IVIV: The Feds

[Page]

The borderline between the shore or beach (earth) and the ocean (water). It 
is not a clearly drawn line -- the surf is a combination of the two, and the 
borderline changes regularly. As to the surf, a notion: surfers are in the 
interesting position of being on and under the water at the same time.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "rich" <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
To: "Mark Kohut" <markekohut at yahoo.com>
Cc: "John Bailey" <sundayjb at gmail.com>; "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 11:27 AM
Subject: Re: IVIV: The Feds


> and the unending turf battles between federal and local law
> enforcement--there's more nuance to this in IV than in any other
> Pynchon book
>
> rich
>
> On 9/15/09, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Borderline might signify the borderline between private citizens and The
>> State?
>>
>> --- On Tue, 9/15/09, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> From: John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com>
>>> Subject: IVIV: The Feds
>>> To: "Pynchon Liste" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>> Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 12:48 AM
>>> Doc walks Penny back to work at her
>>> request, which is really just an
>>> excuse to hand him over to Special Agents Flatweed and
>>> Borderline.
>>>
>>> Anyone with "flat" in their name, or "border" or "line" is
>>> bound to be
>>> up to no good in a P novel. Not so sure about the weed
>>> though...
>>>
>>> Did some googling and came across someone asking a dope
>>> forum what
>>> "flat" weed refers to. Answers suggested that it's cheap,
>>> mass
>>> produced marijuana packed into bricks. Not good quality. As
>>> one puts
>>> it: "flat weed is a mass produced schwag weed usually seedy
>>> and low
>>> quality..
>>> they plantations that grow this "flat weed" will grow 100's
>>> some time
>>> 1000's of plants at a time and will stick the finished
>>> product in a
>>> large vice and compact the shit out of it and cut them into
>>> the
>>> quantity they're selling them in pounds or kilos..."
>>>
>>> Like the vice reference.
>>>
>>> Borderline was a 1950 film in which customs agents attempt
>>> to sort out
>>> and capture a complex dope-smuggling ring in Mexico.
>>> Starred Fred
>>> MacMurray (whose big noir moment was of course Double
>>> Indemnity) and
>>> the bad guy was Raymond Burr (who's mentioned in
>>> Vineland).
>>>
>>> Borderline also brings up borderline personality disorder,
>>> but I don't
>>> see how BPD would be relevant here.
>>>
>>> ------
>>>
>>> "Gotta say I've always admired you guys, eight P.M. every
>>> Sunday
>>> night, wow, I never miss an episode!" says Doc. He's either
>>> obviously
>>> taking the piss or doing that fake "I'm just a dumb doper"
>>> routine.
>>>
>>> What show is this referring to? "The F.B.I"? That's what
>>> I'm guessing,
>>> and we get a ref to the show's lead character Lew Erskine
>>> shortly.
>>> Fits in with Doc's frequent lament regarding the
>>> conditioning effect
>>> of 60s/70s law enforcement TV.
>>>
>>> In fact the first comment on the IMDB listing for FBI is a
>>> case in point:
>>>
>>> "I swore I was going to grow up to work for the F.B.I. --
>>> that's how
>>> wonderful and influential this program was...
>>>
>>> He had a convertible RED Mustang!!! He would travel the
>>> world, take
>>> out the criminals...and then at the end cruise Washington,
>>> DC in a RED
>>> CONVERTABLE MUSTANG!!! And...end up at his Washington, DC
>>> Brownstone!!
>>> I mean, how cool of a job was THAT?!?!?! "
>>>
>>> ------
>>>
>>> Doc is pretty straight in this scene. Penny excuses herself
>>> to the
>>> bathroom, but Doc knows "her gait when she had to piss, and
>>> this
>>> wasn't it."
>>>
>>> That's pretty amazing detective work. I doubt I'd ever make
>>> that kind
>>> of observation.
>>>
>>> -----
>>>
>>> Doc takes "a second and a half to get spiritually
>>> prepared". Odd little phrase.
>>>
>>> -----
>>>
>>> "Come on, Larry, let's find us a cup of joe." Dialogue
>>> right out of a
>>> TV script. And the feds start off by suggesting a nice
>>> legal drug they
>>> can share. Doc wonders when he'll get to smoke a joint
>>> again.
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>


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