Emdashes. Modern Times Between the Lines.
Best of Emdashes: Hit Parade
A Web Comic: The Wavy Rule
Before it moved to The New Yorker:
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Features & Columns:
Headline Shooter
On the Spot
Looked Into
Sempé Fi: Cover Art
Best of the 12.15.08 Issue: Inefficient Gift-Delivery System
Filed under: Pick of the Issue Tagged: art, Bob Staake, cartoons, covers, James Joyce, Marcellus Hall, Peter Arno, Roger Rosenblatt, Zachary Kanin
At least, that’s what the cover says to me! Jonathan Taylor praised the “delightfully Arno-esque cover,” adding that “the whip makes it extra saucy!” He’s got a point there; I had not contemplated this aspect.
The artist, Marcellus Hall, was also the musical force behind Railroad Jerk, whose “Sweet Librarian” made it onto many of my mixes during those years when Napster was big. I saw Hall play a ditty at a book event held at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater last February.
Jonathan and I also agreed about the issue’s pick: Quoth JT: “On a friend’s advice, I turned first to Roger Rosenblatt’s restrained piece on moving in with his son-in-law after the unexpected death of his 38-year-old daughter—a meditation on life more than on death, particularly as seen by being more part of his grandchildren’s lives than he otherwise would have been.” O discriminating friend! Rosenblatt’s “Making Toast” is surely a minor masterpiece. If nothing else, it can claim a feat that few other works can: augmenting the oeuvre of James Joyce. (You’ll have to read it to get that; subscription req’d.)
Jonathan liked the Zachary Kanin’s Grim Reaper cartoon on p. 68, which had no difficulty eliciting a chortle out of me.
About us
Hello! We're a small band of media enthusiasts, culture addicts, and journalists based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Emdashes, formerly a New Yorker fan site, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, politics, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
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We welcome tips, questions, comments, and corrections, and are always on the lookout for ardent, obsessive new contributors. Click here to email us.
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Tell me more
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
- Writing on theater: reviews (for Time Out Chicago; imperfect but workable search results)
- 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)
Blogroll highlights
- Box Office Boffo
- World of Pollux
- Jonathan Taylor
- Carolita Johnson
- Songs for blogroll lovers (more links)
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Comments
I wasn’t crazy about Rosenblatt’s piece; it was well-done, but less affecting for the — no other way to say it — unaffected. Still, one sentence blew me away: “His first day of kindergarten, when the children were asked to draw pictures of their families, Sam’s drawing included Amy lying dead on the floor.”