The Schmooze lies at the intersection of high and low culture. Here, the latest developments and trends in Jewish art, books, dance, film, music, media, television and theater are all assimilated into one handy pop culture blog.
The Schmooze
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Will A.J. Edelman Make Waves On The Ice At Winter Olympics?
“I want to challenge the perception of what Jews and Israelis can do in sports.” That was the theme that A.J. Edelman kept returning to during an interview just hours after the 26-year-old learned that he would be competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics. On Wednesday, Edelman became Israel’s first-ever Olympic athlete in skeleton, a…
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How Should People Apologize For Working With Woody Allen?
Is Woody Allen guilty of sexually abusing his step-daughter Dylan Farrow as a young child, as Farrow alleges? Is Allen’s marriage to adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn evidence enough that there is something extremely wrong with Allen? Should we forgive it all because “Annie Hall” is just such a good entry into the cannon of great…
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‘Modern Family’ May Actually End Soon, And Good Riddance
The tyrannical rule of the neoliberal trash, enemy-of-art ABC sitcom “Modern Family” may be coming to an end. “Our plan is to end it at 10 [seasons],” Steve Levitan, the show’s co-creator, told The Hollywood Reporter. “If we can leave with most of our audience wanting more, I think that’s the right way to do…
The Latest
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No BDS Here: Chris Rock Really, Really Loves Israel
“Tel Aviv! Shalom, motherf*****s!” Chris Rock shouted last week, looking out over the crowd of 10,000 who had gathered in Tel Aviv’s Menorah Mivtachim Arena to watch the comedian’s first ever show in Israel. Nine years after the brash comedian’s last world tour, Rock has returned with 70 minutes of what is, by all accounts,…
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These ‘Inconvenient MLK’ Quotes Remind You (Yes, You) Not To Whitewash Martin Luther King’s Legacy
It can be tempting to remember the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. as a quiet dreamer whose vision of racial equality involved nothing more than prayers for peace and hopes for an end to racial tension. It’s easy to rework the civil rights leader’s tremendous achievements and writings as a plea for tolerance that…
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Rejoice! Men Like Mark Wahlberg Are Being Shamed Into Giving Tzedakah
A glorious Monday to one and all! We are happy, and frankly humbled, to be here today to report that the humiliation and moral reckoning currently facing powerful men everywhere is being turned into a financial gain for under-served women. Is a queer, Jewish star of the seminal Broadway musical “Rent” named Anthony Rapp at…
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‘I Will Never Be Silenced’: Let This Gal Gadot Speech Change Your Day
Dressed like a sexy, lavender disco ball, Gall Gadot tossed her pre-prepared speech to the floor to applause from the crowd of A-listers. In a now-viral speech on Thursday night, the newly minted Hollywood superstar accepted the #SeeHer honor at the Critics’ Choice Awards, which recognizes a person who has demonstrated “the importance of accurately…
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‘The Post,’ National Jewish Book Award Winners And More To Read, Watch And Do This Weekend
Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Whether or not you have the holiday off, take some time this weekend to honor King’s legacy. Here’s a list of Jewish ways to celebrate the holiday — it’s from 2016, but still relevant! — but the best way to continue King’s work is to help address continuing…
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Movie News: New York Jewish Film Festival, BAFTA Nominations, Best Of The Golden Globes
On January 10, the opening night of the New York Jewish Film Festival was celebrated by a screening of the moving, intelligent and mysterious film “Razzia,” and the confusion of some members of the audience. What, exactly, one of them asked, was Jewish about the movie? It followed five characters through Casablanca, one of whom,…
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Michael Douglas Denies Sexual Misconduct, Preemptively
From James Rosen to James Franco, Gene Simmons to Russel Simmons, and from Kirk Douglas to Michael Douglas, men are scared. As powerful men, particularly in media and entertainment, continue to face accusations about sexual misconduct, it has become clear that the climate surrounding sexual charges is changing. Nothing signifies this change more profoundly than…
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Here’s What Spielberg Had To Say About Natalie Portman’s ‘All Male Directors’ Dig
I don’t want to be your token crazed liberal arts millennial, but the fact is that if Steven Spielberg had criticized Natalie Portman’s Golden Globes comment about the “all-male nominees” for best director, I would have have built a model of E.T. and burned it in effigy, and I would have demanded that you do…
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Most Popular
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Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
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Fast Forward Tucker Carlson calls for stripping citizenship from Americans who served in the Israeli army
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Opinion This German word explains Trump’s authoritarian impulses — and Hitler’s rise to power
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Music ‘No matter what, I will always be a Jew.’ Billy Joel opens up about his family’s Holocaust history
In Case You Missed It
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Culture Katz’s Deli is a mecca for food influencers — it kills me to see them butcher its good name
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Film & TV Whoever said ‘you can’t take it with you’ never reckoned with this Jewish patriarch
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Fast Forward Students at Netanyahu’s Pennsylvania high school want him ejected from the alumni hall of fame
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Culture On the border between hipster and Hasidic, a Brooklyn barbershop specializes in Orthodox haircuts
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