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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DreamWorks CEO To Host Obama Fundraiser
The big event for Democrats in Hollywood is yet to come. Word is that Jeffrey Katzenberg is set to host a major fundraiser for President Barack Obama at his Beverly Hills estate this spring. It will be timed to be relatively close to the Democratic nominating convention, and will be meant to give the President…
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Monday Music: Diaspora Hip-Hop
Hip-hop has always been Diaspora music, or at least since the Jamaican-born Kool Herc started looping James Brown records in the early 1970s. Later on, people like the late Japanese producer Nujabes made the culture truly global. Shi 360, an Israeli raised in Canada by Maghrebi Jewish parents, who plays Afro-American music with roots in…
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Books On Carrots and Fishes and Jewish Souls
Eric Weiner’s new book, “Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine,” is now available. 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: I spent several years traveling the world,…
The Latest
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Out and About
Roseanne Barr is running for president as a Green Party candidate. Shalom Auslander is apparently not the easiest interview of all time. Jason Diamond notes the return of Ivy League style at fashion week. The work of Viennese Jewish playwright Arthur Schnitzler has returned to the New York stage. G-dcast is starting an arts residency…
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Israeli-Arab Actor Under Fire, Again
Mohammad Bakri is an extraordinary actor and filmmaker. He is also a Palestinian citizen of the state of Israel, which gives rise to complex issues of identity. Bakri is currently appearing in a production of Federico Garcia Lorca’s “The House of Bernarda Alba” at the Tzavta theater in Tel Aviv. In an article in Ha’aretz,…
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‘Jewish Husbands Don’t Kill Their Wives’
“Jewish husbands don’t kill their wives. They buy them jewelry.” That’s one way Houston socialite Yvonne Stern is defending her betrothed, a Maserati-driving personal-injury attorney named Jeffrey Stern — the man accused of hiring paid assassins to get rid of her. To the shock of her friends, neighbors and Houstonians who’ve been following the case,…
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Jewish Paper Stands Up to Anti-Gay Bullies
The Jewish Press, a Brooklyn-based weekly tabloid with a strong religious focus, is standing its ground after its advertisers were “threatened” by unnamed groups who objected to a recent op-ed by a gay ex-Hasid. That story, by a young man named Chaim Levin, revealed “bullying, silencing, and torment for being gay in the frum community”,…
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Ex-Haredim Sue Israel for ‘Financial Damage’
There is a remarkable twist in the ongoing battle about Haredi education. The majority of boys’ schools serving Ashkenazic Haredim do not teach the ministry’s required “core curriculum,” causing fury among secular politicians and educationalists. The Haredim say it’s their right in a multicultural society to decide to give their children a narrow religious education…
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Books The Red Devil
Earlier this week, Matthew Shaer wrote about the genesis of his book, “Among Righteous Men,” and divisions within the Crown Heights community. His blog posts have been 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:…
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Friday Film: Perils of Youth
What started out as a second year film project at Tel Aviv University turned into a screening at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. “Barbie Blues,” one of four Israeli films at Sundance, was included in the festival’s new Short Films Program this year. First time filmmaker, Adi Kutner, 25, produced the…
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Cactus Wars: Mascot Dispute Gets Prickly
They’re big, funny and cute. But two popular Israeli mascots are going to be facing off in court. Kishkashta is a jolly singing cactus seen on Israeli Educational Television. You can sneak a look at him here, on YouTube. Now, take a peek at the Israel Olympic Committee’s mascot, Shpitzik, here. There’s a similarity between…
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