ein hod

What Makes Naomi Run...

2012-01-07T09:19:00.001+02:00

Naomi Verchovsky: Ein Hod Potter from zeev verchovsky on Vimeo.
Part of "What motivates them to create..."
Roy Spungin, Creator/Director
Niv Horowitz, Editor
artists
Robert Nechin
Nobuya Yamaguchi
Daniel Dworsky
Ayelet Shefer
Naomi Verchovsky
Julian Chagrin
Naaama Berckowitz
ein-hod.us/video/what-motivates-them-to-create

A Primitive Pottery

2012-01-03T09:01:00.007+02:00

Found in a cinema in Derbyshire, a can of film labelled "A Primitive Pottery in Dorset" has found its way home.

Collaborating with Penny Copland-Griffiths,who presents this video, and her colleagues from the Verwood and District Potteries Trust, Trilith produced this 1917 film of Crossroads Pottery, Verwood, Dorset,together with interviews with Fred Thorne, the last "boy" to be taken on at the pottery, potter John Leach whose grandfather Bernard created the studio pottery movement in Britain,
and a section dealing with the archaeological dig in 2000, directed by AC Archaeology, prior to the last traces of the pottery being buried under a car park. Penny Copland-Griffiths brings the fruits of 30 years of research to this production. Produced, shot and edited by John Holman.
For 31 min. video go to VIMEO

Eva Zeisel at 105

2011-12-31T11:16:00.000+02:00

Born Eva Amalia Striker in Budapest on Nov. 13, 1906, she was the daughter of Laura Polanyi Striker and Alexander Striker. Her father owned a textile factory. Her mother was a historian, feminist and political activist.

In 1923, Ms. Zeisel entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest to study painting. She withdrew three semesters later, inspired by an aunt’s Hungarian peasant pottery collection to become a ceramist. She apprenticed to Jakob Karapancsik, a member of the guild of chimney sweepers, oven makers, roof tilers, well diggers and potters, and graduated as a journeyman.

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Christopher Hitchens Dead

2011-12-16T18:20:00.002+02:00

In the brute physical world, and the one encompassed by medicine, there are all too many things that could kill you, don’t kill you, and then leave you considerably weaker. Nietzsche was destined to find this out in the hardest possible way, which makes it additionally perplexing that he chose to include the maxim in his 1889 anthology Twilight of the Idols. (In German this is rendered as Götzen-Dämmerung, which contains a clear echo of Wagner’s epic. Possibly his great quarrel with the composer, in which he recoiled with horror from Wagner’s repudiation of the classics in favor of German blood myths and legends, was one of the things that did lend Nietzsche moral strength and fortitude. Certainly the book’s subtitle—“How to Philosophize with a Hammer”—has plenty of bravado.)
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George Whitman Is Dead at 98

2011-12-15T10:21:00.000+02:00

In 1951, George Whitman opened a bookshop-commune in Paris. George, 92, still runs his "den of anarchists disguised as a bookstore," offering free, dirty beds to poor literati, cutting his hair with a candle and gluing the carpet with pancake batter. More than 40,000 poets, travelers and political activists have stayed at Shakespeare & Co, writing or stealing books, throwing parties and making soup or love while living with George's generosity and fits of anger. Illustrious guests include Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Jacques Prévert, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, James Baldwin and Richard Wright. Welcome to the makeshift utopia of the last member of the Beat Generation.
Portrait of a Bookstore as an Old Man

Smooth Pricks and Sharper Brains

2011-12-14T10:33:00.000+02:00

It has long been believed that humans evolved smooth penises as a result of adopting a more monogamous reproductive strategy than their early human ancestors. Those ancestors may have used penile spines to remove the sperm of competitors when they mated with females. However, exactly how this change came about is not known.
The researchers did not set out to study penile spines. Rather, they were looking for chunks of DNA that had been lost from the human genome but not the chimp genome, so they could then try to pinpoint what those chunks did.
Sex would be a very different proposition for humans if — like some animals including chimpanzees, macaques and mice — men had penises studded with small, hard spines.
Now researchers at Stanford University in California have found a molecular mechanism for how the human penis could have evolved to be so distinctly spine-free. They have pinpointed it as the loss of a particular chunk of non-coding DNA that influences the expression of the androgen receptor gene involved in hormone signalling.
more>>>

Cheryl's Pottery Pictures

2011-12-11T09:14:00.000+02:00

נפטר המשורר רומן באימבאיב

2011-12-09T12:40:00.000+02:00

ביום (ה') המשורר רומן באימבאיב נפטר באופן פתאומי בגיל 55, עקב זיהום בגופו. באימבאיב אושפז בבית החולים איכילוב בתל אביב לפני מספר ימים כאשר חש ברע, ונפטר היום בשעות הבוקר המוקדמות. הלווייתו תתקיים היום ב-16:00 בבית העלמין קרית שאול.

באימבאיב נולד בצ'רנוביץ', אוקראינה, ב-1956. בתחילת שנות ה-70 עלה לישראל. בבגרותו למד הנדסת מכונות בטכניון, אך מעולם לא עסק בתחום זה, אלא בשירה ובאמנות פלסטית.

בתחילת שנות ה-90 שיתף פעולה עם האמן מיכאל רפופורט, ועבודות אמנות של השניים הוצגו במוזיאונים בישראל וברחבי העולם. בהמשך חייו החל להתמקד באמנות השירה, וב-98 פרסם את ספרו הראשון, "רומן באימבאיב מסכם את נסיונו" (הוצאת קונטרסט לשירה) אותו ערך המשורר נתן זך. בתקופה זו פרסם באימבאיב משירתו בכתבי עת שונים. ב-2006 פרסם את ספרו השני, "הלוואי וגודביי" (הוצאת אוריס מדיה) שלווה בתקליטור מוזיקלי בשיתוף עם האמן דני צוקרמן.

vive la vie!

2011-12-06T18:07:00.001+02:00

Congratulations to newly-weds, Siddhartha & Alexandrea Dillon, and Edwin & Callie Dennis - and to CJ & Renee Follini, who renewed their vows in this performance.

Sarah Small (born 1979 in Washington D.C.) is an American artist, photographer, singer, and film director. Currently based in Brooklyn, New York, Sarah’s work ranges from photography to her Tableau Vivant performances. She studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and graduated in 2001. In 2009, she taught Portrait Photography at the Parsons School of Design, and has taught both high-school students and adults in darkroom photography. Small’s work has appeared in numerous publications including Vogue, Life, and The New York Times. Her work has been exhibited globally at venues such as Caprice Horn Gallery, The Corcoran Gallery, and the Australian Center for Photography, and was named one of the “Top 13 Emerging Photographers” working today, by American Photo Magazine [1]. In 2011, she was featured in The Washington Post and The New York Times for rench for "living picture." The term describes a striking group of suitably costumed actors or artist's her 120-model Tableau Vivant performances[2][3].

Tableau vivant (plural: tableaux vivants) is models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit. Throughout the duration of the display, the people shown do not speak or move. The approach thus marries the art forms of the stage with those of painting/photography, and as such it has been of interest to modern photographers.

לכתבה...

Эйн-Ход спустя год

2011-12-05T09:31:00.000+02:00

В деревне художников Эйн-Ход мы были ровно год назад, после пожара. Среди пепла и дыма мы даже не заметили, что кроме людей здесь жили домашние четвероногие – кошки, собаки. Казалось, деревня вымерла.
Говорят, животные не возвращаются на пепелище. Эти, местные, вернулись. Домой. Скульптор Валентина Брусиловская и ее муж художник Леонид Маноле теперь проживают за пределами поселка. Но сюда они приезжают ежедневно, как на работу – покормить своих котов. Так выглядел их дом год назад. От него остались лишь фуги Баха. На родном пепелище они пытаются теперь отстроить новую жизнь. Сразу после пожара Валентина улыбалась.
Говорит Валентина Брусиловская, скульптор, 05 декабря 2010 г.: "Этого уже нет. Чего нет, так его и не будет. Значит, надо дальше двигаться".
Спустя год, столкнувшись с израильскими реалиями, хорошо информированный оптимист превратился в законченного пессимиста.
Говорит Валентина Брусиловская, 30 ноября 2011 г.: "Очень тревожные ощущения, очень тревожные. Планы наши строительные не удаются. И есть тревога, что мы не сможем завершить это".
Они надеялись на помощь государства. Максимум, что выделили погорельцам – средства на съем жилья. Свой новый дом художники возводят на компенсацию от страховой фирмы. Денег катастрофически не хватает.
Говорит Леонид Маноле, художник: "После пожара такое состояние, и вообще, все, что происходит с этими проблемами. Такое состояние – оно затупило творческий порыв".
В том огне погибли и картины художника с мировым именем Михаила Брусиловского. Вернувшись в Эйн-Ход, он написал свое впечатление о пожаре. Получился крик ужаса в квадрате холста.
Перед домом Владимира-Зеэва Верховского нас встречает голден ретривер по кличке Кая. У Каи золотой характер. Она привечает и своих, и чужих. Гончарная мастерская Зеэва открыта для всех. Ведь не боги горшки обжигают.
В жизни Зеева изменения налицо. Хозяйственный Володя уже отстроил новый дом. Но осадок остался; он до сих пор считает – все, что было нажито непосильным трудом, он потерял в одночасье по вине государства. Люди готовы были спасти свои дома. Но вместо пожарных приехала полиция. Местных жителей эвакуировали силой.
Говорит Владимир-Зеэв Верховский, букинист, 05 декабря 2010 г.: "Остались здесь ребята, героически спасли свои дома и дома своих соседей".
На выгоревших стенах чудом сохранились фотографии. Из черноты легким движением руки проступали черты прошлого. Фотографии удалось восстановить, не прервалась связь времен. Со следами пожара они еще ценнее. Свою жизнь Зеэв собирает по кусочкам.
Говорит Владимир-Зеэв Верховский, 30 ноября 2011 г.: "Очень странное чувство. Уже чувство не то. Уже есть какое-то... - Разочарование? - Нет, нету воодушевления. 30 лет возьмет, пока природа восстановится. Придется жить дольше".
В кармельском пожаре сгорела вся его коллекция книг – 15 тысяч томов. Зеэв – он ведь букинист. Собрать новую библиотеку ему помогли простые люди со всей страны.
За этот год букинист Верховский узнал много хорошего об израильтянах. И много плохого об израильской власти.
Этот пес породы шарпей китайский живет в музее Нисана Коэна. Хозяин с усмешкой говорит, что теперь все делается в Китае. Но здесь все экспонаты из Европы. Это знаменитая на Ближнем Востоке коллекция музыкальных механических инструментов – уникальный «музей Ниско». Год назад Нисан Коэн казался чернее сажи.
Говорит Нисан Коэн, коллекционер, 05 декабря 2010 г.: "Коллекция, которую я собирал на протяжении 45 лет, сгорела за полчаса. Может быть, несколько шарманок еще можно починить. Я до сих пор не теряю надежды, что мне удастся открыть этот музей вновь".
Музей шарманок открылся вновь через три месяца. Большую часть коллекции Нисан сумел восстановить, своими руками. Но кое-что необходимо отправить в Швейцарию, на реставрацию. Музыкальный дедушка надеется на помощь свыше.
Говорит Нисан Коэн, коллекционер, 30 ноября 2011 г.: "Когда был пожар, обещали каждому, кто понес ущерб, помощь от государства. И я думаю, что они говорили правду, а я человек терпеливый".
Нисан Коэн не торопится, он планирует жить долго, чтобы успеть вернуть музею первоначальный блеск. В конце концов, надежда, то есть Ха-Тиква, умирает последней.
Говорит Нисан Коэн, коллекционер: "У нас есть пластинка, где записана «Ха-Тиква» гимн. От огня пластинка немного искривилась. И таким образом мы слышим шум пожара, и одновременно это гимн надежды".
Евгений Эрлих, Леонид Фишбейн, специально для программы «Постфактум»
http://www.zman.com/news/2011/12/04/115423.html

Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin

2011-09-28T07:49:00.001+02:00

DIRTY PICTURES is a documentary about Dr. Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin, the rogue chemist who discovered the effects of MDMA (aka Ecstasy) and over 200 other mind-altering drugs. Shulgin’s alchemy has earned him the title “The Godfather of Psychedelics,” and a reputation as one of the great chemists of the 20th century.
Working from a lab in his home, and using himself and his wife Ann as test subjects, Shulgin's discoveries have brought him into conflict with the law but made him a worldwide underground hero. The two books they co-authored, “Pihkal” and “Tihkal”, have built a foundation for cutting-edge neuroscience and medical research. DIRTY PICTURES examines the impact of Dr. Shulgin's lifelong quest to unlock the complexities of the human mind.
"Грязные картинки" (Dirty Pictures) посвященного американскому химику Александру Шульгину (Alexander Sasha Shulgin), который синтезировал более двухсот психоактивных веществе, в том числе МДМА более известный как "экстази". Шульгина называют "Крестным отцом психоделиков" и почитают как одного из самых великих химиков двадцатого века.
Работая в домашней лаборатории и используя себя и свою жену Энн в качестве биотестеров Саша Шульгин имел серьезные проблемы с американским законом, но стал настоящим героем в глазах андеграуда. Две книги написаные им в соавторстве с женой "PIHKAL" и "TIHKAL" послужили материалом для огромного количества научных работ по неврологии и смежным медицинским дисциплинам. В фильме рассматривается вся жизнь доктора Шульгина, как путь к открытию новых возможностей человеческого разума.
אלכסנדר "סשה" תאודור שולגין (Alexander Shulgin; נולד ב-17 ביוני 1925) הוא פרמקולוג אמריקאי, כימאי, ומפתח סמים. שולגין התפרסם בעקבות הפופולריות של הסם MDMA, הידוע בכינוי אקסטזי, בייחוד בשנות ה-70 המאוחרות ושנות ה-80 המוקדמות בעקבות השימוש בפסיכו-תרופות על מנת לטפל בדיכאון והפרעת דחק פוסט טראומטית.

בשנים שלאחר מכן שולגין גילה, סינתז וחקר את השפעותן הביולוגיות של יותר מ-230 תרכובות פסיכואקטיביות. בשנת 1991 ו-1997 הוא ואישתו אן שולגין חיברו את הספרים PiHKAL ו- TiHKAL בנושא סמים פסיכואקטיביים. שולגין גילה פנתילאמינים רבין לציון ביניהם משפחת *2C אשר 2C-T-2, 2C-T-7, 2C-E, 2C-I, ושהידוע ביותר מביניהם הוא 2C-B. בנוסף שולגין ביצע עבודות הזרעה, תוך תיאור סינתזות של תרכובות מבוססות טריפטאמין.

He never left a pub on the same day that he entered it...

2011-09-10T07:40:00.000+02:00

In his appreciation of Issac Button (Introduction to Mort, 1987), Barry Sheridan states that Button, “was the very last surviving local craftsman producing earthenware pottery in the domestic manner, and, when he retired in 1965, the industry died with him.” But this may not be quite right, as Richard Carlton claims that Littlethorpe, just outside Ripon, “is now the only surviving example of a British country pottery where production has been unbroken and whose working practices and technical appliances have remained essentially unchanged since the nineteenth century.”
After such a hard life, it might not be surprising that Isaac lived for only a few years, until 1969, after retiring in 1965, just six weeks after the completion of this film. But this didn’t mean that Isaac was always working: according to John Windsor he maintained that, “he never left a pub on the same day that he entered it.”
Full length video...

Pleasing Plastic

2011-08-31T15:54:00.000+02:00

Continuation of pottery trade in Manipur is threatened by globalising forces. ;Achungmei, our CC from Manipur, is sad to observe the slow disappearance of some of the beautiful crafts produced in her community, such as the handmade clay pots she shows in her video today. Having grown up surrounded by these pots in her house, she calls attention not only to their replacement by cheaper and less aesthetically pleasing plastic products but also to the economic insecurity faced by the potters who make them.
for more...

Rumbula's Echo WORK IN PROGRESS 33min. румбула

2011-08-30T10:01:00.003+02:00

Breaking new ground, Rumbula's Echo is the first documentary about a large mass shooting of the Holocaust. Eyewitnesses tell how, in late 1941, 25,000 Jews were murdered in two days at Rumbula Forest -- the second largest such mass shooting of WWII. Set within the broader story of the Holocaust in Latvia, viewers see and hear how 98% of Latvian Jews trapped in the country were killed, and how 2% survived.
Amid horror and death, seven uplifting personal stories of survival, rescue and reunion emerge in Rumbula's Echo. These dramatically illuminate the power of individual decisions and, for the first time in film, introduce an overlooked cost of genocide to society.
For more information, visit the film's official website: www.rumbulasecho.org
more...
http://www.ein-hod.net/2010/02/k.html

«Мелодии Рижского гетто».

Potters Of Manipur Ursula Graham Bower (1939)

2011-07-28T07:07:00.001+02:00

Culture and Crafts in Manipur, Northeast India
by Ursula Graham Bower (1939)
"Are wa ittai nan dai?" (What on earth is that?) cried a startled Japanese officer as a burst of elephant-gun fire whistled past his ears and a troop of half-naked Nagas leaped out of the bushes. He found out, but too late. He and his jungle patrol were wiped out. But last week other Japs who had survived the fight in northern Burma knew more about the Naga raiders and their leader. The half-naked tribesmen from northeastern India were directed by a white woman: pert, pretty Ursula Graham-Bower, 30, an archeology student who looks like a cinemactress.
In 1939 Miss Graham-Bower went out from England to India "to putter about with a few cameras and do a bit of medical work, maybe write a book." She disappeared into the Assam hills to study the Nagas. These lithe-limbed warriors live in fortified hilltop villages, lead a somewhat humdrum existence punctuated by occasional raids to cut off their neighbors' heads, which they carry about in wicker baskets.

Miss Graham-Bower managed to keep her own head on, and presently won the friendship of the Naga chieftains. Now then people in the outside world got letters from her, exulting over the pictures she was taking of primitive dances and ceremonies. Some of the more pretentious Nagas wore a little apron in front, but most just wore bracelets. They cultivated little patches of cleared jungle for rice, and, like the South American Indians, used drugs to catch fish. They begged Miss Graham-Bower to name their babies. She named most of them Victoria Elizabeth.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,791824,00.html

Once upon time, Manipur was surrounded by seven hillocks and water every where. Seven suns burned day and night. Atiya Kuru Shidaba and Ima Leimaran decided to create a world thus descended from heaven. Atiya Kuru Shidaba drained out water through a hole with a trident. Once settled, they had a child to fulfill their wishes. A voice from the heaven announced- Dig out some clay and make a pitcher out of it and offer prayers for seven days then your wish will be fulfilled. After seven days of prayer, a male child of golden colour was found by the couple. The child was christened Sanamahi, he later shot down six extra suns by his arrows and created various creatures dwelling on water, air and earth. Finally he created human being. Atiya Kuru Shidaba and Ima Leimaran Shidabi disappeared after completing their task. Ima Leimaran took several incarnations to carry out seven different tasks.`Panthoibi or Leima Leinaotabi, was among them, who created the first earthen-pot. Therefore, in the creation myth of Manipur, the earthen pot becomes the metaphor for the womb.

Manipuri pottery is unique in style and technique. Unlike in other parts of India, the craft is practised both by men and women. The potters of this area do not use a wheel and, instead, use the coiled method of making pots. The pots are functional and, more often than not, black in colour, a result of the process followed and of the smoke stains while firing. Manipuri pottery is made with a mixture of clay and powdered stone. After a thorough kneading, a large slab is rolled out and shaped into a cylinder. The cylinder is placed on a circular board, which, in turn, is placed on a stool. The potter then actually moves around the clay himself, shaping and forming the pot. The pot is supported from the inside with a rounded stone and beaten to the desired shape and thickness. Great dexterity is required as the internal pressure and external movement must be well co-ordinated to produce a perfect pot. The pot is usually finished by rubbing the surface with the reddish-brown seed of a wild creeper and finally with bees wax.

Walt Disney, Syphilis and Gonorrhea

2011-07-18T07:25:00.001+02:00

As VD Attack Plan begins, we hear an air raid siren and an explosion as the letters “VD” flash on the screen. The letters “Attack Plan” are spelled out with machine gun fire. A narrator announces: “This is a war story. It could be anywhere in the world.

It could involve anyone. It could only take place within the human body.”
The next scene is of an animated germ wearing a spiked Kaiser helmet, the Sergeant (played by Keenan Wynn – perhaps best known for his role as Colonel ‘Bat’ Guano in Dr. Strangelove) briefing his troops of the Contagion Corps. The troops are syphilis and gonorrhea germs that wear berets with their initials on them (‘S’ and ‘G’).
via othercinema.com

נופים חרוכים : נחמה לבנדל

2011-07-17T21:36:00.002+02:00

נופים חרוכים : נחמה לבנדל חוזרת אל השריפה בכרמל בתערוכה חדשה
נופים חרוכים"- תערוכת ציורים חדשה של נחמה לבנדל, תושבת עין הוד, בעקבות השריפה הגדולה בכרמל, שנעצרה על
סף ביתה

תערוכת עבודות של האמנית נחמה לבנדל תושבת עין הוד. בתערוכה מוצגות כ 15 עבודות שנעשו בעקבות שריפת הענק בכרמל. בימי השריפה,סרבו בני הזוג לבנדל – בלוך להתפנות מביתם, ומנעו מהלהבות להכנס לבית . האש פסחה על הבית, אך משמאלם ומימינם האש כילתה הכל .

בתקופה שלאחר מכן, שבתו מאמנות . לאחר כחודשיים, החלה נחמה לצייר בעקבות הארועים. נחמה לבנדל חיה עם בן זוגה, האמן נדב בלוך. יחד עבדו והציגו בארצות שונות כגון איטליה ספרד גרמניה מכסיקו סקוטלנד מונטנגרו מקדוניה קוסובו אלבניה ועוד
על העבודות: "החלתי לעבוד על סדרת נופים של הארץ אותה אני כל כך אוהבת ,תוך כדי העבודה פרצה השריפה. לאחר שניסינו להגן על הבית נאלצנו להתפנות אל מתחם הסטודיו , האש איימה על המקום ,לקחתי איתי את העבודות האחרונות שעבדתי עליהן ועזבתי.

כשהאש שכחה חזרתי אל הסטודיו ,האיזור כולו היה מכוסה עשן ואפר מחניק. מאוחר יותר,כשמצאתי את הכוחות לעבוד, ניסיתי לחזור לאותה נקודת מבט בה עזבתי, רציתי לשוב אל זכרון של נופים שידעתי ואהבתי.זכרון הטשטש ואת מקומו תפסה מציאות כהה ונופים חרוכים

בטכניקה המשלבת עבודת צבע,שעווה, שרידי עצים,חם ,אש ואלמנטים שונים מהשריפה על גבי ספרים משומשים המגוללים את סיפורי עם ישראל בארצו נרקמה סדרת נופים, ספק קיימים, ספק נמוגו, חצי שנה אחרי ממבט אישי אל הנוף הישראלי החרוך
תערוכה חדשה בגלריה טובה אוסמן, רחוב בן יהודה 100, תל אביב
http://www.thepulse.co.il/index.php/201107177752/q-q.html

Lisa singing before The Fire in Ein Hod ... לפני השריפה בעין הוד

2011-07-10T05:36:00.000+02:00

Niv Horovitz made this clip few weeks before his and our houses in Ein Hod burned in Carmel Fire
עין הוד לפני השריפה בעין הוד
ליסה ורכובסקי

Don Hollis from East Texas

2011-06-06T16:26:00.002+02:00

Don Hollis is a potter in East Texas who uses techniques akin to those used by early Native Americans. He collects and processes his own clay, does not use a wheel, and his process is as green as possible..

The essence of Don Hollis' unique art pottery is the wild clay body made from local Eocene clays. He collects clay from a creek bank on his property or wherever it's found at the surface and offered. The clay is dried, screened, and prepared in small batches yielding enough for one or two pieces at a time. Don forms his pottery with hand building methods such as pinch, coil, and slab. During the drying stage, the pieces are burnished with a smooth flint stone to give the surface a distinctive shine. The pottery is pit fired using wood gathered from the woods around his studio. Dried native plants and select organics added for color, as well as the fire clouds added by Mother Nature during firing, give each piece its final unique character.

Ghost made in Japan ?

2011-05-26T06:20:00.003+02:00

Remember the passionate pottery wheel scene between Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in the 1990 film Ghost. Now, 20 years later, Korean heartthrob Song Seung-heon and Japanese sweetheart Nanako Matsushima have reenacted the "Unchained Melody" moment.

"The remake reenacts some of the most touching scenes in the original, including the pottery-making scene. I hope viewers can feel a pang of nostalgia, thinking 'oh there was that kind of scene', while watching the movie", Song told reporters in Seoul, Tuesday, following a press preview.
The Korea-Japan-United States joint production",Ghost : In Your Arms Again", is about an undying love affair between a Korean pottery artist (Song) and Japanese businesswoman (Matsushima) ― even death does not come between the inseparable couple.
But a twist in the new film, directed by Tarô Ohtani, is that the heroine, rather than the hero, reappears before her lover as a ghost after an untimely death.
Link

If you sit by the river long enough...

2011-04-10T12:10:00.000+02:00

This list of 100 novels was drawn up by the editorial board of Modern Library. Where possible, book titles have been linked to either the original New York Times review or a later article about the book.

1. "Ulysses," James Joyce

2. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald

3. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," James Joyce

4. "Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov

5. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley

6. "The Sound and the Fury," William Faulkner

7. "Catch-22," Joseph Heller

8. "Darkness at Noon," Arthur Koestler

9. "Sons and Lovers," D. H. Lawrence

10. "The Grapes of Wrath," John Steinbeck

11. "Under the Volcano," Malcolm Lowry

12. "The Way of All Flesh," Samuel Butler

13. "1984," George Orwell

14. "I, Claudius," Robert Graves

15. "To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf

16. "An American Tragedy," Theodore Dreiser

17. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," Carson McCullers

18. "Slaughterhouse Five," Kurt Vonnegut

19. "Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison

20. "Native Son," Richard Wright

21. "Henderson the Rain King," Saul Bellow

22. "Appointment in Samarra," John O' Hara

23. "U.S.A." (trilogy), John Dos Passos

24. "Winesburg, Ohio," Sherwood Anderson

25. "A Passage to India," E. M. Forster

26. "The Wings of the Dove," Henry James

27. "The Ambassadors," Henry James

28. "Tender Is the Night," F. Scott Fitzgerald

29. "The Studs Lonigan Trilogy," James T. Farrell

30. "The Good Soldier," Ford Madox Ford

31. "Animal Farm," George Orwell

32. "The Golden Bowl," Henry James

33. "Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser

34. "A Handful of Dust," Evelyn Waugh

35. "As I Lay Dying," William Faulkner

36. "All the King's Men," Robert Penn Warren

37. "The Bridge of San Luis Rey," Thornton Wilder

38. "Howards End," E. M. Forster

39. "Go Tell It on the Mountain," James Baldwin

40. "The Heart of the Matter," Graham Greene

41. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding

42. "Deliverance," James Dickey

43. "A Dance to the Music of Time" (series), Anthony Powell

44. "Point Counter Point," Aldous Huxley

45. "The Sun Also Rises," Ernest Hemingway

46. "The Secret Agent," Joseph Conrad

47. "Nostromo," Joseph Conrad

48. "The Rainbow," D. H. Lawrence

49. "Women in Love," D. H. Lawrence

50. "Tropic of Cancer," Henry Miller

51. "The Naked and the Dead," Norman Mailer

52. "Portnoy's Complaint," Philip Roth

53. "Pale Fire," Vladimir Nabokov

54. "Light in August," William Faulkner

55. "On the Road," Jack Kerouac

56. "The Maltese Falcon," Dashiell Hammett

57. "Parade's End," Ford Madox Ford

58. "The Age of Innocence," Edith Wharton

59. "Zuleika Dobson," Max Beerbohm

60. "The Moviegoer," Walker Percy

61. "Death Comes to the Archbishop," Willa Cather

62. "From Here to Eternity," James Jones

63. "The Wapshot Chronicles," John Cheever

64. "The Catcher in the Rye," J. D. Salinger

65. "A Clockwork Orange," Anthony Burgess

66. "Of Human Bondage," W. Somerset Maugham

67. "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad

68. "Main Street," Sinclair Lewis

69. "The House of Mirth," Edith Wharton

70. "The Alexandria Quartet," Lawrence Durrell

71. "A High Wind in Jamaica," Richard Hughes

72. "A House for Ms. Biswas," V. S. Naipaul

73. "The Day of the Locust," Nathaniel West

74. "A Farewell to Arms," Ernest Hemingway

75. "Scoop," Evelyn Waugh

76. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," Muriel Spark

77. "Finnegans Wake," James Joyce

78. "Kim," Rudyard Kipling

79. "A Room With a View," E. M. Forster

80. "Brideshead Revisited," Evelyn Waugh

81. "The Adventures of Augie March," Saul Bellow

82. "Angle of Repose," Wallace Stegner

83. "A Bend in the River," V. S. Naipaul

84. "The Death of the Heart," Elizabeth Bowen

85. "Lord Jim," Joseph Conrad

86. "Ragtime," E. L. Doctorow

87. "The Old Wives' Tale," Arnold Bennett

88. "The Call of the Wild," Jack London

89. "Loving," Henry Green

90. "Midnight's Children," Salman Rushdie

91. "Tobacco Road," Erskine Caldwell

92. "Ironweed," William Kennedy

93. "The Magus," John Fowles

94. "Wide Sargasso Sea," Jean Rhys

95. "Under the Net," Iris Murdoch

96. "Sophie's Choice," William Styron

97. "The Sheltering Sky," Paul Bowles

98. "The Postman Always Rings Twice," James M. Cain

99. "The Ginger Man," J. P. Donleavy

100. "The Magnificent Ambersons," Booth Tarkington

LINK

...dada, mama, wood & potter

2011-03-26T09:46:00.000+02:00

When this documentary was filmed in Ojai, California in 1992 Beatrice was a one hundred year old internationally recognized artist who had led a truly remarkable life. As one of the core members of the renegade dada art movement in the 1910's in New York, Beatrice Wood was intimately involved with Marcel Duchamp and Henri Pierre Roché, whose novel Jules et Jim is based on the relationship between the three of them. Beatrice Wood was Duchamp's muse, and she was the last surviving link to those heady times. In 1962 the novel was adapted for the silver screen and made into the film Jules et Jim that starred Jeanne Moreau and Oskar Werner. It was directed by François Truffaut.
The film was the winner of the CINE Golden Eagle and was the first American film to win the Golden Panda award at the Sichuan Television Festival, Chengdu China. The film appeared nationally on PBS in late 1993.
Of note is that Beatrice served as the inspiration for the character "Rose," in the film Titanic. The director, James Cameron, spent quality time with Beatrice before filming Titanic. Hence, the music in the background is from the soundtrack of Titanic. So, turn your speakers on and enjoy.
Tom Neff produced and directed this film.
Unless indicated, Lou Delgado is the photographer.

Radio Mohsen

2011-03-15T14:21:00.003+02:00

Tonight at Melanie

2011-02-21T07:26:00.000+02:00

ביום שני אצל מלני

משעה שבע בערב

לא כשר!!!

לאכול עם זאבים

(BETA גרסאת)

לאכול עם זאבים

(BETA גרסאת)

לאכול עם זאבים

(BETA גרסאת)

ביום שני אצל מלני

משעה שבע בערב

לא כשר!!!

לאכול עם זאבים

(BETA גרסאת)

ביום שני אצל מלני

משעה שבע בערב

לא כשר!!!

לאכול עם זאבים

(גרסאת BETA)

ביום שני אצל מלני

משעה שבע בערב

לא כשר!!!

כתבים חתומים Signed Manuscripts

2011-02-18T08:37:00.003+02:00

דיאלוג - נדב בלוך

Humankind uses text as a tool to communicate and impart messages, ideas, concepts and significances by which to explain, interpret and decipher the world of phenomena and images.

Art uses sign language as an intermediary to convey messages between the artist and the observer.

The art work shown in this exhibition is the personal journal of a continuous journey by artists Nechama Levendel and Nadav Bloch in various countries.

Nadav Bloch disassembles ideas into letters and colors, using Hebrew, Latin and Arabic symbols to indicate the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Through constant search and Sisyphean effort Nadav builds strata of letters woven together in transparent layers using the three primary colors – red, blue and yellow. During the work process he creates strata of letters that describe various periods in the development of human history. As the upper layers build up, the lower layers slowly disappear. At the depth of the transparent layers, the light reveals a chaotic and confused world that expresses the lack of knowledge, understanding and ability to weave a clear universal text accepted by all. In the transparent language strata, mergers are woven in identical colors that create similarities between the letters, their interactions, and the gradual dialog that develops into a dynamics of understanding the necessity to communicate.

Nechama Levendel chose the book as the topic of her work – the book as a personal, social and environmental element that contains local and universal messages and values, which change in relation to time and place. Through travels and living in the countries where the artists have stayed, relationships were formed with the native inhabitants. Nechama received used books and incorporated the local knowledge she gained into her artistic work. The binding and weaving of the books is performed by using local characteristics such as samples of illustrations and weaving, local texts, used candles from local churches, discovered accessories, whilst using the region’s shades and the motif of rust color to indicate the changes in time. By means of meticulously coded messages, the books change their destiny – from clear structures of sentences and ideas they become architectural objects that hold an esthetic visual message.

Nechama Levendel Nadav Bloch

0544546530

levendelbloch@yahoo.com

Nadav Bloch

Nechama Levendel

Levendel-Bloch Gallery

Ein Hod artists Village 30890 Israel

Tel: 972 544546530

Tel: 972 546456530

http://www.lbart.com/

אם ננעלו - נחמה לבנדל

תערוכה ביריד הספרים הבינלאומי בירושלים: "כתבים חתומים" האמנים נחמה לבנדל ונדב בלוך

העבודות המוצגות בתערוכה זו הינן יומן אישי ממסע אמנותי מתמשך של האמנים נחמה לבנדל ונדב בלוך בארצות שונות. נדב בלוך מפרק בעבודותיו רעיונות לאותיות וצבע תוך שימוש בשפה עברית, לטינית וערבית כמאפיין לשלוש הדתות המונותאיסטיות: יהדות, נצרות ואיסלם. בחיפוש מתמיד ובאופן סיזיפי בונה נדב רבדים של אותיות הנרקמות בשכבות שקופות תוך שימוש בשלושת צבעי היסוד - אדום, כחול וצהוב. בתהליך העבודה נוצרים רבדים של אותיות המתארות תקופות זמן שונות בהתפתחות ההיסטוריה האנושית. ככל שנוספות שכבות הולכות ונעלמות השכבות התחתונות. בעומקן של השכבות השקופות חושף האור עולם כאוטי מבולבל המבטא את חוסר הידיעה וההבנה ואי היכולת לארוג טקסט אוניברסלי ברור המקובל על כולם. בשכבות השפה השקופות נרקמים מיזוגים בגוונים זהים היוצרים קווי דמיון בין האותיות, ביחסי הגומלין בינהן ובדיאלוג הדרגתי המתפתח לדינמיקה של הבנת הצורך בהידברות

נחמה לבנדל בחרה בספר כנושא לעבודה. הספר כאלמנט אישי חברתי וסביבתי בעל מסרים וערכים מקומיים ואוניברסליים המשתנים ביחס למקום וזמן. תוך כדי נדודים והחיים במדינה בה שוהים האמנים נרקמים יחסים עם התושבים, נחמה מקבלת ספרים משומשים ומשלבת בעבודתה האמנותית את הידע הנלמד במקום. עבודת הכריכה ואריגת הספרים נעשית תוך שימוש במאפינים מקומיים, כגון דוגמאות איור ואריגה, טקסט מקומי, נרות משומשים מכנסייות אזוריות, אביזרים שנמצאו, שימוש בגווני האזור ומוטיב גוון החלודה המאפיין שינוי בזמן. תוך עבודה קפדנית של הצפנת מסרים , הספרים משנים יעדם , ממבנים ברורים של משפטים ורעיונות הופכים למבנים ארכיטקטוניים ולאובייקטים בעלי מסר ויזואלי אסטטי.

בתערוכה מוצגות כ- 40 עבודות. התערוכה תפתח לקהל ביום ראשון בשעה 18.00

התערוכה השניה היא תערוכת צילומים של זוכי פרס השלום של התאחדות המולי"ם בגרמניה.פתיחת תערוכה לרגל מלאת 60 שנים לפרס השלום של התאחדות המו"לים בגרמניה. פתיחת התערוכה תצוין עם דיון מרצה: שגריר גרמניה בישראל ד"ר ד"ר כבוד האראלד קינדרמן, משתתפים: דוד גרוסמן (ישראל), מרטין שולט (גרמניה), אן בירקנהאואר (גרמניה). מנחה: אינגה גונטר (גרמניה).

התערוכה מתקיימת בשיתוף עם התאחדות המו"לים הגרמנית, מכון גתה בירושלים ויריד הספרים הבינלאומי בפרנקפורט ותהיה פתוחה לקהל במשך כל היריד. התערוכה כוללת צילומים של זוכי פרס השלום, מאז הקמתו בשנת 1950. הפרס נוסד בשנת 1949 על ידי האנס שוורץ, שפנה לקבוצת מוציאים לאור גרמניים ואלה החליטו להעניק פרס פעם בשנה לאושיה שעשתה למען השלום. הפרס הראשון ניתן למרק טאו. במשך השנים זכו בפרסים אישים ביניהם: אלברט שוויצר (1951), הרמן הסה ( 1955), יהודי מנוחין ( 1979), ואצלאב האבל (1989), עמוס עוז (1992), דוד גרוסמן (2010) התערוכה

תפתח ביום ראשון 20.2. בין השעות : 19:45-21:00

via Babushka

Mary Gotlieb in Ein Hod

2011-01-28T07:27:00.000+02:00

Made in Dusseldorf
Mary Gottlieb
Opening : Saturday January 29th 12:00
Ein Hod Gallery

Ethan Nechin meets Gia in Brooklyn Farmacy

2011-01-14T15:48:00.002+02:00

Something tasty with a hint of nostalgia is happening in Carroll Gardens. It is called the Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain, and it opened last May. To learn more about this gem I interviewed Gia Giasullo, who established the Farmacy with her brother, Peter Freeman.
Gia, a native New Yorker and graphic designer, opened the Farmacy after returning to Brooklyn from "exile" in the Bay Area and Israel, with her brother, Peter Freeman, a landscaper. Returning to New York, Gia was looking for a new direction and wanting to share her love for food and entertainment, found it with Pete, who was living in the building for a while and became friends with the landlord.
"Essentially, the space itself was the inspiration for our idea. The storefront was empty for so many years, waiting for an idea to blossom and take hold".
The Farmacy is housed in an historical space that had accommodated a pharmacy since the late 1800s. It maintains its original interior that owes its restoration to a true NY tale. At a very low point in the project, when Peter and Gia had almost given up on being able to come up with the necessary finances, a location scout from the Discovery Channel's reality show, "Construction Intervention". After a glance she came up with the idea that the renovation would be filmed for the show. With its generous shelving and a massive amount of wooden storage drawers, the place was smoothly transformed into a soda fountain and funky grocery store featuring locally made artisanal food products. The original pharmacy did not have a soda fountain or a counter, which was added, bringing to life an old-time soda fountain in the neighborhood.
Written by Ethan Nechin

Golden calf, ein hod and public funding

2011-01-07T19:29:00.002+02:00

For a few days now, the colorful poster claiming that the Carmel fire took place due, among other things, to the "golden calf ceremony" held in Ein Hod and the fact that the towns in the Carmel region "bake pita bread over the Passover holiday" has been hanging at the entrance to the Religious Council building in Holon, an institution which is kept thanks to public funding.
"Why did the country burn?" the heading on the poster read while colorful pictures underneath it detailed the reasons for the fire that claimed the lives of 44 people.
"Idolatry of the golden calf, by hundreds and thousands in the artists' village of Ein Hod, turning the entire torah of Israel into a joke, baking pita bread during the Passover holiday out of spite, massive desecration of the Sabbath, debauchery and adultery by the thousands; how could God not burn the region?"
The poster includes a picture of a golden calf, put on display during an art festival held at the artists' village damaged by the fire. Another picture is that of a woman with a veil and blurred face, making a Druze pita with a caption that reads: "Baking pitas with Arabs during Passover".
Ein Hod residents weren't concerned over the poster, one of the residents noting cynically: "Our neighbors from the religious town of Nir Etzion heard the claims too and asked, never mind you sinners, but what did the orphans in Yemin Orde do?"
Ynet news

For Goldne Calf Click HERE

Our House In Ein Hod...

2010-12-24T23:14:00.002+02:00

מצא עוד תמונות כאלה ב-Ein Hod עין הוד

Ein Hod on fire...

2010-12-18T18:23:00.000+02:00

ein hod on fire (link)

Leslie Nielsen, Ghost Potter, Dies at 84

2010-11-29T09:51:00.001+02:00

In a 1988 interview with The New York Times, Leslie Nielsen discussed his career-rejuvenating transition to comedy, a development that he had recently described as “too good to be true.”
“It’s been dawning on me slowly that for the past 35 years I have been cast against type,” he said, “and I’m finally getting to do what I really wanted to do.”

I really hated school...

2010-11-25T20:00:00.001+02:00

If you have some stereotype of a scientist in your mind, Venter probably doesn't fit it. He has scuba-dived with sharks to gather microbes in the Pacific, and spent much of the past summer sailing through the Greek isles on his 95-foot research vessel, plucking new genetic material from the sea. He rarely goes anywhere without his wife Heather and their dog Darwin. And their home high above the Pacific in La Jolla, Calif. suggests the quest for scientific truth requires no vow of poverty.

"I have been lucky," Venter acknowledged. "Sort of the accidental millionaire in terms of people keep giving me read more...

«Мелодии Рижского гетто» (R)

2010-11-22T17:51:00.002+02:00

Да будут их души
присоединены к хранилищу жизни…

Этот эпиграф, напоминающий нам о молитве Эль Мале Рахамим, которой евреи провожают в последний путь своих умерших, предваряет документальный фильм «Мелодии Рижского гетто».
65 лет назад, в ноябре и декабре 1941 года, в течение двух дней, двух «акций», нацисты уничтожили в Рижском гетто около 30 тысяч человек…
В течение одного дня, 4 июля 1941 года, вошедшего в историю как «хрустальная ночь» Риги, в столице Латвии были сожжены 8 синагог. Главная синагога уничтожена нацистами в месте с находившимися там верующими. Их было 300 чел…
«Мелодии» Рижского гетто – это звуки, это музыка и напевы, которые сопровождают воспоминания 5 спасшихся и ныне живущих в Риге узников гетто и шокирующие кадры кинохроники тех времен. «Мелодии» - это звучащие за кадром баллады о трагедии людей, которые нацисты уничтожали только потому, что они – евреи…
Сегодня – в начале ХХI века – Рижское гетто выглядит точно так же, как и 65 лет назад. Время словно не коснулось этих трагических мест – те же дома, дворы, постройки, улицы, по которым евреев гнали на расстрел…
В фильме, наряду со свидетелями трагедии, принимают участие звезды мировой музыки – скрипач Гидон Кремер – сын узника Рижского гетто и оперная певица Inessa Galantew (Иннеса Галант)
«Фашизм не имеет национальности» - эта идея проходит через весь фильм «Мелодии Рижского гетто».
Фильм создан российскими теледокументалистами при содействии коллег и еврейских организаций из Латвии.

За документальный телефильм "Мелодии рижского гетто" (телеканал "Россия") награжден режиссер-постановщик, ведущий МОЛЧАНОВ ВЛАДИМИР КИРИЛЛОВИЧ.
Владимир Молчанов в детстве и юности активно занимался теннисом, был чемпионом СССР среди юношей в парном разряде, в составе юношеской сборной Москвы побеждал на Спартакиаде. Однако приблизиться к успеху своей старшей сестры, Анны Дмитриевой, 20-кратной чемпионки СССР, выведшей советский теннис на мировую арену, ему оказалось не под силу.
В 1967 году он поступил на филологический факультет МГУ имени М. В. Ломоносова в группу нидерландского языка и литературы, который окончил в 1973 году.
С 1973 по 1986 год Владимир Молчанов работал в редакции Западной Европы Агентства печати "Новости" редактором, старшим редактором, собственным корреспондентом в Нидерландах, обозревателем. Около пяти лет занимался журналистскими расследованиями нацистских преступлений. В начале 80-х годов в "Политиздате" вышла его книга документальных очерков "Возмездие должно свершиться", за которую автор был удостоен литературной премии Максима Горького "За лучшую первую книгу молодого автора". В результате его журналистского расследования в конце 70-х годов в Нидерландах был арестован и приговорен к 10 годам тюрьмы нацистский преступник, мультимиллионер Питер Ментен.
(more...)
Смотрите "Изгои" -филм о еврейских партизанах
"Когда Макс Долгицер, 54-летний менеджер из Нью-Йорка и коллекционер произведений искусства, недавно узнал, что некоторые из его родственников были спасены во время войны от смерти в Риге отважным Греком с итальянским паспортом, он был озадачен ... "

Who is Mr Brown? I wanna know now!

2010-11-21T08:47:00.001+02:00

Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) , First Painter to the King Louis XIV, was the founder of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and the foremost proponent of French classicism. On 28 March 1671, addressing the Royal Academy, he formally presented his treatise:
"all of the various demonstrations that he has drawn, whether heads of animals or heads of men, making note of the signs that mark their natural inclination." (Procès-verbaux de l'Academie I : 358-359)
While the set of drawings is still conserved in the Louvre, the original text has been lost: we have but a rough synthesis by Nivelon, posthumous digests by Henri Testelin and E. Picart, and the dissertation by Morel d'Arleux accompanying the 1806 edition of the engravings.
Louis-Jean-Marie Morel d'Arleux (1755-1827) was curator of drawings and prints at the Musée Napoléon (today the Musée du Louvre). His interest in Le Brun's "demonstrations" and his devotion to their revival are noteworthy, and relate to the current of neo-classicism then in vogue, a conceptual triangulation linking the Roman and the Napoleonic imperium through the reign of the Sun King.Physiognomy, literally the "knowlege of nature," relates to the assessment of human character through study of physical features. This concept of an inherent concordance of body and soul harks back to Antiquity, and regained currency in 17th-century thought.
(read more...)

Naughty Bookworms...

2010-11-19T11:30:00.002+02:00

"Who knows what lurks in the stacks of the old abandoned library..." This is a fun movie about a young boy who discovers strange creatures living amongst the old books. For young and old alike...

Bookworm is a popular generalization for any insect which supposedly bores through books.
Actual book-borers are uncommon. Both the larvae of the death watch beetle (Xestobium rufovillosum) and the common furniture beetle (Anobium punctatum) will tunnel through wood and paper if it is nearby the wood.
A major book-feeding insect is the book or paper louse (aka booklouse or paperlouse). A tiny (under 1 mm), soft-bodied wingless Psocoptera (usually Trogium pulsatorium), that actually feeds on microscopic molds and other organic matter found in ill-maintained works (e.g., cool, damp, dark, and undisturbed areas of archives, libraries, and museums), although they will also attack bindings and other book parts. It is not actually a true louse.

Many other insects, like the silverfish (Lepisma saccharina) or cockroach (various Blattodea), will consume these molds and also degraded paper or the starch-based binding pastes – warmth and moisture or high humidity are prerequisites, so damage is more common in the tropics. Modern glues and paper are less attractive to insects.
Two moths, Tineola bisselliella and Hofmannophila pseudospretella, will attack cloth bindings. Leather-bound books attract various other consumers, such as Dermestes lardarius and the larvae of Attagenus unicolor and Stegobium paniceum. The bookworm moth (Heliothis zea or H. virescens) and its larvae are not interested in books. The larvae are pests for cotton or tobacco growers as the cotton bollworm or tobacco budworm.

Маёвка 1987 на Тивериадском Oзере

2010-11-16T09:13:00.000+02:00

1.Маёвка — (в России до 1917 года) — нелегальное собрание революционно настроенных рабочих, устраиваемое за городом в день 1 мая; весенняя увеселительная прогулка за город.
2.истор. весенняя увеселительная прогулка за город ◆ Маёвкой тогда называли выезд за город на природу, но не для политики, как было при царе, а для отдыха. Михаил Хайкин, « Уха из пескарей. Истории Гончарной улицы» // «Вестник США», 2003 г. (цитата из Национального корпуса русского языка, см. Список литературы)

ספרים בכפר עין הוד ein hod books

2010-10-30T14:46:00.000+02:00

הסטודיו לקדרות של נעמי וזאב הוא הרבה יותר מסטודיו לקדרות. הוא יהיה הקינוח שלכם ליממה האמנותית. מה אפשר לעשות כאן? חובבי ספרים ישמחו לגלות אלפי כותרים נושנים, מסודרים ברישול מלא חן, בערימות, במחסן חורק או תחת כיפת השמים. מצאנו כאן, למשל, את "פתגמים ומכתמים" האלמותי של חנניה רייכמן, את המחזה "מחכים לגודו" של סמואל בקט, ואפילו ספר הדרכה ישן ומוזר בשם -שיפור הראייה ושחרור העיניים מהמשקפיים כיצד

רוצים ליצור אמנות ולא רק לצפות בה? נעמי מעבירה סדנאות קדרות לילדים (שמפסלים) ולמבוגרים (שגם מתנסים בעבודת אובניים). גם משפחה אחת יכולה לתאם, להגיע, ולזכות בחוויית יצירה יוצאת דופן. נכון, זו רק טעימה זעירה מעולם הקדרות, אבל גם מטעימות יוצאים לעיתים דברים מופלאים. תהיו חייבים להודות שמדובר במקום עם נשמה, שהולכת ומתמעטת
יותר ויותר במחוזותינו. פרטים בטלפון 04-9841107
via Mako

Riga's Lions

2010-10-28T12:26:00.000+02:00

Vrmanes Garden (Latvian: ) is the oldest public garden in the city of Riga, Latvia and currently comprises an area of approximately 5 hectares . The current name is a Latvian transliteration of the gardens original German name. Vrmanes Garden was originally created as Wöhrmann Park in 1814 on behalf of the Governor General of Governorate of Livonia Philip Paulucci , just a couple of years after the outskirts of Riga was burned down during the French invasion of Russia prior to the Siege of Riga . Financing and land for the park was sponsored by the Prussian Consul General to Riga Johann Christoph Wöhrmann (1784-1843) and his mother Anna Gertrud Wöhrmann (née Abels, 1750-1827). The Anna Wöhrmann Memorial depicted on a vintage picture postcardWöhrmann Park was inaugurated with festivities on 8 June 1817 as a fenced 0.8 hectares park with exotic trees, a rose garden and restaurant. A granite obelisk was erected 1829 in the park as a posthumous memorial to Anna Wöhrmann. The memorial was dismantled prior to World War II and recreated 2000 . 1836 the Riga Chemist and Pharmacist Society initiated a mineral water shop in the park restaurant. When the premises became to narrow, reconstructions were conducted according to a project by architect Heinrich Scheel in the years from 1863 to 1864 and 1870 to 1871. 1869 the park had a sundial and fountain installed. Picture postcard dated 1911 showing view of daily life in the garden 1881, the director of the Riga City Gardens and Parks Georg Kuphaldt expanded the park territory considerably

В Верманском парке после реставрации открыли скульптуры львов.
Анна Гертруда Верман (1750-1827) вложила большие средства, чтобы создать парк, который в настоящее время носит ее имя. Открытие парка состоялось в 1817 году. В 1829 году сын Верман, генконсул Пруссии И.К. Германис, в честь матери установил в парке небольшой обелиск. В 1884 году около обелиска были установлены каменные львы скульптора Августа Фольца, а рядом были посажены цветы.
В 1954 году обелиск был снесен, а львы перенесены в другое место. Ансамбль был восстановлен лишь в 2000 году.
(read more...)

Things of Beauty

2010-10-18T12:24:00.004+02:00

Scientific and mathematical geniuses are distinguished by a particular elegance of mind. Fiendish complexity becomes something the non-specialist can comprehend. Rarer still is the scientist whose mental elegance creates, or reveals, something of physical beauty. Watson and Crick might have staked a claim for the double helix that is the molecular structure of DNA.
Benoit Mandelbrot, whose death has just been announced, was a mathematician who made it his life's work to find beautiful shapes in nature and decode their secrets. In minute ways, he saw perfect order in apparent chaos, and enabled others to see it, too. He devised, and developed the study of, fractals – seemingly random shapes that conformed to patterns when broken down into one repeating form.

His fractals were invariably things of beauty – seen in phenomena as different as snowflakes and cauliflowers. But his methods also had practical applications that included generating graphics and producing actual works of art. He turned his mind also to economics, declaring the global financial system too complex to function properly. How right he turned out to be. If yesterday belonged to the economists, perhaps tomorrow will be the mathematician's world.(via independent)

Credibility of Research Findings

2010-10-16T09:47:00.001+02:00

“I assumed that everything we physicians did was basically right, but now I was going to help verify it,” he says. “All we’d have to do was systematically review the evidence, trust what it told us, and then everything would be perfect.”

It didn’t turn out that way. In poring over medical journals, he was struck by how many findings of all types were refuted by later findings. Of course, medical-science “never minds” are hardly secret. And they sometimes make headlines, as when in recent years large studies or growing consensuses of researchers concluded that mammograms, colonoscopies, and PSA tests are far less useful cancer-detection tools than we had been told; or when widely prescribed antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil were revealed to be no more effective than a placebo for most cases of depression; or when we learned that staying out of the sun entirely can actually increase cancer risks; or when we were told that the advice to drink lots of water during intense exercise was potentially fatal; or when, last April, we were informed that taking fish oil, exercising, and doing puzzles doesn’t really help fend off Alzheimer’s disease, as long claimed.
Peer-reviewed studies have come to opposite conclusions on whether using cell phones can cause brain cancer, whether sleeping more than eight hours a night is healthful or dangerous, whether taking aspirin every day is more likely to save your life or cut it short, and whether routine angioplasty works better than pills to unclog heart arteries.
read more...
and "The cranks pile on John Ioannidis' work on the reliability of science"

The answer?

2010-10-13T18:19:00.000+02:00

"...The town of my birth, Stoke on Trent, is busily turning itself into a giant demolition site, under the auspices of what the City Council like to call "regeneration". Everywhere you turn a new fenced-in empty space has appeared overnight. I suppose I should take an optomistic view and believe that change is a good thing - the city is certainly a lot cleaner than it was when I was a child - but somehow I can't help but look at these urban deserts and hear the distant voices of the of my ancestors, who gave their lives to make the creative, exploitative, desease-ridden, hell-hole that was "The Potteries" famous the world over and make a few men and their families very rich.
All the video footage for this project was filmed during the spring of 2006 on the sites upon which stood the factories ("Potbanks" as we call them around here) of the greatest names in the pottery industry. But, you may say, these companies still exist - you can still go into the finest stores in the world and spend a fortune on their wares - what has happened?
The answer?
Outsourcing!"
read more...

ערוץ הטיולים בקדרות עין הוד Travel channel in Ein Hod Pottery

2010-10-09T10:11:00.000+02:00

Ass to waist ratio...no boobs

2010-10-04T09:26:00.002+02:00

Traditional studies of attractiveness have been bound to the Darwinian idea of natural selection, which argues that an individual will always choose the best possible mate that circumstances will allow. Such studies have focused on torso, waist, bust and hip measurements.
In this study the team measured the attractiveness of scans of 96 bodies of Chinese women who were either students or volunteers, aged between 20-49 years of age.
The study also revealed that BMI (Body mass index) and HWR (Hip to waist ratio) were both strong predictors of attractiveness. Scans of taller women who had longer arms were also rated highly, however leg size did not contribute significantly to the ratings.

"Our results showed consistent attractiveness ratings by men and women and by Hong Kong Chinese and Australian raters, suggesting considerable cross cultural consistency," concluded Brooks. "In part this may be due to shared media experiences. Nonetheless when models are stripped of their most obvious racial and cultural features, the features that make bodies attractive tend to be shared by men and women across cultural divides."
read more...

Jewish people don't believe in luck...Schlimazeltov!

2010-09-29T14:55:00.001+02:00

Maybe some people are just born unlucky? This documentary film weaves together a diverse collection of different voices from London’s Jewish community to explore the concept of “luck” or “mazel”. From lucky charms and curses to global economics and quantum physics, this humorous and philosophical piece of visual poetry navigates the boundaries between religion and superstition to ask how the invisible hand of mazel has touched us all.
Director: Christopher Thomas Allen
Producer: Andrew Hinton
Music: Malcolm Litson

קדרות עין הוד: תמיד פתוח

2010-09-27T12:34:00.002+02:00

Sinking in Ein Hod, Israel Pottery Always Open

2010-09-20T12:18:00.002+02:00

We create hand made pottery:
functional stoneware pots thrown on the potter's wheel, decorated with various glazes, fired in a gas kiln to a high temperature.
Our pottery studio has been open to the public since 1982. We welcome visitors seven days a week and sell a variety of pottery: bowls, plates, casseroles, mugs (all of which can be used for cooking and serving food and drink), boxes, vases, and ocarinas(clay whistles and flutes).
We teach weekly pottery classes all year and conduct short workshops for groups and individuals during the week and on Saturdays and holidays(all ages).
We have a book shop where we sell a large selection of used and rare books in all languages.
For more information about our studio and activities and/or help in arranging visits and workshops with other artists please contact us:
Naomi and Zeev 04-9841107. zeno@netvision.net.il
נעמי וזאב ורוכבסקי קדרות עין הוד-תמיד פתוח קורס קדרות- (מגיל 13) לימוד טכניקות באובניים בחומר צביעה בגלזורות ושריפה בתנור גז סדנת שבת,חגים,ימי קיץ,ימי חול -עבודה בחומר לכל הגלאים-עבודת יד -התנסות באובניים מגיל 18 (30-40 דקות) לקבוצות -סדנת הדגמה-הסבר והדגמה באובניים והתנסות קצרה לכל משתתף (עד 25 איש, 40 דקות) -סדנה פעילה-הסבר והדגמה באובניים ועבודה לכל משתתף באובניים אישי. עד 16 משתתפים, שעה וחצי פרטים- נעמי וזאב ורכובסקי
Second hand books
At zeev Verchovsky "Pottery Always Open" #33 on the map
sink (sngk)
v. sank (sngk) or sunk (sngk), sunk, sink·ing, sinks
v.intr.
1. To descend to the bottom; submerge.
2.
a. To fall or drop to a lower level, especially to go down slowly or in stages: The water in the lake sank several feet during the long, dry summer.
b. To subside or settle gradually, as a massive or weighty structure.
3. To appear to move downward, as the sun or moon in setting.
4. To slope downward; incline.
5. To pass into a specified condition: She sank into a deep sleep.
6.
a. To deteriorate in quality or condition: The patient is sinking fast. The family sank into a state of disgrace.
b. To diminish, as in value.
7. To become weaker, quieter, or less forceful: His voice sank to a whisper.
8.
a. To drop or fall slowly, as from weakness or fatigue: The exhausted runner sank to the ground.
b. To feel great disappointment or discouragement: Her heart sank within her.
9. To seep or soak; penetrate: The water is sinking into the ground.
10. To make an impression; become felt or understood: The meaning finally sank in.
v.tr.
1. To cause to descend beneath a surface: sink a ship.
2. To cause to drop or lower: sank the bucket into the well.
3. To force into the ground: sink a piling.
4. To dig or drill (a mine or well) in the earth.
5. To occupy the full attention of; engross.
6.
a. To make weaker, quieter, or less forceful.
b. To reduce in quantity or worth.
7. To debase the nature of; degrade.
8. To bring to a low or ruined state; defeat or destroy.
9. To suppress or hide: He sank his arrogance and apologized.
10. Informal To defeat, as in a game.
11.
a. To invest: sink money into a new housing project.
b. To invest without any prospect of return.
12. To pay off (a debt).
13. Sports To get (a ball) into a hole or basket.
n.
1. A water basin fixed to a wall or floor and having a drainpipe and generally a piped supply of water.
2. A cesspool.
3. A sinkhole.
4. A natural or artificial means of absorbing or removing a substance or a form of energy from a system.
5. A place regarded as wicked and corrupt.
Idiom:
sink or swim Informal
To fail or succeed without alternative.

Спасибо Леа и ее супругу

2010-09-15T18:29:00.002+02:00

23 августа Латгальский культурно-исторический музей посетили гости из Израиля — дочь члена довоенного общества резекненских художников Аркадия Найшлоса Леа Бронфмане с мужем Марком (на снимке).

Художник Аркадий Найшлос (1903 — 1951) родился в Даугавпилсе в семье кожевника, закончил Рижскую Академию художеств и в 1938 году женился на резекненке Нехе Гурвич, которая преподавала латинский язык в Резекненской еврейской гимназии.
Незадолго до начала Второй мировой войны в Резекне проходила большая выставка работ А. Найшлоса. В начале войны художник с женой и дочерью Леа эвакуировались в Среднюю Азию, а все его картины остались в оккупированном Резекне. Часть из них пропала. По возвращении в Латвию А. Найшлос, несмотря на свою болезнь, продолжал рисовать, но в 1951 году скончался.
Теперь картины художника хранятся в семейном архиве его детей Леа и Исаака в Израиле, в частных коллекциях, в фондах Латгальского культурно-исторического музея и др. В 60-е годы прошлого века музей получил шесть картин художника.
То, что специалисты музея интересуются жизнью и творчеством ее отца, Леа узнала в 80-е годы прошлого века, и она прислала репродукции картин отца из семейной коллекции. Она написала также биографию своего отца. Но посетить Латвию семье Леа удалось только в этом году. Во время посещения музея она подарила музею диск с материалами об А. Найшлосе.
Сотрудничество с семьей продолжится. Работники музея ждут в гости и сына художника Исаака. Спасибо Леа и ее супругу за материалы, подаренные музею!
http://rus.rv.lv/?newsid=3408

Females who can mask their trails

2010-09-14T11:46:00.002+02:00

The scientists have now been able to show that evolution has favoured those females who can conceal their gender identity. Females who can mask their trails copulate significantly less often than other females and thus have a greater chance of surviving.

"It is beneficial for males to mate as often as possible, since this is the only way in which they can influence the number of offspring they father. But it is costly for the females to mate often, and this is important for them in surviving during the period they are carrying offspring."
The females of most species of snail excrete a substance in their mucous trails that enables males to find them more easily, since they can distinguish between trails from females and those from other males. The males follow the mucous trails laid down by females in order to find a partner for mating. However, the females of one of the species studied (Littorina saxatilis) have stopped labelling their mucous trails.
(read more...)

She decided to settle in the artists' village in Ein Hod...

2010-09-13T14:23:00.003+02:00

in 1968 Lia (or Lea) Schubert arrived in Israel, after having served for eleven years as Artistic Director of the Ballet Academy in Stockholm. She decided to settle in the artists' village in Ein Hod establishing a school as well as a dance company in Haifa. The school attracted many students, young people and adults, dance fans and professionals, dancers and artists of various fields

In 1968, after having served for11 years as the Artistic director of the Ballet Academy in Stockholm, Lia arrived in Israel. In the first year of her stay in Israel she taught ballet at the Batsheva Ensemble, Bat-Dor Dance Company, the Music and Dance Academy in Jerusalem and at the Inbal Dance Theatre where she also served as the rehearsal director. In 1969 Lia established, together with the dancer Kaj Lutman (called Selling in Sweden), the major dancer at the Swedish Royal Opera who had international reputation, the Haifa Dance Center school and the Dance troupe Bimat Harakdanim (The dancers' stage) at the Rothschild Center in Haifa, based on a group of dancers that Oshra Elkayam-Ronen established already in 1967 (Eshel, 1993). Basing the aforementioned on two reputable and rich stage-experienced dance artists constituted a promise for the future.

In 1974, after a generation of classical dancers grew and matured at their school, Schubert and Lutman decided to concentrate on the ballet genre and established the Haifa Ballet Piccolo, supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and Haifa Municipality. The troupe provided stage- experience opportunity for young dancers, the school graduates, and fostered their artistic personality. The dancing troupe performed in Haifa, Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem as well as on several television programs. Among the dances Schubert created for the group: Cinderella (1974), Coppélia (1974) and the Hoopoe Legend (1976).
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Dunbar's number

2010-09-12T08:25:00.002+02:00

Evolutionary anthropologist Robin Dunbar expands on "Dunbar's number," his theory that the maximum number of stable relationships a person can maintain is approximately 150. Time to delete a few hundred Facebook friends?
We are the product of our evolutionary history, and that history colors our experience of everyday life -- from the number of friends we have to how religious we are. Renowned evolutionary anthropologist Professor Robin Dunbar visits the RSA to explain how the very distant past underpins all of our current behaviors, and how we can best utilize that knowledge.
Did you know that you have just 150 friends, acquaintances and relatives? And that this is a natural size for villages all over the world? Now known as "Dunbar's Number," it defines the feasible boundaries of our social lives. Dunbar's investigations show us that we inherited the social side of our brains from our mother, and the emotional side from our father; why many women see the world in four or even five different colors, but men only ever have the conventional red, green and blue; and why facial symmetry has everything to do with voter choices in elections. - RSA
Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar is a British anthropologist and evolutionary biologist, specializing in primate behavior. He is best known for formulating Dunbar's number, roughly 150, a measurement of the "cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable relationships".

84 Charing Cross Road ...

2010-09-07T19:11:00.003+02:00

Helene Hanff's book 84 Charing Cross Road had previously been a TV program and a stage play before it was converted into this 1986 film. The scene is New York, 1949: Anne Bancroft plays a struggling writer and passionate bibliophile, who answers an advertisement from a rare-volumes bookshop at 84 Charing Cross Road in London.

Thus begins a two-decade romance by correspondence between Bancroft and Briton Anthony Hopkins, the man in charge of the overseas department of Marks and Company. Though several meetings are arranged, Bancroft and Hopkins never come face to face thanks to mitigating circumstances. But Anne finally makes it to London, and finds that much has changed. 84 Charing Cross Road was produced by Mel Brooks, the husband of star Anne Bancroft

The best thing that you could possibly buy... Amen

2010-09-04T13:32:00.000+02:00

Lame Duck Books, a mainstay of Cambridge, Massachusetts' Harvard Square, will close its doors on September 25, 2010.
John W. Wronoski, who opened Lame Duck originally in Philadelphia in 1984, told the Harvard Crimson that the business was "hemorrhaging" money, "destroyed" by online competition.
"Nowadays people like myself who've devoted...50 years to this world have no means of competing again," he said.
"It was a way of earning an income without actually doing something that I considered odious, like work," he continued. "Not that you don't work an enormous amount in this, but it's completely pleasure."
Wronoski, who does not consider himself a bibliophile because he rejects a personal relationship with books, defined the role of rare booksellers as guardians:
"I maintain custody of these fabulous objects until the right person comes along to relieve me of them," he said. "For me, money is so much less interesting than these objects. I'm selling the best thing that you could possibly buy."
Link

What should the West do? Beats me...

2010-08-19T17:13:00.002+02:00

As the First General Law of Travel tells us, every nation is its stereotype.
Americans are indeed fat and overbearing, Mexicans lazy and pilfering, Germans disciplined and perverted. The Turks, as everyone knows, are insane and deceitful. I say this affectionately. I live in Turkey. On good days, I love Turkey. But I have long since learned that its people are apt to go berserk on you for no reason whatsoever, and you just can’t trust a word they say. As one Turkish friend put it (a man who has spent many years in America, and thus grasps the depth of the cultural chasm), “It’s not that they’re bad. They don’t even know they’re lying.”
My friend is right, and his comment suggests a point about Turkish culture that I doubt many Westerners grasp. People here—and, I would guess, throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean, though Turkey is the only country I know well—see “truth” as something plastic, connected more to emotions than to facts or logic. If it feels true, it is true. What’s more, feelings here tend to change very quickly—and with them, the truth.
Take, for instance, my former landlord. Last year, my apartment was burgled. Under Turkish law, if your apartment is burgled, you have the right to insist that your landlord install bars on your windows. When I put this to my landlord, he objected, screaming violently, as so often people here do for no reason any American would accept as legitimate. First, my landlord screamed, there was no risk of burglary: there had never before been a burglary in our neighborhood. (Actually, our neighborhood was notorious for it.) Second, he screamed, to install bars would create a hazard: burglars would use them to climb up to the second floor. He offered both arguments in the same sentence. He was unperturbed by the obvious problem with his line of reasoning.

Later, when I discussed the matter with Turkish friends, they explained to me that I had made a critical negotiating mistake: I had insulted his honor by telling him I would have bars installed rather than asking him. The argument, they explained, had nothing to do with the real risk of burglary, and certainly nothing to do with my rights under Turkish rental law. It was about my failure to show the man the proper respect.
I’m not sure my Turkish friends were right about that, though. They are, after all, Turkish, so they pretty much say whatever sounds good to them at the time. They tend to explain these situations ex post facto with appeals to the subtleties of Turkish culture, but the story never stays the same. I’ve been in similar situations in which these same Turkish friends have explained that my mistake was asking, rather than telling. Asking, they have assured me, is a sign of weakness, so no wonder my adversaries sought to take advantage.
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Sham acupuncture ...

2010-08-18T16:16:00.000+02:00

Researchers from MD Anderson Cancer Center determined patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee who are treated with traditional Chinese acupuncture (TCA) do not experience any more benefit than those receiving sham acupuncture (placebo). The team did find that the communication style of the acupuncturist could have a significant effect on pain reduction and satisfaction in patients.
"We found a small, but significant effect on pain and satisfaction with treatment, demonstrating a placebo effect related to the clinician's communications style," said Dr. Suarez-Almazor. The team found significant differences in J-MAP pain reduction (0.25) and satisfaction (0.22) for those patients in the high expectations group compared with the neutral group. "The improvement in pain and satisfaction suggests that the benefits of acupuncture may be partially mediated through placebo effects related to the behavior of the acupuncturist," concluded Dr. Suarez-Almazor.
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Takashi Nakazato : Karatsu Potter

2010-08-10T08:06:00.002+02:00

Even when producing daily dining utensils, Nakazato is not bound by the restrictions of traditional designs, and introduces free, original forms. However, rather than expressing a mere compulsive resistance to tradition, this approach could be more accurately interpreted as liberation of his aesthetic sense, attitudes, and life style from the fixed confines of tradition, and proceeding in accordance with the forms naturally arising from his own free artistic spirit.

Indeed, Nakazato's attitudes toward life reflect his serious efforts toward the goal of self-liberation. He has constructed a home and workshop of his own design in a secluded mountain locality, where he lives and creates pottery along with his family and apprentices. He himself also enjoys cooking, is a devotee of baroque music, and even holds miniature concerts in his workshop.
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בדרך למצנתר

2010-08-08T14:23:00.002+02:00

ניב גלבוע הגיע למסעדת מעיין הבירה וגילה הרבה כולסטרול אבל גם הרבה אווירה

ובמחיר סביר

Link

Schizophrenia thru MTV eyes Part 2/3 & 3/3

2010-08-06T10:48:00.001+02:00

That’s the daily reality for the more than two million Americans living with Schizophrenia - a debilitating mental illness that blurs the line between what’s real and what’s in your head. In this episode of True Life, you’ll meet three young people doing their best to live with this disorder that will be with them forever.

Part 1

Schizophrenia thru MTV eyes Part 1/3

2010-08-06T09:08:00.002+02:00

“True Life: I Have Schizophrenia” – What if you couldn’t tell the difference between reality and a scary hallucination? Or you heard voices in your head telling you to hurt yourself? Or if a trip to the supermarket made you feel as though the world was plotting against you? That’s the daily reality for the more than two million Americans living with Schizophrenia - a debilitating mental illness that blurs the line between what’s real and what’s in your head. In this episode of True Life, you’ll meet three young people doing their best to live with this disorder that will be with them forever.

Part 2 & 3

Sexy Ovulating Women

2010-08-05T20:47:00.001+02:00

"We found that, when ovulating, women chose sexier fashion products when thinking about other attractive, local but not distant women," says Durante. "If you are in New York, a woman who lives in LA isn't going to be seen as competition."
Although the end result is to attract the best romantic partner available, Durante's research found that ovulating women's choice of dress is motivated by the other women in their environment. "In order to entice a desirable mate, a woman needs to assess the attractiveness of other women in her local environment to determine how eye-catching she needs to be to snare a good man," Durante says.

In the study, researchers had ovulating women view a series of photographs of attractive local women and then asked them to choose clothing and accessory items to purchase. The majority of participants chose sexier products than those who had been shown photographs of unattractive local women or women who lived over 1000 miles away. This change in consumer choice is not a conscious decision and non-ovulating women are not subject to the effect.
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Who is Patient N?

2010-07-31T18:37:00.003+02:00

The DNA donor was selected from a large pool of more than 1,300 volunteers who are participating in an unpublished genotyping survey of Russia’s ethnic populations. The goal of that study is eventually to analyze 4,000 people from about 40 nationalities living around Russia and surrounding territories, from Uzbekistan in central Asia to the Arctic Ocean in the north, and from the Pacific to Poland in the west (essentially spanning the former Soviet Union).
“Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), we could put different individuals into various ethnic groups governing this geographical distribution,” says Prokhortchouk. “You can distinguish Russians as an ethnic group from Tatars or Poles, Siberia, and so on.”
Based on the PCA, Patient N was selected as an archetypal Russian genome. “Mathematically speaking, he’s Russian!” says Prokhortchouk. “I don’t know anything about his parents or what language he speaks or where he lives, but I know that under mathematical rules [PCA], he’s Russian!”
He is also a renal cancer patient, which provides a further rationale for studying this genome. That work is ongoing. The Prokhortchouk and Skryabin labs are part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (see Nature, April 2010). Preliminary analysis of the renal cancer focused on SNPs that have been associated in genome wide association studies [GWAS] in renal cancer. “Using linkage disequilibrium, you can trace the SNPs [in the Patient N genome] close to the marker SNPs and go to particular exons in particular genes.” One of those looks particularly interesting, he said, but declined to elaborate.
Although the decision to publish in an unknown Russian journal, which is not yet recognized in PubMed, stifled media attention abroad, the paper attracted considerable media attention inside Russia when it was published last year. The big question on reporters’ minds was: Who is Patient N? “They thought it was Prime Minister Putin. It’s not true!” said Prokhortchouk. Speculation was not unreasonable, given that according to Wikipedia, the institute director Kovalchuk’s brother is described as the “personal banker” to Putin.
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On Books and Rats

2010-07-28T08:57:00.000+02:00

Firmin is the runt of a litter of rats born in the basement of Pembroke Books, a ramshackle old bookstore run by the equally shambolic owner Norman Shine. Forced to compete for food, Firmin ends up chewing on the books that surround him. Thanks to his unusual diet, he acquires the miraculous ability to read. He subsequently develops an insatiable hunger for literature and a very unratlike sense of the world and his place in it. He is a debonair soul trapped in a rat's body¿
But a literary rat is a lonely rat and, spurned by his own kind, he thinks he recognises a kindred soul in Norman. Firmin seeks solace in the Lovelies of the local burlesque cinema and in his own imagination. But the days of the bookshop and of the close community around it are numbered. The area has been marked out for urban regeneration and soon the faded glory of the bookshop, the low-life bars, loan agencies and pawn shops will face the bulldozers.
Brilliantly original and richly allegorical, Firmin is brimming with charm and wistful longing for a world that treasures its seedy theatres, one-of-a-kind characters, and cluttered bookshops.

The Writer Who Couldn't Read or Чукча - писатель

2010-07-24T09:31:00.001+02:00

"In January of 2002," writes the neuroscientist Oliver Sacks, "I received a letter from Howard Engel, a Canadian novelist describing a strange problem."
On July 31, 2001, Engel woke up, dressed, made breakfast, and then went to the front door to get his newspaper. "I wasn't aware," he says in our NPR interview, "that it was any different from any other morning."

But it was. When he looked at the front page — it was the Toronto Globe and Mail, an English-language journal — the print on the page was unlike anything he had seen before. It looked vaguely "Serbo-Croatian or Korean," or some language he didn't know. Wondering if this was some kind of joke, he went to his bookshelf, pulled out a book he knew was in English, and it too was in the same gibberish.
Engel had suffered a stroke. It had damaged the part of his brain we use when we read, so he couldn't make sense of letters or words. He was suffering from what the French neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene calls "word blindness." His eyes worked. He could see shapes on a page, but they made no sense to him. And because Engel writes detective stories for a living (he authored the Benny Cooperman mystery series, tales of a mild-mannered Toronto private eye), this was an extra-terrible blow. "I thought, well I'm done as a writer. I'm finished."

Sacks describes Engel's struggles in a forthcoming book, The Mind's Eye, to be published later this year. The surprise here is that brains are more plastic than one would suppose; even if one part of a brain is compromised by a stroke, a person can sometimes improvise and get another still healthy part of the brain to substitute and help out.
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Books That Are Out to Get You...

2010-07-21T18:52:00.000+02:00

מצא עוד סרטים כאלה ב-Ein Hod עין הוד

Do you know that there is a certain sub-genre (sub-sub-genre?) of murder mysteries concerned with the world of authors, manuscripts, rare and deadly books - with the emphasis on deadly books?. Typically, they feature an indefatigable hero leaping around libraries in a race against time, unearthing cyphers, ancient manuscripts and clues hidden in old books.
Thrillers like this belong to a popular sub-genre called bibliomysteries, and as the name suggests, they all concern some sort of bookish skull-duggery. Book lovers love them but if you’re tempted to read one here are a few words of warning. Books can be fatal, as this eager reader is about to discover:
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Exlibris: a visual poem

2010-07-11T16:37:00.000+02:00

short film teaser EXLIBRIS by Maria Trenor
Exlibris is a visual poem which pays tribute to old books, the shops that sell them and the pleasure of reading, through a single copy of "Don Quixote." Short film teaser edited by Josep Bedmar - Lacomida visuals

Synchronized Swimming... Disgusting...?

2010-07-06T14:47:00.001+02:00

According to Israeli law all 18 year olds are drafted to the military. This film follows a young woman, a member of Israel’s national Synchronized Swimming team, during her last year before being drafted.

תערוכה חדשה בגלריה של התוכנית הבינלאומית ללימודי אוצרות של

סמינר הקיבוצים

MUTE הפוליטיקה של השקט

האמנים המשתתפים : דיוויד גראבס, אמנון וולמן, דופראס - עידו גוברין וליאורה בלפורד, אוסקר אבוש, אוהד מילשטיין, דורית ברק, טלי מאייר, זמיר שץ וג'ין דאונינג

אוצרת: ליאורה בלפורד

פתיחה: 08.07.10 ב- 20:00 *

נעילה: 12.08.10

רח' קלישר 5, תל אביב

שימו לב- שעות הפתיחה שונות מהרגיל: א-ה 17.00 - 22.00

ביום שישי 10.00-15.00

בשבת סגור

התערוכה תהיה סגורה בין התאריכים 12.07-22.07

Mute- the politics of no sound
A new exhibition in the curatorial Studies Program Galler
Curator: Liora Bedford
Participating artists:
Amnon Wolman, David Grubbs, Dorit Barak, Duprass – Ido Govrin & Liora Belford, Jeanne Dunning, Ohad Milstein, Oscar Abush, Tali Mayer, zamir shatz
Opening event: 08/07/10, 20.00
Open through 12/08
Kalisher 5, corner of Tzadok Hacohen, Tel Aviv
Opening hours: sun-thurs- 17.00-20.00
fri- 10.00-15.00. sat- closed
the exhibition will be closed between 12/07-22/07

התערוכה מבקשת להציג את הרגע שבו אדם מפגין חוסר מעש ואילמות לנוכח פעולה המנוגדת לרצונו או לערכיו. הרגע הזה, בין אם במודע ובין אם לא, הוא מסוכן כי הוא מכיל בתוכו אשליה של חופש מחשבה, של בחירה אמיתית.

במקום בו יש שקט, חייבים להתקיים במקביל 2 כוחות – שתיקה והשתקה. הפוליטיקה של השקט - כלומר הכוחות האחראים לעיצוב חברה שקטה - מצביעה (בעיקרה) על הקול השולט, הנשמע, אך יותר מכל מלמדת על המנגנון המשמר או השואף לשמר את מאזן הכוחות. השתיקה מתקיימת כאשר מתנהל מאבק בין גורמים שכוחם אינו שווה. הפוליטיקה של השקט מאופיינת יותר מכל בכוחניות והאלימות אשר מופעלים על ידי המחזיק בעמדת הכוח, אך מי שנותן בסופו של דבר את התוקף לאלימות לגיטימית, הם דווקא שאר המשתתפים בשיח, אלה שבוחרים באילמות ובחוסר מעש. אלה המקבלים את חוקי השדה ואת ההיררכיה ללא כל ביקורת. באדישות.

הפעולות של הרבים משכפלות תדיר את דפוסי הכוח ומנציחות את הסדר הרצוי לכוח השליט, עד לנקודה שבה חוקי השדה מתקבלים כדרך הטבע, כדבר שאין לערער עליו. זוהי שתיקה פאסיבית אשר אין צורך להפעיל עליה כל פעולת השתקה נוספת. כוחו של ההמון בעיצוב ובהבניית ערכיו של הפרט הוא אדיר, עד שנדמה כי הפרטים עצמם משוכפלים. חושבים אותו דבר, נראים אותו דבר. הגבול בין הפרטי לציבורי כבר לא רלוונטי.

בערב הפתיחה תוקרן אסופת הוידאו קול קורא אשר עוסקת ביחסי הכוחות בשדה האמנות. האסופה מציגה עבודות של אמנים שהשמיעו את קולם כנגד חוקי השדה ומערך יחסי הכוחות המקובל בו:

רפי לביא, שי לי עוזיאל, ענן צוקרמן, וקרן רוסו.

Ohad Milstein (Hebrew: אוהד מילשטיין‎; born 1973) is an Israeli documentary filmmaker, photographer and video artist, located in Israel Tel Aviv. His films are often experimental in form and are highly meticulous visually. Milstein studied Cinema at Tel Aviv University from 1996 to 2000, and Photography & art at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design from 2003 to 2005. As A film maker Milstein has a distinctive cinematic language combining art and documentary cinema in an innovative revolutionary Para documentary genre. His film Obsession premiered at the 2008 DocAviv Film Festival. His Film 50.14N 41.46W (the point in which the RMS Titanic ship sunk, attended in international film and video dance festivals in Greece, Spain & Russia.

Mans vīrs Andrejs Saharovs

2010-07-04T19:33:00.000+02:00

How does the “brains” of the Soviet regime, an academician, the “father” of hydrogen bomb, an outstanding intellectual for whom even in the Kremlin all the doors were open can become an irreconcilable champion of human rights and prisoners of conscience and an internationally renown enemy of this system? The film My Husband Andrey Sakharov answers to this question in an intriguing yet subdued, even intimate form – by confronting the views of the witnesses of those times and Sakharov’s colleagues. His widow Yelena Bonner and the last secretary general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev are two brightest participants of this indirect debate in the film, which not only by presenting facts and their interpretations and forceful poeticism of the documentary footage makes one think about the games of power and guarantees of human freedom that is a topical theme not only in Russia.

Фильм режиссера Инары Колмане «Мой муж Андрей Сахаров», снятый латвийской студией фильмов «Deviņi» совместно с французскими кинодокументалистами, был отмечен премиями на многих международных фестивалях. В 2007 году в номинации полнометражный документальный фильм эта лента была удостоена главного приза Латвийского национального кинофестиваля «Большой Кристап». Интерес к личности легендарного советского академика Андрея Сахарова и по сей день остается большим во всем мире. С одной стороны, Сахаров отец водородной бомбы, с другой - непримиримый критик идеологии СССР, узник совести, сосланный под домашний арест в закрытый для иностранцев город Горький...
Мне посчастливилось быть знакомой с Андреем Дмитриевичем лично. Не стану преувеличивать - чай с академиком Сахаровым и его женой Еленой Боннер на их легендарной московской кухне я не пила. Более того, с Е.Боннер, главной героиней фильма «Мой муж Андрей Сахаров», никогда даже не встречалась. Тем не менее, коль скоро именно в Латвии снят такой фильм, осмелюсь рассказать и о своем знакомстве с Сахаровым. Благо случилось это знакомство во время того злополучного Съезда народных депутатов СССР, когда Горбачев сгонял академика Сахарова с трибуны под улюлюканье и топот ног агрессивно-послушного большинства Съезда. Итак, 2 июня 1989 года. Москва, Кремль...

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Emanuel Yakobson on BBC Беседы с генетиком Эммануилом Якобсоном Part 1 2

2010-07-04T10:04:00.004+02:00

Features associated with germline CDKN2A mutations: a GenoMEL study of melanoma-prone families from three continents.
Goldstein AM, Chan M, Harland M, Hayward NK, Demenais F, Bishop DT, Azizi E, Bergman W, Bianchi-scarra G, Bruno W, Calista D, Albright LA, Chaudru V, Chompret A, Cuellar F, Elder DE, Ghiorzo P, Gillanders EM, Gruis NA, Hansson J... expand author list, Hogg D, Holland EA, Kanetsky PA, Kefford RF, Landi MT, Lang J, Leachman SA, Mackie RM, Magnusson V, Mann GJ, Bishop JN, Palmer JM, Puig S, Puig-butille JA, Stark M, Tsao H, Tucker MA, Whitaker L, Yakobson E, Lund Melanoma Study Group, Melanoma Genetics Consortium (GenoMEL) collapse author list
Journal of medical genetics 2007 Feb; 44(2)
BACKGROUND: The major factors individually reported to be associated with an increased frequency of CDKN2A mutations are increased number of patients with melanoma in a family, early age at melanoma diagnosis, and family members with multiple primary... expand abstract melanomas (MPM) or pancreatic cancer. METHODS: These four features were examined in 385 families with > or =3 patients with melanoma pooled by 17 GenoMEL groups, and these attributes were compared across continents. RESULTS: Overall, 39% of families had CDKN2A mutations ranging from 20% (32/162) in Australia to 45% (29/65) in North America to 57% (89/157) in Europe. All four features in each group, except pancreatic cancer in Australia (p = 0.38), individually showed significant associations with CDKN2A mutations, but the effects varied widely across continents. Multivariate examination also showed different predictors of mutation risk across continents. In Australian families, > or =2 patients with MPM, median age at melanoma diagnosis < or =40 years and > or =6 patients with melanoma in a family jointly predicted the mutation risk. In European families, all four factors concurrently predicted the risk, but with less stringent criteria than in Australia. In North American families, only > or =1 patient with MPM and age at diagnosis < or =40 years simultaneously predicted the mutation risk. CONCLUSIONS: The variation in CDKN2A mutations for the four features across continents is consistent with the lower melanoma incidence rates in Europe and higher rates of sporadic melanoma in Australia. The lack of a pancreatic cancer-CDKN2A mutation relationship in Australia probably reflects the divergent spectrum of mutations in families from Australia versus those from North America and Europe. GenoMEL is exploring candidate host, genetic and/or environmental risk factors to better understand the variation observed. collapse abstract
מצא עוד סרטים כאלה ב-Ein Hod עין הוד

Features associated with germline CDKN2A mutations: a GenoMEL study of melanoma-prone families from three continents.
Goldstein AM, Chan M, Harland M, Hayward NK, Demenais F, Bishop DT, Azizi E, Bergman W, Bianchi-scarra G, Bruno W, Calista D, Albright LA, Chaudru V, Chompret A, Cuellar F, Elder DE, Ghiorzo P, Gillanders EM, Gruis NA, Hansson J... expand author list, Hogg D, Holland EA, Kanetsky PA, Kefford RF, Landi MT, Lang J, Leachman SA, Mackie RM, Magnusson V, Mann GJ, Bishop JN, Palmer JM, Puig S, Puig-butille JA, Stark M, Tsao H, Tucker MA, Whitaker L, Yakobson E, Lund Melanoma Study Group, Melanoma Genetics Consortium (GenoMEL) collapse author list
Journal of medical genetics 2007 Feb; 44(2)
BACKGROUND: The major factors individually reported to be associated with an increased frequency of CDKN2A mutations are increased number of patients with melanoma in a family, early age at melanoma diagnosis, and family members with multiple primary... expand abstract melanomas (MPM) or pancreatic cancer. METHODS: These four features were examined in 385 families with > or =3 patients with melanoma pooled by 17 GenoMEL groups, and these attributes were compared across continents. RESULTS: Overall, 39% of families had CDKN2A mutations ranging from 20% (32/162) in Australia to 45% (29/65) in North America to 57% (89/157) in Europe. All four features in each group, except pancreatic cancer in Australia (p = 0.38), individually showed significant associations with CDKN2A mutations, but the effects varied widely across continents. Multivariate examination also showed different predictors of mutation risk across continents. In Australian families, > or =2 patients with MPM, median age at melanoma diagnosis < or =40 years and > or =6 patients with melanoma in a family jointly predicted the mutation risk. In European families, all four factors concurrently predicted the risk, but with less stringent criteria than in Australia. In North American families, only > or =1 patient with MPM and age at diagnosis < or =40 years simultaneously predicted the mutation risk. CONCLUSIONS: The variation in CDKN2A mutations for the four features across continents is consistent with the lower melanoma incidence rates in Europe and higher rates of sporadic melanoma in Australia. The lack of a pancreatic cancer-CDKN2A mutation relationship in Australia probably reflects the divergent spectrum of mutations in families from Australia versus those from North America and Europe. GenoMEL is exploring candidate host, genetic and/or environmental risk factors to better understand the variation observed. collapse abstract#[Gene silencing RNAi technology: possible application to therapy]Vestin A, Weinstein J, Davidov E, Sidi Y, Yakobson EAHarefuah 2006 Feb; 145(2)RNA interference (RNAi), i.e. gene silencing, or gene expression down-regulation is the process whereby a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) induces the homology-dependent degradation of cognate messenger RNA (mRNA). When dsRNA is introduced into cells, an ... expand abstractRNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) is assembled. RISC serves as cellular machinery that is responsible for the specific mRNA degradation. This process results in the subsequent reduction of the specific protein translated from appropriate mRNA. Short RNA duplexes (21 nucleotide), called small interfering RNA (siRNA), have become the major tool for induction of gene silencing. With the human genome mapped and sequenced, attempts are currently being made to manipulate the expression of genes involved in viral diseases, carcinogenesis and other disorders with the aim of developing novel therapies. collapse abstract#Search for germline alterations in CDKN2A/ARF and CDK4 of 42 Jewish melanoma families with or without neural system tumours.Marian C, Scope A, Laud K, Friedman E, Pavlotsky F, Yakobson E, Bressac-de paillerets B, Azizi EBritish journal of cancer 2005 Jun; 92(12)To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms involved in the inherited predisposition to melanoma and associated neural system tumours, 42 Jewish, mainly Ashkenazi, melanoma families with or without neural system tumours were genotyped for germline ... expand abstractpoint mutations and genomic deletions at the CDKN2A/ARF and CDK4 loci. CDKN2A/ARF deletion detection was performed using D9S1748, an intragenic microsatellite marker. Allele dosage at the p14ARF locus was analysed by quantitative real-time PCR employing a TaqMan probe that anneals specifically to exon 1beta of the p14ARF gene. For detecting point mutations, dHPLC and direct sequencing of the coding sequences of CDKN2A/ARF and CDK4 was used. No germline alterations in any of the tested genes were detected among the families under study. We conclude that in the majority of Ashkenazi Jewish families, the genes tested are unlikely to be implicated in the predisposition to melanoma and associated neural system tumours. collapse abstract#Search for genetic variants associated with cutaneous malignant melanoma in the Ashkenazi Jewish population.Loo JC, Paterson AD, Hao A, Shennan M, Peretz H, Sidi Y, Hogg D, Yakobson EJournal of medical genetics 2005 May; 42(5)#A single Mediterranean, possibly Jewish, origin for the Val59Gly CDKN2A mutation in four melanoma-prone families.Yakobson E, Eisenberg S, Isacson R, Halle D, Levy-lahad E, Catane R, Safro M, Sobolev V, Huot T, Peters G, Ruiz A, Malvehy J, Puig S, Chompret A, Avril MF, Shafir R, Peretz H, Bressac-de paillerets BEuropean journal of human genetics : EJHG 2003 Apr; 11(4)We have screened for CDKN2A germline mutations in 49 Jewish families with two or more cases of melanoma. The Val59Gly mutation, one of the three different alterations identified among these families, was also detected independently in two kindreds fr... expand abstract
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Good Luck Gia @ Erez

2010-07-03T10:36:00.001+02:00

After a pause of a month since their Carroll Gardens space was transformed from an genuine old time pharmacy into a faux old-time "farmacy" and soda foundation by Discovery Channel "Construction Intervention" reality series, The Brooklyn Farmacy and Soda Fountain is finally open for business.

The place was fully stocked and fully manned with soda jerks, all wearing black t-shirts that said "Jerk" in big letters and paper hats. (You can buy the shirts and hats if you wish.) The shelves held local producers like North Fork Chips, McClure's Pickles, Rick's Picks and other things.

And the old wooden drawers that once held pills are now filled with candy like Lemonheads and Double Bubble gum. The menu (above and below) is simple and features ice cream, sundaes, ice cream sodas, black & whites, shakes, sparkling sodas and, or course, egg creams.
(read more...)

The 100 Greatest

2010-07-02T14:37:00.000+02:00

Here is a List of Movies Cited in the Above Video

0’00 - Roxanne, Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Gleaming the Cube, The Princess Bride, A Fish Called Wanda, Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, Casino, Three Amigos, A Clockwork Orange

1’05 - Dolemite, Glengarry Glen Ross, Bad Santa, The Witches of Eastwick, The Big Lebowski, In Bruges, Full Metal Jacket, There Will Be Blood

2’05 - Toy Story, Casablanca, Encino Man, The Women, Predator, Army of Darkness, They Live, Uncle Buck, Big Trouble in Little China, New Jack City, Billy Madison

3’00 - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Departed, Carlito’s Way, In the Loop, Glengarry Glen Ross, Stand By Me, Grosse Pointe Blank, Duck Soup, Caddyshack, Planes Trains & Automobiles

4’00 - South Park, Napoleon Dynamite, Mean Girls, The Breakfast Club, As Good as It Gets, The 6th Day, Step Brothers, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Full Metal Jacket, City Slickers, Road House, True Grit, Shot Circuit

5’00 - Raging Bull, The Usual Suspects, Snatch, Caddyshack, The Last Boy Scout, Ghostbusters, The Sandlot, As Good as It Gets

6’00 - 48 Hrs, In Bruges, Silver Streak, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Fish Called Wanda, Goodfellas, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Mist, Trading Places

7’00 - The Warriors, Point Break, Gangs of New York, Reservoir Dogs, The Breakfast Club, The Cowboys, Full Metal Jacket, Dodgeball, Donnie Darko, Scarface, The Good the Bad and the Ugly

8’00 - Anchorman, Tropic Thunder, Sexy Beast, In the Loop, Get Shorty, Blazing Saddles, The Way of the Gun, Blade: Trinity, Clerks, The Boondock Saints, The Exorcist, What About Bob?, Weird Science

9’00 - Con Air, True Romance, In the Loop, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Lake Placid, The Front, Gone with the Wind
Link

"Hava Nagila" (Hebrew: הבה נגילה) (lit. Let us rejoice)

2010-07-02T09:36:00.000+02:00

Many of us have danced to Hava Nagilah. But how many of us know where it comes from? Here is a charming excerpt from a forthcoming documentary (featuring the co-creator of "Friends," Harry Belafonte, and Leonard Nimoy!) that has the story.

http://www.indiegogo.com/Hava-Nagilah-What-Is-It
This video is a fundraising clip forfilm Hava Nagilah: What Is It? If you'd like to support the making of the film, please make a tax-deductible donation at:
http://www.indiegogo.com/Hava-Nagilah-What-Is-It
Everyone who gives $18 or more will get a credit on the film!

Lisa, Bach and Abu Gosh

2010-06-21T08:27:00.005+02:00

מצא עוד סרטים כאלה ב-Ein Hod עין הוד

Lisa Verchovsky ( Ein Hod ) sings
J.S.Bach-"Et Exultavit Spiritus Meus" from "Magnificat"
abu gosh 2.1.2010
on piano eyal bat
The village of Abu Gosh has important Christian connections. Beginning in the twelfth century, Christians began to identify Abu Gosh as Emmaus, where Jesus appeared after the Resurrection (Luke 24:12-31). They imagined an old caravansary they found by the village spring as the destination of the disciples as they walked along the road about seven miles from Jerusalem (Luke 24:13).
The villages impressive Crusader church, in a tranquil garden setting, is built over that spring. Its walls are adorned with paintings of New Testament figures some of the oldest medieval frescos in the world.
Abu Gosh has also been identified as Kiriath Jearim, where the Ark of the Covenant was brought after Philistine captivity (1 Sam. 6:21); a church on the hill with a panoramic view marks that spot.
ליסה ורכובסקי( עין הוד ) שרה באך באבו גוש
ein hod עין הוד

50000 books for free

2010-06-12T13:15:00.007+02:00

The Brattle Book Shop was founded in the Cornhill section of Boston in 1825 and has been in the hands of the Gloss Family since 1949. Over the years George and his son Kenneth built this shop into one of the largest antiquarian bookshops in the country.
Housed in a three-story building in the heart of Downtown Boston, The Brattle Book Shop carries an impressive stock of over 250,000 books, maps, prints, postcards and ephemeral items in all subjects. In addition to its general used and out-of-print stock, The Brattle Book Shop also maintains an inventory of collectibles, first editions and fine leather bindings in its rare book room.
Note: Cornhill Street in Boston was once known as the book selling centre of the USA. The shop being demolished was the last remaining bookshop in the Cornhill Street.(via British Pathe)

Beating the Kos

2010-06-11T14:53:00.008+02:00

It was the Turks who early on discovered the power of military bands to excite fighters while encouraging their warrior spirit, and to maintain discipline in unity during marches in times of peace. While the roots of this tradition reach back to the Hun Empire, Turks used music on the military field in an active and functional way. In particular, the morale of the army was boosted by the incessant beating of the large drum, "kos" (a large kettle drum) and by playing inarches.
A Chinese historian described a Chinese general who had come to the region of Balasagun to Central Asia while on duty. The general had brought an ensemble of Hun (Turkish) instruments to China upon his return and had them played at the palace. This proves that Central Asian Turks used military bands in centuries previous to the advent of Islam. Central Europe was introduced to the Ottoman military ensemble, known as mehterhane, in the processions of Turkish envoys. Due to the fact that this ensemble first appeared at German battle fronts, the name, "Yeniçeri mızıkası" (Janissary band) was adopted into the German language. German and various Central European rulers and princes had an incessant desire to have their own mehterhane, and attempted many imitations. Eventually this new kind of military band ensemble came as far as Istanbul. A French style banda (band) was first shown to Selim HI in Istanbul. The French diplomat Raymond de Verninac came to Istanbul in April 1795, The new things that he displayed as soon as he arrived attracted a great deal of interest. Upon his first visit to the Ottoman Sultan, his car was preceded by a band and a squad of French soldiers. The French soldiers had attached bayonets to the ends of their rifles, and the diplomat proceeded to the palace among this ostentatious crowd.

click and play!
The American record company, G.C.R. (Gramophone Concert. Record, which was later to take the name "His Master's Voice"), began to make recordings in Istanbul in 1900. The company's first recordings became available in 1903. At approximately the same time. the German company, Favorite, entered production- While Turkish musicians were hesitant to lend their voices to recordings during these years, minority artists of Greek, Jewish, Armenian and Roma (Gypsy) origins entered the studios and made the first 78 rpm recordings- Among the features which are striking in the early period of 78 rpm record catalogues and collections are the presence of works such as polkas, waltzes, and marches, and the ensembles that played them. The ensemble entitled Garde de S.M.I. Ie Sultan which is presented to music lovers is the "Mızıkay-ı Hümayun" ensemble. There were 33 single-sided records made between the years of 1904-1911. Of these, 24 were marches with the remainder consisting of popular music of the day such as waltzes and polkas.

Yaddo: an artists' vilage in Saratoga Springs

2010-06-11T14:30:00.001+02:00

One summer day in 1899, a private banker named Spencer Trask and his wife Katrina were walking through the expensive wildwood of their big country estate, Yaddo, at Saratoga Springs, N. Y. Suddenly Katrina stopped, listened, raised her hands "as if in appeal to that Something which was too vast for me to define." Few moments later she said with dreamy excitement: "Here will be a perpetual series of house parties—of literary men, literary women, and other artists. . . . At Yaddo they will find the Sacred Fire, and light their torches at its flame. Look, Spencer! They are walking in the woods, wandering in the garden, sitting under the pine trees . . . creating, creating, creating!"
Creating at Yaddo last week, at mid-season of the colony's twelfth year, was a typical group of writers and artists who have given substance to Katrina Trask's vision. But whether or not they fitted Katrina's romantic conception was an open question.
By contrast with aristocratic Katrina and the elegant capitalistic surroundings she provided, most of the season's 27 guests stood out in striking left-wing contrast: Poet Kenneth Fearing (Angel Arms, Poems), Critic Newton Arvin (Hawthorne), Novelists Joseph Vogel (At Madame Bonnard's), Leonard Ehrlich (God's Angry Man), Henry Roth (Call It Sleep), Daniel Fuchs (Low Company).

Monday, Sep. 05, 1938
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The First Hebrew City

2010-06-08T16:03:00.001+02:00

Tel Aviv, the first Hebrew city, is quoted in mythological scriptures as having been, "...built on a deserted piece of land in the sand dunes north of Jaffa." Originally founded by 60 families as a small neighborhood known as "Achuzat habaiyt" in 1909, Tel Aviv has proven its ability to constantly reinvent itself, despite its place in the periphery. Our main foci are vision, myths and culture -- all of which fueled Tel Aviv's development. These topics are recited and untangled by Maoz Azaryahu, well-known author, historian and expert on Tel Aviv.

Arie (Lova) Eliav dies at 88

2010-06-02T10:35:00.000+02:00

Arie “Lova” Eliav (Lifshitz), one of the founders of the Labor Party and one of the last members of Israel’s “greatest generation” of state-builders, died In Tel Aviv on Sunday at the age of 88.
Eliav was both a prominent politician, serving in five Knessets as part of a number of left-wing factions, and a public figure known for his grassroots action – from smuggling into pre-state Palestine thousands of Jewish refugees to establishing the eastern Negev city of Arad.
Eliav was born in Moscow in 1921 and immigrated to Israel three years later. He was educated in the most prestigious schools of pre-state Palestine, finishing high school at the Herzliya Gymnasium and then studying history and sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.(more...)

Андре́й Андре́евич Вознесе́нский (12 мая 1933, Москва — 1 июня 2010)

2010-06-02T10:26:00.001+02:00

Ни славы, и ни коровы,
Ни тяжкой короны земной -
Пошли мне, Господь, второго,
Чтоб вытянул петь со мной.
Прошу не любви ворованной,
Не милости на денек -
Пошли мне, Господь, второго,
Чтоб не был так одинок;

Чтоб было с кем пасоваться,
Аукаться через степь,
Для сердца - не для оваций,-
На два голоса спеть;
Чтоб кто-нибудь меня понял,-
Не часто, но хоть разок,-
И с раненых губ моих поднял
Царапнутый пулей рожок.

И пусть мой напарник певчий,
Забыв, что мы сила вдвоем,
Меня, побледнев от соперничества,
Прирежет за общим столом.
Прости ему - он до гроба
Одиночеством окружен.
Пошли ему, бог, второго -
Такого, как я и как он...

Музыка Высоцкого на стихи Андрея Вознесенского для спектакля "Антимиры"
Andrey Andreyevich Voznesensky (Russian: Андре́й Андре́евич Вознесе́нский) (May 12, 1933, Moscow, USSR – 1 June 1, 2010, Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet and Russian poet and writer who has been referred to by Robert Lowell as "one of the greatest living poets in any language". He was one of Russia's "children of the 60s".

Copulating Alligator or CODEX SERAPHINIANUS

2010-06-02T08:50:00.011+02:00

The Codex Seraphinianus is a book written and illustrated by the Italian artist, architect and industrial designer Luigi Serafini during thirty months, from 1976 to 1978.[1] The book is approximately 360 pages long (depending on edition), and appears to be a visual encyclopedia of an unknown world, written in one of its languages, a thus-far undeciphered alphabetic writing

I saw a flattish doughnut, possibly made of liquid, and colored a soft, rich red. While the doughnut’s inner ring (i.e., the perimeter of the doughnut’s hole) was perfectly round, the outer ring was irregularly shaped, and appeared more like an elastic membrane. Ladybugs, the same color as the doughnut but also stippled with their standard black dots, emerged from the outer ring and crawled off in all directions. On closer inspection, it didn’t appear that the ladybugs had pushed through the membranous outer ring; no, it seemed more like they were forming from the doughnut material. Parts of the doughnut’s outer ring appeared scooped out, and these inlets seemed to correspond to the various fully formed ladybugs that had walked away. I saw a flattish doughnut, possibly made of liquid, and colored a soft, rich red. While the doughnut’s inner ring (i.e., the perimeter of the doughnut’s hole) was perfectly round, the outer ring was irregularly shaped, and appeared more like an elastic membrane. Ladybugs, the same color as the doughnut but also stippled with their standard black dots, emerged from the outer ring and crawled off in all directions. On closer inspection, it didn’t appear that the ladybugs had pushed through the membranous outer ring; no, it seemed more like they were forming from the doughnut material. Parts of the doughnut’s outer ring appeared scooped out, and these inlets seemed to correspond to the various fully formed ladybugs that had walked away.

Text accompanied these images—or what looked like text. But the text wasn’t in English, and it wasn’t anything recognizably foreign like, say, Arabic or Sanskrit, though those analogs immediately came to mind. Though impenetrable, a kind of meaning was suggested by the layout of the script on the page.

This was reinforced by the visual resonances of the two images and their apparent or implied relationship to one another. The ladybug doughnut, which dominated the whole top half of the page, seemed to be a natural process, a sort of variation on the butterfly chrysalis, though in this case a multitude of creatures was formed in (but also, importantly, of) some protean organic material (perhaps a visual pun on the idea of a “primordial soup”) that collected in shapely rings around tree limbs, at least in the environment under consideration. Toward the bottom of one “paragraph” on the page were four dollops of color, ranging from a whitish beige to the same red as that of the rings. Perhaps the text was explaining how to gauge the rings’ progress in the incubation/gestation
cycle. Since the rings on the tree were all final-stage red, and the leaves on the tree were so green, you could surmise that it was spring in the picture, and the rings were getting ready to burst forth with new ladybugs. The world, at this level, was wholly internally consistent—or at least it could be made to “read” that way.

History is littered with inscrutable texts. Some have been deciphered, others—in terms of origin, content, and purpose—remain mysterious. As a book-object, though, the Codex’s only real precursor is The Voynich Manuscript. Discovered by the Polish book collector Wilfrid M. Voynich in a wooden chest at an Italian Jesuit college in 1912, the heavily illustrated manuscript was worked on by top code-crackers during World War II. They failed. It’s never been deciphered. Theories on its origin and significance abound, including the theory that the manuscript is a fraud perpetrated by Voynich himself, but the most popular and conclusive theory attributes the work to Roger Bacon, the medieval Franciscan friar who, in his Letter Concerning the Marvelous Power of Art and Nature and the Nullity of Magic, noted that “certain persons have achieved concealment by means of letters not then used by their own race or others but arbitrarily invented by themselves.”
From Believer by Justin Taylor

It was close...

2010-05-27T19:13:00.003+02:00

A large fire broke out in a grove on Mount Carmel Wednesday night, near the community of Ein Hod. At one point the fire threatened residents of the community, but firefighters managed to gain control of the flames after several hours. Students at the nearby Yemin Orde boarding school were evacuated safely.

חוג קדרות בקיץ בעין הוד

2010-05-27T18:16:00.000+02:00

חוג קדרות בקיץ

יוני,יולי,אוגוסט

למבוגרים וילדים מגיל 12

בימי שלישי ורבעי

בוקר 10-12.30

אחר"צ 16-18.30

מחיר 100 ש"ח לשיעור

לימוד טכניקות באובניים בחומר צביעה בגלזורות ושריפה בתנור גז

נעמי וזאב ורכובסקי. טל 9841107 04

An Irredeemable Honk of Shit...nice review

2010-05-26T13:27:00.010+02:00

Without dwelling on the complex socio-economic factors that can render a person homeless, really, Seasick Steve should have a bath, get a job and shut the fuck up. Of course, you can’t not dwell on such details; Steve’s shtick is singing about his time on the streets. Yet, 66 years old and four albums in, the former hobo ignores the abuse, the horror and the desolation that comes with not having a roof above you. Instead, Steve sings about life on the open road with no-one but his trusty hound for company.

In doing so – just like this review’s tasteless opening sentence – he makes a bad joke out of the misery faced daily by over 100million people worldwide. Despite this, you can’t open a music periodical without being engulfed with lashings of praise about Seasick Steve. And why does no-one offer anything other than unswerving praise (ie: lies) about him? Because we live in an age where so many people pretend to like music, obsessed with not falling behind the hum of the blogosphere

read more...
Seasick Steve - aka Steven Wold - is hysterically popular in the UK, where his first solo CD, Dog House Music, has sold 150,000 copies, and his second album, I Started Out with Nothin and I Still Got Most of It Left, debuted at number nine in the charts. Earlier this year, I saw 5000 adults of every age - but mostly the middle one - packed into a sold-out Hammersmith Apollo, dancing like drill bits, and howling back when Wold barked like a dog. It was like a revivalist meeting full of epileptic dentists.
When Wold came to Australia last year to play the Byron Bay Bluesfest, the crowd greeted him like they'd been waiting all day for a greybeard granddad with black tattoos to fingerpick songs on a one-string guitar while sitting on a chair. He returns to Byron next month, backed by enough record-company money to build a small hostel for the homeless, and his label, Warner, flew me to London to show me why.(read more...)

The Juggler of Mathematics

2010-05-24T13:45:00.000+02:00

If you meet any mathematicians this week, please be extra nice to them as they're going to be a little bit teary. On Saturday night, Martin Gardner died.
There are very few mathematicians who wouldn't cite Gardner as an influence while they were growing up. He certainly lived a long and rewarding life. In fact he was so old his age was the largest number with only two factors, where the two numbers below it also have only two factors each.
Some people reading this are now trying to work out how old he must have been. If you're not one of them, you won't mind me spoiling it by revealing that he was 95. He spent 95 years coming up with interesting puzzles and fascinating pieces of mathematics. Like a forerunner to sudoku, Gardner spent 25 years writing a weekly column about maths puzzles for Scientific American. This is as well as authoring over 70 books. It was actually an old copy of his second book, Mathematics, Magic and Mystery, that first got me interested in mathematical magic tricks. Most mathematicians over the past half a century would have a similar story.
Interestingly though, Gardner was not a mathematician himself. When he started working for Scientific American in 1956 he hadn't done any maths beyond the normal high school classes. He was purely a populariser of what became known as Recreational Mathematics.(read more...)

The Force is with Him

2010-05-21T15:02:00.001+02:00

Potentially historic news, awaiting replication by the scientific community, from famous biochemistry entrepreneur J. Craig Venter. From the abstract, published today in AAAS Science, of what may someday prove to be one of the most important papers in ths history of biochemistry:

We report the design, synthesis, and assembly of the 1.08-Mbp Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 genome starting from digitized genome sequence information and its transplantation into a Mycoplasma capricolum recipient cell to create new Mycoplasma mycoides cells that are controlled only by the synthetic chromosome. The only DNA in the cells is the designed synthetic DNA sequence, including “watermark” sequences and other designed gene deletions and polymorphisms, and mutations acquired during the building process. The new cells have expected phenotypic properties and are capable of continuous self-replication.

The original cell was not completely “synthetic,” but its DNA was. So this is not quite the ultimate realization of the project of organic chemistry, i.e. to create living matter from completely lifeless matter, but it is a giant step in that direction.

Georgian Cognac and ...

2010-05-21T13:00:00.002+02:00

The special love of Georgians for wine is not accidental. If you talk to just about any good winemaker, you will come away with the feeling that he or she has a vast wealth of winemaking knowledge to draw from, and that the winemaker consistently fine-tunes his or her approach to meet the requirements of a given wine. It is much like man fine tuning his approach to meet beautiful women. If you ask any Georgian about which is the best wine in the world, their immediate answer will be ‘Georgian’. They may also specify whose wine exactly – his, his uncle’s, brother’s, neighbor’s, etc. The Georgian wine is often compared to the company of beautiful women. Some winemakers out there who don't operate this way; they get by with a rigid, 'recipe' approach to winemaking. But this philosophy is not the best in the long run.

Udmurts or Votyaks sing Beatles

2010-05-12T18:00:00.001+02:00

The self-appellation of this people is udmurt, vudmurt, odmort, udmort, ukmort (in plural, -joz is added, e.g. udmurtjoz). The name for the Udmurts propagated by the use in the Russian language and now outdated is Votyak, which the Udmurts consider disparaging and offensive.
The Udmurts live in an area between the rivers Vyatka and Kama in the Republic of Udmurtia (capital city Izhkar, in Russian Izhevsk). About 2/3 of the Udmurts live in their Republic (42,100 sq. km.). The rest live mainly in the Perm Province, Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, in the provinces of Kirov and Yekaterinburg of the Russian Federation, and in the Mari Republic. Occasional Udmurt settlements are also in Siberia, Kazakhstan and the Far East.

...a total of US$1,000,000

2010-04-29T20:27:00.001+02:00

Application for Status of Claimant

This statement outlines the rules covering the offer made by this Foundation (JREF) concerning psychic, supernatural or paranormal claims. Since claims vary greatly in character and scope, specific rules must be formulated for each applicant. All applicants must agree to the rules set forth herein before any formal agreement can be entered into. Completing this form is mandatory; there are no exceptions to this rule.

Applicant will declare agreement by signing this form where indicated before a notary public and returning the form to the James Randi Educational Foundation. Applicant must state clearly what is being claimed as the special ability upon which they wish to be tested, and test protocols must be agreed upon by both parties before any testing will take place. All tests must be designed in such a way that the results are self-evident, so that no judging or voting process is required. We do not design the protocol independently of the applicant, who must provide clear guidelines so that the test(s) may be properly designed and carried out.
All applicants must clearly identify themselves properly before any discussion takes place. Applicants must supply the JREF with a proper postal mailing address, and an e-mail address – if one is available.(read more...)

Dugout Dick Died

2010-04-27T18:45:00.001+02:00

Known as the "Salmon River Caveman," Richard Zimmerman lived an essentially 19th century lifestyle, a digital-age anachronism who never owned a telephone or a television and lived almost entirely off the land.
"He was in his home at the caves at the end, and it was his wish to die there," said Connie Fitte, who lived across the river. "He was the epitome of the free spirit."
Richard Zimmerman had been in declining health when he died Wednesday.
Few knew him by his given name. To friends and visitors to his jumble of cave-like homes scrabbled from a rocky shoulder of the Salmon River, he was Dugout Dick.
He was the last of Idaho's river-canyon loners that date back to Territorial days. They are a unique group that until the 1980s included canyon contemporaries with names like Beaver Dick, Cougar Dave and Wheelbarrow Annie, "Buckskin Bill" (real name Sylvan Hart) and "Free Press Frances" Wisner. Fiercely independent loners, they lived eccentric lives on their own terms and made the state more interesting just by being here.
Most, like Zimmerman, came from someplace else. Drawn by Idaho's remoteness and wild places removed from social pressures, they came and spent their lives here, leaving only in death.
Some became reluctant celebrities, interviewed about their unusual lifestyles and courted by media heavyweights. Zimmerman was featured in National Geographic magazine and spurned repeated invitations to appear on the "Tonight Show."
"I ride Greyhounds, not airplanes," he said in a 1993 Statesman interview. "Besides, the show isn't in California. The show is here."
Cort Conley, who included Zimmerman in his 1994 book "Idaho Loners," said that "like Thoreau, he often must have smiled at how much he didn't need. What gave him uncommon grace and dignity for me were his spiritual life, his musical artistry, his unperturbed acceptance of life as it is, and being a WWII veteran who had served his country and harbored no expectations in return."
Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/

Watch Online The Best Jazz Movie

2010-04-23T12:11:00.006+02:00

Jazz on a Summer's Day

Features one of the rare film appearances of two of the greatest jazz artists of all times: New Orleans-born trumpeter Louis Armstrong and Texas-born trombonist Jack Teagarden. When Armstrong formed his six-piece All Stars in 1946 Jack, who was white, was asked to join. The obvious affection these two great performers felt for each other's singing, clowning and playing is particularly evident in their classic performance of "Old Rocking Chair." After Armstrong was invited to return his home town after many years away, he insisted Teagarden join him on the stage. The city refused to let a white man and a Negro play together. Armstrong vowed never to return to New Orleans and kept his word until the day he died.

"Louis Armstrong and his band kitted out in matching blazers with Mother of Pearl buttons. Anita O'Day in her marvelous hat and white gloves. Thelonious Monk and his bamboo sunglasses. In the audience there's the beautiful girl in the red sweater chewing gum. Ascots. Bermuda shorts. Straw hats. Capri pants. And young couples having some real fun. I felt like crying."

"I caught this film about 10 years ago while idly flipping around the cable minefield. It had already started as I began to watch, so I didn't know anything about it till it was over. Like you, I was mesmerized. And suddenly clued in to the magic of my parents' heyday. This was their milieu - jazz, cocktails, effortless style, genuine optimism. All the moments you site in the film are priceless. The juxtaposition of the America's Cup trials, crowd shots and epic performances is very unique and more than holds up today. It was very near the end of an era. The end of jazz as more or less mainstream entertainment. The end of an era of populist panache. The end of optimism. This film filled in a lot of gaps for me. It gave me a window into the world of my parents, at a time when they were just becoming my parents. I've been urging people to see it ever since - and everyone who does see seems sincerely grateful. I wish I'd been able to see the restored print at Lincoln Center. That must have been a treat. "

Cast (in credits order)
Jimmy Giuffre ... Himself
Thelonious Monk ... Himself
Henry Grimes ... Himself
Sonny Stitt ... Himself
Sal Salvador ... Himself
Anita O'Day ... Herself
George Shearing ... Himself
Dinah Washington ... Herself
Gerry Mulligan ... Himself
Big Maybelle ... Herself
Chuck Berry ... Himself
Chico Hamilton ... Himself

Louis Armstrong ... Himself
Jack Teagarden ... Himself
Mahalia Jackson ... Herself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Baily ... Himself
Danny Barcelona ... Himself
Bob Brookmeyer ... Himself
Buck Clayton ... Himself
Willis Conover ... Interviewer
Bill Crow ... Himself
Eric Dolphy ... Himself
Eli's Chosen Six ... Themselves
Art Farmer ... Himself
Harold Gaylon ... Himself
Nathan Gershman ... Himself
Terry Gibbs ... Himself
Urbie Green ... Himself
Jim Hall ... Himself
Peanuts Hucko ... Himself
Jo Jones ... Himself
Ray Mosca ... Himself
Armando Peraza ... Himself
Max Roach ... Himself
Rudy Rutherford ... Himself
Martin Williams ... Jazz Critic in Audience
Patricia Bosworth ... Disgruntled redhead in audience (uncredited)
Directors:Aram Avakian
Bert Stern
Writers:Albert D'Annibale (writer)
Arnold Perl (writer)

Watch and Enjoy:The Band's Visit (Bikur hatizmoret)

2010-04-22T12:08:00.004+02:00

When the Ceremonial Police Band of Alexandria, Egypt, journeys to a gig in Israel, they can hardly anticipate getting stuck in a rut. But upon arrival at the Israeli airport, their hosts and transportation fail to show. So begins first-time director Eran Kolirin's fish-out-of-water comedy The Band's Visit (aka Bikur Hatizmoret, 2007). Trapped in a middle-of-nowhere desert town, the group members try to figure out what to do and where to go. In desperation, two of the musicians -- conductor Tawfiq (Sasson Gabai) and playboy Haled (Saleh Bakri) -- accept an invitation from sexy café owner Dina (Ronit Elkabetz) to bunk at her residence, and seemingly within no time, the unlikeliest of interracial (Israeli-Palestinian) romances begin to blossom -- not only between Tawfiq and Dina, but between Haled and local wallflower Papi (Shlomi Avraham), whose night together at a roller disco turns into a veritable comedy of errors. Meanwhile, the remainder of the bandmembers room with local resident Itzik's (Rubi Moscovich) family, which produces overwhelming conflict and innumerable tensions. As the days roll on, the co-mingling of Egyptian bandmembers and Israeli residents imparts each individual with insights into his cultural identity and that of the others.

ביקור התזמורת

תזמורת משטרה מיצרית מגיעה לישראל במטרה לנגן במרכז חדש לתרבות ערבית בפתח תקווה, הם מגיעים לשדה התעופה תלושים מהמציאות לבושים בבגדי תיזמורת יפים מסודרים ונקיים אך מחרידים להפליא , רק בשביל לגלות כי אף אחד לא טרח לבוא לקחת אותם, אז מפקדם החרוץ ששון גבאי מנסה להוכיח לתזמורת כי הם יסתדרו בכוחות עצמם אך נכשל במשימתו ונבוך הוא שמגלה שסחב את כולם לבית התקווה מקום שכוח אל שם מוצא למזלו את המושיעה והמלאכית רונית אלקבץ יושבת עם שני בחורים מובטלים במזנון הקטן שלה , המפגש בינם לבין ביקורם המפתיע של התיזמורת המצרית שצצה משום מקום, מקורי אך מתאר מפגש חיים פשוט ומרגש. חובה לראות

Визит оркестра
Александрийский церемониальный полицейский оркестр в составе восьми человек прилетает в Израиль, где должен играть на открытии нового Арабского культурного центра. Музыкантов никто не встречает, и они пытаются добраться до нужного города самостоятельно. И оказываются буквально посреди пустыни, в маленьком и не очень дружелюбном на вид городке...
"Из географического казуса режиссер сделал милейшую комедию: конкретно - об арабах и израильтянах, а вообще - о понимании и человечности."

שירת האבן של טוביה יוסטר Tuvia Yuster: a sculptor of the holy and the profane

2010-04-21T13:50:00.002+02:00

In what he does, Tuvia Yuster walks between the local and the universal. In touching the philosophical polarity that characterizes our lives, originality compared to infinity, his works raise questions of identity and belonging. As an artist, he does not completely ascribe himself to formal abstract or figurative sculpture. At the same time, Iuster finds the main inspiration for his work in the Bible. He therefore sees himself as "a sculptor of the holy and the profane".

שירת האבן

ביום שישי הקרוב, 23 באפריל 2010 , בשעה 11.00

בבית העלמין בעין הוד

אזכרה לטוביה יוסטר ז"ל

במלאת 5 שנים למותו

בשעה 12.00 – פתיחת תערוכה מעבודותיו בגלריה

The Balls of Fire

2010-04-14T12:58:00.009+02:00

Bookstore chain removes leftist book from shelves
Days after it began selling the political doctrine The National Left, written by playwright Shmuel Hasfari and attorney Eldad Yaniv, which was sold for NIS 1 ($0.27), Tzomet Sfarim bookstore chain on Sunday announced it will stop distributing the book.
According to information received by Ynet, right-wing elements have been pressuring the chain's management in recent days to stop distributing the book in which the authors make harsh accusations against settlers and the settlement enterprise, calling to dismantle it and "stop the occupation."
The bookstore chain's spokesperson said, "Tzomet Sfarim is a chain for all of the people of Israel and has no political affiliation. It is never responsible for the content of the books that are distributed in its stores. Because we received many complaints that the book hurts the feelings of some of our customers, we decided to stop selling it."
Last September, the authors began distributing the book, which contains ideas on how to resurrect the social-democratic dialogue, and is written in a witty language, interwoven with provocations.
The authors described the settlers as "the lords of the land, hardly pioneers. They never planted a tree or built a house. It’s the Ahmeds that did all that for them. For years the settlers have been forcing us to build the future Palestinian land – at our expense." The authors continue to slam the settlers and write, "The settlers operate on a different type of fuel, which is called messianism. Their god appeared at once and defeated their enemies. After his mishap during the Holocaust – he is back and mightier than ever. They graduated from yeshiva high schools and stormed Judea, Samaria and Gaza with unconquerable messianic passion.
"No one realized that the 'new pioneers' were possessed by demons of messianic madness. Think about the brainwashed minds, hypnotized zombies, gangs of horny teenagers forcing themselves on the country. The young generation of settlers forgot what it's like to be a Zionist."
'Settlers rule the land'
In the book, the authors also describe the differences between the Right and the Left, "A rightist is conservative. A yapper. Polemicist. Resistor. Especially in the face of change. A leftist is a revolutionist. Practical. Leads the way, dares and is victorious. The Right believes that if we continue having the upper hand, we will be saved by the heavens. The Left believes that we must redeem ourselves, by ourselves. That is the reason that Zionism is leftist."
(via YNET read more...)
(Photo by Judy Jaffie)

America’s future is exceedingly bright.

2010-04-08T15:01:00.000+02:00

Over the next 40 years, demographers estimate that the U.S. population will surge by an additional 100 million people, to 400 million over all. The population will be enterprising and relatively young. In 2050, only a quarter will be over 60, compared with 31 percent in China and 41 percent in Japan.

In his book, “The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050,” über-geographer Joel Kotkin sketches out how this growth will change the national landscape. Extrapolating from current trends, he describes an archipelago of vibrant suburban town centers, villages and urban cores.
Over the next 40 years, Kotkin argues, urban downtowns will continue their modest (and perpetually overhyped) revival, but the real action will be out in the compact, self-sufficient suburban villages. Many of these places will be in the sunbelt — the drive to move there remains strong — but Kotkin also points to surging low-cost hubs on the Plains, like Fargo, Dubuque, Iowa City, Sioux Falls, and Boise.
The demographic growth is driven partly by fertility. The American fertility rate is 50 percent higher than Russia, Germany or Japan, and much higher than China. Americans born between 1968 and 1979 are more family-oriented than the boomers before them, and are having larger families.
(read more...)

Ein Hod and Golden Calf 2010 (золотой теленок эйн ход)

2010-04-08T13:26:00.000+02:00

עיצוב העגל: גיא לוגשי, צילום: מריאן מאיר, עריכה: גלריה לבנדל-בלוך

עגל הזהב 2010

עין הוד

(via ein-hod.ning.com)

The Revenge of Dr Robert Atkins

2010-04-07T17:50:00.000+02:00

It is widely believed that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of cancer. In 1990, the World Health Association recommended eating five servings of fruit and vegetables a day to prevent cancer and other diseases. But many studies since then have not been able to confirm a definitive association between fruit and vegetable intake and cancer risk.
The authors found a small inverse association between high intake of fruits and vegetables and reduced overall cancer risk. Vegetable consumption also afforded a modest benefit but was restricted to women. Heavy drinkers who ate many fruits and vegetables had a somewhat reduced risk, but only for cancers caused by smoking and alcohol.
The authors caution against attributing any risk reduction to diet and they conclude that any cancer protective effect of these foods is likely to be modest, at best.
(read more...)

The Howlin' Wolf Story: the definitive documentary

2010-04-04T10:18:00.010+02:00

The Howlin' Wolf Story was directed by Don McGlynn, director of Charles Mingus: Triumph Of The Underdog and many other prize-winning film biographies. It was produced by Joe Lauro, whose company, Historic Films, Inc., supplied much of the footage for Martin Scorsese's blues series on PBS. Their in-depth look at Wolf's life and music includes astounding, rare film footage and never-before-seen photos of Wolf stalking the stage at the 1964 American Folk Blues Festival, on the TV show "Shindig" in 1965, at the 1966 Newport Folk Festival, and in the Chicago clubs in the '50s and '60s.

It also includes entertaining and revealing new interviews with Hubert Sumlin, Jody Williams, Billy Boy Arnold, Sam Lay, Paul Burlison, Wolf's stepdaughters Barbara and Bettye, Dick Shurman, and many other people who played with and knew Wolf in his heyday. This is the definitive documentary about the Wolf—the most complete, personal, and exciting look at the blues legend ever put to film!(via Boogie Disease)

1949 : Tel Aviv and Max Perlman (born in Riga)

2010-03-26T19:46:00.004+02:00

(via Pardes)
A writer in the Revisionist Herut newspaper protested in 1955 against the use of foreign languages in Israel, "the willful slavery and emulation of anything that smells foreign." "אלטע זאכן" (alte zakhn 'used items') – the call of rag-dealers under the pale blue skies of Tel Aviv, he wrote, pierces the heart and is reminiscent of Warsaw. "Is this what we strove for when attaining our independence and putting all our efforts into discarding the Diaspora and everything to do with it? Did we strive to wake up every morning to this language of Jewish rag-dealers?" The writer was particularly upset by the fact that nine out of ten rag-dealers were in fact not of Ashkenazi origins, men who didn't even know Yiddish but nevertheless learnt these particularly humiliating and insulting Yiddish words "אלטע זאכן" (alte zakhn) .
In 1950 a daily newspaper published a letter "Against a Foreign Tongue," written by an IDF soldier:
(from Mendele Review)

I do not intend to criticize those new immigrants who use their native tongue only when they first arrive. Obviously, they have to be aided by their accustomed language when they begin to acclimatize. However, there are some people who are considered "long-timers", who find it necessary to spice their speech in public with some Yiddish. Many cafés and amusement institutions in Israel conduct a large part of their programs – songs, jokes, and so forth – in Yiddish.
In addition to the national sentiment, which forbids us the use of any language but Hebrew, we should also consider the large part of our society that does not understand Yiddish. In the state of Israel we must free ourselves from any diasporic habit, including the diasporic tongue.

Max Perlman (1909-1985) - Perlman was born in Riga, Latvia to a middle-class family. At age six he sang in the choir of Hazan Rosovski and soon began to play children's roles in the theater.He studied at the dramatic studio in the Riga Peretz Club and found work performing in Russian and Yiddish theaters. With the founding of the Riga Nayer Yidishe Teater (New JewishTheater), he turned professional, performing steadily in Kovno and Riga between 1928 and1934. In 1939 he was invited to Argentina, where he stayed for 3 years before moving onto Uruguay and Chile and, in 1945, to Latin America. He toured South Africa in 1948 and 1951and came to the United States in 1952, where he performed regularly from his home base inIsrael. The consummate song and dance man, comedic actor and song writer, Perlmanr eturned to Argentina in 1966 and, in 1967 toured there and in Brazil with Yiddish comedian Shimon Dzigan.

The 2010 Election Manifesto of the Pirate Party UK

2010-03-25T16:04:00.000+02:00

The Pirate Party is a new type of political party.
A party that talks about issues the other parties ignore.
A party free from corruption and expenses scandals, free from lobbyists and party whips.
A party that is not left wing or right wing.
A party that admits it doesn't always have all the answers, and is willing to listen.A party that wants to give you more rights not burden you with any more taxes.
Our manifesto covers 3 main areas: copyright and patent law; privacy law; and freedom of speech.
Copyright and Patents
Our copyright law is hopelessly out of date. The Pirate Party wants a fair and balanced copyright law that is suitable for the 21st century
Copyright should give artists the right to be the only people making money from their work, but that needs to be balanced with 'fair use' rights for the public.
We will legalise use of copyright works where no money changes hands, which will give the public new rights;
A new right to format shift (for example, buy a CD then copy it to an iPod - which is currently illegal);
A new right to time shift (record a TV programme for watching later) and
A new right to share files (which provides free advertising that is essential for less-well-known artists).
Counterfeiting, and profiting directly from other people's work without paying them, will remain illegal(read more...)

אודי דיין אמן משחרר

2010-03-25T12:56:00.001+02:00

גלריה לבנדל בלוך

עין הוד

ניסיתי להגדיר לעצמי מה עושה את יצירותיו של אודי דיין כל כך מיוחדות בעיני

שכן בכל פעם שפגשתי יצירה משלו התמלאתי מעין חדווה עולצת חסרת פשר , סוג של תחושה בלתי אמצעית , שונה לגמרי מקשת האפשרויות שמוכרות לי מול יצירות אמנות אחרות .

המפגש עם יצירותיו לא נמצא בכלל על סולם השיפוט , ההשוואה או ההערכה המקצועית - הוא דומה יותר למפגש של אדם עם נופים חדשים ,צמחים מרתקים או בעלי חי שאותם לא הכיר.

אודי אינו אמן ממחזר או אמן מייצר הוא להגדרתי "אמן משחרר" – הוא זכה למתת ייחודי בעזרתו הוא מצליח לשחרר מהחומר את שאר הרוח שכנראה שוכן בו מאז ומעולם אבל אנחנו לא השכלנו לחזות בו בלעדיו.

והמתנה הזו איננה רק כישרונו הרב ,חריצותו או מקצוענותו השלמה- היא מחייבת חפות מוחלטת מכל אינטרס תועלתני ,חברתי או תרבותי שכן אחרת "שכינת החומרים" ודאי לא הייתה מעניקה לו את חליל הקסם הנדיר שאפשר לו להמחיש בפנינו כאן בספר את "חזון הגרוטאות היבשות" שקם וצועד אחריו במגוון מדהים של ברואי דיין חיוני כל כך.

דן חמיצר

via Babushka

just the straight, natural blues...

2010-03-17T19:07:00.001+02:00

He was born in 1904 in Rossville, TN, and was playing the guitar by the age of 14 with a slide hollowed out of a steer bone. His parents died when Fred was a youngster and the wandering life of a traveling musician soon took hold. The 1920s saw him playing for tips on the street around Memphis, TN, the hoboing life eventually setting him down in Como, MS, where he lived the rest of his life. There McDowell split his time between farming and keeping up with his music by playing weekends for various fish fries, picnics, and house parties in the immediate area. This pattern stayed largely unchanged for the next 30 years until he was discovered in 1959 by folklorist Alan Lomax. Lomax was the first to record this semi-professional bluesman, the results of which were released as part of an American folk music series on the Atlantic label. McDowell, for his part, was happy to have some sounds on records, but continued on with his farming and playing for tips outside of Stuckey's candy store in Como for spare change. It wasn't until Chris Strachwitz — folk-blues enthusiast and owner of the fledgling Arhoolie label — came searching for McDowell to record him that the bluesman's fortunes began to change dramatically.

When Mississippi Fred McDowell proclaimed on one of his last albums, "I do not play no rock & roll," it was less a boast by an aging musician swept aside by the big beat than a mere statement of fact. As a stylist and purveyor of the original Delta blues, he was superb, equal parts Charley Patton and Son House coming to the fore through his roughed-up vocals and slashing bottleneck style of guitar playing. McDowell knew he was the real deal, and while others were diluting and updating their sound to keep pace with the changing times and audiences, Mississippi Fred stood out from the rest of the pack simply by not changing his style one iota
(read more...)

IF IT WASN'T FOR THE IRISH AND THE JEWS

2010-03-17T17:51:00.000+02:00

Last October, Moloney completed an album celebrating these Irish-Jewish relationships both within his own life and in American musical history. Growing up in Limerick, Moloney says, he knew “very little” about Jews or Jewish culture. He met Jewish people for the first time while at college in Dublin, and later learned that Limerick was one of few Irish cities ever to have a pogrom, in 1904. Moloney sees this project as “turning the circle, as it were,” celebrating Irish-Jewish cooperation. “If It Wasn’t for the Irish and the Jews” includes 14 songs, all researched and performed by Moloney, and products of the fruitful and nearly forgotten era of collaboration between Irish and Jewish songwriters in New York’s pre-World War I Tin Pan Alley.

Between 1880 and 1920, waves of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe shifted the makeup of New York City and its entertainment industry. In 1880, Irish immigrants made up one-quarter of New York City’s population and dominated the popular minstrelsy, variety theater and vaudeville scenes. First the Irish took to the New York stage and later the Jews did so, partially because of limited job opportunities elsewhere. The two groups were living on the fringes of society and in close quarters on the Lower East Side, where they often clashed along the rocky road to acceptance into mainstream American society.
Within popular culture, this reciprocity and competition led to fruitful cross-cultural pollination. Moloney points to upstart Jewish songwriters like Leonora Goldberg, who thought that to succeed, she had to “go Irish,” and so she changed her name to Nora Bayes. At the same time, farsighted Irish musicians were “hedging their bets,” worried that the only way to survive was to “go Jewish,” Moloney explained. Though he has heard thousands of songs from this era, Moloney still cannot guess the ethnicity of a song’s writers just by listening. “These were commercial songwriters,” he explained. “They knew what went over. Their genius was that they created these beautiful, crafted songs that just tugged at people’s heartstrings.”(read more...)