shek

You all know 50 cent. In da club. Candy shop. P.I.M.P. But have you heard of 50 shekel? Aviad Cohen, a.k.a. Shek, is best known for his hit single In da shul. He has quite the following (my lil bro knows all the lyrics) and was featured in Maxim's Blender mag and Heeb last year. But after watching Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ, the 30-year-old Israeli rapper who used to call himself "the world's most kosher MC," had a change of heart and converted to Christianity. He describes his salvation on his website: "Thanks Mel, if not for God using you and your crew mightily for His purposes, I would have gone straight to eternal hell and would have never known what it really means to be true Jew." His new message to the masses: "Get saved if you wanna keep it true Jew."

But it wasn't just the movie that convinced him. He tells quite the tale of woe about how he was never really accepted into the Jewish community:

"An Orthodox man spotted me. I was in my Shabbos suit, holding a bag from Best Buy. He gave me a snotty, "You’re such a less of a Jew...I don’t want to be seen with you...you are an embarrassment" look and then he kept walking on. Did he think he was the kosher police or a better Jew? He surely had the same vibe as so many Rabbis, teachers and elders that have passed through my life, trying to make me feel like a worthless and lowly Jew, just because I was never a "good enough Jew" in their eyes."

My thoughts on this whole debacle? 50 shekel was made to feel like he was wrong, so he responds by making other Jews feel like they're wrong. And that's what's wrong with the world. The problem with people is that they don't know how to accept others for who they are. They can't understand people who are different from them. They feel as though everyone should live just like them, act just like them, be just like them. But that's the opposite of what we should be doing. We've all got to do our own thing. Stop judging and start loving. Please.

Pride2005

Jerusalem cancelled its fourth annual gay pride parade because, city officials say, it might disrupt public order and offend religious residents. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam would rather not combine homosexuality with the holy land. Why does that have to be the one thing they all agree on?

In related news, Toronto changed its route this year, parading across Gerrard instead of Dundas. Word is when Yonge & Dundas Square refused the pride committee a beer garden, they took matters into their own hands. Dundas Square may not care, but the surrounding businesses sure do. I look forward to working the parade all year long. The pub's patio is always rammed with onlookers and I make a fortune. I'm not a happy camper.

Live 8

Tickets to Live 8 are free! Just enter "allabove" in the special offer spot on the ticketmaster form. But when was Molson Park renamed Park Place? What is this, Monopoly?

Sub Club Sinks

Subway is ending its free sandwich promotion! By the end of the summer, Subway stores across the globe will no longer be accepting stamps for sandwiches. Why? Because some kids finally figured out how to counterfeit the damn things. Some stole rolls of stamps and sold them on ebay, while others made their own. Took them long enough. The sub club, introduced in the 80s, is one of the longest running promotions in retail history. Subway's replacement: The Subway Card. Good thing I'm a Mr. Sub fan. I think I'll give my cards to a homeless guy or two.

My biggest secrets...revealed!

If you haven't yet read a Sophie Kinsella novel, you must. Look away from the screen, as hard as that may be, and stroll into your favourite bookstore. Right now. Well, ok. Only if you're a girl. Or a girly man. But you don't have to be a girly girl. I'm certainly not. I'm not a shopaholic by any stretch of the imagination. I can't even remember the last time I bought myself a pair of shoes (Do 2 pairs of chinese slippers for $6 count? Cuz that was a few weeks ago, but otherwise it's been forever!) But somehow, despite our differences, I love the silly things. Once I start, I truly can't stop. Case in point: Dov bought me the newest one, Can You Keep a Secret, for my birthday last week. My secret: I carried the pink book around in my purse for days. Every time I had to wait for someone or something, I'd take it out and read a few pages. Last night, although exhausted, I read it until 5 am. I just couldn't put it down. I'm so embarassed. It's hard-core chic-lit. Gossip column meets romance novel. There's absolutely no thinking involved, which isn't really my thing. I don't usually do fiction. If I'm taking time out of my busy schedule to fit in a good read, I like to learn something in the process. But Kinsella just pulls you in. Her voice - it's so natural, so witty, so optimistic. It's like she's an old girlfriend who came over to have a sherry and tell me what she's been up to for the last few months. Not that I'd have any sherry to offer her. (Another secret: I don't even really know what that is. And I'm a bartender for goodness sake!) The books just make me smile. And I love to smile. So here are some of my secrets to make you smile:

1. I kill plants. I don't water them when I'm supposed to. I even bought special plant food to help them grow but never used it.
2. I don't like it when people lick my face. Ew!
3. I hate my hair. And my feet.
4. My vocabulary is inadequate. I always want to make friends with a dictionary but then, I think to myself, I have enough friends.
5. I don't go grocery shopping and I only cook when I'm pressed to invite my family over.

Smoking continued...

From the front page of yesterday's Globe:

Smoking: An excellent way to prevent ulcers, reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease, relieve schizophrenia, boost your brain cells, speed up your thinking, improve your reactions and increase your working efficiency.

In China, where the government owns the tobacco companies, smoking is actually good for you. "Holding a cigarette is like having a walking stick in your hand, giving you support," a Chinese magazine editor says. "Quitting smoking would bring you misery." How right she is. Sigh. Two-thirds of Chinese men smoke and 90 per cent of them have no idea that what they're doing is killing them. It's like Canada circa 1950. Like my mom always says, "It wasn't bad for us back then!" The Chinese government is lying through its teeth, but for 30 cents a pack, I'm not sure I would mind.

Up in Smoke

I quit smoking yesterday and I've got just one thing to say: How do people live like this? I can't stand still - my hands, my teeth, my tongue, my jaw, my chin, my fingers, my toes won't stop fidgeting. I can't stop eating - without a cigarette, I simply don't know when I'm full. This was a family affair. My dad's going crazy - he woke me up in song this morning. My boyfriend looks like he's actually dying - he can't stand without holding himself up. My brother's snapping at everyone. And me - I'm just bored. I'm chewing on a pen as we speak. But at least we're not alone. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that just 17 per cent of Canadians smoke daily, down from 33 per cent in the 80s. And Canada ranks low in terms of tobacco consumption, 14th of 19 countries, according to the study. A subject worth looking into: Why does everything so good have to be so bad?

Grad

I wasn't planning on going to my graduation. I was my second one after all. I had already sat through speeches in a sweat-soaked gown. Already grinned for pictures with my divorced parents of 20 years. Already experienced the satisfaction, the sense of pride, that comes with a University degree. Surely I didn't need to live through it again, did I? But I'm so glad I went. When they handed me that small piece of paper, that Bachelor of Journalism degree, I was all smiles. Now that I've got two, I may actually get around to framing them. Philosophy shmilosophy. I'm a journalist baby. And proud of it.

T Hill

Word on the street is Avril Levigne is moving to my hood...Thornhill baby. Woopdido.

Japan is the man

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced his new policy to help ease global warming. His plan: No suits in the summer months. Businesses have been asked to cut down on air conditioning and increase office temperatures from 25 to 28 degrees Celsius. He's hoping to help the country meet its Kyoto targets and lower greenhouse gases, but word is the Japanese aren't too keen on coming to work in shorts and wife-beaters. By raising temperatures just three degrees, Japan could save 310,000 kilolitres of oil this summer. Amazing.

Radio Goo Goo Radio Bla Bla

I spent most of today in my car. Downtown traffic. Gardiner traffic. Mississauga traffic. City traffic. Took a break from the roads to visit with the family, and then made my way back home. My companion? 680 news. Today's top stories:

1. Karla Homolka's getting out of jail after 12 years and no one wants her on the streets
2. Gurmant Grewal, the man who claims Liberals offered him and his wife payoffs for his budget vote, may have doctored his secret tapes
3. A New Brunswick man was sentenced to three years in prison after lying to police about a shooting spree to get free surgery in jail
4. Two innocent women were shot outside the Yorkdale subway by stray bullets (In related news, the new wing is definitely worth checking out!)
5. The teachers union and the board of education are taking a few days off from the bargaining table
6. Hockey talks resume and a deal may be closer than ever

By the time I drove home at 1:30 a.m. I wanted to shoot myself. When I heard about that New Brunswick man for what seemed the thousandth time, I shouted frantically at the little black box I had grown to despise. Ya I know! I yelled aloud. You've told me a dozen times already!

Did nothing at all happen in Iraq today? How bout Israel? The States perhaps? Not even BC? Switching to CBC didn't help much. They told me the same ol' crap every hour on the hour too. It's like they choose a few wire stories in the morning and stick with 'em all day long, never changing it up, never straying from the boring program for even an instant. Someone needs to revamp radio news. Maybe it should be me.

Project Rudy

I met Rudy Giuliani last week at The Spirit of Hope Benefit, an event promoting tolerance, justice, and human rights. After an introduction from mistress of ceremonies Irshad Manji and an appearance by the Hallelujah Drummers, Giuliani took centre stage for more than an hour. In mobster-like voice and smiling eyes, he took a hard line on terror, making his point loud and clear: Terrorism must be confronted early on. Only when Bush went on the offense, he said, attacking terrorism head-on by whatever means necessary, did the world become a safer place. We must brave our demons, not ignore them, if we want to defeat them. Hmmm. Maybe I'll quit smoking, I thought. The only time he mentioned politics was at his press conference earlier in the day. "I would like to enter the political arena someday," was all he said. A meager response to a recent Marist College survey that found not only that 27 per cent of Repulicans would support him in a run for presidency and 71 per cent would like to see him in the running, but that 49 per cent of voters nationwide would like to see him run in 2008. My favourite part of his speech that night? Counting how many times he said "like." I stopped keeping track at 15, fearing I may die of a bad case of the giggles.