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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Q&A: Jon Favreau on Spielberg, ‘Iron Man’ and Being a Model Actor
Jon Favreau (right) with Daniel Craig on the set of ‘Cowboys and Aliens.’ Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Jon Favreau, director of the big summer tentpole film, “Cowboys and Aliens,” grew up in the Forest Hills section of New York, the son of a Jewish mother and an Italian/French Canadian father. He got his first…
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Out and About: Rembrandt’s Jesus; New Amy Winehouse Album?
Harold Bloom explains why Jonah is his favorite book of the Bible. A new exhibit in Philadelphia brings to light Rembrandt’s Jewish Jesus. A posthumous Amy Winehouse album is in the works. Officials at the Israeli embassy in Athens were dispatched to see a Roger Waters show and to look for anti-Semitic content. Woody Allen…
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This Week in Forward Arts and Culture
In our Summer movie special, John Semley casts a critical but approving eye on the re-imagined exploits of Captain America; Jenny Hendrix has some harsh words for “Sarah’s Key,” a film about France’s 1942 Vel’ d’Hiv roundup; Myra Mniewski relishes the life’s work of the most accomplished translator of Russian literature into German; Elizabeth Stone…
The Latest
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The Arty Semite Guide to the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Week Two
Last week, we provided a guide to the first week of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, based on our previous film coverage on The Arty Semite and in the Arts & Culture section of the Forward. Running until August 8, the Festival has plenty of great programming in its second half as well, much…
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How to Lose Yourself in Jewish Lithuania
The Summer Literary Seminars are about “getting lost in a findable context,” said the program’s founder and director, Mikhail Iossel, somewhat oxymoronically. “It’s about losing yourself on a journey with others with a shared interest in literature and creative writing,” he went on to explain about the seminars that have been taking place since 1998…
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Friday Film: There’s No Therapy Like Dolphin Therapy
Crossposted from Midnight East An adventure of the heart, mind and sea, “Dolphin Boy,” screening August 1 to 15 at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, dives into the blue mystery of the ocean and its redemptive powers with all the suspense of a thriller. Written and directed by Dani Menkin and Yonatan Nir, the film tells…
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AIDS Epidemic as Echo of the Holocaust
Until two of them passed away of complications from AIDS in 1994, the art collective known as General Idea produced an enormous body of intellectually engaging, provocative, and savagely witty work, much of which explored notions of identity and social control. On July 30, the trio will get its first comprehensive retrospective at the Art…
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In Song: Masei
James Tissot, ‘The Ark Passes Over the Jordan,’ 1896-1902. Each week The Arty Semite connects the Torah reading — however tenuously — with a classic work of rock and roll. This week’s parsha, Masei, traces the route of Israel’s travels through the desert over 40 years. The tribal princes responsible for parceling out the land…
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Interfaith Environmental Forum Connects Jews, Christians, Muslims
There was a rare show of unity between Jews, Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem this week, as leaders of the three faiths came together to promote a cause that affects them all — the environment. They spoke at the Interfaith Environmental Forum in Jerusalem, asserting the imperative in their religions to halt environmental damage and…
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Lebanese Belly Dancer Can’t Go Home Again
Lebanese-French belly dancer Johanna Fakhry has gyrated herself into some big trouble with her homeland. She has been barred from returning to Lebanaon following an appearance last month at Hellfest, an outdoor music festival in France, with the Israeli metal band Orphaned Land. The Jerusalem Post reports that it was Fakhry’s idea to dance onstage…
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Thousands Attend Funeral of Murdered Rabbi
Rabbi Elazar Abuchatzeira was laid to rest on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, following his stabbing murder by a visitor to the Yeshiva in Beer Sheva where the rabbi was greeting guests just after midnight Friday morning. Thousands attended the funeral procession of the revered Kabbalist, which began in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Meah…
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