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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Hank Williams Jr. Dumped Over Obama Comment
Be careful with those Hitler analogies, America. Hank Williams, Jr., the guy who performs the “Monday Night Football” theme song, saw the anthem dropped by ESPN last night after he compared President Obama to the Nazi dictator on Fox News. In an interview on “Fox and Friends,” Williams remarked that the recent “golf summit” between…
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Books David Rakoff Wins Thurber Humor Prize
“It’s nice enough to be able to make a living as a writer, so awards are absolutely gravy,” David Rakoff told The Arty Semite after winning the 2011 Thurber Prize for American Humor on October 3 for his third collection of essays, “Half Empty.” “It’s lovely,” he said in a phone conversation this morning. “But…
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Could Paul Simon Be Your Professor?
Courtesy of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Paul Simon is best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist — not a college professor and academic. But Simon, who was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on October 1, had a brief stint in academia, teaching a songwriting class at New…
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London Installs ‘Sabbath Mode’ Walk Signal
London is getting a “hands free” crosswalk so that observant Jews don’t have to risk their lives on the Sabbath. Until now, pedestrians need to press a button on London crosswalks and wait for a “green man” to light up to signal they should cross. But for years, this has caused a problem for congregants…
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‘Jihad’ Banner Unveiled at Polish Soccer Match
In the latest news about the anti-Semitic behavior of European football fans, supporters of Poland’s Legia team unfurled a huge “Jihad” banner during a recent Warsaw game against Hapoel Tel Aviv. The banner was green, and “Jihad Legia” was written across it in white Arabic-style font. Green is one of Legia’s team colors, but it…
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The Lions of Zion, Chapter 11
What would have happened had there been a Jewish team in the Major Leagues? In an original novel serialized on The Arty Semite, Ross Ufberg imagines the trials and triumphs of The Lions of Zion, an all-Jewish team competing in the National League in 1933. Read the first 10 chapters here. Clear the Benches It…
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Setting Yehuda Amichai to Music
Crossposted from Haaretz Israel Bright is an excellent composer of music for songs based on poetry, as everyone who has listened to his wonderful 2004 recording, “Otsar Samui” (“Hidden Treasure”), will know. But despite the preceding statement, and despite the fact that Bright took obvious and joyous liberties with the earlier recording (a poem by…
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Monday Music: Opera in the Steampunk Age
Ben Z. Mund Photography Over the last few years a number of bands, ranging from Brooklyn-based punk rock outfit Golem to indie stalwart Beirut, have found inspiration in the diverse sounds of Eastern European music. Just as 19-century Romani lăutari musicians mixed peasant songs with ceremonial Byzantine church songs, Turkish folk songs and klezmer, these…
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John Galliano’s Old Haunt Draws Hip Crowd
John Galliano is no longer at Christian Dior, nor does he go any more to the La Perle café-bar in the Marais district of Paris. That was the setting for the drunken anti-Semitic tirades that got him into trouble not only with his former employer, but also with the law. But the fact that those…
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When Sukkahs Meet Resistance
Crossposted From Under the Fig Tree What a difference a year makes. Last autumn, New York City was all agog at the prospect of “Sukkah City” taking root in Union Square Park. Eleven different designs of an outdoor hut, the fruits of an international design competition, were scattered around the perimeter of the park, drawing…
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Ralph Steinman Wins Posthumous Nobel
As a result of some unusual timing, the Nobel Prize for Medicine has been awarded posthumously to scientist Ralph M. Steinman. Steinman, a Canadian-born researcher who worked at Rockefeller University, died of pancreatic cancer on September 30, but word of his passing did not reach the Nobel Committee in Sweden before it announced the award…
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