Overheard in Israel
I’m sure you’re familiar with Overheard in New York, a blog that lets people post the bits of conversation that they hear in the streets, at the office, wherever, so long as it’s funny. As with most trends, Israel is catching up, slowly but surely. Once again, thanks to Keren, I discovered the Hebrew version of Overheard called Gunav L’oznai, Tzitutim Shel Tzitutim, which Morfix tells us roughly, very roughly, translates to “found out about, quotes from eavesdropping”.
Here are some recent “overheards” that I picked from the Gunav site.
Translation:
Officer 1: Tell me, how do you say pistachios in English?
Officer 2: I don’t think they eat them in English…
Translation:
Can you come over her for a second, like for 10 seconds, for a second?
What funny things have you overheard lately?
Check out Israel’s version of Overheard – Gunav L’oznai
My 5 new favorite blogs, in honor of Blog Day
Today is International Blog Day, and bloggers are supposed to recommend 5 new blogs to create a greater sense of community in the blogosphere. Incidentally, Blog Day was created by an Israeli, Nir Ofir, who created BlogTV which I wrote about on israelplug a while back!
If only it was easy to narrow it down to 5! But that’s how this game is played, so here are some new blogs I’d recommend to you.
1. Jewish Humor Tube– posts funny Jewish or Israel related videos including this hysterical video from an Israeli extreme challenge TV show. Which makes me wonder, is this the closest Israeli TV gets to Double Dare? Where’s the slime?!
http://www.liveleak.com/e/b0e_1215189445
2. The Jew Spot – I found Monica’s blog from the list of bloggers who participated/watched the NBN JBlogger Conference . Monica interviews really cool and interesting people in the Jewish scene such as Idan Reichel and Chloe Jo.
3. Sex and the holy city – an unapologetic blog about the sexual escapades of a young woman in Jerusalem. Truly a meeting of Sex and the City and Jerusalem.
4. EngrishFunny I’ll be honest here, I have a major weakness for funny English signs and misspellings. Whenever I travel, which isn’t nearly enough these days, I’m always on the lookout for funny spelling mistakes.
5. Smitten kitchen – an amazing food blog that Yitz showed me, with the most stunning pictures that’ll leave you wiping up your keyboard from drooling over the beautiful bourbon peach hand pies, cold-brewed iced coffee, dimply plum cake, or whatever else is on the menu.
Happy Blog Day! Pass it on.
All about beer in Israel
In honor of the 4th annual Beer Festival coming up August 27-28 in Jerusalem, I thought I’d write all about beer in Israel.
The beer festival plans to bring 50 Israeli and international beer flavors to the table and beer drinkers in Israel are looking forward to tasting something other than the 4 or 5 that make it onto the typical restaurant menu.
I hope Dancing Camel will be there because I’ve been wanting to try their flavored beers ever since I heard about them. Over the holidays last year, Dancing Camel created etrog and jelly doughnut flavored beers in honor of Sukkot and Chanukah, and when it comes to my beer, the more flavor and girlier, the better. The Dancing Camel is a microbrewery in Tel Aviv started by an American named David Cohen who has already gathered somewhat of a cult following.
If you’re inspired by the beer festival to make your own and compete with Goldstar, there’s a company in Mevasseret Zion called The Winemaker that sells beer starter kits and offers courses on how to start brewing. I think I heard about them from Hakerem, an Israeli wine blog.
[Update: Thanks to Jerusalemite, here’s link for the festival and sad to say, the list of beers featured doesn’t include The Dancing Camel. ]
And here’s a song about beer to get you in the mood for the festival.
Kitzur: Find definitions for Hebrew abbreviations and acronyms
My friend Keren let me in on a secret Hebrew weapon called Kitzur, which gives you the definition for thousands of Hebrew acronyms and abbreviations. I immediately went to the slang section and was amused by all the ridiculous abbreviations like “Gvinatz” for Gvinah Tzehubah (the ambiguous but ever popular Yellow Cheese). Um. Can’t remember the last time I heard someone order using either of the 2 shortened varieties. But if you try it, good luck, and let me know how it goes.
The phrases in the slang section are especially helpful in the following situations:
a. You want to pretend you are/were in the army
b. You want to be an ars (punky, annoying Israeli teenagers)
c. You are easily amused by just how many words and phrases can be shortened into ridiculous combinations that would have an Israeli get his/her whole family together to point and laugh at you if you decided to actually use some of them.
Use these phrases with caution. Some will help you fit in, but others could be disastrous for your post-Ulpan departure (but I would love to hear the outcomes). So, only start using one of the phrases once you’ve looked up the definition in English (you can use Morfix) and actually heard it used in context.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find Zabaj in the listings…
P.S. For those of you still in abbreviation mode, I found a site, Abbreviation that gives definitions of English abbreviations and acronyms. (Thanks, Make Use of)
First International Jewish bloggers conference in Jerusalem – geeky or cool?
A few years back I avoided reading blogs at all costs. I was afraid of landing on endless posts about a cat’s latest dietary restrictions or how cute it is when a 3 year old drools on the couch. And if I did find a blog that seemed useful, how could I trust the information? At the time, I couldn’t see the value of reading or writing a blog.
Fast forward to present.
Today, the blogosphere has grown up and most blogs adhere to an unofficial set of standards because they realize that the only way to gain readership is by providing meaningful and reliable content. So it’s no surprise that blogs are my first stop for finding out what’s happening in my city, what trends are happening in my industry, and what videos are likely to crack me up. In fact, I can hardly remember the last time I visited a static website.
And, as the blogosphere naturally evolved into social media (Facebook, Myspace, Twitter), people have stopped seeing bloggers as geeky, and started seeing and respecting their talent for being “social” and providing and recommending premium content to the web.
As for the Jerusalem blogging scene, all of us nerdy or cool kids, depending on your take of the whole blogging culture, are invited to the First International Jewish Blogging Convention in Jerusalem at Nefesh B’Nefesh HQ on August 20. Sorry for posting about it rather late, although I think I was the first to break the news on Twitter.
Rafi at Life in Israel brings up an good point about how anonymous bloggers will participate. Paper bags over their heads? Nametags that say “Anonymous”? I guess they can watch the event live online, but I have a feeling it won’t be the same. In any case, I’m looking forward to meeting all of my fellow bloggers and have to make sure to catch up on my reading.
The event is to be from 5-8:30 and includes panel discussions with bloggers Treppenwitz, Jewlicious, IsraelMatzav and Hirhurim, WhatWarZone, Oleh Girl, My Shrapnel, and My Right Word.
The Big Felafel gets a new look
I apologize for slow posting lately, but I have some goodies coming up for you. The Big Felafel’s first birthday is coming up in 3 days, so I decided to take off its diapers and give TBF a more mature look. If you’re reading this in a feedreader or your email, come by The Big Felafel and let me know what you think of the new design.
Where to Study Graphic Design in Israel
I’m finishing up the Graphic Design and Multimedia program at John Bryce in Jerusalem and thought I’d review the course and recommend other resources for people interested in graphic and web design in Israel.
Discounts
If you made Aliyah within the last 3 years, you may be entitled to some major discounts off these schools. But you’ll need to check with Misrad Haklitah or Misrad Hastudentim first.
Graphic and Web Design Schools / Programs
Below are some of the better known schools for graphic design in Israel. Almost all the courses are in Hebrew, but don’t let that stop you since the software is in English. At first, I thought the Hebrew would be extremely challenging, but by the second day, I caught on to the Hebrish lingo of “checkbox-im”, “undo-im”, and “tab-im”. And by the end of the course, I had a whole notebook full of these little phrases.
Also, many of these schools offer other creative classes such as video editing, jewelry design, animation, etc.
Considering that these are design schools, let’s see how creative and effective their websites are. After receiving grades throughout the year, it feels good to give back a little constructive criticism.
Please leave a comment if you have a review of a school or if I left any out, which is very very possible.
John Bryce Doesn’t sound Jewish, but hey…
Location: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv & Haifa
Phone: *6460; In Jerusalem, 02-678-1881 and you have to push 011 after you dial.
Length of Course: 10 months (in theory). Due to snow days (in Israel, crazy – right?), teacher sick days, random no-days, it turned into a year. Classes are twice a week at night for 3.5 hours each. Don’t worry, you get breaks, and a free coffee machine. You receive a certificate of completion at the end although I’m not sure how valuable the certificate is, since portfolios carry the real weight in the design world. So if you work hard on the projects during the course you’ll come away with a nice portfolio.
Programs Taught: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, HTML, CSS, Dreamweaver, ImageReady, Flash/Actionscript
Overall Review: B+ I can now use each of the design programs pretty easily and quickly, but there is still much more to learn and practice but Photoshop and Flash are no longer scary programs where I don’t even know where to start. However, the program lacked in teaching design principles and fundamentals. In an amazing bookabout design for non-designers, Robin Williams (not the comedian) teaches basic design principles simply and brilliantly, but unfortunately John Bryce never mentioned any of her ideas. Also, I felt like the Dreamweaver section spent too much time on building websites with tables, and not enough time on DIV’s and CSS.
Website Review: D Annoying sound when you enter which I couldn’t figure out how to turn off, crazy flying flash sections in sidebar, inside pages look much different than home page, scrolling welcome message unnecessary.
Bezalel: Academy of Art and Design
Location: Jerusalem
Phone: 02-5893323 Email: viscom@bezalel.ac.il
Length: 4 years – Bachelor’s Degree
You’ll Learn: Visual Communications: Graphic/typographic design, Interactive design, Broadcast design (including animation), Illustration, and Advertising
Website Review: A I love the clean looking design and colorful photo. Nice touches of Flash. Easy to use menu with good English section.
Hadassah School of Practical Engineering
Location: Jerusalem
Phone: 02-6291932 Email: oragolan@hadassah.ac.il
Length: 2 years – Associate’s degree
Track: Print Production
You’ll Learn: Typography, Graphic Design, Website Design, Drawing & Sketching, Engraving and Etching, more
Track: Interactive Communications (Internet and Multimedia)
You’ll learn: Design for user interface, HTML, Introduction to Java, Introduction to Photography Three Dimensional Images and Animation, Website Production, Interactive Animation, more
Website Review: B+ Very informative with a good English section and usability, but could use a little creativity
Dealbox – Keeping up with all the deals and sales in Israel
It’s not exactly mysupermarket, but Dealbox is trying to keep Israeli consumers updated with deals at hundreds of stores. You can configure ‘deal’ emails by selecting the categories you’re interested in hearing about such as fashion, computers, electronics, food, etc. You can further customize your settings by checking the boxes next to stores you where you like to shop, most of which are big name chains like Mega Supermarket, Castro, Golf, B.U.G but there are also a bunch I’ve never heard of.
Or, if you’re sick of getting newsletters, you can just look at the homepage which features current deals and sales. Amazing how every store just happens to be having a 50% off sale or the 1+1 sale that they’re a big fan of around here. Could it be a ploy to get you to come into the store?! No, never…
Here’s the latest Zara sale and I have to admit that it is tempting…
Srugim and Haolim – 2 new Israeli TV shows that I can relate to
Lately, I don’t relate much to the characters in TV shows – doctors with tough decisions to make (Grey’s Anatomy), moms that sell pot to support their kids (Weeds), a secret call girl in London (Secret Diary of a Call Girl), etc.
As Esther points out, Sex and the City comes closest in its understanding of the ups and downs of being single in a city but obviously does not touch on the Jewish scene. Yes, Charlotte converts to Judaism, but it’s not quite telling of the singles scene on the Upper West Side in NYC or the German Colony in Jerusalem.
In contrast, Srugim, a new Israeli drama on Yes!, focuses on the singles scene in the Katamon area in Jerusalem so accurately I feel like I’ll be invited to their next Shabbat meal and end up on the set. The show included shots of Burgers Bar and Coffee Mill on Emek Refaim, so I was even looking for myself in the background somewhere. On top of that, I even knew one of the actresses, Shira Katz, who plays Stacy, the American neighbor. A little too close for comfort? Maybe, but I really got a kick out of it and couldn’t turn away, and I’m definitely waiting for the next episode. You can watch the show online in Hebrew with Hebrew subtitles. Explorer and Safari only. [Update: Available in Israel only] Continue reading this entry »
The Big Felafel featured on Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop Israel page
Alltop says you can think of their site as a digital magazine rack that collects stories from all the top sites on the web. They group the info “into individual Alltop sites based on topics such as environment, photography, science,” and now Israel! The Israel page features many of the big name bloggers in Israel, and also some new bloggers I hadn’t heard of that I’ll have to catch up on. You can read more about Guy Kawasaki, the man behind Alltop and how it got started on the about page. Thanks Guy for listing The Big Felafel!
The greatest part about Alltop is that Guy listens to his Twitter friends’ recommendations for who to list as the top blogs for each category. All 15,000 + friends. He’s even following The Big Felafel, if you can believe it. That’s why Twitter is so easy to love, it connects you to people you would’ve never been able to talk to otherwise.
The Big Felafel 