Holy Exposures Commentary and Photos of Israel

Israeli animated feature film Waltz With Bashir won the prestigious American National Society of Film Critics honor for Best Film of 2008.

This is a great accomplishment for the Israeli movie industry and follows in the heels of Beaufort, the Israeli film that was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 2008 Academy Awards.  What’s more amazing is that the film won for Best Film, and not for Best Foreign Film.

Waltz with Bashir has received praise at several film festivals, including the prestigious Cannes Festival in 2008, where it was met with a standing ovation.

Waltz With Bashir (ואלס עם באשיר) directed by Ari Folman, is an animated documentary of the memories of the director was a 19 year old soldier during the 1982 Lebanon War and deals specifically with his memories of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. For all film lovers who are interested in this genre, this is a must see film.

Waltz With Bashir - Movie Trailer

Interview with Director Ari Folman

There seems to be a non-exhaustive list of live tv channels available on the web these days.  I was most intrigued by the hundreds of streaming USA channels.  But for that good old Israeli TV, how about watching Mabat in Hebrew or English?

I like catching a shiur on Machon Meir’s live channel.  You can watch the Knesset (parliament) when in session.  There’s even Arutz Hakniot, the shopping channel (which is Israel’s version of Home Shopping Network - sort of like the “Used-car salesman meets Zig Ziglar”.

Here’s four of my favorite sites that aggregate thousands of live tv channels.

1. Imvite - www.imvite.com Includes live tv, radio, and videos.

2. Streaming the Net - www.StreamingThe.net Very easy to use interface, simple and works

3. WWITV - www.wwitv.com The live tv aggregator with the most traffic. You know what they say about choosing which restaraunt to eat at when on vacation… The colors of this site are awful, but hey, don’t mess with success.

4. Channel Chooser - www.channelchooser.com Slick interface, but this site includes adult links as well, so you will want to keep this one away from your kids.

If you ever need to waste 15 minutes, have I got an idea for you!

Bubble Shooter

This really has little to do per se with Israel, other than that I am here and I play this game all the time.
The rules are pretty straightforward.  Shoot color balls to the same colors on the board.  If your ball hits two other balls of the same color, they all disappear.  If you don’t hit the same colors, all the balls drop a level.  You are trying to make all the balls disappear before they all land on you.  There’s no time constraint, which is why this game is simply infectious (and time-consuming).  Beware, you have been forewarned.  Once you start, you can’t stop!

Bubble Shooter Game - Click To Start