My Boss Is In Town

Nathan is in town for a visit. I saw this little cartoon today online and it made me smile since the kids refer to Nathan as my boss and, as it happens, we HAVE been visiting a few restaurants together.

Two malodorous stories

On the same day I run into two newsstories, one right after the other, both dealing with the sense of smell and having to do with the wonderful region we now call home. Both stories are dated January 1 2007. Judge for yourselves:


Yahoo! News
Jordan king complains of Israeli odors

Jordanian King Abdullah II has complained of bovine odors coming from the Israeli side of the frontier along the countries' shared southern border, Israel's environment minister said Monday.

Speaking to Israel Radio, Gideon Ezra said the smells, from a livestock quarantine facility, were blown across the frontier toward the king's palace in the town of Aqaba, on the Red Sea next to the Israeli town of Eilat. Jordanian officials contacted Israel last week and requested the odors be neutralized, Ezra said.

Jordan and Israel, enemies for decades, signed a peace agreement in 1994 and now enjoy close ties.

In response to the Jordanian complaint, Israel has ordered the owners of the facility — where imported livestock is held in quarantine before being released to farmers — to clean up large amounts of animal waste that had built up at the site, Environment Ministry spokesman Sharon Achdut said.

Ezra said that upon receiving the complaint, Israeli officials immediately spread "deodorants" around the site to offset the smell affecting Abdullah's palace, and that a thorough clean-up would begin within days.

"I think that when we get a request from Jordan, just as when we make a request of Jordan, it's one country's duty to do as much as possible for the other," Ezra said.

An official from the Jordanian Royal Palace said the complaint was relayed to the Israeli Environment Ministry through Jordan's ambassador in Tel Aviv.

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2007 Yahoo! Inc.

And the second story, this one picked up on Ynet:

14:44 , 01.01.07

Lebanon: 'Divine victory' perfume on sale

'Resistance perfume' celebrating 'Hizbullah divine victory' now on sale in Beirut stores
Yaakov Lappin

A new perfume carrying the "scent of resistance" and celebrating Hizbullah's "divine victory" has been released on the market in Lebanon, according to a report which appeared in the Lebanese Daily Star on Monday.

"If you've ever wondered what resistance smells like, then try a dab of 'Resistance Perfume,' which comes 'exclusively' with a political message and a picture of Hizbullah's secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah," the Daily Star article said.

"Apparently, the scent of resistance is a strong and musky one that comes with a single pledge – 'a truthful' one," the report added.

A slogan on the perfume box, quoting Nasrallah during a wartime speech made over the summer reads: "You are the truthful promise ... and I have great faith in you and I promise you divine victory."

The Daily Star, which placed quotation marks around every mention of Israel in its report, added that the package comes with "a digitally manipulated picture of a sinking ship, meant to represent the 'Israeli' warship damaged by a Hizbullah missile during the conflict, along with reprints of Nasrallah's speeches and messages from the 'Lebanese prisoners in 'Israeli' prisons.'"

'Hizbullah not a commercial venture'
Mohammad Dekmak, CEO of the Bint Huda chain of stores in the south Beirut area, told the Daily Star: "We thought it was a catchy idea, as now the perfume is more than something that smells nice, it is a political statement."

The report said the perfume's designer initially came by the Beirut store "carrying 40 samples of the perfume in a plastic bag - and sold them all within minutes."

Hizbullah Spokesman Ghassan Darwish was quoted by the Star as saying: "We don't like to encourage people to turn Hizbullah into a commercial venture, but since the perfume is called 'Resistance' and not 'Hizbullah,' we have no right to really prevent it from being sold as resistance is a broad ideology not limited to one party."

Respnding to the perfume, a pro-Hizbullah demonstrator in Beirut told the Lebanese newspaper that he was "content with showering and using plain soap."

Not what nature intended...

OK, this one is somewhat of a "niche" posting. There are probably very few people out there who actually own a 6 year old ReplayTV (a TIVO like piece of equipment), but having shipped most of our worldly belongings off to Israel, I realised that there were still a few taped shows on my ReplayTV that I had not yet seen. The problem is the TV that was hooked up to it is now gone. So I had to figure out how to "get to it" as it were. What you see here on this picture is the solution I came up with: I used an S-Video hook-up from the ReplayTV to an EyeTV 200, and from the EyeTV I used a Firewire connection to my MacBook Pro. Not exactly what the manufacturers of al this equipment had originally intended, but as you can see here, it works.

PS: there may have been a way to get an S-Video hook-up directly to the computer, but I don't have the necessary cables or adapters for it.

Spicy

Haven't enjoyed an album this much for a very long time. Also happens to be the Chili Pepper's best work since 1981's "Blood Sugar Sex Magik". And looks as though I'm not the only one saying this: "Stadium Arcadium" has been number 1 two weeks in a row. Not necessarily everyone's speed, but definitely mine.

big apple in the Big Apple

A new tourist attraction in the heart of New York City. A new Mecca for the Mac or iPod enthusiast. Right underneath the plaza in front of FAO Schwarz. Open 24/7/365 and busting with activity whenever you walk in. The new Apple Store on 5th Avenue. Worth the detour whenever you decide to come and visit.

Ganja

While strolling innocently in Amsterdam last week, we ran into this "institution". Of course I let my mind run wild and imagined classes like "Getting High 101" or other equivalents. It also made me wonder what one has to achieve to actually graduate from this establishment. But then I ran into some of the following sites online and I realised that I would never pass a simple vocabulary test at such a "College" if I were ever to take an exam. Feast your eyes at
this Wikipedia page, pot.com, marijuana dictionnary and so many others. Got to love Amsterdam.

Flemish

Last night I rented a Flemish movie at Blockbuster. In English the movie is called "The Memory of a Killer", in Flemish "De Zaak Alzheimer". I was quite impressed with the production values on this movie, and the story, based on a novel by Jef Geeraerts, was actually very good. It seems the budget of the movie was €2,500,000. In Belgian terms it is probably one of the most expensive movies ever made. In the States you would use that amount to convince the co-star to sign on. Assuming you can get your hands on this little gem, I heartily recommend it.

Dimona

Difficult to believe that this video would be released on Israeli TV without government approval, so my interpretation is that it is a government sanctioned pseudo-scoop to be used in some sort of psychological warfare with Iran.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf39qkvwOhU

In Memoriam

I posted a short video on http://www.laurentbiron.com (but you will need the latest version of quicktime and 6 minutes of patience to let the whole thing download in order to watch it).

The Sky Was Crying

The sky was crying early in the morning, as if to tell us that it too was grieving. That it was grieving with us the loss of our friend, our giant. A giant in every sense of the word. Someone who managed to touch our lives in so many ways, sometimes with a word, the turn of a phrase, a joke or an insightful comment. He always spoke his mind, and would never be intimidated. He never tried to sugar-coat his views and would always give it to us in its rawest, purest form, words sometimes bursting out with such passion and intensity, they would never fail to hit their mark. He could describe his cooking to us with such flowery words, such flair, that we could almost taste the words and smell the ingredients so powerful were they. So many moments that come to mind, so many words chocking on their way to the surface, and yet we owe it to ourselves, but more than that, to those he left behind, one of which will only know him through our stories, to remember him as much as we can. To delve into our minds and bring up those moments in which he touched our lives. Moments in which he made us laugh, think, or even sing with him as he engaged in one of the many ballads he so enjoyed. He may have enjoyed the good things in life, but he would always share them with his friends and close ones. He may have enjoyed the good things in life, but he was always rooted in reality, never losing sight of what really mattered.

We are now all the ones he left behind, all of us left pondering on the seeming injustice of what appears to be such a senseless departure. All of us feeling the pain, the anger sometimes, and like one of us expressed yesterday, hoping and praying, that he will be up there fighting for his loved ones, his family, protecting them for all that may come.

My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. And one day, when I manage to put it all back together again, there will still be one piece missing......one piece missing forever.

In one of his messages to me, when I told him we were moving to Israel, he wrote the following words:

---
From: Laurent Biron
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 15:45:55 +0200
To: Jehuda Saar
Subject: Re: tiftah rak kesheata levad.


Can't wait to sip an ice tea in your garden !!!!

Laurent.
---

We will meet again, my friend, but it will be in your garden instead.






Matis - Yahoo

This must be the biggest Jewish cross-over act in he history of modern music. In its first week after being released, Matisyahu's new album "Youth" reached 4th place in the Billboard album chart. We've never had anything like this before.
To be perfectly honest I find the album to be somewhat uneven. It would seem that the success, for now, is mainly due to the novelty, the "gimmick" if you want. I assume that at some point this will wear-off, and hopefully by then he will have honed-up his act and will keep the success chiefly based on his talent and achievement. There is no denying that the guy is very good at what he does.

To see some of the clips check out the video section on this site.

Woke Up This Morning - Got Yourself A Gun

They're back...and boy did they rock tonight. They started with a bang, and what a BANG !!! Of course with the kind of ending we had tonight, there were no previews of next week's episode. So now we are left guessing till next week. I am not going to spoil it for anyone who has not seen this episode of the Sopranos yet, but suffice it to say that you get your money's worth.

Finally some support for terrorists

Now isn't it nice of the people at Atataturk Airport. Such tolerance towards terrorists. This is the sign that greets you as you enter the airport. Nice to know that you "may" actually use your electorinic equipments for bombs. Not every airport is that understanding.

Turkish Delight - FONETIK

I ran into this guy again, this time at the Kempinski Ciragan Palace in Istanbul. The hotel is worth visiting, even if you don't necessarily stay there.

What is interesting about the Turkish language is how phonetic it is, maybe the most phonetic of all languages I have come across todate. I had the "pleasure" of visiting a hospital today. Some of the signs can be read no matter where one comes from.

Molvania

For those of you out there who have not yet discovered the pleasures of "Molvania - A Land Untouched By Modern Dentistry", the travel guide to the fictional country that, while hilarious, will ring true to anyone who has had the pleasure of travelling in Eastern Europe in the early 90s (and I'm guessing is still true in some countries today), I was happy to find out that there is now a second guide, this time to the fictional country of Phaic Tän (as in "fake tan"). The writers have also created a website that gives you an idea about some of the funny stuff you will find in the books. Definitely worth looking into and always good for a laugh.

Lingua Franca

A little something I saw minutes before boarding the flight out of Israel. Thought it was cute.
Some of the anouncements heard on EL AL (to be pronounced with a HEAVY Israeli accent):
"Please remain seating and fast your seat belt."
"We appreciate your corporation".

The Hat Brigade

Another New York - Tel Aviv flight with EL AL, and once again some singular experiences. Once again the percentage of "chasidim" on this flight was high, but this time it was the "hat-activity" which was phenomenal. Every three minutes they're checking out their hats, moving them from one overhead compartment to another, shifting luggage around to get them better positioned... It was BUSY to say the least. And having conducted my own informal poll, it would appear that the most popular movie among the חרדי community on this flight was the June and Johnny Cash biopic "Walk The Line". Not sure what it is about this movie, but maybe it has something to do with the fact that Johnny Cash always liked to wear black.

Blizzard of '06

There's no going anywhere today. This is what the front and back of the house look like at the moment. Pretty...but not very practical.

A last word about "Munich"... maybe

This little blurb appeared in yesterday's New York Times and does not require any commentary:

Israel Reacts to 'Munich'
After months of furor over its political message, the Steven Spielberg film "Munich" encountered something perhaps worse when it opened in Israel over the weekend: bored critics, Reuters reported. Hostile reviews focused more on cinematic technique than on the question of sympathy toward the Palestinians who killed Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. The conservative Jerusalem Post called the film "muddled, inept, offensive — and boring to boot." The liberal Haaretz said, "There is something slovenly about the way in which Spielberg constructs the film, a slovenliness that leaks into the directing style itself." Shirit Gal, the publicist in Israel for "Munich," said yesterday that about 25,000 tickets had been sold. She called the number "good," although Hollywood blockbusters have drawn as many as 35,000 people on an opening weekend in Israel.

BHL

Every once in a while I run to one of the Barnes & Noble "Meet The Writer" sessions. This time was definitely worth it. BHL himself was there to present and speak about his new book, American Vertigo. I'll save you the synopsis (which you can check out at Amazon.com if you feel like it) but let's just say it made the cover of the New York Times book review, and to say that Garrison Keillor, who reviewed the book, did not like it, would be an understatement.

Having said that, BHL in person is always a good show. The man knows how to entertain an audience. Since the book deals at length with the things that make America (and actually when BHL says America, he means the USA) unique, most of the discussion and Q and A dealt with that uniqueness. At a certain point BHL made a comment that raised quite some eyebrows, but one that I definitely appreciated. He said that there was one thing that was very unique to America, one thing that only one country in the world had done. He then stopped and said: no, sorry, two countries in the world share that uniqueness. He said there were two countries in the world that were formed not on the basis of a common birthplace or language, not on the bases of a common skin-colour or background, but based on a belief in a text, and he added, not necessarily religious. Those two countries are America...and Israel.