Design by Chris AyersSo, did Hugh/Helen Steepley ever publish that soft profile piece on Orin Incandenza? Or was it just a ruse? She certainly collected enough information on him to actually write the piece. Does Steepley’s deep cover actually require him/her to publish? This is what it might have looked like if it hit print.Moment Magazine is described as “medical, soft sports, personality, and home-entertainment-trends reporting”, which kind of puts me in the mind of Parade Magazine, the free insert that used to come in the Sunday paper. You know, the kind of thing you probably wouldn’t bother to buy at the newsstand but might read if it were free and just lying around.  Hal describes it as “a supermarket-checkout-lane-display magazine”, which seems to put it more in the realm of sleazy tabloids like The National Enquirer, although judging from the tone of Hal & Orin’s conversation at the time it’s likely that Hal was just exaggerating to annoy Orin. Anyhow, I tried to give it a design a little more sophisticated than something that would appear in Parade or The Enquirer. The title of the article, which is never stated in the novel, is the kind of groan-inducing pun that seems to make up 90% of all magazine headlines. It’s a reference to Allan Sillitoe’s short story “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner”, which admittedly I have never read, but whose title has always stuck in my mind.The photo of Orin is actually a Photoshopped pic of Cardinals kicker Neil Rackers. Rackers doesn’t usually punt, although he is one of the stars of the team so a good photo was easier to find than that of punter Ben Graham.  It should also be noted that in the world of Infinite Jest the Cardinals are still the Phoenix Cardinals. In reality, the team plays in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale and in 1994 changed their name to the Arizona Cardinals. * An NFL fan wrote to me and noted that NFL rules dictate which positions can wear which numbers. Punters are required to wear a number between 1 and 19. While Orin’s #71 seemed odd to me as I was placing it on the back of his jersey, that is the number stated by David Foster Wallace in the novel. Far be it from me to suggest that DFW is fallible or that his editor missed a mistake. Is there a possible significance to the number 71?

Design by Chris Ayers

So, did Hugh/Helen Steepley ever publish that soft profile piece on Orin Incandenza? Or was it just a ruse? She certainly collected enough information on him to actually write the piece. Does Steepley’s deep cover actually require him/her to publish? This is what it might have looked like if it hit print.

Moment Magazine is described as “medical, soft sports, personality, and home-entertainment-trends reporting”, which kind of puts me in the mind of Parade Magazine, the free insert that used to come in the Sunday paper. You know, the kind of thing you probably wouldn’t bother to buy at the newsstand but might read if it were free and just lying around. 

Hal describes it as “a supermarket-checkout-lane-display magazine”, which seems to put it more in the realm of sleazy tabloids like The National Enquirer, although judging from the tone of Hal & Orin’s conversation at the time it’s likely that Hal was just exaggerating to annoy Orin.

Anyhow, I tried to give it a design a little more sophisticated than something that would appear in Parade or The Enquirer. The title of the article, which is never stated in the novel, is the kind of groan-inducing pun that seems to make up 90% of all magazine headlines. It’s a reference to Allan Sillitoe’s short story “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner”, which admittedly I have never read, but whose title has always stuck in my mind.

The photo of Orin is actually a Photoshopped pic of Cardinals kicker Neil Rackers. Rackers doesn’t usually punt, although he is one of the stars of the team so a good photo was easier to find than that of punter Ben Graham.  It should also be noted that in the world of Infinite Jest the Cardinals are still the Phoenix Cardinals. In reality, the team plays in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale and in 1994 changed their name to the Arizona Cardinals.

* An NFL fan wrote to me and noted that NFL rules dictate which positions can wear which numbers. Punters are required to wear a number between 1 and 19. While Orin’s #71 seemed odd to me as I was placing it on the back of his jersey, that is the number stated by David Foster Wallace in the novel. Far be it from me to suggest that DFW is fallible or that his editor missed a mistake. Is there a possible significance to the number 71?

Tags: Arizona Arizona Cardinals David foster Wallace Hal Incandenza Helen Steepley Infinite Jest Moment Magazine Orin Incanenza Phoenix Phoenix Cardinals