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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Aly Raisman Places Fourth in DWTS
Olympian gymnast Aly Raisman won fourth place on last night’s season finale of Dancing with the Stars, alongside partner Mark Ballas. Raisman and Ballas have been quite the pair, the Jewish Olympian proving her athletic demeanor she gained through gymnastics could get her far in the dancing world. The couple always scored high points, usually…
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Is There an Orthodox Film Industry?
Orthodox filmmaker Rama Burshtein is a special case. Not only does she come from a community that frowns on film-watching — never mind film-making — but she has managed to create “Fill the Void,” a movie that has won awards and acclaim around the world. (You can read my recent profile of Burshtein here.) Burshtein…
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Steven Spielberg is Making a Halo TV Show
Techies rejoice: Steven Spielberg, the master of techie movies, is making a techie TV show. At today’s Microsoft XBox event in Washington, the company launched their new product, XBox one, before announcing they were teaming up with the Jewish filmmakers to create a television series based on the Xbox-exclusive, first-person shooting game, “Halo.” The show,…
The Latest
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Sarah Silverman’s Sexy Dream Night
Like most of us, the perfect night for Jewish comedian Sarah Silverman consists of one alone— and in flannels. The self deprecating celebrity conveyed her idea of an awesome night in her new music video, “Perfect Night,” which is part of YouTube’s Comedy Week that kicked off this past Sunday. In a perfectly auto-tuned voice…
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Coen Brothers’ Latest Draws Raves at Cannes
I have a lot of faith in the Coen brothers. But when I heard that their next film, “Inside Llewyn Davis,” was going to be about a singer-songwriter in Greenwhich Village during the folk revival, I was a little worried. If there’s a period ripe for nostalgia among beardy folk music types, this one is…
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You Will Not Recognize Larry David
Larry David has got himself a long beard and hair for his upcoming HBO film, “Clear History,” leaving the Jewish funnyman basically unrecognizable. After watching the bald character on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” for so many years, the character in his new film, out this August, resembles nothing of the personality of anal, self-inflicting, persona, just…
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What Mel Brooks can teach us about racism
“Blazing Saddles” is generally regarded as Mel Brooks’s best movie: It was ranked sixth on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest American comedies and it was nominated for three Academy Awards. “Best,” though, is a relative term. Brooks’s Borscht Belt-meets-absurdism style is so unique and so indelible that what we call the…
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Ashton Kutcher Meets Mila Kunis’s Mishpacha
Ashton Kutcher met the parents. Over the weekend, the Steve Jobs impersonator was spotted in London hanging out with the parents of his Jewish girlfriend, “Oz” star Mila Kunis. The Hollywood power couple have been dating for about a year now, and this was Kutcher’s first time meeting the Kunis family, the Daily Mail reports….
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Palestinian Film Breaks New Ground at Cannes
A tragic love story between two Palestinians living under Israeli occupation received a standing ovation at the Cannes film festival on Monday and broke new ground as the first film fully funded by the Palestinian cinema industry. “Omar” by director Hany Abu-Assad, known for the 2005 award-winning film “Paradise Now,” is a political thriller interwoven…
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Rihanna Will Perform in Tel Aviv on Election Day
Making Tel Aviv’s upcoming municipal election day even more exciting, Rihanna will be giving a public concert in the city’s Park Hayarkon as the ballots are being counted. Scheduled for October 22, the concert will be the pop star’s first public performance in Israel. Rihanna has been to Israel before, but in a more low-key…
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Amar’e Stoudemire Wore a Yarmulke Before Knicks Game
Perhaps trying to invoke the good fortunes of his Jewish ancestors, New York Knicks Power Forward Amar’e Stoudemire sported a yarmulke this past weekend, ahead of the Knicks sixth play-off game against the Indiana Pacers. Attempting to bring some spirituality to the sport, Stoudemire, who found out his mother was Jewish back in 2010, was…
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