Wednesday 16 July 2014

I can't stop admiring the quotes of zeeva


I can't stop admiring the quotes of zeeva
Officer Ziva David: [McGee is dismantling a network server] What can I do to help, McGee?
Special Agent Timothy McGee: You can stop touching things when you're not grounded.
Officer Ziva David: Okay, sorry. Hack away, you won't even notice me here.
Special Agent Timothy McGee: Okay, but you're standing on my foot

Officer Ziva David: Lt. Commander Wilkinson drives a 2002 silver Jetta.
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: Figures...
Officer Ziva David: What figures?
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: Chick car.
Officer Ziva David: Meaning?
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: There are guy cars and there are chick cars. It's a known and irrefutable fact.
Officer Ziva David: Was it a government study?
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: It's just a thing you know, you don't know how you know it, you just do. Sebring, Liberty, Jetta and Bug; whole VW line are all chick. Mustang, Camaro, Escalade, PT Cruiser: all guy. Hummer is very guy, but with adequacy issues, and then there is some that go both ways.
[Officer David steps on the breaks and points at a silver car]
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: It's an Accord, not a Jetta. But, case in point, Mini Cooper and Accura follow the same category.
Officer Ziva David: Uff, you've giving this a lot of thought, it's very sad.
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: Then there is the Miata, it's a special case: Leans to chick, but can go guy, usually means he's in denial, though. STOP!
Officer Ziva David: Gladly, if it means I don't have to listen to your automobile gender issues.

Officer Ziva David: Who's on the phone?
Danny: Uh, my girlfriend.
[Ziva takes the phone]
Officer Ziva David: [flirtatiously] Hi...
[giggles]
Officer Ziva David: Oh, my God! Don't touch me there!
Danny's Girlfriend: What?
Officer Ziva David: He's gonna have to call you back. Bye.
Danny's Girlfriend: What? Wait a sec...!
[Ziva hangs up the phone]
Officer Ziva David: [to Danny] You're busted.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: [after entering Wilkerson's house] Nice job with the lock by the way.
Officer Ziva David: Thank you, it was a very simple pin-and-tumbler design.
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: So are handcuffs. But I bet you couldn't get out of a pair.
Officer Ziva David: Are you saying, you'd like to handcuff me, Tony?
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: It's not *really* my thing, Ziva.
Officer Ziva David: I see. You're the one who likes to be handcuffed, then, huh?

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: [quietly, to Ziva] Will you please calm down. This guy is a little jumpy, and nervous, so just relax. No sudden moves, all right?
[Ziva removes her cuffs, kicks the security guard's gun away, and pins him to the floor, aiming the gun at his chest]
Security Officer Chuck Parnell: No, no! Don't shoot! Don't-don't shoot!
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: Nobody's gonna shoot anyone. Right, Officer David?
Officer Ziva David: He called me a dirtbag.
Security Officer Chuck Parnell: [whimpering] I'm sorry, ma'am.
Officer Ziva David: [angrier] "Ma'am?"
[Tony facepalms]

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: [Ziva's driving as they're searching for Wilkerson's car] Just out of curiosity, who taught you to drive?
Officer Ziva David: I did!

Ross Logan: Look, our best hackers haven't been able to track this guy.
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: You haven't met our hacker.
Ross Logan: He's good?
Officer Ziva David: Does a bear sit in the woods?
Ross Logan: [slight chuckle] Are you the crackerjack team on this job?
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: She's Israeli.
Officer Ziva David: Look, I know I got the bear thing right.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: [Gibbs quickly accelerates the car] Where we going now, Boss?
Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs: The mall!
Officer Ziva David: And they have a problem with *my* driving?

Security Officer Chuck Parnell: Make any sudden moves, I shoot. Do we understand each other?
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: Okay, relax, Quick-draw. We're feds.
Security Officer Chuck Parnell: Yeah? What agency?
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, Officer Ziva David: NCIS.
Security Officer Chuck Parnell: Never heard of it.
Officer Ziva David: Naval Criminal Investigative Ser...
Security Officer Chuck Parnell: Never-heard-of-it.
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: [sighs] You never actually get used to that. You think you will, but you never do.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: Enough about me. Let me guess: Pilates?
Officer Ziva David: Very good, Tony.
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: I *am* an investigator, it's kind of what I do.
Officer Ziva David: Mm-hmm.
[puts her feet on her desk, her feet are covered with tape and blood]
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: I thought you said you were doing Pilates?
Officer Ziva David: Isn't Pilates one of your Martial Arts?
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: No. It's kind of like expensive stretching.
Officer Ziva David: Mm. Well then, I guess I wasn't doing a Pilate.
[starting to take the tape off her feet]
Officer Ziva David: Mind giving me a hand with this?
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: Yes I do. Whose blood is that?
Officer Ziva David: Not mine.

Security Officer Chuck Parnell: Cuff yourself to him.
Officer Ziva David: I'd rather you shoot me first.

Danny: Dude, there's no such thing as "genital cuffs."
Tim: But what if there is? I mean, dude, these guys aren't even cops, they're, like, some secret federal agency! Did you see the way that chick was playing with her knife?
Danny: Yeah... it was kind of hot, like Salma Hayek in "Desperado."
Officer Ziva David: [appearing behind them] Never saw that.

Officer Ziva David: Don't worry, Abby. Sometimes you can't see the jungle for the ferns.
Abby Sciuto: Uh... right.

Ross Logan: I run this chapter of the PBJ.
Officer Ziva David: Peanut butter and jelly, right?
Ross Logan: Actually, no. It stands for Perverts Brought to Justice.

Ross Logan: Our best people haven't been able to crack these emails.
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: You haven't met our cracker.
Ross Logan: Is he good?
Officer Ziva David: Does a bear sit in the woods?
Ross Logan: Are you the crackerjack team on this case?
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo: She's Israeli.
Officer Ziva David: Look, I know I got the bear thing right.

Thursday 22 August 2013

Zeeva Daveed

Fascinating article by Joel Schalit on the role of a fantasized Israeli identity for certain American right-wingers. Schalit talks about the importance of online commenters who claim to be Israelis bringing the truths of Israel’s unstable situation to an ignorant US left audience, who on examination turn out in fact not to be Israelis or indeed Jews, but traditional American Christian Zionists. A fantasy about Israel as a hard-headed reality serves a particular function in explaining American foreign policy.

Maybe the most sophisticated instance of this is the character of Ziva David on NCIS. Ziva, a former Mossad agent turned NCIS investigator, is an interesting character. She’s able, elegant, and humorous, as well as being somewhat psychologically damaged in the sort of way that makes for appealing TV characters.

But she also functions as an odd metonym for Israel. Her Mossad background is, mainly in her early appearances, brought up through references to her abilities as a murderer and torturer, that is, through her extra-legal callousness. The show is both shocked by and charmed with this ruthlessness – Ziva is frequently reminded by other characters that her methods are not satisfactory in America, with a blend of pride, awe, and regret. Ziva, and thus Israel, is presented here as sublime in Burke’s sense, as inspiring a kind of fear that leads to respect.

Israel, in the person of Ziva, functions as a kind of screen onto which Americans can plan the terrible things America actually does abroad, but which it is ideologically committed to claiming not to do. I wonder if the consent of the assassination of bin Laden is an evident sign that US ideology has changed such that this disavowal is no longer necessary.

Friday 15 February 2013

The sub­limity of Ziva David

Interesting article by Joel Schalit on the role of a fantasized Israeli identity for certain American right-wingers (which I heard about on Doug Henwood’s Behind the News). Schalit discusses the prominence of online commenters who claim to be Israelis bringing the realities of Israel’s precarious situation to an ignorant US left audience, who on investigation turn out in fact not to be Israelis or indeed Jews, but conservative American Christian Zionists. A fantasy about Israel as a hard-headed reality serves a particular function in justifying American foreign policy.

Maybe the most high-profile example of this is the character of Ziva David on NCIS. Ziva, a former Mossad agent turned NCIS investigator, is an appealing character. She’s competent, smart, and funny, as well as being somewhat psychologically  damaged in the sort of way that makes for endearing TV characters (it also doesn’t hurt that the character is played by Cote de Pablo, who is very pretty although not even slightly Israeli).

But she also functions as a strange metonym for Israel. Her Mossad background is, particularly in her early appearances, brought up through references to her skills as an assassin and torturer, that is, through her extra-legal ruthlessness. The show is both horrified by and enamored with this ruthlessness – Ziva is continually reminded by other characters that her methods are not acceptable in America, with a mixture of pride, awe, and regret. Ziva, and thus Israel, is presented here as sublime in Burke’s sense, as inspiring a kind of fear that leads to admiration. The racist uses to which Burke puts this concept of the sublime (the natural sublimity of Blacks is adduced as a justification for slavery) perhaps points towards the racism underlying Israel’s simultaneous exclusion from and inclusion in Western “civilization” which Schalit notes in right-wing American attachments to Israel.

Thursday 9 August 2012

Ziva David

Ziva David (/ˈziːvə dəˈviːd/; Hebrew: זיוה דויד, pronounced , Ziva: "Brilliance", David: "Beloved"; born November 12, 1982 in Be'er Sheva, Israel) is a fictional character from the NCIS television series by CBS Television, portrayed by Chilean actress Coté de Pablo.

David was introduced in the Season 3 premiere episode "Kill Ari (Part 1)" and became a regular cast member from the episode "Silver War". David replaced Caitlin Todd, who was killed at the hands of Ziva's half-brother, Ari Haswari, in the Season 2 finale.

Ziva was an agent of the Israeli Mossad, originally assigned to NCIS as a liaison officer, a position she held for four years until she returned to Mossad in the Season 6 finale, "Aliyah". After being captured by terrorists in Somalia and presumed dead, she was eventually saved by Gibbs, Tony and McGee who brought her back to America to a reunion with Ducky and Abby.

Having recovered, Ziva later resigned from Mossad in Season 7 and became a probationary NCIS agent.
Upon passing her citizenship exam, Ziva was sworn in as a U.S. citizen with McGee, Ducky, Abby and Palmer being present at her ceremony.

In the Season 9 premiere episode "Nature of the Beast", after being a Probie for nearly two or three years, Ziva finally earned her status as an NCIS Special Agent.

Thursday 9 February 2012

Taxonomy

Grebes are small to medium-large water birds with lobed, rather than webbed, toes. There are several genera, of which the most widespread is Podiceps with nine species, one recently extinct. The Red-necked Grebe's closest relative is the fish-eating Great Crested Grebe of Europe and western Asia. It is possible that the Red-necked Grebe originally evolved in North America and later spread to Europe, where a change of diet to include more insects helped to reduce competition with its larger cousin. Fossils of the species dating to the middle Pleistocene have been found in Italy.

The genus name Podiceps comes from Latin podicis, "vent" or "anus", and pes, "foot", and is a reference to the placement of a grebe's legs towards the rear of its body. The species name grisegena is from Latin griseus (grey) and gena (cheek) and refers to the face pattern of the breeding adult.

The Red-necked Grebe has two subspecies, the nominate subspecies P. g. grisegena in Europe and western Asia, and P. g. holboelii (Holboell's Grebe, named for Danish explorer of Greenlandic birds Carl Peter Holbøll) in North America and eastern Siberia. The east Asian birds have slightly smaller bills than the American form, although the differences are too small to merit separation as a third subspecies.

Friday 16 December 2011

Red-necked Grebe

The Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena) is a migratory aquatic bird found in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Its wintering habitat is largely restricted to calm waters just beyond the waves around ocean coasts, although some birds may winter on large lakes. Grebes prefer shallow bodies of fresh water such as lakes, marshes or fish-ponds as breeding sites.

The Red-necked Grebe is a nondescript dusky-grey bird in winter. During the breeding season, it acquires the distinctive red neck plumage, black cap and contrasting pale grey face from which its name was derived. It also has an elaborate courtship display and a variety of loud mating calls. Once paired, it builds a nest from water plants on top of floating vegetation in a shallow lake or bog.

Like all grebes, the Red-necked is a good swimmer, a particularly swift diver, and responds to danger by diving rather than flying. The feet are positioned far back on the body, near the tail, which makes the bird ungainly on land. It dives for fish or picks insects off vegetation; it also swallows its own feathers, possibly to protect the digestive system. The conservation status of its two subspecies—P. g. grisegena found in Europe and western Asia, and the larger P. g. holboelii in North America and eastern Siberia—is evaluated as Least Concern, and the global population is stable or growing.

Wednesday 17 August 2011

Horned Grebe

The Horned Grebe is a small grebe at 31–38 centimetres (12–15 in) long with a 46–55 centimetres (18–22 in) wingspan. Unmistakable in summer, the plumage of both male and female includes a black head with brown puffy earlike tufts along the sides of its face. It shows a deep red neck, scarlet eyes, and a small, straight black bill tipped with white. It rides high in the water.