Watching pet Passover: Should we allow animals to participate in the Seder?

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:40:00 +0000

Pro or con, guys: Animal participation during Pesach? It's been a pseudo-trend for a while (evidenced by a cute New York Times piece!), and on the one hand: Sure, why not ... we have doggy yoga, right?

Oh wait, you say animals don't understand English, religion or anything about the significance of this holiday? So putting animals in a yarmulke and slowly explaining the four questions to Fido actually makes a mockery out of both the Jewish struggle to free themselves from Egypt as well as your humiliated pet?

Yeah, that's probably a good reason to refrain from letting your animal recite the Maggid.

Still, though ... did we mention they wear little yarmulkes?

Meanwhile, orangutans in Tel Aviv celebrate the holiday with matzo, which is cute until you consider that these are animals that spend their days throwing around poop, so even crackers probably taste like shit to them.

“Repo Men” takes more than it gives

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:20:00 +0000

It's sad when a bit of grim futuristic silliness like "Repo Men" falls short on all counts, down to the most basic level of entertainment value. A tawdry little tale set in the world of tomorrow, "Repo Men" -- directed by newcomer Miguel Sapochnik -- details the antics, and the anguish, of Remy (Jude Law), a tattooed, muscle-bound toughie who works for a powerful corporation known ominously as the Union, which sells artificial organs to people who desperately need them. The company charges exorbitant fees for these shiny metal thingamabobs, though its magnanimous figurehead, Frank (Liev Schreiber), reassures clients that they can pay on the installment plan. If they miss too many payments, however, the Union's "skilled and licensed technicians" -- those would include Remy and his partner, Jake (Forest Whitaker) -- will show up to reclaim the unit in question.

Very early in the picture we get a sense of just how skilled and licensed these technicians are: First, Remy locates one of these poor deadbeat schmoes, who is then tasered and sliced open with a gleaming stainless-steel blade. After the company's property is retrieved -- which might take a bit of rooting around in the offender's gooey insides -- it's popped into a baggie, nice as pie, and returned to company headquarters.

Salon.com > Repo Men

Watching pet Passover: Should we allow animals to participate in the Seder?

“Repo Men” takes more than it gives