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May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide
Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting

May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review Dec. 30, 2008 / 3 Teves 5769

A respite from reality

By Diana West


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | With alarm over the effortless and near-total socialization of the U.S. economy, and with worry over concessions in the Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq, a reader writes: "It is hard to feel joyful during the holiday season while our country and Constitution are in such peril."


Having sifted through the mailbag, I am sorry to say that such sentiments are not unique among readers lately — at least those among the 45.6 million Americans who didn't vote for Barack Obama. I can't exactly say help is on the way, but how about the next best thing?


Escape.


As one who continually presents reports and even eyewitness dispatches to readers of my column and blog (www.dianawest.net) about the ever-receding tide of Western civilization, I think I probably owe a little escape — or, better, escapism — to readers, some respite from reality. At least until the end of the holidays.


And so, after sorting through the vaults for some diverting holiday fare, here is a festival's worth of A-list movies set in some of the great cities and tourist spots of the world — the same places that serve as backdrops to some of my rather more depressing columns about the ongoing multi-pronged war on the West that, alas, characterizes our era. But enough of that for now.


Given the gloom, some parameters. First, freshness. While these movies are what you could certainly call Cinema Antique, some of them may well prove to be new discoveries. In other words, no "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Casablanca" here — although "Casablanca" wouldn't make this particular cut because of my second criterion: total uplift. There are no world wars brewing in these pictures, no bad cases of rotten luck. And no poignant states of marginal truth. Let's kick off this cinematic tour in New York City with "Easy Living" (1937), an especially carefree A-list romantic comedy written by Preston Sturges about what happens when career girl Jean Arthur crosses paths with a Wall Street millionaire (who never heard of subprime "toxic paper") played by Edward Arnold. Ray Milland portrays the handsome son. And if you haven't seen "The Band Wagon" (1953), an all-time best musical with songs by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz and starring Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Jack Buchanan and Oscar Levant (who built a comedic career on his neurosis), it will lend a high note to any holiday.


We'll hop the pond with "Dodsworth" (1936), a grown-up drama of the first rank. Starring the nonpareil Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton, this movie version of the Sinclair Lewis novel follows a retired American automobile magnate (who never needed a bailout) and his wife from the American Midwest to Europe (Paris, Vienna, Florence). There, they find themselves — or, rather, different things about themselves — beginning in London. London also serves as backdrop to a key section of "Random Harvest" (1942), a deeply satisfying, everything-works-out weepie, in which Ronald Colman plays a shellshocked veteran of the Great War who loses his memory of everything, including wife Greer Garson.


I wasn't sure I could come up with a movie set even partially set in Brussels, backdrop to many recent columns. But I did with "The Cat and the Fiddle" (1934), a charming adaptation of a frothy and tuneful Jerome Kern/Otto Harbach musical starring Jeanette McDonald and Ramon Novarro, which shifts between Brussels and Paris.


Paris, the inspiration of so many movies, is easy. My first choice is the unsurpassed romantic comedy "Midnight" (1939), starring Claudette Colbert as a broke American chorus girl who bluffs her way into French society. Don Ameche, John Barrymore and Mary Astor also star. Next is "Desire" (1936), a romantic comedy starring the exotic Marlene Dietrich as a continental jewel thief who crosses paths (in Paris, Biarritz and Spain) with straight arrow Gary Cooper, who, come to think of it, is another Yank from the automobile industry.


For Swiss Alps escapism, the movie is "Private Lives" (1931), a completely perfect, eternally crackling Noel Coward comedy that opens on the French Riviera. There, a divorced couple (Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery) find themselves honeymooning with their new spouses in adjoining suites, ultimately running off together to a Swiss chalet.


Moving on to Prague, there is "The Shop Around the Corner" (1940), one of the most tenderly affecting romantic comedies ever made. Starring Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan, it was remade as "You've Got Mail" in 1998.


Last stop on the tour is Vienna, the setting for "The Great Waltz" (1938). This overlooked gem is based loosely and exuberantly on the life of Viennese waltz king Johann Strauss; it stars Fernand Gravet, Luise Rainer and the phenomenal coloratura soprano Miliza Korjus — enchantment for music lovers.


So there you have it. Around the world in 1,075 minutes. And guaranteed to boost low spirits and blow out holiday blahs.


Happy New Year.

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