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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Books
Author Blog: From Deli to Cookbook
Noah and Rae Bernamoff are the owners of Mile End deli and the authors of the cookbook “The Mile End Cookbook.” 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 just wrote a…
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Lady Hasidic Alt Rockers
To be honest, I didn’t expect Bulletproof Stockings to be good. What, I thought in the judgmental part of my mind, would two Chabad women from Brooklyn know about alternative rock? It turns out, quite a bit. Dalia G. Shusterman and Perl Wolfe, the current members of the female Hasidic alt. rock band, each had…
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Israeli Film Goes Inside Haredi Love Affair
It seems certain that even the most scrupulous secular observer of the contemporary ultra-Orthodox experience, anywhere on the planet, will not have been privy to the intimacy and profound declarations of feeling and affection on display in “Fill the Void,” the daring, devastating debut from female Hasidic filmmaker Rama Burshtein. The Israeli movie, which recently…
The Latest
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Tuesday’s Shmooze Celebrity Roundup
Lena Dunham and the $3.5 million she is commanding for her first book were everywhere yesterday. As soon as the deal with Random House was announced, Dunham was almost apologizing for it, and more than a few commentators were speculating as to how her advice could possibly be worth so much. Paparazzi caught Andrew Garfield…
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KISS’s Jewish Mother Passes Away
Not many refugees from Nazi Germany get memorialized on sites like UltimateClassicRock.com. But Eva Eisen, who passed away recently at 88, was the mother of Paul Stanley, vocalist and founding member of rock behemoth KISS. In a statement on his web site, Stanley credited his mother for his love of music. “My mother found so…
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Rick Ross Has a ‘Black Bar Mitzvah’
Rick Ross may not be Jewish, but he’s seems to know something about opulent bar miztvahs. The blockbuster Miami rapper released a free new mixtape last night called “Black Bar Mitzvah,” an 18-track album featuring contributions from Drake, Pharrell and others. Ross is pictured on the cover inside a gold Star of David. “Black bar…
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Monday’s Shmooze Celebrity Roundup
Esquire has named Mila Kunis the Sexiest Woman Alive. As we all know, she is currently attached (to boyfriend Ashton Kutcher), but that will surely not stop many an oogler from watching Esquire’s video of her. Jennifer Garner may be starring in the movie “Butter” right now, but that doesn’t stop her from imagining herself…
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Chatting with Israeli Diplomat Elad Strohmayer
Elad Strohmayer, 31, is a relatively new face in Israeli diplomacy. He took the reins as second-in-command at the Consulate General of Israel in Philadelphia last summer. With a background in humanitarian law, Strohmayer is now completing a master’s degree in international relations while juggling day-to-day duties in political affairs, outreach, press, academia, culture, government…
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Imre Kertész And The Healing Power of Irony
Just over a decade ago, Imre Kertész, the Hungarian Jewish author of “Fiasco”; “The Union Jack”; and other works, was going through an unusually tough time. Parkinson’s disease, which he is still battling, had begun to hamper his writing and growing anti-Semitism in his native land made him decide to move permanently from Budapest to…
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Author Blog: Spinoza, My Significant Other, And Baking Soda
Lenore Weiss is the author of the collection Cutting Down the Last Tree on Easter Island. 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: I was reading a book about Spinoza this evening…
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Friday’s Shmooze Celebrity Roundup
Another day, another James Franco project… or two. We’re going to assume that the response to the first two songs released by Franco’s new band, Daddy, must have been positive, because now we hear there’s a full album http://www.vulture.com/2012/10/james-franco-daddy-is-planning-a-full-album.html) in the works. And for those of you who would rather look at than listen to…
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