enjoying IV

[Doug Millison]

I found the Big Lebowski annoying enough that I stopped paying  
attention to it the first time I tried to watch it, and I haven't  
gotten back to it.   At the same time, I've read Vineland many times,  
and I'm sure I'll read IV more than once, because I'm thoroughly  
enjoying it, on its own terms (from my perspective as a guy who came  
of age in the 60s, as a reader of detective fiction), and because of  
the way the novel plays with Pynchon's other books.

All the "eating pussy" references bring to mind my favorite street  
performer, guy used to show up in Berkeley in the early 70s, a stand- 
up comedian who had this huge book of jokes he'd read from in a chair  
on Sproul Plaza, he had a routine about "eating pussy on skateboards.   
Called himself "the Ex-Swami X, the answer to the perennial question,  
'Why, Swami, why?' No! It's Ex-Swami X!"  I heard that when he wasn't  
in Berkeley he was down at Venice Beach in Lower Cal.