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Baseball, hot dogs and Mel Gibson? posted 07/25/2007 @ 12:31PM So I'm at San Francisco's AT&T Field Tuesday night to watch the Giants play the Atlanta Braves and, more interestingly, Barry Bonds on his 43rd birthday trying to catch Hank Aaron's decades-old home run record. Between innings the park runs short videos o [1.03 kbytes more ]

Enlightenment on the Six-Day War posted 06/11/2007 @ 06:28PM It was on June 10, 1967 that the Six-Day War ended, which means June 11, 2007 marks the four-decades anniversary of the beginning of Israel’s current reality. I’m not going to go into the historical, strategic, political and sociological implications of t [2.18 kbytes more ]

Marketing Jewish to the masses: or, would you buy a T-shirt from Woody Allen? posted 05/30/2007 @ 04:33PM So I'm driving along Sunset Boulevard in L.A. recently and a large billboard catches my eye. It’s an ad for American Apparel (click to see photo), a clothing line for the hipster set who [3.15 kbytes more ]

Is secular Jewish culture a vital idea? posted 05/10/2007 @ 02:41PM There’s a new online journal out there for secular Jews; this is great news. Not that I think Secular Culture & Ideas on its own is likely to really change the landscape of modern Jewish identity in the U [2.98 kbytes more ]

Defining a 'Jewish writer' isn't easy posted 04/26/2007 @ 01:48PM I just read Dina Kraft's great story on the JTA site about the recent Kissufim conference in Jerusalem at which Jewish writers debated what it means to be "a Jewish [2.39 kbytes more ]

In Imus case, the reverends are right posted 04/17/2007 @ 01:31PM I've shed exactly zero tears for Don Imus. The shock jock deserved to be fired for his latest incredibly insensitive, probably racist comment alone. That it was one in a long line of related comments dotting his career only bolsters my feelings. Still, th [1.83 kbytes more ]

Richler belongs with the best posted 04/12/2007 @ 03:50PM When people talk about the pantheon of North American Jewish writers, most often they mention Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud -- and rightfully so. It's unfortunate that Mordec [2.01 kbytes more ]

A very Yehoram Gaon Pesach posted 04/01/2007 @ 12:52PM So, apparently Passover’s coming really late this year. Last year it was early. It never seems to come on time. Why is that? Just throwing it out there. Whatever the answer may be, the spring festival’s here and while to many that means one thing, matzah, [1.82 kbytes more ]

Is my script ready for prime time? posted 03/26/2007 @ 11:33AM A word on television sitcom pilots, because I finished writing one this week. First off, a pilot is the first episode of a TV series that does not yet exist. So when you write a pilot, the hope is that you’re creating characters and a situation that ev [1.92 kbytes more ]

Everybody loves Rosenthal posted 03/15/2007 @ 02:33PM Here's a bit of recommended reading for you. I just finished "You're Lucky You're Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom." It's a memoir by Phil Rosenthal, who created the massive TV sitcom hit "Everybody Loves Raymond." The book is extremely funny, insightfu [1.88 kbytes more ]

Israeli films heading in the right direction posted 03/06/2007 @ 04:41PM A gaggle of Hollywood stars is expected to show up at this month’s Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles, from Sacha Baron Cohen of “Borat” fame to vete [2.61 kbytes more ]

Mazel tov to Arkin, Scorsese and Gibson posted 02/27/2007 @ 05:51PM If you listened carefully during the Oscars, you heard a little bit of mamalushen emanating from the stage. It was about 16 hours into the broadcast, though, so if you were asleep or had otherwise thrown in the towel (perhaps you’re not enthralled by inte [1.51 kbytes more ]

Best Actor, Lead or Supporting: Alan Arkin posted 02/22/2007 @ 10:42AM It's Oscar time again and that means the opportunity to see what has become of Joan Rivers' face, an overdose of Hollywood self-congratulation and, if we're really lucky, an awards broadcast that includes an (unintention [2.18 kbytes more ]

Finally, some good notes from Israel posted 02/07/2007 @ 05:20PM Have you noticed just how much bad news has been coming out of the Israel these days? President Moshe Katsav seems likely to be indicted on, among others, rape charges; Prime Minster Ehud Olmert’s under investigation for corruption; IDF Chief of Staff Da [0.96 kbytes more ]

From Wagner to Gibson posted 01/18/2007 @ 10:23AM First, an admission: I listen to Richard Wagner’s music. Yes, I’m aware that he was a rabid anti-Semite, that his anti-Semitism may have been influential with Adolf Hitler, [2.58 kbytes more ]