Another Stupid Celebrity Name

Supposedly Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are going to name their child Africa. I;m kind of embarrassed to even write about them, but seriously Apple was bad enough. I love the quote the article provides about why they've chosen the name, "It's exotic and mysterious - just like the continent where the baby will be born." Um, exotic to who? The very rich and delusional American celebrities who think they are the cat's meow by feeling sad for third world impoverished children? Maybe they can name their future children in honor of every continent. Except North America, because it contains the US which isn't mysterious or exotic but just very, very evil.

Dubious Ideas

I'm not going to explain in great detail why this idea grosses me out. Just believe me it does. Beer is for drinking. Period.

Economics Geekiness

Columbia Business School students due an alternative "Every Breath You Take" with the new Fed Chair Ben Bernanke as their subject. I thought it was a pretty funny video.

I should be doing work...

...but this video is too good not to link. Israellycool links to a video of interviews with former (reformed)terrorists. All if it has been well known for a long time, it's just amazing to hear it from Muslims themselves.

Fifteen Years Today...

My family and I arrived in America!
(So grateful to be here.)

Update

The Elephant's name is Herbert.

Quote of the Day

"...then I think I mumbled something about wishing we could develop smart bombs that only killed the mullahs and their friends but spared women and children and people who hate the mullahs. The man on my other side said that this certainly would be the most humane bomb ever invented, but the Left would immediately begin attacking it as a profiling bomb."
- Cathy Seipp

It made me laugh, silly people who take profiling too far.

Mr. Potato Head Does Art History

(The posts are short becuase I have gazillion papers to write. And instead of doing work i sit and read entertaining links. Seriously, I think with all the papers I need to write between now and next week I can publish a small novella. Shoot me now.)

Yahoo Sells Out Again

Did I mention how uncomfortable disgusted I am with the Chinese government?

Yumminess

Can't wait to eat the yummy humus after Pesach. One of the best snaks there is and now you can diversify it. For now it's back to matzah and kugal.

Thanks to Alisa I have the cutest Elephant ever. I haven't named him yet. But his greatness comes in the fact that not only is he adorable but he can stand on his nose.

Nothing Less Than Vomit Inducing

Israel's latest suicide bombing once again demonstrates that its dealing with terrorist.

The new Palestinian government, led by Hamas, called the attack a legitimate response to Israeli "aggression."

Democratically elected terrorists, which by the way makes no less horrible than non-elected ones. I would remind various Hamas officials to quit your whining about Americans and Europeans being hypocritical by denying you aid. Your twisted logic is quite transparent and no amount of name calling (I hope) will change that.
I really want to write that the majority of Palestenians want peace just as much as the majority of Israelis do. But i simply don't believe that, a democraticaly elected government reflects people's views. There have been many execuses about why Hamas has been elected - such as promises of cleaning up corruption in the government or better schools. Those execuses strike me as strange, the Nazis' stood for much more than destroying Jews and conquering all of Europe, they had a lot noble ideas in their political platform. However, why didn't anyone execuse the Germans for electing killers on the basis that economic and social situation was horrible and they needed a change?
The bottom line is that the Palestenians voted for a party hell bent on destroying Israel. Jewish people who live in Israel (the evil Zionists) all deserve to die, doesn't matter if you're a secular Jew, a left wing Jew, a Hasid - Hamas wants you dead (and so do the people who elected them). Clear and sadly, simple.

Birthflowers/Birthstones

I never knew there were birthflowers, although i always knew there were birthstones. I don't even think i ever saw my birthflower before this link. But i would prefer lily of the valley over the sweet pea. My birthstone is the most expensive one out of the twelve, i rarely get gifts with it, but when i do i usually lose it. (I'm still mourning a diamond ring i lost last fall, given to me on my sixteenth birthday. Sigh.)

Being Mean To Hipsters

I hate when people just give retarded/semi-ironic answers to seem hip/cool/funny. This is not so, someone should slap hipsters. Saying the most outrageous stupid thing or referencing an obscure or annoying pop icon is not interesting. This slightly reminds me of South Park's recent criticism of The Family Guy.

Pondering: Inequality

"Okay" and "good" should be synonyms, but aren't. "Okay" is always somehow lesser in value than "good." For example an okay soup is something you probably will never crave, but a good soup has a potential of being thought about and actually made again.

g-d says nothing back

This song has been haunting me for a few days now. It's a little sappy and yes Jakob Dylan is not in the same league as his father. But i'll admit that i like a few of the Wallflowers' tunes from the past, i also think it takes guts to follow in your (very successful) father's footsteps and carve out your own sound (albeit it might not be as original as the old man's.)Anyway, this song is going to be as addictive as Damien Rice's The Blower's Daughter (trivia fact - the song ends with Rice singing "I can't take my mind off of you/ 'till i find somebody new" which makes the whole song ten times better for me.)I can already tell. I like the refrain a lot, i'm a sucker for this kind of lyrics.

Through the mornings silver frosted glow
God says nothing back

But I told you soI told you so

Why I Love Bergman and PETA Won't

While doing some research for a paper on Bresson's sound theory i came accross a Bergman's interview on the topic of Bresson's films. It reminded of a interview i read long ago with him. Bergman's answers are always so forthright, blunt, and surprising. When i get home i'll post a more interesting interviews with Bergman.

Q: Do you like animals in general?

B: No, not very much. I have a completely natural aversion for them.

Parker Distaste With Hollywood

She does realize she starred in Failure to Launch, right? Although i agree with her wholeheartedly - Hollywood needs to focus more on putting out mature and interesting films instead of focusing all attention of focus groups consisting of sixteen-year-old boys. It just seems odd for someone who has starred in horribly dumb downed movies to "slam" Hollywood. Last time i checked she was part of Hollywood.

(Link fixed.)

Your Feelings On IKEA Shopping

BloggerAle wants you to take his poll. Ewww that sounded dirty. Just go fill out the survey.

Via Karol.

What He Said

Gib is on a roll here, here (another well deserved Montoya award) , and here (that was a real surprise, seriously). I couldn't have said it better myself and that's why i didn't.

Another Approach To Death

And here i thought the most emberassing way to die was to have a heart attack while having sex. But i guess this wiki-entry has that scenario beat.

via Ace

Multiculturalism: A Beautiful Funny Thing

Happy (early) Pesach.

One Year Older or where i bore you to tears with the self-indulgent post

I have ten minutes till my birthday runs out, scratch that, eight minutes. It's a quiet end to a quiet, yet satisfying day. Let me indulge myself and write about it (sine i forgotten what i was going to post about tonight.) Like the last few months in my life my birthday was a quiet, yet an emotional affair. I haven't been feeling well lately and my medical problems compounded with financial stress and emotional uncertainty have taken a toll lately. But that's Life (as they say). However, the last 24+ hours have been a modest celebration of the things i love (minus a few key people that i missed terribly).

The celebration started early with my S.O. taking me out to a movie (Brick - excellent, see review here) and dinner at Tasca restaurant, a little Spanish place that did not require driving to and so i had the capacity to get pleasantly tipsy and watch another patron, so drunk that she fell off her chair and spilled water on herself - i laughed inside (yes i am aware i am evil). The food was a bit of a disappointment but the company and the cozy atmosphere made up for it. Dali definitely wins the contest for best tapas place in the Boston area.

The next day it was off to the hairdresser to see my sister get her pre-wedding hair. Being in the hair salon made want to chop off my hair, but since i'm under strict orders from the Bride to have long hair until the WEDDING this is an impossibility. It was nice to spend time with my sister and the crazy flamboyant hairdresser who told us about his wild times snorting coke and running off while in the middle of giving someone a haircut. The man was C-R-A-Z-Y but he knew what he was doing when it came to the hair.

For dinner, we (the mishpucha) went to a quasi-Russian restaurant Victor's Cafe and i had duck, a meat i'm loving more and more. But the highlight of the restaurant are the blini (crepes Russian style) that are just the right amount of blandness and taste to be perfect (sounds weird but that's what crepes are all about - a weird balance of taste and texture.)

The night (almost) ended with a ladybug balloon and beautiful white flowers that remind me of my favorite flowers - lily of the valley - but aren't. The perfume they give off is filling my bedroom as i type and the balloon is making me feel like the little girl i sometimes feel i am. So all in all good food and even better company has made the birthday fly by. Plus, i got the BEST present ever, a while back i mourned the death of my Canon Elph (shakes fist at Canon, swearing at their stupid refund policy.) And what i really wanted for this birthday and i knew i couldn't afford was a digital camera, (i missed taking photos terribly and then posting them on the blog for all to see). So i found out that a few of my relatives got together and got me a tiny little piece of visual magic. Yay, photos soon to come.

Now if only i could remember all those blog entries topics i wanted to write about. I guess i am old, i can't remember a thing! So for thos patient people who finished this post i'll let Kelis to take you out with my new anthem (how many times am i going to pimp this song out?).

Fashion after thought: I spent my whole birthday wearing my Pretty Woman/Julia Roberts dress. The brown dress with creme polka dots w/a plunging neckline. I was the image of class. ;)



Minus the hat and Richard Gere.

Another New Video

So the new Flaming Lips The Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Song video might be to more people's liking. But i still can't get Kelis' Bossy out my head.

via Cliptip

Realization

More and more i want to live in one of those yuppie commercials (which are usually advertising toothpaste, deodorant, or shaving cream.)

New Kelis Video

Kelis is back with a new video Bossy, which includes new haircut and a satirical look at the bling culture (from a girl's point of view). The video is actually very beautiful shot with opulent details of the high end life.