before you know it

[Heikki Raudaskoski]

Hi again,

I was a bit out of my mind yesterday, having just come home the day
earlier. So, when I wrote

> Yes, it included the route from Melrose down Santa Monica Boulevard,
> then down the San Diego, and, at "the interchange of the San Diego
> and the Santa Monica", westward on the Santa Monica Frwy.
                         ^^^^^^^^
Needless to say, we turned to the east.

> And, as odd as it sounds, this closed figure reminds me of the head
> of a wolf, with the Hollywood Bowl as its eye. It is about to swallow
> Downtown. Of course, it can be one more serpent, too. 

Now that I think of it, maybe the skydrapers in Downtown form rather
the teeth of this wolf? With which it can tear all those poor downtowners 
to pieces? Maybe the ride of Zhlubb and the correspondent takes place 
during the "hour of the wolf" just before the decisive moment? This
might sound far-fetched, I know.

> Like the freaks on the Santa Monica, it comes "gibbering in at you from
> all sides, swarming in, rolling (its) eyes through the side windows,
> playing harmonicas and even *kazoos*, in full repect for the 
                                                ^^^^^^
> Prohibitions", that make "it difficult for you to follow the Manager's
> entertaining story" (755).

Should be "disrespect", of course.

And obviously, the larger ring, the Harbor included, is at the same time
number eight, or two touching systems, which can prevent entropy to some
extent, as we know. With the Santa Monica/_GR_ as an interface, as I 
suggested. In this sense, _GR_ contains seeds of utopia, or better, 
heterotopia.

But if we leave the Harbor out, we have this closed "plastic shroud" of
the North, which is the plastic shroud of both R.M. Zhlubb and Blicero
(or better, Gottfried) as well, of course. And the South is left by 
herself, without it being possible for the Watts/Herero people to 
appropriate the rig of the North to their own purposes and energies,
but only to be appropriated.

However, the perspectives of both L.A. and the Zone are quite horizontal, 
which makes it difficult for the Zone-dwellers to sketch out such figures,
or easily find erective totems among that sprawling wasteland. And sure,
to read _GR_ as a LA novel is only one of the myriad possibilities, but 
I'm obliged to think that it is in there.

But you all, just keep on reading that _Infinite Jest_. It weighed more
than two kilos, so I thought I better either order it to Finland, or wait 
for the paperback, if I have the patience.

Heikki