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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Movement and Irony in Middle East Photography
Crossposted From Under the Fig Tree Ever since the late 19th century, much of what we know, or think we know, about the Middle East is derived from photography, whose images run the gamut from ancient ruins to latter-day landscapes scarred by conflict, from scenes of renewal and affirmation to those of despair and anguish….
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L.A. Times Takes On the Kabbalah Centre
Before the Kabbalah Centre had one material girl, it had another. Long before Madonna started wearing a red string bracelet and visiting Israel, there was Karen Berg, the avaricious wife of Rabbi Philip Berg, the Centre’s founding rabbi. In a series of articles, the Los Angeles Times is exposing the dark underside of what many…
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Monday Music: Rosi Golan’s Pitch-Perfect Bubblegum Pop
Rosi Golan has a very pretty voice. With seeming effortlessness the Israeli singer-songwriter pours out soulful pop ballads, hitting each note perfectly. Her second full-length album, “Lead Balloon,” features 12 songs that affirm her ability to deliver an entirely pleasant record. From “Paper Tiger,” a playful, upbeat number, to the album’s slightly more reserved title…
The Latest
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SNL Video: Andy Samberg Interviews Drake
This past Saturday night, SNL’s Andy Samberg scored an interview — or more like a series of interviews — with Drake, who was the musical guest for the show. It might have been a good conversation between a nice Jewish boy from Northern California and another from Toronto, but it wasn’t. How could it have…
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Gymnast Alexander Shatilov Is Israel’s Great Olympic Hope
Israeli gymnast Alexander Shatilov is on his way to the 2012 Olympic Games in London after winning the bronze medal for floor exercise at the Gymnastics World Championships in Tokyo on October 15. The 24-year-old Uzbekistan native, who immigrated to Israel in 2002, tied for third in the floor exercise with Diego Hypolito of Brazil,…
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The Arty Semite’s Fall Classical Concert Guide
From Sukkot to Hanukkah, this year-end’s Manhattan classical concerts featuring Yiddishkeit contain a remarkable range of music, old and new. “Glamour Girl,” a work by Lukas Ligeti, son of the Hungarian Jewish composer György Ligeti, will be heard on November 5 at Zankel Hall played by The Bang on a Can All-Stars. Ligeti lives in…
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Books Does Place Matter?
Last week, Rabbi Jill Jacobs wrote about Sukkot and social justice. Her most recent book, “Where Justice Dwells: A Hands-On Guide to Doing Social Justice in Your Jewish Community” is now available. Her posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog…
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Ida Fink: An Appreciation
Ida Fink — the Polish author who died last month in Tel Aviv at the age of 89 — was a master at infusing moments and gestures with the looming violence and death of the Holocaust. Her largely autobiographical fiction focused of the lives of Jews in small Polish towns before, during and after Nazi…
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Out and About: Marc Chagall in Canada; Dura Europos Uncovered
Marc Chagall and his contemporaries get a reappraisal at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Max Elstein Keisler thinks about Y-Love and Aramaic hip-hop. Ayelet Dekel talks to filmmaker Julia Loktev at the Haifa Film Festival. An exhibit at New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World brings to life the Jews, Christians…
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Tel Aviv Mayor Could Use a Lesson in Subtlety
Has Ron Huldai forgotten that he is the mayor of Tel Aviv and not Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? In condemning the defacement yesterday of the memorial to assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the square outside Tel Aviv’s city hall, Huldai proclaimed, “We should cut off the hands that allow themselves [sic] to harm what is…
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Looking for San Francisco ‘Mensch of the Month’
Friends Dana Hall and Elizabeth Shapiro are looking for 12 single Jewish men, one for each month of their forthcoming 2012 “Mensch of the Month” wall calendar. “Hunky blond firemen just don’t do anything for me,” the 26-year-old Hall told The Shmooze. Shapiro, also 26, feels the same way, so the two co-workers at the…
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