April 08, 2006

As Iago Is My Under-Secretary of Defense for Intelligence...

If the order were to be given for an attack, the American combat troops now operating in Iran would be in position to mark the critical targets with laser beams, to insure bombing accuracy and to minimize civilian casualties. As of early winter, I was told by the government consultant with close ties to civilians in the Pentagon, the units were also working with minority groups in Iran, including the Azeris, in the north, the Baluchis, in the southeast, and...
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Posted by greg at 04:02 PM

November 28, 2005

2005-12-05, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-12-05 Posted 2005-11-28 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ FLOOR WAR/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the war over the war in Congress. BEIJING POSTCARD/ POPPY, SHOPPING/ Peter Hessler traces the steps of Old Bush. VISITING DIGNITARIES/ GIBBONS/ Nick Paumgarten meets the lead guitarist of ZZ Top. TEXTURE DEPT./ WALING/ Ben McGrath attends a meeting of the Corduroy Appreciation Club. MOONLIGHTING DEPT./ MOB APPEAL/ Lauren Collins on a best-selling prosecutor. POSTSCRIPT/ CECILLE SHAWN/ Remembering the wife of the late New...
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Posted by greg at 10:34 PM

October 17, 2005

2005-10-24, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-10-24 Posted 2005-10-17 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ GAME PLAN/ George Packer on what the Republicans' troubles mean for the opposition. NOSEBLEED DEPT./ RARE AIR/ Nick Paumgarten visits an office with altitude. WHO R U?/ HARRIET 4 JUSTICE/ Mark Singer trades thoughts with Harriet Miers's alter ego. GOOD WORKS/ BED BATH & BOWERY/ Lauren Collins on the best-friend benefactors of the New Museum. EVERYBODY'S AN EXPERT/ DRAWING PITCHERS/ Michael Rosenwald on an illustrator with a secret....
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Posted by greg at 12:06 AM

September 16, 2005

So You Want To Read "Brokeback Mountain"

I shouldn't be surprised that I'm getting this question a lot these days. Here's what Ang Lee told the NYT's Karen Durbin:"When I first read the story, it gripped me. It's a great American love story, told in a way that felt as if it had never been done before. I had tears in my eyes at the end. You remember? You see the shirts put away in the closet side by side." Who could forget? When Annie Proulx's short...
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Posted by greg at 07:34 AM

September 03, 2005

Finally, New Yorker Articles Via RSS

Google News started indexing The New Yorker, and using this link, you can see the links of up to 100 articles from the magazine. Right now, that covers stuff back to July 31. +the source:new_yorker, also available via rss and atom [Google News, via robotwisdom]...
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Posted by greg at 05:37 PM

August 29, 2005

2005-09-05, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-09-05 Posted 2005-08-29 GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN MOVIES, THE THEATRE, NIGHT LIFE, CLASSICAL MUSIC, ART [that's all I could dig up.] THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ WAR AND ANTIWAR/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the President’s opposition—at home and in Iraq. TSK-TSK DEPT./ NOR’EASTER/ Ben McGrath on a stickler for storm names. PUBLIC SAFETY/ CAR SEAT LADY/ Michael Agger on a woman who's made child safety her business. THE BOARDS/ ALDA ONSTAGE/ Lillian Ross visits with Alan Alda...
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Posted by greg at 06:34 PM

August 22, 2005

2005-08-29, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-08-29 Posted 2005-08-22 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ SACRED AND PROFANE/ David Remnick on the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH/ SHAKEDOWN STREET/ Ben McGrath on how a block is making the “Sex and the City” tour pay. TROUBADOURS/ PICK SIX/ Nick Paumgarten shops for CDs with Richard Thompson. INK/ NOT A WORD/ Henry Alford hunts down a phony dictionary entry. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ MICHAEL KUBIN AND DAVID MOORE/ THE NUCLEAR CLUB/ Application for membership. DEPT....
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Posted by greg at 05:00 PM

August 15, 2005

2005-08-22, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-08-22 Posted 2005-08-15 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ Mired/ Hendrik Hertzberg on President Bush’s science of evolution. GONE FISHING/ Snakehead, the Sequel/ Nick Paumgarten goes hunting for a killer fish. CLOSE READING DEPT./ O.B.L./ Lauren Collins talks with Osama bin Laden’s editor. FIELD TRIP/ The Pre-Season Kid/ Ben McGrath on a prolific teen-age football writer. THE WORLD WIDE WEB/ Hello, Loneliness/ Evan Ratliff on an unlikely place to make friends. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ Joel Stein/ THE...
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Posted by greg at 08:58 PM

July 25, 2005

2005-08-01, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-08-01 Posted 2005-07-25 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ ROE V. ROVE/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts. THEME AND VARIATIONS/ BAG CHECK/ Nick Paumgarten observes new subway security measures. WIND ON CAPITOL HILL/ THE BRITNEY OPTION/ Adam Green on a pop-culture gimmick gone political. DEPT. OF MULTITASKING/ ONE-MAN SHOW/ Lauren Collins on the actor who is many Oompa Loompas. DEPT. OF EDUCATION/ THE GOOD NEWS/ Nick Paumgarten visits the city’s only evangelical...
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Posted by greg at 10:32 PM

July 18, 2005

2005-07-25, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-07-25 Posted 2005-07-18 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ NOT SCARED/ Adam Gopnik on the mood in London on the day of the bombings. MIRROR, MIRROR/ FACE-OFF/ Ben McGrath on what we might see in a candidate's countenance. DEPT. OF TRYOUTS/ LOW NOTES/ Ryan D'Agostino on the search for a new bass player at the Met. SPINOFF DEPT./ REPORTER GUY/ David Remnick on Stephen Colbert's new fake-news show. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ A FAREWELL TO ALMS?/ James Surowiecki...
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Posted by greg at 06:51 PM

July 17, 2005

2005-07-11 & 18, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-07-11 & 18 Posted 2005-07-04 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ DECISIONS, DECISIONS/ Louis Menand on Sandra Day O'Connor. SPORTS DEPT./ TEAM FOR SALE/ Hendrik Hertzberg on George Soros's bid for the Washington Nationals baseball team. AROUND CITY HALL/ THE PUBLIC WHAT?/ Ben McGrath on the race for the city's second-ranking post. FIGHTING WORDS/ WHATEVER/ Nick Paumgarten on why Russell Crowe got angry. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ ALL THE OIL IN CHINA?/ James Surowiecki on the Chinese government's...
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Posted by greg at 11:10 PM

July 04, 2005

2005-07-11 & 18, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-07-11 & 18 Posted 2005-07-04 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ DECISIONS, DECISIONS/ Louis Menand on Sandra Day O'Connor. SPORTS DEPT./ TEAM FOR SALE/ Hendrik Hertzberg on George Soros's bid for the Washington Nationals baseball team. AROUND CITY HALL/ THE PUBLIC WHAT?/ Ben McGrath on the race for the city's second-ranking post. FIGHTING WORDS/ WHATEVER/ Nick Paumgarten on why Russell Crowe got angry. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ ALL THE OIL IN CHINA?/ James Surowiecki on the Chinese government's...
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Posted by greg at 11:10 PM

June 27, 2005

2005-07-04, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-07-04 Posted 2005-06-27 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ POLITICAL PORN/ David Remnick considers the latest literature on Hillary Clinton. SUMMER JOBS/ THE ENRON EXAMPLE/ Alec Wilkinson attends a lesson on legal ethics. DEPT. OF EDUCATION/ DON’T LAUGH/ Lauren Collins on Peter Yarrow’s anti-bullying program. THE NIGHT LIFE/ OFF DUTY/ Ben McGrath at a taxi driver’s book party. ROME POSTCARD/ DOWN BY THE RIVER/ John Seabrook on the state of the Tiber river. LETTER FROM WASHINGTON/ Jeffrey...
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Posted by greg at 07:15 AM

June 20, 2005

2005-06-27, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-06-27 Posted 2005-06-20 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ WATCHED POT/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the Supreme Court and medical marijuana. D.C. POSTCARD/ TYSON'S CORNER/ David Remnick on Mike Tyson's last round. DEPT. OF SECOND ACTS/ TO BOLDLY GO/ Rebecca Mead on Leonard Nimoy, photographer. DEPT. OF URBAN RENEWAL/ STADIA MANIA/ Nick Paumgarten on Ry Cooder's latest album, and urban stadiums. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ COPS AND ROBBERS/ James Surowiecki on tracking down fraud. ANNALS OF EDUCATION/ Hanna Rosin/...
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Posted by greg at 10:42 PM

June 02, 2005

The REAL New Yorker Magazine Database

Wow. The New Yorker will publish its entire archive, indexed and searchable, on DVD this fall for $100 MSRP. [NYT, via kottke] Amazon's already taking pre-orders for $63....
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Posted by greg at 10:10 PM

May 30, 2005

2005-06-06, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-06-06 Posted 2005-05-30 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ LADIES FIRST/ Rebecca Mead on the new Laura Bush. THE CLOTH/ INTERFAITH AT WORK/ Ben McGrath at a gathering of clergy and judges in Brooklyn. ODD JOBS DEPT./ COOKIE MASTER/ Jeremy Olshan meets a fortune writer. ROAD TEST/ STINKY TOWN/ Field Maloney on the smells of summer. THE HOME TEAM/ THE PITCHER'S WIFE/ Lillian Ross goes to Shea stadium with Anna Benson. ANNALS OF EDUCATION/ Margaret Talbot/ Best...
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Posted by greg at 09:34 PM

May 23, 2005

2005-05-30, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-05-30 Posted 2005-05-23 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ BIG NEWS WEEK/ Hendrik Hertzberg on Newsweek, the White House, and the fallout from the Guantánamo allegations. THE BENCH/ GIRLS BEHAVING BADLY/ Jeffrey Toobin on a legal battle raging within a feminist art organization. ENDANGERED SPECIES DEPT./ THE VILLAGE HILLS/ Rebecca Mead on trying to save the mounds in Washington Square Park. DYNASTIES/ MODERN AT NINETY/ Calvin Tomkins on celebrating David Rockefeller's birthday. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ LOCAL KNOWLEDGE/...
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Posted by greg at 09:48 PM

May 16, 2005

2005-05-23, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-05-23 Posted 2005-05-16 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ BLAIR'S BUSHY TAIL/ Hendrik Hertzberg on Tony Blair's shrinking majority. DEPT. OF YESTERYEAR/ U.N. ON ICE/ Nick Paumgarten on the U.N.'s potential move to the outer boroughs. STREET LIFE/ TREE COUNT/ Andy Young on cataloguing Manhattan's flora. ICONS/ MR. G./ Adam Green on Robert Goulet, at seventy-one. DEPT. OF INSPIRATION/ WRITERS AT WORK/ Ben McGrath on special work spaces for writers, in Queens. A REPORTER AT LARGE/ Michael...
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Posted by greg at 10:20 PM

May 02, 2005

2005-05-09, This Week In The New Yorker

Posted 2005-05-02 Issue of 2005-05-09 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ THE MATT AND JUDY SHOW/ Hendrik Hertzberg on Judith Miller, Matthew Cooper, and the freedom of the press. DEPT. OF PALEONTOLOGY/ DINOMITE/ Adam Gopnik on new dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History. THE PICTURES/ TWO DAMES/ Lillian Ross on Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. ON PROBATION/ SURE BEATS WORK/ Jeffrey Toobin on Martha Stewart's probation. DANCE DEPARTMENT/ LEAVING AILEY/ Joan Acocella on a sixty-something dancer. LETTER...
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Posted by greg at 08:56 AM

April 18, 2005

2005-04-25, This Week In The New Yorker

Posted 2005-04-18 Issue of 2005-04-25 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ WITHOUT DELAY/ Hendrik Hertzberg on Tom DeLay's ethical and moral troubles. HOUSEKEEPING/ ELLEN BARKIN AT HOME/ Lillian Ross visits the actress and society wife at her East Side town house. THE CUTTING ROOM/ IN THE GARDEN/ David Blum on the controversy over a new documentary about Madison Square Garden. THE PICTURES/ A KIM JONG IL PRODUCTION/ Michael Shapiro on a Korean monster movie. NEW YORK JOURNAL/ Rebecca Mead/...
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Posted by greg at 10:44 PM

April 11, 2005

2005-04-18, This Week In The New Yorker

Posted 2005-04-11 Issue of 2005-04-18 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ WASTED ENERGY/ Elizabeth Kolbert on the fight over drilling in Alaska. DEPT. OF MERGERS/ WINNERS/ Rebecca Mead reports from Mr. and Mrs. Jack Welch's book party, at the Four Seasons. DEPT. OF NOISEMAKING/ THE ANGRY INVESTOR/ Ben McGrath on Daniel Loeb and what complaint letters will get you. LEGACIES/ THE NUT LADY RETURNS/ Tad Friend on a showdown in the Nutmeg State. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ IN YUAN WE...
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Posted by greg at 09:08 PM

April 06, 2005

The New Yorker Masthead Database

While I'm lackadaisically culling archival links from the New Yorker's website (to make up for the fact that they have no search or archive function), the New York Observer has emptied the scribbled-on scraps of paper and cocktail napkins from their pockets to piece together a nearly complete masthead for the magazine (to make up for the fact that they have none). 1) Is there anything else you need done, New Yorker? Can we pick up your cleaning, water your...
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Posted by greg at 10:06 AM

April 04, 2005

2005-04-11, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-04-11 Posted 2005-04-04 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ JOHN PAUL II/ David Remnick on the life of Karol Wojtyla. INK / BATTLE OF THE TABS/Ben McGrath on the recent flare up between the Post and the Daily News LOST TREASURES/ DEEP/ Adam Green finds an early diving chamber in storage at Coney Island. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ ALL TOGETHER NOW/ James Surowiecki on Sony and the dangers of going it alone. ART AND SCIENCE/ Richard Preston/ Capturing...
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Posted by greg at 04:59 PM

March 28, 2005

2005-04-04, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-04-04 Posted 2005-03-28 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ MATTERS OF LIFE/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the Terri Schiavo dilemma. DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION/ THE JOY OF TRAFFIC/ Nick Paumgarten joins a bumper-to-bumper race into town. DEPT. OF ENTOMOLOGY/ NIGHT VISITORS/Mark Singer on an outbreak of bedbugs. MOSCOW POSTCARD/ A NIGHT AT THE OPERA/ Masha Lipman on the latest from the notorious librettist Vladimir Sorokin. MEDICAL DISPATCH/ Atul Gawande/ Piecework/ How doctors make their money. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ Henry...
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Posted by greg at 11:07 PM

March 21, 2005

2005-03-28, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-03-28 Posted 2005-03-21 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ UNTRUSTWORTHY/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the what the Social Security fund means. WIND ON CAPITOL HILL/ SOFTBALL/ Ben McGrath attends the congressional hearings on steroids in baseball. THE BOARDS/ STREETCAR UPDATE/ Lillian Ross on a Tennessee Williams revival. IN YOUR FUTURE/ POPSTROLOGICALLY SPEAKING/ Nick Paumgarten tries out the newest personality indicators. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ LOCAL ZEROES/ James Surowiecki on the rash of home-town boys gone bad. SHOUTS & MURMURS/...
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Posted by greg at 12:00 AM

March 14, 2005

2005-03-21, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-03-21 Posted 2004-03-14 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ BOLTONISM/ Samantha Power on President Bush’s next Ambassador to the United Nations. STATES' RITES/ YOU SAY TOMATO/ Ben McGrath on pride and produce in the Garden State. HERE TO THERE DEPT./ STITCHES/ Lauren Collins takes a ride on the Yarn Bus. DECISIONS DEPT./ CHECK, PLEASE!/ Rebecca Mead on naming your price at Babu, in the Village. U.K. POSTCARD/ WINDSORS IN TIGHTS/ Anthony Lane on a ballet about the...
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Posted by greg at 07:16 AM

March 07, 2005

2005-03-14, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-03-14 Posted 2004-03-07 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ NUKE ’EM/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the sharp double edge of the Senate filibuster. DEPT. OF CALCULATION/ CRED/ Ben McGrath on a group of undercover homeless decoys. DEPT. OF AMPLIFICATION/ REPRIEVE/ Jeffrey Toobin follows up with a death-row inmate. TAXONOMY/ MONKEY BIDNESS/ Mark Singer on the naming of a new primate species. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ NET WORTH/ James Surowiecki on the struggle between management and talent. FICTION/ Anne Enright/...
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Posted by greg at 12:21 AM

February 28, 2005

2005-03-07, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-03-07 Posted 2004-02-28 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ BELIEVER/ Louis Menand on the life and death of Hunter S. Thompson. ON TOUR/ DR. JUICE/ Ben McGrath attends a Jose Canseco book signing. AWARDS SEASON/ THE POLLIES/ Adam Green on a proud night for political consultants. GIZMOS/ TWO PENS/ Tad Friend on recent advances in ink dispensation. SUMATRA POSTCARD/ OUR MAN IN MEDAN/ Dan Baum meets an American diplomat in post-tsunami Sumatra. THE POLITICAL SCENE/ Jeffrey Toobin/...
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Posted by greg at 07:24 AM

February 21, 2005

2005-02-28, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-02-28 Posted 2004-02-21 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ NEWSHOUNDS/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the White House press-corps pets. HERE TODAY DEPT/ GATED/ Peter Schjeldahl on what Christo and Jeanne-Claude did to Central Park. THE PICTURES/ ONE BILLION/ Daniel Radosh wonders how many people watch the Oscars. STRIPES DEPT./ NIGHT AT THE OPERA/ Rebecca Mead at the Met with West Point cadets. POSTSCRIPT/ MISS GOULD/ David Remnick remembers the New Yorker grammarian. LETTER FROM BASRA/ George Packer/ Testing...
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Posted by greg at 08:23 PM

February 07, 2005

2005-02-14 & 21, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-02-14 Posted 2004-02-07 TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ LANDMARKS/ Hendrik Hertzberg on what successful Iraqi elections mean. STREET LIFE/ TOO MUCH INFORMATION/ Adam Gopnik on the new rash of signage in the city. OFF THE RUNWAY/ LET THEM EAT CAKES/ Rebecca Mead attends a Fashion Week party at the Carlyle Hotel. E.U. POSTCARD/ PIGS MUST PLAY/ Anthony Lane on the odd boundaries of Europe. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ THE CUSTOMER IS KING/ James Surowiecki on the power brokers...
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Posted by greg at 05:39 PM

February 06, 2005

2005-02-07, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-02-07 Posted 2004-01-31 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ HOMELAND INSECURITY/ William Finnegan on what’s missing at the mammoth government agency. DEPT. OF PREDICTION/ THREE TO FIVE/ Ben McGrath on how long it takes to fix a subway line. HAPPY RETURNS/ KOONS AT FIFTY/ Calvin Tomkins at a birthday party for the boy king of the art world. HOMECOMING DEPT./ FOLLOW THAT CAB/ John Lahr on why “Taxicab Confessions” came back to New York. POSTSCRIPT/ JOHNNY CARSON/...
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Posted by greg at 09:56 PM

February 03, 2005

Golden Gate Bridge Meets Its (Suicide Docu) Maker

After all, Eric Steel didn't say he wasn't going to film the jumpers off the Golden Gate Bridge when he applied for a permit to shoot the bridge all day, every day, for a year. According to the federal officials who issued him the permit, he described his project as, variously, "a day in the life" of the bridge or "a powerful and spectacular interaction between the monument and nature." Steel captured 19 jumpers on film, plus "hundreds" of unsuccessful...
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Posted by greg at 07:26 AM | TrackBack

January 31, 2005

2005-02-07, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-02-07 Posted 2004-01-31 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ HOMELAND INSECURITY/ William Finnegan on what’s missing at the mammoth government agency. DEPT. OF PREDICTION/ THREE TO FIVE/ Ben McGrath on how long it takes to fix a subway line. HAPPY RETURNS/ KOONS AT FIFTY/ Calvin Tomkins at a birthday party for the boy king of the art world. HOMECOMING DEPT./ FOLLOW THAT CAB/ John Lahr on why “Taxicab Confessions” came back to New York. POSTSCRIPT/ JOHNNY CARSON/...
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Posted by greg at 09:56 PM

January 25, 2005

Yet Somehow, His Wife Just Didn't Understand

"There's a certain enjoyment in facing death, periodically." - actor Robert Blake discussing--no, but good guess--discussing his appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, as quoted in a 1978 New Yorker profile by Kenneth Turan. [Day-um. Turan kept a Carson Watching Journal in 1976 that uses words--in his JOURNAL--like 'exordium'? It's like College Bowl meets Television Without Pity.] Bonus celebrity murderer mention: O.J. Simpson...
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Posted by greg at 04:34 PM | TrackBack

January 23, 2005

Since "La Bohème" Was Taken

Quotes from two consecutive paragraphs of Peter Schjeldahl's review of "East Village U.S.A." in The New Yorker:There was something toxically facetious about the East Village versions of avant-gardism and la vie bohème... ...A suggested title for a musical version that would be truer than the formulaic "Rent": "What I Undid for Love."Yeah, and now that you mention it, where'd they get the formulaic "story" for West Side Story?...
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Posted by greg at 10:24 PM | TrackBack

January 17, 2005

2005-01-24, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-01-24 Posted 2005-01-17 NOTE: This week the Magazine published all its major pieces online for, I believe, the first time. THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ UNSOCIAL INSECURITY/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the Bush Administration's plans for retirement. IN THE AIR/ DO-GOODER/ Dan Baum meets a Red Cross volunteer with a bag full of cash. DEPT. OF EDUCATION/ SAFE JOURNEY/ Ben McGrath on sending a school hall monitor off to war. POSTCARD FROM THAILAND/ SEA GYPSIES/ Eliza Griswold...
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Posted by greg at 09:57 PM | TrackBack

January 12, 2005

2005-01-17, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-01-17 Posted 2004-01-10 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ FLOOD TIDE/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the response to the tsunami. COLD CASE DEPT./ VISITING PREACHER KILLEN/ Jeffrey Goldberg remembers a trip to Philadelphia, Mississippi. AFTER THE FLOOD/ THE THIRD "R"/ Akash Kapur on what follows rescue and relief. WRONG NUMBER DEPT./ NOT DIRTY/ Michael Agger meets a man stuck with a rapper's real name. DEPT. OF INQUIRY/ STUMPED NEW YORK/ Rebecca Mead on the librarians at the New-York...
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Posted by greg at 12:26 AM | TrackBack

January 03, 2005

2005-01-10, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-01-10 Posted 2005-01-03 THE TALK OF THE TOWN LETTER FROM KALAPET/ TSUNAMI/ Akash Kapur reports from the coast of South India. DEPT. OF MELTDOWNS/ BUSTED/ Rebecca Mead on Bernard B. Kerik’s place in the city’s history of scandals. POSTSCRIPT/ SUSAN SONTAG/ Joan Acocella remembers the writer, who died last week, at the age of seventy-one. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ THE CATASTROPHE PROBLEM/ James Surowiecki on insuring against disasters. ANNALS OF MEDICINE/ THE PEDIATRIC GAP/ JEROME GROOPMAN/ Why have...
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Posted by greg at 11:42 PM | TrackBack

December 27, 2004

2005-01-03, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2005-01-03 Posted 2004-12-27 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ GETTING WARMER/ Elizabeth Kolbert on the facts of Michael Crichton’s fiction. DEPT. OF SHOE LEATHER/ WALK ON/ Ben McGrath steps out with a remarkably thorough pedestrian. BAH HUMBUG DEPT./ PLUCK YOU/ Nick Paumgarten talks hawk with the pornographer Al Goldstein. SMALL WORLD DEPT./ CHEERS/ Ann Hodgman on a gathering of miniature-drink makers. DEPT. OF WARMTH/ VESTIBULE/ Ian Parker meets a reluctant door dresser. LETTER FROM AMSTERDAM/ Ian Buruma/...
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Posted by greg at 02:40 AM | TrackBack

December 13, 2004

2004-12-20 and 27, These Weeks In The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-12-20 and 27 Posted 2004-12-13 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ INVASION VS. PERSUASION/ George Packer on the making of democracy in Iraq and Ukraine. THE DIPLOMATS/ JUST WHISTLE/ Ben McGrath on a scandalous peacekeeping memoir. LAB NOTEBOOK/ MEET THE BEATLES, AGAIN/ Nancy Franklin tests the physiological effects of acute Beatlemania. THE BENCH/ HIGH TEA/ Jeffrey Toobin on the legal plight of a religious beverage. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ PUSH AND PULL/ James Surowiecki on how the market...
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Posted by greg at 10:35 PM | TrackBack

December 06, 2004

2004-12-13, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-12-13 Posted 2004-12-06 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ POWER PLAYS/ Philip Gourevitch on what’s wrong at the United Nations. LOAVES AND FISHES/ BIG WINNER/ Ben McGrath weighs the holiday sights. OUGHTA BE A LAW DEPT./ GOOD FOR THE GOOSE/ Dana Goodyear on the criminalization of foie gras. DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION/ MEXICO/ Nick Paumgarten takes in the truck-bed-beach scene. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ IT PAYS TO STAY/ James Surowiecki on local corporate incentives. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ Woody Allen/...
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Posted by greg at 11:21 AM | TrackBack

November 29, 2004

2004-12-06, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-12-06 Posted 2004-11-29 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ GOING DOWN/ John Cassidy on the declining dollar. THE CULTURE WARS/ WHY KNOW?/ Daniel Radosh on a group of Kinsey debunkers. DEPT. OF DETERRENCE/ FOR THE BIRDS/ Ben McGrath on the latest anti-pigeon efforts uptown. CLOSET-SPACE DEPT./ HOME ALONE/ Rebecca Mead on empty nesters. TOP THIS DEPT./ WHO’S COUNTING?/ Lauren Collins attends a Guinness Book of Records get-together. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ George Saunders/ Flooding the Zone ANNALS OF...
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Posted by greg at 06:45 PM | TrackBack

November 22, 2004

2004-11-29, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-11-29 Posted 2004-11-22 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ MORE WAR/ Philip Gourevitch on seeking true victory in Falluja. DEPT. OF SCHOOL SPIRIT/ FARM TEAM/ Ben McGrath on the eager Democrats of the New York City Council. EXCAVATION DEPT./ FOUND/ Peter Hessler traces rare bronze artifacts back to China. CONTRABAND/ PSST! GOT MILK?/ Frederick Kaufman meets a coven of black-market dairy consumers. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ WHY GOLD?/ James Surowiecki on the shared fantasy of a precious metal....
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Posted by greg at 12:37 PM | TrackBack

November 15, 2004

2004-11-22, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-11-22 Posted 2004-11-15 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ THE OLD MAN/ David Remnick on Yasir Arafat's legacy. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY DEPT./ ACT NOW/ Michael Specter on the activist Larry Kramer's latest speech. REVIVALS/ CINDERELLA STORY/ Nancy Franklin on "Cinderella" at City Opera. AT THE GALLERIES/ UNZIPPED/ Calvin Tomkins attends the opening of Timothy Greenfield-Sanders's porn-star portrait show. THE BOARDS/ RESONATING/ Lillian Ross visits Randy Quaid on the set of Sam Shepard's new play. ANNALS OF CULTURE/ Something...
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Posted by greg at 12:17 PM | TrackBack

November 08, 2004

2004-11-15, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-11-15 Posted 2004-11-08 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ WOE IS WE/ Hendrik Hertzberg on four more years. THE PARTY/ DEBOUCHING/ Ben McGrath visits William F. Buckley. WORLD OF TOMORROW/ WHAT IF?/ Dana Goodyear on an N.Y.U. class's reaction to the election. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ THE RISK SOCIETY/ James Surowiecki on the dangers of ownership. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ Andy Borowitz/ Pavlov's Brother LETTER FROM IRAQ/ Jon Lee Anderson/ Out on the Street/ The policy that is fuelling...
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November 02, 2004

2004-11-08, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-11-08 Posted 2004-11-01 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ THE CURSE OF CURSES/ Roger Angell on the Boston Red Sox' win. THE PICTURES/ NOT ENJOYING IT/ Larissa MacFarquhar talks with the actor Paul Giamatti. DEPT. OF AMBIVALENCE/ THE STRUGGLE/ Margaret Talbot attends an anti-gay-marriage rally. POWWOWS/ THE CROSSING/ Robert Sullivan on a canoe trip across the Hudson. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ MIXED MOTIVES/ James Surowiecki on corporate-insurance scandals. SHOUTS & MURMURS/Ian Frazier/ Kid Court FICTION/ Jonathan Franzen/ "Breakup...
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October 25, 2004

2004-11-01, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-11-01 Posted 2004-10-25 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ THE CHOICE/ The Editors on the coming election. [They used the first 3,856 words lay out Bush's incompetence, failings, deceptions, and dangers, and 677 words to endorse Kerry as a strong, principled corrective and source of hope.] A REPORTER AT LARGE/ Peter J. Boyer/ The Believer/ Paul Wolfowitz defends the war. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ Paul Simms/ Making a Difference FICTION/ Lara Vapnyar/ "Memoirs of a Muse" PORTFOLIO/ Democracy...
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October 18, 2004

2004-10-25, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-10-25 Posted 2004-10-18 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ QUESTIONS OF GREATNESS/ George Packer on the final Presidential debate and the choice ahead. INK/ PRIZE FIGHT/ Ben McGrath on the National Book Awards nominees. IN THE VAULT/ WEIRD LOVE/ Nick Paumgarten on the uncovering of Ed Wood’s last film. DEPT. OF QUANTIFICATION/ MURPHY AT THE BAT/ Ben McGrath contemplates the Red Sox and the science of misfortune. THE BENCH/ FAMILY PORTRAIT/ Dana Goodyear on a contested Klimt....
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October 11, 2004

2004-10-18, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-10-18 Posted 2004-10-11 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ STRETCHERS/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the Vice-Presidential debate. HOMEWORK/ TO THE EDITOR/ Daniel Radosh on a class of gifted young letter writers. CONTENDERS/ POST-PUNK/ Nick Paumgarten on the rocker-activist Krist Novoselic. DEPT. OF DETRITUS/ YARD SALE/ Field Maloney on a Central Park junk convention. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ FREE AIR/ James Surowiecki on giving up the digital spectrum. THE POLITICAL SCENE/ Larissa MacFarquhar/ The Pollster/ Does John Zogby know who...
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October 04, 2004

2004-10-11, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-10-11 Posted 2004-10-04 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ WINNING/ Elizabeth Kolbert on how the candidates fared in the first Presidential debate. VISITING DIGNITARIES/ DRY RUN/ Andrew Rice on an African election observer’s trip to America. THE SPORTING SCENE/ HARD GUY/ Ben McGrath on Tom Coughlin’s new rules for the New York Giants. POSTSCRIPT/ GARDNER BOTSFORD/ Roger Angell remembers a former New Yorker editor. THE POLITICAL SCENE/ John Cassidy/ Pump Dreams/ Can America get by without foreign...
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September 27, 2004

2004-10-04, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-10-04 Posted 2004-09-27 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ INDEFENSIBLE/ Frances FitzGerald on the President’s missile-defense fixation. THE WEEK IN DIGNITARIES/ HOT TICKET/ Ben McGrath at an appearance by the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. ROME POSTCARD/ BOFFO BEATITUDE/ John Seabrook on how Mel Gibson might have helped make a saint. OVERHAULS/ POINT OF VIEW/ Dana Goodyear on the Marriott Marquis’s revolving restaurant’s new look. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ GOOD GROOMING/ James Surowiecki on Michael Eisner and the...
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September 20, 2004

2004-09-27, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-09-27 Posted 2004-09-20 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ THE POLITICAL WAR/ George Packer on why Iraq isn’t hurting the President. THE BENCH/ DELETED/ Jeffrey Toobin on the history of wartime freedom of speech. PUBLICATION DAY/ SWING VOTER/ Adam Green drives around New York with Kitty Kelley. PARTISANS/ BIG CHEESE/ Blake Eskin on political dairy products. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ PENNY WISE/ James Surowiecki on selling to the poor. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ Ian Frazier/ Hooked PROFILES/ Judith Thurman/...
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Posted by greg at 09:19 AM | TrackBack

September 13, 2004

2004-09-20, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-09-20 Posted 2004-09-13 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ PRISONERS OF THE CAUCASUS/ David Remnick on the familiarity of Russia’s Chechnya problem. DOWN THE STRETCH/ CONVENTIONAL WISDOM/ Ben McGrath compares the Red Sox and the Yankees to Democrats and Republicans. THE HOME FRONT/ NAMES/ William Finnegan at a vigil for the first thousand troops who died in Iraq. DEPT. OF FOREIGN RELATIONS/ THE BORAT DOCTRINE/ Daniel Radosh reviews some televised misconceptions about Kazakhstan. BEQUESTS/ A HANDYMAN’S GIFT/...
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Posted by greg at 10:55 PM | TrackBack

September 06, 2004

2004-09-13, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-09-13 Posted 2004-09-06 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ IN MODERATION/ Hendrik Hertzberg compares the face of the Republican Party to its platform. DEPT. OF DISCOURSE/ CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE/ Ben McGrath roams the Republican Convention. GIVERS/ MONEY HONEYS/ Lillian Ross rubs elbows with the rhinestone Republicans. ON THE AIR/ YOUNG AMERICANS/ Dana Goodyear on a group of preteen pundits. CAMPAIGN JOURNAL/ Philip Gourevitch/ Bushspeak/ How the President works the crowds. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ Paul Rudnick/ Running Mates PROFILES/...
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August 31, 2004

2004-09-06 , This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-09-06 Posted 2004-08-30 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ UNDER FIRE/ Hendrik Hertzberg on Republican attacks. THE BIG SHOW/ SCOOPS/ Ben McGrath on the tricks of the news cycle. DEPT. OF IMPERSONATION/ REPORTING FOR DUTY/ Tad Friend meets a copycat Kerry. ON THE MOUND/ BITTERNESS/ Michael Shapiro on the curveball career of Jae Weong Seo. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ COME ONE, COME ALL/ James Surowiecki on how cities sell themselves to conventions. TASTE TECHNOLOGIES/ Malcolm Gladwell/ The Ketchup...
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August 23, 2004

2004-08-30, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-08-30 Posted 2004-08-23 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ G.O.P. CITY/ William Finnegan on the Big Apple’s Republican past. PUBLIC LIFE/ TRICKY DICK/ Tom Miller catches up with the twentieth century’s premier political prankster. THE WAITING ROOM/ AUGUST/ Adam Green on shrinks doing jury duty. AT THE BEACH/ FLIP-FLOP EMERGENCY/ Rebecca Mead on J.Crew’s beach delivery. THE NATIONAL INTEREST/ CANNONBALL!/ Field Maloney on the big dive. LETTER FROM ATHENS/ George Packer/ The Playing Field/ Iraqis and Americans...
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Posted by greg at 09:13 PM | TrackBack

August 16, 2004

2004-08-23, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-08-23 Posted 2004-08-16 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ DANGERS PRESENT/ Nicholas Lemann on the Committee on the Present Danger, recently re-formed, and the price of peril. THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL/ DRY/ Adam Green on the fortunes of America's Prohibition Party. AT THE BARRICADES/ JITTERS/ Jeffrey Toobin on New Yorkers getting ready to protest the Republican National Convention. HIGH AND TIGHT DEPT./ NEW JERSEY HAIRCUT/ Ben McGrath on the way of old-guard barbers. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ AUTOPILOT/ James...
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August 07, 2004

2004-08-09, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-08-09 Posted 2004-08-02 The Talk of The Town COMMENT/ CONVENTIONAL WARFARE/ David Remnick on John Kerry's acceptance speech. CONVENTION DIARY/ COMERS/ Ben McGrath on the moving and shaking at the Democratic National Convention. THE WAYWARD PRESS/ BOSTON TERRIER/ John Cassidy at the conservative Boston Herald. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/CASH KILLS/ James Surowiecki on the dangers of corporate savings. DEPARTMENT OF ENTERTAINMENT/ Adam Green/ Standup for the Lord/ The career of a Christian comedian. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ Andy Borowitz/...
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July 26, 2004

2004-08-02, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-08-02 Posted 2004-07-26 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ BIG DOINGS/ Roger Angell on what’s happening this summer. SPORTS DEPT./ THE FLOOR MOVED/ Ben McGrath follows a basketball court across town. THE BENCH/ U.S. V. STEWART, PART II/ Jeffrey Toobin on an embattled defense lawyer. THE LITTLE GUY/ CHEAP GAS/ Field Maloney reports on a renegade gas-station owner. ON THE SET/ CANDIDATE/ Michael Agger on the making of a meta-movie. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ Bruce McCall/ Do Not...
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Posted by greg at 11:15 PM | TrackBack

July 19, 2004

2004-07-26, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-07-26 Posted 2004-07-19 TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ SOCIAL MOBILITY/ Adam Gopnik on the city’s pedicabs, a sharp symbol of a new American reality. DEPT. OF EDUCATION/ THE PET GOAT APPROACH/ Daniel Radosh on a notorious reading workbook. CHEST OUT, STOMACH IN/ ALL THAT YOU CAN BE/ Karen Schaler on cosmetic surgery for soldiers. SECOND FIDDLE DEPT./NO. 1 AUTHORITY/ Ben McGrath interviews an expert on Vice-Presidents. THE OLD BALLGAME/ CAMARADERIE/ Lillian Ross on a baseball Hall of...
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Posted by greg at 07:21 AM | TrackBack

July 05, 2004

2004-07-12 & 19, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-07-12 and 19 Posted 2004-07-05 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ BLOWING BUBBLES/ John Cassidy on the dubious longevity of Alan Greenspan. DEPT. OF RABBLE-ROUSING/ THE CHICAGO PRECEDENT/ Ben McGrath on Pat Buchanan’s convention memories—and plans. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ PAYING TO PLAY/ James Surowiecki on the new payola. IN THE BELTWAY/ THE VICE-PRESIDENT’S DOCTOR/ Jane Mayer on what happened to Dr. Gary Malakoff. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ Patricia Marx/ Chain Letter LETTER FROM CAIRO/ David Remnick/ Going Nowhere/...
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Posted by greg at 07:21 AM | TrackBack

June 28, 2004

2004-07-05, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-07-05 Posted 2004-06-28 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ WARS AND IDEAS/ George Packer on ideologies of government in the new sovereign Iraq. DEPT. OF BUILDING/ WINNING THE WEST/ William Finnegan on a stadium, a highway, and the fate of the West Side. ON THE MAT/ TAKEDOWN/ Ben McGrath on the U.S. women’s wrestling team. INK/ GANGSTA CONTENT/ Adam Green on Don Diva, a magazine about the streets. DEPT. OF DISCRETION/ BY POPULAR DEMAND/ Dana Goodyear on...
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June 22, 2004

On Facing Among Other Things Facts

Now I fear that my entire life may be punctuated incorrectly (it is)....
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June 21, 2004

2004-06-28, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-06-28 Posted 2004-06-21 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ WINNER/ Hendrik Hertzberg on what Reagan did right. PEN PAL DEPT./ TIME SERVED/ Ben McGrath on what the shoe bomber Richard Reid is reading. SH-H-H!/ WORSE THAN HIS BITE/ Eric Konigsberg on hushing the city’s dogs. THE PICTURES/ GROSS AND GROSSER/ Michael Agger on a peculiar Asian film festival. RETURN TO SENDER/ BRAINS/ Marshall Efron on the plight of a literate letter. POSTSCRIPT/ Edmund Morris/ The Unknowable/ Remembering...
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Posted by greg at 07:25 PM | TrackBack

June 07, 2004

2004-06-14 & 21, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-06-14 & 21 Posted 2004-06-07 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ MONEY, MONEY, MONEY/ Hendrik Hertzberg on what cash can—and can’t—buy a candidate. EUREKA DEPT./ THE SUICIDE POEM/ Joshua Wolf Shenk reads confessional verse by, perhaps, Abraham Lincoln. THE ABSENTEE BALLOT/ A DEMOCRATIC IRAQ?/ Ben McGrath on the Donkeys in the Desert. YOU LOOK MARVELLOUS DEPT./ THE NEW PORTRAIT/ Dana Goodyear on vanity short films. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ PERK HOGS/ James Surowiecki on pampered executives. FICTION/ Aleksandar...
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Posted by greg at 10:12 PM | TrackBack

May 31, 2004

Yet Another NYMDb

Ms. (Katherine) Milkman (Princeton '04), who has a minor in American studies, read 442 stories printed in The New Yorker from Oct. 5, 1992, to Sept. 17, 2001, and built a substantial database. She then constructed a series of rococo mathematical tests to discern, among other things, whether certain fiction editors at the magazine had a specific impact on the type of fiction that was published, the sex of authors and the race of characters... Among Ms. Milkman's least shocking...
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Posted by greg at 11:22 PM | TrackBack

Geezers, Screenwriters & Directors

It's my guess that we cling to the harsher bits of the past not just as a warning system to remind us that the next Indian raid or suddenly veering, tower-bound 757 is always waiting but as a passport to connect us to the rest of the world, whose horrors are available each morning and evening on television or in the Times. And the cold moment that returns to mind and sticks there, unbidden, may be preferable to the alternative...
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Posted by greg at 11:08 PM | TrackBack

2004-06-07, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-06-07 Posted 2004-05-31 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ NEW-TIME RELIGION/ Hendrik Hertzberg on faith in the Presidency. DEPT. OF EXONERATION/ FACE IN THE CROWD/ Jeffrey Toobin on a televised alibi. ROME POSTCARD/ ASK PASQUINO/ John Seabrook on how Rome is preparing for Bush’s visit. REËNACTMENT/ BURR VS. HAMILTON/ Ben McGrath meets the winner of an upcoming duel. DEPT. OF INVENTION/ INCOMPREHENSIBLE/ Alec Wilkinson rubs brains with dorkbots. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ Evan Eisenberg/ Bushido: The Way of...
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Posted by greg at 10:12 PM | TrackBack

May 24, 2004

2004-05-31, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-05-31 Posted 2004-05-24 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ RISK MANAGEMENT/ Elizabeth Kolbert on the 9/11 Commission and what’s keeping us from preparing for terrorist attacks. HOLLYWOOD POSTCARD/ DOPPELGÄNGERS/ Kevin Conley reports from the stunt-doubles awards show. INK/ A BOOK IN YOU/ Daniel Radosh on bloggers, book deals, and an aspiring literary agent. [Related: Choire's back from a vacation spent, if this acid is any indication, peddling a book proposal. Welcome home. Suckah.] ON THE BALLOT/ FUTURE...
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Posted by greg at 11:10 AM | TrackBack

May 17, 2004

2004-05-24, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-05-24 Posted 2004-05-17 THE TALK OF THE TOWN AT THE MUSEUMS/ A PICASSO FACE-LIFT/ Calvin Tomkins admires "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon." THE PICTURES/ WRECKED AGAIN/ Tad Friend considers the city’s prime place in the disaster-film genre. DRY RUN DEPT./ SH-H-H/ Leo Carey hears a silent movement performed on the piano. DEPT. OF PREVENTION/ PITCHING RUBBERS/ Ben McGrath on a South African cast of talking prophylactics. COMMENT/ UNCONVENTIONAL WAR/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the consequences of bending the rules of...
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Posted by greg at 04:20 PM | TrackBack

May 10, 2004

2004-05-17, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-05-17 Posted 2004-05-10 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ HEARTS AND MINDS/ David Remnick on the failures at Abu Ghraib. URBAN STUDIES/ CITIES AND SONGS/ Adam Gopnik talks with the visiting urban critic Jane Jacobs. INK/ ISN’T IT ROMANTIC?/ Rebecca Mead on the pulp author Melanie Craft. UP TO HERE DEPT./ A KERRY REPUBLICAN/ Eric Konigsberg on a growing crowd of party drifters. THREADS/ FAMILY BUSINESS/ Lillian Ross meets three generations of haberdashers. ANNALS OF NATIONAL SECURITY/...
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Posted by greg at 12:54 AM | TrackBack

May 03, 2004

2004-05-10, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-05-10 Posted 2004-05-03 (and 2004-04-30) THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ LOSING: THE VIRUS/ Roger Angell on the slightly wounded pride of the Yankees. DEPT. OF PREDICTION/ COMPLEX PROCESS/ Ben McGrath on foretelling Presidential outcomes by reading between the lines. ON THE HUSTINGS/ THE CANDIDATE/ Alec Wilkinson on a onetime longshoreman and retired State Supreme Court judge who’s running for Congress. DEPT. OF OPINION/ A BOTTLE OF WINE/ Field Maloney spends an afternoon with a master British...
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Posted by greg at 07:32 AM | TrackBack

April 26, 2004

2004-05-03, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-05-03 Posted 2004-04-26 THE TALK OF THE TOWN POSTSCRIPT/ David Remnick remembers Philip Hamburger COMMENT/ ON THE AIR/ Elizabeth Kolbert on the President’s murky environmental policy. THE MOVEMENT/ CHANGES/ Rebecca Mead attends a feminist-movement reunion. DEPT. OF STYLE/ WORD PROBLEM/ Gary Bass on defining genocide at the Times. SPRING FEVER DEPT./ SUBSTITUTE/ Austin Kelley examines the Columbia teaching assistants’ strike. SHOUTS & MURMURS/ Christopher Buckley/ Man of Attack LETTER FROM BAGHDAD/ Jon Lee Anderson/ The Uprising/ Confrontations...
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Posted by greg at 01:13 AM

April 12, 2004

2004-04-19 & 26, This Week In The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-04-19 and 26 Posted 2004-04-12 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ ESCALATION/ David Remnick on the widening war in Iraq. OUR CONSTABULARY/ WANTED/ Ben McGrath on the secret life of city marshals. THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL/ PARDON?/ Joshua Kurlantzick on what’s bad about John Kerry’s good French. CAMPUS POSTCARD/ A PILE OF PAPER/ Evan Ratliff on a collegiate parody publication. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ HAIL TO THE GEEK/ James Surowiecki on how the Bush Administration has politicized economic data....
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Posted by greg at 08:02 AM

April 05, 2004

2004-04-12, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-04-12 Posted 2004-04-05 TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ RELUCTANT WITNESSES/ Hendrik Hertzberg on how the White House still isn’t coöperating with the September 11th commission. THE RADIO DIAL/ DUMBASSIFICATION/ Elizabeth Kolbert on the début of Chuck D’s public-radio show. ON THE HORN/ 976-GONE/ Nick Paumgarten on New York’s information-hotline king. PEPE LE PEW DEPT./ BRUSH-OFF/ Liesl Schillinger on the French, foreign relations, and drinking in the city. ["Or maybe it was a question of chic. I do...
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Posted by greg at 08:20 AM

March 29, 2004

2004-04-05, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-04-05 Posted 2004-03-29 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ THE WAR OVER THE WAR/ Mark Danner on Richard Clarke and the lessons of Iraq. THE WATERFRONT/ OIL SPILL/ Ben McGrath chases the spill in Queens. DEPT. OF DEFILEMENT/ NECK FACE/ Dana Goodyear on a mischievous New York artist. THRILL OF VICTORY DEPT./ PIZZA GUY/ Field Maloney in Staten Island with a freestyle-pizza-toss champ. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ PUNCTUALITY PAYS/ James Surowiecki on Ecuadoreans’ crusade against lateness. SHOUTS &...
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Posted by greg at 07:33 PM

March 24, 2004

Four New Yorker Writers Online

In addition to Susan Orlean (whose website includes a weblog by Jason Kottke for the film Adaptation) Rebecca Mead, Malcolm Gladwell, and Michael Specter all provide archives of their writing for the New Yorker on their personal websites: Rebecca Mead breaks out articles, Talk of the Town pieces, and reviews into three pages. Malcolm Gladwell lists his articles and Talk of the Town pieces on one giant archive page. Michael Specter does the same thing: one long archive page. The...
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Posted by greg allen at 06:50 PM

March 22, 2004

2004-03-29, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-03-29 Posted 2004-03-22 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ AFTER MADRID/ David Remnick on what the train bombings in Spain and the election that followed mean for the world. ON THE CLOCK/ JAM OFF/ Nick Paumgarten on the backstage scene at the jam-band awards. POSTCARD FROM BAGHDAD/ STREET CRIME/ Jon Lee Anderson on how the city is now a much more dangerous place. THE WIRED WORLD/ THE REAL ORKUT/ Jesse Lichtenstein on the eponymous member of a...
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Posted by greg allen at 10:29 PM | Comments (1)

March 15, 2004

2004-03-22, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-03-22 Posted 2004-03-15 THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ VICE SQUADS/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the search for Kerry’s right-hand man. THE BEAT/ MAN BLAMES DOG/ Ben McGrath on a wink-catching drug-sniffing canine. DEPT. OF DINING/ AFTERTASTE/ Adam Gopnik bids adieu to La Côte Basque. HIGHER LEARNING/ MAHARISHI PREP/ Rebecca Mead on the teen-age Transcendental Meditation craze. DEPT. OF HOOPLA/ REAL BOHEMIANS/ Dana Goodyear meets the poet Jane Mayhall. LETTER FROM AFGHANISTAN/ Kathy Gannon/ Road Rage/ Risks on...
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Posted by greg allen at 06:38 PM | Comments (0)

March 08, 2004

2004-03-15, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-03-15 Posted 2004-03-08 The Talk of The Town COMMENT/ WEDDING BLITZ/ Hendrik Hertzberg on why young conservatives are supporting gay marriage. FIRST PERIOD/ SLUMP/ Alec Wilkinson on Mark Messier and the forlorn sport of hockey. SECOND PERIOD/ RINK RAT IN CHIEF?/ Ben McGrath on John Kerry’s hockey days. THIRD PERIOD/ PUCK FLICK/ Nick Paumgarten watches "Miracle" with Igor Larionov. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ BRING ON THE NANOBUBBLE/ James Surowiecki on how buzzwords sell on Wall Street. LETTER FROM...
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Posted by greg allen at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)

March 01, 2004

2004-03-08, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-03-08 Posted 2004-03-01 The Talk of The Town COMMENT/ RECKLESS DRIVER/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the Ralph Nader candidacy. GROVES OF ACADEME/ PAST AND PRESENT PASSIONS/ David Remnick gets the religion scholar Elaine Pagels’s take on Mel Gibson’s movie. FROM RUSSIA/ THE PUTIN TOOTHPICK/ Masha Lipman notices that the Russian President’s face is turning up everywhere. THE BOARDS/ MORE/ Liesl Schillinger on how Yeardley Smith is getting past Lisa Simpson. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ THE GOOD FIGHT/ James Surowiecki...
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Posted by greg allen at 08:24 PM | Comments (1)

February 23, 2004

2004-03-01, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-03-01 Posted 2004-02-23 The Talk of TheTown COMMENT/ TEN YEARS AFTER/ George Packer on fostering democracy in Haiti. ON DECK/ NOTHING BUT THE BEST/ Ben McGrath considers A-Rod’s welcome to the Yankees. JUST LOOKING/ A NEW MALL/ Adam Gopnik browses in the new Time Warner Center. OLD FLAMES/ THE GUARD YEARS/ Jane Mayer talks to an ex-girlfriend of George Bush’s from the Vietnam era. VERSE/ DUET ON MARS/ A poem by John Updike. CAMPAIGN JOURNAL/ LABOR PAINS/...
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Posted by greg allen at 11:56 PM | Comments (0)

February 09, 2004

2004-02-16 & 23, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-02-16 Posted 2004-02-09 The Talk of The Town COMMENT/ WARRIORS/ Hendrik Hertzberg on the battle readiness of Bush and Kerry. THE BENCH/ STAR WITNESS/ Jeffrey Toobin at the Martha Stewart trial. DESIGN DEPT./ CITY LIGHTS/ Ben McGrath gets turned on to street lamps. NEW KID ON THE BLOCK DEPT./ NAME THIS JOINT/ Dana Goodyear on an anonymous East Village falafel restaurant. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ THE PIPELINE PROBLEM/ James Surowiecki on what’s ailing big pharmaceutical companies. LETTER FROM...
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Posted by greg allen at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)

February 02, 2004

2004-02-09, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-02-09 Posted 2004-02-02 The Talk of The Town COMMENT/ BLAME GAME/ John Cassidy on the weapons inspector David Kay’s testimony to Congress. YOU DON’T SAY DEPT./ CHEW ON/ Ben McGrath considers the newest mental booster—gum chewing. WORKS IN PROGRESS/ TONY STEW/ Rebecca Mead attends a reading of Tony Kushner’s unfinished play. TRACKS/ THE MOUSE THAT REMIXED/ Ben Greenman on the making of "The Grey Album." THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY/ James Surowiecki on Conrad Black’s fatal...
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Posted by greg allen at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

January 26, 2004

2004-02-02, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-02-02 Posted 2004-01-26 The Talk of The Town COMMENT/ UNSTEADY STATE/ Hendrik Hertzberg parses the President?s State of the Union address. RELOCATION DEPT./ NET LOSS/ Ben McGrath on the Brooklyn Nets? new arena, possibly. LONDON POSTCARD/ DARK MATERIAL/ Louis Menand on Britain?s latest pop-mythology production. THE PICTURES/ AGAINST TYPE/ Hilton Als catches up with Charlize Theron. ELECTION YEAR/ SEVENTEEN OTHER IMPORTANT SWING VOTING GROUPS/ Zev Borow on whom not to forget. CAMPAIGN JOURNAL/ OUT OF IOWA/ Philip...
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Posted by greg allen at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)

January 20, 2004

2004-01-26, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-01-26 Posted 2004-01-19 The Talk of The Town COMMENT/ TAXING/ John Cassidy on Paul O?Neill?s deficit message. HAUNTS/ ECTOPLASM!/ Ben McGrath on a ghost, perhaps, at the Maritime Hotel. HEY, PAL DEPT./ OLD HACK/ David Owen hails a taxi historian. GOOD WORKS/ BARELY SHAVERS/ Field Maloney on a group that?s growing mustaches for charity. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ BIG SPACE/ James Surowiecki on the billions behind Bush?s space program. ANNALS OF MEDICINE/ Jerome Groopman/ The Grief Industry/ Does...
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Posted by greg allen at 08:20 PM | Comments (0)

January 12, 2004

2004-01-19, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue of 2004-01-19 Posted 2004-01-12 The Talk of The Town THE SPORTING LIFE/ HOMECOMING/ Ben McGrath watches Stephon Marbury’s Madison Square Garden début in Coney Island. LOST AND FOUND/ ONE GLOVE/ Nick Paumgarten meets a lady who hunts for lost mittens. HOUSING DEPT./ BUILD YOUR OWN/ Lauren MacIntyre on a couple’s quest to start from scratch. CHECKING IN/ CLEAN GENE/ Calvin Tomkins on Eugene McCarthy’s Presidential preferences. COMMENT/ LATE REVIEW/ Roger Angell on Robert McNamara and "The Fog of...
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Posted by greg allen at 01:54 PM | Comments (0)

January 05, 2004

2004-01-12, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue: 2004-01-12 Posted: 2004-01-05 The Talk of The Town COMMENT/BEST OF THE "BEST"/ Louis Menand on the art of the Top Ten. COLLECTORS/ SQUISHED/ Ben McGrath on the dangers of hoarding. [no, you didn't read this story yet. You read the Times' story on the dangers of hoarding. Collect'em all!] FOSSIL DEPT./ HERE TODAY/ Nick Paumgarten on a department departing the Museum of Natural History. INK/ STILL HAPPENING/ Adam Green meets the last of the great press agents. THE...
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Posted by greg allen at 09:54 AM | Comments (0)

December 15, 2003

2003-12-22 & 29, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue: 2003-12-22 and 29 Posted: 2003-12-15 The Talk of The Town COMMENT/ WINNING AND LOSING/ Philip Gourevitch on how Iraq resembles Algeria. PERILS/ SURVIVOR: HOLIDAY EDITION/ Nick Paumgarten prepares for the worst. THE BENCH/ SILLY OLD BEAR V. MOUSE/ Jeffrey Toobin on the characters in a Los Angeles court case. THE STUMP/ DEAN WAY UPTOWN/ Ben McGrath at the Gore endorsement in Harlem. NOTICE/ NOBITUARY/ Andy Borowitz remembers the not yet departed. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ GOING DUTCH/ James Surowiecki...
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December 08, 2003

2003-12-15, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue: 2003-12-15 Posted: 2003-12-08 The Talk of The Town COMMENT/ HAPPY DAYS/ John Cassidy on whether the boom is for real. SEASON'S GREETING/ BRUSH WITH POWER/ Ben McGrath on the artist behind this year’s White House Christmas card. THE GOOD FIGHT/ WHEN EDIBLES ATTACK/ Rebecca Mead reports from the Food Allergy Ball in Manhattan. ON THE BLOCK/ MAKE IT FUNNY/ Tad Friend on how members of the National Lampoon staff went up for sale, at bargain prices. THE FINANCIAL...
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Posted by greg allen at 08:51 AM | Comments (0)

December 01, 2003

2003-12-08, This Week in The New Yorker

Issue: 2003-12-08 Talk of The Town COMMENT/ DEMOCRACY HYPOCRISY/ Nicholas Lemann on what Bush’s love of liberty will deliver. INK/LORD BLACK/ John Cassidy on the F.D.R. biographer and alleged scoundrel Conrad Black. DEPT. OF SOUND/NO. 9/Seth Mnookin talks to Al Green about music, God, and microphones. WELLFLEET POSTCARD/ THE OFF-SEASON/ Philip Hamburger on what’s shaking on the Cape. THE SKY LINE/ MEMORIES/ Paul Goldberger on the World Trade Center memorial. ANNALS OF LAW/ Jeffrey Toobin/ The Great Election Grab/...
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Posted by greg allen at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)

November 24, 2003

This Week in The New Yorker, a new service of greg.org

The New Yorker used to not be able to be bothered to publish letters to the editor. For a time, Spy graciously stepped into the breach, printing and answering reader comments for them. Times and editors change, and now instead of letters, the magazine chooses to vex their readers by not offering indices of back issues online. The magazine takes, from an information architecture standpoint, an uncommon approach to its old online content. The site's From The Archive offers...
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Posted by greg allen at 12:27 PM | Comments (2)

October 27, 2003

2003-10-27, Talk of The Town

TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ RUSH IN REHAB/ Hendrik Hertzberg on pill-popper Rush Limbaugh's hypocrisy. S.I. DISPATCH/ THE WRECK/ Ben McGrath on the reaction to the Staten Island Ferry disaster. DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY/ NOT LOST IN TRANSLATION/ Boris Fishman witnesses a major kissing of Mikhail Gorbachev at The Pierre. DEPT. OF SIGNAGE/THE MAN AND THE HAND/ Nick Paumgarten talks about the walking man disappearing from the "don't walk" signs. DEPT. OF REMEMBERING/ TWO FROM BERLIN/ Jane Kramer talks September 11th memorials...
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Posted by greg allen at 07:29 PM

October 20, 2003

2003-10-20, Talk of the Town, Some Critics

TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ MOVIE STRUCK/ Roger Angell on a life of afternoon cinema. IN THE WINGS/ POLL STARS/Anthony Lane on the screen-to-stump phenomenon. PLAY BALL/ BLEACHER CREATURES/ Ben McGrath on how the crowd goes wild. ON THE AIR/ SUPER, SUPER, SUPER!/ Tad Friend on Sir David Frost’s axis of satire. POSTSCRIPT/ WILLIAM STEIG/ Roger Angell remembers the late artist. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ RIGHT TRADE, WRONG TIME/ James Surowiecki on the late-trading scandal. THE CRITICS THE THEATRE/ HE SAID,...
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Posted by greg allen at 07:34 PM

October 14, 2003

2003-10-13, Talk of The Town

THE TALK OF THE TOWN COMMENT/ SOLO ACT/ Elizabeth Kolbert on the President’s lonely ride. DEPT. OF SPIN/ PACE YOURSELF/ Ben McGrath at last week’s Democratic debate. SHOWTIME/ LAWYER WALKS INTO A BAR/ Ben McGrath at a talent show for New Jersey lawyers. POSTSCRIPT/ GEORGE PLIMPTON/ David Remnick on the writer and Paris Review editor. THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ THE COUP DE GRASSO/ James Surowiecki on the crime of being overpaid....
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Posted by greg allen at 09:21 PM

October 13, 2003

2003-10-13, Talk of the Town

TALK OF THE TOWN THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL/ THE "D" WORD/ Jane Mayer on the long shadow of Michael Dukakis. THE HUMAN CONDITION/ AGELESS, GUILTLESS/ Adam Green visits the psychotherapist Albert Ellis’s ninetieth birthday party. MAIN EVENT/ AND IN THIS CORNER/ Ben McGrath watches a talk-radio T.K.O. DEPT. OF DIGESTION/ A MAALOX MOMENT/ Howard Kaplan learns the finer points of sword swallowing. CASUAL/ GEORGE W. BUSH, NEWS JUNKIE/ Andy Borowitz on the White House grapevine. COMMENT/ FRENCH KISSING/ Adam Gopnik on...
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Posted by greg allen at 07:40 PM

September 10, 2003

New Yorker on the WTC memorial and rebuilding

I'm a Paul Goldberger fan, and mad praise for his dogged reporting, following Daniel Libeskind around the country, but I'm not getting anything new from the profile in this week's New Yorker. When I schmoozed him last spring, Goldberger talked with great relish about digging in and laying out the powerful forces shaping the WTC rebuilding process. But this article comes too late to illuminate Libeskind's POV on the Silverstein-Childs hubbub, and too early to capture his reaction to the...
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Posted by greg allen at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)

August 16, 2003

On the Under-heralded Designer of The WTC Memorial Site

Part Two of a Washington Post series on the rebuilding of the WTC features George Tamaro, one of the original engineers of the slurry wall which is the centerpiece of Libeskind's memorial site design. The more I think about it, the more similarities I find between this aspect of the Libeskind proposal and Lochnagar Crater, the powerful, preserved, accidental memorial to WWI's Battle of the Somme. [This crater was central to my first short film, Souvenir November 2001, where a...
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Posted by greg allen at 07:46 PM | Comments (0)

July 08, 2003

On the artist in Taos

Untitled #7, 1999, Agnes Martin image: zwirnerandwirth.com Lillian Ross makes nice as she hangs out with Agnes Martin, master of minimalistic painting, in Taos. It sounds simple, but don't bother trying this at home: "You paint vertically, but the paintings hang horizontally—there are no drips that way.” In April, Zwirner & Wirth had a small show spanning Martins' five decades of work....
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Posted by greg allen at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)

May 30, 2003

Bloghdad.com/Anthony_Lane_Fanclub

Maybe it was the way Rory flaunted his expense account by overpaying for pizza. Maybe it was the promise of more back issues of the New Yorker, (Anthony Lane's X2 review gets a specific mention. Whose yer publicist, Tony? Day-amn!) Whatever, it worked. The Guardian's Rory McCarthy meets, profiles, and signs Salam Pax to write Baghdad Blog for the paper. It'll be what Britons call a "fortnightly" gig. [putting that in cross-Atlantic perspective: less than Tina Brown, Columnist but far...
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Posted by greg allen at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2003

Something about this iLoo thing still stinks

iTunes, iPod, iMovie, iCal, iLife, I know what company all these brands come from. And I know what company immediately came to mind when I heard Microsoft was calling their "so stupid it must be a mistake, a hoax, or an Onion story" toilet an iLoo. What I don't get is why, when Microsoft sidles up Apple's brand, lets loose with this iLoo story, then walks away making a dumb face, trying to pretend they didn't cut the cheese, no...
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Posted by greg allen at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)

April 28, 2003

Adam Gopnik's Metropolitan Diary

Dear Diary: To be filed under "T for That's New Yorkers for ya": Setting: The M4 Limited. Dramatis Personae: the commuting population of Manhattan, and a male writer of a certain age, wearing an insouciantly knotted ascot, who appears to have recently traveled to France. The population throws off dozens of make-your-day anecdotes, which the straphanging scribe strains to sample. Writer [thinking out loud]: "Oh-la-la, this is great material! Certainement, I could get 3,000 words out of this, pas de...
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Posted by greg allen at 03:18 PM | Comments (1)

March 31, 2003

Bloghdad.com/MidEast/Takeover/Beta-Test

In Washington Monthly, Joshua Micah Marshall (his stellar weblog: Talking Points Memo) has a sobering look at the neocon view of Baghdad-as-beta for "rolling the table," i.e., regime changing the entire Middle East. Slate's Kaus realizes that this explains Rumsfeld's hubris and micromanaging (cf. Sy Hersh) a small military footprint--so Baghdad's fall puts Teheran, Damascus, and Riyadh (!?!) on notice. One conclusion of Marshall's article: this neocon war strategy is self-fulfilling prophecy; the more they pursue it, the more "painfully...
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Posted by greg allen at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)

March 17, 2003

2003-03-17, This Week In The New Yorker

ANNALS OF NATIONAL SECURITY/Seymour M. Hersh/ LUNCH WITH THE CHAIRMAN/ Why was Richard Perle meeting with Adnan Khashoggi? [just found this on Google, and thought I'd add it to the NYMDb. Normally, I set the post date so the links appear in chronological order, but since this story is so timely, I'll leave it on top for a few days. - greg] Related: Under Attack, Director Says Hollinger's Black Misled Him [NYT]...
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March 10, 2003

...And I Feel Fine (Except For This Gnawing Sense Of Dread)

Yes, I was glad to see you, and that was a Bible in my pocket. As I tee up to write what appears below, I just realized my schedule yesterday (aka the Sabbath)--church in the morning to the Armory Show (similarities to Gilligan's Island: began as 3-hour tour, saves self with pleasantly endless supply of special guest stars) to a friend's dinner for a visiting artist--and my increasing revulsion at politicians' Christian justification for war, left me toting the Good...
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Posted by greg allen at 12:29 PM | Comments (1)

February 24, 2003

The New Yorker On Making Movies, On Remembering War

Tad Friend attends the hilariously useless Jean Doumanian seminar on "How to Get Your Play or Movie Produced." Here, Doumanian ("You may know me from such films as "Woody Allen sued me and my bankrolling boyfriend.") advises an attendee on getting distribution for her film: "Try to get a European sales agent," Doumanian suggested. "There's a fellow named John Sloss—" "How do you spell it?" "I don't know," Doumanian said. "I've never worked with him." Roger Angell writes with reticence...
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Posted by greg allen at 11:04 AM | Comments (1)

February 05, 2003

On WTC Site Designs

What I hope doesn't carry through from the plans the LMDC selected from Daniel Libeskind and THINK Team: Needlessly symbolic height (1,776 feet) Why not two 911' high towers? Duh, because. Single high-profile elements that completely draw attention away from the plan and architecture of the rest of the site. What I hope does carry through: "The Bathtub" as part of the memorial (Read Edith Iglauer's 1972 New Yorker article about its construction, as discussed here.) Paul Goldberger's called-for "Eiffel...
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Posted by greg allen at 01:41 AM | Comments (0)

January 27, 2003

Can't Wait To See It

Anthony Lane on Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe's documentary, Lost in La Mancha: "For anyone who suffers from the wish to make movies, or who fears that this terrible condition may strike at any time, here is the cure."...
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Posted by greg allen at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)

December 18, 2002

WTC Site Designs Revealed While Director Poaches Memorial-Friendly Media

If the 3+ hour multimedia press conference for around 25 brand name architects to present their proposals for the World Trade Center site were Saks, I was the chick selling hand-beaded mittens from a card table on the sidewalk. Actually, as a media event, it was more wholesale than retail; press and LMDC staffers outnumbered Invited Guests about 3:1. So rather than just spam the (presumably interested in memorials) crowd with cards for tomorrow's screening, I switched to providing...
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Posted by greg allen at 07:50 PM | Comments (0)

December 13, 2002

About Schmidt: The Thinking Person's "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding"

Nobody's Perfect, indeed. If Anthony Lane can't get beyond Jack's celebrity, fine. He saw the movie at the NY Film Fest opening. His unabashed pinky-extended criticism almost always gives an enjoyable read. (Need some holiday cheer? Get his collected reviews, Nobody's Perfect, today Don't even think you can stuff a stocking with it or take it on a plane, though.) But Salon's review by Charles Taylor seems to be such a bitter, willful misread of the film, it defies explanation....
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Posted by greg allen at 03:27 PM | Comments (0)

November 04, 2002

Some Quotes and Links

"Asbury's book is a tribute to the magical power of naming: long stretches of 'Gangs [of New York]' are taken up by lists of gangs and villains and even fire engines, and, like the lists of ships in the Iliad, they are essential to the effect...We read of Daybreak Boys, Buckoos, Hookers, Swamp Angels, Slaughter Housers, Short Tails, Patsy Conroys, and the Border Gang, of Chichesters, Roach Guards, Plug Uglies, and Shirt Tails, and we melt." -- Adam Gopnik discussing...
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Posted by greg allen at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)

October 08, 2002

Porn ('n Chicken) on the Internet? What'll they think of next?

James "Sweet Jimmy the Benevolent Pimp" Ponsoldt was a co-founder of Porn 'n Chicken, a Yale timekiller-cum-media spoof-cum-Comedy Central movie. (If that sentence doesn't get this weblog banned by your corporate firewall, it'll at least get you a reprimand at your performance review.) Tad Friend's New Yorker piece contains Jimmy's description of his latest project: "It's 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' set in rural Appalachia," he said, "with themes of rifts between generations, loneliness, becoming a man, and OxyContin addiction."...
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Posted by greg allen at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)

September 30, 2002

carry-on luggage, four weeks later

Nearly a month after an accidental click into a carry-on luggage article brought my surfing to a teary halt, it's okay to laugh again. In this week's New Yorker, Nick Paumgarten tells of of several successful attempts to carry Emmy Award statuettes (complete with "sharp-tipped wings"...shaped like "serrated steak knives") onto transatlantic flights. [Apparently, none of the comedy writers or filmmakers in the story are yet listed on Ashcroft's dissenter=terrorist no-fly list or are giants of Iranian cinema.]...
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Posted by greg allen at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)

August 06, 2002

On Scripted vs Ad-libbed or Improvised in re Full Frontal and the President of the United States

This weekend, after seeing Full Frontal, we discussed the dialogue at length. My (grew-up-on-the-stage) wife spotted a lot of weak improv, or weakly directed improv--actors left to figure it out for themselves and, more often than not, not pulling it off. Besotted Soderbergher that I am (nothing like three DVD commentaries in the last two weeks to make you feel like you know the director.), I'd argued that surely Soderbergh knew what's up; he's shooting a script that's written to...
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Posted by greg allen at 01:25 PM | Comments (0)

August 01, 2002

On Full Frontal and the opening of Hollywood's kimono

The reviews of Full Frontal are coming in, and it's not sounding good. Here's a broad cross-section from the global media: New York Press ("Even a bad Steven Soderbergh movie is worth seeing, and Full Frontal is worth seeing."); New Yorker ("...perhaps the most naïvely awful movie I've seen from the hand of a major director."); the New York Observer("...reminds me how new movies like Full Frontal bring out all the Old Hollywood in me. Still, I liked seeing...
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Posted by greg allen at 04:37 PM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2002

Souvenir (November 2001), Bruegel, Houstonization, The WTC

Rewatching Souvenir (November 2001) a dozen+ times in the last 24 hours, I'd begun to wonder what it can actually contribute to the increasing volume of the WTC memorial/rebuilding debate. There was 4,000-participant offsite Saturday (with a 200-participant makeup session Monday for observant Jews and Hamptonites, I guess). Everyone and their dog is weighing in on the lameness of the Port Authority-driven devil's choice: Memorial Office Park or Memorial Mall, but is this looming Houstonization of Ground Zero possibly the...
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Posted by greg allen at 11:23 AM

July 22, 2002

The Look of DV: Tadpole vs. Full Frontal

"The advantage of [shooting on digital video] is that nobody knows, or at least cares, that you're making a movie; the disadvantage...is that the end product appears to have been filmed through a triple layer of bubble wrap." - from Anthony Lane's New Yorker review of Tadpole, the latest from IFC Productions' InDigEnt. Compare this to the complicated process Steven Soderbergh used to get "enhanced graininess" on his new DV movie, Full Frontal (from an apple.com article): Finish FotoKem received...
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Posted by greg allen at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2002

Gabriel Orozco at Documenta 11

Contrary to one writer's opinion, Gabriel Orozco is a Mexican who can make pottery. After seeing Peter Schjeldahl's misguided critique of Orozco's work at Documenta 11 cited on ArtKrush to support an even broad(er)side on the state of contemporary art, I have to call bulls*** [Sorry, Mom.] on the whole thing. Orozco's Documenta 11 installation, Cazuelas (Beginnings), is comprised of "thrown" clay bowls. While the clay was still wet, Orozco threw smaller balls of clay into the bowls, where they...
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Posted by greg allen at 01:43 AM | Comments (0)

July 06, 2002

On Maya Lin's ninja-like approach to the WTC Memorial

There's an interesting article by Louis Menand in this week's New Yorker about Maya Lin called "The Reluctant Memorialist." He talks about her early rejection of any WTC Memorial-related requests and about her recent informal advisory work for the decisionmakers (as someone who's "been through the process.") In talking about Lin's reticence and justifiable anger at the Viet Nam memorial process (which sounds horrific, frankly, and doesn't give me too much hope for New York City's efforts), it's strange that...
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Posted by greg allen at 08:00 PM | Comments (0)

June 24, 2002

Peter Schjeldahl reviews Documenta 11

Peter Schjeldahl reviews Documenta 11 in this week's New Yorker. He snidely and wearily compliments the show for its "robust, mature...festivalism," which I take to mean they figured out how to show video-based works. But he at least notices two of my Documenta favorites. On Amar Kanwar's documentary: "a stunning exploration of the Pakistani-Indian military frontier in Kashmir...[and] skillful, alluring, and notably uncomplaining." (Gee, sorry to disappoint you, Peter.) On Gabriel Orozco's terra cotta bowls: the "always witty" artist's "work's...
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Posted by greg allen at 11:56 PM | Comments (0)

April 15, 2002

2002-04-22 & 29, THE TALK OF THE TOWN

Issue of 2002-04-22 and 2002-04-29 Posted 2002-04-15 COMMENT/ TWO STATES/ Nicholas Lemann looks at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lens of post (US)-Civil War reconstruction. STRING SECTION/ SLAVA AT SEVENTY-FIVE/ Charles Michener basks in the effusive presence of Maestro Mstislav Rostropovich. INK/ THE TIMES, V.O./ Adam Gopnik lets us know that, even though Le Monde began publishing an English-language insert from the NYT, he buys it for the French articles. THE BOARDS/ MAN IN TIGHTS/ Eric Konigsberg previews right-wing muscle...
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February 13, 2002

Found this on Slate: An

Found this on Slate: An interesting proposal for a World Trade Center memorial by Fred Bernstein, an architecture writer (for the NYTimes, among others, it seems). Basically, it's twin tower-sized piers with the names of those killed placed on the appropriate "floor." The piers would be oriented toward Ellis and Liberty islands. While I'm dubious of the mirror-like conceptual similarity to Maya Lin's Viet Nam memorial, which we visited last weekend (i.e., the orientation, the name placement mechanism), the simplicity...
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Posted by greg allen at 05:52 PM | Comments (0)

September 23, 2001

2001-10-01, This Week In The New Yorker

ANNALS OF AVIATION/ Malcolm Gladwell/ SAFETY IN THE SKIES/ How far can airline security go? LETTER FROM WASHINGTON/ Nicholas Lemann/ THE OPTIONS/ After the morning of September 11th, the Presidency changed, too. DEPT. OF NATIONAL SECURITY/ Joe Klein/ CLOSEWORK/ Why we couldn't see what was right in front of us. LIFE AND LETTERS/ Louis Menand/ HOLDEN AT FIFTY/ "The Catcher in the Rye" and what it spawned. DISPATCHES/ Jon Lee Anderson/ A LION'S DEATH/ The assassination of the Taliban's most...
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Posted by greg at 10:11 PM