What are these guy’s thinking?!? NASA “Goofs” and now we find out they are planning on a real mission to Mars and a permanent moon base. That might be hard, considering they can’t even launch a safe shuttle to orbit the planet, let alone send men to mars.
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31 Jul
The Stare
One of the unfortunate bad habits frum people have, especially those that hold themselves of such a high level of regard, kavod and esteem is they tend to stare. Stare at those who are less “frum” than them. Tend to stare at people who look different than them. Tend to stare at people who are not buying the same heimish brand that they are buying. Basically they tend to stare. They must have missed the class where basic etiquette reminds us, it is improper and impolite to stare.
Now, we all have a tendency to look at other people, when something is different we take notice, I don’t have a problem, if for a slight instant you glance over and make note of any of those differences. But at some point the “quick glance” becomes and endless stare. A stare so long you think they have loss control of their own motor skills and have become stuck in a position aimed at you.
Today I was walking down Avenue J, my wife, my children, and myself. We somehow merited this overlong, tedious, judgmental,. nasty stare from a “frummie” yeshivish lady in her 40’s with her three daughters. The mother turned her head at the red light and took the said staring position. After the first 5 full seconds, I realized we were getting this stare and I implemented what I call - (C) 2005 LOR.- “The Stare Back”
To anyone out there who would like to use this technique,or who maybe would like to warn someone they know that stares. This is how the stare back works.
I turn my head towards the original stare’ers position and stare back, only with the nastiest looking grin you’ve seen since Jack Nicholson’s Joker. Sometimes I pretend like I’m a mass murderer and I’m staking out their body to see which pieces of them I should eat first with Farva. Then when the original stare’er is now scared to death. I turn to whoever is with them. I don’t care if it’s their 5 year old daughter. Their 20 year old son. I don’t care if youre at a restaurant and your celebrating your dear old mother’s 90th birthday. If you stare at me like that, or anyone I’m with, I will stare you dear old mother down. I will make you and your mother, and you son, and your grandchildren and your friends so uncomfortable you’ll want to move so far away just to make sure you never bump into me again.
It’s rude, it’s disgusting, it’s demeaning and it’s wrong. DONT STARE AT PEOPLE.
You got it?
(sigh)
I wrote this post almost two days ago, parts of it were written yesterday. I was holding this back to publish, because yesterday I had a lot of other things I wanted to post. I was also not sure I wanted to let it go, because I don’t want people to get the wrong idea. Especially in light of BloginDm’s fresh post where he talks about amongst other things, not over-fisking, or being too harsh when raising these issues. I’m publishing it anyway, but with yet another warning. Nothing that I write here that takes the form of an accusation is backed by any facts. It’s simply an issue that I felt should at least be raised.
The biggest, well known Jewish Music Radio DJ, is Nachum. Especially in NY. Over the past few years, FiveTownsRadio has become very popular, and made itself a major player in the Jewish Music radio market. They were for a while the only JM Internet radio and Internet radio station. A few months ago Nachum Segal launched his own JM radio station that plays continual Jewish music. If you go to my side bar, and see JEWISH MUSIC RADIO stations, you will see there are many links there now, as the market has grown.
While the buzz over the play to pay scandal is getting louder. I’ve been thinking about this, and I wonder how this applies to the Jewish music world. Before I go any further, I really want to make clear, that I have no actual idea that any of what I’m asking here is known fact, I am simply “thinking out loud” I’m really just putting this out there, so please tell me what you think.
The big DJ in the JM world, is of course Nachum Segal. There are others like Art Raymond and this guy and TalkLine which of course also features my buddy Country Yossi, who I’d wonder about whether he plays for pay, but does anyone listen to that show anymore? Aside from the Cholent and flatulence joke loving community?
The question is, are these Jewish radio hosts also taking payment for playing specific music? It’s hard to define the line that when is passed makes it wrong. Let me try to understand this. If a radio station takes any money from an artist, it needs to be in the form of an advertisement. Is that right? The consumer must understand, that the money that changes hands in return for promotion of their product was the direct result of an ad. When Howard Stern or Don Imus, or Rush Limbaugh promote certain products in between topics, saying how they used it, they love it, you should try it, we all understand that’s an ad. So that’s ok. Right?
I’ve wondered about the choice of music that Nachum plays. I don’t want to name specific groups/singers, but he has played stuff that I couldn’t not even bare to listen to, I had to change the dial, and he played it so often, that I would just not even bother to turn his show on in the morning for weeks at a time. Music that looking back, no one even remembers. Is he playing what’s popular? Or what’s he’s being asked to play by the artists? Or is he playing what he’s paid to play? When he does morning interviews with artists like Eli Gerstner, or Yerachmial Begun, I think we assume that those are paid for, but are they? If they are, is that wrong?
Thursday nights, Nochum has Rabbi Eichlers on, he discusses new books and Judaica that’s out. That to me isn’t wrong, cause I think everyone realizes that Meir Eichler pays for that weekly spot, at least I think everyone realizes that. Unless they have to do a better job of making sure people know that spot is paid for. Is that pay to say? All questions, not statements. It’s not just him, this is meant for FTR also, and this is meant for any other Jewish radio station.
I’ve complained about unethical marketing practices before in Jewish music, as has the big boss, years before I came online. Is this another form of this problem? I know this happens in the non Jewish world with media all the time, it’s rampant. Every time Harry Potter comes out with a movie, or a book, or an announcement about a movie or a book, it’s on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, which is owned by parent company time warner, which also owns Harry Potter. Were there other tings that would have made more sense having the cover and top story? I’m sure there were. Another example of EW’s obvious slant towards it’s own products is Superman Returns, it’s the new Superman movie that isn’t coming out till NEXT summer, but already it’s stars have been on the front cover of EW. Early exposure and hype for a major summer movie never hurts, especially if you own your own major entertainment magazine.
The problem is, that since the Jewish world of marketing and advertising has such a smaller audience than that of the non Jewish ones. Every misstep is highlighted and becomes (at least to me) much more noticed.
I hope this isn’t the case with regards for Jewish paying for playing. If it is, I think it’s wrong, and any advertisements should be done through the proper methods of advertisement.
If there is anyone reading this, that knows more about the inner workings of Jewish Radio stations and would like to explains the process, feel free to leave a comment here or e-mail me. I’d be very curious.
See LIFE-OF-RUBIN’s Google Page.
Ok, I didn’t buy google, you got me, but you can make it look like you have your own google page also. Check this out.
These are things I wonder about on the way to work on a semi regular basis.
1) I pass by a live poultry warehouse, and I see a truck carrying those chicken carts on the back of the truck. I wondered …….. If you are a vegetarian what would upset you more, a truck with empty cartons, or seeing the chickens still in the cartons.
2) When you see a guy wildly drive past you, and zooming off
I wondered …….. if you see the guy’s car is all banged up, does that make you think the guy is a dangerous but good driver (because its only banged up not totaled) or a dangerous and bad driver (because it’s banged up so much to begin with)3) Lately in the morning I’ve been paying more attention to Sesame Street and
I wondered …….. has anyone else noticed that Elmo has basically taken over the show? He has the most screen time, and I think he has been their most profitable character on that show in a long time.4) Listening to the traffic reports, whenever I hear the traffic correspondent say the bridge called:
The Kosciusko Bridge I wondered ……..am I the only one who can not for the life of me pronounce this name right?What do YOU think about on your daily commutes?
29 Jul
You wanna see’ ma’ beellly
You have to read that with an Austin Powers’ish accent, of it just doesn’t work.
Very interesting pics of the under-belly of the Space Shuttle. It’s a shame these things will never fly again. Oh come’on ya know they’re never letting them up again, can’t have foam flying everywhere breaking things. They took 2 and a half years to study this problem and supposedly fix it, and the same thing happened.
They are grounding them “until they figure out what is causing the problem”
I’m not scientist, but I think the problem is THEY ARE 30 FREAKIN YEARS OLD!!!
But like I said, I’m not a NASA ROCKET ENGINEER.
29 Jul
We all know about this yet?
I was e-mailed by a couple people to post about this. It looks like it should be a great event if you’re into Jewish Rock. Four bands that I love will be there, Moshav Band, Soulfarm, Piamenta, Blue Fringe. Also performing will be Beyond Eden which I am not the biggest fan of, (sorry) and Eden, which I don’t know anything about but heard good things, also there will be a few bands I haven’t ever heard of. Noticeably missing unfortunately is Matisyahu …. (or is he .. wink wink, DISCLAIMER: I am not saying he will be there, I was just messing with you)
28 Jul
These are ….
Three amazing bloggers …. Psycho Toddler, A Simple Jew & Jack, three amazing posts …..
There is so much great material on the site, I hope everyone is taking advantage of it, and of course telling their friends.
This is a great read, it’s the list to end all lists of what’s Goyish and what’s Jewish.
Related: (They have a podcast that I enjoy as well, check it out)
28 Jul
Walk, Don’t Run.
OH MY G-D. That’s all I could say. Really, just look at this image.
This is my interview with Eli7, to clarify,these are questions she asked, and I answered.
See the end of this post for more details.
See the end of this post for more details.
QUESTION:
If you could be a Sesame Street character, which one would you be?When I first read that question, I honestly didn’t know which one to choose. So I had to think about it. At first I would think I would wanna be Big Bird. He is after all the star of the show. He seems to be a real good sport about it, doesn’t seem to have too much ego about it. He has a free spirited way about him, and he is bright and positive. The con is that he could be perceived as a wuss, he’s rather large, which could cause problems getting through doors, fitting into airline seat’s and I think it might be too hard to live like that.
Then I thought maybe I should be Oscar the grouch, since I can be very cynical at times, I can be quite grumpy when I get upset, and I’ve always loved the color green. The con is obvious, he lives in a trash can, I’d get way too claustrophobic, and probably would scare off clients because I stink.
I’m going to go with the Cookie Monster. Yes, he does has a slight weight problem but he obviously has some sort of unresolved issues with food. He is a little messy, but he has a loving family, always smiles. He counts very well, and shares his cookies with his friends.
QUESTION: What is the one thing you’ve done that you are most proud of?
I’m proud of a lot of things that I’ve done. Especially in my work, I’ve always felt a strong need to express myself creatively, and marketing was something I always wanted to do. Thinking back, I think the first time I remembered thinking “I want to do that” was when I watched Bewitched, and learnt what Darrin did. I loved that concept. I’ve always liked ads and loved to see the creativity behind promotion and advertising. I’ve done a lot of things in that field that I’ve been proud of, but what I’m most proud of was the time I spent hanging out at Chabad House, and teaching classes. I myself may have needed much guidance and teaching and encouragement. But the people, who showed up to learn, knew nothing, and they had such a strong craving to learn anything, even the basics of the basics. These were things that Frum Jews learn in first grade parsha classes. I was so happy to be able to fulfill that spiritual yearning that the people who attended had.
I didn’t teach so long, and maybe I wasn’t the best person for the job. Still, at times, I myself felt fulfilled spiritually, through those classes. At the end of the day, I would honestly feel proud of what I had done, and even though I couldn’t truly do that as a career, I still look back on those classes with extreme pride.
QUESTION: What is your life goal?
My life is goal is the leave this world with a positive imprint. I want to do the right thing. I want to give my children the most of what I could offer. When I leave this world after 120 years, I want people to say about me, that I was a fair man. That I was a proper man, and that I tried my hardest to give everything and everyone the best I had.
One of my favorite saying’s is something Reb Zushe of Anipoli said. Let me quote this article.
“Reb Zushe of Anipoli, a Chassidic Jew of yesteryear, said the following: When I get into the World to Come, I am not afraid that they will ask me, why did you not reach the level of our Father Abraham. I am not Abraham, I am not on his level, and I am not blessed with his talents and capabilities. I am afraid that they will ask me, why weren’t you Zushe? Why didn’t you achieve your potential? Why didn’t you use your talents and capabilities?Nobody is asking us to become what we are not. Each of us is different, each of us has our own individual character traits and talents, which make us the special person each of us is. Are we using them to the fullest? Are we getting the most out of them? Are we achieving our true potential?”
When I reach the heavenly court, I know they are going to ask me, “Were you the best that Chaim could be, I want to be able to answer “Yes.”
QUESTION: Why are you where you are in life?
That’s a really hard question, Most of the passions that I’ve developed in life, have been the direct result of having a very close relationship with my mother. I never got along with my father, and whether that was a by product or something unrelated, I was very close with my mother. I think she taught me that you should never be afraid to go after what you love, and do what makes you happy. So long as it’s the right thing to do.
Later, through hard work, and encouragement by another person who I will not mention by name here, I was able to jump over many of the large obstacles in my life. I think that to get to where you want both professionally and personally. It’s very important to try hard, very hard, so hard, that when you feel like you can’t try any harder, you pick yourself up and pummel through even farther.
The other thing I think you need to get anywhere is the ability to accept true criticism. You need to be able to take advice. Not only take advice, but be able to step back and be able to be critical of yourself.
QUESTION: If you found a magic lamp with a genie inside, what would your three
wishes be?
wishes be?
I would choose world peace, with all my wishes. Just kidding. Let someone else worry about world peace, I would think more locally than globally.
I really don’t know what I would wish for. Instinctively I would wish for financial freedom, so that I would never have to worry about where money would come from. That way I could spend as much time with my family as I wanted and be able to do anything I want creatively without having to satisfy a client.
I should say that’s a cheap wish, and that people who never worry about money usually go insane from lack of necessity in life, but we are talking about an imaginary genie here, so I’ll just play along.
My second wish, would be that I could have some sort of super power, I don’t know which one, maybe flying, or maybe super strength. Super-speed?
My third wish, would be to be able to eat anything I wanted and never gain weight. I think it’s horrible that food can taste so good, and the better it tastes the more fattening it usually is. I wish it was the other way around. Really, what people say with their third wish is, that they wish for more wishes, or let the genie go, like Aladin did. But I’m trying to play fair. 
Now the rules again:
1) Leave me a comment saying “interview me please.”
2)I will respond by asking you five questions (not the same as above)
3)You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
4) You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5) When others comment asking to be interviewed you will ask them five questions.
Now the rules again:
1) Leave me a comment saying “interview me please.”
2)I will respond by asking you five questions (not the same as above)
3)You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
4) You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5) When others comment asking to be interviewed you will ask them five questions.
Well, that’s the best pun I could come up with, the one I wanted was taken in the first paragraph of this story. This is the story of a big giant manly football player who broke down and cried like a 5 year old little girl.
28 Jul
Yikes …. Oh well …..
So it’s grounded again. I’m not an expert, but cant this foam problem that it’s breaking things all the time on the shuttle, be related at all to the fact that these shuttles are like 30 years old? If this is the case, doesn’t this really mean, none of these shuttles should or would ever fly again? Can someone (like NASA is reading this lol) tell me why they never built more shuttles?
Why don’t they build a new one? Why of all the things that we update and make faster technology, we make everything smaller, between cheaper. This is the only thing that has never been updated or replaced by something new? Why is this? Just seems to the common man, as ridiculous.
27 Jul
Rock G-d’s?
Air Time just wrote this post on “The Chevra’s” recent performance in Detroit Rock City. I thought it was funny that he thought that in NY people might think of them as Rock G-d’s.
I seriously do not think (me included) anyone in the frum NY TRI-STATE area, thinks of these guys, or many other of their kind as celebrities. Maybe someone like Avraham Fried, Yaakov Shwekey, MBD … those fella’s maybe … but something tells me they all give their Shabbos suits to the same cleaners as we do.
Another thing, specifically about “The Chevra”, as far as I remember there is no “Chevra” now, they are or were in some sort of legal tie up with Eli Gerstner (the creator) and he already put out a cd with replacements.
UPDATE: I found the actual article.