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the breakfast table
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from: Alexander Star
to: Jim Holt

Spider-Man Gaffes and Farewell

Posted Thursday, May 9, 2002, at 6:32 PM ET

Who are these people?

Dear Jim,

According to the www.movie-mistakes.com Web site, there are some 93 continuity errors in the film Spider-Man. I don't know how many continuity errors there are in our correspondence, but I've enjoyed it greatly all the same.

I have more experience as a free-lance reader than as a free-lance writer, so I can't add all that much to your excellent advice. I do have a few suggestions for young editors, however.

1. You must remain on the phone all day.

2. When you are on the phone, you should speak only to people you already know. (Otherwise, you could be mistaken for a reporter.)

3. Answer all e-mail promptly and courteously; do not open any of your other mail, unless you believe there's a free book inside.

4. Make sure that all pieces are fact-checked carefully, especially if they are about Archilochus Jones.

5. Always defer to your writers' taste in punctuation marks; edit aggressively in all other respects.

6. Think twice before publishing any article with the words "hermeneutics" and "quantum gravity" in the title.

The completion of our correspondence makes me quite sad. How fortunate that your documentary about grief management will be opening so soon at the Sunshine Theater. I hope to see you there.

All the very best,
Alex

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516
from: Alexander Star
to: Jim Holt

Spider-Man Gaffes and Farewell

Posted Thursday, May 9, 2002, at 6:32 PM ET
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Jim Holt writes the "Egghead" column for Slate. He also writes for The New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine. Alexander Star is a writer who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. This fall, he will begin editing the "Ideas" section of the Boston Globe.
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