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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Darren Aronofsky Builds Noah’s Ark
Darren Aronofsky has built (well, not exactly all by himself) an ark of biblical proportions in Long Island. It’s for his epic, “Noah,” which is expected in 2014. Just as Adam Lambert was advocating for marriage equality while on a promotional tour (his new single “Tresspassing” was just released this week) in Australia and New…
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Israel’s New Soccer Star on Rise
A new Israeli soccer star is on the rise. Tomer Hemed turned Israel’s recent World Cup qualifying games against Luxembourg into his own personal coming out party. The 25-year-old striker scored a hat trick in Israel’s 6-0 win in Luxembourg City last Friday, and then followed it up with two more goals in a 3-0…
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Henry Jaglom’s ‘Love Song to Actors’
Henry Jaglom’s 18th film, “Just 45 Minutes From Broadway,” is, in Jaglom’s words, “a love song to actors.” It follows the Isaacs, a family of thespians with roots in the Yiddish theater, and the “45 minutes” in the title refers to the time it takes the family to get from midtown Manhattan to their vacation…
The Latest
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Martin Buber’s Biblical Translation
The Vienna-born Jewish philosopher Martin Buber (1878-1965) is best remembered by English readers for such texts as “Tales of the Hasidim,” “Between Man and Man,” and “I and Thou.” Yet German readers also relish Buber’s skill as a translator, notably in his mighty version of the Bible, in collaboration with the German Jewish theologian and…
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The Vanishing Synagogue Bulletin Board
Crossposted From Under the Fig Tree The recent volley of Jewish holidays — so rich in activity — didn’t leave much room for thinking about absence. What with a seemingly non-stop round of marketing, cooking, eating and shul-going, the opportunity to take note – and stock – of something missing all too easily got lost…
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Ric Klass on ‘Excuse Me for Living’
In “Excuse Me For Living,” Dan Topler (Tom Pelphrey) is rich, smart and, when the film opens, poised on a bridge ready to end it all. A judge remands the drug-addicted Yale graduate and medical school dropout to a posh rehab center, where he is treated by a Dr. Jacob Bernstein (the renowned actor Robert…
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Dem-Supporting Celebs Snub Republicans
Lots of celebs came out last Thursday to the AmfAR Inspiration Gala to honor CAA managing partner Kevin Huvane, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Chelsea Handler, and Kate Hudson, who stunned in a low cut red Prabal Gurung gown. And while she was at that AmfAR event, SJP was asked what she thought about the recently…
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Other ‘Hebrew Hammer’ Scores TKO
Ryan Braun may be sitting at home and watching as the Major League Baseball playoffs continue but a different “Hebrew Hammer” was in action Saturday night, and certainly lived up to his billing. Undefeated welterweight boxer Cletus “The Hebrew Hammer” Seldin improved his pro record to 9-0 on Saturday night, when he defeated Carl “The…
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Books Author Blog: Storytellers
Stefanie Pervos Bregman is the editor of the anthology “Living Jewishly: A Snapshot of a Generation.” Her 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: As a Jewish blogger and editor, I always say…
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The Top 10 Jewish Literary Scandals
The controversial works of authors Maurice Herzog and Binjamin Wilkomirski are not the only cases of Jewish writers or subjects that have faced scrutiny for allegedly embellished projects. From inflated Holocaust tales to fake autobiographies, Jewish authors and subjects have been at the center of some of the most heated literary debates. Earlier this year,…
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Handel, Egypt and the Jews
The sheer number of oratorios that George Frideric Handel wrote on Jewish subjects, including “Solomon,” “Esther,” “Joseph,” “Saul,” and “Judas Maccabeus,” has long led critics to suppose that he was a stout friend to the Children of Israel, and that London Jews were key patrons of his music. More recent scholarship suggests that Handel’s purported…
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