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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Vice Trades in March Madness for Hitler
Who’s more worthy of Hitler-comparison, Joseph Stalin or Saddam Hussein? Voldemort or Satan? Bashar Al-Assad or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? These are the hard-hitting questions that Vice is setting out to answer. Forget March Madness. They’ve come up with Hitler Madness, the tournament to “officially determine the most Hitlerish person of all time.” Per the rulebook: Some…
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Andi Dorfman’s First ‘Bachelorette’ Promo Photo
She’s got her roses ready! Following the official confirmation of Andi Dorfman as the new (Jewish!) “Bachelorette,” ABC have released the first photo of her — all glitz and glam with the requisite bouquet. Tune in May 19 for the premiere episode.
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Stephen Sondheim’s Wonderful Years
“Alice Longworth Roosevelt said, ‘First you’re young, then you’re middle-aged, then you’re wonderful,’” Stephen Sondheim remarked at the conclusion of his 80th birthday celebrations at Avery Fisher Hall in 2010. Now very much in his wonderful years, Broadway’s greatest living composer-lyricist is experiencing a phase in his career where revivals, musical reviews and fêtes honoring…
The Latest
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POEM: ‘Eve and Lilith Back at the Garden’
Eve and Lilith peered through the padlocked gates of the garden, now a restricted community. Eve glared at Lilith, “You told me it was easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission. Now look.” “That’s what I always do,” Lilith replied, aware that under the circumstances she sounded pretty lame. “Plus,” said Eve, “I think I’m…
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Beyonce Visits Anne Frank House
Beyonce took a little break from her Mrs. Carter World Tour to pay a visit to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam with Jay-Z. According to the museum’s Facebook page, the couple spent over an hour in the museum and were “very impressed by their visit to the hiding place of Anne Frank”. Don’t believe…
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How Well Do You Know Your Yiddish?
How well did your bubbe train you? Apparently, mine fell down on the job. I answered only 8 out of 15 questions correctly on a new survey meant to test your knowledge of classic Yiddish terms and phrases. “You need a bissel more of work to be a maven in the mame-loshin!” the results read….
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John Travolta’s Flowery Apology to Idina Menzel
When John Travolta apologizes, he does it properly. After seriously butchering Idina Menzel’s name at the Oscars (in case you live under a rock, or you know, don’t have Internet, he called her “Adela Dazeem”), the 60-year-old actor reportedly sent a little gift to the Jewish Broadway star’s dressing room. “He sent her a big,…
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Charlotte Gainsbourg on Playing a ‘Nymphomaniac’
Charlotte Gainsbourg, 43, is the star of director Lars von Trier’s much-anticipated film, “Nymphomaniac.” She plays Joe, a sex addict, and the film covers 20 years of her unusual life. The Danish director is known for his penchant to shock audiences, but this film is not as sexy as you might guess, nor is sex…
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Fran Drescher Is More Than ‘The Nanny’
An idiosyncrasy of the cavernous Broadway Theater in Manhattan — currently home to the hit show “Cinderella” — is that actors need to traverse the stage to get from their dressing rooms to the stage door. So it’s where I wait for Fran Drescher, who has very successfully traversed from lovable Jewish nanny to evil…
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Gary Shteyngart Finally Out-Blurbs Himself
Novelist Gary Shteyngart is known for being an “enthusiastic blurb-writer.” But nothing can possibly beat this one. Writing about “Walter Potter’s Curious World of Taxidermy,” a book by Pat Morris and Joanna Ebenstein, which, as the name suggests, tells the story of Victorian taxidermist Walter Potter, Shteyngart said: “Walter Potter’s Curious World of Taxidermy” is…
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‘The Giver’ Trailer Is Here
In the age of “Hunger Games” and “Divergent” dystopian frenzy, expectations are at an all-time high for the movie adaptation of Lois Lowry’s “The Giver.” Unlike Katniss Everdeen’s gritty District 12, Lowry’s best-selling novel takes place in a warped future where all the unpleasant aspects of life have been erased. No war, no pain. And…
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