On the plus side, this week's issue has a fantastic piece about a guy who tested chemical weapons on military personnel. Pretty nuts.
On the minus side, it has one of the worst Shouts & Murmurs in recent history, and it's four times longer than normal too.
― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 03:04 (eleven years ago) link
Why do you torture yourself by reading S&M?
― I was in this prematureleee air-conditioned supermarket (Leee), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 03:19 (eleven years ago) link
I only actually read a tiny bit of it but the shtick was so dreadful that I had to mention it.
― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 03:27 (eleven years ago) link
I have laughed at Shouts and Murmurs at least one time
― wongo hulkington's jade palace late night buffet (silby), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 03:28 (eleven years ago) link
I'm such a glutton for punishment that I always read the S&M in the hopes that, oh yeah, THIS week will be the funny one.
― HAPPY BDAY TOOTS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 03:46 (eleven years ago) link
http://i50.tinypic.com/5z4ftj.jpg
― dexpresso (Z S), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 03:54 (eleven years ago) link
needs the statue of liberty weeping
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 11 December 2012 03:56 (eleven years ago) link
it doesn't matter who holds the football - woody allen, jack handey, steve martin, david sedaris, bob odenkirk - they all fuck you in the end
― dexpresso (Z S), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 04:03 (eleven years ago) link
wait does that mean Lucy was into pegging
― wongo hulkington's jade palace late night buffet (silby), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 04:17 (eleven years ago) link
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/Peppermint_Patty.jpg
― THE NATIONS YOUTH DANCED TO THE MACARANA (innocent) (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 05:12 (eleven years ago) link
I don't read the New Yorker so idk but can anyone tell me anything about Margaret Talbot?
― jawn valjawn (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 05:59 (eleven years ago) link
Haven't read shouts and murmurs this week, but too bad for Simon rich, a previous ILX favorite.
― Sax Blatterday (jaymc), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 06:10 (eleven years ago) link
chemical warfare guy article is super-disturbing so far
but also haha:
He was known for his affectations, including a pink convertible—which he drove with the top down, rain or shine—and a silver-tipped swagger stick made of a human fibula. A master parachutist, he sometimes jumped out a second-floor window after lunch.
― dell (del), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 13:54 (eleven years ago) link
The most interesting man in the world.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 December 2012 14:56 (eleven years ago) link
yes that quote jumped out at me too. it's a disturbing article but full of weird characters too.
― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 17:09 (eleven years ago) link
https://subscribe.newyorker.com/subscribe/newyorker/76255?source=NYR_global_rightRail_Ajust re: all the subscription talk, i'd bite
― what is google (schlump), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 18:23 (eleven years ago) link
The pretty run of the mill Trent Reznor profile was like listening to someone trying to awkwardly teach a new language to millions of people who already speak it.
"And instead of guitars, he used synthesizers and other electronic instruments, which when pressed produced all manner of sound. Sometimes, Reznor invoked a technique known to fans of industrial music as 'potty mouth.' Oh, you guys already know that? Hrm. Well, he was also in Nine Inch Nails, a popular rock and roll act. Oh, you knew that, too? Blast. Did you know he is full of rage? You did? Hrm. Did I mention the synthesizers?"
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 December 2012 22:49 (eleven years ago) link
hey did you guys read that new Kent Razorblade profile in the new yorker? apparently he's using the internet to distribute music
― dexpresso (Z S), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 22:59 (eleven years ago) link
Air Conditioning Scion Invents 'Musical' Computer
― the clown's reflection is incorrect (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 23:09 (eleven years ago) link
I love his work on the popular electronic divertissement "Quaken"
― THE NATIONS YOUTH DANCED TO THE MACARANA (innocent) (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 23:22 (eleven years ago) link
chemical warfare piece is freaking me the fuck out
― 乒乓, Wednesday, 12 December 2012 15:04 (eleven years ago) link
Nussbaum strikes again: her piece ostensibly on "The Hour" mentions no less than 22 other TV shows, many unrelated. Has she ever written an essay that is not a glorified list?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 12 December 2012 15:24 (eleven years ago) link
i like nussbaum
― max, Wednesday, 12 December 2012 16:09 (eleven years ago) link
her name means 'nut tree' doesn't it?
― the clown's reflection is incorrect (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 12 December 2012 16:44 (eleven years ago) link
I'd have no problem with her if nearly every (every?) one of her pieces was not just a litany of shows jumbled together into a loose thesis.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 12 December 2012 18:29 (eleven years ago) link
btw, new yorker style guide question: in the chemical warfare article, at times the guy is referred to as "Van Sim" but at other times it's just "Sim"
what's up?
― 乒乓, Wednesday, 12 December 2012 18:38 (eleven years ago) link
batuman alert klaxon
― kristof-profiting-from-a-childs-illiteracy.html (schlump), Monday, 17 December 2012 06:10 (eleven years ago) link
haha thenewyorker.com is a pretty good website
― wongo hulkington's jade palace late night buffet (silby), Monday, 17 December 2012 06:20 (eleven years ago) link
so the fiction this week... uncanny
― sug life (rogermexico.), Monday, 17 December 2012 22:24 (eleven years ago) link
i enjoy nussbaum's zings
― running like a young deer (symsymsym), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 04:18 (eleven years ago) link
i love that constructed language article. something about the idea of "the #2 terrorist in ukraine" showing up at that conference totally cracks me up for some reason
― scream blahula scream (govern yourself accordingly), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 04:25 (eleven years ago) link
zadie smith on joni mitchell was like something purpose-built to give ILM fits.
― the clown's reflection is incorrect (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:27 (eleven years ago) link
Skipped it. Seems like a double - triple? - whammy of not interested.
That chem weapons epic, on the other hand - wow.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:31 (eleven years ago) link
― scream blahula scream (govern yourself accordingly), Monday, December 17, 2012 10:25 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah this one was great. also enjoyed the article about the huge ship loaded with iron ore traveling across the arctic circle
i generally like zadie smith's novels (haven't read her new one yet) but that article was a mess
― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:36 (eleven years ago) link
ugh yeah
― max, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:38 (eleven years ago) link
kinda funny that of the 3 overlong rambly pieces about musicians this year my least favorite was zadie smith on joni mitchell and my favorite was the one about the dead
― max, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:39 (eleven years ago) link
Dead one was really good. Struck a nice balance between taking its subject seriously without taking it too seriously.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:41 (eleven years ago) link
i couldn't get through the ZS piece despite the fact that she is a fellow ZS and that i'm currently going through my own "i've never liked joni mitchell but i'm starting to 'get' her" phase
― dexpresso (Z S), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:43 (eleven years ago) link
I listened to 'blue' earlier this month when I was feeling 'blue' and I totally got it, after years of not getting it
― 乒乓, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:44 (eleven years ago) link
maybe you just had be feeling 'blue' to feel 'blue' I dunno
can anybody tell me where the buffet line is?
I saw an album called "More Songs About Buildings and Food." You already know who made that album. I did not. However the New Yorker thinks people will be interested in my long humble brag about how my expertise at novel reading has left me deficient in other areas.
― President Keyes, Wednesday, 19 December 2012 01:38 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, I often like ZS, but that article, ugh.
― Sax Blatterday (jaymc), Wednesday, 19 December 2012 01:42 (eleven years ago) link
The profile of Laurie Simmons was pretty boring, but I feel like that's because the subject is boring. I mean even the subject's art is boring, and even the subject of the subject's art is boring.
― drunk 'n' white's elements of style (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 19 December 2012 17:02 (eleven years ago) link
no, that's not fair, her art isn't really boring, some of it is striking. I just think the way she talks about it is boring.
― drunk 'n' white's elements of style (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 19 December 2012 17:03 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, that was a boring piece. I skimmed looking for a hook, but nope.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 19 December 2012 17:03 (eleven years ago) link
the insertion of really literal quotes made it pretty hard going, i think. like it'd describe some period of her work, & then end on a line in which she said that it was a good time or a hard time. it felt so straightforward. i don't think it was bad or anything though.
― kristof-profiting-from-a-childs-illiteracy.html (schlump), Wednesday, 19 December 2012 17:08 (eleven years ago) link
I also get bored when Lena Dunham talks. I think it's partly just that her career is so short and she talks like she's such an accomplished artist with such a long history -- which, tbf, fits her schtick of her career being about itself from day 1.
― drunk 'n' white's elements of style (Hurting 2), Thursday, 20 December 2012 18:07 (eleven years ago) link
I just read that piece about the military experiments at Edgewood though, fuck. Nightmare material.
and the zadie smith piece was terrible
― drunk 'n' white's elements of style (Hurting 2), Thursday, 20 December 2012 18:08 (eleven years ago) link