Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Chapter 22

2015-01-19T19:16:33Z

Frankljt: /* Page 240 */

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 239==
'''Adderall''' 
While generally prescribed for ADD, its commonly snorted, and abused as an upper.

'''split for Seattle...hums a few bars of the Darth Vader theme''' 
Reference to Microsoft.

==Page 240==
'''"Presently they're linked and slowly descending from wee-hours Manhattan into teeming darkness, leaving the surface-Net crawlers busy overhead..."''' 
The next few pages bear a striking resemblance to William Gibson's descriptions of cyberspace in his seminal work '''Neuromancer'''. The concept of the internet as a physical space has managed to hold water quite well since its inception, and fits in well with Pynchon's own interest in the physical and figurative value of real estate.

==Page 241==
'''recherché''' 
Choice, refined, exquisite... Also, Sandwichgrrl's comment here brings to mind Gabriel Ice's perhaps not-so-choice wine cellar which is a front for his weird tunnel system.

'''Ride the Wild Surf''' 
A 1964 beach party/surfing movie and a song by Jan & Dean. A play on "surfing the web."

'''summer will end all too soon''' 
''The Endless Summer'' was a famous 1966 surfing movie, continuing the surfing theme from a couple of lines earlier.

'''Robert Moses''' 
Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and was arguably one of the most polarizing figures in the history of urban planning in the United States. His decisions favoring highways over public transit helped create the modern suburbs of Long Island and influenced a generation of engineers, architects, and urban planners who spread his philosophies across the nation. One of his major contributions to urban planning was New York's large parkway network. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses WIKI].

"Robert Moses of the Deep Net": the only occurence of the Deep '''Net''' instead of Deep Web. Editing, again?

'''Gigantic vacuum-tube computers with half-acre footprints''' 
Dinosaurs. This whole section sorta screams, Moloch!

==Page 242==

'''Scope wizards''' 
In the late 1950s, only the military was flying supersonic jet aircraft like the all-weather capable F102A Delta Dagger or "One-O-Wonderful" F101B Voodoo. Nicknames were usually applied to the air and ground crews, using the "Voodoo" theme: "One-Oh-Wonder" for the pilots, '''"Scope Wizard" for the Radar Intercept Officers''' (RIOs, later called Weapon System Officers/WSOs or "Whizzos), and "Witch Doctors" for the maintenance guys. They were a formidable sight, whether taxiing past the alert hangars or taking off in formation.

'''bird colonel''' 
A full colonel in the US Army.

'''ADC from AFOSI Region 7''' 
Aerospace Defense Command [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerospace_Defense_Command (though inactivated in 1980?)] from United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

'''the gulag''' 
The Gulag was the Soviet Union government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems during the Stalin era, from the 1930s through the 1950s. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of extrajudicial punishment. The Gulag is recognized as a major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union. The term is also sometimes used to describe the camps themselves. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag WIKI].

'''Time travel...you have to do it from inside out, with your mind and body...navigating Time is an unforgiving discipline''' &c. 
The curse of the writer (in the world of Tron).

==Page 243==
'''MKUltra-type programs''' 
Project MKUltra is the code name of a U.S. government covert human research operation experimenting in the behavioral engineering of humans (mind control) through the CIA's Scientific Intelligence Division. The program began in the early 1950s, was officially sanctioned in 1953, was reduced in scope in 1964, further curtailed in 1967 and officially halted in 1973. The program engaged in many illegal activities; in particular it used unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens as its test subjects, which led to controversy regarding its legitimacy. MKUltra involved the use of many methodologies to manipulate people's mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as various forms of torture. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra Wikipedia entry]

==Page 244==
'''Lacanian''' 
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's intellectuals in the 1960s and the 1970s, especially the post-structuralist philosophers. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacanian WIKI].

'''Alfonsín''' 
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (March 12, 1927 – March 31, 2009) was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization Process. He was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in 1985, among numerous other such recognitions. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonsin WIKI].

'''Menem-Cavallo era''' 
President Menem had already privatized the state telecom concern and national airlines (the once-premier airline in Latin America, Aerolíneas Argentinas, which was later almost run into the ground). The stability Cavallo's plan helped bring about, however, opened prospects for more privatizations than ever. Going on to total over 200 state enterprises, these included the costly state railroads concern, the state oil monopoly YPF, several public utilities, two government television stations, 10,000 km (6000 mi) of roads, steel and petrochemical firms, grain elevators, hotels, subways and even racetracks. A panoply of provincial and municipal banks were sold to financial giants abroad (sometimes over the opposition of their respective governors and mayors) and, taking a page from Chile's successful experiment, the mandatory state pensions system was opened to choice through the authorization of for private pension schemes. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domingo_Cavallo#The_Menem_administration WIKI].

'''Law of the Father''' 
An important idea in the work of Jacques Lacan, which is relevant since Leopold is a Lacanian shrink. 
In 1897 Freud remarked, on the basis of his analysis of his first patients and his self-analysis, that "The father forbids the child from realizing its unconscious wish to sleep with his mother" (letter to Fliess, October 15, 1897). This first outline of the Oedipus complex, which now appears simplistic, grew increasingly complex throughout Freud's research. In time the Law of the Father turned out to be directed both toward the mother ("You will not reintegrate your product") as well as her offspring swept up by desire. The law is also accompanied by an injunction against cannibalism and murder, and hold up ideals, primarily sexual ones ("Later you will enjoy, like me, a woman from another family"). Once introjected, this becomes the origin of the superego and ego ideal. The repression of drives, their suppression and sublimation, are the principal outcomes of the conflict that connects them structurally to this law. [http://www.answers.com/topic/law-of-the-father]

Bear in mind, though, that the quoted material above applies to Freud's early biology-based thinking. Taking cues from Freud's later cultural/anthropological interests, Lacan maps Oedipus and ego development onto the structures of language ("The Unconscious is structured like [a] language.") and more or less replaces Freud's Id-Ego-Superego mechanics with his own Real-Imaginary-Symbolic orders as his go-to hermeneutic machine.

'''Villa Freud''' 
This is an actual neighborhood located within the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires known for "its high concentration of psychoanalysts and psychiatrists, hence its name." See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Freud#Palermo_Norte.2C_Alto_Palermo_and_Villa_Freud WIKI].

==Page 245==
'''Maybe not as bad as getting disappeared''' 
During the last military dictatorship in Argentina, from 1976 to 1983, around 30,000 people got disappeared by the state.

'''''loquesea''''' 
Whatevs.

==Page 246==
'''"What, excuse me, gives you authority here? What happens in your practice, when you want to save somebody but lose them instead?"''' 
Maxine is a Jewish Mother with an ''it's-complicated'' relationship with the Law, whether civil, financial or Lacanian. Is Pynchon giving us a version of Freud/Lacan from the Mother's point of view (who no one ever asks about all this desire and desired object michegas)? Is she condemned to Windust's attentions because she is the Mother? Is she condemned to reading Windust as an abducted little boy who's been shocked and awed into usefulness as an IMF thug? Is she any different in this regard than Frenesi Gates or Oedipa Maas? Is she really Naomi Klein? Stay tuned.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 22

2015-01-19T18:02:21Z

Frankljt:

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 239==
'''Adderall''' 
While generally prescribed for ADD, its commonly snorted, and abused as an upper.

'''split for Seattle...hums a few bars of the Darth Vader theme''' 
Reference to Microsoft.

==Page 240==
'''"Presently they're linked and slowly descending from wee-hours Manhattan..."''' 

==Page 241==
'''recherché''' 
Choice, refined, exquisite... Also, Sandwichgrrl's comment here brings to mind Gabriel Ice's perhaps not-so-choice wine cellar which is a front for his weird tunnel system.

'''Ride the Wild Surf''' 
A 1964 beach party/surfing movie and a song by Jan & Dean. A play on "surfing the web."

'''summer will end all too soon''' 
''The Endless Summer'' was a famous 1966 surfing movie, continuing the surfing theme from a couple of lines earlier.

'''Robert Moses''' 
Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and was arguably one of the most polarizing figures in the history of urban planning in the United States. His decisions favoring highways over public transit helped create the modern suburbs of Long Island and influenced a generation of engineers, architects, and urban planners who spread his philosophies across the nation. One of his major contributions to urban planning was New York's large parkway network. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses WIKI].

"Robert Moses of the Deep Net": the only occurence of the Deep '''Net''' instead of Deep Web. Editing, again?

'''Gigantic vacuum-tube computers with half-acre footprints''' 
Dinosaurs. This whole section sorta screams, Moloch!

==Page 242==

'''Scope wizards''' 
In the late 1950s, only the military was flying supersonic jet aircraft like the all-weather capable F102A Delta Dagger or "One-O-Wonderful" F101B Voodoo. Nicknames were usually applied to the air and ground crews, using the "Voodoo" theme: "One-Oh-Wonder" for the pilots, '''"Scope Wizard" for the Radar Intercept Officers''' (RIOs, later called Weapon System Officers/WSOs or "Whizzos), and "Witch Doctors" for the maintenance guys. They were a formidable sight, whether taxiing past the alert hangars or taking off in formation.

'''bird colonel''' 
A full colonel in the US Army.

'''ADC from AFOSI Region 7''' 
Aerospace Defense Command [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerospace_Defense_Command (though inactivated in 1980?)] from United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

'''the gulag''' 
The Gulag was the Soviet Union government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems during the Stalin era, from the 1930s through the 1950s. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of extrajudicial punishment. The Gulag is recognized as a major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union. The term is also sometimes used to describe the camps themselves. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag WIKI].

'''Time travel...you have to do it from inside out, with your mind and body...navigating Time is an unforgiving discipline''' &c. 
The curse of the writer (in the world of Tron).

==Page 243==
'''MKUltra-type programs''' 
Project MKUltra is the code name of a U.S. government covert human research operation experimenting in the behavioral engineering of humans (mind control) through the CIA's Scientific Intelligence Division. The program began in the early 1950s, was officially sanctioned in 1953, was reduced in scope in 1964, further curtailed in 1967 and officially halted in 1973. The program engaged in many illegal activities; in particular it used unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens as its test subjects, which led to controversy regarding its legitimacy. MKUltra involved the use of many methodologies to manipulate people's mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as various forms of torture. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra Wikipedia entry]

==Page 244==
'''Lacanian''' 
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's intellectuals in the 1960s and the 1970s, especially the post-structuralist philosophers. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacanian WIKI].

'''Alfonsín''' 
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (March 12, 1927 – March 31, 2009) was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization Process. He was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in 1985, among numerous other such recognitions. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonsin WIKI].

'''Menem-Cavallo era''' 
President Menem had already privatized the state telecom concern and national airlines (the once-premier airline in Latin America, Aerolíneas Argentinas, which was later almost run into the ground). The stability Cavallo's plan helped bring about, however, opened prospects for more privatizations than ever. Going on to total over 200 state enterprises, these included the costly state railroads concern, the state oil monopoly YPF, several public utilities, two government television stations, 10,000 km (6000 mi) of roads, steel and petrochemical firms, grain elevators, hotels, subways and even racetracks. A panoply of provincial and municipal banks were sold to financial giants abroad (sometimes over the opposition of their respective governors and mayors) and, taking a page from Chile's successful experiment, the mandatory state pensions system was opened to choice through the authorization of for private pension schemes. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domingo_Cavallo#The_Menem_administration WIKI].

'''Law of the Father''' 
An important idea in the work of Jacques Lacan, which is relevant since Leopold is a Lacanian shrink. 
In 1897 Freud remarked, on the basis of his analysis of his first patients and his self-analysis, that "The father forbids the child from realizing its unconscious wish to sleep with his mother" (letter to Fliess, October 15, 1897). This first outline of the Oedipus complex, which now appears simplistic, grew increasingly complex throughout Freud's research. In time the Law of the Father turned out to be directed both toward the mother ("You will not reintegrate your product") as well as her offspring swept up by desire. The law is also accompanied by an injunction against cannibalism and murder, and hold up ideals, primarily sexual ones ("Later you will enjoy, like me, a woman from another family"). Once introjected, this becomes the origin of the superego and ego ideal. The repression of drives, their suppression and sublimation, are the principal outcomes of the conflict that connects them structurally to this law. [http://www.answers.com/topic/law-of-the-father]

Bear in mind, though, that the quoted material above applies to Freud's early biology-based thinking. Taking cues from Freud's later cultural/anthropological interests, Lacan maps Oedipus and ego development onto the structures of language ("The Unconscious is structured like [a] language.") and more or less replaces Freud's Id-Ego-Superego mechanics with his own Real-Imaginary-Symbolic orders as his go-to hermeneutic machine.

'''Villa Freud''' 
This is an actual neighborhood located within the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires known for "its high concentration of psychoanalysts and psychiatrists, hence its name." See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Freud#Palermo_Norte.2C_Alto_Palermo_and_Villa_Freud WIKI].

==Page 245==
'''Maybe not as bad as getting disappeared''' 
During the last military dictatorship in Argentina, from 1976 to 1983, around 30,000 people got disappeared by the state.

'''''loquesea''''' 
Whatevs.

==Page 246==
'''"What, excuse me, gives you authority here? What happens in your practice, when you want to save somebody but lose them instead?"''' 
Maxine is a Jewish Mother with an ''it's-complicated'' relationship with the Law, whether civil, financial or Lacanian. Is Pynchon giving us a version of Freud/Lacan from the Mother's point of view (who no one ever asks about all this desire and desired object michegas)? Is she condemned to Windust's attentions because she is the Mother? Is she condemned to reading Windust as an abducted little boy who's been shocked and awed into usefulness as an IMF thug? Is she any different in this regard than Frenesi Gates or Oedipa Maas? Is she really Naomi Klein? Stay tuned.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 21

2015-01-19T17:34:04Z

Frankljt: /* Page 235 */

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 230==
'''Pringle Chip Equation''' 
The widely-sold fried snack food Pringles potato crisps resemble a truncated hyperbolic paraboloid. According to Pringles marketing, the shape allows the snack to be securely stacked in a canister to prevent breakage during packaging and transport. To see more on the actual equation used for a hyperbolic paraboloid see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraboloid WIKI].

==Page 231==
'''aldehyde shock''' 
Aldehydic, or modern, perfumes are those with significant notes of the aldehydes which are synthetic compounds, with clean, diffusive, sparkling notes and a family of chemicals. It appears the Pardaugava mini-mobsters got too strong a whiff.

'''prewar nitro musk and jasmine absolute''' 
Nitro musk is an aromatic synthetic musk (aka white musks, in the perfume industry). These musks are a class of synthetic aromachemicals to emulate the scent of deer musk or other natural musk. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_musk#Nitro-musks Wikipedia]

Jasmine absolute is an essential oil derived from the flowers of the jasmine bush, used for fragrance and skin care. Its properties are nervine, antidepressant/euphoric, and aphrodisiac. Interestingly, it is mentioned in Pynchon's [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_46:_452-459#Page_456 ''Mason & Dixon'' at p. 456].

'''"Baby Beluga"''' 
''Baby Beluga'' is a music album by children's entertainer Raffi, released in 1980. The title track was inspired by Kavna, a beluga whale that Raffi saw at the Vancouver Aquarium in Vancouver, BC, and is considered by many to be his greatest hit. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Beluga WIKI].

==Page 232==
'''Vodkascript''' 
Programming code that is written so poorly that it could only have been written by someone after that person drank an entire bottle of vodka. Thought it may run without error, it may be overly inefficient, useless, or a re-implementation of a function that already exists as part of the programming language.

'''trustafarians''' 
a rich young person who adopts a bohemian lifestyle and lives in a nonaffluent area.

'''LBD''' 
Little black dress? See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_black_dress WIKI]. 
''Yes, that seems to be what it means here. Pynchon has used the acronym already in this book, and this is common attire for female vocalists''

==Page 234==
'''Admiral Dönitz''' 
Karl Dönitz (16 September 1891 – 24 December 1980) was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine, or "Imperial Navy") before World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of UB-68, the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner. While in a prisoner of war camp, he formulated what he later called Rudeltaktik ("pack tactic", commonly called "wolfpack"). At the start of World War II, he was the senior submarine officer in the German Navy. In January 1943, Dönitz achieved the rank of Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) and replaced Grand Admiral Erich Raeder as Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy (Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine). On 30 April 1945, after the death of Adolf Hitler and in accordance with Hitler's last will and testament, Dönitz was named Hitler's successor as Staatsoberhaupt (Head of State), with the title of Reichspräsident (President) and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. On 7 May 1945, he ordered Alfred Jodl to sign the German instruments of surrender in Rheims, France. Dönitz remained as head of the Flensburg Government, as it became known, until it was dissolved by the Allied powers on 23 May. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_donitz WIKI].

'''mutatis mutandis''' 
"Having changed what needed to be changed." Often used when comparing to phrases or ideas that, while similar, have key differences. From [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mutatis_mutandis Wiktionary].

==Page 235==
'''as in 'Bird Dog' by the Everly Brothers . . . nobody's quail''' 
"Bird Dog" is a song about a guy trying to steal another guy's girl. It includes the lyric: "Hey, bird dog get away from my quail."

'''"New York campus of Fraud University"''' 
Given the unlikeliness of such an institution existing, Pynchon's probably having fun with initialisms again. '''NYC-FU'''

==Page 236==
[[Image:Welcome-to-the-johnsons.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Welcome to the Johnsons bathroom]]

'''Welcome to the Johnsons''' 
Dive bar on the Lower East Side that has a 1970s rec-room theme.

'''IF&F''' 
International Flavors & Fragrances is a major producer of flavors and fragrances with sales of $2.78 billion in 2011. [http://www.iff.com/ website]

'''proösmic - she can foresmell things that're going to happen''' 
Echoes of Tyrone Slothrop in Pynchon's [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page ''Gravity's Rainbow''] whose sexual dalliances foretell V-2 rocket strikes, the rockets hitting places where Slothrop's just previously had sex.

'''went nitrous''' 
Probably not intended that she started laughing, i.e. laughing gas; but that she became "out of it" on the vibes and intuitions the sample was giving her.

'''a reverse ''sillage'', a wake from the future''' 
Sillage is the degree to which a perfume’s fragrance lingers in the air after the wearer has departed. It comes from the French word for “wake,” as in the trail left in the sky by an airplane or on the water by a boat. Sillage defines how fragrance diffuses around the wearer, and a strong sillage means that a fragrance projects well. Also, there is a French graphic novel series called "Sillage": [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sillage Wikipedia]

'''no one alive has smelled it before''' 
She can smell 9/11 coming? That's why she's getting out of NY and DC.

==Page 237==
'''Alexis-and-Krystle-by-the-poolside''' 
Reference to the 1980s television show, ''Dynasty''. Alexis and Krystle were known for getting into catfights. For a picture of one, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynasty_%28TV_series%29 WIKI].

==Page 238==
'''''zhlub''''' 
A zhlub is a crude person lacking in social skills along with insensitivity, clumsiness and a lack of manners. Recall Richard M. Zhlub from [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=XYZ ''Gravity's Rainbow'']

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 21

2015-01-19T17:24:21Z

Frankljt: /* Page 234 */

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 230==
'''Pringle Chip Equation''' 
The widely-sold fried snack food Pringles potato crisps resemble a truncated hyperbolic paraboloid. According to Pringles marketing, the shape allows the snack to be securely stacked in a canister to prevent breakage during packaging and transport. To see more on the actual equation used for a hyperbolic paraboloid see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraboloid WIKI].

==Page 231==
'''aldehyde shock''' 
Aldehydic, or modern, perfumes are those with significant notes of the aldehydes which are synthetic compounds, with clean, diffusive, sparkling notes and a family of chemicals. It appears the Pardaugava mini-mobsters got too strong a whiff.

'''prewar nitro musk and jasmine absolute''' 
Nitro musk is an aromatic synthetic musk (aka white musks, in the perfume industry). These musks are a class of synthetic aromachemicals to emulate the scent of deer musk or other natural musk. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_musk#Nitro-musks Wikipedia]

Jasmine absolute is an essential oil derived from the flowers of the jasmine bush, used for fragrance and skin care. Its properties are nervine, antidepressant/euphoric, and aphrodisiac. Interestingly, it is mentioned in Pynchon's [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_46:_452-459#Page_456 ''Mason & Dixon'' at p. 456].

'''"Baby Beluga"''' 
''Baby Beluga'' is a music album by children's entertainer Raffi, released in 1980. The title track was inspired by Kavna, a beluga whale that Raffi saw at the Vancouver Aquarium in Vancouver, BC, and is considered by many to be his greatest hit. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Beluga WIKI].

==Page 232==
'''Vodkascript''' 
Programming code that is written so poorly that it could only have been written by someone after that person drank an entire bottle of vodka. Thought it may run without error, it may be overly inefficient, useless, or a re-implementation of a function that already exists as part of the programming language.

'''trustafarians''' 
a rich young person who adopts a bohemian lifestyle and lives in a nonaffluent area.

'''LBD''' 
Little black dress? See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_black_dress WIKI]. 
''Yes, that seems to be what it means here. Pynchon has used the acronym already in this book, and this is common attire for female vocalists''

==Page 234==
'''Admiral Dönitz''' 
Karl Dönitz (16 September 1891 – 24 December 1980) was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine, or "Imperial Navy") before World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of UB-68, the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner. While in a prisoner of war camp, he formulated what he later called Rudeltaktik ("pack tactic", commonly called "wolfpack"). At the start of World War II, he was the senior submarine officer in the German Navy. In January 1943, Dönitz achieved the rank of Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) and replaced Grand Admiral Erich Raeder as Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy (Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine). On 30 April 1945, after the death of Adolf Hitler and in accordance with Hitler's last will and testament, Dönitz was named Hitler's successor as Staatsoberhaupt (Head of State), with the title of Reichspräsident (President) and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. On 7 May 1945, he ordered Alfred Jodl to sign the German instruments of surrender in Rheims, France. Dönitz remained as head of the Flensburg Government, as it became known, until it was dissolved by the Allied powers on 23 May. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_donitz WIKI].

'''mutatis mutandis''' 
"Having changed what needed to be changed." Often used when comparing to phrases or ideas that, while similar, have key differences. From [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mutatis_mutandis Wiktionary].

==Page 235==
'''as in 'Bird Dog' by the Everly Brothers . . . nobody's quail''' 
"Bird Dog" is a song about a guy trying to steal another guy's girl. It includes the lyric: "Hey, bird dog get away from my quail."

==Page 236==
[[Image:Welcome-to-the-johnsons.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Welcome to the Johnsons bathroom]]

'''Welcome to the Johnsons''' 
Dive bar on the Lower East Side that has a 1970s rec-room theme.

'''IF&F''' 
International Flavors & Fragrances is a major producer of flavors and fragrances with sales of $2.78 billion in 2011. [http://www.iff.com/ website]

'''proösmic - she can foresmell things that're going to happen''' 
Echoes of Tyrone Slothrop in Pynchon's [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page ''Gravity's Rainbow''] whose sexual dalliances foretell V-2 rocket strikes, the rockets hitting places where Slothrop's just previously had sex.

'''went nitrous''' 
Probably not intended that she started laughing, i.e. laughing gas; but that she became "out of it" on the vibes and intuitions the sample was giving her.

'''a reverse ''sillage'', a wake from the future''' 
Sillage is the degree to which a perfume’s fragrance lingers in the air after the wearer has departed. It comes from the French word for “wake,” as in the trail left in the sky by an airplane or on the water by a boat. Sillage defines how fragrance diffuses around the wearer, and a strong sillage means that a fragrance projects well. Also, there is a French graphic novel series called "Sillage": [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sillage Wikipedia]

'''no one alive has smelled it before''' 
She can smell 9/11 coming? That's why she's getting out of NY and DC.

==Page 237==
'''Alexis-and-Krystle-by-the-poolside''' 
Reference to the 1980s television show, ''Dynasty''. Alexis and Krystle were known for getting into catfights. For a picture of one, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynasty_%28TV_series%29 WIKI].

==Page 238==
'''''zhlub''''' 
A zhlub is a crude person lacking in social skills along with insensitivity, clumsiness and a lack of manners. Recall Richard M. Zhlub from [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=XYZ ''Gravity's Rainbow'']

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 15

2015-01-13T18:08:55Z

Frankljt: /* Page 165 */

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 160==
[[Image:ZiL-41047.jpg|200px|right|ZiL-41047]]

'''Maybach''' <br\>
An ultra-luxury German car, now produced by Mercedes.

'''ZiL-41047''' 
ZIL-41047 is a limousine built by ZIL of Russia. Production of ZIL models ceased in 2002 due to their previous customer base turning to more modern Western vehicles. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIL-41047 WIKI].

==Page 161==
'''''kagdila''''' 
Padonkaffsky jargon for "how are you." A misspelling of ''kak dela''.

'''just in time''' 
This is 2001, and Madoff securities didn't collapse until 2008. (so ???)

'''methcathinone''' 
Methcathinone (sometimes called "cat" or "jeff") is a monoamine alkaloid and psychoactive stimulant similar to cathinone, the primary psychoactive compound in khat. It is used as a recreational drug and considered to be addictive. It is usually snorted, but can be smoked, injected, or taken orally. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methcathinone WIKI].

==Page 162==
'''''govno''''' 
Total shit

==Page 163==
'''live local bachata groups''' 
Bachata is an Afro latino genre of music that originated in the Dominican Republic in the early parts of the 20th century with the African descendants in the country and spread to other parts of Latin America and Mediterranean Europe. It became popular in the countryside and the rural neighborhoods of the Dominican Republic. Its subjects are often romantic; especially prevalent are tales of heartbreak and sadness. In fact, the original term used to name the genre was amargue ("bitterness," or "bitter music"), until the rather ambiguous (and mood-neutral) term bachata became popular. The form of dance, Bachata, also developed with the music. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachata_%28music%29 WIKI].

==Page 164==
'''Celia Cruz''' 
Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso de la Santísima Trinidad (October 21, 1925 – July 16, 2003) was a Cuban-American salsa performer. One of the most popular salsa artists of the 20th century, she earned twenty-three gold albums and was renowned internationally as the "Queen of Salsa" as well as "La Guarachera de Cuba." She spent much of her career living in New Jersey, and working in the United States and several Latin American countries. Leila Cobo of Billboard Magazine once said "Cruz is indisputably the best known and most influential female figure in the history of Cuban music." From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celia_Cruz WIKI].

'''Paradise Garage''' 
Noteworthy members-only disco that operated from 1976 to 1987. It appears to have been very serious ''dance club;'' according to this lengthy [http://www.djhistory.com/features/larry-levans-paradise-garage djhistory] page, it was an exclusive, private place, extremely focused on music and dancing, a disco that did not serve serve alcohol, and instead had non-alcoholic drinks, and some snacks, simply on-hand for the dues-paying members. It's remembered fondly as a gathering space where the wide variety of members, united by their interest and commitment to dance, created some sense harmony and unity. From the djhistory page: In stark contrast to the harsh city lights outside, the Garage offered freedom, compassion and brotherhood.

In other words, it was the "anti" Studio 54.

'''Presidente longneck''' 
Dominican [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidente_%28beer%29 beer.]

'''"Cuándo Volverás"''' 
"Cuándo Volverás" is a 1999 song by Aventura. You can hear it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3ItxMywq5o here].

'''Studio 54''' 
Studio 54 was a famous club in the late 1970s in Manhattan, known for rich people using drugs and dancing to Disco music.

==Page 165==
'''Tubby Hook marina''' 
Marina in New York, where Dyckman street meets the Hudson River. It wouldn't have been the nicest of locations, and Sid's boat would most definitely stand out in its harbor. Interestingly, five years later it would be the site of a drug bust, giving the location even more of a seedier vibe.

'''wolf-whistle''' 
A wolf-whistle is a two-toned sound (like 'whip-woo') commonly made using the above technique to show approval of something or someone (originally a person thought to be sexually attractive).

'''1937 Gar Wood''' 
This [http://www.hagerty.com/classic-car-articles-resources/Features/More-Articles/Marine/All-articles/2013/06/06/Marine-Marketwatch page] says the value of the rare boat could be over three hundred thousand dollars.

'''Pappy Mason''' 
Drug smuggler who has a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Mason WIKI] page. Immortalized by NYC Rapper Nas on 1994's Illmatic track "The World is Yours" where the rapper relates his fear of facing prison time spurring him to embrace writing rhymes.

'''the World Trade Center leaning, looming brilliantly curtained in light''' 
Another foreshadowing of 9/11

==Page 166==

'''Port Richmond''' 
A neighborhood on the north shore of Staten Island centered on an old commercial street, Port Richmond Avenue. I worked at Goldwyn Jewelers on Port Richmond Ave in high school. From [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=139768&imageID=105178&parent_id=448946&snum=&s=&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=0&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&sort=&total=31&num=0&imgs=20&pNum=&pos=18 NYPL]

'''Hey Denino's''' 
524 Port Richmond Ave, Staten Island, New York 10302 http://www.deninos.com/

'''Neglected little creeks... Yupper West Side''' 
This description of a mountainous garbagescape echoes a similar, lengthier, backdrop in Pynchon's shorter work ''Low-lands'' (1960) published in the compilation ''Slow Learner''.

'''Island of Meadows''' 
The Isle of Meadows is a 100-acre uninhabited island on Staten Island, New York in the United States. It is located along the western side of Staten Island, where the Fresh Kills empties into the Arthur Kill. The island is owned by the city of New York. In the 1990s, the island escaped becoming part of the Fresh Kills Landfill. It is now a nature preserve providing important meadow and salt marsh nesting habitat for herons, ibises, and egrets, and is not accessible to the public. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_Meadows WIKI].

'''This Land Is My Land, This Land Also Is My Land''' 
Obviously, a play on Woody Guthrie's song: "This land is my land, this land is your land."

'''A long, eerie wait ...''' 
A long, ''aerie'' wait

'''Officially the last barge came and went ...''' 
a few months later, the landfill became the staging site to sort through the wreckage from the World Trade Center (another 9/11 reference)

==Page 169==
'''Captain Stubing''' 
Captain on ''The Love Boat'', a TV show in the 70s and 80s. Also mentioned on pg. 16.

Can you believe this show lasted for 9 years and 249 episodes? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Love_Boat WIKI]

==Page 170==
'''Schachtmanite goons like Elliott Abrams''' 
Max Shachtman (September 10, 1904 – November 4, 1972) was an American Marxist theorist. He evolved from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL-CIO President George Meany. He supported the Bay of Pigs invasion. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Shachtman WIKI].

Elliott Abrams (born January 24, 1948) is a well known neoconservative American diplomat, lawyer and political scientist who served in foreign policy positions for both U.S. Presidents, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. While serving for Reagan, Abrams and retired U.S. Marine Corps officer Oliver North were integral players in the Iran-Contra affair. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Abrams WIKI].

'''Ríos Montt''' 
José Efraín Ríos Montt (born June 16, 1926) is a former de facto President of Guatemala, dictator, army general and former president of Congress. A General in the Guatemalan Army, Ríos Montt came to public office through a coup d'état on March 23, 1982. In turn, he was overthrown by his Defense Minister, Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores, in another coup d'état on August 8, 1983. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rios_Montt WIKI].

'''EGP or Guerrilla Army Of The Poor''' 
See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ej%C3%A9rcito_Guerrillero_de_los_Pobres WIKI].

==Page 171==
'''I'm really Dr. Ruth Westheimer, nothing shocks me''' 
A famous and unflappable sex therapist and media personality.

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==Page 134==
'''She stays till the flight is called''' 
This is significant because after 9/11 (only a couple months away now), only ticketed passengers can go through security in an airport and wait by the gate.

==Page 135==
'''machinima''' 
Fan-made videos that use video from video games as footage for the story.

'''My best to Siegfried and Roy.''' 
A popular Vegas magic act until 2003 when Roy was bitten by a tiger.

==Page 137==
'''Bringing them to a standoff, ethnicity of your choice.''' 
Plays on the idea of a Mexican standoff--a situation in which three armed people are all pointing guns at each other. Read more [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_standoff here].

==Page 138==
'''Igor Dashkov''' 
This fictional character appears to possibly be based on the real-life Yegor Lavroff. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egor_Lavrov here]. 

'''"Doom," Igor waving a thumb, "just came out for Game Boy..."''' 
Or rather, Game Boy Advance. The line seems to be more a reflection of Igor's ignorance of games than Pynchon's, based on the latter's earlier displays of video game minutiae. Then again... 

This reference presents something of an anachronism. The earliest official release of Doom for the Game Boy Advance was in [http://www.ign.com/games/doom/gba-16301 October 2001], well after 9/11. If we assume Pynchon put this in intentionally, the versions they're playing could not be legitimate copies. But given the characterizations of Misha and Grisha, that isn't too hard to believe, especially if they're already a part of obscure internet subcultures like padonki. If they refer to themselves as in-game locations (Deimos and Phobos) and are willing to play Doom on a limited port of it like the Game Boy Advance, chances are they're big enough fans of the game to get copies of it illegally. Indeed, porting Doom to all types of video game consoles was a trend in the game's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_%281993_video_game%29#Community community], even after eight years since its initial release.

==Page 139==
'''''padonki''''' 
(падонки) refers to a Russian Internet subculture that employs very Pynchonian cross-linguistic puns, intentional misspellings and bawdy humor. See [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%B8 Wiktionary].

'''Marie of Roumania''' 
Marie of Romania (Marie Alexandra Victoria, previously Princess Marie of Edinburgh; 29 October 1875 – 18 July 1938) was Queen consort of Romania from 1914 to 1927, as the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania. She was called Missy by her family.
<blockquote>
Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song, 
A medley of extemporanea; 
And love is a thing that can never go wrong; 
And I am Marie of Romania.</blockquote>

Dorothy Parker, ''Not So Deep as a Well'' (1937), "Comment"

'''Deimos and Phobos''' 
Mars has two known moons, Phobos and Deimos.

'''mi gratto la pancia''' 
Italian for "I scratch his belly."

'''khuem grushi okolachivat''' 
(хуём груши околачивать) Russian, literally means "knocking pears out of a pear tree with your dick." But it's used in Russian to refer to someone who's being lazy or messing around unproductively or (see Italian phrase above) scratching his belly.

'''Spetsnaz''' 
Russian Special Forces. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spetsnaz WIKI].

'''HALO jump''' 
High Altitude - Low Opening

==Page 140==
'''Bernie Madoff''' 
Operated the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history. Arrested in 2008. Read more [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Madoff here].

==Page 141==
'''Detsl''' 
Kirill Aleksandrovich Tolmatskiy (born July 22, 1983), better known by his stage name Detsl, is a Russian hip hop artist. He graduated in Switzerland and the British International School in Moscow. In 1999, Detsl made his debut in the Russian rap scene with the album Who Are You?. In 2001, he released his second album, "Street Fighter". Detsl is a pseudonym Kirill Tolmatskiy gained because of his small height. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detsl WIKI].

Here's the vid for "Party at Detsl's" which is mentioned by Misha and Grisha:
{{#ev:youtube|lzcD46kfgk4}}

'''Yaponchik's circle''' 
Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov (January 2, 1940 - October 9, 2009) was a notorious member of the Russian Mafia who was believed to have connections with Russian state intelligence organizations and their organized crime partners. He has operated in both the Soviet Union and the United States. His nickname, "Yaponchik," translates from Russian as "Little Japanese," due to his faintly Asian facial features. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyacheslav_Ivankov WIKI].

'''Something Happened''' 
Joseph Heller's 2nd novel "Something Happened". Not much happens in Something Happened. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_Happened WIKI].

==Page 142==
'''Oxide Pang''' 
The Pang Brothers are Danny Pang Phat and Oxide Pang Chun, twin-brother screenwriters and film directors, born in 1965 in Hong Kong. Among their films is the hit Asian horror film, ''The Eye'', which has spawned two sequels, as well as a Hollywood remake and a Hindi remake. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxide_Pang WIKI].

==Page 143==
'''Think of me as the prophet of that''' 
Reg predicts Youtube.

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==Page 8==
'''Reg Despard''' 
As for name connections... Edward Marcus Despard (1751 – 21 February 1803) was an Irish soldier
who served in the British Army. During the American War of Independence Despard led a force to victory at the Battle of the Black River, securing the British presence on the Mosquito Coast. Following the war Despard was appointed Superintendent of what became British Honduras. He was recalled to London in 1790 after questions were raised about his conduct. Despard soon found himself in jail for debt. He later took up revolutionary politics, becoming involved with the United Britons movement, and was executed for high treason for his part in the failed Despard Plot. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Despard Wikpedia]

And there is the fictional foreign wizard named Dragomir Despard, in the 7th Harry Potter novel by J.K. Rowlings, and in the movie "Deathly Hallows Part 2." Ron Weasley is disguised as Despard when, with Hermoine, disguised as Bellatrix Lestrange, and Harry, in his cloak of invisibility, they break into Gringotts. Hermoine introduces Dragomir thus, "This is Dragomir Despard. He speaks very little English, But he is in sympathy with the Dark Lord's aims. He has travelled here from Transylvania to see our new regime."

==Page 9==

'''with your neo-Brechtain subversion of the diegesis''' 
Bertolt Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956) was a German poet, playwright, theatre director, and Marxist. Most likely Pynchon is referring to one of Brecht's most important principles called the Verfremdungseffekt (translated as "defamiliarization effect", "distancing effect", or "estrangement effect", and often mistranslated as "alienation effect").[62] This involved, Brecht wrote, "stripping the event of its self-evident, familiar, obvious quality and creating a sense of astonishment and curiosity about them".[63] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht#Theory_and_practice_of_theatre
Oh, and diegesis means a narrative or plot found in film. (Greek orgin. diēgēsis means 'narrative'). http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/diegesis

'''leading edge''' 
Rhymes with "Bleeding Edge."

'''LexisNexis, HotBot, AltaVista''' 
Early search engines, before Google became popular.

'''Stuyvesant genius''' 
Stuyvesant H.S. is a magnet school in Manhattan. The school is noted for it's many Nobel Laureates in math and science. http://www.stuy.edu/ The school moved from its old building at 345 E 15th street (near 1st Avenue) to 345 Chambers Street (right next to Ground Zero). The first day of classes in the new building was September 10, 2001.

'''Eric Outfield''' 
Eric Outfield may refer to Eric Lander, 1974 Stuyvesant H.S. graduate. He was captain of the math team, a silver medalist at the International Math Olympiad and winner of the Westinghouse Prize for a paper on quasiperfect numbers. In H.S. he started a cult around the number 17. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Lander

==Page 10==

'''certified badass''' 
In an essay, Pynchon once defined a badass:
:"There is a long folk history of this figure, the Badass. He is usually male, and while sometimes earning the quizzical tolerance of women, is almost universally admired by men for two basic virtues: he is Bad, and he is Big. Bad meaning not morally evil, necessarily, more like able to work mischief on a large scale. What is important here is the amplifying of scale, the multiplication of effect." From Pynchon, [http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/18/reviews/pynchon-luddite.html Is it O.K. to be a Luddite?]

'''hashslingrz''' 
A hash slinger is a cook or food server in a cheap restaurant, especially one who is discourteous or inattentive to customers. However "hash" has a very different meaning on the Internet:

From [http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/H/hashing.html Webopedia]:
<blockquote>
Producing hash values for accessing data or for security. A hash value (or simply hash), also called a message digest, is a number generated from a string of text. The hash is substantially smaller than the text itself, and is generated by a formula in such a way that it is extremely unlikely that some other text will produce the same hash value.
Hashes play a role in security systems where they're used to ensure that transmitted messages have not been tampered with. The sender generates a hash of the message, encrypts it, and sends it with the message itself. The recipient then decrypts both the message and the hash, produces another hash from the received message, and compares the two hashes. If they're the same, there is a very high probability that the message was transmitted intact.
Hashing is also a common method of accessing data records. Consider, for example, a list of names:

*John Smith
*Sarah Jones
*Roger Adams

To create an index, called a hash table, for these records, you would apply a formula to each name to produce a unique numeric value. So you might get something like:

*1345873 John smith
*3097905 Sarah Jones
*4060964 Roger Adams

Then to search for the record containing Sarah Jones, you just need to reapply the formula, which directly yields the index key to the record. This is much more efficient than searching through all the records till the matching record is found.
</blockquote>

'''p/e ratio''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price%E2%80%93earnings_ratio Price-earnings ratio]. Market price per share divided by annual earnings per share.

==Page 11==
'''Except maybe for 666''' 
"This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666." (Revelation 13:18)

Also, for what it's worth, some biblical scholars agree that 666 is in fact gematria for Nero.

'''paranoia's the garlic in life's kitchen . . .''' 
Maybe we can add this to the [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=P Proverbs for Paranoids] in ''Gravity's Rainbow''?

==Page 12==
'''Horst Loeffler''' 
"Loeffler" is the German name of a bird, the Eurasian Spoonbill. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Spoonbill Wikipedia]
:Significance = god only knows. [[User:Benvolio|Benvolio]] ([[User talk:Benvolio|talk]])

'''tramp container vessel M/V Aristide Olt''' 
A "tramp" vessel means that a ship has no fixed schedule or published ports of call. "Hungarian" may be a joke as Hungary, a landlocked country, has no ports. Aristide Olt was a stage name used by Bela Lugosi when he made silent films in Hungary. [http://biographies.knoji.com/bela-lugosi-the-man-who-brought-dracula-to-life/ Source] The Marshall Islands is an island country located in the northern Pacific Ocean, part of the larger island group of Micronesia.

==Page 13==
'''SonyVX 2000''' 
Pynchon here continues his display of camera wonk knowledge and reference to popular, populist cameras, see Frenesi's Canon Scoopic 16 [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10#Page_200] The SonyVX2000 was a popular model of the time first among skate videos of the 90s before its aesthetic appeal expanded and the convenience of digital video made it the shooting standard. Fits perfectly with Reg's listed filmography.

[[File:SonyVX2000.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Sony VX2000''']] 

 

==Page 14==
'''Duck stamps''' 
Pynchon mentions rare stamps and stamp collecting in many of his works. Bill Gross is a a billionaire fund manager who owns a leading stamp collection. Apparently duck stamp collecting is [http://brookmanstamps.com/welcome.htm a real thing]. Robert Steiner is an American artist known as the master of duck-themed stamp artwork. [http://www.steinerprints.com/master_of_duck_stamps.pdf An article on Steiner]

'''"the 301 point 83"''' 
301.83 is the classification number of borderline personality disorder in the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

==Page 15==
'''walked away from the table with enough, had it been real money, for a short trip to Saks''' 
Popular and pricey clothier and luxury department store chain, with a flagship store on Fifth Avenue. Just shopping at Saks is itself a status symbol among New Yorkers.

'''Mason-Dixon Line''' 
Possibly an allusion to Pynchon's novel, "Mason & Dixon" (1997).

==Page 16==
'''the Perejil Massacre''' 
Also called the "Parsley Massacre." A 1937 massacre of Haitians living on the border, ordered by Dominican President Rafael Trujillo. It resulted in the death of 20,000 ethnic Haitians.

According to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsley_Massacre Wikipedia], Dominican soldiers would hold up a sprig of parsley to someone and ask "What is this?"; how the person would pronounce the Spanish word for parsley (perejil) would determine his/her fate. French and Haitian Creole pronounce the word differently than Dominicans, so if the person could pronounce "perejil" with a trill, the person was considered to be Dominican and allowed to live, but if the person pronounced "perejil" without the trill, the person was considered to be Haitian and executed.

'''Manzanillo Bay . . . Pepillo Salcedo''' 
This is a port in the Dominican Republic.

'''yaniqueques''' 
AKA "Johnnycakes" (also jonnycake, johnny cake, journey cake, shawnee cake and johnny bread) is a cornmeal flatbread that was an early American staple food and is prepared on the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Jamaica.[1] The food probably originates from the native inhabitants of North America. It is still eaten in the West Indies, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Colombia, and Bermuda[2] as well as in the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnnycake

'''chimichurros''' 
Possibly a misspelling of "chimichurris"? The Chimichurri burger (usually called "Chimi burger", "Dominican burger", or simply "chimi") is a traditional snack dish (sandwich) served in the Dominican Republic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimichurris

'''mamajuana''' 
A drink from the Dominican Republic that is concocted by allowing rum, red wine, and honey to soak in a bottle with tree bark and herbs. The taste is similar to port wine and the color is a deep red. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mama_Juana

'''Love, exciting and new, as they used to sing on ''The Love Boat''''' 
''The Love Boat'' was an American TV show (1977-86) about a cruise ship. The first words of the theme song were "Love, exciting and new . . ." You can hear it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_wFEB4Oxlo here].

==Page 17==

'''Leptandra''' 
Leptandra is a plant used in herbal medicine as a laxative. This may be saying something about her personality, but it is more likely referring to her name, as Leptandra's common name is Veronica

'''mitvzah''' 
In Judaism, a biblical commandment. Also, more colloquially, a good deed.

'''real estate injustice''' 
By way of explanation to readers unfamiliar with NYC real estate, many people live in apartment buildings where rent is controlled and managed by co-op boards, which can have large amounts of control over things like transferring the property. NYC is famous for long, protracted legal battles involving co-op boards, divorces, and/or trusts. RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) is a law used to combat organized crime.

==Page 18==
'''Eight Circle''' 
in Dante's ''Inferno'', the eighth circle of hell was reserved for those who commit fraud or
treachery.

==Page 19==

'''Bad Accountant''' 
Perhaps an allusion to the 1992 NC-17 film starring Harvey Kietel, a gritty crime-drama with heavy religious overtones about a corrupt NYC policeman's struggles to change his ways.

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==Title==
"Bleeding Edge" has a number of meanings. See [[Bleeding Edge Title]]. The phrase first appears on pg. 78 "What's known as bleeding-edge technology. [...] No proven use, high risk, something only early-adoption addicts feel comfortable with."

==Cover==
The cover photograph is of a server farm. I found it [http://www.wallpapervortex.com/wallpaper-18727_miscellaneous_server_farm_at_night.html here]. It's entitled "Server Farm at Night." Note how the image also evokes the World Trade Center, and the cover of Pynchon's [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page ''V.''] ...

More info at [[Bleeding Edge cover analysis]]

==Book jacket description==
Pynchon likely wrote [[Bleeding_Edge|the copy]] for the book jacket description of ''Bleeding Edge'' and he likely did the same for [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page ''Inherent Vice''].

==Epigraph==
This Westlake quote is in [http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/31/nyregion/they-love-new-york.html?src=pm&pagewanted=3 a ''New York Times'' article, dated October 31, 1999], about New York City. In the article, credit is given thus: "Tucker Coe (a.k.a. Donald E. Westlake writing about a cop, a brick wall and guilt. Out of print.)." So it's most likely from Westlake's (writing as Tucker Coe) "Mitch Tobin" series.

From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_E._Westlake Westlake's Wikipedia entry]:

:Tucker Coe: 5 mystery novels featuring the character of Mitch Tobin: ''Kinds of Love, 'Kinds of Death'', 1966; ''Murder Among Children'', 1967; ''Wax Apple'' and ''A Jade in Aries'', both 1970; ''Don't Lie to Me'', 1972.

From [http://www.mystericale.com/index.php?issue=104&body=file&file=like_em_tough.htm this website]:

:Donald Westlake adopted the pseudonym Tucker Coe for a series of five superb novels about guilt-ridden ex-cop Mitch Tobin, thrown off the NYPD after his partner was killed while Tobin was spending duty time enjoying the adulterous bed of a lady whose husband was in prison. Tobin's wife forgave the infidelity, but Tobin couldn't forgive himself. He spent his time in the backyard, slowly building a brick wall to keep out a world he no longer believed he had a place in. He supported himself and his family by taking on occasional investigations, but he does so with great reluctance. Slowly, though, the casework had the therapeutic effect of forcing him to come to terms with his guilt and deal with it. Tobin was introduced in ''Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death'' (Random, 1966). By his last appearance, ''Don't Lie to Me'' (Random, 1972), Tobin had obtained a P.I. license (thus making himself no longer eligible for consideration in this column), gotten a part-time job as a night security guard at an art museum, and was well on the way to psychological recovery. Largely on the strength of the Tobin series, Westlake was awarded the P.W.A. “Eye” award for Lifetime Achievement as a private eye writer.

Donald Westlake (1933-2008) was an American writer, with over a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction or other genres.

In the below video (at :58), Donald Westlake refers to an "article" where one of the questions being asked was: "If New York City itself were a character itself in a mystery novel, what would that character be? And I said it wouldn't be the detective, because the detective cares who killed, and NY doesn't care. And it wouldn't be the murderer because the murderer has to care about someone he kills. So I think the character New York would be would be the enigmatic blond who knows the answer but isn't going to tell you."
{{#ev:youtube|p0ptliV4fzc}}

==Title Page==
'''Flatiron Building''' 
The title page feature a photograph of the Flatiron Building, a skyscraper in NYC. "The neighborhood around it is called the Flatiron District after its signature building, which has become an icon of New York City." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatiron_Building Wikipedia]

==Dedication==
Like ''Inherent Vice'' and ''Against the Day'', ''Bleeding Edge'' has no dedication. Pynchon dedicated three of his earlier novels to friends and family: ''Mason & Dixon'' ("For Melanie, and for Jackson"), ''Vineland'' ("For my mother and father"), and ''Gravity's Rainbow'' ("For Richard Fariña").

==Page 1==

'''"the first day of spring, 2001"''' 
three instances of beginnings: the first day, of spring (the season of beginning and renewal), of the new millennium.

'''"though some still have her in their system"''' 
the novel's first sentence invokes the topic of personal data held in various databases or systems.

'''Loeffler''' 
Literally translated from German, it means 'someone who eats with a spoon'. It is not an uncommon last name in Germany; it is also the German name of a bird, the Eurasian Spoonbill. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Spoonbill Wikipedia]

Loeffler is also the name of a German composer, Charles Martin Loeffler. Very interesting to note that the composer's father wrote journalism under the name 'Tornov' or 'Tornow' while the son sometimes used it as a middle name. [http://mldd.blogspot.com/2011/07/charles-martin-loeffler-150-years.html]

'''"walking her boys to school"''' 
This scene -- a parent walking children to school in the Upper West Side of New York City -- is, more than any of Pynchon's novels, evocative of what is reported of Pynchon's biography.
:This could be an early hint that the novel has a more autobiographical element than any of his previous works? [[User:Benvolio|Benvolio]] ([[User talk:Benvolio|talk]])

[[File:Callerypear.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Callery pear trees blooming in NYC, Creative Commons licensed photo from [http://www.flickr.com/photos/kamekame/5621004054/sizes/z/in/photostream/ here]]]'''

'''Callery Pear trees''' 
Planted extensively in NYC due to its fast-growing nature and tolerance of pollution and other extreme conditions. [http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/trees-blooms/tree-database/callery-pear.html Central Park Conservancy] Their blooming is a first sign of spring.
:Much has been written on how Callery trees smell like semen. E.g., [http://www.theawl.com/2013/04/this-spring-new-york-city-smells-much-less-like-sperm article]

'''she drifts into a pick''' 
A "pick" is a basketball term. It refers to an offensive player blocking a defensive player.

==Page 2==

'''unsheltered''' 
a term meaning those homeless who sleep in such places as doorways and lobbies. "The word unhoused refers to that segment of a homeless community who do not have ordinary lawful access to buildings in which to sleep, as referred to in the HUD [United States Department of Housing and Urban Development] definition as persons occupying "place not designed for ... sleeping accommodation for human beings." "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness#Unsheltered_or_unhoused_people Wikipedia]

added thought: Pynchon has tickled his creatures with Heideggerian thought throughout his writing. Unsheltered is not the "normal" way in which we describe our "homeless".

'''Razor scooters''' 
a popular brand of scooter, but note how the word "razor" echoes/evokes the title, ''Bleeding Edge''.

'''Otto Kugelblitz''' 
A fictitious character, i.e. no real person. Maybe Otto Rank [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Rank] was the blueprint for Otto Kugelblitz. 
German, "ball lightning". The Kugelblitz was also the name of a tank in WWII. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kugelblitz Wikipedia]
:Many references to Germany, German words, names and German history run throughout Pynchon's oeuvre, to the point where Pynchon scholar David Cowart posits that "Pynchon seems to have had a German period, a post-German period, and a neo-Continental or global period. During his German phase he produced his first three novels... His next work, the long-awaited Vineland, represents a new phase in which the almost obsessive attention to German more seems to have faded." ''Thomas Pynchon and the Dark Passages of History'' (2012), at p. 59. [[User:Benvolio|Benvolio]] ([[User talk:Benvolio|talk]])
:A character name Skip the sentient ball lightning appears in ''Against the Day. [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=S]

'''the human life span runs through varieties of mental disorder as understood in his day- the solipsism of infancy, the sexual hysterias of adolescence and enty-level adulthood, the paranoia of middle age, the dementia of late life... all working up to death, which at last turns out to be "sanity"''' 
I was irritated that Pychnon writes so early in this book that much about the theory of a fictitious psychonalayst. It seems to me that this theory may of further importance, i.e. could it be a kind of program for this novel? 
Solipsism > sexual hysteria > paranoia > dementia > deatch > sanity 

'''on a cross street ''Law & Order'' has so far managed not to film on''' 
''Law & Order'' was the longest running crime drama on TV. It ran for 20 seasons and filmed its episodes on the streets of New York City. Of course, this adds to building sense of paranoia and fear in this opening description.

'''Berggasse 19''' 
The address in Vienna where Freud lived. It is now the site of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud_Museum_%28Vienna%29 Sigmund Freud Museum].

==Page 3==
'''Vyrva''' 
The name sounds like the German word "Wirrwarr", meaning something like "muddle", "huddle", etc.

'''"Maxi, hi?'''" 
Vyrva speaks in uptalk, or phrasing statements like questions, a linguistic characteristic found (among other places) in Southern California, especially among so-called "Valley girls". [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uptalk Wikipedia]

==Page 4==

'''Maxine runs a small fraud-investigation agency''' 
"Fraud" sounds quite similar to the name of the psychologist "Freud" who was mentioned on the previous pages. So is Maxine perhaps a "Freud-investigator"? There are so many hints about Freud and psychonalasis already on these first pages, this is why I assume that psychonalaysis may be a kind of program for the novel (see comments about Otto Kugelblitz on page 2).
NB "Gravity's Rainbow" was about another school of psychology, the "behaviourism".

'''antennas for the unspoken''' 
Cf, a letter by Pynchon: "Given the British genius for coded utterance, this could all be about something else entirely, impossible on this side of the ocean to appreciate in any nuanced way..." [http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/08/thomas-pynchon-on-plagiarism.html Source] 
Also brings to mind ''Inherent Vice'''s protagonist, who claims "if acid tripping was good for anything, it helped tune you to different unlisted frequencies." [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_5 (62)] Another person whose profession affords them a kind of social ESP, it seems.

'''a dating service called Yenta Expresso''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yenta Yenta] is a Yiddish loanword which generally means a busybody or someone who spreads gossip. Given that it's seen in the name of a dating service, it's likely a reference to the musical/film [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddler_on_the_Roof Fiddler on the Roof], where the village matchmaker's name is Yenta. Y'know, it's a shame real life could never be as hyper-referential as Pynchon's reality.

==Page 5==
'''"a whistle-blower at a snack food company over in Jersey which has been secretly negotiating with ex-employees of Krispy Kreme for the illegal purchase of top-secret temperature and humidity setting on the donut purveyor's "proof box," along with equally classified phototed of the donut extruder, which however now seem to be Polaroids of auto parts taken years ago in Queens, Photoshopped and whimsically at that." '''

Classic elements of Pynchon - paranoia, corporate espionage, classified recipes, prescient placement of scandal, and word play on breakfast and auto "donuts", along with pitting Jersey and Queens identities against one another, before finishing with a quaint throwback to the days and times when Photoshop was a more primitive tool.

Krispy Kreme is set to go public on NASDAQ only days from Maxine's message, and ironically centering around a company whose intellectual property (the recipes!) were bought and not developed. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krispy_Kreme#History].

==Page 6==
'''the gates of Danbury''' 
a federal prison. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Correctional_Institution,_Danbury Wikipedia]

'''Crazy Eddie''' 
American electronics store famous for its radio and TV ads in the 60s and 70s, featuring the slogan, "his prices are insane". The T-shirt in question was designed by, of all people, Robert Crumb. The TV ads featured New York disc jockey Jerry Carroll as the pitchman. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crazyeddie.jpg Wikipedia]

[[File:Crazyeddieshirt.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Crazy Eddie T-Shirt, designed by the legendary Robert Crumb''']]

"Crazy Eddie" also features prominently in the science fiction novel ''The Mote In God's Eye'' by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (1974), signifying both the point of insanity and the furthest known reaches of the universe as the author's aliens see it.

==Page 7==
'''as Britney always sez''' 
"Oops! I Did It Again" was a huge pop hit in 2000 for Britney Spears.

'''"Help Me Rhonda"''' 
1965 song by the Beach Boys. [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pynchon_and_Brian_Wilson Pynchon reportedly recommended] that Jules Siegel listen to the Beach Boys' ''Pet Sounds'', as recounted in Siegel's article, "Who is Thomas Pynchon, and Why Did He Take Off With My Wife" (1977). Pynchon mentions "Help Me Rhonda" and two other Beach Boys hits in ''Inherent Vice''. [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Songs_mentioned_in_Inherent_Vice]

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 1

2014-10-08T04:16:44Z

Frankljt: /* Page 4 */

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Title==
"Bleeding Edge" has a number of meanings. See [[Bleeding Edge Title]]. The phrase first appears on pg. 78 "What's known as bleeding-edge technology. [...] No proven use, high risk, something only early-adoption addicts feel comfortable with."

==Cover==
The cover photograph is of a server farm. I found it [http://www.wallpapervortex.com/wallpaper-18727_miscellaneous_server_farm_at_night.html here]. It's entitled "Server Farm at Night." Note how the image also evokes the World Trade Center, and the cover of Pynchon's [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page ''V.''] ...

More info at [[Bleeding Edge cover analysis]]

==Book jacket description==
Pynchon likely wrote [[Bleeding_Edge|the copy]] for the book jacket description of ''Bleeding Edge'' and he likely did the same for [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page ''Inherent Vice''].

==Epigraph==
This Westlake quote is in [http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/31/nyregion/they-love-new-york.html?src=pm&pagewanted=3 a ''New York Times'' article, dated October 31, 1999], about New York City. In the article, credit is given thus: "Tucker Coe (a.k.a. Donald E. Westlake writing about a cop, a brick wall and guilt. Out of print.)." So it's most likely from Westlake's (writing as Tucker Coe) "Mitch Tobin" series.

From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_E._Westlake Westlake's Wikipedia entry]:

:Tucker Coe: 5 mystery novels featuring the character of Mitch Tobin: ''Kinds of Love, 'Kinds of Death'', 1966; ''Murder Among Children'', 1967; ''Wax Apple'' and ''A Jade in Aries'', both 1970; ''Don't Lie to Me'', 1972.

From [http://www.mystericale.com/index.php?issue=104&body=file&file=like_em_tough.htm this website]:

:Donald Westlake adopted the pseudonym Tucker Coe for a series of five superb novels about guilt-ridden ex-cop Mitch Tobin, thrown off the NYPD after his partner was killed while Tobin was spending duty time enjoying the adulterous bed of a lady whose husband was in prison. Tobin's wife forgave the infidelity, but Tobin couldn't forgive himself. He spent his time in the backyard, slowly building a brick wall to keep out a world he no longer believed he had a place in. He supported himself and his family by taking on occasional investigations, but he does so with great reluctance. Slowly, though, the casework had the therapeutic effect of forcing him to come to terms with his guilt and deal with it. Tobin was introduced in ''Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death'' (Random, 1966). By his last appearance, ''Don't Lie to Me'' (Random, 1972), Tobin had obtained a P.I. license (thus making himself no longer eligible for consideration in this column), gotten a part-time job as a night security guard at an art museum, and was well on the way to psychological recovery. Largely on the strength of the Tobin series, Westlake was awarded the P.W.A. “Eye” award for Lifetime Achievement as a private eye writer.

Donald Westlake (1933-2008) was an American writer, with over a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction or other genres.

In the below video (at :58), Donald Westlake refers to an "article" where one of the questions being asked was: "If New York City itself were a character itself in a mystery novel, what would that character be? And I said it wouldn't be the detective, because the detective cares who killed, and NY doesn't care. And it wouldn't be the murderer because the murderer has to care about someone he kills. So I think the character New York would be would be the enigmatic blond who knows the answer but isn't going to tell you."
{{#ev:youtube|p0ptliV4fzc}}

==Title Page==
'''Flatiron Building''' 
The title page feature a photograph of the Flatiron Building, a skyscraper in NYC. "The neighborhood around it is called the Flatiron District after its signature building, which has become an icon of New York City." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatiron_Building Wikipedia]

==Dedication==
Like ''Inherent Vice'' and ''Against the Day'', ''Bleeding Edge'' has no dedication. Pynchon dedicated three of his earlier novels to friends and family: ''Mason & Dixon'' ("For Melanie, and for Jackson"), ''Vineland'' ("For my mother and father"), and ''Gravity's Rainbow'' ("For Richard Fariña").

==Page 1==

'''"the first day of spring, 2001"''' 
three instances of beginnings: the first day, of spring (the season of beginning and renewal), of the new millennium.

'''"though some still have her in their system"''' 
the novel's first sentence invokes the topic of personal data held in various databases or systems.

'''Loeffler''' 
Literally translated from German, it means 'someone who eats with a spoon'. It is not an uncommon last name in Germany; it is also the German name of a bird, the Eurasian Spoonbill. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Spoonbill Wikipedia]

Loeffler is also the name of a German composer, Charles Martin Loeffler. Very interesting to note that the composer's father wrote journalism under the name 'Tornov' or 'Tornow' while the son sometimes used it as a middle name. [http://mldd.blogspot.com/2011/07/charles-martin-loeffler-150-years.html]

'''"walking her boys to school"''' 
This scene -- a parent walking children to school in the Upper West Side of New York City -- is, more than any of Pynchon's novels, evocative of what is reported of Pynchon's biography.
:This could be an early hint that the novel has a more autobiographical element than any of his previous works? [[User:Benvolio|Benvolio]] ([[User talk:Benvolio|talk]])

[[File:Callerypear.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Callery pear trees blooming in NYC, Creative Commons licensed photo from [http://www.flickr.com/photos/kamekame/5621004054/sizes/z/in/photostream/ here]]]'''

'''Callery Pear trees''' 
Planted extensively in NYC due to its fast-growing nature and tolerance of pollution and other extreme conditions. [http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/trees-blooms/tree-database/callery-pear.html Central Park Conservancy] Their blooming is a first sign of spring.
:Much has been written on how Callery trees smell like semen. E.g., [http://www.theawl.com/2013/04/this-spring-new-york-city-smells-much-less-like-sperm article]

'''she drifts into a pick''' 
A "pick" is a basketball term. It refers to an offensive player blocking a defensive player.

==Page 2==

'''unsheltered''' 
a term meaning those homeless who sleep in such places as doorways and lobbies. "The word unhoused refers to that segment of a homeless community who do not have ordinary lawful access to buildings in which to sleep, as referred to in the HUD [United States Department of Housing and Urban Development] definition as persons occupying "place not designed for ... sleeping accommodation for human beings." "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness#Unsheltered_or_unhoused_people Wikipedia]

added thought: Pynchon has tickled his creatures with Heideggerian thought throughout his writing. Unsheltered is not the "normal" way in which we describe our "homeless".

'''Razor scooters''' 
a popular brand of scooter, but note how the word "razor" echoes/evokes the title, ''Bleeding Edge''.

'''Otto Kugelblitz''' 
A fictitious character, i.e. no real person. Maybe Otto Rank [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Rank] was the blueprint for Otto Kugelblitz. 
German, "ball lightning". The Kugelblitz was also the name of a tank in WWII. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kugelblitz Wikipedia]
:Many references to Germany, German words, names and German history run throughout Pynchon's oeuvre, to the point where Pynchon scholar David Cowart posits that "Pynchon seems to have had a German period, a post-German period, and a neo-Continental or global period. During his German phase he produced his first three novels... His next work, the long-awaited Vineland, represents a new phase in which the almost obsessive attention to German more seems to have faded." ''Thomas Pynchon and the Dark Passages of History'' (2012), at p. 59. [[User:Benvolio|Benvolio]] ([[User talk:Benvolio|talk]])
:A character name Skip the sentient ball lightning appears in ''Against the Day. [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=S]

'''the human life span runs through varieties of mental disorder as understood in his day- the solipsism of infancy, the sexual hysterias of adolescence and enty-level adulthood, the paranoia of middle age, the dementia of late life... all working up to death, which at last turns out to be "sanity"''' 
I was irritated that Pychnon writes so early in this book that much about the theory of a fictitious psychonalayst. It seems to me that this theory may of further importance, i.e. could it be a kind of program for this novel? 
Solipsism > sexual hysteria > paranoia > dementia > deatch > sanity 

'''on a cross street ''Law & Order'' has so far managed not to film on''' 
''Law & Order'' was the longest running crime drama on TV. It ran for 20 seasons and filmed its episodes on the streets of New York City. Of course, this adds to building sense of paranoia and fear in this opening description.

'''Berggasse 19''' 
The address in Vienna where Freud lived. It is now the site of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud_Museum_%28Vienna%29 Sigmund Freud Museum].

==Page 3==
'''Vyrva''' 
The name sounds like the German word "Wirrwarr", meaning something like "muddle", "huddle", etc.

'''"Maxi, hi?'''" 
Vyrva speaks in uptalk, or phrasing statements like questions, a linguistic characteristic found (among other places) in Southern California, especially among so-called "Valley girls". [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uptalk Wikipedia]

==Page 4==

'''Maxine runs a small fraud-investigation agency''' 
"Fraud" sounds quite similar to the name of the psychologist "Freud" who was mentioned on the previous pages. So is Maxine perhaps a "Freud-investigator"? There are so many hints about Freud and psychonalasis already on these first pages, this is why I assume that psychonalaysis may be a kind of program for the novel (see comments about Otto Kugelblitz on page 2).
NB "Gravity's Rainbow" was about another school of psychology, the "behaviourism".

'''antennas for the unspoken''' 
Cf, a letter by Pynchon: "Given the British genius for coded utterance, this could all be about something else entirely, impossible on this side of the ocean to appreciate in any nuanced way..." [http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/08/thomas-pynchon-on-plagiarism.html Source] 
Also brings to mind ''Inherent Vice'''s protagonist, who claims "if acid tripping was good for anything, it helped tune you to different unlisted frequencies." [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_5 (62)] Another person whose profession affords them a kind of social ESP, it seems.

==Page 5==
'''"a whistle-blower at a snack food company over in Jersey which has been secretly negotiating with ex-employees of Krispy Kreme for the illegal purchase of top-secret temperature and humidity setting on the donut purveyor's "proof box," along with equally classified phototed of the donut extruder, which however now seem to be Polaroids of auto parts taken years ago in Queens, Photoshopped and whimsically at that." '''

Classic elements of Pynchon - paranoia, corporate espionage, classified recipes, prescient placement of scandal, and word play on breakfast and auto "donuts", along with pitting Jersey and Queens identities against one another, before finishing with a quaint throwback to the days and times when Photoshop was a more primitive tool.

Krispy Kreme is set to go public on NASDAQ only days from Maxine's message, and ironically centering around a company whose intellectual property (the recipes!) were bought and not developed. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krispy_Kreme#History].

==Page 6==
'''the gates of Danbury''' 
a federal prison. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Correctional_Institution,_Danbury Wikipedia]

'''Crazy Eddie''' 
American electronics store famous for its radio and TV ads in the 60s and 70s, featuring the slogan, "his prices are insane". The T-shirt in question was designed by, of all people, Robert Crumb. The TV ads featured New York disc jockey Jerry Carroll as the pitchman. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crazyeddie.jpg Wikipedia]

[[File:Crazyeddieshirt.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Crazy Eddie T-Shirt, designed by the legendary Robert Crumb''']]

"Crazy Eddie" also features prominently in the science fiction novel ''The Mote In God's Eye'' by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (1974), signifying both the point of insanity and the furthest known reaches of the universe as the author's aliens see it.

==Page 7==
'''as Britney always sez''' 
"Oops! I Did It Again" was a huge pop hit in 2000 for Britney Spears.

'''"Help Me Rhonda"''' 
1965 song by the Beach Boys. [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pynchon_and_Brian_Wilson Pynchon reportedly recommended] that Jules Siegel listen to the Beach Boys' ''Pet Sounds'', as recounted in Siegel's article, "Who is Thomas Pynchon, and Why Did He Take Off With My Wife" (1977). Pynchon mentions "Help Me Rhonda" and two other Beach Boys hits in ''Inherent Vice''. [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Songs_mentioned_in_Inherent_Vice]

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}