Emdashes. The New Yorker between the lines
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Headline Shooter
Seal Barks
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Looked Into
Feministing Takes a Crack at the Caption Contest
Filed under: Seal Barks Tagged: Cartoon Caption Contest, cartoons, Daniel Radosh, movies, P.C. Vey
Two guys are walking down the street and one of them is carrying a blow-up doll. He says…
a) one of the snappy answers the commenters at Feministing came up with for the P. C. Vey drawing in the latest Cartoon Caption Contest, e.g., “The Law Firm of DeadGuy, DeadGuy, RetiredGuy, and OldGuy presents its first female partner”; b) an entry—perhaps, most printably, “I just happen to like knit ties”—from Daniel Radosh’s reliably raucous Anti-Caption Contest for the same drawing; or c) Something hilarious you thought of, but keep in mind entries are due April 27.
Also, if you didn’t see last year’s Lars and the Real Girl, you missed something truly wonderful. Move to Top of Queue, and you’ll never see blow-up dolls the same way again. (Thanks to Katha for the Feministing link.)
(continued)
Paul Noth Unlikely to Win Midwestern Delegates?
Filed under: Seal Barks Tagged: animation, cartoons, Conan O'Brien, Dubuque, Harold Ross, Matt Diffee, Paul Noth, Pogo, Roz Chast, TV
First New Yorker cartoonist Matt Diffee pissed off Scranton, PA, although I think they forgave him eventually.
Now, Paul Noth (whom you may know as one of the masterminds behind Conan O’Brien’s Pale Force, among other things) has rattled Sheboygan with a cartoon that, as the local paper puts it, “depicts an expansive suburban landscape with a long wall meandering through it with the caption: ‘The Great Drywall of Sheboygan.’” For its part, Dubuque, which can surely take its New Yorker association for granite (as Pogo would say), seems a little miffed at being left out.
Who’s next? Martin, want to investigate which other town names have been mentioned in cartoons? (Who could forget Roz Chast’s DKNJ?) And what happens if the cartoonist is pardoned? Does he or she get a two-dimensional, Flat Stanley/Harold-esque key to the city, maybe?
(continued)
Happy February 21st! And What's Your Favorite Cartoonist Quirk?
Filed under: Seal Barks Tagged: Barbara Smaller, Carolita Johnson, cartoons, Charles Barsotti, debut issue, Gahan Wilson, Matt Diffee, Michael Maslin, newyorker.com, pigeons, William Hamilton
I shouldn’t have to tell you what day this is, but in case you’re still in the dark, let this lovely reminiscence enlighten you.
Meanwhile, over at the New Yorker cartoon blog, Michael Maslin has been doing a bang-up job as Cartoonist of the Month. All of his posts so far are worth reading (and seeing!); here’s his partial list of favorite things—visual, conceptual, ocular, sartorial, mechanical, typographical, architectural, nasal, and feline—about his comrades’ cartooning. Off the top of my head, I’d add Carolita Johnson’s befuddled boyfriends, Gahan Wilson’s noses (human and otherwise), Charles Barsotti’s beards, Barbara Smaller’s lamps, William Hamilton’s gravity-defying bosoms, and Matt Diffee’s pigeons, among others. How about you?
(continued)
A Little More Background on Crumb's "Elvis Tilley"
Filed under: Eustace Google Tagged: art, Art Spiegelman, audio, cartoons, Chris Ware, contests, covers, Eustace Tilley, Francoise Mouly, interviews, Matt Dellinger, newyorker.com, podcasts, R. Crumb, Seth, Tina Brown
Martin Schneider writes:
The “New Yorker Out Loud” podcast featured an intriguing revelation this week, and I thought I’d draw a little more attention to it.
In recent weeks Emily has followed the Eustace Tilley contest with understandably keen interest. It’s worth recalling that this manner of remix or appropriation was once less customary—it was a mere 14 years ago that the iconic annual Eustace Tilley cover was “messed with” by the great R. Crumb. Since 1993 we’ve seen all kinds of versions by Art Spiegelman (1997), Chris Ware (2005), Seth (2008), and many others.
I wasn’t living in the United States at the time, so it was difficult for me to gauge the uproar, but I’ve heard that
(continued)
Tilleymania Continues With Anniversary Issue
Filed under: Seal Barks Tagged: art, audio, awards, Barack Obama, cartoons, contests, covers, David Remnick, Election 2008, Eustace Tilley, Francoise Mouly, Hillary Clinton, Matt Dellinger, newyorker.com, politics, Rea Irvin, Seth
“With today’s (February 4) release of the February 11-18 anniversary issue, current editor (since July 1998) David Remnick goes a politically correct (if you’re a Democrat) step further with what he and his staff are calling Eustace Tillarobama. Split-run (above left) has either Hillary or Barack on the top, and distribution to subscribers is random. Perfect timing before tomorrow’s (February 5) Super Tuesday primaries, when, perhaps, one of them will really be on top. Artists are Rea Irvin and Seth (no last name).Here’s the online portfolio of neo-Tilley winners at newyorker.com, not to mention a swell audio conversation about the contest with Françoise Mouly and Matt Dellinger. As Mouly reminds us, should you be tempted to forget, Rea Irvin was kidding around the first time. (Maybe even more than we knew!) (continued)
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
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)
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
- Mick Stevens: I Really Should Be Drawing
- Resistance Is Fertile
- Newyorkette
- Matthew Diffee's HuffPo blog
- Sasha Frere-Jones
- The New York Public Library records
- Map: Caption Contest Winners
- New Yorker haiku
- Between the Squibs
- New Yorker database
- Technorati: New Yorker
- Wikipedia: The New Yorker
- The New Orcer
- Access My Library
- New Yorker Comment
- Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise
- Paul Noth's Pale Force
- The New Yorker Magazine in the 1930s
- Link to suggest? Email it!
- I Hate the New Yorker
- Blog About Town
- Ben Yagoda's homepage
- Modern Spectator
- New Yorker Anti-Caption Contest
- Silence of the City
- Cartoonist Michael Maslin's homepage
- Chiasmus in The New Yorker