This is too good to be true

Somehow, the Miami Boys Choir, along with the legendary Jewish summer camp "Israeli" dance choreography, made it to China. This is just too much.



I know this dance well enough to vouch that they are doing it perfectly. One of them must have been on rikud staff at Camp Ramah.

Weekend to Karlovy Vary

Thought I would update on what's been going on lately.

Classes started officially last week and they're all very interesting albeit a very different teaching style. Besides for Czech, I'm taking Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought, taught by a former Jesuit Priest; History of the Jews in Bohemia, taught by Rabbi Ron Hoffberg, the only non-Orthodox rabbi in the Czech Republic and leader of the Prague Conservative community; Circulating with the Modern Cinematic Image, basically an intro to European film studies - it's being taught at FAMU, a very prestigious film school in Prague; and Contemporary Culture and Alternative Lifestyles in the Czech Republic, taught by Pavla Johannson, a scholar in sociology and former member of a very popular Czech new wave band in the 80's.

Last weekend I went with Leili, Mich, and Brendon to the small city of Karlovy Vary AKA Carlsbad. It's kind of a touristy spa town known for its hot springs and it's also the birthplace of the famous Czech drink that tastes like Christmas, Becherovka. Throughout the town there are all these water spouts that pump out steamy metallic water that is apparently very good for you. Everyone carries around these strange looking cups and sips on the water all day. We called it our "old person weekend" because we spent the whole time eating, drinking wine, hanging out in the sauna, getting a tour of the Becherovka factory in Czech surrounded by the elderly, relaxing, and getting very cheap massages.

Saturday night I got to see Islands in Prague. That was cool. It's not too often you get to see some indie shows in Europe and that is a band I would have definitely saw even if I was in America. It was a great show.

Yesterday I went with Brandon and Lauren to the last movie of the Shockproof Movie Festival. It was basically a slasher festival but they had some cool exceptions like Visitor Q by Takashi Miike (which I had already seen). We saw this ridiculous 70s exploitation film from Sweden called Thriller - They Call Her One Eye which was unbelievable. The plot didn't matter, the special effects were ridiculous, EVERY death was in slowmotion, all the sex was pornographic, and the main character saws off her own shotgun to go out and kill everyone that ruined her life. It was awesome. Apparently it was one of Quentin Tarantino's influences for Kill Bill.

Anyways, life is great here. It's been snowing pretty hardcore the past week. Tonight I'm going to see what Capoeira is like here so hopefully I won't get my ass kicked for not speaking Czech and for belonging to a different group. Wish me luck.

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah

Kutna Hora + Bone Church picture post

Here are pictures from my excursion last week to the medieval silvermining town of Kutna Hora, along with a church made out of human bones. This country is so metalcore.

One Quick Blog About Israel

I know this is supposed to be a travel blog now, but I can't resist talking about Israeli politics a little bit.

Here are two really interesting articles about Arab Israelis protesting against anti-Arab politics in the Knesset (specifically Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Yisrael Beitenu). The first is here on Ynet and the other is a video from the Guardian.

It is disturbing for me when I see people who hold racist policies in high regard in Israeli politics (or any politics for that matter). Lieberman has shamelessly said on many occasions that he wants to forcefully transfer all Arabs outside of Israel. He is also trying to get all Arab political parties banned from running in the upcoming elections on accounts that they are racist. This is pure Kahanism at its best, and that scares me. It's that type of anger that fuels violence and close-mindedness.

If Baruch Goldstein were still alive, he would vote for Yisrael Beitenu, and wherever Baruch Goldstein's politics lie, I stay far far away. How about instead of ousting an entire ethnicity from your country, warmongering in the process, why don't you actually address the issues and figure out how to improve your current situation? How about working with Israeli Arabs instead of ostracizing them? Seeing how much media attention Lieberman's been getting, I'm a bit nervous about the upcoming Israeli elections.

But I am excited to see how the Holocaust Survivors & Grown Up Green Leaf Party does. Yeah, that's right, its the name of a coalition formed by two parties that could not be any more different from each other. If they get even one seat, I will be the happiest man alive. Their platform is so random that I first thought it was a joke. Why don't all parties start combining in order to get more seats? How about the Communist party and the National Religious party? Or Shas and the environmentalist Party?


UPDATE: I spoke too soon... click here.

Music and Communism

Unlike the picture from my first post, this one I actually took

There are a lot of peculiar things that go on in the Czech Republic that don't make any sense to me. Like the type of music that is popular over here. My brain does not comprehend.

Of course there is the standard European obsession over shitty techno and self-destructive divas, but the vast majority of the radiowaves seem to be playing one huge bar mitzvah mixtape circa late 90s. No joke, multiple people have commented on it and we've been trying to figure out why it's like that.

Obviously there are no fifteen minute horas or Debbie Friedmans on the radio, but I can't tell you how many times I've heard the Macarena, the Locomotion, and yes, it's true, the Cotton Eyed Joe. How did the Cotton Eyed Joe travel all the way to the Czech Republic and how is it still popular?!

This phenomenon doesn't only concern songs with cheesy choreographed dances either. Last week I was at the fabled four story club, and I heard DMX not once, but twice in the same night. You know which song I'm talking about: "Ya'll gonna make me lose my mind, up in here, up in here." It was shocking enough the first time it came on, but the second time was too much.

As with all Czech peculiarities, I'm going to blame this on Communism. The Soviets only left in '89 so the Czechs have been quickly adapting to a proper democracy and globalization. That abrupt change has led to some awkward adjustments and the Communist undertones and still very apparent.

Considering that music was very censored during forty years of Soviet occupation, Czechs didn't have access to shitty music, unless it was given special permission from Stalin. So my theory is that they have been slowly catching up to the rest of the world in terms of pop culture, and that seems apparent to me when I hear "Barbie Girl" in the supermarket, Eiffel 65 on the subway, and Sixpence None the Richer at the club.