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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Dark Angels of the Jewish Subconscious
Unlike their pudgy, cherubic, church-tending counterparts, in Jewish mythology angels are not what you’d call angelic. Ominous and conflicted, with a penchant for irony and obscure turns of phrase, they are messages from the personal and collective subconscious for us to wrestle with. These angels create the parameters of our formative and deformative moments. Perhaps…
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Jason Alexander Speaks Up for Gun Control
There’s an infographic that’s been floating around Facebook. It shows two diagrams labeled “illegal” and “legal.” One depicts French cheese and the other, an arsenal of automatic weapons. Illogically, the illegal stamp is not meant for the deadly weaponry; it is for the cheese. The cheeses are made from raw milk, which has been linked…
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Books Author Blog: Focusing Under Pressure
Earlier this week, Daniel Smith, whose newest book, “Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety,” is now available, wrote about hearing voices. 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: In my last post,…
The Latest
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Iran Nuke Scientists Get Heavy Metal Blast
An Iranian nuclear scientist complained to a cybersecurity expert via email that the AC/DC song “Thunderstruck” was playing from computers at two of the country’s nuclear facilities. According to the Times of Israel, computers at the Nantaz and Fordo facilities blasted the heavy metal song at full volume in the middle of the night last…
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Bayreuth Opera Drops Swastika-Tattooed Singer
It seems that if you want to play Wagner’s Dutchman on stage, a Nazi tattoo just ain’t gonna fly. Russian singer Evgeny Nikitin withdrew from the titular role of the famed German opera on Saturday after a July 20 television broadcast showcasing his hard-rocking past as drummer in a Russian metal band included a clear…
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Running From the Reservation
“Up Heartbreak Hill,” the POV documentary that premieres July 26 on PBS, is centered on two teenagers, Thomas Martinez and Tamara Hardy, who run like the wind. Not hurricane fast, but swiftly enough to place among the top finishers in state cross country and track meets; swiftly enough to attract the attention of college coaches….
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Bashar Al-Assad As Model Dad?
His horrific actions against his own people are well known, as is his hatred of Israel and funding for terror against Israeli targets. But in a set of photographs obtained by a British newspaper, Syria’s just-clinging-on-to-power President Bashar al-Assad is portrayed with his wife and kids as the ultimate relaxed, Western-oriented happy parent. The 14-photograph…
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Israeli Film Production, From ‘Exodus’ On
Crossposted From Under the Fig Tree Over the past half century or so, Israel has been associated in the public mind with lots of things, but movie-making has not been among them — at least not until recently. As the Forward observed this week, that’s about to change. Israel now harbors high hopes of becoming…
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Egypt Reality TV Prank Goes Very Bad
Egyptian actors on a hidden camera television show reacted violently upon being told they were being aired on an Israeli TV channel. Excerpts from the show, part of satellite TV channel Al-Nahar’s special Ramadan programming, were translated and distributed this week by MEMRI-the Middle East Media Research Institute. In one show, Egyptian artist Ayman Kandeel…
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IDF Bikini Babe Goes Viral
It’s not the first time a female Israeli soldier has been photographed in a bikini, but it might be the first time that soldier had a gun strapped to her back. And for some reason, that weapon makes all the difference. Maxim’s spread of bikini-clad IDF soldiers got 69 Facebook likes in the five years…
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‘Homeland’ Goes Home
Israel not only provides ideas to the American entertainment industry (as I reported in an article for the Forward this week), but a warm welcome to its filmmakers, as well. David Nevins, President of Entertainment for Showtime, took advantage of that hospitality when he okayed three weeks of shooting there for the network’s hit series,…
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