x-post: and the poem and the second line and the Nada Gordon of it all

After a longish, hard-drive induced hiatus, Monkey Vortex Radio Theater is back with our first new piece in about a month. This week: it's a Koeneke/Soha transcontinental guitar/poem spectacular. I love it. My four-year-old loves it. And if you're still the way I remember you being, and I'm pretty sure you are, you'll love it too. Bop over and check it out: Poem with Its Second Line by Nada Gordon.

The Gravity's Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 7, Chat thread

I met a traveler from an antique land who said: "A Gravity's Rainbow Chat Thread stands in the desert."

The Gravity's Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 7, Book thread

Well alright now, week 7 and as we near the halfway mark, there are still some 15 or so people with us, both on and off the blog. Not bad. If you're hanging out around page 100-150 and wondering whether to push on or toss the book aside, I'd say (big surprise here) push on! Pages 200-320 (as far as I've gotten so far) are much more flat-out fun (and easier going) than the first 100 pages. Things have gotten pretty spectacular and, for my tastes at least, it's been well worth the effort to get here. What do other people on the march think up to this point? Worth the effort? Overrated? Shout out....

OK, that said, you know the drill: This is the spot for book-related comments. Chat thread coming up shortly.

Next week: Let's meet up at page 383 (p), ya know, "hovering coyly over the pit of Death...." See you at the next turn in the road, -CV

It's OK

This couple had a fight at the bar tonight
about 10 feet from my knees.

At the beginning, he was saying
he really didn’t do “Graphic User
Interface design� any more --
he was doing “Information Architecture.�

And then they said a lot of things I didn’t hear
and suddenly, it seemed,
she was crying
and he was trying to make it right
but he couldn’t.

And I wanted to lean over
and comfort her and say:
“Lady, it’s OK.
Information Architecture
is a good job
too.�

Overheard in Paradise

"Vegans?
40 vegans?!

Look, no offense vegans -- I'm sure you're all wonderful people. But this is total bullshit."

The Gravity's Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 6, Chat thread

"'Come in to the Gravity's Rainbow Deathmarch Chat Thread,' said the spider... et cetera..."

The Gravity's Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 6, Book thread

Hey presto: Week 6!

Welcome back from the break. Thanks to so-called "Bill" for the suggestion -- it just in time for me. I finally caught up last night -- for the first time in, oh about 6 weeks. For anyone still a ways back, the good news is that the trail from around 200-278 has struck most folks as a tad easier on the brain than, the opening stretch. Though perhaps not easier on the stomach....

This is the spot for bookly comments. Here's one tidbit to startcha off: "Mindless Pleasures" (a phrase found on page 270 (p) was once the book's working title. True that.

Chat thread coming shortly....

Next week: Let's meet up at page 329 (p/v) (Bantam page # coming in a bit), with the section that ends "Enzian is heading into the North...." See ya there, -CV

Snacktime

Had a vegan chocolate chip cookie at lunch today
and it was delicious, you know? But I felt kind of guilty.
About all those vegans.

x-post: Paranoia, Pynchon, and Iraq

I've been ranting a little bit over on edgewise about the Iraqi elections -- and in particular about the creepy lack of media attention to the results of late. The most recent vent quotes from our old pal Pynchon. Read all about it here.

The Gravity's Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 5, Chat Thread

"so much depends
upon

a Gravity's Rainbow Deathmarch Chat Thread

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens."

The Gravity's Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 5, Book Thread

In last week's comments, so-called "Bill" made the excellent suggestion that we use this week to give folks a chance to catch up, rest, recuperate. Consider this "The Gravity's Rainbow Deathmarch Picnic in a Trench by the Side of the Road." Enjoy the break and use this thread for bookly comments. I'll post a chat thread just above.

This also represents a catch-up moment mug-wise -- ifn you're missing one week in your prize qualifications, post this week and get back in the game....
See you next Tuesday at page 278 (p),
-CV

The Gravity's Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 4, Chat thread

"You best start believing in chat threads for Gravity's Rainbow Deathmarches, Miss Turner; you’re in one."

The Gravity's Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 4, Book thread

Welcome to Week 4. We're holding pretty steady with something close to 20 people still on the march. Not bad at all... Most of us, me included, are a little bit behind. My current strategy is to catch up by skipping every other word on pages 250-300. We'll see how that goes.

The comments flew fairly fast and furious last week -- 34 of 'em, if you add all three threads together. Thanks for your patience with my monkeying around, thread-wise. In the end, the split thread approach seemed to work pretty well. Let's try it for one more week and see how that shakes out. It's all one big experiment, doncha know.

For now, this is the spot to have at it re pages 160-230 (p/v) or so.

Next week: See you at page 278 (penguin/viking) aka 323 (bantam). -CV