PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar
By PJ Grisar
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Culture Q&A: The 800-page book about cruelty that smells like bubblegum
You could be forgiven for thinking Adam Levin’s second novel, “Bubblegum,” might make for a fun and poppy read, partially because the book literally smells like its namesake treat. But the nearly-800-page tome, the “memoir” of the fictional Belt Magnet, a mentally ill author who intermittently speaks with inanimate objects, is no confectionery affair. Belt’s…
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Culture Daily distraction: See some ‘Great Performances’ from PBS
Welcome to your daily distraction, our recommendations for ways to stay engaged and entertained while we socially distance ourselves to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak. You can find our past recommendations here; many of the opportunities we’ve highlighted are ongoing. The more thought I give to this crisis, the more sure I am that it…
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Culture Your guide to every single Israeli TV show and movie you can stream right now
Editor’s note: We’ve republished this guide, originally published in November 2019, to serve as a streaming guide through the coronavirus pandemic. Somewhere between Adam Sandler making a movie about hummus and Gal Gadot voicing herself on “The Simpsons,” things changed. Americans have long been willing to entertain stories featuring Israeli characters — a former Mossad…
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Culture Daily distraction: National poetry month
Welcome to your daily distraction, our recommendations for ways to stay engaged and entertained while we socially distance ourselves to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak. You can find our past recommendations here; many of the opportunities we’ve highlighted are ongoing. A quarantine haiku: Out of my window The streets below are empty Good; flatten the…
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Culture Daily distraction: Explore New York – and the world
Welcome to your daily distraction, our recommendations for ways to stay engaged and entertained while we socially distance ourselves to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak. You can find our past recommendations here; many of the opportunities we’ve highlighted are ongoing. Chag sameach, and happy Friday. Given the state of things, giving up bread for a…
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Culture How DeMille made his ‘Ten Commandments’ Jewish again
To understand Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” -– both the 1923 silent version and the better-known 1956 film starring Charlton Heston as Moses — one must look to history. Not 3,000 years back in history, when Moses climbed Sinai to receive the law, but to the few years before the movies were made. Each…
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Culture WATCH: Carole King and the cast of ‘Beautiful’ sing ‘You’ve Got a Friend’
Carole King and a crew of her onstage doppelgangers have given us a special quarantine gift. In a new video, which premiered April 7 on CBS This Morning, cast and musicians from numerous productions of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” serenaded at-home listeners with a lushly-orchestrated rendition of King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” — all…
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Culture Daily distraction: Make this Passover a celebration
Welcome to your daily distraction, our recommendations for ways to stay engaged and entertained while we socially distance ourselves to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak. You can find our past recommendations here; many of the opportunities we’ve highlighted are ongoing. Happy Passover. For many of us, it’s going to be a weird one. As we’ve…
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