
PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
In journalism school, Gay Talese’s 1966 profile “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” is required reading as an example of a “write-around.” A write-around is a story in which the reporter has limited access or an uncooperative source (in Talese’s case it was Old Blue Eyes). In hands like Talese’s, a write-around can be masterful and…
As America shudders under the weight of nationwide protests against injustice and a race for a vaccine harkens back to the days of Jonas Salk, President Trump has reminded us of the original Jewish penicillin: soup. In now viral remarks that Trump made to the National Association of Police Organizations Leadership, the president was heard…
On Monday, porn star Ron Jeremy was charged with the sexual assault of 13 more women, including one who was a minor at the time of her alleged incident. In June, Jeremy, whose real last name is Hyatt, was charged with raping three women and sexually assaulting a fourth between between 2014 and 2019 The…
TikTok, whatever your feelings on the security of its Chinese ownership, is a hub for creative content — much of it Jewish. But like any other platform, it’s also vulnerable to the contributions of the crass, misguided and offensively unfunny. On Monday, 2nd Lt. Nathan Freihofer, a popular TikTok user with nearly 3 million followers,…
Archaeologists in the southern Israeli city of Rahat have discovered remains of a 1,200-year-old soap factory — complete with break room games. The Israel Antiquities Authority has determined that the factory is likely the oldest one ever found in the country, according to Atlas Obscura, and date it back to the early Islamic period during…
“Hubris,” the muse of music whispers each time William Shatner makes a new record. But will he not hear? Th 89-year-old actor, who has spent his quarantine attacking Twitter users who dare to call him a “cis” man, has a new album coming out October 2. This time he’s tackling that most doleful and soulful…
Leonard Cohen died, poetically enough, the day before early returns ushered in the era of Trump in America. That meant the lifelong Canadian national, who made his home in Los Angeles, was spared the Trump presidency. He didn’t have to endure Kate McKinnon’s cloyingly despairing rendition of his song “Hallelujah” performed in character as Hillary…
On a sweltering day in New York, and a milder one in Los Angeles, David Adjmi moved our Facetime conversation up to his terrace and showed me the view: trees and white facades melting into the greenery of the Hollywood Hills. “Can you see it?” Adjmi asked. “Isn’t that pretty? This is why I like…
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