New Yorker magazine alert thread

Lena Dunham's piece is both really good sentence by sentence and also fits the stereotype of New Yorker lifestyle sentence by sentence.

the short story in the most recent issue was so empty and terrible it made me ashamed for having even read it i hope it was joke but i think it maybe wasnt

i think i got lulled into a false sense of optimism re: short fiction in the nyer cuz i liked the f scott thing and the one about the dude that cheated on his gf was enraging but also at least readable and the mavis gallant stuff was so good that i thought maybe this one might be terrible i mean i liked the maille meloy one about wedding proxies and i thought this one might be similarly likable if slight but instead it was just a collection of the actual worst things including a list of bands a fake person would like on facebook that made me sadder than anything

did you like the junot diaz one?

it made me angry but i liked the cadence of it and it was really engrossing although i wonder if everyone in boston isnt a racist they just realized that the narrator was a total piece of shit

actually everyone in boston is a racist n/m

haha yeah really

I think it's telling that a lot of these plagiarists are extremely prolific practically public figures with their fingers in many pies. Between the books, columns, TV appearances and speaking engagements, at some point they either simply must struggled to churn out copy or grow so complacent they think no one will notice. Don't believe for a second that word for word phrases, sentences and paragraphs make it in accidentally, unless by "accident" they mean they were sloppy covering up their plagiarism.

i have a feeling these guys have interns and grad students writing most of their stuff

"You there, kid ... go find me a New Yorker piece to rip off. Only the good bit, please, I'm in a hurry. Now off with you!"

things i never read in the nyer:

- fiction (can't stand it in columns)
- shouts & murmurs
- that fucking horrible shopping column.

I read the Shouts & Murmurs, which are short and occasionally good. Hate the shopping column. Totally forget the fiction is there except as a thank god reaction that there are 10 pages or whatever that I don't have to bother with. Sometimes I end up reading a book or collection by an author of one of those short pieces, and it's noted that it was excerpted in the New Yorker, and I think, huh, didn't read it.

Hate the shopping column, too.

actually everyone in boston is a racist n/m

― Lamp, Saturday, August 11, 2012 1:31 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is not technically true, they are just horrible people

is there really a shopping column btw

Out and About with Miss Spending Account, or something like that. It's this arch local shop-a-log that's rife with prices.

Like, the shopping column could be good if it were fictional parody, like The Cursing Mommy (which is getting its own book!). But alas.

haha how many times has this thread had the shouts and murmurs/Patricia Marx/denby conversation

6?

Also, we seem to be in an ebb period, without many pieces to talk about. Once the New Yorker hits a flow period, there'll be less talk of what's wrong.

ive srsly never noticed the shopping column

patricia marx

it's mystifying

'on and off the avenue'

i complain about it every 6 mos or so

That's about how often it gets published anyway

i also have never noticed the shopping column (is it in the happenings section?) either, for a second i thought you weirdos were referring to surowiecki.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/12/08/081208fa_fact_marx

btw whats up w their urls too

hey joe theres a fn basketball game on

ya im sort of watching

i also have never noticed the shopping column (is it in the happenings section?) either, for a second i thought you weirdos were referring to surowiecki.

― balls, Sunday, August 12, 2012 11:17 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It only comes around now and then. It's in with the feature articles I think

they usually run 'on and off the avenue' in the spring and in the late fall during xmas shopping season. it would be useful article if a) i wanted to know where in manahattan i could buy $350 salad servers and b) that answer to that wasnt 'p much anywhere'.

i do kinda want to know what REAL nyers think of the 'table for two' reviews theyve been doin lately tho

i've only eaten at one of those, i think -- neither the review nor my experience were very good.

i suspect dmr/max/dan are your go-to dudes

theyve been doing table for two forever haven't they? I don't have much of an opinion really, no better or worse than any other food writing in this city

yeah its probably about as old as the magazine its more that when i lived there it just seemed to be solely the purview of like nick paumgarten, wire fan and kinda terrible but lately it seems to cover more interesting places and be a little better or more interestingly written?

but i mean ive eaten at like one of the last half dozen or so places theyve reviewed so idk how reliable it actually is and was curious i guess

have u eaten @ lady gagas parents restaurant? that review just seemed otm

i actually like those lil table for 2s

- fiction (can't stand it in columns)

lol what!

probably meaning that NYer three column format--not ideal for fiction, at least for people used to reading it in books

i've eaten at a few table for two places both before and after reviews. it's sorta an easy way to find a hot restaurant i guess?

didn't know the new yorker yelped

at least they know enough to say 'people WHO yelp are a bunch of fucking savages'

saväges

jüst sö

- fiction (can't stand it in columns)

lol what!

― reductio ad burzum (flopson), Sunday, August 12, 2012 8:30 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

probably meaning that NYer three column format--not ideal for fiction, at least for people used to reading it in books

― Listen to this, dad (President Keyes), Sunday, August 12, 2012 9:00 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this

things i never read in the nyer:

- fiction (can't stand it in columns)

haha this bothers me too -- something about the format is distracting in a 'DON'T FORGET YOU ARE READING THE NEW YORKER' kind of way.

i like columns, you fold your magazine into a reading tube

whatever next, longform bibles

I had a friend who used to work at the New Yorker, and when they moved offices a few years back a lot of the staff was gifted stacks of old issues from the archives. My friend pointed out that as much as people like to bitch about the mag's layout, or especially its commercialization or whatever under Brown or even Remnick, it used to be so much worse! Like, 20 page stories on nothing with, like, ads running down the middle of the page and stuff. Total mess. I suppose anyone with one of those impossible to navigate Complete New Yorker collections can see for themselves how much more user friendly it has become.

- fiction (can't stand it in columns)

lol what!

― reductio ad burzum (flopson), Sunday, August 12, 2012 8:30 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

probably meaning that NYer three column format--not ideal for fiction, at least for people used to reading it in books

― Listen to this, dad (President Keyes), Sunday, August 12, 2012 9:00 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this

― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Monday, 13 August 2012 00:34 (15 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i understood this and my post was not 1 of confusion but of disbelief at such a particular or petty reason (not that nyer fiction is worth reading anyways but)