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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Friday Film: Annals of Heroism and Hairdressing
There is a Vidal Sassoon most people know: the famous hairdresser who built an empire of beauty salons, hair care products and beauty schools. If you’re of a certain age, you may remember his television commercials, featuring a young, good-looking guy gently running his fingers through a model’s gorgeous hair, saying: “If you don’t look…
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Alvin Lustig, a Visual Artist with Designs on Posterity.
Over a half-century after his death in 1955 at age 40, the American designer Alvin Lustig of Polish-Austrian Jewish origin is more influential than ever. “Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig,” by Steve Heller and Elaine Lustig Cohen, out from Chronicle Books in October 2010, pays elegant homage to the visual thinker….
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Friday Film: Jewish Confederates and Jewish Yankees
Almost 150 years after shots rang out at Fort Sumter, the United States has yet to fully recover from the brutalities of the Civil War. The conflict ripped families apart along regional lines, and pummeled the economy and infrastructure of many Southern cities into such disrepair that many are still working on their reconstruction. When…
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Leo Castelli, an Art Dealer With Attitude
He gave chic new definition, boosted the New York art scene, and went to such brazen lengths as to deliver artwork unrequested to the Museum of Modern Art and simply send a bill. He was known to have commandeered a gondola with his pals to transport art in time to compete in the Venice Biennale….
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Out and About: Iran beats Israeli Chess Record; Thorstein Veblen on Jewish Intellectualism
The finalists for the 2011 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature have been announced. Philadelphia’s Rosenbach Museum and Library has become home to Maurice Sendak’s only mural. Jonah Lehrer retrieves Thorstein Veblen’s forgotten essay on why Jews become intellectuals. An Iranian grandmaster claims to have beaten an Israeli chess record after playing 614 people simultaneously…
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Torah Poems That Bring Comfort, Not Questions
Each Thursday, The Arty Semite features excerpts and reviews of the best contemporary Jewish poetry. This week, Zackary Sholem Berger reviews “70 Faces” by Rachel Barenblat. There are a few very good poems in Rachel Barenblat’s “70 Faces,” a collection of “Torah poems” published last year following the sequence of the weekly reading. For instance,…
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Balzac and the Hebrew Tutor
Tracing Old Testament influence on modern literature is a never-ending study, but “The Sign and the Seal: Literary Variations on the Song of Songs” (Le Signe et le sceau: Variations littéraires sur le Cantique des Cantiques) by Dominique Millet-Gérard, out last August from La Librairie Droz in Geneva, offers precious new insights on the subject….
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Rap Star Drake: I’m the Best Jew
Hip-hop, rap and R&B star Drake is sure proud of his Jewish roots. And he’s a pretty good Jew too, at least according to him. When a TMZ cameraman asked Drake “Who do you think’s a better Jew, you or [TMZ creator] Harvey Levin?,” the pop star responded, “I don’t know. I’m one of the…
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Did Snickers’ Super Bowl Commercial Have Anti-Semitic Message?
Adolf Hitler is giving a familiar salute in the chilling black-and-white photo. But the caption above his head carries an unexpected message: “I Hate Jews. But I Love Snickers.” The image is posted on Snickers Hates Jews, a Facebook page that sprang up after the junk-food brand aired a new Super Bowl commercial in which…
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Traditional Dance With a Fiery New Spin
The Firebird Dance Theatre dancers soared on stage last month at a benefit performance at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto, Calif., in celebration of the company and school’s 20th anniversary. With a 21-part program featuring Firebird’s signature fusion of modern, folk, lyrical, ballet and ballroom styles, dancers ranging in age from…
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Keeping Up With the Techies
Crossposted from Haaretz Singer Avigail Roz has spent many hours with Yoni Bloch, who produced her albums “Milchama Yomyomit” (“Daily War”), which was released three years ago, and “Hetzi Nehama” (“Half a Consolation”), forthcoming at the end of the month. But when it comes to technology, they are on opposite sides of the barricades. While…
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Yiddish World How my grandparents met: a Yiddish-American romance
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Yiddish אַ טור פֿון דער אויסשטעלונג „מגילת־אסתּר אין דער רעמבראַנדט־תּקופֿה“ — אויף ייִדיש!A tour of “The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt” exhibit — in Yiddish!
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