Licensed to be really really good looking
Ha’aretz usually gets kudos for catering to a common denominator that’s slightly higher than its primary daily newspaper competitors, the Yediot and Ma’ariv tabloids. But in the case of this schlockily-headlined item on their website, it seems that Ha’aretz is just trying to piggyback on the formidable wave of hotness that is Bar Refaeli buzz.
Aparently P Diddy spent 500,000 British pounds on the long-form, James Bond-themed promo video for his new I Am King perfume a video that stars Refaeli, but hardly as prominently as she deserves:
Let’s not forget, hotness as striking as Refaeli’s is rare and deserves as much publicity as possible. Her hotness even got French President Nicolas Sarkozy in trouble on live TV, when the politician, himself married to a model, couldn’t help but check Refaeli’s body out. And other publications are even taking note of her babe-itude as well, despite rumors that the fame is going to her head, and despite the controversies caused by her alleged anti-Israel talk.
And the photo shoot contracts don’t seem to be waning for her either, as she recently modeled for the Hurley International Young Contemporary Spring 2009 apparel and swim collection ads.
Hey – as far as we’re concerned, it doesn’t matter to what extent Ha’aretz is lowering its brow. Any Refaeli content is worthy of publication, by definition.
Nostalgia Sunday – Sallah Shabati
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Movies, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture
If you don’t know the film Sallah Shabati then go out and rent it right away because you don’t know Israel. Yes, that’s how strongly I feel about it. Go, go, go out and get it now.
Okay, are you back? Good. Without giving away anything of the plot, Sallah is a film about the immigrant experience and although Israel has changed since 1964 when the movie was made, there are certain constants of Israeli society that humorist Ephraim Kishon put his finger on 44 years ago which still remain the same – bureaucracy, cronyism, societal divides, JNF tree plantings – all the things from which great humor is derived.
The film stars Haim Topol – who went on to have a successful international careers, as well as a very young Arik Einstein, an equally young Gila Almagor and a host of other well-known Israeli actors. It won two Golden Globes and was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category.
Now, the Cameri Theater is reviving the highly successful musical version of Sallah, which first premiered at Habima in 1988. It promises to be good. Here’s the movie version of Sallah’s big number, “Mashiach HaZaken.”
And a clip from the 1988 stage version starring Zeev Revah.
Blue carpet
Israelis love their celebrities. When locally celebrated pop culture figures reach even just the cusp of major international recognition, these figures feel the need to defend themselves as not being proper divas (see Shiri Maimon). When a local unknown becomes a blip on the international pop culture radar, let the Israeli embracing begin (see Eden Harel or Yael Naim).
And when a local becomes a full-blown international sensation – whoo boy, watch out for the storm of disproportionate Israeli love (see Zohan Dvir – yes, yes, we know he’s fictional – and supermodel Bar Rafaeli).
It all stems from a nation that has been deliberately starved of international pop culture contact since its birth – that is, until globalization and cable TV made such isolationism an irrelevant impossibility. The ebb and flow of Israel’s celeb-isolationism can be tracked as a parallel story to the ebb and flow of the profile of international rock acts that perform on her shores.
Known Zionist and big-time studio mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, on the other hand, is working hard to make Israel a standard destination for Hollywood’s elite – or at least for Hollywood’s elite comedic voice talents. Last year, he arranged for Jerry Seinfeld’s much-examined visit to Israel to promote his Bee Movie.
Now Katzenberg has arranged for a big-time Netanya premiere for Madagascar 2, with Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Jada Pinkett Smith attending the screening yesterday. With the right red-carpet arrangements, apparently experiences like the Refaeli-DiCaprio debacle are avoidable. Yesterday, fans lined up, and autographed were signed.
The talent even joked about adoration here exceeding fan buzz back in the US. According to the Jerusalem Post, Stiller was quoted as saying, “This is better than any premiere we have had so far,” while Rock said of Israel, “It’s much better than Hollywood. They don’t like us in Hollywood, but here they love us.” Maybe that’s because American fans have been trained – to an extent, anyway – to ignore celebrities so as to not make them uncomfortable.
Referring to his Madagascar 2 character, Rock took the love to another level: “Marty the Zebra [pictured] loves Israel.”
So yes, Katzenberg, keep them coming. And keep this great land of ours in the international press for items that are happy and light.
Karpal and Lobel snag a Nevada Lulu
Part Canadian, part Tel Avivian, pop singer-songwriter Emilly Karpal released her debut studio full-length album this past August. A collaboration with Tomer Adam Lenzinger, whom she met while working together on an Air remix, Nemashim (Freckles) has served Karpal’s career well, earning her considerable local airplay. One of the album’s key singles, the title track reached number 14 on the Reshet Gimmel radio station’s charts for Israeli music.
Now the cheeky, 80s-style bubblegum-electro retro-fest video clip for that single, below, has earned the performer some accolades from an unlikely source. Held in the low-key Nevada town of Pahrump, probably best known for being home to the Sheri’s Ranch brothel, the third annual High Desert Shorts International Film Festival has awarded $100 in cash prize money to Ofir Lobel for his work on the “Nemashim” video. The music video category’s competition was as stiff as can be expected from a community film festival, but Lobel’s slick work deserves kudos no matter what the scale of the context.
In addition to his music video work, Lobel, who has also spent lots of time in North America over the years, has served as a web-based news reporter and as a TV actor. He also has his own budding career as a musician.
In comments to the Israeli music video TV channel 24, Lobel has indicated that he hopes this award, nicknamed the Lulu, will open up career opportunities for him overseas. Karpal, on the other hand, said, “It’s fun that we’ve reached all the way to Nevada, since I’ve never even been there.”
Bashir still dancing
Under the auspices of the Haifa Film Festival and the Tel Aviv Journalists’ Association, the Israeli Film Critics Awards ceremony gave Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir a statuette for being the year’s “Best Israeli Film” earlier this week.
The IFC award will have to vie for surface space on Folman’s mantelpiece, as Bashir, a new fusion of genres (documentary and animation), has been garnering accolades for quite some time now. Aside from perhaps finally heralding the dawn of the Israeli feature film animation industry, the movie received mad love at Cannes this past summer.
Now people are starting to wonder if it could be a contender for an Academy Award in the “Foreign Language” category – the category that allowed Joseph Cedar’s Beaufort to beat out The Band’s Visit for an Oscar nomination at the last ceremonies. Could Israeli films possibly be nominated for two Oscars in two years?
The Academy recently released a list of 67 movies chosen for the award by 67 countries, with Waltz with Bashir representing Israel. Since no animated movie has ever received a nomination in the Foreign Language category, it’s highly unlikely that Folman will make it to the red carpet. But then again, given that the Jews rule Hollywood with an iron fist, one never knows….
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