Joe Dator: The Art of Procrastination

Joe Dator's New Yorker cartoon from the issue of January 6, 2020 describes a dilemma familiar to those who work at home, and perhaps to everyone else too. The original art was sold on eBay January 9 for a reasonable But It Now price of $750. Prior to publication, shading must have been added digitally.

"I don't understand it—no matter how much I drink coffee, play
on my phone, refresh my email, look up things online, go to the
kitchen for snacks, message my friends,  scroll Twitter,
and play with the cats, I still can't get any writing done."
Joe Dator
Original art
The New Yorker, January 6, 2020, p. 39

Detail

Detail

Verso

Joe Dator
eBay listing ended January 9, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284598994308?hash=item42436c0584%3Ag%3AM0cAAOSwiz9h2IGH&nma=true&si=64J6TuENCQvl%252FEQuIbsoMEcDQlw%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Joe Dator
eBay item description

Ski spot by Filip Fröhlich and cartoon by Joe Dator

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/2020-01-06/flipbook/38/

Note:  I've learned my lesson and did not use Joe Dator's title, Procrastinating Writer, for the title of my post.

Ski spot by Filip Fröhlich

Image added August 7, 2022

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Danny Shanahan: A New Yorker Promotional Magnet

I have been subscribing to the New Yorker since before I set foot in high school, so I don't often receive mailings targeted at new subscribers. A colleague of mine who does receive such mailings, thinking I might for some reason be interested, surprised me with the gift of a promotional refrigerator magnet that was included in a subscription offer. It boasts "THE BEST WRITING ANYWHERE, EVERYWHERE" in all caps for those who think that's how the best writing looks. All kidding aside, I suppose it's really done so that the word EVERYWHERE may appear in capitals in the Irvin font like the magazine's logo.

The magnet is illustrated not with a well-crafted sentence or paragraph but with a wordless 2012 cartoon by Danny Shanahan showing a family reading at the beach. Who can fault the New Yorker for promoting its editorial content with a cartoon? Certainly not I. Finally, since no practitioner of fridge magnet design can leave well-enough alone, the cartoon does not appear as Mr. Shanahan intended, but with the superfluous addition of an orange sun overlapping the beach umbrella.

The New Yorker promotional magnet

The cartoon as Danny Shanahan intended it:

Danny Shanahan
The New Yorker, June 4, 2012, page 62

The cartoon as the New Yorker presented it:

Cartoon by Danny Shanahan

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/2012-06-04/flipbook/062/

Here's a rough transcript of the conversation that ensued after I was given the magnet:

docnad:  Thank you so much. So, did you subscribe?

Colleague:  No. I already get New York magazine. It has lots of pictures.

docnad:  The New Yorker has pictures too.

Colleague:  It has cartoons. I like pictures.

And there you have it.

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