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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‘Homeland,’ ‘Midnight in Paris’ Win Golden Globes
Television drama “Homeland” — based on the Israeli series “Hatufim,” by Gideon Raff — took home the Golden Globe award January 15 for Best Television Series. The show stars Claire Danes as CIA officer Carrie Mathison, as well as Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson, Mathison’s CIA mentor. In an interview in October with The Arty…
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Out and About
David Mamet is looking for a Hebrew teacher. Leonard Cohen talks about romance, poetry, suicide, music, Sergio Leone and cigarettes in a 1988 BBC interview. On Conan O’Brien, David Cross called a producer of “Alvin and the Chipmunks” “the personification of what people think about when they think negatively about Jews.” Andrea Strongwater paints the…
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Mel Gibson Rant Victim Gets Day in Court
The sheriff’s deputy who arrested actor Mel Gibson and was the subject of his anti-Semitic rant should be able to take his workplace discrimination case before a jury, a Los Angeles judge ruled. James Mee, who is Jewish, says he was subject to religions discrimination and a hostile work environment after arresting Gibson in 2006….
The Latest
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Gilad Shalit Joins Facebook
Gilad Shalit, the IDF soldier who was released from captivity in October after five and a half years, has recently opened a Facebook page. Shalit still has a limited amount of friends, some of them his family members. Shalit also humorously joined the group calling for his release – though obviously it is no longer…
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Books Q&A: Oliver Stone on Israel, Palestine and Newt Gingrich
Filmmaker Oliver Stone has been keeping busy. In research for his forthcoming Showtime documentary series, “The Untold History of the United States,” which re-examines crucial events in American history, Stone conducted a seven hour interview with Tariq Ali, the Pakistani-born activist and intellectual who inspired the Rolling Stones song “Street Fighting Man.” That dialog formed…
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Musical Politics in Old San Francisco
Classical music lovers have long marveled at the richness of talent which emerged from the San Francisco area, from soloists Isaac Stern and Leon Fleisher to the Menuhin family. A well-researched new study out from University of California Press in October, “Music and Politics in San Francisco: From the 1906 Quake to the Second World…
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Friday Film: End of Days for French Bachelorhood
Even Chekhov thought he was writing comedies, but the bracing first feature by writer and director Katia Lewkowicz, “Bachelor Days Are Over,” billed as a comedy in the current New York Jewish Film Festival, would serve audience expectations better if it had been given an English title closer to its original French one: “Pourquoi tu…
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Lawyer: Czech Expert Biased Because He’s Jewish
A Jewish judicial expert on extremism in the Czech Republic has quit his job after having been accused of being biased because of his Jewish background. According to Radio Prague, Michal Mazel’s resignation followed the filing of an objection by lawyer Petr Kočí on behalf of his client, a member of the extremist Workers’ Party…
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Books Destination Bat Mitzvahs
Earlier this week, Shulamit Reinharz and Barbara Vinick wrote about the history of the bat mizvah and Barbara Vinick shared her own story. Today, Shulamit Reinharz writes about meaningful celebrations away from home. Their blog posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s…
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Friday Film: Orthodox, More or Less
“Unorthodox,” a documentary film by Anna Wexler and Nadja Oertelt, is named both for its subjects — questioning and rebellious Orthodox youth — and for its own production process. The film follows three Orthodox teenagers as they become more religious during their “gap years” in Israeli yeshivot, but their stories are filtered through Wexler’s own…
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Laurie Patton’s Poetry and Hermeneutics
Across the centuries, Jewish hermeneutists — interpreters of the holy texts — have had radically different agendas: illuminating and whitewashing, edifying and indoctrinating. A poetic impulse, if not outright poetry, was occasionally part of the picture, too. And how could it not? Dealing with poetic texts of our national and religious mythos, imaginative responses only…
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