Culture

Thus Ate Zarathustra

Woody Allen‘s got an article in the last week’s New Yorker!! A few quotes:

The existential catastrophe for Schopenhauer was not so much eating as munching.

or

Spinoza, on the other hand, dined sparingly because he believed that God existed in everything and it’s intimidating to wolf down a knish if you think you’re ladling mustard onto the First Cause of All Things.

A good read though not as hilarious as I was hoping. Besides, didn’t he already write a story with a dieting spin-off on the “Notes From the Underground”?
By the way, in regard to “doing other things with philosophy:” there was an interesting piece by Wayne Koestenbaum in the first issue of the newly born Guilt and Pleasure magazine. The article is called “Heidegger’s Mistress.” I don’t really get it, but like it nevertheless. It’s a semi-biographical meditation on literature and philosophy, disconnected (but pleasant) thought-flow with a little dada thrown in. Wayne has written and published on all sorts of cool obscure material. I haven’t seen the print edition of Guilt & Pleasure, but based on the articles I read on the website, it looks very good! I hope it won’t turn out to be another Heeb… Has anybody else read the mag? What do you think?
Sorta cross-posted on Mima’amakim.

5 thoughts on “Thus Ate Zarathustra

  1. guilt and pleasure is my favorite of the new magazines – nice content – has a good mixture of new and resurgent Jewish flora and fauna – and it feels nice, thanks to some good funding.
    i think buyin an issue is worth its space on the shelf.

  2. I, too, feared that Guilt and Pleasure would be Heeb redux but with an even bigger budget. I finally picked up an issue about two months ago and was more than pleasantly surprised. They had consistently smart, interesting articles and a humor piece by Gary Shteyngart that I thought totally out-Woody-ed Woody. I mean, really, that piece in the New Yorker could have been written 35 years ago. He’s been flogging that “high culture/low culture” juxtaposition for way too long. Has he no shame? (I know the answer to that…)
    Anyway, if we’re speaking of really awesome Jewish publications, I’d like to say that I love Nextbook and especially Steve Almond’s hysterical relationship advice column. If you haven’t checked out http://www.nextbook.com, I highly recommend taking a look.

  3. I completely agree with the two people who’ve complimented Guilt & Pleasure. So much smarter and more interesting than the competitors. A subscription isn’t very expensive & it’s more than worth it to support the alternative jewish press. I hope it sticks around!

  4. I agree — Guilt and Pleasure is a wonderful surprise. A smart, interesting and amazingly designed Jewish publication that doesn’t assume its readers are ignoramuses. As for the Woodster, Rokhl’s spot-on. His recent NYer pieces are tiresome rehashes of the brilliant stories and satires he wrote for the NYer (and published in three volumes) a quarter century ago. I think the NYer publishes him today purely out of nostalgia and respect, not because the pieces are “new” in any way.

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