Leaving Israel
If you think any of this gibberish looks interesting, you should poke around and subscribe to my RSS feed to keep up with new content.
Just a quick update on where I’m going to be…
At 1am (this time) I’ll be leaving the U. Haifa campus for TLV (the airport)…and I’ll hopefully arrive sometime tomorrow night in my hostel in Brighton.
I’ve also decided it’s totally more fun to study in a place that “doesn’t speak english,” because learning the basics of Hebrew has been a really fun thing to do out here.
Networking iTunes
Fred Wilson wrote a solid entry on how DRM doesn’t scale, targeting essentially the problems with trying to share digital music throughout a family–something that ought to be easy to do. He runs into difficulties with the number of computers sharing music–for a family of five, it can get tricky to buy music only once.
The main problem I have with using iTunes as a jukebox for several locations throughout the house is that I’m a playlist oriented person. I’m not sure if you’ve figured a way around this but even if you have a number of computers with access to all of the music files available, I can’t access playlists in the living room that were created in the kitchen…
I really do think that iTunes needs to offer better networking options — maybe apple should create an “iTunes server app” that would take all your music, playlists, and podcasts, store them in a central location, and then allow you to access that music (via password) from any number of other iTunes client apps.
Pimping the ‘net services
One of the things I absolutely love about blogs is how they pimp new stuff.
This is the “echo chamber” that people tend to talk about—once a new, cool tool, service, or flash cartoon shows up, the blogosphere bubbles over with everyone’s individual version of “hey, this is really cool! check it out!”
And because of that spirit, when I find something new and cool, I’ll give it a shout out. That’s why I’ve posted about both Start.com and Icerocket.com here.
But why am I suddenly explaining this? Because I’ve just used the Icerocket blog search to find out that my Start.com entry is linked to on the MSN Start.com Profile page, along with posts by the likes of Jason Calcanis.
It feels good to be on the map. Even if I might be whoring a little bit to get there ;)
Bathroom Graffiti Poet Emerges from Stall
by Jacob Brown
The crowded café surges with Bohemian energy as an assortment of pony- tailed artists discuss life over lattes. Here, among the biscotti, espressos, and tiny, round tinted-sunglasses, flows an exchange of wit and goatee-trimming tips unparalleled anywhere else in the known universe. It is here that Jim Sterling—local poet extraordinaire—sits down gingerly across from me, slips an extra-strength Laxative into his triple mocha cappuccino and takes a long, grateful sip.
“You know, I’ve always been told that you have to suffer to write,” he begins, wiping a thick layer of foam from his upper lip. “So, I think it’s no coincidence that my art didn’t really take off until I contracted acute Dysentery.”
It’s insightful observations like these that belie Sterling’s poetic essence—the spirit of a true artist lies just beneath that pale, sweaty exterior. From his doubled-over, cramped-with-pain posture, he is able to rise time and time again to new heights of artistic genius and glory.
“Before I came along, Stall Poetry consisted of a swear word or two, say, maybe, fuck, or even fuckstick. At best, you’d get a clever limerick or a racial slur.”
“But you’ve changed all that,” I remark, as his eyes glow with pride.
“Yeah, I’ve definitely revolutionized the scene. Thanks to me, poetry aficionados on the John can be treated to sonnets, heroic couplets, or even haiku.” As I nod appreciatively and start to ask Sterling if he wouldn’t mind sharing some of his recent work, a sudden and dramatic change washes over his strained features.
“Excuse me,” he manages to choke out, holding his stomach and dropping the now empty latte cup. “But, I am suddenly inspired.” Before I have a chance to react, he has taken off across the room, sprinting to the bathroom. A buzz of excitement rises in the café as the patrons realize they are bearing witness to a great event in the history of Art. By the espresso bar, men cry tears of joy and near the window, some even begin to cheer.
For what seems like an eternity, we wait. Day turns to night and back again, but we do not sleep. Guzzling triple shots to stay awake, we keep our eyes glues constantly to the restroom door. The little diagram of a man mocks us with his silence; he reveals nothing of what wondrous things are surely being brought to life behind his stenciled visage.
And then, two weeks later, just as we have almost given up hope, Sterling emerges. Swinging open the door and bursting triumphantly into the Café, he declares, “I have just written an entire epic!”
Words cannot describe the elation that I feel upon hearing Sterling’s voice. Fighting back tears, I motion him back to my table. Shaking with anticipation, barely able to hold my pen and notepad, I ask him if he would please share with us some lines from his new Opus.
Sterling looks at me, staring directly into my soul, and then, gravely, begins to recite.
“As you sit and take a shit
take a sec and think a bit
just last night I beat my meat
on this very toilet seat.”
The café erupts into cheers; we know we are in the presence of a true genius.
“Mr. Sterling,” I say, bowing my head in admiration, “you are truly a gift to the arts.”
And he is. In the time since my interview, Sterling has published over 50 volumes of Stall Poetry, ranging from such melancholy tales of woe such as, “Alas, My Lens Has Fallen In” to romantic sonnets like, “I’m Not Allowed In The Lady’s Room”. Also of particular notability is Sterling’s joyful narrative piece, “Relax with Ex-Lax.”
Whatever your artistic taste may be, I am confident that you’ll enjoy the work of Jim Sterling. His command of language is masterful—his verses are infinitely tighter than his bowels. This is one young man overflowing with creative talent; it would benefit us all to sit down and take a good, long, satisfying look.
At any rate, Sterling is definitely a poet to watch. Stall Poetry is growing at an exciting rate, and who knows where this art form will take us?
“I have a lot to share with the world,” Sterling says, to conclude our interview.
“One day, I even hope to work with urinals.”
Blog Search
Amongst the bitching about Technorati’s service, people have uncovered IceRocket blog search. So far, I’ve heard good things.
Let’s see if it works, eh?
Scattered Impressions
I can tell it’s been a good weekend because I just slept extremely well on a tile floor for over 10 hours.
In fact, the only thing I can think of that went wrong, per se, is that my wallet was either stolen or lost. But I was at least smart enough to have essentially nothing in it—whoever has it now has my old-school Washington ID, some cash, and the bank card I have since deactivated. The stuff I’m gonna miss the most is really going to be the little sentimental bits of nonsense that everyone throws in their wallets, along with basically the only pictures I had from everyone back home. (David, if you can find another Frisbee senior pic…)
But other than that, I’ve been to one amazing club in Haifa, and down to Tel Aviv. We took a train down on Friday afternoon and ended up doing something I never thought I’d do in my life: night swimming in the ocean.
The water at the Tel Aviv beach is just unbelievably warm. It’s one of those warms where if you told me how warm it was, I wouldn’t believe you. I didn’t think the ocean got that warm.
Body surfing at night to waves you can’t see is incredibly fun.
——
The people here have been incredibly cool. It’s an amazingly dynamic group of about nine to fourteen people that have all been very patiently teaching me as much Hebrew as I can absorb in one week. My (phonetic) vocabulary so far:
Shalom – hello / goodbye
Bavakasha – please / you’re welcome
Sli-gha (I know that’s now how it’s possibly spelled, but I can’t guess any better) – excuse me
Hako BeSeder – It’s all good
Ken – yes
Lo – no
Ani – me (like Spanish “yo?), also can be attached to things:
Ani Rotse ___ - I want ____
Atta Rotse ___ - Do you want ___? (there are some gender changing things here, but this is the main point)
Layla - night
Tov – good
Po - here
G’vina – cheese
Ifshar – something along the lines of “to make possible,? it’s for phrases like “with cheese? when ordering I guess.
I still don’t know any numbers, but I’m sure I’ll get there.
——
I can understand why Jacob and Ben love Israel. So far it’s been an amazing place with amazing weather. When I look out from the cliff on which the University of Haifa sits I can see the curved bay of the city and the beautiful ocean mere miles away. Look north and you see Lebanon. I haven’t been to Jerusalem yet but the two cities I’ve been to have been so amazingly modern in stark contrast to the sheer significance of the land in history.
Jacob is of course in a good place himself. He’s here with a good number of good friends, one incredibly entertaining “fat, noisy British guy,? and a very cute Swiss girl who speaks with a British accent when she’s angry. I can only hope I find as much happiness in Brighton over the next few months, and at the same time I can understand why going back home is going to be difficult. I’m sure I’ll feel the same way.
But it must be different to live here than to vacation here.
Venice has no grass
It took me basically a full day to realize that everything in venice is stone or water.
Venice is really a “do it in 24-hours” town. Jeff and I were there for about 28 hours total, and we’d done everything (oh sure, you can take one of those famous boat rides for well over 100 euro, but that just wasn’t going to happen) that there was to do within the first 24. That means walking around the island, visiting St. Mark’s Cathedral, and taking a water taxi around the channel.
But those last four hours were some of the most fun. We took the opporunity to get thoroughly lost.
In Venice it’s nearly impossible to find a street sign or a notable landmark–the city itself is composed of disheveled brick buildings and narrow waterways; it is the most beatiful maze I’ve ever seen. And what’s more amazing is how Venice is actually a city. The Rialto bridge is crouded with toursits at all hours of the day and night, but if you wander 50 feet in the right direction, you’ll find alley cats and small gardens made of potted plants.
If you wander even further, you’ll find a few piazzas tucked away from the noisy, bustling district. We sat on a bench for about two hours and essentially just people-watched.
We saw several kids playing their own version of soccer, shouting melodically at each other in Itallian, and occasionally sending an errant shot into a nearby allyway. But they disturbed one too many bench-full of elder italians (who, to my amusement, simply chucked their ball off as far as they could, watching them run after it), and gave way to a startlingly large number of dogs.
I’m not really sure what to say about the whole process other than that it was probably the coolest part of Venice for me. Just to see it as a city.
Some uploads!
By some trick of cool I’ve managed to upload two videos and two audio files for everyone on the travel page. They’re all from the three days I spent in Paris, since nothing from Florence has really coalesced yet.
I’ll try to get some pictures up on FlickR (for the sidebar) before my time runs out, but no promises.
Enjoy the videos!
We made it to Florence
And found an internet cafe…
But we really did have a reason to be here. We made a reservation for the museum where the statue of David is, and needed to print out a voucher in order to get in tomorrow at 10am. In any case, it’s nice to be able to update from a keyboard and real computer as opposed to the crap-ass things I mentioned earlier; I forgot to take a picture, but they’re eseentially coinstar machines with monitors.
We took an overnight train from Paris to Florence, and it was a lot smoother ride than either of us were expecting. They offered dinner on the train and the beds were probably more comfortable than the ones we’ve been using at the youth hostels. Other than that, the scenery was remarkably pretty and it just has a air of antiquity that’s somehow endearing. In any case, I’d recommend training it if you plan to wander around Europe at some point.
Jeff and I took a total of 197 photos and 3 videos in Paris, all of which I hope to post sometime in the next few days. I’ll cram as many photos as I can onto FlickR, and I’ll probably just pick the best video or two to make in individual posts and list on the Travel page (which still has nothing on it, doh).
Caio!
I’m alive!
Pictures and at least twoo videos and one audio to come! Not dead yet!
Mostly I can’t get to the ‘net from my own computer. I have to use this shit thng (picture later)
I’m off!
Actually I left (yesterday? time is so confusing), but I didn’t have chance to post before I left since I was too busy forgetting things to take with me.
The flight went smoothly. I think that by and large traveling consists of a lot of really minor funny incidents, and fortunately I tend to miss out on most of those, so travelling for me has always been a kind of boring affair.
That being said, I’ve hijacked some poor bastards wireless network in London at the first Hostel, and although it’s running at dial-up speed (no hope of pictures), I thought I’d unlock the Travel page. There’s not much up there yet, but I’ll get populated as my weeks of travel continue.
As usual, I spent the plane ride thinking of about 8 million things to write about, varying from things that were funny six hours into the flight (orange juice…you’ll laugh later) to things verging on psychodrama. If I manage to write up even two of my travel-related musings and post them I’ll be happy.
So you have that to look forward to.
Christopher Walken for President
Honstly, though, I can’t decide if it’s serious.
Church and State and School
Partially inspired by Ben’s post the other day, I had a discussion with my parents about the push for “intelligent design” and other semi-religious issues being discussed for inclusion in public schools. My mom had the best comment, I think:
“What boggles me about the way these people—the ones who want to push religious ideas into schools—is their lack of foresight. California’s going to be largely hispanic, and so is Texas, sometime in the future. And that’s generally Catholic, not Protestant. I can’t imagine they want their kids going to school to learn the principles of a religion that’s not theirs.”
Which, frankly, is why we have things like “the separation of church and state.” I think anyone who disagrees with that concept should spend some time in a country where those rules don’t apply.
Game advertising
Normally I woulnd’t link gratuitously to and entry in my other journal like this, but Ethan has found a bit of news about Vivendi sneaking an ad server into their new SWAT game.
Read in on Flicker if you want his two cents, but personally I think it’s greedy and invasive for them to deliver an app within a game that tracks marketing data from your play time.
The Morning Routine
As far as newsreading routines go, I’m sure my new habits are a little bit strange.
Mostly, it’s a product of Firefox and the fact that I’m in love with tabbed browsing. When I open up my start page, I’ll take a few moments to glance around the various rss widgets it sports, and I’ll ctrl+click anything that looks interesting (which opens the item in a new tab, behind those previously open). Basically, this let’s me “flag” interesting items to read as soon as I’m done doing whatever it is I wanted to do when I opened my browser.
So…What Did I Flag This Morning?
- Theferrett: Go, Roger Ebert!
- Wired News: Mac Hacks Allow OS X on PC’s (some of you are drooling, I can tell)
- Scoble recorded a conversation with Steve Broback and Buzz Bruggerman - Some 40 minute audio recording with the people I’m working for this summer
- Business Blogging Book Blog by people at the BBS
- Podshow just got 8.85m from VCs and I’m curious to know why.
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