Guardian's Top 40 US Bands

My current favorite online newspaper The Guardian has published its list of the 40 greatest US bands today and it's quite an interesting bunch. I have to be honest and admit that a certain percentage of the bands I have never heard (of), making me somewhat unhip, I know. But alas, that is life, one grows older and somehow less in tune, less in touch with the things rising in pop culture. And that is not to say -I still love innovation , creativity, interesting, thought provoking new work, but hip-hop has never really been my cup of tea, sorry (though I can definitely understand what makes it so popular and interesting to a lot of people - me, I don't really see myself choosing to put that on my CD player at home). Hip-hop is where it's at a lot because it really is the only place that there is true innovation and risk taking in the pop world, the young individual pop/rock artists on the whole don't seem to be innovating much (though there are exceptions) and the bands strike me mostly as putting a new spin on old forms and that doesn't strike me as either of the above (innovative or interesting).
So with that preamble, I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised when I found 'The Flaming Lips' in the number 1 spot
The Flaming Lips in the number 1 spot. This band is really quite a revelation. Of course I had not heard a record of theirs till this year, but during my last visit to Seattle , Thomas, my friend's next door neighbor insisted that they were the best band around. One listen and I was sold. They are eclectic Americana personified, with a mix of showtunes, 60's pop, rock n' roll, noise, Beatles, techno, even TV theme music all coming together to form something rich and evocative. So cheers to the Guardian for choosing one of the most interesting bands around as no. 1.
Notably missing from the list that includes Justin Timeberlake and Christina Aguillera?
Beck! minus 10 point for this list! (maybe I should rethink the Guardian's favorite status...? )

Yossi & Jagger

Finallly saw the Israeli film, Yossi and Jagger about the love affair of two officers in the Golani infantry.
Not bad.
The most intriguing aspect of this film is it's accurate depiction of Israeli army life...the boredom spiked with moment of terror, panic and horror, the incestuous relationships, the tension between the sexes, the insidious faux informality of relationships between ranks.
It seemed to me, that even though the relationship between Yossi and Jagger, a gay relationship in the meta-macho world of the IDF, though a novelty and played out quite engagingly between and by the two actors, was really the surface reason behind the film. It's main focus was the brutality and boredom of army life and the war.

A Bit of Hope from the Homeland

People's Voice
The People's Voice is an initiative to help stop the bloodshed in the Middle East which caught my eye.
For some reason it has a different feel to it.
The notion that at the end of the day, peace might have to emerge through some kind of popular non-violent uprising, not through the vision of politician, seems fresh again.
Even if one might consider that notion a bit naive, given everything that has ensued in the political dimension (w/o even talking about the military dimension) over the last 3 -10 - 55 years, it is still worthwhile to support an initiative that has non-violence and dialogue at its heart.
Sari Nusseibe and Ami Ayalon, two prominent local personalities, one Palestinian and the other Israeli, are the movements founders.