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The creator of ‘Planet of the Bass,’ TikTok’s hit of the summer, has made a series of Jewish characters, too
(New York Jewish Week) – If you’ve been on the internet the last few weeks, chances are you heard the summer’s biggest earworm “Planet of the Bass,” or seen the kitschy videos of a male and female performer dressed as 90s Europop stars dancing and lip syncing along to lyrics such as “All of the dream/how does it mean” and “Life, it never die/Women are my favorite guy.”
The videos and the song “Planet of the Bass” sung by “DJ Crazy Times and Ms. Biljana Electronica ” are a parody of 90s European Dance groups like Aqua — but when it was first posted on July 28, it quickly and unironically became the song of the summer.
Planet of the Bass (feat. DJ Crazy Times & Ms. Biljana Electronica) #djcrazytimes #eurodance #90s #dancemusic #edm #funny #funnyvideos #funnytiktok
♬ Planet of the Bass (feat. DJ Crazy Times & Ms. Biljana Electronica) – Kyle Gordon
The real name of DJ Crazy Times and the creator and writer behind the video is Jewish Brooklyn-based comic and performer Kyle Gordon. Ms. Biljana Electronica is a different woman in each video — actresses Audrey Trullinger, Mara Olney and Sabrina Brier — a spoof on the practice that these types of bands tended to switch out their female members with little to notice. The real vocals for the song were recorded by singer Chrissi Poland.
“I’m over the moon. It’s fantastic. I absolutely did not expect the crazy, massive, enthusiastic response that it’s gotten,” he said of the videos, which have been viewed over 200 million times across social media platforms. Complete with rotating shots and inventive camera angles, Gordon said the video was filmed on an iPhone by his brother Sam at the Oculus, the the mall attached to the World Trade Center and the Fulton Street subway station.
“We did it on a Sunday, so there were a lot of tourists around just staring at us because we’re like going crazy dancing. I mean, I have red hair and swim goggles on,” Gordon said. In other interviews, Gordon mentioned that the police eventually told him he couldn’t film at the Oculus.
The three videos he’s put out are only promotions for the song – the full version of “Planet of the Bass” will drop on August 15, the first single in a parody album that will be released by Gordon in the fall, which spoofs all different genres of music, like 1960s bossa nova songs and early 2000s “Shania Twain type, female pop country songs.” It will be produced and engineered by Brooks Allison, a writer on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Jamie Siegel. The pair who also produced DJ Crazy Times.
“It’s fantastic. I was really proud and happy with everything and I’m really excited for people to hear the album,” Gordon, 30, said.
But “DJ Crazy Times” is not Gordon’s first viral character. In fact, the content creator, who has gained over three million followers on TikTok since he began posting in November 2020, has made a made for himself by spoofing a plethora of different personalities, including several Jewish-related characters, including, but not limited to: “Hebrew School Teacher,” who brings a guitar to class to talk about Shabbat; “MC Tommy Bananas,” an overly enthusiastic Bar Mitzvah emcee; the “Jewish Bubbe” who offers her audience delectable “greyish, purplish, brown” Ashkenazi Jewish food and “Kids at Camp Trying to be Color War Captain” who can be seen picking up trash around camp and talking about how “Yonatan is awesome counselor” and imploring the other campers to be quiet by saying “Guys, they said sheket!”
I genuinely love most of this stuff #jewish #jewishfood #jewishcheck #jewishtiktok #jewishthings #foodtiktok #foodie #foodtok #funny #funnyvideos #funnyskits #funnytiktok
♬ original sound – Kyle Gordon
Many of these characters, like DJ Crazy Times, have also been part of Gordon’s live comedy act, which he has been honing over the nine years that he’s been doing comedy in New York.
“It was never a conscious decision to incorporate Judaism or my Jewish life into my comedy. It just happened naturally because it is such a big part of my life and how I grew up,” Gordon said.
“My family was Conservative growing up and we were moderately observant. My parents still keep kosher in the house and we would observe Shabbat every Friday night. My dad’s great regret is he didn’t send me to Solomon Schechter,” he joked.
Gordon grew up in Westchester where he developed a love for the classic Jewish New York experience. “My dad literally fell asleep to Seinfeld reruns every night,” he said, which is how his New York Jewish comedy icon became Larry David.
#fyp #foryou #foryoupage #camp #camper #summercamp #sleepaway #sleepawaycamp #jewish #jewishcheck #jewishtiktok #jewishgirl #jewishboy
♬ original sound – Kyle Gordon
As for food? “I’m a complete sucker for Jewish deli,” he said. “I love tongue, so my order is pastrami and tongue on rye, and I usually put Russian dressing on it.” On the side is “sour pickles only, and Diet Dr. Brown Cream Soda.” His favorite Jewish deli in the city, he said, is Midtown’s Ben’s Kosher Deli, which merged with Mr. Broadway earlier this year.
Many of his Jewish bits are based on real life experiences and people from Gordon’s life, he said. “There was a guy who came to Hebrew school and he’d be the fun Birkenstocks-wearing, tie-dye shirt, guitar guy. That is based on a very real person. The Bubby type character is very much based on family members of mine,” Gordon said. Both sides of his family are “the classic New York Ashkenazi Jewish family.”
Not everyone understands the Jewish characters, said Gordon. When he went on tour last spring, crowds in New York loved the Jewish content, while those in Tennessee had no idea what he was talking about.
One of his favorite Jewish videos was at the “Gathering of the Kyles,” a convention for all people named Kyle in the city of Kyle, Texas, about 20 miles Southwest of Austin. Gordon went to the convention to find out one thing: if he was the only Jewish Kyle in attendance. Spoiler: he found none, at least at the convention.
“It was just perfect,” he said. “The Jewishness in my comedy just naturally finds its way there.”
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The post The creator of ‘Planet of the Bass,’ TikTok’s hit of the summer, has made a series of Jewish characters, too appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
The post Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
The post Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
The post Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.