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Natalie Portman – not just famous but admirable In the past I have lambasted famous actors, singers and sporting ‘heroes’ who have allowed the (frankly remote) threat of terrorism involved in a long distance flight to cause them to change their travel plans. You do not have to be a great warrior to do something to help defeat Islamic terrorism… you just have to refuse to let yourself be terrorised.
And so it is nice to see a Hollywood A-lister made of sterner stuff than some that could be mentioned. The precarious state of things in the Middle East has not stopped Natalie Portman going to Israel to visit friends and family. Bravo, Ms. Portman, good for you.
Tougher than Schwartzenegger, harder than Willis, only a little larger than a well-fed wombat
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And more attractive than all three, I might add.
Though you do have to forget that she was ever in Leon…
Why? I thought Leon was a terrific little flick (I have always been something of a Jean Reno fan and Portman pretty much made her career in that movie).
I bet she smells a lot nicer than a well-fed wombat too 🙂
But yes, I agree that it is refreshing to discover there is such as thing as an attractive showbiz personality who is not a craven jackanapes.
And my learned, erudite contribution to this discussion consists of….PHWAOOOOORRR!!
“a Hollywood A-lister “? Never heard of her, which movies has she starred in? Bruce Willis has gone to Iraq a few times to entertain the troops. Schwartzenegger is too busy caving in to the Democrats, killing embryos for their stem cells, and becoming Bush’s poodle’s poodle by signing onto Blair’s global warming initiative. Btw, it is a “warm” 65F in Chicago at the end of August. In better non-warming time, we have over 80F at this time of the year. Of course global warming means more glaciers and cooler temperatures. Have faith, the globe is warming up.
Oh nothing much, just three Star Wars movies, Mars Attacks, V for Vendetta and one or two others. She will also be in the next Indiana Jones movie. Sheesh.
I think what Mandrill meant was that she was about 12 in Leon. So better (in terms of staying out of prison) to pretend that was someone completely different to the very hot grown-up actress. 😉
I know I’ve had similar thoughts about her role in Heat.
“killing embryos for their stem cells”
You’re joking, right?
On second inspection Natalie’s dress in the pic on this post is somewhat more revealing than at first glance!
I hold her in high esteem, but Bruce Willis is the best of the A-List when it comes to putting his body where his mouth is, with his shows in Iraq.
On second inspection Natalie’s dress in the pic on this post is somewhat more revealing than at first glance!
Probably the flashbulbs.
Yes, that is a great improvement on his less admirable behaviour right after 9/11 when he would not fly “because his children begged him not to”. Nice to see Willis got a grip at last.
I loved the growth of her character in V.
I’d pay money to watch her wash dishes…especially in that dress.
Naked and petrified, of course.
What a feeble excuse to put a babe on
There is never an excuse too feeble to put a babe on.
I loved the growth of her character in V.
Haha. For a second there, you had me wondering whether she was one of the rubber masked reptilians or one of the plucky resistance fighting alongside Robert Englund.
Rich
She’s a smart cookie, that one. Only does acting as a hobby, as she’s always wanted to be a career psychologist and is currently at Harvard. And speaks a whole hatful of languages.
Sadly, I always feel disappointed that all her performances never matched the one she put on in Leon.
Indeed.
Leon is a great film, and I concur with Perry’s assessment of Jean Reno (I liked him in Ronin, too).
Go and see the Portman website for the comments, some of which are of the “how dare can she go to evil Israel?” variety. But what is encouraging is that most of her fans back what she is doing. Maybe, just maybe, some parts of the Hollywood fraternity get what is at stake.
People who look to Hollywood for their politcs deserve to live uninspired, vacuous lives. I couldn’t care less whether Natalie Portman supports Israel or whether she is simply visiting her relatives.
Nice photo though.
Sadly, I always feel disappointed that all her performances never matched the one she put on in Leon.
Yes, but, if you’re thinking of the woeful Star Wars prequels then she had to contend with a George Lucas script.
To quote Harrison Ford, “You can write this shit George, but tou sure as hell can’t say it!”
Good for her. It’s a shame I missed her.
I had the chance to travel to Jerusalem recently with work. One colleague said to me, “I would have flatly refused to go in the current climate”. I wasn’t bothered at all, I know plenty of people who live there every day. How dangerous could it be? It was, in fact, a very pleasant city and I had a thoroughly enjoyable time.
I also wrote about some of the news coverage in the Jerusalem Post, comparing it to coverage back home.
Wombats are alright but you can get an ugly one.
I also could not care less if Natalie Portman supports Israel or whether she is simply visiting her relatives because that has nothing whatsoever with the point I was making. The fact she travelled to where she wanted to regardless of the “terrorist threat” for whatever reason is what I have complimented her on.
Hundreds of thousands of people fly daily regardless of the threat of terrorism, not because they are deciding to defy Al Qaeda, but simply because they do not dissolve into idiot terror at an increase in risk to their lives of 0.2%. As show biz people are very keep on projecting a certain public image, I find the cowardice of so many rather unedifying and so rather enjoy pointing it out. Thus it seems only fair that I also point out the people in the public eye who are made of sterner stuff.
Also the reasons I am singling out Natalie Portman for praise is that she is better known than that fearless travelling saleswoman Jane Smith of Piscataway, New Jersey… and Portman is a bit of a babe these days.
Yes, and wombats will let themselves go, skipping their workouts and not brushing their hair…
“The fact she travelled to where she wanted to regardless of the “terrorist threat” for whatever reason …”
Well, she didn’t travel for “whatever reason“, she travelled precisely because there was a war raging, and she wanted to encourage her relatives and people.
That could be compared to Willis travelling to Iraq.
By the way: why don’t we see more artists and entretainers willing to go to boost the morale of troops in Iraq ? (Rhethorical question).
Which makes her even more admirable in my opinion, but my point is that people do not have to actively take a stand to fight terrorism (though they certainly should), they just need to not be a chickenshit and so refuse to let their lives be interrupted whenever possible (and it usually is possible)… i.e. refuse to be terrorised.
The fact she travelled to where she wanted to regardless of the “terrorist threat” for whatever reason is what I have complimented her on.
Fair enough, to paraphrase, evil triumphs when people refuse to go on vacation.
My point is that looking to Hollywood for politics is pointless since no one in Hollywood does anything without an eye on self-promotion. In fact, looking to a politician for politics is much the same. If they do lose the pulse of their audience, they end up on the out.
Your point may not have been that Portman is making a political statement, only getting on with normal life, but that is not the reason her PR consultant released this tidbit to the media.
Portman is admirable for her talent, she is desirable for her good looks, but I’m not going to praise her for commonsense.
I acknowledge your point that people should be encouraged to get on with their lives, but if people want to accept the terrorist threat as an excuse to limit their lives, so be it, that’s their perogitive. I’m not going to condemn them or pay any attention to them, just like I could care less about your Punxsutawney saleswoman.
LOL. We may have another ‘Quote of the day’ here.
Any very attractive too. Shame she’s dressed like a whore.
Tsk yes, when will women just remember their place and stick to wearing a burqua. That’s a perfectly acceptable party dress, you nasty little bumpkin.
Please err on the side of reporting too many rather than too few of Ms. Portman’s future activities, with similar photos to accompany all such reports.
bathugeo, I think her dress is quite tasteful, at least from where I am sitting. Your use of the word “whore” possibly says more about you than it does the delectable Miss Portman.
“Which makes her even more admirable in my opinion”
Of course. She not only visited Israel, she visited specifically, wounded soldiers in the hospitals in the north, while katyushas were falling there sporadically.
As to bathugeo, I guess bathugeo is a “she”. Typical.
I’m obviously not getting invited to the right parties.
Jacob, maybe. While some so-called feminists get all puritanical about revealing women’s dresses, there do seem quite a lot of repressed, joyless guys out there who have a problem with lovely women showing a bit of flesh. As I said, the problem is theirs and not that of the likes of Ms Portman.
“Shame she’s dressed like a whore”
If, bathugeo, that is what “whores” look like and how they dress, then so far as I am concerned;
Legalize immediately and I’ll take two, please.
Tougher than Schwartzenegger, harder than Willis, only a little larger than a well-fed wombat
And more beautiful than the stars of heaven.
– Josh
I’d be more impressed if she didn’t get deferral from military service, like say Elvis, and if V for Vendetta hadn’t been such a politically correct piece of garbage when it came to Islam. As a non-Jewish supporter of Israel, I have a problem with Jews who support Israel when they deal with militant Islam, but don’t support the rest of the West.
Given that I regard conscription as legalised kidnapping followed by a term of enslavement, I take a rather different view.
“I’d be more impressed if she didn’t get deferral from military service”
She lived in the US from age 3. She needs no deferral, as she is not subject to Israeli conscription.
Oh, well, you can’t please everybody…
Damn she looks smokin’ in that dress. Has anybody identified what brand is her favorite thong?
I applaud her for going on holiday. Appreciating a good vacation, even in the heat of war, is important. As the good Colonel once said, “Charlie don’t surf.”
Of course, given how much of the conflict seems to be increasingly faked, as in a faked attack on a Reuters press vehicle(Link), I doubt she has much to fear, other than being singled out for cavity searches by the sonsabitches in Homeland Security, or having those hellacious earrings confiscated as potential detonation transmitters…
I was surprised to see her nervous to the point of giggling on Letterman some time ago, in similarly appealing attire. I’d expected more the warrior-queen self-discipline she’d managed to portray in SW2 — although since the real Gwinevere’s death in a pit of snakes typically ended that real career, it’s just as well that Portman’s was an act, however hypnotic.
Too self-righteous for my taste.
And too many nose-jobs.
natalie actually KNOWS things. she’s well educated and well-travelled and not a victim of the hollywood numbskull propagnda machine.
good for her! this wasn’t about visiting when it was SAFE. it was putting herself in danger to make a point about solidarity. that’s seriously tough. i love her!
Natalie is lucky that she can even go, i was born there too, and i am not allowed back into jerusalem, back at home. Hell my home is under a huge ugly barrier now!