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
― drunk 'n' white's elements of style (Hurting 2), Thursday, 20 December 2012 14:07 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
otm, cf the stories about her sidling up to cindy sherman
i'm reading the edgewood piece now, it is not going anywhere i'm optimistic about
― kristof-profiting-from-a-childs-illiteracy.html (schlump), Thursday, 20 December 2012 18:10 (eleven years ago) link
i just finished it up! my only complain is that it should have been titled Project DORK
― "reading specialist" (Z S), Sunday, 23 December 2012 02:04 (eleven years ago) link
Lena Dunham actually kind of makes sense as an aspie with a fixation on artist's statements.
― sug life (rogermexico.), Sunday, 23 December 2012 03:05 (eleven years ago) link
Most clicked stories of 2012: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/12/the-top-ten-new-yorker-stories-of-2012.html
― Only Built For Cuban Linux (Leee), Monday, 24 December 2012 05:08 (eleven years ago) link
Bill Wyman's review/synopsis of the Michael Jackson book is interesting/sad, although not a lot new covered in it.
― john. a resident of chicago., Friday, 28 December 2012 21:57 (eleven years ago) link
I want that MJ book so goddamn bad.
― ~farben~ (Jon Lewis), Friday, 28 December 2012 22:00 (eleven years ago) link
I'm happy he spent a column explaining MJ's songwriting.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 28 December 2012 22:04 (eleven years ago) link
yeah for sure. the last paragraph of the wyman article's very well rendered & moving, i think. also dug the batuman piece. last few issues v strong i think.
― kristof-profiting-from-a-childs-illiteracy.html (schlump), Friday, 28 December 2012 22:33 (eleven years ago) link
Kind of wish that the Ithkuil piece continued in the purely academic linguistics vein, rather than swerve into the weirdness, which I realize is the point of the article's thesis, but I'm a frustrated academic.
― Only Built For Cuban Linux (Leee), Friday, 28 December 2012 22:36 (eleven years ago) link
If you enjoyed the conlang stuff, I'd recommend Arika Okrent's book In the Land of Invented Languages, which IIRC was mentioned in the article.
― Sax Blatterday (jaymc), Friday, 28 December 2012 22:44 (eleven years ago) link
Still general interest, rather than academic, tho.
― Sax Blatterday (jaymc), Friday, 28 December 2012 22:46 (eleven years ago) link
That's fine, because I should've said that I've got the heart of a frustrated academic lol no grad skules want me.
― Only Built For Cuban Linux (Leee), Friday, 28 December 2012 22:52 (eleven years ago) link
liked the mendelsohn-mary renault story
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 8 January 2013 00:19 (eleven years ago) link
The Danish TV one and the pickpocket dude are both pretty good, too.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 8 January 2013 00:21 (eleven years ago) link
i just read this old one on ricky jay that made the pickpocket dude seem a little meh
they do love their magicians
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 8 January 2013 00:42 (eleven years ago) link