Greenberg's View
Editorial cartoon: To bomb, or not to bomb
Editorial Cartoon REMOVE
 |
|
Advertisement
Jewish Journal Tags
Tag: Review
View the most popular tags overall?
Two Jews on Film: The Grey review [VIDEO]
Two Jews on Film: ‘Sherlock Holmes: Game Of Shadows’ review
Amy Ephrons intimate view of a life well lived
Amy Ephrons captivating new book, Loose Diamonds and other things Ive lost (and found) along the way (William Morrow, $19.99), is a deliciously honest account of Ephrons life experiences, wonderful vignettes that, to borrow her own words...
Jerusalem, behind the veil of piety
Jerusalem is always in the headlines, or so it seems, but the same city on a hill has commanded the attention of the Western world without interruption since biblical antiquity.
Book review: The risks of trusting others
Those who follow the teachings of religion by presuming the innate goodness of fellow human beings will quite likely find the book Dangerous Instincts: How Gut Feelings Betray Us, by Mary Ellen OToole and Alisa Bowman (Hudson Street Press, $25.95) shocking.
Israels ‘Unmaking’
No book review Ive written for The Jewish Journal has prompted as much feedback as the one I wrote about A New Voice for Israel by Jeremy Ben-Ami, the founder of J Street. His argument that Israel must make uncomfortable compromises and take dire risks in order to secure peace with the Palestinian Arabs is clearly unsettling to a great many Jews, both in Israel and America.
Two Jews on Film: ‘My Week with Marilyn’ review
Two Jews on Film: J. Edgar’ review
Two Jews on Film: ‘Tower Heist’ review
Two Jews on Film: ‘The Big Year’ Review,
MetaMaus revisits, expands upon Pulitzer-winning graphic novel
Art Spiegelman shattered the conventions of comic books and Holocaust literature with the publication of Maus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel
Two Jews on Film: ‘Real Steel’ review [VIDEO]
Two Jews on Film give competing ‘bagel’ ratings to ‘Moneyball’ [VIDEO]
Joseph Hellers daughter gets the final word
As a rule, a novel speaks for itself and its author, but when it comes to Joseph Heller, we are privileged to have an especially intimate source of information about his life and work.
Two Jews on Film: ‘Contagion’ Review
Two Jews on Film: ‘Our Idiot Brother’ review
Two Jews on Film give “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” five out of five bagels
Two Jews on Film: ‘Cowboys And Aliens’ review
Two Jews on Film: ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ Review
Bobby Fischer: The decline of a troubled genius
The world is rich in ability, awash in talent. But, though we use the word with abandon, genius is rare.
Two Jews on Film: ‘Harry Potter and Deathy Hallows: Part II’ Review
Two Jews on Film: ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ review
GoodFellasat shul
The words money laundering rabbis in any book subtitle seems guaranteed to arouse the curiosity of at least some Jewish Journal readers. Add into the equation that the informant of the subtitle is a rabbis son; that fact might fairly be termed the clincher. This truth-is-stranger-than-fiction crime narrative is told by Ted Sherman and Josh Margolin, reporters for the Newark (New Jersey) Star-Ledger, in The Jersey Sting: A True Story of Crooked Pols, Money Laundering Rabbis, Black Market Kidneys, and the Informant Who Brought It All Down (St. Martins Press, 386 pages, $26.99).
French film asks, whats in a name?
Baya Benmahmoud, the heroine of the French film The Names of Love, gives new meaning to the concept of political activism. A fervent, if rather nave, left-winger whose guiding motto is, Make love, not war, her mission is to convert right-wing politicians to the correct ideology by sleeping with them. I am a political whore, she announces proudly when she meets Arthur Martin, a 40-ish, uptight ornithologist, who rambles on about bird diseases when Baya inquires whether they should make love at his or her place.
The Cairo Genizas sacred Hebrew texts
Husband and wife team Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole, authors of Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza (Schocken/Nextbook: $26.95), share far more than a marriage -- they enjoy a similar sensibility, one that is delightfully romantic and utopian, but also serious and intellectual and intuitive. It feels as if they both carry a heavy burden upon their shoulders, a wounded empathy of sorts for all those who suffer needlessly. Reading their work sometimes feels like entering a paradise where deeper truths about our common humanity are slowly revealed while the drumbeat of tribal loyalties grows dimmer.
X-Men: First Class—Top Moments From The Most Jewish Superhero Movie Ever [VIDEO]
Summer reads in all varieties
Some beloved and celebrated authors will hit the road in support of their latest books as this summer begins. Here are a few of the most intriguing titles and some of the places where their authors will be reading and signing their books in Southern California:
Future shock: Albert Brooks predicts 2030 America
2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America (St. Martins Press) is Albert Brooks novel (in all senses of the word) take on our not-so-distant future. Anyone familiar with Brooks films, such as Defending Your Life or Modern Romance, will not be surprised that his debut novel is clever and entertaining. But it is also thoughtful, insightful and inventive about issues as diverse as health care, transportation, aging and politics. And funny lets not forget funny.
Brunos Top Five Jewish Moments
New haggadahs bring fresh approaches to celebration
This season, several new haggadahs raise new questions. New interpretations bring new approaches to the seder, enabling readers and participants to bring new layers of meaning to their own celebrations of the holiday.
Which comes first—the parent or the egg?
"You do not get to make your children's choices for them. You can only choose how you will act when their choices are already made."
Those words, which appear in the afterword of Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben's manual for parents of adult children involved in interfaith marriage, summarize in two sentences the crux of his entire book.
Theater: Sex, lies and Yiddish land on ‘Chutzpah’ couch
In a story line that turns a sacred office of psychiatry into a house of fraternizing, a secretary into a jungle cat, a librarian into a sex fiend and a stripper into an academic, writer Mark Troy presents many shocking juxtapositions in the world premiere of his play, "Paging Dr. Chutzpah," at the Sidewalk Studio Theatre in Toluca Lake.
Bad therapy by troubled shrink is revealing TV
"In Treatment," a new HBO drama series, showcases therapist Paul Weston (played by Gabriel Byrne), treating a different client every day of the week and culminating in his seeking out supervision for himself with his ex-supervisor after an eight-year hiatus.
The Bible for dummies—and experts
In "How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now" (Free Press, $35) -- which recently won the 2007 Jewish book of the year prize of the National Jewish Book Awards -- Kugel's interest is not only in what the text says, but in what a modern reader is to make of it.
Eight Jewish albums hit high notes in ‘07
Jewish music of 2007 reviewed.
Do artists intuit scientific truths?
Jonah Lehrer's book, "Proust Was a Neuroscientist," is based on a misunderstanding. Nonetheless, it is engaging, informed, wide ranging and altogether worth reading. At times it has the whip-smart feel of the best term paper you've ever read; if only one could adjust the thesis a bit, it would settle in to what is its real nature -- a provocative meditation, not a genuine discovery.
An Orthodox ‘cast-off’ holds God accountable
Dressed in black, Shalom Auslander wears three tiny silver blocks on a chain that falls close to his neck, with Hebrew letters spelling out the word "Acher," or other. This was a gift from his wife when he completed his memoir, "Foreskin's Lament." Acher was the name given to Elisha ben Abuya, a learned second-century rabbi, after he adopted heretical opinions.
Books: ‘The Year of Living Biblically’ includes a beard, snakes and peaches
So while the book, which is categorized as "humor," may explain religion in a palatable way to the many secular rationalists in the Blue States who would never understand it from a religious person's point of view, "The Year of Living Biblically" can remind even the faithful, even those who "pick and choose" their levels of observance, why they do what they do. And that's not annoying.
Books: Philip Roth’s Zuckerman has left the building
Bipolar Express: ‘Idiot Box’ takes a trip
Rhoda, Mary, Laverne or Rachel would feel instantly at home in Donna Marquet's quirky-cute set for "The Idiot Box," a play currently at the Open Fist Theatre in Hollywood. The cloying "anyplace and no place" flatmates in the big city vibe is spot-on for "The Idiot Box," a shrewd, bittersweet pop-culture critique of American sensibilities post-Sept. 11.
What’s Up for 2007?
YeLAdim will be mixing it up next year with more movies, books, music and TV reviews than ever before.
Proud to Have Guilt
Guilt & Pleasure -- "A magazine for Jews and the people who love them" -- hit newsstands across North America last month, offering readers content ranging from long-form essays and memoirs to fiction, comics, photography and archival material.
Tommywood - A Well-Lit Place
How does one create a literary community in Los Angeles?
The Silent Minority
If there had been any doubts that I was in another country, they were erased when the first reviews of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" began to appear in the London press.
Jew the Right Thing
Reviewed: "To Do Right and the Good: Jewish Approach to Modern Social Ethics," by Elliot N. Dorff (Jewish Publication Society, $34.95.)
"Matters of Life and Death: A Jewish Approach to Modern Medical Ethics," by Elliot N. Dorff (Jewish Publication Society, $25).
"Love Your Neighbor and Yourself: A Jewish Approach to Modern Personal Ethics," by Elliot N. Dorff (Jewish Publication Society, $34.95).
Beyond Miracles and Maccabees
My mother was surprised when I said I was reviewing Chanukah books for kids. "Is there a lot out there?" she asked.
No Vacancy
Last week, before the premiere of my new show "While You Were Out," I got my first big national magazine review.
Allegations at CSUN
Jacquelyn Barnette received the news during a recent meeting with Cal State Northridge officials: A CSUN administrative review had concluded that she was not fired from her student health center job because of anti-Semitism or retaliation.
Let’s Review
Phobia: 1. A compulsive or persistent fear of any specified type of object, stimulus or situation. 2. An exaggerated or persistent dread of or aversion to.
Sitting in the front row of the McCadden Theater in Hollywood was my personal pit of snakes. I would rather be buried alive, in the dark, on top of a skyscraper covered with mice than be reviewed. But there he was, a theater critic from Backstage West trade paper, perched right in the front row to review my one-woman show.
Advertisements
Advertisements
Featured Stories
Film
Who is that masked Jewish man? It’s Hero Man!
David Filmore is a mild-mannered filmmaker. A Shabbat-observant Jew from Australia who moved to West Hollywood 10 years ago, he spends his days focused on his production company, Plutonian Films. REMOVE
Calendar
Feb. 1-10
The 85-year-old comedy icon signs DVD copies of “The Jazz Singer,” the 1959 television remake that features Lewis as Joey Rabinowitz, a nightclub singer torn between show business and his faith. Wristbands will be distributed at 9 a.m., and Lewis will only sign copies of
Site Sections
Newspaper
Serving a community of 600,000, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles is the largest Jewish weekly outside New York City. Our award-winning paper reaches over 150,000 educated, involved and affluent readers each week. Subscribe here.
© Copyright 2012 Tribe Media Corp.
All rights reserved. JewishJournal.com is hosted by Nexcess.net. Homepage design by Koret Communications.
Widgets by Mijits. Site construction by Hop Studios.
