jerusalem is the place to be

"Ah, Bialystock and Bloom, I presume! Heh heh, forgive the pun!"

2006-10-29T08:45:00.000+02:00

Got this list of puns by email.
-J

A GOOD PUN IS ITS OWN RE-WORD

A pessimist's blood type is always b-negative.

Practice safe eating -- always use condiments.

A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother.

Shotgun wedding: A case of wife or death.

I used to work in a blanket factory, but it folded.

Marriage is the mourning after the knot before.

A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

Corduroy pillows are making headlines.

Is a book on voyeurism a peeping tome?

Sea captains don't like crew cuts.

A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumor.

Without geometry, life is pointless.

When you dream in color, it's a pigment of your imagination.

Reading while sunbathing makes you well-red.

A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.

Dijon vu -- the same mustard as before.

When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I.

What's the definition of a will? (Come on, it's a dead giveaway!)

In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism, your count votes.

If you don't pay your exorcist, you get repossessed.

With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.

Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft, and I'll show you a flat minor.

When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.

The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.

A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

Local Area Network in Australia: The LAN down under.

He often broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

Every calendar's days are numbered.

A lot of money is tainted. It t'aint yours and it t'aint mine.

A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.

He had a photographic memory that was never developed.

The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

Once you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.

Those who jump off a Paris bridge are in Seine.

When an actress saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.

Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.

Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.

Acupuncture is a jab well done.

Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer the agony of defeat.

Quote from The Producers (1968)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"He helped Joshua fight the battle of Jericho, he helped Daniel get out the lion's den, he helped Gilligan get off the island"

2006-10-22T08:51:00.000+02:00

Saw this at CNN.com

NEW YORK (AP) -- Don't remember much about high school biology or physics. Couldn't tell ya how to compute a calculus problem. But, for the love of Will Smith, the theme song to "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" remains fresh in the mind.

Smith's catchy rap opened each episode of his hit '90s sitcom, in which he starred as a street-smart teen from Philly who moves in with wealthy relatives. A whole generation knows it by heart -- that, and the "Saved by the Bell" song.

TV themes, from "The Beverly Hillbillies" to "The Brady Bunch" to "Cheers" to "Friends," conjure up memories of cozy nights, childhood bliss and a universal nostalgia for bygone days. But, today, show themes are doing a fast fade as the networks crunch their programming budgets.

Are they about to join the variety hour in the TV graveyard?

"It's a rarity today," TV historian Tim Brooks said of the catchy, tuneful opening. "It's kind of like the Broadway musical producing hit songs -- it just doesn't do that anymore."

Back in the day, even into the '90s, shows usually had a "main title," a 40-to-60 second opening montage that introduced the cast and was often set to music written by a composer, said Jon Burlingame, author of "TV's Biggest Hits," a history of themes. Songs summed up what a show was all about, whether spinning the tale of how a group of wacky castaways ended up on "Gilligan's Island," telling how a spunky single career woman was "going to make it after all," or describing why six touchy-feely Manhattan singles were there for each other.

But now many sitcoms and one-hour dramas are dropping that device. They dive straight into the action, sometimes flashing the show's title or logo at various points throughout an episode.

ABC's "Lost" does it. The twisty drama begins after a teaser, which touches on what happened in previous installments, and cuts to a black screen at a crucial plot point. A white "Lost" logo swirls into view. Eerie music plays. The whole thing lasts about five seconds.

"That's not a theme" nor an artistic statement, lamented Burlingame, longing for the urgency of the "Mission: Impossible" score.

Other title-flashers include ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," which threw out its 26-second theme last year, and "Desperate Housewives" and NBC's "My Name Is Earl," which both switch off between showing the full credits and the logo. New shows -- ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" and "Ugly Betty" and NBC's "Heroes" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" -- display only the logo.

"Almost all shows have music, but it's generic, it's scene-setting, it's short," said Brooks, who estimated that fewer than 10 percent have "traditional" themes that set up the show.
Getting to the point

Clearly, brevity is key. No drawn-out intro or hokey theme. Networks don't have time for that -- and neither, prevailing TV thinking goes, do the country's couch potatoes.

"Producers feel, rightly or wrongly, that that interruption, if you will, is going to lose viewers," Brooks said.

"I think one of the things that has squeezed themes out is this relentless kind of move toward tightening everything, making it go right from joke to joke, from action to action, from shootout to shootout, so that you won't press the dreaded remote control."

Thanks to the elimination of commercials between the end of one show and the beginning of another, shows overlap before fickle viewers have a chance to channel-surf to Another Network. More commercials air within a show, making episodes shorter. Main titles and well-rounded theme songs and scores? Sorry, no time, no money.

Tara Ariano, co-founder of the blog Television Without Pity, isn't sweating it. She thinks a "full-on opening credit (and) theme song is kind of a waste, from a business perspective."

"The networks sort of assume we watch the show, so we don't need to have the premise explained to us each week ... In the era of the DVR, half the people watching the show are just fast-forwarding that anyway," she said.

Another trend, which harks back to the late '80s-early '90s fave "The Wonder Years" and the more recent "Dawson's Creek" and "Laguna Beach," is the use of music by established and new artists as both a theme in the main title and a device within the show.

"Increasingly, it's not music scored for the show, it's pop songs pasted into the show," Brooks said.

CBS' "CSI" opens with the Who's "Who Are You?" Gavin DeGraw's star rose after his radio-friendly single "I Don't Want to Be," debuted as the theme to the CW's "One Tree Hill." And the Fray was, well, just a band on the fringe until "Grey's Anatomy" and others played their songs to underscore dramatic scenes and montages.

All of this makes Jesse Frederick-Conaway, who composed the music to G-rated sitcoms such as ABC's "Full House" and "Family Matters," a little sad. There is, he thinks, "this desire to be super hip."

"Now, the music director is sort of the composer," he said. "It's a different kind of deal."

Burlingame, citing the great intros of award winners such as NBC's "The West Wing" and HBO's "Six Feet Under," is confident the theme -- lyrical, instrumental, whatever -- will make a comeback. He'd rather see more original music, but he'll take licensed material if it's good.

"Some producers, I think, want to make a statement, in terms of imagery and music," he said. "It depends on who you get."

Will Smith, back in the '90s, made a hip-hop statement of his own while advising fans to "just sit right there/I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air."

But, in this fast-forward TV world, would they still listen?

Quote from Coming to America (1988)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"For God's sake, don't shake that booty!"

2006-10-06T12:39:00.000+02:00

Chag Sameach

May you all enjoy living in your booth....

J.

Quote from In & Out (1997)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"You have no repentance! You're bad! Through and through, bad!"

2006-09-26T14:51:00.000+03:00

My sister sent this to me. It is hilarious.

J.

Quote from East of Eden (1955)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"Fink. That's a Jewish name, isn't it?"

2006-09-26T12:00:00.000+03:00

Was sent this interesting article by my friend sobersumrnr.

J.

Krauthammer's Law: Everyone is Jewish until proven otherwise

By Charles Krauthammer

Strange doings in Virginia. George Allen, former governor, one-term senator, son of a famous football coach and in the midst of a heated battle for reelection, has just been outed as a Jew. An odd turn of events, given that his having Jewish origins has nothing to do with anything in the campaign and that Allen himself was oblivious to the fact until his 83-year-old mother revealed to him last month the secret she had kept concealed for 60 years.

Apart from its political irrelevance, it seems improbable in the extreme that the cowboy-boots-wearing football scion of Southern manner and speech should turn out to be, at least by origins, a son of Israel. For Allen, as he quipped to me, it's the explanation for a lifelong affinity for Hebrew National hot dogs. For me, it is the ultimate confirmation of something I have been regaling friends with for 20 years and now, for the advancement of social science, feel compelled to publish.

Krauthammer's Law: Everyone is Jewish until proven otherwise. I've had a fairly good run with this one. First, it turns out that John Kerry — windsurfing, French-speaking, Beacon Hill aristocrat — had two Jewish grandparents. Then Hillary Clinton — methodical Methodist — unearths a Jewish stepgrandfather in time for her run as New York senator.

A less jaunty case was that of Madeleine Albright, three of whose Czech grandparents had perished in the Holocaust and who most improbably contended that she had no idea they were Jewish. To which we can add the leading French presidential contender (Nicolas Sarkozy), a former supreme allied commander of NATO (Wesley Clark) and Russia's leading anti-Semite (Vladimir Zhirinovsky). One must have a sense of humor about these things. Even Fidel Castro claims he is from a family of Marranos.

For all its tongue-in-cheek irony, Krauthammer's Law works because when I say "everyone," I don't mean everyone you know personally. Depending on the history and ethnicity of your neighborhood and social circles, there may be no one you know who is Jewish. But if "everyone" means anyone that you've heard of in public life, the law works for two reasons. Ever since the Jews were allowed out of the ghetto and into European society at the dawning of the Enlightenment, they have peopled the arts and sciences, politics, and history in astonishing disproportion to their numbers.

There are 13 million Jews in the world, one-fifth of 1 percent of the world's population. Yet 20 percent of Nobel Prize winners are Jewish, a staggering hundredfold surplus of renown and genius. This is similarly true for a myriad of other "everyones" — the household names in music, literature, mathematics, physics, finance, industry, design, comedy, film and, as the doors opened, even politics.

But it is not just Jewish excellence at work here. There is a dark side to these past centuries of Jewish emancipation and achievement — an unrelenting history of persecution. The result is the other more somber and poignant reason for the Jewishness of public figures being discovered late and with surprise: concealment.

Look at the Albright case. Her distinguished father was Jewish, if tenuously so, until the Nazi invasion. He fled Czechoslovakia and, shortly thereafter, converted. Over the centuries, suffering — most especially, the Holocaust — has proved too much for many Jews. Many survivors simply resigned their commission.

For some, the break was defiant and theological: A G-d who could permit the Holocaust — ineffable be His reasons — had so breached the Covenant that it was now forfeit. They were bound no longer to Him or His faith.

For others, the considerations were far more secular.

Why subject one's children to the fear and suffering, the stigmatization and marginalization, the prospect of being hunted until death that being Jewish had brought to an entire civilization in Europe?

In fact, that was precisely the reason Etty Lumbroso, Allen's mother, concealed her identity. Brought up as a Jew in French Tunisia during World War II, she saw her father, Felix, imprisoned in a concentration camp. Coming to America was her one great chance to leave that forever behind, for her and for her future children. She married George Allen Sr., apparently never telling her husband's family, her own children or anyone else of her Jewishness.

Such was Etty's choice. Multiply the story in its thousand variations and you have Kerry and Clinton, Albright and Allen, a world of people with a whispered past.

Allen's mother tried desperately to bury it forever. In response to published rumors, she finally confessed the truth to him, adding heartbreakingly, "Now you don't love me anymore" — and then swore him to secrecy.

Quote from Barton Fink (1991)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"I know. I've seen this sickness before. It's an old familiar road."

2006-09-25T18:55:00.000+03:00

More reasons to feel sick today:

Man Arrested for Blowing Shofar at Western Wall
Monday, September 25, 2006 / 3 Tishrei 5767

Shades of the 1920's: A Jewish man was hauled off to the Old City police station in the middle of prayer for sounding the shofar during Rosh HaShanah services at the area known as the Kotel HaKatan.

The incident occurred around 7:30 in the morning, at the northern-most section of the accessible Western Wall - a little-known area called the Kotel HaKatan, the Small Wall. It is considered to have extra sanctity, as it stands opposite the presumed spot of the Holy of Holies of the Beit HaMikdash.

Yesterday morning (Sunday), a group of some 10 men and two women gathered at the site, as they have done for several years on Rosh HaShanah, for early-morning prayers. The holiday prayers feature the blowing of the shofar (ram's horn) at several different times. Towards the end of the first shofar sounding, a Border Guard policeman came in, made an unclear motion with his hand as if to ask what was going on, and then left. He said nothing.

Shortly afterwards, Eliyahu K., the 20-year-old prayer leader, blew the shofar a second time, in the midst of his silent prayer (in accordance with Sephardic custom). Policemen came in once again and began trying to pull him away. However, Eliyahu was in the midst of reciting the Amidah - a long passage during which one must stand in one place without moving - and he therefore did not move.

The policemen informed their supervisors by radio that he was praying and refused to move, and reinforcements were soon sent - no fewer than 20 policemen, according to several witnesses.

They then started dragging him out, and when they stopped for a moment, he got up and resumed his prayers. They then began to drag him away again, and shortly afterwards again stopped for a moment - and again he resumed his prayers. At this point, the policemen allowed him to complete his prayers.

In the meanwhile, the other members of the prayer group came out and tried to prevent the policemen from taking Eliyahu away. At this point, the policemen started swinging their clubs violently; no one was hospitalized, but "it was a big brawl," in the words of one witness, with many people being dragged around and beaten while wearing their prayer-shawls and Sabbath suits.

Meanwhile, Eliyahu was taken to the small police station at the Western Wall plaza, and several of his friends followed him there. They wanted to go up the steps into the police station, and demanded that at least the shofar be returned, but the police again came down with their clubs.

They finally took Eliyahu by foot, accompanied by his fiancée, all the way around the Old City, past Mt. Zion and through Jaffa Gate, to the Kishle police station inside Jaffa Gate. At this point, there was no longer any violence, and Eliyahu was released around 11:30 - after being charged with attacking a policeman, disturbing a policeman in the line of duty, and disturbing the public order.

One witness related, "It's not only that they stopped him from blowing the shofar, but rather the fact that the police beat us up very harshly. I was on my way to the Wall for prayers when I saw 5-7 policemen going with Eliyahu and protecting him very closely. I walked after them, and then a few of his friends came, and then the violence started. We asked the policemen to return the shofar, and they started kicking us and punching us."

The worshipers said that the police had apparently been called by an Arab woman who said the sound of the ram's horn disturbed her children.

A Jewish resident of the Old City told Arutz-7, "How ironic. The loud Arab weddings and nightly prayers by the muazzin [over a powerful loudspeaker] at 4:30 AM disturb our sleep every night." Similar complaints are heard from Jews living near Arab villages in Judea and Samaria.

A member of the Jerusalem Police spokesman's office, contacted by Arutz-7 for a statement on the matter and asked whether this signified a new policy towards shofar-blowing at the Wall, said, "When we have an answer for you, I will get back to you."

The head of the local council of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, Shmuel Yitzchaki, could not be reached for comment by the time of this report.

The rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, told Arutz-7, "This is a very grave incident, and I have asked the local police commander, Yossi Priente, to check into it - both the violence and the prevention of the shofar blowing. It reminds us of the days of the British Mandate when Jews [had to make] super-human efforts to blow the shofar at the Western Wall."

He was referring to the 1ate 1920's, when the British, in an attempt to appease the Arabs, and following violence at the Wall, forbade shofar-blowing at the Wall. In one famous incident in 1929, a man named Moshe Segal blew the shofar at the conclusion of Yom Kippur - and was immediately arrested by the British. Though he had fasted for the previous 25 hours, the British detained him without food until midnight, when he was released. It was later reported that the release came about when then-Chief Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook informed the commander that he himself would not eat until Segal was released.

Nearly 40 years later, following the first Yom Kippur service at the Wall under Israeli sovereignty, shortly after the Six Day War, the shofar was again sounded - by Moshe Segal.

I now see that both Jameel and JoeSettler also wrote about this, check out what they have to say.

J.

Quote from Bounty Killer (1965)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"Neighbors bring food with death, and flowers with sickness, and little things in between"

2006-09-25T13:41:00.000+03:00

This just makes me sick

SICKNESS

You'd think the Neturai Karta would have better things to be doing with their time on Erev Rosh Hashana.

J.

Quote from To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"What is Jerusalem worth?"

2006-09-22T16:08:00.000+03:00

I wanted to take this time to wish you all a healthy, happy new year.

May we all be inscribed for a great year and may the redemption come soon.

Shana Tova

J. and Jcop Jr.

Quote from Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"And do you want to know something else? I've never liked your spinach puffs."

2006-09-21T09:21:00.000+03:00

Here are some editorial cartoons and a short video about the tainted spinach.

Enjoy.

J.

Quote from The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"What's with the Kmart thing, huh?"

2006-09-20T09:11:00.000+03:00

I got this by email today and thought that it might actually be fun to do some of these things suggested.

J.

(click twice on the image to enlarge it)

Quote from Beauty Shop (2005)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"Oh, the Pope warned me never to trust the CIA!"

2006-09-19T12:34:00.000+03:00

Here's an editorial from the WSJ. The cartoons are not from the WSJ.

J.

Benedict the Brave
The pope said things Muslims need to hear about faith and reason.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

It's a familiar spectacle: furious demands for an apology, threats, riots, violence. Anything can trigger so-called Muslim fury: a novel by a British-Indian writer, newspaper cartoons in a small Nordic country or, this past week, a talk on theology by the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

In a lecture on "Faith and Reason" at the University of Regensburg in Germany, Benedict XVI cited one of the last emperors of Byzantium, Manuel II Paleologus. Stressing the 14th-century emperor's "startling brusqueness," the pope quoted him as saying: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

Taken alone, these are strong words. However, the pope didn't endorse the comment that he twice emphasized was not his own. No matter. As with Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses," which millions of outraged Muslims didn't bother to read (including Ayatollah Khomeini, who put the bounty on the novelist's life), what Benedict XVI meant or even said isn't the issue. Once again, many Muslim leaders are inciting their faithful against perceived slights and trying to proscribe how free societies discuss one of the world's major religions.

Several Iraqi terrorist groups called for attacks on the Vatican. A cleric linked to Somalia's ruling Islamist movement urged Muslims to "hunt down" and kill the pope. In an apparently linked attack Sunday in Mogadishu, a nun was gunned down in a children's hospital. Pakistan's parliament unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the pontiff and demanding an apology.

Under pressure and no doubt to stop any further violence, the pope on Sunday did so. "I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address . . . which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims," he told pilgrims at his Castelgandolfo summer residence. The quote doesn't "in any way express my personal thought. I hope this serves to appease hearts."

It was a gracious gesture on the pope's part, especially because his original argument deserves to be heard, not least by Muslims. The offending quotation was a small part in a chain of argument that led to his main thesis about the close relationship between reason and belief. Without the right balance between the two, the pontiff said, mankind is condemned to the "pathologies and life-threatening diseases associated with religion and reason"--in short, political and religious fanaticism.

In Christianity, God is inseparable from reason. "In the beginning was the Word," the pope quotes from the Gospel according to John. "God acts with logos. Logos means both reason and word," he explained. "The inner rapprochement between Biblical faith and Greek philosophical inquiry was an event of decisive importance not only from the standpoint of history of religions, but also from that of world history. . . . This convergence, with the subsequent addition of the Roman heritage, created Europe."

The question raised by the pope is whether this convergence has taken place in Islam as well. He quotes the Lebanese Catholic theologist Theodore Khoury, who said that "for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent, his will is not bound up with any of our categories." If this is true, can there be dialogue at all between Islam and the West? For the pope, the precondition for any meaningful interfaith discussions is a religion tempered by reason: "It is to this great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures," he concluded.

This is not an invitation to the usual feel-good interfaith round-tables. It is a request for dialogue with one condition--that everyone at the table reject the irrationality of religiously motivated violence. The pope isn't condemning Islam; he is inviting it to join rather than reject the modern world.

By their reaction to the pope's speech, some Muslim leaders showed again that Islam has a problem with modernity that is going to have to be solved by a debate within Islam. The day Muslims condemn Islamic terror with the same vehemence they condemn those who criticize Islam, an attempt at dialogue--and at improving relations between the Western and Islamic worlds--can begin.

Quote from Hudson Hawk (1991)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"We're in the business of winning."

2006-09-07T07:43:00.000+03:00

I got these this morning from JoeSettler and I thought you would enjoy them.

J.

Quote from Friday Night Lights (2004)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"I just sold my company to Microsoft!"

2006-09-03T14:50:00.000+03:00

I know this is something like a month old already, but I just saw it in an email today and thought it was quite funny.

Letterman saying farewell to Bill Gates.

Quote from Shallow Hal (2001)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"Are you guys ready? Let's roll! Come on, let's go! "

2006-09-02T20:20:00.000+03:00

Shavua Tov.

I know that many (if not most of you) know that I enjoy movies (to say the least), and I've tried to avoid writing about movies in this blog and just stick to using movie quotes...but that is about to change today.

I had been anticipating the release of United 93 ever since I heard it was coming out in the US back in April. I checked every week to see when would it finally arrive here in Israel and it never came. Two months ago, I downloaded it using bit torrent and when I checked the quality of the copy, I decided to skip watching it until a better copy came out. Last month, a friend told me that he had seen it advertised on a website that it would arrive here in Israel yesterday on Aug. 31st....I couldn't wait.

Prior committments didn't allow me to see it on opening night (I for some strange reason always prefer to see a movie on it's opening day, haven't really figured out why, but maybe it's similar to me prefering to watch award shows live at 3am...who knows)

But I digress, I discovered last week by accident that the Malcha mall here in Jrslm, has 2 matinees on Friday's of many of it's movies (mostly for kids to get a chance to see a movie I guess, since the mall is closed on shabbat).

I decided that I would make sure my plans for shabbat were settled on thursday night or Friday morning and try and catch a 1:30 showing.

Over the last few months, I have seen the two made-for-tv movies about Flight 93 (the one on NBC and on A & E) and eventhough I thought I knew everything about what (possibly) happened on that flight, I still had the urge to see United 93 since I had heard a number of top reviews who claimed that it was the best movie of the year and still blew everyone out of their seats eventhough they knew how it would end.

What I found very interesting is that all 3 movies looked at the story slightly differently and I'm actually quite glad that I saw United 93 last.

Flight 93 (NBC) focused on the flight itself and especially included the many phone calls from the passengers to their family members. This gives the viewer a more personal view of who these men and women were and how they (once again) supposedly acted when facing a calamity as grave as this one was.)

Flight 93: The Flight that fought back (A & E) showed the story from a documentary approach; it was narrated by Kiefer Sutherland who described what was going on and even told some background story on the individuals involved. The story itself was shown as a dramatization in the style one would see on numerous TV shows or dosumentaries, bujt teh action was described by the narrator as it was happening.

The director of United 93 chose to go a completely different route. The first half of the movie focuses on what was happening to the flight controllers in Boston, New York, Virginia, Cleveland and at the military installation at NORAD. We see all of the events of that morning as it unfolded from their eyes, the people who were the first ones to be aware of what was happening as it happened. These stories were interspersed with the regular mundane issues of air travel for the passengers of flight 93; security check, boarding, waiting for takeoff, chatter between passengers and eventually take-off itself.

The second half of the movie takes place once United 93 is hijacked and then we only see what is going on in the aircraft itself.

They made the story about all 40 passengers without giving us intimate details about their lives, they could be anyone we know and eventhough I knew who many of the characters were, it didnt matter, because the story wasn't about an individual, but about the passengers as a whole.

This version kept me glued to the screen the entire time I was in the theater and made me see the story from a totally different side.

Here is the trailer:

Eventhough this movie just came out in the theaters this past week in Israel, it will be coming out on DVD on Tuesday (Sep 5th) all over the world.

I highly recommend seeing it.

J.

Quote from United 93 (2006)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"What is this, some sort of dork outreach program?"

2006-08-31T11:11:00.000+03:00

Growing up in the mid-west, I was very active in NCSY and I recall on numerous occasions that people would ask me: "Why are you so involved in an organization that is mainly for non-religious youth who want to become more religious and not for religious FFB (Frum From Birth)". I always countered that in order for them to see how "normal" it is to be religious, they should be able to interact with FFB's also.

The truth is, I was not completely correct back then and even til today, I had trouble admitted to myself the truth.

I was emailed this video clip of a speech given at a dinner in NYC last week and the speaker really put into words what I've always known deep in my heart.

Watch this video: (it's close to 10 minutes long, but really worth watching)

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scroll down after you watch the video clip

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Now that you have watched the video, I can explain. I always (and still do) envy those kids, I wished that my quest for bettering my level of observance was like theirs. There are many times where I feel that I'm "just going thru the motions" and not completely using my heart as I should, by finding ways to better myself and my committment to Judaism.

Hopefully this will help serve as an additional wake-up call for many of us who strive for more.

J.

Quote from She's All That (1999)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"okay you know what, take you scrubby little paws off my bag, okay? It's not like I have a bomb in here. It's not like I wanna blow up the plane."

2006-08-29T11:46:00.000+03:00

I wouldn't say that this guy made the correct decision here....nothing like a chillul hashem right on TV.

Here's the video

Here's the article

Long Beach Airport Evacuated Following Bomb Threat

(CBS) LONG BEACH, Calif. A man was arrested after phoning in a bomb threat to Long Beach Airport in an attempt to catch a plane.

The incident occurred about 9:15 p.m., involved JetBlue Flight 243 to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to Sharon Jackson, an airport spokeswoman.

Authorities located and arrested Yechezkel Wells about 9:30 p.m., an American citizen, in the area around the airport, based on specific information he provided in the phone call.

Three others were detained, questioned and released. Wells was upset that he was kept off the plane.

Officers from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and Long Beach police conducted a search of the plane with the aid of bomb-sniffing dogs, according to Jackson.

Wells confessed to the authorities that there was no bomb, according to FBI Media Coordinator Kenny Smith.

Passengers were delayed about 50 minutes before the flight resumed, Smith said.

Quote from Meet the Parents (2000)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"Man how the hell can they call Pluto a planet?"

2006-08-27T05:04:00.000+03:00

Shavua Tov!!

I'm sure by now, most of you have heard that the Planet Pluto has been demoted from planet status to dwarf planet status. The thing that bothers me abt it is that now the song I was taught in 3rd grade to remember the order of the planets is obsolete.

My Very Energetic Mother Just Sent Us Nine

Nine what? It use to be Nine Pizaapies, but now it's just Nine. To think astronomers coulda thought abt that before declassifying Pluto. Oh weell, I guess they didnt want to have to add new words to the song by adding 3 new planets...

The last cartoon is the best in my opinion.

Have a good one.

J.

Quote from Me, Myself and Irene (2000)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I had to... I... it's kind of a long story."

2006-08-26T22:12:00.000+03:00

Mel, only has 14 million Jews left to apologize to.

I got this from this website

J.

Mel Phones Jews -- "I'm Really Sorry"

Mel Gibson has decided to make good with the Jewish community, one Jew at a time.

TMZ has learned that Gibson has been calling entertainment industry honchos with whom he's worked in the past and apologizing for his anti-Semitic rant the morning of his DUI arrest.

Two of the people he called, who wish to remain anonymous, say Gibson told them that he wanted them to know that he was really sorry and he was working on his "problem." Gibson also said that he hoped he would be able to work with them again.

"...he wanted them to know that he was really sorry and he was working on his 'problem.'"

The two people who gave the debrief on Gibson's conversation to TMZ say that they were less than moved by the actor's apology. One said he was civil to Gibson but was unconvinced that Gibson has changed his stripes.

Gibson has declined offers to speak before larger groups. His publicist says the actor is consumed with his recovery at the moment and cannot deal with other matters until he gets his life under control.

It is unclear why Gibson began making the calls, however his rep has told TMZ that his client was in a recovery program, which includes a 12-step program to sobriety. Step #9 is making amends. If Gibson is on Step #9, he clearly is on the fast track.

Quote from Gotcha (1985)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"And finally, Jews for Jesus - buptkiss. But can you really put a price on offending two major religions at once?"

2006-08-26T21:40:00.000+03:00

To even think that Krusty the Klown is an advocate of Jews for Jesus is totally absurd!!!!!

I love the J4J spokewoman's line at the end of the article. I can't believe she would actually say something like that...

Stupid people...

J.

Oy! Jackie Mason sues Jews for Jesus
Comedian says group used his name in vain, seeks $2 million
The Associated Press

Updated: 10:12 a.m. ET Aug. 25, 2006

NEW YORK - Saying he’s “as Jewish as a matzo ball or kosher salami,” Jackie Mason filed a lawsuit against Jews for Jesus for using his name and likeness in a pamphlet.

The $2 million lawsuit seeks the immediate destruction of the pamphlet, which members of the missionary group have been handing out at various points around New York City.

“While I have the utmost respect for people who practice the Christian faith, the fact is, as everyone knows, I am as Jewish as a matzo ball or kosher salami,” the 75-year-old comedian said in documents filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

Founded in the 1970s, Jews for Jesus practices Judaism but regards Jesus as the Messiah.

The pamphlets feature an image of Mason next to the words “Jackie Mason ... A Jew for Jesus!?” with information inside that outlines the similarities between Jews and Christians.

“The pamphlet uses my name, my likeness, my ‘shtick’ (if you will), and my very act, which is derived from my personality, to attract attention and converts,” Mason said in an affidavit.

Susan Perlman, a spokeswoman for Jews for Jesus, said the pamphlet was “good-natured.”

“Shame on him for getting so upset about this,” she said Friday.

Mason has starred on Broadway and in films including “Caddyshack II.”

Quote from The Daily Show (1996)

I know this is a TV show, but the quote was so good. The full quote is "That's it for This Week In God. But before we go, let's check last week's collection plates! The Catholics are once again number one, no surprises there. The Baptists come in second, followed by the Methodists. Ooh, Scientology, I'll just check Variety. And finally, Jews for Jesus - buptkiss. But can you really put a price on offending two major religions at once?"

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"What do you mean there's no government? There's always a government, they're in a bunker or a plane somewhere!"

2006-08-24T13:03:00.000+03:00

Got this by email from a friend and thought it was pretty funny. Maybe if we find one of Whitney Houston Osama will come out of his cave.

;)

J.

Quote from 28 Days Later (2002)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"Every hero has a weakness. Superman has kryptonite. Indiana Jones has snakes. Whitney Houston has Bobby Brown."

2006-08-22T09:14:00.000+03:00

Monday, Aug. 21, 2006 12:13 a.m. EDT

Osama Bin Laden 'Obsessed' With Whitney Houston

As if Whitney Houston doesn’t have enough problems with her rumored struggles with drug addiction, now there’s news that the superstar may be pursued by a high-profile admirer: Osama bin Laden.

The New York Post’s Page Six reports that bin Laden is apparently "obsessed” with the one-time chart-topping pop diva, who is married to troubled entertainer Bobby Brown.

Bin Laden, according to novelist Kola Boof who claims to have been the terrorist mastermind’s "sex slave,” considered Houston to be "the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen,” and even talked about having her husband (Brown) killed so he could make Houston one of his wives.

"He [Bin Laden] said he wanted to give [her] a mansion that he owned in a suburb of Kartoum,” Boof told the Post. "He explained to me that to possess Whitney he would be willing to break his color rule and make her one of his wives.”

Bin Laden is apparently "dismissive of black women,” but he was so taken by Houston’s beauty, that he reportedly carried photographs of the singer from Star magazine in his briefcase.

Quote from Taxi (2004)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"See, you did what you were trained to do. You should be proud of that, be proud of that."

2006-08-21T13:45:00.000+03:00

WHY I’M PROUD TO BE A JEW - by Bruce from New York

With war raging in the Middle East, with global terror reaching new heights, with global anti-Semitism on the rise, I thought it might be a good time to reflect on why I’m proud, more than ever, to be a Jew.

I’m proud to be a Jew because Jews don’t kidnap.

I’m proud to be a Jew because Jewish education does not consist of teaching martyrdom and hatred.

I’m proud to be a Jew because my religious leaders and religious services don’t whip me into a frenzy to kill others.

I’m proud to be a Jew because in the middle of a war, Jews still demonstrate and protest to protect the rights of the Arab-Israeli minority to voice their opposition to the war.

I’m proud to be a Jew because even when Israel is wrongly and falsely accused of killing innocent civilians, Jewish leaders apologize immediately for any loss of life—instead of celebrating these deaths by passing out candy and shooting celebratory gunshots into the air.

When the world accuses Israel of massacre in Jenin—when the world accuses Israel of bombing civilians on a Gaza beach—when the world accuses Israel of shooting a child cowering against a wall—when the world accuses Israel of bombing a Lebanese apartment building killing 56 civilians—when all of these accusations turn out to be totally false—to be vicious anti-Semitic lies—and when all along I knew in my heart that these stories just could not be true—and I’m later proven to be right—then I’m proud to be a Jew.

I’m proud to be a Jew because the Israeli Army is so, so good, that when it takes more than four weeks to wipe out a sophisticated enemy who has prepared six years for this war, the world criticizes the IDF for not getting the job done quickly.

I’m proud to be a Jew when my army, the Israeli army, drops leaflets and makes calls to Lebanese citizens on their cell phones to warn them to evacuate before bombing begins.

I’m proud to be a Jew when the democracies of the world talk about fighting the war on terror, but only Israel is left alone to bear the burden of eradicating Hezbollah, the proxy army of Iran and Syria.

I’m proud to be a Jew when entire Israeli towns in the north—Nahariya, Kiryat Shimona, Safed, are reduced to ghost towns due to the constant shelling, and yet not one looter has appeared to empty out the property of others.

When Israel must defend its very right to exist, when it must fight a well armed enemy representing the Islamic fascists, as President Bush has called them, when Israel must conduct this war on terror with its hands tied behind its back so as not to take an innocent life lest the media have something true to report, that it must fight this war of survival under the cloud of “disproportionality”, as if thousands of Katusha rockets falling on its citizenry is somehow “proportionate”—when Israel simultaneously pushes back these threats both in the North and in the South under the added pressure of a biased media, then I’m proud to be a Jew.

I’m proud to be a Jew when the Edinburgh Scottish film festival tells an Israeli director to stay home although his film is being screened and the director says “No, I’m coming.”

I’m proud to be a Jew because Mel Gibson is not a Jew.

I’m proud to be a Jew when the UN’s Human Rights Commission consists of countries like Syria, Libya and Iran and Israel is not asked to join.

I’m proud to be a Jew when magician David Blaine announces his trip to Israel next week to entertain the children living in bomb shelters and tells the press he’s doing it to encourage other performers to stand up for Israel and its right to defend itself.

I’m proud to be a Jew when a Russian/Israeli businessman single-handedly creates not one but two tent cities on the beach to house Israelis fleeing the North and provides shelter, bedding, food and drink, showers and bathrooms—all done without red tape in a matter of 24 hours—to house over 6,000 Israeli’s, one of whom described it as a “poor man’s Club Med.”

I am proud to be a Jew when Israelis on the left and on the right support the government’s decision to fight—when 97% of the country is united in its own defense—when Israeli’s from Jerusalem give shelter to families from Haifa—when food from the Negev is donated to feed soldiers at the front—when the IDF deploys soldiers on special assignments to deliver diapers to shelters and to entertain and calm the frightened children.

I’m proud to be a Jew when the three weeks preceding Tisha B’Av reminds us of the terrible things we have endured as a people and as a nation—and yet immediately thereafter, Hashem offers us consolation, redemption and hope—plus the promise that we shall defeat our enemies, that we shall endure, that Am Yisrael Chai.

And I am proud to be a Jew because when we proclaim that God is on our side, we have the book to prove it.

Quote from Black hawk Down (2001)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"Baseball may be a religion full of magic, cosmic truth, and the fundamental ontological riddles of our time, but it's also a job."

2006-08-17T21:46:00.000+03:00

To continue with my Mel diatribe, here is a clip from Tuesday nights game between the Red Sox and the Tigers where Denis Leary was invited to "help out" the radio announcers.

Quite funny!!

Thanks to Elliot for sending me the URL and to Deadspin and Alternet for the link

Quote from Bull Durham (1988)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"It was a typical wedding: enemies of the bride on the right, enemies of the groom on the left."

2006-08-17T14:06:00.000+03:00

I guess you can say Mazal Tov.

:)

J.

Suha Arafat marries

According to rumors, Yasser Arafat's widow marries Tunisian president's brother-in-law, who was supposed to marry her sister, but chose Suha due to her large fortune
Roee Nahmias

From now on say Suha al-Trablusi: Suha Arafat, widow of Yasser Arafat, secretly married Lahasn al-Trabulsi, the brother-in-law of the Tunisian president, a number of days ago, a Tunisian website reported.

As is fitting to the widow of the former Palestinian Authority chairman, this time Suha also married someone close to power. Al-Trablusi is the brother of Leila Ben Ali, who is the wife of Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

The sister and her husband gave their blessing to the marriage.

The marriage followed a wave of stubborn rumors in Tunisia, according to which al-Trabulusi planned to marry Suha's sister. However, credible sources said that he divorced a few months ago to marry Suha and not her sister, and that one of the main reasons for the wedding is that is his interest in Suha's large fortune.

Two years ago, after Arafat's death, Suha was personally promised by Mahmoud Abbas' staff that she would receive USD 22 million a year, on the basis of an agreement Arafat himself sent his wife while on his death bed – USD 11 million to cover her lifestyle in Paris for half year.

Blackmail

Abbas and Palestinian senior figures were forced to come to a deal with Suha, after she "created facts on the ground," in accordance with French law, and prevented PA members from visiting Arafat as he was dying, or to take decisions on disconnecting the life support machine, until she received her promise. PA senior figures concluded it was worth paying her and ending the episode.

The money given to Suha comes from the "secret fortune" of the PA, managed personally by the PA president. The fortune is worth around USD four billion, and is kept in a number of bank accounts – in Tel Aviv, London, and Zurich.

Since Arafat's death, Suha refused to live in PA territory or any Arab capital other than Tunis, and enjoys close relations with the Tunisian president and his wife.

Quote from Yours, Mine and Ours (1968)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin

"The final measure of bravery is to stand up to death."

2006-08-15T13:11:00.000+03:00

Here is a video with a montage of pics of our brave soldiers during these troubling last few weeks.

Quote from The Brave (1997)

------------------------------------------------
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"

– Benjamin Franklin