Jewish hunk roundup
People was recently out with its list of the “Sexiest Men Alive,” and it was a pretty good year for hot Hebrews. In the top 10 list was actor Jake Gyllenhaal. Other actors named as sexy were Zach Braff, Adam Brody and Scott Wolf (formerly of “Party of Five,” now starring on the show “Everwood”).
Also in the most-sexy issue was comedian Sascha Baron Cohen. His People picture proves that the funnyman cleans up quite nicely when out of “Ali G” makeup. And over in sexy musician land, People chose lead man Adam Levine of “Maroon 5.” Last but not least was author Ben Mezrich, whose photo showed that even MIT grads can be hot.
Would prune danish do?
Director David O. Russell — whose recent film, “I Heart Huckabees,” co-starring Dustin Hoffman, got pretty good reviews — was recently asked by a British movie magazine about working with Hoffman. Russell said that he had cast Hoffman in his movie “Three Kings,” but the studio wanted someone younger. He apologized to Hoffman and Hoffman told him, “No, you’ve got to do it the Jewish way, you’ve got to bring me something!”
Rusell said, “So five years later I called him up and said, ‘I’m bringing you something’.”
For a good cause
The Jewish Television Network recently held its annual New York dinner honoring those who have helped JTN make Jewish-themed shows, mostly shown on PBS. Providing the musical entertainment was hot singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton, who was Grammy-nominated for best new artist in 2002. So far as we know, this is the first time that Carlton, who is Jewish on her mother’s side, has appeared at a Jewish community event — but it’s always nice to note when young artists start pitching in for Jewish causes.
Jewish Mozart?
Astonished was the reaction of those who saw the recent “60 Minutes” segment featuring 12-year-old composer Jay Greenberg. The Juilliard student has already written five symphonies. His teacher, composer Sam Zysman, said: We are talking about a prodigy of the level of the greatest prodigies in history when it comes to composition. I am talking about the likes of Mozart and Mendelssohn and Saint-Saens.”
The son of a language professor and an Israeli-born painter, Greenberg was interested in composing by the time he was 3. He seems to download the music from his head, the way Mozart was reputed to do.
Major orchestras have already taken an interest in his compositions, with the New Haven Symphony commissioning a work that was excerpted on “60 Minutes.”
Columnist Nate Bloom, an Oaklander, can be reached at [email protected].