Moaning has broken...

[Mike Weaver]

It may be my imagination, but the list seems to have changed quite 
dramatically over the last year or so. I seem to remember a time when there 
were many more regular posters, and several women among them, much more 
little and often, in contrast with the current dominance by, currently, 
four (young?) males debating, (and bickering among themselves until Doug 
sets himself up as target for the contempt and loathing some of them enjoy 
expressing online.)
	It seems a long time since we had fun on the list, favourites lists, 
books, music, current reading, toy lists even. The list has got ponderous 
and heavy, too much learning and not enough lightness. Some of us got into 
Pynchon coz of the humour not the erudition. "The oil of the soul" as Lord 
Buckley described it, making P a can of WD40 maybe.
	Perhaps if we have a good whip round we can send Dave, Dave, Rob and Ter 
off on a month's R and R (Randy-Tandy Man style). Probably should send Doug 
as well if he doesn't drop his obsession with Rob J. Dump them all on an 
atoll last used for nuclear testing, with some firewood and the Compleat 
Pynchon. They could argue as to which pages could be sacrificed to light 
fires and who should/should not be eaten because the p-list couldn't 
survive more than a month without them...
Film it all of course. Show it on Harold Boom Presents... the proposed 
series of cautionary litcrit tales, each introduced by the master himself.
In the mean time it would leave room for less assertive list members to say 
a few words, without fear of being intellectually bulldozed into the 
sidelines.