In the New Yorker...

[serious crayons]

Thanks. I'll have to try to find it on YouTube. I would still like to have a copy for "the library," as I understand from a friend that these online things can eventually "go away."

Well, the other danger is that the things that allow you to play the library contents may go away. Eight-track tapes, VHS movies, etc.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Well, the other danger is that the things that allow you to play the library contents may go away. Eight-track tapes, VHS movies, etc.

It is something to think about, but they'll still be around for quite a while, courtesy of eBay at least and probably Amazon as well. I have one on Watch on eBay right now (new in an unopened box). Many older TVs that are still around will have the ports where you can plug in a player. As long as the TV works, you can use it as a monitor.

You didn't mention music cassettes specifically, but I would bet you can still find plenty of players for cassettes, too.

[serious crayons]

You didn't mention music cassettes specifically, but I would bet you can still find plenty of players for cassettes, too.

I figured so too, which is why I didn't mention them.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I admit to being surprised. I just took another look at eBay. I didn't spend a lot of time looking through listings, but I saw that now you can buy DVD players that connect to smart TVs and have HDMI connections.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I admit to being surprised. I just took another look at eBay. I didn't spend a lot of time looking through listings, but I saw that now you can buy DVD players that connect to smart TVs and have HDMI connections.

I didn't think to ask when he got it (  ), but I learned today that a friend has a fairly new-looking VCR. He uses it to transfer old tapes of performances of his Brazilian music group to DVDs.

[Jeff Wrangler]

For when I get to the fiction issue (June 8 ), are there any stories in particular that are recommended?

Can anybody recognize the literature references in the cover art?

In the top row "Alice in Wonderland" and "Moby-dick" are pretty obvious. I think maybe the second from the right is a reference to "The Raven." I have no clue as to the steamboat and the butterflies.

In the second row I believe the second from the left is one of the "Little House" books, either "In the Big Woods" or "On the Prairie." I guess "On the Prairie" is more likely. The characters in the third panel from either end are clearly Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, but I don't get the significance of that thing they're staring at. I have no clue as to the other panels.

The bottom row of my copy is mostly obscured by the mailing label, except for the book signing in the right panel.

[Front-Ranger]

I've read two of the fiction pieces so far. Both involved child abuse and were depressing.

What I find funny about the cover is the little child in the corner outside the house looking at their phone.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I've read two of the fiction pieces so far. Both involved child abuse and were depressing.

Oh, dear. 

What I find funny about the cover is the little child in the corner outside the house looking at their phone.

I'll have to check that again. I missed that. 

Meanwhile, Jill Lepore's article in the May 25 issue is what I like about her writing. There is a sentence on p. 58 at the bottom of the middle column that is "classic" Jill Lepore:

"Disappointingly, it was soon revealed that @Horse_ebooks wasn't an automated account but was instead put together by two guys, and I'm not even sure why."

I cannot read that sentence without laughing, out loud, even. It's the "and I'm not even sure why" that gets me. 

[Jeff Wrangler]

This morning I was looking through my backlog of issues, marking those I wanted to read. It occurred to me then that I have a list of authors I always read, no matter what their subjects:

(In no particular order)

Jill Lepore
Louis Menand
Adam Gopnik
Ben Taub
David Remnick
Peter Hessler
Patricia Marx
Roz Chast (cartoons)

I'm sure there are others; I just can't remember them off the top of my head.  I pulled these names from the TOCs of the four issues on my to-read pile plus two in the Recycle bag.

Anybody else got a list?

[serious crayons]

Jill Lepore
Louis Menand
Adam Gopnik
Ben Taub
David Remnick
Peter Hessler
Patricia Marx
Roz Chast (cartoons)

I'm sure there are others; I just can't remember them off the top of my head.  I pulled these names from the TOCs of the four issues on my to-read pile plus two in the Recycle bag.

Anybody else got a list?

My list would share a lot of names with yours. I'm not familiar with the work of Ben Taub or Peter Hessler, but I like all the others. (Well, I don't really "like" David Remnick -- he seems like kind of a jerk and I'm not that interested in Russia, which he writes about a lot -- but I give him credit as editor.)

I would add David Sedaris, Zadie Smith, Jia Tolentino, Emily Nussbaum, Ariel Levy, Leslie Jamison. I'd probably read Ronan Farrow and David Grann. I'd include Anne Applebaum and Elizabeth Kolbert because I respect their expertise, but most global politics and the environment are duty articles for me. I used to include Anthony Lane but I got kind of sick of his sometimes forced humor. Simon Rich (son of longtime New York Times' columnist Frank Rich) and Jack Handey sometimes write Shouts & Murmurs that are actually funny.

Not all of those are must-reads, with the exception of Sedaris, Menand, Gopnik, Chast and Smith. But the others I'd at least check out.