How does one make vegan shoes? This little girl thinks vegan means you eat it. I don't eat my shoes. Should I start?

I guess I missed the connection between something bad in Israel and calling up Rania?

@FourInchHeels: Vegan shoes are made without the use of leather.

@FourInchHeels: No animal byproducts are used/no animal testing/etc.

@Yanee: Yeah, I am curious what "very bad" thing led to an involvement in microlending.

I knew a girl who studied at a school in Israel that was bombed. She did Scottish dancing, and her feet smelled like ASS.

@FourInchHeels: Edible stilettos? You just combined like 3 fetishes.

I guess animal products (wool, silk) are out.

@Archetype: And she didn't die, just in case you think I'm a bitch for talking about a dead girl's smelly feet.

I don't really care for Natalie Portman as an actress/media persona, but I was previously grudgingly impressed by her seemingly humanitarian interests. This tidbit of information disappoints me. Perhaps she was high during the interview?

@FourInchHeels: shoes not made of leather or any animal hides animal glues to put them together that sort of thing

@Kali_mama: Portman must wear all man-made fabrics, no?

Good for her with the vegan shoes thing, although I don't see why plastic shoes should cost $300. Can she micro-lend me some money to buy her shoes?

I don't get it what is wrong with supporting a cause that isn't high profile or controversial? As I understand it microcredit isn't a bad thing. Maybe I'm missing something but the venomous tone of the post seems a little out of place.

What a philanthropist. Neocon who supports torture.

@FourInchHeels: I know nothing about vegan shoes, but all the more about vegan streakers.

(seriously NOT SAFE FOR WORK)
This guy is the "vegan streaker" who broke into a Dutch tv show recently, shouting "Meat is murder" and "Release all animals". The host (who is not afraid of controversy) made sure the streaker really became a streaker, 100%. (still not sure how I feel about it)

People who avoid controversy = ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Apparently vapid response or not, the microfinance thing really appears to be working. It makes sense: If I'm going to donate $100k, why not leverage that to loan $1mil instead? I might lose $100k on it, but I was going to lose that anyway.

I have to say, I am *so, so* tired of people being so fucking critical of anyone trying to do something good or make a positive difference in the world. NP for example, or the 17-year-old who is involved in the Obama campaign that so many Jezzies were so down on earlier today.

I am going home. Tired. Of. Hate.

Hoping for less dark and snark tomorrow.

Love to all.

Lilo just gets to stay sober and you dump on this girl who at least has a cause other than herself?
Do we ever say good job about anything on this site that doesna involve an outfit?

@vivresavie17: I've read quite a few Portman intevriews where she didn't come across as the sharpest knife in the drawer.

@vivresavie17: The fact that she knows barely enough of her designated "causes" isn't atypical--have you read any of her written pieces/heard any of her speeches? She's less superficial and a little more intellectual than the typical celebrity, but she's not any more intelligent than your average college grad.

OK. Here is why I hate celebrities involved in charity:

On Friday I was talking to my friend's son. He is eight with an IQ through the roof. He told me that when he grows up, he wants to be "A famous movie star. Because then I can use my fame to bring people's attention to important issues, and help solve the world's problems."

For crying out loud, why doesn't this kid want to be a Greenpeace activist or a Peace Corps volunteer? Because he has no idea these things exist or that regular people can make a difference.

@miele: There's nothing wrong with supporting uncontroversial causes but actively seeking to avoid it is tiresome and wimpy. Just like Bono and all his self-righteous "WE'RE NON-PARTISAN" crap. No human being on earth is absent of controversial opinions, at least, I'd hope they're not! There's a lot of shitty stuff in this world that larger powers support; if there isn't at least ONE controversial thing that you react passionately to (whether you believe in Israel or ending Darfurian genocide or the war on Iraq or any other number of causes), you are dead. And you're certainly not much of an activist if you're unwilling to compromise bits of your public persona to help people.

@ihateyourescalade: I understand, but then people dump on someone like Paris Hilton because she does nothing but fame-whore.

It's your friend's responsibility to tell her/his kid that's not the only way he can make a difference.

Personally, I'd rather see them do something rather than squat.

I'm kinda amused that you called a girl who chose to attend Harvard in the middle of a burgeoning movie career "not intellectually curious."
Sounds like the interviewer has a bias. Rainbows may not come out of her butt, and I could care less about her vegan footwear, but this is a celebrity I can be pretty happy is in the world today.

I love Natalie Portman, but this story really bothered me. I went to college with people who wrote their theses on microlending, it's been an important movement for some years now, sites like kiva.com have taken it to the masses, a microfinancing enterpreneur won a motherfucking nobel for this, and it's a little movie star that gets lauded in the press as the spokesperson for this movement? What has she done?

Sorry, Moe, but I have to agree with socasweet and itchykooparker. She isn't out there getting a DUI or publicy snorting up, so I'm glad my little sister can have at leat one celebrity to look up to.
And microfinance is one cause that actually makes sense to me- not pouring money into hands that don't know how to turn that around to self-sufficiency.

I totally don't get the Portman hate. She is doing something that is beneficial to other people other than herself, and at least seems to have passions aside from trying to overcome an addiction or one of the many other bullshit issues celebrities have. She may not be the smartest woman alive, but she is intelligent, has the ability to reach a ton of people, and is trying to put that to good use. Give me a break.

@Cam/ron:

yeah. i have some friends who went to school with her. they said that she was very nice, very pretty, and... just not that bright.

@ItchykooParker: Backlash is the new black. It's cool to think the coolest thing is lame.

This has got to be the blatently biased interview ever. To wit: Portman seemed to know enough about her subject -- but no more than enough. Seesh!
How much further past "enough" can one go?

yeah, I'm all for microfinance. And all its reincarnations, like kiva.org, which is well worth checking out for anyone who doesn't already know of this site. Give a little, improve a lot.

@Archetype: No comprende the last line?

@ihateyourescalade: That is more an explanation of why I hate much of the media, and also our own obsession with celebrities. We aren't seeing/reading/discussing the profiles on non-famous people who do good things.

I'd much rather hear Portman semi-ditzily discuss her charity work than watch a dating gameshow on VH1 or listen to Paris Hilton discuss... herself.

p.s. come on, Moe. full disclosure here. Natalie came out in support of Hillary Clinton. [ducks]

@FourInchHeels: @KidPresentable: vegan shoes are inherently bad for the environment. Leather shoes are bad for the environment, but they don't have to be (there are sustainable methods of tanning leather, of raising cows etc that are actually helpful to the environment (see bison and the great plains)), plastic = oil = completely not biodegradable. I don't know if corn plastics are strong enough to be made out of shoes, I just know that they aren't yet.

@inchworm:
I heard she fucked the entire Harvard football team. Seriously, I did, but it's obviously totally unsubstantiated.

@AndyDuncan: it doesn't work everywhere. there are places (in sub-saharan africa for example), where microfinance has led to the dissolution of families and where women are beaten/ even more burdened.

I agree with everyone who has helpfully pointed out that Britney Spears teaches a dance class and it's treated like she single-handed found the cure for cancer.
I love Natalie Portman -- she's smart, talented, and actually doing something worth talking about. She's not perfect, but she's FAR more classy than LiLo or Brit.
I think the interviewer had a bias.

My big question is what is the deal with that woman's manicure? Regarding Portman, I can only speak for myself when I say that if you must be involved in something as a celebrity, the least you could do is be informed about it. Otherwise, the celebrity preach train leaves me feeling lectured to by people who just seem hungry for publicity. The one exception I can think of is Mia Farrow, who rarely has projects to promote.

Why not design vegan shoes that the average person can afford? That might have an actual impact.

I think she's a good actress, an overall good person (charity! caring about the world!), but just not that fascinating. I don't think that's a crisis. Or a call for vitriol.

Whoa, I am seriously offended by this. Why on earth does Jezebel jump to criticizing Portman instead of the journalist who saw a self-deprecating young woman laugh when admitting, no, simply wanting to do her part hasn't translated into wanting a PhD in economics--and describe her as "giggling"?? In fact, why would Jezebel pick out the only two paragraphs that criticize Portman instead of the other five pages that outline all the good she does do? Or even just the preceding paragraph, where she gives a thoughtful, nuanced argument in favor of both economic development investment AND direct service (showing that again, she's getting a raw deal in this final characterization of her as a dilettante)?

I thought "no girl-on-girl" hate meant that women would at least get the benefit of the doubt (especially in the question of media depictions of them!!) Moe, this did not live up to Jezebel's aspirations.

@TeenageGangDeb:

Natalie Portman is not required to be publically controversial just because she is a movie star. It's hard to think of another actress her age who has taken such pains to maintain her privacy/normalcy and I think its fine that she considers that when she chose a cause to be involved in.

@Yanee:

well then. she may not be bright, but she sure ain't lazy.

Microcredit/microlending projects are definitely having "an actual impact." And many of the people who get the loans are female micro-entrepreneurs whose businesses make a huge difference not only for their own families but for their larger community as well.

Microfinancing DOES make a difference, especially for the women of third world countries. They don't have too many (or any) other options in their male centric societies. Hooray for anyone that brings any attention to this method of helping people overcome disadvantage and poverty!

this was a catty article. criticizing a woman for doing something helpful? i thought this was a feminist blog.

@Lizawithazee: finally. someone who gets why this should totally be a jezebel crush-cause of some kind. [slow clap]

i buy my vegan shoes at payless for $20.

is miss portman donating any of the profit from her plastic shoes to microlending? that'd be a great question to ask.

she is super-cute, but i'm just not understanding the big deal this article makes of her, other than pointing out that you must be a celebrity to talk to decision-makers.

@Yanee: Again, with the girl-on-girl hate! You have no idea what she was like in college, and even if you did, how can you justify