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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The Diva Sings Once More: Dana International Returns to Eurovision
It’s a bit ironic that it happened on International Women’s Day. Israel’s most prominent female-by-choice, Dana International, scored a big victory last night when her song “Ding Dong” was chosen to represent the country at the glitzy annual Eurovision Song Contest, the kitchy and politicized competition that, ironically, spawned international stars like Abba and Celine…
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Galliano Gets Himself a Jewish Lawyer
It’s not like lawyers had such a sterling reputation to begin with, but apparently the Shmooze isn’t alone in its surprise that John Galliano will be defended in court by a Jewish attorney. “Some people call me anonymously, swear at me,” Stephane Zerbib [tells][1] Israel’s Ynet News. Though surely upsetting, those phone calls aren’t entirely…
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Yehoram Gaon Sparks Israeli Pop Music Culture War
In America, we fight our culture wars over unwed mothers and gay marriage. In Israel, they fight them over pop music. One of the Jewish state’s veteran Ashkenazi entertainers has ignited the latest battle over Mizrahi music, the genre that arrived with Jewish immigrants from the Arab world. Traditionally disdained by the country’s Ashkenazi elite,…
The Latest
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Books For the Love of Books
Just several feet away from where people are immersed in the digital worlds of their laptops, iPhones, and Kindles, Ido Agassi’s hand-designed, individually printed and bound books calmly look on from a display case in the lobby of the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, California. Those who take time to observe Agassi’s “Books as…
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House Call
Crossposted from Haaretz.com The previous owner was a mosaic artist and did the bathrooms in mosaic tiles. Yossi Turisky, a director and producer of sound and light installations, kept them in his otherwise different home in Neve Yarak. The best moments in his productions, he says were “when a professional came up with a better…
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Haute Couture Comes to Ramallah
Milan, New York, Paris and … Ramallah. The Palestinian city has joined the world’s style capitals by staging its own fashion event, “considered the first couture show in the West Bank,” according to Israeli news Web site NRG. Featuring the work of Palestinian designers, the three-day affair is focused mostly on bridal gowns, with the…
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Sheen Opens Up About Jewish Roots
Just when The Shmooze thought he couldn’t come up with anything loopier, Charlie Sheen has managed to surprise us. The former TV star – who was officially axed from “Two and a Half Men” yesterday – is now talking about his Jewish roots, two weeks after making headlines for comments widely criticized as anti-Semitic. Speaking…
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Will Eisner’s Hometown Spirit
“Cookalein” is Yiddish for “a modest bungalow, usually in the Catskills” where mothers would cook for their vacationing families. It’s also the title of one of the more modest but moving works in “Will Eisner’s New York: From the Spirit to the Modern Graphic Novel,” which opened last week at Soho’s Museum of Comic and…
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The Voice of Ladino
Ladino, the language of the Judeo-Spanish Diaspora, has unfairly languished behind Yiddish in the Jewish language popularity sweepstakes. With the release of her 2009 U.K. album “Sentir” in the United States and an accompanying tour, including upcoming shows in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, Israeli singer Yasmin Levy joins a bevy of artists…
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New Shtetl Mag’s Agenda: ‘Sex, Drugs and Talmud’
It is in Canada, after all. Maybe that’s why Montreal-based Shtetl magazine, sounds like a kinder, gentler HEEB — albeit with an agenda including “sex, drugs, and Talmud,” according to founder Tamara Kramer. Launched last week as a spinoff of Kramer’s wildly eclectic radio show Shtetl on the Shortwave — whose guest list careens from…
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Opening Museums on Sundays
Crossposted From Under the Fig Tree In my household, Sundays are usually given over to two rituals: reading The New York Times and taking in a museum exhibition. I suspect your household is no different. But, as I explained recently to a group of George Washington alumni who had come together on a rainy Sunday…
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