One of the most ridiculous cooking program ever produced is landing in Israel.
Iron Chef america is a kind of "Street fighter" for cooking. The chefs are really great cooks and they make killing stuff with the "secret ingredient of the day". But the whole making and scenario is purely ridiculous. they want to make a kind of competition out of cooking. Which for me not only does not work but also is totally irrelevant since the only way to really evaluate a recipe is by tasting it. The competition takes place in a "kitchen stadium" (LOL), cameras are zooming just like in a John Woo movie, comments are close to the interestingness of a football game...
And this show is now available on national tv in israel (on channel 10 with the title "Krav Sakinim" "the knifes battle"). Except it is even more ridiculous since the producers do not have the same "know how" to restitute the tension/atmosphere (that has no meaning again in a kitchen) and the effects. A good zap
Can't wait for the sci-fi series ever made. maybe the best series ever. Trailer below. coming up in early september. The BIG question is : now they have saved the cheerleader, what is the next thing to do?
No it is not a joke. there’s a leak on bittorrent on first 4 episodes. for obvious reasons i will not link to the source, but as i understand it is not hard to find. When i see that i can’t help thinking that something’s wrong in TVland
And i far as i am concerned there is NO WAY on earth i would start watching 4 episodes of 24 without making sure i have the whole 24 with me.
Btw talking about series: i recently discovered a new fantastic series i highly recommand. Heroes, a sort of X-men with the suspens of 24…
I don t know how they can do better than season 5. but let s wait and see. in the meantime the trailer. Here is also the teaser site with countdown to make you more nervous.
Impossible to miss it on israel TV. 20% of the tv ad spots you see on TV are produced by Gimel Yafit, a (very ugly) women now at the head of one of the largest advertising agencies in Israel. The reason i write about it is because it corresponds to the exact opposite of what i have been taught during my business schools courses, but also during my few years of experience in FMCGs and advertising agency. No creativity, basic simple message, and repetitive unsurprising format. Advertising that are just purely functional with no sexy/fancy/funky/trendy effects.
The striking elements is that whether it is about shampoo, salade sauce or medical treatment ALL the Gimel Yafit ads work by EXACTLY the same format (below a video example in hebrew). She appears as the star of the ads accompanied most of the time by a younger women. She uses exactly the same tone of voice, expression, backgrounds and music. It is only about why she likes the product. The selling proposition is very basic (kind of "i like the produt because it is the best") and there is NOTHING striking about it. AND IT WORKS! Impossible to have a day without a Gimel Yafit ad.
So why does it work? Probably because the target audience identifies themself to Gimel that conveys some kind of "i don't oversell" message and let's say empathy. The facts that she s very ugly probably help people believe that the brand did not want to sell a fake image. Of course you easily remember the message (heavy repeat rate on TV) and i guess this is why it works. Simple message, easily remembered/identified and with high broadcast rate.
But still this is insulting my intelligence. I hate those ads, they don't build brands. They don't build value, they are short-termist with target of immediate conversion. All what those Gimel Yafit ads are selling are really Gimel Yafit. Will this format last? Will new generation of consumers still "buy" those ads. I personnally don't and i don't think i ever bought any single of those products.
Anyway this again illustrates that harvard cases can be broken. I never saw any kind of equivalent case to Gimel Yafit abroad. At least not in the US or Europe. This is unique and i thought it was worth sharing.
For the anecdot Gimel Yafit was the object of a lot of caricatures a few years ago and used to be called Mem Mekhoheret. Yafit here name means "beautiful" and Gimel is the 3rd letter of the hebrew alphabet. So people turned here name in Mem (another letter of the alphabet) Mekhoheret (means ugly in hebrew)
Prison Break season 1: a total TV show masterpiece. 24 has serious competition. Scenario is perfect, casting fantastic. Just be patient on the first 2 episodes and then get hooked. Better than “Lost” for sure.
Munich: a bit late but i just saw this movie about the “black september” sadly remembering that terrorism is a bad thing (wow what a genius i am to have found this!). I found Spielberg approach too “peace is better than war”, i mean “simple” but the direction and acting of Eric Bana is just amazing
No relation between 2 movies, except i just saw them over the week end
Sometimes when i occasionnally listen/read the french news, i have the feeling they forget that a few 100k citizens are also French leaving in Israel, as they mainly report on the French leaving in Lebanon.
TF1, the leading French TV network has interviewed my friend Alain that explains what nightmare he lives on a daily basis in the north of Israel. He is one of the few hundreds of 1000s that had to leave the north of the country to go south, out of range of Hezbollah missiles (not so reported in the world news either…)
Alain has impressed me from day 1 by his ability to report and analyse honestly the situation in Israel. He is a very talented writer and has a very articulate blog (in french).
He s also someone of very high culture and it is always a pleasure to discusss with him.
You can t be in front of a TV and/or you don t want to pay ridiculous amount of money for watching world cup football games (in israel for example)?
VideoWebgate gives you access to all games through all world channels that are broadcasting live on TV (click the worldcup logo ). Not really legal but are cable tv doing what they should to keep their customers?
When i see the level of interest my post on FREE TVs ONLINE has been generating for the past 2 days i only can ecourage entrepreneurs to look more into that direction. I am not talking about another YouTube but about a true legal service enabling streaming of all TV channels worlwide premium or ad supported.
