isReallis New Year’s Recommendation

Mike’s Place is one of our perennial favorites in Tel-Aviv. This cool blues/jazz/good-live-music bar on TA’s beach front is an Anglo/Israeli hangout, where you can find all sorts of people from all sorts of walks-of-life. It has a storied past which you can read all about on their website.

We’ve always had a good time, and were never disappointed. So if you happen to be in TA for the Sylvester, we recommend you Mike’s Place party. Enjoy!

“NEW YEARS EVE BASH
Party of the Year
It’s had its moments…
Let’s end this year with a bang
and bring in 2007 high energy
Live Music by the BLUESTRAIN
Champagne & Drink Specials
NO COVER”

Rehab: Wii Style

If you’ve ever had a serious injury, you know all about the difficulties of rehab. The doctors, the therapists, the uncomfortable exercises and the exhausting regimen of holding yourself up on bars, struggling with crutches, or lifting weights with atrophied muscles. It sucks.

Enter the video game.

The Chaim Sheba Rehabilitation Hospital near Tel Aviv is one of only a dozen centers worldwide that have expanded their list of methods for helping patients regain the use of their muscles to include the Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment – basically, a glorified video-game. Instead of spending time shuffling around the halls on his walker, one patient with partially paralyzed legs works on his muscles while standing on a virtual raft that he must navigate down an obstacle-filled river. The idea is that forcing patients to use their injured muscles in a video game simulation will not only help them to heal faster, but will even keep their spirits up because they will be entertained. Forget the frustrations of slow progress – now it’s nothing more than the frustration of not having made it past level 3.

And your mom thought that playing those games was rotting your brain.

Continue reading Rehab: Wii Style…

Snow In Jerusalem

For those of us in New York who expected white holidays, but instead got beautiful warm and sunny days, here is a glimpse of Jerusalem in White. Enjoy!

This video was produced by YNET NEWS

Our Top Ten

For the last two weeks I have been reading about the top 10 persons of the year, the top 10 films or the top 10 plays of the year. Yes, I agree, it is, unfortunately, the time of the year when we look back and try to figure out what is worthwhile remembering before we drink too much on New Years and forget it all anyway.

While surfing the net, reading similar lists about Israel, I bumped into the Top Ten Adventures in Israel as suggested by the Top World . What I liked about this site is that it did not refer to the usual travel destinations such as the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem or the Dead Sea, but was a bit more creative in suggesting places not on the top of the lists of tourist guides.

I myself could add a few places that I think are missing, perhaps a visit to Caesarea or the beautiful city of Akko,… but why don’t you tell us about places you’ve visited or plan to vist in Israel and we’ll compile our own top ten list, just for the hell of it.

Send your suggestions here.

Craigslist Israel: A Window On Their World

In this blog, our mission is to show our wonderful readers the sides of Israel that they wouldn’t see. And night and day, that is or goal, to find you these snapshots. We trawl the internet, quiz our friends and relatives, all in an effort to bring you the views.

Today I had an idea: CRAIGSLIST!

The web bulletin board that affects daily life in many US cities has outposts in other countries. Usually it is used exclusively by Americans living abroad, in those places. It may well be the case for Israel as well.

I first looked at the missed connections link. It is a perennial favorite of mine. But there was nothing. Well, almost. There was a chain letter entitled “don’t read”, and this:

“My Bartender - w4m – 24 – Everyweek for the last 3 months, i have been to your bar to see you. Somenights I sit there in awe at the energy you give off. Sometimes i just sit a stare at your interaction with people. When you talk to me, you are so close to my face that is scares, and when you back away I want you to come back.
You are driving me crazy.”

Ok. Mildly amusing, but nothing blogworthy, in and of itself. So, I browsed the job section, the garage sales, even the household services. But all I found was an American family looking for an Israeli live-in nanny.

Then I hit pay dirt, the sublets/temporary housing! You want to see how Tel Avivians really live? Check out their apartments. It is guaranteed to bring out the voyeur in anyone.

And once you are done with the Tel Aviv site, go to Haifa and Jerusalem too. It’s hours of fun!

Help Wanted

Here at isRealli, we believe in giving a voice to the voiceless, a platform to the creative and a blog for the bloggers, plus we’re lazy. So we’re currently looking for guest contributors to help pick up our slack. Qualifications include:

The ability to write (in English)
Reading helps too
A general knowledge of something
Understanding what an internet is
And of course, an interest in Israel

If you have any of these qualifications, or not, and you feel like stretching your fingers a bit to chip in for the cause, please send us your posts, videos, articles, clips, good vibes, old shoes, and/or expired medication to this email address, and we’ll do our very best to publish it right here on our blog. Yeahhhh! High Five.

Mazel Tov Leo, Mazel Tov

In his latest film “Blood Diamond”, Leonardo DiCaprio is in pursuit of a 100 carat conflict diamond worth US$4 million. In real life, Leo’s buying legit diamonds for Israeli super model Bar Refaeli. Nicccce!!

Refaeli is a leading model in Israel, but the secret of her recent international success, is not such a secret. Isn’t that right Leo? Not to take anything away from Refaeli or her genetic skills, hell, she wooed DiCaprio from Giselle, but dating a Hollywood A-lister certainly boosts your status. Of course there’s nothing wrong with that. If you’ve got it, flaunt it, right? Or shake what your mama gave you? No? How about, looks aren’t everything- that’s just something ugly people say…

Anyway, we should give Refaeli’s her cred. She’s getting big bucks for photo shoots with ELLE magazine, Samsung, Victoria Secret, and others, and oh yeah, she’s frickin’ hot. Plus, she’s earned the distinct pleasure of having her life dissected and photographed by gossip columnists and stalkarazzi … congrats!

This is cool though, according to a recent survey reported in YNET, Israeli’s would like to have Refaeli on their bank notes. I guess we’re tiring of the maternal gaze of Golda? Or perhaps this is some sort of scheme to keep the shekel up? I know, that’s terrible, I’m sorry.

Anyway, it seems that the Tourism Ministry has gotten Refaeli to do some pro-bono advertising to get tourists to Israel. Nice work Mr. Herzog, you sir, are a true patriot.

Heading For Post-Holiday Diet Hell? … Slow down!

It’s the day after Christmas, and Chanukah ended last week. For most of the population this weekend just passed was the culmination of a month of holiday parties, oily treats and hearty meals consumed around an overflowing table, together with family and good friends.

So I can only imagine how many people, cracked open an eyelid this morning, and headed straight for the scales, with great trepidation.

Israelis, like most of us in the western world, are fairly pre-occupied with their looks (fashion, weight, hairstyle, etc.). And just like the US’s multi-billion dollar diet industry, my own anecdotal research would suggest that Israel boasts the most diverse range of diet foods, to rival any country on the planet.

For seasoned dieters, a first glimpse into an Israeli supermarket is like a dream come true. Creamy cheeses in a choice of nine, five, two or zero percent fat! Cookies, yoghurt and ice-creams, sure, but even bread, pasta sauce and other basics come in “dietetic” versions.

A recent article in Ha’aretz, however, calls this practice of diet-obsession into question.

Continue reading Heading For Post-Holiday Diet Hell? … Slow down!…

Save Me Falafel Man

We all love comics, even if we all can’t admit it. Whether its X-Men, Silver Surfer, Peanuts, or Far Side, few are impervious to the humor and drama found in the drawings both crude and sophisticated of our modern day minstrels of ink.

Now there is a new edition to the pantheon of heroes and villains who excite and mystify the minds of pre-teens and middle age closet comic lovers alike: Falafel Man. I know, I know, bare with me here.

Falafel Man is the creation of Dorit Maya-Gur, an Israeli student at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in New Jersey. She was inspired to create this unlikely culinary hero when she was rescued by the NJ police and fire department while unsuccessfully cooking falafel in her college dorm.

In the book, Falafel Man, like some of his comic counterparts, became a hero during a freakish laboratory accident in an experiment with Falafel. He is a beer bellied, falafel eating, crime fighter who has an affinity for California’s governor…

Don’t ask, just read the original article here .

BTW- the new comic book was presented at the Ka-Boom 3 annual comic’s convention in Tel Aviv.

Now Something A Bit More Serious, Seriously

Drylands cover about a third of the earth’s terrestrial surface, and some of the world’s poorest people live in these arid and semi-arid regions. The challenges that drylands present are formidable: Overfarming and unsustainable development often lead to erosion, soil salination and vegetation cover loss. The result is ever-widening swaths of desert. Check out this story at PLENTYMAG.com (an environmental media company dedicated to exploring and giving voice to the green revolution) to see what significant developments Israel is contributing to this important field, that were highlighted at an International UN Conference on Desertification held in Israel last month.