Yes! More on the Simpsons!

[joeallonby]

Terrance,

The nightly shows are syndicated reruns.

Ned's wife, Maude is dead.

on 1/28/04 8:33 AM, Terrance at lycidas2 at earthlink.net wrote:

> 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