Monday, February 28, 2011

"Money Is a Running Concern"

The Times s'épate la bourgeoisie with late-night parties (midnight counts as late), French, cross-dressing, and the smell of pot. It is hard not to be dismissive, and yet toward the end, a glorious nugget: "His own salary, around $150,000, is generous by literary-world standards." Ha! As my old man always advises: never begrudge another man his successful scam. You bet your tight asses that if I could get someone to drop a buck fiddy per annum on me for playing a "whippet-thin" cyproPlimpton, I'd buy the first round for the bar.

12 comments:

Charles F. Oxtrot said...

I'd say $150k is pretty good for a man that does absolutely nothing but pose as a retro hipster.

Anonymous said...

What's with misspelling 'bourgeoisie'? Too much Oscar party last night?

Anonymous said...

37?! He looks like 50. Definitely should wear an afro wig.

Question - What's a "genocide expert"?

modulo said...

The Frederick Seidel picture explains everything...

The bad side: 18-year old single malts, the debauched use of the word 'cunt', dates two women a week.

The good side: Jonathan Franzen, worries about hobbies.

Freddy el Desfibradddor said...

a scholarship kid who attended elite schools, including the Potomac School in McLean, Va.; Sidwell Friends School in Washington; Yale; and, briefly as a teaching fellow and poetry student, Johns Hopkins.


Who knows if it's good or bad?

Christopher said...

"His desk has an old-fashioned Rolodex, a vintage Lucky Strike case and a neat bowl of paper clips."

The thing I enjoy about the style section of the Times is that it's always a window into a foreign set of cultural norms and expectations.

In this case, it's the idea that an office worker wouldn't have occasion to clip together pieces of paper.

IOZ said...

That's funny, Christopher, and true.

Heywood Jablome said...

Why are those boot camp glasses "in" at the moment. We used to call them beasties or BCG's (birth control glasses 'cause you aint getting laid - har har har, yeah it was lame)

Wait a minute: 10,000 subscribers and the editor make $150,000 a year? These are televangelist ratios!

“He definitely presents an image of the literary life as something fun and entertaining, which might save a few people from going into investment banking.”

That's right all you aspiring writers, you don't have to become Wall Street bank- wait, what??

"Not everyone is a fan. Some of his peers privately gripe that he is annoyingly self-promotional, or worse."

Not too privately, evidently.
Sounds like a total dick, or worse.

Anonymous said...

"Wait a minute: 10,000 subscribers and the editor make $150,000 a year? These are televangelist ratios!"

Subscriptions don't begin to cover their costs ($150k editor salaries or not!). It's mostly from fundraising. So the new guy sounds like a great fit.

Anonymous said...

IOZ, in your experience, how much cocaine does it take to achieve Charlie Sheen-levels of consciousness?

IOZ said...

A lot. Ba-dum-bum.

Anonymous said...

Finally, I was like, ‘Can someone help me clean up these beer bottles?’

Christ, the editor of the Paris Review is a likester.