Monday, September 01, 2008

cleaning and new yorker

In preparation for some guests next weekend, I'm undertaking some housecleaning. (Note to Grrrbear and Spice: Whatever it looks like when you see it, it'll be way better than it was before, especially if you stay away from the closets.) As part of this cleaning effort, I'm going through stacks and stacks of old magazines. The good thing about letting New Yorkers get old is, you can really skip almost everything. The articles in the Aug 2, 2004 issue analyzing the election are a bit stale, as are the economics explainers from 2005.

But the best thing? A lot of these are from before the New Yorker started that awful cartoon caption contest. So I get to the back page, and there's actually something there! An essay about a chicken! A cartoon about internet procrastination! (Love Roz Chast.) Things that are actually worth reading and non-stupid!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gosh, the cartoon contest is the best thing about the New Yorker. Really, that's the first thing I look at. Most of their cartoons aren't very funny, but the caption ones are great. I think it's partly because the people who write in are really into it, not writing their tenth cartoon of the week. But mostly I think it's the abundance. The first caption is funny, the next makes me giggle, and the last one has me laughing out loud. There's some kind of momentum.

Sara

towwas said...

I *hate* it. Here's my earlier explanation:
http://mellificent.blogspot.com/2008/06/cartoon-caption-contest.html