Esther Kustanowitz: March 2008 Archives

Having recently been on my first trip to Las Vegas, I was amazed by how people got sucked into the lifestyle. I don't have a lot of money, so of course the idea of turning "not a lot" into "a lot," was very appealing. But as a student of pop culture and cinema, I knew the basic truths: the odds were against me, and the house always wins. After spending $4 at the quarter slot machines--because if the odds were against me, I might as well not even delude myself into thinking my skill had anything to do with winning or losing--I caved to peer pressure. Because my friends were doing it, I played $10 blackjack: $20 investment, got out when it got to $60. People thought I was lame, but I tripled my money and then walked away. I mean, how many movies and TV shows do I have to see about people losing everything in Vegas, before I "get it"?

Vegas is shiny, sparkly, at once the definition of tacky/declasse and the symbol of the American Dream. Where there was desert there is now opulence--this ambiance leads us to believe that anything is possible, that we can transform money troubles into yesterday's trivia. But film teaches us better: "Leaving Las Vegas." "Honeymoon in Vegas." "Indecent Proposal." "Casino." "The Godfather 2 & 3." "The Cooler." "Swingers." "Rain Man." "Showgirls"...and those are just the more contemporary films...we know that the house always wins. (The possible exception: the avowed, yet principled and sexy, criminals of "Ocean's 11," 12, and 13--but they were in it primarily for the revenge, the camaraderie, and the challenge of it all--the money wasn't the central motivator.) And now comes "21," the movie version of the bestselling book about how a group of MIT students beat the system. All of this Vegasness feeds the fantasy: the little guy can make it big, if he's smart or figures out the system.

Brenda and her "going to acting school in England." Brandon and his sideburns/journalism career. Token Jew Andrea (pronounced "Ahndrea") who bused over from another zip code so she could have a better education. The characters were ours, and the issues they faced were also ours, even if they had cooler clothes, a fabu beach house, the ability to get out of bad situations, etc. They were in school and so were we, which is probably where the real comparison ended.

But that doesn't stop the nostalgia when that opening theme plays, or when Brandon does the double fist pump, or when you have to punch the zip code for Beverly Hills into Mapquest and start making jokes about going to find the Peach Pit and its nightclub scion, After Dark.

If you're hip to the 90210 news, you know that there's a new era imminent: The new 90210 that hasn't been greenlit yet but is being developed by Rob Thomas ("Veronica Mars"), and will undoubtedly employ some of the tropes we're familiar with from the old days of 90210, in addition to the newer crop of teen/young adult soaps, the most notable heir to this tradition being the trashy and addictive "Gossip Girl."

I admit, I was feeding a hunger for vampires when I initially tuned into "New Amsterdam," which airs Mondays on FOX. I was hoping to find my new David Boreanaz in the series' star, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, or at least my new Angel in Coster-Waldau's character, John Amsterdam. (The show's name also refers to New York, where the action takes place.) But what I found was something different, but stirring in a slightly different way than I'd expected.

Amsterdam is a detective, inscrutable in his own way to colleagues and families of New York's victims, as he is one of those people who, annoyingly to those around him, seems to know everything. But there's a good reason that he's a walking encyclopedia: he's lived in New Amsterdam since the time of the Lenape Native Americans--instead of having been cursed by gypsies with a soul, Amsterdam is rewarded with immortality for saving a girl from certain death.

It's unclear if this reward is really a curse--Amsterdam's immortality means that he will always outlive his friends and loved ones--but the caveat it comes with establishes the emotional heart for this show which is really a procedural cop show with clashing partners (see also, Life, some episodes of Law & Order, etc). Amsterdam's immortality will end when he finds his one true love and the partners give themselves to each other.

There's a grand old tradition of changing your name in order to make it big. But usually the change is made to distance yourself from tradition or religious affiliation (I'm looking at you, Melvin Kaminsky!) or because there's already another actor in the union with a similar name (and that's how Michael Fox got his "J.").

But yesterday, CNN announced (that they had read it on TMZ.com) that the former Destiny Hope Cyrus officially changed her name to the nickname her Achy Breaky Daddy gave her when she was a baby, "Miley." (Actually her nickname was "Smiley Miley," but I guess that'd be overkill.)

Now her legal name will match her stage name, "Miley Ray Cyrus." How this affects you, dear reader? You can now turn to the person next to you and say, "Huh...I never knew this wasn't her name..."

And now we return you to the rest of your pop culture non-news.

A talented beauty whose career has been eclectic and impressive even from her early years, Natalie Portman is the reigning Jewish princess of Hollywood (even unbesmirched by her Padme/Amidala years). As actresses go, she's fairly modest, a good role model (ok, "Closer" will not be hitting the family values multiplex anytime soon), and a compassionate person (see also, "vegan shoes"). But modest by Hollywood standards is still Hollywood, a place that exemplifies the opposite of the family values and modesty adhered to by the Hasidic community.

Portman, 26, is filming "New York I Love You," a collection of New York-based stories about relationships; in her chapter, she portrays a religious woman, and Hasidic actor Abe Karpen--at 25, a father of three--plays her husband. He reported that he and Portman spoke in Hebrew together and that she had revealed a desire to become more religious; they were getting along fine and all was respectful. But because of community pressure, Karpen quit the movie over the weekend.

When I saw this article as a link in one of my daily media e-newsletters, I could barely believe the title. Was it that it was "too soon" for a fictionalized account of Heath Ledger's final days, or was the...

As we all know, representatives for Patrick Swayze recently announced that the "Dirty Dancing" actor has pancreatic cancer, but allayed the initial rumors that he has mere weeks to live. Now the New York Times is reporting that the actor's...

Before I start this entry, let me just say that Orthodox Jews are not against music. To the contrary, music figures prominently in liturgical recitations, holiday celebrations, and of course at bar/bat mitzvahs, weddings, and other family simchas (occasions of...