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
-
Glenn Beck Wraps Up Visit With Rally Near the Western Wall
It featured a shofar and showtunes, and unfolded without incident. Glenn Beck wrapped up his much-debated trip to Israel today with a rally near the Western Wall, where the former Fox News star entered to the blast of the shofar in what at times resembled a religious ceremony. “This is the throne of the Lord,”…
-
Journal Gives New Impetus to Burgeoning LA Performance Art Scene
Above all else, Los Angeles is a performer’s town. In addition to film, television, reality and theater stars, America’s second largest city now boasts a growing number of performance artists. Whether in galleries, nightclubs, street corners or living rooms, LA-based performance artists have been creating a stir in the City of Angels. Now this decidedly…
-
Woody Allen Headed To Munich?
Holocaust obsessive Woody Allen could be making his next movie in Germany. The Hollywood Reporter says the filmmaker, currently shooting “The Bop Decameron” in Rome, is in talks to make Munich the scene of his next film. Still enjoying the success of “Midnight in Paris” — the highest-grossing movie in his six-decade career — Allen…
The Latest
-
Tony Blair’s Sister-in-Law is a Pro-Palestinian Activist
You know that one really embarrassing relative you wish you didn’t have? Well, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has one of those, too. Her name is Lauren Booth, and she is a pro-Palestinian activist and journalist working for Iran’s English language TV channel. And she happens to be Blair’s sister-in-law (Booth is Blair’s wife…
-
Books What We Believe
On Monday, Darin Strauss wrote about wrestling with faith. 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: I’ve done an informal poll — I admit, it’s very informal — among Jews…
-
If Not Illegal Drugs, Then What Killed Amy Winehouse?
While some are still trying to determine whether Amy Winehouse was a nice Jewish girl or not, others are continuing to engage in ongoing speculation as to the cause of the late singer’s death in July. Rather than putting minds at ease, Winehouse’s family’s announcement yesterday that tests showed that there were no illegal substances…
-
Rick Perry’s Mezuzah
First there was the Sarah Palin sheitel. Now there’s the Rick Perry mezuzah. Los Angeles-based MezuzahStore.com has created a large stone mezuzah in honor of the Texas governor, a tribute that follows Perry’s June signing of a law that explicitly protects the right of state residents to post religious objects outside their doors. The law…
-
Magic and Wonder at the International Festival of Puppet Theater
Patricia O’Donovan in ‘A Touch of Light.’ Photo by Ayelet Dekel. Crossposted from Midnight East Puppetry is one of the most radical forms of theater I have seen in Israel in recent years. Without fanfare, often working with the simplest materials, puppet artists vanquish the assumptions of popular theater and of “what works.” They create…
-
Jazz Lovers Flock to Eilat Undeterred by Fears of Terror
Crossposted from Haaretz A line of cars snaked into Eilat Monday afternoon and all flights to the city were fully booked — despite fears of poor attendance at a jazz festival there, following recent terror attacks in the south. The producers of the Red Sea Jazz Festival, now under way in the southern city, were…
-
Student Expelled For Abuse of Israeli Flag
Of all the ways in which people express their contempt for Israel, this is a new one: putting pubic hair on an Israeli flag. A student at St. Andrews University in Scotland has been expelled for doing just that, during a drunken incident in the room of a Jewish student. Paul Donnachie, a 19-year-old student…
-
Robert Badinter and Symbols of the Victory of Justice
French government officials are rarely known for their sense of poetic justice, but the French Jewish statesman Robert Badinter, born in 1928, is an exception to the rule. Former Minister of Justice in François Mitterrand’s government, Badinter published a Mitterrand-related memoir with Les éditions Fayard in March, with the wry title “Thorns and Roses” (Les…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Culture Is Pope Leo Jewish? Ask his distant cousins — like me
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward As rivals talk antisemitism, this NYC mayoral candidate pitches a bread and butter appeal to Orthodox voters
-
Opinion The staggering hypocrisy behind Trump’s deal to free the last living American hostage
-
Fast Forward Russell Brand defends Ye’s ‘Heil Hitler’ music video
-
Opinion Though sworn enemies, Hamas and Donald Trump seem to share a common language
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
