Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Chapter 40

2013-10-02T00:21:19Z

Yambo: /* Page 452 */

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==Page 452==
'''Cue the theremin music''' 
Refers to the theme song of the original TV series ''Star Trek'' (I think?), which used the eerie sound of the theremin. Relates to the extra terrestrial/sci-fi activities at Montauk mentioned a few lines earlier.
 
 
It more likely is an allusion to the music from The Day the Earth Stood Still. I don't believe there is a theremin in the original Star Trek theme. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzRb1OVpat0

==Page 462==
'''The ''padonki'' exchange a hopeful glance.''' 
Padonki (Russian: падонки) is an an underground, nonconformist counter-culture within the Russian-speaking Internet that originated in 1997. It's most famous for using a distinctive slang, known as padonkaffsky jargon or, alternatively, as Olbanian. They pride themselves on their ability to creatively disrupt, question and make fun of mainstream culture. A padonok is any individual who has the ability to detach from social, cultural, ideological, and political norms. The singular of padonki is padonok (Russian: падонок), an intentional misspelling of podonok (Russian: подонок), which means riff-raff, scoundrel, or scum. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padonki]]

==Page 462==
'''Do svidanya Maksi! Poka, byelokurva!''' 
I think there is some sort of bilingual pun on saying goodbye. My brother speaks Russian and says the first sentence says "Goodbye, Maxi!" The second one he didn't know. I rearranged it into Poka bilo Kurva, which in Bosnian Google translate came up as "Show any Pickup." Anyone versed in these languages? [[User:H2oetry|H2oetry]] ([[User talk:H2oetry|talk]])

I've found '''''Poka''''', '''''byelo-''''' and '''''kurva''''' translated separately on the web as, respectively, ''So long!''. . . ''white''. . . ''whore''. So maybe we argue that our Maxie is an avatar of the White Goddess in decline? Or maybe it's just one ol' pal saying good-bye to another with an affectionate dig.

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Chapter 11

2013-10-02T00:02:41Z

Yambo:

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

'''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.

==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] Nifty.

'''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

'''"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==
'''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].

'''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].

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Chapter 26

2013-09-24T21:31:06Z

Yambo:

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==Page 277==
'''It's what, legal in Utah for three people to get married?''' 
Despite being illegal, in Utah today, those living in polygamist families number about 40,000 people(about 1.4 percent of the population). Polygamists are difficult to prosecute because many only seek marriage licenses for their first marriage, while the other marriages are secretly conducted in private ceremonies. Thereafter, secondary wives attempt to be seen in public as single women with children.

==Page 279==
'''Donna non vidi mai''' 
Tenor aria from Act 1 of Puccini's Manon Lescaut. A love-at-first-sight soliloquy. Pynchon referenced the Act 3 tenor solo in Chapter 3 of V.

==Page 280==
'''the high-muzzle-velocity law firm of Hanover, Fisk''' 
Hand over fist.

==Page 282==
'''Mannlicher-Carcano . . . Jackie and I were dear friends''' 
A Mannlicher-Carcano is a type of rifle. Oswald used one to shoot JFK.

'''"Jay-Z?" "Well, actually I'm more of a Nas person. As you may know they're in this feud at the moment, that old Queens-versus-Brooklyn thing again, hate to take sides, but---"The World Is Yours," how can anything even compare?''' 
Probably splitting hairs here, but the feud between Jay-Z and Nas didn't become widely known until Jay-Z's "Takeover" was released on his "Blueprint" album, which came out on September 11. Jay-Z did dis some rappers at the Hot 97 Summer Jam 2001 held in late June, but the hardest hit was Nas' friend and Queens resident Prodigy of Mobb Deep, while Nas was only briefly mentioned. You'd probably had to have been close to the inner circles of these rappers to be conversationally aware of the feud which became heated in the months to come. As for "The World is Yours," reference, I agree with the sentiment, and wonder if it was used since Jay-Z sampled it on "Dead Presidents II" from his 1996 debut album. Anyone else have thoughts on this? [[User:H2oetry|H2oetry]] ([[User talk:H2oetry|talk]])h2oetry

==Page 285==

'''as Larry Talbot into the Wolf Man''' 
Larry Talbot was the main character of the 1941 film ''The Wolf Man''.

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