I’m looking forward to seeing this. It’s scheduled to premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in January. Find out more at Miss REPRESENTATION.
The site has a list of “suggested reading” books, to which I add:
We watched Fantastic Mr. Fox after reading the book this summer. Well, sort of. We tried to watch it on the portable DVD player we brought, but things kept going wrong. So we’ll have to have a proper viewing when we get back home.
I finished watching my mother-in-law’s copy of The Girl Who Played with Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden), the Swedish movie that goes with Stieg Larsson‘s second book of the Millenium trilogy. I also got the third movie here in Norway. I’ll watch it when we get home.
We watched Elling last night. I’m trying to remember who recommended it, but it was someone on Twitter. Anyway. Great recommendation. It’s a Norwegian film directed by Petter Næss and based on Ingvar Ambjørnsen’s novel from 1996, Brødre i blodet (Blood Brothers). We enjoyed the movie. It was very funny at times, a bit sad at times but sweet and touching the whole time.
I got Män som hatar kvinnor from Norway for Christmas. It’s a movie based on Stieg Larsson‘s book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Wow. It was in Swedish. I watched it with Norwegian subtitles. It stuck really close to the book, so that helped. But, wow. Great movie.
Headline of the day. But, then, I’m partial to the whole Dude headline theme. Maybe I should see the movie, eh?
Aviva and Devra are in da house! Merry Christmas Ya’ll!  Maybe you aren’t expecting a holiday greeting from the Two Jew Crew, but when Becky asked if we would guest blog, we requested Christmas. Why? Because we know You People our Christian mishpuka should be able to spend time with their families, so we shall work today so you don’t have to! (So when Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur roll around return the fave. K?)
Jews and Chinese Food.  Add Christmas to the mix and you get a Holy Trinity representing a Trifecta of Treyf. Why is this night different from any other night? Why on this night do Jews eat at Shun Lee instead of at home?  From Christmas Eve to Christmas Day Jews are making their Kung Pao pilgrimages. Even Working Mother Magazine Jews can’t tell you where this longstanding holiday observance originated, we only know it’s tradition. It’s how we roll.   Everyone should  know more about Jewish holiday observances beyond, “They tried to annihilate us. We survived. Let’s Eat!”  If Becky where here, she would no doubt be calling out the people striving to be our nation’s leader to tell us why Jews eat Chinese food On Christmas.Â
 Hillary should know.  Fred Thompson may have the secret. Is Barack is just one consonant away from unlocking the mystery?  Oh hell. Move over politics! Let’s dish…
Believe it or not, the combination of Jews and Chinese food is an ancient custom – OK, not biblical ancient nor is it an Ancient Chinese Secret, but it does appear to go back to the late 1800’s – no putzing around!
“In lower Manhattan, immigrant Jews opened delicatessens for other Jews,Italians ran restaurants for other Italians, and Germans had many places serving primarily Germans. But Chinese restaurants welcomed everyone. As a result, even in the 1890s both Jews and Italians usually felt more at home in Chinese restaurants than they did in each other’s eateries.” (Originally published; “New York Jews and Chinese Food: The Social Construction of an Ethnic Pattern” by Gaye Tuchman and Harry G. Levine)Â
Fast forward a few hundred years and it is still generally true.  Chinese food does not include dairy products. The fear of mixing a little dairy with your meat isn’t an issue. (You say, “Pork!” We say, “Kosher house, not Kosher stomach.”) Look, Chinese food became a status symbol for our people during The Depression – immigrant Jews who ate out at Chinese restaurants identified themselves and others as being chic and sophisticated-why should we want to change that practice? Is it so terrible? Who does it hurt? Don’t you want your mother to be happy?Â
Nowadays, you can find many eateries willing to open their doors to make a buck on Christmas, and you can find quite a few folks who would rather buy a meal instead of cook one.  However, it wasn’t so long ago, Chinese restaurants were about the only option for eating out on Christmas day. Another bonus to Chinese food on Christmas is the holiday repast is available before or after the matinee. Just because Christmas is not a Jewish holiday, does this mean no Jewish observance? Feh. Whatever your observance, we wish you Good Fortune and a very Merry Christmas!
