In the New Yorker...

[Front-Ranger]

I used to work in the mining industry and The Red Lion was THE place to stay in Elko, although you had to walk past the jangling slot machines in the lobby. The Basque place served the best food in town.

[serious crayons]

The Basque place served the best food in town.

It was nice! We had a surprise party for my brother. I guess he knew it was going to be a party, but he didn't realize my family and mom were going to fly in for it.

You and John were probably eating there at the same time at some point, with your common connection still at least 10 years in the future.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Has a New Yorker article ever before been redacted? (Nicholas Schmidle, "Digital Vigilantes," May 7.)

[Front-Ranger]

I started yet another article about television. Who would have thought the New Yorker would be expounding about TV?

[Jeff Wrangler]

Over dinner yesterday I finished Emily Nussbaum's profile of Ryan Murphy. It was interesting, but also it was too long, I think.

[Jeff Wrangler]

We all know Anthony Lane can be snarky in his movie reviews, but I think his review of "Solo: A Star Wars Story" (June 4 & 11) is both snarky and very funny.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Yesterday I finished the profile of the film maker Claire Denis. I was reminded of what often happens to me when I read TNY. I'll finish the entire magazine except for a profile of someone I've never heard of. I really don't want to read the profile, but I force myself to read it anyway. Very often I end up being glad I dd, as the subject turns out to be an interesting person whom I would know nothing about if I hadn't read the profile.

This doesn't happen all the time, but it happens frequently.

[serious crayons]

I started yet another article about television. Who would have thought the New Yorker would be expounding about TV?

Well, TV is much better now than it has been throughout the rest of the New Yorker's history, but also, Emily Nussbaum is a much better writer than Nancy Franklin.

I went through and recycled my giant stacks of New Yorkers, as always ripping out unread articles that look interesting. I keep a handful in my purse for when I have open time and don't want to be on my phone. Or can't be on my phone, as when I'm on a plane.

So this past week I took some planes and read an article from March about Reddit. It was really well done -- interesting and appalling in about equal measures. I've only been to Reddit a couple of times, but I did know that it's full of alt-right, pro-Trump, racist, sexist, nationalist trolls. It's also full of regular people, I guess, but overall the atmosphere is more savage and Wild West than, say, Facebook. I liked how the writer, twice, wrote about a troll's or forum's horrible posts, lists a couple of disgusting ones, and then says, "... and worse (yes, it gets worse)." Another good part is where the CEO jokes that his memoir should be titled "A Barrage of Dicks."

During the course of the article, the site decides to start banning forums that cross a line of acceptability. So the staffers have this list of candidates and are going through them one by one, and they realize that while DogSex is on the list, SexWithDogs is not. So there's this scene (recounted from my memory):

Staffer: We forgot to list SexWithDogs.
Supervisor: What's on it?
Staffer: I mean ...
Supervisor: Does it show people having sex with dogs?
Staffer: Oh yes, it does, very much so.
Supervisor: Ban it.

The ending is somewhat upbeat, and really really well done.

PS To connect the topics of TV and sex with dogs, I read a brief story yesterday (somewhere, not in TNY) about a scene from Sex in the City that HBO decided crossed the line and never aired. So Sarah Jessica Parker's character has a boyfriend who keeps pushing her head down to give him blow jobs. She gets sick of it and storms out of the guy's apartment. Then she has second thoughts, decides she overreacted and goes back into his apartment. There's the guy lying naked on the floor, and his dog ... well, let's say the guy didn't need SJP.

 

(In shooting the scene, apparently, they used peanut butter.)

[Jeff Wrangler]

So this past week I took some planes and read an article from March about Reddit. It was really well done -- interesting and appalling in about equal measures.

I remember that article, and I agree with your assessment.

[Jeff Wrangler]

PS To connect the topics of TV and sex with dogs, I read a brief story yesterday (somewhere, not in TNY) about a scene from Sex in the City that HBO decided crossed the line and never aired. So Sarah Jessica Parker's character has a boyfriend who keeps pushing her head down to give him blow jobs. She gets sick of it and storms out of the guy's apartment. Then she has second thoughts, decides she overreacted and goes back into his apartment. There's the guy lying naked on the floor, and his dog ... well, let's say the guy didn't need SJP.

 

(In shooting the scene, apparently, they used peanut butter.)

Creamy or crunchy? 

(Couldn't somebody have ended up in jail for that? I know it was a scene for a TV show, but if it was really staged, the guy and the dog really had to do it.)