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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Arts Festival Reinvents Brighton Beach
Babushki chattering in Russian, store awnings adorned in Cyrillic, the scent of fresh pierogi in the air — for decades, these displaced attributes of Soviet culture have been characteristic of Brighton Beach, New York’s Russian-speaking enclave in the southern tip of Brooklyn. While much of the borough was busy gentrifying, Brighton managed to stay frozen…
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Live! With Kelly Picks Michael Strahan as Co-host
It’s not everyday that the Shmooze gets to write about Live! With Kelly, arguably one of the best shows on morning television, but today is an exception because Kelly Ripa has finally settled on a co-host: former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan. Key to the selection process was Michael Gelman, who has been…
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Books Author Blog: A Yiddishist in Vilnius
Steve Stern’s most recent book, “The Book of Mischief,” is now available. 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: I had fun in Vilnius, despite my low tolerance for fun. Not to…
The Latest
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Big Bands Are Back, Baby!
Big bands have been making some of the most interesting and pleasurable music in jazz today. If you haven’t heard of them already, these groups are worth your attention: John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Orrin Evans’s Captain Black Big Band and Maria Schneider’s Jazz Orchestra. There is also a new big…
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My Favorite Schmidt Episode of New Girl
Max Greenfield — who plays Schmidt, the “tightly wound” but fun loving roommate on Fox’s television show, New Girl — has had quite the summer. First he got nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Supporting Actor category. Then Gwyneth Paltrow said he was “the kind of guy you lusted after at your cousin’s Bar…
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Remembering Meir Z. Ribalow
The internationally renowned playwright, poet, novelist, critic, and activist Meir Z. Ribalow, whose greatest legacy may be his profound impact on the lives of hundreds of other artists whose work he nurtured, furthered, supported and celebrated, died on August 23rd after battling prostate cancer. He was 63. I first met Ribalow at a Seder given…
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Books Author Blog: The Presence of the Past
Earlier this week, Kati Marton wrote about the French Jewish family the Camondos and Paris’s black marble plaques. 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: Now that I live part-time in Paris,…
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Ari Graynor on Jewish Mothers and Phone Sex
What do two nice Jewish girls in Manhattan do when they’re short on rent? Silly question. They open a phone-sex line, of course. That’s the premise of “For a Good Time Call…” which opens in select cities August 31 and nationally in September. It may sound silly, but the plot is loosely based on fact….
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Jewish Celebs Hobnob with Republicans
It seems that Obama has no shortage of Jewish celeb supporters such as Tory Burch, Jesse Eisenberg and Ben Stiller, to name a few. But Jewish celebs have been showing up at the Republican National Convention. As the RNC wraps up, some familiar names have surfaced: Rockstar Rabbi Meir Soloveichik was asked to deliver the…
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Edon Pinchot Bounced From ‘Talent’
Edon Pinchot, a kipah-wearing Jewish day school student singer and pianist, was eliminated in the semi-finals of “America’s Got Talent.” Three of the 12 acts that performed in the first set of semifinalists were sent through to the finals during the show broadcast on Wednesday. Edon had won cheers from the live audience and accolades…
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Italy Celebrates Jewish Culture, Despite Quake
“Good morning, I would like to visit the Synagogue,” says a sweet lady wearing an old-fashioned patterned dress at the Milan Sinagoga Centrale (Central Synagogue) on a lazy mid-summer afternoon. “I’m sorry ma’am. For security reasons, it is not possible,” replies the attendant. It happens often. People want to visit synagogues as they would visit…
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