I've been following the Sarah Palin bus tour "story" with the same cynicism and disdain as Jon Stewart. But the thought occurred to me that perhaps I had seen this sort of thing before somewhere. And after rummaging through the vault of irrelevant data that is my brain, I uncovered what can only be described as a revelation.
Loyal readers, I submit that Sarah Palin is the modern day Lex Luger.
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From the looks of things I'm not the only one sorely disappointed in LOST's final episode (LGT spoilers). Now I don't consider myself one of those annoying sci-fi fanboys who insists that everything line up in accordance with their own fan fiction, but I did consider myself a fan of the show. I liked the writing, the references, the thought and intelligence of the writers in crafting the story, and like many fans I trusted the writers in bringing the story to a logical, or at least reasonable, conclusion.
Now I freely admit I've watched bad TV - copious amounts of absolute drivel that LOST's worst episode could not compare - so I'm in no place to write as a TV snob. But if I'm going to follow an extended dramatic narrative I do have expectations of coherency and consistency, which was sorely lacking in the LOST finale.
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In my religious and academic lives I have an affinity for tracking down the original sources of ideas. Not surprisingly, this trait extends to other areas of geekdom including music. While there are no shortage of cover songs - with more coming every day - there are times when the cover version so completely overshadows the original that only few know whence it came.
In the interests of promoting music education, I've collected some of my favorite lost originals.
During Sefirat Ha'Omer, many Jews observe some customs of morning in memory of R. Akiva's students. According to Wikipedia:
The period of counting the Omer is also a time of semi-mourning, during which the Halakha forbids haircuts, shaving, listening to live instrumental music, or conducting weddings, parties, and dinners with dancing.
Of course, Halakha does not "forbid" any such actions - in fact the hakahic basis for mourning during the 'Omer is even more tenuous than mourning during - the three weeks and nine days, but rather they are at best matters of custom.
But even in matters of custom there can be multple opinions. For example, every year I get several e-mails asking about what types of music are permitted during the 'Omer. Some distinguish between live and recorded music, others avoid music with instruments. While I personally find these distinctions inconsequential since the entire practice is a matter of custom, let it not be said that here at YUTOPIA we are completely intolerant of minhagim. And so in honor of Sefirat Ha'Omer, I've decided this year to compile my favorite a capella videos from YouTube.1
This apocryphal factoid seemed appropriate for Yom Ha'atzmaut. From a 2003 Hadassah article:
According to Jewish educator and comics fan and writer Alan Oirich, artist Gil Kane based his design of the large-headed, balding Guardians of the Universe in DC's Green Lantern on David Ben-Gurion.
You be the judge:
Image from Cracked
Ex-Roommate Yossi is planning a movie night for the shul. In one of this typically creative ideas he's arranging for showing at a local theater on Christmas Eve (no word on Chinese food). The only question is what movie to show? Here are the requirements:
Right now the first choice is Princess Bride, but we need a few backups just in case we're not able to show it.2 Other suggestions included the original Star Wars for the camp factor along with The Muppet Movie or The Great Muppet Caper.3 The Breakfast Club was also suggested, but then Yossi pointed out that most of the people were born too late to appreciate it.4
There where we are right now, and the topic is hereby open for discussion. Any thoughts?
1. This is highly subjective, especially considering a diverse religious community which likely includes some people thinking that all movies are assur. I trust my Loyal Readers to have good judgement, or at least more sense than I did when as an NCSY'er I picked History of the World: Part I simply because I hadn't seen it and thought it would be funny. Good times.
2. There are currently technical limitations in terms of getting the reel. While there is a possibility of being able to project a DVD, but in the meantime we can't count on that.
3. Personally I'd love to have a community-wide sing-along of Happiness Hotel.
4. Sigh.
In what should be no surprise revalation to Loyal Readers, I have a bit of an eclectic taste in movies. However, this doesn't mean that I actually *go* to many in the theater since "eclectic" should never be confused with "bad." There have been years where I didn't see any movie in the theater simply because there was nothing interesting playing. For some reason I found myself seeing more movies this summer than I have in many years. So I figured I might as well innaugurate the "Movie Reviews" category with my thoughts on some of this past summers offerings.
There are spoilers abound in this post, so if you're interested in seeing any of the following movies, you might want to skip this post (also skip A Scanner Darkly while you're at it).
Weddings are supposed to be happy occasions celebrating the love and commitment of two individuals who choose to spend the rest of their lives together. And yet for some reason, bands play songs which are completely incongruous with the theme of the day, and incredibly they do so often at the couple's request.
AskMen listed 10 Wedding Songs to Avoid where people think these songs are romantic but have obviously never listened to the lyrics. While many Jewish weddings don't usually play secular music in full, every now and again the band will play a riff or two from rock songs just to shake things up a bit. And here too many of the selections can seem a little bit strange.
I first commented on this a while back, and noticed it again at the first wedding I officiated. Since I hear new things all the time I've decided to keep a running list of all the well intentioned but probelmatic songs I've actually heard at weddings. To narrow things down, I'm just focusing on songs in which the lyrics don't fit in with the spirit of the day. For example, while Get Down Tonight might not be the most romantic or subtle song in the world, it still makes sense in its own way. On the other hand, the ones listed below are a little more difficult to explain.
I'm sure I'll be adding more in the future - especially if I get married myself.
1. Though in fairness, Robert Plant does refer to Stairway as a "bloody wedding song."
2. For Jewish weddings, note that the "Yiddin" dance fits perfectly.
Last night's 60 Minutes covered the psychic talents of mentalist Marc Salem. Most people have heard of him by now as he's been performing in several shows and appearing on TV for quite a while.
I'm not going to address the guy's skills, but I do have a really funny story from way back when. About 15 years ago at the Jewish Renaissance Festival, I went to see him with my family. He wasn't a big name then and the attendance was relatively sparse, but we thought it would be an interesting show. Anyway, over the course of his shtick he goes to my mother and borrows her watch. Immediately after picking it up, he asks "who's Alan?" and then starts rattling off obscure details about my father. Even the cynical Yuter clan was impressed at this display of psychic prowess.
After the show we started shmoozing with him and he admitted that that particular trick was somewhat unplanned. It turns out he knew my father from way back,1 recognized him in the audience and thought that even though it was a risky shtick to pull, the potential payoff was too great.
1. On the other end, my father isn't always the best at recognizing or remembering people especially when they use a stage name.
If you're in the Chicago area (or will be within next five years or so), and you happen to watch the PBS affiliate WTTW 11, you might catch me in one of their station commercials.
A few months ago I was on a date in the Museum of Science and Industry and there was this camera crew from the station looking for people to record some of their promos. They had a list of types of people they were looking for, one of which was "young couple." Since we were a "young couple," I just figured this would be a cool thing to do on a date. Besides - who really watches PBS around here that could possibly have a chance of recognizing me?
Apparently, many many people at UC.
Geeks.
Incidentally, thanks to Hasidic Musician for pointing out that Eli Ata was originally a Chabad niggun, and not a Carlebach one. Correction has been made.
