Friday, March 30, 2012

Profile: Dolph Starbeam

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1294

Thanks to Johnny from California for the suggestions, who writes, "About five years ago, Dolph from the Simpsons mentioned that he had to go to Hebrew School. Then a year or two later, when the bullies were picking on a Muslim kid, Lisa pointed out that Dolph is Jewish, Jimbo Jones is Christian, and Kearney belonged to the Cult of Moe."

But of course.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Profile: Peter Yarrow

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1293

Did you know that Yarrow spent three months in prison for schtuping a 14-year-old groupie? Or that he was on the forefront of the drive to get Jews out of the USSR? Or that he was suggested by Shannon from Troy, NY, Ronald from New Jersey, and Mark from Coral Springs, FL?

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Profile: Isaac Singer

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1292

More beards. More suggestions by Mila from Alexandria... as well as John from Wisconsin.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Profile: Jorma Kaukonen

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1290

So many choices for the picture... from young:
to not so young:

Suggestions by Josh from Arizona, Eric from Connecticut, Stuart from Las Vegas, and Wendy from Rohnert Park, CA.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Profile: Evan Kaufmann

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1289

Kaufmann was recently the subject of a long profile in the NY Times.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Profile: Rosa Kaganovich

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1288

Rosa's brother?/uncle?/father?/husband? Lazar Kaganovich actually outlived most (all?) of his Stalinist cohorts. He died in 1991.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Profile: Eva Green

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1287

Eva is actually a half Swedish, half French/Algerian Jew... And yet another Jewish Bond girl...

Suggestions by Dee from Hartford, Justin from Jackson, TN, and Ulf from Linkoping, Sweden.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Profile: Renee Richards

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1286

For those interested in the subject, Richards was a subject of a documentary, "Renee", which might still be available at ESPN On Demand.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Profile: David Rabinowitz

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1285

The prominent discoverer of dwarf planets is Michael Brown, who is not a Jew, but is in our gallery of Michael Browns...

Friday, March 16, 2012

Profile: Jewish Autonomous Region

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1284

We profiled animals, plants, and companies... why not places?

The picture is a sign for Birobidzhan, the capital of the region.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Profile: Andrew Garfield

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1283

Yeah, today's profile chronicles what actually happened: Zev asked me what score we should give Garfield and I thought he meant the furry fellow pictured above. The profile, as written, is more or less the conversation that followed.

On the plus side, this trailer doesn't look half bad. Y'know, for a reboot that no one is asking for and fewer will understand.

Suggestions by Esther from Canada, Jason from Vancouver, Paige from Pittsburgh, Rozzie from Oakland, Noga from Israel, Laurie from North Carolina, and Jeff from Phoenix.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Profile: Lev Leviev

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1282

This actually started as a completely different profile, but once I got into Borat mode, I couldn't stop. Apologies.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Profile: Ossie Schectman

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1281

More about Schechtman and the Jewish origins of basketball can be seen in the film, The First Basket.

Suggestion by Ezra from New York.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Profile: Ricki Lake

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1280

Well, at least her show was a tad better than Jerry or Maury...

Suggestions by Bruce from Cambridge, IL and Miriam from Burbank.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Profile: Alanis Morissette

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1279

How big was Alanis in the 90s? Kevin Smith cast her as G-d in the (somewhat) classic Dogma in 1999. How many times did Eddie Vedder play an almighty deity?

Exactly.

Suggestions by Slava from Baltimore, Nazmir from Malaysia, Malcolm from Antwerp, and Max from San Diego.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Profile: Adah Isaacs Menken

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1278

Mark from New York suggested we profile Irene Adler, Sherlock Holmes' femme fatale. It's not clear whether Adler was Jewish (one can easy make an argument one way or another), but one of the theories was that she was based on Menken...

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Profile: Queen Esther

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1277

Happy Purim, everybody!

JONJ on NEWSru

For those who read Russian, Israeli website NEWSRu.co.il did a lengthy profile and interview with us. For those who don't, here's the English translation.

Creators of the website posses not only a brilliant style, but a real Jewish self-irony. Articles are often turned into small studies that show significant historical and cultural knowledge.
Thank you, Pavel, for the opportunity!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Profile: B&H Photo Video

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1276

How bad are B&H's radio ads? It dropped them 2 (TWO!) whole K scores. That's right, B&H would have been a perfect score, except for the fact that their ads make me want to drive over there and beat the crap out of whoever makes them. And I work in advertising, so you know I have a higher tolerance than most for that stuff.

On the other hand, the story about the camera, as related in the profile, is absolutely 100% true. They spent hours helping with a camera (getting it properly set up, updating drivers, etc.) that they never even sold us.

So yeah, good place. Y'know, so long as you don't ever listen to the radio, anyway.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Profile: William Goldman

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1275

"In Hollywood, no one knows anything." -- William Goldman

Goldman is often confused with Lord of the Flies author, William Golding: Not a Jew.

Suggested by Steve from Southampton, PA.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Profile: Tim Blake Nelson

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1273

"Oh Brother" is probably my favorite Coen Brothers movie... After "The Big Lebowski", of course.

Thanks to James from North Carolina for the suggestion.

Top 10 Profiles: February


1. Ben Affleck (0)
2. Jesus Christ (+1)
3. Mel Gibson (+1)
4. Scarlett Johansson (+1)
5. Eli Manning (+33)
6. Adolf Hitler (0)
7. Charlie Chaplin (+1)
8. Sandra Bullock (+1)
9. Meryl Streep (+9)
10. Mikhail Prokhorov (+13)