The Arts

“Downton Abbey” fans will be sad to learn that this familiar face has passed away

Acclaimed actor Tim Pigott-Smith has passed away at the age of 70. Known to many as Sir Philip Tapsell from “Downton Abbey,” he had graced TV screens across the world since the 1980s when he was sprung into fame for his performance in “The Jewel in the Crown.” Pigott-Smith, who lived in London, had been […]

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International, Obituaries & memorials, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Jake Tapper called out Ivanka Trump for her stance on Syria following the United States’ airstrike

Jake Tapper is calling out Ivanka Trump for her stance on the citizens of Syria following the United States’ retaliatory airstrike. After the horrific sarin gas attack against Syria’s citizens Tuesday, which killed over 100 and injured at least 300, the United States conducted a successful airstrike against Shayrat air base late Thursday evening. On

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Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Russian-Jewish filmmakers immortalize murdered Putin critic as ‘Boris Nemtsov, Jew’

Assassinated outside the Kremlin, the dissenting politician has become something of a cult figure and is the subject of films, poetry and song By Julie Masis Two years on, Russia hasn’t forgotten the tragic murder outside the Kremlin of Boris Nemtsov, the Jewish anti-Putin politician. He’s become something of a cult figure in a country

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International, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Handel’s ‘Messiah’ in Hebrew

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM — Over the years I have attended many performances of Handel’s Messiah, but no matter where it was performed (England, America, France, Israel) it was always sung in English. George Frederick Handel wrote the oratorio using the text devised by Charles Jennens, based on the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer.

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Jana, YAAANA, and preserving Yiddishkeit

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Erev Shabbat prayers, a vegetarian dinner, a ribbon cutting, and a klezmer jam session helped to inaugurate the Yiddish Arts and Academic Association of North America (YAAANA) on Friday night at a clubhouse in the Costa Verde Village.  About 30 people ranging from young adults to seniors attended

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Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Gravitating to the familiar at the Fleet

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO –While I gravitated on Wednesday, April 5, to an exhibit featuring the image of Albert Einstein and another portraying the cells that I imagine Jonas Salk grappled with while developing the vaccine against polio, my grandchildren—Sky, 10, Brian, 8, and Sara, 6 – were transfixed by a room filled

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

Schwarzenegger blasts Trump for proposed education cuts

LOS ANGELES — In the latest round of the simmering feud between Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Donald Trump, the former California governor Wednesday blasted the president’s proposal to slash federal funding for after-school programs. “President Trump promised us that he wants to make America great again. That’s not how you make America great, by taking

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Pepsi pulls controversial Kendall Jenner ad after widespread backlash

Perhaps having celebrity model and reality TV star Kendall Jenner re-enact a seminal moment in the Black Lives Matter protest movement to sell Pepsi wasn’t such a good idea after all. After initially defending its online video featuring Jenner and a can of soda as peacemakers in a street standoff between marchers and police, PepsiCo

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Yiddishists sponsor free Shabbat dinner, concert

SAN DIEGO (SDJW) — The Yiddish Arts and Academics Association of North America (YAAANA) will debut in San Diego with a free Shabbat dinner and concert and klezmer concert by Yale Strom beginning at 7 p.m., Friday, at the Costa Verde Village Clubhouse, 8720 Costa Verde Blvd., San Diego. According to its founder, Jana Mazurkiewicz,

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Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego Calendar