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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How Did Rafi Gavron — On Probation After Domestic Violence Plea — Slip Into ‘A Star Is Born’?
In “A Star Is Born,” the third, and flashiest remake of “the story Hollywood can’t stop telling,” has enjoyed glowing attention. Writers have profiled nearly everyone in the movie, from director-star Bradley Cooper, to Cooper’s real life ear doctor, who has a cameo in the film. Lady Gaga’s relentless repetition during the movie’s press tour…
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The ‘Tinder Swindler’ Defrauded Women By Posing As An Israeli Diamond Heir. He’s Still At Large.
(Haaretz) The modest apartment in one of the side streets of Bnei Brak, where Shimon Hayut grew up, is light-years away from the private jets, racing cars and luxury hotels in which he has been spending his time in recent years. Hayut, 28, lived the hedonistic life of a millionaire. Not any old millionaire, but…
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Israel Aims To Send A Space Craft To The Moon Thursday Night
(JTA) — He’s spent eight years trying to land a spacecraft on the moon, but when Yonatan Winetraub stood on the launchpad this month at Florida’s Cape Canaveral, he was still in shock. “I stood right next to the rocket, and it’s pretty big,” Winetraub said in a phone interview Wednesday. “In the video, you…
The Latest
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Jussie Smollett In Custody, Charged With Felony For False Police Report
(JTA) — Jussie Smollett was charged with a felony for making a false police report in which the “Empire” actor said he was the victim of a hate attack last month in Chicago. Smollett, who is black, Jewish and gay, was charged Wednesday with felony disorder conduct, which carries a prison sentence of up to…
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Is Climate Change Real? Trump Turns To Man Who Compared Holocaust To C02 Reductions To Find Out
William Happer, an official on the National Security Council, will likely head up a proposed committee to explore whether or not climate change is a national security threat, The Washington Post reports. Happer is an atomic physicist who founded the CO2 Coalition, a group he calls, “The CO2 anti-defamation league,” explaining, “There is the CO2…
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The Jussie Smollett Case Has Both Right And Left Calling Out Media Bias
How should the media report hate crimes and alleged hate crimes? How should media report alleged hate crimes that are now suspected hoaxes? And lastly, most dizzyingly, how should media report alleged hate crimes that are now suspected hoaxes when the hoax may, itself, be a hoax? In late January, “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, who…
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An Erotic Keira Knightley Movie About Post-WWII Germany? Uh Oh.
If two people are hot and white enough, can we get past the fact that one of them is a Nazi-bystander and just enjoy watching them have sex? Yes! A trailer for the movie “The Aftermath” emphatically answers. Based on the book of the same title by Rhidian Brook, “The Aftermath” follows the true story…
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Is God A Black Woman Or A White Man? TV Can’t Decide.
A Jew dies and goes to heaven. Standing at the pearly gates, she sees…wait — is that Maya Rudolph? Or Steve Buscemi? Or can she not see anyone at all? An uncanny theological dialogue has quietly broken out in the splashiest of places — network television — where three different shows, all by Jewish creators,…
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Bernie Sanders Is Running For President, And Twitter Is Exploding.
The difference between Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign and his 2020 campaign? “This time, we’re gonna win,” he told CBS on Tuesday morning, shortly after announcing his bid for candidacy. What won’t be any different? The onslaught of online takes about Sanders, particularly on Twitter. Seeking the 2016 Democratic nomination, Sanders was defeated by Hillary…
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Stephen Colbert Compares Trump Declaring National Emergency To A Bar Mitzvah Boy
What’s the difference between Donald Trump and a bar mitzvah boy? A bar mitzvah boy has studied, worked hard, and is finally mature enough to be treated as a man. Ba-dum tssss. On Monday night on “The Late Show,” the ever-affable Stephen Colbert gave the comic treatment to President Trump’s declaration of national emergency. Breaking…
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Is It Better To Be First Woman President, Or Date Seth Rogen? New Romcom Investigates.
Can women have it all? It’s a silly question, of course, nobody can really have everything. Can women have as much as men? No, a new movie by Seth Rogen answers that other, more to-the-point question. Women can either have mammoth career success, changing history and the world, or they can have a stirring sexual…
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Fast Forward Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Jewish Democrat, launches bid for New Jersey governor
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