Esther Kustanowitz: October 2008 Archives

Where passion and politics meet...pumpkins.

You gotta love Los Angeles. As a recent transplant from New York, I'm constantly amazed by the parade of human...um...innovation. LAist, a daily online publication about life in L.A., shared a new election-themed site called--wait for it--"Yes We Carve."

Cute, guys. But is anyone else going to be really happy when this election is over??

Starting with the biblical and ending with the bizarre, here's my list of top 10 witches in pop culture:

1. The Witch of Endor. Star Wars fans are scratching their heads at this one, trying to figure out how witches and Ewoks are related. But the Witch of Endor (or rather, "Ein-Dor") figures prominently in the book of Samuel. After Samuel's death, King Saul banished all practitioners of magic, but when he received no responses from God or the priests, Saul sought out the witch for advice about how to handle problems with the Philistines. The witch called up the ghost of Samuel, who provided no advice, but predicted the king's death. So much for reassurance from the occult.

2. The Three Weird Sisters, from "Macbeth." "Double, double, toil and trouble...fire burn, and cauldron bubble." I memorized this scene in high school, and I still remember it. The "weird sisters," as these witches are known, were the voice of prophecy, and they shared with Macbeth the prophecies that guide his actions and understanding of events.

3. The Wicked Witch of the West/Elphaba. In the 1939 "Wizard of Oz" film starring Judy Garland, "witch" actress Margaret Hamilton was apparently so scary in her role that she couldn't go back to her teaching job after the production wrapped. "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too," followed by an evil cackle that could raise hell, was too petrifying to young ears. Later, with the book and the musical "Wicked," the Green Witch got a name (Elphaba), an extensive songbook, and a backstory that enabled us to understand why she became a wicked legend.

4. Dorrie, the Little Witch. A series of children's books by Patricia Coombs featured a little witch who was always getting into trouble. When the first book appeared in 1962, Coombs established Dorrie as a kid who was entirely normal and flawed, despite being a witch. Dorrie has proven to be an enduring character; the most recent book was written in 1992.

5. Jennifer, from the book "Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth." Aside from being the first name in the longest-titled book I ever had on my shelf as a kid, Jennifer is the antidote to Elizabeth's alienation in school. Plus, she's a witch. Published in 1984, I was as obsessed with Jennifer and Elizabeth as the apprentice witch, as I was with learning who Hecate, Macbeth, and William McKinley were. Long title, but E.L. Konigsberg, author of my other favorite long-named children's book ("From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler"), is probably used to it.

I don't regularly watch the Simpsons anymore, but I wish I did. Especially during Halloween, a time when the rest of the airwaves are polluted with Halloween movie series, and there's not a thing on TV that doesn't involve ghosts, goblins, airborne flesh-eating disease, flesh-eating zombies, a guy in a Scream costume or a hockey mask or hands with razors for fingernails. Here's a preview from the Simpsons' latest Halloween special, a spoof of the "Mad Men" opening.

I usually don't like Halloween because of the costumes (bloody accident victims, zombies; you get the picture). But if people start dressing like Don Draper (nice suit, cigarette, glass of scotch), then maybe that's a Halloween party I wouldn't mind...

If Page Six is to be believed, Ivanka Trump and her boyfriend Jared Kushner have sought out noted Upper East Side rabbi Haskel Lookstein to perform Trump's conversion. The report comes after a "spy" reported seeing Ivanka and Jared in the sukkah every night during the recent Sukkot holiday, during which Jews are supposed to dine (and, according to some, live) in the outdoor huts.

Lookstein is the spiritual leader of Kehillath Jeshurun and the principal of the Ramaz School, a modern Orthodox day school.

I knew I wanted to see "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" even before it started getting rave reviews: first of all, Michael Cera, 'nuff said. Second of all, the "mix CD as love letter" is a favorite theme: music is a uniting force, and a way to express all the things you're afraid to say yourself. (In my day, it was a mix tape, but that's only the medium that's changed.)

And in the aftermath of the Jewish identity discussion that surprised me in "Knocked Up," I've been really interested by Jews coming into their own identities on-screen, in a manner more substantial than the regular superficial way that surrounds Jewish characters with the occasional "mazal tov" or the perfunctory "Merry Christmas, I mean Happy Hanukkah."

This election process has been a vicious one: but you don't have to be a racist, a sexist, or have a backwards "B" carved into your face to know that however it turns out when all the votes are counted,...

Not since "the Rachel" has a hairstyle been in such demand. Jewish bloggers have been writing about this for weeks. And politics always seems to spawn merchandising. Now the NY Post reports that in the past several weeks, a wig-shop...

I'm not a Bill Maher fan, nor am I really one of his detractors. His demeanor has never appealed to me, but it has also not appalled me. He pushes envelopes, and I support that within my appreciation for free...

As any Brit knows, in cases of English celebrity/superrich divorce, settlements tend to favor the less wealthy party. (Just ask Sir Paul McCartney.) Especially if there's no prenup. Which is one of the reasons that the terms of the in-negotiations...

Americans know the fun of sharing videos like "Dramatic Hamster" and "Chocolate Rain" online with their friends. Many use YouTube. Then came GodTube and JewTube, for videos which were more religiously targeted. Now, there's a new Tube in town--or at...

People go to church to seek answers. But seldom are those people sons of rabbis looking for insight into their own Jewish heritage. All of that changes with My Jesus Year, a new book by Benyamin Cohen that also bears...

Rosh Hashanah marks the start of the new Jewish year, but this new year brought a tough break for Jewish Living Magazine. Touted a year ago as the Jewish answer to Martha Stewart Living, the glossy magazine hoped to compete...

Israeli citizens have to serve in the army. If they're religious, and being in the army would represent an undue hardship or challenge their faith, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) permit them to do an alternate service program, which many...