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Eds. | Personal

Anthony Lane: Literate Insulter of the Decade

Filed under: Little Words Tagged: Anthony Lane, Tina Brown

Martin Schneider writes:

Ben Bass has just posted a really engaging tribute to Anthony Lane that everyone reading this should check out ASAP. I'm glad to see Lane's "poison pen" defended with such spirit. (And I agree that it's too easy to accentuate Tina Brown's flaws.) (continued)

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Coming Monday: A Contest! Emdashes Interns! And More.

Filed under: Letters & Challenges Tagged: cartoons, comics, contests, interns

The holiday weekend sparkles in the near distance, but I'm really excited about Monday. Not only is it the day I go see Kabluey at Cinema Village, it's also the day I'll have the pleasure of introducing you to our Emdashes summer interns: Sarah Arkebauer, Taylor House, and Adam Shoemaker. They'll be contributing in many ways beginning next week, and you'll see right away why we selected them: They're remarkable people, and talented as can be.

Also on Monday, we have a contest. The first of more. In cartoon form. My heart is racing as I type. It is. Get ready to be tickled, and if you've misplaced your thinking cap, time to dust if off (there's no unmixing these metaphors)--your creative time has come.

Happy weekend, and while I'm away, enjoy further installments of Paul Morris's Emdashes comic "The Wavy Rule," which will continue daily over the holiday weekend. Even Gawker can't say that. (continued)

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The Wavy Rule: Hot Type, Baby

Filed under: The Catbird Seat: Friends & Guests Tagged: cartoons, comics, Nicholson Baker, sex, The Wavy Rule, typography

Everyone knows typography is sexy, and the Vox-talkin' knockouts in the latest edition of Paul Morris's daily comic for Emdashes, "The Wavy Rule," prove it beyond a doubt. Click to enlarge!

More Paul: the "Wavy Rule" archive; "Arnjuice," a webcomic; his Flickr page; cartoon collections for download at Lulu. If you have a suggestion for a cartoon, New Yorker-related or otherwise, email us and we'll pass it along. (continued)

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What Is Kabluey? And Why Do You Need It So Much--and So Soon?

Filed under: On the Spot Tagged: comedy, events, movies, Scott Prendergast

Kabluey is a spanking new movie, starring Lisa Kudrow, Chris Parnell, Teri Garr, and a powerful man in blue, and written and directed by my funniest friend, Scott Prendergast. It's opening at New York's Cinema Village (22 E. 12th, between 5th and University) on the 4th of July, and it'll run at least a week. I predict longer. Then it opens in a bunch of other places all over the country.

Don't you want to be the first to say you saw the movie of which Rex Reed wrote, "Kabluey" is as wacky and different as its title...A fresh, unique, touching and often hilarious film that is a real summer treat... (continued)

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Art News: A Wall of Schjeldahl, and Niemann Wows Us (Again)

Filed under: Eustace Google Tagged: art, Christoph Niemann, design, Peter Schjeldahl, subways

We knew New Yorker art reviews were huge, but this huge? Via the Tomorrow Museum, news of an ersatz Peter Schjeldahl art review, "Canal Street Swoons," with classic New Yorker layout (more or less) and all, on a Brooklyn building. C-Monster, whose Flickr link this is, writes,

Proving that there’s never any shortage of excitement in the small and entertaining world of New York City street art, some super-meta conceptual type decided to paste a fake New Yorker critique about street art on the side of some building in Brooklyn. The prankster even attributed the “review” to the magazine’s art critic, Peter Schjeldahl.

I’m all for spoofing mainstream media, but, sadly, this piece doesn’t live up to its promise. For one, anybody who is gonna spoof the New Yorker better be able to deliver on the turn-of-phrase. This does not. (Sample sentence: “There is no sacrifice to putting this work on the street. That’s the street game, duh.”) On the content side, things don’t fare too well either. Someone risked arrest

(continued)

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"Early Next Year": An Adam Gopnik Book on Lincoln and Darwin

Filed under: Little Words Tagged: Adam Gopnik, books, history, nonfiction

From a Newsweek story by Malcolm Jones called "Who Was More Important: Lincoln or Darwin?":

As soon as you do start comparing this odd couple, you discover there is more to this birthday coincidence [of being born on the same day in 1809] than the same astrological chart (as Aquarians, they should both be stubborn, visionary, tolerant, free-spirited, rebellious, genial but remote and detached--hmmm, so far so good). As we approach their shared bicentennial, there is already one book that gives them double billing, historian David R. Contosta's "Rebel Giants," with another coming early next year from New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik.

Thanks to Brian Sholis for this one! (continued)

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"Love, Curiosity, Freckles, and Doubt": A Summer of Dorothy Parker

Filed under: On the Spot Tagged: Dorothy Parker, Dorothy Parker Society

Martin Schneider writes:

That line comes from "Inventory," a fantastic poem quoted in the latest newsletter from the Dorothy Parker Society, headed up by our friend Kevin Fitzpatrick. It's going to be a busy, fun summer for Dottie enthusiasts! Here's a quick preview.

The New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch, New Jersey, presents The Little Hours by David Bucknam, based on several short (continued)

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The Wavy Rule: You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

Filed under: The Catbird Seat: Friends & Guests Tagged: cartoons, comics, Paul Morris, The Wavy Rule

In the latest edition of Paul Morris's daily comic for Emdashes, "The Wavy Rule," the states of relationships undergo a radical shift, and so do the relationships of states. Click to enlarge!

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Not Reagan's Brain--Cartoonists' Brains!

Filed under: Headline Shooter Tagged: cartoons, copy editing, Drew Dernavich, newyorker.com, Zachary Kanin

A brand-new New Yorker blog has debuted: It's called The Cartoon Lounge, and, further, "A guided tour inside the brains of New Yorker cartoonists." There's already a post from Drew Dernavich and a reply from Zach/Zachary Kanin. Drew writes:

What will we be posting here? Words, pictures, drawings, videos, interviews, and links to other Web sites. We'll have guest cartoonists, and we'll even have guest editors from time to time who will share their humorous ramblings, such as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

We'd also like to make this interactive, so we've got an e-mail address for your feedback which is absolutely free, if you can believe it. We'll also have contests and quizzes and other ways to elicit the best of what our viewers have to offer. It should be fun. Stay tuned.

Aside from the fact that it's high time for The New Yorker to start closing up and lowercasing "website," I'm very excited about this virtual lounge, and am looking forward to lounging in it. (continued)

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The Wavy Rule: "Culinary Weirdness"

Filed under: The Catbird Seat: Friends & Guests Tagged: art, cartoons, comics, food, Ligaya Mishan, Tables for Two, The Wavy Rule

Last week, we introduced Paul Morris's new daily comic for Emdashes, "The Wavy Rule," named for Rea Irvin's signature wiggly line for The New Yorker.

Today's edition--like another of Paul's recent cartoons, which dealt with the ire of Gordon Ramsay--concerns fine dining; here, it's the especially captive kind. You'll notice some delectable details that were first served in Ligaya Mishan's recent Tables for Two review of Bar Q. Click to enlarge!

(continued)

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New Yorker Cartoons for Presentations- Download Today

Who she?

I'm Emily Gordon, reachable at emily@emdashes.com.

I'm an editor at PRINT magazine in New York City. I've worked at The Nation, Newsday, PEN America, and Legal Affairs. I've written for the NY Times Book Review, Salon, The Washington Post, The Village Voice... continued

Affinities | Blurbs

I welcome tips, questions, and comments about The New Yorker past and present, plus related events, links, typeface sightings, &c. To contact the magazine or send a submission, click here.

No fear: Everything you say or send is off the record unless we ask for your permission to use it.

This site is neither owned nor operated by The New Yorker magazine or Condé Nast Publications.

A few clips

Report: Learning to read with comic books edited by Françoise Mouly (for Print)
Interview: Designer Eleanor Grosch (for Print)
Review: Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis (for Newsday)
Review: The King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
Review: Does The New Republic's recent redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
Proposal: A more attractive MetroCard (for A Brief Message)
Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
Report: Eustace Tilley spruces up for The New Yorker's website redesign (for Print)
Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands (for Print)
Review: books about various New Yorker cartoonists by Liza Donnelly and Iain Topliss (for Newsday)
Profile: screenwriter and novelist Joe Keenan (for Newsday)
Review: The Complete New Yorker (for Print)

More clips.

Tell me more

They say that dashes “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like em dashes—emphasizes what’s between: in particular, between the lines, covers, and issues of a magazine close to my heart.

Primary sources

The New Yorker
Events listed by the magazine
Web resources: New Yorker writers and artists
Books, Organizations, &c.

Written and edited by Emily Gordon (plus various guest contributors), designed by Pretty, and illustrated by Inkleaf. Additional drawings by Carolita Johnson. Kissable pencil girl by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.

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