The Weekly Schmooze: Roasting James Franco

Jewish culture news worldwide: Ranking the hottest Jewish men in Hollywood; muggles cooking magic food; "Angry Jew" video game.

By LAHAV HARKOV
weekly schmooze 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
weekly schmooze 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
In honor of the nine days before Tisha B'Av, The Schmooze will not be featuring any music this week.
There's a lot to be said about author\actor\director\lecturer\artist\G-d knows what else James Franco, and soon it'll all be out on the table in a Comedy Central Roast. Franco announced the roast in a mumbly instagram video (of course), and Comedy Central confirmed to The New York Times that they will be laughing at the Renaissance Man's expense on Labor Day.
In case you thought Franco was the hottest Jewish Man in Hollywood, just know that the official list ranks him at number four. And by "official list," The Schmooze means Buzzfeed's latest listicle: "The Official Ranking of the 50 Hottest Jewish Men in Hollywood."
"The OC" cutie and inventor of Chrismukkah (OK, that may be his character, Seth Cohen) Adam Brody has the top spot, followed by Bryan Greenberg, star of "How To Make it in America," and Liev Schrieber.
If you ever read Harry Potter and thought "wow, I'd really like to taste some butterbeer or treacle tart," then look no further than Dina Bucholz's Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. Bucholz is an Orthodox Jew who wrote most of the recipes herself – but she outsourced all of the non-kosher stuff to a local cook.
For years, an urban legend spread among Anglo-Israelis about the Berkowitz family of Gush Etzion, whose patriarch gave all his children silly English names – like "Just Berkowitz" and "Charles Danger Berkowitz," so he can say danger is his middle name - to ensure they would remain in Israel and use their Hebrew names. Tablet's Michael Orbach got on the case, and found out that the family is real! For all of the funny names and the story behind him, click here.
Video game fans, check out the latest trailer for "Angry Jews." Ok, fine, this probably isn't a real, but Gil Elnekave of the Shenkar School of Engineering and Design in Ramat Gan created this funny video of a Super Mario-esque game starring a man in a streimel and payot beating the kossacks.
When he dies at the end of the game, "z"l" (of blessed memory) appears on the screen.
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