Not Anonymous

I bought a dress.

A sun-dress.

A blue and yellow polka dot dress.

And it was bought at an extremely reasonable price. Very funny considering I had been trying on button-down shirts and ties in the men's sections of different shops before hand.

Shopping with men in extremely liberating in that regard. They don't care from which section of the shop you buy from and once you have the shirt on the shop-clerks will not say anything, especially when they are aware that you deliberately went to the men's section.

I always feel a bit inadequate when I go shopping, even if no one is looking at me, the full weight of the gaze of Fashion is upon me. I'm no fashionista, but I have particular taste, I do not like bulging in any direction and I do not like anything that is too out there, I'm pretty conservative when it comes to my clothes - seriously, my most daring article of clothing is a pair of tweed trousers that only look good if the shirts are tucked in and I loathe tucking in my shirts - but for these pants, I'll do it.

It was also liberating because for the past month or so I've been forgoing shaving. And this dress is sleeveless, so shopping with men who not playing the gaze game with me was pretty good - though I don't know if they were surprised to see all the hair or if I'm just projecting my own issues. It's still cool enough to wear long sleeved shirts, but soon it'll be shorts and tanks and I'm a bit anxious. I'm anxious because I've never been hairy under my arms, really, once I started sprouting on my legs and under-arms I was regimented into hair removal.

There's something about being hairy while wearing a sun-dress. It's a bit like saying: "All this flesh you're seeing is for me and not for you to look at", it's fucked-up that that's my thought process, but clothes and the way your body is disciplined into beauty and gender norms are not actually for yourself, but for others who look at you.

So, I'm looking forward to wearing it this summer (or, you know, in a few weeks once the weather evens out into hot. Summer is going to be so hot hell is freezing), I'm not looking forward to the looks I'll be getting and there's just no way about it... people look and they judge.

The dress though, it's gorgeous and I look fucking awesome in it.

I had completely forgotten about the K's Choice concert.

In early August a bunch of friends were talking about the fact that the band was coming back on tour to Israel, as they had performed earlier this summer.
I was "oh, cool" and asked my friends to get me a ticket. It was a club venue and not very expensive so I forked over the cash without much thought in mind.

Promptly I forgot about it. See, I like K's Choice, but they have never been a huge part of my life any more than simply really good music, you know.

Until I got a call on Saturday night from nurint asking me if I was excited.

I asked: "About what?"

she said: "Uh, K's Choice?"

I was like: "Huh? OH! Right?! Yes, totally. Um, when is it?"

I was laughed at and got myself hyped up.

It was amazing. I'm speechless and can barely talk, I was shouting and screeching and flailing and OMG my legs were killing me! (they A/C was crazy and I was freezing so my knees completely locked up, also I'm on my period so I kept worrying that I may be, um, leaking... yeah.

They sang a huge amount of songs and everyone sang along, duh, we even did entire verses of a song or two.

Sara is really beautiful, cheek bones upon which you can cut glass and she so cute rocking out with a different guitar for every song! The bassist did a stage dive, but he's this fairly large guy and the majority of the audience were tiny Israeli girls, so it was a tad awkward (and scary). I was not there, I stood on a platform a few meters away from the stage, so there were a dozens of people in front of me, but I was above them so they weren't in my way!

Gert is an amazing guitarist, I was really moved by his rendition of "Shadowman", like I had tears rolling down my cheeks moved.

The performance was split into two parts. Kinda acoustic in the beginning, with the whole band sitting down and singing more softly and intimately. The second part was totally rocking it out, with everyone jumping up and down and everything.

Just amazing.

What's honestly amazing about K's Choice is how genuinely sweet they seem. As most of you know, there is constant effort to convince musicians and performers to boycott tours to Israel. K's Choice didn't obviously. And they were constantly in telling us that they'd never had such an enthusiastic audience like in Israel.
It warms the heart to hear something like that, no doubt, it's very nice to hear that we're an awesome audience.

While we stood in line to enter the club I heard many people talk about how awesome K's Choice were for not boycotting Israel and how they burned Elvis Costello and the Pixies for doing so.
Personally, I think Elvis Costello and the Pixies suck for cancelling their performances after people already bought tickets to the shows.
You wanna boycott, fine, don't come, but don't show your ass by saying you will and then deciding you can't take the heat from political critics.

I can't boycott Israel, the most I can do is boycott stuff made by Settlement businesses in the West Bank, but I'm part of the economy and I'm not going to stop being a part of it because I think bands and musicians I like shouldn't perform and make money for an economy built on the exploitation of others.

So, yeah, I didn't say any of that, because honestly I think I would have endangered my life by saying that I think the boycott is a good idea.

We're an awesome audience. They're an awesome band. In a perfect world, it would be enough. They said they'd be back and when they do, I'll be there again, they really are magnificent performers and maybe next time the letters they get telling them to boycott will be unnecessary.

I bought a pocket watch over at eBay.

Well, my brother paid for it, but I'm going to pay him back, so I bought it.

It cost less than ten bucks.

It's a stainless steel mirror cover 12/24 hour pocket watch, you can see it here, with a couple of pic ( here )

You know why I wanted it?

Because then I can turn it into ( this )

Yes.

I know.

For anyone not getting the point, that is a Time Lord's Chameleon Arch and now I shall have one of my own!
I realise this is the first step towards cosplaying...

A quick one before bed.

It may come as a surprise to some, though doubtful to many, that I've fallen in love with Lady Gaga.
The reasons for this love is for another post.

However, it comes as no surprise that I love Nirvana, after all, anyone who appreciates music history has to love them a little bit.

Just half an hour ago I was emailed the best mash-up in existence.
Why didn't I know about this before!

Enjoy:



Good night.

Today I accompanied a friend to one of the most expensive malls in the country - it's a five minute walk from the Uni campus - which is situated in one of the most up market neighbourhoods in Tel Aviv.

Completely unexpectedly, I bought shoes.
I do not simply walk into a shop and buy things on the spot.
It's simply something I do not do.

But for these, I was willing to be spontaneous.
They are, in the words of my father, Zooty!

Add to that, that I tried on pants I haven't fitted into for the past two years and they looked awesome!
I'm feeling pretty good.
In that utterly shallow, I really should be beyond this sort of sizeist thinking, kind of way.

Follow the link! Admire those puppies!

The links are NSFW!
I repeat, the links (and possibly this entire entry) are Not Safe For Work!

Via the Ha'aretz article: Can gay porn save Israel's image? which was originally featured in The Forward: Pornographic Stimulus Plan about about Michael Lucas' project called Men of Israel, featuring... well you can guess.

I read about this project back when Michael Lucas was here in Israel and both the queer and mainstream media were hounding him a bit (for different reasons).

I have a problem with this project.
Not the pornography; honestly, so long as the people get paid and aren't coerced to do something against their will... there's not much I'm going to complain about in this context.

My problem is with Lucas' attitude regarding his project.
Allow me a quote from the article:

Lucas claims that his motivation behind “Men of Israel” was not just titillation, but also a counterbalance to lopsided portrayals of Israel in mainstream media. “It’s free PR for Israel, and it’s much better than the PR they’re getting on the news,” he said during a tour of the company’s expansive second-floor offices, with views of the New York Times building across the street. “The reality is that Israel has only one face to people on the street, and that’s the West Bank and Gaza. All people see in the media is a country of disaster. They get images of a blown-up bus.”

Is he fucking kidding?
Promoting Israel as a gay tourist spot is not the way to "counter portray" the Occupation, nor is fetishising Israeli bodies, which honestly, are already grossly fetishised.
Also, can he be more shallow regarding Israel's portrayal in the media,which yeah, is pretty shallow regardless. However, Israel does its best to present itself (unsuccessfully) as a monolith of culture and opinion.

Not to mention this gem:

“I’m not sure the vast majority of his audience know or care about his political views,” [Aaron Hicklin, editor in chief of the gay magazine Out] said.
[...]
That may change with a letter that Lucas sent on August 31 to GoGay[link added by eumelia], Israel’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Web site, excoriating gay Israelis for staying closeted. “Excusing these pitiful cowards for not coming out of the closet and accepting their façade is only hurting Israel,” he wrote. “By hiding from your reality, you are empowering intolerant disillusioned fanatics.” The idea for the letter came, he said, after Israeli men “started hitting me up on the Web site, inviting me to hook up, then said they’re not out. They’re delusional. They’re cruising this Web site, benefiting from the fights of other people. They think the gay movement has nothing to do with them, that the shooting of gay youths in Tel Aviv has nothing to do with them. What reason is there to be in the closet in Israel in 2009? It’s embarrassing.”

Emphasis Mine.

Is he fucking kidding?
Really, did he just say that in conjunction with the gay youth centre?
I have a lot of respect for sex workers and people who work towards sex-positivity, but honestly.
I'm sorta speechless here.
Israel is not some kind of Queer Paradise.
It's not.
The Tel-Aviv bubble is very much burst when it comes to that.

Israel is plenty fetishised when it comes to militarism and the use of Jewish Israeli bodies is nothing new when promoting Israeli Hasbarah.

Michael Lucas, I don't care that you're a Zionist, or that you use your ideology to fetishise Israeli Jewish men. Seriously, I do not care.
But how dare you criticise and chastise other Queer folk, not actually knowing what it is they have to do in order to cruise in a place where they feel safe, and even consider the possibility that perhaps, due to an overt act of violence against the youth in our community... they might be a bit iffy about being Loud and Proud.

Michael Lucas, you suck and not in the good way.
Get the fuck off my lawn and stop trying to present it as though the manure smells like Axa Deodorant!

N.B. This post is getting flagged isn't it?

As some of you know, Israeli cell phone company Cellcom released if not one of the most offensive ads I've had the misfortune of viewing, then at the very least, one of the most cynical portrayals of the Occupation in media for a long time.

You can watch right here, via YouTube:

If you have to ask why this ad is offensive, do not be afraid to ask (I'm not being sarcastic), really do.
It may not be overly apparent for some.

The West Bank village on Bil'in, which has been demonstrating and protesting against the wall for over four years now, put together a brilliant response for this fucked up add.
This is what really happens, which the IDF returns the ball:

If you need to ask why what is portrayed in this video is fucked up, please, go read an Occupation 101 manual or something and educate yourself please.

Questions will be answered seriously, should you actually have any.

I'm no expert, I just say it as I see it and think it.

When I saw this video, I was shocked at the amount of utter badness one managed to condense into one minute and 8 seconds.



There's your Beauty Myth ideology at the basis of the video.
The beautification of bodily mutilation.
Big, huge, honking amounts of racism ("Big Bushes" for the Black girl, tiny "Bonsai" bushes for the Asian girl).
Oh and good ole' female objectification with the comparison of bushes to... well... you get the picture.

A chain saw?
For reals?!

Best Sinfest in recent history!