Nostalgia Sunday – Arrivederci Analog

February 27, 2011 - 10:03 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Business, Entertainment, Environment, General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Movies, News, Nostalgia Sunday, Politics, Pop Culture, Technology, tv 

Israel is on the brink of revolution and doesn’t even know it. No, not that kind. On March 30, 2011, analog television broadcasting will cease to be and henceforth, we will be a purely digital nation. As with Morse Code, HAM radio, fax and other tried and true technologies, analog is being put out to pasture.

The Ministry of Communications has produced a series of friendly ads featuring a 70s-style dude in black and white, who lets you know in no uncertain terms that, “The old method of broadcasting via rooftop antennae is passing from this world. It’s over. The end.”

Which makes it a perfect time to wax nostalgic for the old aluminum rooftop antenna. After television broadcasting commenced in Israel in 1968, these sprouted up like so many spindly saplings in a JNF forest, covering every city and town throughout the land.

In addition to creating urban blight, the rooftop antenna — aided by its housebound cousin, the rabbit ears antenna on the set-top — was also the source of many an amusing moment. I distinctly remember, days before the first Gulf War, standing on my friend’s roof, metal mop handle in one hand, antenna in the other, furiously tying one to the other and then both to a old chair, in hopes of improving the TV reception. (PS: It worked). And of course, one could spend hours making shapes out of a piece of tin foil in hopes of accessing Jordan TV in English.

Of course, if you really wanted good reception — and you had the means — you could just invest in a bigger antenna. These got so big and so ugly that eventually a new style was born to suit the nouveau riche: the TV antenna in the shape of the Eiffel Tower. Ooh la la!

Then, in the early 90s, cable TV came and changed everything. A decade later, satellite TV was launched. Aside from bringing Israel into the international brotherhood of couch potatoes (to be discussed in depth on another occasion), these platforms also changed our landscape; the rooftop antennas began falling into disuse and then literally fell to pieces. These the neighbors would sweep up. Sometimes.

And now, we are set to follow the worldwide trend towards Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) where, as explained by the 21st century dude in the ads (he’s the one in color), we’ll be able to receive programming via a reception kit comprising a tuner and antenna.

Wait. Did he just say antenna? Yes, but only a very small one. And it can’t do nuthin’ without the decoder.

DTT’s many advantages — better reception, environmental friendliness — are explained in a series of commercials from IDAN+, a joint venture of the Second Television Broadcasting Authority (which is in charge of aggregation and distribution) and Bezeq, our semi-privatized national telecommunications company (charged with technical responsibility of the network). Another advantage: after the initial small outlay for the kit, no more paying an average of NIS 2,400 annually to HOT cable or YES satellite television for free-to-air channels.

Plus, you have no choice. The era of accessing the airwaves freely is over and the long arm of the government is ever more easily able to stretch out and turn off the information tap, should it choose. Our saving grace, here in Israel, is that the government’s arm is very often busy scratching its nether parts and if a tap needs to be repaired, you could wait forever for a plumber.

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Nostalgia Sunday – Hasamba!

January 18, 2009 - 11:55 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Art, General, Israeliness, Movies, Pop Culture 

Someday, Israeli adults of the future are going to be very nostalgic for Deus, a cyberpunk series on the Children’s Channel that I’m rapidly becoming addicted to. And for good reason: Deus is absolutely great. It has all the elements of 90210 – acne-ridden angst, mean girls, star-crossed puppy love – fused with HAL from 2001.

deus_group

I don’t want to give too much away because while researching Deus – also written OIXT in a bit of Hebrew-English typographic wordplay (read it backwards in Hebrew)– I found out that there are 52 episodes – and I’ve only seen, like, a few, and don’t want to spoil the surprise for myself.

What you can know is that Deus is produced by Movie Plus, (the same people who brought you “Beaufort”) for Yes satellite television, is directed by Gidi Dar, and stars some very cute young Israeli actors and actresses. And the opening theme by Ady Cohen is really good too.

deus_logoSo, this is what I know so far: Danny is a high-school hacker who, together with gamer pal Tomer, becomes embroiled a world of intrigue and danger, after hacking into the local mall security cameras to broadcast footage of the class teacher on a date, as revenge for an unjust punishment, posting it on a blog run by classmate Dafna, an aspiring journalist whose father has been arrested on suspicion of illegal business dealings, but the police discover that Dr. Werner, the missing partner in a company called Deus, run by the nefarious Mr. Gold, appears on the tape, after which intrepid policewoman Schneider begins investigating Danny against the wishes of her cantankerous commander, and meanwhile, Danny has fallen for fellow hacker, the beautiful Adissa, and class king Idan has gone missing only to return with a mysterious memory loss that binds him to Deus… and now, all the kids in school are installing Deus software on their computers, which watches them constantly via a big giant eye… and Deus has just been introduced into the classroom as a teaching aid… and there’s a big Deus dirigible hanging over Tel Aviv… and a hit man went after Danny… omigod… omigod…and we’re only up to Episode 10!

hasamba_book_jacketSo, what were the big tween hits of yesteryear? Hasamba! Israelis of a certain age reserve the same sort of passion when speaking about Hasamba that their kids do for Deus today. Hasamba was a series of books by Yigal Mosenzon about a group of do-gooder kids – Yaron Zahavi, Tamar, Fat Ehud, Menashe the Yemenite, Skinny Uzi and Moshe Yerachmiel – who fought crime and brought evil gangs to justice. A sort of kova tembel-wearing Emil and The Detectives, if you will.

In the 1970 movie, Hasamba and the Delinquents, underworld kingpin Elimelech Zorkin hires a gang called The Black Handkerchiefs to do a job, but is foiled by the members of Havurat Sod Muhlat Behehlet, roughly translated as “the absolutely positively secret society”, whose acronym is… Hasamba!

You may recognize a young Shlomo Artzi, for many years now a singer, as the actor playing Yaron Zahavi.

377px-dani_dinThen there was Danny Din, “the watchful unseen boy”, who starred in a series of books in which he executed missions on behalf of the Israeli security establishment that they could not do, but a 10-year old invisible boy could. You know how that is, Harry Potter fans. This book jacket is from “Danny Din In the Six Day War”. Compare that heroic effort with Deus’ Danny, who believes that he’s being hounded by the Mossad. How times have changed.

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Giving up on reality, getting some religion

September 7, 2008 - 4:34 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Politics 

I’m done with locally produced reality television. There is very little payoff, too much contrived drama and way too many episodes. We’ve got our homegrown versions of every popular American reality tv show – Survivor (with the contestants spending over 50 days instead of the usual 30-something, it dragged on and on), American Idol (Kochav Nolad) and even our very own version of the always endearing Beauty and the Geek (which is really bad by the way). And now the latest reality television craze is our very own Big Brother. I have absolutely no plans to ever watch an episode. I will avoid it like I avoid Coldplay.

I want some sort of closure and Israeli reality tv shows does not provide. For example, Survivor was broadcast on a Saturday night but the network wouldn’t broadcast the tribal council until Sunday night. I want the overall story arch but I need something wrapped up in at least one episode. Like Law and Order. A network can’t expect me to dedicate two nights a week to their show. It’s just too much.

So I’ve changed things up a bit. I’m incredibly addicted to Srugim (Knitted Kippas), a pretty serious and intense drama about religious singles like in Jerusalem. Both the wife and I find the characters incredibly engaging, yet we find the show extremely depressing.

So after the intensity of watching singles desperately trying to find soulmates (and themselves) I need something, well, a bit more simple.

I’m all about “Head in the Wall.”

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Sex in the holy city

June 25, 2008 - 9:00 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Pop Culture 

Well, actually, there’s no sex in Srugim (roughly translated as Knitted, for the crocheted yarmulkes worn by the mostly Modern Orthodox guys in this series), the new Yes satellite channel relationship drama about religious twenty- and thirtysomethings in Jerusalem. That’s because this is a show about the dating dilemmas, romances and friendships of this very particular crowd, who may kiss, but not necessarily, and generally don’t do boy-girl sleepovers either, except if they’ve had too much to drink and shouldn’t be driving.

And when they do sleep over, as one male character does in the first episode of the show, he asks if either of the two female roommates has tefillin that he can use, which, of course, they don’t. When they get him a pair from the next-door neighbor who is both female and American, he says he can’t use a “Reform lesbian’s tefillin.” At which point, the roommate with whom he had been on the date, tells him to leave.

It’s fairly ground-breaking stuff for Israeli television, given that Laizy Shapira, the creator of the series, takes a long, detailed look at the world of dati, religious Israelis, but with an honest lens. There’s nothing derogatory about the focus either, which may say something about how far Israeli society has come. There was a time, and not so long ago, when I don’t think Israeli television could support a show about the challenges and mores of modern, religious Israeli society.

But times seem to have changed, and here’s a drama that offers pathos, humor and some necessary sarcasm in looking at the lives of these singles and their search for love and truth. Judging by the comments on the YES website, viewers are ready for the next episode, although one did comment that a show without sex just isn’t a TV show. I guess they’ll have to wait and see.

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