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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Out and About: The Trouble With the Man Booker Prize; A Klimt-Inspired Barbie
Philip Roth received his Man Booker International Prize June 29 in absentia. Meanwhile, the prize committee is a mess. Robin Cembalest writes about the Klimt-inspired Barbie doll. Is Jean-Luc Godard’s new movie, “Film Socialisme,” anti-Semitic? Menachem Wecker, who has a piece in this week’s Forward about a musical celebration of Bulgarian heroism during the Holocaust,…
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If You Will It, It Is No Show
Crossposted from Haaretz Before the premiere of the show “December” last week, Herzliya Ensemble actor Nimrod Bergman read out to the meager audience a letter of support and farewell to Ofira Henig, the theater’s artistic director who has been fired. The letter expressed the feelings of the team of actors and artists who stood next to him…
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Long Lost Jewish Film To Play in Jerusalem
The discovery and restoration of the long-forgotten film “Breaking Home Ties” is the latest revelatory moment in classic American Jewish cinema. The Boston-based National Center for Jewish Film (NCJF) reported this week that the 1922 silent film will be available for screening for general audiences. The only surviving print of “Breaking Home Ties” was discovered…
The Latest
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Pay To Enter: Concentration Camp Memorial Imposes Fee
It’s hardly as bad as a proposed mall across the street from Auschwitz, but some are still upset about the new fee being charged at Sachsenhausen, the former concentration camp near Berlin. Earlier this month, officials at the camp began charging one euro for each member of organized tours of the site, where more than…
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Whatever You Think About ‘Go the F**k to Sleep,’ Leave the Jews Out of It
No one is going to get any shut-eye if people don’t give the controversy over Adam Mansbach’s “Go the F**k to Sleep” a rest. But hey, what could be more fun than staying up all night, debating the merits of a brilliant profanity-laced picture book whose popularity is exceeding its author’s wildest dreams? Now —…
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Historian Marc Bloch and Family: Still Fighting the Good Fight
On March 3, to commemorate the centenary of the first publication by French Jewish historian Marc Bloch, CNRS editions reprinted Bloch’s “Historical Miscellanies” (Mélanges historiques). Carole Fink’s 1991 “Marc Bloch: A Life in History” from Cambridge University Press explains how Lyons-born Marc Bloch was an admirably lucid, groundbreaking historian, as well as heroic man of…
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Four-Legged Chicken: Kosher or Not?
Turkey? Kosher. Pig? Not kosher. Four-legged chicken? We’ll get back to you. That’s the discussion currently under way at a Jerusalem butchery, where experts in kashrut are gathering to decide the fate of a four-legged bird slated to make a nice schnitzel or roast. The chicken, raised in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim, may…
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Books Cooking and Self-Improvement
Earlier this week, Efrat Libfroind wrote about being a mother and a full-time pastry chef and being the only kosher cooking student in class. Her new cookbook, “Kosher Elegance: The Art of Cooking With Style” is now available. Her blog posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book…
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Burlesque With a Side of Bacon
The Schlep Sisters showcase their bagel and cream cheese headdresses. Photo by Norman Blake. Bacon tassels were a-twirling on June 24, just in time for Shabbat. In a jaw-dropping production at the non-profit Sideshows by the Seashore theater, mere steps from the Coney Island boardwalk, the fabulous Schlep Sisters celebrated bad Jewish girls and their…
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An Expensive Option for Israelis Looking for Love
Israel’s Channel 2 News reported yesterday that it’s not just the price of cottage cheese that is high in Israel. Many Israelis are boycotting and going without their favorite dairy food, but going without a spouse is another matter. Desperate single men and women are shelling out the big bucks — or, rather, Shekels. These…
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The Pope’s Very First Tweet
Coming soon to hashtags everywhere: Pope Benedict XVI has taken a new role within the Catholic Church. The pontiff’s jurisdiction now evidently extends to micro-blogging. In his very first tweet, he proclaimed the launch of the Vatican’s new website — and praised Jesus in the bargain. It is unclear as to whether or not his…
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