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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Former U.S. Olympian Jillian Schwartz Competes for Israel at 104th Millrose Games
Former U.S. Olympian Jillian Schwartz will enter a new phase of her career on Friday, competing for Israel at the Millrose Games at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Schwartz, who represented the U.S. in the pole vault at the 2004 Athens Olympics, became an Israeli citizen in 2009 and will compete under the country’s…
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Religious Filmmaker Takes Movies Into Her Own Hands
Crossposted from Haaretz The atmosphere on the set of the film “Lemalei Et Hahalal” (“Filling the Void”) is different, special. In a ground-floor apartment in central Tel Aviv’s Sheinkin area, the monitors, lights and other equipment whirl, surrounded by professionals clothed in cool clothes — some holding ever-present cigars or joints — as well as…
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Jim Carrey Angers Jews, Hindus With ‘SNL’ Skit
Ever tried a move called the Ganesh in bed? Jim Carrey did, and he’s feeling the wrath of Hindu and Jewish groups as a result. In a skit that aired on “Saturday Night Live” this month, Carrey played an “erotic shaman” who had developed new sex positions with an elderly character played by “SNL” regular…
The Latest
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Monday Music: Adrienne Cooper’s Enchanting Yiddish Songs
I never learned to speak Yiddish. As a child in the 1950s and ‘60s, it was the language of my grandparents, the language that my parents only spoke when they didn’t want me or my brothers to understand what they were talking about (and I don’t think they spoke it when my childhood friend Michael…
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Books What Jews Can Learn From Christian Writer Reynolds Price
Durham, N.C. is not an easy place to be a non-conformist. It is the home of Duke University, notorious for its male lacrosse team’s behaving badly and its “Cameron Crazies,” obsessed basketball fans. Even in January 2011, when the Durham public schools need to make up a snow day, school is scheduled for Saturday, Jewish…
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A Yiddish Writer’s Fashion and Misfortune
On the Yiddish Song of the Week blog, Forverts associate editor Itzik Gottesman writes about “Di mode” (“Fashion”), a poem by the early Yiddish writer Yitskhok Yoel Linetski, as adapted by his grandmother, Lifshe Schaechter-Widman: I never thought I would thank Google Books in this blog, but the website has opened up tremendous possibilities for…
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Cold Can’t Stop Eilat’s Winter Jazz Festival
Crossposted from Haaretz When one is talking about jazz, the word “dissonance” often is heard in reference to avant-garde, cacophonic-sounding music. At the Red Sea Winter Jazz Festival, held over the weekend for the first time (as the new, younger sibling of the veteran Red Sea Jazz Festival, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary in…
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Out and About: National Book Critics Circle Finalists; Sacha Baron Cohen to Play Saddam Hussein
Film Criticism is doing better than ever, according to Roger Ebert. Finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award include novelists David Grossman for “To the End of the Land” and Hans Keilson for “Comedy in a Minor Key”; Christopher Hitchens for his autobiography “Catch 22”; Tom Segev for his biography of Simon Wiesenthal, and…
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This Week in Forward Arts and Culture
Eric A. Goldman shares his discovery of the classic Canadian film “Lies My Father Told Me.” Katherine Preston looks at the similarities between “The King’s Speech” and “Going With the Flow,” a short documentary about speech therapy. Debra Nussbam Cohen praises the accomplishments of Jewish feminist Judith Plaskow. Philologos gets out his trunk. Jeremiah Lockwood…
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Macy Gray: Fair-Weather Friend of Israel?
Are Macy Gray’s political views like the weather? The pop singer, best known for her 1999 hit “I Try,” was “conflicted on whether or not she should cancel shows in Tel Aviv because of the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians,” according to the Hollywood reporter — and “solicited advice on her Facebook page.” The singer…
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Friday Film: For Battered Women, Justice Is a Long Time Coming
There are upwards of 180,000 women incarcerated in U.S prisons today. Of those, an estimated 80% are victims of rape, assault, incest, and other forms of sexual and domestic violence. Considering what a closeted problem this sort of abuse is in many communities, it wouldn’t be shocking if the true percentage were actually higher. Responding…
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Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
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Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
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Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
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Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
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