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“Really, who can resist a film about a pirate who prays, who keeps kosher and who observes most rules? A Jewish pirate who fights back, who doesn’t take it lying down, yet who doesn’t raid ships in the Spanish flotilla on the Sabbath - but waits until Monday instead.”
Erol Araf, who is making just such a film:
There may not have been a Silverstein on the high seas in the 17th century, but there were swashbuckling buccaneers called Balthazar and Moses Cohen Henriques and - would you believe? - Rabbi Samuel Pallache. They pillaged and plundered Spanish navy vessels. Payback, if you will, for the murder and expulsion of many Jews from Spain at the end of the 15th century due to the Spanish Inquisition.
More here (HT: Flavia Dzodan).
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Well done, internet.
I hadn’t seen this before — though it’s not exactly brand new — and anything that involves both “The Godfather” and “Arrested Development” needs to appear on this blog.
(via Josh Sternberg; click to embiggen).
(Source: BuzzFeed)
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Gary Oldman reads a synopsis of a recent “Jersey Shore” episode.
All I can say is that if you don’t love this, there’s a pretty good chance you’re a charlatan.
HT: Flavia Dzodan.
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Originally Posted By barackobama
Earlier today, Barack Obama won the internet after a photo of his reaction to this fourteen year old’s marshmallow cannon from today’s White House Science Fair made the rounds.
Here’s the video.
Best part for me? Early on, he asks if the cannon is “fully operational.”
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Originally Posted By laughwhileyoucanmonkey
I like a good laugh, I admit.
Here’s another version:
Ah, internet photos …
(Source: laughwhileyoucanmonkey, via drinkthe-koolaid)
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Originally Posted By staff
Tumblr rolls out a weird new feature:
Introducing: Highlighted Posts
Every now and then, a post comes along that’s meant for big things. It could be pulling the wraps off your new project, promoting your next show, raising awareness for a cause, or just sharing a truly incredible photo.
Today you’ll have a new option to Highlight those extra-important posts. For one dollar, your post will stand out in the Dashboard with a customizable sticker to make sure your followers take notice!
The nice thing about this is that it shows me who wants to pay for me to read what they write. I should probably spend some time today figuring out a way that Tumblr bloggers can directly pay me seventy-five cents per post to ensure that I look at what they’re posting.
Why pay a dollar to Tumblr so they can help you get my attention when you can pay me directly and be certain?! Or, you know, you could write something really interesting …
(Source: staff)
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At least one person doesn’t think this sketch from a popular Israeli television show is funny. In a Tablet Magazine piece a couple of days ago, Liel Leibowitz sets out what he perceives as an attack on American Jews and what he thinks it says about Israelis.
Leibowitz alleges that Israeli weakness is prompting this sort of thing (which he compares, — wrongly, I think — to the short-lived “Don’t Marry an American” ad campaign):
When someone—a person or a state—holds strong beliefs and perceptions and then those beliefs and perceptions are suddenly and strongly negated by reality, one solution is to introduce a new idea that resolves the tension. In this case, the calming idea is this distortion of American Jews: It doesn’t matter, Israelis tell themselves, that we’re no longer as invincible as we would like to believe we are, because these soft suckers, our cousins from America, are downright laughable.
The subtext is that Israelis used to be awesome ass-kickers and now they’re just a bunch of chubby yuppies. In his words, Israel “settled down, it got fat, it became better-known for its high-tech entrepreneurs than for its commandos.” He bemoans the good old 1970s, noting that Israel doesn’t even assassinate its enemies particularly well these days.
This is pretty weird, as it suggests that high-tech entrepeneurship is something about which a country shoudl be embarrassed and assassinations are the sort of thing in which a citizenry should take pride. And when the people are happy with their jobs at Intel and don’t spend enough time brandishing their weapons, then they lash out against poor, defenseless American college kids.
Leaving aside the fairly obvious fact that the Israeli government still seems to be pretty adept at wielding weaponry, I have to admit that Leibowitz just seems not to have much of a sense of humor. This is sketch comedy; it’s entire purpose is to make fun of people … even those who are normally thought of as near and dear to the audience. Rather than wishing that the Israelis would become even more militaristic, I’m inclined to wish that they’d do more sketch comedy.
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Originally Posted By theatlantic
Iran Reenacts History With a Giant Cardboard Cut-Out Ayatollah
On this day in 1979, Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned home after 14 years in exile. This morning, the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran reenacted the very important moment in their country’s history with a very bizarre ceremony — and a cardboard cut-out of Khomeini. Read more.
[Image: Mehr News Agency
In related news, my cardboard cut-out of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini went missing three days ago … and now we all know the culprits.
(via zainyk)
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Originally Posted By shortformblog
“If enthusiasm wins elections, we win hands down!”
Alas, getting more votes than the other candidates wins elections — not enthusiasm — and Ron Paul consistently fails to get more votes than the other candidates in presidential primaries.
(Source: shortformblog)
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Originally Posted By zachvaughn
Thidwick Goes to Washington
I was wondering what my day was missing and then I saw that Joe Lieberman referenced Dr. Seuss today in the Senate:
Sen. Lieberman did not want his bill to become like Thidwick’s antlers.
I wholeheartedly support more Dr. Seuss references in politics.
(Source: zachvaughn)
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Originally Posted By zainyk
“Why not aspire to build a real Jurassic Park?”
It’s in his book, To Renew America.
So … if you’re interested in dinosaurs living on American moon base, remember: Only a Gingrich administration can promise you this.
(via zainyk)
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“By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American.”
Newt Gingrich, in Florida, to applause.
“Does that mean I’m visionary? You betcha,” he said.
You know, if he doesn’t win the nomination, he could always be Space Czar in a Romney or Santorum administration. You know whose administration definitely wouldn’t have a Space Czar?
This guy:
So … if not colonizing the moon is important to you, you should really think seriously about Ron Paul’s candidacy. Right now, he’s only one out there who definitely doesn’t want the federal government establishing a moon base.
(Source: politico.com)
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“I am rooting for you, Merrill Garbus. I like your record, and I hope you make many more. I want you to be a genius, and I have no reason to believe that won’t happen. But maybe don’t sell the puppets, because maybe you are doomed.”
Chuck Klosterman on tUnE-yArDs
I really like what Chuck Klosterman writes, I’ve been baffled by the number of times that people have told me I should give tUnE-yArDs a listen, and I’m puzzled by what exactly people like about this music every time I listen to Merrill Garbus.
So, Klosterman’s short piece on the critical darling of 2011 and indie music’s obsession with having a critical darling — and then later, maybe collectively slapping its head at its selection — was just what I needed this morning.
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Originally Posted By brooklynmutt
It’s nice to see Wikipedia getting in on the action with regard to protesting SOPA (which might not be around much longer) and PIPA, a couple of bad laws relating to internet usage.
That said, students: It might be better still if you didn’t make Wikipedia your go-to source for research … and not just this Wednesday.
(Source: brooklynmutt)
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