Really bizarre, embarrassing shit from The New Yorker (merged)

[Rooster_Ties]

If I were a subscriber, I'd immediately cancel my subscription.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

look, i took a gander at this, am outraged. wrote in to the mag. its stupid, disrespectful, misleading & deceptive. obviously written by an indie-rock fool. i always knew there was somethin 'funny' abt 'the new yorker', now i get it.

Edited August 3, 2014 by chewy

[JSngry]

Don’t know if it’s worth speculating why someone at the New Yorker thought this was funny. Maybe the writer is an inept Jack Handy disciple. The cadences are vaguely similar:

E.g. "I think people tend to forget that trees are living creatures. They're sort of like dogs. Huge, quiet, motionless dogs, with bark instead of fur.”

"To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other."

Apparently Jack Handey is published in The New Yorker from time to time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Handey

Never had occasion to ponder it before, but I did not think that Jack Handey was a real person, much less that he would be a Texan. Although, of course, now that you mention it, how could he not be?

The only problem I have with this New Yorker piece is that it's just not funny. It's like, humor directed "downward", toward/at the "little guy" is not humor, it's sadism (not that comedy is very frequently not sadistic anyway, just sayin'.... Apparently, somebody has been hearing about "Sonny Rollins" so much lately that they think he's a bona fide Media Star, like Joe Henderson or somebody. Hell, even in the obsessively masturbatory world of Jazz Savantry, there is still a Great Unsettled Debate about When/Why Did Sonny Rollins Stop Mattering And When/Why Did He Start Mattering AGAIN?

So, this feels like, Whack-A-Mole, oh, this Sonny Rollins guy, heard enough about him, jazz sucks and he'll be dead sooner than later, fuck it. Maybe when he dies he'll take jazz with him. I sure hope so. No, Jazz Musician, get out of MY life. If I have heard of you even once and remembered it, somebody's not doing their job. I guess if f you want a job done right...

If they did this bit about Sabir Mateen, #1 - they wouldn't, #2 - if they did, everybody would be, like wow, this Sabir Mateen guy is really dark, #3 - haha this Sabir Mateen guy, what a GREAT comic persona!, #4 - men would be hipstering their nuts off to tell everybody, HEY I KNOW WHO SABIR MATEEN REALLY IS, cn I hz my blow job and coke now?

I like S.J. Perelman, whatever happened to him?

[Spontooneous]

What Jim said. The smugness of the piece is just full of shit, as is the brilliant satirist's unwillingness to put his real name on it.

(Says the pseudonymous poster, yeah, I know.)

Wondering what the motivation for the whole thing was, other than gratification of the writer's ego.

[7/4]

Cash

[mikeweil]

If this is supposed to be satitical, it's a complete failure.

[Scott Dolan]

If I were a subscriber, I'd immediately cancel my subscription.

Over one harmless but awful attempt at humor??!!

When did you become so hysterical?

Don’t know if it’s worth speculating why someone at the New Yorker thought this was funny. Maybe the writer is an inept Jack Handy disciple. The cadences are vaguely similar:

E.g. "I think people tend to forget that trees are living creatures. They're sort of like dogs. Huge, quiet, motionless dogs, with bark instead of fur.”

"To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other."

Don’t know if it’s worth speculating why someone at the New Yorker thought this was funny. Maybe the writer is an inept Jack Handy disciple. The cadences are vaguely similar:

E.g. "I think people tend to forget that trees are living creatures. They're sort of like dogs. Huge, quiet, motionless dogs, with bark instead of fur.”

"To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other."

But at least Handey was usually pretty funny. I always enjoyed his "Deep Thoughts" segment on SNL.

[7/4]

Most scurrilous, unfunny New Yorker “humor” re jazz

August 2, 2014 by Howard Mandel

"I’m aghast at The New Yorker’s rip-off of Sonny Rollins’ good name and great heart to slag jazz in the guise of “humor.” A Daily Shouts piece, bylined “Django Gold” (surely a pseudonym) purports to be “Sonny Rollins: In His Own Words” and controverts the very essence of the art form this grand hero has embodied for more than half a century – without raising a chuckle (at least from me). See for yourself – then write the editor a letter saying “This ain’t funny.” Not that jazz is sacrosanct, but this ain’t funny."

[Scott Dolan]

"...and controverts the very essence of the art form this grand hero has embodied for more than half a century..."

...he typed breathlessly!

Oh well, I guess hyperbole never killed anyone.

[Head Man]

.. an August story.......

[Van Basten II]

The best thing this item deserves is to die into oblivion, to make it more than what it is is giving it too much importance

[Larry Kart]

If I were a subscriber, I'd immediately cancel my subscription.

Over one harmless but awful attempt at humor??!!

When did you become so hysterical?

Don’t know if it’s worth speculating why someone at the New Yorker thought this was funny. Maybe the writer is an inept Jack Handy disciple. The cadences are vaguely similar:

E.g. "I think people tend to forget that trees are living creatures. They're sort of like dogs. Huge, quiet, motionless dogs, with bark instead of fur.”

"To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other."

Don’t know if it’s worth speculating why someone at the New Yorker thought this was funny. Maybe the writer is an inept Jack Handy disciple. The cadences are vaguely similar:

E.g. "I think people tend to forget that trees are living creatures. They're sort of like dogs. Huge, quiet, motionless dogs, with bark instead of fur.”

"To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other."

But at least Handey was usually pretty funny. I always enjoyed his "Deep Thoughts" segment on SNL.

Yes, he usually was. But if this guy is the would-be Handy I think he might be, humor of that sort apparently doesn't travel.

Which somehow reminds me -- I'm old enough to have reviewed the first two shows that Robert Smigel's comedy troupe "All You Can Eat and The Temple of Doom" put on in Chicago. They were very funny.

[Rooster_Ties]

The best thing this item deserves is to die into oblivion, to make it more than what it is is giving it too much importance

Agreed.

[Ted O'Reilly]

Most scurrilous, unfunny New Yorker “humor” re jazz

August 2, 2014 by Howard Mandel

Mandel's piece led to this: http://www.jessamyn.com/barth/kingofjazz.html Funny!

[porcy62]

The most embarassing thing is a pretending fun work that isn't fun at all on The New Yorker

[Steve Reynolds]

The saddest part is whoever that dolt is that wrote it believes it. Written under the guise of "humor" what stands out is the belief that jazz is stupid, silly and a waste of time.

And that he is an employed or paid writer by some other moronic ignorant dolt(s).

[Shawn]

People read stuff like this...

The saxophone sounds horrible. Like a scared pig. I never learned the names of most of the other instruments, but they all sound awful, too. Drums are O.K., because sometimes they’ll drown out the other stuff, but it’s all pretty bad.

...and couldn't tell it was satire?

[7/4]

People read stuff like this...

The saxophone sounds horrible. Like a scared pig. I never learned the names of most of the other instruments, but they all sound awful, too. Drums are O.K., because sometimes they’ll drown out the other stuff, but it’s all pretty bad.

...and couldn't tell it was satire?

When I read it, I thought Sonny was chronically depressed and cause for alarm.

[danasgoodstuff]

Anyone who couldn't tell that it was (attempted) humor should just turn in their sentient being card and plant themselves where they stand. Anyone who thought it actually succeeded as humor is merely stupid and tasteless.... I guess we (and Sonny) will find out now if there truly is 'no such thing as bad publicity'.

[king ubu]

Granted - but I think Jim made some good points why this isn't just your harmless attempt at humour. At least not to everybody, obvsiouly. Sonny already found out (but that may have been reported in the other thread dealing with this bull).

[Scott Dolan]

Who did it harm?

Aside from the overly sensitive Jazz fan...

[danasgoodstuff]

Really really stupid crap like this harms the whole world, it just takes the general level of discourse down a notch, not getting it takes it down another. I'm somewhat leary of Sonny responding, 'cause like where do you start, but I'm sure he'll be his usual lovely intelligent self and maybe it'll all end up good...

[JSngry]

Let's back this puppy up and get the hell outta Dodge!

https://twitter.com/djangogold

Django Gold @djangogold · Aug 1

Dear @sonnyrollins, thanks for having a sense of humor. More importantly, thanks for your music. You are the king.

But wait, not so fast!

In Gold's defense, after reading a page or two of his tweets, it's not that he hates jazz or Sonny Rollins, he's just a really not-funny guy, period. So Sonny should be gracious towards him, I think. Giants shouldn't step on midgets, unless, that is, the midget is asking for it, in which case, smoosh that punk away, big guy!

[Rooster_Ties]

What surprises me is that some editor accepted this submission, and approved it for publication.

[Scott Dolan]

Really really stupid crap like this harms the whole world...

Good lord.

One can only hope that was a bad attempt at humor on your part.