At The Movies With Margaret and David

Sorry for the absence of bloggage but the interwebz have stopped at my place. Probably b/c we didn't pay for it for 6 months. So while we get that sorted out I have to find trendy cafes to blog in.... ahhhh the joys of hipster pretension.

And while I'm being a wanker i'll run with it and give ya'll some movie recommendations or non-recommendations.

1) The Bubble (ha'buah)

Its an Israeli film - about 5 or 6 years old set in the gay community of Tel Aviv. Basically what happens when a gay Israeli falls in love with a gay Palestinian? It's a good movie most of the time. They do the sex scenes really well and its cute seeing well known places in Tel Aviv in a movie. It gets a bit over dramatic at some times and the ending is totally lame. But apart from that show it to your left-wing ambivalent about Israel friends to demonstrate that Zion is the San Fransisco of the middle east. 6/10

2) Lolita

Stanley Kubrick - need I say any more? It's from 1962 and the screenplay was written by the original author so its a pretty good adaption of the book apparently. The story rotates around a middle aged man's relationship with a 12/13 year old girl. Yes it's pedophilia. It's interesting because nobody really seems fully guilty for something thats so clearly wrong. The movie is good b/c it's entertaining and kinda makes u think. Its bad b/c it makes u rethink whether pedophilia really is that bad (don't be fooled - it is that bad). 7/10

3) Hard Candy

Similar theme. It stars the girl from Juno as a 14-year-old girl who's trying to seek revenge on a pedophile that she finds from the internet. More of a thriller than Lolita but also shows the grey sides of what we would assume is a black n while moral issue. 8/10

4) Before Sunrise

A 1995 movie set in Vienna (i think) about a French girl and an American boy who meet on a train and have only one night together. The film is basically just their pseudo-intellectual youthful musings in conversation about love, life and sex. It's ok. Like, the cinematography is very nice and occasionally the film hits really poignant notes. but for the most part it's a bit too mushy/emo for my liking. 5/10

5) Jeux D'enfants

A French film - in the style of Mic Macs and Amelie. Two kids start a game of dares that continues into their adulthood. They fall in love and mess it up. Will it ever work out? And then random descensions into cartoons and thinking bubbles. Cute, but you don't really understand the characters and why they are so hopeless at getting it together. Sometimes way toooooo mushy ( and I quote "theres a merry go round in your heart!") and way too many 'we're never going to see each other again - so i'll run after the bus saying I love you' scenes. Basically - very French. So good, if you're into that sorta thing. 6/10

6) Casablanca

Look - had I been born in 1950 I probably would have loved this film. But b/c I'm part of the mtv generation it's annoying when movies don't move fast enough and have slow dialogue and unnecessary scenes. Apart from that - great costumes and a beautiful love story. definitely better than any modern chick flick. 7/10

7) The Virgin Suicides

Sophia Coppola's debut film (I think). The direction and cinematography are beautiful. But I don't think that I really got the movie. It's about a household of girls. They are beautiful. Boys want them. Their parents want to keep them away from boys. Things don't go well. And then things go really badly. But why? I don't really understand. So it gets points for being pretty - but loses points for being incomprehensible. 7/10

8) Rana's wedding

Palestinian film about a girl who's given 24 hours to get married or her father is taking her away to Egypt. So she's trying to marry her boyfriend but things are difficult b/c of her father and bureaucracy and the occupation. Look, I really wanted this movie to be great. I wanted it to be beautiful and funny and poignant. But it was mainly just boring. Sorry Palestine - better luck next time. 5/10

9) Kids

Larry Clark directed it in 1995. It's set on the streets of New York in the summer. It follows a day in the life of a bunch of 15 year olds who are seriously into violence, petty crime, drugs and lots and lots of sex. It's brilliant. Great script. Really good direction. And a really powerful movie. Super recommended but don't see it with religious people or your parents. 9/10

10) The Lonely man of faith

A movie made about the life and theology of the Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik. So it's a bit of a general fan film made out of loving devotion and thats cute. But the best part of the otherwise slightly dull move (I mean its a movie about a rabbi - what more do u expect?) is seeing how orthodoxy functioned in Europe and America before the harediazation of the 80s and 90s. The Rav's wife didn't cover her hair. She had a phd. There were sleeveless dresses and mixed dancing everywhere. Things were kosher based on reading the ingredients on the back of the packet (ie: if it didn't list pig then go for it!). Ahh the joys of the innocent bygone time. But apart from that, it's a movie about a rabbi. That's about it. 6/10

That will do for now.

Cheers y'all.

Cross-Pollination

Hello all. So I'm currently a little bit distracted from blogging by things like brotherly (and friendly) visits and exams (eek!).

So I'll let you know about something that I've noticed on the streets of Jerusalem recently.

First of all there is a woman who takes my bus who wears a hijab. No biggie except that she's JEWISH! I know this because she davens shacharit on the bus every morning. Honestly, if she's so frum that she wears a hijab you'd think she could wake up the extra half hour earlier to daven at home. But then we wouldn't know she's Jewish... so it's probably on purpose. Additionally however, there are plenty of Jewish hijab wearers around. I've seen a couple in the tachana ha merkazit and at the kotel. Obviously I'm not a fan of this.

Another thing that I've noticed recently, are Arab girls in Jerusalem not wearing hijabs but instead wearing turtlenecks and mitpachot (head-scarves) in the style of married settler women. They do them really nicely, with different coloured scarves and styles. I'm sure it's probably considered scandalous within their communities, because they are adopting foreign culture and fashion. It's probably also considered promiscuous because you can see more skin in this style.

Basically I find these two observations interesting because its strange two see two groups of women who generally do not interact and when they do they tend to express antipathy towards one another yet in some aspects they are really influenced by one another.

Good thing?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Doing Gila Mandelson Proud

I spend my whole day checking out women. I know it sounds like I have some repression sexuality spectrum issues but it's true.

I watch women.

I watch to see what they are wearing.

You see, adoring public, as a skirt/sleeve/neckline wearer of the orthodox female variety every piece of clothing has to be evaluated from both a fashion and a tsniut perspective.

As such, I'm consistently checking out the other girls at university to see if I could wear what they are wearing or what additional items are required to hide my nakedness.

In Israel if I find a girl whose entire outfit I could wear, it normally means that she's also religious.

In Australia however, I extracted much joy from discovering random Asians, Indians, Africans who seem to have gotten their outfits straight from halichos bas yisroel (it's where I get all my fashion trips from). Granted, the frequency of these sightings decreases as summer approaches.

Case in note random adorable Asian girl in the top left hand corner from http://facehunter.blogspot.com/

I could wear this outfit very easily, it even includes stockings, flat shoes and to-the-elbow sleeves! How the bearded and hatted would approve! Not to mention that she looks like she's just my size! Ahhhhh she's the frum Asian me!

As a final note on this topic to young single kippa wearers. I strongly recommended that you appreciate the skill required to hide those knees but still look like a normal human being. You might want to consider compliments as a way of positive reinforcement.

Thanx boys.

Jericho

So I went to Jericho this week. It was exceeding dull. But I'll tell ya'll about it anyways.

Apaz its the oldest city in the world, like 10,000 years old.

There's a lot of ruins in it and archeological stuff. But it turns out that archeology is the most boring thing ever. Rocks and pits and clay bits. Snore.

Apart from that not much is happening in Jericho. There's a casino that a lot of Israelis frequented before the intifada. So now that source of income for the city is gone b/c it's area A (Google the Oslo accords for more details). There's only like 20,000 people who live there anyways. Which is a very small city indeed. It take about half an hour to walk from the city center to the outskirts.

There seemed to be a lot of construction but at the same time a bajillion closed stores and people just loitering around the streets. There were a lot of Africans there. They looked Sudanese or Eritrean. but I'm not sure how that would have happened...

In any case, not a recommended expedition.

With that, happy Sylvester and shavua tov.