The Vicious Babushka

Mel Brooks Top 10 Jewy Jewish Movie Scenes!

JTA reports:

Monday night marks the national premier broadcast of the American Masters installment on Mel Brooks. To mark the occasion, we’ve put together a collection of Brooks’ best Jewish clips.

What exactly that means is a good question. As with two others recent subjects on the PBS series — Woody Allen and Phillip Roth (hey, guys, maybe change it up a bit, before Pat Buchanan notices) —  you could make the argument that Brooks’ entire oeuvre is an extension of his very Jewish background, sensibilities, hang-ups, etc., and hence any and all of his work can be considered Jewish. Take “Young Frankenstein”: It lacks any explicitly Jewish gags, but some critics (here and here) have no trouble making the case that the film is very Jewish.

See JTA's full list: http://www.jta.org/2013/05/20/arts-entertainment/mel-brooks-top-10-jewy-jewish-scenes#ixzz2TrENHW7X

Babushka's all time favorite Mel Brooks films are:

Blazing Saddles
History of the World Part I
The Producers
Spaceballs 

The Coen Brothers' "The Big Lebowski" is a challenger to the best of Brooks, but Woody Allen and Philip Roth are lame, lame, lame. Monty Python's "Life of Brian" is way more hilarious than anything produced by "I Shtupped My Stepdaughter" Allen or penned by the excruciatingly self-hating Mr. Literary Giant Douche Roth, even though Monty Python is not really Jewish humor.

Venice Film Festival Features Work by Hasidic, Female Director

Israeli film director Rama Burshtein with "unidentified guest" (her husband).

VENICE, Italy — Israeli director Rama Burshtein provides an intimate look inside the private world of Tel Aviv’s Hasidic community in the film “Fill the Void,” which premiered this weekend in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

A Hasidic Jew herself, Burshtein said she wanted to create a portrait of family life within the community without presenting it in conflict with the secular world.

“The Orthodox world is so interesting it does not need to cope with the secular,” Burshtein told a news conference Sunday. “It can be very interesting and the drama can be very strong inside.”

The film is about an 18-year-old girl named Shira who struggles with whether she wants to marry her brother-in-law, Yochay, after her sister Esther dies giving birth. The decision is all Shira’s, despite the strict formality within the community, and the movie ultimately is a story about facing a difficult decision and becoming a woman.

“It’s all about emotions and choices and what leads you to do what you do,” said actress Hadas Yaron, who played Shira. “I’m also young. But Shira is different from me because she is not familiar with all these feelings she experiences for the first time.”

The movie shows intimate rituals of the Hasidic community, from Esther’s funeral to her infant son’s circumcision ceremony immediately after, Sabbath dinner and the workings of the matchmaker, who helps broker marriages as girls reach Shira’s age.

The community, while residing inside the bustling and secular city of Tel Aviv, is very self-contained. In one scene, as the men study, someone gets up to close the windows that allow sounds of secular Tel Aviv to drift inside.

“This moment in the movie really gives the idea of being in the environment,” said Yiftach Klein, who plays the brother-in-law Yochay.

Burshein, 45, was born in New York and graduated from film school in Jerusalem in 1994. During that period, she became deeply religious. She has since been making films within the Orthodox community to help promote self-expression.

“I love this world. I chose this world. I was not born to this world,” she said.

Read more at Washington Post.

Native Americans Have Jewish DNA!

 

Israeli researchers: Group of Colorado Indians have genetic Jewish roots

Sheba Medical Center geneticists find common genetic mutation, often called the 'Ashkenazi mutation,' associated with an increased risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.

Sheba Medical Center geneticists have found that a population of Indians in the U.S. state of Colorado has genetic Jewish roots going back to the expulsion of Jews from Spain.

The common marker was a unique genetic mutation on the BRCA1 gene. This mutation, commonly known as the "Ashkenazi mutation," is found in Jews of Ashkenazi origin and is associated with an increased risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.

The trail began with research conducted by Prof. Jeffrey Weitzel, an oncogenetic (cancer genetics) expert at the City of Hope Hospital in California. Weitzel examined samples from 110 American families of Hispanic origin, and followed them through a computational genetics study, and in 2005 published an article pointing to their common ancestry: People who had immigrated to the United States from Mexico and South America.

Read more at Haaretz.

Mel Gibson Wants to Make a Maccabees Movie

 He could play Antiochus.

Mel Gibson has already taken on Christmas, and is now set to turn his attention to the Chanucah story.

The actor, who was famously arrested for drink driving and launched into a tirade about Jews, is to bring the story of Judah Maccabee to the big screen.

The as yet unnamed drama will be written by Basic Instinct screenwriter Joe Eszterhas and Mr Gibson. It will follow the story of the legendary Jewish warrior, who along with his father and brothers led the Jews in a revolt against the Greek conquerors.

Mr Gibson’s previous biblical outing, The Passion of the Christ, was told in Aramaic, but there is no word yet whether the new film will feature any ancient languages.

Mr Gibson has a track record of playing maverick fighters; one of his most notable roles was that of Scottish rebel William Wallace in Braveheart.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Museum of Tolerance, said Mr Gibson should not be cast in the film or involved in it in any way.

"He has shown nothing but antagonism and disrespect to Jews," said Rabbi Hier. "There were the antisemitic remarks he made, his portrayal of Jews in The Passion of Christ.

"He's had a long history of antagonism with Jews. Casting him as a director or perhaps as the star of Judah Maccabee is like casting Madoff to be the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or a white supremacist as trying to portray Martin Luther King Jr.

"It's simply an insult to Jews."

Read more at TheJC.com.

Update: Jeffrey Goldberg gives some highlights of his interview with Mel Gibson.

However, I would be remiss not to include our extended discussion on circumcision. One of the more brutish aspects of the Hannukah story was the decision by the Maccabees to forcibly circumcise assimilated Jews. Some Jews, who had acquiesced to assimilation before the revolt, had even attempted to "rebuild" their foreskins. In other words, the penis plays a more central role in the Hannukah story than you were told in Hebrew School.

This all seemed like fodder for a discussion with Gibson. Here is a transcript of this part of the conversation.

Jeffrey Goldberg: There are some unpleasant aspects to this story, you know. Some crazy stuff went on. Some of the people were so in love with Greek culture that they would uncircumcise themselves.

Mel Gibson: I know!  I read that. That's weird. How do you do that?

JG: You attach weights to your penis, I think. I think they pull the skin down. Some people have extra skin.

MG: Fuck, I don't know. I don't know how you do it.

JG: I think they attach weights. Which has to --
 
MG: -- Damage you.

JG: Well, hurt like I don't know what. The whole idea was to go and wrestle naked. It wasn't just in front of your wife that you were worried about. It was in the gymnasium.

MG: With the guys!

JG: I guess they didn't want to be embarrassed with a circumcised prick.

MG: Dick.

JG: Yeah, dick. It was a war about circumcision in some ways.

MG: Weird.
 
JG: I don't know how you dramatize that.

MG: You have to mention it, but you wouldn't want to make it a thing in the movie. "Hold them down!" Jesus.

JG: Try to convince your actors.

MG: In this scene, we'll stay away from the disgusting aspects. We'll stay on the guy's face. Aaargghhh!

JG: Well, you did that before. You had them pull out your intestines in Braveheart.

MG: Disemboweled. You know, they castrated William Wallace. First they castrated him, then they dragged him through the streets behind horses.

JG. They did?

MG: I softened it a lot. They cut off his dick and his balls and they dragged him through the streets. Then they hung him up and drew and quartered him. He was a real wreck.

JG: I didn't realize they castrated him.

MG: It was hideous. Yecchhh. You don't put that in films. I thought, "I'm not doing that."

No Rolling on Shabbos at Israeli Lebowski Festival

 
No Rolling on Shabbos!

JERUSALEM (AFP)---The White Russians were kosher, character costumes were topped off with yarmulkes, and participants were most certainly not rolling on Shabbos at Israel's first ever Big Lebowski festival. 

The celebration of all things related to cult classic "The Big Lebowski" was a chance for Israeli fans of the movie to swap lines of dialogue and show off their skill at bowling, the preferred sport of the film's main characters.  

The 1998 film stars Jeff Bridges as Jeffrey Lebowski, better known as "the Dude" -- a lovable slacker with a taste for White Russians, marijuana, and the band Creedence Clearwater Revival.  

His quiet life of smoking and bowling is interrupted when he is mistaken for a businessman with the same name, the "Big Lebowski" of the movie's title,
and is plunged into a world of blackmail, embezzlement and kidnapping.  

Along for the ride are his friends and bowling partners, the quiet and rather dopey Donny, played by Steve Buscemi, and Walter, played by John Goodman, an aggressive Vietnam veteran who converted to Judaism to marry his now ex-wife but continues to take his new faith extremely seriously.  

The movie's sharp dialogue, unlikely twists and, above all, the serene attitude of "the Dude" have inspired a fierce following among fans, who have been gathering to celebrate the film in the United States for years.

And for Israeli Jews, there is another draw: Walter's impassioned defence of Judaism, including a scene in which insists in no uncertain terms that he will not be bowling on a Saturday, the Sabbath: "I don't roll on Shabbos!" 

Read more at EJP.

 

Austrian State TV "Regrets" Broadcast of 1930's Racist Disney Video

  
"Jewish beggar" segment at about 6:05 into the video. (h/t: Guest)

VIENNA — Austria's State TV is apologizing for broadcasting a 1930s Walt Disney cartoon that critics say reinforces anti-Semitic stereotypes of the era.

"The Three Little Pigs" depicts the Big Bad Wolf disguised as a Jewish beggar, complete with a long nose, beard and caftan, as he tries to gain entry to one of the pigs' homes. The Austria Press Agency says it was seen last week on one of the network's children's programs.

Program director Wolfgang Lorenz expressed his "great" regrets Tuesday that the cartoon was broadcast. He spoke of a slip-up that evaded the "strictest quality criteria," and said he would make sure that "such a mistake ... will not occur again."

Criticism was first voiced by the weekly "Falter" magazine.

Read more at Washington Post.

BBC Infiltrates "Secretive, Exotic" Hasidic Community

"The Jews and their strange matrimonial rituals"

North London's Hasidic Jewish community is an intensely private world, where marriage is an integral rite of passage, strict rules must be adhered to and faith is taken seriously. Film-maker Paddy Wivell spent three months finding out what goes on behind closed doors and how an outsider is received.

"Nobody can become a 10-minute Jew," warns Hasidic scholar and Stamford Hill resident Gaby Lock. "It's so vastly away from your way of life that you would have no understanding of it whatsoever."

In Lock's front room, he talks about just a few of the 613 Commandments that govern the lives of the 20,000 orthodox Hasidic Jews who live here. It's already enough to give you a headache.

Out on the streets, men with beards and ringlets wear black hats and coats and hurry to synagogue while women push buggies into kosher supermarkets wearing wigs to protect their modesty.

The Hasidim see a lot of modern technology as a potential danger, putting at risk the spirit of purity and holiness of the community and threatening the innocent minds of its children.

Television is known as "the Yetzer Hara Box" which roughly translated means the "evil temptation machine". Owning one can be likened to "having an open sewer in the lounge".

The change between Stamford Hill and even a just a mile down the road is like crossing a border into another country.

"[There are] laws concerning charity, laws concerning the salting of meat, rules concerning the eating of meals, laws about how to go the toilet," says Lock, plucking passages at random from just one of his volumes of the Code of Jewish Law.

Along with these rules, the desire for privacy and scepticism about the media makes it difficult to speak to anyone.

"Everyone is very secretive," says Lock's wife Tikwah, who has been married to him for 40 years.

"They're thinking about the children they have to marry off and what will harm their name. Blow it all. We just say what we like, especially my husband."

Lock smiles. He is rare in this community - someone happy to engage with outside media. In fact, he quite enjoys ruffling feathers.

He is considered something of a rebel but in the village-like atmosphere of Stamford Hill, even he doesn't want to be too conspicuous and won't be filmed outside the confines of his home.

A lot of the community is very open and engaging to speak to, but most are unwilling to appear on camera.

Read more at BBC.

Speaking as a Hasid, I thought that William and Kate's wedding had a lot stranger rituals and much weirder traditional costumes.

Jewish Talent Shines at 2011 Oscars

Very proud of her.

LOS ANGELES (JTA) -- A minyan of Jewish talent garnered coveted Oscar statuettes during the 2011 Academy Award ceremony.

In the opening montage of the Academy Award ceremony Sunday night, hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway played with a dreidel, which proved to be an omen that a good night awaited Jewish talent.

Israel-born Natalie Portman, beaming and proudly pregnant, walked off with the best actress trophy for her portrayal of a tortured ballerina in “Black Swan.” 

“The King’s Speech” was named best picture and Emile Sherman, scion of a prominent Australian Jewish family, accepted as one of the three producers.

Jewish writers swept the boards, with Britain’s David Seidler of “King’s Speech” winning for original screenplay, and Aaron Sorkin of “The Social Network” for adapted screenplay.

The 73-year old Seidler, like his film’s subject, grew up as a stutterer. His paternal grandparents perished in the Holocaust.

Danish director-writer Susanne Bier, who studied for two years at the Hebrew University and the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, took the best foreign-language film statuette for “In a Better World,” a story of conflicted family relationship. Bier’s forebears fled persecution in Nazi Germany and czarist Russia respectively, and she was raised in an observant Jewish home.

Israeli contenders in various categories were eliminated early on this year, but a short documentary on the work of the Bialik-Rogozin School in south Tel Aviv won in its category.

The film, “Strangers No More” by American filmmakers Kirk Simon and Karen Goodman, chronicles the school’s devoted efforts to educate and integrate students from 48 countries, many the children of foreign workers dozens of who are currently under threat of deportation.

Read more at JTA.org.

Barry the Shmuck's Creepy Hobby Becomes Hot Hipster Trend

Barry (Steve Carell) and his dead mice dioramas. The movie used plastic molds.

These mice are now men.

A bizarre Victorian hobby that transforms dead mice into miniature "humans" is getting its revival in -- where else -- hipster Brooklyn.

A Gowanus gallery offering a $45 class in "anthropomorphic taxidermy" today sold out in four hours.

For inspiration, the gallery will have a punk-rocker mouse with green hair and a Hamlet mouse cloaked in a cape on hand for the class.

They look like sculptures, but the figurines were once living, breathing, scurrying rodents.

"It looks less like an animal and more like a weird art project," said Susan Jeiven, 39, a tattoo artist and taxidermist who'll teach the class at Observatory art space.

The three-hour stuffing session is not for the squeamish.

Jeiven buys the frozen vermin from snake-feed stores, then thaws them out and sucks out their blood with a syringe.

On class day, students will clean out the mice's innards with razors and remove their bones. Borox and strong chemicals are applied to preserve their coats.

Then the artistry gets under way, with the students shaping molds out of clay, sewing on the preserved skins, and using wires to set the mice into odd poses.

Jeiven is a purist, so her mice will be dressed in Victorian bloomers and vintage doll clothing.

Read more at NY Post.

Why do these people call themselves "hipsters" and not "shmucks"?

EPIC FAIL: Louisville Station Reports Steelers Beat "Jew" York Jets

Jew York Jets lost to the Shittsburgh Stealers.

This is the thing about TV, especially something wit the immediacy of a newscast – you’re always this close to a massive screwup. WLKY, a Louisville-based station, experienced an unfortunate brush with this reality while giving viewers a rundown of yesterday’s AFC Championship Game. Yes, the graphic says the Jets are from “Jew York.” Yes, we admit we were amused. No, we do not think the network was as amused as we were, and yes, we imagine some poor producer had an interesting discussion with one superior or another. Beware typos, people.

Read more at Sportsgrid.

Kaparos Special: The Chicken of Tomorrow (MST3K)

 

 

Oliver Stone's Brain on Drugs

Oliver "Da Juice are out to get me!" Stone: "At the end of the day, ...uh...[drug use] kept me...it helped me, kept me balanced, and kept me inquisitive. I don't think I fell asleep. I moderate everything I do, and uh, try to get away inside the so-called laws which I find ridiculous (laughs) do I look like I'm insane here?"

Israeli Civilians Practice "Duck & Cover"

 
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - MAY 26: School children take cover under desks during a nationwide drill to prepare the public for an emergency situation, on May 26, 2010 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Sirens sounded across the country as authorities put an extensive missile drill exercise into practice to test the nation's preparedness. Getty Images.

JERUSALEM – Sirens sounded across Israel Wednesday morning as part of a massive air raid drill aimed at practicing the civilian response to large-scale rocket attacks.

Emergency crews and soldiers have been practicing all week how to deal with multiple casualties from rocket explosions. Some Israelis rushed to air raid shelters in Wednesday's public part of the four-day drill, but others ignored the wailing sirens.

In the central Israeli city of Rehovot, teachers marched a line of small children toward a shelter in a community center, but next door, the neighborhood bomb shelter remained locked, and none of the residents tried to follow government instructions to run for the bombproof facilities.

Residents of nearby cities told reporters they already experienced running for cover during real rocket attacks, so they did not feel the need to practice.

Rockets pummeled large parts of Israel during the 2006 summer war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and last year's winter war with Gaza militants.

Gaza militants and Hezbollah, along with Syria, still have large numbers of rockets. Another threat comes from Iran, which has missiles that can hit Israel and has a nuclear program that Israel charges is designed to produce nuclear weapons. Iran insists the program is peaceful.

Read more at Associated Press. 

If Iran drops a nuke, "duck & cover" won't help much.

 

 

Amazing Reunion of Infant Holocaust Survivors, Born in Concentration Camp

Berlin - U.S. soldiers who liberated a Nazi concentration camp in April 1945 were amazed to discover, among the countless famished and dead, seven Jewish mothers and their babies, who had somehow avoided execution or starvation.

This week, six of those former babies are to gather for an emotional reunion at Dachau on the outskirts of Munich.

German television is to air a television documentary which explores the miracle of how these three infant boys and four infant girls slipped through the cracks of the Nazi killing machine.

George, Jossi, Leslie, Marika, Agnes, Judit and Szuzi spent the first months of their lives in Kaufering I, a camp 50 kilometres west of Munich.

Marika Novakova, 65, never understood when she was growing up in the Slovakian small town of Dunajska Streda why her birth certificate said she had been born in Kaufering, a village in Bavaria. It did not make sense, but her mother refused to explain why.

A couple of documentary makers employed by German broadcaster WDR, Eva Gruberova and Martina Gawaz, asked the mother for an interview, but Eva Fleischmanova refused. Finally she re-considered. As the cameras filmed, she unveiled her past.

Fleischmanova describes the horrors of the war, how she was nearly gassed at Auschwitz and ended up in Kaufering. She tells of her daughter's birth in captivity, and how she kept her personal Holocaust story secret because of anti-Semitism in Slovakia.

Read more at Vos is Neias.
 

Hamas Psy-Ops Cartoon Gloating Over Gilad Shalit

South Park Muhammed CENSORED; Jon Stewart tells RevolutionMuslim what they can do

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
South Park Death Threats
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

But nobody mentioned Barbra Streisand.
 

Hasidic Rabbis Harrassed by Fans and Papparazzi Who Think They're Brad Pitt

Chabad of Conejo wishes everyone a Happy Purim!

Turkey Demands Israeli Apology for Complaining about Turkish Anti-Semitic Film (WTF?)

JERUSALEM – Turkey rejected an Israeli attempt Wednesday to make amends for humiliating its ambassador, and threatened to bring its envoy home if Israel didn't deliver an apology by the evening.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon issued a statement criticizing his own undiplomatic behavior, which included forcing Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol to sit on a lower seat and not shaking his hand. But the statement fell short of an apology and failed to defuse a diplomatic feud that has further strained ties between the once-close allies.

"They have been given time until tonight, they either fix it or our ambassador will head for Turkey on the first flight tomorrow" for consultations, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said. "After that, we will make an evaluation."

Ayalon set off the diplomatic firestorm when he summoned Celikkol late Monday, ostensibly to complain about a Turkish TV drama that has been perceived as anti-Semitic. The show, "The Valley of the Wolves," depicts Israeli security forces as kidnapping children and shooting old men.

Ayalon invited Israeli TV crews to watch the meeting, and pointedly explained to the cameramen how he was snubbing the ambassador by placing him on a lower chair and refusing to shake his hand.

Celikkol later said he hadn't known what Ayalon was saying to the cameramen.

Read more at Associated Press.

My head hurts.

Oliver Stone: "I've Walked in Hitler's Shoes and in Stalin's Shoes"

American director's upcoming Showtime documentary promises to put mass-murderers 'in context'. According to Stone, 'Stalin, Hitler, Mao and McCarthy have been vilified pretty thoroughly by history'

American director Oliver Stone's upcoming Showtime documentary miniseries "Secret History of America" promises to put mass-murderers such as Stalin and Hitler "in context."

"Stalin, Hitler, Mao, (US Senator Joseph) McCarthy - these people have been vilified pretty thoroughly by history," Stone told reporters at the Television Critics Association's semi-annual press tour in Pasadena.

"Stalin has a complete other story," Stone said. "Not to paint him as a hero, but to tell a more factual representation. He fought the German war machine more than any single person. We can't judge people as only 'bad' or 'good.'

"Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and it's been used cheaply. He's the product of a series of actions. It's cause and effect ... People in America don't know the connection between World War I and World War II ...

"I've been able to walk in Stalin's shoes and Hitler's shoes to understand their point of view. We're going to educate our minds and liberalize them and broaden them. We want to move beyond opinions ... Go into the funding of the Nazi party. How many American corporations were involved, from GM through IBM. Hitler is just a man who could have easily been assassinated."

The controversial director's 10-part documentary series for Showtime promises to focus on events that "at the time went under-reported, but crucially shaped America's unique and complex history of the last 60 years." An airdate has not yet been set.

Read more at YNet.

This is the guy who portrayed President Bush as a war criminal who deserved to be assassinated.
 

Egyptian Film Portrays Eeville Zionists as "Nazis"

Spy thriller from Bat Yam takes Egypt by storm

'Cousins' stars ugly, racist Israeli as Jewish state is depicted as arch enemy No. 1. Despite box office craze, some think script is bad and Tel Aviv is as glamorous as ever

The movie "Cousins" ("Welad Ela'am") has won huge popularity in Egypt. Even three weeks after its debut, it's nearly impossible to get tickets to the movie in Cairo and its surroundings. The spy thriller, which takes place in Tel Aviv and compares Israelis to Nazis, is a hot topic on talk shows and has its stars putting in many long hours of interviews with the Arab media.

Though the production studio is miffed that sales figures have been distorted in favor of the comedy "Amir the Sailor," the movie's main competitor on the charts. However, the company is proud of the record income of 14.4 million Egyptian liras (about $2.5 million) it raked in within just the first two weeks.

At the beginning of the movie, we see an Egyptian father taking his wife and two children sailing off the shores of Egypt. In the middle of the sailing trip, the true story comes forth. The father, Daniel (Sharif Munir), is a Mossad agent who decided to kidnap his wife Selwa (Mona Zaki) and two children to Israel. He injects his wife with sedatives and brings her and the children to Israel.

Read more at YNet.

Bear in mind that there are people who tout the wonderful "peace treaty" between Egypt and Israel as a shining example of the delightful "peace" that will prevail when Israel makes "peace" with the "peace loving" Palestinians.

Have a piece of peace!