchmen movie delivers on the goods.

On the literary scene, I'm almost finished (some would say almost literate) with my year's subscription to the New Yorker magazine. I mean I'm almost done reading all of the magazines in the series, starting from April last year to April this year, thanks to a fine birthday gift. So do the math, I still have a stack of ten issues to read and it's already the end of June. It was a good run, a good time to be thinking about New York and my favorite writers and critics. I read every issue cover to cover except all the weekly listings, and get so much enjoyment out of reading it and sharing it. When I'm done with that, I can delve into the bonus stack of random New Yorker issues from the nineties, acquired by a great tip from a friend. Yet another topic I could dedicate a whole blog to, if only I could do it as well as emdashes.com.

I also want to gather knowledge from my friends in interesting local professions, and their relationship to the environment and technology. Sometimes just putting these words out in the public and making an effort to edit is nervewracking... right now I will see if there are any reactions to the book review.

Time to Wake the Donuts

2007-11-06T09:46:00.000+02:00

I had a nightmare this morning. I had woken up early, still dark out, and fell back asleep. In my dream that followed, I saw a man in a white uniform entering my home through a window and slowly walking towards me. I never saw his face but felt a menace trying to reach me. I tried to yell, but couldn’t, which is common in some of my scarier dreams. I soon found that I could let out a stifled yell, but nothing intelligible or that would alert someone to help me. This was good practice for taking control of the nightmare rather than fighting or fleeing; after a few muffled cries, I woke up. As I returned to consciousness, I realized that I was yelling in reality, in bed. My wife was on a trip so nobody had woken me up. I don’t often have nightmares that manifest themselves physically.

My yelling probably disturbed the neighbors. I could hear the woman upstairs thumping around at 6:20 AM (a usual practice for an unusual time, for her). The shutters from the next-door apartment were noisily opened. Well, it serves them right: the scary man in my dream may have been a metaphor for all the noise my neighbors made two nights ago at around 10:30 PM when I was trying to get to sleep. Drilling, moving furniture, a weird repetitive warble that sounded like a bird squawking on TV… I needed earplugs. So maybe my brain this morning was subconsciously taking revenge on their noise pollution via “Mr. White Noise” invading my space in my nightmare, forcing me to yell enough to wake them up. Maybe the neighbors didn’t hear me at all, I don’t know for sure, but it was a strange way to wake up today.

The title of this post was inspired by the classic 1980's Dunkin’ Donuts commercials featuring a worker obsessed with the round-the-clock cycle of “time to make the doughnuts”. I was reminded of these television ads by a conversation over BBQ dinner at a friend’s house yesterday. It’s almost time for sufganiot! One person had planned her trip abroad around eating different doughnut varieties and returning to Israel in time for Chanukah’s tasty treats.

Apartments on hills versus flat areas

2007-10-02T17:07:00.000+02:00

Thinking about Edward Tufte's information design and looking at the hills of Jerusalem from Yad Vashem... seeing the croppings of towns and neighborhoods in the area... a mathematical/geographical/architectural exercise:
Do cities get more living space for people's homes by building on hills rather than a flat open space? A hill offers more land surface area (physical x-y space) by going vertical (like a triangle, into the z-axis) than a flat area, but that doesn't necessarily translate into more living space. I'm considering apartments in this exercise, and they can be built as high as possible on a flat area, but can also be built as high on a hill, which has the advantage of allowing more residents to have a view outside their home (consider stacked apartments on a terraced landscape). I think a hill offers more space on which to build apartments, but I'm not sure if that always means more people can live in apartments there rather than a flat land area. More research needs to be done...

Murder in Three Periods

2007-08-09T07:51:00.000+03:00

I've just finished filling my head with three fictions (or semi-fictions?) over the course of this week. All centered around murder most foul, and all were satisfying narratives in their own way.

The first was a novel called "The Interpretation of Murder," by Jed Rubenfeld, who also happens to be a law professor at Yale. The story is based around Sigmund Freud's visit to Manhattan in 1909, his first trip to the U.S. and the beginning of the psychiatric watershed in the States. His understudy takes on the case of a girl who was attacked after another young girl was killed. The story is very clever, a real page-turner, basically historically accurate, and full of surprises. Involves turn of the century New York, architecture, conspiracy, Shakespeare's Hamlet, social strata, guilt, sexual psychology, science vs. nature themes, and of course, evil deeds.

While reading this book, I rented two DVDs I had my eye on. One was "Brick," a detective story set in a U.S. high school today. An ode to Dashiell Hammett and film noir, the movie doesn't wink as it lays out a complex plot complete with hard-boiled dialogue, tough but nosy protagonist, sleazy tramps and dealers, the femme fatale, the trusted accomplice, the law and order figure, and the underside of high school life: lockers, drama class, social strata (again), losers and jocks, etc. Fascinating, intriguing, and fresh, but I needed the subtitles to keep up. Looks and feels like a masterful independent work. Made Entertainment Weekly's list of Top 50 High School Movies, though it surpasses most of the dreck in that genre. All due respect to "Back to the Future" and "Dazed and Confused".

Finally, I was able to snag my video store's only copy of "Zodiac," directed by David Fincher. I was very excited about this: I love the director, it has an incredibly talented cast, it is a period piece set mostly in the seventies, and it is based on the case files of a notorious murderer. So it was a very good film, but perhaps my expectations were too high. I wanted to be dazzled by Fincher, like with "Fight Club" and "Se7en", but this was a straightforward cop/journalism story with moments of tension at the crime scene. I think Fincher was going for a more mature film without getting pigeonholed with a genre ("Alien 3") nor playing off today's headlines/fears ("Panic Room"). That being said, the film is very good, requiring the first hour to introduce everything, and the next 1.5 hours to care about the characters and the situations in which they find themselves. Great production design and soundtrack. Robert Downey Jr. is once again remarkably watchable and frenetically funny.

Time to get back to reality. If I hear the neighbor's stereo one more time, I'm going to kill him!

P.S. Why doesn't the alternate U.S. ending of "Pride and Prejudice" (Keira Knightley, 2005) feature giant transforming robots destroying England's stately homes? The filmmakers really missed an opportunity there.

Back to the Future ride... outatime

2007-08-07T11:10:00.000+03:00

Sad to see an artifact of one of my favorite franchises depart... but the inescapable force of history marches on. ThrillNetwork.com has the story about shutting down "Back to the Future: The Ride" at Universal Studios Hollywood (California). No word yet on the ride's status at Universal Florida (though I think it will also be closed). BttF:The Ride was an awesome attraction introduced in 1993, featuring a ride-simulator DeLorean in a full-on sensory experience, with a continuation of the film trilogy's storyline. Even waiting on line was fun, as visitors could pass through Doc Brown's lab and see new videos created especially for the ride, with some of the film's actors. The closing of the ride will make way for a new Simpsons-based ride, which may serve as some solace. The Back to the Future series still has massive amounts of fans, including this writer, and there is a related contest now for people to submit BttF fan videos to win prizes, including a 1981 DeLorean (flux capacitor may not be operational)!

New Yorker Subscription: Start Reading

2007-05-29T14:32:00.000+03:00

I'd like to blog my beloved New Yorker subscription, a birthday gift from Sharon's parents (thank you sooooo much!). I read every article, almost cover-to-cover, every issue. Their writers can make any subject interesting, even things with which I would normally not investigate (a conductor at the L.A. Philharmonic, for example). Here is the first blog post in this irregular series.

The first issue to arrive was "Journeys," the travel issue, one that I devour every year. Cover date of April 16, 2007. The issues seem to arrive on or about the cover date which is pretty good for me (though it makes it difficult to enter the Caption Contest on time). Anyway, this issue featured an article about commuting and traffic, China's train to Tibet (with map), the art of parkour (extreme "base-jumping", as practiced in opening sequence of Casino Royale), the puzzling language of an Amazon tribe (great photos), and a book review discussing the risk to themselves and feminism that stay-at-home mothers portent (yikes!). I am introduced to writer Sasha Frere-Jones, who mostly covers music with a hip-hop lexicon.

Next: April 30, 2007. Beautiful cover with a geeky twist ("Paint by Pixels," by Harry Bliss). Articles on Peter Morgan (British screenwriter of The Queen), Barbara Stanwyck, aging and geriatrics (very eye-opening), and the aforementioned Maestro (has a funny anecdote about getting turned down at a bar). Critics discuss Aimee Semple McPherson (illustration by Edward Sorel that I need to show to Liz who drew Don Quixote for a book), books about TV, and Steven Holl's new Nelson-Atkins building (I am particularly fond of architecture articles with pictures). Sad fiction piece titled, "After the Movie."

And last for this post: May 7, 2007. Great cover"Style Sheet" by Ivan Brunetti. Articles on "the CSI Effect" (crime labs), "The Magus" Paul Coelho (now I know how to pronounce this author's name: "Co-el-you"), profile of Barack Obama, and India's antiquities-smuggling ring (financed by world-class institutions and auctioneers, of course). Critics on Ralph Ellison (more interesting person than I thought; another "lost manuscript" story), Tori Amos and Bjork, and Spider-Man 3 (I won't read it until I see the movie, even though New Yorker film critics write thought-provoking pieces beyond mere reviews).

Hopefully "blogging my New Yorker subscription" will be a regular feature here, and now I can comfortably loan out issues to friends who also want to enjoy!

Whose House? Mike's House!

2007-03-22T11:45:00.000+02:00

So I saw Miketheman's comment on my previous blog posting, and then found his spiffy new web site, complete with his blog archives and a link to me! Then, serendipitously, I found an article via Slashdot (can be abbreviated as /.) that he and I would find interesting:

boyko.at.netqos writes "An editorial in Network Performance Daily tries to take a (1d6) stab at explaining why geeky engineering types are also typically the types that enjoy a rousing game of D&D. From the article: "The greatest barrier to creativity is a lack of boundaries. Counter-intuitive — almost zen-like — but we've found it to be true. This is why people play Dungeons & Dragons (and similar games), and why network engineers often spend time putting out fires when they could be improving the network."
Original editorial here.

Note that Boyko lives in Austin. And a fourth Simpsons movie trailer can be viewed here.

Marvel Comic Based Theme Park Set For Middle East

2007-03-21T08:27:00.000+02:00

My comments are below. Here's the full article, posted on my birthday, March 20, from ThrillNetwork.com:

After two years of negotiating, Marvel Entertainment Inc., will be teaming up with Dubai based Al Ahli Group to develop a $1 billion theme park scheduled to open in 2011.

Manhattan based Marvel, best known for comic book figures like Spider Man, The Fantastic Four and The Incredible Hulk stated that this would be the first destination theme park in the Middle East. Marvel is also holding talks about additional projects in the Middle East.

David Maisel, Chairman of Marvel Studios and a member of the Office of the Chief Executive, Marvel Entertainment, said, "We are launching a long term relationship with the Al Ahli Group to bring the Marvel Universe to Dubai with this exciting new theme park development. Al Ahli Group has both an impressive team of theme park, entertainment and hospitality executives and the financial strength to leverage that expertise into a world-class destination resort experience unparalleled in the region. We are very pleased to be a part of this exciting initiative and look forward to a successful partnership with Mohamed Khammas and the Al Ahli Group."

The project supports Marvel’s push to become a stand-along film studio after paring up with major film studios like 20th Century Fox.

For more information on this story, please see New York Business.

-----
One commenter called the city "Bubai" which sounds like a fun porn-based theme park. Its well worth listening to another commenter who laments the Middle East's reputation, something we do often from here in Israel. And the construction of Dubai is insane... I've got a New Yorker article with incredible photographs of the building boom. Money, tourists... bring it on! And stop off in Israel while you're in the neighborhood. Highlights from the comments on this story's web page:

"Enter a 'WTH?' here." [What The Hell]

"If you think the Middle East is a bunch of terrorists running around with guns, you are wrong. The Middle East contains one of the biggest tourism markets in the world. They build islands in the shape of palm trees and the world, skyscrapers that will rotate 360 degrees, and they are planning on building the largest hotel in the world with 6,500 rooms. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai

Dreaming in Cels

2007-02-27T10:00:00.000+02:00

Thanks to a gift from my brother, last night we watched the brilliant film Waking Life. This film is kind of like Slacker, but taken to a new beautiful level. I recognized a few of the locations, including the boat-car, and some of the star cameos. The DVD has lots of great extras too! Nice one.

Wired magazine online has photo coverage of the 2007 New York Comic Convention. Check out the costumes and how Gary Coleman looks pretty dog-tired. He too cleaned up well in an animated version (see him as a kung fu fighting security guard on the Simpsons).

Also from Wired, an interview with Zack Snyder, director of Dawn of the Dead and the forthcoming 300, based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller (Sin City, etc.). The article says that Snyder will be helming Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen, based on one of the greatest modern books around (and I can't wait for Moore and Kevin O'Neill's latest volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).

Here is a gallery of photos from 300, including comic page-to-screen comparisons of some shots. Looks beautiful and exciting. Finally, I present here a review of 300 (I don't think it will spoil anything) that transcends the boundaries of geek reviewdom into the realm of classic comic literature. From Aint-It-Cool-News:

I just saw a movie that’ll give your eyes boners, make your balls scream and make you poop DVD copies of THE TRANSPORTER. It’s called 300. I don’t know what the title has to do with the movie, but they could’ve called it KITTENS MAKING CANDLES and it’d still rule.

It’s about these 300 Greek dudes who stomp the sugar-coated shit out of like a million other dudes. I have a feeling that a lot of high school sports coaches are going to show this film to their teams before they play. Also, gay dudes and divorced women are going to use screen captures for computer wallpaper.

The movie takes place about a million years ago, and it’s sort of like a prequel to SIN CITY. Except way less guns and cars but twice as much skull splitting. If you watch this movie and go into a Taco Bell, and say to the cashier, “I need some extra sauce packets” guess what? You’re getting twenty sauce packets because your face will punch him in the brain.

I can’t spoil the plot because THANK GOD THERE ISN’T ONE. Just ass kicking that kicks ass that, while said ass is getting kicked, is kicking yet more ass that’s hitting someone’s balls with a hammer made of ice but the ice is frozen whiskey.

TWO COOL THINGS ABOUT THE MOVIE AND ONE THING I DIDN’T LIKE:

COOL THING ONE:
HEAVY METAL DURING BATTLE SCENES

Who gives a shit if the music isn’t historically correct? LORD OF THE RINGS could’ve used some Journey. This movie has that chu-CHUNG kind of metal that you hear in your head when your shift supervisor at Wetzel’s Pretzel is telling you that you’ll have to stay for clean up and you wish you had a sock filled with quarters in your hand.

COOL THING TWO:
FOES, MINI-BOSSES AND A BIG BOSS

Basically, the Greek dudes are fighting these Persian dudes, but the director, who must have a dick made of three machine guns, does it all like a video game. The Greeks fight every death metal video from the last ten years. There’s wave after wave of giants, freaks, ninjas, mutants, wizards, and a hunchback who looks like he’s got Rosie O’Donnell on his back.

Would I have been happy if Dom DeLuise from HISTORY OF THE WORLD, PART I had shown up? Maybe, but this movie more than makes up for that glaring oversight.

NOT SO GOOD THING:
DUDE NUDITY (“DUDE-ITY”)

These are Greek times, when there were a lot of naked women around. And there are some naked women in this film, but almost every naked woman scene has a muscular dude giving the screen an ass picnic. Dude-ity is something directors put in their movies so people will think they’re serious, I guess, and not just throwing in naked hotties.

Any directors reading this – IT’S OKAY TO JUST THROW IN NAKED HOTTIES.

Can’t someone make a movie about naked Amazons and call it PAUSE BUTTON?

My final analysis is 300 the most ass-ruling movie I’ve seen this year, and will probably be the King of 2007 unless someone makes a movie where a pair of sentient boobs fights a werewolf.

Wedding photos!

2006-12-12T23:40:00.000+02:00

Yep, we finally posted them... well, 80% of them. Here's the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59985052@N00/

Or, from Flickr's home page, search for these tags: "jerusalem wedding sharon jeremy"
Or, do a people search for our username: sethtova824

They're out of order but still beautiful! We are looking forward to our trip to Florida and England. We leave tonight! Email us at our gmail account with your phone number so arrangements can be made to meet up. Ciao!

Influential Art, Some Of It Sequential

2006-11-01T08:46:00.000+02:00

C'mon, doesn't everyone want to be immortalized like Ice-T in that awesome painting from the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors show? The mackinest original gangster ever, and huge influence on my personal music appreciation quest, released his new album on Halloween. The cover features the rapper nude in bed with his wife's leg (she's an exotic swimsuit model) strategically placed on his... um... bling-bling. Good for him to continue to upset retailers and be able to intelligently explain his artistic direction. Read the full article here.

From Slashdot:

"It appears that the FBI considered William Moulton Marston (1893-1947), who invented the lie detector and created the comic book character Wonder Woman under the pseudonym Charles Moulton, to be a 'phony' and a 'crackpot.' He is alleged to have misrepresented the result of a study he conducted for the Gillette razor company in 1938, for which he reportedly received some $30,000, a handsome sum in those days. Despite these misgivings, the FBI today uses Marston's creation (the polygraph, not the Lasso of Truth) to guide investigations as well as to screen applicants and employees. You can download Marston's FBI file here (736 KB PDF)."

NPR has posted a book excerpt from Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life. The web page features a cool picture of the artist (another big influence from my childhood) and a gallery of his cartoons (with an author discussion).

And how was my Halloween? Not like it was in the States. It was the last day of the month to build some hours for my forthcoming paycheck. Sharon's parents took us out for dinner at Darna, a lovely Moroccan restaurant (click on "Our Home" to see a panoramic view of the room in which we dined). Great food, nice wine, and much fun was had by all. Tonight the Cinemateque is showing A Scanner Darkly which I am very excited about seeing (Richard Linklater, Philip K. Dick). Oh yeah, I heard director George Miller and hairy crackpot Mel Gibson are interested in doing Mad Max 4! The first two Mad Max films are still great, and a big influence on my Car Wars mindset. I hope any sequel is not as disappointing as Beyond Thunderdome. Now that was scary.

Good Food Magazine

2006-10-30T10:12:00.000+02:00

Here's a tasty link (thanks tafka pp!) that I should have posted last time:
Check out the Genders on tour in the U.S.A.!

The past few days have been a gourmand's dream. On Friday, Sharon made Shabbat dinner and we cleaned the house to host her parents. A lovely visit all around! We had homemade challah, chicken soup that we picked up from the ever-friendly "Take Me Home" shop near Emek Refaim, a starter of asparagus wrapped in salmon (I had garlic mayonnaise on the side), a main course of chicken breast stuffed with rice and wrapped in prosciutto (it smelled traif!), salad and vinaigrette, mashed potatoes and mashed sweet potatoes, and homemade cake for dessert! We used our beautiful new plates, bowls, and silver from the wedding. Sharon also bought pecans and sugar-coated them in a pan. Great snacks and leftovers for Shabbat!

Last night (Sunday) Sharon and I went to Marcus's apartment for dinner. No bother that everyone was running a bit late, it was all timed wonderfully. We got a tour of his great place, filled with fantastic photographs he took himself. Many are posted on his Flickr site: calendar magnets, sunsets, friends, and art that adds up to more than a hobby. He has a yard with a garden, a little office space, a new leather couch, and lots of amenities with comfortable ambience. On our candle-lit table we were served: hot rolls and butter, pumpkin (and squash?) soup with optional cream, fresh salad with creamy vinaigrette dressing, a deep porcelain dish right out of the oven was split into "green" tortellini with herbs and "red" tortellini with tomato sauce all covered with melted cheese, some side dishes of small squash stuffed with olive paste and mushroom heads topped with cheese, followed by tea and warm chocolate cake and three ice cream flavors! I can't believe I ate the whole thing. It was all delicious and impressive! I wish we had some pictures-- I'm really not doing justice to the whole meal and all the flavors.

Then there was the Wild West Mystery Party, with both kinds of food: country and western. We have photos for that so hold yer horses, pardner, we'll lasso them dogies and corral them pictures on that newfangled internet thang! I hope you all have a good day and happy eating!

Shop Talk

2006-10-18T14:35:00.003+02:00

By the time I got home yesterday, word had already got around about yesterday's post that I had made in the morning. Thank y'all for paying attention and giving feedback. Someone said I had "outed" people by using real names, but I disagree. Those that I mentioned don't have other identities and don't take any great pains to hide their identity. I don't think they'd mind being mentioned in the context of what happened, and if they do mind I will make amends.

I'm just reporting the news. I will, of course, maintain secrecy for those who do have other identities or those who make it known to me that they don't want their names on the site. I guess what I posted yesterday was the first time I had mentioned full names, but that's only because those people don't have their own blogs or a relevant link (and y'all don't want me to post your pictures, do you?) So yeah, yesterday's post had a different agenda than, for example, the description of the last Risk game, in which I purposely hid the players' identities. You know why? As the late, great comedian Sam Kinison once ~~said~~ screamed, "There's a reason. There's a FUCKING REASON!!!"

The reason is that some players may disagree with my interpretation of the events that transpired, and I wouldn't want to discolor the journalism nor offend those players who indulged in the giving and receiving of "table talk", that rude, lewd, boastful, insulting battle chitchat that is only meant in the spirit of the game and should stay at the table.

I feel justified that I don't have to revise any postings and I will continue to report news and views in my way. Free blogs, and my comment area, are open for public debate (although the comments section was once edited and somewhat censored because of table talk from said Risk game entering the blogosphere).

Those that didn't get mentioned yesterday... don't worry! There's plenty of stuff to dish about-- I just can't remember it all at once. I am reminded of someone who once said, "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about." Someone else once said, "Even bad publicity is good publicity."

While I'm here, let's try to stay current and review yesterday and today. I'm enjoying some new responsibilities at work until the end of this week, when my "lease term" on being borrowed from my regular office is up. Back to 8 hours a day in the education building after that. Yesterday we used an hour and a half at a ceremony for the unveiling of a new study center. The donors and MK Tommy Lapid and others were present, with speakers, honors, and nice food (fruit and pastries). Keren came over to our place later for a brief visit. According to Tamara I missed her and "the other" Jeremy rapping with H. about adult responsibilities, which soon turned into a shouting match. Wish I was there to act as a calming influence or at least have a few laughs. Today I got another email praising my curent work in the other building. We got a free lunch from the army. I dropped in on Tamara doing her first tour of the new museum. Her friend Tali is in town, and I hung out with him and Tamara's cousin last week in H.'s backyard. Tali is very funny, constantly in motion, smokes very quickly, and works at a pizza joint on long Island, which I can definitely relate to. Also today some woman came into our office and bitched about a project that she didn't like-- disturbed the whole office for no good reason. Tonight we'll do some food shopping (Sam, Dina, and a friend will stay over for Shabbat) and pay a shiva call to a friend. Liz is a new gal in our office and will hopefully show me some techniques for Flash animation. I'm reading Ireland, a novel by Frank Delaney covering legends and history of the Emerald Isle, and also reading Preacher again, one of my favorite comic series ever.

Been a long time...

2006-10-17T09:57:00.000+02:00

...since I rocked and wrote. Sure there are the usual excuses, and my main one is I'm so overwhelmed with new experiences that it gets harder every day to blog, as the details keep slipping away in a vicious circle of non-writing. Knowhutimsayin? Here are some things I would love to tell you more about (or show you pictures soon):

I got married! So did the lovely ~~Miss S~~! I'll make a rhyme and say, "To each other no less!" And she's now Mrs. W-Z, but that was harder to rhyme. For me.
We went to Prague for four days and it was awesome. Beautiful, friendly, historic, fun.
Mr. and Mrs. Hawaiian Shirt joined me and the missus for a Shabbat a few weeks ago in Netanya. We were glad they were there to play Rummikub while waiting for the car repair guy. After a frantic search for a new electric starter thingy, the garage boys got it done and we ate at the great Farmer's Daughter restaurant. P.S. I think Mr. Hawaiian Shirt's blog needs a counter to note all the traffic we send there to read the in-depth articles.
On Monday Sept. 18, Asaf drove myself and Sharon to the Barby club in Tel Aviv to see the Genders. Starring Tani as "the new bassist" before their U.S.A. tour. The show was professional, fun, skanky, and ROCKING.
On Tuesday, Sept. 19th, we went to a barbecue at Martine's house to inaugurate her new 'cue (grill), and then we went to the Blue Hole Pub to (temporarily) say "good luck" to Katka as she leaves for Poland for a while.
On Thursday, Sept. 21, I met Alex and Liat at Mike's Place in Jerusalem for the Toga Party! Woo-hoo! Scroll down the page and click on my picture for more debauchery!
On Tuesday, Sept. 25, Sharon and I went to Netanya to buy some stuff from IKEA. There was traffic on the way there, and a massive traffic buildup due to accident/injury/possible death just outside Jerusalem. Nothing moved from about midnight to 1AM. Three lanes of traffic, including buses, had to move aside to let police through. People were pretty good about it, and eventually it was like a big curious street party with cars in the way.
I've spent much time since then building said furniture, like bookshelves and bedside tables. Martine came over to help with an endtable, and Keren got us started with a Kullen. I helped Keren post photos of her beautiful paintings on a web site.
Tamara finally came over and enjoyed our hospitality!
Alex and Shani got married in Cyprus, and had a great reception in Herzliya Pituach. A classy affair with guests like Jason and Andrea, Liat, Pinchas and Orly and kids, Mark and Leah, and Bradley Fish on guitar! I shared a fun taxi ride home with Bradley, Mike H., and Moshe.
That was the first night that Sharon was in England for a week, visiting our new nephew Jonah! Mazal Tov to the family! There were lots of other families and babies to see as well. Phil and Sarah visited me on Shabbat and looked at the wedding photo albums.
Had great holidays here in Israel. Rosh HaShana... Cousin Sam slept over for Yom Kippur, Sharon and I went to Yossi's for (Sephardic) first night of Succot, and our good friend was honored to go up to the Torah for the 1st reading (Bereshit/Genesis) on Simchat Torah! On that Shabbat I also met up with Hilary to check up a Reconstructionist service, which was all good.

Gotta go... I'm sure there's more to remember and post! Plus, Things to do: Take over the world (RISK game of global domination coming soon), and investigate Blogger in Beta, which should offer tags to browse my posts by topic. See ya!

Pictures! We Have Pictures!

2006-08-10T16:05:00.000+03:00

Lots of news has been trickling in to our department lately. First, from the New York Times, White Lace and Rocket Fire: Israeli Couples won’t Let the War Ruin Their Wedding Day:

Fifteen couples from northern Israel whose weddings had been canceled because of the war took leave of rocket fire and bomb shelters to marry in a group ceremony just after sunset on Tuesday on the campus of Tel Aviv University.
The mass wedding was the idea of a wedding planner in Tel Aviv, Amit Bar-Tzion, 33. His company and the Tel Aviv University Student Union organized the heavily subsidized event, providing flowers, photographers, hair stylists, makeup artists, a steak and salmon dinner, a band, a dance floor and even fireworks.
“This is the Israeli personality — we do,’’ Mr. Bar-Tzion said. “And we try to be happy even when it is difficult. It’s in our DNA.”

Next, you should read how our good friend is volunteering for the war effort on the home front (she wrote the great essay too!).

Next, Ynet reports: New York Times 'used fraudulent photo'
Man seen 'dead' in Beirut photo essay appears in other photos from same scene up and walking around, blog blasts 'unbelievable fraud'. NY Times issues 'correction,' says man was injured.
In other questions on media images, US commentator Michelle Malkin notes that the US News magazine's front cover picture of a Hizbullah gunman standing in front of a blaze, part of a piece entitled "Lebanon's new ruins," is actually a photograph taken near a garbage dump.
Blogs in the US are continuing to ask questions about images from the Lebanese village of Qana. The Riehl World site has alleged that Hizbullah "added to the body count of dead children there."
"How do you introduce new bodies into the scene of a bomb strike? The answer may be as simple as you bring them from around the corner," the blog said, posting a number of photographs and videos to back up its assertion.
"All of these forms of fraud have the same intent: to serve as propaganda for Hizbullah, and to make the Israeli attacks look as brutal as possible," concluded the Zombie Time blog .
Meanwhile, reports have surfaced of Hizbullah members issuing death threats to journalists who attempt to film them firing rockets at Israel.

Finally, in response to the Reuters "news service" being at the center of a photo controversy dubbed “Reutersgate,” our friend writes in:
From: Daniel
To: Nobody
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 8:45:21 AM
Subject: My Reuters Submission
I have sent the attached photo to Reuters in the hope they will publish it as genuine....

Random Stuff Except the Absolutely Vital Part

2006-07-11T16:46:00.000+03:00

I've been combing the web for my old friends, catching up with a few that have turned up via email. I also just noticed a comment from a previous post that I hadn't seen before. The Coolest Cousin in the World responded to my blog!

He asked about Shane MacGowan, and yes, indeed, that bastard appears to be still alive. That Wikipedia article is nicely done, by the way, with all the gory details and photos that we love. Here's an excellent site that is critical of Wikipedia and all it stands for, and you know what? The author makes many good points; I look upon the wiki phenomenon now with new eyes. While we're on the topic of useful information tech, here's a site that I encourage everyone to use and pass on to the appropriate idiots.

Okay, back to some topic or other I may have addressed a minute ago. I really dug my cousin's response, both the sentiment and the respectful quote, and it reminds me of how powerful those seemingly little moments can be, even just listening to a song. Often we remember a whole scene of our lives, triggered by some music, the way the sun hits the street, a scent of perfume... I'd like to relate now how Cousin Dave was integral to a Pivotal Moment in my Life.

Los Angeles, circa 1987. I was on vacation, visiting My Favorite Aunt, and The Coolest Cousin in the World was the guy I always looked up to (when I was at a tender age, he introduced me to the irreverent humor of Mad Magazine). In L.A., he had got a drink served to me in a hotel bar, with the only instructions I had to follow: "Sit up straight." He bought U2's Joshua Tree and an independent band I can't remember in a CD store before I knew any of that was cool. And cruising the streets of L.A., seeing Sunset Strip, the Capitol Records building, all from the passenger seat of his mustard-yellow mildly-aged car. Cousin Dave popped in a tape, and it was the strangest music I ever heard: Irish folk ballads with punk attitude, followed by sad and sweet pub tunes from the Emerald Isle, and a crazy, possibly political tragedy called "The Body of an American." It was the first time I heard the Pogues and the wonderfully indecipherable slurred lyrics of Shane MacGowan. It was a revelation. Cousin Dave thought it was cool to listen to this, bang the steering wheel to the beat, play music at such a volume to make conversation impossible... this was cruising, and we were rocking. I knew that I would have to bring this attitude home and adapt it to my means, re-booting my adolescent nice boy mantra with this new feeling of what it really means to be a teenager. I would never be the same way again.

I'm going to throw in one more piece of memorabilia here because I just discovered it last night. And it has a lot to do with the old friends I was seeking out. One can well say that my new attitude, fostered and explored over the next six years, was poured into the creation of this little puppy. I'll write more about that later.

Global Domination: Historical Studies

2006-06-28T12:29:00.000+03:00

We're in the middle of an important international educator's conference here at Yad Vashem. I'm going to review some highlights by the speaker from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Not only did he detail some interesting views on our work, but he made an effective and intriguing presentation that struck many out of their boredom.

After an hour-and-a-half of listening to other speakers from the distinguished panel, our American friend started with: "I'm going to ask you to sit in a few moments, but first I'd like you, for 38 seconds and without speaking, to stand up and stretch." No one in the audience was silent because we all really enjoyed the stretch with a sigh of relief and audible applause. That's a good way to get the audience on your side. Then we sat and the speaker used the number "38" to begin his discourse on our field of study (1938 being an important year).

His briefing on the average American visitor to the USHMM got a few chuckles. Most Americans don't know that World War II started on Sept. 1, 1939; we think that it started with Pearl Harbor, or with D-Day, when we entered the war. Most visitors to their museum are not Jewish. And other points about the location and design of the museum in central Washington, D.C.

The speaker's next interval also engaged the audience. He told us to pick up the blank paper we all received, get a pen, and answer four questions he would ask. We should answer each one in fifteen seconds, and our answers would not viewed by anyone else. The questions were:

What do you think is the most important city in the United States?
If you had only ten minutes to tell one story about the Holocaust, what story would you tell?
What do you think is most Americans' impression of "history?"
If you were to tell someone about yourself using only a single object that you own, what object would that be?

After we wrote our answers, the speaker then said that these were questions that the designers of the USHMM thought about when planning their museum. As I discussed later with my co-workers, we all by this point thought that the American could use his effective presentation skills and dramatic voice (and pauses) to make us do whatever he wanted. ("Must... write... answers...") ("I feel compelled to vote for George Bush.") ("He let us stretch... the Americans are greatest speakers in the world... U! S! A! U! S! A!")

But seriously, folks, here are the other highlights that I wrote down:

"Memory is an ongoing conversation."
"Holocaust educators are brokers of that conversation."
"Memory is always a product of choice. Choice is always limited by space, time, and intent (or design)."
"Living memorials should serve the three areas of education, remembrance, and conscience (moral and spiritual questions raised relate to our responsibilities as citizens of a democracy)."

Not bad, huh? And you better believe the speaker's workshop session later today was packed beyond capacity. Thank you, delegate from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, for engaging us in the conversation and letting us think (and stretch).

Finally, based on post-session co-worker discussion, here are some other things the American speaker could have said at the podium in his mellifluous, dramatic voice (and we would have obeyed):

"I believe the children are the future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside. Give them a sense... of pride."
"For those of you who have never met an American... we'll meet soon. Don't come over, we'll come to you."
"For those about to rock... we salute you."
"Everything is proceeding exactly as the Emperor has foreseen it."
"Remember: Charlie... Don't... Surf."
"Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie, or are you gonna bite?"
"I took over a country, so I am taking a card and passing the dice."

Thank you... I'll be here all week.

One Token Over the Line

2006-06-26T10:18:00.000+03:00

Summary of Risk Event II: Electric Boogaloo
The only person who dressed as the color of his pieces was the Jolly Green Giant, as part of a plan to intimidate the previous champion (everyone else forgot to dress for the occasion). We voted that the lone latecomer would become the Pink Peril. Previous Winner was the Red Menace, I commanded the Blue Meanies, and the Black Brigade filled out our party of five.

Pink, the newcomer to our group, focused almost solely on targeted attacks on Black, then changed tactics to near-dominance of North America at a speed which may have surprised all of us. Black had early existential issues as Green tried to block him in for a final kill. I took the Risk to erase Black off the board (no genocide comments please), but Black survived dramatically with one army in his Australian homeland, and slowly grew from there. I had to leave Asia and fall back to North America, leading to regular skirmishes with Pink over the continent. The Red Menace started near Africa and took a country each turn, moving through the Middle East and massing a menacing force next to Black's only supply line from Australia. A Black-Red Axis treaty held for a while until Black apparently got tired of his conservative ally, and entered a war of attrition until both forces were rendered useless. Green played a good game, holding much of Asia (and South America?), and taking out weak players to use their cards to win the game (could have been faster if sets were completed-- or was that a bluff?). I came in second, folding my hand in the face of an assured Green win.

One question came up during play: can a player turn in two (or more!) sets during his turn after getting a defeated player's cards? (We voted no when we couldn't find the answer in the Hebrew rulebook. And the player this ruling most affected, Green, still won). One day I'll post our answers and house rules on a web page. And if we played on days other than Shabbat, we could keep more detailed notes on gameplay.

Mr. Pink and Mr. Red left after the tournament game, so Green, Black, and I played two games of Mission Risk. I won one, and Black won the next. A trio of winners around the table, a good time was had by all, and the strange situation of having far more alcohol at hand than snacks at a Jewish gathering.

Mr. Red had a good idea later: we should buy some sort of champion's trophy, like a large studded beer chalice, to be awarded to the winner each time. The winner would hold it until the next event and present it, clean, to the next winner of global domination. It is presumed the trophy would be used at the event by the defending champion. I suggested, with the current World Cup in mind, that we all retain hardcore posses of aggressive fans who will start riots outside our Risk stadium.

Feed me, Seymour!

2006-04-18T11:14:00.001+03:00

TAFKA Purple Parrot's comment to yesterday's rant is prompting today's blog entry. I respond:

By "Joy Grill" do you mean "Joy Express"? I've had only good experiences with Joy Express (one time at each location). While I agree with you that Joy is starting to look like an evil empire, it will be hard to drop them completely, considering that their style of restaurant is rare in Jerusalem: somewhat upscale, kosher, meat-serving, desirable location, good food, (generally) good service.

The common person in Jerusalem gets screwed enough on a daily basis (banks, taxis, politics, etc) to make me very upset when the "simple" things like dining out go awry. I always try to avoid crowds at all restaurants, as the staff usually can't handle the details, and I hate waiting in general.

I don't think my avoidance of Joy will have any impact on them, nor will my boycott last terribly long, considering the place's popularity and utility among friends. But I was very happy to make my rant public in the hopes that people will take note, particularly with the long-term view of being blessed one day with good customer service, public decency, and civic design in Israel in all aspects of life.

I would encourage entrepreneurs to open their own restaurants similar to Joy to create competition. They would almost certainly thrive today. I would support those restaurants. I also encourage people to complain loudly when not getting the service they deserve. I have issues with: Masryk (overcrowding leads to poor service), Sami's (great food but they doubled their prices), Burgers Bar on Emek (too crowded, and I still lament the loss of the great Jack's MiniBar), and New Deli (NEVER order delivery from them; they really screwed up my order one time and didn't make up for it as they promised).

Finally, here is a list of Jerusalem places that have served me well every time: Lugar, El Gaucho, La Guta, 1868, Olive, Norman's, Al Dente, Kohinoor, Pollo Loco, Cafe Hillel, Big Apple Pizza, Rosmarine, Tmol Shilshom, Pizza Meter, McDonald's, Burger King, Taverna, Yossi Peking, King David Hotel, Sheyan, Canela, Coffeeshop, Ragu, Marvad Haksamim on King George, Goldie, Blue Hole Pub, Almora, Vaqueiro, Corusin in Malcha Mall, and O'Connells (I prefer Belfast Irish pub for service and intimacy but they no longer serve meals). I really miss Mike's Place food! I'm getting hungry now...

The Pain of Joy

2006-04-17T11:44:00.000+03:00

A letter I emailed to "In Jerusalem" magazine today (part of the Jerusalem Post; if anyone spots it in the paper, please let me know!):

Editor:
On Sunday morning, April 16, we made our reservation at Joy on Emek Refaim for a ten-person table at 7:30 PM. At 6:50 PM, the restaurant called us and said that they made a mistake. They overbooked and didn't have room for us.

We telephoned when the restaurant didn't call back as promised. We talked to various people, including the one who took our reservation in the morning. Joy's new offer of a table at 8:30 was unavailable in a matter of minutes; presumably, they were taking other reservations while we were on hold. Their offer of a table outside was rejected because of the rain. Their final offer of a table at 10 PM was rejected as ridiculous.

Joy had effectively thrown into the streets a road-weary and hungry family in the middle of Pesach vacation dinner rush. After 40 minutes of calls we got a table elsewhere at 9:30. I decline to mention the name of the "savior" restaurant because they engage in the inexplicably greedy yet common practice of raising the price of every menu item during Pesach.

I urge everyone to avoid the restaurant Joy, especially when it is expected to be crowded. They don't know the importance of details, they can't be trusted for service, and they don't respect frequent customers.

Pre-Pesach Pizza Party!

2006-04-06T14:39:00.000+03:00

It's a bit noisy but fun in the office today. Around noon, all of the staff from all the buildings gathered in the auditorium in our building for the annual Passover gathering. Assaf said someone talks for about half an hour, usually reminding us that we are "good soldiers" and that we don't work for Yad Vashem but we serve Yad Vashem. I wasn't too interested until I heard that there would be pizza served afterwards. My, how we suffer for our art. I am so there!

Someone had cleared all the chairs from the auditorium except for a few around the walls. I sat with my office crew and watched people enter, mingle, and enter/mingle/stand-around-talking-by-the-main-door-so-it-was-
difficult-for-others-to-enter. It was kind of like a wedding in Israel: there was a kabbalat panim (no appetizers though), the whole show is running a half hour late, the important thing happened when everyone quieted down, and then there was food afterwards. The smell of pizza was all over the building and in the elevator, and I was hoping it wouldn't be cold when the speech was done.

Luckily, the speaker only talked for about 12 minutes, and with a "B'teavon!" and a gesture towards the buffet tables, the feeding frenzy began. It really wasn't so crazy; I got in quick and had some pizza with tuna on top, which isn't so bad as it sounds. There was all kinds of soda and even a few bottles of wine. I also had slices with onion and olives. The wine didn't go so fast, but I never saw forty boxes of pizza pies disappear so quickly. The pizza was good stuff, delivered from a local place, not made in our cafeteria.

I can't wait for the country-wide Chametz Fest in Israel post-Pesach, in which everyone buys all the good yeast products we couldn't eat all week. Looks like beer is back on the menu, boys!

It's a Nice Day For a...

2006-04-04T13:14:00.000+03:00

...white wedding of Benny and Reut! Mazal Tov! They got married last night at a beautiful event. Benny has been friends with Sharon since they worked together at Summer Seminar a few years ago (don't mention t-shirt logos!). We picked up Yoni at the bus stop and drove 40 minutes west-southwest to Chafetz Chaim. Clouds were streamed and swirled on the big sky; a great sunset was on the way.

I was quickly pulled into an evening minyan as we arrived. Then we met up with Mr. Hawaiian Shirt and the D-Lightful One to sample the appetizers. Notable were the smoked tuna and the tortilla wraps, made to order with your choice of meat, guacamole, beans, and sauces. We ruminated on the surreptitious transfer of finished wraps into the hands of other staff. Was there an underground escape route for Mexican food? Delivery to honored guests who don't wait on line?

We stopped caring when we saw the next table being set up with a chocolate fountain. We had some drinks and mingled. In attendance was a young woman in a purple dress and gold shoes (and under her purple hosiery, the nails on her big toes were decorated with an American flag I think, although she spoke perfect Hebrew), and some people from abroad. One British woman had a nice visit to the U.S. recently, in which she toured New England and even got a big "Howdy!" from one of the friendly folks she met.

The location was beautiful, with white trees lit pink and blue by colored floodlights. Flowers and plants everywhere, and benches made from large wooden wagon wheels. The ceremony was very nice, with a handmade blanket topping the chuppah. It started getting cold out as everyone headed inside for dancing and dinner. We were seated with a few other Ramah staff whose company we enjoyed. The rolling mechitza moved quite a bit into the men's dancing area as the women continually needed more room.

Dinner and tablemates were lovely. Somehow I had an instinct for the exact moment that the chocolate fountain was turned on and the table of sweets and fruit revealed! From across the room, I saw the good stuff flowing and ran over with Sharon and Chava hot on my heels. We were first in line and immediately got some sticks (useful for jabbing kids out of the way) onto which we pinned fruits and nougat and let the warm chocolate drizzle onto our skewered desserts. By the time we took our first bites, a mad crowd had gathered. I returned into the frenzy to peel a banana, one-handed, and skewer the whole thing on a stick. I received light "battle damage" in the form of a few chocolate spots on my shirt: a small price to pay.

Then Hillel set up his laptop to project a video on a big screen, which featured the groom singing in a music video. Nice voice and a good idea. Bezalel joked that he wanted to check his email! Then we bensched (post-meal prayers with some extra wedding blessings) and drove home, getting in around 1 AM. The coffee buzz was wearing off by then; we were left to our Willy Wonka dreams.

Take No Prisoners!

2006-04-03T14:45:00.000+03:00

Last Saturday, some friends gathered at my place for a game of Risk, the classic boardgame of world conquest. Participating were myself, Phil, Matt, and Ilan. Guests brought snacks and I supplied beer and alcohol. We invented a new drink with tequila, Sprite, and a dash of grape soda. Sharon hosted the "Risk Widows' Club" at her flat. We all honored the Sabbath, and we played outside on my balcony in the sun. The wind caused a few "random troop movements" and card dispersals ("Oh shit!") until we blocked it every time the breeze threatened to get uppity.

Matt was up to his usual diplomacy, but my South America and his North America maintained a truce for most of the game. In fact, we did something unprecedented in the history of Risk: as a show of good faith, we both pulled our troops back, away from central America, leaving one army each at the border. Much can be learned and applied to the real world from the politics of Risk.

I beat all of Ilan's armies to take him out of the game, pillaging all the way through his home (in reality and on the board) in Australia, stifling his cries of "Beer!" I used Ilan's cards to get more armies and take out Phil. I couldn't use Phil's cards to get more troops, however, and by this point I was spread thin across the board, and after a few turns Matt had eaten up the countries and taken over the world.

Matt claims this is the first time he won, but that point is being debated. After he left, Phil, Ilan, and I turned Phil's board over to play Castle Risk. It was the first time any of us had played it and it was pretty cool-- a nice alternative to the standard Risk game. Phil won, and my castle was taken first. We may make this game get-together a monthly event if possible.

It's Just Baaaaaaad

2006-03-14T12:58:00.000+02:00

In the latest weekly article [this link may be broken soon as the newspaper regularly deletes old postings; relevant paragraph quoted below] in Haaretz's series "Art of Diplomacy," we visit the home of Dr. Krinka Vidakovic-Petrov, the ambassador of Serbia and Montenegro in Israel, to discuss her art collection. This section got my synchronicitous spider-senses tingling:

Nearby hangs a monochromatic painting of a sheep, almost completely white, which the embassy received as a gift from Israeli artist Menashe Kadishman. "I met Kadishman when we organized an exhibit for a Serbian artist, but even before that I had read about him, seen reproductions of his, and fallen in love with his sculptures. And I wanted to meet him," she says. "One day he invited me to visit his studio, and asked me what I wanted as a gift. I saw the installation of sculptures that he had prepared for the Jewish museum in Berlin— a pile of iron heads— I saw several heads in his studio, and I told him that I wanted one like that. A symbol of the suffering of the Jewish people. Kadishman replied: 'Of course I'll give it to you, but I'll also show you all my sheep, and you'll choose between them.'" [article written by Dana Gilerman]

Well, that clears up a few things! I've seen Kadishman's sheep paintings in art galleries around Jerusalem, and frankly, I find the full-canvas head-on portraits disturbing, and I would never want one in my home. Note that, as quoted above, Kadishman has to offer and give away sheep art even if someone is interested in something else! I can't be the only one out there who refuses to have the wool pulled over my eyes.

But I didn't know that Kadishman is the same artist who created the sculptures that I do appreciate, like the installation at Yad Vashem I blogged about recently (the "iron heads"). Interestingly, I cannot find a title card or accreditation near Yad Vashem's sculpture, but the artist is now revealed. If you want to see a Kadishman overview and pictures of his work (both sheep and iron heads are featured), then go here. At the bottom of the Wikipedia article are more links to pictures of his sheep obsession. It's shear madness!

Wilde Things

2006-03-14T12:04:00.000+02:00

A few notes on films seen recently at the Jerusalem Cinemateque:

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride: Pretty standard Burton fare (beautiful imagery, eerie content, great music by Danny Elfman, plot and characters that aren't too interesting). I imagine Tim put more effort into this "personal project" than the overblown and mostly dull Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which in context now can be seen as a fundraiser. I noticed a cute detail in Corpse Bride: when Victor plays the piano early on as his intended bride Victoria Everglot watches from the shadows, check out the name brand of the piano above the keys. It is "Harryhausen," a reference to Ray Harryhausen, one of the original greats of stop-motion creature animation in film.

Lord of War: Loved it. Very cool and engaging way to present political issues. Has some Jewish humor. And did I hear Mazzy Star in the soundtrack?

Jarhead: Very good. Worth seeing, especially if you liked Three Kings and Full Metal Jacket (both of which I loved). Jamie Foxx puts in a good turn as the Staff Sergeant (maybe he got "military training" from the silly but enjoyable Stealth), and all of the casting was excellent. I'll be sure to keep an eye on Peter Sarsgaard, the sleepy-eyed actor that I remember from Flightplan and Kinsey. If you see Jarhead, stay to the very end of the credits for a short bonus song.

Hana and Alice: A very nice film, part of the Shunji Iwai tribute this month. I love modern Japanese cinema, which often features wonderful kinetic uses of light, color, animation, and cathartic endings. Plus, its just cool to get into a whole different culture and perspectives on life, art, dialogue, locations, and soundscapes (use of space and silence).

A Good Woman: Well, pretty good at least. Based on Oscar Wilde's play, Lady Windermere's Fan. I needed a discussion with Miss S to clarify a few plot lines and express a few opinions on casting, but now I'm delving into the life and works of the amazing Mr. Wilde. Happily, the BBC aired a show about him just this week, making the claim that Wilde was the first post-modern pop star, and we should not forget how shocking his work was at the time of publication.

In Her Shoes: A very good film, covering lots of interesting topics. Not the romantic comedy fluff I was expecting, and that's a good thing. Great cast. Cameron Diaz continues to take roles that don't just capitalize on her looks. Film features Jewish jokes, Florida locations, senior citizen humor, an actor from The Sopranos, great cuisine (made us hungry after viewing), and serious issues like career choices, illiteracy, marriage, and family secrets. Miss S needed the tissues and I almost did too!

Something is Illuminated

2006-03-01T12:14:00.000+02:00

Right now I’m reading a book called Perfume, by Patrick Süskind, which I borrowed from Sharon’s bookshelf. The next book I’d like to read is also in her collection: A History of the World in 10½ Chapters, by Julian Barnes. There is an insert in Barnes’ book: a color reproduction of Gericault’s painting, The Raft of the Medusa. This painting was used as the basis for the cover to The Pogues’ second album Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash. The Pogues’ former lead singer Shane MacGowan was used (unknowingly to him, probably) as the physical (and attitudinal?) model for the Irish vampire Cassidy in the Preacher series of graphic novels that I love so much. Cassidy and his friend Jesse Custer influenced the life of another Preacher character, Arseface, a teenage boy who attempted to commit suicide by gun to the head like his hero, Kurt Cobain. Cobain and Nirvana produced a song called "Scentless Apprentice" which appears on their album, In Utero. This song was inspired by the main character in Suskind’s book, Perfume.

Follow me? See how things go round and round? I love coincidences and interconnected relationships like those so beautifully presented on the science documentary series Connections. I used to watch the show with EdGee in Austin.

Another small example would be from last night: After our meeting with Amital, Sharon and I walked around the corner and past an art gallery that contained a small sculpture by the same artist who made a work that is placed next to the education building at Yad Vashem, where I work.

been a while...

2006-02-22T09:37:00.000+02:00

I just learned that one of my favorite jazz greats, The Incredible Jimmy Smith, passed away on Feb. 8, 2005. I got a chance to see him play once at the New Orleans JazzFest in the mid-nineties, but missed an opportunity when he played at Benyamina in Israel. I'll miss him, but his recorded output and legacy will live on. Also, I'm introducing his music to more people at work, who are now seeking out his albums. One co-worker also loves him and we traded albums!

Another bittersweet finale: Running2Ks has signed off from her blog. I certainly learned a lot about parenting, education, and keeping it real under the Bush Dictatorship. Check out her archives (inspiring to my blogging) and take a look at her home-based business.

Sharon and I hosted a nice engagement party two weeks ago at my place. Unfortunately the parents of the bride were unable to make it, but fun was had by all. There's a photo of me in my powder blue Mexican tuxedo shirt kindly posted on White Elephant. If you missed the full velvet leisure suit, you missed out. Photos will be posted as we receive them. One of our photographer friends hosted a birthday party this past Sunday, at which I had too much to drink but enjoyed the usual mix of interesting people from random countries.

In other news, we found a photographer, a videographer, and are currently seeking bands and organizing a web site for more wedding info. Two friends from Tel Aviv just got engaged! They were at our party and may have been inspired.

Anything But Modest

2006-01-15T21:45:00.002+02:00

I am delighted to announce that last week, after a blissful thirteen-month romance, I proposed to the lovely Miss S, and she said yes! I am engaged to be married, and couldn't be happier!

Hmm... would she prefer anonymity in the blogosphere? Her parents are placing an announcement in the Jewish Chronicle, England's journal of record, and I announced here. My parents and hers talked by phone; they all seem to get along. S and I are incredibly lucky to have such wonderful family and friends. The bride and I went shopping for an engagement ring last week and were greatly assisted by AlexK, him of recent beautiful wedding fame, renowned worldwide for marrying an incredible woman, and being part of the story of how I met my fiancée.

As an anniversary card, I received a postcard showing the original Hebrew movie poster for The Big Lebowski-- check it out above.

Sweet, huh? I think the rug really ties his sunglasses together. Shout-outs to my peeps at Lebowski Fest, Walter Sobchak, and all those keepin' shomer fu@kin' Shabbes.

Anyway, she and I had dinner for two at Caňela (Restaurant Motto: "Don't ask us how to pronounce it; that 'n' should have an umlaüf over it!"). Our wine steward was a nice fellow whom S recognized from the excellent restaurant 1868, where we had a great wine tasting dinner with her parents some time ago. Madonna once ate there too, don'cha know. I hear The Material Girl eats her steak like a surgeon. Cuttin' for the very first time.

Before dessert, I had to ask her something. I held her hands and she cried. Though she considered answering my proposal with, "It's been so long, I have to think about it..." ;) Miss S said yes. Then we had dessert and called our families. Mmm... dessert. Chocolate... Where was I? The first week of our engagement was joyously spent watching Family Guy DVDs from our friends R and E, staying warm and cozy on Shabbat, doing Sudoku, enjoying dinner (mmm... cheese...) at R's house Friday night, making and receiving phone calls, and devouring apple crumple because Miss S is no slouch when it comes to baking and cooking and naming things!

We are making out a guest list, selecting possible locations (around Jerusalem), and planning to visit the U.S. of A. after the wedding. We don't have a date set yet. I mean, do you have any promising leads?

The policeman laughs, agreeing broadly.

    POLICEMAN
  Leads, yeah.  I'll just check with
the boys down at the Crime Lab.
They've assigned four more detectives
to the case, got us working in shifts.

The Dude looks sadly through his window
at the policeman rocking back on his
heels, his raucous laughter muffled by
the glass.

BOWLING ALLEY BAR

The Dude, Walter and Donny sit at the
bar, the Dude with a White Russian,
Walter with a beer, and Donny eating
beer nuts.

Relax, dude, nothing is fu@ked...

No Thanks, I'm Afula

2006-01-15T21:30:00.000+02:00

Listening to R.E.M. and trying to ignore stray cats screaming outside.
Went down to the corner Qwik-E-Mart. I'm pretty sure the clerk, a man older than me, was picking his nose while we were waiting for my debit card receipt to print. Really digging in there, going at something on or behind his face. I was so sure, I didn't want to look to really check. I couldn't be bothered, and besides I had stared at enough people from my bus seat earlier. This clerk and I, we've seen each other around and said hi, but I don't really want to share special moments like that. There was no else around on line or in the store. You know, I'm all about using work time efficiently and creatively, and I'm glad his store was warm and welcoming in this cold weather, but come on. Is that really necessary? We are already blessed with an overabundance of vehicle drivers in this country who have mined all the gold in that field. They'll be happy to run the country, though, or at least tell you how it should be done.

Quit That Jibber Jabotinsky!

2006-01-15T20:12:00.000+02:00

For my neighbor.
And all you fans of
מסטר ט. א
I pity the fool that don't visit the Mr. T. Name Generator!

Abundant Joy for Chanukah

2006-01-03T12:37:00.000+02:00

Happy New Year to everyone! In Israel, we call the holiday "Sylvester" to denote the marking of the non-Jewish new year. I always wonder why Tweety doesn't have her (his?) own holiday.

The highlight of the week was the wedding of 32AndThenSome and Kalman Rushdie! Mazal Tov! There's a nice little report from Jewschool with photos. You can read the bride's thoughts and her wonderful speech on her blog. I loved the way the chuppah wasn't crowded with people so the guests could see the couple's faces from anywhere in the room. Maybe because some guests got stuck in bad traffic?

It's good we got there early, ostensibly to help the groom prepare, but all I did was arrange some table settings and enjoy his tisch. I was proud to say I was a pre-wedding taster who had helped choose the delicious food. I am a professional, after all. The music was provided by one of the best bands I've seen at a wedding, Adom Atik ("The Old Red") (traditional, simcha, Jewish, jazz, funk, classic rock). Some cool family members were present (one of whom has the honor of being profiled by Ha'aretz magazine and the Shin Bet!) as well as an assortment of local bloggers and best friends. This posting should satisfy TAFKA PurpleParrot, by whom I was admonished to "Blog. Blog!" after not writing in over a week. A great time was had by all! (And the hotel room, view, and breakfast at Shoresh were excellent.)

Here is the Love

2005-12-19T23:15:00.000+02:00

Wow... I'm a bit overwhelmed, and feeling all warm and fuzzy. I was happy to see I got some comments from previous posts, so of course I checked them out. There was a great turnout from people around the world, many of whom were strangers to me until now. Big shout-outs to everyone who linked from Running2Ks: you made me feel welcome and I'm proud to be a small part of R2K's most esteemed network of Nice People. I like your blogs! Peace to my bro, the supa-dupa supaviza of White Elephant, who now knows who I am and gets the reference.

I highly recommend Running2Ks blog; among other things, it is positive and inspirational. And she wrote a whole post about re-connecting with me! Peep that because she tells the tale better than I could. Her perspective gave me new insight (and newly-refreshed memories).

Looking through the comments to our respective posts made me realize another major reason to be involved in blogging: connecting with people in a way only possible in today's digital age. My blog is called "fedderschei" for a reason, folks. More on that depressed/introverted/noncommunicative cycle later, but let me note that there are REAL people out there, with REAL issues, I believe they are Good People, and there's a lot to talk/blog about. It is amazing to have made a difference in someone's life; others have meant so much to me. R2K and everyone else: making the effort back then, and a few days ago, will always be one of the most meaningful things I've done in my life. Thank you!

Let's go back then right now ("flux capacitor... fluxing"). I'll close with a quote I've carried around with me since my college days. Thank you for the comment on my previous post, Jen; I will now reveal that "does justice to our humanity" is really just a misquoted part of what my friend Chuck B. had framed in his office circa 1993:

An honorable human relationship-- that is, one in which two people have the right to use the word "love"-- is a process; delicate, violent, often terrifying to both persons involved, a process of refining the truths they can tell each other.
It is important to do this because it breaks down human self-delusion and isolation.

It is important to do this because in doing so we do justice to our own complexity.

It is important to do this because we can count on so few that go that hard way with us.

--Adrienne Rich, On Lies, Secrets, and Silence

Yet another way Blade Runner predicted our future

2005-12-17T12:27:00.001+02:00

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain. Time to die."
--Batty, from Blade Runner (1982)

While I was thinking about blogging, and how writing is good for preserving our memories, the above quote came to mind. All of our thoughts and dreams are unique in our shared human destiny. Like Batty, we are created to wander and experience (and die one day); it is sad to lose or forget our experiences. I believe everything we feel and think is stored in our brain (hardware) somewhere, but we can't always access it. Writing, in its transformation from thought to permanence to communication, does justice to our humanity.

This is as good a time as any to say that Blade Runner is my favorite movie of all time (the Director's Cut is a justified improvement). The only comment I can add to the ton of material available on this film was made by Howie Muzika when we were buddies in film school around 1994. From his cinematographer's viewpoint, he said that Blade Runner is the only film he could think of where you can look at any single frame, and it is about as perfect as it can get: effectively composed, lit properly, relevant to the overall effect of the film, and simply beautiful.

"That's all I got to say about that." [Noting that Blade Runner is #102 on the IMDB's Top 250 Movies and Forrest Gump is immediately above it at #101.]

I am. I be.

2005-12-12T08:47:00.000+02:00

Hello and Welcome. .שלום I am Hebrew-enabled.