Paul writes, “Inspired by those silly ads about downloading music illegally, which compare it to stealing a car or purse. Hardly the same thing, in my opinion.” We agree, but still buy our friends’ bands’ CDs, just ’cause we feel sorry for them. (Although no one buys nothin’ from poets.) Click to enlarge!
Check out the “Wavy Rule” archive! More drawings by Paul Morris: his very funny webcomic “Arnjuice,” a populous Flickr page, and cartoon collections to download at Lulu.
Monthly Archives: July 2008
The Wavy Rule, a Daily Comic by Paul Morris: Crooked Communication
On this Independence Day, thank your government and your God for this modern democracy without fear of typographical wiretapping. Click to enlarge!
Check out the “Wavy Rule” archive! More drawings by Paul Morris: his very funny webcomic “Arnjuice,” a populous Flickr page, and cartoon collections to download at Lulu.
Anthony Lane: Literate Insulter of the Decade
Martin Schneider writes:
Ben Bass has just posted a really engaging tribute to Anthony Lane that everyone reading this should check out ASAP. I’m glad to see Lane’s “poison pen” defended with such spirit. (And I agree that it’s too easy to accentuate Tina Brown’s flaws.)
Coming Monday: A Contest! Emdashes Interns! And More.
The holiday weekend sparkles in the near distance, but I’m really excited about Monday. Not only is it the day I go see Kabluey at Cinema Village, it’s also the day I’ll have the pleasure of introducing you to our Emdashes summer interns: Sarah Arkebauer, Taylor House, and Adam Shoemaker. They’ll be contributing in many ways beginning next week, and you’ll see right away why we selected them: They’re remarkable people, and talented as can be.
Also on Monday, we have a contest. The first of more. In cartoon form. My heart is racing as I type. It is. Get ready to be tickled, and if you’ve misplaced your thinking cap, time to dust it off (there’s no unmixing these metaphors)–your creative time has come.
Happy weekend, and while I’m away, enjoy further installments of Paul Morris’s Emdashes comic “The Wavy Rule,” which will continue daily over the holiday weekend. Even Gawker can’t say that.
Update: PRINT is closing an issue, so I introduced the interns on Tuesday, and will run the contest shortly. Old media still wins!
The Wavy Rule, a Daily Comic by Paul Morris: Hot Type, Baby
Everyone knows typography is sexy, and the Vox-talkin’ knockouts in the latest edition of Paul Morris’s daily comic for Emdashes, “The Wavy Rule,” prove it beyond a doubt. Click to enlarge!
More Paul: the “Wavy Rule” archive; “Arnjuice,” a webcomic; his Flickr page; cartoon collections for download at Lulu. If you have a suggestion for a cartoon, New Yorker-related or otherwise, email us and we’ll pass it along.
What Is Kabluey? And Why Do You Need It So Much–and So Soon?
Kabluey is a spanking new movie, starring Lisa Kudrow, Chris Parnell, Teri Garr, and a powerful man in blue, and written and directed by my funniest friend, Scott Prendergast. It’s opening at New York’s Cinema Village (22 E. 12th, between 5th and University) on the 4th of July, and it’ll run at least a week. I predict longer. Then it opens in a bunch of other places all over the country.
Don’t you want to be the first to say you saw the movie of which Rex Reed wrote, “Kabluey” is as wacky and different as its title…A fresh, unique, touching and often hilarious film that is a real summer treat…all hail Scott Prendergast as a new director who is going places!”? That’s at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes? Yes! You do! And if you go on Monday, the 7th, I’ll be there too. Buy advance tickets here.
Then you’ll know. And those people in the other parts of the country will cry because they couldn’t be here to share it with you. You, on the other hand, will still be laughing.
Art News: A Wall of Schjeldahl, and Niemann Wows Us (Again)
We knew New Yorker art reviews were huge, but this huge? Via the Tomorrow Museum, news of an ersatz Peter Schjeldahl art review, “Canal Street Swoons,” with classic New Yorker layout (more or less) and all, on a Brooklyn building. C-Monster, whose Flickr link this is, writes,
Proving that there’s never any shortage of excitement in the small and entertaining world of New York City street art, some super-meta conceptual type decided to paste a fake New Yorker critique about street art on the side of some building in Brooklyn. The prankster even attributed the “review” to the magazine’s art critic, Peter Schjeldahl.
I’m all for spoofing mainstream media, but, sadly, this piece doesn’t live up to its promise. For one, anybody who is gonna spoof the New Yorker better be able to deliver on the turn-of-phrase. This does not. (Sample sentence: “There is no sacrifice to putting this work on the street. That’s the street game, duh.”) On the content side, things don’t fare too well either. Someone risked arrest to let us know that there’s a visual kinship between the work of Swoon, Gaia and Elbow-Toe.
I was very excited, however, to see that a long-time New Yorker staple–the European beret advert, at bottom right–made it into the piece. I like to believe that everyone who works for the New Yorker wears one of these when they write.
And now, Christoph Niemann the Great on his subway-obsessed kids. If this doesn’t become a children’s book soon, the numberless Arthurs and Gustavs of the five boroughs will have a tantrum that will stop the system in its tracks.
Thanks to J.M. and J.G., respectively, for these links. They are fabulous.
“Early Next Year”: An Adam Gopnik Book on Lincoln and Darwin
From a Newsweek story by Malcolm Jones called “Who Was More Important: Lincoln or Darwin?”:
As soon as you do start comparing this odd couple, you discover there is more to this birthday coincidence [of being born on the same day in 1809] than the same astrological chart (as Aquarians, they should both be stubborn, visionary, tolerant, free-spirited, rebellious, genial but remote and detached–hmmm, so far so good). As we approach their shared bicentennial, there is already one book that gives them double billing, historian David R. Contosta’s “Rebel Giants,” with another coming early next year from New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik.
Thanks to Brian Sholis for this one!
“Love, Curiosity, Freckles, and Doubt”: A Summer of Dorothy Parker
Martin Schneider writes:
That line comes from “Inventory,” a fantastic poem quoted in the latest newsletter from the Dorothy Parker Society, headed up by our friend Kevin Fitzpatrick. It’s going to be a busy, fun summer for Dottie enthusiasts! Here’s a quick preview.
The New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch, New Jersey, presents The Little Hours by David Bucknam, based on several short stories by Dorothy Parker. It runs from July 10 to August 17.
The prestigious 2008 New York City Midtown International Theatre Festival has accepted a new show called Those Whistling Lads! the Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker, written by Maureen Van Trease, a member of the Dorothy Parker Society. It runs from July 20 to August 1 at the Workshop Theatre Mainstage, 312 West 36th Street, 4th floor.
The Society also has a special Dorothy Parker birthday party planned for August 20, with live music, singing, and a lot of fun. The event will be held at Broadway Baby Bistro, 318 West 53rd Street, at 10 p.m.
If you like Dorothy Parker, you sure oughta sign up to the Society’s newsletter.
The Wavy Rule, a Daily Comic by Paul Morris: You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
In the latest edition of Paul Morris’s daily comic for Emdashes, “The Wavy Rule,” the states of relationships undergo a radical shift, and so do the relationships of states. Click to enlarge!
More Paul: the “Wavy Rule” archive; “Arnjuice,” a webcomic; his Flickr page; cartoon collections for download at Lulu. If you have a suggestion for a cartoon, New Yorker-related or otherwise, email us and we’ll pass it along.