False Dichotomies

“Puff told me like, the key to this joint/The key to staying, on top of things/is treat everything like it’s your first project/knahmsayin?/Like it’s your first day like back when you was an intern/Like, that’s how you try to treat things like, just stay hungry” Notorious B.I.G.

This is the final false dichotomies email. With my stint in the IDF rapidly approaching, I’ve realised that I won’t be able to give the blog the attention it deserves over the next few months. And, as Kurt Cobain said, it’s better to burn out than to fade away. But the decision to end falsedi goes deeper than just a lack of time. Even without the army, I think now is an appropriate time for falsedi to fade to black. Allow me to explain…. Continue Reading »

A new prize for journalists has been announced, and is open to the public until the end of October. Significant prize money is available for the winners of both sections (’published journalist’ and ‘aspiring journalist’) as well as the chance to receive the prestigious award named in honour of the late, great Chaim Bermant.

See here for more details on entry.

Alex, Josh and Seth are all expected to enter - and William Hill have already closed the book on a FalseDi clean sweep…

To confirm, in case the second half of the comments didn’t make it clear - Exiled was indeed an April Fools. It caused quite a stir. The number of people who fell for it was quite extraordinary. It amused some, angered others (we’ve even lost some readers over it), and generally did the job that an April Fools is meant to do - go close to the bone with cutting edge satire. Big shout out to Seth for putting it together. And, for an alternate take on what happened, head over to Simply Jews.

Is here….

Get used to this - he’s about to start a Phd on David Lynch…
Inland Empire is just astonishing. It takes the ideas
from Mulholland Drive and drags them as far they can
possibly go. For three hours I was just completely
capitivated: the sound is so intense, the visuals are
stunning - every shot is a painting - and the plot
just keeps swirling and echoing and surprising you.
It’s deeply confusing but as an expression of pure
cinema, I can’t think of anything that’s ever come
close to it. Just brilliant, awe-inspiring stuff - off
to see again on Thursday!

UPDATE: Check out the reaction of other bloggers over at the Guardian.

“This eternal question was brought upon my head by another piece by Seth Friedman, a member of that turbulent troika of False Dichotomies. Of course, it immediately brought up a memory of that undying Jewish joke that goes approximately like this:

A Soviet Jew got a permission to emigrate to Israel. After a year in Israel he asked for, and received, a permission to return back to USSR. After half an year he asked for, and received, a permission to emigrate to Israel. And so forth, with increasing frequency. Till a Soviet official that was dealing with these endless requests lost his patience and asked why does the man shuttle between the two places. “I feel good only in transit”, was the answer.

Well, everyone and his own reasons for Aliyah (that’s that special Zionist nickname for immigration to Israel, if you have to know). Apparently, Seth’s chief reason is that “London life seems flat, the edginess here more real.” Read on here.

“In his latest article, Jerusalemite and former stockbroker, Seth Freedman, provides a snapshot of life as a British oleh (immigrant) in Israel. On The Guardian’s Comment is Free, he illuminates the mundane details of day-to-day Israeli existence that fail to light up the headlines. One thing Israel isn’t so famous for is its’ traffic. No one walks anywhere, the car is king. So it’s a 24-7 roadblock. It’s even more dangerous to be a cyclist in Israel than it is in London. As for public transport, the Tel Aviv municipality has been talking about its’ fabled urban tram/tube/light railway for even longer than the governors at Bristol City Council. So the taxi, or monit, is often the default option. And besides, a fiver will buy a British tourist a grand tour of the White City. The only down side, aside from the constant traffic jams, are the men behind the wheel. In Trading Places, Seth compares his fortunes with Israeli cabbies to bigoted Greater Londoners back home:” Read on here.

“Blogging everywhere, including here, has really taken off,” says Alex Stein, a recent British transplant who writes the False Dichotomies blog. “I’m always discovering new interesting Anglo blogs. People like to get their voice out, even if no one listens.” Read on here.

Thanks to Efrat Meyer…
Jewishshirt is here….
Choose your Jew….
Buy your shirt…
Do it here…

Check out his brand new site here.