Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Art/Propaganda

I recently wanted to write a long post about how horrible art becomes when the political message overwhelms it. However, at this moment i can hardly piece one coherent sentence together so i'll leave that rant for another time. Instead i'll link to an Israellycool post about the new movie Paradise Now and urge you to boycott the film propaganda which "humanizes" two suicide bombers. Dave post a letter (and a website) response to the film from two fathers who lost their teenage sons in the Haifa bombing of bus 37 . A bus i regularly took last summer to get to work.

Update: Here an exerpt from the letter:

Try closing your eyes and imagining the following movie. A religious Jewish American doctor is immigrating to Israel and settling in Hevron. While building his family cell and working at his profession, he is feeling humiliated and depressed seeing his fatherland that was given to him by a divine promise, being conquered by Arabs. Every day our doctor is treating the victims of terrorist attacks in his vicinity. During the movie the viewer will be manipulated, in order to understand and justify the mental trauma our doctor is going through due to the events surrounding him. The movie will include a few flashbacks from the 1929 massacre in Hevron, pictures of wounded children, graveyards. Coming toward the end of the movie our doctor decides to do something about this awful situation. If this illusion rings a bell of reality- you are not mistaken.

In theory, this is quite a legitimate movie, just like "Paradise Now". The truth is that no one in Israel would have allowed this movie past its front door, least to say about the rest of the world .All the critics would have referred to it as political propaganda, and the film itself – even if done in the highest quality - will be compared to the endorsements made by Joseph Goebbels. One can imagine the anarchists and the extremists of the left wing in Israel standing in front of the theatre that dares showing a movie that justifies and understands the massacre of Arabs .


If you can see merits in the film described above then by all means go see Paradise Now.

On a side note: A friend of mine attended a special screening of the film in Boston where a discussion was going to take place after the film. One of the speakers was a former Israeli soldier, when the largely pro-palestinian crowd heard who the speaker was they promptly left their seats and started booing without even listening to what the man had to say. Remember it is all about the dialogue just as long as only one side gets to tell its side of the story.

Love

Isn't this a great photo? I think i'm related to one of them. The one who looks uncharacteristically serene and happy...might be my sister... still not sure.



This is what life is about. So happy for them.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Friday, November 25, 2005

I Thought I'd Share

I've been a fan of John Sargent since a collection of his works was exhibited at the MFA. On a recent trip to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum i was reminded by this painting how much i love his work.


I'm not sure why i like Sargent so much. Unlike most people, i don't adore impressionism. Some paintings impress me but i much more prefer the psychological paintings of Rembrandt to the light of Monet's Cathedrals or lilies. Sargent is quite conservative in his paintings. Often he chose to focus on portraits of famous American and European families, not exactly thrilling material. But there is something about the way he captures certain looks and poses that feels extremely modern and more importantly familiar. "Street in Venice" is one of my favorite paintings. A small postcard version of it hangs in my bedroom.


I like everything about this painting: its matter of factness, the intimacy created by the two figures and the enclosing space of the alley, and the muted color scheme with a dash of red.
Just for kicks here's another Sargent painting (The Orchestra Rehearsal At Circue D'Hiver) which i love:

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Sides

It's funny how when you end up sleeping with someone there's always the issue of which side of the bed to take. Inside/outside, left/right - it seems each one of us has a preference (and even a reason) for where they want to lie. It's a strange little ceremony humans have but i kind of find it endearing.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Hum

I haven't been feeling like myself or actually much of anything lately. It's weird to seem strange even to yourself. On a side note: I hate existential despair.

Dessert For Thought

One the best ingredients a dessert can have is sweetened condensed milk. You can even have it plain with tea. I just had it with tea and cottage cheese. A lot of Russians use it, but i don't know if the use is widespread among Americans. Anyway it is a damn good dessert.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Magen David Adom ...

soon might be recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross. You know because the star of David is soooo offensive, anti-Semitic bastards. They are also considering a new design for the red cross symbol. Dave from Isreallycool has more and some ideas about the new design.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Somewhere In My Brain There's A Longer Review

Saw Shopgirl:

Steve Martin and Claire Danes passionately kissing on the lips: Icky!