Weekly Schmooze: Mazel tov, KISS!

Jewish culture news worldwide: Gary Shteyngart's hilarious book trailer; Lena Dunham meets Judy Blume.

By LAHAV HARKOV
weekly schmooze 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
weekly schmooze 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Jewish culture news worldwide: Gary Shteyngart's hilarious book trailer; Lena Dunham meets Judy Blume.
Christmas is coming, and while the overlap between Schmooze-readers and Christmas-celebrators is probably slim, this video can bridge the gap. Jimmy Kimmel brought together heavy metal band Megadeth and Jewish indie singer Jenny Lewis, from the band Rilo Kiley, to sing some Christmas Carols. Lewis, however, had trouble keeping up with the hard-rockers, joking that she's scared of them.
KISS is being inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame after 15 years of eligibility. Half of the band's original members – Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley – are Jewish. In the past, Simmons joked that, since KISS wasn't inducted in the Hall of Fame, he'd just buy it and fire everyone. Now he can save that money for a rainy day, or more face paint.
Moving on to the literary world, Gary Shteyngart, author of the bestselling and critically adored Super Sad True Love Story, has a new memoir coming out titled Little Failure. He put out a trailer, as authors are wont to do these days, calling in some of his famous (and Jewish) friends like Rashida Jones and James Franco to play hilarious roles. The trailer doesn't tell you much about the book, but it's good for a laugh.
Still in the literary world, Lena Dunham interviewed the legendary Judy Blume for The Believer magazine, and the results are being published as an 80-page book, free for subscribers. For those who don't want to subscribe, Buzzfeed has a preview with funny facts about the two and this classic quote from Blume: "What is twerking? Is that what we used to call humping?"
Michael Bloomberg is on his way out of Gracie Mansion, which means he'll have a lot more time to watch movies. Buzzfeed got the list of his top ten favorite films, and Mayor Mike loves his Jewish comedies – Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" and "The Producers" are on the list, as are Woody Allen classics "Sleepers" and "Bananas."
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