M&D and the Ampersand

[Robert Mahnke]

Here is a review by a Suck (I so very much miss Suck) writer who used
that as his sock (pseudonym):

http://www.suck.com/daily/97/07/28/index.html

The review says:

"[T]hype surrounding the publication of this 'long-awaited instant
classic' about America's most famous surveyors suggests Pynchon's
marketing genius indeed, the strategically invisible author and
purported Lotion fan helped plan the packaging and promotion of Mason
& Dixon, right down to picking the perfect ampersand on the cover."

(Italics ("marketing" and "Mason & Dixon") omitted in deference to the
delicate sensibilities of the WASTE software vis-a-vis formatting.)

Now, if it were me, I would be reluctant to cite a Suck sock in the
second sentence of an academic paper, lest someone whose opinions
about academic standards might affect my career read it and start to
wonder why I'm relying on that kind of source, wonderful as it might
be other purposes, such as entertaining oneself during the workday and
keeping one's finger on the ever-evolving zeitgeist of the tech
bubble, for factual assertions of a nature that would be hard to rely
upon even were the author not anonymous and located at a slightly more
respectable journalistic institution, no offense to the Sucksters of
course.  But, hey, that's just me.  Or would be.


On 11/9/09, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 9:28 AM, Robert Mahnke <rpmahnke at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The first citation "(Mxyzptlk)", on the second sentece of the first
> > page, caught my eye....
>
> Yeah, I was wondering about that as well.  I'm surprised, however, it
> wasn't spelled backwards, in an attempt to get readers to say it aloud
> and thus return themselves to their own damn diemnsions ...
>