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November 29, 2007

Nas Haya Gadol Vegas: New Spin on an Old Game

With Thanksgiving over, it's time to get to that Hanukkah shopping. While the followers of that OTHER major monotheistic religion are knocking themselves out running to malls and shopping online, we Jews can take a leisurely approach. Here's the gift I'm most likely to give that doesn't involve the Victoria's Secret catalog:

No Limit Texas Dreidel. The ModernTribe company is selling this game. The name is great, although the company's website is awful. I'm not sure how to play it. One of these days I'll read the FAQs. Here are ideas for organizing a tournament. And here's what the FAQs say in part:

Q: Do I have to know how to play poker to play No Limit Texas Dreidel? A: No. But you will learn much about poker when you play No Limit Texas Dreidel. You will learn about hands and poker betting rules, buttons, betting limits, and bluffing. Poker is a wonderful game that we believe everyone should learn: it has lessons to teach about math, probability, social behavior, and risk-taking. You can begin to learn these lessons too by playing No Limit Texas Dreidel. See, parents, it's educational!

Now, you too can say things like, "Hit me, Bubbeleh."

Van | 11/29/07 at 07:21 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Holy Days

November 27, 2007

USSR 2.0: The Enthusiasm Builds Among the Fashionistas

Just as Kesher Talk predicted a few weeks ago, the cultural rebirth of the USSR is proceeding at a smart clip. Why, the New York Times says so, with an article today about hip fashion trends reflecting the symbols and images of the glorious republic of workers and peasants. Titled, "The USSR is Back (at Least on Clothing Racks)," the article says,

one of the most popular fashion designers this fall is Denis Simachev, who is selling overcoats fastened with hammer-and-sickle buttons, gold jewelry minted to look like Soviet kopecks and shirts festooned with the Soviet coat of arms, complete with embroidered ears of wheat.

“People in their 30s see these kinds of symbols as reminders of happy memories, like going to pioneer camp where they lived together, ate breakfast together and played sports,” said Mr. Simachev, 33, who wears his hair in a Samurai-style ponytail. He insists he is no Communist — for one thing, his overcoats sell for about $2,100 and his T-shirts for about $600. His boutique is sandwiched between Hermès and Burberry stores on a pedestrian lane, Stoleshnikov, that is one of the capital’s most expensive shopping streets.

I see -- because he's not a "Communist," then that makes everything OK, a hip, ironic meta-commentary on happy memories. I'm sure you can find folks elsewhere who think the same thing about swastikas and Confederate battle flags. Meaning comes from emotional responses, not historical facts.

Continue reading "USSR 2.0: The Enthusiasm Builds Among the Fashionistas"

Van | 11/27/07 at 07:05 AM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Competing narratives

November 25, 2007

Borders: Viva Che, Down with Bush!

I've written about my exasperation with the Borders book chain before. Now I can extend that griping based on what I saw at the Borders in Fairfield, Connecticut today.

First, the store carries a line of figurines in the "Little Thinkers" series. I realize this is a set and not really a Borders' confection, but still, do the Little Thinkers need to include Einstein, Freud, Jane Austen, W.E.B. DuBois, Marx, Jesus and Shakespeare with . . . Che Guevera? What's his big idea in the world of intellectual discourse? I could see Borders throwing Che in with the others, but it added to the Chesyteria with a Che watch and a bio of him. Why not Milton Friedman or Thomas Jefferson?

So Borders covered the Che crowd downstairs, and then upstairs it had a display to warm the innards of the Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) contingent. It showed an "Out of Office Countdown" calendar for Bush, along with "Countdown to Victory" calendars for Clinton and Obama. Couldn't Borders at least find a "Countdown to Crackdown" calendar for Rudy Giuliani, or an "Impeach Hillary '09" calendar? The display also showed Bushism and similar products -- so predictable, so conventional.

Van | 11/25/07 at 10:39 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Useful idiots

November 23, 2007

The Sorrow, The Pity, and the Sopranos

I had a festive Thanksgiving, sitting alone in my dimly lit apartment watching "The Sorrow and the Pity." What fun! The four-hour exploration of resistance and collaboration in France in World War II. What struck me, in the first minutes of the documentary, was the appearance of a German officer interviewed in 1969. One discussion of the film said this about him:

The closest the film comes to a standard villain is in the person of a properly plump German businessman, who takes time out at a family wedding (in front of the bride and groom) to state that the resisting Frenchmen were not considered partisans (irregular soldiers, to be accorded military rights) because they went about their 'crimes of assassination' without wearing armbands so they could be identified on sight. He puffs a cigar and still proudly wears small insignia badges of his army service, badges issued by the Nazis.

What shocked me about this talking head: He's a dead ringer for Tony Soprano. The right age, the right balding head, the right weight, the right waving around of a cigar, the same calm confidence in his violent acts. The similarity is chilling. Watch it and see.

Van | 11/23/07 at 08:36 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Competing narratives

November 22, 2007

Gmail, Slightly Improved

KT's many web interface design experts will enjoy this thought exercise, which answers the question, "What if Gmail Had Been Designed by Microsoft?"

Van | 11/22/07 at 10:00 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Around the blogosphere

November 21, 2007

The Gale of Creative Destruction Claims Another Victim

First it destroyed the buggy whip industry, then US-made consumer electronics, then the auto industry. Is no sector of the American economy safe from the disruptive forces of technological and social change?

Evidently not. Now, pornographers are getting blown away by economist Joseph Schumpeter's "perennial gale of creative destruction."

In the November issue of Portfolio magazine, the fascinating article "Obscene Losses" clues readers in to the shriveling profitability of adult digital entertainment, as DVD sales decline, competition intensifies and the suits try to diversify their revenue base. Sound familiar? All that's missing is the lobbying force in DC calling for protection for an embattled industry, plus ads from the heartland extolling the virtues and economic necessity of the effected companies.

I want to see Wilford Brimley and Betty White as the spokespeople for this "save our industry" campaign.

Van | 11/21/07 at 09:02 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Sensual pleasures

November 20, 2007

Hooray for Hamaswood!

Hamas is giving its western admirers one more reason to love the group: Hamas is buildings its very own movie production site in Gaza, according to the Jerusalem Post And Hamas is already expecting boffo B.O. for its first feature about a brave, speakin' truth to power preacher in the 1930s who fought -- you guessed it -- the Jews!

The first movie Hamas plans to shoot will be based on a novel by one of its hard-line leaders in Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar, the report said. Zahar has written seven novels, including a 1980 romance called "Beautiful Woman."

A movie is also planned about Izzedine al-Qassam, an admired preacher who led a Palestinian revolt in the 1930s against the British and Jews in Palestine. Hamas' military wing is named for the charismatic leader.

To get international attention, this worthy project should cast some marquee names in supporting roles. For some in Hollywood, there's no such thing as pre-mature anti-Zionism. How about:

George Galloway as the sympathetic British official ready to fight Israel before Israel existed
Danny Glover as the sympathetic folk singer from Alabama
Barbra Streisand as the radical who thinks Birobdizhan is a much better place for Jews
Ed Asner in a kaffiyah
Rosie O'Donnell as the idealistic exchange student who falls in love with one of the brave anti-Zionists and says things like, "Gee willikers, now I know how the Jews make matzoh!"

Van | 11/20/07 at 10:36 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Media as Theater of War

November 19, 2007

The Real Nina?

The show "24" often involves traitors in the midst of CTU. The pattern began early with Jack Bauer's former lover, Nina Myers. Other moles regularly scramble the work of CTU, making me wonder, how hard could it be to identify a double agent?

Real life shows -- it must be pretty hard.

Consider the case of Nada Nadim Prouty. She got into the US on a sham marriage, climbed high on the greasy poles of the FBI and CIA, snooped around in databases, and now faces, at most, a light rap on the knuckles. Jack knew what to do with Nina, but in real life Nada's punishment is, so to speak, just a little more than nada.

Van | 11/19/07 at 01:52 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: WWIV

November 07, 2007

Ultimate Rebranding: USSR v2.0

Today marks the 90th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. I heard an NPR report that didn't sugarcoat the communists' bloody deeds, until it found Russians who took the Hugo Chavez line with Stalin -- wow, what a unique guy.

I've been thinking that in today's moonbat environment, President Vlad Putin should think about bringing back the brand of the USSR. He's already got a de facto milder version of it, with repression of free speech and the press and state control of industries. With some creativity, he could revive the USSR label and win wild acclaim from the West.

Think of him sitting there in the Kremlin, muttering, "Sean Penn and all the other stars go see that stuffed cabbage Chavez in Venezuela. What's he know about power? Venezuela? That place would be lost on the steppes here. Why doesn't Naomi Campbell come see me?? It's not FAIR!"

I bet a repackaged USSR could make Putin the superhip figurehead of global lefties. He's got 90 years of history to build on, to pitch to people who appreciate the implacable exercise of socialist power against capitalism and the Fascists and their boot-licking toadies.

The pitch practically writes itself: Free health care, employment, socialized management of industry, housing, abortions for everybody, friendship of peoples and protection of minority rights and cultures, stood up for the Cuban revolution against those evil capitalists in Washington who wanted to destroy Castro, Paul Robeson liked us, subsidies for artists, supported (via Communist front groups) progressives in the U.S., women's rights.

The USSR said all that and more and useful idiots in the West ate it up and asked for seconds. If Putin talks a good game, he could send Hugo packing and assume his rightful place in the vanguard of the nutroot proletariat.

He might even get invited to speak at the Democratic National Convention.

Van | 11/07/07 at 07:24 AM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: WWIV

November 01, 2007

Che 'n Chambers: NYT Can't Help Luvin' Dose Men

Bad, bad boys got heaps of TLC at the NY Times lately. Continuing its wall to wall coverage of all things Che Guevara, the TImes on Oct. 25 ran a thoroughly useless story titled, "Lone Bidder Buys Strands of Che’s Hair at U.S. Auction," with the helpful description of Guevara as "the famed revolutionary and cultural icon" and "Mr. Castro’s most famous and charismatic associate." If I recall, the story made the front page.

Even more ludicrous is the coverage of the arrest of preppy killer Robert Chambers on drug selling charges. On October 26, reporter Anemona Hartocollis just about wet her britches at the very sight of the middle-aged waste case, gushing,

Though he was unshaven, Mr. Chambers’s blue eyes were alert and, at 6-foot-4, he seemed commanding as he entered the courtroom.

Unspoken thought: "Bobby, I want to have your love child!!"

Jennifer Levin could not be reached for comment.

Van | 11/01/07 at 06:48 AM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Useful idiots