Time to Repent!

Stephen Colbert wants his Jewish friends to call him on his Hebrew Hotline in order to repent for a year of sins.

This video clip is being mirrored by all the J sites. Here's your chance to see it:

Shul Bulletin, Vol. 7

Here's what's shakin':


Hello, Avi! I attach some pictures! Please look at! ... The many building of Toronto were a blaze of light in the evening darkness.This picture is one of the most favorite picuture of mine! ...
Finally fifth picture was taken from downtown, I took picture with you!!!!!
SEE YOU LATER.
- Kimiaki


This here, is a really weird reptile I spotted in Clayton, Georgia. It looks like a snake with feet. If you know what this lil' monster is called, let me know.

I dug up this pic of Joey. I like it. He looks contemplative.

Tamara and I played air-hockey with a CD. We destroyed it.

Georgia was lovely, but it's good to be home.

Back in Tokyo

Remember our old FOTS (Friend of the Shul), Moe? Well, after some zany travels (Kyoto, Osaka, Hong Kong, Singapore, Israel, and Thailand), he is back in Tokyo to continue his studies alongside his fellow Meiji students. To see all his amazing photos (I've included two in this post), I urge you to visit his handy dandy blog. You can also read about his elephant rides, and hostel stories. Moe tells me that he has amassed a lot of crap during his travels. If you are in Tokyo, and want some random junk, give Moe a call. He'll be happy offer you a funny hat or broken guitar. Just ask nicely.

The Avon Lady pt. 1

This vid is hilarious and it makes me want to know what is going to happen next. It has been viewed over 75 000 times. See what all the fuss is about. It stars Kal Penn and Chez Tam (Lonely Island), as well as a guy who looks mysteriously like Brandon Routh, the man who plays Superman in Superman Returns. Kal Penn was in Superman Returns as Luthor's henchman... Could there be a connection?

Who are you?

Have you always wondered which DC Comics character best represents your personality? Well now you can find out. Are you a Superman or a Batman? Wonder Woman or the Penguin? Click here to find out. Post your results in the comments section.

I'm on Ain't It Cool !

After seeing the premiere screening of the new Jason Biggs movie The Pleasure of Your Company at the Toronto International Film Festival, I sent a review to Harry at Ain't It Cool News, the most popular fanboy movie news site on the net. It got posted today, and the reaction has been rather interesting.

Two people accused me of being a studio plant, and another reader chewed me out, saying that he saw the film earlier and didn't like it.

Those guys are a vicious bunch of wankers - Now I know why Kevin Smith likes to parody them.

Toronto International Film Festival Pics!

I snapped a ton of pics at the TIFF, including the one you see above (Zach Braff). Want to see the rest of the stars I photographed? Bounce to this link to see the goods, plus my write-up.

Thanks to Soph for being my chief assistant slurpee holder!

Avi + Japanese students = Fun!

Avi rides the subway with Ujiyama and Shinya

Dating back to 1985, Meiji University has held a joint program with York University in which Japanese students come to Toronto to study the English language over the summer. I had the pleasure of providing a day-long tour of Toronto to Ujiyama Kimiaki and Shinya Kawahari, two economics students from Meiji.

We spent over eleven hours together, walking all over downtown Toronto. We had an incredible time, and it was an amazing experience seeing Toronto through fresh pairs of eyes.

Enjoy these photographs of Ujiyama, Shin, and myself, as we travelled around downtown Toronto!


University of Toronto's University College


The boys pose outside UC


The Ontario College of Art and Design


Mounted police


Eating a hot dog on Queen Street West


Nathan Phillip's Square


Pakistani Independence Day




Avi and Ujiyama pretend to get their shoes shined at Sam's








the wall of bikes

Open mic night

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Avi the lawyer?

I was digging through some old Word files this evening, and I came across something very interesting. It is a legal case study I wrote in high school about Wolf Lebovic.

Do I have lawyerly potential? I don't know - but here's the study:


Summary
This case deals with Wolf Lebovic, a 70 year old man who is worth $34 million. Lebovic, a Toronto real estate developer and builder, pays the highest spousal support in Canada, $75, 000 a month with undetermined final payments. He has recently been ordered to create a $10 million letter of credit as security by the Ontario Superior Court. His estranged wife, Cheryl Lebovic brought a motion asking to have her husband found in contempt of court and jailed. The judge ordered Mr. Lebovic to make the security deposit after Mrs. Lebovic made the request. Mr. Lebovic’s lawyer denies the accusation and a hearing should take place in early 2002. An appeal of the interim support order appeared to be on the horizon, but has been pushed off. Last April Mr. Lebovic was ordered to pay a $1.3 million advance on the final settlement. The couple had no children and the only dividable possessions remaining seem to be a car.

Legal Aspects
It appears section 54 of the Family Law Act of Ontario was ignored when the Lebovics entered into their marriage. It recommends the creation of a separation agreement, a document that would have helped avoid this whole ordeal (Liepner, 249). Since they had no children, the separation and division could have been very simple. According to the Morrie Sacks Law Library, "In past years the emphasis of the courts was directed toward "self-sufficiency". In other words, the dependent spouse was under a great deal of pressure to re-enter the workforce and to become self-sufficient in the minimum amount of time. There is now recognition that in the case of a traditional marriage of long duration it may not be feasible for a dependent spouse to become self-sufficient. Hence, spousal maintenance in such a situation may be payable for the rest of the life of the dependent spouse. " (Sacks, http://www.sackslaw.bc.ca/maintenance1.html) This appears to be the case for Mr. Lebovic, who continues to pay spousal support to his wife, even though she is worth $8 million.

Court
This case took place in the Ontario Superior Court. Before reaching this point, it most likely began in Divorce Court. If each spouse filed a petition for divorce, the court that received the first petition would cancel the other court out, and receive superiority. If they were both filed on the same day but in different provinces, then it would be the Federal Court-Trial Division that would become the divorce court and the hearing would be held wherever that court decided.

Opinion
I feel that the amount of spousal support Mr. Wolf Lebovic is paying is outrageous. Even though he has a considerably high net worth, one should take notice that his estranged wife is receiving too much in spousal support. They never had kids, and she has a net worth of $8 million, yet she still feels entitled to more money. There should be a limit to how much a person can pay out in support, even for wealthy families like the Lebovics.

CHAT is no more

Guess what, ya'll? CHAT, a.k.a the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, is no more.

The school has been around for 46 years, and now it has a new name. It is now called TanenbaumCHAT.

Thanks to the continuing generosity of the esteemed Dr. Anne Tanenbaum, the school has decided to begin the 2006 academic year with a new name.

I think it is a bad move. While the school's mega tuition continues to skyrocket (it is now at $15, 700 CDN per year - enough to put a student through 3 years of an Ontario university), the school has striven to promote itself as an ideal choice for Jewish highschool students. But with a an aurally displeasing name such as TanenbaumCHAT, the school will not sound as appealing as it should.

Is a name important when it comes to education, or is the reputation of a school all that matters? Post whatever you like in the comment box, I still think CHAT's new name is terrible.