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Levi/Levy (Hebrew: לֵּוִי‎; Standard Levy Tiberian Lēwî ; "joining") was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi (the levites).^[1] Certain religious and political functions were reserved for the Levites, and the early sources of the Torah—the Jahwist and Elohist—appear to treat the term Levi as just being a word meaning priest; scholars therefore suspect that "levi" was originally a general term for a priest, and had no connection to ancestry, and that it was only later, for example in the priestly source and Blessing of Moses, that the existence of a tribe named Levi became assumed, in order to explain the origin of the priestly caste.^[1][2]

Origins[link]

The Torah suggests that the name of Levi refers to Leah's hope for Jacob to join with her, implying a derivation from yillaweh, meaning he will join, but Biblical scholars have proposed quite different origins of the name.^[2] Scholars suspect that it simply means priest, either as a loan word from the Minaean lawi'u, meaning priest, or by referring to those people who were joined to the ark of the covenant.^[2] Another possibility is that the Levites originated as migrants, and that the name Levites indicates their joining with either the Israelites in general, or the earlier Israelite priesthood in particular.^[2]

The family of Levi[link]

In the Book of Genesis, Levi is described as having fathered three sons—Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.^[3] A similar genealogy is given in the Book of Exodus, where it is added that among Kohath's sons was one—Amram—who married a woman named Jochebed, who was closely related to his father, and they were the biological parents of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam;^[4] though some Greek and Latin manuscripts of the Torah state that Jochebed was Amram's father's cousin, the masoretic text states that she was his father's sister,^[5] and the Septuagint mentions that she was one of his father's sisters. The masoretic text's version of Levi's genealogy thus implies (but doesn't state) that Levi also had a daughter (Jochebed), and the Septuagint implies further daughters. The names of Levi's sons, and possible daughter, are interpreted in classical rabbinical literature as being reflections on their future destiny.^[6] In some apocryphal texts such as the Testament of Levi, and the Book of Jubilees, Levi's wife, his children's mother, is named as Milkah, a daughter of Aram.^[7][8]

Scholars attribute the genealogy to the Book of Generations, a document originating from a similar religiopolitical group and date to the priestly source.^[9] According to some Biblical scholars, the Torah's genealogy for Levi's descendants, is actually an aetiological myth reflecting the fact that there were four different groups among the levites - the Gershonites, Kohathites, Merarites, and Aaronids;^[1] Aaron—the eponymous ancestor of the Aaronids—couldn't be portrayed as a brother to Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, as the narrative about the birth of Moses (brother of Aaron), which textual scholars attribute to the earlier Elohist source, mentions only that both his parents were Levites (without identifying their names).^[10] Some Biblical scholars suspect that the Elohist account offers both matrilinial and patrilinial descent from Levites in order to magnify the religious credentials of Moses.^[1]

The masoretic text/Septuagint family tree of Levi's immediate descendants is as follows:

In post-Torah tradition[link]

In accordance with his role as founder of the Levites, Levi is referred to as being particularly pious. The Blessing of Moses, which textual scholars attribute to period just before the deuteronomist,^[9] speaks about Levi via an allegorical comparison to Moses himself,^[11] which hagaddah take to support the characterisation of Levi (and his progeny) as being by far the greatest of his brothers in respect to piety.^[2][2] The apocryphal Prayer of Asenath, which textual scholars believe dates from some time after the first century AD (scholarship in regards to the dating is currently quite contentious, with dates ranging from near the first century, to the fourth or fifth centuries),^[2] describes Levi as a prophet and saint, able to forecast the future, understand heavenly writings (astrology? weather trends?), and someone who admonishes the people to be forgiving, as well as in awe of God.^[2] The Book of Malachi argues that the Levites were chosen by Yahweh to be the priests, because Levi was always accurate, having never lied, specified only the true religious regulations, was reverent, revered Yahweh, was in awe of the Tetragrammaton, upheld peace, was a model of good morality, and turned many people from sin.^[12]

In the Testament of Levi, Levi is described as having had two visions. The first vision covered eschatological issues, portraying the seven heavens, the Jewish Messiah, and Judgement Day. The second vision portrays seven angels bringing Levi seven insignia signifying priesthood, prophecy, and judgement; in the vision, after the angels anoint Levi, and initiate him as a priest, they tell him of the future of his descendants, mentioning Moses, the Aaronid priesthood, and a time when there would be priest-kings; this latter point was of particular interest to the Maccabean period of John Hyrcanus, who was both a high priest, and warrior-king, though according to textual scholars this is to be expected, since the Testament of Levi was written during Maccabean rule, between 153BC and 107BC, and closer to the latter date.^[13] The Book of Jubilees similarly has Isaac telling Levi of the future of his descendants, again predicting priesthood, prophets, and political power,^[14] and additionally describes Jacob as entrusting Levi with the secrets of the ancients, so that they would be known only to the Levites;^[15] however, like the Testament of Levi, the Book of Jubilees is regarded as a Maccabean document by scholars.^[2]

Levi and the "Blessing of Jacob"[link]

Levi and Simeon destroy the city of Shechem in revenge for the rape of Dinah, seizing the wealth of the city, and killing the men;^[16] the narrative also mentions that the brothers had earlier misled the denizens of Shechem, by consenting to Dinah's rapist marrying her, and when Jacob hears about the destruction of Shechem by Simeon and Levi, he castigates them for it.^[17] In the Blessing of Jacob, Jacob is described as imposing a curse on the Levites, by which they would be scattered, in punishment for Levi's actions in Shechem;^[18] textual scholars date the Blessing of Jacob to a period between just one and two centuries prior to the Babylonian captivity,^[2][19] and some Biblical scholars regard this curse, and Dinah herself as an aetiological postdiction to explain the fates of the tribe of Simeon and the Levites, the simpler explanation of the Levites' scattered nature being that the priesthood was originally open to any tribe, but gradually became seen as a distinct tribe itself (the Levites).^[1][2]

See also[link]

• Levite
• Testament of Levi
• Levi (disambiguation)
• Miscegenation

References[link]

External links[link]

• “The Tribe: The Cohen-Levi Family Heritage” (cohen-levi.org)

Zachary Levi
Levi in 2011.
Born	Zachary Levi Pugh (1980-09-29) September 29, 1980 (age 31) Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, singer, director
Years active	2002–present
Website
TheNerdMachine.com

Zachary Levi Pugh (born September 29, 1980), better known by his stage name Zachary Levi (pronounced /ˈzækəri ˈliːvaɪ/), is an American actor, director, and singer known for the roles of Kipp Steadman in Less than Perfect, Chuck Bartowski in Chuck, and Flynn Rider in Tangled.

Early life[link]

Zachary Levi Pugh was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Darrell and Susy Pugh.^[1] He is the middle child between two sisters, Sarah and Shekinah. He is of Welsh ancestry.^[2] As a child, his family moved all over the country before making their final move to their new home in Ventura, California, where Levi attended Buena High School for four years.^[3] He began acting in theatre at the age of six, performing lead roles in regional productions such as Grease, The Outsiders, Oliver, The Wizard of Oz and Big River at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center.

Career[link]

Levi promoting the television show Chuck at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con

Levi first appeared in the FX television movie Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie. He played Kipp Steadman on the ABC sitcom Less Than Perfect. He also portrayed a potential boyfriend of Charisma Carpenter's character, Jane, in the ABC Family television movie See Jane Date. Levi was slated to be a lead in an ABC pilot called Three for the 2004/2005 television season. It was written by Andrew Reich & Ted Cohen, and would have costarred James Van Der Beek, Jama Williamson, and Jacob Pitts, but the show was not picked up.^[4] Levi financed Kendall Payne's album Grown after she was dropped by her label, Capitol Records.^[5]

He landed the starring role in Chuck in 2007. Levi and his Chuck co-star, Yvonne Strahovski, were both nominated for Best Action Actor and Actress Choice TV Series for the Teen Choice Awards 2010 where they both won and presented.^[6] In the summer of 2008, Levi was named one of Entertainment Weekly's Top Thirty People Under Thirty.^[7] He later starred in the film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel in the lead role as the Chipmunks' cousin Toby Seville.^[8] He stars alongside Mandy Moore in the 2010 Disney-animated feature film Tangled, which is based on the popular fairy tale Rapunzel. He voices Flynn Rider, a bandit who finds refuge in Rapunzel's tower. Levi provided narration in the 2011 film Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story, a documentary about the game of Monopoly.^[9] Levi hosted the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards.^[10]

BuddyTV ranked him #97 on its list of "TV's Sexiest Men of 2011".^[11]

In 2012, it was announced that Levi landed the male lead in the TV pilot Let it Go, which would have aired on Fox, however, it was not picked up.^[12]

Music[link]

In April 2010, Katharine McPhee released a preview of a music video to cinemas for her single "Terrified". Levi duets with her on the song (which was re-recorded; the original album version features Jason Reeves) and appears in the music video singing with McPhee. On May 3, 2010, the song was previewed on Entertainment Weekly's website and was made available for purchase on iTunes.^[13] The full video premiered on May, 7th, 2010 on the music video website Vevo.^[14]

He is also featured on the soundtrack of the movie Tangled singing a duet with co-star Mandy Moore called "I See the Light", as well as being featured in the song "I've Got a Dream". In honor of the Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, Levi and Moore performed "I See the Light" at the 83rd Academy Awards.^[15]

He has also been a guest member of Band From TV, a band made up of actors from various American TV shows.

Personal life[link]

Levi is a sports car and motorcycle enthusiast and owns a 2009 Nissan GT-R.^[16][17] He dated Caitlin Crosby from 2008 to January 2010.^[18][19]

Levi is a Christian and has been since childhood. In a 2002 interview with Relevant Magazine, he said, "My job on my set, I believe, is to first just love people and gain that trust with people where they know that I really do love them and care about their well-being, so that when they are running into problems, they will hopefully, at some point, come to me and ask me, 'What is your peace all about? What is your comfort all about? Where do you get your love? Where do you get your talents?' And I can turn to them and say without blinking, 'Jesus Christ.'"^[20]

In September 2010, Levi started his own company, The Nerd Machine.^[21]

Levi was selected as a participant in the Celebrity All Star Game at NBA All Star Weekend 2011 at Los Angeles. He played for the team coached by Magic Johnson.^{[citation needed]}

Levi is an avid gamer, having first played Super Mario Bros. and has come to appreciate video games for their ability to provide "interactive stories."^[10]

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

• "Terrified" (2010) – Performed by Katharine McPhee featuring Zachary Levi.
• "I See the Light" (2010) – Performed by Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore for the film Tangled.

Live performances[link]

On February 27, 2011, Levi performed "I See the Light" with Mandy Moore at the 83rd Academy Awards.^{[citation needed]}

Video games[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zachary Levi

• Official website
• Zachary Levi at the Internet Movie Database
• Zachary Levi at AllRovi
• Zachary Levi at TV Guide

Alex Albrecht
Albrecht in Phoenix, Arizona in May 2011.
Born	(1976-08-14) August 14, 1976 (age 35) Vienna, Virginia
Occupation	Podcast host, Actor, Director, Writer
Website
http://www.alexalbrecht.com/

Alexander Jennings Albrecht (born August 14, 1976 in Los Angeles, California) is an American television personality, actor and podcaster who resides in Brentwood a suburb of Los Angeles, California. He is best known for co-hosting the former G4techTV television program The Screen Savers, an hour-long computer and technology variety show, as well as the weekly podcast Diggnation and the weekday podcast The Totally Rad Show on the Revision3 network. On July 15, 2008, he released his new podcast/website Project Lore, all about World of Warcraft. Albrecht has expressed a penchant for dressing up as characters from Street Fighter, most recently appearing as Guile, although a much less muscular version.^[1]

Early life[link]

Alex is the son of Dr. Mark Albrecht, former President of ILS, and Kathe Hicks Albrecht, past president of the Visual Resources Association, director of the Visual Resources Association Foundation, curator at American University in Washington, DC.^[2] Alex went to elementary school at Burgundy Farm Country Day School,^{[citation needed]} and graduated from American University with a degree in computer science. He was a member of the Delta Chi Fraternity. Whilst at college Albrecht was a keen male cheerleader, with ambitions of becoming a professional mascot. To this day these dreams remain unfulfilled.^[3]

Career[link]

Albrecht worked for the RAND Corporation as a programmer and IT person and later worked for the Science Applications International Corporation developing multimedia programming for British Petroleum.^[4]

In 2001, he founded the improv-comedy troupe The Misfit Toys, which performed live in L.A. until 2003.

Albrecht appeared as a contestant on the gameshow Russian Roulette in 2002. He also appeared on Beat the Geeks.

Albrecht was hired by G4techTV to be the co-host alongside Kevin Rose (replacing Patrick Norton) of the television technology show, The Screen Savers, for the first G4techTV episode airing from Los Angeles. The first Los Angeles based episode of The Screen Savers aired on September 7, 2004.

On November 11, 2004, Albrecht announced on his personal blogs that G4 had decided to revamp The Screen Savers by making it more pop culture, Internet, and gaming-oriented. Alex Albrecht, Yoshi DeHerrera, Dan Huard, executive producer Paul Block, and the show's entire staff (consisting mostly of former TechTV employees) either resigned, made separation deals with G4, or were officially terminated.^[5]

Rose and Albrecht presenting Diggnation's live show in San Jose as part of nVision 08.

On August 5, 2005, Albrecht joined Revision3. Albrecht co-hosted Diggnation, a video podcast that summarizes a selection of the top stories submitted by Digg users, with former The Screen Savers co-host Kevin Rose. Albrecht also contributes to other projects for the company. He co-hosts a podcast called The Totally Rad Show, with Dan Trachtenberg and Jeff Cannata. The first episode was released on March 27, 2007. Albrecht also hosted Ctrl+Alt+Chicken, a weekly cooking show that lasted 8 episodes before being canceled in the fall of 2006.

Albrecht was featured in "SWGack", a weekly podcast on the popular MMORPG, Star Wars Galaxies. On March 4, 2006, he and Joshua Brentano announced on their last episode that they would discontinue the podcast due to disenchantment with the game itself.^[6]

Albrecht and Rose also appeared in a Super Bowl ad for GoDaddy.com during Super Bowl XLI. Albrecht has appeared in a Domino's Pizza commercial eating Domino's pizza in a house being raided by the "flavor" police. Alex has also appeared in a Dell commercial, advertising the line of High-Definition Dell LCD televisions; Alex has stated that this commercial was ad libbed. He has also mentioned doing an audition for an advertisement for McDonald's that was never aired in the US, but he has said that it was for British television.

On December 4, 2007, Alex guest hosted Attack of the Show (the show which succeeded his old show on G4, The Screen Savers).^[7]

Alex's newest project is Project Lore, which launched Tuesday, June 17, 2008. Project Lore is all about the popular video game World of Warcraft. On the show, Alex and friends have shown off all of the five main dungeons available in the game's first expansion pack, The Burning Crusade, starting with the lower levels, and working up. Before World of Warcraft's second expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King was released, the Project Lore team were allowed to showcase some of its new beta content. Project Lore has since been abandoned; there have not been any blog posts for some time and a potential revamp proved too costly and the Project has been turned over into the hands of the volunteer bloggers in hopes that they will continue on their own.

Alex revealed on Totally Rad Show that he was in the pipeline to host NBC's version of Top Gear but the role was ultimately given to somebody else. NBC has subsequently cancelled their plans for the show.

In 2009, Alex started an iPhone app company called App Dragon which released one app later that year called Duel.

In March 2010, Alex flew with the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron (Blue Angels) in the back seat of Blue Angel #7 (frequently used for media and public relations flights).

July 2010, Alex seeks funding for the short film "Neverland" through Indiegogo.com. Alex is named director. Shooting started July 30, 2010 according to Alex's Twitter account.

He is part of the long form improvisational comedy group Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em,^[8] which uses the clap-in format created by director, Stan Wells.^[9]

Albrecht has also guest-starred in season 3, episode 4 of an Internet-based live-action parody of The Legend of Zelda called The Legend of Neil. Albrecht's character "Todd" was a member of a small group of soldiers from the elven army, which was led by Zelda's brother Tyrelda. In the series, Zelda is, much to Link/Neil's surprise, black skinned, rather than white. Her brother Tyrelda and the rest of the elf troops are black as well and make constant reference to Alex Albrecht's character being the token white guy. A number of stereotypes associated with African-Americans in the real world are reverse-applied to Todd and the white elf race in the land of Highrule. By the end of the episode, Todd appears to have died along with Tyrelda and the rest of the gang, making for a short-lived but noteworthy contribution made by Alex to the series.^[10]

See also[link]

• Diggnation
• The Totally Rad Show
• Project Lore
• Revision3
• TechTV
• Kevin Rose
• The Screen Savers
• The Legend of Neil

References[link]

External links[link]

• AlexAlbrecht.com
• Diggnation
• Ctrl+Alt+Chicken
• The Totally Rad Show
• Project Lore
• Revision3.com
• Open Source version of the 'Alefox' web browser
• Alex Albrecht SMS Sound Effects
• Alex Albrecht at the Internet Movie Database

Alison Haislip
Alison Haislip at Wondercon 2012.
Born	Alison Fesq Haislip[1] (1981-02-06) February 6, 1981 (age 31) Tewksbury, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actress/TV correspondent
Years active	2004–present
Website
http://www.alisonhaislip.com

Alison Fesq Haislip (born February 6, 1981)^[2] is an American actress and former TV correspondent for Attack of the Show! on G4 and NBC's The Voice. She resides in Los Angeles, California.

Early life[link]

Haislip is a native of Tewksbury Township, New Jersey^[3] and graduate of Voorhees High School.^[4] She attended Boston College and studied theater. She also trained at the British American Drama Academy. ^[5] Afterwards, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.^[6]

G4[link]

Attack of the Show![link]

Haislip landed at G4 in October 2007 after being told by a G4 employee, who was a patron where she worked as a bartender, that she would be a great fit at the network. Haislip hosted "The Feed" segment and did correspondent work numerous times for Attack of the Show! before being hired full time around Spring 2008. She often substituted the show's co-host position of Olivia Munn. For most of 2010, in addition to her pre-filmed segments and occasional guest hosting, she also shared responsibility for presenting "The Feed" with Blair Herter, typically anchoring it live on two of the four days that Attack of the Show aired per week.

On November 7, 2011, Haislip announced during a hosting appearance on Attack of the Show that she was leaving G4.

Tech News Countdown[link]

From May 2008 to February 2009, Haislip hosted a weekly podcast ranging in length from two to five minutes for G4's website. Tech News is currently on indefinite hiatus as a part of the network's financial cutbacks.

American Ninja Warrior[link]

Haislip and Blair Herter co-hosted the first season of American Ninja Warrior. Haislip was the sideline reporter for the second and third season.

The Voice[link]

On March 28, 2011, it was announced that Haislip would join the cast of NBC's The Voice as the backstage and social networking correspondent.^[7] Her position allows her to tweet what is happening in the competition, as well as talk to contestants backstage in the "V Room". She was replaced by Christina Milian in the second season.

Video blogging[link]

In September 2008, in correlation with the launch her official website, Haislip started releasing approximately four to six minute unedited video updates to stay more connected with her fans. Topics have ranged from answering fan questions posted on her forums to giving updates on her upcoming segments for Attack of the Show! before they air.^[8] Occasionally, Haislip had a guest alongside her while filming the blog. Past guests included fellow G4 personalities Kevin Pereira and Blair Herter, actress/dancer/writer Imogen Church, and Alison's younger brother, Greg Haislip.

Starting in mid-May 2009, Ford Fiesta Movement mission videos, and Baaaznian Production short films, replaced the original blog format of Haislip's videos. The second to last video blog or "vlog" format video was uploaded on May 11, 2009.^[9] However, a brief Christmas vlog was uploaded on December 24, 2009, in which Haislip explained she had stopped making vlogs because she has been much busier in the recent months, than in the first half of 2009. ^[10]

In the spring of 2009, Haislip began making additional videos, as required by her involvement with the Ford Fiesta Movement, a campaign in which she was one of 100 people to win one of the cars for 6 months, started by Ford Motor Company to help promote the model's upcoming US release.^[11]

Short HD films[link]

Beginning in June 2009, Haislip has appeared in a number of short HD films, along with a troupe of actors. They are currently available to be viewed on YouTube. The first film, titled "New Moongasm - A New Moon Parody"^[12] was uploaded on June 15, 2009. This was followed up by a film titled "Hi. I'm Joel Rush."^[13] on June 29, 2009. A third film, titled "Love Automatically"^[14] was uploaded on July 26, 2009. "Love Automatically" was also directed by Haislip.

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alison Haislip

• Official website
• Alison Haislip at the Internet Movie Database
• Alison at Myspace
• Alison at Twitter