The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on October 24, 2019, 10:29:29 am ---I concur about the Adam Driver article. Did you get far enough to figure out why they call him "the original man"?
--- End quote ---
No, and I figured if you're going to lure people with a phrase like that you'd better reveal the meaning in far less than three pages. To me, Adam Driver seems like kind of a pleasant, mildly interesting man. If he asked me out to dinner, I'd go. But original? Um, Okaayyy, how so? ... I liked him a lot in BlackKKlansman, but that was just a good movie overall.
--- Quote --- IMO, the best thing about the article is the portrait of him. Such an interesting face!
--- End quote ---
Yes, kind of. I think that's one reason he's become a star. He's not exactly cute like the Chrises or Ryan Gosling or whoever, but he has an interesting and not unappealing face. Did you watch Girls? His character evolved from being kind of a distancing weirdo at first, as the article implies, but then gradually became a sympathetic (albeit less weird) figure.
--- Quote --- I liked "The avocado Whisperer" so far. The Shouts & Murmurs piece was, as usual, too nuanced for my taste.
--- End quote ---
I haven't gotten to either of those yet, but I'm looking forward to the Jerome Groopman piece on habits.
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on October 24, 2019, 08:47:38 pm ---I haven't gotten to either of those yet, but I'm looking forward to the Jerome Groopman piece on habits.
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Unfortunately, I found it disappointing.
Jeff Wrangler:
I need to read "The Florida Shuffle" before I call Oct. 21 complete. I never read the "Shouts and Murmurs."
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on October 24, 2019, 09:25:42 pm ---I never read the "Shouts and Murmurs."
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I usually check it out. I find that if it's one of their usual writers who writes them all the time, they're inevitably boring. But the ones by first-time or lesser known writers are often clever or even funny. I shout and murmur about them. ::)
Front-Ranger:
Since the latest issue was disappointing, I'm going back to earlier issues that I didn't finish. The July 8 & 15, 2019, issue has a couple of good articles: "Uncle Jim Called" by David Rabe is the best fiction I've read in a few years. It captures the mind of a writer, who oftentimes stands on the outside observing.
Also I read "Kipling in America" about the author's time in Brattleboro, Vermont, where his new wife was from. It reviews the new book If: The Untold Story of Kipling's American Years by Christopher Benfey. He sidesteps Kipling's questionable politics and beliefs and concentrates on his personal life, and the close relationship he had with Wolcott Balestier. They were so close that when Balestier died suddenly at age 29, Kipling married his sister.
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