San Servolo #2

Let's begin on a side note. I just noticed I'm posting on a Thursday again, and I wonder If anyone ever researched the creative powers of a sunny Thursday morning. Obviously I'm speaking only for myself, but at the end of the week I tend to be more relaxed, because I'm safe in the knowledge that if I only make it through just a few more hours I'll have made it through another week. It is a well known fact that relaxation induces creativity*, so the connection seems quite clear, doesn't it?

Now, to the subject at hand. The trip to Italy is all planned out. I'll be in Italy for two weeks, starting from the 17th of June: the first four days I'll be with Linn (my coworker) at the conference, and the remaining 10 days I'll be joined by my friend Ohad. You can have a look at the schedule I've prepared, here (sorry - Hebrew).
We have already payed for the hotel in Bologna, the hotel in Rome, and the car we'll be driving. I was expecting to be most exited about the trip to San Lazzaro, but the mere thought of driving an Alfa for a week make makes me tingly all over...

For now, switching subjects again, I'll leave you with a clip that really speaks for itself. Some of you might have seen it already, because it really spread like wildfire for a while, but I don't care - watch it again, it's worth it.



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*OK, I just made that up, but if there's anything I learned from watching the Colbert Report is that if something just feels right it is right it IS right. Evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or actual facts cannot be invoked to prove otherwise!

Thursday's "links-o-plenty"

OK, so no post for a month. All I can say is that I've spent a couple of weeks completing an art paper I got a 100 for, so time well spent.
Now, here's what I bookmarked so far, in hopes of everything becoming one coherent post:

1. Blur are reuniting. It seems that this summer they'll try to have a go at it, see if they can come out with something they can sell. I guess Graham Coxon's career didn't take off like Damon Albarn's...

2. This is just too ridiculous, I heard it on the Colbert Report and had to look it up. A Japanese company called "Toto", which is "Japan's leading toilet manufacturer" had a bit of a snafu with their latest Z-series of bidet accessories - they apparently can catch fire spontaneously. All I have to say is, that what made me really laugh was what the spokesperson had too say: "Fortunately nobody was using the toilets when the fire broke out ...the fire would have been just under your buttocks". That's just insightful.

3. Recently I've come across two new products that although seem very cool - I can't really see the point in them, no one can, for that matter. The first is a flashlight with an integrated cell phone. I can understand, maybe, an integrated camera (you know, for spying and whatnot), but this is just going a little too far. The second isn't really that far fetched, but still - it's a Tuscan TVR computer mouse. Oh, and by the way, if you are into novelty mice (and maybe into taxidermy) you might find this interesting: it's the real mouse mouse!

4. I saved the best for last. Since 1994, when I bought my first "FIFA soccer" game, there's been a constant voice in my life, and if you ever played any "EA sports" game you might have it too. Everyone I know tried at least once or twice to imitate it, you can't help it, but with this you'll be screaming "it's in the game" like a pro.

Portrait of a modern family

Yet again: Short #3

I found a post called "Most Awkward Interviews" (via digg).
All I'm gonna say is this: Tom Cruise is such a huge asshole, he really really is. As much as I love Jon Stewart (and that clip from 2004), if you can only watch one clip watch the one with Tom Cruise: if we all work hard enough to raise awareness, maybe one day everyone will acknowledge just how big of an asshole the dude really is.
You know what - here it is:

Rona Yekirati

Well, as you'll soon see, this post will be bilingual. I don't want to get into why I've been writing in English and not Hebrew – I have multiple reasons and I'm sure I'll get to them someday. What I would like to do is post a letter I wrote a few days ago to an Israeli singer-songwriter called Rona Keinan. Again, I know, it's in Hebrew. Most of you will appreciate having a break from the English, and those of you who won't – you'll just have to deal with it!

Now, before reading on, you have to keep in mind two important things: I might have embellished a bit (well maybe a lot) just so I could get the point across more clearly, and above all – it's a very personal letter, and though I'm not sure Rona will ever get what I sent I guess posting it here has its value, maybe she'll get here by Googling herself…

"רונה יקירתי,

מוזר לי לכתוב כאן, אבל היות והרגשתי שאני צריך לכתוב לך ולא מצאתי דרך יותר טובה, אז הנה...

ראשית ווידוי - אף פעם לא שמעתי שיר שלך עד לפני כמה ימים. אני לא אדם גלגל"צי ומרבית המוזיקה שאני סופג מגיעה מהמחלקה של המוסיקה "האלטרנטיבית" והעצמאית הלועזית. לפני כמה זמן שמעתי שיר שלך בגלי צהל בזמן שנסעתי באוטובוס, ולמרות שאחרי כמה דקות כבר הגעתי ליעדי, ואחרי כמה שעות יצאתי והגעתי הביתה, השיר לא עזב אותי. וזה לא הטריד כי ממש נהניתי מהשיר, "prison by the sea" זה היה. בקיצור, קניתי את הדיסק האחרון שלך יום למחרת.

אז למה אני כותב? אוף, זה קצת יותר מורכב ממה שציפיתי. אמשיך בכל זאת.

אמא שלי נפטרה לפני חצה שנה (אני לא מאמין שכבר עבר כל כך הרבה זמן). אבא שלי נשאר די מפורק מזה (היא הייתה בת 49, הוא בן 56) ואני די מנסה למלא את הוואקום שנוצר בבית, בעיקר בשביל שלאחותי עוד תהיה מסגרת שפויה לגדול בה (היא בת 17). מה שאני מנסה להגיד זה שכבר שישה חודשים אני מנסה למצוא כמה דקות מרגוע כדי לבכות בשקט, להתאבל בעצמי, ועד הבוקר לא מצאתי. כי זה לא כל כך פשוט לי – אני אדם שלא מסוגל לערב אנשים אחרים באבל שלו, השיבה שלנו הייתה חוויה שמחה כי לא הייתי מסוגל להיות עצוב כשכל הבית מלא באנשים שאני אוהב, ובכלל אני חושב שהייתי זקוק לזרז כלשהו שיגרום לי...לא יודע....

אבל הבוקר הזדמן לי להתחיל לשמוע את הדיסק: בו נגיד ש"נס" ממש ריגש אותי, לא כי המילים יותר מידי נגעו לליבי (בכל זאת, הייתי באמצע נהיגה והשעה 7:30 בבוקר) אלה אולי בגלל המנגינה הנוגה, אבל כשהפזמון של "עיניים זרות" נגמר, הייתי כבר בדמעות. עצרתי לרגע בצד ובכיתי במשך כמה דקות.

אני זוכר את השבת בו אמא שלי נפטרה, והרגע בו היא כבר לא הייתה שם, ואני עומד מול מה שנשאר ממנה, וחושב את מה שאת אומרת בשיר. ויכול להיות שאני לא מבין את השיר, שזה רק משהו פסיכוסומטי אצלי, מין שמיעה סלקטיבית, שגרמה לי להבין מה שרציתי להבין, ולא באמת מה שניסית להעביר. אבל עכשיו שהגעתי לעבודה, והשעה כבר 8:15, ויש לי כמה דקות כי הבוס בטח יגיע רק ב-9, אני כותב לך כדי לומר תודה. הייתי ממש זקוק לבכי הזה, שאחרי חצי שנה רק חיכה להזדמנות שלו.

אחרי כל דיסק שאני מחליט לקנות, אני בטוח שזה הדיסק הכי טוב שקניתי עד היום, אבל שלך מיוחד. באמת מיוחד. תודה."

"This post was NOT sponsored by Microsoft"

After having vented about Apple's latest dealings, and why I'm not going to buy anything they make for at least a while, I feel like now it's Sony's turn to feel the wrath of my crosshair.

Maybe I didn't buy a Sony audio receiver, or a Sony monitor, or a Sony CD deck. They could go on making money, I don't feel responsible, I did buy a walkman and a small boombox with their logo on it - for a kid thats a lot of money after all. And they had my respect, everybody's for that matter. You payed a lot but you knew you were getting your money's worth.
What I don't understand is how they could have gone soooo wrong so quickly. How could the same company invent such a revolutionary gadget like the walkman and then screw up so badly when implementing awful DRM schemes? How could the same company make something so utterly perfect like the PS2, and then produce such an expensive doorstop like the PS3.

I read an article on Wired a while ago, where they attributed a big chunk of the mess to the way Sony's R&D dept. was run: in the old days the dept. was comprised of small groups, sometimes individuals, competing against each other in creating the next big thing. Such was the way the PS1 was created, for example, and I think so did the PS2. So what happened? Paradigm shift - it seems competition is passé, and it's being replaced by collaboration. And Sony didn't make the switch and now they produced the aforementioned doorstop.

I don't know. Shouldn't there be more to it? Could it be that simple? I didn't only want a PS3, it's more than that, I wanted to want a PS3, maybe just because not wanting one means wanting an Xbox360. And now I'm screwed, because I want a 360, but I never wanted to want one.
I mean, Microsoft made it, you know, the only corporation in the history of capitalism to have horns and a red tail...

I guess I'm not the only one - have a look at this: