Tzofia, her baby, legwarmers, hat and fur vest wishes you a happy and healthy new year.

The weather was absolutely beautiful in New York and the thing I enjoyed the most was the plethora of trees. Shade is a novelty here in Israel. We can’t take our daughter to the park unless its before 9:00 am or after 6:00 pm during the summer months. The sun is just too damn strong. It was a real pleasure to be able to hop out of MIL’s apartment and walk to either Central or Riverside park.

I took Tzofia to the Museum of Natural History for the first time. I hadn’t been there myself since 5th grade so it was a trip. She seemed to have enjoyed it but I think she was a bit confused as to why all the animals weren’t moving and why all the people were behind glass. Tzofia spent most of the time asking me what everything was and saying hello to people. And saying hello to the the indigenous people behind the glass. Just spreading the joy. She really blossomed while we were there. I’m not sure if it was just a stage of development she hit or the massive exposure to English set something off but she suddenly became more verbal than ever before. And she also became all about me. I used to have to ask for hugs but now I get them without asking.

I saw Dinosaur Jr. a few months back in Tel Aviv. Loudest show I have EVER attended – and I have been to hundreds of shows. The Onion has a good interview with Lou Barlow. He listens to a lot of Turkish 60 psychedelia. Who knew that even existed.

Beard Papa creme puffs complete me.

A decade of the dude. I saw Lebowski premiere at the Jerusalem Film Festival. One of my best movie experiences ever.

Firefly’s Nathan Fillion returns to television on a new ABC crime procedural comedy.

Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age will be producing the new Arctic Monkey’s album.

Former Stone Roses lead singer Ian Brown who once took a vow never to perform in Israel, because “he doesn’t agree with the government’s regime” will be coming for one performance in the end of May.

The former STONE ROSES frontman is close friends with Israeli pop star Nimrod Levy (editors note: who?), who advised the ONE LOVE hitmaker to stay away from his homeland.

Brown says, “Nimrod has told me it isn’t safe to me to go over there. Nimrod told me that it isn’t safe to be in a club, in a city or in the country.

“Palestine is the biggest open-air prison in the world.

“Israel is a brutal regime, but if I didn’t play countries where I didn’t agree wit the regime, I’d never have played a show.

“I can say that without worrying. Let’s put it this way, I haven’t noticed any Mossad (Israeli intelligence agency) agents outside my front door.”

Source.

He followed last year with this gem of a song called “Illegal Attacks” which featured these quite silly lyrics which could have been written by a undergraduate poetry major with an anti-war fetish at a bad liberal college:

So what the fuck is this UK
Gunnin’ with this US of A
In Iraq and Iran and in Afghanistan

Does not a day go by
Without the Israeli Air Force
Fail to drop it’s bombs from the sky?

How many mothers to cry?
How many sons have to die?
How many missions left to fly over Palestine?
‘Cause as a matter of facts
It’s a pact, it’s an act
These are illegal attacks
So bring the soldiers back
These are illegal attacks
It’s contracts for contacts
I’m singing concrete facts
So bring the soldiers back

What ever happened to metaphors and allusions in tunes? You can read the rest of the lyrics and watch the video here. And yes, that is Sinead O’Connor singing background vocals. Sinead of the famous “Sharing Jerusalem: Two Capitals for Two States” debacle of 1997.

I love the Stone Roses as much as the next guy (really, an incredible band), but I will not be attending Ian Brown’s show. First of all, Ian Brown is not the total sum of the Stone Roses and if the lyrics above even remotely represent his current body of work, I think I’d find listening to the sounds of my own bowel movements more appealing.

I order a green tea latte. It was quite delicious but a bit too milky for my liking and the tea flavor was not that strong. I go the next day and ask the barista via the speaker (it was a drive through) if I could have a green tea latte that is strong. She said “What do you mean? Would you like an extra shot?”

I was completely thrown off. What did this barista mean by “shot”? If we were talking coffee I would be on the level. In my confusion and feeling a little intimated (it took a lot of courage to even ask if I can have the latte stronger) I said “Yes, another shot.”

The tea was indeed stronger but I am confused as to what the extra shot was. Do they use a tea powder? A syrup? Why must they use this silly vernacular? Any Starbucks experts out there willing to fill me in?

Funny thing about the mall. Couldn’t avoid the Israelis. Hebrew everywhere. I’d say 70 percent of the kiosks in the mall were being run by Israels. All of the sales pitches were the same, “Can I ask you a question?” I wanted to answer with something surprising in Hebrew. I wasn’t feeling witty today so it will have to wait until we go to the mall again tomorrow. And the day after that. Like I said, not much to do here.

Natalie’s directorial debut will be an adaption of Amos Oz’s bestselling memoir “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” Variety reported.

Hopefully she’ll film the Israel-based novel here. For once, it would be nice if a movie about Israel will actually be filmed in Israel.

Antonio’s The Body and Van Damme’s The Order don’t count for obvious reasons.

I joined blog catalogue.