I love movies because they allow me to pause from the chaos of this world and just think and reflect for a few moments...reminding me of the way I want to live on this earth.
But I love reading the Bible, because it allows me to transcend this world...reminding me of the way I want to live for eternity.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Voice-overs, Aroma, and crushes on Nancy Meyers and Christiane Amanpour
It’s been a while, since I’ve blogged. Life is busy. But tonight I am in a hotel room in Beersheva, Israel and I have some time to write.
1) I’m in Beersheva as a guest of the office of tourism here. Long story short. For those who have visited this blog before, you may have read about my last visit to Beersheva a few months ago. I also produced a video about that visit, which you can watch on this blog as well. I was here for a prayer gathering, at a Messianic Jewish Congregation, here, called Nachalat Yeshua. In 2005 there was a riot at that congregation, by radical orthodox Jews who hate people that believe in Yeshua (Jesus). After repeated violence and an absence of action by authorities here, the congregation decided to sue the organizers of the riot. Needless to say, Beersheva and the believers in Yeshua have had a strained relationship. Which is why it was such a pleasant surprise when the tourism office here, contacted the pastor of that congregation which was attacked…to ask for his help. They wanted to produce a video aimed at Evangelical Christians in America…in hopes of luring them here. Beersheva is in the Negev desert. They don’t get as much tourism as Jerusalem, the Galilee and other places like that. They wanted someone who understood the minds of evangelicals. So, they called Pastor Howard Bass. He helped them all he could, but when it cam time to actually write a script and produce the video…for that he referred them to me. So, in the spirit of bridge-building and friendship-making…I happily offered my services.
The video will be shown next month at the NRB conference in Nashville. The script and concept were written and conceived by me. Also, the voice you’ll here on the video is mine. Yes, they asked me to record the voice-over narration. Today I was in the recording studio. I tried to channel the voice of that guy you hear on the Monorail at Disney World. He always sounds so happy. Not sure if I reached his level of narrator-perfection…but it was fun trying.
After the recording session, my two very kind hostesses took me to Abraham’s Well and an ancient city from King Hezekiah’s day. Also to a very moving memorial to the heroes of the 1948 battle that helped Israel re-capture the Negev desert.
Along the way we had a fascinating conversation about their impression of Messianic Jews. Their take on it, was that while some in Israel don’t like the orthodox Jews and some don’t like the secular…”no one likes you people.” (referring to Messianic Jews). I was advised that we “have a lot of work to do, to convince the Israeli public that we are not just missionaries who want to turn all Jewish children into Christians.” That was a direct quote. I pray our time together today, is just the beginning of fostering a new understanding. Truth is so much better than ignorance.
2) Tonight, I went out on the town. I went to this really cool movie theatre in Beersheva (the Globus Max) to see ‘It’s Complicated’. The new Meryl Streep/Alec Baldwin movie written and directed by Nancy Meyers. A quick note about the theatre I was in…it was the largest movie theatre I’ve ever been in, in my life. I think it had 1,000 seats. No exaggeration.
But back to the movie. I love Nancy Meyers. I love her mind, her sense of humor, her voice as a writer, her style. I love her. I want to be her much younger ‘boy toy’. Her Keanu Reeves to Diane Keaton in the Nancy Meyers movie ‘Something’s Gotta Give’. Yeah, I said it. I’m crazy about this woman. Her movies from ‘Baby Boom’ to ‘The Holiday’ are just so delightful. I always feel better about life, after seeing one of her movies. She is smart and classy, and I don’t care if most label them as ‘chick flicks’.
3) After the movie, I walked around the town for a bit. I stopped by a very cool, very happening ‘Aroma Espresso Bar’. I set out this year with a goal of visiting all 100+ Aroma café’s across Israel. I was going to video tape each visit and then put them on a special blog I created. But, that blog is now gone. The truth is, I don’t want to bring my video camera with me every time I go out for coffee. I love Aroma’s atmosphere and food and coffee. I think they are so fun. And, I still do want to visit all of them. But…I won’t be documenting them as first planned. I really just like to chill out there, use the free WiFi and drink coffee. Not so much with the video-taping.
4) Last but not least, tonight I got a Direct Message on Twitter from CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. A journalist I respect beyond words. I follow her on Twitter. Yesterday, she sent out a link to a report by reporter Paul Hancocks about life in Gaza one year after the war with Israel. It was a very one-sided report. In fact is was 95% about Gaza and barely 5% about Israel. I tweeted Christiane telling her I thought the report was beneath her standards as a journalist. Today she tweeted me and wanted to know what I didn’t like about the report. So, I tweeted her back my thoughts. Very classy. I love technology!
OK, that’s it, that’s all. Shalom and lila tov (goodnight) from Beersheva.
1) I’m in Beersheva as a guest of the office of tourism here. Long story short. For those who have visited this blog before, you may have read about my last visit to Beersheva a few months ago. I also produced a video about that visit, which you can watch on this blog as well. I was here for a prayer gathering, at a Messianic Jewish Congregation, here, called Nachalat Yeshua. In 2005 there was a riot at that congregation, by radical orthodox Jews who hate people that believe in Yeshua (Jesus). After repeated violence and an absence of action by authorities here, the congregation decided to sue the organizers of the riot. Needless to say, Beersheva and the believers in Yeshua have had a strained relationship. Which is why it was such a pleasant surprise when the tourism office here, contacted the pastor of that congregation which was attacked…to ask for his help. They wanted to produce a video aimed at Evangelical Christians in America…in hopes of luring them here. Beersheva is in the Negev desert. They don’t get as much tourism as Jerusalem, the Galilee and other places like that. They wanted someone who understood the minds of evangelicals. So, they called Pastor Howard Bass. He helped them all he could, but when it cam time to actually write a script and produce the video…for that he referred them to me. So, in the spirit of bridge-building and friendship-making…I happily offered my services.
The video will be shown next month at the NRB conference in Nashville. The script and concept were written and conceived by me. Also, the voice you’ll here on the video is mine. Yes, they asked me to record the voice-over narration. Today I was in the recording studio. I tried to channel the voice of that guy you hear on the Monorail at Disney World. He always sounds so happy. Not sure if I reached his level of narrator-perfection…but it was fun trying.
After the recording session, my two very kind hostesses took me to Abraham’s Well and an ancient city from King Hezekiah’s day. Also to a very moving memorial to the heroes of the 1948 battle that helped Israel re-capture the Negev desert.
Along the way we had a fascinating conversation about their impression of Messianic Jews. Their take on it, was that while some in Israel don’t like the orthodox Jews and some don’t like the secular…”no one likes you people.” (referring to Messianic Jews). I was advised that we “have a lot of work to do, to convince the Israeli public that we are not just missionaries who want to turn all Jewish children into Christians.” That was a direct quote. I pray our time together today, is just the beginning of fostering a new understanding. Truth is so much better than ignorance.
2) Tonight, I went out on the town. I went to this really cool movie theatre in Beersheva (the Globus Max) to see ‘It’s Complicated’. The new Meryl Streep/Alec Baldwin movie written and directed by Nancy Meyers. A quick note about the theatre I was in…it was the largest movie theatre I’ve ever been in, in my life. I think it had 1,000 seats. No exaggeration.
But back to the movie. I love Nancy Meyers. I love her mind, her sense of humor, her voice as a writer, her style. I love her. I want to be her much younger ‘boy toy’. Her Keanu Reeves to Diane Keaton in the Nancy Meyers movie ‘Something’s Gotta Give’. Yeah, I said it. I’m crazy about this woman. Her movies from ‘Baby Boom’ to ‘The Holiday’ are just so delightful. I always feel better about life, after seeing one of her movies. She is smart and classy, and I don’t care if most label them as ‘chick flicks’.
3) After the movie, I walked around the town for a bit. I stopped by a very cool, very happening ‘Aroma Espresso Bar’. I set out this year with a goal of visiting all 100+ Aroma café’s across Israel. I was going to video tape each visit and then put them on a special blog I created. But, that blog is now gone. The truth is, I don’t want to bring my video camera with me every time I go out for coffee. I love Aroma’s atmosphere and food and coffee. I think they are so fun. And, I still do want to visit all of them. But…I won’t be documenting them as first planned. I really just like to chill out there, use the free WiFi and drink coffee. Not so much with the video-taping.
4) Last but not least, tonight I got a Direct Message on Twitter from CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. A journalist I respect beyond words. I follow her on Twitter. Yesterday, she sent out a link to a report by reporter Paul Hancocks about life in Gaza one year after the war with Israel. It was a very one-sided report. In fact is was 95% about Gaza and barely 5% about Israel. I tweeted Christiane telling her I thought the report was beneath her standards as a journalist. Today she tweeted me and wanted to know what I didn’t like about the report. So, I tweeted her back my thoughts. Very classy. I love technology!
OK, that’s it, that’s all. Shalom and lila tov (goodnight) from Beersheva.
Another Reason I'm Proud To Be An Israeli
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Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
So Long 2009
(me and F.D. [and another war hero 'Curly' Mills] watching football last Thanksgiving)What a strange year 2009 was. I can honestly say I am happy to see it GONE! It was a hard year, for sure. A year of endings...but, by God's grace...also a year of new beginnings.
As it turned out, a lot of people I had admired for years, died in 2009.
Growing up, I was a kid who had pictures of athletes and rock stars on my walls. But I also had pictures of journalists and political figures. Yes, I used to have a poster of Walter Cronkite on my wall. And a picture of the Kennedy family. I also admired them a lot. Not because I agreed with them on everything...but because they put themselves out there, they got involved and fought for what they believed in.
Walter Cronkite, Ted Kennedy and Eunice Kennedy Shriver were three people I admired greatly.
I used to work with handicapped kids and I have a cousin who's life has been greatly improved thanks to the Special Olympics...so Eunice Shriver was always a hero of mine.
Don Hewitt also died in 2009. I also had a picture of Don Hewitt on my wall. He was the original TV news producer. He invented the half-hour evening news program as we know it, the TV news magazine show as we know it, he produced the first TV preisdential debate. Without the path he paved, I really wouldn't have had a career in TV news. Last night I watched the show he created...'60 Minutes'. It just isn't the same show without him.
He had a great quote, that 'Noah would always be a more interesting story to him, than flood control'. It was a great lesson for me as a young journalist. Don't get so caught up in issues. Just tell them a story.
The end of the year was pretty intense too. Thanksgiving and Christmas were marred by upsetting news about two people I also care a lot about. An amazingly gifted teacher named Matt Chandler, someone I admire greatly, was diagnosed with brain cancer after a seizure on Thanksgiving Day. Please keep him in your prayers. He just started chemo and radiation and is fighting hard. I pray he's around for a long, long time to come.
Then on Christmas day, Bill Hensler died. Bill is the grandfather of my best friend, an honorary grandpa-figure to me, a deocrated WWII veteran and a really sweet guy. I believe he was 87 when he passed away. He was living on his own, driving, and maintaining an active life right up to the end. Now that's how I want to go.
He loved to tell jokes, order things off of infomercials, watch Days of our Lives, spend hours out on his tractor, playing this game called Acey Ducey, watching silly videos on the internet, eating at Luby's, going to church and most of all being with his family. If his only legacy was being part of the greatest generation that saved the world from tyranny...and that his daughter and grandson are two of the greatest people I've had the privilege of meeting in my life...then Bill Hensler, aka F.D. did ok.
I'll miss you 'Acey Ducey King'.
So, while I'm happy to see 2009 gone...I won't soon forget the people who also left us, as we close out the first decade of the 21st century.
I think 2010 is gonna be one of the best ones yet!!!!!!!!!!
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