Before The Movie Begins

February 2, 2012 7:33 AM

Before The Movie Begins
"On leaving the theater, you will be assaulted by baseball-bat-wielding ushers, who will pummel your skull until you forget what you have seen. Any remaining memories are yours to keep and enjoy." I wrote the Shouts & Murmurs in this week's New Yorker. It's a parody of those infernal anti-piracy announcements.

(This was, by the way, my first publication in The New Yorker after two decades of collecting rejections. I summed up my reaction with this tweet.)

Role: writer

posted by yankeefog (10 comments total)

This project was posted to MetaFilter by Paul Slade on February 2, 2012: Before The Movie Begins

Nice one, my dear!
posted by Pallas Athena at 12:32 PM on February 2, 2012

Well done, my friend. Getting published in the NYer is on my "to do" list as well, so I know how how pleased you must be. Not only that, but I read your piece in the paper mag the day before before seeing this post, and it made me chuckle out loud in Starbucks.
posted by Paul Slade at 1:31 PM on February 2, 2012

At risk of coming off as damning with faint praise, that was significantly funnier than the average Shouts & Murmurs piece. </curmudgeon>
posted by Lexica at 2:13 PM on February 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Congratulations! I'm going to casually display my copy and be like, "I know this person on the internet."
posted by frecklefaerie at 2:49 PM on February 2, 2012

This was, by the way, my first publication in The New Yorker after two decades of collecting rejections.

Congratulations. Nice to hear about people who don't give up such crazy writing dreams, keep plugging away, and win out in the end.
posted by LeLiLo at 2:48 AM on February 3, 2012

Thanks, guys! And thanks, Paul Slade, for posting it.
posted by yankeefog at 7:14 AM on February 4, 2012

I'm less ambitious than you, so I crossed off "Submit Something to the New Yorker" from my list.

I did send them a complaint letter after they had that horrible Obama as a terrorist cover. They didn't write back.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:13 PM on February 4, 2012

Well done, that truly is an accomplishment.
posted by Outlawyr at 8:14 AM on February 7, 2012

I read and enjoyed this in the magazine — how delightful to be able to say how much I liked it to the author.
posted by willF at 4:27 PM on February 25, 2012

Thanks, Outlawyr and willF!
posted by yankeefog at 5:18 AM on February 27, 2012