Roll Call

Unrelated to my writing for Sesame Workshop's Shalom Sesame, I entered this new cartoon into the Aniboom Awards 4 Sesame Street animation contest. So if you like it, please share with your friends, and even register to rate.

ROLL CALL!
Illustration, animation, music and voices by William Levin.
Additional background vocals by Malya Kurzweil

Don't think of it as losing a Jewish Robot ...

Think of it as gaining a Jewish Robot Princess (JRP). Inspired by Malya's LG EnV2 mobile ringtone.

Illustration, animation, and musical adaptation of "Ringtone 15" by William Levin

Robots Independence Day

It would be a Happy Israel Independence Day if robots had emotions. Since we do not, I hope you at least find this video fascinating.

Another Jewish holiday?

Check out my new animated cartoon short for Judaica Beautiful.

Dinner with Mr. Israel

When he patted my back in greeting, my back ached. When I patted his back in return, my hand ached.  Such casualties are to be expected when befriending the magnitude of power that is Mr. Israel.

My old friend Ephraim Kivelevitz returned from Israel to spend Passover with his family in New York, but not before hitting the outdoor gyms of Venice Beach for some hardcore power training with some fellow professional bodybuilders.  California, says Ephraim, understands and respects his devotion to bodybuilding.  Israel does not.

"They don't treat us seriously," lamented Ephraim over a tilapia pita sandwich (hold the pita, too many carbs) at Murray's Falafel & Grill, a glatt kosher restaurant near Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan. Rather than give support, onlookers in the Israeli gyms will often heckle and get all up in his grill.  I find this hard to believe, since this allegedly occurs while Ephraim is deadlifting the equivalent of a medium-sized sedan.

Having won the Mr. Israel 2009 competition, Ephraim plans to start competing internationally, to qualify for his pro card from the IFBB.  According to Ephraim, the pro card will open new windows of opportunity, ranging from sponsorship to commanding higher fees for private personal training sessions.

Until then, if you see Ephraim working out at your local gym, just stay clear, or you might make him angry.  And you wouldn't like him when he's angry.

Interview with Web Designer Magazine

Friend and Flash guru Nicolas Da Silva, creator of online comic Dread and Alive, and FlashTV, the Flash animation forum where I got my start promoting my cartoons, conducted an interview with me for the April 2010 issue of Web Designer Magazine. If you can't find the printed publication, here's a scan of the article found on page 113, in which I discuss the origin of my JewishRobot.com website and its graphic design.  Click on the image on the left to view the entire article.

188th Crybaby Cartoon

In January 2010 I met Joel Chasnoff, standup comedian and fellow presenter at the Limmud NY 2010 Conference. A few weeks later, we produced an animated cartoon trailer for his new book, The 188th Crybaby Brigade, a coming-of-age story about his year-long experience as an American soldier in the Israeli Army.  This selection from the book is narrated by Joel Chasnoff himself, and features background music provided by Shir Yaakov of Darshan.

Matzo Ball Olympics

Now that the Winter Olympics are over, what will you watch?  Try Matzo Ball Olympics, the new short video I produced for Manischewitz, being released just in time for Passover.  Starring friend and filmmaker Zach Timm as Matzo Ball Olympian, Manny Schevitz.

Starring Zach Timm as Manny Schevitz
Camerawork and edited by Ben Donnellon
Special appearance by Daniel Halprin as John McEnroe

Special thanks to Sarah Phillips for matzo ball prop construction and custom Manischewitz tee-shirts!

Golf clubs provided by New York Golf Center

Filmed throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

This is a shorter teaser version of a mini-mockumentary I produced about Manny Schevitz, a beleaguered Matzo Ball Olympian.  I hope I get to share the longer version someday, or the world may never know the story behind the matzo ball.

Super viral market

Earlier this year, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamaas official, was assassinated in Dubai, presumably by Mossad agents who had forged British passports to carry out the mission.

Now an ad agency has produced a viral video for a discount supermarket chain, Almost Fre, parodying the surveillance footage recorded at the site of the assassination.

From the Jerusalem Post:

The ad itself will begin airing next week and will show footage of people dressed up as secret agents, wearing the costumes used by the Dubai team, walking around the store and picking out products that are on sale. One is a man wearing a tennis player outfit, another is a man in a business suit wearing a fake mustache and the third is a woman with a wide brimmed hat. Whenever one of the characters picks up an item, a red circle appears around it, parodying the circles picking out the agents in the surveillance videos.

The video is being released just in time for Passover grocery sales!  Looking forward to seeing the commercial.

Welcome to the Dollhouse Seder

Check out hip Jewish trendsetter and friend, Sara Schwimmer Marcus of Jewish Wedding Network, and her mom, Helen, in this segment, Modern Jewish Mom Passover Special: Barbie at the Seder Table, from The Jewish Channel.  The clip was released last year, but I'm only discovering it now!  With guidance from this video, I would have had a much better vintage He-Man action figure seder in 2009.  Skeletor was the Angel of Death.

Shabbat Unplugged

Reported in the New York Times, Reboot is promoting a campaign to take a break from the constant stream of social media for shabbat this weekend for its first National Day of Unplugging.

From the article, "And on the Sabbath, the iPhones Shall Rest":

Organizers hope the day of unplugging will draw attention to Reboot’s “Sabbath Manifesto”: a set of 10 “core principles” introduced earlier this year to guide tradition-seekers in ways that are meaningful in an information-driven world. Dan Rollman, president and a founder of the Web site Universal Record Database (urdb.com), which tracks its own set of “world records,” conceived the manifesto at a 2008 Reboot retreat, in part to “reinvent the Jewish ritual and make Judaism a little more modern and contemporary.”

So how about giving it a try?  After you've received this blog update in your RSS feed on your iPhone, turn it off?

ShaBot Shalom!

PreseTense in NYC

PresenTense co-founder Ariel Beery smiles before the conference

Last night I attended the PresenTense in NYC meetup at the Merrill Lynch building, space generously provided by Ben Pinkhasik.  The event was highly attended by ROI alumni, including Alicia "Post-It" Post, rocker Naomi Less, Aryeh "Early Retirement" Goldsmith, filmmakers Liz Nord and Jesse Ash, and bitter rival cartoonist Chari Pere (see photo below).

The event as posted on Facebook:

Do you want to connect to local Jewish innovators?
Surround yourself with new ideas and creativity?
Share your own ideas with the community?

Then get involved with PresenTense in NYC!

On March 18th come learn how you can build and be a part of a local community of creative innovators plugged into PresenTense's global network.

Join us for an an informational gathering with Aharon Horwitz and Ariel Beery, PT's co-directors, who will share the exciting new directions for PresenTense in NYC.

Thursday, March 18th at 8pm

More photos of the event on Facebook

The other Jewish Robot seder

Who knew there were other real live Jewish robots celebrating Pesach with their very own Seda' Club?  Thanks for the link, Matzah Girl Michelle!

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JewishRobot at Limmud NY

On the weekend of January 15-18, 2010, I attended the Limmud NY 2010 conference, where I had the honor of presenting my Jewish heroes video to an audience of 700, sung backup for my "20 Things To Do With Matzah" song onstage with Michelle Citrin, and presented a beginners' workshop in Flash animation.

Read "700 Jews Can't Be Wrong", my blog post about the event for ROI, the organization that helped me travel to Limmud NY with a Speakers Bureau grant.

You can see more photos from the event on my Facebook photo album.