Full House

Sorry about the recent lack of activity here but in between searching for the rapist and work and Yakira just haven't had the time.

Yes, it's been one of those weeks here in Israel. In between the strike and the in-laws arriving for a week, not sure whether I'm coming or going.

Also adopted a couple of extra-curricular activities which are keeping me busy.

To make up for no You Tube song this week will have two next week.

Where There's Smoke There's Fire

It might be the 21st Century but in some ways Israel isn't there yet.

One of those ways is smoking. In most of the world, while smoking many people still smoke, it isn't socially acceptable to do it in certain places namely restaurants or in the work place.

Went out to a Sheva Brachot last night and it was at a restaurant in Talpiot. There was some imaginary line down the middle of the room which separated the non-smoking section from the smoking section. Unfortunately no-one told the smoke.

We were sitting right on the Tropic of Cancer and this smoker was sitting on the other side of it, meaning the smoke was going directly into Yakira's pram/carriage/עגלה. Thankfully our good friend Yoav intervened and managed to convince her to stop smoking.

I have no problem with people smoking per say but I shouldn't have to come home reeking of it which is what happened.

We got home and then watched Borat with our good friend, Pnina. Interesting movie....

%^&$@(*!

Just lost the whole post I was writing.

Somewhat taken the wind out of my sails.

Will try rewrite it later tonight or tomorrow.....

You Tube Songs I Like Part I

Not sure if if you noticed but I stopped doing the One-Hit Wonders posts. The main reason was that the true definition of a One-Hit Wonder became a bit too blurry and complicated. The difference in definition of commercials versus artistic success was just too messy.

So I am starting a new series which is songs I like which I've found on You Tube. You Tube is an amazing jukebox - all you have to do is type in the song and more often than not it is going to appear and you can listen to them all day long.

What better way to start then a song which I used to know as the Bom-Bom-Chick-Chicker-Chicka song but which is actually known as Oh Yeah. It comes from a couple of whackjob Germans in a band called Yello.



You know it better as the song from Ferris Bueller's Day Off and you can't lay claim to being a child of the 80's unless you recognise and love this song. The video clip is one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen.

Oh and by the way the real lyrics to the song are:

Oh Yeah... Oh Yeah... Oh Yeah
The moon... beautiful
The sun... even more beautiful
Oh Yeah... Oh Yeah... Oh Yeah

Beautiful
Oh Yeah... Oh Yeah...

Good time

Enjoy!

Great To Be A Kid

Heard a cute story about one of my nieces which I thought I would share with you:

My brother-in-law gets a call from one of the parents who has a kid is the same class as my six year old niece.

Parent: Would you mind picking up all the kids after the upcoming birthday party of one of the other kids in the class?

Brother In Law: Let me check with my wife.

BIL goes to check with my sister.

Sister: I don't know about any birthday party! Was she even invited?

Goes to ask the niece.

Sister: Were you invited to the party?

Niece: I was given an invitation but didn't want to go so I threw it out.

Can't think of any other response other than to laugh.

What Next?

Now it appears that the Wedding of the Year wasn't actually a wedding.

If this was the case, why would you have let this news come out?

If it is a sham, how long are they going to keep it up?

With Ian Thorpe retiring today, are those rumors going to resurface again?

How Romantic

Can you read what it says on Posh's neck? (If you want you can click on the photo to make it bigger)

Think I know now what I'm getting Mrs Co.Il for Hanukah.

More Pics on Only Simchas

No point in commenting on the wedding of TomKat. Time will tell what will happen. What is more interesting are some of the guests who attended.

They make their own fashion rules. Laugh if you want but we'll all be wearing it next week.


Not sure about the hair. Not sure about the lipstick.

Sometimes the short guy can snare the taller lady.

Appalling

The news surrounding OJ Simpson sickens me.

He is a digusting person who should have never ever been found innocent and has since made a mockery of what happened.

The guy is a monster who instead of being contrite and remorseful seems to enjoy the infamy he now has.

Hopefully one day he will get his comeuppance and when it happens, it won't be pretty.

Pick Me Up

Dropped some laundry down in March and never picked it up. The slip just sat there as the weeks and then the months rolled pass.

As every day went by, seemed more unlikely to pick it up but then then last night I went to go do it.

First thing I noticed was there were two new guys running the place. It must have been sold in the interim.

One guy took the slip and freaked out when he saw the date on it.

"What took you so long," he asked as he trudged off to retrieve it.

After looking here and there and then on the other side of the shop he found it.

I was actually a bit worried that they may have thrown it out? How long do places normally keep things before they do?

Back On Track

The last two nights have managed to get Yakira's sleeping patterns onto something a bit more user-friendly. She slept through most of both nights and that's a good sign.

With both meals out, we had a relaxing Friday and sauntered down to Emek and Tal Bagels.

Observed something interesting at our Friday night meal. There were about 12 people around the table and the instant one couple said they were leaving, 90% of the table rose to their feet as well and said they were going as well.

Suddenly the room went from teeming with people to just us, the host and someone who was sleeping over.

Maybe there is something psychological about it.

Also glad to report that over both meals the Pride Parade and all the assorted ramifications of it wasn't brought up once.

Time Flies

I could swear that a moment ago it was last Thursday.

Where does the week go?!?!

Be Careful What You Wish For

Been one of the more crazier times in Hollywood with the Witherspoons splitting up , followed by Doogie Howser coming out of the closet and now Britney finally giving that piece of white trash the heave-ho.

Are we meant to feel sorry for her? After all, she must have known who he was.
He was shacked up with Shar Jackson of Moesha fame, when he started flirting with Britney. When K Fed left Shar, she was pregnant with their second child. But before you feel sorry for Jackson you should know that she had her first child when she was 15 and second at 19.

Obviously relations are different in Celebrity-land - where you leave the house to be met by 14 photographers and 23 people wanting your autograph.

You are told what to say and what to wear. Everything has to be about maintaining and sending out an image that you can never be yourself. You can never take the mask off. And when you have to be nice all the time sometimes the steam comes out in private.

People yearn to be famous and in the limelight but once the switch is flicked, you can’t simply turn it off. In fact you can never turn it off. Your life becomes the world’s domain and the fodder for magazines and TV shows whose whole existence is based on talking about people’s lives. Telling the public what you are doing and where you are going; who you are seeing and where you are seen.

He, no doubt will end up on some reality tv show. Being totally useless and talentless, what else is there for him to do? As for Britney, she will bounce back.

But Britney, maybe time to give the bad boys a rest.

Table for 2.5

Last night we went out to Lugar for dinner.

When Yakira was born, instead of giving us another onesie or bib, our good friends, Tali and Pnina, gave us a voucher for dinner.

After the problems there last time I wasn't sure what to expect, but we were the only ones present and it went pretty smoothly. A meal for two poses far less issues than one for 24.

Lugar is a nice place with pretty stylish decor although it ain't no Gabriel.

Thanks Aunties T & P for a wonderful night out!

The Belt-Way

There are many strange cultural practices in Israel but one of the strangest would have to be the aversion of drivers to wearing seat-belts.

Surely when driving here is so dangerous, you wouldn't dare be in the car without wearing one?

The biggest culprits seem to be the taxi drivers and when you spend all day behind the wheel, wouldn't you be the most likely to belt up as opposed to the least?

I've seen it all. Taxi drivers who have put the belt in, except they're sitting on top of it and taxi drivers who have inserted the belt into the clip of the seat next to them. It's such an inconvenience?

Bizzare. Any explanations out there?

November Rain

Rain and crazy traffic is not the way you want to start the week but is what it is.
Nice weekend of which the highlight was walking down Emek on Friday and seeing the whole world.

We also watched a few movies. First one was The Break-Up which stars Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. What a strange experience it must have been for her – starring in a movie about a break-up while her marriage was crumbling and turning to the guy who in the movie she breaks up with!

The movie was ok but there is a reason why foreign films tend to cover sensitive topics better than Hollywood movies. At times the movie didn’t know if it was meant to be a comedy or drama and would have been better off sticking to one or the other as opposed to hedging its bets.

JA carries the movie and Vince comes around as a bit of a shlub. They could have made a few tweaks here and there and the end result could have been a lot better.

They had a big cast which was hardly used featuring the likes of Vincent D'Onofrio and Jason Bateman. After not appearing anything for 15 years, Bateman looks like he is making up for lost time and everywhere you look he is in something else.

Second movie was 16 Blocks which was quite good. Bruce Willis is a cop (would he be anything else?) and he has to get a criminal who is going to testify before a jury up 16 blocks to the jury but there are people who want to make sure he doesn’t get there.

We liked it and the sight of Bruce with a moustache should be enough reason to watch it.

9 1/2 weeks

Yakira is growing up quickly. Can't believe that she has already been with us for two months.

In that time she has had a Simchat Bat, flown to the States and amassed a sizable wardrobe.

She sleeps well although going to America threw around her body clock. Have to recalibrate things so the long sleep which takes place during the day happens at night.

Apart from that, it's all great and highly recommended.

United

Last night we watched United 93 and I have to tell you, watching it shakes you to the core.

All the horror and shock of that day instantly floods back as the movie unfolds.

This wasn’t some farfetched Hollywood shoot’em up, blood and guts, Rambo-style flick which we were watching. This was real and as we all know there was no fairytale ending. There still isn’t and most likely never will be.

The film doesn’t do much for promoting the cause of Arabs. They are made out to be mercenaries who take the time to daven for the strength to be cold blooded killers. They might think they are martyrs but a martyr is someone who is killed for their cause, not someone who kills for their cause.

Where I come from, that’s called a murderer.