On Today Only: The Awl Is Auditioning New Commenters!
@Nrbelex TOTALLY.
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On Today Only: The Awl Is Auditioning New Commenters!
This is the wrong post for an earnest comment but I can't help myself: the commenters here are so much better than, well, anywhere. /earnest
Second the people who said to fire Balk and also to bring Jess Coen back.
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On 'Caine's Arcade'
@jolie I KNOW. I kept on only because I knew this would have a happy ending...
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On Everyone Bad
Was going to comment to say I'd access the email to get their damn name to try to hunt them down but then I read the article and you're right. People = bad.
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On 100 Great (Not Best!) Songs of 2011
Craig Taborn at #1! You started a fanclub yet?
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On "In the punishing heat of a July afternoon, dresses are 'the ultimate in comfort'"
@Gef the Talking Mongoose It makes me wonder two things: "What editor thought this was a good idea?" or, conversely, "Must have been one hell of a pitch."
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On The Dirty Talk Of The Town: Profanity At "The New Yorker"
From a writeup I did of the NYer Fest for Mediaite (http://www.mediaite.com/online/dispatches-from-the-new-yorker-festival/2/):
Calvin Trillin brought us, uproariously, on his few early battles with long-time editor William Shawn, for whom he had enormous respect, over language. Trillin isn’t particularly into profanity, as his father had been a proponent of using proper language: “When I was a little boy, I thought ‘for crying out loud’ was the sort of oath that grownups used for particularly dire circumstances.” Shawn’s desired changes often verged on the ridiculous. John Cheever had to edit the sentence, “You’ve just lost a fuck,” to “Shut up Melissa, shut up,” before it would run in The New Yorker. When and article mentioned cats mounting each other Shawn requested a euphemism for mount, something like, “making a sexual advance toward.” “But it’s a cat. We’re talking about a cat here,” said Trillin. Needless to say, “mount” remained. The first time the magazine published a photo of bare breasts a reader wrote to Trillin to complain. Trillin responded, “They were small breasts, in keeping with the understated nature of the magazine.” While writing his U.S. Journal series, he interviewed Lester Maddox, who spoke the phrase, “ram it.” Trillin protested that Shawn was asking Trillin to stop listening when other reporters are still listening, which lead to a showdown over which Trillin was afraid he’d lose his job. “I know what you analytically inclined New Yorkers are thinking: I really did have a burning ambition to get dirty words in The New Yorker, because I was acting out against my father who I deeply resented for sleeping with my mother. In all honesty, when I’m in my own voice, as opposed to quoting somebody, I’ve never use offensive language in the magazine. I’ve always known that my father and Mr. Shawn would disapprove.”
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On The Chronicles of Negronia
I'm thirding that I'd hoped it was a place with plentiful Negronis.
Also, the post was coming from Balk, so.
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On Today Only: The Awl Is Auditioning New Commenters!
@sakade I rarely comment. Realizing I should show off this baby more often. And by "baby" I mean "totally inconsequential number"