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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52 Reasons Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is My Favorite Human
Lior Zaltzman Today is Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s birthday. She is 82. She is my favorite. So I thought I’d take this opportunity to humbly pay tribute to her amazing and fantabulous life. Born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn in 1933, this woman has done it all: she broke down barriers, paved…
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#AskHamas Is a Twitter Disaster — Or Is it?
Twitter As an Israeli, I really believe in open and honest dialogue with Palestinians — but an #AskHamas social media campaign isn’t really what I had in mind. No, it’s not a joke. Hamas has launched an English-language campaign on Twitter, calling on people to tweet questions at the organization. Hamas leaders will livetweet answers. According…
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Andy Samberg Will Host the 2015 Emmys
Getty Images Andy Samberg, star of the comedy TV show “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and our second favorite Jewish funnyman (Jon Stewart comes first — obviously) will host the 2015 Primetime Emmy Awards, the highest honors in U.S. television, organizers of the show said on Thursday. The comedian, actor, writer and producer, whose breakthrough came on late-night sketch…
The Latest
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Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezin Aids Holocaust Survivors
Truth be told I was reticent to attend the March 9 “Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezin” concert at Avery Fisher Hall — a shattering event which I had experienced two years earlier — and put myself through the angst of reliving my wartime childhood, and the fate of many of my friends who, though not victims at…
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The French Comedy Too Controversial for America
The French comedy “Serial (Bad) Weddings” opens with a white Catholic couple grimacing in church as they marry off their eldest daughter to an Arab. In the second scene they grimace once again, as their second daughter marries a Jew. Not hot-button enough yet? A third daughter then marries a Chinese man, and the film’s…
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Why Shouldn’t High School Kids Read Allen Ginsberg?
Getty Images A teacher at South Windsor High School has been placed on leave after reading out a poem by Allen Ginsberg deemed “highly inappropriate” by school administrators and parents. The poem in question, “Please Master,” describes — in somewhat graphic detail — our boy Allen’s gay sexual fantasies. You can read the entire poem here, but…
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‘Daily Show’ Jewish Reunion: Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson
Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson dropped by “The Daily Show” on Tuesday night, making it kind of a Jewish love-fest. The two “Broad City” stars couldn’t really handle the fact that they were in the presence of the Jon Stewart. He, in turn, was in awe of how awesome they are. Hugs all around! Check…
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How Graphic Novels Grew in Israel
When the artists Rutu Modan and Yirmi Pinkus formed the publishing house Actus Tragedus in 1995, it was, in Pinkus’s words, “an effort to find ourselves readers outside of Israel” for their comics and illustrations. Actus published books in English, an act that Modan and Pinkus said was seen at the time as snobbish and…
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Pol Admits Sext Affair With Anthony Weiner’s Online Pal
Anthony Weiner with his wife, Huma Abedin, at a recent New York event./Getty Images (Reuters) — An Indiana lawmaker apologized on Tuesday following online reports that he traded sexually explicit text messages with a woman involved in a similar controversy with disgraced ex-lawmaker Anthony Weiner, the Indianapolis Star newspaper reported. “I am truly sorry I…
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Will Ben and Jerry’s Next Ice Cream Flavor Be Pot?
(JTA) — Ben & Jerry’s ice cream comes in a lot of flavors, but so far, marijuana isn’t one of them. However, the company’s, ahem, joint founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, indicated that could change should the drug become widely legalized in the United States. Speaking on HuffPost Live on Wednesday, the two, who are…
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‘Zoolander 2’ Is Coming — And It’s Really, Really, Ridiculously Exciting
Getty Images It’s been over a decade, but Derek Zoolander and Hansel McDonald are so hot right now! Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson made a surprise appearance at Paris Fashion Week’s Valentino show as their characters from the 2001 movie “Zoolander,” the fan-favorite comedy about, well, really really ridiculously good-looking male models. The two had…
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Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
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Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
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News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
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Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Halal restaurant opening in Congress is like ‘Muslim conquest of Jerusalem,’ says GOP congressman
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Fast Forward Germany formally classifies far-right AfD party as extremist, in blow to Nazi-linked populist movement
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Fast Forward Trump taps shock jock Sid Rosenberg and a Haredi newspaper publisher for Holocaust Memorial Council
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Music Jill Sobule was as much a Jewish icon as a queer one
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