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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Bibi’s Gift to Obama Is 2,000 Years Old
President Obama will be receiving an unusual gift during his trip to Israel. According to New York Magazine’s Daily Intelligencer, Prime Minister Netanyahu commissioned scientists at Technion’s Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute to inscribe the US and Israel’s Declarations of Independence side by side on a “golden-coated silicon chip.” The inscriptions measure a grand total of…
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Where To Read New Yiddish Literature
The news about Yiddish literature these days is mostly about translation — whether from Yiddish (as with Moyshe Kulbak’s “Zelmenyaner,” which I recently reviewed), or, as seems to be increasingly the case, into Yiddish. But there are plenty of writers out there producing work in Yiddish, plain and simple. A representative sample can be found…
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Passover, "Les Mis" Style
“Les Miserables” is an epic tale of suffering, oppression, and one man’s quest to find himself. Is it just me, or have we heard that story before? No, sadly, Victor Hugo was not a secret Jew. But Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, who wrote the lyrics of the famous musical, are. Schönberg was born in…
The Latest
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Philip Roth Turns 80
Today is Philip Roth’s 80th birthday, and the literary hounds are on the scent. Here’s what’s going on: Roth’s hometown of Newark N.J. is celebrating with a photo exhibit at the New York Public Library, a bus tour, and an invite-only talk by Roth himself at the Newark Museum. There is a two day conference…
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Obama/Bibi Video…Set to Golden Girls Theme Song
The Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C. is really excited about Obama’s trip to Israel. So excited, that they made an animated bobble-head video set to theme from “Golden Girls” to tell us about it. Bibi and Barry, just like Rose and Blanche. This is possibly even more insane than the Obama mustache meme, but it’s…
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Kippah Man Settles Spider-Man Lawsuit
A Jerusalem shop settled out of court with two comic book companies that charged it sells unlicensed kippahs bearing the images of Superman and Spider-Man. Avi Binyamin, owner of the Kippa Man store on Ben Yehuda Street in central Jerusalem, will pay Marvel Comics and Warner Brothers $17,000 each for the unauthorized use of their…
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Books Graphic Novelist Returns to Berlin
Miriam Katin appears naked in one panel of “Letting It Go,” her new graphic memoir about coming to terms with her past as a Holocaust survivor. But the rest of this novel-length confessional comic is even more revealing. Her first full-length work since 2006’s award-winning Holocaust memoir “We Are On Our Own,” “Letting It Go”…
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7 Actors for ‘Ten Commandments’ Remake
At Passover-time, only one thing is as constant as the dry taste of matzo: the inevitable reruns of “The Ten Commandments.” While I have tremendous respect for the immovable classic, and Charlton Heston (or Old Stoneface, as he’s affectionately known in my family), 56 years is a good long run. It’s time for a change….
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Advice From Mr. Spock to Biracial Outcast
We always knew that actor, writer, photographer, and old-Jew extraordinaire Leonard Nimoy was a pretty amazing guy. But now we have evidence that he was even more amazing than we thought. A blog called My Star Trek Scrapbook has unearthed a 1968 letter Nimoy wrote in FaVE magazine, in response to a biracial fan who…
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Streisand Adds Tel Aviv Shows to Israel Trip
Barbra Streisand will perform two Tel Aviv concerts in Israel in addition to performing at the 90th birthday celebration for President Shimon Peres. The concerts will take place June 15 and 16 at Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium, Israeli media reported. On June 18, Streisand will perform at the opening ceremony of the Israeli Presidential Conference,…
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Bob Dylan for the 12-Year-Old Set
If Bob Dylan were 12 years old, he’d sound like Ned The Kids Dylan. That’s because Ned The Kids Dylan, a pre-pubescent singer-songwriter from Northhampton, England, sounds an awful lot like the bard with the birth name Robert Zimmerman — only with a voice that hasn’t dropped yet. Ned The Kids Dylan, who tours Great…
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