"I have an imaginary friend. He's a realperson -- he just isn't really my friend."by KenI had the graphics files all prepared, and New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff's introduction styled for our format awaiting discreet abrdigment, when I left the office for my second annual Brooklyn Cyclones' home game at MCU Park in Coney Island, figuring that even with the long trip home from Coney Island to Washington Heights, I would have more than enough time to pull this post together after the game.But I wasn't expecting still to be in my seat at the end of the 9th inning -- and indeed leaving the park with some reluctance with the Cyclones and the Tri-City ValleyCats tied 3-3 and the 10th inning about to start. [For a game update, see tomorrow's post.] And then the long trip took even longer than I imagined, even with no A-train service tonight; both my D and no. 1 trains took lengthy subway siestas in a number of unexpected spots.So I haven't even attempted to rearrange the cartoons, and I'm just going to run with Bob's intro to this second installment of readers' nominations of their all-time favorite New Yorker cartoon as is, minus the numerous links you'll find onsite. And I'll add this one note: that I had surprisingly little difficulty passing over a lot of the 58 cartoons in the new slide show. I suppose it's understandable that each could be somebody's favorite, taste being such a personal thing. And after all, this wasn't a search for the most popular ones.Nevertheless, it's gotten me to thinking about what makes a cartoon memorable for me. But obviously that's a subject for another time. Now I should probably try to find out how the Cyclones' game turned out. (Note: Some of these cartoons will expand, if only a little, if you click on them. Then again, some won't.)
The People's Choices, Part 2POSTED BY BOB MANKOFFThey say to be careful what you wish for. I guess that also goes for requests. The first time I asked readers to tell me their favorite cartoons, I was thrilled to create a slide show of them. But the second time, when I extended the offer to those who never got around to it the first time, the outpouring of favorites really poured out, and I was a little less thrilled. Not because the selections weren't great; as you will soon see, they are. It's just that creating the slide show involves quite a bit of work: finding the cartoons in the database, then getting the files into Photoshop, tweaking them so that they're acceptable to view online, and so on. I mean, it comes very close to involving real work, which I try to avoid at all costs, especially during the torpor-inducing dog days of August. Still, no minor sacrifice is too great to please you guys, so I've prepared another slide show of your favorites.By no means are these all that were asked for. There were literally hundreds of requests, and early on I had a terrible attack of Lazyitis, so the slide show has a mere fifty or so cartoons. Also, I didn't see any point in featuring the admittedly great cartoons that everyone has seen so often, like Steiner's "On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog"; Barsotti's "Fusilli, you crazy bastard, how are you?"; and some other guy's "No, Thursday's out. How about never -- is never good for you?"P.S. My protestations notwithstanding, keep sending your favorites to newyorkercartoon@gmail.com. More slide shows to come.
"You have no idea what it's like to be a 'just between youand me' person in a 'just between you and I' world.""Really, I'm fine. It was just a fleeting senseof purpose -- I'm sure it will pass.""The phrase you're groping for is 'Thank you.' "*For a "Sunday Classics" fix anytime, visit the stand-alone "Sunday Classics with Ken."
