Bashir still dancing
Under the auspices of the Haifa Film Festival and the Tel Aviv Journalists’ Association, the Israeli Film Critics Awards ceremony gave Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir a statuette for being the year’s “Best Israeli Film” earlier this week.
The IFC award will have to vie for surface space on Folman’s mantelpiece, as Bashir, a new fusion of genres (documentary and animation), has been garnering accolades for quite some time now. Aside from perhaps finally heralding the dawn of the Israeli feature film animation industry, the movie received mad love at Cannes this past summer.
Now people are starting to wonder if it could be a contender for an Academy Award in the “Foreign Language” category – the category that allowed Joseph Cedar’s Beaufort to beat out The Band’s Visit for an Oscar nomination at the last ceremonies. Could Israeli films possibly be nominated for two Oscars in two years?
The Academy recently released a list of 67 movies chosen for the award by 67 countries, with Waltz with Bashir representing Israel. Since no animated movie has ever received a nomination in the Foreign Language category, it’s highly unlikely that Folman will make it to the red carpet. But then again, given that the Jews rule Hollywood with an iron fist, one never knows….
Foto Friday – Israel’s National Photo Collection
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Movies, Pop Culture, Travel
Ten years ago, at the time of Israel’s jubilee anniversary celebration, the Government Press Office launched a unique website of its images archive. The National Photo Collection is indeed the personal photo album of the State of Israel and it is an amazing if somewhat overlooked trove of treasure for anyone interested in Israeli history – political, social and cultural. Personally, I go for the pop culture, so here are three images from the 60s and 70s of glamorous celebrities visiting and supporting Israel. There are plenty more.
Sophia Loren Arriving at Lod Airport For Filming of the Movie “Judith” In Israel, 1964
Photograph: Fritz Cohen. Israel GPO National Photo Collection
Film Stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Visiting Western Wall Plaza In Jerusalem, 1975
Photograph: Sa’ar Ya’acov, Israel GPO National Photo Collection
Hollywood Singer And Actress Diana Ross Making P.M. Itzhak Rabin Join In Her Song During The ‘Salute To Israel’ Gala Dinner In Los Angeles, 1976
Photograph: Sa’ar Ya’acov, Israel GPO National Photo Collection
Israel, the swing state
While the Israeli-Arab conflict is probably somewhere under the plight of the spotted owl as an issue important to the American voter, Israel might end up playing an important role in the elections anyway.
According to Shimon Greenspan, director of the nonpartisan Vote From Israel organization, which helps Americans living in Israel to register and cast their absentee ballots, approximately half of some 42,000 registered US voters living in Israel are voting in swing states such as Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania
“If the election is close, as it was in the past two [presidential] elections, then the deciding votes could be coming from Israel,” he told The Jerusalem Post today. According to the organization, Israel has the third-largest group of American voters abroad, behind Canada and Britain.
Sensing that the Israel vote could be important, representatives of Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama are scouring the country try to woo voters, especially voters from Florida, according to the Bloomberg news agency.
Republicans Abroad in Israel has been passing out bumper stickers that carry McCain’s name rendered in Hebrew. Democrats Abroad set up booths on Israeli campuses to promote Obama, 47, to year-abroad students.
Kory Bardash, co-chairman of the Republicans Abroad in Israel, focuses on areas where there are lots of Americans, including the Tel Aviv suburb of Ra’anana and West Bank settlements Efrat and Maale Adumim. At a retirement home in Jerusalem, he helped register a 105-year-old Democrat, Miriam Pollack, who is from Delray Beach, Florida. Obama is “too much of a risk,” Bardash said she told him.
Democrats are signing up students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and promoting absentee ballots at house parties. A get-out-the-vote event closer to the election is planned at Mike’s Place, a bar overlooking Tel Aviv’s beach next to the U.S. Embassy, said Joanne Yaron, chairwoman of Israel’s Democrats Abroad.
Hey guys, it looks like we’re going to have our own elections to deal with soon. So chill out, and leave the voting to those Americans living in the US. We’re too busy dusting off our Center Party buttons.
Anyone for a snake massage?
Got an ache that just won’t go away? Well try a snake massage.
Yes, for the brave amongst us, a spa in northern Israel is now using snakes to give clients a massage they are no doubt unlikely to forget.
Ada Barak who owns the snake spa in Talmei Elazar uses a variety of California and Florida king snakes, corn snakes and milk snakes to help soothe her clients’ aches and pains, and let their troubles literally slide away.
While many – myself included – might balk at the thought of it, Barak, who has been offering snake massages for the last two years, believes that once people overcome their fears, physical contact with the reptiles can be a relaxing and stress-relieving experience.
Many regular clients claim the snakes help ease migraines and soothe sore muscles.
“Some people said that holding the snakes made them feel better, relaxed,” she announced in an article with Time Magazine reporter Tim McGirk, who was brave enough to try it out himself. “One old lady said it was soothing, like a cold compress.”
After his initial panic, McGirk seemed to like it.
The snakes, which aren’t venomous, offer a variety of massage sensations, according to Barak. The large ones offer a kneading effect which helps alleviate deep muscle tension, while the small ones have a fluttering effect.
The cost of this massage – $80.
Barak is clearly not your usual masseur. Aside from her snake spa, she owns a carnivorous plant farm, from which she derives most of her income. These plants eat anything from insects and small mammals to schnitzel.
In April this year, Barak appeared on American chat show, the Tyra Banks Show, for an episode on beauty tips from around the world. Tyra started screaming, and Barak lost a snake down her shirt.
So what’s next – black widow spider massage perhaps? Or why not throw caution to the winds and try a snake massage with the venomous kind. You can find quite a few in the hills around here.
Aviv Gefgen to release first album in English
Israel’s number one moperocker and emo poster boy Aviv Geffen is poised for, ahem, ahem, international stardom with the release of his first all-English solo album. Gefen has recorded in English before, most notably with Stephen Wilson of The Porcupine Tree. The two achieved success in Israel and Europe with their band Blackfield which delivered two albums of pretty damn good prog-pop. His new album is being produced by veteran producer Trevor Horn and Geffen has lined up a few key opening spots on former Suede frontman Brett Anderson Berlin and Paris gigs as well as a few opening spots on Mercury Rev’s current tour. Geffen and Mercury Rev go way back. A few years ago I saw Mercury Rev at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv (incredible show!) and Geffen joined them on guitar on a song or two.
Ynet reports:
“Anderson got my latest album from my London office,” Geffen told Yedioth Ahronoth. “We met for coffee, he told me he loved the songs and then asked me if I would like to open for his Berlin and Paris gigs. “I was floored. He just set it all up with the office. We’re also talking about headlining a concert together. He’ll be performing my songs and I’ll be performing his. This is a really big deal,” Geffen continued. “Brett Anderson, to me and to an entire generation that grew up in the 90s, is a big deal and someone to learn from.
While I do concede that Geffen has an incredible gift of melody I am a bit skeptical whether he can pull off an entire album in English. You can hear a couple of tracks on his myspace page. His accent isn’t as strong (thought it is there) as I have heard in the past but the lyrics are, uh, not so good.
You can watch his electronic press kit on the YouTube:
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