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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From Jewish Folk to Jazz Piano
The pianist Joe Alterman is only 23 years old, but on his new album, “Give Me The Simple Life,” he’s managed to round up an impressive array of jazz veterans to play by his side. Houston Person, the soulful tenor saxophonist, joins in on four tracks while bassist James Cammack and drummer Herlin Riley —…
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Charlie Kaufman Turns To Kickstarter
This week the Shmooze brings you yet another story about a filmmaker striking out on his own to finance a project. But this time our enterprising artist isn’t a struggling young film student. It’s a pair of well-established Hollywood successfuls, Charlie Kaufman and Dan Harmon. They have turned to Kickstarter to fund a stop-action movie…
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Their Pen-Pal Adolf
Understanding how a nation can embrace anti-Semitic tyranny is a complex problem. “Letters to Hitler”, out in May from Polity Books, helps explain the matter. Historian Henrik Eberle, co-author of “The Hitler Book,” has selected from thousands of letters written by Germans of all ages from 1925 to 1945 from a collection found in Moscow’s…
The Latest
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Books Author Blog: Dating and Doctors
Earlier this week, Francesca Segal wrote about recasting a classic novel and about being asked the question “Who are your characters REALLY?” 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: It was several…
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Settler Love in Palestine
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to brush up on Israeli history before watching “Gei Oni,” the new Dan Wolman film based on Shulamit Lapid’s novel of the same name. Set in the late 19th century, the story takes place during the first wave of European immigration to Ottoman-ruled Palestine, when Jews fleeing pogroms in…
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Bieber Cover: ‘Rebbe, Rebbe, Rebbe, Oh!’
Among the 34,000 YouTube covers of Justin Bieber’s hit single “Baby” — including one by the original crooner himself, “Baby, baby, Haiti”, to show support for the Help Haiti Telethon — is a ridiculously adorable (and adorably ridiculous) cover called “Rabbi.” by a group called Shepsalach. Shepsalach, which means sheep in Yiddish, is a baby-faced…
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Anthony Hopkins To Play Methuselah in Noah Epic
Yes, but will he eat the animals? Actor Anthony Hopkins, whose signature roles include the face-chewing “Silence of the Lambs” cannibal Hannibal Lecter, has signed on to play Methuselah in “Noah,” an upcoming big-budget bible epic from brainy Jewish director Darren Aronofsky. As the Times of Israel noted this week, “Hopkins, 74, is 895 years…
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Orthodox Pop Star Giggles About the Internet
He may have got the world hooked on the latest web browser, but don’t go to Alex Clare for website recommendations. The hit British-Jewish recording artist and one-time boyfriend of Amy Winehouse provided the music for commercials for the latest Internet Explorer with his song Too Close. But asked about his taste in websites by…
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Music Man of the Future
You might not recognize Raymond Scott’s name, but chances are that you’ve heard his music — and that it makes you anxious. That’s because Scott’s “Powerhouse” (1937), easily his best known work, has been used to accompany scenes of mechanized peril in everything from the classic 1940s Warner Bros. cartoons to “The Ren & Stimpy…
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Books Author Blog: Who Are Your Characters REALLY?
On Monday, Francesca Segal wrote about recasting a classic novel. 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: It’s amazing how many North Londoners have taken me aside in a furtive, conspiratorial kind…
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What Jewish Socialists Have To Do With Madonna
What’s your socialist bubbe got to do with the Queen of Pop? That’s the question at the heart of “The Material World,” the new Dan Fishback musical headlining this summer’s HOT! Festival at New York City’s Dixon Place. The setting for the show is a dream-world 1920s Bronx boarding house where a family of Russian…
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