Saturday, July 2, 2011

AMI ISSEROFF

Eulogy for Ami Isseroff written by his brother Hadar and read aloud by his son at the levaya:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/07/eulogy-for-ami-isseroff.html

Obituary, quoting largely from someone else's kind words about Ami:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/06/ami-isseroff-requiescat-in-pace.html

Snoopy the Goon's rememberance (from which the kind words mentioned above were quoted):
http://simplyjews.blogspot.com/2011/06/ami-isseroff-rip-heart-of-real-zionist.html



Ami Isseroff was one of the few writers whose passion and eloquence precisely matched his meaning. Frequently he would bring reason and common-sense back into the discourse, making his points rationally and without inflammatory verbosity.
As such, on too many comment-strings and mailinglists to mention, he kept the discussion on track, and prevented it from degenerating into a free-for-all of accusations and "you're-anothers" so common when people with convictions voice deeply-held opinions.

My first discussion with him was on a local list.
I didn't know who he was at the time, or where he lived. Had, in fact, no clue what I was dealing with.
A statement of mine raised his ire and he sharply called me to task.
I wasn't pleased at the reprimand and resolved never to discuss anything with him ever again. Subsequent reactions and missives on that list, however, convinced me that those people with whom I initially had agreed were tightly wedged between stark-raving batshit and utter idiocy, and that in fact Ami was the only intelligent person in that conversation. The only sane one too.
He made his points with brevity, and with scant regard for the emotional investment of others in their own rhetoric.
A remarkable talent, which reflected a remarkable mind.

For the next few years we were often a tag-team on that list. And frequently corresponded outside the channel, in order to keep the morons which must infest any acivist coterie from sabotaging the work or hijacking the discourse.

Other than that he was one of most remarkable minds I have ever encountered, I do not know much about the man.
College level scholar. Zionist. Computer geek.
Political thinker. Historian. Rationalist.
A liberal with very solid foundations.
Husband, father, brother.
Renaissance man.


Intellectually stimulating, with few if any equals.


Damn I'm going to miss him.



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NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

WEST DUNBARTON BOYCOTT

GUEST POST BY JAMEEL:

[SOURCE: http://muqata.blogspot.com/2011/05/official-scotch-whisky-counter-boycott.html.]

Please help pass this on to Kiddush Clubs everywhere!

This is the official pro-Israel, counter-boycott page against Scotch Whisky, distilled in the anti-Israel region of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. (letter to the distillers, appears below)

My good friend and fellow blogger, Aussie Dave from Israellycool has been following this story since it's inception.

- Scottish Council Launches Ban On Israeli Books
- Follow Up On The Dumbies of Dunbartonshire Council
- Jim McElhill of West Dunbartonshire Council Leaving Nasty Comments

The story also appeared on my blog, and in other news sources as well.

- FURY AS COUNCIL LAUNCHES BOYCOTT ON ISRAELI BOOKS


- Scottish areas ban Israeli products

I believe its best to contact the whisky distillers directly, since the West Dunbartonshire Council of Wise Men couldn't care less what a pro-Israel, pro-liberty, person might think...but they might listen to voices of their constituents; specifically the Scotch whisky distilleries in their council's region.

You can contact them directly at:

Morrison Bowmore Distillers Ltd.  info@morrisonbowmore.co.uk
Distillers of: Auchintoshan, Bowmore, Glen Garioch, McClelland’s

Loch Lomond Distillery Co. Ltd   mail@lochlomonddistillery.com
Distillers of Loch Lomond, Scots Earl, Distillery Select, Glen Scotia, Littlemill, Croftengea, Craigslodge, Inchmurrin, Glen Douglas, Inchfad

Chivas Brothers media.relations@pernod-ricard.com
Distillers of Ballantine’s, Chivas, Royal Salute, Clan Campbell, Something Special, Passport, 100 Pipers, Imperial, Long John Aberlour, The Glenlivet, Glendronach, Strathisla, Longmorn, Scapa, Tormore, Jameson, Paddy, Powers, Walker Special Old, Wisers

This is the most current and accurate list I could procure based on the addresses of distiller's in the West Dunbartonshire Council region.  Please contact me if I have omitted any whisky from this region, and I will gladly update the list.

I urge you to write to these fine distillers of whisky, and express your outrage and support of the counter-boycott.  Pass this list on to your friends and neighbors.  It is simply immoral for the West Dunbartonshire Council to boycott Israel.

Following is the letter I sent them today...feel free to use it in expressing your sentiments to these distillers.

Regards from Israel,

Jameel Rashid

The Muqata Blog
www.muqata.com

Letter to the Fine Whisky Distillers of West Dunbartonshire

Tuesday, 31rst May, 2011

To The Fine Whisky Distillers of West Dunbartonshire;

Morrison Bowmore Distillers Ltd.
Auchentoshan Distillery, Dalmuir, Clydebank, Dunbartonshire G81 4SJ
Distillers of Auchintoshan, Bowmore, Glen Garioch, McClelland’s

Loch Lomond Distillery Co. Ltd
Lomond Industrial Estate, Alexandria, Dunbartonshire G83 0TL
Distillers of Loch Lomond, Scots Earl, Distillery Select, Glen Scotia,
Littlemill, Croftengea, Craigslodge, Inchmurrin, Glen Douglas, Inchfad

Chivas Brothers
Kilmalid, Stirling Road, Dumbarton, Lanarkshire, G82 2SS
Distillers of Ballantine’s, Chivas, Royal Salute, Clan Campbell,
Something Special, Passport, 100 Pipers, Imperial, Long John
Aberlour, The Glenlivet, Glendronach, Strathisla, Longmorn, Scapa
Tormore, Jameson, Paddy, Powers
Walker Special Old, Wisers

Gentlemen,

I would like to preface this letter, in that I have enjoyed your fine whisky products for many years, and believe they are truly world-class. Unfortunately, due to the actions of your esteemed West Dunbartonshire council members, I will not be able to enjoy your whisky in the foreseeable future.

It has come to my attention that the West Dunbartonshire Council claims to have voted unanimously to boycott Israeli products.

The West Dunbartonshire Council clearly states their point on their website, updated on the 30th of May, 2011.

http://www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/news/corporate-statement-on-the-boycott-of-israeli-goods/

The actual boycott resolution is as follows:

‘This Council deplores the loss of life in Palestine which now numbers well over 1,000. This Council also recognises the disproportionate force used by the IDF in Palestine and agrees to boycott all Israeli goods as a consequence. Officers should immediately cease the purchase of any goods we currently source, which were made or grown in Israel. Officers should also ensure we procure no new goods or produce from Israel until this boycott is formally lifted by WDC.’


I find it disturbing that the esteemed council found no reason to mention the reason for the IDF’s operation in Gaza. There was no mention of the intentional targeting of civilian infants, children, women and men by Gaza’s Hamas government, the thousands of rockets they launched at Israel’s civilian population, and the restraint that Israel employed over the previous years when attacked on a daily basis.

The IDF does not target civilians. The vast majority of Palestinians that Israel killed have been terrorists. Go check the facts. I have. Palestinians terrorists routinely use hospitals, mosques, and schools to launch their rocket attacks on Israel. Try defending your population from terrorists and see if you can guarantee zero collateral damage. Does your council not condemn the barbarism of the Arab terrorist because in the back of their minds they are concerned terrorists might hunt them down and terrorize THEIR families?

Why was there an IDF operation in Gaza in the first place? To oppress poor Palestinian Arabs? How would you deal with Gazas’ Arabs’ targeting Scotland’s babies, other children, and other civilians? Have you not seen the pictures of atrocities the Arabs have visited on innocent children, or does your council not care? We are not talking about isolated attacks on Israel, but about thousands of rockets they have launched at Israel’s civilian population.

The restraint of Israel under attack is astounding. Colonel Richard Kemp, previous Commander of British Armed Forces in Afghanistan said when presenting his report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in October 2009: “During its operation in Gaza, the Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.” (source)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said to the US Congress last week: "Of the 300 million Arabs in the Middle East and North Africa, only Israel's Arab citizens enjoy real democratic rights. I want you to stop for a second and think about that. Of those 300 million Arabs, less than one half of 1% are truly free, and they're all citizens of Israel! This startling fact reveals a basic truth: Israel is not what is wrong about the Middle East; Israel is what is right about the Middle East!" (source)

Lastly, the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas stated this past Saturday that the future state of Palestine will be “free of Jews.” (source)

The State of Israel offers equal freedom for all its citizens, Jew, Arab, and Christian alike, including full parliamentary and judiciary representation. The State of Israel is the unchallenged leader of democracy in the Middle East, and the West Dunbartonshire Council boycott unfortunately attempts to undermine the very success of Israel as a democracy.

Therefore, it saddens me to have to inform you that the global counter-boycott of Scottish whisky products, distilled in the West Durbanshire Council region, is beginning. I don’t know anyone who bears malice toward these fine distilleries. When, however, your local council representatives boycott my country, under the most unethical and immoral of pretext, you cannot expect your market to sit idly and pretend your are not perverting justice.

• The counter-boycott is on the purchase of Scottish Whisky, distilled in the West Durbanshire council region.
• The counter-boycott is not retroactive and applies only to purchases made from June 2011 onwards.
• The counter-boycott will not prevented global residents from purchasing whisky products, distilled outside of West Dunbartonshire.
• Attempts to depict this counter-boycott as racist are also entirely inaccurate. The counter-boycott is instigated in response to conduct and boycott initiated by the West Durbanshire Council and applies to no specific ethnic or religious group. This is in direct opposition to the West Durbanshire Council which refuses to condemn the actions of Palestinian terrorists targeting Israeli civilians and the anti-Semitic, racist declarations of the Palestinian Authority, which calls for a “Jew-free” apartheid, State of Palestine.

The counter-boycott is publicizing the list of West Durbanshire distilled whisky by internet and distributing press releases to news agencies and others around the globe.

Sincerely,

Jameel Rashid
The Muqata Blog
www.muqata.com



Follow the Muqata on Twitter.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

=====================================================

AFTER WORD

I myself intend to boycott pretty much everything Scottish henceforward.
And I dare anyone to accuse me of racism - there are kilted heathen in my family background, and one of the things my mother happily told me about when I was young, was how her ancestors had slaughtered some other bunch of hairy Scots gits back in the twelfth or thirteenth century.
Besides, I know how haggis is made - that foul product qualifies as a crime against humanity on par with buggery Bobby Burns horrid doggerel.
No surprise that they are often paired.
Thank heavens the best marmalade comes from England.

------ATBOTH

Monday, May 30, 2011

THREE CHANCE-DISCOVERED CANTONESE SONGS

Spent some time after lunch browsing youtube. Herewith a haphazard sampling of Cantonese lyric.


相思淚 SEUNG SI LEUI
TEARS OF LOVE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a54Z9D6YDJ8&feature=related
A pleasantly sorrowful old-fashioned tune.


香夭及升天 HEUNG YIU KAP SING TIEN
INCENSE SPIRALLING UPWARDS
Sung by Yam Kiem-fai (任劍輝) and White Snow Immortal(白雪仙).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaLWlOJyRaw&feature=related
A lovely duet from the opera 帝女花 (Tai neui fa: 'emperor-daughter-flower') about princess Cheung-Peng, daughter of the last Ming emperor. The invasion of the Manchu forces prevented her marriage, and as the capital fell to the rebels, the emperor killed several members of his own family and committed suicide.
Though her arm was severed by her father, she survived. Her request that she be permitted to become a nun was denied by the emperor of the new dynasty, who arranged for her and her fiancé to be reunited and wed. By all accounts their marriage was a happy one, but, alas, short. She died of illness a year afterwards, aged seventeen.

For the benefit of those who wish to follow the text, I have copy-pasted it below.

【旦】落花滿天蔽月光,借一杯附薦鳳台上。
【旦】帝女花帶淚上香,願喪生回謝爹娘。
【旦】我偷偷看、偷偷望,佢帶淚帶淚暗悲傷。
【旦】我半帶驚惶,怕駙馬惜鸞鳳配,不甘殉愛伴我臨泉壤。
【生】寸心盼望能同合葬;鴛鴦侶,相偎傍。
【生】泉台上再設新房,地府陰司裡再覓那平陽門巷。
【旦】唉,惜花者甘殉葬。花燭夜,難為駙馬飲砒霜。
【生】江山悲災劫。感先帝,恩千丈;與妻雙雙叩問帝安。
【旦】唉,昐得花燭共諧白髮,誰個願看花燭翻血浪。
【旦】唉,我誤君累你同埋孽網,好應盡禮揖花燭深深拜。
【旦】再合巹交杯,墓穴作新房,待千秋歌讚註駙馬在靈牌上
【生】將柳陰當做芙蓉帳,明朝駙馬看新娘,夜半挑燈有心作窺妝。
【旦】地老天荒,情鳳永配痴凰,願與夫婿共拜相交杯舉案。
【生】遞過金杯慢咽輕嘗,將砒霜帶淚放落葡萄上。
唱詞:
【旦】合歡與君醉夢鄉,
【生】碰杯夢到夜台上。
【旦】百花冠替代殮妝,
【生】駙馬珈墳墓收藏。
【旦】相擁抱 、
【生】相偎傍,
【合】雙枝有樹透露帝女香。
【生】帝女花,
【旦】長伴有心郎;
【合】夫妻死去樹也同模樣。



雙仙拜月亭 SEUNG SIEN BAAI YUET TING

And now, just because I've always like it, a piece from 'Two Immortals Worship at the Moon Pavilion', one of the classics of the Cantonese opera repertoire.


粧樓拜月 JONG LAU BAAI YUET
ADORNING THE BUILDING (FOR) REVERENCING THE MOON
Sorry, no idea who the performers are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_DVRxa3fzM
There are several movie versions of this opera.

--- ---- ---- ---

Next up, at some future point, the stellar 芳豔芬 (Fong Yim-fan), famous for a mellifluous voice and expressivity in her opera roles. She performed at times with Yam Kiem-fai, mentioned above.
Still among the living, last I heard, but in her eighties and retired.

Friday, May 6, 2011

HONG KONG MOVIE CLIPS

The following are clips from various Hong Kong movies, selected nearly entirely at random. If YOU can discover a common theme, or even a logical sequence, please let me know.
I simply spent an afternoon rediscovering the period when there were still movie theatres in Chinatown.


倩女幽魂—张国荣
Theme song for Chinese Ghost Story - various scenes from the movie - with Leslie Cheung (張國榮)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBlolVb2E5M


古惑仔 - 陳浩南
Kinda pointless and lecturesome scene from a movie about a substitute teacher and juvenile delinquents. But it has some splendid foul language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc_xrwbYfcA&feature=related


我叫你做食屎狗~食屎狗 監獄風雲
Scene from Prison on Fire in which Chou Yun Fat(周潤發) calls the sadistic guard 'sek si kau'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiYrcOv98Co&feature=related


天若有情
Fat ex-pretty boy, now a truck driver, gets lecture from a leng-tsai. Later there's a scene where a bride is carrying her groom on her back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aApccHpvQsE


英雄本色
Scene where Chou Yun Fat kills several Hokkien speaking gangsters and their leader 小馬哥 in Taiwan, from the movie A Better Tomorrow.
Classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcJb6vtHWV4&feature=related


賭神
Part near end of God of Gamblers. Chou Yun Fat proves that he wears a tuxedo very well. Confrontation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2puaI9V8Osc&feature=related


賭神
The end of the movie. The bad guy lost all bets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbDVGOSeSn4&feature=related


秋天的童話
Chou Yun Fat picks up Jennifer (played by 鍾楚紅) at the airport, then frightens the crap out of her with his car and his driving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i6lzX5wjb4


From the mid eighties till around 1988, the Great Star theatre on Jackson street held the franchise for the Golden Harvest films, then lost it to the Pagoda Palace, which showed them for at least the next three years. By 1995 all theatres in C'town were closed.