All posts by alonbj

Strong as a Tree!

Infotainment: The Forgotten Refugees

A very interesting documentary about Jews in the Middle East, called: "The Forgotten Refugees".

In 1945, there were up to one million Jews living in the Middle East and North Africa outside the Palestine Mandate - many living in communities dating back more than three millennia. Today, there only remain several thousand.

Who are these Jews?  What precipitated their mass-exodus in the 20th century?  Where did they go?  And why don't we know their stories?

[googlevideo=http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-693217217048940768]

 

Cool Ads

As I have written before, I love cool ads, hereby I want to share some with you:

1. WHO SAYS BUSES AREN'T COOL?

Quit Smoking

CoolAds

Dogs Love Buses

CoolAds 2

Say Cheese!

CoolAds 3

No Smint, No Kiss!

CoolAds 4

Jaws travels by bus

CoolAds 5

EyeBus

CoolAds 6

Buses love DJ

CoolAds 7

AAAAUUUUWWWW!

CoolAds 11

2. CoolBags
Shop-a-Rope

CoolAds 8

Hang-a-Bag

CoolAds 9

I've got a headache!

CoolAds

Don't mess with me!

CoolAds 12

Kiddie Bag

CoolAds 13

3. HotCups
Lips at work

CoolAds 14

Starbucks Teeth

CoolAds 15

 

The Blog Game: Tag! Your it!

This week I have been tagged by my (digital) friend, Harry Bishop, from Canada (http://www.harrybishop.ca). It wasn't clear to me exactly what it meant, but if you read the rules, it is a rather fun concept. I renamed it: "The Blog Game".

The rules are:

  1. Link to your tagger and post these rules;
  2. List EIGHT random facts about yourself;
  3. Tag EIGHT people at the end of your post and list their names;
  4. Let them know they’ve been tagged; and,
  5. E-mail your tagger, the link to your post.

When I got tagged, I had no idea what to share, so I am going to share 8 random facts that pop-in to my head:

1. You might have guested what my passions are (looking at my blog and career choice), but I have a virus! I am mad about watches/mechanical movements/watchmaking. That is the reason I initiated the blog WatchFreaks couple of months ago. From the start we received positive feedback and the group of visitors grows steadily every day.

IWC Portuguese Chrono Rattrapante

2. If people need to guess where I was born, looking at my name, the largest chance is that people will say Israel. Although my roots go back to the Jerusalem of King David, I am born and raised in Amsterdam (The Netherlands, Europe), where I still reside.

I AMsterdam

3. Talking about names, almost everybody gets confused about my double family name: Ben Joseph. Most people think Ben is my middle name. My family name means Son of Joseph in Hebrew. So, my complete family name is BEN JOSEPH and first name is: Alon, which means "Royal Oak" (yes, like the watch).

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak

4. A lot of people question me about the meaning of the slogan of my blog: "Strong as a Tree"... If you paid attention at fact #3, my name is also used for a tree: an Oak 😀

Oak

5. My favorite dish/food is: Almost anything that comes of a BBQ! Especially a good juicy steak.

BBQ

6. My direct circle of friends know that I love quotes, so hereby one of my favorites, an oldy, but a goody by C.G. Jung: "Show me a sane man, and I will cure him for you!".

7. My favorite (dream) car: Lancia Flaminia Zagato Supersport.

Lancia Flaminia Super Sport Zagato

8. Last, but certainly not least, a question that is asked many times: My favorite watch. That I currently own, the IWC Portuguese Chrono Rattrapante. My dream watch: F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain.

F.P. Journe

I hope that you enjoyed my scribbles. Now I am tagging to following people that I think have something interesting to share:

1. Natalie Shell of Think Talk Walk- My friend that was one of the first persons in my direct group of friends with a dynamic blog.

2. Guilda Moussazadeh of Funfair - The first member in my family that started blogging.

3. Robert-Jan Broer of Fratello Watches - My partner-in-crime on WatchFreaksBlog.com.

4. Tom Mulraney of The Watch Lounge - My Australian (digital) WatchFriend.

5. Suzan Fluitman of ONLuxury - The Dutch Online Luxury Guru.

6. Schelly Talalay Dardashti of Tracing the Tribe - The expert on Jewish Genealogy.

7. Doron Krant - My buddy who doesn't blog yet, but urgently needs to. He always finds the newest info/FunStuff & shares the coolest things with all his online contacts. He already owns the domain: Krantee.com (keep posted)!

8. Steve Fritsche of SteveFritsche.com - My Photography Friend, who doesn't have a blog yet, but now that I have tagged him, he needs to!

For all the people that don't have a blog yet, I advise them to logon to www.wordpress.com and get a free account. You can be blogging within 5 minutes!

 

Tipping Points in Commercials

I love cool adverts, especially commercials made on film. I will never forget when BMW launched the BMW Movies website in 2001 and had independent (famous) movie directors create short movies where a BMW car is the main character. Unfortunately, the website is off line, but you can find may of them on YouTube, one of my favorites is "Star" directed by Guy Ritchie, and starring a BMW M5, Madonna (Yes, Guy Ritchie's wife) and Clive Owen:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1dYv_gKTA8]

But also make sure to check out: "The Devil", featuring James Brown and Clive Owen, made in 2002 and "The Hostage" directed by John Woo (also made Hollywood blockbuster "Face/Off").

A book that made an impression on me is "The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell and I believe that the directors of the folling amazing commercials also read this book:

New Ford Focus - "Beautifully Arranged"

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4y272NI7J8]

New Honda Accord - "The Cog"

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGngcQb_0qg]

Guiness Beer - "Tipping Point"1600

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMzoWqnTb5I]

What is your favorite commercial displayed here? Mine "The Cog", but I find the Ford advertisement very elegant and fun. Last, but not least, the Guiness advertisement is also very breath taking! If you have any favorites, please do share 😀

 

Ace & Dik Shutter

Since last Monday (February 11th, 2008), Ace & Dik Jewelers on the Van Baerlestraat will enlighten watch fans after opening hours with an IWC watch of about 2 by 3 meters big DAce & Dik Shutter

The translation of the slogan is: “This watch will run as long as you will. Plus seven days.” This reffers to the patented 5000-movement that has been designed by IWC and is manufactured in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.