October 23, 2007 | 10:33 pm

[VIDEO] If Baruch Obama and Dick Cheney are cousins, what about us?

Posted by The Web Guy

I’ve said it before, we—Jews—are family.

We are the children of Avraham Avinu (Abraham Our Father) and some of us are descendants of the first Jewish priest—the first Cohen—Aaron, brother of Moshe Rabbenu (Moses Our Teacher.)

It’s all there in Jon Entine’s cutting-edge new book, Abraham’s Children, where he explores questions of Jewish race and identity. Most controversially, Entine digs deep into DNA evidence to discover to what extent the Jewish people are “chosen.”

What?  No reading for you? OK. Don’t read all about it—we have video, doh.

B & D can’t beat our stuff!

—The Web Guy

October 20, 2007 | 3:07 pm

It’s a girl! Mazal tov to Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen

Posted by JewishJournal.com

Facts are scare, but Isla Fisher, fiancee of Sacha Baron Cohen, gave birth to a baby girl yesterday, according to Australian and British media reports.

No name yet, no further details, other than the blessed event took place here in Los Angeles.

This Baby Borat is an American citizen!

And from the looks of this photo of Isla, shot earlier this week, it was about time.

Mazal tov! Jagshemash! Ani v’at, at v’ani, chaverim b’Habonim!

—Dennis Wilen

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October 18, 2007 | 2:29 pm

Ellen DeGeneres is barking up the wrong tree

Posted by JewishJournal.com

Why am I defending Mutts and Moms against Ellen DeGeneres in the Great Doggy War of 2007?  Well, someone has to.

It turns out we adopted our dog Kira from Marina Baktis at Mutts and Moms three years ago.  Marina was a thorough pleasure to deal with.  Not at all the crazy, doggy-Nazi Ellen is making her out to be.  In fact, for us she bent the rules, allowed us to adopt without a home visit, and decided to forego a follow up visit.  Obviously she felt confident we knew what we were doing.  Beyond that, she drove 30 miles to deliver Kira to us. 

Mutts and Moms specializes in pregnant, hard to place dogs—a pretty thankless job.  Maybe Marina was wrong in Ellen’s case, maybe ellen was wrong, maybe it was a misunderstanding—but for Ellen to go public and mobilize her legions against a private citizen devoted to the welfare of abandoned animals—how cruel is that? She could have handled it a thousand better ways.  Yes, be kind to animals.  But humans are animals too, Ellen, right?

—Rob Eshman

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October 14, 2007 | 6:23 pm

U CAN HAZ BIBLE

Posted by JewishJournal.com

The Internets seem to generate phresh pop culture phenoms on a regular basis. The dancing baby, the Kiss Me Turk, All Your Base Belong to Us, and Chris Crocker (who inspired our immensely popular YouTube video “Leave Israel Alone”) are just a few.

One of this year’s most visited Web sites is LOLCat.com, the home of funny cat pictures (hence LOL—Internets slang for ‘laughing out loud’).

The phenom has spread Web-wide.  People sell LOLCats style chachkas on CafePress.com, and create LOLCat videos to share on YouTube..

But why stop there? (And don’t hate us for our freedom.)

The latest is a Web-wide volunteer project to translate the Bible into LOLCat.

Here’s the beginning of Bereshit (Genesis):

1 Oh hai. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat waz invisible, An he maded the skiez An da earths, but he no eated it.
2 The earths wus witout shapez An wus dark An scary An stufs, An he rode invisible bike over teh waterz.
3 An Ceiling Cat sayz, i can haz lite? An lite wuz.
4 An Ceiling Cat sawed teh lite, to seez stufs, An seperatered the lite form dark An stufs but taht wuz ok cuz cats can seez in teh dark An not tripz ovr nethin. an cieling cat sayz u mus hav da moneyz 2 git da milkz.
5 An Ceiling Cat sayed light Day An dark no Day. Teh evning An morning was teh first day.

Women friends tell me Shir HaShirim is extra special, too:

1. Solomones Songz of Songz, kthx.
Teh Beluved.
2. Let him kiss me wit da kissus of hiz mouf—for yer love be moar delitefool den cheezbugers. Srsly.
3. Yu has a smell I likez; yer name is like smellz poorded out. Deh oter sluts luv yu too!
4. Take me wit yu plz, come on! Letz go! the king bringme into hiz chamburz, k?

LOL!

—Dennis Wilen, AKA The Web Guy

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October 11, 2007 | 3:23 pm

Let there be Subway

Posted by JewishJournal.com

I’ve waited my entire life for this moment—the opening of a kosher Subway—seriously. 

As a nice Jewish boy growing up in a kosher home, when Subway was the topic, my religion had always said no—but my heart always yearned for yes.

So when I heard about LA’s first kosher Subway, it was finally time to listen to my heart and fulfill my lifelong destiny of eating a meatball sub.

Mmmmmmmmm—meatballs!

—Jay Firestone

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October 10, 2007 | 12:58 am

Where is the Muslim Adam Sandler?

Posted by The Web Guy

Ahmed Soliman blogs:

The Eid holiday is upon us—the annual Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It’s a festive occasion in which the fast ends, charity is given, and everyone is in a good mood.

I love Eid. I love the cookies my mother makes, and I love going to the Mosque and seeing friends
that I haven’t seen in a long time. But there is one thing that always makes me take pause— why don’t the rest of my non-Muslim, fellow Americans acknowledge this holiday too?

Unlike Christmas, at Eid time people in this country don’t acknowledge the Eid holiday. While American mosques get crowded by millions of Muslims across the country looking to do their Eid prayers, the majority Muslim countries of the world do far more than that (lights, songs, and school holidays). But in America, if you turn on the TV, there are no ‘Happy Eid’ wishes from the stations—and you never hear an ‘Eid’ song on the radio.

Adam Sandler is a Jewish American movie actor who can identify with a lack of recognition for his religious holiday. He recorded a jocular Hanukah song that empathizes with any Jewish American who feels left out of Christmas, and reminds them of all the famous Americans who celebrate Hanukah also. But at least Sandler can say that everyone knows what Hanukah is.

Until you guys find a Muslim Adam Sandler, Happy Eid to all—from your cousins @ JewishJournal.com!

—Dennis Wilen

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October 2, 2007 | 4:59 pm

Video: Orit from Israel says ‘Leave Israel Alone!’

Posted by JewishJournal.com

Inspired by Chris Crocker’s infamous and passionate YouTube appeal for people to leave Britney alone after her bad performance at the MTV 2007 Music Video Awards, Orit from Israel makes this passionate video appeal: LEAVE ISRAEL ALONE!

Says Orit: This video is for anyone who dares bash Israel and demand Israel make more concessions. [STRONG LANGUAGE]

The original ‘Leave Britney Alone’ video

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October 1, 2007 | 9:50 pm

57% of Internet users watch videos online, including me

Posted by JewishJournal.com

The majority of adult internet users in the U.S. (57%) report watching or downloading some type of online video content and 19% do so on a typical day; this includes 66% of those with high-speed connections at home and fully three-quarters of broadband users (74%) who enjoy high-speed connections at both home and work. News content is the most popular genre with every age group except for those ages 18-29. Overall, 37% of adult internet users say they watch news videos, followed closely by comedy or humorous videos at 31%. But young adults (those ages 18-29) are among the most voracious video viewers and, for them, comedy is a bigger draw, with 56% watching humorous videos, compared with 43% of internet users ages 18-29 who say they watch news videos.

That’s according to the Pew Internet Report so you know it must have some kind of credibility, even though on the Internets nothing is true and everything is possible.

Here are a few recent videos that caught my eye:

Neil Gaiman tells a rabbi joke

The Torah Song (not a llama in sight)

What appears to be a Romanian TV news report about an ad campaign for Israeli tourism

And the last Jew in Afghanistan—from Al Jazeera

If you like these, there’s lots more on the JewishJournal.com youTube Channel!

—Dennis Wilen

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