“And they’re naked — they’re like not even wearing spacesuits.”
Related reading
All “overheard” posts (via Pinboard)
[Context? Don’t know, and not sure I want to.]
From the New York Times obituary:
Barney Rosset, the flamboyant, provocative publisher who helped change the course of publishing in the United States, bringing masters like Samuel Beckett to Americans’ attention under his Grove Press imprint and winning celebrated First Amendment slugfests against censorship, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 89.The first Grove Press book I ever read: Waiting for Godot or Eugène Ionesco’s Four Plays, in high-school English, with a very hip teacher, Beverly Jones. I can’t recall which book came first. Many other Grove Press books followed. The one that probably means the most to me: The New American Poetry 1945–1960, edited by Donald Allen. Think scales and eyes.
At Blackwing Pages, Sean has written the greatest Blackwing post of all time: No Ordinary Pencil.
When the context is serious, and a pun would do no more than call attention to its maker’s cleverness, block that pun. From a New York Times article on suspected forgeries of modern American painters:
A few details, however, have dripped out in court documents and through interviews with other players in the case, enough to sketch out what happened.Notice that the metaphor is mixed: it would be awkward at best to sketch with what’s been dripping. Better:
A few details, however, have come out in court documents and in interviews with other players in the case, enough to suggest what happened.[This post is no. 36 in a series, “How to improve writing,” dedicated to improving stray bits of public prose.]
TOYNBEE IDEAWho’s creating these tiles? What do they mean? With determined effort and remarkable luck, Justin Duerr, Colin Smith, and Steve Weinik push forward to an answer.
IN MOViE ‘2001
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPiTER
E.B. White, in a 1969 Paris Review interview:
Television affects the style of children — that I know. I receive letters from children, and many of them begin: “Dear Mr. White, My name is Donna Reynolds.” This is the Walter Cronkite gambit, straight out of TV. When I was a child I never started a letter, “My name is Elwyn White.” I simply signed my name at the end.This observation reminds me of what I wrote in my post on how to e-mail a professor:
Why sign with your name, class, and meeting time? It’s a courtesy, yes, but it also avoids the awkward “My name is . . . , and I am a student in your such-and-such class,” all of which is taken care of in the signature. It occurs to me that “My name is . . . , and I am a student in . . .” is telling evidence of the unfamiliarity of e-mail as a way for students to communicate with professors.“My name is” does sound childlike, doesn’t it? Or spammy: “Hello My Dear One, my name is,” &c.
“The old firm is doing very well in new markets far from America”: Edward Luttwak on the Iliad in Arabic, Chinese, and English: Homer Inc (London Review of Books).
Esther Williams responds to Vanity Fair’s Proust questionnaire:
What is your greatest fear?Related reading
The pool is unheated.
There are few dance orchestras more “zippy” than this one, to be at WBCN about 11:45 o’clock Thursday night, and which is shortly to take to the stage for a few weeks. While these boys, who travel under the name of the Alabama Syncopators, have been heard before from WBCN, their last appearance was several months ago and many who heard them may have forgotten their unusually “dancy” tempo. From left to right, those in the photo are: Pasquale Venuso, trombone; Frank Martello, trap drums; Joseph Pellegrino, cornet; Edward Kapek, piano; Anthony Pellegrino, saxophone and clarinet (director); Nicholas Pellegrino, saxophone and clarinet; James Tarentino, banjo.The Social Security Death Index lists just one Edward Kapek (1901–1985) and one Pasquale Venuso (1907–1979). There’s a Frank Martello (1905–1976) whose last residence was in Chicago, and an Anthony Pellegrino (1902–1979) and a Nicholas Pellgrino (1906–1970) whose last residences were in Illinois.
