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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Amy Winehouse Blood Painting Up for Auction
An art piece made by the late singer Amy Winehouse — using her own blood — will be auctioned off at the Cob Gallery in London. The self-portrait, titled “Ladylike,” is part of a collection by Pete Doherty, called “On Blood,” which was on view at the gallery earlier this year. Doherty, known primarily as…
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Yiddish Theater Takes on Capitalism
Since 2005, the New Worlds Theatre Project has been presenting classic Yiddish drama in English translation. This season they’re presenting a new English translation of H. Leivick’s 1921 play “Shmates,” here called “Welcome to America,” a naturalistic drama about the corrosive effects of American capitalism on a traditional Jewish immigrant family. In the notes to…
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Out and About
Roman Polanski is set to direct “D,” a thriller about the Dreyfus Affair. Comic book legend Stan Lee is writing an Elvis comic. Listen to a recording from the legendary Yiddish poet, partisan and Shoah song collector Shmerke Kaczerginski. Take a look at the first book illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Walter Zev Feldman takes on…
The Latest
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Hairstylist Vidal Sassoon Dead at 84
Vidal Sassoon, the well-known British hairdresser credited with creating the 1960s “bob,” has died at the age of 84, the Los Angeles Times reports. Sassoon was born to Sephardic parents in London in 1928. After his father left the family when Sassoon was three years old, his mother, facing extreme poverty, made the difficult decision…
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Tango Takes Flight in ‘8cho’
In Brenda Angiels’ “8cho” (pronounced “ocho”), the audience is transported to a smoky tango nightclub. The musicians on guitar, piano and accordion provide a steamy, fast-paced rhythm, while Viviana Finkelstein, a petite, blond bombshell, catches the eye of two competing suitors. The romantic drama of the scene looks familiar, but this tango is anything but…
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Biden Makes Sign of the Cross, Rabbis Giggle
Former TV journalist and newly minted politician Yair Lapid’s address to the Rabbinical Assembly’s National Convention in Atlanta yesterday got a lot of attention. In his remarks, he emphasized that he would work for equality for all religious movements in Israel — something that made the Conservative rabbis in the audience smile. But another politician…
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Books Author Blog: Jewish Journeys
Earlier this week, Sami Rohr Prize Choice Award Winner Dr. Abigail Green wrote about the making of a good biography. 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: For the past 10 years…
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Dustin Hoffman and Mila Kunis Save Lives
Who needs the Avengers when we have real-life Jewish celebrities rushing to the rescue? First came news that on April 27, actor Dustin Hoffman, 74, saved the life of a London jogger who had gone into cardiac arrest. Hoffman, who owns a home in Kensington, was walking in Hyde Park when he saw lawyer Sam…
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Q&A: Drew Lovejoy on Irish Dancing
Drew Lovejoy proves that you don’t need to be Irish to excel at Irish dancing. Lovejoy, a 17-year-old American biracial Jew, recently won his third consecutive All Irish Dance Championship, the oldest competition in the Irish dance world. He was also the 2010 Irish dance world champion in his age group. Growing up the only…
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Etgar Keret Hates Manchester United
In a recent video interview, Israeli novelist Etgar Keret joked that he wouldn’t trust Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, despite his well known union background and anti-racism bona fides, to hide a Jew in his attic during another Holocaust. And he jested that Real Madrid’s star attacker Cristiano Ronaldo — who used to play…
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Travolta Sex Abuse Case Takes Anti-Semitic Turn
John Travolta is strongly denying allegations by an unnamed male plaintiff (“John Doe”) that he assaulted and sexually harassed him. The actor plans to countersue the plaintiff, a Los Angeles masseur who claims to have been hired by Travolta in January, and his lawyer Okorie Okorocha for malicious prosecution. Travolta’s representative has told the media…
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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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Music After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
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