Hi Arkangel,
This is my favorite scene in Modern Times, i belive it is also the first time Chaplin spoke in a movie back then prior to The Great Dictator. Speaking of which, this scene always made me cry, i wish some goverments and leaders will take some of those words to heart and really think things through before starting wars all around.

The Ipod and other various MP3 players great invention, aren’t they? It is a really a way to disconnect from the world and be with yourself. I can’t go anywhere without my mp3 player, when I’m driving to school 3 times a week, it gives me a nice distraction from everything around me for at least one hour of bus driving. (Plus they very light and not has heavy as the compact disc player)

I believe Persia is actually Iran today, I don’t know if the population form Persia is big in Israel today. Israel is full with different nationalities, take me for example: I’m Russian, my parents came from Russia 30 years ago and I was born here in Israel.
I wish I knew how to speak fluently in Russian and write or read it. I didn’t know a word from that language until my visit 2 years ago to my family who lives in USA. There I learned how to speak the Russian language a bit better then I did before.

So you play Sheshbesh? I am very bad in this game; I never fully understood what the purpose of this game is. My brother is pretty good in this game and he even tried to teach me how to play it…..with no luck at all.
That brings me to how many brothers and sisters I have. I got an older sister who is 14 years older then me and one brother who is 9 years older then me. I’m literally the youngest and as everyone says usually about the youngest kid, the most spoiled one of the bunch (not true at all and I can proof it). How old are your kids?

My time in the army was kind of fun, I enjoyed meeting people who later became friends; I don’t go back to the army at all as I don’t need to. I miss that time, I miss the uniform. It’s a nice memory.
I remember after my army service has finished, I flew to visit my family in America for the very first time (I was there twice), i was traveling around mostly in Arizona, saw places and the Grand Canyon. Before I left back to Israel, the local Jewish community center has celebrated the Israel Independence Day, I went there with a friend and it was very special. It’s amazing that when you far away from home you suddenly realize how much you appreciate and love the place you come from. There was a moment in the end of the celebration that the Israeli anthem was playing and I started to cry everything just struck me- that I miss home and everything else.

I have seen Munich, I was very disappointed from this movie and the way it was made. Spielberg was criticized a lot here for not being to sensitive towards the victims family and made this movie as a Hollywood movie. I haven’t seen One Day in September yet.
Yesterday I watched The Wind That Shakes The Barley for the first time. I must say I didn’t enjoy the movie as much as I thought. but Cillian Murphy was really great in his role as Damien.

I haven’t seen the filming of Aviva My Love, I wasn’t even aware there was a movie that was filmed in Tiberias until it came out to the cinema.

Good Night & Good Luck is a good movie, Robert Downy Jr. had a small part in it, not like in the movie I’m watching now Kiss Kiss Bang Bang… he is really funny in it. True, Robert had a setback in the past few years with all the addiction probalms he had, it’s great to watch him coming back to the cinema this days.

Amazon is a great tool for the online shopping of unnecessary things. I’ve done few purchasing from there lately, the last one was made today, preordering Little Britain Live DVD and getting the 3rd season of this show. Can you tell that I’m obsessed with it? I love this sort of humor that is a bit vulgar and weird.

To the game now, i can't think of a book at the moment, so was there any good book you read recently?

Have a nice weekend

Mic

Hi Mic

A few days off the old PC is probably no bad thing. A chance to get back in touch with the body, the ground and fresh air. That said I'm writing this on the London underground (the Tube) on a Blackberry screen with an iPod wrapped round my head and no fresh air to be had, just the rush of air that heralds the arrival of the train. Do you know the Jam song Down in the Tube Station at Midnight (A distant echo of faraway voices boarding faraway trains...)

Following on our conversation about Purim, are there many exiles from Persia living in modern Israel? I'm not even 100% sure what constitutes Persia - Iraq, Iran? anything else?

I only have one Iranian friend here in London - Mansell, the father of my younger son's friend. We recently went to his mother's funeral which was an interesting if sad experience. In a very English cemetery - Victorian Gothic chapel, a variety of native trees, and of course the rain - we attended a full Islamic funeral followed by a meal of Persian delicacies. I'm not sure how many nationalities reside in London but it's certainly hundreds - including the odd Israeli!

There's one Israeli fella that I know in my neighbourhood, Daniel, my backgammon victim ...I mean partner. I love the game (you guys call it sheshbesh no?) He is married to a local artist/photographer. We originally met them through the local school at the bottom of my road where my older son went to.

So you can see I do have children - two boys. They're both technically Irish - their mum, my partner, was born in Northern Ireland which gives them both the right to an Irish passport. One of them has Charlie as his middle name - after Chaplin.

So how many brothers and sisters do you have? What ages? Do they also live in Tiberias?

It was very interesting to hear about your time in the army. Did you enjoy it at all? Did you make any friends in the army? And is that it now, do you ever have to go back at all?

I’m going to order Walk On Water from Amazon and I'll report back when I've watched it. I really like thrillers.

Talking of Mossad, did you see Spielberg's Munich? I thought it was a really interesting movie, not least for its timing. Last year was a good time to reflect on the chicken-and-egg cycle of violence and revenge, and how people lose their souls in it.

Also did you see One Day in September, the feature documentary about the Munich massacre made around 2001ish? I remember my grandfather getting me a book about the Olympics that year which you filled up with stickers which you could get from the petrol station. As a kid I knew nothing of the horrific events which played out in the athletes' village - all I knew was the sport and medals. I guess my parents shielded me from the tragedy.

Which traditions and cultures does Late Wedding explore?

Did you see any of the shooting (as in production not bullets or missiles!) of Aviva My Love?

Back to Chaplin and The Great Dictator - I love the sequence where Adenoid Hinkel dances with the globe, I guess that's the most famous one but it captures Chaplin's physical grace as a comedian as evinced by The Tramp in everything from how he rollerskated to how he kicked butt.

I did see Richard Attenborough's Chaplin when it came out and remember enjoying it. Think I'll get that from Amazon too as I'd love to revisit it. God knows why I'm promoting the said online store so much here but, for all my reservations about its impact on real bookshops, I suppose it is one of the best ways to access the older and obscurer film titles at this juncture.

Robert Downey Jr's career took a bit of a sad nose-dive after the promise of Chaplin. I saw him recently in Goodbye and Goodnight or whatever George Clooney's movie from last year was called - good film, bad title if you're not American and can't remember the tv show from which it derives.

Let me suggest a game to include in our next entries. Picking up from your point about the Dan Brown book and casting, let's see if we can find a book we've both read but which hasn't been made into a film yet (or not recently) and both do an imaginary casting.

Over&out
A

Hi Mic

Sorry not to get back to you quicker. I used to get an email when posts went up on our blog but that didn't happen this time - not sure why.

I spotted the tattoo in the photo during the summer down at Brighton on the south coast of England. It was on somebody watching a basketball match down by the beach. I once heard Jewish people technically aren't allowed tattoos because they deface the body - do you know if that is true? Are tattoos popular in Israel nevertheless?

Purim sounds like fun. Do you have many nephews and nieces? And what is it actually celebrating?

I don't think we have any public holidays coming up until May Day, the first day of May, marking the beginning of Spring.

I know what you mean about addiction - it can be difficult tearing yourself away from these screens. Mind you, if I had sunshine and blue skies outside I'd find it that much easier!

One of my friends, Thomas Gibson, was in Kubrick's last movie (he's an actor) - Eyes Wide Shut. When he came over to London (from New York) to shoot his scenes he was only given the pages with his lines in, not the whole script. And Kubrick took whole days to light scenes so Thomas just had to hang out in his luxury apartment in Mayfair, poor thing. I met Thomas years ago on a lively night out in Madrid when he'd just finished Far and Away, also with Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise - we just hit it off, interested in similar stuff.

Modern Times is pretty much my favourite movie. I'm a huge Chaplin fan. A great artist and a fine human being. Hitler accused him of being a Jew. He said "I don't have that honour". He's a fellow Londoner, from Kennington, just south of the Thames.

Are there any Israeli film-makers you particularly like or that I should look out for? I've got a dvd somewhere called Avanim which i was given - have you seen that? (I watched the beginning ages ago, was enjoying it, but have never got round to finishing it).

I met an Israeli documentary-maker a few months ago over here. His name is David Benchetrit and he showed a film called ‘Dear Father, quiet, we’re shooting’ about conscientious objectors - a pretty radical film. Can't imagine anything like it being made in any Arab country, nor in many Western democracies come to that. Israeli TV helped finance it even though it is pretty anti-establishment.

Have you had to go in the army yet? It's difficult for people from countries like mine to get their heads round the idea of a nation where every individual has to contribute to security by serving compulsorily in the army. I've no idea how I would cope with that. I guess you just get on with it...

Over&out
A