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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Laughter and Horror at Dickens’s Bicentenary
Dickens 2012, the official UK website celebrating English novelist Charles Dickens on the bicentenary year of his birth, is mostly silent on the author’s anti-Semitism, most famously expressed in the notorious characters of Fagin in “Oliver Twist.” A Jewish villain, albeit a comic one, Fagin is still highly offensive to many, as PBS discovered in…
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Teens Not Interested in Bibi’s Outreach Video
In a move to reach Israeli youth, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video of himself inviting young people ages 13-18 to propose new ideas and legislative proposals to a special meeting of the Israeli government. But unfortunately for Bibi, it looks like the kids just aren’t that into him or his government. We’re definitely…
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Marla Sokoloff Blogs About Breastfeeding
Marla Sokoloff’s fans know her from roles over the years on shows like Full House, Party of Five, The Practice and Desperate Housewives. Now she has a new role—that of mother. And Sokoloff is sharing with her adoring public aspects of her private life on a celebrity baby blog she is writing for People magazine….
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A Nose Job Too Far for The Groggers?
Anyone who has been following The Groggers’ rise to Jewish pop-punk stardom knows that the band likes to push the envelope. But they may have pushed it too far with their latest video, “Jewcan Sam: A Nose Job Love Song.” Dr. Michael Salzhauer, a 40-year-old Miami plastic surgeon is under investigation by the American Society…
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Bibi and the Tasty Nuclear Duck
Benjamin Netanyahu’s now-famous duck comment has caused a great deal of amusement at his expense, most famously from this animated remix. Now, the venerated British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, has set its best comic writers on Bibi. “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then what is it?…
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Photo Op: Chelsea Clinton Combats Islamophobia
A year and a half after her wedding to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, Chelsea Clinton is keeping busy. In addition to her work for the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative, she’s also serving as a correspondent for NBC and pursuing her doctoral degree in public service. And last night, Clinton headed to New…
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Choreographing Chaos
Crossposted from Haaretz The colors of twilight were descending on Tel Aviv last week as Rotem Tashach opened the door and apologized for the mess in his apartment, which he was soon moving out of. The living room and balcony were jam-packed; a visitor’s eye was drawn to a large canvas resting in the corner,…
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Books Author Blog: Saying New Things About Old Episodes
Earlier this week, Dr. Jonathan Sarna wrote about writing his most recent book, “When General Grant Expelled the Jews,” in Jerusalem. His blog posts are being featured this week 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: When…
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Out and About
David Cronenberg is working on a TV show called “Knifeman,” about a self-taught 18th-century surgeon. Moment magazine interviews comedian and podcast sensation Marc Maron. Did Woody Allen think up “Midnight in Paris” 50 years ago? The Nerdist talks to animation legend Ralph Bakshi. “Flatscreen” author Adam Wilson has won the Paris Review’s Terry Southern Prize…
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Scarlett Johansson Dishes on Photo Scandal
Actress Scarlett Johansson says she felt “absolutely violated” by the hacking of her personal email account and the publishing of nude photos she had taken of herself last year. Speaking out for the first time about the incident, Johansson, 27, recently told Stylist magazine, “It was really terrible; I felt absolutely violated. I wasn’t really…
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Lustiger Counts Prostitute as ‘Righteous’
In dire times, some people are given the opportunity to display what is best in human nature. Such is the message of a new book by Arno Lustiger, author of “Stalin and the Jews” and many other historical works including “Rescue-Resistance: Europe’s Rescuers of Jews in the Nazi Era” which was published by Wallstein Verlag…
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