Know that The Paris Review is auctioning off some very intriguing items through mid-December. A couple of the items are New Yorker-related, so I thought I’d pass them on here. For all intents and purposes, the prices for most of the lots rule out anyone unable to summon one’s accountant to one’s home or office at a moment’s notice, but they are interesting anyway.
The winner of one newly added auction (runs through early January) will be invited to spend a day on the set of Blink, about to be directed by Stephen Gaghan with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role. Is it common knowledge that the filming of Blink is nigh? I did not know that Gaghan is attached; might bode well. Filming a work of intellectual speculation of this type may well be unprecedented; I can’t think of any precursors, anyway. Gaghan isn’t exactly my favorite talent out there, but Syriana does suggest that he might be a very good choice for a project this odd, elusive, resonant.
Memo to Philip Gourevitch: You can use the Algonquin Hotel for your tête-à-tête auction prize, but, you know, hands off otherwise. —Martin Schneider