Archive | 2012 | February

The View delved into some weighty topics today with Barbara’s interview of Israel’s President Shimon Peres. In the one-on-one, Barbara asked Peres about Israel’s attitudes toward attacking Iran, American politics, and more. Watch the interview below, and give us your view in the comments.

Fuck Cancer does Ottawa

It’s Not What You Know Its Who You Know

INWYKIWYK

 Young adults in Ottawa are coming together on March 10th, 2012 at Mansion Nightclub to attend the largest cancer research fundraising event Canada’s capital has ever seen and give a big “Fuck You” to  cancer. The event is almost sold out and is expected to attract over 600 young professionals from various industries and communities all with the goal of raising funds for Cancer research at the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation.

INWYKIWYK Inc. created the brand “Fuck Cancer” as a new and innovative movement to get younger generations involved in fighting this disease. The slogan evolved out of a deep contempt for this horrible disease that has caused so much pain to so many families. Honouring the memories of loved ones lost and turning hurt and sorrow into positive action is at the root of INWYKIWYK’s efforts.  Last year’s event in Montreal, the second of its kind, attracted 900 attendees and inspired young adults in Miami, Ottawa, Los Angeles, and at the University of Western Ontario to get active in their hometowns. All net proceeds raised go towards cancer research across Canada.

These events have been successful in uniting young adults in an effort to combat a disease which has affected too many lives. “This is an opportunity for young adults from all walks of life across Ottawa to come together and raise money for a disease which has had a significant impact on millions of lives, while making a bold, powerful statement against cancer.” said Samantha Banks. “Entry into the event is in the form of different coloured t-shirts with each colour representing a different form of cancer, giving those attending an opportunity to honour lost loved ones.”

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For further information please contact:

Samantha Banks
Fuck Cancer Ottawa Chair
Tel: 613-724-8930
Email: fcottawa@gmail.com
Facebook: Fuck Cancer **INWYKIWYK** does Ottawa
Twitter: @FuckCancernow #FuckCancerOttawa
Web: www.fuckcancerinwykiwyk.com or www.inwykiwyk.ca.

While Israel’s “Footnote” delegation came back home empty handed, a big winner from Sunday’s Academy Award is headed to the holy land. Fresh off his Oscar win, Israeli daily newspaper Ma’ariv reports that French actor Jean Dujardin of “The Artist” is set to arrive in Israel as early as April, as part of a new movie role on fellow Frenchman film director Éric Rochant’s upcoming film “Möbius”, that is in early production.

Dujardin has signed on to play a police detective in pursuit of a Jewish-Russian oligarch, who is laundering money from a Monte Carlo casino to Israel. The film is also said to be starring Belgian actress Cécile de France, who last year starred in the Clint Eastwood powerful drama “Hereafter”. Per Ma’ariv’s report, the only matter that stands in the production’s way is insurance approval, which is fickle over tension between Israel and Iran and the fear of a military attack.

The 39yo Jean Dujardin has enjoyed an awards filled year following his acclaimed performance as movie star George Valentin in the now Academy Award winning silent film “The Artist”. To French audiences he known as a popular comedian, most notably affiliated with his 117 spy parodies, spoofing 007 himself James Bond. Perhaps his agent duties will be enough to suffice for protection while in Israel, per insurance companies’ request.

Source: Abbanibi.com 

Hillel and AEPI have come together for a night of fun benefitting an amazing cause. 100% of proceeds are going to Save a Child’s Heart so come out and support the cause! Its going to be a fun night! I hope to see you all there and invite your friends!

Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) is an Israeli-based international humanitarian project, whose mission is to improve the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children from developing countries who suffer from heart disease and to create centers of competence in these countries. SACH is totally dedicated to the idea that every child deserves the best medical treatment available, regardless of the child’s nationality, religion, color, gender or financial situation.

If you want to find out more you can go their website at http://www.saveachildsheart.org/14-en/Sach.aspx

For more about the event click here

EMDA – ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION OF ISRAEL (R.A.)
Supports and promotes nationally the well-being of people with dementia and their families. A NGO & member of Alzheimer Disease International

Actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is well known to both Israelis and Americans, though maybe in different ways. His maternal grandmother lives in Haifa and his mother was born in Israel, later marrying a Jewish businessman from Wales. He studied and performed at Habonim Dror, a Jewish Socialist-Zionist cultural youth movement one of the ideals of which is “tikkun olam,” or “fixing the world.”

Cohen has gone on to international fame portraying himself as unusual characters who interview unsuspecting people to bring out the irony, controversy and ridiculousness of the subjects.

On Sunday, he showed up on the Red Carpet at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles as his latest character, Admiral General Aladeen. “Aladeen” is the main character in Cohen’s latest film The Dictator, whose mission is to “risk his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.” Cohen’s character is clearly a satirical take on the dictators who have been thrust reluctantly into the spotlight by the Arab Spring sweeping through the Middle East and Arab World, slowly, steadily but with mixed results.

I’ve always been a little wary of Cohen. Some people (mainly those who hate me) love to point out that I’m a “comedian,” too. But I am not a professional comedian by any means.

I turned to comedy in the weeks after September 11, 2001, and the animosity it created, to help bridge the gap of understanding and relations between Arabs and Jews, Palestinians and Israelis. It hasn’t worked, unfortunately, though the comedy routine I’ve written which lampoons my Palestinian life with my Jewish wife and son has been a big hit at shows I’ve done from Israel to Palestine to Beirut, Dubai and Dublin.

Still, when I perform comedy, I try to be respectful.

And I have built my comedy on the idea that it is okay for people to lampoon, skewer and satirize their own ethnicity, religion, relations and beliefs. A lot of my comedy tears apart the stereotypes ascribed to Arabs and even to Jews, in the context of my Jewish-Arab marriage.

Cohen’s humor seems to diverge from that goal.

I would have thought that Cohen could have done a remarkable job satirizing the anomalies and contradictions of being Israeli and a Jew. Instead, he seems to make fun of other ethnic groups, rather than adding his own Jewishness into the mix. Much of what he does is hilarious. But critics point out that much racial humor is funny but often very inappropriate.

Here is what I mean.

It is inappropriate for white people to make jokes about black people, especially if those jokes are based on stereotypes. It is inappropriate for Christians to make stereotypical jokes about Jews and would be quickly denounced as anti-Semitic.

In his latest film, the name of the “dictator” he portrays is “Aladeen,” which some Arabs think is a twisted play on two Arab words for God, “Allah” and “Deen.” Others argue it’s just a distortion of the name of the Disney movie character “Aladdin.” No matter how he may explain it, he won’t make anyone happy, though the ayatollahs in Iran might still issue a fatwa against Cohen as “the Zionist infidel,” one of their most commonly used expressions! An example of my own comedy is when I tear apart stereotypes about Arabs: “Seventy-two Virgins? No way. Arabs read backwards, from right to left. It’s one virgin, and she’s 72. …And we promise her to everyone…

and her name is Bob… she’s a trans-sexual, so give her a break. Please. Ya Rubbee!” Black people can make jokes about their own culture and even use the offensive “N-word.” The point is stereotypical humor is not racist when it is performed by the person who is being stereotyped or the comic who has close ties to the targeted ethnic or religious group.

During a discussion about Sacha Baron Cohen on my Chicago radio show, I asked listeners what they thought of his humor. Was it appropriate or was it based on racial stereotyping? Wouldn’t Cohen be better if he focused his sharp wit on himself and his own people rather than rip apart the stereotypes of others? The response was divided, of course. The debate continued on my Facebook page (rghanania) where many Arabs surprised me arguing they loved Cohen’s humor. Still, I think Cohen could do so much more than offend the public’s sensibilities by picking on easy targets like Arab-looking rap stars, Arab dictators and Kazakhstan peasants as he traipses through the West lampooning others.

“Do onto others as you would do unto yourself” is a loosely phrased rendition of a common biblical saying.

I think Cohen could be far more effective if he turned his comedic talents inwards and portrayed someone like Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu or even right-wing Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman.

It’s probably unfair to describe Cohen’s humor as racist just because he focuses on easy stereotypes of others but not his own. I just think he could be a far more effective comedian if he did do more humor about his Jewishness, his Israeli heritage and the often conflicting relationships between Jews and Arabs.

It would have been far funnier and more appropriate than the dictator “Aladeen” walking down the Red Carpet in front of the former Kodak Theater and then dumping “ashes” on the tuxedo of Ryan Seacrest.

The writer is a Palestinian American columnist and radio talk show host. www.YallaPeace.com.

Source: Jpost.com 

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