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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Seth Rogen Tells Detroit Mayor To Smoke Crack
Smoking crack isn’t usually taken to be a civic leadership strategy but hey, it’s working out for Rob Ford. That’s what Seth Rogen told Conan O’Brien, anyway. On Tuesday night’s episode of “Conan” the actor suggested that Detroit mayor Mike Dugan take a page from Ford’s book, since Toronto seems to be doing pretty well…
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The Israeli Barack Obama
(JTA) — Israel is getting crowded with big-name residents. In February a Jordanian named Yitzhak Rabin enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces. Now, an African American convert to Judaism in Jerusalem has officially changed his name to Barack Obama, the Times of Israel reports. A special committee at the Interior Ministry approved Mark Hardie’s request…
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104-Year-Old Savior (Virtually) Drops In
A feisty 89-year old Hanna Slome had the 320 guests at the April 1 Museum of Jewish Heritage — a Living Memorial to the Holocaust Spring Luncheon at The Pierre — “ahhing” and laughing as she recounted her survival saga. I had known Hanna for some forty years but it wasn’t until I spotted her…
The Latest
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Regina Spektor Welcomes Baby Boy
(JTA) — Mazel tov to Regina Spektor on the birth of her son — on keeping the details and photo evidence away from the prying eyes of the media (although we have to admit we’re dying to see a shot of the munchkin). The only public proof that the Jewish songstress and her musician husband Jack…
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Richard Shepard on His Dad and ‘Dom Hemingway’
For the comedy crime drama, “Dom Hemingway,” Jude Law transformed himself into a vulgar, violent, puffy and unhinged alcoholic fresh out of prison. The film was written and directed by Richard Shepard (“The Matador”) and the cast includes Richard E. Grant (“Dracula”) as Dom’s pal Dickie and Oscar-nominee Demian Bichir (“A Better Life”) as Mr….
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Making an Exodus Vacation
I was taught that Passover was the time of the year when we lived unleavened lives, not puffed up with self-importance and luxury. “We were slaves in Egypt,” the Seder reminds us, and we should not commit the sin of hubris by forgetting our roots. Given the number of luxury Passover holidays with full “kosher…
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Anselm Kiefer Says Jewish Collectors Boosted Career
(Reuters) — German artist Anselm Kiefer, many of whose huge canvases examine the legacy of the Third Reich, attributes much of his success to Jewish collectors in New York who latched onto his art early in his career when his fellow Germans were not all that interested. Kiefer spoke on Tuesday at London’s Royal Academy…
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Muppets and Bar Refaeli Too Racy for Israeli TV
(JTA) — A risqué ad featuring Bar Refaeli in bed with a purple, mustachioed Muppet has been banned from running before 10 p.m. in the holy land, Walla!, Israel news website reports. Per a governmental council called The Second Authority for Television and Radio, the ad for local fashion brand Hoodies has “too many sexual insinuations”…
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The JDate Haggadah
Do you want your Seder to be “the talk of the town through the end of 5774?” Of course you do. And JDate has your back (though you may have to cling to the thought that “all publicity is good publicity”). For the second year in a row, the online answer to all Jewish mothers’…
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Books Bosnia Through Muslim Eyes
New York author Susan Shapiro and her Muslim physical therapist, Kenan Trebincevic, bonded, and together they wrote the recently published “The Bosnia List: A Memoir of War, Exile, and Return” (Penguin Books). The book tells the story of the Bosnian War through Trebincevic’s eyes. In 1992 he was 12 and living a normal, happy childhood,…
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Pat Robertson Says Jews Don’t Mow Lawns
Pat Robertson has succeeded where thousands of years of Elders of Zion-style conspiracy theorists have failed. He’s figured out why Jews are all so darn successful. It’s simple, the televangelist explained in a recent discussion with Rabbi Daniel Lapin, head of the American Alliance of Jews and Christians — Jews don’t tinker with their cars…
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