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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Putting Contemporary Yiddish Writers on Film
A version of this post originally appeared in the Forverts Boris Sandler is best known as Editor-in-Chief of the Forverts, where he is my editor and boss. Less known is his role as an indefatigable cultural activist, who is involved in many other undertakings. One of his current projects is an effort to preserve 10…
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No ‘Solitary Man’: Neil Diamond Ties the Knot
She’s no “Sweet Caroline,” but 42-year-old Katie McNeil has become the third Mrs. Neil Diamond after a weekend wedding in Los Angeles, Reuters reports. She’s also Diamond’s manager. Diamond, 71, confirmed the marriage in a tweet yesterday: “Katie and I got married last night, we wish you all could’ve been there. It was magical!” He…
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Monday Music: Virtuoso Violinist Joshua Bell
Joshua Bell, the mop-topped musician who plays the $4 million “Jewish” Stradivarius previously owned by Israeli Philharmonic founder Bronislaw Huberman, is perhaps the world’s most recognized violinist. His playing to a naked Greta Scacchi in the movie “Red Violin” garnered the film an Oscar for best score. His violin solos have also been featured in…
The Latest
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Ricky Gervais Stands By His Anne Frank Joke
L’affaire Gervais continues to snowball. And despite an open letter from comedian Ricky Gervais in London’s Jewish Chronicle this weekend, the controversy over his Holocaust jokes keeps intensifying. Some backstory: As the Forward reported last week, Gervais went off about the Holocaust and Anne Frank on an early-April episode of the Jon Stewart Show. Among…
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Books Author Blog: Seeking Fact, Finding the Unknowable
Debra Spark’s newest book, “The Pretty Girl,” is now available. 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: In literature, as in life, you may go looking for one thing, only to find…
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Two Poets Win Yehuda Amichai Prize
Crossposted from Haaretz Haviva Pedaya and Mois Ben Harash are the recipients of this year’s Yehuda Amichai Prize for Hebrew Poetry, the award’s panel announced, with the NIS 30,000 purse to be granted at a Jerusalem ceremony next month. The Yehuda Amichai Prize for Hebrew poetry is granted by the City of Jerusalem and the…
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Out and About
HEEB talks to the world’s most prolific “Downfall” parodist. Darren Aronofsky may direct a George Washington biopic. Yiddish theater comes to Johns Hopkins University. A Haifa street-art collective goes to London. The Israeli film “The Policeman” won the prize for Best Film at the Buenos Aires film festival. Shulem Deen writes for Salon about how…
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Q&A: Linda Lavin on ‘The Lyons’
For most people, Linda Lavin will always be Alice from the TV show of the same name: a widowed, would-be singer who found a home and family at Mel’s Diner. But she’s more than a one-hit wonder — even if that hit ran for nine seasons. Lavin is also an accomplished jazz singer who performs…
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A Jewish Philosopher’s Love, Loss and Solace
The German Jewish philosopher Ernst Bloch (1885–1977), not to be confused with the Swiss Jewish composer Ernest Bloch, is still remembered for such landmark books as “The Spirit of Utopia,” “The Principle of Hope,” and “The Utopian Function of Art and Literature: Selected Essays.” As a philosopher, Bloch was influenced by Karl Marx and G….
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Books Author Blog: Primordial Slush
Earlier this week, Ramona Ausubel wrote about what she is, a mother, and what she isn’t, an actress. 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: Several years ago at a writing conference,…
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Lawrence Kasdan on ‘Darling Companion’
Screenwriter and director Lawrence Kasdan has been nominated for four Academy Awards and has written some of the highest-grossing films in Hollywood history, including “The Bodyguard,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.” But Kasdan is best known to some for “The Big Chill” and “Grand Canyon,” the…
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