Selections from H.P. Lovecraft's brief tenure as a Whitman's Sampler copywriter.
posted on Aug 20, 2008 - View this thread

Small is Beautiful - The best new journals. (via Guardian / Observer) selected by Stephanie Merritt. "Published out of tiny offices or even editors' apartments, funded by grants, donations or founders' savings, distributed by direct subscription or in selected independent bookshops, paying contributors little or nothing at all, these magazines have nevertheless attracted such eminent writers as to give them an international reputation far beyond their limited circulation."
posted on Dec 30, 2007 - View this thread

Movie Store "Who's on First."
CUSTOMER: Why can't I rent Seven?
CASHIER: Because it's over the limit.
CUSTOMER: Right, but I want Seven. Get rid of Ten.
CASHIER: (Pause.) That would leave negative three.
(via McSweeney's)
posted on Mar 4, 2005 - View this thread

What's a pirate's favorite aspect of computational linguistics? PARRRsing sentences.

Happy Talk Like a Pirate day, me hearties!
posted on Sep 19, 2004 - View this thread

The Greatest War Protestor of All Time --Wise, hilarious, and kind words from Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. If you don't know who he is, fake it.
posted on Sep 15, 2004 - View this thread

Pros & Cons of Kerry's Veep Choices 14. Ann Coulter, columnist Pro: Flattering position would silence her exposing of the true evil liberal agenda Con: Is composed entirely of spiders and deadly snakes writhing beneath a latex "skin." Courtesy of McSweeneys
posted on May 30, 2004 - View this thread

When is violence justified? I am now the proud owner of one of 3,500 copies of William T. Vollmann's 3,299-page study of violence, Rising Up and Rising Down, published by McSweeney's. The book (if you can call something that's seven volumes a "book") has gotten mixed reviews that lean toward positive: Scott McLemee, writing in the New York Times Book Review (reg. req.), called it a "flood of logorrhea," while Steven Moore (a literary critic notable for his work on another long-winded writer, William Gaddis) wrote in the Washington Post that it is an "achievement beyond the realm of mere mortals," comparing it to Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough. This oral history tells the story behind how the book came to be published at McSweeney's, and is an interesting look at what needs to happen for a difficult-to-market work to make its way from its author to the general reading public, in a publishing industry that's unfriendly to this kind of thing, to say the least.
posted on Mar 12, 2004 - View this thread

Kafka at Camp: The Lost Diaries July 10,1897—In Arts and Crafts, that humid hut, the teacher stops. He looks down. I look up. I am working on something intricate, something simultaneously nothing and everything. It is made of paper. "I always wanted you to admire my origami," I say. "I do. I do admire it." "Well, you shouldn't," I say. "You're a weird little dude, Franzie."
posted on Oct 14, 2003 - View this thread

Unused Audio Commentary By Dinesh D'Souza and Ann Coulter, Recorded Spring 2003, for Aliens Special Red-State Edition DVD, Part One and Part Two.
posted on Jun 2, 2003 - View this thread

Lost Disney Memo Found. McSweeney's posts a posthumously uncovered memo from the Disney board to Walt regarding his initial plans for a radically different "Disney-Land."
posted on Feb 20, 2003 - View this thread

Journal of a new COBRA recruit. "I report to COBRA boot camp out in Utah in the middle of June. The recruiter guy said that everyone around there thinks it's where some crazy old Mormon lives with all his wives. I'm not supposed to say anything about it to anyone. I'm supposed to tell Mom and Dad that I'm going off to work for the phone company."
posted on Nov 1, 2002 - View this thread

If you can't stand the heat, better stick to the kitchen of your dreams... Reading about the new industrial home chic in last week's Time and The Wall Street Journal, with its Viking and SubZero worship, how couldn't one be reminded of Mark Shatzker's now classic "My Dream Kitchen" piece for McSweeney's? In the light of all this fetichism, it deserves to be read afresh. For a sobering dessert, may I propose a look at Julia Child's kitchen, now in the Smithsonian?
posted on Oct 15, 2002 - View this thread

Is McSweeney's Sounding More And More Like Random House? Or is it just me? As a lifetime subscriber and fan of David Eggers, I'm sickened by the glib, shameless commercialism that now contaminates what was once an interesting website for new writers. What in the hell has happened? Or is the new book-peddling climate just another tiresome take on post-post-post modernism or, more likely, just blatant PR? (Latest example inside)
posted on Oct 29, 2001 - View this thread

A Clarification -- Dave Eggers wants to expose the process, "By reprinting your correspondence to me I hope to illuminate the journalist's mind: how a writer starts by telling me he is a fan of my work, supports my company's endeavors, etc, then writes a snippety little thing full of sneering and suspicion." so he's posted ALL of the email correspondance he had with david kirkpatrick before this unflattering piece was printed... and after.
    "I think it's important that our exchange be published. It's the only remedy commensurate with the impact you enjoyed with your original piece. I want your friends and family to see it, and to say 'David, ew.'"
    Meanspirited all around, but can you blame him?
posted on Feb 22, 2001 - View this thread

McSweeneys.com — seven months later. Gerry, lead writer of the "Massachusettes McSweeney's" is ripping it up with feeble essays such as Potty Parity and Suburban Lumberjacks. He's no Ben Greenman.
posted on Dec 2, 2000 - View this thread

McSweeney's suspends lifetime subscriptions. Sure hope mine got in under the wire.
posted on May 12, 2000 - View this thread

Mcsweeny's is back to normal, rather abruptly. Okay, I give; what was supposed to be funny about this whole thing, anyway?
posted on Apr 11, 2000 - View this thread

If you're tired of McSweeney's, try McSweeney's.
posted on Apr 9, 2000 - View this thread

22% of McSweeneys.com visitors are using Macs which is more proof that the more intelligent your content, the more diverse your user agents. Or something. (More Mac users read Suck and Salon?)
posted on Apr 8, 2000 - View this thread

Latest on the mcsweeneys.net takeover. If this is a prank, it's already getting old. I keep hoping for some big humor payoff, but I'm the MTV generation--speed things up! Darnit!
posted on Apr 6, 2000 - View this thread

Anyone who doubted that the mcsweeneys.com/mcsweeneys.net merger was a hoax might want to take a look at the new McSweeney's Internet Tendency home page. Somehow I don't think this is a permanent change.
posted on Apr 4, 2000 - View this thread