MAILBOX

This week:  Leonard Jacobs gets a few laughs on the 4 train; sex writer Katelyn Nudo discovers she has a fan club; but don’t worry—Armond White’s many hate-filled fans haven’t disappeared.

Laugh Track
I was reading this review of Dina Martina’s Off the Charts (“Gift of Gab,” Feb. 27-March 4) on the uptown No. 4 train and found myself snorting, chortling, roaring and making all sorts of sounds I haven’t resorted to in altogether too long a time. I was leaning forward to ease the intensity of the hilarity and getting stares from everyone around—until I shared with everyone about Dina’s looking like Liz Taylor and Liza Minnelli hit with a brick! Then everyone else began to roar!

I’m gonna go see this show next week, and I’m also gonna keep reading Mr. Jacobs’ columns. How many times have I reread this and shared it with others? I almost feel like his new publicist! No regrets here, and I can’t wait to see what he steamrolls us with next!
—R.D. Eastman, III, Bed-Stuy, NY

Give Me More Flavor
I absolutely loved Katelyn Nudo’s “Flavor of the Week” column (“The Date From Hell, N.J.,” Feb. 27-March 4). She’s got it!  As a “fiftyish-year-old” online “dater,” I’ve come to realize the scenario is the same no matter what age or gender. I’m considering submitting my own “experiences,”which, in my eyes, are enough to curl the straightest hair!

Katelyn’s mix of real life and her thought processes (something all online daters can relate to) was so true, and her sense of humor—which is vital—came through loud and clear. I look forward to reading more of her work!
—Lisa Cecere, Parsippany, N.J.

Katelyn Nudo’s story was one of the most entertaining things I have ever read! More please! I wish it were a book, I wouldn’t put it down! I was literally laughing out loud! Do things like this really happen?! This girl is really funny, and VERY entertaining! I anxiously await her next column.
 —Marissa Levy, Palm Harbor, FL

I have read many terrible date stories—and had quite a few myself—but Katelyn Nudo truly knows how to go the lengths of trial and error. I’m impressed by her wit and skillful descriptions, and I would love to hear more from her.
Angelica Cota, Hicksville, NY

Working Class Stiffed
I have been reading some of Armond White’s old reviews on your website, and I’ve come to the simple conclusion that Armond White is a moral idiot. He knows jack shit about human nature, although he trumpets every so-called humanistic film as though it’s the Holy Grail. Not to say I disagree with him in his championing of Wes Anderson, who I think is one of the finest working film directors there is—and his Darjeeling Limited was a masterpiece. Be that as it may, when it comes to films like Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Fight Club and, most recently, Gone Baby Gone, White has his head up his ass.

In the latter film, White takes the film’s creators to task for their depiction of working-class people in South Boston. Mr. White, I hate to tell you, but as a person who was brought up in working-class Queens, that’s a perfectly good depiction of working-class people. A great deal of them actually do work soul-numbing, dead-end jobs and then lose themselves in cocaine and alcohol; and they turn off from their children and beat their wives. There is nothing to be proud of in being working class. So, again, I have to say, fuck Armond White.
—Mike, New York, NY