Evan > Recent Status Updates

Took a few days off from this to do library reorganization and necessary house chores.. I kinda want this over with. It's wild and readable but also likely not my thing. Let's power through.

Great thing about being on the verge of slaying a feared novel is its demystification, and you can sit back and say, "So, *this* is what all the fuss is about?"

I have no idea what is going on at the White Visitation in this hubbub, yet oddly, the words are readable. Onward.

We've arrived at Bernstein's Harvard thesis. Snoozefest. But, as I say, I'm nibbling at this.

Saw this original 1982 hardcover by Bernstein at HPB for $1 and was curious so I bought it. This was his sixth (final?) book, apparently. I did not know of it. Opening part is OK. Just a bunch of reminiscences. I'll nibble at this as I head into the final chunk of Gravity's Rainbow.

Took a break from the book yesterday, not always advisable with the ongoing danger of slipping and slacking and losing steam on a maximalist monster, but, back on track again.

I'd say page 500 in this book is a milestone. It does get easier if you make it this far, though I can't say I love the story or many of the incidents all that much. A great idea once in awhile keeps me going.

Just read *that* passage. No comment, for now.

The little debate about Rossini vs. Beethoven was something this classical music fan could appreciate. Pretty funny stuff.

The world's worst liar set a record tonight that tops even his low standard. You have to be in a cult to believe any of it.

"Taking, not giving back, demanding productivity and earnings keep increasing with time, the System removing from the rest of the World vast quantities of energy to keep its own tiny desperate fraction showing a profit: most of humanity - the World, animal, vegetable and mineral, is laid waste in the process...the System must crash to its death, when its addiction to energy has become more than the World can supply."

Naming a warship in this the "USS John E. Badass" tells me that Pynchon is not the infallable genius his acolytes say. Certainly not a comic one. I'd expect this from a 13-year-old.

Halfway through this monster epic. The episode with Slothrop retrieving the buried hashish in heavily guarded Postdam inching through bombed out Berlin was surprisingly pleasant. Read this episodically and it's doable.

The Democratic nominee (who I voted for in the primary) showed up at the house today to tout her candidacy for state house rep. We talked together at length about the issues and told her a little about the neighborhood she will represent. When you have this opportunity, don't squander it, take it. Tell 'em what you're angry about. Engage.