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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Books
Today I Am Woman
Shulamit Reinharz and Barbara Vinick are the editors of the recently published “Today I Am a Woman: Stories of Bat Mitzvah around the World.” Their 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,…
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MK Throws Glass of Water in Anger
She sure knows how to make a splash at the Knesset. Right-wing legislator Anastasia Michaeli got into a heated war of words with fellow MK Raleb Majadele today, then cooled off the situation by throwing a glass of water in his face. The one-way water fight, which took place during a meeting of the Knesset’s…
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Israel Song Festival To Be Revived
Crossposted from Haaretz After a more than 30-year hiatus, the Israel Song Festival will be revived this year, according to a senior Israel Broadcasting Authority source. The festival, held almost every year from 1960 to 1980, initially offered winners a cash reward. But in 1978, the top finisher was designated as Israel’s representative in the…
The Latest
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Monday Music: Chana Rothman’s Pop and Politics
Photo by Elise Warshavsky Not every singer-songwriter can sing lyrics like, “You got a big heart, sweet like a Pop-Tart, bigger than Walmart” and hope to be taken seriously. But Chana Rothman can, and she does so on the bouncy first track of her new album, “Beautiful Land.” That track, somewhat reminiscent of Kimya Dawson…
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Out and About
Meet Julius Schmidt, America’s first condom tycoon. The Jewish Star profiles Footsteps, an organization that helps people leaving the ultra-Orthodox community. Joseph Herscher is the Rube Goldberg of Brooklyn. Read “The Hobbit,” in Hebrew. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s exhibit from the collection of Leo and Gertrude Stein is [coming to New York]…
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Oy Gevolt, It’s Tshiribim!
We’ve covered the Yiddish metal band Gevolt before, after their first album, “Sidur,” in 2007 here and here. And, even, since their new album “Alefbase” came out in 2011, as part of the — no-joking — Yiddish metal scene here and here. But the new video for the track “Tshiribim Tshiribom” is great. I think…
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The Background Man
The best writers of children’s books appeal to readers of all ages. Sometimes this appeal comes from the same sources, sometimes from different aspects of the book. At their best, both Ezra Jack Keats (born Jacob Katz) and the show in his honor at the Jewish Museum, do both. Children will gravitate towards his narratives,…
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Demi Moore To Play Gloria Steinem
The Shmooze can totally see Demi Moore as feminist Gloria Steinem. We may not be casting directors, but we can certainly see the resemblance in terms of hairstyle and bone structure. Indeed, the soon-to-be ex-Mrs. Ashton Kutcher is set to play Steinem in an upcoming Linda Lovelace biopic, which will star Amanda Seyfried as the…
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A Letter from Dad…on Hitler’s Stationery
Many of us have saved old letters and cards that were sent to us by family members and close friends when we were children. Some of us even have scrapbooks filled with old “Welcome Baby” notes and birthday cards that our parents compiled as keepsakes. But only Dennis Helms has such a greeting written on…
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Friday Film: Vindicating the West Memphis Three
On January 12, HBO will broadcast “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory.” For filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, this marks the end of an 18-year, three-movie odyssey that resulted in the freeing from prison of three apparently innocent young men. In June 1993, high school students Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley — known as…
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Great Hope of Israeli Cinema
Crossposted from Haaretz More than once in the past few years, film director Tom Shoval has heard himself called “one of the great hopes of Israeli cinema.” Now, he says, “I’m not so comfortable with that description.” Gearing up to start shooting his first feature-length film at the end of February, he feels the load…
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