Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Chapter 9

2015-01-11T21:32:13Z

Mekauf: /* Page 89 */

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 88==
'''to ''chercher le geek''''' 
Likely an homage to detective pulp fiction. The phrase from which it derives, "cherchez la femme" ("look for the woman") has been around since at least the Dumas novel ''The Mohicans of Paris'' (1854) and has come to embody a cliché of detective pulp fiction: no matter what the problem, a woman is often the root cause. The phrase has come to refer to explanations that automatically find the same root cause, no matter the specifics of the problem. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherchez_la_femme Wikipedia]

"Chercher" is the infinitive of "look" and "cherchez" is the imperative form.

'''Manifested into Dorval''' 
One of those weird Pynchonian sentences that give translators headaches, this means that Maxine is listed as a passenger on the flight arriving at Dorval airport, i.e., is listed on the plane's manifest which Dorval has.

'''le tout Montreal''' 
All Montreal.

'''Boïngueaux''' 
pronounced "Boingo"

==Page 89==
'''NetNet''' 
Cute name. Aside from the being a universal nickname for the Internet, "net" is also common French for "clean". ("Nettoyer" = To clean).

'''enchantée''' 
One of the first phrases taught in (I think) almost every introductory French course is "Enchantée de faire votre connaissance", roughly "Delighted to make your acquaintance"

'''...the evening movie on the Aboriginal Peoples' Television Network, whose film library contained every Keanu Reeves movie ever made, including, that night, Felix's personal favorite ''Johnny Mnemonic''.''' 
The APTN does actually have a week of Keanu Reeves films in the summer called Keanu! Movie Blitz (see commercial spot here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSbDDeA_WAA]). The network's somewhat mysterious devotion to Reeves may be a means of asssuring "Canadian" content since Reeves grew up in Toronto (though he was born in Beirut). Further, there may be some tenuous sense of aboriginal kinship (albeit non-North American) since KR does have some Hawaiiaan ancestry through his father (emphasized through his Hawaiiaan first name that means "cool breeze over mountains"). Notable films by Reeves up to this point, if I'm reading the time frame of the novel right, include ''Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Point Break, My Own Private Idaho, Dracula, Much Ado About Nothing, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Little Buddha, Speed,'' and, perhaps most significantly, ''The Matrix''. I'm not sure just what it means, but Felix preferring ''Johnny Mnemonic'' over ''Speed'' and ''The Matrix'' is surely saying something important him. Or maybe Pynchon is simply giving a friendly shout-out to William Gibson, writer of ''Johnny Mnemonic'' and he wanted to namedrop a film that has some resonance (see below) with his own novel.

'''Johnny Mnemonic''' 
Film based on a short story by William Gibson, who also wrote the screenplay. The plot is pretty apropos to ''Bleeding Edge''': "In 2021, Johnny (Keanu Reeves) is a "mnemonic courier" with a data storage device implanted in his brain, allowing him to discreetly carry information too sensitive to transfer across the Net, the virtual-reality equivalent of the Internet. " [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Mnemonic_(film) Wikipedia]

==Page 91==
'''''Ayn al-hammam''''' 
Arabic: "Where are the toilets?"

==Page 92==

'''Psycho''' 
Another Hitchcock reference. Possible thread in the novel? Also, the scene in question is of a knifing, you know, a murder committed with a weapon that has an edge, as in a "bleeding edge." Just saying.

'''Basil St. John in the life of Brenda Starr''' 
''Brenda Starr, Reporter'' was a comic strip about a glamorous, adventurous female reporter. It was created in 1940 by Dale Messick for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. In the story, her love interest was Basil St. John. They were married, had a child, then divorced. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Starr,_Reporter WIKI].

==Page 93==
'''chase around the world after black-orchid serum''' 
Another allusion to Basil St. John (see previous page), who was obsessed with black-orchid serum.

==Page 95==
'''Windows on the World''' 
A restaurant on the top floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, which, of course, was destroyed on 9/11.

'''"Like going to Collegiate"''' 
a private school in NYC which Pynchon's son attended.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 9

2015-01-11T21:29:58Z

Mekauf: /* Page 89 */

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 88==
'''to ''chercher le geek''''' 
Likely an homage to detective pulp fiction. The phrase from which it derives, "cherchez la femme" ("look for the woman") has been around since at least the Dumas novel ''The Mohicans of Paris'' (1854) and has come to embody a cliché of detective pulp fiction: no matter what the problem, a woman is often the root cause. The phrase has come to refer to explanations that automatically find the same root cause, no matter the specifics of the problem. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherchez_la_femme Wikipedia]

"Chercher" is the infinitive of "look" and "cherchez" is the imperative form.

'''Manifested into Dorval''' 
One of those weird Pynchonian sentences that give translators headaches, this means that Maxine is listed as a passenger on the flight arriving at Dorval airport, i.e., is listed on the plane's manifest which Dorval has.

'''le tout Montreal''' 
All Montreal.

'''Boïngueaux''' 
pronounced "Boingo"

==Page 89==
'''NetNet''' 
Cute name. Aside from the being a universal nickname for the Internet, "net" is also common French for "clean". ("Nettoyer" = To clean).

'''enchantée''' 
One of the first phrases taught in (I think) almost every introductory French course is "Enchantée de faire votre connaissance", roughly "Delighted to make your acquaintance"

'''...the evening movie on the Aboriginal Peoples' Television Network, whose film library contained every Keanu Reeves movie ever made, including, that night, Felix's personal favorite ''Johnny Mnemonic''.''' 
The APTN does actually have a week of Keanu Reeves films in the summer called Keanu! Movie Blitz (see commercial spot here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSbDDeA_WAA]). The network's somewhat mysterious devotion to Reeves may be a means of asssuring "Canadian" content since Reeves grew up in Toronto (though he was born in Beirut). Further, there may be some tenuous sense of aboriginal kinship since KR does have some Hawaiiaan ancestry through his father (emphasized through his Hawaiiaan first name that means "cool breeze over mountains"). Notable films by Reeves up to this point, if I'm reading the time frame of the novel right, include ''Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Point Break, My Own Private Idaho, Dracula, Much Ado About Nothing, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Little Buddha, Speed,'' and, perhaps most significantly, ''The Matrix''. I'm not sure just what it means, but Felix preferring ''Johnny Mnemonic'' over ''Speed'' and ''The Matrix'' is surely saying something important him. Or maybe Pynchon is simply giving a friendly shout-out to William Gibson, writer of ''Johnny Mnemonic'' and he wanted to namedrop a film that has some resonance (see below) with his own novel.

'''Johnny Mnemonic''' 
Film based on a short story by William Gibson, who also wrote the screenplay. The plot is pretty apropos to ''Bleeding Edge''': "In 2021, Johnny (Keanu Reeves) is a "mnemonic courier" with a data storage device implanted in his brain, allowing him to discreetly carry information too sensitive to transfer across the Net, the virtual-reality equivalent of the Internet. " [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Mnemonic_(film) Wikipedia]

==Page 91==
'''''Ayn al-hammam''''' 
Arabic: "Where are the toilets?"

==Page 92==

'''Psycho''' 
Another Hitchcock reference. Possible thread in the novel? Also, the scene in question is of a knifing, you know, a murder committed with a weapon that has an edge, as in a "bleeding edge." Just saying.

'''Basil St. John in the life of Brenda Starr''' 
''Brenda Starr, Reporter'' was a comic strip about a glamorous, adventurous female reporter. It was created in 1940 by Dale Messick for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. In the story, her love interest was Basil St. John. They were married, had a child, then divorced. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Starr,_Reporter WIKI].

==Page 93==
'''chase around the world after black-orchid serum''' 
Another allusion to Basil St. John (see previous page), who was obsessed with black-orchid serum.

==Page 95==
'''Windows on the World''' 
A restaurant on the top floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, which, of course, was destroyed on 9/11.

'''"Like going to Collegiate"''' 
a private school in NYC which Pynchon's son attended.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 11

2015-01-11T18:21:42Z

Mekauf: /* Page 117 */

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 112==
'''Billie's Bounce''' 
A bebop classic written by Charlie Parker. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4mRaEzwTYo Here you go].

'''March Kelleher''' 
Totally a stretch, but some kind of crazy mashup of "March Hare" (from Alice in Wonderland) and "killer hair" (meaning great hair)???

'''who liked to creep''' 
How often has this word appeared already? It's starting to seem important.
:How often? According to my eBook search, this is the sixth time.

'''a parable nobody is supposed to get''' 
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_within_a_story story within a story] in the vein of [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Making_sense_of_The_Courier%27s_Tragedy ''The Courier's Tragedy''] in ''Crying of Lot 49'', "Byron the Bulb" (among many, many others) in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', and could probably sustain a 10- to 20-page paper analyzing its significance within Pynchon's oeuvre. An outsider who refuses to sell out and a soulless, powerful force are at the core of this parable as well as pretty much all of Pynchon's books.

==Page 114==
'''tabloidofthedamned.com''' 
In case you missed the chapter six annotation, [http://tabloidofthedamned.com tabloidofthedamned.com] takes you to [http://www.thomaspynchon.com/ www.thomaspynchon.com].

:There's two pretty radically different interpretations of Pynchon linking to Pynchon Wiki's sister site in the text of ''Bleeding Edge''. One, it could simply be a shout-out to his most prominent fan page. Two, he detests the page, given the pretty angrily negative connotations of "tabloid" and "of the damned" (hopefully not meaning us-- will let you know in the afterlife, if able). "Is this gonna be on the Internet now?" on the following page is a fairly negative response to so many private details of Pynchon's life being posted openly on the web, indeed often by those who believe themselves to be his biggest fans.

:Allow this commentator to submit that we, the Pynchon readers and fans, take this reference as a reminder: It is up to us more than anyone else to give this great writer the privacy he deserves, including through our web sites, Pynchon Wiki commentary, and whatever.

'''Sterling Hayden''' 
Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor and author. For most of his career as a leading man, he specialized in westerns and film noir, such as ''Johnny Guitar'', ''The Asphalt Jungle'' and ''The Killing''. Later on he became noted as a character actor for such roles as Gen. Jack D. Ripper in ''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'' (1964). He also played the Irish-American policeman, Captain McCluskey, in Francis Ford Coppola's ''The Godfather'' in 1972, and the novelist Roger Wade in 1973's ''The Long Goodbye''. He played the role of Leo Dalcò in Bernardo Bertolucci's ''1900'' in 1976. At six feet five inches, he was taller than most actors. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Hayden WIKI].

==Page 115==
'''Some Nazi name''' 
Horst shares his first name with Horst Wessel, author of the lyrics to the Nazi anthem "Die Fahne Hoch", also known as the Horst Wessel Lied. This was effectively the German national anthem during the Nazi years. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb5MjWZ7kxk

'''CFE''' 
Certified Fraud Examiner

==Page 116==
'''Newspaper of Record''' 
New York Times

'''"I like the streak, I'm keeping it"''' 
Writer Susan Sontag's famous streak:

[[File:Susansontag.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Susan Sontag and her hair, Creative Commons licensed photo from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Susan_Sontag,_Miami_Book_Fair_International,_1994.jpg here]]]'''

'''"a deep sympathy modified by contempt"''' 
In her ''Notes on "Camp"'' (1964), Sontag writes "To name a sensibility, to draw its contours and to recount its history, requires a deep sympathy modified by revulsion." [http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/sontag-notesoncamp-1964.html ''Notes on "Camp"'']

<blockquote>
A sensibility (as distinct from an idea) is one of the hardest things to talk about; but there are special reasons why Camp, in particular, has never been discussed. It is not a natural mode of sensibility, if there be any such. Indeed the essence of Camp is its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration. And Camp is esoteric -- something of a private code, a badge of identity even, among small urban cliques. Apart from a lazy two-page sketch in Christopher Isherwood's novel ''The World in the Evening'' (1954), it has hardly broken into print. To talk about Camp is therefore to betray it. If the betrayal can be defended, it will be for the edification it provides, or the dignity of the conflict it resolves. For myself, I plead the goal of self-edification, and the goad of a sharp conflict in my own sensibility. I am strongly drawn to Camp, and almost as strongly offended by it. That is why I want to talk about it, and why I can. For no one who wholeheartedly shares in a given sensibility can analyze it; he can only, whatever his intention, exhibit it. To name a sensibility, to draw its contours and to recount its history, requires a deep sympathy modified by revulsion.</blockquote>

==Page 117==
'''Page Six''' 
Scandal section of New York Post (no longer on page six), now morphed into a website and magazine of the same name. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Post Wiki]

'''The Montauk Project''' 
The Montauk Project is alleged to have been a series of secret United States government projects conducted at Camp Hero or Montauk Air Force Station on Montauk, Long Island for the purpose of developing psychological warfare techniques and exotic research including time travel. Jacques Vallée describes allegations of the Montauk Project as an outgrowth of stories about the Philadelphia Experiment. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Project WIKI].

==Page 118==
'''TWA Flight 800''' 
Trans World Airlines Flight 800, a Boeing 747-100, exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at about 8:31 PM EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on a scheduled international passenger flight to Rome, with a stopover in Paris. All 230 people on board were killed, the third-deadliest aviation accident to occur in U.S. territory. While accident investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) traveled to the scene, arriving the following morning, there was much initial speculation that a terrorist attack was the cause of the crash. Consequently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) initiated a parallel criminal investigation. Sixteen months later the FBI announced that no evidence had been found of a criminal act and closed its active investigation. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800 WIKI].

'''Larry Ellison''' 
CEO of Oracle.

'''Bill Gross''' 
Called "the nation's most prominent bond investor" by the New York Times, Gross co-founded Pacific Investment Management (PIMCO) and currently manages PIMCO's Total Return fund (the world's largest bond fund) and several smaller ones. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gross WIKI].

p.s. despite being a legend among bond investors, Gross was ignominiously kicked out of Pimco in mid 2014 as a result of too many years of lacklustre performance. But this came after Bleeding Edge was published.

'''Jebel Ali Free Zone''' 
Jebel Ali Free Zone is a free economic zone located in the Jebel Ali area at the far western end of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, near Abu Dhabi. Created under an Emiri Decree, Jafza commenced operations in 1985 with standard size office units and warehouses to provide ready built facilities to customers. In 1990 Jafza expanded its facilities to include light industrial units. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jebel_ali_free_zone WIKI].

==Page 119==
'''Kind of fuckin pathetic... [like] that Barbara Stanwyck movie...''' 
Reference to the end of the film ''Stella Dallas'' (1937). See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Dallas_%281937_film%29 WIKI].

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 11

2015-01-11T18:20:47Z

Mekauf: /* Page 117 */

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 112==
'''Billie's Bounce''' 
A bebop classic written by Charlie Parker. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4mRaEzwTYo Here you go].

'''March Kelleher''' 
Totally a stretch, but some kind of crazy mashup of "March Hare" (from Alice in Wonderland) and "killer hair" (meaning great hair)???

'''who liked to creep''' 
How often has this word appeared already? It's starting to seem important.
:How often? According to my eBook search, this is the sixth time.

'''a parable nobody is supposed to get''' 
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_within_a_story story within a story] in the vein of [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Making_sense_of_The_Courier%27s_Tragedy ''The Courier's Tragedy''] in ''Crying of Lot 49'', "Byron the Bulb" (among many, many others) in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', and could probably sustain a 10- to 20-page paper analyzing its significance within Pynchon's oeuvre. An outsider who refuses to sell out and a soulless, powerful force are at the core of this parable as well as pretty much all of Pynchon's books.

==Page 114==
'''tabloidofthedamned.com''' 
In case you missed the chapter six annotation, [http://tabloidofthedamned.com tabloidofthedamned.com] takes you to [http://www.thomaspynchon.com/ www.thomaspynchon.com].

:There's two pretty radically different interpretations of Pynchon linking to Pynchon Wiki's sister site in the text of ''Bleeding Edge''. One, it could simply be a shout-out to his most prominent fan page. Two, he detests the page, given the pretty angrily negative connotations of "tabloid" and "of the damned" (hopefully not meaning us-- will let you know in the afterlife, if able). "Is this gonna be on the Internet now?" on the following page is a fairly negative response to so many private details of Pynchon's life being posted openly on the web, indeed often by those who believe themselves to be his biggest fans.

:Allow this commentator to submit that we, the Pynchon readers and fans, take this reference as a reminder: It is up to us more than anyone else to give this great writer the privacy he deserves, including through our web sites, Pynchon Wiki commentary, and whatever.

'''Sterling Hayden''' 
Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor and author. For most of his career as a leading man, he specialized in westerns and film noir, such as ''Johnny Guitar'', ''The Asphalt Jungle'' and ''The Killing''. Later on he became noted as a character actor for such roles as Gen. Jack D. Ripper in ''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'' (1964). He also played the Irish-American policeman, Captain McCluskey, in Francis Ford Coppola's ''The Godfather'' in 1972, and the novelist Roger Wade in 1973's ''The Long Goodbye''. He played the role of Leo Dalcò in Bernardo Bertolucci's ''1900'' in 1976. At six feet five inches, he was taller than most actors. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Hayden WIKI].

==Page 115==
'''Some Nazi name''' 
Horst shares his first name with Horst Wessel, author of the lyrics to the Nazi anthem "Die Fahne Hoch", also known as the Horst Wessel Lied. This was effectively the German national anthem during the Nazi years. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb5MjWZ7kxk

'''CFE''' 
Certified Fraud Examiner

==Page 116==
'''Newspaper of Record''' 
New York Times

'''"I like the streak, I'm keeping it"''' 
Writer Susan Sontag's famous streak:

[[File:Susansontag.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Susan Sontag and her hair, Creative Commons licensed photo from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Susan_Sontag,_Miami_Book_Fair_International,_1994.jpg here]]]'''

'''"a deep sympathy modified by contempt"''' 
In her ''Notes on "Camp"'' (1964), Sontag writes "To name a sensibility, to draw its contours and to recount its history, requires a deep sympathy modified by revulsion." [http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/sontag-notesoncamp-1964.html ''Notes on "Camp"'']

<blockquote>
A sensibility (as distinct from an idea) is one of the hardest things to talk about; but there are special reasons why Camp, in particular, has never been discussed. It is not a natural mode of sensibility, if there be any such. Indeed the essence of Camp is its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration. And Camp is esoteric -- something of a private code, a badge of identity even, among small urban cliques. Apart from a lazy two-page sketch in Christopher Isherwood's novel ''The World in the Evening'' (1954), it has hardly broken into print. To talk about Camp is therefore to betray it. If the betrayal can be defended, it will be for the edification it provides, or the dignity of the conflict it resolves. For myself, I plead the goal of self-edification, and the goad of a sharp conflict in my own sensibility. I am strongly drawn to Camp, and almost as strongly offended by it. That is why I want to talk about it, and why I can. For no one who wholeheartedly shares in a given sensibility can analyze it; he can only, whatever his intention, exhibit it. To name a sensibility, to draw its contours and to recount its history, requires a deep sympathy modified by revulsion.</blockquote>

==Page 117==
'''Page Six''' 
Scandal section of New York Post (no longer on page six), now morphed into a website and magazine of the same name. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Post Wiki]
'''The Montauk Project''' 
The Montauk Project is alleged to have been a series of secret United States government projects conducted at Camp Hero or Montauk Air Force Station on Montauk, Long Island for the purpose of developing psychological warfare techniques and exotic research including time travel. Jacques Vallée describes allegations of the Montauk Project as an outgrowth of stories about the Philadelphia Experiment. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Project WIKI].

==Page 118==
'''TWA Flight 800''' 
Trans World Airlines Flight 800, a Boeing 747-100, exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at about 8:31 PM EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on a scheduled international passenger flight to Rome, with a stopover in Paris. All 230 people on board were killed, the third-deadliest aviation accident to occur in U.S. territory. While accident investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) traveled to the scene, arriving the following morning, there was much initial speculation that a terrorist attack was the cause of the crash. Consequently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) initiated a parallel criminal investigation. Sixteen months later the FBI announced that no evidence had been found of a criminal act and closed its active investigation. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800 WIKI].

'''Larry Ellison''' 
CEO of Oracle.

'''Bill Gross''' 
Called "the nation's most prominent bond investor" by the New York Times, Gross co-founded Pacific Investment Management (PIMCO) and currently manages PIMCO's Total Return fund (the world's largest bond fund) and several smaller ones. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gross WIKI].

p.s. despite being a legend among bond investors, Gross was ignominiously kicked out of Pimco in mid 2014 as a result of too many years of lacklustre performance. But this came after Bleeding Edge was published.

'''Jebel Ali Free Zone''' 
Jebel Ali Free Zone is a free economic zone located in the Jebel Ali area at the far western end of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, near Abu Dhabi. Created under an Emiri Decree, Jafza commenced operations in 1985 with standard size office units and warehouses to provide ready built facilities to customers. In 1990 Jafza expanded its facilities to include light industrial units. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jebel_ali_free_zone WIKI].

==Page 119==
'''Kind of fuckin pathetic... [like] that Barbara Stanwyck movie...''' 
Reference to the end of the film ''Stella Dallas'' (1937). See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Dallas_%281937_film%29 WIKI].

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 9

2015-01-11T16:35:50Z

Mekauf: /* Page 89 */

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 88==
'''to ''chercher le geek''''' 
Likely an homage to detective pulp fiction. The phrase from which it derives, "cherchez la femme" ("look for the woman") has been around since at least the Dumas novel ''The Mohicans of Paris'' (1854) and has come to embody a cliché of detective pulp fiction: no matter what the problem, a woman is often the root cause. The phrase has come to refer to explanations that automatically find the same root cause, no matter the specifics of the problem. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherchez_la_femme Wikipedia]

"Chercher" is the infinitive of "look" and "cherchez" is the imperative form.

'''Manifested into Dorval''' 
One of those weird Pynchonian sentences that give translators headaches, this means that Maxine is listed as a passenger on the flight arriving at Dorval airport, i.e., is listed on the plane's manifest which Dorval has.

'''le tout Montreal''' 
All Montreal.

'''Boïngueaux''' 
pronounced "Boingo"

==Page 89==
'''NetNet''' 
Cute name. Aside from the being a universal nickname for the Internet, "net" is also common French for "clean". ("Nettoyer" = To clean).

'''enchantée''' 
One of the first phrases taught in (I think) almost every introductory French course is "Enchantée de faire votre connaissance", roughly "Delighted to make your acquaintance"

'''...the evening movie on the Aboriginal Peoples' Television Network, whose film library contained every Keanu Reeves movie ever made, including, that night, Felix's personal favorite ''Johnny Mnemonic''.''' 
The APTN does actually have a week of Keanu Reeves films in the summer called Keanu! Movie Blitz (see commercial spot here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSbDDeA_WAA]). The network's mysterious devotion to Reeves may be a means of asssuring "Canadian" content since Reeves grew up in Toronto (though he was born in Beirut). Further, there may be some tenuous sense of aboriginal kinship since KR does have some Hawaiiaan ancestry through his father (emphasized through his Hawaiiaan first name that means "cool breeze over mountains"). Notable films by Reeves up to this point, if I'm reading the time frame of the novel right, include ''Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Point Break, My Own Private Idaho, Dracula, Much Ado About Nothing, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Little Buddha, Speed,'' and, perhaps most significantly, ''The Matrix''. I'm not sure just what it means, but Felix preferring ''Johnny Mnemonic'' over ''Speed'' and ''The Matrix'' is surely saying something important him. Or maybe Pynchon is simply giving a friendly shout-out to William Gibson, writer of ''Johnny Mnemonic'' and he wanted to namedrop a film that has some resonance (see below) with his own novel.

'''Johnny Mnemonic''' 
Film based on a short story by William Gibson, who also wrote the screenplay. The plot is pretty apropos to ''Bleeding Edge''': "In 2021, Johnny (Keanu Reeves) is a "mnemonic courier" with a data storage device implanted in his brain, allowing him to discreetly carry information too sensitive to transfer across the Net, the virtual-reality equivalent of the Internet. " [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Mnemonic_(film) Wikipedia]

==Page 91==
'''''Ayn al-hammam''''' 
Arabic: "Where are the toilets?"

==Page 92==

'''Psycho''' 
Another Hitchcock reference. Possible thread in the novel? Also, the scene in question is of a knifing, you know, a murder committed with a weapon that has an edge, as in a "bleeding edge." Just saying.

'''Basil St. John in the life of Brenda Starr''' 
''Brenda Starr, Reporter'' was a comic strip about a glamorous, adventurous female reporter. It was created in 1940 by Dale Messick for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. In the story, her love interest was Basil St. John. They were married, had a child, then divorced. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Starr,_Reporter WIKI].

==Page 93==
'''chase around the world after black-orchid serum''' 
Another allusion to Basil St. John (see previous page), who was obsessed with black-orchid serum.

==Page 95==
'''Windows on the World''' 
A restaurant on the top floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, which, of course, was destroyed on 9/11.

'''"Like going to Collegiate"''' 
a private school in NYC which Pynchon's son attended.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 9

2015-01-11T16:28:59Z

Mekauf: /* Page 89 */

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 88==
'''to ''chercher le geek''''' 
Likely an homage to detective pulp fiction. The phrase from which it derives, "cherchez la femme" ("look for the woman") has been around since at least the Dumas novel ''The Mohicans of Paris'' (1854) and has come to embody a cliché of detective pulp fiction: no matter what the problem, a woman is often the root cause. The phrase has come to refer to explanations that automatically find the same root cause, no matter the specifics of the problem. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherchez_la_femme Wikipedia]

"Chercher" is the infinitive of "look" and "cherchez" is the imperative form.

'''Manifested into Dorval''' 
One of those weird Pynchonian sentences that give translators headaches, this means that Maxine is listed as a passenger on the flight arriving at Dorval airport, i.e., is listed on the plane's manifest which Dorval has.

'''le tout Montreal''' 
All Montreal.

'''Boïngueaux''' 
pronounced "Boingo"

==Page 89==
'''NetNet''' 
Cute name. Aside from the being a universal nickname for the Internet, "net" is also common French for "clean". ("Nettoyer" = To clean).

'''enchantée''' 
One of the first phrases taught in (I think) almost every introductory French course is "Enchantée de faire votre connaissance", roughly "Delighted to make your acquaintance"

'''...the evening movie on the Aboriginal Peoples' Television Network, whose film library contained every Keanu Reeves movie ever made, including, that night, Felix's personal favorite ''Johnny Mnemonic''.''' 
The APTN does actually have a week of Keanu Reeves films in the summer called Keanu! Movie Blitz (though it's not clear when it began). The mysterious devotion to Reeves may be a means of asssuring "Canadian" content since Reeves grew up in Toronto (though he was born in Beirut). Further, there may be some tenuous sense of aboriginal kinship since KR does have some Hawaiiaan ancestry through his father (emphasized through his Hawaiiaan first name that means "cool breeze over mountains"). Notable films by Reeves up to this point, if I'm reading the time frame of the novel right, include ''Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Point Break, My Own Private Idaho, Dracula, Much Ado About Nothing, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Little Buddha, Speed,'' and, perhaps most significantly, ''The Matrix''. I'm not sure just what it means, but Felix preferring ''Johnny Mnemonic'' over ''Speed'' and ''The Matrix'' is surely saying something important him. Or maybe Pynchon is simply giving a friendly shout-out to William Gibson, writer of ''Johnny Mnemonic'' and he wanted to namedrop a film that has some resonance (see below) with his own novel.

'''Johnny Mnemonic''' 
Film based on a short story by William Gibson, who also wrote the screenplay. The plot is pretty apropos to ''Bleeding Edge''': "In 2021, Johnny (Keanu Reeves) is a "mnemonic courier" with a data storage device implanted in his brain, allowing him to discreetly carry information too sensitive to transfer across the Net, the virtual-reality equivalent of the Internet. " [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Mnemonic_(film) Wikipedia]

==Page 91==
'''''Ayn al-hammam''''' 
Arabic: "Where are the toilets?"

==Page 92==

'''Psycho''' 
Another Hitchcock reference. Possible thread in the novel? Also, the scene in question is of a knifing, you know, a murder committed with a weapon that has an edge, as in a "bleeding edge." Just saying.

'''Basil St. John in the life of Brenda Starr''' 
''Brenda Starr, Reporter'' was a comic strip about a glamorous, adventurous female reporter. It was created in 1940 by Dale Messick for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. In the story, her love interest was Basil St. John. They were married, had a child, then divorced. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Starr,_Reporter WIKI].

==Page 93==
'''chase around the world after black-orchid serum''' 
Another allusion to Basil St. John (see previous page), who was obsessed with black-orchid serum.

==Page 95==
'''Windows on the World''' 
A restaurant on the top floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, which, of course, was destroyed on 9/11.

'''"Like going to Collegiate"''' 
a private school in NYC which Pynchon's son attended.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 9

2015-01-11T16:27:36Z

Mekauf: /* Page 89 */

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 88==
'''to ''chercher le geek''''' 
Likely an homage to detective pulp fiction. The phrase from which it derives, "cherchez la femme" ("look for the woman") has been around since at least the Dumas novel ''The Mohicans of Paris'' (1854) and has come to embody a cliché of detective pulp fiction: no matter what the problem, a woman is often the root cause. The phrase has come to refer to explanations that automatically find the same root cause, no matter the specifics of the problem. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherchez_la_femme Wikipedia]

"Chercher" is the infinitive of "look" and "cherchez" is the imperative form.

'''Manifested into Dorval''' 
One of those weird Pynchonian sentences that give translators headaches, this means that Maxine is listed as a passenger on the flight arriving at Dorval airport, i.e., is listed on the plane's manifest which Dorval has.

'''le tout Montreal''' 
All Montreal.

'''Boïngueaux''' 
pronounced "Boingo"

==Page 89==
'''NetNet''' 
Cute name. Aside from the being a universal nickname for the Internet, "net" is also common French for "clean". ("Nettoyer" = To clean).

'''enchantée''' 
One of the first phrases taught in (I think) almost every introductory French course is "Enchantée de faire votre connaissance", roughly "Delighted to make your acquaintance"

'''...the evening movie on the Aboriginal Peoples' Television Network, whose film library contained every Keanu Reeves movie ever made, including, that night, Felix's personal favorite ''Johnny Mnemonic''.''' 
The APTN does actually have a week of Keanu Reeves films in the summer called Keanu! Movie Blitz (though it's not clear when it began). The mysterious devotion to Reeves may be a means of asssuring "Canadian" content since Reeves grew up in Toronto (though he was born in Beirut). Further, there may be some tenuous sense of aboriginal kinship since KR does have some Hawaiiaan ancestry through his father (emphasized through his Hawaiiaan first name that means "cool breeze over mountains").
Notable films by Reeves up to this point, if I'm reading the time frame of the novel right, include ''Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Point Break, My Own Private Idaho, Dracula, Much Ado About Nothing, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Little Buddha, Speed,'' and, perhaps most significantly, ''The Matrix''. I'm not sure just what it means, but Felix preferring ''Johnny Mnemonic'' over ''Speed'' and ''The Matrix'' is surely saying something important him. Or maybe Pynchon is simply giving a friendly shout-out to William Gibson, writer of ''Johnny Mnemonic'' and he wanted to namedrop a film that has some resonance (see below) with his own novel.

'''Johnny Mnemonic''' 
Film based on a short story by William Gibson, who also wrote the screenplay. The plot is pretty apropos to ''Bleeding Edge''': "In 2021, Johnny (Keanu Reeves) is a "mnemonic courier" with a data storage device implanted in his brain, allowing him to discreetly carry information too sensitive to transfer across the Net, the virtual-reality equivalent of the Internet. " [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Mnemonic_(film) Wikipedia]

==Page 91==
'''''Ayn al-hammam''''' 
Arabic: "Where are the toilets?"

==Page 92==

'''Psycho''' 
Another Hitchcock reference. Possible thread in the novel? Also, the scene in question is of a knifing, you know, a murder committed with a weapon that has an edge, as in a "bleeding edge." Just saying.

'''Basil St. John in the life of Brenda Starr''' 
''Brenda Starr, Reporter'' was a comic strip about a glamorous, adventurous female reporter. It was created in 1940 by Dale Messick for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. In the story, her love interest was Basil St. John. They were married, had a child, then divorced. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Starr,_Reporter WIKI].

==Page 93==
'''chase around the world after black-orchid serum''' 
Another allusion to Basil St. John (see previous page), who was obsessed with black-orchid serum.

==Page 95==
'''Windows on the World''' 
A restaurant on the top floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, which, of course, was destroyed on 9/11.

'''"Like going to Collegiate"''' 
a private school in NYC which Pynchon's son attended.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}