Archived entries for
A Different Kind of Closet
In Walk on Water’s closing scene, we find Eyal walking up to a crib to care for a crying baby, in a house, which, as the camera traces his movements, is one he now shares on a kibbutz with Pia, his new German wife. Axel, however, is never very far away. Sitting down at his laptop with a cup of hot tea after pacifying his newborn child, blanket draped over his shoulders, a domesticated Eyal composes an email to Axel, in which he tells his brother-in-law of a fantasy he had about the two of them defying gravity by walking together across the Sea of Galilee.
Obviously, whatever feelings Eyal held for Axel have not only not gone away, but, more significantly have become a subject of acknowledgement, perhaps even dialogue, between the two men. As welcome as the remarkable changes the former Mossad agent has made to his life appear to certainly be, he is still clearly closeted. Settling down with the blonde haired and blue-eyed granddaughter of a Nazi on a kibbutz may represent a dramatic step forward. Nevertheless, it is Eyal’s unrequited desire for Pia’s brother that represents a yearning for something even greater.
Ideologically speaking, Walk on Water is anything but simple. Could Eyal’s inability to fully come out be a sexual metaphor for a future peace between Palestinians and Israelis that’s correspondingly incomplete? A two state as opposed to a one state solution, where Jews may have made their peace with Europe but not, quite fully, with the Palestinians? Fox is appropriately unclear, as his message should be. Nevertheless, sexual liberation, of the kind that Walk on Water embraces, has profound political corollaries that lie far beyond the liberation of desire.
-From IvU, Chapter 7
Revolutionary Posturing
Every time we pass by the Alexander Rodchenko reproduction in our hallway (to Jennifer‘s left), it makes us want to dye our hair red and hold our heads up high.
A Canon (of Sorts)
Working feverishly on my next to final chapter, here’s a brief list of the cultural product I’m presently fretting about:
Film
Walk on Water, directed by Eytan Fox (Israel, 2004/US, 2005)
Paradise Now, directed by Hany Abu-Assad (France/Israel/Palestine, 2005)
Munich, directed by Steven Spielberg (US, 2005)
Books
A Little Piece of Ground, by Elizabeth Laird (Macmillan, 2003/Haymarket, 2006)
Palestine, by Joe Sacco (Fantagraphics, 2001)
Music
Magnetic Storm, Smartut Kahol Lavan (CD-R, Boshet, Israel, 2005)
Discography, Dir Yassin ( LP, Alerta Antifascista, Germany, 2006)
Vote Hezbollah, Muslimgauze (Soleilmoon, 1993)
Branding is Everything
As we disembarked from our flight, we noticed that the pretty woman in front of us had a rather large caliber, military-issue pistol tucked into the back of her trousers.
Minutes later, we stumbled upon this sign, making us wonder whether "a little too obvious" was the new catchphrase of the security forces. Oakland Airport, August 13th.
Local Knowledge
A discarded book found on the sidewalk two blocks south, in front of a pretty tough housing project the cops always seem to be raiding. Click on the image for more detail.
Two Weeks After the War
The waiters placed each course on the table without touching it, almost as though they feared coming into contact with the surface. Every time I would thank them for bringing us new dishes, or order an additional beverage for my English-speaking wife, their eyes would glance down at me without any trace of emotion, like they wanted our interactions to be as impersonal as possible.
Clearly, something was amiss. I could sense it in the stops and starts in my conversation with our friend, who, having heard that I was journalist, asked me about my work, only to be greeted by my father quietly signaling as though he’d prefer it if I wouldn’t. Obliging, I’d shift gears by pretending to have been surprised by a particularly tasty piece of food.
“In all my years of coming here,” I said, “I’ve never had such good parsley salad.”
- Excerpted from Israel vs Utopia, Chapter 8
The Ice Age is Here
Speaking of the golden oldies, in today’s Guardian, there’s an absolutely terrific article on the continuing relevance of The Clash‘s 1979 LP, London Calling. Penned by Joe Queenan, this is the kind of exquisitely written, politically-charged music criticism glaringly absent from most US news periodicals.
Part of an ongoing series of articles commemorating the 30th anniversary of the first punk explosion, The Guardian’s special focus on ’77 contrasts sharply with the near-exclusive emphasis placed on remembering 1967′s Summer of Love in the arts sections of numerous American dailies over the past few months.
None of this is to say that similarly high quality, big picture music writing can’t be found here. I’ve worked with countless first class writers for whom this kind of journalism is second nature. The problem is a resistance to commissioning such pieces outside of indie music magazines and alternative weeklies.
From Here to Epitome
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
In July, we started to receive a complimentary ‘subscription’ to The San Francisco Examiner. By featuring musicians like Nick Cave and Yo La Tengo on its cover, this historically conservative (and now free) tabloid appears to be intent on capturing my specific demographic: post-punk professionals who came of age in the early 1990s. In other words, the Nirvana generation.
I find such explicit overtures annoying because American news periodicals always over-emphasize their music coverage when they don’t know who their readership is. I can’t tell you how many editorial meetings I’ve attended over the years where an editor has asked the staff to "up" the coverage of cool bands when they’re worried that they’re not reaching a younger audience.
Just look at the headlines above to see what I mean. Fifty-year old Nick Cave "Gets Rowdy", fourty something Yo La Tengo "Still Has It." Its the kind of self-conscious headline writing that speaks reams about what the editors are really worried about: the vitality and worth of their newspaper.