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Apr
9
No Dathan? No Baka? A plague on you, ABC!
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The Plain Dealer’s Arts Section today features what should have been a deathmatch dual between Charlton Heston and Dougray Scott, but instead, it walks us through our 2006 options for the re-telling of Cecil B. DeMille’s classic, The Ten Commandments.
Let me just say here, that whomever was responsible for eliminating Dathan – the Edward G. Robinson character, or Baka – played by Vincent Price in all his evil glory, should be visited by 100 plagues! No, make that a cast of thousands of plagues! No, make it as many as all the bricks in the pyramids! No, worse yet – equal to the number of all the grains of sand in the Egyptian desert!
And I’m not even talking about the new version’s exclusion of Nefritiri (Anne Bancroft) and Memnet. How can you have this story without Nefritiri??
Feh and fye and a shanda on that debaser.
Pffft. The Ten Commandments without Dathan and Baka.
Just see if Elijah comes to your house Wednesday or Thursday night.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:17 pm April 9th, 2006 in Politics | 5 Comments
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Apr
9
Supernatural acuity
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
When I was in high school, and very into drama club (my, what a surprise), my older brother gave me a copy of I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On, a Samuel Beckett reader. Although absurdism, modernism and post-modernism fascinated me then, I realize now just how prescient about my personality my brother was (even though he was wrong in calling me a conservative based only my attendance at Georgetown).
As I listened to this Weekend Edition piece on Beckett’s centenary yesterday morning, while folding laundry (what a perfect Beckett-like thing to be doing while committing an act of self-realization), one of the speakers said that Beckett had “supernatural acuity” into the human condition. That through his stripped down language, scenes and characters, he hoped to convey to everyone else what it is that he saw so clearly, and felt so viscerally.
It would be an insult and gross misstatement to say that I have supernatural acuity, in anything. But when I heard this description of Beckett, I couldn’t help but think about how I see the human before I see anything else about someone, the way talented mathematicians can see numbers, artists see images, musicians hear chords. And I found comfort in thinking about how, when I was just fifteen, I found a kinship with Beckett’s way of looking at and translating the world as he saw it through his writing.
Many critics call Beckett and his work (his most famous being Waiting for Godot) pessimistic. But apparently Beckett responded to that criticism by saying that he’s not at all a pessimist, but rather, he considered himself an optimist because, “I assume that communication is possible.”
Talk about being able to relate. That is exactly how I feel. Exactly. And when I heard it on the radio, I got chills.
“Where I am, I don’t know, I’ll never know, in the silence you don’t know, you must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.” Samuel Beckett, The Unnamable
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:01 pm April 9th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Apr
9
No Dathan? No Baka? A plague on you, ABC!
Filed Under Politics | 5 Comments
The Plain Dealer’s Arts Section today features what should have been a deathmatch dual between Charlton Heston and Dougray Scott, but instead, it walks us through our 2006 options for the re-telling of Cecil B. DeMille’s classic, The Ten Commandments.
Let me just say here, that whomever was responsible for eliminating Dathan – the Edward G. Robinson character, or Baka – played by Vincent Price in all his evil glory, should be visited by 100 plagues! No, make that a cast of thousands of plagues! No, make it as many as all the bricks in the pyramids! No, worse yet – equal to the number of all the grains of sand in the Egyptian desert!
And I’m not even talking about the new version’s exclusion of Nefritiri (Anne Bancroft) and Memnet. How can you have this story without Nefritiri??
Feh and fye and a shanda on that debaser.
Pffft. The Ten Commandments without Dathan and Baka.
Just see if Elijah comes to your house Wednesday or Thursday night.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:17 pm April 9th, 2006 in Politics | 5 Comments
Print This Post
Apr
9
Supernatural acuity
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
When I was in high school, and very into drama club (my, what a surprise), my older brother gave me a copy of I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On, a Samuel Beckett reader. Although absurdism, modernism and post-modernism fascinated me then, I realize now just how prescient about my personality my brother was (even though he was wrong in calling me a conservative based only my attendance at Georgetown).
As I listened to this Weekend Edition piece on Beckett’s centenary yesterday morning, while folding laundry (what a perfect Beckett-like thing to be doing while committing an act of self-realization), one of the speakers said that Beckett had “supernatural acuity” into the human condition. That through his stripped down language, scenes and characters, he hoped to convey to everyone else what it is that he saw so clearly, and felt so viscerally.
It would be an insult and gross misstatement to say that I have supernatural acuity, in anything. But when I heard this description of Beckett, I couldn’t help but think about how I see the human before I see anything else about someone, the way talented mathematicians can see numbers, artists see images, musicians hear chords. And I found comfort in thinking about how, when I was just fifteen, I found a kinship with Beckett’s way of looking at and translating the world as he saw it through his writing.
Many critics call Beckett and his work (his most famous being Waiting for Godot) pessimistic. But apparently Beckett responded to that criticism by saying that he’s not at all a pessimist, but rather, he considered himself an optimist because, “I assume that communication is possible.”
Talk about being able to relate. That is exactly how I feel. Exactly. And when I heard it on the radio, I got chills.
“Where I am, I don’t know, I’ll never know, in the silence you don’t know, you must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.” Samuel Beckett, The Unnamable
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:01 am April 9th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Apr
9
No Dathan? No Baka? A plague on you, ABC!
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
The Plain Dealer’s Arts Section today features what should have been a deathmatch dual between Charlton Heston and Dougray Scott, but instead, it walks us through our 2006 options for the re-telling of Cecil B. DeMille’s classic, The Ten Commandments.
Let me just say here, that whomever was responsible for eliminating Dathan – the Edward G. Robinson character, or Baka – played by Vincent Price in all his evil glory, should be visited by 100 plagues! No, make that a cast of thousands of plagues! No, make it as many as all the bricks in the pyramids! No, worse yet – equal to the number of all the grains of sand in the Egyptian desert!
And I’m not even talking about the new version’s exclusion of Nefritiri (Anne Bancroft) and Memnet. How can you have this story without Nefritiri??
Feh and fye and a shanda on that debaser.
Pffft. The Ten Commandments without Dathan and Baka.
Just see if Elijah comes to your house Wednesday or Thursday night.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:17 am April 9th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Apr
9
Supernatural acuity
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
When I was in high school, and very into drama club (my, what a surprise), my older brother gave me a copy of I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On, a Samuel Beckett reader. Although absurdism, modernism and post-modernism fascinated me then, I realize now just how prescient about my personality my brother was (even though he was wrong in calling me a conservative based only my attendance at Georgetown).
As I listened to this Weekend Edition piece on Beckett’s centenary yesterday morning, while folding laundry (what a perfect Beckett-like thing to be doing while committing an act of self-realization), one of the speakers said that Beckett had “supernatural acuity” into the human condition. That through his stripped down language, scenes and characters, he hoped to convey to everyone else what it is that he saw so clearly, and felt so viscerally.
It would be an insult and gross misstatement to say that I have supernatural acuity, in anything. But when I heard this description of Beckett, I couldn’t help but think about how I see the human before I see anything else about someone, the way talented mathematicians can see numbers, artists see images, musicians hear chords. And I found comfort in thinking about how, when I was just fifteen, I found a kinship with Beckett’s way of looking at and translating the world as he saw it through his writing.
Many critics call Beckett and his work (his most famous being Waiting for Godot) pessimistic. But apparently Beckett responded to that criticism by saying that he’s not at all a pessimist, but rather, he considered himself an optimist because, “I assume that communication is possible.”
Talk about being able to relate. That is exactly how I feel. Exactly. And when I heard it on the radio, I got chills.
“Where I am, I don’t know, I’ll never know, in the silence you don’t know, you must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.” Samuel Beckett, The Unnamable
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:01 am April 9th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Apr
9
What do Jews do, Passover, Part II
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What do Jews do, Passover, Part I
Jewish holidays involve a lot of music and a lot of food, except when they involve a fast, in which case, it involves no food until after the music, and then you get to have food.
Passover is no exception. As I put my youngest to bed this evening, we cuddled and sang two of the most well-known Passover songs – Ma Nishtanah and Dayenu (my kids sound better, btw, and see if you can catch the “hametz” and “matzah” words; then, when you sing Dayenu, slam the table with your palm and syncopate). Then, I promised to find the cassette tapes we’ve had for years with different versions of the music and story so that we can play them until I can’t take it anymore, I mean, until their memories are refreshed enough to sing loud and proud at the seders.
How I know these songs reminds me of how I know how to read: I remember sitting in a group with four or six other first graders in the front of the classroom near the teacher’s desk reading from, yes, Dick and Jane, but that’s it – I don’t remember the sounding out or learning the alphabet.
Likewise, I recall singing the Jewish holiday songs every year but I don’t even remember when I was the youngest and got to sing Ma Nishtanah by myself (although that is probably because my cousin David is just a few months older than me and our parents probably made us sing it together, so much for individuality).
And though maybe I wasn’t always attentive, somehow, the annual recitation of the same songs and prayers resulted in me now at least knowing the tunes, if not the words (gotta love transliterations, because I read Hebrew too slowly).
With only three full days left before the first seder, I have several chores to complete: I’m making Rocky Road Brownies that are kosher for passover (you’ll have to go to the next blogger meetup if you want to taste mine):
And Caramel Matzoh Crunch:
We’ll also bring Kosher for Passover wine (many excellent choices in the last five to ten years) that’s not Manishewitz (if you ever attend a seder and you’re made to drink four glasses of Manishewitz wine, check to see if it’s also April Fool’s Day) and some Bartons candies (typically, solid chocolate, fruit slices and mints). There’ll also be an assortment of macaroons, which many people like, but I don’t. Too…straw-y – I always feel like there are strings in the little mini-cup-shaped cakes.
Isn’t it interesting how I started with the desserts and wine? Of course, however, we have to sit through about an hour or so of the service first. The length depends on the leader. When I was a child, my Papa led the seder and I couldn’t understand a blessed word. Supposedly, back in that day in Poland, when he was a child, every male Jew knew nearly as much as a rebbe. I don’t know for sure because, as I said, I could never understand his mumbling. My brothers and I and our cousins enjoyed making fun of Papa’s mumbling, but the worst part was that because of it, we couldn’t figure out how many pages he would garble before we could eat.
Or at least get to the Hillel sandwich, in which you place haroset, a crushed apple and nut mixture, between two pieces of matzah. No one will admit it, but I’m sure that God created this part of the service to tide us over.
Another problem with Papa’s hebrew, and a pronounciation difference that continues to decline in occurance and relevance, is the “t” versus the “s” as in Shabbos versus Shabbat or “sov” instead of “tov.” Apparently, this pronounciation has to do both with being Ashkenazic, from the old country and speaking Yiddish, versus speaking Modern Hebrew. Many people are unaware that Hebrew only came into being as a spoken, conversational language in the late 1800s. The Hebrew-English dictionary I have from when I was a teen is called the Ben-Yehuda Dictionary, after Eliezar Ben-Yehuda, the man who revived Hebrew as a conversational language.
In any case, Papa had a mean Eastern European Yiddish/Ashkenazi accent that still oys in my ears. If you’ve seen any movies or shows that feature Holocaust survivors or other Jews native to Eastern Europe, you’ve heard this accent too. Listening to Carl Reiner or Mel Brooks, or even Billy Crystal doing Miracle Max in The Princess Bride would also give you a good example.
My husband and son have finished watching The Phantom Menace and so I must stop for the night. Luckily, with eight nights of Passover, and this being only Part II, there’s six more for me to talk about the rest of the meal.
I’ll close with this picture of my seder table, before the seder began. I actually really love looking at a table set like this, in the mid to late afternoon, the calm before the roar of the guests and the smell of the matzah ball soup.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:47 am April 9th, 2006 in Politics | 5 Comments
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Apr
9
It’s a JibJab Hip Hop Passover, Charlie Brown!
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See these rules in action. Oy, if only Moses were alive to see Eminem sing this.
Gadola hattip to my peep, Elana, not to be confused with the Let My Peeps Go, or, of course, that ever-present at this time of the year confection called peeps – often abused but seldom consumed.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:13 am April 9th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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