I, like everyone else, accumulate daunting piles of New Yorkers, because each issue has so much I want to read. Then I wait for a vacation and bring along five or six issues. They're light and disposable, and I can discard them (or give them away, or leave them behind) wherever I happen to finish them. Perfect for airplanes, waiting rooms and hotels. Each issue is like a great little anthology.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 7 April 2011 13:21 (thirteen years ago) link
guys, guys - let's not allow a few pieces of meticulously researched and tautly written long-form journalism obscure the reams of smug forgettable shit in this monthly publication
Oh, good ol' reliable ilx, always someone coming along to rain on the parade.
― 'what are you, the Hymen Protection League of America?' (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 7 April 2011 13:51 (thirteen years ago) link
patricia marx writes what like... six articles a year?
the nyer critics are probably 3/4s unbearable but the rest of the stuff is consistently great, incl. talk of the town
― ban drake (the rapper) (max), Thursday, 7 April 2011 14:13 (thirteen years ago) link
i've been finding the ny'er amazingly un-smug lately, i guess except for that insane david brooks article that i couldn't even finish.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 7 April 2011 14:28 (thirteen years ago) link
tbh & i say this as a fan i think the NYer house style w/ its long-form pieces is too straight & bland to be "smug"
― ban drake (the rapper) (max), Thursday, 7 April 2011 14:35 (thirteen years ago) link
Adam Gopnik's pretty smug but I agree that the house style mostly avoids that pitfall.
Enjoyed the Tunisia feature in the same issue as the Grann one.
― Pop is superior to all other genres (DL), Thursday, 7 April 2011 15:03 (thirteen years ago) link
ive given up on "shouts and murmurs"
― gr8080, Thursday, 7 April 2011 18:19 (thirteen years ago) link
lioke even if someone who's opinion i respect tells me there's a good one i should read i refuse to on principle
oh yeah haha i forgot about shouts and murmurs in my estimation of the nyers smugness, probably because i never, ever read it
― ban drake (the rapper) (max), Thursday, 7 April 2011 18:20 (thirteen years ago) link
basically i check to see if its jack handey and if its not i skip
I cannot face shouts & murmurs ever. I also never read the short fiction, cards on table.
What is the Rosenberg story everyone is talking abt? Starting to worry that I misplaced an issue...
― the Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Doink (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 7 April 2011 18:29 (thirteen years ago) link
It's in last week's issue and also online:http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/04/110404fa_fact_grann
― jaymc, Thursday, 7 April 2011 18:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Oh cool, got that one already, been saving it.
George RR Martin profile in the current ish was hella depressing. Fans are not good people.
― the Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Doink (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 7 April 2011 18:34 (thirteen years ago) link
oh yeah shouts and murmurs blows obv
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 7 April 2011 18:36 (thirteen years ago) link
The short fiction is hit or miss, but I liked the Murakami story they re-ran in the Japan issue.
― 'what are you, the Hymen Protection League of America?' (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 7 April 2011 18:37 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah i read the martin profile last night -- don't know anything about the guy, but yeeesh. his fans! definitely a good book or something to be written (if it hasn't been written already) about modern fandom, and how the internet has mucked everything up.
― tylerw, Thursday, 7 April 2011 18:39 (thirteen years ago) link
It's rly rly weird psychologically and the GRRM profile is far from the first time I have noticed it; basically, Fans with a capital F have this weird seething RAGE toward the creators of the narratives they want. Like this impotent rage. The creator(s) don't even have to be late on delivery of new work like GRRM has been, the Fans just are constantly teetering between deification and hatred of those who CONTROL "their" characters. There DOES need to be a new book abt it because the internet has exacerbated it severely.
― the Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Doink (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 7 April 2011 19:27 (thirteen years ago) link
i still read the fiction every week but it's kind of depressing how far its fallen off. i remember back in the early to mid 00's when they had authors like munro, edward jones, murakami, jhumpa lahiri, etc in constant rotation. there's still a quality story now and then but it's much less frequent. i do really like the fiction podcast from the website tho.
― Moreno, Thursday, 7 April 2011 20:39 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.slate.com/id/2290801/
― vampire weeknd (cozen), Monday, 11 April 2011 17:20 (thirteen years ago) link
all aboard the grann wagon
― ban drake (the rapper) (max), Monday, 11 April 2011 17:29 (thirteen years ago) link
groann
― vampire weeknd (cozen), Monday, 11 April 2011 17:34 (thirteen years ago) link
Started Lost City of Z and seriously, crack on paper.
Did anyone else notice one of the entrants to this week's caption contest?
― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Saturday, 16 April 2011 22:06 (thirteen years ago) link
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/826480/Photo%20Apr%2019%2C%209%2057%2002%20PM.jpg
from the ipad edition, remnick's latest sounds like a must-read.
― joe, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:09 (thirteen years ago) link
I feel like there are a few Franzen haters around here, but I'm surprised to find myself enjoying his article about the island, Robin Crusoe, and DFW.
― 'what are you, the Hymen Protection League of America?' (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:11 (thirteen years ago) link
read that malcolm x thing yesterday. it was aight.
― gr8080, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:28 (thirteen years ago) link
its just a book review.
haha joe
― ban drake (the rapper) (max), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:28 (thirteen years ago) link
xxxp yeah i liked it ok...i generally like franzens fiction but not really his non-fic; he def jazzed it up & had a legit point but i was v much groaning at his blackberry/Blackberry analogy
― johnny crunch, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:29 (thirteen years ago) link
Did anyone else notice one of the entrants to this week's caption contest?ha, yeah. gonna assume that it's THE roger ebert?Franzen essay was excellent despite some of the cringiness.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:29 (thirteen years ago) link
Oh yeah, I cringed a couple of times, plus the whole conceit started out a little "oh, poor life of famous author on the road" (not at all to take away from losing a friend) for me, but it was still a good read.
― 'what are you, the Hymen Protection League of America?' (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:33 (thirteen years ago) link
only so many r eberts in chicago i'd imagine
― My bad Van Buren! (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:34 (thirteen years ago) link
ipad app dece?
― thetan is cheatin (cozen), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:36 (thirteen years ago) link
it is him. he posted about it on his blog: he's been trying to get into the finals round for years and years
― they call him (remy bean), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:37 (thirteen years ago) link
his caption wasn't that good iirc
― tylerw, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:38 (thirteen years ago) link
no it wasn't.cartoon was a pair of people standing in the middle of a wasteland under a mall parking lot sign with an "F" on it and Ebert has the woman saying "Guess which word I'm thinking of now."har harvideo games aren't art btw
― My bad Van Buren! (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:40 (thirteen years ago) link
― thetan is cheatin (cozen), Tuesday, April 19, 2011 10:36 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
it's ok, pricey, would be better if you got access with a subscription. i just loaded it up to check the price of each issue when i saw that "remnick on remnick" gaffe.
― joe, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:45 (thirteen years ago) link
"That might play big in Chicago, but the New Yorker has a different set of standards."
xp
― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:45 (thirteen years ago) link
"we prefer film critics with senses of humor, ebert. you know, like david denby."
― tylerw, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 21:53 (thirteen years ago) link
lol
― 'what are you, the Hymen Protection League of America?' (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 22:02 (thirteen years ago) link
tbf anthony lane used to be kind of funny
― Number None, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 22:13 (thirteen years ago) link
lane is kinda funny, but i don't think he's that great a film critic
― tylerw, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 22:52 (thirteen years ago) link
he's very funny!
― horseshoe, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 22:53 (thirteen years ago) link
I haven't actually read a Lane review in a while but some of his takedowns of hollywood blockbusters are classic. It can feel a little cheap though.
― Number None, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 22:55 (thirteen years ago) link
whole travel issue was pretty enjoyable imo. the astana and chinese people touring europe articles in particular
― dblake (symsymsym), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 23:05 (thirteen years ago) link
didnt know that that dope 2-part travelogue about siberia from summer 09 had been expanded into a book:
http://www.amazon.com/Travels-Siberia-Ian-Frazier/dp/0374278725
― gr8080, Wednesday, 20 April 2011 00:19 (thirteen years ago) link
I loved the Franzen/Robinson Crusoe thing.
Haven't read the cover story ("Middle East of the West?") but I can tell from the subhead that it's going to be one of those UuuuuuNnnnnnngggggghhhh stories to read.
― ZERO TAXES (Z S), Wednesday, 20 April 2011 01:24 (thirteen years ago) link
just like the story they ran on energy efficiency recently (which suggested that there's no point to pursuing efficiency measures because lol Jevon's paradox, uuuuuuuuunnnnggghhhhh). <3 new yorker but their energy stories blow. elizabeth kolbert rulez, however.
^thus concludes my new yorker minute
― ZERO TAXES (Z S), Wednesday, 20 April 2011 01:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Kazakhstan article indeed very entertaining, and all without making a single Borat joke.
― Matt Groening's Cousin (Leee), Wednesday, 20 April 2011 04:04 (thirteen years ago) link
wasn't the chinese people touring europe article done recently in another magazine? i feel like harper's ran an article on the same topic maybe 3 months ago.
― ZERO TAXES (Z S), Wednesday, 20 April 2011 04:10 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah the atlantic did one too a few months ago...but the new yorker guy went UNDERCOVER, embedding himself with an actual chinese bus tour! he spoke chinese and everything!
i was really bracing myself for a borat reference the whole article too lol. The last sentence does describe men in small swimming trunks, but i guess that doesn't quite count
― dblake (symsymsym), Wednesday, 20 April 2011 06:53 (thirteen years ago) link