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
-
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Looks, Well, Crazy
When it debuted last October, the CW’s “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” quickly established itself as one of the wackiest, most innovative, most Jewish TV shows of the season. The first peek at season 2 was released by the CW earlier today; and since it features star Rachel Bloom dressed as, among other things, a cactus and a…
-
Streisand To Spearhead Ground Zero Performing Arts Center
In 2003, when architect Daniel Libeskind created a plan for the redevelopment of Ground Zero, he included a performing arts center. That project has been one of the few unrealized in the site’s redevelopment, but it won’t remain so for long. On Thursday, officials revealed a new plan for the center, which they hope will…
-
Ivanka Trump Quotes Hillel the Elder — Credits Emma Watson by Mistake
We can all agree Emma Watson is pretty amazing. She’s a talented actress, a fierce advocate for women’s rights and will live on forever as our favorite brainy witch. And Ivanka Trump couldn’t be more Team Watson. So much so, that the business mogul attributed a quote to the 26-year-old actress today, that actually originally…
The Latest
-
Facebook Co-Founder Pledges $20M to Help Beat Donald Trump
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz is doing his part to ensure Donald Trump never enters the Oval Office. The 32-year-old entrepreneur pledged $20 million to a number of democratic organizations, including the Hillary Victory Fund, the League of Conservation Voters and For Our Future PAC. Once donated, Moskovitz will become the third highest donor in the…
-
Geraldo Rivera Regrets Defending Accused Sexual Harasser Roger Ailes
Geraldo Rivera said he is “filled with regret” over his support of Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, who resigned in July over sexual harassment allegations. Rivera, a long-time employee of Fox News, took to Facebook last night to pen a lengthy apology note. “The man we knew as the blustering genius who invented our mighty…
-
Natalie Portman is Pregnant With Second Child: Report
Natalie Portman is expecting a second child with husband Benjamin Millepied. An unnamed source confirmed the news to Us Weekly on Thursday. Portman, 35, was comfortable showing her new baby bump Thursday during the premiere of her film “Planetarium” at the Venice Film Festival. Us Weekly reported that the Jewish Oscar winner for “Black Swan”…
-
Mel Gibson and the Case of the Movie-Stealing Jews
Well, Mel Gibson is in the news again, having emerged from whatever Beverly Hills bunker he came from to show the world yet another one of his heavy-handed “belabored man of faith” movies, the perhaps aptly named “Hacksaw Ridge.” And it seems that, much like love, it ain’t easy getting rid of lifelong anti-Semitism. According…
-
Discussing ‘Demon’ with Film’s Executive Producer Olga Szymanska
“Demon”—a weird, mesmerizing film by Polish writer/director Marcin Wrona—dubbed by some as a reworking of “The Dybbuk” — is akin to a cinematic nightmare for those of us who experienced Poland’s pre-war anti-Semitism and survived to see the attempt—by some—to gloss over that painful past. The film opens with English-speaking Peter (wonderful Israeli actor Itay…
-
Natalie Portman Says Men Just Don’t Understand Women’s Relationships
Relationships between women remain a mystery to men, U.S.-Israeli actress Natalie Portman said at the Venice film festival on Thursday, adding her voice to calls for the movie industry to employ more female directors. Portman spoke while presenting “Planetarium,” a drama in which she and Lily-Rose Depp play two spiritualists in late 1930s France who…
-
Mike Pence Makes Bid For Jewish Votes With Awkwardly Worded Hebrew Sign
Mike Pence wants to make America great again. Well, kind of. The Republican vice presidential candidate was photographed holding a sign written in Hebrew that was supposed to read “Make America Great Again”—but translates roughly as “To Reverse America to Great Once More.” The first word on the bottom of the sign is a verb…
-
Drake Stagehand Accused of Swiping $3M in Jewelry
An Arizona stagehand was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of stealing about $3 million in jewelry from a bus used by Grammy-winning rapper Drake on his latest concert tour, Phoenix police said. The suspect, identified as 21-year-old Travion King, snatched the briefcase after boarding the bus at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday at the Talking…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 2
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Fast Forward Columbia staff receive texts asking if they’re Jewish, as government hunts antisemitic harassment on campus
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion RFK Jr. and Trump are talking about an ‘autism registry’ — this sounds disturbingly familiar
-
Fast Forward Heavy police presence blocks anti-Israel protest in Brooklyn from reaching Jewish neighborhood
-
Yiddish קאָקני־ייִדיש“: אַ פּאָדקאַסט, אַ לשון און אַ שטײגער לעבן‘Cockney Yiddish’: A podcast, a language and a way of life
צװײ לאָנדאָנער היסטאָריקערינס לעבן אױף דאָס ייִדישע „איסט ענד“ אין אונדזער פֿאַנטאַזיע
-
Special Report Trump and Jews: The first 100 days
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
