The Demise of “Cathy”
On Wednesday, the cartoonist Cathy Guisewite announced that, after thirty-four years her comic strip, “Cathy,” would come to an end on October 3rd. The cartoon, now syndicated in seven-hundred...
View ArticleLive from New York, It’s “The Overton Window”
It’s fair to say that Joe Mande is a glutton for punishment. The comedian and author of the blog-to-book, “Look at This F*cking Hipster,” recently took it upon himself to read Glenn Beck’s bestselling...
View ArticleEnglish as She Is Spoke (and Texted)
“The evolution of words is a capsule history of the race,” wrote Dwight Macdonald in his essay “The Decline and Fall of English.” Suffice it to say Macdonald, who once wrote a lengthy critique of the...
View ArticleFact-Checkers: Our Heroes
Fact-checkers are the hidden heroes of journalism, multi-talented polymaths who toil in relative anonymity, both at this publication and others. Which is why it’s an unexpected delight to see a new NBC...
View ArticleRoadside Haiku
Here is another item to add to my list of “things I didn’t know had a name”: bandit signs. In case you, like me, are unfamiliar with the term, bandit signs are those dubious-looking advertisements...
View ArticleRoadside Haiku
Here is another item to add to my list of “things I didn’t know had a name”: bandit signs. In case you, like me, are unfamiliar with the term, bandit signs are those dubious-looking advertisements...
View ArticleThe Exchange: Rachel Shukert on Memoir Writing, Jewish Identity, and the...
It’s a tale as old as time, or at least as old as the Eurail pass: girl moves to Europe, embarks on regrettable romances with men who barely speak her language, works menial jobs, and in the process,...
View ArticleIt’s National Punctuation Day!
Most of us who are picky about punctuation—we like to think of ourselves as fastidious, thank you very much—are content to silently grumble when we come across an errant apostrophe on a restaurant...
View ArticleAlec Baldwin on Life Inside “The Bubble”
Tonight at the SVA Theatre in Chelsea, the New Yorker staff writer Ariel Levy and the “30 Rock” star Alec Baldwin had a wide-ranging conversation that covered politics, performance, and Tracy Morgan’s...
View ArticlePatricia Clarkson’s “Martin Scorsese Dance”
Tonight at the SVA Theatre, the actress Patricia Clarkson made mention of her small but memorable role in Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island.” Though Clarkson was thrilled to work with the legendary...
View ArticleSteve Carell on Fame, Comedy, and an “Anchorman” Sequel
This morning, some four hundred fans made the trek to the far west side of Manhattan to hear Steve Carell in conversation with the New Yorker staff writer Tad Friend. As audiences go, this was...
View ArticleA Bittersweet Ending
Last month, Elizabeth Goodyear passed away at the age of a hundred and three. Goodyear, who lived in Murray Hill, first gained notoriety in 2008, when the New York Times ran a front-page story about...
View ArticleThe Exchange: Judd Apatow on Comedy, Kids’ Books, and Why He’ll Never Finish...
I’m a big admirer of Dave Eggers—his writing and his charity work. I see myself as a much weaker Dave Eggers: I am not as good a writer and I don’t care as much about charity, but I try in both areas....
View ArticleThe Exchange: Jill Lepore on the Tea Party’s “Dangerous Anti-Pluralism”
This post is part of The New Yorker’s ongoing coverage of the midterm elections. It’s been around eighteen months since the Tea Party movement began. On Tuesday, it’s likely that a number of Tea...
View ArticleThe Exchange: R. Dwayne Betts on Prison, Poetry, and Justice
On Saturday, December 7, 1996, a skinny sixteen-year-old named R. Dwayne Betts headed to the Springfield Mall, in the suburbs of Northern Virginia, with a friend. Betts had always been a bright,...
View ArticleThe Orchid Keef
Last week, the Daily News broke what may be the biggest literary scandal of the year. Marie d’Origny, deputy director of the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, accused...
View Article“The Great Gatsby”: Now in 3-D!
Earlier this week, the Australian director Baz Luhrmann told reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that he was thinking of filming his upcoming adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” in...
View ArticleCompetitive Reading
As its name suggests, the new television show “Portlandia” is set in Portland, that rainy bastion of free public transportation, adult kickball leagues, and thriving feminist bookstores. The show...
View ArticleBookspotting: India
This weekend was a big one for India, which scored its first victory in the Cricket World Cup since 1983 (Roger Angell just posted on the game over at News Desk). I recently spent a few weeks traveling...
View ArticleBookspotting: India
This weekend was a big one for India, which scored its first victory in the Cricket World Cup since 1983 (Roger Angell just posted on the game over at News Desk). I recently spent a few weeks traveling...
View Article