IVIV (12): 195-197

[Mark Kohut]

if this is not anachronous---or, with TRP, maybe even if it is......

Computer-Implemented Invention. CII stands for Computer ...

--- On Fri, 10/30/09, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:

> From: kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com>
> Subject: IVIV (12): 195-197
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Friday, October 30, 2009, 12:43 PM
> p. 195:
> 
> "the CII computer up in Sacramento" 
> 
> What's CII?
> 
> Council of International Investigators?
> 
> http://www.cii2.org/index.shtml
> 
> or something to do with this (see posting by PHM re: CII
> number)?
> 
> http://www.calccw.com/Forums/general-ccw-discussion/3560-ca-ccw-permit.html
> 
> Sparky: a nickname for an electrician.  Also, the
> character Radar O'Reilly was always communicating with in
> M*A*S*H.
> 
> p.196:  Denis is freaked because members of The Boards
> have broken into his house, ostensibly looking for the
> photos he took at their house.
> 
> " ... they are supposed to be freaks, a freak surfadelic
> band, that's their public image, and freaks don't rip off
> other freaks, and most of all if they take your food, freaks
> share it.  Didn't you see that movie?  There's
> this actual 'Code of the Freaks' --"
> 
> Cute joke about Freaks (1932), which I've always been too
> squeamish to watch.  But Denis' comment strikes me as
> one of the most poignant moments in the book.  Denis'
> indignation captures the outright sadness people felt when
> they realized the vague, half-baked promises of the '60s
> weren’t gonna pan out.  Manson's shadow looms
> again  -- he looked and acted like a freak, like "one
> of us" (to quote the movie), but turned out to be the exact
> opposite -- Free Hate, not Free Love. The Boards act like
> zombies and pigs instead of surfer dudes.  If we're
> assuming them to be, in part, an analog of the Beach Boys,
> there's another whiff of Manson, since one or more of the
> Beach Boys rubbed shoulders with Manson.  Denis has
> every right to be upset.
> 
> General Tso's Broccoli:  the Hippie version of General
> Tso's Chicken.  One more case where TRP edges toward
> anachronism.  Szechuan cuisine was around in the early
> '70s, but Cantonese cuisine (with its Chow Mein and Chop
> Suey designed for bland American tastes) was dominant. 
>   General Tso's was marketed in Szechuan restaurants,
> but it was another "Chinese" dish, designed for American
> tastes.  It's hard to believe that "General Tso's"
> anything would have entered the general parlance.  Not
> impossible, but a stretch.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Tso's_Chicken
> 
> LK
> 
> 
> 
> 
>