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Improv Everyone Will Make You LOL (Again)

rabbifink — Tue, 18 May 2010 17:34:06 +0000

If you don’t think this is funny, you need to see a humor specialist to make sure your sense of humor is not malfunctioning.

After a string of serious posts debating core issues of equality and discrimination, this post is a much needed respite from seriousness. It should make you laugh…

A little while back I shared Improv Everywhere’s “Where’s Rob” Video. It was amazing. (Remember? Two Things That Made Me Smile This Morning.)

I love Improv Everywhere, so when I saw a new video of theirs was posted on youtube I just had to check it out. (HT: Judahe).

When I was a kid, Ghostbusters was huge. There was the weekday cartoon and a string of live-action films. The Ghostbusters jingle is a part of the very fabric of popular culture in America. Leave it to Improv Everywhere to bring my childhood memories of Ghostbusting to “real life”.

These guys are just awesome. Their latest video is another instant classic. Enjoy!

Super Secret Ballot

rabbifink — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:55:30 +0000

I am not a “Picture of the Day”, kind of blogger. But sometimes, something is too good not to share.

This picture from the NY Times made me chuckle.

In the USA, we are very proud of our “Secret Ballot“. Every voter is ensured that their vote is private. No one has the right to force a voter to disclose the voter’s choice.

Recently Iraq held a democratic election, complete with a secret ballot. The two voters below are participating in the “Super Secret Ballot”.

Joao Silva for The New York Times

Read the original article on NYTimes.com.

Okay, Somebody Really Messed This Up

rabbifink — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:20:45 +0000

In my last post I reflected on the Aughts.

There was something I neglected to mentioned. Whoever is “In Charge” Has got some ‘splainin’ to do.

The full name for 1950 is Nineteen-Fifty. The proper name for 1999 is Nineteen-Ninety-Nine.

The proper name for 1908 is Nineteen-Oh-Eight. The proper name for 2010 is Twenty-Ten.

So then who was asleep at the wheel when 2001 was called Two-Thousand and One??!! It was supposed to be Twenty-Oh-One!!

And 2009 was supposed to be Twenty-Oh-Nine. Why did we call it two-thousand and nine??!!

Who is in charge of this stuff?

I want to see that person in my office immediately!

Like I said, somebody has got some ‘splainin’ to do…

No related posts.

Two Things That Made Me Smile This Morning

rabbifink — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:24:51 +0000

In a very busy and stressful week we always need a few good pick-me-ups to keep us going.

This morning two web items gave me the boost I needed and I want to share them with you. Perhaps they will entertain you as much as me!

I always check out the Yahoo.com homepage for a variety of news stories. They’re usually a day or two behind (that is always worth a chuckle) and oftentimes they sensationalize stories beyond reason. Other times they are very telling indicators of the pulse of America. This morning I took a screen shot of a very telling headline.

Only in America in 2009 does a faux reality star’s fame equate the fame of the First Lady. Yes, it is true, “Tough Year for Famous Moms” includes Kate Gosselin and right next to her, Michelle Obama. It makes me laugh even as I type it!

Even worse is the implicit equation of their challenges. One is challenged because she exposed her life and her children’s life in search of fame with no redeeming value whatsoever. The other, is the most influential person in the most powerful person’s life and her challenges are not related to fame seeking, rather the realities of trying to maintain a sane lifestyle amid the ruckus of the White House. She tries to minimize her family’s exposure, while Kate tries to maximize her exposure.

Oh, Yahoo.

The second is a hilarious bit from Improv Everywhere. (The guys who did the Grand Central Video, the Best Buy Video, the Food Court Video – watch them all.)

They filmed one their own getting lost at a Knicks game. The fans at the game were not in on the joke and were cheering and rooting for the lost fan to find his seat more than they cheered for the Knicks.

To quote Ball Don’t Lie: As NBA Off-Season so eloquently put it: “Leave it to improv theatre actors to get Knicks fans off their seats and chanting, if not even for their own team.”

Hahahaha!

Gatorade Becoming Kosher, Drops Tiger Woods From Endorsements

rabbifink — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:02:51 +0000

In the last few weeks Gatorade has been in the news for two separate reasons. One relates to its kosher certification and one relates to an endorsement deal with a famous athlete.

Is there a connection?

[Disclaimer: Please read the rest of this post tongue-in-cheek. I'm no expert on writing in general and certainly not humorous writing. This post is intended to be 13% information and 87% light hearted banter.]

About six weeks ago it was reported that Gatorade (and Tootsie Rolls) was going to become kosher (VIN). This means that a kosher supervising agency will verify that the ingredients and machinery used in Gatorade do not contain any non-Kosher ingredients. They will monitor the production of the plant and will place their stamp of approval on the product. Jewish consumers who do not eat food or drink without a kosher symbol verification will now be able to drink Gatorade. Isn’t that exciting?

I wondered, as anybody else who keeps kosher, if Gatorade will need to adjust their formula or if the certification just verifies that the elixir was kosher all along… I am afraid I will never know.

The word kosher is commonly used to refer to food items and whether they are technically allowed to be eaten by kosher observant Jews. But the truth is that kosher means much more than that. The word means “fit” and it applies to any and everything. The word kosher can be used as a replacement for “appropriate” or “okay” in situations besides the typical food usage. I wrote about this in the early stages of the blog when the Kosher GPS was announced.

It turns out that Gatorade may or may not have needed to make their formual kosher. But they did need to make their endorsements kosher.

Gatorade announced today that they are dropping Tiger Woods as a spokesperson for their product. The company will discontinue the Tiger Focus drink. It is being reported that the decision to drop Tiger preceded his current brouhaha involving the many women in his personal life. According to ABC News, a publication was informed of this decision 2 days prior to the initial incident at Tiger Woods’ home. You can read the AP story on ABC News.

All this means to me is that Gatorade knew about the women and personal problems before we did.

More importantly, Gatorade wants to project a more kosher image across the board. Their drink will have the kosher certification and their spokesperson roster will not include the latest sports villain, Tiger Woods.

Gatorade becoming kosher to drink and dropping Tiger Woods? Most definitely NOT a coincidence…

Twitter Your Prayers

rabbifink — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:11:25 +0000

This Post Has Been Cross Posted to DovBear.

The morning before Rosh Hashana there is a custom to recite extended Slichos in Shul.

Led by Gary Dalin, the services this morning were wonderful. Thank you Gary.

The Slichos are mostly Medieval era poetry designed to arouse the soul within to make amends for all wrongs committed during the year. As we approach the judgment of Rosh Hashana we bolster our efforts in securing a good verdict with the extra Slichos.

As the Slichos are written using a complex, poetic formula it is necessary to use a prayer book with translated versions of the Slichos to help us understand what we are reading in the original Hebrew.

Sometimes, the translations are nearly as difficult to understand as the original. There was one very familiar word found in Slicha #38.

After Slichos this morning, Alan Danziger pointed out this little gem to me.

(Artscroll Slichos 389)

It seems that the Paytan (composer of the Selicha) was either on Twitter sometime before 1234 CE or was prophesizing ~800 into the future.

In all seriousness, Prayer can be effective through any medium. Whether you pray in your heart, with your lips, in print or digitally, the main thing is to be sincere and to use Prayer as a tool for developing a deeper relationship with God.

It is clear that from the Rosh Hashana liturgy that a primary task of Rosh Hashana is to anoint and accept God as our King. We use the Shofar and our Prayers to accomplish this goal.

There is a Mechilta in Yisro that says that gratitude for what God has done for us is the key to open the door for those feelings to penetrate and enable us to make God our King of our lives. Think about all the wonderful things that we have in life. Appreciate them and use those emotions to propel you to proclaim God as our King.

May we all merit to see the day that God’s dominion is clear to all.

Gmar Chasima Tova to each and every one of you.

Law School and Learning Ethics

rabbifink — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:16:09 +0000

Lawyers take the brunt of a lot of jokes and jabs questioning their ethics.

Believe it or not, Law Schools actually teach Ethical Lawyering and every student is required to pass that class prior to taking the bar.

Law blog Legal Geekery (recommended reading for law students) has an article criticizing the way Law Schools attempt to teach ethics to future lawyers.

In short, the argument goes (read here), by testing law students with proctors in the room, law students are not taught how to make ethical choices. Also, exams are taken on a software that locks the test taker’s computer while they take the exam. Instead, the schools should trust students the same way they will need to be trusted when they are in the work force with no proctor watching them. By watching every move the students make, Law Schools in effect, leave Law Students unprepared for the “real world”.

It got me thinking. Judaism is full of rules and regulations. The Torah is basically a really tough rule book. Does keeping the Torah’s laws help one become more ethical? Using the argument on Legal Geekery, the answer is no. Just because I act ethically because I fear retribution does not help me make ethical decisions when there is no fear of retribution.

But I disagree. I think practice makes perfect better. The Torah and its commandments are practice for the not-directly-related-Torah world when we do not have explicit rules and regulations to abide by. When we train our minds and bodies to act a certain way those thoughts and actions can become second nature. Second nature is pretty powerful. In fact, I recently mentioned in a Sermon that Rabbi Elyah Lopian held that second nature is stronger that our inborn tendencies. Our inborn tendencies are more easily changed than our bad or good habits. That is why good habits are so important. Rabbi Lopian explains that the commandments are tools for developing those good habits.

I see some strong parallels to Law School.

Law School is about developing good habits for Law Practice. Developing good habits for reading and briefing cases and developing good habits for analyzing facts and policies are what Law School is all about. Ethical Lawyering is the same. Developing good habits in ethics is good “practice” for “practice”. Doing your own work, solving problems on your own and using only permissible resources are good practice for becoming an ethical lawyer. Making honesty a habit will serve you well in practice. When ethics become second nature we can take away the training wheels and let you ride on your own with no proctor.

The proctor is training you. If you practice, you will make honesty second nature.

Does Your Kiddush Have Kugel?

rabbifink — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:33:46 +0000

There’s a fellow in the Los Angeles Jewish community named Hilly Zeitlin.

Hilly sends out daily emails with all the important goings on in Los Angeles. He does this for free and it is a tremendous service to the community. (If you want to join his email list click here to subscribe.)

Hilly comes to Pacific Jewish Center for our Sunday morning services most weeks, so we know him well.

From time to time Hilly sends jokes or funny video links. Today he sent a really funny youtube video, I just had to post it.

I can’t put my finger on why this is so funny, but it made me laugh out loud and it has garnered the same reaction from anyone else who I know has seen it.

What do you think? (Basic Hebrew required)

<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=5wVCOu2PTeU">http://youtube.com/watch?v=5wVCOu2PTeU</a>

Does your Kiddush have Kugel?

Bob Costas and Controlling your own destiny

rabbifink — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 03:22:13 +0000

This is an interesting tidbit from Bob Costas.

“If it’s destiny or fate folks, you can’t control it! Control the outcome, control the result but you can’t control destiny or fate.” – Bob Costas

A great observation on his part and consistent with the prevalent perspective in America. If it is destiny you can’t control it. I guess one can question whether there is any destiny in “Sports”. Another thing that struck me is that our belief, as Jews, is that we actually do control fate and we can control our destiny. When we act we change destiny and fate. When we exercise our moral free will and make good choices we change to future of our world and the entire world.

Thinking that things are predetermined makes us powerless and can have a very negative affect on us. If I can’t help myself from acting then I am not blameworthy for my actions. We believe we are in complete control of our moral choices. Those moral choices determine our fate and nothing else.

This is incredibly empowering and gives us a tremendous responsibility to impact the destiny of the world in a positive way.