Believe it or not, but this is the 12th issue of The Barak Ori Times (but who's counting...) I've been in New York for over a year now. Seems like a good time to take a vacation. Maybe in Florida? Okay, we'll talk about it later. We have other things to take care of first.
Leaving Israel meant saying goodbye to my friends, my motorycle, my family, my collection of Parker Lewis tapes, and many other things. But more than anything, it meant leaving behind my fine home theater system. When I'm really lonely at night, I really miss my 32" Phillips TV. Okay maybe not, but still, I knew that when I come to NY I'd have to rebuild (well, rebuy) my home theater system. It's amazing how cheap these things are here. The last thing I bought were the rear speakers. Allow me to present my new right rear speaker:
As you can see, it can also be used to hang clothes.
The problem is that my apartment is really small, so I don't have room to put all the gadgets I'd love to buy. So I've decided to pamper myself with a computer that wouldn't take too much space.
Please don't tell me you're thinking of the sissy iMac. What takes up most of the space is the monitor. You can always hide the computer box somewhere below where it sits and collects dust, but the monitor is there, taking up precious space. So I went the whole nine yards and bought a flat panel display.
Yes, I know it's too expensive, but I've decided not to wait for the prices to drop. So here's my new monitor, next to Ronit, who came to visit me in February.
You must be thinking to yourself - the crazy bald guy went to NY and became arrogant. Why should I be interested in the things he bought? Well, first of all, in dull months, I have to find something to put into my newspaper. Second, there's a plea for assistance here...
See that monitor? Above it you'll see an "Internet Camera". I've had it for quite some time, but I have no one to test it with. So if you have such a camera, and would like to see if it works, just drop me a line in the e-mail. I'd really like to see if it's working across the ocean.
As temperatures insisted on remaining below 0C, we've decided we'll look for the sun elsewhere. When I say "we", I mean Dalit, Eran, Maya, Yonatan (The Amitai family), Haya (Eran's mom), Ronit, and myself. Of course, it was the Amitais' initiative, but I was happy to tag along.
Don't get me wrong. New York is a wonderful place, but it does seem a bit sad in the winter. All the trees decorated with lights couldn't hide the fact that the weather in New York is terrible. I'll just sum it up by saying that it's worse than Tel-Aviv in the summer, and a lot worse than Jerusalem in the winter.
Of course, people learned to cope with these extremes. Houses are heated (or cooled), and most places have double doors. These are all fine, but there's one ultimate way to handle the winter in NY - going to Florida. So we pretended to be 60 years old and went there...
I don't have a lot to say about the Florida vacation. We didn't do a lot there, and that's the beauty of it. We stayed in the Shellborne hotel in South Beach, Miami. South Beach is one of these places where everyone around you is on vacation (like yourself). Every night the restaurants and bars on Ocean Drive are overcrowded with people who want to be happy. It's really nice to watch. As I said, I don't have a lot to say, but I did take some pictures. You'll see them around this issue.
While Ronit was here, Moti and Ayelet came for a short visit. We didn't break the record of 5 people in the apartment (set by the Ori family last November), but we did have a lot of fun. We found out that Don McLean is having a concert in a college not far from New York, so we rented a car and went to see him.
A few minutes before the show, in the lobby of the theater, we saw a lady with a strange musical instrument. I had to find out what it was. It turns out that it's some kind of hand chimes that they use to tell people that they should get in because the show is about to start. They decided to use the unplugged version.
I bribed the lady, and in 200 years, when I have grandchildren, I could tell them that I once sounded the first "please hurry up" signal in a Don McLean concert.
I think I was about 8 years old the first time my uncle Amram let me listen to his American Pie record in my grandparents' house. I liked the song right away. Of course, I didn't understand a word. Actually, when I think about it, there are still parts of this song that I don't understand now. In the concert Don McLean said that people come to him and say - "You know this song means a lot to me, but what does it mean?"
"It means if I don't want to, I never have to work again in my entire life."
I really liked the show. I knew 5 songs, but the others were very good too. We sat very far from the stage, in the top tier, so Don looked very small. There was one funny thing - he had this shiny guitar and while he was playing it (and moving it) he sent strong beams of light into the people of the top tier. Fortunately, most of the time he blinded the audience on the other side of the theater, but at one point he turned his guitar and sent this beam of light at us. It was so bright. We immediately started laughing. I thing some members of the audience had to see an eye Doctor in the following days.
When the show ended, Don McLean met the audience in the lobby. He gave autographs and let people take pictures with him. We jumped on that wagon. BTW, some of the pictures in the issue are (C) M & A Gust.
After the Don McLean concert, we returned to New York and decided we need something sweet. Maybe it's because we listened to the Don McLean disc on the way back. Maybe we were just hungry. Anyway, we decided to go to a place with style. We went to a place called "Cafe Lalo". It's known for its desserts made by a the famous French chef Lalo (This is one amazing coincidence).
They say that it was always a crowded place, but it became even more popular after a scene from "You've Got Mail" was shot in it.
If you ever come to New York, I recommend this place. It's on 83rd street near Broadway (In the Upper West). Try the strawbery cheesecake, but don't expect to see Meg Ryan sitting just below the Van Goch picture and waiting for her blind date.
The football players were running like crazy between the commercial breaks, but I didn't really care. I was just waiting for good commercials. One powerful (and controversial) commercial featured a walking Christopher Reeve (with the help of a lot of computer graphics). They really put a lot of effort into the Superbowl commercials. Considering the fact that a 30 seconds spot cost $2,000,000, it makes sense. So here's my winner for the 2000 Superbowl (You'll have to download):
Once again, allow be to appologize for the quality of the video. That's what happens to 30 seconds of video when you squeeze it into less than 1.5MB.
