Yes! More on the Simpsons!

[Terrance]

I've not seen it yet, but I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned that
Homer was wearing a bag with a question mark printed on it in an episode
that aired right before this Pynchon episode. Maybe it wasn't the night
before, can't remember. Last night I watched a Simpsons, Ned's house was
destroyed by a Hurricane, he loses his cool and checks himself into a
mental hospital.  I'm not a fan of the Simpsons, not because I don't
think it's pretty cool satire, I just don't like most anything on a TV
screen. Maybe if I got one of those giant screens or something. I'm not
sure, but I guess Ned is dead now or a Thanatoon or whatever. Say,
wasn't Thomas Pynchon wearing a purplish shirt under a loose wool
sweater? Dum dee dum Dum   DUM! 



jbor wrote:
> 
> > With thanks to Jasper, I have the whole clip online here, with links to
> > interviews and so on:
> >
> > http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_film_tv.html#simpsons
> >
> >
> 
> Thanks to Quail and Jasper for taking the time to put this up. Like many of
> the celebrity spots on the show -- where a guest "star" allows himself or
> herself to be parodied -- it's a neatly self-contained cameo. (Guest "stars"
> are credited alphabetically, no? And, while sometimes the voices of "real"
> people are done by one of the actors -- Rosie O'Donnell comes to mind, but
> there are many examples -- when they're credited it's the real deal. The
> only actual voiceover I can recall that wasn't credited was Michael
> Jackson's.)
> 
> Pynchon's "blurb" for Marge's book is actually a backhander (à la Oscar
> Wilde or Dorothy Parker, though not so subtle). As we know, he doesn't like
> cameras at all, and for those viewers who don't realise this or don't know
> who he is the paper bag over his head is a gimme. It's probable also that
> it's a dig at the number of blurbs he has given, often for mediocre works.
> 
> The neon sign pointing to the house and the placard he hangs over his neck
> play around with his reputation as a recluse -- as we know, he's a famous
> American author who has never once given an interview, or done a book
> signing tour (i.e. those "free autograph[s]" he's hawking to passers by) --
> and, again, for viewers who don't understand he refers to himself as "a
> reclusive author".
> 
> And, the final quip -- "But wait ... there's more!" -- mimics those late
> night tv ads for DemTel products where you get a set of steak knives and a
> new garden setting and the state of Tasmania thrown in when you purchase the
> exercise bike in four easy payments, and it's funny enough on that level for
> the non-aficionados. But, at another level, it does seem to support Tim's
> idea (and thanks for the spoiler warning when you posted the transcription,
> much appreciated) that the new book is nigh, that that's the "more" which is
> imminent -- and, he's making fun of himself for resorting to such a cheap
> commercial gesture to promote himself and his forthcoming book. It's a
> brilliant example of that trademark reflexivity or self-consciousness of
> postmodernism that Pynchon is both sending himself up for resorting to such
> a shameless publicity stunt, while at the same time he's actually pulling
> the stunt.
> 
> best