Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)

Low on hope? Think the world is about to destroy itself? Ok, you're probably not thinking that, but this incredible video will make you smile nonetheless. Click here for more information and background.

I'm on a Where the Hell is Matt? binge!

Ok, so I've been trying to post a video from YouTube onto my blog for the last couple of days, and it doesn't seem to be working. I guess I love it so much and want to share it so badly with the world, that I'll just give you the link and you can check it out yourself.

Where the Hell is Matt?

You can read all about it here

What a beautiful picture of humanity! I love it!!!

Which Superhero are You?

I took the "Which Superhero are You?" test. Apparently I'm Superman. I always liked him. Mild-mannered, with a tendency to wear blue tights and fly around rescuing people.
But I also apparently have flashes of Wonder Woman (naturally), Spider Man (I hate spiders, but give me Toby Maguire all wet and hanging upside down ready for a kiss any day) and the Flash (Too quick for you!!!)
Kudos to dad for the tip.
Your results:
You are Superman
Superman 85%
Wonder Woman 77%
Spider Man 70%
The Flash 70%
The Green Lantern 70%
Supergirl 67%
Catwoman 65%
Robin 64%
Iron Man 60%
Batman 55%
Hulk 40%
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

"Victory is for the one...who has no thought of himself."

Into a soul absolutely free
From thoughts and emotion,
Even the tiger finds no room
To insert its fierce claws.

One and the same breeze passes
Over the pines on the mountain
And the oak trees in the valley;
And why do they give different notes?

No thinking, no reflecting,
Perfect emptiness:
Yet therein something moves,
Following its own course.

The eye sees it,
But no hands can take hold of it -
The moon in the stream.

Clouds and mists,
They are midair transformations;
Above them eternally shine the sun and the moon.

Victory is for the one,
Even before the combat,
Who has no thought of himself,
Abiding in the no-mind-ness of Great Origin.

From the Tao of Jeet Kune Do.

"For the first time, I really did feel Israeli."

Life is a precarious thing, and not just in Israel. Just down the border in Gaza, six people died recently in a bombing (for once, not blamed on us), five people drowned this weekend off the Israeli coast, a very sweet, good friend of mine in the States died last week and I nearly got hit by a car tonight on my bike, a split-second experience that took my breath away with its proximity to tragedy. (My proximity to tragedy).

I've often wondered what this very thin line is that separates us from death. What is it that keeps my heart pumping blood through my body and my lungs taking in oxygen and my cells working doing whatever it is they do? What keeps me on THIS side - where I'm alive, with friends and family and a stable job and air in my lungs, instead of on THAT side - where I'm six feet under?

What separates me from, say, Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier still sitting somewhere in that shithole called Gaza? Or from Karnit Goldwasser - the wife of Ehud Goldwasser, one of the kidnapped soldiers whose body was just returned two weeks ago to Israel in a black box after being somewhere in Lebanon for two years? Why them and not me?

But it's not so simple. Tonight, I rode my bike down to Dizengoff to return a video to Dizi (a really cool video store slash laundromat slash cafe where you can rent a movie (and a laptop) and order something to eat while you do your laundry). On the way, i passed through Rabin Square, where a rally last week was held for and by Gilad's platoon, which was being discharged, for his release. A graffiti-ed message said,

"We are all in this together."

Which is really what it is after all in this country. Almost two weeks ago I sat, glued to the computer screen, as Ehud's and Eldad's bodies were being returned to Israel (no one knew up to that point whether they were alive or dead). I felt so sad, so heavy and so grieved over the tragedy of it all. That night, a new immigrant I met asked me if I felt Israeli after being here for almost two years. I knew the answer almost without thinking: "You know," I said to her, "this morning, for the first time, I really did feel Israeli."

I told this to an Israeli friend the next evening, and he said, "With what happened, you actually felt what it was like to be an Israeli." And then we went back to our appetizers.

80 Years of the Kibbutz in Israel - In Photos

Hi! It's me.... Remember me?
I'm popping out of editorial seclusion for a brief moment - just for one thing.
Click here for a mediocre article with GREAT PHOTOS of the last 80 years of kibbutz life in the Land of Israel.
No wonder modern-day Israelis are so frickin' tough....
Oh, and click here if you don't know what a kibbutz is.
Anyway, that's it for now. Late. Sleep...zzzzzz......

The Storm

We're having quite the storm here.
Ok, I know what you're thinking. "You live on the Mediterranean, in the Middle East! What kind of serious storm could you possibly have?"
This isn't your Midwestern U.S. tornado, it's true, or your Florida hurricane. It doesn't storm here very often, but when it does, you'd better run for cover.
It's not just the wind, it's the fierce, biting, severely blowing wind. Add to that the big, fat rain we get here, and the massive lightning and thunder at 9 in the morning while you're on your way walking to work because you missed the bus.
The cold wouldn't be so bad anywhere else, except that because we are in the Eastern Mediterranean, with sweltering, disgusting summers and humidity to boot, the concept of central heating does not exist. Oh, of course people know about it, but those people live in multi-million dollar homes in Herzliya Pituach and Caesarea and go on yacht trips throughout the Mediterranean and spend weekends in Paris.
I tried to switch on a little heater at work so that I wouldn't have to sit there in my winter coat, but that tiny little heater blew the breaker for the entire office. Oops! Wasn't me!
The storm is supposed to clear up this weekend, hopefully.
There is another storm, however, that's gripping the country, and this one doesn't mean snow in Jerusalem.
This storm is the release today (Wednesday 5pm) of the Winograd report, which is a report on the government's and military's actions/inactions/failures/successes during the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006. The storm is that most people it seems believe that the current government (which was in power then) basically failed in every way and that the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, should be forced to resign. This report could mean the end of the government. I for one would be in favor of having a new prime minister - Tzipi Livni, for example (the current foreign minister) - but we'll have to wait and see what happens.
Until then, just trying to stay warm and dry.