December 3 – nothing very spectacular. God, that megachurch article made me want to puke, as it was hopefully supposed to.
Talk of the Town:
by men: 4
by women: 1
rest of mag:
by men: 9
by women: 4
December 10 — Ooooh, an article on Cat Power! I am steeling myself to not like her new album, but I’m so happy she’s gotten over her stage fright a bit – for a few years there it was rather wearying to go to her shows. Does anyone else remember the last NYer article on Cat Power and the infamous Richard Avedon accompanying photo? I believe my friend Than still carries it around in his wallet. (She talks about the photo here – JUICY!)
The Cat Power piece constituted pretty much 100% of the fairer sex’s representation this week, however. I personally could have lived without that Alexandra Styron bit on her father, but that might be because I am genetically engineered to dislike fathers in general and white male canonical writer fathers in particular. I still think it was pretty useless though.
If this week’s New Yorker were the entire world, men would be presidents and ninja burglars and writers and tree scientists and governors and intensive care doctors and diarists and women would be singers and daughters and diarists and thieves. Maybe it sounds cheesey, but I hope no smart little girls just beginning to think about what they are going to be when they grow up are skimming through their parents’ New Yorker this week. (I know it’s not The New Yorker’s fault that our president and governor happen to be men who are in the news, but still.)
Talk of the Town:
by men: 3
by women: 1
rest of mag:
by men: 12
by women: TWO
(The NYerWbW is a regular feature whereby my mother and I keep track of the male/female breakdown in The New Yorker magazine.)
stop blogging while you’re in paradise!
Sometimes, my dear, it rains in paradise. It’s OK, it gives me such a good opportunity to catch up on internetty things.
Dec 17 (unless its 13) is all about the interesting and complicated literary collaboration of Mr and Mrs. Malcolm Lowry and then implies that she murdered him. I’d love to know what you and your mother make of that one . . . WHEN YOU GET HOME. I’m with Ivan.
You need to make the New Yorker boy/girl stats pop off the page more; they’re pretty shocking but they are somehow visually underplayed on your page. Give a ratio for each issue, maybe, or break the numbers down into percentages, or something. Boldface type. Something. Something that will reinforce The Glaring Disparity Between The Number Of Men And The Number Of Women In The New Yorker. It’s great that you’re calling attention to the G.D.—but you need to do it in a graphically bolder way. You know, to really stun your readers.
I love the fact that you’re doing this with your mother! Cool!
[...] of improperly procuring antiquities to the Getty Museum. There was an even longer article about the aforementioned writer, Malcolm Lowry, who may or may not have been murdered by his [...]
“Hi:
Two things
1) I’d like your permission to (re)print your article on Flight of the conchords
for our website
2) I was hoping we could use your ‘scribing’ talent for our website.
The Best Shows Youre Not Watching (dot) com [all one word]
‘The Clone Wars’ is one of our featured shows. We’re hoping to round up a few people who can occasionally contribute perspective (via an article/blog) on the shows – maybe a recent episode, future direction, plot shortcomings etc.
What’s in it for you?
Primarily a larger audience back channeled to your blog. We don’t pay but the site has a lot of promise and we’re pretty excited about getting it off the ground. Let me know what you think.
Thanks
Lo Shummulo di Cat Power, come se fosse l’ acting out o
la cosa dell’Arturo Bandiini di John Fante
di V.S.Gaudio
Lo shummulo, che ha dentro l’acqua, la pietra da mulino e la mula,
ha sempre un innesco di retorica negativa, ma quando c’è l’aoristo
– ingressivo o gnomico che sia – è acting out, nel senso che è antitetico
al passaggio all’atto: quando Arturo Bandini incontra Camilla Lopez
è assolutamente certo che si tratta di un a per il soggetto.
Tempo di guardarle le scarpe ed è evidente che l’a in questione può
essere per Arturo Bandini il superio più molesto: è l’acting out che mostra
la donna fallica e quello che mostra è il resto, la sua caduta, ciò che cade;
tra il soggetto $ e l’Altro Å, non autentificabile, mai completamente
autentificabile benché sia impersonato da Camilla Lopez,
ciò che spunta è questo resto, a, è la libbra di carne, è questo l’acting
out in termini di peso del desiderio, l’a piccolo o la libbra di carne
che sono le gambe lisce e forti o la sodezza dei seni,
Nel canto di Cat Power c’è la “mostranza” ,che serve per tappare i buchi del desiderio,
come quelli della malinconia; solo che l’acting out non è un sintomo,
c’è il transfert selvaggio che, un po’, fa Baudrillard, l’alterità radicale,
l’irredentismo dell’oggetto, il selvaggio incomprensibile, non sentimentale,
un po’, per addomesticarlo, richiede l’interpretazione per capire in che modo
attaccare il cavallo alla stanga per farlo girare nel maneggio.
In che modo agire con l’acting out, non certo con l’aoristo,
perché così non lo si interpreta, né lo si proibisce, né si rinforza l’io,
avrebbe potuto sognarlo Arturo Bandini .
Ma se con l’acting out c’è il cavallo che scalpita, è con lo shummulo
che la mula dovrà azionare la pietra del mulino, il transfert selvaggio
addomesticato per rinforzare l’io di Arturo Bandini,
in qualche modo è questo che avviene, solo che, intanto,
l’a, la libbra di carne, insorto, è rimasto assolutamente intatto,
tra manicomio, cane e deserto.