Michael Kaminer
By Michael Kaminer
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The Schmooze Gay Porn Star Dror Barak Dead at 38
Dror Barak, the New York City-based Israeli Consulate employee whose sideline in gay porn got him fired from his day job in 2007, has reportedly committed suicide. Barak’s boyfriend — who was not named — told Out.com that the porn star, who performed as “Roman Ragazzi,” took his own life last Thursday. “Dror was not…
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The Schmooze M15: Nazi Forged Bank Notes Shook British Confidence
Seeking to sabotage Britain’s economy in World War II, the Nazis “flooded” Europe with fake British bank notes, according to secret documents released today by British intelligence agency MI5. And though M15 didn’t know it at the time, the fake bills “were being made at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp by prisoners, many of whom were…
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The Schmooze Friday Film: Nazis on the Moon
“Nazis on the moon” sounds like a punchline. But it’s actually the premise of the most talked-about feature at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. The plot of Finnish entry “Iron Sky” revolves around “a group of Nazis who escape to the moon at the end of World War II to plan a new assault,”…
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The Schmooze Oliver Stone’s Son Converts to Islam
In what sounds like a plot twist from one of his famous father’s films, 27-year-old Sean Stone — Oliver’s offspring — has reportedly converted to Islam on a trip to Iran. According to the Tehran Times, the younger Stone, himself an aspiring director, underwent the conversion while attending the 30th Fajr International Film Festival, which…
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The Schmooze ‘Chewish’ Dog Toys (What’s Next?)
There’s a Yiddish for Dogs manual, and — as the Forward recently reported — a rescue dog who understands Yiddish commands. Now, in the latest development around canine Yiddishkeit, a Brooklyn company has unveiled a Semitic series of plush toys for pets, all inspired by Yiddish words. Copa Judaica’s “Chewish” line includes Facachta The Platypus;…
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The Schmooze ‘Hudson News’ Founder Dies at 86
The man who founded the ubiquitous Hudson News chain — every airport, train station and bus terminal seems to have one — has died at 86, The New York Times has reported. Robert Cohen, who built the 600-store empire on top of a successful newspaper-distribution business inherited from his father, passed away in Palm Beach,…
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Food Montreal’s Famed Schwartz’s Deli Set To Sell
Schwartz’s Charcuterie Hebraique de Montreal Inc. — “Schwartz’s Hebrew Delicatessen of Montreal” — has been one of the few constants on mercurial Boulevard St-Laurent, the storied street whose low-slung storefronts loom large in Montreal’s Jewish-immigrant history. The oldest deli in Canada, Schwartz’s has evolved from a heymish neighborhood haunt to a bona fide destination whose…
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Food What It’s Like to Compete at the Olympics of Food
Behind every great chef are diligent commis, or assistant chefs. For Chef Richard Rosendale, the chef who won last week’s Bocuse D’Or USA competition, his commis was Corey Siegel, a 21-year-old Jewish trainee chef who works with him at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The Bocuse D’Or competition is considered the…
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