Thursday, March 31, 2011

Profile: Canaan Dog


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1029

Today's profile comes from watching the dog show on cable, natch. Good times...

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Profile: Erich von Stroheim


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1028

Nice. Hat.

Von Stronheim was suggested by Phil from Manhattan.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Profile: Mr. Hooper


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1027

I'm not sure why I decided to write this profile when I did. It was something we'd been planning for a while. A day later, Mrs. Yakov says spontaneously: "Y'know who you should profile? Mr. Hooper from Sesame Street."

Must've been something in the water...

Mr. Hooper was also suggested by Michael from Toronto.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Profile: Cole Hauser


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1026

Hauser is actually the great-grandson of Harry Warner of the Warner Bros.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Profile: Jackie Kennedy


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1025

For those wondering, Gore Vidal is not Jewish.

Big thanks to Mark from NYC for alerting us about this one...

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Record smashed



Our record for website visits has been smashed to smithereens, and it's not even 10AM yet. Turns out today is Harry Houdini's 137th(!) birthday, and Google has him as the search logo (see above). So the world wants to know if he was Jewish... Thanks, Google!

Profile: The Aflac Duck


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1024

Quack quack.

His duckiness was suggested by another one of my co-workers in passing during a meeting. Good thing we all take this work thing seriously, huh? Anyway, turned out to be quite the timely suggestion, so thanks for that!

This also means we can add yet another member to our JONJ barnyard. With 2 horses, 2 ducks, and a rabbit we're in pretty good shape, no? A few pigs, maybe a sheep, farm category here we come! OK, probaby not....


Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Update: RIP Elizabeth Taylor


February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011

So long, Cleopatra.

Profile: Peter Max


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1023

Max wasn't just suggested by my mother, but also by Karen from San Diego, Waldo from California, Viv from Maryland, and Erik from California.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Profile: Peggy Lipton


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1022

Another mother/daughter pair to add to our list...

Peggy was suggested by: Adam from Indiana, Daniel from NY, Shelley from Basking Ridge, NJ, Don from LA, and Neal from Sarasota.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Profile: Matt Damon


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1021

A huge thanks to Bruce from NY for alerting us about the situation described in the profile. And Ashley from Cambridge, MA points out that Matt's first cousin Karen is Jewish...

Friday, March 18, 2011

Profile: Bea Arthur


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1020

Bea was suggested by Shannon from Troy, NY and Jason from Vancouver. Both also want us to profile Estelle Getty, who, although younger than Arthur, played her mother on "Golden Girls".

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Profile: Abraham Zapruder


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1019

Yeah, yeah, I know. I don't really like it when I write these serious ones either. But you try making an Abraham Zapruder joke. Seriously. Try it. Abraham Zapruder so silly with all his....lenses?

Yeah, like I said. Anyway, we'll get back to our usual wackiness tomorrow, I promise.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Profile: Glenn Beck


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1018

Glenn Beck was suggested by... wait, somebody actually suggested Glenn Beck? Yes, apparently so, by Logan from Nice, CA and Lewis from Albany, NY. Thanks?

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Update: Congrats John Baker!



John Baker, our elusive Jewish Eskimo, won the Iditarod!

He is the first Eskimo to win. We're willing to bet, the first Jew as well. (Okay, he's barely a Jew. Let us celebrate!)

Profile: Einstein


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1017

We had a long discussion of how to title this profile. "Einstein" is no good, because searches will get confused. "Einstein (dog)"? "Einstein the Dog"? "Einstein the Sheepdog?" "Einstein (Back to the Future)"?

Yes, these are the things we argue about in the office...

Monday, March 14, 2011

Profile: Carl Bernstein


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1015

Since some tend to tack on "-gate" to every scandal, how would they handle a scandal about... gates?

Somehow, Bernstein is the third Washington Post writer to be profiled, following Tony Kornheiser and Shirley Povich...

Friday, March 11, 2011

Profile: Charlie Sheen


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1016

So why "Not a Jew", if he says that he has a Jewish mother? Well, when you consider all the crap that comes out of his mouth, how could you trust that statement?

And in the clips shown here, Charlie's brother Emilio Estevez (Men at Work!) says that his mother is Southern Baptist.

And an even longer discussion here (thanks, Penny!).

Sheen was suggested by... many, many, many people.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Profile: Zhao Yingcheng


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1014

One of Zev's keenest abilities (beyond some unique athletics) is the finding of pictures for profiles. In this case, an image of Zhao was not forthcoming, so he came up with this image of a Chinese Jew from the 1800s. It's still 300 years too late, but it gives you a pretty good idea of what we're going for, no?

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Profile: Bugs Bunny


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1013

Mr. Bunny was suggested by Paul from Ohio, Juan from Texas, Joshua from Boston, Goy Gentile (real name?) from Iowa, and this article.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Profile: Lindsey Vuolo


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1012

What a perfect profile for International Women's Day!

Vuolo was suggested by Josh from Arizona.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Profile: Gertrude Stein


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1011

"Ask Jew or Not Jew" is back! Here are the previous installments.

Stein was suggested by Erik from Cranford, NJ, Jessica from Boston, Ari from Chicago, and David from Chicago.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Jews(?) in the News: Charlie Sheen is now Jewish?


Please stop emailing us! We know, we know, we know. Charlie Sheen is now claiming that he's Jewish. We're trying to research the validity and will hopefully have a profile up soon.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Profile: Oscar Goodman


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1010

Oh, JONJ, you say - how obvious you are, posting Goodman's profile the day you're in Las Vegas for an event at which Goodman himself will be attending.

Well you're wrong. We're not leaving for Las Vegas and Tribefest till tomorrow. So, ha!

Anyway, yes, this IS the magical weekend (and week. The event ends on Tuesday). Jewpardy itself will be Sunday at 4pm, but we will be at Tribefest the whole time, so feel free to come hunt us down if you want to say hi. Or, y'know, don't. After all, it's not like we have feelings or anything...

Ok, enough Jewish mother channeling. We will do our best to blog from the 'Fest if anything interesting occurs. And expect a full report when we return.

Hope to see you there!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Profile: Mayim Bialik


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1008

So, yes, Mayim will be a featured speaker at TribeFest, where we're headed this weekend (more on that tomorrow). Also speaking: previously-profiled Yuri Foreman!

Bialik was suggested by Miriam from Burbank, Emily from Chicago, and Leah from Montana.

Settling the Score: Winona Ryder



We didn't realize this, so thanks to Mark from Hartford for pointing out that Winona Ryder is only half-Jewish (see here, among other places). She self-identifies as Jewish, so we'll keep her verdict as is, but the birth history will dock her an I point...

Thanks, Mike!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Profile: Marcel Proust


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1009

Yeah....all that considered, we still want to be writers. Which makes us masochists. And thus, writers. See, cyclical.

Anyway, full confession time, I have not read Monsieur Proust's magnum opus and I probably never will. I'm sure there are many that will proclaim me a philistine (I know, irony) for this and tell me it's my loss. That's fine. I'll take that over the misery of actually having to try to plow through it. Feh.

Proust was suggested by Mara from Kansas, Jason from Vancouver, Paco from Barcelona, and Beatrice from Montreal. Holy worldwide readership, Batman!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Profile: Emil Jellinek


http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1007

Love, love, love, LOVE the mustache.

With yesterday's profile, we had multiple suggestions that spanned a couple of years. With today's, just one, and it led to a profile almost immediately. Thanks, Mark from New York!

(And Yaakov from Jerusalem just asked to profile Jellinek a couple of days ago, so that worked out...)

Top 10 Profiles: February



1. Ben Roethlisberger (+2)
2. Ben Affleck (-1)
3. Aaron Rodgers (NEW)
4. Mel Gibson (+2)
5. Jesus Christ (+2)
6. Adolf Hitler (+2)
7. Sandra Bullock (-2)
8. Steve Jobs (-6)
9. Scarlett Johansson (-5)
10. Mel Brooks (+7)