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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Speyer Hosts First Jewish Wedding in 70 Years
Many German citizens — at least the royal wedding watchers among them — will be caught up in the festivities this weekend of the marriage of two descendents of royal families. Georg Friedrich Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, and Sophie Johanna Maria, Princess of Isenburg (who are really just private German citizens since the country’s aristocracy…
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Friday Film: Even Mandy Moore Can’t Bring Life to British Sex Comedy
“Swinging With the Finkels,” a 2010 British comedy, opens August 26 in South Florida and Palm Springs. My guess is that the distributors had visions of West Palm Beach and Del Ray clubhouses emptying as busloads of Jewish senior citizens rushed to see the film. After all, outside of the local playground, how often do…
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Books Pro-Israel? Anti-Israel? No, Just Israel
Earlier this week, Darin Strauss wrote about wrestling with faith and about what we believe. His 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: Last week, the American Jewish Committee renounced a…
The Latest
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Spirit of Tent Protests in Two New Music Ventures
Crossposted from Haaretz Anger, frustration, and a desire to change set ways of thinking are not usually the driving force behind Israeli music. The social protest movement may eventually change that, but until now our musicians have not traditionally challenged authority. When a scream is released, it’s usually by punk or hip-hop bands. Nevertheless, frustration…
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‘Real Housewife’ Not an Anti-Semite, Says the ADL
She’s America’s most famous table flipper, but Teresa Giudice is not an anti-Semite. Both the Anti-Defamation League and the “Real Housewife of New Jersey” herself have weighed in on the matter, following a comment on the show’s most recent episode that seemed to suggest the stereotype of money-obsessed Jews. Though her husband’s facing bankruptcy and…
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Q&A: Siblings Evgenia and Jesse Peretz on ‘Our Idiot Brother’
“Our Idiot Brother,” out in theaters August 26, stars Paul Rudd as Ned, a lovable convict who is sent to jail for selling marijuana to a uniformed cop. Following his release he is booted off the farm by his hostile hippie girlfriend, and so he goes from sister to sister, innocently wreaking havoc. Rudd has…
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Film Premiere With Free Piano Lessons
Crossposted from Haaretz As Tel Avivians hurried home to beat the rush-hour traffic after another start to the workweek, dozens of passersby along the busy intersection between Carlebach and Ha’arbaa Streets were drawn to the plaza facing the Cinematheque, the site of a not-so-ordinary film preview. Seven pianos were scattered throughout the bustling Tel Aviv…
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Ikea Founder’s Nazi Ties Confirmed
You might want to sit down in your Skrurvska chair before reading this. A new book claims Ingvar Kamprad, the billionaire founder of cheap-furniture behemoth IKEA, “was a member of the Swedish Nazi party and was such a concern to secret service they opened a file on him,” reports the U.K. Telegraph. While the 83-year-old…
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Jewish Lesbian Poetry for a New Generation
When I received my copy of “Milk and Honey: A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry” (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2011), edited by poet Julie R. Enszer, I was surprised at how small the book was. Measuring only about six by four inches, it seems designed to fit easily into a purse, or perhaps not to…
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Out and About: New Director at The Jewish Museum; Hitler, Hitler Everywhere!
The Jewish Museum has chosen Claudia Gould, head of the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, as its new director. Speaking of Jewish museums, are there just too many of them? Hitler has become a symbol of popular subversion in China. Hitler has taken over television programming at the BBC. Which includes…
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Niche Closed: On the Passing of Samuel Menashe
The niche narrows Hones one thin Until his bones Disclose him So wrote poet and sage Samuel Menashe in one of his numerous works addressing death, Menashe’s first Muse and greatest obsession. As he often mentioned in conversation, he became a poet at the age of 19, having survived the notoriously dangerous World War II…
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