Shedd Aquarium

Took a bunch of 10-year-old kids for Outreach to the Shedd Aquarium with Dan the other day. We saw a lot of awesome things, and the kids were very funny. Armani wanted to know why the Aquarium closes at 5, so she went up to the information desk and talked to the lady there for a while. She also wanted to know why the baby beluga whale was following the mother and not the father whale. I had to make up something that made sense -- the mother's got the food, so it would make sense they would be together. What seemed weird to me was that the baby was dark grey, but the parents were milky white. Very strange!

Fritalian

There is this ad for Dunkin Donuts on TV, where they make fun of Starbucks for using Italian words for placing an order: venti, grande, and so on. They have a chorus of people singing "Is it French? Is it Italian? Perhaps it's Fritalian!" And then they go on to tell you that in Dunkin Donuts you can order a latter in English. Hmm... Guess no one told them that "latte" is an Italian word.
I guess I love foreign languages so much, I can't understand people who fear them.

Joy

There was a quote from a Palestinian on BBC today saying "I bet Americans and Israelis are rejoicing in the infighting going on in Gaza right now." I guess this man thought so because he and everyone around him is thrilled when Americans and Israelis are killed, so he assumes the opposite is true as well. I admit that I was a little happy in the back of my mind when I read about the fighting between Fatah and Hamas, but not because I want Palestinians to die. I'm happy because this fighting means less chance of attacks on Israel and Israelis being killed. For Palestinians, things are different. For them, Americans getting killed in a terrorist attack brings no direct benefit. Israelis getting killed hurts them in the end, yet they openly rejoice in those killings. Maybe when they stop rejoicing so much, the world will care more about their internal feuds.
If you take a step back, you realize that actually Israelis are the people who want peace among Palestinians more than any other outsiders. It is only if there is peace and prosperity among Palestinians that Israel can have a lasting peace.

Amazing Italian Film

"The Best of Youth" is an incredible 6-hour mini-series available on Netflix. It deals with the story of 40 years of one Italian family, and it's incredibly interesting. If you want to watch something good, watch this one!

The Three Tenors from the Holy Land

Last night I went to a concert by "The Three Tenors from the Holy Land" with my friend Olya, nee Belyaieva. It was a real walk down memory lane: many of the songs were the ones my dad used to sing all the time when I was growing up: "Catari," "Funiculi-Funicula," "Santa Lucia." Then there were a few famous Russian arias and songs, including both old and new. The only song I didn't like in the whole concert was from a modern Russian musical based on the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Yuck-yuck-yuck. But the rest of the concert was really great. The three guys are very different, both in their voices and on-stage personas. There's a tiny guy (Vladislav Gorai) who stands very close to the mic and as a result sounds a lot louder than the other two. He was the crowd favorite, and I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe it was because he was so much smaller than the other two, and yet seemed to have a bigger voice? There was a huge guy (Yevgeniy Shapovalov) who is about the size of Pavarotti. He seemed very comfortable with his voice, without the need to be loud all the time. The only thing not to like about him was that he said the cheesy Notre Dame song was his favorite. And then there was my favorite tenor, Felix Livshitz. He had a more lyrical voice, which sounded pure and unforced about 70-80% of the time. And Felix was also the most at-ease and cheerful guy of the three. I know it's probably fake, but I can't help liking a performer who's smiling a lot while on stage, and even dancing a little with his arms (when the song requires it). The pianist (didn't quite catch his name, I should look it up) was superb. He had fun with some of the traditional songs, literally turning them into jazz.
I'm not quite sure why these guys chose to put "Holy Land" in their name instead of Israel. Perhaps they feel Israel isn't quite popular in Europe, where they toured before. In America, they emphasized their Israeli identities. They sang several Israeli pop songs, and to Olya's and my surprise, the Chicago audience of mostly old Russian Jewish immigrants, knew at least some of them!

Wind Mills

Don Quixote wouldn't have known where to start in a valley 50 miles west of Berkeley. We drove through it a week ago, and it was quite a site -- hundreds of modern windmills all over the hills otherwise occupied by cattle. The cows didn't seem to mind in the least, but we were grateful for the little machines. If only more people would buy them, then maybe wind power wouldn't be just 1% of total power in the US.

California the Beautiful

Now I really understand why so many people have moved to California in the past couple of hundred years. (By the way, did you know that it was named after a mythical queen "Caleifa"?)
Over the past month and a half, Ilia and I have traveled the state far and wide -- LA, Mojave Preserve, Sequoia National Park, Santa Barbara, Berkeley and Yosemite National Park. Whew! It was tough camping in those cold, cold nights, but it was totally worth it. The desert, the mountains, the giant trees, the ocean -- California has it all.
Some brief highlights of our trips: the Mojave Preserve is amazingly beautiful and enormous. It takes a couple of hours to drive straight along one of its sides! It has dunes, Joshua Tree groves, an old railway station, and an incredible set of caverns, not to mention interesting mesas and gigantic rocks sprinkled all over the place.
Sequoia National Park is also one of the most beautiful places in America, but it's very different. Much more mountainous, and of course, much greener. It has the largest tree in the world, though it's not very pretty or tree-like. It basically looks like a giant living stump of a tree, and it's a mere 2300 years old!
Yosemite is the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Words cannot describe it, but Ansel Adams's pictures can. Check them out!