Posts tagged as Profiles
Pronoun(ced) Disaster! Justin Bond Furious Over 'NY' Mag Profile
Justin Bond promised some time ago that V would be very pissed at anyone who referred to V with a gendered pronoun, and so, understandably, V is really unhappy at today's New York magazine profile. (Facebook samplings: "ugly, transphobic hit piece" and "Wow! I can't even begin to find words about how offensive the Carl Swanson piece in NY Magazine turned out to be. I had him in my house—time to bring out the bleach.") I mean, Wikipedia can deal with the pronouns; why couldn't a gay writer at a magazine helmed by a gay? (That being said, I'm pretty sure the writer is stunned to see the reaction, and I'm totally sure he believes this is a supportive, informative, attentive magazine profile. And yet.) READ MORE
The World Must Be Good if Anna Faris is Becoming Famous
It's always exciting when the girl who was never supposed to make it totally makes it! And so yay, the New Yorker profile of Anna Faris today (subscription only!), who can now place herself on a list of lady actress script-readers behind "Reese, Cameron, Natalie Portman, Kate Hudson, Katherine Heigl and Anne Hathaway." (Sidebar: at least two of those are frightening and crazy and also chronic liars! To be fair, at least two of them are kindly and human.) But it's a very good look at the "problem" of women doing comedy. Hmm. Is it a "problem"? It's a problem, if you want to spend a lot of money on a movie and then make a lot of money, which is the only goal in Hollywood. It's not a problem if you want to have a good time and make cool stuff, which, then don't move to L.A. READ MORE
Cherayla Davis, Amateur
All six of the contestants at the Apollo Amateur Night semifinals had already advanced through two rounds. Of them, only Cherayla Davis had won first place in both of her appearances. When James Brown competed in Amateur Night, he was booed. Luther Vandross and Lauryn Hill were also booed. Dave Chappelle: booed. Cherayla Davis had never been booed. And this night, she was going out first. READ MORE
No One Really Knows Why Local Man Does Strange Thing: The Nick Denton Story
There are many ways to read today's New Yorker profile of Nick Denton, a New York City-based man who runs a network of popular websites. I think the best way I've found to read it so far is this one: print it out, or to otherwise somehow obtain a printed copy of the piece, and then highlight (perhaps in yellow?) all the quotes by Denton himself. As with all previous Denton profiles-and it's not a fault of these profiles or the writers, I don't think!-you will come searching for a "why" and you may again come away frustrated on a quick read. And yet still, when this one is given a sort of slow, math-problem like reading, you feel as if there's an answer just forming in your peripheral vision. You can sort of see this shiny correct solution hovering there for a second.
Andrew Cuomo Is Ready To Be Your Emperor Already
The New York Times magazine moves from narcissist to narcissist! Now that horrible photo on this coming Sunday's mag is of a frightening-looking Andrew Cuomo. There's this gambit early on in the profile: "When you spend time with Andrew Cuomo, it can be easy to forget that a little more than two election cycles ago his personal life was in shambles and his political career appeared to be over." Not that easy, apparently! And it's littered with nuggets like this. "When HUD's inspector general, Susan Gaffney, criticized some of Cuomo's management decisions, his office, according to a departmental-harassment claim she filed, started a smear campaign to destroy her credibility. 'The question isn't just has Andrew Cuomo learned the lessons of Eliot Spitzer?' as one state assemblyman put it to me. 'It's also has he tamed his inner beast?'" Who knows! All I walk away remembering pretty much is that Andrew Mark Cuomo used to drive a Jaguar with the license plate "AMC ESQ."
'Times' Profile Guessing Game: Laura Linney? Or Patricia Clarkson?
Two profiles diverged in a gray newspaper-and sorry I could not read both. Let's play: Which Times' actress profile was it? Was it... Patricia Clarkson or Laura Linney? READ MORE
Real America: Tom Emmer, Minnesota's Last Sovereign Individual
As Minnesota governor Tim "T-Paw" Pawlenty gears up to rid himself of his characteristic Midwest abhorrence of touching other people so that he can run for president, the VW Beetle packed with clowns unloading to fill his vacancy as Minnesota governor is finally almost empty. READ MORE
Robert Davi, Philosopher and Tea Party Enthusiast
"He gestured towards a dinner roll and spoke about its 'bread-ness'-the wan material object we call bread, juxtaposed with the vibrant reality of bread floating somewhere in the ether. 'When you intellectualize your creation,' he said, 'you destroy your creation.'" READ MORE
People You Know: Michael Musto, 25 Years In
The Village Voice's newsroom, which has gradually been consolidated onto one floor, was eerily quiet when I went to visit Michael Musto. Cubicles had been folded down and stacked near the windows, leaving empty space. A trio of people in suits-speaking to each other in hushed tones-patrolled the maze. Blown-up Voice front pages marked another era. Musto said that he saw "depressing" trends towards corporatization all over New York, but he renounces easy nostalgia trips. Although he already has fond memories of the most recent boom. READ MORE
