Sunday, July 25, 2010

...You Know Where You Hope It Will Take You

Janne Peters :: Support the Artist!

Because I'm clearly postponing my sleep time - and/or very unwisely borrowing from 'my future self'... I give you some brief thoughts on why I liked Inception.

No gratuitous flesh, sex, or misogyny. That's pretty much what I have right now... I liked that the explosives weren't all over the place and served the plot. It's possible that I've become inured to on screen violence and that I'm exactly the brand of nerd that made the producers of this project triumphantly cry out "niche audience!" - but I'm okay with that for the time being. My friend Cole had much more cogent reasons for why this movie was rad - I'll pick his brain and get back to you....

Saturday, July 24, 2010

In A Nutshell...

Image courtesy Bitte Ein Kuss.

Some minor updates - that are actually pretty cool and amazing. Okay, they're not going to change your world - but I'm still proud.... Right. Getting on with it, already.

I had dinner with some friends last night before catching Inception (!!!) and while it was just a sandwich and an iced coffee... I placed the entire order in Hebrew - including pleasantries and divulging the 'not-so-secret' that I'm still learning Hebrew but am practicing. I felt so proud!

I also experimented with a new scone flavor yesterday - and they were DELICIOUS! I had initially wanted to make a pineapple upside-down cake... but realized too late that I didn't have white cake mix. [So I make cakes from the boxed mix... sue me.] But I did have ingredients for scones [that I - ironically? - make from scratch] ...so I made "pineapple upside-down scones". So tasty and lovely! And a big hit with the movie going friends.

Yes, Americans... you heard that right. In Israel (maybe in other countries - not sure) it is permissible to bring non-concession stand food to the theater. Yes... it IS glorious.

And last among what amounts to a string of pretty random thoughts [I need to get more serious about 'bed times'.] - how awesome and necessary is this picture right now?

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

But Then I Was Like...

Courtesy the Sartorialist
*Link to your right*

So I had the opportunity to participate in a photo shoot tonight with my friend Negin whose aim was to capture the diversity of staff serving at the Baha'i World Centre.
**More on this later.

In anticipation of this, I decided to wear pink - because almost everyone looks good [I mean truly alive] in this color. And then I saw this photo on the Sartorialist's blog and thought perfect!

But then I spotted the picture in the post below... and it just completely blew my mind.

It is no longer possible, I feel, to consider these things (oil spills, leaks, etc.) as freak or isolated events. I hope my frustration with blame placing (as seen below) isn't too off-putting, but I really feel that everyone should have to sit and think of positive and viable clean-up solutions until these spills are cleaned. Rocket scientists, politicians, students, stay-at-home- moms, lawyers (maybe not doctors), but even fashionistas and hipsters.

We've all got ideas - and we certainly all have a vested interest in promoting and facilitating the wise stewardship of our humble little planet - you know... home.

So the black gold is running pretty freely these days - and I think that even the Beverly Hillbillies would be uncomfortable.... This picture was taken by the folks of Green Peace and more can be viewed here.

The thing that's completely crazy to me [okay, it's all crazy - and yes, I know that I'm being superlative. Again...] is that 'experts' are talking about this spill (this one is in China) like it's no big deal because it's only going to run "people" (oh... the magical, mysterious and anonymous people who get to deal with the aftermath of greedy mistakes) $50,000,000 - yup, that's 50 million dollars - as opposed to billion.

All the while trying to figure out whose fault it all is and wondering if the oil is insured so that the insurance company will kick in its share of the 'disaster relief'.

Here's a thought - and I might sound crazy, but we've talked about that before - what if we cleaned up the mess first and THEN worried about blame ...if it's still that important to you.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Metric Standard...



I first heard this band, Metric, on Maryam & Brian's wedding album. [Side note? I think that albums make awesome party favors - wedding or otherwise.] As I'm wont to be behind the times, I'm sure you'll forgive me for not paying this forward sooner - but I just heard it tonight.

I l.o.v.e. it!

Also? I'm experimenting with different sized you.tube videos here because they keep being cut off - and that's just weak. Holler if you know how I can present videos in such a way that you only see the control bar... I've seen - I know it's possible!

Tell It On The Mountain...

I’ve been thinking about how to increase confidence and audacity lately – to the end of increasing my capacity to ‘get **** done!’ (I’m only kind of kidding…). And I saw this today and thought how it was just what I needed to read.

Ahem.

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capitol of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.”

— Pablo Picasso

Monday, July 19, 2010

...And There Was


Today marks my third year anniversary in the Holy Land. Living in Israel is truly amazing. Every day is illuminating....

For now, the journey continues!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

An Open Letter, Of Sorts...

Calendar picture courtesy ran.dom.goo.gle.sea.rch

Okay, so maybe it's a complaint of sorts... but since we're now in the middle of July - and my birthday falls in this month (thereby making me particularly sensitive to the topic of discussion) - I feel a need to share.

Why is it that in EVERY calendar ever made that the worst picture of the 12 will invariably be the one assigned to July? Don't think I don't check - I totally do.

This year, as with every year - sometime between December and February - the stay at home craft/design blogger set will post thousands upon thousands of pictures and posts on DIY (or please buy) calendars.

**I wish I were exaggerating - it's actually exasperating, by which I mean "thanks for the 'read all' button"....


I've given up on printed calendars, but my dear fellow (and clearly date loving) bloggers/interweb purveyors - please use a nice picture for July.

Truth...


"Never love anybody who treats you like you're ordinary."

- Oscar Wilde

Monday, July 12, 2010

The Good Parts Version...

So I've finally gotten my hands on a copy of The Princess Bride, the book. Amazing tale of true love and high adventure - as evidenced by the cover....
Image credit.

You may remember the water polo game (Maccabi Haifa vs. Tel Aviv) that I had the other night. Well (and I promise... only the 'good parts') there was a little, shall we say, "for your mama drama". So there was a point in the game - just before the start of the 4th quarter - that the manager of Tel Aviv's team comes over to get our names down.

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that, while I'm not fluent, my Hebrew language skills are getting better every day (!!!). And I've got a fair command of the numbers by now. So I knew that the man would say a number and one of the women on my team would respond with the name of the player wearing that cap number.

He never said "achad". This means 1 in Hebrew and it's the number that all goalies wear. This is my number.

Increasingly curious as to why the guy doesn't want to know my name (um... hello! Totally part of the team, too - thanks!) I sort of - read actually - broadly announce "my name is Aimee Piper". *Please know that as I'm preparing to share what happened next, I'm already giggling*

A friend on my team - with out skipping a beat - quips "you have killed my father; prepare to die".

And that, friends, is the good part version. Carry on.

How Do You Say...?

Via Bitte Ein Kuss

So I've been in Israel nearly 3 years now. Just before I left, my dad handed me a small box and when I opened it I saw a pretty little gold sea turtle necklace.

My dad's not overly communicative - all he said at that moment was "sea turtles live a long time."

Thanks, dad. I love you too.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Weekend Summary...

Image courtesy Bitte Ein Kuss.

So you know how my water polo team has a new coach and we've been playing together (rather intensely, I add) three times a week for the past 3 or 4 weeks? Well we had a game last night in Tel Aviv.

And we tied (5-5). This marks a major improvement for our team, and I think that we'll only continue to get better as the season progresses.

Major shout out to the Macabi Haifa women's water polo team!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Eye of the Storm...

Aimee & Gitty

Gitty and I took a quick photo break at our friends' wedding last month. As a sidenote... the sunlight in this picture is, like, perfect. I can't stop thinking how good our skin looks.

Yes... I'm a little bit vain - I get that. As you were.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Once More... With Feeling


My friend Jason alerted me to this lovely band today... and I've sort of been having a love affair with with their sound and the videos they create.
I thought this one was my favorite:


But I also recommend this song and and this one, too: My Love. See my previous post on "I know just how you feel" for clarification.

I Know Just How You Feel...

Courtesy Bitte

So the life and times in the world of aimee piper have intensified slightly now that I'm playing water polo with a new coach. We've really been working hard - swimming 200s for time on a descending base. [For those of you new to the swimming world: a 200 (meters) is essentially a long distance sprint.]

Believe it or not, Lady Gaga has really had my back - so to speak - at practice these last few weeks. In the July issue of Rolling Stone magazine (previewed here) she has the following to say: “When I wake up in the morning, I feel just like any other insecure 24-year-old girl,” she says. “Then I say, ‘B***h, you’re Lady Gaga, you get up and walk the walk today.’ ”

Dear Lady Gaga: Thank you for keeping it real. You crack me up.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Introducing...

Bayan & I (and bunny ears)

This is Bayan - he's my reading buddy. As you can probably tell, he's a pretty good friend of mine.

READING UPDATES: This week Bayan finished the first book that he read all by himself: cover to cover! This week we're moving on to a new book - so exciting!

Friday, July 2, 2010

The Film Hath Returneth...

View of the old city of Jerusalem
Two views of the Russian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem


So I got my film back yesterday... I'll be putting up some more pictures soon(ish). The pictures you see here are from a field trip some friends and I took to Jerusalem in January - and they aren't even the oldest ones I got back. I just finished the roll last weekend.... Ha!
 
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