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| Wednesday, November 30, 2005 |
Deal roundup
ABC has picked up a show from David Arquette about a reluctant PI whose life changes when his 10-year-old-son and ex-wife come back to town. Arquette's wife, Cortney Cox, will be a co-producer; Entourage breakout Jeremy Piven will finally be getting his leading role as he's in final talks to star in the tentatively titled Furry Vengeance, about a "smug Portland, Ore., real estate developer who accepts a challenge from his real estate mogul boss to develop a pristine forest in the hopes of being promoted to partner. He gets more than he bargained for when the area's animal residents start taking their revenge on him and wreak havoc on his every attempt to develop the land."
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| Tuesday, November 29, 2005 |
Bat mitzvah disco
Following on the heels of an apparent trend to invite rock stars to your bat/bar mitzvah, David H. Brooks brought out all the stops this weekend for his daughter's bat mitzvah when he arranged for performances by 50 Cent, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks ... and even the sweet sounds of Kenny G. 50 Cent, who got a reported half mil for the gig, changed the lyrics to his popular song and belted out these lyrics instead: "Go shorty, it's your bat miztvah, we gonna party like it's your bat mitzvah." The entire event was estimated to cost $10 million. Wonder what Brooks will do for her wedding ... or her first son's bris.
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Gaza at Sundance
Organizers of the upcoming Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah announced yesterday 64 films that will play during the week-long event. While a littany of indie films caught our attention, one documentary stood out. It's called 5 Days and is a "look at the evacuation of 8,000 Jewish settlers to make room for 250,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip." We're booking our ticket to Utah now.
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| Monday, November 28, 2005 |
Trailer park
- Man, Eli Roth is one sick fellow. Take a look at the trailer for a movie based on his work.
- Most unexpected reference to a bris? Watch this trailer -- about halfway through you'll get it.
- Jewish comedian Albert Brooks goes looking for comedy in the Muslim world.
- Coming this Chanukah: Adam Schwartz's My Big Fat Independent Movie. Awesome.
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| Wednesday, November 23, 2005 |
Wacko Jacko
Michael Jackson, apparently, doesn't like Jews so much. Maybe it's because he's been hanging out in Saudi Arabia these days. The pop star allegedly left virulent anti-Semitic phone messages including: "They (Jews) suck. They're like leeches... I'm so tired of it... they start out the most popular person in the world, make a lot of money, big house, cars and everything. End up penniless. It is conspiracy. The Jews do it on purpose." We can only assume that Shmuley Boteach will have a rant of his own soon in response.
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Loose ends
- To mark the release of the new Seinfeld DVD today, the cast reunites to shoot the breeze about the old days.
- Jeiwsh rock legend Bob Dylan may have a second career in poetry writing.
- Mazal tov to Jordan Bratman for
banging marrying Christina Aguilera.
- It seems the Hare Krishnas like Richard Gere's new film ... even though it's about Kabbalah.
- Tori Spelling's ex-husband is fighting over custody of their two dogs. He's seeking scheduled visitation. Seriously.
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| Tuesday, November 22, 2005 |
Deal roundup
Singer/songwriter Lisa Loeb (recently separated from Dweezil Zappa after six years) will be starring in her own reality show about being single; Less than a month after firing him from the show he created (Commander in Chief, ABC has hired writer/director Rod Lurie to produce a drama (apparently, based on real life events) about an 18-year-old boy who becomes mayor; New Line is (finally) putting Rush Hour 3 on the front burner and has asked director Brett Ratner to return.
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| Monday, November 21, 2005 |
They said it
"I do wish George Bush would start paying attention to issues that are important for the country. Gay marriage, for instance. I don't understand why the religious right fears homosexuality. They say it's an abomination. The Bible says that shellfish are also an abomination. ... They who oppose sodomy must also oppose scallops." -- Jon Stewart speaking at a fundraiser for the American Museum of Natural History.
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| Friday, November 18, 2005 |
They said it
"I don't really know what Scientology is. But I don't think anybody else knows, either. They need to shut the [bleep] up." -- Kabbalist Madonna defending fellow fringe faither Tom Cruise.
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Curb your waste
Laurie David, wife of persnickety Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David, tells Newsweek that her obsessive care for the environment is why she forces her husband to use post-consumer waste (i.e. not soft) toilet paper.
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| Thursday, November 17, 2005 |
Deal roundup
Brad Silberling (Moonlight Mile) is set to direct Juno, a comedy about a teenage girl coping with an unexpected pregnancy; Scarlett Johansson is in talks to star in The Nanny Diaries based on the bestselling book by the same name; Adam Sandler will be joining writer/director Mike Binder to star in a drama about about a man (Sandler) who loses his whole family in 9/11. Sounds hilarious.
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| Wednesday, November 16, 2005 |
They said it
"A winemaker has filed for a patent for their new Jesus Juice wine, which features a man, similar in dress to Michael Jackson on the label. It's the only wine in America made from statutory grapes." -- Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live.
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Must skip TV
An Israeli politician has asked the country's Channel Two station if they could re-air a popular show that comes on Friday nights. Um, have they heard of Tivo?
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Frankenomics
So it appears Al Franken is serious about running for the U.S. Senate from his home state of Minnesota.
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| Tuesday, November 15, 2005 |
Ali G update
HBO still refuses to let us know when the next season of the critically acclaimed Da Ali G Show will air, but meanwhile we can only hope they're up to something good by all the Ali G/Borat sightings this past summer. And now, Borat is causing more waves for mocking Kazakhstan on the MTV Europe Music Awards broadcast when he showed up "in an Air Kazakh propeller plane controlled by a one-eyed pilot clutching a vodka bottle." The article goes on to say that the Khazack government is not ruling out the possibility that the Jewish comedian Sacha Baron Cohen who portrays Borat is actually "serving someone's political order." Yes, which is why he dressed up as the most anti-Semitic Khazakstani cowboy ever shown on television.
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Knock, Knock. Osama?
The third annual Arab-American Comedy Festival begins this week in New York. Co-founder Maysoon Zayid bills herself as "a 30-year-old Palestinian Muslim virgin from New Jersey with cerebral palsy." As she put's it: "I'm a virgin by choice," she says. "My father's choice."
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An Einsteinian Hooker
Jailed pimp Jason Itzler, who previously said he would not marry America's number one escort because she was a shanda to his Jewish family, is now singing a very different tune. "I can't believe how smart she is now that she's off the drugs," Itzler says of Natalia. "She's a different girl. She's a gorgeous genius with a heart of gold. I love her more than ever and we're back together."
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Oh captain, our captain
Google is great. Not because they may be offering free wifi in San Francisco. And not because they sell more advertising than a television network. No, Google is great because its new video search engine led us to a two and a half hour interview with one of our favprite Jewish actors -- William Shatner. GRab some coffee, sit back, and enjoy.
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| Thursday, November 10, 2005 |
The reviews are in
While Sarah Silverman's new concert flick is undeniably funny, some critics think it's too much of a good thing. The Associated Press' movice critic had this to say: "One weakness Silverman and director Liam Lynch reveal in "Jesus is Magic" is that a little bit of the gimmick goes a long way. Many of her jokes are breathtakingly funny in their wrongness ("I was raped by a doctor, which is a bittersweet experience for a Jewish girl"). But after less than an hour the motif feels redundant, worn-out, and the interspersed musical numbers, ostensibly intended to break up and enliven the traditional concert-film structure, only drag the pacing to a halt."
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| Wednesday, November 09, 2005 |
Black clouds ahead
Hoping to move away from its hurrican and devastation coverage, the Weather Channel is spicing up its network with a little comedy, courtesy of Jewish comedian and Daily Show regualr Lewis Black. "Lewis Black on the Weather Channel is unpredictable," Connelly said, “and we’re in the business of predictions."
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Tonight on TV
Getting into the holiday spirit, that Paper Clips Holocaust flick will be airing on HBO in honor of Kristallnacht. Which will, of course, be followed by a very funny episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Seriously.
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Saving Silverman
Sarah Silverman is gracing just about every publication this month (including the New Yorker, Nextbook, and our own just to name a few). It's all to help promote her new concert flick Jesus is Magic. The film is going to start off in limited release so for those of you not in LA or NY, we found these clips from the film to help keep you satiated for now. Your welcome.
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| Monday, November 07, 2005 |
Bar Mitzvah Disco ... not
What do Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, Don Henley, Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac all have in common? All of them passed on the opportunity to play at a Bat Mitzvah. Hip-hop diva Ciara, on the other hand ....
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Only simchas
Spoiler Alert: For those who don't want to know what happens on the only Jewish reality show, leave this blog now. The producers of "Of All the Girls in the World," a reality program aired on the Israeli cable channel Hot, announced Sunday that Mari Inbar, 21, had won the heart of Jewish bachelor Ari Goldman. The Canadian-born Inbar, 21, won out over 16 other contestants for prizes that include a $20,000 ring and a jeep. "I'm happy," she told reporters. "Ari is a charming guy, and I’m looking forward to our first date without cameras." Goldman, 34, a New York businessman, said he is considering a new career in television in Israel.
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Madonna don't know math
While Madonna is miffed at the likes of Paris Hilton for giving Kabbalah a bad name (um, can you say the pot calling the kettle black?), Rabbi Daniel Freitag of the Atlanta Scholars Kollel isn't too happy with Madonna. "In order to incorporate [Kabbalah] into one's living, one must be deeply familiar with Jewish texts," the good rabbi says. "It's basically like trying to understand advanced rocket science without understanding arithmetic." We couldn't have said better ourselves.
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| Friday, November 04, 2005 |
Stewart's shanda
Jon Stewart was a little embrassed the other night when he showed up to a benefit auction for the Scleroderma Research Foundation at Caroline's comedy club a little underdressed. From the New York Times: "Jon Stewart sneaked in wearing a long T-shirt and a Mets hat, which distinguished him among all the suits. "I wanted to thank Bob [Saget] for letting me know what everyone was going to be wearing tonight," Mr. Stewart said, "so when I showed up I could look as homeless as possible." The crowd laughed. Mr. Stewart then said he had been to benefits before, and that after performing people would come up to him and say "we would rather have the disease."
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Getting Kinky earlier than expected
Holy crap. There is a God. Country Music Television is jumping the gun (no pun intended) by giving viewers a sneak peek of Kinky Friedman's reality show next week. Although Go Kinky isn't set to premiere until early 2006, the network will air the first two episodes on Thursday night which follows the wild musician turned novelist turned Texas gubernatorial candidate as he attends Rotary Club luncheons and other campaign stops. Out Tivo, of course, has just been set.
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They said it
"Just to constantly tell Larry David to go f**k himself and that he's an asshole, take after take after take after take, is just so much fun." -- Comedienne/Actress Susie Essman on the perks of being a cast member on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.
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| Thursday, November 03, 2005 |
Video blogging
This week, the Today Show is tackling "strange and mysterious" faiths including Kabbalah. While we highly encourage making fun of the Kabbalah Centre in this blog, we have to give them props. Jamie Green, the spokesperson who Katie Couric interviews at the end of the segment, has got to be the most handsome and poised spokesper | | | |
