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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Beat Poet Finally Found What He Was Looking For
How much of our yearning for transcendence is actually a yearning for love? The sublimation of desire takes many forms. Mystics longing for the divine, clearly, but more subtly, even those religious who aver no such emotional fire, but who nonetheless gain senses of connection from the observance of rituals. And it appears in poetry,…
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James Franco’s Broadway Debut
It doesn’t seem possible, but James Franco is adding yet another notch to his professional bedpost: Broadway star. The actor (we will stick with the relevant occupation to save space), has confirmed that he will star alongside Chris O’Dowd in Broadway’s “Of Mice and Men.” O’Dowd will play Lennie, leaving George in Franco’s capable hands….
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The Best Jewish Halloween Idea Ever
Do you love Halloween? Well, according to Buzzfeed, Jewish rapper Drake does too. So this year, why not combine the two? Presenting the “Drake O’Lantern”: made a ‘nothing was the same’ jack-o-lantern (cc: @drake) pic.twitter.com/vTI0Z8nYJR ampmdash; willis plummer (@willisplummer) October 14, 2013 Genius.
The Latest
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Introducing a Failed Sitcom by Sarah Silverman
If you have a spare 24 minutes at some point today, you can fill them by watching a newly released failed NBC pilot, courtesy of Sarah Silverman. “Susan 313,” which stars Silverman along with Jeff Goldblum, Tig Notaro, June Diane Raphael (“Burning Love”) and “Parks and Recreation” writer Harris Wittels, never made on the air….
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Up Close and Personal With Israeli Prime Ministers
Moriah Films is a division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and is responsible for a dozen documentaries of Jewish interest. Filmmaker Richard Trank has been with Moriah from the beginning, a journey that included an Academy Award in 1997 for “The Long Way Home,” about Holocaust Survivors rebuilding their lives and the State of Israel….
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Bar Refaeli Dates Commoners Too
Good news men! It seems Bar Refaeli doesn’t only date famous men, as referenced in the story in the New York Daily News about her last week. Start lining up! Just woke up to DailyNews saying I’m looking for a strong FAMOUS guy- what?!?! Where did u get that?? Completely false. ampmdash; Bar Refaeli (@BarRefaeli)…
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Governor Cuomo Raises Alarm About Anti-Semitism at Wiesenthal Dinner
In what was its most successful event, the October 16 Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Humanitarian Award dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria raised a whopping $1.6 million. Dinner chair Nelson Peltz introduced the Center’s Distinguished Service Award recipient —New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo who good humouredly led off with: “When Nelson [told me] ‘I didn’t vote for…
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German-Jewish Orchestra With a Twist
Those looking to discover a new, young classical music orchestra with a Jewish twist should keep an eye out for Orchestra Jakobsplatz Munich, which is performing in North America for the first time this month with concerts in Maine, Kansas, New York and Montreal. Conductor Daniel Grossmann founded Orchestra Jakobsplatz Munich in 2005 to bring…
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The Extraordinary Mind of Mentalist Asi Wind
From an early age, mentalist Asi Wind knew he had to prove himself in some spectacular way. The Tel Aviv native was dyslexic, but not diagnosed as such, and everyone assumed he was slow and dim-witted. “And I believed it about myself,” he said with a slight Hebrew accent. “It was an enormous weight. Every…
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Bar Refaeli Can’t Find a Man
Good news single Jewish girls around the world: you’re not alone! Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli also has trouble finding a man, or at least that’s what she told the New York Daily News on Friday. “I don’t understand it,” Refaeli, 28, said. “I look great. I’m cool. I like going out. I like being at…
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Kathryn Grody Doesn’t Do Dishes for Mandy Patinkin
Kathryn Grody is besieged. The actress, on her way home after a recent preview performance of “The Model Apartment,” hadn’t made it out of the lobby when several audience members waylaid her. What happened next is both a tribute to Donald Margulies’ play and to Grody. The play is intense and at times difficult to…
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