New Yorker magazine alert thread

the whole sepinwall project has been an intellectual dead end

Historically, there's something suspect about a story told in this manner, the way it tugs the customer to the next ledge. Nobody likes needy. But there is also something to celebrate about the cliffhanger, which makes visible the storyteller's connection to his audience—like a bridge made out of lightning.

yeah, that's pretty high school creative writing journal shit there

It's all like that.

Pervading these pieces is the idea that tv shows strategies are something to be "celebrated" or enjoyed communally or whatever. Like, more so than movies, really? Or plays or music? I usually watch TV in my shorts, by myself, and I'm perfectly happy to discuss whatever show I happy to be enjoying w/ friends but all this MODERN TV YAY! thing, gross.

Yeah, I totally don't like her. The overwhelming first person is a red flag for me. I find in the wrong hands first person to be a real crutch (see also: indulgent Gladwell intro to his own poor piece).

I really liked Remnick's off the wall but useful comparison of Bruce and Keef:

Springsteen came to glory in the age of Letterman, but he is anti-ironical. Keith Richards works at seeming not to give a shit. He makes you wonder if it is harder to play the riffs for “Street Fighting Man” or to dangle a cigarette from his lips by a single thread of spit. Springsteen is the opposite. He is all about flagrant exertion.

it's not television crit so much but kenneth tynan's long NYer piece on johnny carson from the '70s is incredible.

yup. that's all time

nussbaum doesnt really bug me. shes not nearly as weird as franklin; i thought her game of thrones review was p good. havent read in a while tho

xpost yeah that's good, also I was kind of bummed (in a good way?) to learn that Bruce choreographs and rehearses his fist-pumps etc.?

re: Nussbaum, also could you possibly pick a more bullshit straw man than "The Cliffhanger"? Thanks for yr concern but I really don't need my conscience eased re: enjoying tv shows with contiguous narratives and suspended action. I'm pretty okay w/ that actually. Also it's the dominant thing in our culture for half a century so, that

I thought the piece made a good point. That when you're playing before 60,000, you can only leave so much up to chance, especially when you're already spontaneously altering the setlist all the time. You can only have so many variables.

I get it, sure, but deliberately rehearsing a "look of exultation"...I felt kind of dirty learning that

Ha! You never want to know how the sausage is made...

it is so fascinating hearing that stuff about musicians. i heard about echo & the bunnymen rehearsing in a box-sized room & the singer doing all the "thanks for being here" "you're too kind" shit.

I get it, sure, but deliberately rehearsing a "look of exultation"...I felt kind of dirty learning that

― Hadrian VIII

Hey, Taylor Swift does the same thing.

Btw, re: the forensic linguistics article, was one of the guys in it the same dude that The Wire made fun of?

all nyer bloggers now have unflattering avatars, btw

http://www.newyorker.com/images/permanent/p290/perm_w-john-cassidy_p290.jpg

Subscription is expiring just as I'm moving. Am I going to get a better deal if I renew and change addresses or start a new one at the new address, or does it not matter?

mine lapsed a couple of months ago - i'm between places, so i'm going without until i've moved - & the re-up note i just got in the mail didn't offer me anything better than the standard subscription rate. was your subscription originally discounted? it's been a while since i saw any offers tbh.

I renewed my subscription after several months of "LAST WARNING" notices -- only to discover, after I renewed, that my last renewal was actually for TWO years, so the notices were basically just letting me know that it had been a year since my last renewal. (?) Anyway, now I have a subscription through sometime in 2014.

yeah, same here tipsy! in fact, i think that's happened to me TWICE, and both times i've been fooled and renewed for another two years. i should probably get someone on the phone, but i think i'm actually good through 2015 or so right now, even as my latest issue included a "LAST WARNING" card.

there is some messageboard talk saying you can call conde nast & be all 'c'mon, c'maaaaaan' & they'll knock $10 off it

i don't really know how a nyer subscription covers the cost of mailing the magazines & any subsequent letters they send you, it is a confusing economy

nyer is a money losing venture fwiw

i dont think so! pretty sure it turns a profit

Yeah they're smart with their costs -- they don't print many photos and always get some complete amateur to write their humor articles.

I actually forgot what Shouts & Murmurs was called for a second and wanted to refer to it as "Shits & Giggles"

would be a good name for the section in a nyer parody

xxpost i dont think anyone really knows

i dont think so! pretty sure it turns a profit

― max, Monday, July 30, 2012 10:37 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well no one but conde nast knows but the word on the street is its a prestige loss leader

Actually 90% of the venture's revenue still comes from Saul Steinberg's View from Ninth Ave cover

which stand to reason if you look at how much work is put into it compared to its ad pages xp

I resubscribed for $39 last October and got a letter last week saying "later this summer we'll be sending you your renewal invoice, just letting you know now. PS, renewal will be $69, kthxbye."

I love the weird outdated upper crust ads in the NYer - handmade safari hats etc.

I seem to remember Harpers having a great snobby personals section at one time where posters would rattle off advanced degrees and esoteric requirements. I guess that's off topic.

haha yes

dont know what street youre on! its either made a profit or been pretty close since the early 2000s. last few years were probly rough but its not like harpers or whatever

what r u even basing this on max

the only time i ever heard about nyer finances was wrt its editors - iirc the Remnick Era is cited w/turning it around & making it profitable? but then that might be wrt not spending money on a big wedding cake for tina brown to pop out of every time she entered a room.

I love the weird outdated upper crust ads in the NYer - handmade safari hats etc.

― Will Chave (Hurting 2), Monday, 30 July 2012 15:45 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha otm, also upstate schools for sensitive children
this thread has convinced me to nobly re-up at full cost when i get around to it, anyway

argh what was the harpers personal section called, something like "discerning singles"?

distracting shingles

what r u even basing this on max

― lag∞n, Monday, July 30, 2012 10:49 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"word on the street"?

i already took word on the street, maybe try talk of the town

As an Oberlin alum, I like seeing the ads for Kendall at Oberlin, the retirement community in Oberlin. For old people who like access to world class music performances, good film series, obnoxious college students, cornfields and economically depressed Ohio.

oh yeah, with the sheep right

i dont think so! pretty sure it turns a profit

― max, Monday, July 30, 2012 10:37 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well no one but conde nast knows but the word on the street is its a prestige loss leader

― lag∞n, Monday, July 30, 2012 10:41 AM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is also what I have heard from my friend 'the street', fwiw.

googling turns up a couple references to it turning profits in the late 90s/early 2000s. if its losing money its not losing money on the order of harpers, newsweek, etc.

let's write fanfic about it

I love the weird outdated upper crust ads in the NYer - handmade safari hats etc.

― Will Chave (Hurting 2), Monday, July 30, 2012 10:45 AM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i thought it would be a good idea to write a piece about the longterm advertisers in the nyer, like the guy who's still selling french berets 40 years later

So many adds for psychiatric treatment!

ads, even

i want to live in the basketweaving/potterymaking/afghanknitting communities for seniors that they push