CNN Revisited (1997) and Pynchon in Cincinnati (1996)

[Lorentzen / Nicklaus]

rr schrieb/zitierte:

>                     Who'd have ever thought that novelist Thomas Pynchon and 
> ``ER'' doc George Clooney would have
>                     something in common?


  well, i once read in a paper that george clooney shares his bed with a swine. 

 kfl  


> check this out:  
> http://www.citybeat.com/archives/1996/issue305/literary1.html
>
> and
>
> George Clooney and novelist Thomas Pynchon make strange bedfellows
>
>                     By Ellen Gray
>
>                     Knight-Ridder Newspapers
>

 [snip]

>                     But then, who'd have thought CNN and ``Hard Copy'' would 
> ever find themselves digging in the
>                     same sandbox?
>
>                     Clooney last fall took on Paramount Television, owner of 
> ``Hard Copy,'' which had been invading his
>                     privacy and spooking his girlfriend, announcing publicly 
> that he'd stop talking to the tabloid show's
>                     more demure corporate sister, ``Entertainment Tonight,'' 
> because ``Hard Copy'' had broken its
>                     agreement to stop paying people to stalk him. Within 
> days, a number of Hollywood's biggest stars
>                     had joined Clooney in his boycott of ``ET.''
>
>                     Pynchon, of course, isn't starring in ``Batman & 
> Robin.'' He's not the kind of guy who turns up on
>                     ``Entertainment Tonight'' to plug his latest project. He 
> hasn't had his picture taken for publication
>                     since the early '50s. He's never sat for an interview to 
> plug any of his books, which include ``Gravity's
>                     Rainbow'' and ``V.,'' as well as the current best-seller 
> ``Mason & Dixon.''
>
>                     When people write about George Clooney, they talk about 
> his eyes, his body (``trim and handsome
>                     in black,'' is how Carrie Fisher describes him in this 
> month's George), his not-so-private life.
>
>                     When they write about Pynchon they invariably use the 
> word ``reclusive'' before moving quickly on to
>                     his widely praised work, where the key word is most 
> often ``dense.''
>
>                     ``Hard Copy'' probably wouldn't have paid paparazzi a 
> cent for a shot of Pynchon walking through
>                     an airport, but that didn't stop CNN from tracking the 
> writer to his neighborhood on Manhattan's
>                     upper West Side a couple of weeks ago, or from capturing 
> him on videotape.
>
>                     And this is where CNN and ``Hard Copy'' part company, 
> thank goodness.
>
>                     As anyone who saw the news on CNN late last week knows, 
> Pynchon's still a face in the crowd.
>                     (Although if you used the freeze-frame on your VCR, you 
> may think you know which face.)
>
>                     After a CNN camera caught Pynchon twice on videotape in 
> the course of a morning-long stakeout,
>                     the author called an acquaintance in the network's New 
> York office to ask who he could talk to
>                     about it, CNN spokesman Steve Haworth said Friday.
>
>                     Pynchon voiced his objections to CNN news executives and 
> several days of debate ensued,
>                     Haworth said.
>
>                     The final decision, to show some street scenes in which 
> Pynchon purportedly appears but not to
>                     single him out, came, Haworth said, after CNN decided 
> that Pynchon's ``was an absolutely
>                     consistent stance,'' that he hadn't just decided to shun 
> the press after becoming famous.
>
>                     That's a distinction that Clooney may appreciate.
>
>                     ``Look, when you're in the middle of your career, you 
> enjoy `Entertainment Tonight' doing a story
>                     about you,'' he told Fisher. ``When you get to another 
> point, `Entertainment Tonight' becomes work
>                     ... I don't need those shows anymore to make me more 
> famous.''
>
>                     Pynchon, too, doesn't need CNN to make him more famous, 
> at least among those who read his
>                     books (which I'm guessing doesn't include the CNN anchor 
> who described him as a ``famous
>                     mystery writer'' Friday).
>
>                     Some would argue that as a best-selling author, 
> Pynchon's a public figure. I'd say, though, that a guy
>                     who's offered up only his printed words for all these 
> years is entitled to his privacy. If not, we might
>                     as well say we'd prefer he didn't publish at all.
>
>                     And although CNN's Haworth said there was no quid pro 
> quo involved, CNN did get one measure
>                     of satisfaction from Pynchon: permission to quote him.
>
>                     ``Let me be unambiguous. I prefer not to be 
> photographed,'' he said. And he denied being a recluse:
>                     ``My belief is that recluse is a code word generated by 
> journalists, meaning he doesn't like to talk to
>                     reporters ... It's hard for reporters to believe that 
> somebody doesn't want to talk to them.''
>
>                     And then, after CNN's story first aired Thursday night, 
> Pynchon called back to set the network
>                     straight on another matter. He is not, he said, the 
> author of a collection of letters, written to a northern
>                     California newspaper under the name Wanda Tinasky, that 
> some of his more zealous fans have
>                     attributed to him.
>
>                     In an update of the story Friday, CNN quoted Pynchon as 
> calling the Tinasky letters a ``hoax.''
>
>                     Good news for Pynchon. Bad for Tinasky. Wanda, wherever 
> you are: It's time to take cover.
>
>
>
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