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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Books
May You Be Who You Are
Haley Tanner‘s debut novel, “Vaclav and Lena,” is now available. She will be blogging all week for the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning‘s Author Blog. Her blog 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…
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When Art Is Only Skin-Deep
Crossposted from Haaretz Einat Dan spent three full weeks preparing for the Beauty Forum, a major cosmetics fair held late last week in Leipzig, Germany. For five hours, she applied makeup from head to toe, fainting twice from all the excitement and tension. In the end, the 38-year-old Israeli model took first place at the…
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Israel on the 1,800th Day of Gilad Shalit’s Captivity
This Sunday, May 29 – Memorial Day Weekend here in the United States – marks the 1,800th day of Gilad Shalit’s captivity. He was kidnapped June 25, 2006, by Hamas in a cross-border raid, and it is believed he has been held somewhere in Gaza since then. He has been denied communication with his family…
The Latest
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Sigalit Landau’s Bridges at the Venice Biennale
‘DeadSee,’ by Sigalit Landau. Courtesy of the artist and Kamel Mennour Gallery. While pavilions at the Venice Biennale are typically shrouded in secrecy in the months approaching one of the art world’s biggest events, the content of Israel’s pavilion this year is under especially opaque wraps. In June, Israel will be represented by 42-year-old artist…
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In Song: Bamidbar
Each week ‘In Song’ links the weekly Torah reading — however tenuously — to classic works of rock ‘n’ roll. This week’s parsha, Bamidbar (in the desert), kicks off the Book of Numbers, starting with a census of the nation of Israel (603,550 males of military age) and a description of their camping arrangements. Then…
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A Talking German Shepherd?
So that’s what “master race” meant. A new book contends the Nazis attempted “to breed an army of educated dogs that could read, write and talk,” Time reports under the surely unprecedented headline “How Nazi Scientists Tried to Create an Army of Talking Dogs.” In Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities, Cardiff University historian…
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Israel’s Kashrut Fraud
American immigrants to Israel are in shock. No, it’s not the fact that the President of their motherland is clashing with the Prime Minister of their new country, or that many in Israel would have you believe that Barack Obama is turning on the Jewish State. It’s something far more important than all of that…
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Books Campy Lizards, or, A Look Back to My Literary Beginnings
Earlier this week, C. Alexander London wrote about being an accidental adventurer and sequels and the Torah. His blog 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: In honor of the end…
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Friday Film: Leader of the Anti-Madoff Crusade
What’s left to tell about the Bernie Madoff scandal? Plenty, if you’re Harry Markopoulos, the famed whistleblower whose repeated cries of “fraud” were ignored by everyone from the SEC to the Wall Street Journal. Markopoulos gets his day in “Chasing Madoff,” partly based on his book “No One Would Listen” (and originally titled “The Foxhounds”)….
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Einstein and Marilyn, Together Forever?
The fascination with the 20th century’s unsurpassed brain, Albert Einstein, and starriest sex goddess, Marilyn Monroe, inspired Nicolas Roeg’s 1985 film “Insignificance” and a 2005 optical illusion made at MIT still available on the internet, in which an image of Einstein turns into Marilyn if you back away from the computer screen. Although they never…
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Matisyahu Promotes Summer Tour With ‘Mustache Madness’
As if Hasidic reggae singer Matisyahu’s bizarre “Miracle” (Hanukkah Song) video from this past winter wasn’t weird enough, he has now put out an equally bizarre one to promote his upcoming summer tour. True, this new video thankfully has no nightmarish scenes featuring a toga-wearing Hellenists, Santa Clauses, Nutcracker soldiers or fighting hockey players in…
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