"I'm Tom Clancy, I wrote the novel they ignored for this film."  Always love that.

Rank Thomas Pynchon's Books Thread

Starting to exercise again (walking, swimming).  I've stopped hearing "you're too skinny!" this last year so I must have gained some weight.

Apparently I'm going to have to explain to my students why so much of research.gov is inaccessible.  Oh well, it's not like science has led to any kind of power in last half-millennium.

I saw both, and at roughly the same time, and In the Bleak Midwinter was the better film.

Caption contest:

I know they're trying here, but come on.

Pynchon's characters almost always have this element of caricature and not-realness to them, but they can be really powerful.  It ties into the way that his best works are both in this world and in a transcendent world, and his best characters (Tyrone Slothrop, Frenesi, Mason and Dixon, the Chums of Chance) are also…

Part of what I liked about Inherent Vice is how much Pynchon respected the conventions of the mystery novel, especially the Raymond Chandler type of mystery.  That's not what he does here, and I can't tell on a first reading if he simply failed to deliver a mystery novel, or he's doing something else.

Bleeding Edge discussion is under way over at the review.  Come on over!

Welcome to the Bleeding Edge discussion.  Feel free to post your comments separately, not just as replies to this comment.

What's the over/under on how long it takes Todd to realize that Chuck Lorre will just break his heart?  I'm guessing 8 episodes.

That's also about the age when kids are introduced to "The Lottery."  Actually not a bad way to warn them about high school and beyond.

Hey everyone.  We'll be having a discussion at the Bleeding Edge review of said novel, Monday 23 September, at noon Eastern Time.  You know what your assignment is this weekend.  This will be fun.

Hey everyone.  We'll be having a discussion here of Bleeding Edge, Monday 23 September, at noon Eastern Time.  You know what your assignment is this weekend.  This will be fun.

You're on!  I'll post notices in the Bleeding Edge review and the CZ.

Two guys walk into a bar.  You'd think the second one would've ducked.

GET HIM!

Actually Mondays are open for me, so you set the time.

Allison Janney performing "The Jackal" exists in the very small overlap of the Things That Are Cool circle and Things Aaron Sorkin Thinks Are Cool circle.