happy tunesday! כבר אחרי חצות

 

Last week's Tunesday I shared a recording of one of my songs, "Midnight Has Come and Gone." That post was here. At the time I offered bonus points to whoever identified the Israeli pop song that inspired it. For the record, my sister is the only person who got the bonus points. Which isn't really much of a surprise, given our shared childhood.

At any rate, my inspiration was "כבר אחרי חצות" ("Already After Midnight") by אילנית (Ilanit). It was Ilanit's first solo single, released in 1968. I first came across it at summer camp -- where I heard a lot of Israeli pop songs from the late '60s to early '70s.

Over the years I've wanted to translate it to English -- but not enough to actually do so. My Hebrew is good enough that I could get the gist of it, and come up with an almost-complete translation. But there are a few nuances that I couldn't get without cheating. Notably, the three verses each ends with a form of the word אהבה (love), and I never knew the specific meanings of the three different words.

So I never really created a full translation. Instead, I wrote my own song, borrowing some stylistic elements. For example, my song's title, "Midnight Has Come and Gone" is kind of a loose translation of the title of Ilanit's song (as noted, "Already After Midnight"). In both songs, each verse begins with the song's title. And both songs talk about sparing a moment. In fact, as I was writing my lyrics, I had Ilanit's melody in my head. So you can sing my lyrics to her melody. And, I suppose, vice versa. While we're at it, my chorus begins with the line "Tomorrow is another day," which is very close to the first line of Ilanit's chorus ("Tomorrow will be a new day").

But there are many differences. The lyrical similarities noted above are, I think, the extent of it. And Ilanit's song is optimistic, whereas mine is desperate. I also completely redid the melody and chord progression for mine.

As an aside, I note one peculiar thing about the structure of Ilanit's song. There are only three different verses, with the first one sung three times. The song goes: Verse 1, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Verse 3.

Anyway, I finally decided that I needed a full translation of Ilanit's song. I am sharing that below, but first I'd like to explain my methodology. I typed each line into Google translate, and then put the translations -- line by line -- into Word. Finally, I tweaked it a little for poetic purposes. Following is my finished translation (without repeating the chorus or the first verse).

Already after midnight.
They haven’t yet turned off the off the moon.
Because before they turn off the lights,
The lights of the stars.
Give another moment to the lovers.

Tomorrow will be a new day.
And what is possible
From a new day that we have yet to see?
So give us another moment
Just another moment
Even though it’s already after midnight

Already after midnight.
They haven’t yet lit up the morning.
Because before they clean
The yesterday from the streets
Give another moment of love

Already after midnight.
They haven’t yet lit up the sun.
Because before they distribute
The newspapers and the milk
Give us another moment
To be loved.

kosher banking?

At the bank today, I noticed they had this kashrut certificate up:

This had me kind of puzzled, since it was a bank, not a food market.

I asked the teller why the bank needed such a certificate, and she explained that it's for the lollipops. Yes, the bank did have a few strategically placed trays with lollipops. And I might have realized that that's what the certificate was for if I had read it carefully; the section in the middle indicates that it is for the "Chase Bank Jolly Pops."

But I am still left with a question. Under "Restrictions," the certificate indicates that "Kof-K symbol [is] required." The wrappers on the lollipops -- excuse me, jolly pops -- had the Chase logo, but not the Kof-K symbol. Of course, if they had the Kof-K symbol, that would have sufficed and the kashrut certificate would have been redundant. But without the symbol, it seems to me, there's nothing present to assure me that the lollipops are kosher. Or am I missing something?

snacks for the mailman

 

I have no idea how long we'll keep it up, but for now we keep a box of snacks out on the front porch for the mailman. And, I suppose, any other delivery people who bring us things.

It started a couple months ago. Blair and the kids were on the West coast, and I was home alone for a couple weeks. I invited a few people over to watch music documentaries with me on a Saturday night. I ordered pizza and bought snacks. As usual, I overbought.

There are several reasons I overbought. The primary one is that I'm neurotic. Growing up I heard my father tell and retell about the "lotta lox" incident. With that bit of family lore, I absorbed the notion that the worst possible mishap is to run out of some food or refreshment when there are guests over. But there's another quirk I have. Suppose, for argument's sake, I'm buying meat for a cookout, that there will be ten people, and that I plan to cook hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken breasts. I ask myself how many hamburgers I may need. I figure that the most hamburgers anyone will want is three. So, with ten people, I will need thirty hamburgers. The most hot dogs anyone will want is four. So forty hot dogs. And the most chicken breasts anyone will want is two. So twenty chicken breasts. I've gotten a little better about it over the years, but I still buy way too much. Also, I had a couple of cancellations, so I was expecting more people than actually came.

The upshot is that I had way too much in the way of snack food. And, this being the era of COVID, the snacks were in individual serving size packages. That way people didn't have to reach into communal bowls with their hands.

When all was said and done, I didn't mind having the extra snacks left over. I work from home, so I figured they'd last a while.

But when Blair got back from California a week later, she had other ideas. The snacks all went into a box on the front porch with a sign telling people to "please take." Probably just her way of making sure I didn't eat them. But it was a big hit with the mailman and delivery folk. They didn't make chazeirim out of themselves. But they've been taking. And we've been replenishing, including with some drinks.

As I said, we';ll see how long it lasts. But the fact is it's good to be on the mailman's good side.

cinema history class: rodan

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month, Week 4 (Bob-O)
Movie: Rodan (1957)
Directed by Ishiro Honda

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
Nuclear tests have freed a flying dinosaur from its long slumber. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

I have to admit that I went into this with low expectations. As I have said in the past, I'm not big on the Japanese monster movies.

But Rodan was much better than I was fearing.

There was a bit of a tease, in that before even see Rodan, we're treated to some kind of giant larvae-like creatures. The introduction of these larvae was very well-done. Initially, we don't see them -- we just know that miners are dying. And at one point we see them getting pulled under water. When we finally see the larvae in all their glory, it's actually disturbing -- in a way that the Japanese monsters rarely are. In a sense, I was actually disappointed when the story shifted and we meet Rodan -- a flying pteryodactyl-like thing -- I wanted to see more of the larvae.

But the rest of the story was handled reasonably well, and developed a touching quality. I can't help but thinking of literature's many star-crossed lovers and wondering if Rodan and Rodana should be added to the list.

I don't think Rodan deserves a 10, but it's high up there.

Ratings

Me: 9.5

Christina: 9.4

Dave: 10

Ethan: 8

Joe: 10
Keith: 9.8

it's zmedsday!! (ciii)