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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Where Is the Jewish Lichtenstein?
“Jews and comic books” is a topic that has received extensive treatment in the last 15 years. But what of the Jewish visual artists whose paintings are inspired by comic books? What of Roy Lichtenstein? Jewish studies scholars can look forward to the day when a dissertation is written about Lichtenstein as a Jewish artist,…
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Video: Lena Dunham on ‘Tiny, Neurotic Jews’
Shoshanna might be a new kind of Jewish American Princess, but in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg, “Girls” creator Lena Dunham revealed that she originally conceived of Marnie (played by Allison Williams) as another sort of Jewish stereotype: “A neurotic, stressed-out, like, tiny, high-achieving Jew.” Judd Apatow, she said, coached her toward…
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Haredi Urban Legends to Scare Kids Straight
Crossposted from Chakira At a time when American Haredi controversies are blossoming, from stadium-filling Internet protests to molestation charges, there are apparently still offenses lurid enough to shock. One such transgression, perpetrated by a Bnos Yaakov Elementary School, was reported by the community blog The Lakewood View. If you were following the Internet protests, you…
The Latest
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Books From Grandfather to Father to Son
Joshua Henkin is the author of “The World Without You,” “Matrimony,” and “Swimming Across the Hudson.” Earlier this week he explored the question, “Are you a Jewish writer?” 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…
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Tzipi Livni Takes Off-Road Jeep Challenge
Tzipi Livni figures that if she can’t be queen of the Knesset, then maybe she can be queen of the desert. In a bold and rather unexpected move, the former Kadima leader and member of Knesset has joined the Desert Queens off-road competition for Israeli women. According to a report in The Times of Israel,…
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Yes, Bar Refaeli Read ‘50 Shades of Grey’
Swimsuit model and “Maxim” hottie Bar Refaeli, like everyone from the Orthodox to Bethenny Frankel, has devoured — and enjoyed — “50 Shades of Grey.” When Kim Kardashian posted a photo of the title book in E.J. James’s trilogy on Twitter, Refaeli fired back her approval: “I’m already in the second one. I think that…
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Klezmer Musician Awarded Highest Folk Honor
The National Endowment for the Arts announced today that klezmer clarinetist Andy Statman is among the recipients of its 2012 National Heritage Fellowships. The Brooklyn-based musician will be awarded the nation’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts during a ceremony in the fall. Reached at his home in Midwood, the 61-year-old bluegrass and klezmer…
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Anastasia Michaeli Falls for Prank Call
By now word has spread that Yisrael Beiteinu MK Anastasia Michaeli has insulted is the gay community. As the Shmooze reported last week, Michaeli — who was already notorious for throwing water on an Arab MK — was recorded saying that homosexuality results from childhood abuse, and that gays “are miserable” and “in the end…
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Books What Archivists Are Worth
Crossposted From Under the Fig Tree Like the making of history, the writing of history is a collaborative venture. It may look as if ideas are entirely the product of the individual imagination but, as any honest, straight-talking historian will tell you, they are the result of a group effort. The writer-cum-historian gets all the…
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Woody Allen Gets Snubbed for Father’s Day
Mia Farrow and Woody Allen’s son Ronan Farrow had quite the Father’s Day dig for his estranged dad this year. On Sunday, Farrow posted his greetings on Twitter: “Happy father’s day – or as they call it my family, happy brother-in-law’s day.” Apparently, Woody’s scandalous marriage to his adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, for whom he…
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Shia LaBeouf Bares All in Music Video
Dancing to a slow electronic beat, Jewish actor and former Disney channel star Shia LaBeouf spends his latest film venture alternating between tighty-whities, ladies’ stockings, and his good ol’ birthday suit. Sigur Ros’s latest Icelandic pop ballad “Fiogur Piano” features the scantily clad LaBeouf, replete with pony-tail and beard, alongside ultra-blonde (ultra-shiksa) co-star Denna Thomsen….
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Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
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News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
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Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
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Music After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward A Jewish nonprofit may have accidentally caused Michigan to drop charges against pro-Palestinian activists
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Culture For Christian nationalists, Trump’s pope picture isn’t a joke
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Opinion Is Israel really going to reoccupy Gaza? Ask Trump
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Yiddish World A photo of my bubbe when Jewish stores still had Yiddish signs
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