I didn't even dream about something so

Unbelievably cool.

Black Friday craziness

So apparently there is a thing called "black friday", when stores offer amazing discounts. So amazing, that they spark spontaneous mega-choreographies I could only dream of producing. I love it! Thanx to my lovely wife for sharing these wonderful moments.

*note: I recommend watching the three of them simultaneously. bonapetit.

Let's use only S words to describe it

Super smooth, sexy, slow, soulful, spacey set by my sexy friend Mr. Eyal Rob. Enjoy DJ EyalRob - Soul Ecstasy #9 - The 1 who loves it slo by robeyal

It's time for the Percumajor

This one's not new or anything, but I looove it. The track naturally rocks like Major Lazer usually does, but I lobe the video as well. Something with the way it's playing all those super familiar images works for me, and also thanx to it I got acquainted with the original one, which has a mega GORGEOUS vid on youtube as well

And here's a cat watching an iPad with a cat watching an iPad in it

poetry

Performance (is not) Art, made in India

Jason Kottke twitted this video as "the craziest thing you'll ever see on the web". i'm not sure I agree (it depends on your definition of crazy), but I do think it's pretty amazing, and actually very cool if read through the prism of the performative context. It has elements of early classic 1970's performance work that focused on endurance and pain (Abramovic, Pane, Burden, Acconci, etc.), alongside a more contemporary dramaturgy we know from performance recent work, and the circus-like presentational strategy; And of course, we cannot look at it without at least a hint of orientalism. Anyway it's super entertaining. I especially like the Indian Paula Abdul and her reactions. Enjoy!

Does Israel still need democracy? (this one is serious)

What's happening in Israel these days is starting to look like a really bad sci-fi-tragi-not-so-comic-more-like-horror movie. An extremely right wing nationalistic government is constantly passing new laws, aimed at restricting the supreme court, the free press and human rights organizations and hurt the status of non-jewish minority groups. 


Professor Zeev Sternhell published this text in Haaretz daily newspaper, it is highly recommend if anyone is interested: Does Israel still need democracy? - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News


Here are some random quotes from it:

The individual has ceased to be at the core of Israel’s democracy, with the right-wing majority aggressively pursuing legislation that turns the country’s non-Jews into second-class citizens. Anyone who allows this to happen will be complicit in the country’s fate.

Making non-Jews into second-class citizens is the objective aspired to by the right-wing majority in Israel. Acting on behalf of this movement are the ministers of justice and foreign affairs, who have the backing of the entire parliamentary elite of the right, except for the Speaker of the Knesset, Reuven Rivlin. Even when the activity is conducted within the framework of the law, it is stridently opposed to the foundations and spirit of democracy, and to the intellectual values of liberalism.

[...] the core of democracy’s existence is the assurance of human rights and individual freedoms. Majority rule is the means to that end, not a goal in itself. Majority rule came into the world as an alternative to rule of the individual or of the few, in order to prevent arbitrariness and to guarantee equality for all. Therefore, majority rule is limited by the purpose for which it was created: Rule of the majority loses its legitimacy the moment it harms human rights and denies universal norms of equality. Through majority rule, democracy can also terminate itself.

[...] the state is not conceived as a device to ensure the well-being of all its citizens, but as a framework that facilitates the enforcement of supremacy of the Jews over those who are not Jews. One should not misunderstand the intentions of the right. The seriousness of the current antidemocratic legislation derives from the fact that it is anchored in an inclusive outlook, that it serves a clear objective, and is nothing but the first stage in the major war to change the character of the state and society in Israel.

At this point, it seems proper that Israelis take stock of their situation. What would we say if the legislation now making its way through the Knesset were to be passed in one of the European countries? What would we be saying if documents were publicized there − akin to the statements and rulings of Israeli rabbis − demanding that apartments not be rented to non-Christians, or forbidding girls from dating non-Christians, even though the reference is to other citizens of that country? Without a doubt, a loud outcry would arise here: The monster is again raising its head. So it would be worthwhile to consider the fact that the monster is already walking, head held high, through the hallways of the Knesset, and proudly displaying its accomplishments. 

Haaretz has also put up a special section covering these disturbing political moves under the title Black flag over Israel's Democracy, please check it out. I'm also talking to some activist friends trying to figure out what's the proper web action to be carried out.


And to conclude in a comic note, here's a PSA produced by the ministry of "Aliya" (the special term that designates much wanted and very much campaigned jewish immigration to Israel), starring my close friend, the beautiful Naama Schendar (she got a lot of money for it, that helped her continue her amazing project, a theater group with jewish and arab kids in Akko, so there is some justice there), aimed at convincing Israelis who live abroad and their families that they must come back ASAP. 
The guy in the ad fails to understand his girlfriend's grief in Israel's memorial day, as instead of having sex with him (and here lies another, more hidden level of the racism in this video: the "gois" are all sex maniacs who want to violate our precious, luscious, innocent girls) she's shedding a tear in front of the computer. 
The text that the responsible-but-yet-warm fatherly voice at the end says is "They will always remain Israelis. Their partners won't always understand what it means. Help them to come back home". Seriously, he says that. 
I repeat, this is not a parody. 

RIP Evelyn Mchale

23 year old Evelyn Mchale committed suicide jumping off the Empire State Building in May 1st, 1947. This unusual image was taken by a photography student the happens to be around a few minutes after her death. It haunts me since James showed it to me earlier today. A lot was written about it already, for example here in Jason Kottke's blog, where there's also a link to a caption from the original life publication of this amazing, eerie image. She looks like a hollywood star laying in her soft bed after a hard day on the set of some stupid comedy. The fact her suicide note was so desperately sad, writing about her fiancee "He is much better off without me … I wouldn’t make a good wife for anybody", only adds to the depressive glamour of this moment. A beautiful demonstration of the archaic, basic relation between death and aesthetics. 

Somewhere between 2001 and Star Wars

...There is NASA. There is naturally something breathtaking in these images, but the music is a bit annoying. I recommend watching while listening to Sun Ra

Haifa Gymanstics, July 2011

I guess some nights are meant for blogging. I just found this video on YouTube, so I have to add one more post. It's us doing Samuel Beckett's piece "Quad" in Haifa Museum in Israel this July. The video, apparently uploaded by the museum, shows Amit Hadari, Osnat Kelner, Subi and myself performing 1/8 of the play, and then me desperately trying to talk to the audience, explaining the piece's structure and trying to get some volunteers to join and perform it with us. What I didn't really consider when I decided to do that, was the sound from numerous video and audio installations that were working all around the museum, as well as the museum visitors, who weren't really into listening to what I had to say... So at some point I just did what sometimes a man's gotta do: shut up and keep walking.

Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi

Continuing the Meaty theme, Subi just showed me this amazing, scary, effective and weirdly entertaining short propaganda film, made by Walt Disney studios in 1943. The film is one of dozens, commissioned by the US Government in the late years of WW2; a deal that saved the studio from bankruptcy, which was an actual threat after the crazy costs of Fantasia. There's something very eerie about it. For more about Disney's involvement in the war propaganda, check out these articles, published during the war in "flying and popular aviation" Mag.

Bieber Meat

Sometimes I really am speechless. Found in the blog inspiringly titled Blame it on the voices

James is coming

My dear friend Lady James Unsworth is coming all the way from London to stay in the kitchen and also do an exhibition at this place in Neukölln

and you thought they didn't like gay guys in Jamaica

An adorable Yami Bolo in a 1984 heartbreaking performance:

Azealia Banks is HOT

Once again, thank you Michal

Don't go breaking my heart

Like many other gruesome goodies, this was also waiting for me on Yair Reshef's website. The reason I like it (apart from the narrator's voice) is that it takes a metaphor seriously, and we like to do that.
I think I need to do this live