In the “All’s Fair in Oven War” episode of The Simpsons (which aired on channel 43 last week), enigmatic postmodern writer Thomas Pynchon made an animated appearance. If you happened to catch this and wonder why he had a paper bag over his head, it is because he is notorious for being incredibly reclusive and media-shy. The most recent photo of him available to the public is his 1953 high school picture, and he has refused to be interviewed by the media since the mid-1960’s.
Here’s a synopsis of the scene in which he appears:
Marge is a contestant in a baking contest (think Top Chef or Hell’s Kitchen). As judges are tasting the culinary creations, a man with a paper bag over his head comments “These wings are ‘V-licious’! I’ll put this recipe in the Gravity’s Rainbow cookbook, right next to ‘the frying of latke 49’.”
… and here’s why that’s funny (aside from the paper bag part, which if you’ve read this far you always know is funny):
Three of Thomas Pynchon’s most famous works are novels entitled V, Gravity’s Rainbow, and The Crying of Lot 49. Brilliant!
For the record, this was Pynchon’s second appearance on The Simpsons. If you’re interested in reading about his first, click here.
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I must admit, I rather enjoy reading the phrases and sentences that people have been creating on our magnetic poetry board throughout the day. They run the full spectrum from goofy and nonsensical to serious and profound.
I’ve noticed that a few of you take it VERY seriously — if you’re one of those people and would like to practice (Is competitive impromptu poetry writing a legitimate sport? Hmmm…) you can play it online by going here : http://www.magneticpoetry.com/play.html . I believe the site also has a place where people can post their magnetic masterpieces.
Have fun with words!
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Follow this link.
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This week I’m posting a double dose of quotes, words, and book openers. Enjoy.
BOOK OPENER #1: “No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.”
– War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (which, by the way, can be read for AR!)
BOOK OPENER #2: “First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey.”
– The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (also an AR book)
WORD #1: virulent
WORD #2: loquatious
QUOTE #1: “The question of literature, I suppose, is whether we ourselves live more intensely for the reading of it.” – Elizabeth Drew
QUOTE #2: (the following quote is from the 1980 documentary AC/DC: Let There Be Rock)
Interviewer: Do you think there will be a third world war?
Angus Young: I am the third world war.
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