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
-
Does This Spider Look Like Borat?
This is not a joke. An Indian software engineer snapped a picture of a spider that he swears looks exactly like Borant, the Kazakhstani character played Sacha Baron Cohen character, the Daily Mail reported. Anand Joshi, 24, reportedly found the mustachioed, mankini-legged lookalike outside his house in Bangalore. Check out the picture here. What do…
-
Arkadi Zaides Digs Deeper Into Dance
“There is a certain feeling of ‘in-between’ that you inherit as an immigrant. My life as an artist has expanded this feeling,” said Arkadi Zaides in an interview with The Arty Semite. “Living all over the world, performing and choreographing, it is hard to say what constitutes my home. My home is everywhere.” Zaides has…
-
Musical (Wheel) Chairs
If you want to catch one of the more surreal events in downtown New York this week, head south west from the urban bohemia of TriBeCa to the Museum of Jewish Heritage on Wednesday night, October 9. Holocaust survivors, ballet dancers and a whole gaggle of New York County District Attorneys — past, present, assistant,…
The Latest
-
The Maccabeats Are Back — With ‘Cups’
The Maccabeats, that lovable a-cappella group based out of Yeshiva University, are at it again. This time, the boys have taken on “D’ror Yikra,” singing it to the tune of “Cups” from the movie “Pitch Perfect.” As usual, the result is pretty awesome. Check it out and sing along below:
-
A Very Jewish George Clooney Photobomb
What’s better than being in a picture with George Clooney? Probably this picture of George Clooney photobombing what would have been a lovely portrait of Jewish Hollywood. Steven Spielberg, Jerry Seinfeld and wife Jessica were posing at the USC Shoah Foundation Institute’s 2013 Ambassadors for Humanity gala when someone unexpected tried to jump in. George…
-
Blood Libel Opera To Premiere in Hungary
The shocking true story of a 19th-century “blood libel” in which Hungarian Jews were accused of murdering a Christian girl for her blood is the subject of conductor Ivan Fischer’s first opera, which is to have its premiere this weekend in Budapest. The gruesome story, set to music in Fischer’s one-act “The Red Heifer”, is…
-
Covered in John F. Kennedy’s Blood
There is likely not an American of a certain age who does not remember where he was on November 22, 1963 — the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. That event is at the center of “Parkland,” the exciting new film from writer/director Peter Landesman. “Parkland” is the hospital where Kennedy was taken after being…
-
Scarlett Johansson is Esquire’s Sexiest Woman Alive — Again
Jewish American actress Scarlett Johansson has been named the sexiest woman alive for the second time by Esquire, the men’s lifestyle magazine said on Monday. “The Avengers” star was named sexiest woman in 2006 and is the only woman to have been given the title twice by the publication. The annual recipient of the title…
-
(Almost) Royal Affair at Osteoporosis Foundation
“You are as old as your spine…and you can’t replace a spine,” best-selling author and journalist Gail Sheehy told the mothers and daughters at the September 30 National Osteoporosis Foundation “Generation to Generation” luncheon at The Pierre. Recipient of the NOF’s “Generation Award,” Sheehy, author of “Passages” a New York Times best-seller for three years,…
-
Israeli TV Network Teams Up With American Producers
Keshet International, the distribution and production arm of Israel’s Keshet Media Group, and DC Productions, which owns Dick Clark Productions, have formed Keshet DCP, which makes it likely that more Israeli shows make it across the Atlantic to a TV set near you. Keshet, which owns a television network in Israel, is where the Showtime…
-
Lucian Freud’s Ghosts Laid To Rest in Vienna
Lucian Freud did not live to see the first exhibition of his paintings in Vienna, the city his grandfather Sigmund fled in 1938, but he helped plan the retrospective that opens this week. Freud, considered the greatest British painter of his generation, moved with his family from Berlin to London in 1933 to escape the…
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 2
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish מחשבֿות פֿון אַן אַהיים־געקומענעם (אַ מלחמה־טאָגגבוך)Reflections of a soldier after returning home (a wartime diary)
דער מחבר איז אַ סטודענט אינעם ירושלימער העברעיִשן אוניווערסיטעט, אינעם צווייטן יאָר ייִדיש־לימוד
-
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
-
News At Harvard, reports on antisemitism and anti-Palestinian bias reflect campus conflict over Israel
-
Opinion Is JB Pritzker’s very Jewish toughness the key to fighting Trump?
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism