| Hanukkah Harry |
[Dec. 17th, 2009|07:39 pm] |
Viviane was at the office party. The company's one of those international corporations, lots of Indians, Jews and whatnot, so they didn't call it a Christmas party but something year-endy. First I thought that was only the usual empty PC thing, but they had traditional Ultra-Orthodox Hanukkah Harry beards! She brought one:
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| Holmes |
[Nov. 26th, 2009|10:05 pm] |
They should make more Holmes films with Rupert Everett and they should use Skryabin for the soundtrack.
The Granada series in the 80s and 90s was really well made, Edward Hardwicke as Watson was excellent, but the protagonist was terrible. The problem was probably that he was a normal bloke who had to play a superbrain, and so this resulted in lots of arrogance and conceitedness, sometimes even ponciness without being gay. Also he overacted like a 1920s theatre actor confronted with the camera for the first time.
The film with Everett, directed by Simon Cellan-Jones and written by Alan Cubitt, was the first I know that saw Holmes's side as a décadent. Pity the pastiche plot was a bit weak and one of the cast was insultingly bad.
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| Adult-talk |
[Nov. 19th, 2009|08:52 am] |
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Until some decades ago, people used to talk baby-talk to small children. Then they finally understood this wasn't useful, the children wouldn't talk baby-talk later on in life. So they changed and talked in a normal way, mocking regular grown-up talk. This is why most adults talk mock-grown-up talk. |
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| Advertising |
[Oct. 30th, 2009|08:38 am] |
A German publishing house that have a fly in their sign used actual flies for advertising. Most interesting point is that the banner changes them from icky to cute.
Hat-tip: Gabriel |
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| Hidden codes |
[Oct. 22nd, 2009|10:10 am] |
Among Yiddish linguists, there's a convention of referring to the vowels by numbers. The reason, not entirely convincing, is that for most of the Early Yiddish vowels, you have quite a variety in today's dialects, sometimes overlapping or otherwise confusing.
Vowel 42 of all numbers is the classic Jewish Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything, namely "oy". |
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| Tea |
[Oct. 20th, 2009|08:08 am] |
Google hits for
"put on the kettle": about 2,010,000
"ket on the puttle": 0
"cat on the poodle": 2 |
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| Ditty |
[Oct. 12th, 2009|03:12 pm] |
What a charmer.
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 5th, 2009|02:21 pm] |
Has he put some doll's house pieces in his computer case, as he claims, or has he really simply built a giant papier-mâché motherboard on his drawing room wall?
(more pictures) |
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| Election fraud |
[Sep. 10th, 2009|02:29 pm] |
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Don't quite understand why it's OK if they cheated, provided they would have got the majority even without fraud. |
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| Ah, syntax |
[Aug. 20th, 2009|10:45 am] |
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Leo didn't get any of the plum dumplings made after the recipe of his great-great-great-grandmother I grew up with. |
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| Baby talk |
[Jul. 3rd, 2009|10:03 am] |
Talking to a seven-months-old baby is the first step to talking to oneself. (Did I just say that aloud?!)
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| Football |
[May. 12th, 2009|07:57 pm] |
Some genius took a video of the Pupa rebbe and hasidists and replaced the sound with fans of the Łódź football club. I tend to be scared by drunken masses in uniforms.
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| Dream |
[Apr. 29th, 2009|10:19 am] |
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I dreamt we were at an event somewhere outside. In the background, a C-list celebrity girl was interviewed, maybe 16, dressed like a 25-year old who wants to look like a 16-year old. She explained Beethoven wasn't an artist, because he was only a musician and didn't also dance. |
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| Faith and superstition |
[Apr. 20th, 2009|01:07 pm] |
The difference between faith and superstition isn't easy. Some people consider it witty to say one's own religion is faith, and the others are superstitious, but that's not only lame, it's wrong. An Orthodox Jew typically won't claim Catholicism isn't a religion and a faith, merely that they're mistaken, and vice versa.
One technical difference might be that a faith or a religion is a whole system, while superstitions are single items, but that's not always so if you take a closer look at chosen samples. The same is true for the question of clergy.
Anyway, what occurred to me is that the notion of blasphemy is a point of difference! If you mock a superstition, strong believers might just think this is bad for you, and you'll see for yourself before long what happens if you don't take it seriously.
That's different with a faith, where believers will be deeply and personally offended, in fact even non-believers often seem to think one shouldn't touch anything too near the beliefs and values.
There's a tradition of dinners on Friday 13, starting with coffee and going back to the first course, in a room with broken mirrors, open stepladders &c. Funny, but probably nobody much cares. But look what happens every time an artist again thinks it's new to pee on a cross in public or the like, let alone to pencil a caricature of Mahomet. Or, like the socialist Jewish Bund, go for a public pork picnic on Yom kipper. |
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| Internet |
[Apr. 3rd, 2009|05:58 pm] |
Leo is addicted to the internet, I'm afraid. The, er, words he says most are [guˈgɯ] and [øʁø], ie Google and heureux.
(Seriously, I wonder why mama, baba, dada and the like are usually explained to be the easiest and first words children utter, so that in many languages, they mean "mother" or "father", when other sounds are there before. The typical bleh, dlöh, öghö, I mean.) |
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| Soup |
[Apr. 3rd, 2009|05:50 pm] |
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Had a yummy tortilla soup, basically a kind of gazpacho, but not cold. (Sorry in case this is common knowledge to Americans.) Do you know that, when it's so warm and so spicy at the same time that after half the bowl you have no idea if it's cooled down? Just can't tell? |
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| Droppin by these days |
[Mar. 19th, 2009|10:48 am] |
What do we have to pack for a trip to NY?
- A pound of tea,
- two little pots of Marmite,
- some rolls of non-see-through loo paper,
- powder from the chemist's to disinfect the water,
- my umbrella (in case it rains and we need something to hail a taxi) and
- a phrase book ("Good morning!" -> "Yo, guys!").
That is from the usual arrogant European perspective, of course; from an American one the list would be something like:
- no toothbrush and
- a phrase book ("What-ho, my good man!" -> "Good morning!") |
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| Name |
[Dec. 28th, 2008|06:29 pm] |
Some remarks about our son's name, as some people asked. He's called Leo Henry M., Jewish name יהודה ליב Yehudo Loeb (or Yehude Leib, among friends…).
Leo
- It's a big cat. (All right, this isn't in order of importance.)
- I don't remember how we came up with it. I suspect, at least subconsciously, because of the Jewish name, for which see below, but I'm not sure.
- It's "international". No idea how long we'll be here or where we'll be next. (For the same stupid reason, we and our parents before us were given "international" names.)
- As opposed to Viviane, I didn't actually realise we gave our son a purely Latin name, even though I knew it was one, of course.
- I wonder whether we should use Leonis name always in full declension. Might make Leonem an easy target for bullying, though.
- Afterwards, when I entered him in the family tree software for fun, I saw that my great-grandfather Viktor L. was fully Viktor Leo L., which had entirely slipped my mind. Unfortunately, when I told my mother, who also wasn't actively aware of it, she said something like "oh, old pig Viktor" (my words, don't remember hers exactly) and told me that her grandfather, who died long before she was born, must have been very harsh and moody, probably even beat his wife and his sons. He purportedly turned thus after developing some spleen cancer from which he suffered and then miserably died, but that's not a good excuse.
- At the same time, I also saw that Viviane's great-grandfather Ludwig "Lazar" J. was fully Lazar Ludwig Leopold J. We had forgotten that, too. He was a nice guy, at least.
Reserves were:
- Leon is very high in recent Swiss and neighbouring German name lists, the playgrounds are full of them. ("Leh-onn, stop hitting Kevin!!" [best pronounce: Caffinn] Brrr.) This also prevented us from seriously considering the name Leon', stressed on the second syllable, the Venetian form of Italian Leone.
- At least in America among Jews, it sounds a tad like Uncle Leo types as in Seinfeld. Not Murray, but still.
- People might mistake it for a short version of Leonard or Leopold, while we mean the name Leo itself. I mostly don't like abbreviations or nick names in the official "passport name".
- What the hell.
Henry
- We both liked the name independently.
- It's a family name - Viviane's grandfather was Heinrich Br., her great-grandmother Henrietta B. - and she must have been quite a brave and witty woman. My great-grandfather on one side was Henry S., and so my cousin is William Henry S., and on another side Hertz M., called Henry. Several of his descendents were called thus, and there's a photography from the 1930s, showing three men on a Spaziergang, Henry M., Dr. Henry M. and Henri M. The one in the middle is still warmly remembered by old Londoners, as I found out in Jerusalem to my surprise.
יהודה ליב Yehude Leib
- Family name. My first ancestor who had the family name of M., my 6x-great-grandfather, was called thus in the 1600s, as were several of his descendants, such as my ancestor Löb M. in the 18th ct, also some in the other lines.
- Yehude is one of the ancient tribes, and "goes with" the name of Leib or Löb, ie lion.
- The brismile happened to be postponed to the first day of Chanukke, but there's no connection intended with Judah the Maccabean, nor with the rather embarrassing episode about Judah in that week's Tôre reading.
- Leon' (Rav Arye Yehuda Yehuda Arye) Modena of Venice and prof. Leo (Rav Yehuda) Levi of Mannheim and Jerusalem aren't bad namesakes. |
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| Entry |
[Dec. 27th, 2008|11:50 pm] |
The Aliens Police sent us Leo's Ausländerausweis (foreigner's ID card). It states "entry to the country: 3 Dec 2008" and claims he's c/o us.
Also, he smiled his first (real) smile today, for about a second. |
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| Seasonal |
[Dec. 27th, 2008|11:34 pm] |
Christmas biscuits, kosher dairy, under the common supervision of the mainstream and the ultra-Orthodox communities. |
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| Just noticed |
[Nov. 12th, 2008|02:58 pm] |
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Many watches have an hour hand, a minute hand and not a third, but a second hand. And the minute hand is the biggest. |
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| Neil Postman |
[Nov. 9th, 2008|06:55 pm] |
Read his Disappearance of Childhood, which I had bought as an ex-library book in the 90s. I can't believe it was so influential or even so much discussed. It's an embarrassing piece of sloppy scholarship, mostly cross-referencing other well-known popular works, entirely free and wrong highly specific interpretations of general facts and then conclusions based on logical errors. I think he didn't fake things on purpose, though.
Waste of time. |
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| Yesterday's CT |
[Oct. 24th, 2008|12:53 pm] |
Looks scary because you can see my face. Memento mori.
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| Rare case of Swiss dry humour |
[Oct. 16th, 2008|07:13 pm] |
At the dry cleaner's:
I, taking clothes out of the bag: "2 ties, 1 cravat, 1 scarf, 2 coats and 1 jacket."
Assistant, making notes: "2 ties, 1 cravat, 1 scarf, 2 coats, 1 jacket, and 1 cat." |
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| Bible code |
[Oct. 16th, 2008|05:02 pm] |
Google Translate now includes Hebrew. I tried a sample you might recognise:
A,A At the beginning, created god, the sky, and the country. A, B and country, was Atahu Obahu, וחשך, over the chasm; spirit of god, float on the surface of the water. A, C and said god, Ehe light; will be light. E, E saw the light of god, that good; Weievdl god, between light and äçùê. E, the god He called the light of day, called ולחשך night; will be evening visit, one day.
So, the GoogleCode reveals that God will drop by in the evening one day. That good?
Some remarks: the A,A etc. are the numbers of chapter and verse; Weievdl for some reason was (incorrectly) transcribed instead of left in Hebrew letters; äçùê looks like HTML gone wrong for intended Hebrew letters; He with a capital H is probably a funny coincidence, actually an error.
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| Ree-Pubcan English |
[Sep. 16th, 2008|09:22 pm] |
terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrist: 1 google hit
terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrist: 0
terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrist: 1
terrrrrrrrrrrrrrist: 2
terrrrrrrrrrrrrist: 0
terrrrrrrrrrrrist: 3
terrrrrrrrrrrist: 7
terrrrrrrrrrist: 13
terrrrrrrrrist: 11
terrrrrrrrist: 10
terrrrrrrist: 19
terrrrrrist: 39
terrrrrist: 242
terrrrist: 344
terrrist: 2950
terrist: 45700
terist: 35100
tehrist: 12
tehrrist: 3
tehrrrist: 1
tehrrrrist: 1
tehrrrrrist: 0
"tehr-rist" (best phonetic approximation): 2
"ter rist" (=ter'rist, ter-rist): 1960
"terr rist": 1410
"ter rrist": 4
"terr rrist": 5
"terr rrrist": 1
"terrr rist": 4
"terrrr rrist": 1
trrist: 605
trrrist: 99
trrrrist: 25
trrrrrist: 104
trrrrrrist: 4
trrrrrrrist: 5
trrrrrrrrist: 7
trrrrrrrrrist: 2
trrrrrrrrrrist: 2
trrrrrrrrrrrist: 3
trrrrrrrrrrrrist: 0
trrrrrrrrrrrrrist: 0
trrrrrrrrrrrrrrist: 1
trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrist: 2
trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrist: 0
trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrist: 0
trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrist: 1
etc. |
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| Major holiday |
[Jul. 31st, 2008|07:53 pm] |
I hope you don't forget tomorrow's holiday, always on the 60th day of tekufas tammes! I was a bit surprised that the day is so popular, but the whole country is already in a festive mood, and there'll be fireworks.
Naah.
Right.
It's traditionally observed by going to Germany or France, where the shops are open, but it'd be fun to do something on- or offline next year co' la mispahà. |
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| Dr. Psycho |
[Jul. 15th, 2008|10:35 pm] |
German TV and German movies are unbelieveably bad. Until some years ago, this was even more so regarding comedy - with very few exceptions - but that has partly changed, at least in the private stations. The German take on The Office is at least as good as the British, actually better, and that means something.
Anyway, I'm just watching (commercial break) Dr. Psycho. Excerpt: the protagonist tells his father they never had a working relationship because they never played together.
"But we did play." - "Yeah, great, we reenacted the battle of Stalingrad." - "It was snowing, and your mother said we should go outside." - "I was the Germans!!" |
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| Swiss interview with stupid neoconservative Robert Kagan |
[Jul. 14th, 2008|10:16 am] |
Excerpt:
You advance an opinion nearly on all geopolitical contexts. Only regarding Israel you button up. Is this connected to your Jewish descent?
Not at all. Frankly, I think the Middle East conflict is infinite, but not at all infinitely interesting. And there have to be some regions left in this world where I'm not an expert. There's enough being written about this conflict, they don't need my additions.
They say without the US there can't be peace there.
Maybe, but with the US it doesn't seem to work out either. If there was an authority on the Palestinian side that seriously worked towards peace, Israel would surely be open for a solution.
We dare to claim this statement is, after all, connected to your Jewish background.
I dare to claim this statement is, after all, not only anti-Zionist, but anti-Semitic.
It implies there are two kinds of people in the world: those who see and say that Israel is a bloodthirsty monster, and persons of Jewish racial descent, even if they don't identify with Judaism culturally or religiously, who claim Israel wants peace.
(Why could this appear in a mainstream paper? First of all, this is Swiss, so there's noooo historical guilt to keep in mind before you make racist remarks, and secondly, one of the journalists is probably Jewish, so it can't be anti-Semitic by definition.)
Here's the paper's text (full interview):
Sie äussern sich zu fast allen geopolitischen Zusammenhängen. Nur bezüglich Israel geben Sie sich zugeknöpft. Hängt das mit Ihrer jüdischen Abstammung zusammen?
Überhaupt nicht. Ehrlich gesagt, ich finde den Nahost-Konflikt zwar endlos, aber überhaupt nicht endlos faszinierend. Und es muss auch ein paar Gegenden dieser Welt geben, wo ich nicht Experte bin. Es wird genügend über diesen Konflikt geschrieben; es braucht mich nicht auch noch.
Ohne die USA kann es dort keinen Frieden geben, heisst es.
Mag sein, aber mit den USA scheint es auch nicht zu klappen. Gäbe es auf der palästinensischen Seite eine Autorität, die ernsthaft auf den Frieden hinarbeitet, würde Israel sicher Hand bieten für eine Lösung. ['Autorität' is a stupid translation error. He was certainly referring to the Palestinian Authority, their administration/government, not to a single charismatic leader.]
Wir wagen die Behauptung, dass diese Aussage doch mit Ihrem jüdischen Hintergrund zu tun hat. |
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| Book arrived today! |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|04:21 pm] |
Some weeks ago, I had to kill time when I was waiting for V's uncle to finish checking the French books department of a local book store. I saw a book titled Musik im Totengässlein, and as I know this Basle alleyway, I had a look.
It turned out to be a whodunnit, in spite of its rather boring this-is-a-scholarly-source cover ("Swiss Texts, new series vol. 25"). So I thought I'll google it at home and rather look for a first edition.
The author, "Stefan Brockhoff", was a pseudonym of three writers who fled the Nazis. The book is praised as their best, so I entered an auto-notification search request, and less than a week later, I actually found and bought a 1936 first edition copy for less than $10. The publishing house was in Berne/Switzerland and Leipzig/The Reich, so either the publishers had no clue about the real authors, or they fooled the authorities. Another interesting detail is that the front-cover blurb talks about it being set in a German city - did they regard Switzerland a part of Germany-to-be?
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| How to make a martini |
[Jun. 16th, 2008|05:01 pm] |
Short version: 1 part vermouth, 2-3 parts gin, 2 ice cubes, shake or stir, put in glass with olive.
Comprehensive version
The name: While what I will describe might or might not be regarded a perfect martini, it's not a Perfect Martini (upper-case). The latter is a martini where the vermouth part is half dry vermouth and half sweet vermouth. While we're at it, the "dry" in Dry Martini refers to the use of dry vermouth, not to the amount of vermouth as you hear ("hey, barkeep, make it very dry" = "Look what a tough man I am.") Martini is a brand, and martini is a class of drinks, with the Dry Martini often just called a Martini. (Interestingly, the first is actually the name of one of the Italian founders of the company, the other might come from "a Martinez cocktail", after a 19th-ct bartender.) To complicate this, Martini Dry is the dry variety of the Martini brand.
The vermouth: Take dry vermouth. Whether Martini or Cinzano doesn't make much of a difference, cheap ones are awful. (The original recipe asks for Noilly Prat, but they don't have a kosher variety; no idea if it tastes any different. It was probably the default simply because Martini etc. hadn't introduced their dry varieties yet.)
The gin: Use good gin! It just isn't true that you can use ingredients of a lesser quality in mixed drinks.
Many supermarket house brands are somewhat pungent. For a cheaper gin, Beefeater isn't bad at all, for the standard gins I prefer Bombay Sapphire over Tanqueray (I haven't got a bottle of the meanwhile rare Bombay Original yet, which some say is better). But the best I remember is Plymouth Gin Navy Strength. It's not a "London dry gin" nor a sweeter Old Tom gin, but, well, a Plymouth gin. Be aware that their Navy Strength variety's a bit higher-proof. The fancier - and more expensive - types like Tanqueray Ten are very strongly flavoured - you might like them, but they're not ideal for martinis in my opinion. (Gimlets are different already.) Hendrick's is watery stuff aimed at people who try to be "chappish".
The glass: It should be rather small. Most you see are vulgarly large. With this form, a bit higher means a lot more volume, and that's just stupid. If you won't drink it really fast, it'll be warm before you'll have finished it, so even if you feel like having more, a fresh second one is better. (By the way, I never understood how you can make a "double martini".)
The design doesn't have to be minimized symmetrical, can be edged etc., but no stroke-of-lightning stem. If "pure", then the proportions have to be right much more than otherwise. Ideally it's thin crystal glass and doesn't have a bulging rim.
The glass should be clean, no limescale, no streaks, and certainly no residue of washing-up liquid.
There's no need to chill the glass. I like the contrast of the glass's and the drink's temperatures on the lips.
Fill it well, but not up to the rim. If filling for a person who's unexperienced with the unusual form of martini glasses and the dynamics of liquids therein, don't fill it as high. Before you start pouring the ingredients together in the shaker or pitcher, know how much of each you need - if you don't, try it with water first.
Refilling from a cocktail shaker is fine; it doesn't have to be a new glass for a second serving.
The olive: Green. I prefer those with an almond in. Traditionally, green olives with pits are used, but why would you bother yourself with the stupid stone and akward spitting when you can have an almond? I don't use toothpicks or special olive picks.
If you like two olives, fine. More is strange, unless in the framework of another glass. Add just a drop or two of the brine, or rely on what comes with the olive.
Shaken or stirred: Do I look like I give a damn? (They stole this from me. Was still funny in the film.) The differences are that shaking is louder and faster and the drink is cloudy for some seconds. You might even like how it clears in the glass. If you stir, stir in a circle for about half a minute, quick but smoothly - it's actually a nice thing, sensually or haptically, when you found the right twist and it starts moving on its own nearly. If you shake, hold the cover with your index finger. Shake in fast restrained-range 8-shaped motions for some 10-20 seconds.
The shaker or pitcher: I'm still looking for a pitcher with a nozzle that keeps back ice cubes. I've seen very few, and they were all too large, and most were ugly as well. The size is a problem with normal shakers, too, and certainly if you want a particular design like one of those penguin-shaped ones or this beautiful thing I once saw that looked like a 1930s-cartoon cat. They come in sizes of half a gallon, so unless you have a large number of people who want a martini right now, the stuff will get warm, or you just bedew the bottom and the ice cubes jump around in a nearly empty shaker. I did find a very nice small one, though, nice design and half filled just right for one glass.
The ice: Two cubes should be fine for one glass. Yes, it gets dissolved quite a lot and so dilutes the drink. This is meant to be so. It's still strong enough and the taste is balanced this way. The ice cubes or what remains of them is strained when you pour the drink from the shaker, but if you want clear ice cubes anyway, boil the water and let it cool to room temperature before you put the ice-cube thingy in the freezer.
The proportions: Use a gin-to-vermouth ratio of 4:1 or 3:1. Not less than a quarter of this is vermouth! Your mother-in-law likes the sweeter 3:1 better.
Hold the glass at the cup part, not the stem. Let it rise and sink on the ring of thumb and index finger when nobody looks.
Now that you know how to make a good martini, here's how you make a bad one, the one you usually get:
- Vodka instead of gin, because James Bond drinks it, and vodka's cool while you're not sure what gin actually is.
- Bad vodka, because the bottle looks flashy and the ads say it'll get you laid.
- Liquor from freezer, instead of using ice. Too strong and unbalanced.
- Liquor not from freezer, but still not enough ice and so, too warm.
- No or hardly any vermouth.
- Bad vermouth (Askalon) or worse, a readily flavoured syrup.
- Three fat olives, stuffed with sweet-pepper paste. Why not anchovis paste right away?
- An assortment of little umbrellas, flags, plastic animals, beads, lanterns and other novelties.
- Added flavours to make hyphenated "martinis" like Apple Martini or Cod-Liver Martini.
- Spinning of bottles and excessive shaking. |
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| Poll |
[Jun. 6th, 2008|02:25 pm] |
V tells me, in a poll, German girls said they'd rather be beautiful than bright.
Congrats, girls, you've won half the battle. |
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| Never heard about 'm before |
[May. 6th, 2008|12:33 am] |
Herr Theodor Gottlieb.
"I've gazed into the abyss and the abyss gazed into me, and neither of us liked what we saw."
"The best thing is not to be born. But who is as lucky as that? To whom does it happen? Not to one among millions and millions of people."
"The only thing that keeps me alive is the hope of dying young." |
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| Beautiful |
[Apr. 28th, 2008|02:04 pm] |
A less transparent box would be even funnier.
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