Rodrigo > Recent Status Updates

A friend lent this to me a few weeks ago and what a delight. Having believed I understood what Cage and 4'33" meant, this book is insightful enough that I feel like my understanding before was quite superficial.
Just finished chapter 2 'The Man' which nicely sets up the context for how Cage would gravitate to removing traditional instruments from the time continuum.

Protagonist and his friend are looking for a Mnemo which is a spider-like helmet which records all of the owner/wearer's experiences. The, story feels noirish not unlike Raymond Chandler except this takes place in the future. Imagine going to a nightclub where there is no audible sound, rather people are dancing to a music that is perceived mentally. That in itself is a bit disturbing.

Sci-fi/suspense written in Spanish by Uruguayan writer Javier Couto. If I Read more often in Spanish this would be less "work" than it is. Nonetheless, 100 pages into it means my brain has had time to get used to his style and I'm starting to pick nuances and get inside this world. The cemetery scene is disorienting, melancholy and ominous all at once.

While I love the Peemster's spiel, both to the Incster and postal weight, I would largely disagree with his take on Bob Hope. Much is revealed in Molly Notkin's interrogation. Marathe's story is darkly funny and sad, I think.

Lenz's new look, Orientoid tongues, hilarious chase through downtown Boston, Joelle's dream, Le Jeu du Prochain Train (again!?!) What they found in the same closet that the Antitois were swelling in~

Really potent stuff. Wave bye bye to the Bureaucrat, cognomens and Carrot worship. Anhedonia vs. unipolar dysphoria. Hal, Matty Pemulis, P.T. Krause. Kate Gompert.
"That dead-eyed anhedonia is but a remora on the ventral flank of the true predator, the Great White Shark of Pain".

Some stuff isn't as engaging as other stuff, but then I stop and have to ask myself: well why is it there? If you believe nothing is just "filler" then you start to go further into the why. At the end of the day I really do appreciate this.

H. Steely's tormented memories of M*A*S*H, sex life at E.T.A and chess on the run. Hey and how about the scene at the park with the WYYY engineer! DFW has me on my toes! Big shoutout to the IJwiki site, for making the unknowable knowable~

R. Lenz brings the wrath of the Luau Nucks to Ennet house, Gately steps up and discovers Joelle is Madame Psychosis~

And so the plot thickens HA! As has already been said about IJ there is just so much going on. How about what Pemulis stumbles onto, 'she was blowing on the whistle, which appeared to be minus the little inside pellet because no whistling sound resulted.'
But as a music lover, It was the Bruce Green-Don Ho flashback-freak out that had me captured. 'Creepy slack-key steel guitar balloons across the dim street...'

'I put that poorly. You're not not bright. As in you're incorrect in thinking you have nothing upstairs.'

Not sure I would say so much has happened as rather so much has been revealed. Eschaton game gone awry, Interdependence day dinner with Marios's film. Eric Clipperton. Commitment stuff and the crocodiles...

Yesterday I got to page 311 which immediately whisks you away to note#110 which is especially long and maybe tedious, since the bulk of it is a telephone conversation between Hallie and O in which the latter incessantly extracts the former's opinion about the true nature of Québécois separatists. The small print seems to intensify the conversation. O wants the info so to X the interviewer, but now we get concavity.

Orin + P.G.O.A.T part 1= fun &funny. Then Poor Tony Krause, nightmarishly heavy.

Back to Ennet House and then E.T.A. drive back after beating P.W.TA. Plus some background on Orin. Clued to AlJazeera watching the election results, incredibly disturbing.

So I've got a nice 3-day streak going. Averaging around 10 pages a day, not much but I'm looking to increase this week. Some funny stuff about the this 'mammoth annual between E.T.A. and P.W.T.A. Jeez surely somebody literate out there is reading this and wants to share feedback.

Ok, so today I 'chewed' through 15 pages and I can honestly say it was easy since the bulk of it was a tasty phone conversation between Hal and Orin. Hey, on page 241 was that the first (and last?) time DFW writes in first person?

I loved the description of Madame Psychosis's radio program so naturally it was upsetting to discover that she is actually Joelle Van Dyne and that she wants to 'eliminate her own map.' Nonethess the chapter on Molly Notkin's party is fascinating. Really hope to find more people reading this so to bounce ideas. For example why does he namecheck Maya Deren at Notkin's party? Deren died in 61.