Soon enough, I might be pimping him out coordinating his social life as Muffti and I have had the idea of moving in together for a while for experimental purposes. So I was looking into what interesting things can be done on the West coast; it appears that the Contemporary Jewish Museum features several rather intriguing exhibitions, including ones on artwork created for Russian Jewish theatre productions (including works by Chagall), the history of Jewish recorded music from the 1940s to the 1980s, and (upcoming) an exhibition on streetnames in Germany that still refer to Jewish presence at some point. The events accompanying the respective exhibitions include readings, plays concerts etc., and sound definitely worth checking out if you dwell in the area. Or you could have a date with Muffti. (Dates with Muffti are matter to availability. All expenses would be on you as he hasn’t got tenure yet.)

About the author

froylein

40 Comments

  • What experiment are you and Muffti planning on conducting? Does it involve procreation? Time to be fruitful and multiply, you two.

  • Ah, no, I’m not going to procreate with Muffti. (I cannot possibly have sex with a person that refers to himself in the third person singular. That would be like a threesome with an invisible man.) Besides, our love interests both lie elsewhere.

    We wondered if my presence could turn him more fashion-conscious.

  • Froylein:
    We wondered if my presence could turn him more fashion-conscious.
    – – – – – – – –
    Deutsche Eye for the Laid-Back Guy

  • Ummmn…there seem to be plans afoot that Muffti is involved in and yet entirely unaware of. Time for him to retreat to his happy go lucky state of ignorance and hope for the best.

  • Muffti – you’ve got nothing to worry about if you just, uhhh, clean up after yourself.

    With bleach.

    Froylein – Since moving to Israel, my shoe shopping has declined precipitously, largely because we don’t have to wear uncomfortable dress shoes. Also having a mortgage and children has shunted me to the clearance racks. It’s usually a pair of Reeboks and a pair of sandals per year, plus 1 or 2 pairs of Chinese-sweatshop Crocs knockoffs. And nice leather Shabbos shoes every 2nd or 3rd year.

  • B-D, it’s been twelve years since I was in Israel, but as far as my memory serves me, clothes were comparatively expensive there. Several of my Israeli friends travel or have a family member travel to Germany every now and then to stock up on new clothes and kitchen appliances for the entire family. I hardly ever buy something at suggested retail price; lately I’ve taken to ordering Clarks shoes from Britain – and saving 70% to 90% compared to their prices in Germany, and that already includes shipping.

    (Muffti buys exactly one pair of shoes per year. ;))

  • Muffti should be careful with bleach as it can permanently stain denims.

    Muffti’s running shoes are like my motorbike boots – they don’t count.

  • Has the West coast of Ireland got anything in common with West coast of US? I havent met any Muftis yet, but there is interestingly a holocaust memorial in a small town called Listowel, famed for its writers, poets, and pubs, but never had a Jewish population at any time. It was explained to me by one of the locals that the Irish see themselves as an historically oppressed people by the British therefore they identify with the opression of the Jewish people.. interesting

  • The main reason not to buy clothes in Israel is that most of it is in atrociously bad taste… and yet maniacally derivative and repetitive.

    My wife has to look through heaps of weirdly cut clothing made of weird fabric to find something that looks a little classic. And that’s in the shops catering to religious women.

    I’m not quite sure why non-religious Israeli women even go shopping – after all, how many slutty halter tops and too-tight jeans does one woman need? Yet that is all you see in shop after shop.

    And for the men: how many T-shirts printed with nonsensical English words and phony brand-name labels sewn on the outside does one guy need?

    However, when it comes to shoes – I cannot imagine that things are cheaper in Europe. I get last season’s Reeboks models for 200 shekel – around 50 bucks. And for about the same price, I have my choice of excellent locally made sandals – both the fabric-strap Teva type and the all-leather classic type.

  • Women’s shoes on sale (often mid-season already) at the larger shoe stores are ten to twenty Euros a pair unless you go for the more fancy handsewn in Germany ones, which then are about 60 to 80 Euros a pair. (Men’s shoes are usually a tad more; suppose because their styles don’t change so quickly.) Don’t know about the current Reebok prices; those sports brands vary with fashion, and going by my student’s feet, K-Swiss and Converse are currently back in fashion.

    As for too tight jeans, if somebody tries to convince you of something absolutely absurd, you tell them in German that they should try tell this to someone who closes their trousers with a pair of pliers (= the epitome of stupidity). When I was in Israel and we were visiting a school with youths of our age, there indeed was a girl who had her cousin help her zip up her jeans with a pair of pliers after sports class. Most of the girls would not even participate in PE as they claimed they could not get their jeans off and back on by themselves.

    Are the men’s shirts anything like these? http://www.engrish.com/category/clothing/

  • Yes but the Israeli shirts are more fashion conscious, closely mimicking stuff you’d see at Old Navy/The GAP/Top Shop/H&M

    A few “upscale” Israeli brands ruin otherwise nice sportswear by sticking their labels OUTSIDE instead of inside. It looks stupid and caters to insecure people.

  • froylein’s right, stick to German goods. Hell, you’re already wearing Reeboks.

  • Well, Reeboks are British, Adidas and Puma are German.

    TopShop and H&M have become somewhat unoriginal, particularly since they started their “famous designer X for TopShop / H&M” lines, it appears that those items are the apologetic fashion retreat for their otherwise bland lines. H&M used to be original in this particular Scandinavian way that you still see with BonAParte from Denmark. NewLook appears more dynamic than TopShop (and more budget-oriented), so does Primark (whose ’06/’07 maxi festival dress was much copied by “high end” designers the following year). H&M, particularly the men’s lines, increasingly reminds me of what Italians would wear in the 1990s – including sunglasses inside the building. Monsoon’s got great silk dresses and fabulous skirts. The GAP’s good for basics; I like their recent lines of whisper-thin garments as they are are great for layering. The Dutch chain C&A is a staple in Germany as you find them in about any city and their own “generic” brands cater to all kinds of people and various budgets. My favourite lingerie stores also are from the Netherlands; Hunkemoller seems to be the only one capable of regularly stocking F-cup bras that look good (not the kind of “battleship gone flesh-coloured polyester fibre nightmare”), have a proper cut and are reasonably priced and come with different cuts of knickers to match. They’ve also got great sleepwear.

    I’d like to use the occasion to mention that Tom forgot my recent b’day.

  • Hmmm…Ben-David keeps posting about fashion on a post about dating the Muffti. Muffti is starting to think B-D is beating around the bush…

  • froylein, kindly stick to the topic at hand. These baseless allegations must end.

    Adidas bought up Reebok, no?

  • Well, Tom, there was no email, no call, no card, no gift, not even an illegal immigrant dancing in front of my window even though I was stateside. Just sayin’.

    Adidas did buy Reebok, but it’s still distinguishably a brand of its own.

  • I’m not letting you get away with this one so quickly. I’ll thoroughly be ignoring you in two weeks from now. Humph.

  • Nah, you’ll observe my birthday out of sheer spite.

    I packed those illegals up in a van, slipped them some dough, gave ’em directions…. Now I wonder if they came to a bad end on the Brooklyn-Queens Exprwy.

  • I definitely won’t. Only Muffti and my younger bro remembered my b’day, so in conclusion I will only observe those twoes’ birthdays from now on. Tsk.

  • OOOO… this is the part where they start falling in love, despite their spat.

    It’s like that in all the romantic comedies.

    and Muffti: I just want you to get married and be happy like I am.

  • B-D, Muffti has to say, it’s really adorable that beneath all the massive amount of dialectical hostility you pour out, you really are just a hippy who wants to spread the love 🙂

    Thanks for the sentient. Muffti is pretty happy right now as is. But he appreciates the kind thoughts and words.

  • Muffti:
    Thanks for the sentient
    – – – – – – – – –
    I’m also happy to be sentient.
    Especially at my age!

  • I got a sentient from Muffti, too. My place was soon crawling with them.

  • They scurry across the counter tops for their own food.