Curt Schleier is a freelance writer and author who covers business and the arts for a variety of publications. Follow him on Twitter at @tvsoundoff.
Curt Schleier
By Curt Schleier
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The Schmooze All in the Dysfunctional Family
Image courtesy of Monterey Media Too often, the foibles of Jewish family life are portrayed in negative, even mean-spirited ways. Happily, “Reuniting the Rubins,” a warm and heimish film, provides a humorous and occasionally moving antidote to that negativity. The first full-length feature from religiously observant British writer-director Yoav Factor, “Rubins” suggests that familial love…
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The Schmooze Q&A: Actor Jason Isaacs on ‘Awake’
British actor Jason Isaacs is best known for his role as the villain Lucius Malfoy from the “Harry Potter” movies, but you also might recognize him from his role as the Scottish private investigator Jackson Brodie on the popular British series, “Case Histories,” shown in the U.S. as part of the PBS “Masterpiece Mystery!” series….
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The Schmooze Q&A: Herb Alpert on Becoming Tijuana Brass
Herb Alpert’s list of accomplishments is longer than, well, a trombone. He is the composer, arranger, trumpet player and leader of the famed Tijuana Brass, as well as a record producer (he and partner Jerry Moss founded A&M records), painter, sculptor and philanthropist. Alpert has had five number one hits, 15 gold and 14 platinum…
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The Schmooze Friday Film: The Art of Being a Jewish Son
David Suskind was the Oprah of his day. From 1958 until 1987 he hosted a television talk show that discussed controversial issues, from Vietnam to race relations. One of his most popular programs, which he rebroadcast on a regular basis, was “How To Be a Jewish Son.” Originally broadcast in the fall of 1970, it…
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The Schmooze Q&A: Mentalist Marc Salem on Reading People
Mentalist Marc Salem knows how to read people. He begins and ends his latest show, “Mind Over Manhattan,” by assuring his audience that there’s nothing paranormal or supernatural about what he does. But it’s hard to reconcile those claims with the “magic” he performs onstage. How, wearing multiple blindfolds, does he identify items just by…
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The Schmooze Q&A: Sonia Taitz on Old Country and Oxford
Sonia Taitz is, by her own admission, an overachiever. Yeshiva educated, she earned degrees in both psychology and English from Barnard College (Phi Beta Kappa, of course), a master’s in philosophy from Oxford University and a law degree from Yale University. Taitz is the daughter of Holocaust survivors, and that crucially shaped the person she…
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The Schmooze Q&A: David Steinberg Takes Us ‘Inside Comedy’
You can’t really say that edgy comic David Steinberg is back, because in truth he never really left. He just wandered off in a less visible direction, behind the scenes, as a director of commercials and television shows such as “Weeds” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” In fact, he was in an especially cheerful mood on…
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The Schmooze Friday Film: Vindicating the West Memphis Three
On January 12, HBO will broadcast “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory.” For filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, this marks the end of an 18-year, three-movie odyssey that resulted in the freeing from prison of three apparently innocent young men. In June 1993, high school students Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley — known as…
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