Celeb spotting

March 23, 2010 - 11:07 AM by · 3 Comments
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Movies, Pop Culture 

There’s celeb-spotting in places like Los Angeles and New York City, and then there’s celeb-spotting in a place like Jerusalem.

I’ve had my day in celeb heaven while living in New York…spotting Jerry Seinfeld in Central Park when he was dating Shoshanna Lonstein; getting a nod from Al Pacino (also in the park) and helping Willem Defoe pick out bread in Dean and Deluca.

But Jerusalem, as we know, is different. Celebs are different, and they’re not the same kinds of celebs, unless you have some Hollywood type coming through for one event or another. Our celebs are of a different caliber, you might say, and celeb spotting requires a keen mind and good set of eyes, as well as a decent memory for why said person is famous. It’s kind of like that game Celebrity, in which you write down names of people who are famous, but they can be famous to you or to the group of people playing.

So that’s why I was excited to have two celebrity-spottings this week: Spotting #1 was at the park on Saturday afternoon, when a woman came in with her large dog, always an attraction for my boys. As all three frolicked together, I noticed her reading material, a heavy tome that had to do with law and legal matters, and realized that the dog’s owner was none other than Ruth Gavison, the acclaimed Hebrew U. law professor who was up for a Supreme Court nomination in 2005, but failed to secure enough of a majority vote for her appointment.

Then, while waiting at the doctor’s office yesterday, who should walk in but Ralph Goldman, the titan of Jewish communal service who headed the JDC, founded the JCC movement in Israel and created much of Israel’s social services infrastructure before and after statehood. Credit for that sighting goes to my MD office waiting mate, my friend Flo, who spotted him the second he walked in.

Now that I think about it, it’s a kind of local celeb-spotting, or stars of a different kind of galaxy…

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Blue carpet

November 24, 2008 - 6:53 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Movies, Pop Culture 

Hardcore Zionist: Marty the ZebraIsraelis 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.

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