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Jewsploitation
''The Hebrew Hammer'' is a 2003 American comedy film written and directed by Jonathan Kesselman. It stars Adam Goldberg, Judy Greer, Andy Dick, Mario Van Peebles, and Peter Coyote. The plot concerns a Jewish blaxploitation crime fighter known as the Hebrew Hammer who must save Hanukkah from the evil son of Santa Claus, who wants to destroy Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and make everyone celebrate Christmas. The film parodies blaxploitation films, and features Melvin Van Peebles in a cameo as " Sweetback". Plot The film begins with a flashback to a young Mordechai Jefferson Carver. At school, Mordechai is tormented by his fellow students and his teacher for being a Jewish child in a public school predominantly attended by Christians, and for celebrating Hanukkah while everyone else celebrates Christmas. He feels further alienated as he walks through his neighborhood and sees a seemingly endless number of Christmas decorations and window displays celebrating the holiday and announcing th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonathan Kesselman
Jonathan Kesselman (born 1974) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer, who first gained notice as the writer and director of ''The Hebrew Hammer'' (2003). Early life Kesselman grew up in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in psychology, and then spent a few years working as an information systems consultant. He studied film at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, graduating in 2001 with a master's degree in film production. Career ''The Hebrew Hammer'' While at USC, Kesselman wrote and directed a short film version of ''The Hebrew Hammer'', which screened at the 2000 Austin Film Festival. In 2001, ContentFilm offered to finance a feature film version, with Edward R. Pressman and John Schmidt on board as executive producers. Kesselman wrote and directed ''The Hebrew Hammer'', a "Jewxploitation" send-up of Blaxploitation and superhero films, starring Adam Goldberg as Mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood NAACP branch. He claimed the genre was "proliferating offenses" to the black community in its perpetuation of stereotypical characters often involved in crime. The genre does rank among the first after the race films in the 1940s and 1960s in which black characters and communities are the protagonists and subjects of film and television, rather than sidekicks, antagonists or victims of brutality. The genre's inception coincides with the rethinking of race relations in the 1970s. Blaxploitation films were originally aimed at an urban African-American audience but the genre's audience appeal soon broadened across racial and ethnic lines. Hollywood realized the potential profit of expanding the audiences of blax ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea, and shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, and Egypt to the southwest. Israel also is bordered by the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively. Tel Aviv is the economic and technological center of the country, while its seat of government is in its proclaimed capital of Jerusalem, although Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem is unrecognized internationally. The land held by present-day Israel witnessed some of the earliest human occupations outside Africa and was among the earliest known sites of agriculture. It was inhabited by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hasidic Jew
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contemporary Western Ukraine during the 18th century, and spread rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most affiliates reside in Israel and the United States. Israel Ben Eliezer, the "Baal Shem Tov", is regarded as its founding father, and his disciples developed and disseminated it. Present-day Hasidism is a sub-group within Haredi Judaism and is noted for its religious conservatism and social seclusion. Its members adhere closely both to Orthodox Jewish practice – with the movement's own unique emphases – and the traditions of Eastern European Jews. Many of the latter, including various special styles of dress and the use of the Yiddish language, are nowadays associated almost exclusively with Hasidism. Hasidic thought draws h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Detective
A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads them to arrest criminals and enable them to be convicted in court. A detective may work for the police or privately. Overview Informally, and primarily in fiction, a detective is a licensed or unlicensed person who solves crimes, including historical crimes, by examining and evaluating clues and personal records in order to uncover the identity and/or whereabouts of criminals. In some police departments, a detective position is achieved by passing a written test after a person completes the requirements for being a police officer. In many other police systems, detectives are college graduates who join directly from civilian life without first serving as uniformed officers. Some argue that detectives do a completely different job and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Male Circumcision
Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. Topical or locally injected anesthesia is generally used to reduce pain and physiologic stress. It is usually elective, performed as preventive healthcare, a religious rite, or cultural practice. It is also an option for cases of phimosis, other pathologies that do not resolve with other treatments, and chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs). The procedure is contraindicated in cases of certain genital structure abnormalities or poor general health. Circumcision is associated with reduced rates of sexually transmitted infections and urinary tract infections. This includes decreasing the incidence of cancer-causing forms of human papillomavirus (HPV) and significantly reducing HIV transmission among heterosexual men within high ris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Finger
The middle finger, long finger, second finger, third finger, toll finger or tall man is the third digit of the human hand, located between the index finger and the ring finger. It is typically the longest digit. In anatomy, it is also called ''the third finger'', ''digitus medius'', ''digitus tertius'' or ''digitus III''. In Western countries, extending the middle finger (either by itself, or along with the index finger in the United Kingdom: see V sign) is an offensive and obscene gesture, widely recognized as a form of insult, due to its resemblance of an erect penis A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males d ..., It is known, colloquially, as "flipping the bird", "flipping (someone) off", or "giving (someone) the finger". The middle finger is often used for fing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dreidel
A dreidel, also dreidle or dreidl ( ; yi, דרײדל, dreydl, plural: ''dreydlech''; he, סביבון, sevivon) is a four-sided spinning top, played during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. The dreidel is a Jewish variant on the teetotum, a gambling toy found in many European cultures. Each side of the dreidel bears a letter of the Hebrew alphabet: ('' nun''), (''gimel''), ('' hei''), ('' shin''). These letters are represented in Yiddish as a mnemonic for the rules of a gambling game derived from teetotum played with a dreidel: ''nun'' stands for the word (''nisht'', "not", meaning "nothing"), ''gimel'' for (''gants'', "entire, whole"), ''hei'' for (''halb'', "half"), and ''shin'' for (''shtel arayn'', "put in"). However, according to folk etymology, they represent the Hebrew phrase (''nes gadól hayá sham'', "a great miracle happened there"), referring to the miracle of the cruse of oil. For this reason, most dreidels in Israel replace the letter ''shin'' with a lett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
''Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'' is a 1971 American blaxploitation film written, co-produced, scored, edited, directed by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles. His son Mario Van Peebles also appears in a small role, playing the title character as a young boy. The film tells the picaresque story of a poor black man fleeing from the white police authorities. Van Peebles began to develop the film after being offered a three-picture contract for Columbia Pictures. No studio would finance the film, so Van Peebles funded it himself, shooting it independently over 19 days, performing all of his own stunts and appearing in several sex scenes, some reportedly unsimulated. He received a $50,000 loan from Bill Cosby to complete the project. The film's fast-paced montages and jump-cuts were unique features in American cinema at the time. The picture was censored in some markets, and received mixed reviews. However, it has left a lasting impression on American cinema. The musical score of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cameo Appearance
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly either appearances in a work in which they hold some special significance (such as actors from an original movie appearing in its remake) or renowned people making uncredited appearances. Short appearances by celebrities, film directors, politicians, athletes or musicians are common. A crew member of the movie or show playing a minor role can be referred to as a cameo role as well, such as Alfred Hitchcock's frequent cameos. Concept Originally, in the 1920s, a "cameo role" meant "a small character part that stands out from the other minor parts". The '' Oxford English Dictionary'' connects this with the meaning "a short literary sketch or portrait", which is based on the literal meaning of " cameo", a miniature carving on a gemstone. Mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melvin Van Peebles
Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the 2000s. His feature film debut, '' The Story of a Three-Day Pass'' (1967), was based on his own French-language novel ' and was shot in France, as it was difficult for a black American director to get work at the time. The film won an award at the San Francisco International Film Festival which gained him the interest of Hollywood studios, leading to his American feature debut '' Watermelon Man'', in 1970. Eschewing further overtures from Hollywood, he used the successes he had so far to bankroll his work as an independent filmmaker. In 1971, he released his best-known work, creating and starring in the film '' Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'', considered one of the earliest and best-regarded examples of the blaxploitation genre. He followed this up with the musical, '' Don't Play Us Cheap'', based on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many countries, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season organized around it. The traditional Christmas narrative recounted in the New Testament, known as the Nativity of Jesus, says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in accordance with messianic prophecies. When Joseph and Mary arrived in the city, the inn had no room and so they were offered a stable where the Christ Child was soon born, with angels procla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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