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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.)

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About us

Hello! We're a small band of culture writers, editors, and artists based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Emdashes, which spent its formative years as a New Yorker blog, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.

Want to know more about the people who contribute to Emdashes, and the secret meanings behind our column titles? All about us.

We welcome tips, questions, comments, and corrections, and are always on the lookout for ardent, obsessive contributors. Click here to email us.

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Dashes, some say, “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like an em dash itself—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.

Emdashes, founded in 2004, is written and drawn by Emily Gordon, Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, as well as occasional guest contributors. All posts before October 2008 are by Emily Gordon.

The site was designed by House of Pretty with illustrations by Jesse R. Ewing.

Additional drawings are by Carolita Johnson and Pollux (author of our web comic, "The Wavy Rule"). The Emdashes pencil logo is by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.

Other writing by Emily Gordon

Reviews: theater writing (for Time Out Chicago)
Profile: Valerie Casey, Designers Accord founder, is spearheading the design of sustainability (for SXSW World)
Feature: Rea Irvin: visionary art director, bon vivant, New Yorker founding father (for Print)
Slide show: the Coney Island Mermaid Parade (for NYCgo.com)
Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
Review: King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
Homage: Celebrating lindy-hop legend Frankie Manning (for NYCgo.com)
Inquiry: Does a New Republic redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
Interviews: four up-and-coming designers under 30 (for Print)
Profile: novelist and dance critic Laura Jacobs (for Newsday)