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 Paul Rudd Had One Good Jewish Joke In ‘Between Two Ferns’ – And One Really Bad One
Paul Rudd gives us much to kvell over. Since “Clueless,” he has been a Nice Jewish Boy heartthrob; he’s pure, funny, talented, good-looking and scandal free. Like all the best movie stars, Rudd elevates everything he’s in. Even if you don’t like one of his performances or films, you always like him. If you are…
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Culture Ian McEwan Brings Brexit To Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’
Jerusalem and Booker Prize-winning novelist Ian McEwan sees the current state of British politics as a touch Kafkaesque. Along those lines, he announced September 12 the release of a new novella, “The Cockroach,” which turns Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” formula on its antenna, having the titular pest transform into a human. Not just any human, the Prime…
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Culture Jewish Activism Won The Night At The 2019 Emmys
The grand experiment of the 2019 hostless Emmys was an at-times confounding show of pageantry and schtick. It began with Homer Simpson’s apparent onstage death, was punctuated throughout with Thomas Lennon’s head-scratching commentary and, yes, featured a number of huge wins for Jews and other minorities who used their platform to push for equality and…
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Culture How Genetics Paint A Picture Of The Jewish Past
From the time of the Babylonian Exile, Jews have been spread far and wide, carrying with us mementos of our ancient past in our blood, spit and the microscopic double helix of our DNA. Among the best tools the Chosen People have for finding a link to antiquity is bleeding-edge technology that analyzes our genes…
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Culture The ‘Downton Abbey’ Film May Not Be Jewish – But The Show Was Once
I stopped watching “Downton Abbey” right after that milk truck ran Matthew Crawley off the road at the end of Season 3. Apparently, while I was gone — seeking my blue-blooded intrigue elsewhere (Westeros, mainly) — the series introduced some Jewish elements. Who knew! Well, if you are one of the millions who plan on…
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Culture How Roy Cohn’s Shame Made Him – And Trump – Shameless
Everyone was afraid of Roy Cohn — until no one was. A fixer, a liar, a self-loathing Jew and viciously homophobic homosexual, he seized on the Big Lie advanced by Adolf Hitler to advocate for his clients, smear his opponents and shield himself from a mountain of indictments. His first case to gain national attention…
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Culture Exhibit On Nazi Design Sparks Concern And Protests
A Netherlands museum’s multimedia exhibit on design in Nazi Germany has drawn protests and condemnation over fears that the show does not do enough to contextualize its provocative content. “Design of the Third Reich,” now running at the Design Museum Den Bosch in the Dutch city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, features the propaganda films of Leni Riefenstahl…
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Culture Jonathan Safran Foer Is ‘Extremely And Very Cautiously Hopeful’ On Climate Change
On page 64 of Jonathan Safran Foer’s latest book, “We Are The Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast,” he admits he’s been burying the lede. “This is a book about the impacts of animal agriculture on the environment,” Foer writes, owning that he evaded the issue for 63 pages because he feared readers would…
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