In the New Yorker...

[serious crayons]

A strange world we live in where people obsess about figures in popular culture.

I don't know if you mean "world" literally -- as in, the entire human species -- or the world of modern developed countries where people might be interested in Jeremy Renner or Ben Affleck. But I think of it in the former sense, as something that happens in every culture. In the absence of mass media or widespread mobility, where people would live in villages or towns or tribes, often seeing the same smallish group of families and neighbors throughout their lives, people would obsess about -- their local versions of celebrities. The chief or mayor, the successful warrior, the handsome butcher and so on. That wold be a far smaller group, of course, than the thousands of celebrities modern people obsess about, with our access to images and information involving strangers all over the world whom we will never meet in person.

Interesting topic on a site specifically offered for people who are literally obsessed with one particular item of popular culture (well, two items), both in fictional and real-life ways. And with a group that for months has been playing a fun game based on real-life figures people obsess about, mostly entertainers!    Wait -- have we done Ben Affleck yet? 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Sometimes I astonish myself at what I miss. The Nov. 4 issue includes letters referring to an article by Joan Acocella on "Gilgamesh" that appeared in the Oct. 14 issue under Books. Somehow I missed that, because that's something I would assuredly have read. I'll have to see if that issue is still in my recycling bag.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Sometimes I astonish myself at what I miss. The Nov. 4 issue includes letters referring to an article by Joan Acocella on "Gilgamesh" that appeared in the Oct. 14 issue under Books. Somehow I missed that, because that's something I would assuredly have read. I'll have to see if that issue is still in my recycling bag.

Well, how strange is this? I went through my recycling bag, and I still have the issues of Sept. 30, Oct. 7, Oct. 21, and Oct. 28, but not Oct. 14. 

[Front-Ranger]

That was a good article, you'll definitely have to find and read that.

[serious crayons]

Sometimes I astonish myself at what I miss. The Nov. 4 issue includes letters referring to an article by Joan Acocella on "Gilgamesh" that appeared in the Oct. 14 issue under Books. Somehow I missed that, because that's something I would assuredly have read. I'll have to see if that issue is still in my recycling bag.

I do this, too, although in my case they aren't in the recycling yet, they're just piled up on the dining room and bedside tables. So when I go through them, or even just grab a random issue, I usually find something good that I missed the first time around.

[Jeff Wrangler]

That was a good article, you'll definitely have to find and read that.

When I look at the date, October 14, it now occurs to me that I may have taken that issue when I went out to my dad's place while he was in the hospital and then discarded it out there. In that case it's irretrievably gone. So I still missed the article.

[Front-Ranger]

But if you're a subscriber, which you are, you can access every article ever printed in the magazine online.

[serious crayons]

Here you go:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/14/how-to-read-gilgamesh

[Jeff Wrangler]

Thanks! 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Maybe I deliberately skipped it because of that title, "Beyond the Waters of Death," but I probably just overlooked it and put the magazine out for the trash at my dad's place.