frgdr.com

There’s Many Lost, But Tell Me Who Has Won?

Shahar Golan — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:08:38 +0000

And it’s true we are immune
When fact is fiction and TV reality.
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die.

- - ”Sunday Bloody Sunday” – U2

I grew up listening to Michael Jackson. In 1993 I watched him perform on stage in Tel-Aviv. I am not indifferent to the loss of this pop icon. Still, I cannot help think what I hastily wrote two weeks ago has been proven to be true: if the events in Iran are a test case then the mainstream media is not doing its job. Virtually all the major news programs have transformed into Entertainment Tonight, dedicating valuable time to insignificant events: there is no will, no there is a will, she doesn’t want the kids, no she does want the kids, open casket, closed casket. COME ON ALREADY! The guy died – that was news. When the autopsy report will be published – that will be news too. Everything in between is just noise, and lots of it.

As honest newsmen turn into gossip guys in front of our eyes, people who are interested in getting the news, the real news, must turn to new media, and I am pretty sure they won’t be back soon. Like other industries before them, the television industry is dying a slow ungraceful death in front of our eyes. Reading from TMZ.com on the air is the beginning of the end.

One invaluable source of real news from Iran has been Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney who’s been live blogging since the uproar began. Whatever name future historians will give to the events we are witnessing in Iran, there is no doubt that this is a complex process that cannot be reduced to dichotomies of good and bad, free and oppressed, conservative and reformist. As far as I can tell, the only way to gain any knowledge and hopefully some understanding of how events unfold in this foreign country, is to spend a couple of minutes every day scanning through Pitney’s updates.

HuffPo’s Iran live blogging is also where I found out about this latest act of solidarity: it is U2 performing last night at Barcelona, flooding the stage with green light in support of the protesters, singing ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday‘ as the lyrics in Farsi run across the video screens.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hagigit at the 2009 Bat Yam Fest

Shahar Golan — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:46:16 +0000

Hagigit, the artists’ collective I co-founded will take part in the 13th annual Bat Yam International Street Theater Festival this coming August. We were honored to have been asked to participate, as this will be our biggest, most expensive project to date, and based on previous years we will probably see our biggest crowd ever.
I will try to reveal as much details as possible before the event, but it is a bit of a struggle as there are many people involved and not everyone shares my notion of transparency. The graphics to the right is our teaser poster that will appear in the festival program, and following is the English text that will accompany it:

Look!

Time is fluid, reality debatable
our point of view is not where we think it is
everything we see has changed its shape
in the gap between one moment and the next
exists an opportunity to listen, to smell,
to see and to express.

Hagigit’s interactive installation invites the public, yourself included, to take the whole from its parts, the revealed from the concealed, and yourself away from anyone else.

Location: Sela Beach parking lot, Bat Yam, Israel
Dates: August 25-27, 2009
Duration: continuously between 19:00-23:00
Admission: Free

Courthouse Fashion of the Dudu Topaz Gang – or – What Your Shirt Says About You

Shahar Golan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:01:05 +0000

Indictments were filed today against more people allegedly involved in the attacks ordered by television entertainer Dudu Topaz against Israeli media executives. The news coverage gave a glimpse into the psyche of the criminal mind, in a ‘What were they thinking?‘ kinda way:

Yair Awami, who was charged in connection with the attack on media executive Avi Nir from Keshet TV, chose to wear to court his black Nike T-Shirt with the slogan ‘KISS MY AIRS.‘ I am certain the middle-aged judges appreciated the subtle gesture, and I can only assume his chances of being released from prison and being placed under house arrest diminished drastically after he made his fashion statement.

Muhammad Younis, who was charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and assault for attacking actors’ agent Boaz Ben Zion, keeps showing up in court with tight fit shirts. If you are a bodybuilder who has huge chest muscles and Popeye arms, and you are accused of being the thug in a criminal conspiracy to commit crimes – maybe the day you come out of your hiding place and surrender to the police would be a good day to not wear your regular tight fitting shirt, as you enter the police station with your scrawny looking lawyer. Maybe the message ‘I am a big scary man‘ is not the right one to send when you find yourself on the wrong side of the law and you need to prove your innocence.

Dudu Topaz himself appeared in court in an Abercrombie & Fitch shirt with the text ‘FITCH ATHL 92‘ on it. Pretty standard and innocent looking, right? Or is it? Could it be an anagrammed message for someone to ‘LIFT HATCH’ so that he can escape from prison? – or maybe it has something to do with ‘THAT FILCH’, or maybe he is just lonely and wants to ‘CHAT FILTH’? …and don’t get me started on that ‘92′.

To put things in perspective, the only person from that gang who was released today was Moshe Ohana, who was suspected of mediating between Dudu Topaz and the attackers. Check out the shirt he chose to wear today:

I Was Born on a Seat

Shahar Golan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:34:15 +0000

Israeli newspaper Haaretz has an interesting article today on high school seniors’ misuse of electronic dictionaries during their English exams. Can you decipher what the students meant, from what they actually wrote?

I want you to barber about your experience
Drivers don’t curfew in red light
The weather was father-in-law
I was born on a seat

Read the full article in Ingleesh or in Ibroo.

H/T: Guy Yitzhaki

Is This 8 Year Old Israeli Kid Giving a Nazi Salute?

Shahar Golan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:43:05 +0000

No.

Look! Everybody’s Here Again!

Shahar Golan — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:25:00 +0000

When it comes to television programming it seems that the pendulum is close to the edge. People have stopped watching TV, that is except for 14 year olds who are keen on buying whatever TV is selling. Whether the medium will die or correct itself in time, I guess we’ll find out sooner or later.

In this atmosphere of 57 channels and nothin’ on, the one thing that almost never disappoints is nostalgia. Israel Educational Television (IETV) has just announced that its programs, both classic and new, will be made available for online viewing on its new website. Established in 1965, IETV has produced shows that taught us English, math, and road safety, and gave us our very own sitcom in Hebrew.

Since many of these modern classics are already available on YouTube, I guess the folks at IETV figured if they can’t beat them, might as well join them and make the materials legally available for free.

Since the website will not be launched until next week, here are two teaser ads to tickle your taste buds:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Michael Jackson 1958-2009

Shahar Golan — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:39:29 +0000

Wyclef Jean – Emergency Concert for the People of Iran

Shahar Golan — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:18:54 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Wyclef Jean – Emergency Concert for The People of Iran – Lyrics

Tehran!
Tehran!

Equal rights and justice
The kids want
Equal rights and justice
The people in Iran want
Equal rights and justice
Yeah, equal rights and justice

[Gunpowder by Wyclef Jean]
But I smell gunpowder
Tehran got the gunpowder
Iran got the gunpowder
Brooklyn got the gunpowder
I asked my mama why do you cry
She said your brother, he just died
I told him not to go outside
He said he had to fight for his country’s rights

Equal rights and justice
He said he wants
Equal rights and justice
The people in Iran want
Equal rights and justice
Yeah, equal rights and justice

My brother’s been dead ever since
I didn’t believe it, but when I saw, I was convinced
Two shots to the head, he was already dead,
He said you want to live for what you believe

Tehran!

Equal rights and justice
They want
Equal rights and justice
[repeat]

So we go on
Paint the city green
Until we get what what we deserve
We gonna paint the city green
Until we get what we deserve
We gonna paint New York City green
Until we get what we deserve
We gonna paint the streets in Iran green
Until we get what we deserve

And that would be
Equal rights and justice
The people want
Equal rights and justice
Facebook can you hear me?
Yeah, equal rights and justice
Revolution [...]
Equal rights and…
For the people in Iran

[Redemption Song by Bob Marley]
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds,
Have no fear for atomic energy
None of them can stop the time.
How long will they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Some say it’s just a part of it,
We’ve got to fulfill the book.
[...] Iran
Won’t you help me sing
These songs of freedom?
All I ever had
Redemption songs
[repeat]

For the people in Iran
Redemption songs
All I ever had
Redemption songs

For the mothers of Iran
For the people of Iran
For the mamas of Iran

[No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley]
No woman, no cry
No woman, no cry
No mothers in Iran, no cry
No woman, no cry

I remember when we used to sit
In the government yard in Brooklyn,
Oba, observing the hypocrites
As they would
Mingle with the good people we meet
Good friends we’ve had,
Good friends we’ve lost
Along the way
In this great future you can’t forget your past
So dry your tears, I say

No woman, no cry
No woman, no cry
For the mothers in Iran
Hey little sister, don’t shed no tears
No woman, no cry.
[...]

Everything’s gonna be all right!
[repeats]
Wear your green love tonight

No woman, no woman, no cry
No woman, no cry
Hey little sister, don’t shed no tears
No woman, no cry.

People in Iran
Don’t give up
Never give up
Don’t give up
Never give up
No woman, no cry

Hey little sister, don’t shed no tears
No woman, no cry.

For the people in Iran…

Where is This Place Where People are Simply Calling For God?

Shahar Golan — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:40:00 +0000

Events unfold quickly in Iran and it is becoming increasingly clear that the mainstream media performs poorly, thrown off guard by journalists forbidden to cover events. No one truly knows whether one leader is better than the other, especially Israelis who insist on searching for the Israeli perspective – but making judgement is not what’s important at this point.

People died today, people died yesterday – it’s all a blur. We have learned to be apathetic as a way of survival. “17 dead” is meaningless, until you see a video of one Iranian girl dying in front of your eyes. New media bridges the geographical distances and lets you, if you allow it, to be a witness. Since we cannot grasp the big picture at this point, there is a significance in taking in small doses of reality. For most of us – a witness is all we can be at this point, and that is a lot.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Invest 5 minutes of your time to get informed:

Live blogging in English at Huffington Post.
Live blogging in Hebrew at Kav Hutz.
Live Twitter search feed #IranElection.

Israeli Actor Igal Naor Wins Award for an Outstanding Portrayal of Saddam Hussein

Shahar Golan — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:27:04 +0000

Last week at the 49th Monte Carlo Television Festival Israeli actor Igal Naor won a Golden Nymph award for Outstanding Actor in the miniseries House Of Saddam. If you haven’t seen this four part HBO/BBC2 co-production, this might be a good time to brush up on your Iraqi history. The miniseries spans 25 years of Saddam Hussein’s rule, starting in the 1979 coup that brought him to power and details the Iraqis’ love and fear for their leader, up to his demise. Igal Naor delivers a brilliant performance, showing the depths of the dictator’s mind, while avoiding making a caricature out of this complex man. Naor, who also played a brilliant role as an Egyptian interrogator in the 2007 film Rendition, proves that the West’s fascination with the Arab world in recent years provides acting opportunities much more significant than the clichéd ‘dead terrorist number 3′ roles.
Two other Israeli actors in this production are Makram Khoury as Tariq Aziz, the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Uri Gavriel as “Chemical Ali” Hassan al-Majid, head of Mukhabarat, the Iraqi intelligence Agency.

Here’s a short inside look:

Click here to view the embedded video.

frgdr.com

There’s Many Lost, But Tell Me Who Has Won?

Similar Posts:

Hagigit at the 2009 Bat Yam Fest

Similar Posts:

Courthouse Fashion of the Dudu Topaz Gang – or – What Your Shirt Says About You

Similar Posts:

I Was Born on a Seat

Similar Posts:

Is This 8 Year Old Israeli Kid Giving a Nazi Salute?

Similar Posts:

Look! Everybody’s Here Again!

Similar Posts:

Michael Jackson 1958-2009

Similar Posts:

Wyclef Jean – Emergency Concert for the People of Iran

Similar Posts:

Where is This Place Where People are Simply Calling For God?

Similar Posts:

Israeli Actor Igal Naor Wins Award for an Outstanding Portrayal of Saddam Hussein

Similar Posts: