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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Jason Segel and Michelle Williams are Splitsville
Jason Segel and Michelle Williams are splitsville as of a few weeks ago after being together for a year. In the meantime, Williams was busy looking fab at the Moscow premiere of “Oz the Great Powerful,” while fans were taking the demise of her relationship with Segel really hard. Mila Kunis, who is on the…
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Books Author Blog: Transforming the Magical
Earlier this week, Baruch and Judy Sterman wrote about their obsession with blue. Their blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog Series. For more information on the series, please visit: We were sitting in an upscale café in Northern Tel Aviv waiting…
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ADL Asks Joan Rivers to Apologize for Holocaust Joke
The Anti-Defamation League called on “Fashion Police” host Joan Rivers to apologize for a Holocaust reference she made on the show. Rivers on the E! Entertainment Television program of February 25, commenting on a dress worn by German-American supermodel Heidi Klum, said, “The last time a German looked this hot was when they were pushing…
The Latest
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Steven Spielberg To Head Cannes Jury
U.S. director Steven Spielberg will preside over the 2013 Cannes film festival jury in May, organisers said on Thursday, an A-list casting that adds Hollywood firepower to the high-brow international festival. Spielberg, whose presidential drama “Lincoln” took home two Oscars at Sunday’s Academy Awards, will succeed Italian director and actor Nanni Moretti, who helmed the…
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The Cantor Who Was Actually Jesus
It’s not giving anything away to say that Lifetime’s new movie “Twist of Faith” ends with its mismatched romantic leads back together, embracing on the threshold of her home. Nor does it reveal anything to note that Music and the Power of Song connect Toni Braxton’s Black Gospel singer with David Julian Hirsh’s doubting, erstwhile…
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Books Can Israel Help American Jews Recall Forgotten Heroes?
Earlier this week, M. M. Silver wrote about the riches in Louis Marshall’s archive. His blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog Series. For more information on the series, please visit: Now that my previous blog post established to everyone’s complete satisfaction…
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Shani Boianjiu Goes Back to Hebrew
“Sometimes I think things I know are not true.” Avishag states this to herself, having been called into her commander’s office for almost running over a cliff during a fraught chemical attack simulation, in one of the opening episodes of Shani Boianjiu’s début novel, “The People of Forever Are Not Afraid”. Hearing this line for…
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Books Sami Rohr Prize Finalists Announced
The Jewish Book Council has announced the finalists for this year’s Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. The $100,000 prize is one of the largest literary awards in the world and recognizes emerging writers who examine the Jewish experience. It is given for fiction and non-fiction in alternating years. This year’s fiction finalists include Shani…
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How Many Sins Can One Hasid Commit?
What do you do if you’re “a Yid who thinks he’s a Goy”? You go to your gentile friend “Boris,” of course, for help writing “The Aveirah Song.” Aveirah is Hebrew for “sin,” which, “Boris,” being a gentile and all, would be an expert on. And what kinds of sins does a gentile (or wannabe-gentile)…
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Jon Stewart Goes After Dov Hikind and the ‘War on Purim’
New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind just keeps getting into more trouble for his massive faux-pas dressing up in blackface as a “black basketball player” for Purim. After he got blasted by pretty much everyone, including the Anti-Defamation League, Hikind issued a begrudging apology, saying he did not mean to offend anybody and was sorry…
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The Spirit Is Willing, but the ‘Putzel’ Is Weak
Sight unseen, Putzel seems the perfect film to have its New York premiere as part of the Tuesday night screening series at the JCC in Manhattan. Like the JCC, it is set in the borough’s Upper West Side. And like both the neighborhood and the JCC, it is oh so Jewish. What could go wrong?…
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In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward AJC, USC Shoah Foundation announce partnership to document antisemitism since World War II
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Fast Forward Chicago mayor donned keffiyeh for Arab Heritage Month event, sparking outcry from Jewish groups
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