2X2

Anna -- blogger, friend and enthusiastic participant in friend surveys -- has tagged me to provide the information below...Enjoy suffering through the trivia.

4 jobs I have had in my life

Folding clothes at Mervyn’s
Editor/Writer
Researcher
High school forensics coach


4 places I’ve lived in

Yerevan, Armenia
San Francisco, USA
Kiev, Ukraine
Oxford, UK


4 TV series I enjoy watching

Friends
Scrubs
Sex and the City
Freaks and Geeks

4 places I've been on vacation

Stockholm, Sweden
Berlin, Germany
Tbilisi, Georgia
Israel

4 places I’d like to visit

Australia
Czech Republic
Taiwan
India

4 places I would rather be right now

At a launch party for my imaginary, best-selling and very highly-acclaimed work of nonfiction
Café Milano, my favorite hangout in Berkeley, California
On a beach in Italy
Travelling around the world as a reporter-at-large for The New Yorker


4 Web sites that I visit daily

Gmail
Google News
The New York Times
Niemanwatchdog.org

4 favourite foods

Apples
Piroshki
Latkes
Black caviar on freshly buttered bread

4 places where I feel at home

A coffee shop
A library
San Francisco
The World Wide Web


4 things that I wish for

To better control my compulsive e-mail checking
To work for The New Yorker
To be kind to the people who are not mean to me
To die in my sleep in old, but cognizant age


4 concerts I've been to

The Rolling Stones
Pearl Jam
Macy Gray
Avraam Russo

Take a Swing

Here's an unusual Chinese bar with global franchise potential written all over it. After a hard day's work, I fancy nothing better than to gulp down my Guinness and beat the crap out of the waiter who served it:

The Rising Sun Anger Release Bar in Nanjing, capital of the eastern province of Jiangsu, employs 20 muscled young men as "models" for customers to punch and scream at.

"Customers can specify how they want the models to appear -- they can even appear as women -- and then they are free to give them a sound beating," the China Daily said.

The bar charges from 50 yuan (3.30 pounds) to 300 yuan for the pleasure.

...
Wu said that since he opened the bar in April, most of the patrons have been women, especially those working in karaoke bars and massage parlours.

Juicy Jews

We apparently got wrong what Mel Gibson actually said. According to one highly trusted source, the explanation went as follows,"I said 'juice.' I hate 'juice.'" I know that there are many offended fruits and vegetables out there who will demand a third apology from Mr. Gibson, but they can't buy movie tickets, so who cares? I am just grateful that I can now watch Mr. Gibson's next cinematic gem with a clear conscience. Here's a sneak preview. Have some juice or tequila or better yet, a Tequila Sunrise. Also, don't forget to enter The Mel Gibson Tequila-Kosher Dill Pickles Contest. We will raise our shot glasses to toast the winner September 4th.

9/11 and Tenure

I think Larissa put it best when she said that "this
is what happens when people with tenure get up to no good."

NonnaBlog Presents...The Mel Gibson Tequila-Kosher Dill Pickles Contest

Mel Gibson has asked the Jewish community to help him heal his burning anti-Semitic tongue. Tequila! At some point he realized that he has to continue working in that Hollywood place. Similar to law school, it must be insufferable to be an anti-Semite there.

Experience has taught me that drunk people are infinitely more truthful than sober ones and so, I have been thinking about ways to make Mr. Gibson love us. This task has been greatly complicated by the fact that the last Mel Gibson movie I saw was Lethal Weapon I. We all know that Gibson will soon be forced to do all sorts of things at the urging of Jewish leaders, including yoga. Thoughts of Gibson, his Holocaust-denying father and Borat visiting Auschwitz have crossed my mind, but I need to keep my eyes on the prize.

How can we get Gibson on the path to recovery and a better understanding of the Jews? For a short-term fix, I suggest that sober Jews (I am, obviously, will be unable participate) worldwide sign up for Sock-in-the-Mouth Mel Gibson Patrol Duty. However, what we really need are long-term remedies like 10,000 hours of dancing the Hava Nagila and similar cruelties. Ideas anyone? Post them in the comments. I will select my favorites and the winner will get a bottle of tequila and some kosher dill pickles. Tasty. Yummy. Philo-Semitic. L'haim and let the healing begin...