New Yorker Subscription: Start Reading

I'd like to blog my beloved New Yorker subscription, a birthday gift from Sharon's parents (thank you sooooo much!). I read every article, almost cover-to-cover, every issue. Their writers can make any subject interesting, even things with which I would normally not investigate (a conductor at the L.A. Philharmonic, for example). Here is the first blog post in this irregular series.

The first issue to arrive was "Journeys," the travel issue, one that I devour every year. Cover date of April 16, 2007. The issues seem to arrive on or about the cover date which is pretty good for me (though it makes it difficult to enter the Caption Contest on time). Anyway, this issue featured an article about commuting and traffic, China's train to Tibet (with map), the art of parkour (extreme "base-jumping", as practiced in opening sequence of Casino Royale), the puzzling language of an Amazon tribe (great photos), and a book review discussing the risk to themselves and feminism that stay-at-home mothers portent (yikes!). I am introduced to writer Sasha Frere-Jones, who mostly covers music with a hip-hop lexicon.

Next: April 30, 2007. Beautiful cover with a geeky twist ("Paint by Pixels," by Harry Bliss). Articles on Peter Morgan (British screenwriter of The Queen), Barbara Stanwyck, aging and geriatrics (very eye-opening), and the aforementioned Maestro (has a funny anecdote about getting turned down at a bar). Critics discuss Aimee Semple McPherson (illustration by Edward Sorel that I need to show to Liz who drew Don Quixote for a book), books about TV, and Steven Holl's new Nelson-Atkins building (I am particularly fond of architecture articles with pictures). Sad fiction piece titled, "After the Movie."

And last for this post: May 7, 2007. Great cover"Style Sheet" by Ivan Brunetti. Articles on "the CSI Effect" (crime labs), "The Magus" Paul Coelho (now I know how to pronounce this author's name: "Co-el-you"), profile of Barack Obama, and India's antiquities-smuggling ring (financed by world-class institutions and auctioneers, of course). Critics on Ralph Ellison (more interesting person than I thought; another "lost manuscript" story), Tori Amos and Bjork, and Spider-Man 3 (I won't read it until I see the movie, even though New Yorker film critics write thought-provoking pieces beyond mere reviews).

Hopefully "blogging my New Yorker subscription" will be a regular feature here, and now I can comfortably loan out issues to friends who also want to enjoy!