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
Cold Souls: A Convincing Issue
Filed under: X-Rea: Irvin Type Watch Tagged: Anthony Lane, Barry Blitt, cinema, covers, David Strathairn, Paul Giamatti, Pollux, Rea Irvin, Sophie Barthes, Tad Friend, typography
Pollux writes:
I saw Cold Souls on Pay-Per-View tonight. It stars Paul Giamatti as Paul Giamatti, a man who literally unburdens his soul in a Soul Storage company run by Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn). How does Giamatti hear of the Soul Storage company? A friend calls him and tells him to the read the latest issue of The New Yorker.
Unable to sleep, Giamatti trudges into his living room and picks up the “latest issue” of The New Yorker. The issue that Giamatti picks up features Barry Blitt’s actual cover for the May 28, 2007 issue, called “Half-Staff.”
But the article inside is entirely fictional. Nevertheless, in terms of layout, type, and tone, it is entirely convincing as a New Yorker article. It is written by a (fictional) writer named Sarah Shruber. The article features the same headline and subtitle format, with the name of the article, “Soul Storage,” underneath the headline of “Unburdening made easy.” Its subtitle is: “Are New Yorkers tired of carrying their souls?”
The movie itself was reviewed in the New Yorker by Tad Friend, and a piece was also written on the film by Anthony Lane. “Paul learns about soul storage from an article in this magazine,” Lane writes, “and I seriously considered checking the archives.”
No matter what your opinion of the film is, if you see it, you’ll have to admit that they created a convincing facsimile of a New Yorker article, and used, thankfully, the Irvin type.
About us
Hello! We're a small band of culture writers, editors, and artists based in New York and Los Angeles. Emdashes, which spent its formative years as a New Yorker fan blog, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, design, punctuation, and other things that stir 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)
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- World of Pollux
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- Carolita Johnson
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