Daniel Lubetzky

I just got this book for my wife (eh, well, and for me).  Paul Simon is a real genius.  I strongly recommend this book.

Some neat things at the office of the Sundance Film Institute:

A Collection of Waters from Seas Across the World

A Museum Exhibit of Airplane Barf Bags

A Politically-Correct Moose Head – inflatable

Eytan Heller’s creative video to inspire people to visualize what could be in the Middle East in 2018 (part of our Imagine 2018 campaign) has been nominated as one of 24 finalists (out of several hundred contenders) for the Viral Video Awards. 

Check it out and vote for it.

http://www.viralvideoaward.com/

When Sir Paul McCartney performed a historic concert in Israel earlier this week, he wore the OneVoice symbol on his lapel – as did every member of his band.

How did this come about?

When we learned that McCartney was headed to the Holy Land, our team in OneVoice Europe, led by Sayyeda Salam, took the initiative and reached out to him.  They relied on a few of our Board members and supporters to connect, but it was primarily gumption and determination that got them to him.

Apparently Sir Paul was the most down-to-earth and kindest person, and he loved learning about OneVoice’s mission of empowering ordinary Palestinian and Israeli citizens who reject extremism and absolutism and demand a two-state solution.  OVE arranged for Paul to meet with OneVoice activists in the region.

Anti-Israel groups campaigned aggressively to dissuade McCartney from visiting the Holy Land, and threatened to boycott him if he didn’t boycott Israel. Never mind that McCartney was bringing a message of peace and humanity and that he visited Palestine and respectfully shared a non-political humanitarian message for both Israelis and Palestinians.  “Anti” groups and “cultural boycott” organizations often harm their own people because they make no distinction of the substance of the message or the group involved – rejecting and attacking even those who would work for a two-state-solution.

When McCartney met with our OneVoice Israel activists, he empathized with the challenges they faced exactly a year ago, when extremist groups attacked the OneVoice Summit, a parallel effort of mainstream Palestinian nationalists and separately mainstream Israeli nationalists to mobilize tens of thousands to propel their political representatives to end the occupation and all forms of violence through a comprehensive two state agreement.

McCartney told our activists:

“My father told me that regular people don’t like wars and don’t want conflict. I’m not a politician – I just want to bring a message of peace. In every place I perform I see that people want the same thing.”

Gil Shamy, our Israeli Executive Director, gave him the OneVoice pin.

McCartney was so touched with the vision of our youth leaders that he decided to wear the pin during the concert – and give a pin to everyone in the band who did the same.

At at a press conference later on, McCartney still carried with him the message he and OneVoice had agreed on:

“My little bit is to try to bring people together through music … It seems to me that most of the people are quite moderate and would like a solution. They would like peace like most people in the world … They want the governments to decide quite quickly on two states, on two nations rather than this conflict. They want it to work so they can both be separate and peaceful.” (full story)

Here is a story by UPI.  One on E Entertainment’s website.  One in the UK’s Independent.  And one in the Wall Street Journal.  Pictures show Paul McCartney wearing the OV symbol, including on Ynet.

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If you do nothing else today, make sure you view this – The Story of A Sign – La Historia De Un Letrero – it is well worth it.

http://en.zappinternet.com/video/nilSqaMboM/HISTORIA-DE-UN-LETRERO

(and it happens to be shot in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, a town my Mom is from)

I got this on the internet and couldn’t resist sharing:

Michelangelo’s David is returning to Italy . . .

After a two year visit to the United States,

Michelangelo’s David is returning to Italy . . .

His Proud Sponsors were:

Here is a great blog piece on the psychology of magic – how Magicians manipulate the mind in ways that psychologists can borrow/learn from.

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The only thing better than lyrics from Coldplay’s songs are their actual songs.  Chris Martin’s vocals melt and reassemble the soul at once.  Here are the lyrics from FIX YOU – but if you haven’t heard the song, you should.

When You Try your best but you don’t succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can’t sleep
Stuck in reverse.

When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can’t replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you’re too in love to let it go
But if you never try you’ll never know
“Just what your worth”

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream, down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I..

Tears stream, down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I..

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you.

COLDPLAY

FIX YOU

Before you watch this, make SURE you watch the earlier post about Matt (here).

Watch this and I dare you not to smile.

You can learn more about Matt here.

I noticed he visited Tel Aviv and East Jerusalem for modest takes in each place, but I’d love to bring him back for a BIG dance across Israel and Palestine.  We at OneVoice are always so worried about ensuring the OV brand is mainstream and not seen as flighty or disconnected from the reality on the ground, but frankly, you see this video and you realize, in the end, all that matters is what Matt is doing – transcending differences.  And to those that don’t understand that, I dare them not smile (and discover others’ humanity) watching Matt’s work.