November 20, 2011 | 4:50 pm

Do we (heart) Drake because Drake has a heart?

Posted by Danielle Berrin

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Among his recent achievements—at least one being declared hip-hop’s “center of gravity” by The New York Times—the black-Jewish hip-hop artist Drake has won “the right to be emotionally complicated,” writes Times’ music critic Jon Caramanica in a review of Drake’s new album, “Take Care.”

What sets Drake apart from hip-hop’s pseudo-hoodlums is emotionalism in earnest. “Drake is eager to dismantle himself, to show off his corroded insides,” Caramanica observes. “And while he’s a thrilling rapper, on the verge of keeping pace with the genre’s best technicians, he’ll choose feelings over skill almost every time.”

Drake knows he has a way with the ladies. One lyric goes: “Girl you ain’t the only one/That’s trying to be the only one.” But as Caramanica tells it—love, not conquest, is his aim:

No rapper has been as woman focused as Drake since LL Cool J, but seduction is barely a motif for him. He’s past that, on to disloyalty, miscommunication, manipulation. He lives in a world where complete trust isn’t possible and believes the only woman right for him is a scarred one.

Too bad Caramanica doesn’t get a cut, because that last line just sold a few thousand more albums.

November 20, 2011 | 4:43 pm

The ‘Twilight’ of movie magic

Posted by Danielle Berrin

It was supposed to be cozy and comforting to loll in bed on a gloomy, rainy Sunday reading the NY Times. Why must A.O. Scott depress me?

The Harvard-educated NY Times film critic has in essay in today’s paper declaring what I already know and feel (at least most of the time): “Film is Dead? What Else is New?” In it, Scott rightly taps into some strange psychic phenomenon that has movie lovers in a malaise, lamenting some lost magic to moviemaking that has dampened dreams of escape. We used to go to the movies and feel something. What happened?

Scott writes:

The past is full of glories, whether black-and-white jewels of the old studio system (“Casablanca” and “All About Eve” come up a lot), imported treasures from the 1960s (Antonioni! Godard!) or rough diamonds from the brief splendor of the New Hollywood in the ’70s. Whatever your preferred golden age, one thing is certain: They just don’t make them like they used to.

Sometimes they do, but mostly they don’t. When is the last time an onscreen couple sizzled like Bogart and Bacall? Or bantered like Hepburn and Tracy? Ugh, I know, it’s so cliche—how can I even write such things? But the simple truth is that the two best movies I’ve seen in the past six months are “To Have and Have Not,” released in 1944 (with Bogart and Bacall) and 1963’s “Charade,” starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. Are they narrative and technical masterworks? I don’t care. I loved them because they gave me exactly what I needed when I went to watch them: When I was missing a love, “To Have” brought him back; and when I wanted to travel with him “Charade” brought us to Paris. Even when he’s gone, those movies will be there, as medicine. 

“It can be hard to escape, and even harder to argue against, the feeling that something we used to love is going away, or already gone,” Scott writes. “This is less a critical position or a historical insight than a mood, induced by the usual selective comparisons and subjective hunches. Back then (whenever it was) the stars were more glamorous, the writing sharper, the stories more cogent and the critics more powerful.” 

“Are movies essentially a thing of the past? Does whatever we have now, digital or analog, represent at best a pale shadow of bygone glory?”

Perhaps, if “Twilight” is a meant as a current rendition of “The English Patient”. But even so, a good movie doesn’t have to be an emblem of masterful filmmaking; technical skills and style are not often the elements that stir our souls. Movies are best when they transport us, sometimes deeper into ourselves, sometimes away from the harshness of our lives.

Sitting in the corner of a dark theater last night, when I needed to believe in the impossible, “Twilight: Breaking Dawn” provided just that. When young Bella becomes pregnant with a half-human, half-vampire child whose rapid growth and supernatural strength threatens to kill her – and miraculously, she survives! – my own troubles seem as ominous as vanilla ice cream. 

So glamorous black and white is over. The cinematic experience is not. Movies can still serve as an entry into ourselves and an escape to another world. Where vampires and humans can fall in love, and despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and painful compromise, make it work.

Wouldn’t it be nice if life was that way, too?

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November 18, 2011 | 12:51 pm

Federation takes Hollywood to the holy land…again

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Every year major Jewish organizations spend a ton of money (or charge a ton of money) to bring Hollywood groups to Israel.

At the moment, two separate delegations—one comprised mainly of television actors and the other, directors—are traveling through Israel as part of the Jewish Federation’s Tel Aviv/Los Angeles Partnership, The Creative Coalition and the American Israel Education Foundation, which is connected to AIPAC.

I’m currently at work on a story that investigates the impact of these trips and whether they actually inspire participants to become Israel advocates when they return home.

In the meantime, you can read about what these groups are doing over there at Haaretz. One interesting thing about these trips is how close they bring participants to Israeli political life. Virtually all of the trips conducted through the Federation and AIPAC get the opportunity to meet with Israeli leaders, from memebers of the Knesset, to the mayor of Jerusalem, to members of the executive office, including President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Neyanyahu. In what other country would tourist missions be given such access? The fact that guests are treated so honorably is one such indication of how much the Israeli government values these missions and believes in their ability to reflect positively on the country.

Read more at Haaretz:

The actors’ delegation, headed by Tim Daley, has 21 members, including Emmy award winner Joe Pantoliano (“The Sopranos” ), Andrea Bowen (“Desperate Housewives” ), Steven Weber (“Brothers and Sisters” ) and Giancarlo Esposito (“Once Upon a Time” ). The directors’ delegation also includes scriptwriters and senior studio executives, inter alia, Marta Kauffman, one of the creators of “Friends,” and Nina Tassler, who heads the CBS television network’s entertainment division.

Last night, the actors held a press conference at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv in which they detailed their itinerary, which includes visits to Sderot and Ramallah, a tour of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and a visit to an absorption center for Ethiopian immigrants. Actress Patricia Arquette (“Medium” ) said the goal of the trip was to learn about the “nuances” of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Actor Richard Schiff (“The West Wing” ) added that when they return to the United States, they plan to share what they have learned with their friends and others.

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November 18, 2011 | 10:57 am

Mac Miller and a generation of Jewish hip-hop

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Earlier this week, the 19-year-old “white Jewish rapper” known as Mac Miller reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts with his debut album,  “Blue Slide Park.” According to ABC News, the album sold 144,487 copies during its first week of sale, and prompted the high-praise headline: “Mac Miller: The Next Eminem?”

Despite the hype, Showbiz411 declared Miller’s album “juvenile” (excerpting the lyric:  “f—- the police ), but added that he is a skilled, self-taught musician. At the age of 6, Miller taught himself how to play piano, guitar, drums and bass.

Miller was born Malcolm McCormick in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to a Christian father and Jewish mother, according to Wikipedia. Miller was reportedly raised Jewish, became a Bar Mitzvah and is chatty about his Jewish identity during interviews.

In 2010, he spoke to the Jewish Chronicle, Pittsburgh’s local Jewish paper about tattoos, Hanukkah and his Bar Mitzvah:

Jewish Chronicle: You’ve got a big chai (Hebrew for life) tattoo. Tell me about it.

Mac Miller: I just love life. I’m a real positive energy dude, not negative at all. I’ve grown up Jewish. I went to Emma Kaufmann Camp, I had a bar mitzva. Part of it was to remember that’s who I always will be. But I could’ve gotten a number of Jewish-related tattoos; I got the chai because life is really important. Enjoying every possible second of life.

JC: Have you taken any heat from traditional Jews about the tattoos?

MM: People have said, ‘What if you need to get a job’ or ‘You can’t be buried in a Jewish cemetery,’ but to me, my life is my life. I chose to get tattoos because I love having art on my body to represent who I am.

JC: What was the best, and worst, Chanuka present you ever got?

MM: Best present ever was a keyboard. I told my parents I really wanted to make music. I was only 5 or 6. I hooked that thing up and never stopped playing it. But the worst, and every Jew can relate to this, was being all excited to open up the present, thinking it’s going to be something big, and it’s socks.

JC: What’s your most awkward memory about your bar mitzva?

MM: That’s such an awkward stage in your growth as a person. Looking at the pictures, I’m like ‘Man, look at me back then, what a weird looking dude.’ I’ve never had a fear of performing, obviously, but the preparation of people saying it’s your big day — well, you don’t really understand until you get older.”

Miller is part of a growing list of Jewish artists attracted to the hip hop genre, including the African-American rapper Drake and the Israeli group Hadag Nahash. And who could forget the famous trio from New York City who became The Beastie Boys?

The attraction to hip-hop may be instinctual for an ethnic group with proven storytelling skills. Hip-hop, more than any other genre besides Country music, encourages a narrative form of self-exposure.

Which may be why the Israeli hip hop artist, Shorty, visited Tufts University Hillel earlier this week to describe her experience as an openly gay musician living in Israel. The event, part of an “Out in Israel” series sponsored by Tufts Hillel, was designed to educate students about the civil rights accorded to the gay community in Israel, and judging by reports, Shorty maintained her tough-gal exterior even while discussing her outsider status.

The Jewish relationship to self-expression is complicated, since, for much of history Jews were safer if they hid or downplayed their identity. But for these young artists, Jewish identity is a source of pride (as Mac Miller raps in the video below, “I read the To-rah!”); its central focus is not on survival, but rather, flourishing in an age of unprecedented possibility.

Meet Mac Miller in this video produced by Shalom Life:

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November 17, 2011 | 6:50 pm

Demi and Ashton and the dirty word DIVORCE

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Last night the writer Joan Didion addressed a large crowd gathered at Vibiana for the Los Angeles Public Library’s ALOUD series about her newest book, “Blue Nights.” It’s not a memoir (Didion hates the term - “it’s soft”) but a meditation of sorts on the the death of her daughter.

“This is the first time I ever didn’t write a narrative,” she said.

Instead, the book is fragmentary, disconnected, revealed in gusts, like her memory.

“My daughter’s death is not a narrative because it wasn’t supposed to happen.”

What did she mean by that? The statement sounded vague and pretentious (though Didion is one of those people who is allowed to act pretentious if she wants).

Today’s news that Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher will divorce after six years of marriage made me realize what she meant: This is a break in the narrative. This wasn’t supposed to happen. They were in love! And rich! And beautiful!

And yet, Moore announced earlier today that she plans to divorce Kutcher, 17 years her junior, and she did not equivocate.

What went so wrong in the marriage that looked so right? Even Bruce Willis, Moore’s first husband, appeared to support the relationship.

No surprise that the Internet is swirling with stories that Kutcher’s rumored infidelity is to blame for the marriage’s demise. But one should never believe a tabloid has the whole truth; as anyone who’s ever been in a committed relationship knows, they’re hard! and complex, and it is probably not at all true that one rotten thing poisoned the whole batch. 

Moore’s statement announcing the divorce, however, alluded to a clash in values.

“It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I have decided to end my six-year marriage to Ashton,” she said. “As a woman, a mother and a wife there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life.”

“Shared values” is a term we often hear tied to healthy relationships, as if it were possible for every couple to share every value. My rabbi, Terry Bookman from Temple Beth Am in Miami, once said that every person holds core beliefs about basic values like religion, finance, children etc. (he came up with 11 basic values and heck if I remember them all) but said that no couple, no matter how simpatico, will share every one. And while a good litmus test of a promising long-term relationship or marriage is to have as many core values in common as possible, perhaps more importantly, the greater determinant of success is how much each individual is willing to compromise on the values that are not shared.

When things aren’t working, though, plenty of couples take their fragile hopes to psychotherapy.

Demi and Ashton reportedly sought marital counseling from their Kabbalah gurus before sounding the death knell. What kind of advice did they get?

Kabbalah counselor Chana Ginsburg speculated to E!Online that “Kabbalah adherents believe there are all kinds of parallels between (the relationship with G-d) and marriage; understand the higher principles, and you’ll have a better understanding of your relationship, or so the wisdom goes. It helps people transcend above immediate self interest, to see a bigger picture and relate to their marriages in a deeper way.”

When asked how the Jewish mystical tradition would deal with infidelity, Ginsburg offered a hypothetical: “[A] Kabbalah counselor may suggest that ‘God and his creations have rules for interacting with one another—the 10 Commandments being some of them. There’s a framework, in other words, and married people need to adhere to their own agreed frameworks if they expect their divinely-forged union to work.”

In other words, couples need to have agreed upon values. There are rules. Standards. Boundaries. Relationships, just like people, have needs. And those needs must be nourished in order to avoid heartbreak, pain or chaos. 

It would be a wonder if sound advice could unknot all the tangles in a relationship, but alas, the mystical and magical can sometimes get mixed with hard truths that make it impossible for a relationship to continue. As Michael Ondaatje wrote, “The heart is an organ of fire.” Love burns. And love burns out.

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November 15, 2011 | 12:39 pm

NBA Cavalier Omri Casspi a slam dunk for Israel

Posted by Lauren Bottner, Hollywood Jew contributor

Omri Casspi is done waiting around for the NBA season to start. Haaretz reports that he has signed with the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team amidst the lockout between NBA owners and the basketball players. 

Casspi previously played two seasons with the Sacramento Kings and was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers this past summer only to be benched during the long-lasting labor talks taking place currently. 

So far there has been a 135-day work stoppage.  According to NBA Commissioner David Sternsaid as reported in Haaretz, over one third of the teams were losing money, up to $300 million.  “If the NBA claim loses of 300 million dollars, why aren’t they opening the books to the players and letting us play?” tweeted Casspi.

Casspi, the NBA’s first Israeli-born player, opted for venting via social media, tweeting “It sounds like we are the bad guys here after we agreed to 50/50 which means 2.8 billion dollars to the owners in the course of 10 years,” according to Cleveland.com.

Well for now Casspi is off the table and on his way to shoot hoops for Tel Aviv.  It might be time to become die hards for the Tel Aviv Maccabis should our own NBA season get cancelled.  Go Maccabis!

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November 14, 2011 | 6:51 pm

An Afghanistani and Mel Gibson…sounds like the Maccabees

Posted by Lauren Bottner, Hollywood Jew contributor

Mel Gibson, the infamous Jew-loving actor/director/producer auditioned Azita Ghanizada for a role in his upcoming movie about Jewish hero Judah Maccabee.  Or he just wants to date her since the meeting took place over dinner and photos on TMZ include Gibson moving in for the kiss. 

Ghanizada, born in Afghanistan, met Gibson a few weeks ago and he was “taken aback by her beauty and unique ethnicity” so asked her out to dinner to discuss possibly working together. TMZ sources say Ghanizada was “hip to the idea” not no official deal has been made as of yet.

An Afghani and Mel Gibson starring in a movie about Jewish heroes.  So evidently it’s going to be science-fiction!

Read more on Gibson’s Maccabee movie:
Could Gibson be good for the Maccabees?
Mel Gibson gets some Maccabee competition

 

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November 14, 2011 | 6:43 pm

LeBron James gets slammed at Ohio Jewish Community Center

Posted by Lauren Bottner, Hollywood Jew contributor

Pro-basketball star LeBron James filled in for a team at the Mandel Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Cleveland, Ohio at the last minute and not surprisingly crushed his opponents.

But after the game, James got slammed by a sandwich shop worker located within the JCC who reacted to what he thought he heard James say: “These Jews suck at basketball,” reported TMZ.

TMZ spoke with the man who admitted to offering some choice words to James, including “Princess James get out of Cleveland” and “F**k you, you ruined the NBA.” The man was later suspended for three days for the verbal attack. 

James’ rep tells TMZ he didn’t make the comment at all.  Additionally TMZ received a statement from a member of James’ team who reported the allegation is “nonsense” and insisted that he “couldn’t have been nicer to everyone at the JCC, both Jews and non-Jews.”

So perhaps the mustard fumes from the sandwich shop caused the man to become delusional or he was just rooting for the other team seeing as James not only has a pretty good relationship with the Jews but also consulted with orthodox Rabbi Yishayahu Yosef Pinto for a business meeting last year.

Read more at TMZ

For past coverage on LeBron James, visit jewishjournal.com

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