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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POEM: ‘Naming the Thirst’
when we are born thirst makes us cry thirst surges through our arteries when the hormones hit when we start to wither our thirst actually increases for the tongue of touch the dictionary of rain we remember we were once loved it was love that kept us alive ** Then every face was like the…
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A Year for Polish Jewry
Photo copyright Getty Images Nearly 20 years in the making, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw finally opened this fall. With its reported 9-figure budget, its seven main galleries, and more than 40,000 square feet of space, the museum was dubbed “The Louvre of Jewish Museum,” by Forward art critic A.J….
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It Was a Year for Filming Biblically
Christian Bale as Moses in Ridley Scott’s ‘Exodus’ / Photo copyright 20th Century Fox Bible spin-offs are nearly as old as the Bible itself, but this year saw a couple of big-screen adaptations that were hard to rival in their ambitions, or their controversies. Darren Aronofsky’s “Noah,” starring Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly, provided a…
The Latest
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Natalie Portman Mocks Ryan Seacrest in Gaza Email Trail
The recent Sony hack has left plenty of destruction in its path. Yet, it also unveiled some incredibly random and hilarious information that we never knew we wanted (and I would argue, still aren’t sure we really need). Like the following chain e-mail correspondence about the war in Gaza, sent to prominent Jewish figures, Sony…
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Adam Sandler Is Most Overpaid Hollywood Actor
Comedian Adam Sandler topped Forbes’ list of Hollywood’s most overpaid actors for a second consecutive year, nudging out Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks for the dubious honor, the magazine said on Tuesday. Although Sandler’s latest film “Grown Ups 2” was a hit, pulling in $246 million at the global box office, it didn’t go far…
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Fierce Critic of Islam Honored at Israel’s Open University Gala
The 2014 American Friends of Open University of Israel Gala honoring Somali-born activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali was launched at The Pierre with a spectacular buffet attended by 250 supporters. AFOUI’s president Ingeborg Rennert — resplendent in a purple and silver ensemble — presented the organization’s Tzedek Award to Hirsi Ali explaining: “Tzedek means justice —…
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10 Womance Movies To Watch on Christmas
When Susanna Fogel and Joni Lefkowitz decided to write “Life Partners,” they used Nicole Holofcener’s “Walking and Talking” as their model. The 1996 indie is about two close friends, played by Anne Heche and Catherine Keener, and how their relationship changes as one is about to get married and the other struggles with single life…
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A ‘Third Wheel’ With a Twist
Two’s company. Three’s a crowd. That aphorism is at the center of Susanna Fogel’s debut as a movie-hyphenate. She both co-wrote (with Joni Lefkowitz) and directed “Life Partners,” which opened this month to much critical praise. The movie is about two women, Paige (Gillian Jacobs) and Sasha (Leighton Meester), co-dependent friends since childhood, and what…
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Welcome to the Most Jewish Season of ‘Downton Abbey’
Getty Images “Are you watching your Jewish show tonight?” my husband asks as I turn on the telly, as they call it here. I’m not settling down to watch “The Goldbergs,” or the quirky challah-centered British sitcom, Friday Night Dinner.” No, I’m tuned to a show many of us would have described in its early…
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9 Jews Who Changed The Sound of Jazz
Willie Smith at his Manhattan apartment. Photo by William P. Gottlieb. Barney Josephson opened Cafe Society in 1938, but the music he featured (and is featured in the play “Cafe Society Swing”) has been around much longer. Jazz originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in African-American communities — most notably in New…
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754 Dreidels Spin to Record
A group of adults and children in Tel Aviv set a new world record for dreidel spinning. Some 754 dreidels spun simultaneously for 10 seconds in a row on Sunday at the Sarona Market complex in Tel Aviv. Among those taking part in the record-breaking attempt, monitored by officials from Guinness World Records, was Israeli…
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Film & TV ‘Bojack Horseman’ creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg on his new, ‘unapologetically Jewish’ family affair
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News ADL chief attacks Zohran Mamdani, but gets his facts wrong
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Film & TV Who is Marty Reisman, the Jewish ping-pong star who inspired Timothée Chalamet’s new movie?
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Culture It’s Jew vs. Jew in the fight over a Brooklyn bike lane
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Israel approves vast West Bank settlement plan that far-right minister said ‘practically erases the two-state delusion’
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Fast Forward Israel opens new embassy in Zambia, once home to a historic Jewish community
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Opinion Israel’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war
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Culture The Kennedy Center canceled all its ‘woke’ programming — so why is this Jewish musical OK?
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