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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Triumph and Tragedy of First Woman Rabbi
Diana Groó’s “poetic documentary” “Regina,” screening January 15 at the New York Jewish Film Festival, is constructed out of meager visual evidence. There is, after all, only one surviving photo of her subject, the Berlin-born Regina Jonas (1902-1944), who became the first ordained female rabbi. But if necessity is the mother of invention, then Groó’s…
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Check Out Lena Dunham’s Vogue Cover
Lena Dunham is on the cover of a fashion magazine. And not just any fashion magazine, but the mother of all fashion magazines. The girl who only days ago was on E!’s Worst Dressed list for her canary yellow Zac Posen dress at the Golden Globes is now on the cover of Vogue. The “Girls”…
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2013 National Jewish Book Award Winners Named
The National Jewish Book Council has announced the winners of the 2013 National Jewish Book Awards. The Award, now in its 63rd year, is given in 17 categories including fiction, history, poetry, scholarship and the Everett Family Foundation Award for Jewish Book of the Year. Honorees this year include Yossi Klein Halevi for “Like Dreamers:…
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‘My Roommate Is Jewish’ Joke
Time Out New York has revealed the winners of its 2013 Joke of the Year contest. Hidden among the quips about MILF porn, weight loss and ghetto baby showers, was this: “I’m Palestinian and my roommate is Jewish, so we’re always fighting over where his room starts and mine ends. He pays more rent, but…
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Golden Globes 2014: Who Wore What
The Golden Globes — or as I like to call them, the fashion preview for the Oscars. Sunday night’s award ceremony featured some pretty impressive style choices, from monochromatic beige to serious bling, and the Jewish stars were no exception. Highlights included Zosia Mamet rocking white and black in Reem Acra, Mila Kunis looking smokin”…
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Scarlett Johansson to Star in SodaStream Superbowl Ad
(JTA) — Scarlett Johansson, faceless in the movie “Her,” has just landed a gig as the face of an Israeli company. According to The New York Times, the Jewish actress has been chosen as SodaStream’s “Global Spokesperson” and will star in its upcoming Super Bowl ad. In the commercial, airing during the fourth quarter of the…
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Ronan Farrow Slams Woody Allen Golden Globes Tribute
If you hadn’t yet noticed that Ronan Farrow isn’t a big fan of his dad, this tweet sent during last night’s Golden Globes will set you straight: Missed the Woody Allen tribute – did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before or after Annie Hall? ampmdash;…
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When Children Survivors Wore Nazi Flags As Clothing…
At the year-end meeting of NAHOS, the National Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, the subject was child survivors —from toddlers to teenagers — presented by Anna Andlauer, author of “The Rage to Live: The International D.P, Children’s Center Kloster Inderdorf 1945-46.” An SRO event at Park East Synagogue, the spellbound audience listened as Andlauer —…
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Why a Finnish Band Called Themselves ‘Talmud Beach’
British pop-culture monthly Uncut excited music fans this month with its review of what may be the world’s first Finnish-Jewish blues trio. Trouble was, the magazine got it wrong. Talmud Beach may have a Jewish name, but none of its players are members of the tribe. The band’s moniker, though, bears a Semitic connection. Bearded,…
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Gary Shteyngart Insults Canadian Authors
There’s never been any kind of publicity author Gary Shteyngart hasn’t liked, but it seems the same cannot be said about Canadian fiction. The Russian-American writer, currently making the rounds on a book tour for his new memoir, “Little Failure,” managed to dis the oeuvre of writers north of the border while being interviewed by…
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Poet Amiri Baraka Dies — Feuded With Jews
Amiri Baraka, the New Jersey poet laureate whose works were celebrated by blacks but often condemned by Jews, has died. Baraka’s writings, lectures and poetry brought him national renown beginning in the 1960s, and the one-time black nationalist was celebrated by many African Americans as a voice of the disenfranchised. He was a winner of…
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