NEW YORK (6NoBacon) — A second inquest into the death of Jewish musician Amy Winehouse confirmed that the 27-year-old English star died of accidental alcohol poisoning.
Coroner Shirley Radcliffe said the celebrity’s tragic end occurred from “alcohol toxicity” and was a “death by misadventure,” confirming initial reports from October 2011 of a first coroner who was later found to be unreliable, The Associated Press reported. Radcliffe confirmed the death was accidental and that there were no suspicious circumstances.
Radcliffe said a post-mortem examination on Winehouse found her blood alcohol level to be five times the amount permitted to legally drive — a level that proved to be fatal because a person could “fall asleep and not wake up.”
Winehouse attracted global recognition for her 2006 album “Back to Black,” which won five Grammy Awards. But frequent health problems and unpredictable behavior led the gossip world to portray her as a train wreck rather than a musical talent.
Portman is Hollywood’s most bankable
Natalie Portman is the queen of bank, according to Forbes, which reported that the star gives the best bang for the buck in box office returns.
The acclaimed Jewish actress cashed in with her performance in Darren Aronofsky’s 2010 Oscar-winning thriller “Black Swan,” in which she played a deranged ballerina. The film, which was made for just $13 million, grossed $329 million at the box office.
Forbes determined its choices on the most bankable list based on the last three films of each actor, comparing the salary paid to the star with box office results and the actual cost of the film.
Joining Portman on the list is another Jewish actor, Shia LeBeouf, for the “Transformer” movies, as well as Kristen Stewart, based on her roles in “Twilight” and “Snow White and the Huntsman,” and Daniel Radcliffe for his performances in the “Harry Potter” franchise.
Bar to the Super Bowl
Who says an Israeli will never make it to the Super Bowl (or the NFL, for that matter)?
Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli is set to appear in the notoriously racy Super Bowl ad for the Internet domain company GoDaddy.com. Refaeli will join race car driver Danica Patrick, according to an announcement made by GoDaddy.
Those hoping to see the Israeli hottie wearing very little may be disappointed, however. GoDaddy announced that the 30-second spot, titled “The Perfect Match,” will feature Refaeli in either a cocktail dress or something very formal.
That’s right, GoDaddy is stepping away from its sexualized image.
“The new sexy at GoDaddy is all about the customer,” Barb Rechterman, the company’s chief marketing officer, told USA Today. “We’re not thinking bikinis or anything like that. You might say we’ve come up in the world.”
Whatever Refaeli is planning to wear, it doesn’t really bother her. ”I am a model who is well-known for her body and feminine image,” she said. “I’m not here to make people think I’m the next Einstein.”
Refaeli, the cover model for the 2009 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, will get some competition from the 2012 cover model, Kate Upton, who will star in a Mercedes-Benz ad.
Oh, there’s also a football game in there somewhere.
ScarJo doesn’t want to be a mother yet
Don’t expect Scarlett Johansson to fulfill the role of nice Jewish mother anytime soon: The bombshell actress recently revealed that having kids is not exactly on the top of her priority list.
ScarJo graces the cover of the February issue of Elle, and since the story follows her ex-husband Ryan Reynolds’ recent marriage to Blake Lively, and comes just ahead of Valentine’s Day, its basically all about her love life.
“I got married when I was young and it was incredibly romantic and I liked being married, actually. But it is different. It’s hard to put into words,” she said. “To me, being in a functioning relationship doesn’t mean you have to be married … I never think about marriage.”
When the discussion turned to the topic of kids, Johansson said, “It’s really not important to me. It has no relevance to me right now. I’m not having kids anytime soon, I’m in a nice relationship, I’m working a lot, and, like I said, it’s not important to me.”
When Adam and Judd lived together
Hollywood’s two favorite funny Jews, Judd Apatow and Adam Sandler, once shared a $900-per-month apartment in southern California before the days of “Girls,” “Water Boy,” “Knocked Up” and “Jack and Jill.”
The funnymen sat down with Anderson Cooper on Sunday on “60 Minutes Overtime” to share some details of their days in intimate living quarters in the Valley. Apatow said Sandler slept on a mattress with no sheets, occasionally sharing it with friends, and the two fought about who was better looking and their bathroom. Apatow also recalled Sandler’s rental car overflowing with trash from McDonald’s.
“We could eat at Red Lobster once every month. That was a big night out,” Sandler said.
“That was like, ‘We’re fancy now,’ ” Apatow added. “Back then, life was just doing stand-up or writing jokes. You would sleep until noon every day and kind of stumble out. You would have to be at work at 8:30 at night. Work was sometimes 15 minutes.”
Sandler eventually moved out of the apartment and went to New York to join “Saturday Night Live,” but continued to pay rent for a bit because he was convinced he’d be fired and shipped back to Los Angeles.
Rihanna (the rhino) in Israel
Rihanna moved to Israel on New Year’s. Kind of.
A South African-born rhinoceros joined the Ramat Gan safari last week and will go by the name of the acclaimed Barbados-born R&B singer. Safari staff decided to name the rhino for the singer despite many public suggestions of Israeli names.
Rihanna is fenced off from the rest of the animals but reportedly is settling in well to her new surroundings, the Times of Israel reports.
If all goes well, the rhino will soon join the rest of the rhinos in the safari family.
Piven’s bar mitzvah rap
Jeremy Piven stopped by the “The Jonathan Ross Show” on Sunday to promote his new ITV series “Mr. Selfridge,” and almost immediately the host of the British talk show asked about his religion.
Piven identified himself as “Jew-ish,” not too “hard core, don’t wear peyos and don’t daven.” He also admitted that he was a “terrible bar mitzvah boy,” but said he found a unique way to study for the big day.
“It was hard for me to learn Hebrew,” Piven said. “I actually had to rap my haftarah portion,” and immediately broke into a live rapping of the portion, much to the enthusiasm of Ross, who suggested that Piven should use his rapping powers to prepare other young Jewish boys for their bar mitzvahs.
Piven’s response? “Yes! We’ll get Justin Bieber, we’ll circumcise him, everybody wins!”
Oscar bid for Israeli documentaries
Israel’s film industry is in its glory right now with two Israeli-produced documentaries shortlisted for possible nominations in this year’s Academy Awards.
The two films, “The Gatekeepers” and “5 Broken Cameras,” tell the story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from their own perspectives. Neither project pleased the Israeli government, according to The Associated Press.
“The Gatekeepers” features interviews with former heads of the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, and explores the Jewish state’s past, present and future through their eyes. Film director Dror Moreh was able to gain access to these exclusive interviews, even though the identities of many agents in the Shin Bet are not revealed to the public until they retire.
“For them [the enemy], by the way, I was also a terrorist,” Yuval Diskin, the Shin Bet chief from 2005 to 2011, said in the film. “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
“These moments end up etched deep inside you, and when you retire, you become a bit of a leftist,” added Yaakov Peri, who headed the Shin Bet from 1988 to 1994.
”5 Broken Cameras” was co-directed by a Palestinian farmer and amateur filmmaker, Emad Burnat, and Israeli cinematographer Guy Davidi. The story revolves around Burnat, who buys a camera to film his newborn son and his village, but ends up documenting six years of family life and political conflict in the West Bank.
“The camera was always my friend,” said Burnat, adding that he needed five cameras to film the documentary because each was broken by the Israeli army. “I was connected to the camera, the camera was connected to me.”
Final decisions for Oscar nominations will be announced on Thursday.
Hoffman’s magical shidduch
Actor Dustin Hoffman wants to use wizardry to find his daughter a husband.
During an interview with the British Daily Mirror, told that actor Daniel Radcliffe described him as his ultimate idol, Hoffman responded, “That’s really lovely. I thank you, Daniel. Does he have a girlfriend? Is he married? I have a 25-year-old daughter, Alexandra, so this could be a nice introduction.”
When Hoffman was asked to give Radcliffe a tip from one short actor to another, Hoffman replied, ”That’s easy — make sure everyone cast around him is even shorter. My daughter’s pretty small, too.”
Hoffman’s daughter broke up with Jonah Hill last fall.
Calling all hipsters to the polls
A massive campaign by the Israeli Election Committee to encourage voting in the Jan. 22 elections has managed to reach the country’s most apathetic demographic — Israeli hipsters.
Yes, Israeli hipsters do exist. And yes, they were cool before you knew about them (but they probably are a little less cool now because the government knows, too).
The campaign video features a ridiculously hipster couple (the girl looks like Garth Algar from “Wayne’s World” and the guy looks like a denim version of “Where is Waldo”) sitting at a Tel Aviv cafe who keep complaining that only after coming back from Berlin can you understand how much of a third, fourth or even fifth world country Israel is. They even carp about the cafe offering creme anglaise.
Suddenly a policeman pulls over and asks if they voted in the last election. The couple responds, “No way, in a country with one of the lowest video art budgets in the world?” The officer gives them a ticket and tells them that their right to bitch has been revoked for four years.
The slogan: “Not voting? Don’t bitch!”
(For more Jewish entertainment news, visit 6nobacon.com, the illegitimate child of JTA.)
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
