VLVL2 (9.5): "Let's Go for the Glow"

[Dave Monroe]

   "'OK--I need a crew in there, we're bringin' out
all that Variety Loaf, then we'll take a vote if it's
safe to eat,' raising her voice, 'so be here, be near
or learn the meaning of fear!  Ah right!  Gerhard,
Sister Mary Shirelle, Mrs. Lo Finto, the twins, let's
go for the glow, you guys,' and stepping in time to
the music on the radio, which happened to be the theme
from Ghostbusters (1984), off they went...." (VL, Ch.
9, pp. 189-90)


"Sister Mary Shirelle"

http://www.history-of-rock.com/shirelles.htm

http://www.theshirelles.com/


"Mrs. Lo Finto"

finto (It.) = fake

E.g., Vivaldi's Orlando finto pazzo (Roland, or the
Pretended Madness, 1714) ...

http://baroque-music.com/frames/info/vivaldi.shtml


"Ghostbusters (1984)"

http://imdb.com/title/tt0087332/

http://www.sonypictures.com/cthe/ghostbusters/


"the theme from Ghostbusters (1984)"

http://www.afn.org/~afn30091/songs/p/parker-ghostbusters.htm

http://www.ghostbusters.it/i/interview/ghostbusters_interview_rayparkerjr.htm


"bioluminescence is life"

http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/~biolum/

http://www.biolum.org/

http://sio.ucsd.edu/explorations/biolum/

http://www.herper.com/Bioluminescence.html


"kouxinaphobia"

kouzina (Gr.) = kitchen

http://www.kypros.org/cgi-bin/lexicon

At the moment OEDeprived, I believe this is of
Pynchonian coinage ...


"under a marginal light bulb"

Byron the Bulb
"a bulb over his head burning all night long. He
dreamed that the bulb was a representative of
Weissmann, a creature whose bright filament was its
soul" 426-27; "a theatre marquee whose sentient bulbs
may have looked on [...] witnesses to grave and
historical encounters" 464; "The Story of" 647-55;
"Someday he will know everything, and be just as
impotent as before" 654; "electrical tidal wave" 665;
"young Jack may have had one of them Immortal
Lightbulbs then go on overhead" 688; screwed into
Gustav's kazoo hashpipe, 745

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/alpha/b.html

Title: Byron 
Section: Dramatic
Film makers: Bjornsson, Karl
Specification: 18 min. COL 1994, $50
Description: An eternal light bulb, endowed with human
consciousness and considerable wisdom, becomes the
source of political and religious uproar. The
authorities want it destroyed, but they have to
compete with other parties, which, for a variety of
reasons, are also eager to get their hands on Byron,
the immortal light bulb. Inspired by a story by Thomas
Pynchon.

http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_film_shorts.html


"Tradition among the tribes of Central Asia of
ingesting luminescent molds as a spritual practice--"

Armillaria mellea and a closely related relative are
common root rot and wood decay fungi found across
North America, Europe and Asia. Armillaria grows in
(and on) old stumps, dead trees, buried roots, and
downed logs. The fruiting body of Armillaria is a
small golden-colored, stalked mushroom. This fruiting
body is not luminescent. Armillaria's mycelium and
rhizomorphs are luminous. The root-like dark
rhizomorphs, when they stop growing or when entering a
resting period loose luminosity.

http://www.forestry.uga.edu/warnell/service/library/index.php3?docID=173&docHistory%5B%5D=2

"In the ancient tales it is told [...] that a land far
distant/Is the place of the Kirghiz Light. [...] It
comes as the Kirghiz Light--There is no other way to
know It. [...] The flash of Its light is blindness
[...] And a man cannot be the same/After seeing the
Kirghiz Light. [...] For the Kirghiz Light took my
eyes/Now I sense all Earth like a baby. [...] It is
north, for a six-day ride [...] And if you have passed
without danger/The place of the black rock will find
you. [...] But if you would not be born/Then stay with
your warm red fire [...] And the Light will never find
you, And your heart will grow heavy with age [...]"
358-59

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/extra/kirghiz.html


"But molds have rights, too!"

http://www.geocities.com/baseanimal/adeclarationofwarwithnotes.html

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