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There's a bit of a trend going on in Israeli advertising these days in which advertisers imagine what our neighbors and other folks who don't like "us" or something about their product would have to say. There are two of these commercials from Satellite TV company YES. One is of ultra orthodox men in black coats and hats singing and dancing about how terrible YES HDTV is because it allows you to sin with clearer pictures. (You know, 'cuz you shouldn't see all that stuff they have on TV...) There's another commercial in which the Iranians get all excited about destroying Israel until they realize that their war timetable is going to interfere with watching their favorite Israeli TV program.

There's another commercial for a fuel efficient Nissan that depicts Arabs cursing the car because it saves so much fuel. I've heard that this one has gotten a reaction. Someone (or ones) has launched a website .. duh-duh-duh! ... cursing Nissan because of the ad.

Ummmm... duh... "We don't do stupid stuff like cursing cars because they are fuel efficient, and I CURSE YOU for even suggesting that we would!!"

Can people just stop being caricatures of the worst of themselves for a minute? PLEASE?

Miriam Schwab at IsraelPlug suggests that someone should start an initiative called "Sense of Humor for Middle East Peace"

Now, there's one piece that all falls into place with that FOX news piece. MBC ran a story about the ad and then started a conversation about how Israelis are fueling profits with "hatred and racism". Shall we compare this to the sorts of things in Arabic TV that fuel hatred against Jews and against Israel? This commercial is a JOKE. That lovely mouse that taught Palestinian children to hate Jews and was "killed by Israelis" after getting too much international attention was NOT A JOKE. Can you see the difference?

I think Miriam is right. We need a "Regional Get a Sense Of Humor Day" here.

Luis Tarraga is originally from Bolivia but has lived in Israel far more years that I have. I found him playing music in the downtown area of Petach Tikvah and grabbed this video. You can find more of his music, as well as information about booking him and his partner Sigal, together known as Los Chaskis, for an event at http://www.loschaskis.com

Our original intention had been to head down South to a nice dark place to watch the Perseid meteor shower, but we left the ice rink (where I coach) a little late, and so we missed the last ride from the last train station to where we meant to go. Soooo... I made up for it to my sprog-man by making a couple of videos with him and then going out for dinner at the mall.

The quality of these videos is really choppy. The dark makes it even worse than usual, sorry.

Today I have some videos for you that aren't mine. They are tourist fluff, sure, but they're kinda pretty. Never fear, more wonky QIK videos of the streets of Israel will be here shortly. :)

This one is from Israel-on-Blog. See also http://www.visit-tlv.co.il/

And here is a slide show with music called "beauty israel" (sic) from mahra999 on YouTube

The road to the Roman ruins in Ceasaria.

The aqueduct and the beach

My youngest describes the aqueduct for us.

Entering the national park in Ceasaria

Talking to my youngest at the old city of Ceasaria.(btw, this is what homeschooling "looks like" for those who wonder about such things)

Me being a smarta-- about the modern use of the ancient ampitheater. Also, I call the Mediterranean and "ocean". Yes, I always do that. I grew up next to the Pacific, and it's hard to see that much salt water and call it a "sea" instead of an "ocean". It's a cognitive jump my little brain just hasn't made.

The final video of the day. My phone battery was just about dead by this point. You can't see the roadies so well, but trust me, they were down there getting ready for a concert.

Three videos of my daughter and I having fun at the Azrieli Mall in Tel Aviv. Beautiful architecture, A couple of sculptures, and a waterfall in a parking lot. Then we go out to our bus stop.

Once again, I'm out on a Friday, so there aren't a lot of people or traffic. I say, I don't know why I'm always taking videos of empty malls on Fridays, but I do know. It's cuz I don't have any time to do these during the week when I'm at work. C'est la vie.

Today at happy hour (our weekly Thusday afternoon "meeting" with drinks, sweets and a presentation) we watched and listened to Sanjay play the sitar.

Here are two videos, the first from Cafe Aroma in BSR2 in Bnei Brak, the second from Pinati just up the block. The first was taken at around 10am, the second at around 1PM.

Aroma is your basic international espresso bar.