As long as we're paging through The New Yorker. . .

A movie review in last week's issue ended this way:

"It's good to see a really disastrous film every now and then; it makes one appreciate the modest victories of people with the skill to make a decent movie."

Indeed. Truth through juxtaposition. I've always said nothing makes one appreciate Catholicism like Protestant funerals. Sorry, Protestants. Not very ecumenical, I know, but there you are. I find them unspeakably depressing. No grace, no sacrifice, no prayers for the dead; even the Novus Ordo does better.

I can't find a cite for that quote on the website but it's probably there somewhere. They seem to put complete issues on the web. Or you could buy the January 12, 2009 number and look on page 7.