cupla things

[erik burns]

1. Thayer's Slippery Elm lozenges are still available, for Quoad-avoiders. I
bought a box in NYC. They taste nasty too, though the "demulcent" does the
trick and the box has a lovely "original" look - like snake oil, basically.

2. I put in a vote for American Psycho as best novel of 1980s. I know: it's
a foul book about a foul personality, full of rape, murder and brand names.
But Ellis is clearly larding on thick swaths of irony and anybody who
doesn't recognize that is NOT READING CAREFULLY. (or at all, probably). The
sheer excess of it all, the brand names, the greed, the cardboard
characters, the obvious unreliability of the narrator - these make it a
signature book for the age. IMHO of course.

3. Maybe someone has mentioned this before, but, John Laroquette - John La
Rocket? Could h-he be r-rocketman?  (Once heard a less likely theory that
Pynchon was David Letterman - same gaptooth, same preppy background, same
dry/weird humor. But dismissed it as rot. Never having *seen* the Laroquette
show, or JL himself, I have no idea about the strength of the connection.)

all best, etb