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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Larry David Heads to Broadway — As Himself
Getty Images You heard about the show about nothing. Now, Larry David presents the play about Larry. The New York Times reports that David has written a play, and will star in it himself on Broadway. Plot details are scant, except that, according to the author and actor himself, the main character is “somebody very…
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‘Hello Gaw-geous’ — Barbra Streisand Joins Instagram
To all those Barbra Streisand fans out there (which should be everybody) you can now follow our favorite Funny Girl on Instagram! Yes, Babs has finally joined the latest celeb craze and joined Instragram. She’s already posted one picture, a posed shot with her adorable pooch, Samantha. I happened came across “Funny Girl” on Turner…
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A Brief (And Violent) History of The Middle East
Sometimes history is so absurd that it’s funny. “This Land is Mine,” an animated short film about the history of Israel by cartoonist and animator Nina Paley, has resurfaced in the wake of the latest war in Gaza. The short displays all of the tribes, empires, and countries that have claimed the region at some…
The Latest
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Searching for My Parents’ Past in Vienna
Courtesy Jewish Museum Vienna I know you can’t go home again, especially if home is a country your family was forced to flee. I was under no illusion that a lilting Strauss waltz would be the soundtrack to my visit to Vienna, where both my parents were born. Still, I’d traveled to the city earlier…
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The ‘Unfilmable’ James Franco
Getty Images Most actors strive to be a triple threat; James Franco puts them to shame. The actor, film director, screenwriter, producer, film editor, teacher, author and poet has an ever growing resume that began with his humble beginnings on the TV show “Freaks and Geeks” and currently ends with his role as writer-actor-director of…
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Jack Antonoff Takes a Break From Fun. For Solo Record — With Yoko Ono
Jack Antonoff, lead guitarist in Fun. and boyfriend of Lena Dunham, has taken a short break from his Grammy Award-winning band to write and record a solo album. The record, entitled “Strange Desire,” was released in July and features Yoko Ono. Dunham directed the music video for the album’s first single, “I Wanna Get Better.”…
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Dana International: ‘Europe Has No Lessons To Teach Israel’
Facebook/Exodays Dana International made quite a splash this weekend at the Gay Pride in Amsterdam, when the Israeli transgender singing sensation lifted a cardboard sign in the shape of the Ten Commandments. The sight of the Israeli singer, perched atop the Pride’s first Jewish boat, caused anti-Israel protestors to shout. But Dana, not one for…
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One Last Movie For Nora Ephron
Getty Images Nora Ephron may no longer be with us (sob!) but her work lives on. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Portlandia’s” Carrie Brownstein is set to complete and unfinished script by the late Ephron for an adapted British mini-series, “Lost in Austen.” Sam Mendes, of “American Beauty” and “Skyfall” fame, is apparently attached as…
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My Father The Ritchie Boy: An Interview With Nina Wolff Feld
Shortly before his death, Walter Wolff handed his daughter, Nina Wolff Feld, a green metal file box. In it was a treasure trove of wartime letters written by him during his time as a U.S. Army Intelligence officer to his family. Feld, a writer and artist born and bred in New York, translated the letters…
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Good Intentions Aren’t Enough for ‘Good and the True’
“The Good and the True,” a two-person play that just transferred to New York after runs in the U.K. and Belgium, unexpectedly became a potential nova-making vehicle. The play originally starred Saul Reichlin as Milos Dobry (Dobry is Czech for “good”) and Isobel Pravda (Russian for “true” — hence the title), who played her grandmother…
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Daniel Radcliffe On Life Post-‘Harry Potter’
Getty Images (Reuters) — From boy wizard Harry Potter to Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, actor Daniel Radcliffe has taken on a wide range of fantasy and period roles, but he finally steps into the real world with his latest film. In the romantic comedy “What If,” out in U.S. theaters on Friday, Radcliffe plays Wallace, a…
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News ‘It’s the Jews’: San Diego mosque shooters decried ‘the universal enemy’ in hate-filled manifesto
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Music For Bob Dylan’s 85th birthday, an 85-minute playlist
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Opinion Netanyahu is facing electoral catastrophe — and could place Israel in existential peril
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Culture Proposal to ban Israeli products roils a Brooklyn members-only grocery
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Books Reading a Pakistani author’s 30-year-old novel helped me understand my parents’ views on intermarriage
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Yiddish נײַ־אַנטדעקטע פּרטים וועגן די סאָוועטישע ייִדן צווישן 1945 און 1953Newly discovered details about Soviet Jewry between 1945 and 1953
אַנאַ שטערנשיס האָט געזאַמלט הונדערטער בעל־פּהיִקע גבֿית־עדותן פֿון מענער און פֿרױען פֿון פֿאַרשײדענע סאָציאַלע שיכטן.