Madonna is out of Vogue

What has the material girl done this time? She's been a bad virgin. Someone needs to do something like a prayer for her soul that seems to be out on holiday. I am as big of a Madonna fan as any male who'd never fall in love with San Pedro can be. But her latest music video is so weird and strangely wrong that it ruffles my otherwise calm Jewish feathers.

I am referring to the video she recently completed for Die Another Day - the title track of the new Bond film (premiering Nov. 22). Anyone who knows anything about Hebrew will immediately recognize the tattoo on her upper arm - the letters for L, A and V. While these three letters do not spell any Hebrew word, my best guess is that it is a phonetic attempt at spelling love.

More Jewish imagery is apparent in the fight scene between "black Madonna" and "white Madonna" - a direct representation of the belief in inner powers of good and evil which everyone battles with. Ultimately the good wins, hooray!

Finally, towards the end of the video, the weirdest thing happens - Madonna puts on tefillin (click to read about them). Traditionally, these holy objects (made of leather and including scripture excerpts) is only put on by men above the age of 13 while reciting the morning prayers. They are very spiritual and sacred items (one is placed on the arm and the other on the head). If a man needs to go to the bathroom while praying he is required to remove them and they are never put on except during the morning prayers.

For Madonna to use tefillin as a prop in a music video is like using the Pope's clothing or Muhammad's headdress. There is no reason or excuse for something like that and there is no way it is a tribute or homage. Totally disgusting.

It's My Birthday!

Hey everyone, it is October 10th, 10/10, that means today is the anniversary of the birth of ME! That also means I can cry if I want to, I can walk around naked if I want to and I could do lots of other stuff if I want to.

What am I doing?

Work till the late afternoon, dinner with the family, drinks with some friends, comedy show with friends from my improv comedy class, drinks afterwards and possibly Scrabble with a new friend I may make tonight.

Anyone have funny birthday stories or weird things they think I should do? Sadly, I am not turning any "milestone" like a decade or social security eligibility and I am already legal to buy tobacco and alcohol.

Oh.... what did I get... I shared in the cost of a new Tivo with my mother and also gave the car an overhaul. Just started playing around with the Tivo. So if you have any cool Tivo tricks, tips or recommended accessories, let me know!

Not much else to say, just making an announcement...

What's Up With TV?

I haven't commented on TV in a while but I like the idea of shifting from my usual film posting to music and TV postings.

Tonight I eagerly watched the first episode of the WB's new show, based on the Batman saga, Bird's of Prey. This time, 7 years after Batman disappears, his daughter (by Catwoman) and a disabled Batgirl take over his legacy of crime-fighting. Visit their site here.

Earlier this week I noticed a blogger posting about the similarities between the last Alias episode and Silence of the Lambs. My thoughts about Bird's of Prey is that it had way too many references to Dark Angel. For those who don't know, Dark Angel, unlike Silence of the Lambs did not win an Oscar. In fact, it was canceled last season.

The main character is some sort of mutant human (meta-human).
The character that watches over the main character is in a wheelchair.
There are freaky, unnatural bad people.
It is all secret.
The good guys don't use weapons and don't kill people.

Come on, sci-fi writers, when you are retelling an old, classic, beloved story there is no reason to hinge it on themes established by a canceled, failure of a show.

Having said that, I eagerly await next week's episode.

Rock and Roll Baby!

I am on a natural high today because last night I saw (with my sister) the Billy Joel and Elton John "Face to Face" concert in New Jersey at the Continental Airlines Arena. The event was awesome - 4 hours from showing up to leaving.

They started by jointly singing (in front of two giant grand pianos) 3 songs and then Elton John did a solo concert for about an hour and a half. He sang all the classics but saved Benny and the Jets and Candle in the Wind for the finale. My sister and I are primarily (I should say "entirely") Billy Joel fans, so we were stocked when Billy finally returned to the stage for his solo portion of the night. He kicked things off with Angry Young Man and then went through Don't Ask Me Why, It's Still Rock and Roll to Me, Seen the Lights go out on Broadway, NY State of Mind, Lullaby, River of Dreams, Movin' Out and Downeaster Alexa.

Then the finale began with both Billy and Elton. By this point the crowd was going crazy, ready to hear the rockers' penultimate songs. They sang together My Life, Candle in the Wind, Benny and the Jets and finally, finally, finally, Piano Man -- which brought the house down. What a show! What a night! It is so refreshing, just as with the awesome movies I've been watching lately, to see really good quality music that has been around for years yet isn't going anywhere.

On a side note, I have to give props to local radio station 104.3, which broadcast a string of about 10 Billy and Elton songs after the concert -- lasting our entire drive home!

Now back to work...

Where were you in '55, '62, '76, '85 or '99?

Saw American Graffiti for the first time the other day. A single thought struck me - I have now seen the quintessential teen/high school flick that commemorates each decade of the last half-century.

Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
American Graffiti (1973, but set in 1962)
Dazed and Confused (1993, but set in 1976)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
American Pie (1999) or maybe Can't Hardly Wait (1998) since, like most of the others, it is set on the last day of high school.

I may have a degree from Film School but I'm no PhD. If I was, I'd sit and write a whole book about the above films. I'm sure there are many interesting connections, similarities and lessons to be documented.

The DVD's hour-long documentary on the making of American Graffiti made note of how innovative it was to write a movie with 4 distinct stories that don't intertwine tightly. It was a big deal to not have a single protagonist whom everyone else was centered around. I started thinking about the progression from the single main character of Rebel to the giant casts of the films that followed Graffiti.

Anyone know where I can pick up a sweet 55 Thunderbird? I've never been much of a car person (I love my '94 Saturn) but the cars in Graffiti were absolutely amazing.

On another note - I hereby proclaim the resurrection of an old slang expression - "BOSS!"