Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Chapter 38

2014-02-14T09:36:57Z

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==Page 424==
'''Depending of course what your definition of the word 'is' is''' 
President Bill Clinton said something close to this while trying to explain that he had not lied when he denied having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky: "It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is..." 
You can hear it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4XT-l-_3y0 here].

'''the kid in the teen horror movie who turns out to be possessed''' 
A likely candidate for which teen horror film Pynchon is referencing here is ''Night of the Demons'' (1988) (aka ''Halloween Party''). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Demons_(1988_film) Wikipedia]

==Page 425==
'''patafamiliarass''' 
Joke on the ole pat-on-the-ass mixed with "pater familias," explained below.

The pater familias, also written as paterfamilias (plural patres familias), was the head of a Roman family. The paterfamilias was the oldest living male in a household, he had complete control of all family members until he died. Once the paterfamilias died the next oldest male would then have control. The term is Latin for "father of the family" or the "owner of the family estate". The form is archaic in Latin, preserving the old genitive ending in -ās (see Latin declension), whereas in classical Latin the normal genitive ending was -ae. The pater familias was always a Roman citizen. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paterfamilias WIKI].

==Page 426==
'''RPG heroics''' 
RPGs are Role-Playing Games

==Page 428==
'''Ms. Cheung's bleak announcement about real life and make-believe''' 
So what's the reference here? Who's "Ms. Cheung"? I suspect it may be a misspelling of newsperson Connie Chung's name? She was in NYC at the time of the 11 September attacks and covered it for CBS News, focusing on Cantor Fitzgerald, the Manhattan bond-and-equity-trading firm that was [http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/sept11/features/5486/ obliterated] by the 9/11 attacks. But I can't find anything of her talking about "real life and make-believe"...

cf. p. 335: "Ms. Cheung, an English teacher who if Kugelblitz were a town would be the neighborhood scold, has announced that there shall be no more fictional reading assignments."

==Page 429==
'''Eddie Fisher''' 
Edwin John "Eddie" Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American entertainer. He was the most successful pop singles artist of the first half of the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show. Fisher left his first wife, actress Debbie Reynolds, to marry Reynolds's best friend, actress Elizabeth Taylor, when Taylor's husband, film producer Mike Todd, died. This event garnered scandalous and unwelcome publicity for Fisher. He later married Connie Stevens. Fisher is the father of actresses Carrie Fisher (with Reynolds), Joely Fisher (with Stevens), and Tricia Leigh Fisher (with Stevens). From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Fisher_%28singer%29 WIKI].

[[File:Goomba.PNG|80px|thumb|caption|A Goomba|left]]'''factual elements have started popping up like li'l goombas''' 
Goombas, known in Japan as Kuribo ("Chestnut People"), are a fictional species of sentient mushrooms from Nintendo's Mario franchise. Their appearance is based on shiitake mushrooms. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goomba Wikipedia]

==Page 431==
'''meet my man Ketone''' 
In chemistry, a ketone is an organic compound with the structure RC(=O)R', where R and R' can be a variety of carbon-containing substituents. Ketones feature a carbonyl group (C=O) bonded to two other carbon atoms. Many ketones are known and many are of great importance in industry and in biology. Examples include many sugars (ketoses) and the industrial solvent acetone. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketone WIKI].

==Page 433==
'''''Granada Asbury Park Uncertainty Question''''' 
From the lyrics of "At Long Last Love" (written by Cole Porter, popularized by Frank Sinatra)
 
''Is it for all time or simply a lark?''
 
''Is it Granada I see or only Asbury Park?''

==Page 435==
'''''sillage''''' 
From this [http://boisdejasmin.com/2011/02/perfume-vocabulary-fragrance-terms-sillage.html page:] a term used to describe a scented trail left by the fragrance wearer.

'''''The Ray Milland Story''''' 
Ray Milland (3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in ''The Lost Weekend'' (1945), a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in ''Reap the Wild Wind'' (1942), the murder-plotting husband in ''Dial M for Murder'' (1954), and as Oliver Barrett III in ''Love Story'' (1970). Milland, who was at one time Paramount Pictures highest paid actor, co-starred alongside many of the most popular actresses of the time including Gene Tierney, Grace Kelly, Lana Turner, Marlene Dietrich, Ginger Rogers, Jane Wyman, Loretta Young and Veronica Lake. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Milland WIKI].

==Page 436==
'''Redmond campus''' 
a.k.a., Microsoft headquarters

'''racks of electronic gear receding into infinity''' 
Describing the ''Bleeding Edge'' front and back cover photograph. On the next page, Eric speaks of "Bleeding-edge developments"...

==Page 437==
'''Ray Milland...''The Thing with Two Heads''''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Milland Ray Milland] starred in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_with_Two_Heads ''The Thing with Two Heads'',] whose movie poster reads "They transplanted a WHITE BIGOT'S HEAD onto a SOUL BROTHER'S BODY!"

'''Bleeding-edge development phase''' 
On the previous page, Pynchon describes a server farm that matches the ''Bleeding Edge'' cover photo.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 34

2014-01-29T13:30:28Z

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==Page 366==
'''"Series'll be on tonight, El Duque's starting, maybe against Curt Schilling''' 
El Duque is the nickname of NY Yankees pitcher Orlando Hernandez. In this game, he pitched 6 1⁄3 solid innings, but gave up a game-tying upper deck home run to Mark Grace of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fourth inning. Curt Schilling of the Diamondbacks pitched on only three days rest.

'''Vegeta''' 
Vegeta is a fictional character in the ''Dragon Ball'' manga series created by Akira Toriyama. [[Image:Vegeta.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Vegeta]]

'''NAND gate ("I say yes to everything")''' 
In digital electronics, a NAND gate (Negated AND or NOT AND) is a logic gate which produces an output that is false only if all its inputs are true. A LOW (0) output results only if both the inputs to the gate are HIGH (1); if one or both inputs are LOW (0), a HIGH (1) output results. It is made using transistors. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAND_gate Wikipedia]

'''Aki Ross''' 
Aki Ross is a fictional character and the protagonist of the movie ''Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within''. Aki Ross is voiced by Chinese-American actress Ming-Na. She was expected to be the first photorealistic computer-generated actress to appear in multiple movies in different roles. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aki_Ross WIKI].

==Page 367==
'''Margaret Mead''' 
Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured author and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s. She earned her bachelor degree at Barnard College in New York City, and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University. She was both a popularizer of the insights of anthropology into modern American and Western culture and a respected, if controversial, academic anthropologist. Her reports about the attitudes towards sex in South Pacific and Southeast Asian traditional cultures amply informed the 1960s sexual revolution. Mead was a champion of broadened sexual mores within a context of traditional western religious life. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mead WIKI].

'''Dubuque''' 
One of the few large cities in Iowa with hills, it is a major tourist destination, attracted to the city's unique architecture and river location. Also, it is home to five institutions of higher education, making it a center for culture and learning. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubuque,_Iowa WIKI].

'''...in time to witness Derek Jeter's clutch tenth-inning homer and another trademark Yankee win''' 
This extra innings game carried on past midnight, making it the first World Series game played in November(largely due to the rearranged schedules and postseason as a result of 11 September). When the scoreboard clock in Yankee Stadium passed midnight, the message on the scoreboard read, "Welcome to November Baseball". Derek Jeter shortly afterwards hit an opposite field walk-off home run on a 3–2 pitch count from Byung-Hyun Kim. This walk-off home run gave the Yankees a 4–3 victory and tied the Series at two games apiece, making Jeter the first player to hit a November homerun and earning him the tongue-in-cheek nickname of "Mr. November"(itself a play on former Yankee Reggie Jackson's World Series nickname "Mr. October).

'''Keanu Reeves''' 
Another Keanu reference. Something to this?

==Page 368==
'''shoat but sweet, as they say around the pigpen''' 
A shoat is a young pig. Get it?

==Page 369==
'''Steely Dan's "Ain't Never Gonna Do It without the Fez On"''' 
Title of that song: "Royal Scam"

The song is more simply titled "The Fez," from the 1976 album [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Royal_Scam Royal Scam.] Likewise, on page 158 Pynchon elongated the title of "Dr. Wu" into "Are You with Me Dr Wu."

Also, the word "ain't" is not in the song. Lyrics are [http://www.steelydan.com/lyrroyalscam.html#track5 here] and they go: No I'm never gonna do it without the fez on.

'''tchotchkes''' 
Tchotchke is a small bauble or miscellaneous item. Depending on context, the term has a connotation of worthlessness or disposability as well as tackiness, and has long been used by Jewish-Americans and in the regional speech of New York City and elsewhere. The word may also refer to free promotional items dispensed at trade shows, conventions, and similar large events. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tchotchke WIKI].

'''this overdue-for-exorcism building''' 
The Dakota, a possible model for the Deseret, is famously known for being the principle location used in the film "Rosemary's Baby" (1968). Of course, it was also the abode, and murder site, of John Lennon. And the site for Time and Again (Jack Finney 1970) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_and_Again_%28novel%29 Wiki]

==Page 371==
'''"Lester was fellow ''podonok'',"''' 
Podonok is a Russian term meaning riff-raff, scoundrel, or scum. lowest of the low.

'''that Civil Hackers' School in Moscow [...] "Umnik Academy!"''' 
From [http://eng.ncfu.ru/umnik-of-ncfu-club.html here]...
<blockquote>"UMNIK of NCFU" Club for Young Scientists 
Since 2008 foundation of assistance to development of small enterprises in scientific and technical area performs financial support of scientific projects of young scientists (under 28 years), which are commercially significant. Financing is carried out on the basis of results of "U.M.N.I.K.” (Participant of Youth Scientific Innovative Competition) competition. Annually the foundation accepts requests and accredits several dozens of events in the territory of the Russian Federation, within the framework of which money grants for the young people, who have scientific ideas to be commercialized, are planned.</blockquote>

'''''chainiki''''' 
Chainik is a computer term that implies both ignorance and a certain amount of willingness to learn (as well as a propensity to cause disaster), but does not necessarily imply as little experience or short exposure time as newbie and is not as derogatory as luser. Both a novice user and someone using a computer system for a long time without any understanding of the internals can be referred to as chainiks. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chainik Wikipedia]

'''Bobryusk''' 
probably typo for Bobruysk, a city in Belarus

==Page 372==
'''S.Z. Sakall''' 
was a Hungarian film actor; he played Carl, the head waiter, in ''Casablanca''.

==Page 375==
'''FSB... SVU...''' 
Federal Security Service, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Security_Service WIKI].

Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_Society_of_Arts_and_Sciences WIKI].

==Page 376==
'''You want secular cause and effect...''' 
Echoes the same, almost identical, line from [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=C#cause ''Gravity's Rainbow'', page 663] (Viking Ed.): "You will want cause and effect. All right."

'''Day of the NYC Marathon''' 
Sunday, November 4

==Page 377==
'''especially this soon after eleven September''' 
Perhaps this is simply a typo; everwhere else this date is referred to as "11 September"

'''Yes, I remember''' 
From [[Chapter_24#Page_258|page 258]].

'''''eppes-essen''''' 
Eppes Essen, besides being a Jewish Deli in New Jersey, is Yiddish for "I will give you something to eat"

==Page 378==
'''Tacitus''' 
Publius Cornelius Tacitus (c. AD 56 – after 117) was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ''Annals'' and the ''Histories''—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69). These two works span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus in AD 14 to the years of the First Jewish–Roman War in AD 70. Tacitus is considered to be one of the greatest Roman historians. He lived in what has been called the Silver Age of Latin literature. He is known for the brevity and compactness of his Latin prose, as well as for his penetrating insights into the psychology of power politics. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus WIKI].

==Page 379==
'''She should have tumbled ... to the peculiar lightlessness in his eyes...''' 
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' provides one definition of "to tumble": "(tumble to) (informal) understand the meaning or hidden implication of (a situation)"

==Page 382==
'''what Bobby Darin calls 'beyond the sea'''' 
Bobby Darin performs ''Beyond the Sea'' on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLEjyDAjfbw YouTube.] To be a song about longing for a lost, perhaps dead, love, that sure is a happy sounding tune.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 34

2014-01-29T11:10:44Z

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==Page 366==
'''"Series'll be on tonight, El Duque's starting, maybe against Curt Schilling''' 
El Duque is the nickname of NY Yankees pitcher Orlando Hernandez. In this game, he pitched 6 1⁄3 solid innings, but gave up a game-tying upper deck home run to Mark Grace of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fourth inning. Curt Schilling of the Diamondbacks pitched on only three days rest.

'''Vegeta''' 
Vegeta is a fictional character in the ''Dragon Ball'' manga series created by Akira Toriyama. [[Image:Vegeta.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Vegeta]]

'''NAND gate ("I say yes to everything")''' 
In digital electronics, a NAND gate (Negated AND or NOT AND) is a logic gate which produces an output that is false only if all its inputs are true. A LOW (0) output results only if both the inputs to the gate are HIGH (1); if one or both inputs are LOW (0), a HIGH (1) output results. It is made using transistors. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAND_gate Wikipedia]

'''Aki Ross''' 
Aki Ross is a fictional character and the protagonist of the movie ''Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within''. Aki Ross is voiced by Chinese-American actress Ming-Na. She was expected to be the first photorealistic computer-generated actress to appear in multiple movies in different roles. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aki_Ross WIKI].

==Page 367==
'''Margaret Mead''' 
Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured author and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s. She earned her bachelor degree at Barnard College in New York City, and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University. She was both a popularizer of the insights of anthropology into modern American and Western culture and a respected, if controversial, academic anthropologist. Her reports about the attitudes towards sex in South Pacific and Southeast Asian traditional cultures amply informed the 1960s sexual revolution. Mead was a champion of broadened sexual mores within a context of traditional western religious life. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mead WIKI].

'''Dubuque''' 
One of the few large cities in Iowa with hills, it is a major tourist destination, attracted to the city's unique architecture and river location. Also, it is home to five institutions of higher education, making it a center for culture and learning. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubuque,_Iowa WIKI].

'''...in time to witness Derek Jeter's clutch tenth-inning homer and another trademark Yankee win''' 
This extra innings game carried on past midnight, making it the first World Series game played in November(largely due to the rearranged schedules and postseason as a result of 11 September). When the scoreboard clock in Yankee Stadium passed midnight, the message on the scoreboard read, "Welcome to November Baseball". Derek Jeter shortly afterwards hit an opposite field walk-off home run on a 3–2 pitch count from Byung-Hyun Kim. This walk-off home run gave the Yankees a 4–3 victory and tied the Series at two games apiece, making Jeter the first player to hit a November homerun and earning him the tongue-in-cheek nickname of "Mr. November"(itself a play on former Yankee Reggie Jackson's World Series nickname "Mr. October).

'''Keanu Reeves''' 
Another Keanu reference. Something to this?

==Page 368==
'''shoat but sweet, as they say around the pigpen''' 
A shoat is a young pig. Get it?

==Page 369==
'''Steely Dan's "Ain't Never Gonna Do It without the Fez On"''' 
Title of that song: "Royal Scam"

The song is more simply titled "The Fez," from the 1976 album [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Royal_Scam Royal Scam.] Likewise, on page 158 Pynchon elongated the title of "Dr. Wu" into "Are You with Me Dr Wu."

Also, the word "ain't" is not in the song. Lyrics are [http://www.steelydan.com/lyrroyalscam.html#track5 here] and they go: No I'm never gonna do it without the fez on.

'''tchotchkes''' 
Tchotchke is a small bauble or miscellaneous item. Depending on context, the term has a connotation of worthlessness or disposability as well as tackiness, and has long been used by Jewish-Americans and in the regional speech of New York City and elsewhere. The word may also refer to free promotional items dispensed at trade shows, conventions, and similar large events. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tchotchke WIKI].

'''this overdue-for-exorcism building''' 
The Dakota, a possible model for the Deseret, is famously known for being the principle location used in the film "Rosemary's Baby" (1968). Of course, it was also the abode, and murder site, of John Lennon. And the site for Time and Again (Jack Finney 1970) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_and_Again_%28novel%29 Wiki]

==Page 371==
'''"Lester was fellow ''podonok'',"''' 
Podonok is a Russian term meaning riff-raff, scoundrel, or scum. lowest of the low.

'''that Civil Hackers' School in Moscow [...] "Umnik Academy!"''' 
From [http://eng.ncfu.ru/umnik-of-ncfu-club.html here]...
<blockquote>"UMNIK of NCFU" Club for Young Scientists 
Since 2008 foundation of assistance to development of small enterprises in scientific and technical area performs financial support of scientific projects of young scientists (under 28 years), which are commercially significant. Financing is carried out on the basis of results of "U.M.N.I.K.” (Participant of Youth Scientific Innovative Competition) competition. Annually the foundation accepts requests and accredits several dozens of events in the territory of the Russian Federation, within the framework of which money grants for the young people, who have scientific ideas to be commercialized, are planned.</blockquote>

'''''chainiki''''' 
Chainik is a computer term that implies both ignorance and a certain amount of willingness to learn (as well as a propensity to cause disaster), but does not necessarily imply as little experience or short exposure time as newbie and is not as derogatory as luser. Both a novice user and someone using a computer system for a long time without any understanding of the internals can be referred to as chainiks. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chainik Wikipedia]

'''Bobryusk''' 
probably typo for Bobruysk, a city in Belarus

==Page 375==
'''FSB... SVU...''' 
Federal Security Service, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Security_Service WIKI].

Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_Society_of_Arts_and_Sciences WIKI].

==Page 376==
'''You want secular cause and effect...''' 
Echoes the same, almost identical, line from [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=C#cause ''Gravity's Rainbow'', page 663] (Viking Ed.): "You will want cause and effect. All right."

'''Day of the NYC Marathon''' 
Sunday, November 4

==Page 377==
'''especially this soon after eleven September''' 
Perhaps this is simply a typo; everwhere else this date is referred to as "11 September"

'''Yes, I remember''' 
From [[Chapter_24#Page_258|page 258]].

'''''eppes-essen''''' 
Eppes Essen, besides being a Jewish Deli in New Jersey, is Yiddish for "I will give you something to eat"

==Page 378==
'''Tacitus''' 
Publius Cornelius Tacitus (c. AD 56 – after 117) was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ''Annals'' and the ''Histories''—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69). These two works span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus in AD 14 to the years of the First Jewish–Roman War in AD 70. Tacitus is considered to be one of the greatest Roman historians. He lived in what has been called the Silver Age of Latin literature. He is known for the brevity and compactness of his Latin prose, as well as for his penetrating insights into the psychology of power politics. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus WIKI].

==Page 379==
'''She should have tumbled ... to the peculiar lightlessness in his eyes...''' 
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' provides one definition of "to tumble": "(tumble to) (informal) understand the meaning or hidden implication of (a situation)"

==Page 382==
'''what Bobby Darin calls 'beyond the sea'''' 
Bobby Darin performs ''Beyond the Sea'' on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLEjyDAjfbw YouTube.] To be a song about longing for a lost, perhaps dead, love, that sure is a happy sounding tune.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

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2013-11-14T13:59:20Z

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==Page 199==
'''Lester Traipse across the street...in the company of a blond bombshell''' 
I would never argue that Pynchon explicitly had the "Master of Suspense" in mind when he wrote this paragraph, but it certainly does have a Hitchcockian vibe. "Vertigo," anyone?

==Page 201==
'''Daphne and Wilma's''' 
Could this be an allusion to Daphne and Velma, two female detectives (like our Maxine) from the cartoon ''Scooby Doo''?

'''The Officina in Santa Maria Novella''' 
Actually "Officina di Santa Maria Novella", one of the oldest pharmacies of the world, now a producer of perfumes and cosmetics; there is also a museum. [http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/Pharmacy-Santa-Maria-Novella.html/ Source]

==Page 203==
'''Moskowitz''' 
Possibly a reference to Stanley M. Moskowitz (c. 1937 - June 29, 2006) who was a top official of the Central Intelligence Agency. Moskowitz was born in the Bronx and graduated from Alfred University. While attending graduate school at Duke University, he left to join the CIA in 1962, where he worked for over four decades. In the 1980s, he was a national intelligence officer for Russia and Eastern Europe and became congressional liaison, serving under two CIA directors. From 1995-1999, he was the station chief in Israel, where he tried with some success to mediate between the Israelis and Palestinians. His term ended soon after the Benjamin Netanyahu government became dissatisfied with his role and an Israeli paper outed his identity as CIA station chief. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Moskowitz WIKI].

==Page 204==
'''"And whoop there it is"''' 
I believe this is referring to Conkling's erection, where he catches Maxine checking it out and there's an awkward moment, to say the least... 
And "Whoomp! (There It Is)" was a top-ten hit for the group Tag Team in 1993. If, for some reason, you want to hear it, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffCEr327W44 here you go].

==Page 206==
'''luminol''' 
Luminol is used by forensic investigators to detect trace amounts of blood left at crime scenes, as it reacts with iron found in hemoglobin. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminol WIKI].

==Page 209==
'''As Scarlett O'Hara observes . . .''' 
The last line of ''Gone with the Wind'': "After all, tomorrow is another day."

Perhaps worth quoting a few more lines from the ending. 
"With the spirit of her people who would not know defeat, even when
it stared them in the face, she raised her chin. She could get
Rhett back. She knew she could. There had never been a man she
couldn't get, once she set her mind upon him.

"I'll think of it all tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then.
Tomorrow, I'll think of some way to get him back. After all,
tomorrow is another day."

Complete text of [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200161.txt Gone with the Wind.]

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 17

2013-11-07T15:08:03Z

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==Page 185==
'''when WYNY switched formats overnight from country to classic disco''' 
Some anachronistic joshing from Pynchon here, perhaps an old WYNY country fan, as per [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYNY_%28AM%29 WIKI] on July 5, 2012 WYNY changed their format from country to adult contemporary.

==Page 186==
'''what Jodi Della Femina might call shortcuts''' 
Or advertisements of the route, i.e. street signs? Jerry Della Femina (born 1936 in Brooklyn) is an American advertising executive and restaurateur. Starting from a poor Italian background in Brooklyn, he eventually became chairman of Della Femina Travisano & Partners, an agency which he founded with Ron Travisano in the 1960s. Over the next two decades they grew the company into a major advertising house that was billing $250 million per year, and had 300 employees and offices in both New York and Los Angeles. Della Femina is known for his larger than life personality and colorful language and was referred to as a "'Madman' of Madison Avenue". In 1970, he wrote a book about the advertising industry, humorously titled, ''From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor: Front-Line Dispatches from the Advertising War''. It became a cult bestseller, described by ''The Guardian'' as "one of the defining books about advertising", and eventually inspired the television series ''Mad Men''. Jodi is his son. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Della_Femina WIKI].

In 1999 Jodi Della Femina published a book ("Jodi's Shortcuts") about the Hamptons. "The book outraged plenty of Hamptons folks who aren't blue-chip Maidstone types, since it revealed all the sacred backroads detours through leafy neighborhoods off the Montauk highway." (NY Mag)

==Page 187==
'''some Meat Loaf reference''' 
Bat Out of Hell?

==Page 188==
'''schadenfreudefest''' 
The enjoyment, and making it a festive occasion, of others's failures and misfortunes.

==Page 189==
'''Cheatin side of town, as the Eagles like to say''' 
Here are some lyrics from the song "Lyin' Eyes" by the Eagles: "She is headed for the cheatin' side of town." See the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Van_%28actor%29 WIKI].

'''where a man can kick out the jambs''' 
A play on "Kick Out the Jams," an album and song by the band MC5. And Pynchon has used this before, see [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_9#Page_191 Vineland pg. 191].

==Page 190==
'''Bobby Van's people''' 
Bobby Van was born Robert Jack Stein to vaudeville parents in The Bronx, New York City, and grew up backstage, witnessing many memorable Depression-era acts. See the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Van_%28actor%29 WIKI].

==Page 191==
'''Gurney's''' 
Gurney's Inn is a historic oceanfront resort on the very tip of Long Island, located on 290 Old Montauk Highway in Montauk, New York. U.S. President Richard Nixon wrote his acceptance speech at the Skippers Cottage. It has a famous Thalasso spa. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurney%27s WIKI].

'''Har-Tru tennis court''' 
American-style green clay court. Clay courts aren't made of clay, by the way. Instead they are made of "shale, stone, or brick." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_court WIKI.] Har-Tru courts are typically constructed with crushed Pre-Cambrian metabasalt.
More trivia: the Har-Tru company got its odd name by combining the first initials of the owner's name "Henry Alexander Robinson" and a variant spelling of "true" that stressed the "true bounce" of the court. [http://hartru.com/about-har-tru/history/ Company history page.]

==Page 193==
'''Bluebeard's Castle''' 
Judith and Bluebeard arrive at his castle, which is all dark. Bluebeard asks Judith if she wants to stay and even offers her an opportunity to leave, but she decides to stay. Judith insists that all the doors be opened, to allow light to enter into the forbidding interior, insisting further that her demands are based on her love for Bluebeard. Bluebeard refuses, saying that they are private places not to be explored by others, and asking Judith to love him but ask no questions. Judith persists, and eventually prevails over his resistance. The first door opens to reveal a torture chamber, stained with blood. Repelled, but then intrigued, Judith pushes on. Behind the second door is a storehouse of weapons, and behind the third a storehouse of riches. Bluebeard urges her on. Behind the fourth door is a secret garden of great beauty; behind the fifth, a window onto Bluebeard's vast kingdom. All is now sunlit, but blood has stained the riches, watered the garden, and grim clouds throw blood-red shadows over Bluebeard's kingdom. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard%27s_Castle WIKI].

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard Bluebeard,] thank you, wiki, is possibly based on a real man, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais Gilles de Rais,] who lived in France in the early 1400s. He was executed in 1440, having been found guilty of committing numerous child murders. Centuries later, in 1697 Paris, Charles Perrault published a fairy tale that really got the Bluebeard legend rolling. In the [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/bluebeard/ Perrault] version, Bluebeard is slain and the story has a happy ending.

'''phonetic letters including Whisky, Tango, and Foxtrot''' 
a.k.a., WTF or What The Fuck 

But we later learn what they stand for. See [http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_24#Page_261 Page 261].

==Page 194==
'''her coordinates all at once shift ninety degrees, so that she can't tell if she's staring vertically down uncountable levels or straight ahead down another long hallway. It lasts only a heartbeat, but how does it have to?''' 
About 33 seconds into this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je0NhvAQ6fM clip] from Hitchcock's "Vertigo" see something similar, an effect created, by the way, with a model of the stairwell laid down horizontally on the floor. [http://faculty.cua.edu/johnsong/hitchcock/pages/stills-vertigo/shot.html More] on the "Vertigo Effect."

'''a child? Something in a child-size fatigue uniform...rising as if on wings''' 
Very Korean horror.

And, 1:32 into this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-sWReV2DDQ clip] from, yes, "Vertigo" again, see a small, but quickly enlarging, frightening form emerge from the darkness, a creature that evokes great fear in a woman.

'''Vosne-Romanée''' 
Vosne-Romanée wine is produced in the commune of Vosne-Romanée in Côte de Nuits of Burgundy as well as in the neighbouring commune of Flagey-Échezeaux. The Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) Vosne-Romanée may only be used for red wine with Pinot noir as the main grape. There are a total of 15 Premier Cru vineyards in the two communes, as well as six Grand Cru vineyards in Vosne-Romanée and two in Flagey-Échezeaux. These Grand Cru vineyards include Burgundy's most iconic, sought-after and expensive red wines, with Romanée-Conti of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti at the pinnacle: "There can be little doubt that in the firmament of the Cote de nuits, Vosne-Romanée is the brightest star." From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vosne-Roman%C3%A9e_wine WIKI].

==Page 195==
'''Roll on, four-wheeler, roll on.''' 
Riffing on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEL7nGyQ_iA Charley Pride?] Randy Newman's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPmjTG8NLuw Burn On,] as in, "burn on, big river, burn on"? The possibilities must be legion.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Errata

2013-11-07T11:36:22Z

Pc:

56: "some some tell"

131: "''Scream, Blacula, Scream''" film title does not have commas

181: "Latrelle Sprewell" - should be "Latrell"

192: "dos" should be "does"

297: "does not not entirely"

314: "The spread on the Jets-Indianapolis game Sunday is 2 points. It was actually 1.5"

314: "a defensive end who then proceeds to run the ball 98 yards to a touchdown. It was actually 95 yards."

340: "Keenan and Kel" should be "Kenan"

Errata

2013-11-06T21:01:44Z

Pc:

56: "some some tell"

131: "''Scream, Blacula, Scream''" film title does not have commas

181: "Latrelle Sprewell" - should be "Latrell"

184: "Throgs Neck Bridge" should be "Throggs Neck Bridge"

192: "dos" should be "does"

297: "does not not entirely"

314: "The spread on the Jets-Indianapolis game Sunday is 2 points. It was actually 1.5"

314: "a defensive end who then proceeds to run the ball 98 yards to a touchdown. It was actually 95 yards."

340: "Keenan and Kel" should be "Kenan"

Chapter 16

2013-11-06T10:02:05Z

Pc: /* Page 178 */

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 172==
''''85 Sassicaia''' 
Tenuta San Guido is an Italian wine producer in the DOC Bolgheri in Toscana, known as a producer of "Super Tuscan" wine. Its wine Sassicaia is considered one of Italy's leading Bordeaux-style red wines. Tenuta San Guido is member of the Primum Familiae Vini. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassicaia WIKI].

==Page 173==

'''riyals''' 
Unit of currency in the Middle East.

==Page 174==
'''Eternal September''' 
A foreboding name. The Eternal September started September 1993, the month that internet service provider America Online (AOL) began offering Usenet access to its (very many) members . Before then, every year in September, a large number of new university freshmen acquired access to Usenet for the first time, and thongs took some time to calm down as they become accustomed to Usenet's standards of conduct. After Eternal September the calm never came as more and more people came on line.

==Page 177==
'''"Up to whom they must never miss a chance to suck"''' 
Perhaps Pynchon is riffing on Winston Churchill's alleged marginal note of 27 February 1944, to a priggish civil servant's memo objecting to the ending of a sentences with prepositions: "This is the kind of tedious nonsense up with which I will not put!"

'''Motor City psychobilly Elvis Hitler''' 
Yes. There really is a band called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Hitler Elvis Hitler]. And they're from Detroit (a.k.a., the "Motor City").

'''singing the ''Green Acres'' theme to the tune of "Purple Haze"''' 
And yes, Elvis Hitler really did a version of the ''Green Acres'' theme to the tune of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze." You can hear it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FFgxJsjqkg here].

The bizzaro song in question is called "Green Haze, Parts 1 and 2," from their 1988 album "Disgraceland." Is Maxine feeling nostalgia from this particular song, or for "Green Acres" and/or "Purple Haze"? Maxine doesn't strike me as a psychobilly person, but maybe. Also, "Green Haze" is the name of an early Miles Davis tune, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYHoT0ofEjQ YouTube], found on "The Musings of Miles." Who knew?

'''zaftig body''' 
Slightly fat in an attractive way.

==Page 178==
'''''Jules and Jim''''' 
''Jules and Jim'' is a 1962 French film directed by François Truffaut based on Henri-Pierre Roché's 1953 semi-autobiographical novel about his relationship with writer Franz Hessel and his wife, Helen Grund. Truffaut came across the book in the mid-1950s whilst browsing through some secondhand books in Paris and later befriended the elderly Roché. The author approved of the young director's attempt to translate his work to another medium. The film ranked 46 in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_and_Jim WIKI].

'''hours on the LIE''' 
Long Island Expressway

'''money shot''' 
In film-making usage the shot that cannot be repeated (or only at great costs); in porn movies naturally the "cum shot"

'''"sub-vaudville routine"''' 
So bad, it's not even up to vaudeville's corny standards

==Page 179==
'''Mrs. Grundy''' 
A figurative name for a holier-than-thou, self-righteous person, a goody-two-shoes. Named after a minor character in Thomas Morton's play ''Speed the Plough'' (1798).

According to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Grundy Wiki,] she (Pynchonesquely?) never makes an appearance in the play, and is merely talked about.

==Page 180==
'''begins idly to channel-surf. A form of meditating.''' 
Interesting to note the shift from ''Vineland''s 80's Tube addicts to ''Bleeding Edge''s 00's new form of meditating. Could it have to do with the availability of channels?

==Page 181==
'''Homer strangling Bart . . .''' 
Refers to characters from the animated TV show ''The Simpsons'', in which the father (Homer) often gets angry and strangles his son Bart. Pynchon himself (well, his voice, at least) has appeared a couple of times on this television program.

==Page 182==
'''Buddhist Parable of the Burning Coal''' 
Some [http://www.fakebuddhaquotes.com/fake-buddha-quote-holding-on-to-anger-is-like-grasping-a-hot-coal/ musings] on this Buddhist story and similar ones on a "Fake Buddha Quotes" site. Follow the link to see how coal relates to sensuality and excrement. Where have you gone, Brigadier Pudding?

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}