PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar
By PJ Grisar
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Culture Danny Elfman drops his first solo song in 36 years — of course it’s spooky
Danny Elfman, the Pumpkin King himself, has released his first solo song in 36 years. He’s been saving up a whole lot of eerie energy. In a statement, the perennial Tim Burton film scorer said he originally wrote the new track, “Happy,” for Coachella 2020 as an “absurd anti-pop song, designed to begin as a…
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Culture 9 spooky, Jew-y films to watch for Halloween (8 of which aren’t ‘Hubie Halloween’)
Craving spooky, scary, Jewish viewing for Halloween? We've got you covered
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Culture Joe Klein has harsh words for Miles Taylor, a very different ‘Anonymous’
Before Miles Taylor, there was Joe Klein. Klein was a reporter at Newsweek when he anonymously published “Primary Colors,” a bestselling roman à clef informed by his coverage of the 1992 Bill Clinton presidential campaign. In the summer of 1996 — after months of denial — Klein admitted he was, in fact, Anonymous. So, what…
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Culture Michael Cohen is on Cameo — here’s what you should make him say
After years of following the every whim of Donald Trump, the man who served as consigliere and pit bull attorney to the president, then called him a racist before Congress, is prepared to say whatever you want him to — for the price of $100. Yes, Michael Cohen has a Cameo. For the uninitiated, Cameo…
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Culture The true grit of the Jews who fought by John Brown’s side
In the first episode of Showtime’s “The Good Lord Bird,” an exuberant adaptation of James McBride’s novel about John Brown’s final days leading up to his daring raid of the Harpers Ferry armory, the narrator, Henry, describes the abolitionist’s followers. “John Brown’s fearsome army weren’t nothing but a ragtag assortment of the scrawniest, saddest-looking individuals…
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Culture How ‘Borat’ got its sound — an interview with Erran Baron Cohen
Growing up, Erran Baron Cohen and his younger brother, Sacha, would entertain their parents’ guests during Shabbos at their home in London. “Me and Sacha were often quite bored actually,” Baron Cohen said. “We used to make up funny songs on the piano for our own amusement. One was called ‘Schvitzin”, which was about Jews…
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Culture Borat defends Rudy Giuliani over ‘Borat’ scandal
Rudy Giuliani has a new champion in his latest scandal: His name-a Borat. Thursday night, shortly before the final presidential debate and the early release of “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev posted a video on his Twitter to defend Giuliani against claims of impropriety arising from a scene in the “Borat” sequel. “What…
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Culture A Quibit (Quick Obit) for Quibi (with apologies to Walt Whitman)
O Quibi! my Quibi! rise up and hear the yells; Rise up—for you the grave is made —for you the content cries, For you the japes and unkind tweets—for you the nets a-crowding, For you they call, the giggling mass, their eager faces turning; Here Quibi! Dear short-form! 2 billion invested! It is some dream…
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Fast Forward Was the viral Ta-Nehisi Coates interview a hit piece or fair play? A journalism ethics expert weighs in.
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Culture How my odious cousin Roy Cohn was responsible for creating Donald Trump — and me
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Culture New conspiracy theory just dropped — Jews are causing the hurricanes
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Sports 5 Jewish things about the Mets — and why Jewish fans adore them
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