In the New Yorker...

[Front-Ranger]

The only article I was able to read so far in last week's NY was the longish one on Christopher Steele: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/12/christopher-steele-the-man-behind-the-trump-dossier

The latest issue arrived today and I have read half of it already, online. Watch out for the Reddit story. Be prepared for a look into the obscene world of online trolling:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/19/reddit-and-the-struggle-to-detoxify-the-internet?mbid=&mbid=nl_Magazine%20Weekly%20031218%20without%20Web&CNDID=18632875&spMailingID=13105294&spUserID=MjI2MjM0MTY1NjYyS0&spJobID=1361154261&spReportId=MTM2MTE1NDI2MQS2

I posted a warning about this article back in late March.

[serious crayons]

I posted a warning about this article back in late March.

I wondered if anyone had already discussed it, since it's a couple of months old. I can't say I found much of it surprising, but then I've read a lot about internet trolling. I reviewed a book about people who were attacked so harshly on the internet that they lost their jobs, got death threats, were afraid to leave their houses, etc. I was kind of gratified that in the Reddit story, the admins had decided that the gross stuff had gotten out of hand. And the ending is somewhat, if not entirely, hopeful.

I've been the subject of trolling myself. I have a google alerts out for my name but somehow I'd missed this one. I was looking (in vain, it turned out) to see if old, pre-internet newspaper articles of mine were available on the internet. I stumbled across one of those horrifying sites (not a Reddit -- even their admins would probably ban it) where posters treated the c-word as synonymous with "women" and the front page said that people should avoid using the n-word because it's considered offensive, then offered a bunch of other common racial slurs to be used instead.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Another good reason to read TNY (column filler):

"A former meerkat expert at London Zoo has been ordered to pay compensation to a monkey handler she attacked with a wine glass in a love spat over a llama-keeper."

[Front-Ranger]

Do undergamekeepers really say things like "Come without fail" and "We shan't never be parted"?

(At least the second one has a double negative.)

Notwithstanding the lack of impression Maurice made on me, I really have always been a fan of Merchant-Ivory films. You always knew a Merchant-Ivory film would be a classy, high-quality production.

Well, Jack said, "Nothing ain't never come to me the right way," and many other multiple-negative constructions. So, maybe gameskeepers and cowboys are related, in literature.

[Front-Ranger]

hehe, I came here to write about Tad Friend's piece in the May 14, 2018 issue and I ended up reacting to a post from a year before that! Am I living in the past, or what? Anyway the article "Superior Intelligence" is witty, data-packed and chilling. He quotes from many sources on the subject of artificial intelligence as well as countless TV shows and films. "customer service bots will need to be designed, updated, and managed. Experts in unexpected disciplines such as human conversation, dialogue, humor, poetry, and empathy will need to lead the charge." Vladimir Putin is quoted as saying, "whoever becomes the leader in [AI] will become the ruler of the world." and most agree that AI can only be managed or fought with stronger AI.

[Front-Ranger]

Two articles I liked in the July 23 issue are "Delivering Modernity" by Jiayang Fan and "Drunk History" by Emily Nussbaum. The first article talks about the Amazon-like company that's bringing goods to rural China, sometimes by drone. "Drunk History" covers a new television show on Comedy Central that involves drunk people explaining the news.

[serious crayons]

Two articles I liked in the July 23 issue are "Delivering Modernity" by Jiayang Fan and "Drunk History" by Emily Nussbaum. The first article talks about the Amazon-like company that's bringing goods to rural China, sometimes by drone. "Drunk History" covers a new television show on Comedy Central that involves drunk people explaining the news.

I've seen a few shortish episodes of "Drunk History" that people have posted online. They're pretty funny. I always wonder if the celebrities are actually drunk. Did Emily say?

[Front-Ranger]

She seemed to think they were.

Now, I'm into the article about rental families in the April 30 issue by Elif Batuman. Imagine people renting relatives for their wedding. Now imagine women renting a fake groom because their parents are pressuring them into getting married. A fake wedding costs the equivalent of $47,000. 

[Front-Ranger]

Reviewing the July 30 issue, I wonder if TNY post-dates its issues to give readers a sense of being ahead of things? 

Evan Osnos reviewed Trump's Helsinki debacle and Sam Knight reviewed his trip to London. The former was more insightful. Sam Knight also went into Brexit and Theresa May, how she came to power and what makes her tick. Except that the over-long article really didn't say anything new and didn't come to any conclusions.

Shouts & Murmurs on Elon Musk was actually funny for a change. Also very funny was Anthony Lane's review of the new Mamma Mia movie.

There were three book reviews, all very good, but I struggled to follow the utopian one. T. Coraghessan Boyle's "I Walk Between the Raindrops" was quite readable as yet another straight man going through mid-life angst. But I don't know as it had any major insights. He seemed to be overreaching for material.

Zadie Smith also seemed to be overreaching in her review of the artist Henry Taylor.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I am way behind, even for me. There are just so many interesting things to read in the July 30 and August 6-13 issues.