I thought I had a surefire winner with this one... So certain was I of capturing ultimate caption-writing glory, I kept checking the New Yorker website with the childlike alacrity of Ralphie from a Christmas Story waiting for his Red Rider secret decoder pin package to arrive. Sadly, I was worse than Ralphie: I was more like the Ellen Burstyn character from Requiem for a Dream thinking she was finally going to be ON TEE VEE! (And with a caption like this, why wouldn't I be excited?)
"Can you believe it, Ron? After all these years ... senior pard'ner!"
Get it? The juxtaposition of Old West attire with a business setting is brilliantly captured by the phrase senior pard'ner! Am I right or am I right? What more could Remnick and co. want? I guess this:
"What makes you think I wouldn't be up for sushi?"
Well I have news for you, Mr. Neal Svalstad of El Cajon, CA. Despite the fact that you look like a pretty cool guy as far as Google's concerned -- what with balancing a legal career with your rock n roll band and all -- I'm here to tell you that the best man did not win this contest. It should have been me! Me, I tell you. The Fake Angeleno.
Alas, true genius is seldom recognized in its own generation.
So sorry B. I myself have submitted many a fine zinger only to be shut down by the man. The New Yorker Man.
Better luck next time.
Posted by: Crystalle | January 15, 2009 at 07:58 AM
Maybe you should set your sites on the Washington Post Style Invitational....
Posted by: Mir | January 19, 2009 at 09:39 PM
It is close, thassfersher, but as someone who lived in Texas for too many years amidst Cowboys and Mexicans I have to take the side of Remnick and co. this time. Sure, the casual viewer might think the garb worn by the speaking character is Cowboy chic, and for that reader your caption works just fine...far better than the winning caption, in fact. The truth is, though, that the sombrero and blanket drape are decidedly NOT Cowboy and are most definitely Mexican couture.
A great example of the ever-watchful, always-discerning, anally-precise nature of The New Yorker, which has always and continues to demand its readership read up to it.
Keep trying, mon ami...
Posted by: K² | January 23, 2009 at 02:32 PM