Oh, this is EXCELLENT news. The Wrap reports that Tina Fey is set to produce and star in a film adaptation of The Taliban Shuffle, a memoir by Kim Barker about her time as an “adrenaline junkie” war reporter in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Michiko Kakutani called it first, when she wrote this review for The New York Times in 2011:

It’s not just that Ms. Barker is adept at dramatizing her own adventures as a reporter — though she develops the chops of a veteran foreign correspondent, she depicts herself as a sort of Tina Fey character, who unexpectedly finds herself addicted to the adrenaline rush of war. It’s also that Ms. Barker has discovered a voice in these pages that enables her to capture both the serious and the seriously absurd conditions in Af-Pak (Afghanistan and Pakistan), and the surreal deal of being a female reporter there, with dating problems ranging from the screwball (a boyfriend competing to cover the same story) to the ridiculous (being romantically pursued by the former prime minister of Pakistan).

The book is described by publisher Random House as “darkly comic,” so it seems like good fodder for Fey’s sardonic sense of humor—we’re imagining Zero Dark Thirty meets The Paper.

And now, to celebrate, here’s Fey and Amy Poehler’s killer 2014 Golden Globes opening. ‘Cause why not?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT3uNSZpK7c

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Last week, the New York Times reported that the Iranian government had donated $400,000 to Tehran’s only Jewish hospital, the Dr. Sapir Hospital and Charity Center. The news—delivered in person by Hossein Fereydoon, brother of President Hassan Rouhani—was a source of much skeptical bemusement/eye-rolling on Twitter, and elicited this doubtful reaction from Stephanie Butnick at Tablet:

I don’t mean to look a gift horse in the mouth, but the unexpected donation, which appears to have been given with little warning or context, raises a few questions. Is this part of Rouhani’s skillful charm offensive—a generous gesture of goodwill to a religious minority could potentially go a long way in softening the country’s image in the eyes of the West—or a genuine attempt at cultural change within the country?

The “charm offensive,” in case you were wondering, is not an invasion of militant beauty queens (if only!), but this thing the Iranian government is doing right now to woo world powers and end sanctions. In a romantic-comedy it’d be a montage scene with a peppy soundtrack culminating in a happy disarmament for everyone, in real life it kind of falls flat when you execute poets for blasphemy.

Disturbing (and unsurprising) dictatorial hypocrisies aside, there’s a really nice piece about the history and current status of the hospital in The New York Times:

Named after a Jewish doctor who died in 1921 while trying to cure patients during a typhus epidemic raging through Tehran, the hospital started out as a clinic where all Iranians could come for medical care at vastly reduced rates. For more than 50 years it has been a meeting point for Iranian Jews and Muslims and the most prominent Jewish charity in the capital.

Situated across the street from a Shiite seminary, the Dr. Sapir Hospital and Charity Center continues to offer affordable treatment. Says Mohammad Mirghanin, a seminary student who has sought treatment at the hospital: “They might have a different religion, but they are fellow Iranians. I do not see why I should not go to the Jewish hospital.”

This sentiment was reiterated by the hospital’s Muslim managing director, Khoddad Asnashahri, who told the reporter, “here all people can come, no matter what religion, color or race.” Ninety-six percent of the patients and most of the staff are not Jewish.

Remarkably—despite the vicissitudes of revolution, war, and emigration—the Jewish character of the hospital has remained intact. The charm offensive blunders on, but the beneficiary of the Rouhani’s latest act of generosity, it seems, is a worthy recipient.

Read the full piece here.

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It seems a whole lot of Jewish students are majoring in Middle East and Arabic studies. While some might find the trend odd, the New York Times reports, those students have professed that their Jewish heritage is exactly what made them interested in said subjects.

These students tend to also have more liberal politics and a gentler view of the Arab world than much of their friends and family.

As a group, the Jewish students tend to be politically liberal; some are religiously observant, but few are religiously conservative. They generally sympathize with Arab points of view, and criticize both Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and American involvement in the Middle East, although they remain committed to Israel’s existence. Those views may make them at home in classrooms, but they can alienate them from friends and family members who have harsher views of the Arab world or fear for their safety in the Middle East.

As more and more students begin to study Middle Eastern conflict, perhaps a more open dialogue can develop. What do you think about the increase of Jews in Middle East and Arabic studies?

(Photo by Max Talbot-Minkin/Wikimedia)

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Season 1 of Homeland, the Showtime hit starring Jewcy favorite Mandy Patinkin, premieres this week in Canada. Patinkin went all the way up there to do some press for the show (he’s such a Saul), where he explained in a bizarre interview that Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) and Nick Brody (Damian Lewis) are actually metaphors for the conflict in the Middle East.

The weirdest thing about the whole interview, though, is that it’s getting increasingly difficult to tell where Patinkin ends and his on-screen alter ego, Saul Berenson, begins. Here’s how he describes his character:

“This Jewish looking fellow is keeping these two non-Jewish looking creatures together because he feels that they’re the answer to the world’s problems. They both care so much; they have so much empathy towards the human race, even though they are both capable of committing horrific acts of violence,” he explains. “I don’t condone violence but sometimes it happens, I’m not naive. But Saul Berenson’s preference is to make the world sit at the peace table. Saul Berenson’s preference is to not lift a single weapon, not hurt a single human being but he’s not naive, he’s had to do some horrific things in his life.”

Patinkin out.

(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Previously: Watch Mandy Patinkin Get Giddy About Someone Else’s Baby Being Born
Network Jews: Saul Berenson from Showtime’s Homeland
Reality Check: The Israeli vs. American Actors of ‘Homeland’ and ‘In Treatment’
Gilad Shalit Visits Cast of Showtime Drama ‘Homeland’ on Set in Tel Aviv

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Visit http://live.ajc.org on Tuesday March 15th, 2011 at 7:00pm Eastern to participate live in this timely, topical and interactive program.

The post Changing Dynamics in the Middle East appeared first on Jewcy.