Esther Kustanowitz: November 2007 Archives

This summer marked the opening season of the Israel Baseball League. It opened to some controversy, because the sport's pretty American; in Israel, they play "football", of course, and some basketball. But baseball? Could the society support a new sport that was largely unfamiliar? Well, depending on who you ask, the season was either a success or a little bit more like a hung jury.

But what's been disappointing is definitely the aftermath. Because even though Israel is a relatively small country, one baseball league isn't enough, apparently, as the NY Jewish Week reports and as Yoda once said, "There is another."

I am somehow reminded of a scene in Monty Python's "Life of Brian" when members of the People's Front of Judea are mistaken for the Judean People's Front. And the Popular Front. And everyone's offended because no one wants to be mistaken for a member of the club they're not affiliated with. View the clip (some "adult language," but nothing you don't hear regularly on FX these days):

Now a staple at karaoke bars, Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" has been plaguing--oops, I meant "entertaining"--music fans for years. Forty years, actually. (Which is how long the Jews wandered, post-Egypt, in the desert before reaching the Holy Land. But I digress.)

But the song's inspirational origins are now revealed, as Diamond announced to the Associated Press (as reported in Yahoo! News) that he was inspired by a photo of then ten-year-old Caroline Kennedy suited up in her riding gear. Lest this sound creepy, let us allow Mr. Diamond to explain himself:

[...] "It was such an innocent, wonderful picture, I immediately felt there was a song in there." Years later, holed up in a hotel in Memphis, Tenn., he would write the words and music in less an hour.

When you think of the world of business, you can't help but think of Donald Trump and his show "The Apprentice," which, as the show's theme song tells you, was all about "money money money...money!" The idea was that people could come from different backgrounds, not necessarily out of the world of business, and become Trumpian. After all, before the Donald started marrying and divorcing trophy wives, creating an iconic-if-derided hairstyle, and living in apartments with three-dimensional gold frescoes, he was just an ordinary guy. And so, in taking other ordinary guys (and women) and allowing them access to the resources and challenges that will prove their abilities, he was acting as the alternately stern and occasionally rewarding parent who will decide who would make the best Trump clonelet.

But now there's "Celebrity Apprentice." Why would celebrities need "The Apprentice"? They, by definition are not ordinary people. They have been elevated by popular culture to the point of intense familiarity, they're people we already love to hate and hate to love. They're not in it for the money, that's for sure, reports the Daily News:

Unlike the past six seasons, the celeb contestants will not be battling it out for a spot in the boardroom next to Trump, but instead will be working to benefit their favorite charities. The winner will receive a $250,000 for the cause of their choice.

Israel is turning 60 next summer, and along with all of its beauty and religious resonance, it has also become known as a place of conflict, of heavy headlines, and unfortunately more than occasional violence. But apparently, within popular culture on both sides, there's always been music to be found in the Middle East...

In writing up a comment to a previous challenge by my colleague Michael Kress that IC readers tell us about our favorite on-screen angels, I started thinking about Clarence, from "It's a Wonderful Life," and ended up with my favorite tortured vampire-in-a-trenchcoat, Angel. And that's when it occurred to me that I had a different take on angels, using a more liberal, less literal definition toward a list that's a bit more on the unusual side.