Archive for the ‘Entertainment’ Category

1. Drew Barrymore Plans to Raise Her Daughter Jewish

Drew Barrymore plans to raise her daughter Olive in the Jewish religion and says she may convert to Judaism as well.

The 37-year-old actress made an appearance on ABC’s The View last week where she told the hosts that her daughter would be following the faith of her father, Will Kopelman. The couple married last June and delivered their baby girl last September.

“I haven’t converted yet,” Barrymore said in response to questioning from host Joy Behar. “Olive will be raised traditionally. And we had a very traditional wedding ceremony with Rabbi Rubenstein and I did the ketubah. We wore the yarmulkes and we were under the chuppah. I’m there. I love it.”

2. Bar Rafaeli Makes Out with a Geek in a New Ad

Bar Rafaeli starred in an extremely uncomfortable ad that aired during football’s biggest game on Sunday. The ad had the Israeli model locking lips and swirling tongues with “Walter,” a chubby Go Daddy tech geek played by Jesse Heiman.

Long-time GoDaddy.com spokeswoman Danica Patrick first introduces Rafaeli in the ad, and then introduces “Walter,” a nerd with a computer who is promised to “create a killer website for your small business.”

“Together, they’re perfect,” Patrick says. Then, things get uncomfortable. Rafaeli and Walter begin locking lips and the kiss includes some pretty horrific sound effects that make the commercial that much more awkward. Watch the video for yourself here.

3. Past NYC Mayor Ed Koch Dies at Age 88

Ed Koch, a former mayor of New York City, died last week of congestive heart failure at age 88. He was one of Judaism’s leading political figures and a staunch advocate for Israel.

Koch spent decades in the political arena, serving as the mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989. He is noted as helping turn around the Big Apple (a city he loved), bringing it through some of its most tumultuous years, and refusing to dodge questions from the press or the public… no matter what.

“Why can’t all single ladies shake it like Beyonce?” asked the single guy after football’s biggest game on Sunday.

First, Destiny’s Child’s hit song “Independent Women” was the anthem for every pantsuit-wearing female executive in training. Then, Beyonce’s hit “Single Ladies” became a worldwide proclamation from women to men telling them to “sh*t or get off the pot.” One thing became very clear, Beyonce had girl power!

Unfortunately, for single women everywhere, Beyonce has got girl power, an amazing body, a flawless face, and incredible dance moves.  If all women could move like Beyonce, there would be no women left in the club raising their left hand to the lyrics  “if you like it, then you should’ve put a ring on it.”

I love Beyonce, and after last night’s killer half-time performance, it’s safe to say I have a girl crush. But, I’m quite certain she is setting the wrong expectation for single men everywhere. According to Beyonce, single men can find a woman who is strong, independent, HOT, and with a booty-shake that will blow your mind. Her worst trait will be that she wants you to “put a ring on it.”

I’d like to help set more realistic expectations for the single men out there, but I’d hate to burst their bubble so soon after that half-time performance… plus I’ve got to go practice my booty shake.

People experience sleepiness every day. While the best solution for sleepiness is sleep, this is not always a viable solution, as you may be at work, and you can’t sleep, because you are an open heart surgeon. I find creative ways to sleep throughout the day when not at home. For example, I’m really well attuned to my daily driving routine. People often use the phrase, ‘I can drive there in my sleep.’ loosely. However, every morning, I drive to work while asleep. Either that or I’m so used to my routine that while I’m awake while driving, I suddenly find myself in my work parking garage without remembering anything since waking up at about 2 am the night before to use the restroom. Most likely, I do not drive while sleeping, because I constantly find myself being alive.

I actually don’t sleep throughout the day. That was just a preface for that hilarious fake anecdote. I’m still on a strict diet throughout the week, and a lot of the time, though I am really tired, my hunger overrides my sleepiness, and I don’t feel the full weight of my fatigue until Friday after my diet is over and I’ve finally eaten a full meal. If you find that you are too tired a lot of the time, simply starve yourself. Once your stomach begins to eat its own lining, you will be in too much pain to realize that you need sleep. Also, you’ll lose some weight. Only five more months until swimsuit season!

Aside from that fact that the modern standards of beauty require a body that is unhealthily skinny, it is not a good idea to starve yourself. I just wanted to make that clear.

Because I am not a big fan of coffee, I sometimes rely on energy shots. Though recent reports indicate that drinks such as 5-hour Energy will kill you, and the fact that it should probably be renamed ’2-hour Shaking’, I use this sometimes. I don’t care too much about my long-term health, so long as I feel okay now. Who knows? The earth may implode tomorrow, but at least I will be awake, alert, and shaking violently.

1. DC Jews Celebrate Inauguration Weekend

Monday’s 57th Presidential Inauguration officially sent Barack Obama into a second term as America’s 44th President, and members of the Washington D.C. Jewish community were right there with him to participate in inauguration-weekend activism and service events.

The Women’s Leadership Network luncheon of the National Jewish Democratic Council kicked off the inaugural weekend in “Jewish Washington” last Friday. The group held a discussion panel which included former White House Communications Director Ann Lewis, Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA) and The Jerusalem Post Washington Bureau Chief Hilary Krieger.

It was “one of the most inspirational events I’ve attended in a very long time,” Barbara Goldberg Goldman told JNS.org.  “Proud Jewish women of all ages came together to share their desire to perform tikun olam and make a difference in the world in which they live.”

2. Rabbis Who Marched with MLK

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day yesterday, JSpace.com is showing how a Torah made its way to Dr. King’s March on Selma.

In 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote to Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, sharing an idea he had for a march with the Jewish leader. King was planning an unprecedented demonstration, hoping to bring thousands on a walk from Montgomery to Selma in support of voting rights for the black community.

What resulted would go down in history as one of the greatest civil rights moments of all time. Rabbi Eisendrath did indeed participate, as did other spiritual leaders from many other factions. Click here to see an iconic photo from the Selma march, in which Rabbi Eisendrath, clutching a Torah, can be seen standing with Dr. King.

3. Dear Abby Dies at 94

Pauline Friedman Phillips, known around the world a “Dear Abby” died Wednesday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 94.

Phillips was born in Iowa in 1918 to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents. In 1937, she began writing the iconic “Dear Abby” advice column, assuming the penname Abigail van Buren. The column would go on to earn worldwide fame as a syndicated piece of Americana, printed in more than 1,000 newspapers.

Phillips was a member of Women in Communications, the American College of Psychiatrics, and the National Council of Jewish Women.

How important are a man’s looks to the opposite sex? We will never know for sure, and women will probably never fully know either, because looks are just part of the whole package.

Some women say they are only interested in personality, and do not care at all if you are ugly and fat. If this were completely true, however, they would date exclusively ugly, fat guys because ugly, fat guys are almost always awesome and almost always have the best personalities. Have you ever met an fat and ugly guy that’s just a total asshole? Maybe, but there’s not a whole lot of them. They don’t care about anything and act based on impulses. This is a blanket statement, and, for example, obesity is not just caused by overeating and the result of a lifestyle without limits. I’m just basing this off of the past ten years of my own life when I was a big, huge fat guy. I was great, and if women were only interested in personality, I would have been married exactly six times by now.

Women as a people are not superficial. However, they are people. The same goes for men. Even the best people are genetically inclined to be drawn to attractive people. It’s a combination of primal instinct and a learned mental response due to a lifetime of conceptions and misconceptions about beauty. Nevertheless, we all now have to make ourselves as attractive as possible. Wouldn’t you love to walk into a bar and just see a bunch of fat, happy people all excited to see you and giving you drinks? If you walk into a bar, you will probably instead see a lot of people talking amongst themselves, wearing a lot of product and sweater vests. I actually love sweater vests. It’s all of the horrible ugliness of a sweater combined with the lack of the one redeeming quality of a sweater: warmth. You’ll see a few fat, happy people, but everyone else is trying to ignore and avoid them. Even their friends want them to leave because they think they’re repelling women, when actually the friends themselves are doing this with their sweater vests… and their product… and their penny loafers without socks.

1. Daniel Day-Lewis & Lena Dunham Win at Golden Globes

The Golden Globe® for Best Actor in a Drama was given to Daniel Day-Lewis on Sunday night in Los Angeles. The half-Jewish actor, who won the award for his role in Lincoln, has now received seven Golden Globe nominations. The Method actor won the same award for his turn in 2007′s There Will Be Blood.

In the TV realm, Lena Dunham also won big. The half-Jewish actress scored honors for lead actress in a TV comedy — as well as best TV comedy series for her HBO show, Girls. Dunham, who is often described as both “spontaneous and articulate,” trembled as she thanked her fellow honorees, “women that inspire me deeply, and have made me laugh and comforted me at the darkest moments of my life,” she said.

2. Lincoln Leads the Oscar Nominations

Lincoln, Steven Spielberg’s film about the 16th president and his battle to end slavery, rounded up plenty of votes for the 85th Academy Awards®, topping all films with 12 nominations, including best picture and best director.

Spielberg, who is Jewish, has six previous directing nominations, including Oscar® wins for Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List. Daniel Day-Lewis, who is half Jewish, was also nominated in the best actor category for his work on the film. The Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 24^th.

3. Poet Harvey Shapiro Dies at Age 88

Harvey Shapiro, the poet, author and New York Times editor who helped inspire Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” died Monday at the age of 88.

Shapiro, who was born in Chicago in 1924 to Ukrainian-Jewish parents, was highly admired and said to have chosen “newspaper work over the time-honored academic vocation of his peers.” In the early 1960s, Shapiro made what was almost certainly his most inspired assignment. Reading about one of Dr. King’s frequent jailings, he telephoned the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Mr. Shapiro suggested the next time Dr. King was in jail for any significant period, he should compose a letter for publication. His suggestion led to the epochal assignment, “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”

Harvey died on Monday morning in Manhattan. He was 88 years old.

Almost nothing in life, outside of actual human affection, makes me happier than a big bucket of chicken. Since I started my diet over a year-and-a-half ago, I have not had one big bucket of chicken. I still struggle with bouts of anxiety and depression, but whenever I see a KFC commercial, I am fleetingly and overwhelmingly happy for about 30 seconds. I need to either eat a big bucket of chicken at least once a week, or watch like an extended hour long KFC commercial every night.

I’m still able to satisfy my food cravings weekly, as I typically go off my strict diet on weekends and special occasions. Big buckets of chicken always seem too decadent, though. Also, the closest KFC is at least 20 miles away. By the time I bring it home it will be all soggy. I guess I’ve associated KFC with fat Jeremy and not KFC with skinny Jeremy, but damn, I need a big bucket of chicken right now. I am not forgetting about the sides. I’ll be damned if I’m going to eat a big bucket of chicken without mashed potatoes and coleslaw.

Back in college, my friend and I would get a big bucket of chicken, a 24 pack of Red Stripe, and watch a marathon of The X-Files every Thursday night. By about 10 pm I would feel miserably full, drunk, and would become unreasonably upset that Scully wouldn’t believe Mulder at the beginning of every episode, yet he always proved that he was right by the end.

I usually try to connect my inane post to something with a deeper meaning, but I just want chicken. KFC is one of the biggest fast food chains in the world. Maybe you can open within Houston city limits. There’s like eight million Popeyes within a quarter mile radius of my house. Somebody please explain this to me.

1. Gabby Giffords Visits with Sandy Hook Families

Gabrielle Giffords, the former member of Congress from Arizona who was gunned down at a Tucson shopping center two years ago, met privately last Friday with the families of the Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Connecticut where a school shooting took place last month.

Giffords, who is Arizona’s first Jewish congresswoman, met with local officials at the municipal building in Newtown on Friday afternoon. She then went to visit with victims’ families at a private home later in the day.

“What drew her was the shared experience — our 26 victims and survivors, and what she experienced in Arizona,” Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra told the Newtown Bee.

2. Bethenny Frankel Files for Divorce

Bethenny Frankel has filed for divorce from her husband Jason Hoppy. The former Housewife took the first step in ending her two-year marriage to Hoppy by filing a summons for divorce in New York City this month.

The Jewish founder of “Skinnygirl®” isn’t shying away from discussing the divorce in public, recently Tweeting, “To those of you who are being supportive: thank you. To those of you who are judging: I totally get it.”

Frankel and Hoppy have a 2-year-old daughter together named Bryn.

3. Marissa Jaret Winokur Dishes the Skinny on Being Skinny

Marissa Jaret Winokur is happy to call herself a “loser” this week! That’s because the Hairspray actress lost a total of 60 pounds over the last seven months.

The 39-year-old Jewish actress says her motivation was simple. “I did it for heath,” Winokur blogged for People.com. “I had a doctor’s appointment in April, and my cholesterol was high (220). My doctor mentioned I should lose some weight.”

Winokur told Us Weekly she thought she would try to lose 20 pounds and see what happened. “It was the little steps,” she said. “I think it worked because I was genuinely doing it for myself.”

Everyone makes New Year’s resolutions, especially those who enjoy dating. At the beginning of each year, those single hopeless romantics create lists of 40-400 bullet points of what they are looking from in that dream Jewish guy or girl, from the color of their eyes, to how they want to meet them, to their favorite sports teams. On that note, if any of you message me, and happen to be Washington Redskins fans, do not expect a response back, even if you do look like Natalie Portman.

With that in mind, here is Adam’s list of the 5 or so women I resolve to date in 2013.

1. Dianna Agron- I don’t watch Glee, but apparently she is in this show, according to my baby brother. I am not a vegetarian either, which Agron is, however I can look past that and see that she is a dancer, which will make our first date a two-stepping date, because honestly, two-stepping is like salsa for drunk people.
2. Amanda Bynes- Reports say she is “reevaluating” how to spend her social time. I am too, as I am considering pulling the plug on watching Dallas sports due to the pain it causes me. So Amanda, for our first date, let’s get a Venti Americano from Starbucks and watch She’s the Man.
3. Emmy Rossum- I am a sucker for girls with brown hair and brown eyes (wait, you mean every Jewish girl?), and Rossum has it, as well as a cameo in my favorite Dragonball Z movie. She also happens to be a distant cousin of Vera Wang, and a singer of Christmas songs, so Emmy, what do you say we browse Bloomingdale’s to the tune of the new Cee Lo Green Christmas Album?
4. Melanie Laurent- My mother says I could use some world culture experience, so what better way to do that than by dating a French girl, who was in Inglorious Bastards. With that in mind, our first date would be at the gun range, firing .38 specials at paper targets with the pictures of America’s Ten Most Wanted Criminals, with the second half being at a low-key coffee shop.
5. Jamie-Lynn Siegler aka Meadow Soprano- Cause I’d be a total step up from Turtle (Entourage character).

Happy New Year everyone.

As the world looks back on the year 2012, the Hollywood Yenta is recalling the year’s biggest Jewish celeb moments. Check out our list below of the top ten Jewish celebrity stories from 2012. Then, let us know in the comments section what you think is the year’s top “Jewlebrity” happening!

10.  Jewish candidates win respective elections

Four new Jewish Representatives entered the House after November’s election, while four Jewish Senators up for re-election retained their seats for a new term. Combined with the Congressmen and women who are currently serving, there are now 11 Jewish U.S. Senators and 22 U.S. Representatives. Democrats Bill Schneider, Alan Lowenthal, Lois Frankel, and Alan Grayson were each elected to the House, in Illinois, California, and the last two in Florida, respectively. In the Senate, Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) were each re-elected. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), the son of a Holocaust survivor, also re-won his seat.

9.  MCA passes

Adam Yauch, one-third of the pioneering hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, died at the age of 47 in May. Yauch, whose mother was Jewish, was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 after discovering a tumor in his salivary gland. Following his death, tributes across the web showed the impact Yauch’s music had. Actor Jonah Hill Tweeted, “I’m filled with so much sorrow to hear about the world losing Adam Yauch. He was such a beautiful person and artist.”

8.  Lena Dunham’s “Girls” takes off

Lena Dunham’s television series “Girls” garnered great reviews when it premiered in April, and earned Dunham four Emmy nominations. In October, the young writer, whose mother is Jewish, inked a $3.5 million deal with Random House for an essay collection called Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s Learned. The next month, Dunham starred in a political ad for Barack Obama that, metaphorically speaking, compared voting for Obama to losing one’s virginity.

7.  Rep. Gabby Giffords resigns from congress

Arizona’s first Jewish congresswoman, Democrat Gabrielle Giffords, resigned from congress in January, one year after she was shot at a public gathering in Tucson, Ariz. In her resignation letter, Giffords wrote, “I will recover and will return.”

6.  Jon Stewart wins tenth Emmy

When Jon Stewart’s name was called as winner in the variety category during September’s Emmys awards, the host of The Daily Show was mock-tackled by pals Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon. The two comedians who were up against Stewart in the category were jokingly keeping him from getting to the stage. In August, Stewart was also voted JDaters’ favorite “political news funnyman,” beating out Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers.

5.  Natalie Portman weds

In August, Jewish actress Natalie Portman said “I do” to French dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied. The two exchanged vows in a traditional Jewish ceremony at a private home in Big Sur. Portman and Millepied met while filming Black Swan in 2009 and have a son named Aleph (which means “chief” or “number one” in Hebrew).

4.  Mila Kunis keeps cool

Jewish movie star Mila Kunis had a big year – she starred in the hit film Ted, was named “Sexiest Woman Alive” by Esquire magazine, was listed as no. 3 on Maxim’s “Hot 100” list and started dating longtime pal Ashton Kutcher. Before going public with her romance with Kutcher, Kunis told Glamour magazine she’d be interested in online dating: “If I didn’t do what I do, I would do Internet dating instead of going out to bars. In two seconds I would. It makes so much more sense.” In November, the actress shot down rumors that she was converting to Kaballah, after she was seen accompanying Kutcher to service in New York.

3.  Amanda Bynes’ driving drama

Jewish actress Amanda Bynes drove into trouble in 2012, getting arrested or cited for infractions that included allegedly driving under the influence, sideswiping a cop car, leaving the scene of an accident and driving on a suspended license. In October, Bynes pled not guilty to the charges stemming from the April and August incidents.

2.  Zuckerberg goes public, ties the knot

It was a big year for the creator of the world’s largest social networking site, who also happens to be Jewish. In February, Mark Zuckerberg filed papers to take Facebook, Inc. public. The company held its initial public offering on May 18, with a peak market capitalization of more than $104 billion. One day after the IPO, Zuckerberg wed longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan in a small surprise wedding ceremony with 100 guests.

1.  Aly Raisman wins gold

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Jewish gymnast Aly Raisman wowed spectators by earning one of two spots in the all-around individual finals. She then won a gold medal on the floor routine, dancing to “Hava Nagila,” a traditional Jewish song that means “Let us rejoice.” Following the summer games, Raisman accepted an invitation from Israeli government officials to visit Israel. In October, the 18-year-old athlete made her first visit to South Florida for the Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO) which helps out thousands of Israeli children.