This is it

Look at them, would ya? The Rogers family.

Sarah, Jason, Daphne and Gertie.

Mazal Tov!

Happy New Year.

It seems like Blogger was having some technical issues earlier-- i wanted to post a few hours ago, but couldn't get onto the site. At that time, I was sitting at the Y Cafe, a nice little spot with Wi-Fi here in the Nachlaot neighborhood. I was sitting outside, fiddling around with some stuff, and became aware of some loud Jewish wedding-type music. I just filed it away as the music the guy in the cafe was blasting, even though he usually plays good rock n roll. After a minute or so, the music got louder, and I glanced towards the door and noticed a bunch of people on the street a ways up.

I stood up, and saw a little ad hoc parade in effect- a cop walking backwards, a truck driving slowly, and behind it, thirty or so people dancing. Before I even saw the scroll, I knew it was a Hachnasat Sefer Torah, one of the local little synagogues celebrating the acquisition of a new Torah. They danced on down the road. From my spot on the curb I joined in a little joyful jumping up and down. And then they were gone.

That's the way they do it here in Jerusalem.

About twenty minutes ago, I was talking to Mom on the phone, and got an email called "Daphne Lillian Rogers," from Jason. "Huh- did his grandmother die?" I thought (sorry guys-- it was my instinct when I saw "Lillian). And then, of course I realized:

Sarah had her baby!!

6 1/2..... MINUTES of hard pushing, and the kid was out! What a champ.

I forgot to ask Jay, when I just called, how they chose the name Daphne. But they had been a little worried about the Scooby Doo implications-- they both thought that Daphne was the nerdy one...

But we all know better than that. She was the fox.. Zoiks!

Hmm. Turns out that the princess in Dragon's Lair was called Daphne as well. And, of course, everyone's favorite wounded Wombat.



ARGH.
I have been stealing signal from the Karpf family this past month. For some shitcrazydriving reason, I can't connect to the network here in the house, so i am a signal pirate. for that reason, my connection is nutso and unreliable. Therefore, pictures of Princess Daphne, Daphne from Scooby Doo and Daphne the Wounded Wombat will not be featured in this post, as originally planned. Sorry. Let's just hope the damn post gets up in the first place...

But look at that baby, eh? 3 parts Jew, one part Inuit, 100% Brooklyn. Born just in time to get Mom and Dad a nice '07 tax break. What a kid.

A dream of Cannes, sung to a Chord of Blood

If I was living in America right now, I would drop everything and dedicate the next 2 years of my life to making a film based on this story (<-- click there, for the uninitiated). Over the past year and a half, 13 Mexican country musicians have been murdered. Assassinated, I'd say. Some of them in some nasty gangland execution style.Three of them in the past 2 1/2 weeks. And no one is quite sure exactly what's going on.

This has got to be one of the most gripping thriller scenarios I've ever heard. And imagine the music that would go with this flick..

In fact, if someone's willing to put out the first, let's say, $9,000, and help out with the project down the line, I'll start research tomorrow, and come back to the States in February, after my musical sizzles the Israeli stage. I have the dual part of the Governor/Inkeeper, and a solo song to boot.

I figure that The Man of LaMancha is a good prep to a project like this, anyway.

Welcome to the New Wanderingstu. More to come on that.