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HERITAGE FLORIDA JEWISH NEWS, MAY 17, 2013
By Six Degrees
(No Bacon) Staff
Park named for Beastie
Boys' Yauch
NEW YORK (JTA) New
York City honored the late
rapper Adam Vauch, MCA of
the Beastie Boys, by bestowing
his name on a Brooklyn play-
ground. The park, formerly
called Palmetto Playground,
is just a couple of blocks from
where the musician grew up.
At the recent dedication
~eremony, speakers included
bandmate Adam Horovitz
(a.k.a. Ad-Rock); Vauch's
parents, Frances and Noel,
and Borough President Marty
Markowitz, who rapped his
own version of the Beas-
tie Boys' "Open Letter to
NYC," according to USAToday.
Kutcher to Israel
Israel this week was to
welcome its first big-name
American visitor since Barack
Obama. OK, so this time it's
the star of "Two And A Half
Men" and not the ruler of
the free world, but Ashton
Kutcher equals pretty excit-
ing stuff.
The Kabbalah-practicing
actor will bring his Jewish
girlfriend, actress Mila Kunis,
a.k.a, the Sexiest Woman in
the World (see next item), ac-
cording to the Times of Israel.
Kutcher has visited the
Holy Land before, the last
time in 2010 with then-wife
and fellow Kabbalah devotee
Demi Moore.
In Israel, rather than ex-
ploring mysticism, Kutcher
will be promoting high-tech
initiatives that actually
sounds about as opaque and
):
Daniel Zuchnik/Getty
Noel and Frances Yauch, second from left, and former
Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz and wife Rachael,
with New York City and Brooklyn officials May 3 stand by
a plaque marking Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn.
vague.
FHM magazine: Kunis is
world's sexiest woman
FHM magazine put Mila
Kunis at the top of its annual
100 Sexiest Women in the
World list. The super classy
publication (tagline: "It's
great to be a man") praises
herwork on "That'70s Show,"
"Forgetting Sarah Marshall"
and Black Swan," in which, we
are reminded, Kunis "played
tonsil-hockey" with Natalie
Portman.
Surely Ashton Kutcher
would agree with the editors,
who call the Ukrainian Jewish
star the "Dream Girlfriend."
Other chosen ladieswho made
the arbitrary cut: Scarlett Jo-
hannson at No. 49 and Alison
Brie, No. 57.
'Hangover' Jews
Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms
and Zach Galifianakis were
not on most people's radar
back in 2007. That's probably
why the casting folks for "The
Hangover" were initially try-
ing for more famous stars--
and coincidentally, more
Jewish for the lead roles.
The first actor associated
with the project was Jack
Black, who dropped out early
on, director Todd Phillips told
The Hollywood Reporter. Paul
Rudd also passed on the film.
It's not hard to imagine
Black and Rudd blacking out
in Vegas, but Jake Gyllenhaal
in the part ultimately played
by Galifianakis? Not so much,
although Gyllenhaal had been
on the wish list for the first
version of the character, which
originally was a younger
brother rather than an older
one still living at home.
Bynes melts down on
Twitter
Just a day after tweeting
lingerie-clad selfies, former
Nickelodeon star Amanda
Bynes posted an even louder
cry for attention (and help?):
topless photos of herself. It's
not just the nudity that
indicates a depressing rock
bottomness to her downward
spiral. It's seeing her all alone
in her bathroom, her tweaked-
out expressions, her photo
captions ("Rawr!'). Eek.
And just when you think it
can't get worse, Bynes goes off
on actress and author Jenny
McCarthy, who shared over
Twitter that the police were at
Bynes' house and that hope-
fully the troubled 27-year-old
would now get the help she
needs.
"@JennyMcCarthy I need
help? What are u talking
about?" Bynes ranted. "Aren't
u 50 years old? I'm 27, u look
80 compared to me! Why are
you talking about me?"
And: "@JennyMcCarthy
you're ugly! Police weren't at
my house old lady! Shut the
f**k up!"
For once Bynes seemed
somewhat aware of her ma-
nia, eventually removing
the tweets and apologizing.
"You're beautiful! I was lying!"
Lena Dunham's expensive
digs
It's often hard to figure
out how much of the real-life
Lena Dunham makes it into
the character she plays on
her HBO series "Girls." It's
certain, though, that Han-
nah Horvath would never
have gone with a real estate
agent to see the apartment
Dunham checked out over
the weekend.
The three-bedroom pad in
the hip Williamsburg section
of Brooklyn features twin
walk-in closets, a giant liv-
ing room-kitchen area and
a 1,900-square-foot wrap-
around terrace with views of
the Manhattan skyline and
the Williamsburg Bridge,
according to the New York
Daily News.
For more Jewish entertain-
ment news, visit 6nobacon.
corn, the illegitimate child
of JTA.
Scouts standing at attention
By Gil Shefler
NEW YORK (JTA)--Jewish
Scouting leaders are taking a
vocal role in efforts to pass a
historic resolution thatwould
partially lift a ban on gays in
the Boy Scouts of America.
In a meeting of the National
Jewish Committee on Scout-
ing in February, members
voted overwhelmingly in
favor of a resolution lifting
the BSA's longstanding ban on
gay members. Now the Jewish
Scouting group is working to
shore up support for a resolu-
tion to be voted on at the Boy
Scouts of America's annual
convention in Dallas later this
month thatwould prevent the
Scouts from denying mem-
bership to anyone younger
than 18 on the basis of sexual
orientation. The resolution
would not change the BSA's
ban on gay adult leaders.
"I am advocating for com-
plete change and inclusive-
ness," NJCOS Chairman A.J.
Kreimer told JTA last week.
"I'm speaking with other peo-
ple and as an area president,
one of 26 in the country, I have
advocated for fellow Scouters
to do the same."
The struggle over the BSA's
position on gays has divided
the national youth organiza-
tion at a time when public
opinion has grown markedly
more accepting of homosexu-
ality. Most recent public
opinion polls show a majority
of Americans supporting the
right of gays to marry--a
right the U.S. Supreme Court
could grant as early as this
summer. Meanwhile, the
Sandi Mako/ShutterStock
during a Boy Scouts of America Memorial Day ceremony.
number of states recogniz-
ing such unions has grown
to 11--Delaware became the
most recent on May 7--along
with the District of Columbia.
As in the wider debate,
BSA religious groups, which
make up about 70 percent of
Scouting units, are bitterly
divided. Southern Baptist
and evangelical churches are
adamantly opposed to chang-
ing the organization's policy,
while Presbyterian, Lutheran
and Jewish Scouting leaders
have come out in support of
gay inclusion.
The Mormon and Catholic
churches both officially de-
nounce homosexuality, yet
their Scouting branches--
the largest and third largest
within the BSA, respective-
ly--have signaled a willing-
ness to endorse the current
proposal lifting the ban on
gay youths only.
Kreimer said the proposed
compromise is a deeply flawed
one. The notion that a gay
Scout would be expelled upon
turning 18, or that a gay rabbi
might be barred from host-
ing a Scouting unit at his
synagogue, is "untenable," he
said. Still, Kreimer said most
Jewish delegates would back
the resolution as a temporary
compromise.
"We are going to hold our
nose andvote for itbecause it's
the bestwe can do today," said
John Lenrow, BSA's Northeast
Region executive vice presi-
dent and a former chairman
of the NJCOS. "But it doesn't
mean the fighting is over."
Jews have a long history
in American Scouting. One
of the group's first vice presi-
dents was Mortimer Schiff, a
German-Jewish financierwho
joined with Andrew Carnegie
and John Rockefeller to help
found the BSA in 1910.
With 7,000 teen Scouts
meeting at synagogues, Jew-
ish community centers and
B'nai B'rith lodges across
the country, NJCOS is tiny
compared to other religious
Scouting groups. The Church
of Latter-Day Saints, the BSA's
largest chartered organiza-
tion, counts 420,000 Scouts
under its aegis. NJCOS does
not even represent a majority
of Jewish Scouts.
"Most are not registered
with Jewish organizations and
belong to units that are public,
nonreligious or are organized
by churches," Kreimer said.
Still, as one of the oldest
BSA charters and the sole
representative of a major
religion, the NJCOS, which
was founded in 1926,has been
forced to rebuff opponents of
gay inclusion who try to sway
the Jewish Scouts by quoting
biblical passages.
"I respond by saying until
you tell me you keep kosher,
don't try to tell me you read
the Bible in its entirety and
do everything it says," Len-
row said.
Kreimer said the vote on gay
inclusionwas too tight to call.
But whichever way it goes, he
said it would certainly have a
long-term impact on the Boy
Scouts of America.
"It's a defining moment
for Scouting," Kreimer said,
"and a test for the character
and future of the movement."
