Hurricane Irene came and went, but
El Bloombito is here to stay. After New York Mayor
Michael Bloomberg discussed city evacuation instructions in broken Spanish,
Rachel Figueora-Levin, a Jewish-Puerto Rican resident of Manhattan, opened the parody Twitter account. Figueora-Levin writes Spanglish tweets in Bloomberg's name, like
"Esta un beautifonito day en el outside! Go to un parko! No smokingo!" The Twitter feed has gone viral since its
first tweet ("El stormo grade is mucho dangeroso!") last Sunday, and Bloomberg even responded to a question about the account in a press conference, saying in Spanish: "I'm 69 years old. It's hard to learn a new language."
For some people, the beginning of September means going back to school. For others, it means the start of the US Open Tennis Tournament.
The New York Times celebrated the sports event with a funny photo shoot of Schmooze favorite
Andy Samberg in costume as famous tennis players such as
John McEnroe and
Andre Agassi.
Did you like Black Swan? How about Thor? Well, that may be the last you see of
Natalie Portman on the big screen. The Oscar winner
turned down her first post-baby film role to focus on taking care of three-month-old
Aleph Millepied-Portman. In May, Portman said in an interview that she looks up to
Audrey Hepburn, and like the film icon, she may take time off to be with her children: "Audrey made some good choices in life," Portman explained. "More and more I realize how unimportant it is to be in the history books… Putting time and energy into your children – that's valuable."
Sometimes, a celebrity's Judaism is revealed in the most unexpected ways. Indie rapper
Kreayshawn did not have the greatest week –she lost out on a "Best New Artist" MTV Video Music Award, her Twitter account was hacked, and nude photos of her when she was underage were stolen. The hackers also sent out anti-Semitic messages from her account. It turns out that Kreayshawn (pronounced "creation") is Jewish, and actually named Natassia Gail Zolot. Here's the video that got her nominated for a VMA:
For fans of an entirely different musical genre, the film
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life opened in New York's Film Forum yesterday. (It opened in Israel last November.) The film is the directorial debut of cartoonist
Joann Sfar, known for comics like
The Rabbi's Cat and
Klezmer. In a fascinating
interview with IndieWire, Sfar explains that he feels connected to legendary French singer
Serge Gainsbourg through their shared European-Jewish identity.
How are your shofar-blowing skills? You have two weeks to get up to par before
shofar flash mobs in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Budepest and Oregon, meant to be a mass call to
teshuva
in honor of the Hebrew month of Elul. Art Kibbutz NYC is hosting the
event, a "21st century, postmodern twist" on the tradition of blowing a
ram's horn, which is meant to "rouse the heavens, and make Jews around
the world, the international media and passers-by tremble."
Finally, if you ever thought your rabbi's sermons are a bit boring,
here's a solution: Eight Hollywood screenwriters and 20 Los Angeles
rabbis participated in a workshop titled
"Punching Up Your Holiday Sermons."
The event was hosted by the transdenominational Board of Rabbis of
Southern California, and featured Jewish writers for Mad Men, Friday
Night Lights, Boston Legal and other TV shows.
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