New PTA Film

Sun Mar 30 02:04:58 UTC 2025

,I must be a weirdo, because while I can recognize that Vineland isn’t
Pynchon’s best, it was my first, and remains a favorite (although Mason &
Dixon did eventually supplant it in that regard).

My second Pynchon novel was Lot 49, which I originally found underwhelming,
and I followed it up with V., which I found (and still find, despite my
deep and abiding love for it) overwhelming… it remains the Pynchon novel
that I’ve read the most (at least six times, not counting the multiple
run-ups it took before I could break through the quick-change chapter).

After that is when I finally tackled Gravity’s Rainbow, and at multiple
points I could not help but wonder if the book was worth all the effort
that went into a truly close reading. I mean, as an undergrad focused on
philosophy, I was more than used to difficult texts… Heidegger, Whitehead,
Hegel, etc. But at some fundamental level, aren’t novels supposed to
entertain the reader?

Okay… maybe that’s not being fair to Pynchon or GR, as there are plenty of
entertaining moments throughout the book… grand, over-the-top sections that
cause delight in the reading. But many of these bravura moments - the
banana breakfast, the disgusting British candy drill, the Beethoven vs
Rossini “debate” - work just as well when divorced from the wider narrative
as they do in context. And I think it could be argued that this counts as a
point against GR as novel, as opposed to GR as a collection of impressive
literary experiments in genuine hepcat “getting it” and yet not being
paralyzed by said getting.

How to keep cool, but care, in other words. Or, at the very least, a
reasonably convincing approximation of such.

Then M&D came out and ended all the arguments, for me anyway. In Thomas
Pynchon, we had the most potent living literary powerhouse operating in the
most important language on the planet. And the novel that he produced
during his time at the absolute pinnacle of his literary power is a
masterpiece that has yet to find even a fraction of the love and acclaim
that it will ultimately enjoy once enough people have evolved the faculties
necessary to fully appreciate all that it has to offer.

When Inherent Vice came out, I finished reading it within three days of its
official release date. I have never felt the need to revisit it. Make of
that what you will.

Oh, and the movie kind of pissed me off. The musical choices alone were
enough to tell me that PTA is not the guy to be tackling Pynchon for the
screen.

I enthusiastically purchased Against the Day on the first day of its
release. After all these years, I still haven’t gotten very far beyond
singling up all lines. Seeing as I’m not very interested in anarchism, that
probably won’t change any time soon.

Bleeding Edge has suffered from being positioned perpetually deep in my
to-be-read roster, as I went through multiple phases of desperately reading
everything I could from conspiracy genius (and Mae Brussell associate)
David Emory’s invaluable Spitfire reading list on the evolution of early
20th century fascism into the contemporary conservative cult movement… then
reading everything I could get my hands on by other, newer literary figures
whom I had come to admire. Don Delillo of course, and George Saunders. Oh!
and Cormac McCarthy of course.

I also developed a deeper interest in contemporary philosophical
explorations of pessimism, nihilism, negative existentialism… Cosmic
Horror, some call it. Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Cioran, Nick Land, Eugene
Thacker, Thomas Ligotti… through whom I became obsessed by (and started
working with) some of the best of the New Wave of Old School horror writers
(Matthew Bartlett, Adam Nevill) not to mention the wonderful and prolific
master, Ramsey Campbell, for whom being a completist admirer can be a full
time job. … And that is leaving out entirely my ongoing and increasing
lifelong obsession with the best of the best of what practitioners of the
Black Art of the Graphic Novel are capable of achieving, particularly in my
preferred genres.

Wait a minute… what was it that we were discussing, again?!

Love you all, the whole sick crew;
Yer Old Pal Jerky

On Saturday, March 29, 2025, Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have a strange relationship with VL, when it came out I was starting my
> senior year of college and writing a thesis about conspiracy fiction in
> which TCoL49 was a central pillar. There hadn't been a TRP novel since GR
> and my hopes were very high. I bought it and read it just as soon as I
> could and ... hated it. I mean: fiery hate. Because it [seemingly] had
> nothing at all to do with the things I had been working on academically!
> [Yes, this is about the most ridiculous criterion anyone could ever have
> about anything, I fully recognize that now, 35 years later]. I have read VL
> since then but still bounce off it, like I bounced off IV and BE later... I
> guess I need to read it again, especially given how things have turned out
> for America.
>
> On Sat, Mar 29, 2025 at 6:06 PM J Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
>
> > Vineland was my first Pynchon read( hilarious, dark, and wildly
> > entertaining), and I lived for 8 years in Arcata, which is the central
> > location of the book. I have gone to logger’s and Fisherman’s union halls
> > which also featured plays and music. Unique culture, great university and
> > wonderful place to live. I would definitely be up for a Vineland re-read.
> >
> > > On Mar 28, 2025, at 8:16 PM, Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > this review (of Vineland) makes it seem awfully prescient, 20 years
> later
> > > (and 35 after the book came out). Maybe time to read it again...
> > >
> > > Pynchon’s Vineland: The War on Drugs and the Coming Police-State
> > > <https://www.thesatirist.com/books/Vineland.html>
> > >
> > > On Fri, Mar 28, 2025 at 10:21 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> That armed revolution is hard to make funny is why it might be the
> > gravity
> > >> that deepens.
> > >>
> > >> Catch—22-like.   Others.
> > >>
> > >> On Fri, Mar 28, 2025 at 4:22 PM Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> at least not in the trailer!
> > >>> (and is Benicio del Toro supposed to be Takeshi?)
> > >>>
> > >>> On Fri, Mar 28, 2025 at 6:58 PM rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>>> and no fucking Kojira!
> > >>>>
> > >>>> On Fri, Mar 28, 2025 at 2:54 PM Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >>>>
> > >>>>> yeh this doesn't look like it follows the VL plot very closely.
> and I
> > >>> will
> > >>>>> be extra disappointed if there's no transfenestration
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> On Fri, Mar 28, 2025 at 4:02 PM J Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>>> It could be a funny or cringy nonsense( hard to make armed
> > revolution
> > >>>>> look
> > >>>>>> funny at this time) but any connection to Vineland looks
> improbable
> > >>> to
> > >>>>> very
> > >>>>>> distant. Kinda bummed, was definitely looking forward to sn
> > >>> iadaptation
> > >>>>> of
> > >>>>>> Vineland.
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> On Mar 28, 2025, at 11:49 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> > >>>>> wrote:
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> I love it, luv it, but I would....."loosely based" is right
> on.....
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> C'mon, that Vive La Revolution is funny as a funny bone hit...
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> On Fri, Mar 28, 2025 at 9:26 AM rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
> > >>> wrote:
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>>> howdy
> > >>>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>>> new trailer for PTA's new film loosely based on Vineland I have
> to
> > >>>>> say
> > >>>>>> is
> > >>>>>>>> pretty underwhelming. all the charm and goofiness in the book
> > >>> seems
> > >>>>>> gone,
> > >>>>>>>> but it is a trailer.
> > >>>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>>> and is that really the title?
> > >>>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>
> > >>>
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feOQFKv2Lw4&ab_channel=Warne
> rBros.UK%26Ireland
> > >>>>>>>> --
> > >>>>>>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > >>>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> --
> > >>>>>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> --
> > >>>>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>> --
> > >>>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>> --
> > >>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > >>>
> > >>
> > > --
> > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> >
> >
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>