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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Billy Crystal’s Jewish ‘(Schm)-uck Dynasty’
Did you know that “Duck Dynasty” is actually a rip-off of a show Billy Crystal and his family created? The comedian made his case for “Schmuck Dynasty” on Jimmy Fallon this week. Check it out:
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Joan Rivers Picks on Jennifer Lawrence — Wrong Move
Joan Rivers picked the wrong lady to mess with. The “Fashion Police” diva was irked by some comments made by Jennifer Lawrence — otherwise known as Queen of Awesome and America’s favorite person — during a Q&A with Yahoo! employees last week. “There are shows like ‘The Fashion Police’ that are just showing these generations of young…
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Chuck Hagel Shows Some Love For Leon Panetta at ADL Gala
With Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel as award presenter to former Secretary of Defense and former Director of the CIA Leon Panetta at the Anti-Defamation League’s October 31 Centennial Gala at The Grand Hyatt , the event turned out to be a mega hit. Emceed by NBC New York host Kaitlin Monte Miss New York…
The Latest
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Mensch on a Bench Is Ultimate Cure for ‘Elf Envy’
Do you have Christmas “elf envy”? No more! The Elf on a Shelf has some Jewish competition: the Mensch on a Bench. Mini tribe member Mosche is the brainchild of Neal Hoffman, a former employee of Hasbro Toys in Rhode Island, who thought of the Hannukah-friendly mentor after his son, Jacob, felt left out at…
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Cheb i Sabbah, Algerian Jewish DJ, Dies at 66
Cheb i Sabbah, a DJ, producer and composer known for combining Asian, Middle Eastern and African influences into his global electronica music, died November 6 at age of 66. The San Francisco-based Sabbah was born Haim Serge El Baz in Constantine, Algeria to a working-class Jewish family with some Berber ancestry. Major music publications have…
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Books Anxieties of the Modern Old Age
Half the Kingdom By Lore Segal Melville House, 176 pages, $23.95 Since 2001, the already-abundant anxieties of living in New York City have been ratcheted up by an exponential factor. Abandoned bags have become potential tools of terror; mysterious smells could be toxic; the sounds of sirens or of helicopters overhead might signify an emergency…
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Jewish Group Wins Canadian Music Award
Toronto-based Jewish world music group Jaffa Road keeps racking up honors. Most recently, the band was named World Group of the Year at the 2013 Canadian Folk Music Awards, which took place over the weekend in Calgary. Jaffa Road’s second album, “Where the Light Gets In” (2012) was nominated for a JUNO Award this year….
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The ‘Uproar’ of the New, 100 Years Later
The London Group exploded onto the British art scene in 1913 as a radical alternative to the art establishment. Founding member and sculptor Jacob Epstein was credited with naming the group and fittingly one of his pieces, “Flenite Relief” (1913), is included in “Uproar!”, a small but powerful exhibition that opened November 1 at Ben…
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Rabbi Finds $98K in Desk — and Gives It Back
Talk about bang for your buck. Noach Muroff, a high school teacher at Yeshiva of New Haven, bought a desk on Craigslist for less than $200. What he didn’t know was that there was $98,000 hidden inside. Muroff bought the desk in September. When it wouldn’t fit through the door, he and his wife had…
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Only One Casualty at the BAFTA Awards…
The BAFTA LA Jaguar Britannia Awards last night saw the usual glitz, glam and speeches — with one exception: Sacha Baron Cohen accidentally killed an elderly woman by pushing her off the stage. Well, not really. But the attendees definitely thought so — for a good couple of seconds. Presented with the Charlie Chaplin Britannia…
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When Star Trek and M*A*S*H* Meet at Israel Philharmonic Gala
What a surprise to see Leonard Nimoy — “Star Trek”’s ever logical Mr. Spock — beamed onto Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully’s Hall’s stage to the strains of John “Williams’ theme for “Schindler’s List” at the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s October 29th benefit. Nimoy set forth the IPO’s remarkable evolution from its 1933…
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