Emdashes. The New Yorker between the lines

Best of Emdashes: Hit Parade
Weekly: Pick of the Issue
Bimonthly: Ask the Librarians

Submit a question for the next column.

Frequently:
Headline Shooter
Seal Barks
Eustace Google
Looked Into

The Squib Report
X-Rea: Irvin Type Watch
Letters & Challenges
On the Spot
Eds. | Personal

Critics' Critic Darlings, and Photos of Parkour

Filed under: Headline Shooter Tagged: Anthony Lane, books, Charles Taylor, David Belle, David Denby, Gene Seymour, James Wood, John Updike, Jonathan Rosenbaum, movies, New Yorker Festival, parkour, photography, Ron Rosenbaum, Stephanie Zacharek, Stuart Klawans

The editors of the good-looking blog More Intelligent Life have picked James Wood as one of their favorite book critics; my erudite former employer Ron Rosenbaum also gets the nod, and commenters grump about the exclusion of John Updike.

On their corresponding film-critic list, Anthony Lane gets the honor of the first spot. David Denby would be on my list, as would Salon's superlative Stephanie Zacharek, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Charles Taylor, Gene Seymour, and The Nation's prizewinning Stuart Klawans.

Also, Kevin Zacher has been shooting some cool photos of parkour people doing their climbing and jumping; if you go to his agent's site (under "Projects") and let the view scroll like a filmstrip, it's almost like watching parkouring in person, and it's quite beautiful. If you liked Alec Wilkinson's New Yorker piece, you'll really like this. (There's also a video of parkour master David Belle and friends from this past year's New Yorker Festival.)

0 comments

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, it may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Thanks for waiting.)

Your name

Your email address

Your website address

Remember personal info?

Your comments

New Yorker Cartoons for Presentations- Download Today

Who she?

I'm Emily Gordon, reachable at emily@emdashes.com.

I'm an editor at PRINT magazine in New York City. I've worked at The Nation, Newsday, PEN America, and Legal Affairs. I've written for the NY Times Book Review, Salon, The Washington Post, The Village Voice... continued

Affinities | Blurbs

I welcome tips, questions, and comments about The New Yorker past and present, plus related events, links, typeface sightings, &c. To contact the magazine or send a submission, click here.

No fear: Everything you say or send is off the record unless we ask for your permission to use it.

This site is neither owned nor operated by The New Yorker magazine or Condé Nast Publications.

A few clips

Report: Learning to read with comic books edited by Françoise Mouly (for Print)
Interview: Designer Eleanor Grosch (for Print)
Review: Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis (for Newsday)
Review: The King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
Review: Does The New Republic's recent redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
Proposal: A more attractive MetroCard (for A Brief Message)
Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
Report: Eustace Tilley spruces up for The New Yorker's website redesign (for Print)
Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands (for Print)
Review: books about various New Yorker cartoonists by Liza Donnelly and Iain Topliss (for Newsday)
Profile: screenwriter and novelist Joe Keenan (for Newsday)
Review: The Complete New Yorker (for Print)

More clips.

Tell me more

They say that dashes “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like em dashes—emphasizes what’s between: in particular, between the lines, covers, and issues of a magazine close to my heart.

Primary sources

The New Yorker
Events listed by the magazine
Web resources: New Yorker writers and artists
Books, Organizations, &c.

Written and edited by Emily Gordon (plus various guest contributors), designed by Pretty, and illustrated by Inkleaf. Additional drawings by Carolita Johnson. Kissable pencil girl by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.

The Rossosphere