Narf!

Gib's brings the good news that one of my favorite cartoons is coming to DVD!



I will never understand why that show ever got cancelled.

Side note: Oh the things you find on YouTube, like the Russian version of Pinky and the Brain theme song. Highly weird.



Also rendition of the brain by Brain!

Random Behavior Observation 2, 204

Whenever I'm parking in a large parking lot, I will always look for an open spot and another open spot on the other side, so I can drive through spot a to get to spot b. Making easier to drive off from the space (with no reverse parking or fear of hitting an oncoming car.) Even when the two empty spots are farther away than say, one empty spot, I tend to take the further parking space.

Mideast On My Mind

All of this has been said many times and by more eloquent writers, but I have to get this out of my system.

I was really hopeful that this time around the coverage of the conflict would be more positive towards Israel. I have to concede that Egypt and Jordan are not right out supporting Hezbollah and the G8 summit agreement is heartening. Also watching Fox News makes me three times happier than MSNBC. But it's hard to see people completely miss such essential details as who started the conflict - spouting nonsense as "cycle of violence" and conspiracy theories about Israel getting ready for war before the first rockets fell. Never mind the gross mismanagement of the border by UNIFEL and Hezbollah's cowardly and lawless actions of hiding among the civilian population and using hospitals and Mosques as launching pads for their deadly rockets.
One thing that struck me about Islamic fundamentalists leaders is how much they love calling others to martyrdom, praising death as the ultimate sacrifice, yet when it comes to their "martyrdom" most seem reluctant. Countless times, I've seen images of some top Hamas guy in his tighty whities and arms behind his head walking out of a partially destroyed building. Total hypocrites - death good for all but them. The sad truth, as Mark Steyn notes, that a two state solution means completely different things depending on who you look at. If it's Hezbollah or Hamas - two state solution is a step towards one state solution. I believe in a two state solution, I actually I would prefer that Gaza would be absorbed by Egypt and West Bank by Jordan, where "Palestine" and Israel exist side by side with no threat to Jews being killed by Ketusha rockets or blown up by freedom fighter suicide bomber. (Side note, remember the overly praised "Paradise Now" - seems the director thinks that suicide bombing is "very human reaction to an extreme situation." Yes, I hear suicide bombings are quite popular with Tibetans and Hindus....I guess it depends on your definition of "human.")

Also, if you have a little bit of time check out From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine
I've mentioned this book before but it's really an excellent read about the current history of the "refugee problem" - it's unbiased (written by a gentile liberal author.)

Update: Awesome - UN is rebuilding roads for Hezbollah - how neutral of them.

Picture of the Day

via Polya

Who also posts a Golda Meir quote under the picture: "Peace in the Middle East will only be achieved when they start loving their children more than hating us."

Quote of The Day

"Arguing on the Internet is like running Special Olympics - even if you win, you're still a retard." - Yelya

Commenting in my sister's thread about how my sister won't discuss what is going Lebanese-Israeli war for a fear of hitting someone with a frying pan. It made melaugh.

Haifa etc.

Из разговора с мужем:
- Как ты думаешь, отсутствие страха - это идиотизм, или мужество?
- А зачем противопоставлять?...

translation:

From the conversation with my husband:
- What do you think, the absence of fear - is it idiotic, or heroic?
- Why does one oppose the other?


The exchange was posted by Polya, my friend who lives in Haifa and refuses to leave or for that matter go to a bomb shelter. Her husband, Yasha is very witty guy. I spoke to him today to get some updates on what going on with the family. He is a professor at the Technion which has been closed all week due to rockets hitting it. Yasha thinks it will be re-opened in next week. We talked a little about politics, Yasha is pretty much on the right. I spoke about disapproving public opinion of Israel and the insistance of some at looking at things from "their point of view" he said something to affect that when someone with an axe comes running after you, you have to choices: a) to sympathize with the axe wielder and let him hack into pieces or b) shoot him in the head. I thought it was pretty simple way of explaining the situation and the correct response. I think we both agreed that both don't want to "look at it from their side" - we rather stick to ours.
It's surreal to see images of destruction on the streets of Haifa. It hard to remember neighborhoods, streets, and shops that I walked on, hailed cabs, drank coffee, etc....are wrecked. When I was in Haifa I lived with my great uncle and his wife. I lived in a tiny fortified room. The "Bomb Shelter" room, all modern Israeli apartments have them. I remember hating opening and closing the door - it was extremely heavy and loud. Now I'm happy remembering the heaviness of the door. After speaking to my great aunt I know that when the sirens sound the elderly couple that I stayed with goes to the tiny room I used to occupy. Very strange and sad that it's getting used for its purpose.

Fred & Ginger

As a child I loved Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, I used to know lots of trivia about them and had watched every last movie they made together. I, like many others, was hypnotized by the intricate-yet-effortless-dance numbers and the chemistry between Astaire and Rogers although wasn't red hot however it had that appeal of a low amber kind of burn that attracted the pubescent me. These movies taught me what love and romance were all about - or at least made me wish for this zany, screwball comedy, dancing type of life. Check out Astaire's rendition of "Heaven" - I like the way he sings and I adore the song, one of the most mushiest yet best love songs. I miss dancing cheek to cheek....of course I never actually danced this way...but it sure seems like I did. I remember feeling all embarrassed liking Big Band music in my young teenage years, while girls in my camp bunk listened to Backstreet Boys or if they were "cool' Phish, I was secretly rewinding over and over Gershwin and Belin songs.


When I have a steady income I will purchase the DVD collection of their films. But until then I have YouTube to fill the void. The weird thing about YouTube clips is that they mostly have clips paired with totally different songs to the Astaire-Rogers dance numbers. Like this punk number which doesn't completely work, although I've seen this type of thing be very entertaining.


or this instrumental...I have this vague recollection that the music is from some movie with a cheesy sex scene does anyone know where the music is from?



P.S. This probably one of my favorite scenes in all their films. And the women's clothes aren't bad too.

Put Your Records On

I really been enjoying this song. It has that old time r&b sound that I haven't heard in a while Corinne Bailey Rae has a very sweet voice and the beat of the song is very seductive. The video ain't half bad, matches the song quite nicely. I really like the part where she sings "I thought that I was stronger" at the end of song.

I'm bit lost at thre moment. I don't like this feeling.

Yuck

Setting serious writing aside....I'm unhappy to report that goat milk tastes disgusting. It's like goat cheese (which I happen to like) with seventy percent more GOAT. Really not a good altenative to cow milk or my personal favorite Parmalat milk.

War

I've been meaning to blog this whole week, but ever since the rockets started hitting Nahariya and then Haifa I have been left a bit stunned to post on silly little observations like the fact that I don't like Angelina Jolie very much.
Family and dear friends are being attacked and all I can do is watch on the television. It might be strange but I really want to be in Israel right now. I've been having really bad dreams which I know sound a little dramatic since I'm out of harm's way.
Last night I was speaking to friends of mine who question Israel's right to exist, who claim Al Queda are acting out of self defense. The conversation left me feeling drained. I felt like there was really no point in discussing something that is close to my heart. I felt like I was viewed like the "crazy girl who defends Israel no matter what" and I really like to believe their didn't matter to me, but when you have people you love and respect look at you as if you are completely nuts it does something to you.
Anyway, Israellycool has been doing a good job covering the up to minute events. And if you speak Russian one of my closest friends, Polya, is writing about here experience living in Haifa. I thought this was an interesting take on the conflict with Lebanon.
II meant to also convey how sad it makes me that innocent civilians are dying in Lebanon, however I do think the IDF is doing the right thing. And if it wasn't for Hazbollah's cowardly actions of launching rockets from small villages and towns the the casualties would be much smaller. Also I want write a big Fuck You to Putin. There I said it, I feel better.

Nurture

I was hanging out with two plumbers this morning (exploring new career opportunities). When we got to talking about how their van was stolen from a parking lot at Home Depot. This lead me to muse out loud about "how does anyone have the capacity to steal", not only steal from someone's home but take things that are people's livelihood? I then, started to mutter something about understanding that people are poor and have no other alternative, when one of the plumbers cut me off and plainly said (in Russian), "it's not about being poor it is about how you are brought up (vospitaniya)."
This struck me as an incredible clear and evident truth, there I was making excuses for the thieves, instead of holding them accountable without any conditions or circumstances.

Short List of Things Which Remind Me of Childhood

- trees
- baby powder in a lavender tin bottle
- permalat milk (tastes like milk, i would rarely get from a box in Russia)
- blue bells
- blini and sour cream
- jazz coming from another room (or for that matter any radio show)
- cows
- records
- smell of the metro
- holding my sister's hand
- The Wizard of Oz (the book)
- Peter Pan
- 101 Dalmations, Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast
- bike riding
- Eskimo kisses
- melted ice cream in a soft cone (Russian standard ice cream - very creamy available in any Russian Deli, i highly recommend it)
- gimp
- sitting in the back seat of a car
- peeing in the ocean
- losing someone in a super market or department store
- losing keys
- not letting people know where i am, worrying people
- mushroom hunting
- bruises and skinned knees
- dogs
- berry picking
- the forest
- powerlessness
- deserted playgrounds
- swings

Fire in the Sky

I have to confess that I'm a fireworks junkie. I love looking at bright lights in the sky. I do realize that by confessing such childish notions it allows some to think of me as less than sophisticated, but I do not care. The first time I saw Boston's fourth of July display I was hooked. Maybe the contrast between the magnificent show of pomp with loud booms, huge bursts of light in the sky,the myriad of colors; compared to the flimsy green, yellow, and red dot fireworks I remembered from St. Peterberg, put such a spell on me. However, to be honest no matter how small the fireworks I cannot tear myself away. There is so much that fireworks embody: power, technology, creativity, celebration, danger, majesty, community....there is so much that lights in the sky mean to me. As I write this down, it feels a bit trite to be talking about fireworks in such detail but experiencing them this year made me really happy.
My hometown is known for a really amazing displays, usually out doing even Boston. This year theta were less impressive than in the past. Usually, the have a few false endings but this year I think something didn't work out because the end wasn't as thrilling as I remembered. In fact I had to be told several times that indeed the fireworks were over, before I begrudging started walking towards the car.
The Boston fireworks were great, the highlight of the display were the "popping" fireworks (the kind that kept appearing and disappearing) and the "golden tree" fireworks which lighted up the whole Charles River and stayed in the air for a good thirty seconds.