New Yorker magazine alert thread

I always roll my eyes when people make jokes about how New Yorker articles are all like "the cultural history of the paper clip," because really? Have you ever actually read the New Yorker? But I have to admit, when I opened up this week's issue and saw there was an article about window washers, I was like, OK, maybe you have a point. (I'm sure it's interesting, though.)

i havent read that yet but i think window washers are fascinating

oh, it was a totally quintessential new yorker topic, but that doesn't make it bad

Really interested to read the window washer article - I remember when the writer was a singles reviewer for Select (old early 1990s indie music magazine). It's kind of "ah, the boy done good" moment.

That dinosaur article is loooooong but entertaining.

Is it me or has there been a dry run for the past 3-6 months? Some good stuff, but very little to press on a friend "you must read this" style

Yeah, thank goodness. I think I've finally killed three or four back issues in the meantime!

There have been a lot of "in the news/from the headlines" kind of pieces where I feel I already get the gist and don't need to get more details, however well presented. Also, their profiles have been kind of hit or miss, and they're usually pretty good.

yeah the profiles have been super dull

Can (superrich person) change the way we think about (something)?

can trent reznor make music with COMPUTERS!!?!?

Yes he can! He can make a computer sound like a cello crossed with a guitar! He can makes sounds ... THAT DON'T EXIST!

Times Square thing was interesting. There's an 8 foot variation in level!

Entertaining Thomas Mallon (author of a decent novel published last year on Nixon) article on the Checkers speech.

agree that the nyorker has been suckin

I can't find where it is upthread, but someone talked about rejecting their $90 renewal deal and somehow getting the lower-priced deal to continue. How was this done? Simple insistence on the phone or some technicality? I'm really bad at negotiating with companies to extend deals.

I've found that when faced with cancellation vs. compromise, they almost always choose compromise, so just insist on the old rate over the phone.

One time I renewed, then saw a subscription a little later for a lower rate. I called up the NYorker and asked them to give me the lower rate. When they said they couldn't do it, I told them I was just going to cancel, then, ask for a full refund, and then sign up at the lower advertised rate, and what was the point of that? She happily gave me the lower rate after all.

did you leave a positive yelp review though?

i cancelled the renewal over the phone and then they sent me a renewal notice for much less

I'm only a couple sections into Jill Lepore's thing on military spending, but omg so much good: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2013/01/28/130128crat_atlarge_lepore

I'm such a phone wimp, but I'll try forks' method!

fantastic article this week about amy bishop, the professor who shot 6 of her colleagues

I thought the Dr. Oz profile was fascinating. Here's a guy who is respected by his peers as the top of one field (heart surgery), rejected as the top of another (TV show host/entertainer), and outright ridiculed for dabbling in all sorts of sub-medical bullshit, which the magazine not so subtly hangs on the shoulders of his wife. The best part is when Oz gives some excuse for bringing on hacks and charlatans, and the writer flat out calls him out on it by saying "I have no idea what you're talking about" or something. Also, gotta hurt when a previous mentor praises you, and then immediately says he would not recommend you for heart surgery.

BATUMAN SIGNAL:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/02/meteor-in-the-russian-sky.html

The dug-up Joseph Mitchell piece <3 <3 <3

child pornography piece was difficult to read for about a dozen different reasons. civil commitment is pretty wrong though imo

man I let the nyer have push privileges so they could tell me when there's a new issue now theyre all hey why dont you spend some time reading this fn article this weekend, what're u doin dudes

Louis Menand's New Deal book review had several good recommendations.

xp gotta b stingy w/ ur push privs

rachel aviv newtown article is p good

one day I granted push to some stuff just to see

fuck push, i'll get to your app when i'm ready

what's that? there's a new issue? on a monday? you don't say

i'll get to your new issue when i open the app, which is the way i would always have got to your new issue

you dick bags

Art for the Depardieu piece is not, eh, flattering.

http://www.newyorker.com/images/2013/02/25/p233/130225_r23191_p233.jpg

tbh i have not seen a flattering image of depardieu in decades

some real anne ramsey shit there

That tank top is definitely more of a Depardon't

lol, he looks like a grandma

Just switched over to digital subscription since I'm vagabonding for 6-12 months. Going to take some getting used to after reading the print edition for, like, forever.

I just can't get over that Depardieu photo!!!

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/1/4/1357312724592/Gerard-Depardieu-009.jpg

That tank top is definitely more of a Depardon't

real lols.

Depardon't should enter the pop culture pun vernacular.

Purell piece was a long time coming, but I wanted more!

Catching up on a bunch of issues, I thought Rachel Aviv's Netherland, about homeless LGBT teens, was extraordinary.

Nussbaum's consistently good. She's a real fan, whereas many highbrow critics operate on the basis that TV is generally beneath them except the occasional quality documentary. She's making SFJ look even drier. His Atoms for Peace review was like a scientist's description of something on a microscope slide.

It's totally a matter of style, but I generally don't like Nussbaum, at least not in the mag. I've liked some of her blog posts, where the style works for her, but her essays have rarely offered me much in the way of insight. Like I've posted above, they're often just long lists of other shows she likes or liked, though she has shown glimmers of potential. (I should say I don't really like SFJ's writing in the mag that much, either; he is pretty dry but similarly unilluminating.) I've always been a fan of Lane (am I in the minority here?) because he's witty and funny yet informed and sometimes perceptive. I wish they had a TV person like that.

Love the Lane, hate the Denby.

maybe a more interesting question than why does nussbaum suck is

why does tv criticism suck, its all onion av club level shit abt like show runners and callbacks and character arcs and other meager depressing ways of being

why does film crit suck? why does music crit suck? does art crit suck? why does crit suck? everyone hates the denby. its what brings us together as a people. i like the lane okay. you take what you can get.

clone the menand. that's what i say. have the clones write the whole mag.