Some random New Yorker related bits, since I don't really have anything worth reviewing right now:

1. In the mail today, I got an Advance Reader Copy (kind of a fancy galley, but still not an official copy of the book) of What You Have Left by Will Allison. Sure, you could argue that I'm too excited about getting a book I'd never heard of before last week; or that I only received a copy because I'm one of 300 people who check their email obsessively enough to be the first to pounce on a "free book" email from the New Yorker. Whatever. It feels insider-y enough for me! I feel kinda bad for the publicist behind this, though. A copy probably should have gone to someone whose book blog reaches more than, oh, one person.

2. I don't like the new, animated versions of the New Yorker cartoons. It's not a notion of the artistic purity of the medium--that's kinda shot when you realize that the tag lines seem randomly assigned to a spare picture. Really, it's more of a sense that the humor just doesn't come across very well in this format. A vague chuckle works better when you can move right along to Sy Hersh's next Iraq bombshell, or a profile of some stage actor you've never heard of. Besides, this opens a dangerous door. What happens when Bil Keane decides that maybe "Family Circus" needs to move too? Haven't we suffered enough?