New Yorker magazine alert thread

I couldn't make it through the Iran article because of the weird imposing sense of Seymour Hersh deja vu. The Italy one I struggled with for a different reason: it's just too depressing. I mean, there's sexism, and then this brand of Italian sexism to the bunga bunga degree. It posits Berlusconi as endemic of a pretty horrible, more-than-merely-macho culture.

oh nothing personal, leee -- i believe ms. levy is gay

The Bunga Bunga Degree is my favorite John Grisham novel

My old buddy (and Atlantic journo) Stephan Ferris (cousin of Anna Ferris, haha) is based in Italy and takes heat for calling out Italian misogyny. Fish in barrel, I know--but Euros always think USA is worse despite all evidence.

reading the acai article from a few wks back, really wanted a 'resulting paste' sighting

They eat the resulting think purple pulp with fish or game, or by itself, like soup.

also wtf w/ analogies to miley cyrus cmon dude

REPEATED analogies!

lol yes

i thought that article was a mad stretch because i'm not really seeing the "fall" part of the rise and fall and neither was the author--still kind of interesting to learn abt acai cause i knew nothing about it.

yeah, unnecessary framework

"Fall" is overstating it, but it seemed clear to me that there's been some backlash/fallout from acai's popularity.

oh nothing personal, leee -- i believe ms. levy is gay

Anyway, here's a good complement to Levy's Berlusconi article, more about the inherent dysfunction of Italian political institutions that lets someone like Berlusconi dominate the government.

I never knew how to pronounce acai before I read the piece, and tbh I kept forgetting how to pronounce it every paragraph or so and went back to the beginning for reference. And now I have no idea.

ah-SAH-ee i believe
i did the same thing

i like to say chee-POT-uhl just to annoy people

Suddenly I am very annoyed at you, forks.

I never knew how to pronounce acai before I read the piece, and tbh I kept forgetting how to pronounce it every paragraph or so and went back to the beginning for reference. And now I have no idea.

ha, i thought i had this nailed & then half way through the guy's like, we even have people saying ah-sigh-ee!, it's crazy

ah-SAH-ee i believe

ah-sah-EE. (There's an accent on the "i.")

The June 6 issue is fantastic -- the best this year. Highlights:

- Ariel Levy's batshit article on Silvio Berlesconi's pornocracy as well as a larger rumination on the culture of Italian machismo.

- Sy Hersh's latest article on Iran

- The history of Romneycare and the former governor's (and Bush administration's) enthusiasm for it in 2005 and 2006

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, June 4, 2011 3:38 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the article on contractors in iraq is really good & depressing too

I started reading the Romneycare one but couldn't finish it. It seems like a thousand articles have already been written about Romneycare and how Romney has to run against his own policy bc of how toxic Obamacare is in the Republican party, etc, etc and I couldn't figure out anything the NYer could add to it that would make it interesting. Does it get better?

i didnt read it, i dont like politics anymore, it makes me sad

the berlusconi article is a+++++++++++++++ though, skip to that one

yeah, i read that one. hilarious + insane.

xpost this was probably just new to me because i didn't follow the original passing of the MA legislation at all, but for me it added a bunch of useful details about how the bill was passed with a bunch of help from the bush administration, and how it was seen as a big republican victory.

there's a trend in the article on foreign contractors, in last week's issue, of some chance of modest advancement or progress being introduced mid-paragraph, before the next paragraph begins with Yet or But or However. pretty crushing.

Yeah, I was pretty depressed after reading that article.

surowiecki this week: "the banks thought they were taking advantage of uninformed consumers, but they ended up playing themselves."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8e76XpXD1o

as one might expect, the george saunders & jeff eugenidess stories in the summer fiction issue are really good

The Berlusconi one is Best of 2011 quality – such good reporting and insight.

I know an article is good when I end up getting stoned like a week later and summarizing it to someone half passed out

the whole situation is really as excruciating as it sounds but it keeps happening

the first half of the levy article is so full of just ... ammunition that it's almost like flipping through one of those bush-isms books. but then there's the second half, w/the vox pops with italians & silvio's cronies, pinching her cheek, etc. i'm not sure if it's because i was reading it in chunks, and had broken the momentum, but reading the last section, about the Ruby case (in which it'll be hard to prove something happened between two people who insist it didn't), i kinda almost felt sorry for Berlusconi, & could imagine his whole approach to paying crazy sums of money to young girls.

Has Saunders been putting out much stories recently? I could do with a new collection. Could do with a new Eugendides book for that matter

eugenides novel is coming in october

hadnt known that, good news

Yeah just checked there. Sounds intrsting.

alec baldwin article makes me...kinda like him? sorta sad that one of the best comic actors of our age doesn't really like comedy.

aleksander hemons article in the summer fiction issue was devastating

i was all but bawling in union square when i finished it

what's it about?

i have the summer fiction issue waiting @ home for me but am considering saving it for my vacation next month

his infant daughter getting sick with really rare cancer

i know what it sounds like! but

oh jeez

i have the summer fiction issue waiting @ home for me but am considering saving it for my vacation next month

― ideas are death (Lamp), Thursday, June 9, 2011 4:43 PM (49 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

tbh there are only three stories in it, and i didnt like the last one i dont think, maybe i need to read it again, and the saunders and eugenides are good but not amazing. dont expect to be squirreling away a treat, is all.

even one really good story would be exceed my expectations! i just dont have much to read atm

the little one-page starting out pieces are all really nice; one'll make me dig out the last fiction thing, which had salvatore scibona's story in, which i don't think i read on account of the shitty & i guess toxic joshua ferris piece in the same issue (SS also did this what i'm reading thing on the blog that i found somehow v endearing). there's also a kind of eloquent, cathartic, gentle fuck-you piece by tea obrecht. i think maybe i just like oral histories more than i do fiction, now. the pieces also have panels of some of the only clear white space i've ever seen in the magazine.

the scibona was my fave, definitely

i don't think i am going to struggle through something set in the '50s right now, but if my affection & admiration translated into perseverence w/reading i would pick up his book right away. apparently it is p good.

scibona saying "I didn't know what I was doing or what I believed in, except the United States of America and the Cleveland Browns."

made me think of brownie and ilnfl <3