Google + Social Networking + Prizes = Blingo!
Came across Blingo today. It’s a search engine that uses the google engine and randomly gives out prizes. No spyware, no strings attached. Check out this article in the Chicago Tribune if you don’t believe me. It’s a got a whole viral angle to it. If you sign a friend up, you win whatever they win. And the prizes aren’t too shabby either. Itunes gift certificates, movie tickets, ipods, Visa Gift Cards, Amazon gift certificates, portable DVD players and more. So click on the graphic below and sign up and let’s win shit together.
NY Times on "The Chronic of Narnia"
If you haven’t seen “The Chronic of Narnia” rap from last week’s Saturday Night Live you’ve either been living under a rock or the interweb is bigger than you think.
If you haven’t seen it yet you can watch it here.
My favorite verse…
Roll up to the theater
Ticket buying what we’re handling,
You can call us Aaron Burr from the way we’re dropping Hamiltons
Parked in our seats movie trivia’s the illest!
“What Friends alum starred in films with Bruce Willis?”
We had the dope facts, it was scary:
Everyone stared in awe when we screamed Matthew Perry!
Then quiet in the theatre or it’s gonna get tragic
We’re about to be taken to a dream world of magic!
The Chronic of Narnia is probably the funniest thing to grace SNL since Frankenstein, Tonto And Tarzan sang Christmas carols.
The NY Times writes about the making of the video and I have to say I’m blown away that it was pretty much done independently of SNL production.
The Lonely Island guys, the brains behind the video, are hysterical and I’m in debt to both Mobius and Krucoff for urging me to view Awesometown, possibly the greatest pilot never released.
Mom, don’t even bother. You’re not going to get it.
ipod meme
The original “Shaister” tagged me with the ipod meme that has been circulating the blogosphere over the past few weeks. The mission was to hit the shuffle button on your ipod and make note of the first fifteen songs. Thankfully I lucked out and will avoid embarrassment because none of my guilty pleasures showed up.
As you can see I’m a sucker for a good pop song.
Miracle Drug - A.C. Newman (Slow Wonder
That Year - Uncle Tupelo (No Depression
I’m the Man - Joe Jackson (Steppin’ Out - The Very Best of Joe Jackson
I Need Direction - Teenage Fanclub (Howdy!
Dirt - The Stooges (Funhouse
Middle School Frown - Josh Rouse (Nashville
I am the Rain - Firewater (Get Off the Cross
She Said She Said - The Beatles (Revolver
Panama City Motel - Sugar (File Under Easy Listening
Ordinary Girl - Material Issue (Freak City Soundtrack
Jealous of Your Cigarette - Hawksley Workman (Last Night We Were the Delicious Wolves
I’ll Be Comin’ Around - The Bottle Rockets (The Brooklyn Side
The Sun Shines Down on Me - Guster (Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered
Curtain Calls - Old 97’s (Too Far to Care
Jet Boy - New York Dolls (Glamorous Life: Live
I’d Run Away - The Jayhawks (Tomorrow the Green Grass
I would tell you about where I was when I first heard these bands and what these songs mean to me but I’m not that self-indulgent.
A surrealist Channukah
The following is a reprinting of something I wrote last year for Channukah. It’s kind of cheesy, but totally true and was by far one of the most memorable positive experiences I had in the army.
It was a dark, cold and rainy night at a roadblock on the Green Line somewhere between Beersheva and Hebron. My body was warm due to the hermonit (basically a sleeping bag with legs, sleeves and a hood) but my feet were freezing due to the lack of insulation in IDF issued combat boots. It was the middle of the night and traffic at the roadblock was sparse. Maybe two cars every hour if even that. My mind was occupied (no pun intended) with my imminent military discharge just one week away and thoughts of my future wife. It was Channukah, 1998. A car was approaching the roadblock really, really fast. The horrid trance music was getting louder and louder as the car approached. I motioned with my hand for the car to stop and it complied. As soon as the driver rolled down his window, the pungent smell of weed hit me. Not that I would know what that smells like. Although I believe I once saw someone smoking a marijuana cigarette. Anyway, I also noticed the two striking babes sitting in the back. They were smoking hot.
“This isn’t the way to Tel Aviv?” the driver mumbled in Hebrew.
“No,” I laughed. “This is the way to Hebron. Turn around, drive five kilometers and make a right at Tzomet Shoket.”
“Oy va yoy. Are you American?”
“Yes. A very cold and tired American.”
“Stay warm American friend. Don’t eat the loof. It is very bad.”
“Thanks for the advice.”
The car drove off as quickly as it approached and my friend Ohad who remained conspicuously quiet throughout the bizarre dialogue said to me, “Harry, do you know who that was?
“No idea, who?”
“He was an actor from the soap opera Ramat Aviv Gimmel.”
“Oh, how funny.”
I knew of Ramat Aviv Gimmel but never watched it, for Ohad, it was the highlight of his three years in the army. For me, it was just a surreal experience. Little did I know, the night was going to get even more surreal.
About an hour later, another car approached the roadblock with a hanukia (menorah) attached to the top, blasting celebratory Jewish music. It was of course a Chabad mitzvah tank. The Chabadnikim jumped out of their van grabbed us by the hands and danced with us. A real “what the fuck is going on here” experience for me. I usually don’t dance with strangers but I let myself go for about twenty seconds.
The chabadnik to my left looks at me and says “Harry?”
I answered “yeah” and I looked really puzzled because I was really puzzled. The only chabadnik I knew was still running Shabbos House in Albany, NY. And needless to say, a remote roadblock on the green line is quite far from Albany.
“It’s Tzvi!” he exclaimed in English with a huge smile.
“Hmmm,” I thought. “Tzvi…Tzvi….Tzvi. Nope. I don’t know anyone named Tzvi.” “I’m sorry. I don’t know who you are.
“Oh, right. You knew me as Mike Skolnick.”
Now Mike Skolnick was a name I was familiar with. I knew him from my Jewish youth movement. Nice enough guy, but not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. Boy had he changed. We chitchatted for a couple of minutes, my army friends commented on how I know more people in this country than they did (I always seemed to bump into someone I knew) and the Chabadnikim gave us a tremendous amount of sufganyot (jelly donuts) and sped off.
Believe it or not a couple of hours later another group of Chabadnikim arrived to deliver sufganyot. They asked us if Chabad had come yet. We said no. Selfish of us yes, but screw you, we were serving our country.
The next morning (although I was sound asleep) we still had about 40 donuts left so my unit gave them to the Palestinian workers who came through our roadblock daily.
It was a weird Channukah. One that I’ll never forget.
Conan hates my homeland…
I’ve been a fan of Conan O’Brien for quite some time now. I even thought he was funny in the dreaded early years. I traveled from Albany to NYC on more than one occasion during my college years for tapings. Back then, you could call the day before a taping and get free tickets. Now the wait is months.
The definite highlight of my trips to Conan was when I danced with Andy Richter. He gave me a fruit tray which I shared with the audience.
I still watch Conan on a daily basis (albeit two days after the American broadcast) and he continuously cracks me up. There is no such thing as too much of the masturbating bear, Coked-Up Werewolf, or Preparation H Raymond. My favorite bit by far is Pierre Bernard’s Recliner of Rage. Simply classic.
Over the past year Conan has featured a new segment called “Conan Hates My Homeland.”
From the wikipedia entry:
Conan O’Brien Hates My Homeland - The premise of the skit began when O’Brien alleged to have received angry letters from viewers in Ukraine after mocking that nation in another recurring skit, New Euro Coins. Unaware that his show was even airing in Ukraine, O’Brien reads fast-paced insults of each of the nations of the world in alphabetical order [1] to determine where else the show is being aired without his knowledge. O’Brien insults about five-ten countries (with a bell ringing between each one) each time the bit airs. A sample insult: “Georgia: It’s where Europe and Asia get together to dump their trash.” Announcer Joel Godard then requests more angry letters from insulted viewers around the world.
An announcer on the Finnish entertainment channel SubTV, which airs the show couple of days after it is aired in USA, asked people to defend Finland before Conan got to insult it, and the viewers in Finland began sending mail before the bit had even gotten to the letter F. Starting with only one post-card that was shown on the show it was quickly followed by overwhelming amount of post-cards that apparently forced Conan to give Finland a formal apology, going as far as having the flag of Finland shown in the background during his speech and slandering the Finns’ hated neighbor Sweden with a board with the words “Sweden Sucks!” printed over the flag of Sweden.
Some of my favorites:
Andorra: How does it feel, being Luxembourg’s bitch?
Bahrain: A thriving centre of trade and culture… until 2000 BC!
Bhutan: So they took away your freedom of the press? Who needs it when your only headline is “Bhutan Continues to Suck?”
Burma: The bad news is, you’ve got rampant malaria. The good news is, it doesn’t stop the kids from making those shirts.
Ghana: The ‘h’ is silent, like a room full of people after you ask “What’s worthwhile about Ghana?”
Kyrgystan: If your country could afford vowels, you could spell “this place sucks.”
And of course since this blog is Israel-centric I must include his insult about my homeland as well…
Israel: Hey, remember when life in Israel was vibrant and carefree? Man, that was the day.
Some blessed soul is doing God’s work and keeping track of all of Conan’s insults at the “Conan O’Brien Hates My Homeland Archive” which can be found here.
Israeli toddlers enjoy trance too…
I guess we can categorize this entry in the “What the fuck?” category. Leave to Ynet to report on yet another classy story.
“I want to be like big people,”announced six-year-old Omri, resting at the bar of the Laser Club in Tel Aviv. “Adults go to dance at nightclubs and now I do, too. It’s great - instead of dancing to (silly children’s songs) we dance to real music,” he said as he swallowed the rest of an ice slushy.
Yes, you read correctly. Six year olds (along with their parents) can now get their groove on at an Israeli club. And have you ever met a six-year-old talks like that?
At four in the afternoon, just before Shabbat ends, children and parents begin to arrive at the club on HaMasger street in Tel Aviv. For NIS 20 (USD 4.35) per adult and NIS 30 (USD 6.50) per child (including a slushy and a glow-in-the-dark bracelet,) parents and children get the chance to boogie until eight o’clock. The party, run by a “Yeladisko”, or children’s disco, includes two performers to show the new recruits how to get down. Entrance to children over age 10 is forbidden.
This so fucked up. On a purely physical level this can’t be good - the loud pulsating base, the high volume 150 beat per minute trance beats and the general atmosphere of a club can’t be good for a child’s development. I don’t think every kid needs to listen to Baby Mozart, I have good friends whose son would only fall asleep while listening to Beck. I think the main problem here, wait, do I really even need to point out the problem? Little children do not belong dancing in clubs. Is there really a need to instill a love for clubbing at such a young age? We all know what goes on at these clubs. I think when little Yafit grows up and starts hanging out at Haoman 17, she better hold on tight to her slushie. We wouldn’t want someone slipping a roofie into her drink.
Also, what does this say about the parents?
December 17, 2005 TVFH Podcast
Thirty seconds more of our trip to Vietnam! The View from Here drinking game! Matisyahu! Tel Aviv is the gayest city ever! Camel milk! Harry’s visit to a Yemenite witch doctor! Name our neighborhood! And much, much more!
Click here to listen: 
Subscribe to the feed: 
Add to itunes: 
Odeo users click here!
The View from Here Drinking Game, click here! Thanks Josh!
The song that closes this week’s podcast is “Tide and Sea” by Izabo.
Click this graphic, represent and let us know where you are live!
UPDATE: I’m not sure why but the current download speed of the latest podcast is absurdly slow. Mike (thanks!) created a coral cache of the file and that can be found www.zionbayin.com.nyud.ne…repodcast23.mp3″>here. It’s a much faster download.
I’m bettting on the Jew…
It was a good week for Jewish boxing. Both Dmitriy “The Star of David” Salita and Roman Greenberg battled tougher than usual opponents but - blessed is our God -both fighters came out on top.
Salita’s fight against “Red Hot” Robert Frankel was a tough one and although he didn’t knock is opponent out, he was awarded a unanimous decision by the judges. His record now stands at 24-0 (14 KO’s). 
After a challenging first round Greenberg regained control and there was no return for “Comeback Kid” Kendrick Releford.
Both boxers are becoming more and more high profile not because of their Jewish backgrounds but because they are actually good fighters.
Will the success Salita and Greenberg begin to influence throngs of Jewish youth to return to the sport where the people of the book once dominated?
Pnina finally makes it to the Knesset
Once dubbed “The Breasts of the Nation,” Pnina Rosenblum has certainly come a long way. She’s had a successful modeling career, hobknobbed with Hugh Hefner, been painted by Salvador Dali, had a few hit songs, made millions with her successful cosmetic company and most recently starred in her very own reality show “Life According to Pnina.” She’s also been rumored to have been a…hmmm..well…I’m not one for rumors. Now, Israel’s hottest fifty year old can add one more thing to her resume, member of Knesset. That’s right, Pnina was sworn in earlier today as the newest representative of the Likud party, replacing Tzachi Hanegbi.
Pnina ran in the 1999 elections with her feminist party aptly titled “The Pnina Rosenblum Party.” After all, if your brand works you might as well stick with it. She missed the threshold by just 3,000 votes. Later, she joined the Likud party.
Regardless of the fact that she’ll only be serving a few more weeks before the Knesset is dissolved, the Likud party is certainly an odd place for her to be right now considering her centrist ideals and moderate stances on issues. It’s hard to believe that she’s in the same party as the pro-Theocracy, anti-women and anti-democratic Moshe Feiglin. Only time will tell whether she’s still interested in pursuing a career in politics. My bet is that she ends up in Sharon’s Kadima party.
Kelly Clarkson to Israel: I’m on my way!
Everyone loves Kelly Clarkson. For an American Idol, Kelly has had an immense amount of success in these here parts. It certainly hasn’t hurt that her guitarist has local flavor. Danny Weissfeld is a Kfar Saba native and proud to represent Israel to the throngs of Kelly Clarkson fans worldwide. 
According to Israeli daily Ma’ariv (Hebrew link), Kelly will be heading to these parts in March.
As told in an interview with ISRAEL21c:
“It’s kind of fascinating for Americans when they find out I’m Israeli,” says Weissfeld. “I get a lot of questions about the army - and what’s going on in Israel. People watch CNN and they think it’s a war zone. A lot of people have actually gone on trips to Israel because of me - sometimes I feel like an ambassador,” he adds with a smile.
I’d take being an ambassador of rock over a consulate position any day of the week!
Listen to an interview with Weissfeld recorded last Passover over at the Israelisms podcast.
-
Search
-
-
My Flickr
