The Arts

SodaStream’s Mayim Bialik ad targets plastic bottles

AIRPORT CITY, Israel – SodaStream International Ltd. (NASDAQ:SODA), has launched its new environmental global campaign, “The Homoschlepiens.” The video released Wednesday features Mayim Bialik, AKA Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler from the hit TV series The Big Bang Theory, and Kristian Nairn, AKA Hodor of the legendary Game of Thrones. Set in the future, “The Homoschlepiens” […]

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International, Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Book chronicles and analyzes coercion and depravity

Theresienstadt 1941-1945: The Face of a Coerced Community  by H.G.Adler; Cambridge University Press, 2017 By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — This monumental monograph, to which no book review can hope to do justice, comprises more than 850 pages and constitutes a far-reaching and detailed account, or rather scientific analysis, of the concentration camp that was

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History

A rock band from California helped me get through tough teenage years in Iran

I was an angry teenager — angry at home; angry at school; angry with theocracy; angry about injustice; angry about hypocrisy. I was especially angry with anyone I thought was trying to mold me into a model of their choosing, and there were many people hell-bent on doing exactly that. When living in a conservative

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Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

‘Guys and Dolls’ is a night in a wild urban jungle

By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO — Damon Runyon, best known for his short stories filled with shady characters, had a distinctive ear for language, particularly street slang. Guys and Dolls is all about his New York, not the touristy postcard parts like Times Square and Central Park, but midtown in the 1930s. It’s a seedier

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Eric George Tauber, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Playwright Siguenza blends Anglo, Latino cultures

By Mimi Pollack SAN DIEGO — California is a state of both Latino and Anglo cultures. Herbert Siguenza, the Playwright in Residence at the San Diego Repertory Theater, has the gift of melding both cultures together and reaching a diverse audience as seen in the plays, A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, El Henry, Manifest Destinitis,

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Mimi Pollack, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could be taking the next step in their relationship very soon

Following rumors that his girlfriend Meghan Markle is considering moving to London to be with him, Prince Harry’s friends have disclosed that the royal reportedly plans to propose to Markle by the end of the year. “Harry has found the girl he wants to spend the rest of his life with,” one of his friends

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International, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

The coach who rose from the Holocaust’s ashes to dominate European soccer

A new biography celebrates Béla Guttmann, the superstar coach who still has soccer’s greatest praying by his Vienna grave for a miracle By JP O’ Malley LONDON — On May 23, 1990, Eusébio da Silva Ferreira — considered by many to be one of the greatest soccer players of all time — took a short

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Sports & Competitions

Nelsan Ellis, actor on HBO’s ‘True Blood,’ dies at 39

Nelsan Ellis, the actor best known for his portrayal of Lafayette Reynolds on HBO’s “True Blood,” has died. He was 39. The reported cause was from complications due to heart failure. Ellis burst into popular consciousness in 2008 when he was cast in “True Blood” as Reynolds, a flamboyant and outspoken gay short order cook

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Obituaries & memorials, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

World’s Largest Bookstore Opens in Iran

Bibliophiles in Iran, clear your weekend: The huge Book Garden center just opened in Tehran. Officials unveiled the Book Garden, a giant academic complex being called “the world’s largest bookstore,” on Wednesday. At roughly 65,000 square meters (about 700,000 square feet), the center has several movie theaters, science halls, classrooms, a restaurant, a prayer room

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East

At 102, legendary author Herman Wouk has a new book out

Jewish novelist says his ‘main task’ has been depicting ‘what happened in World War II and the Holocaust’ By Benjamin Kerstein The Pulitzer Prize-winning Jewish author Herman Wouk has published his latest and what he indicated was likely his last book at the age of 102. Interviewed by “ CBS Sunday Morning” on Sunday, Wouk

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History

More theater than singalong as Britney Spears busts her butt in Tel Aviv

The pop diva may or may not have actually sang her hits, but even if the crowd was at times distracted, she didn’t stop dancing across the stage By Joshua Davidovich Britney Spears performs in Tel Aviv on July 3, 2017. (Miriam Alster/Flash90) Just a few days after rejecting claims that she lip syncs, telling

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Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts