I won’t have time to write a substantial post for another day or two – and no, for those of you who are wondering, I haven’t forgotten about the photos of Houses from Within – so meanwhile I’m bringing you the trailer for a hilarious Israeli documentary film called The Worst Company in the World. It was screened at DocAviv, but to my regret I couldn’t make the time slots work. I think I’ll have to hit up the publicist for a DVD, though: if the trailer made me laugh as hard as I did (in public), then the film must be worth seeing. Director Regev Contes won the mayor’s award for a young and promising new director at DocAviv.

Synopsis from the DocAviv site: Three divorced middle aged men with glasses work together in a small, failing insurance agency, located in the rented apartment of the owner. Although they are highly intelligent, have a sense of humor, and well educated, they have absolutely no idea about running a business. Their company is losing a good deal of money and is continually on the verge of bankruptcy. The film documents the attempts of the manager’s son, the film’s director, to join this motley crew at the onset of the recession, and save his father’s collapsing firm.

My explanatory addition to the official synopsis:

The film is a humorous, affectionate documentary about a failing insurance company run by the director’s father, Carol Contes, in partnership with his two brothers. The opening titles in Hebrew announce that the film begins December 31, the last day of the year – and the most stressful day of the year for an insurance company. Contes, narrates the director, means “clerk” in Czech. His father is descended from a 200-year dynasty of clerks.The father has a volatile temper, especially when one of his brothers makes his “daily mistake,” but he is also demonstrably affectionate toward his siblings.

If you like the film and/or would like to obtain a copy to screen in your community, you can email director Regev Contes: theworstcompany@gmail.com

UPDATE: Haaretz published a lovely article about the film/interview with the director.

The trailer:

If you’re the type of person who peers through the front windows of expensively renovated apartments and fantasizes about an opportunity to see inside, this weekend in Tel Aviv is for you. For the second or third (I can’t remember which) year in a row, the municipality is hosting Houses from Within – organized tours or open houses for various architectural landmarks and hidden gems, ranging from private homes to industrial warehouses.  The full list in English, with photos, descriptions and locations, is here; for some reason, though, the Tel Aviv municipality decided it didn’t need a native speaker to write the texts. (Why, Tel Aviv?! Why?). Some tours require advance registration.

I am particularly interested in seeing Number 59, on page 2 – Idan Razin’s fabulous penthouse apartment at 17 Feierberg Street. Veteran readers might remember that last year Idan hosted a very, very loud party to celebrate Independence Day, keeping up the entire neighbourhood and driving me into a 5 a.m. temper tantrum. I’ve sort of grudgingly forgiven Idan since then, but I’d still like an opportunity to see his three-story glam pad with the huge wrap-around balcony.

Much to my sorrow, the Pagoda House isn’t on the list this year. Last year I mixed up the time slots, and didn’t get to see it.

The Pagoda House on King Albert Square. It’s now the private residence of a single family that lives abroad, spending only a few weeks a year in Israel. The house includes a swimming pool and an elevator.

While both the Hebrew and English Wikipedia pages for the Pagoda House credit Alexander Levy as the architect, only the Hebrew Wikipedia has a page about him. So I read it, and discovered a fascinating but sad story.

Levy was born in 1883, in Berlin, to a wealthy family that owned a textile factory. An early and committed Zionist, he arrived in Palestine in 1912, where he established his architecture firm in Jaffa in 1920. But he never really managed to assimilate. In the wake of professional disagreements and a lack of work, he returned in 1927 to Berlin, where he joined a large architecture firm. With the 1932 rise to power of the Nazis he emigrated to Paris, continuing to work in his profession and to be active in Zionist activities. When the German army invaded in 1940, he was rounded up by the French authorities and imprisoned in a camp for enemy aliens – as a German citizen, regardless of the fact that he was a Jew. Levy submitted a request for a visa to the United States, but was turned down. After the Nazis conquered France, he stopped being a German to the French and became a Jew to the Germans, who took the keys to the prison camp from the French authorities and deported the Jewish inmates to the death camps. Levy died in Auschwitz in 1942.

But the house he built on King Albert Square remains one of Tel Aviv’s most beautiful landmarks.

On Saturday night the Tel Aviv municipality kicked off the centennial year celebrations with a concert and fireworks at Rabin Square. Zubin Mehta conducted the Israel Philharmonic, followed by Berry Sacharoff* and assorted pop stars. I arrived late, as usual, so I missed the first half.

There were masses and masses of people – more than I’ve ever seen for any event at the square. I am not so into noise and crowds – actually, I really can’t stand them – so I was glad that Idan Gazit’s brother lives in a building with a rooftop view. I am also glad that Idan brought his camera. He put a set up on Flickr; below are a few of my favourites.

Oh, and here is a link to TLV100, the site that lists all the events planned for the centennial.

*Below is Berry Sacharoff performing “Birthday” with Infected Mushroom. It’s one of my favourites.

Tel Aviv turns 100 on April 9. To celebrate, I’ve written a paean to my beloved city for the Forward. It starts like this:

“Every few weeks, gay Arab men from all over Israel gather for a party at a rented nightclub on Tel Aviv’s Herzl Street. The highlight of the evening is a drag show, with heavily made-up amateur performers dressed as sexy, pouting Arab pop stars. They are followed by Raafat, a performance artist from Jaffa, who lip-syncs old-fashioned Palestinian nationalist songs. Nearly all these men lead double lives; if they were to reveal their sexual orientation in their conservative communities, they would risk ostracism or even death. But in Tel Aviv they are free to celebrate their Palestinian, gay identity — at a club located on a street named after the founder of modern Zionism.

This scene probably wasn’t exactly what Tel Aviv’s founders had in mind when they envisioned the first Hebrew city. But when one recalls that their intention was to build a truly modern city, informed by the ideals of 19th-century European liberalism and of the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment, it makes perfect sense. They laid the groundwork for the Middle East’s most forward-looking and culturally vibrant metropolis.”

Click here to read the rest.

My third piece for the Guardian newsblog is about bloggers who don’t like to write about politics. It starts like this:

One of Israel’s most famous bloggers never writes about politics. “It bores me,” explains Liat Bar-On, a 36-year-old journalist. “I consider myself a leftist and I was against the Gaza war, but I don’t want to write about the violence and the corruption and the crappy reality around me. I prefer to bury my head in the sand and ignore it all.”

Bar-On’s blog, Doda Malka (Auntie Malka), is about “life and relationships – that is, about my relationships.” She channels her considerable writing talents into musings about topics that range from why she gets irritated with friends who send long text messages to her mobile phone, to whether or not she would like to become a single mother via artificial insemination.

Click here to read the rest.