Israellycool

Week’s after learning that Kramer and Newman’s bottle scheme might be coming to Australia comes word that Newman himself might also be.

Australia’s postal service has increased the maximum weight for mailmen and women by 15 kg (33 pounds) in an attempt to attract more “posties,” local media reported on Tuesday.

Australia Post had a weight limit of 90 kgs (198 pounds) for “posties” because its 110cc motorcycles had a safe working limit of 130kg (286 pounds) — that’s 40kg (88 pounds) for letters and up to 90 kgs for mailmen and women fully clothed.

But after talks with motorcycle manufacturer Honda it was agreed the bikes could safely carry a “postie” weighing 105 kgs (231 pounds), said Sydney’s the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

But the “posties” will only carry 25 kgs of mail.

The union representing mailmen and women said the 90 kg limit had caused recruitment headaches for Australia Post, but the company denied it had staffing problems.

“Testing found a rise in rider weight up to a maximum of 105 kgs would not have any significant effect on the stability, handling or safety of their 110 cc motorcycle,” an Australia Post spokesman told the newspaper.

“By raising it from 90 to 105 kilograms means there will be other people that can now apply,” he said.

Question: What do Tom Cruise and Bart Simpson have in common?

Besides being the same height.

Answer below.

Look who’s here:

Jamie-Lynn Sigler, the actress who played Meadow, the daughter of Mafioso Tony Soprano on the award-winning HBO series “The Sopranos,” is currently in Israel on a Birthright tour. According to Israeli newspaper Yediot Acharonot, the 25 year-old actress is in country to explore her Jewish roots. She is the daughter of a Jewish father with Greek and Romanian Jewish roots and a Cuban mother who converted to Judaism after meeting her husband.

Sigler expressed that she is impressed with the Jewish state.

The Force is strong with this one.

A woman who was assaulted on a Norfolk street was rescued by her 11-year-old son - who chased the assailant off with a toy lightsaber.

The incident began when a man in his thirties punched the woman on the arm and began verbally abusing her.

The woman was with her two children - the son, aged 11, and a daughter of six - at the time of the incident, which happened a long time ago (December 22) in a galaxy far, far away (Swardeston, just south of Norwich).

The Eastern Daily Press reports that the boy defended his mother by hitting the assailant with his lightsaber - an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.

The man fled, without even trying to persuade the boy to join him on the dark side.

PC Allan Jennings, of the local police, noted: ‘The incident caused quite a commotion and it is unlikely it would have gone unnoticed.

‘I would appeal for anyone who saw what happened to contact me,’ he added.

At last a Star Wars fan making the news for the right reasons.

Question: What do these two individuals have in common?

If you said they are both characters/British actors in the Harry Potter movies, you are correct, but c’mon! I wouldn’t ask such an easy question if that was the full answer.

Any takers?

And the answer is….

Will Smith has reacted angrily to reports suggesting he thought Hitler was basically a good person, with the Hollywood celebrity stating unequivocally that he was misinterpreted.

Will Smith is angry over celebrity gossip Web site articles that he said misinterpreted a recent remark he made in a Scottish newspaper about Adolf Hitler.

Will Smith was upset that a remark about Hitler was misinterpreted by a writer, and then gossip sites.

In a story published Saturday in the Daily Record, Smith was quoted saying: “Even Hitler didn’t wake up going, ‘let me do the most evil thing I can do today.’ I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was ‘good.’ ”

The quote was preceded by the writer’s observation: “Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good.”

Over the weekend, dozens of celebrity gossip Web sites posted articles about the comment, many saying that Smith believed that Hitler was a “good” person.

“It is an awful and disgusting lie,” Smith said in a statement Monday provided by his publicist. “It speaks to the dangerous power of an ignorant person with a pen. I am incensed and infuriated to have to respond to such ludicrous misinterpretation.”

“Adolf Hitler was a vile, heinous vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on this planet,” read the statement.

Unlike the last man who claimed he was misinterpreted, I am inclined to believe him.

Hollywood actor Will Smith recently told Zoo magazine that women want to bed him because he makes them laugh.

“No one believes me, but comedy is better than muscles, money or looks. If you can make a girl laugh out loud, you’re in there”, says Smith, whose movie I Am Legend opens in Sydney on January 3.

“It’s almost like the pressure of the laugh makes her panties fall off.”

Well hold on to your panties, women, because Will has just come up with some comedy gold.

In an interview, the 39-year-old family man and former all-around good guy says he sees the good in everyone, including Adolf Hitler.

“Even Hitler didn’t wake up going, ‘Let me do the most evil thing I can do today.’ I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was ‘good.’ Stuff like that just needs reprogramming,” Smith told the Daily Record.

And I’m sure Smith didn’t wake up going ‘Let me say the most stupid thing I can say today.’ But that didn’t stop him.

Given that Smith seems like a decent guy - albeit in dire need of some modesty - I can only guess that he has gone the route of so many Hollywood celebrities before him and tried to be profound.

I just wish Homey didn’t play dat.

Update: It seems like Homey don’t play dat.

I stand by what I previously said - I’ve got to see this.

Not since this movie have I so looked forward to seeing a movie just on the basis of a short plot description and cast.

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan

A Mossad agent fakes his death so he can re-emerge in New York City as a hair stylist.

The case includes Adam Sandler (in the title role), Rob Schneider, Henry Winkler (the Fonz), Mariah Carey (rumoured), and some Israeli-sounding-name actors.

Of course, you can imagine that the plot will involve Sandler’s character and the Arab characters in the movie becoming best buddies. It is, after all, a comedy, and an Adam Sandler one at that. But I’m willing to forgive Sandler since he is a real life mensch.

(Thanks to Ace for drawing my attention to this movie, but not for drawing my attention to..errr.. this).

Update: Despite commenter David’s constant obnoxious comments, I have now reread this post and see where there could be some misunderstanding. What I meant by the last paragraph is you can imagine that there will be some moral equivocation, with the ex-Mossad agent befriending some ex terrorists or something of the sort. I did not mean that he will befriend any Arabs, per se, and this is somehow “wrong.”

I feel a celebrity death-match coming on.

George Clooney got into a shoving match with fellow sex symbol Fabio at a Los Angeles eatery last week, it was reported Wednesday.

The altercation apparently happened because Clooney thought one of Fabio’s five female dinner guests was photographing him.

But a source told “Access Hollywood” Fabio approached Clooney’s table to explain he was having a charity dinner for the California Highway Patrol’s 11-99 Foundation and his guests were only taking photos of each other — not Clooney.

However, a photo obtained by the news magazine indicates one of Fabio’s guests did take a picture of Clooney flipping them the bird.

The source said Clooney and Fabio traded barbs, then had to be physically separated.

“The women and I were taking pictures of us together only,” Fabio told “Access Hollywood.” “The women were not taking pictures of George. Out of courtesy, I even went over to George’s table to explain that to him. I just feel badly that it ruined the night of these women who paid to support charity. I am thinking of something to make it up to them.” (I’m sure you are - Aussie Dave)

Fabio’s manager, Eric Ashenberg, said, “Clooney started on ‘ER’ and Fabio was going to send him back there.”

Touche. Although with all due respect to Fabio, he usually comes off second best when confronted with birds.

When is a drug not a drug?

When it’s a leaf!

The governor of California says marijuana is not a drug, a British magazine reported today.

Arnold Schwarzenegger told the British edition of GQ magazine that he had not taken drugs.

The former bodybuilder and Hollywood star has acknowledged using marijuana in the 1970s and was shown smoking a joint in the 1977 documentary Pumping Iron.

“That is not a drug. It’s a leaf,” Schwarzenegger told GQ.

“My drug was pumping iron, trust me,” he added.

Coming soon: It’s not a drug. It’s a powder.

Update: Having said that, Arnie is vehemently opposed to lighting too many leaves.

Hollywood director David Lynch, currently visiting Israel, believes he has a way of bringing peace to the Middle East.

Transcendental meditation anyone?

David Lynch, on a five-day visit to Israel to encourage transcendental meditation, met with Israeli President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres.

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The 61-year-old director, who has received Oscar nominations for “The Elephant Man,” “Blue Velvet” and “Mullholland Dr.,” is visiting Israel to encourage transcendental meditation as a new approach to eliminating violence in schools and creating a peaceful world.

“Real peace is not just the absence of war, but the absence of all suffering, all negativity,” Lynch said at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Jerusalem. “Change comes from within. From the first meditation, boom, you’re there.”

Unfortunately, I don’t see the palestinians giving up the “boom” for the meditation.

He started the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace to promote transcendental meditation as a way to aid students in violence-ridden schools and bring about world harmony.

With meditation, Lynch said, the “black cloud of negativity dissolves.”

Meditation can aid not only schoolchildren, but also bring tranquility to troubled regions of the world, he said.

“The experienced gardener doesn’t worry about the leaves. Get at (the problem) from its roots,” he said. “A peace on the surface — it doesn’t address the seeds of war … it’s a `peace’ of paper.”

Methinks someone has been smoking a bit too much peace pipe. Or something a lot stronger.

In any event, he’s not the worst Lynch we’ve had in Israel.