Just Because You're Paranoid . . .

I finally got through Gravity's Rainbow and, I have to say, even at the end I had almost no idea what it's about. Brilliant, yes, but . . . talk about everything in no particular order. From history to song lyrics, genocide to doper trivia, rocket-engineering formulas to Weimar pornography, Pychon's paranoid fever dream of the rise and RISE of the military-industrial complex is alternately hilarious, mystifying and utterly thought-provoking. When I got to the end, I felt compelled to go back to the beginning. Sure enough, it makes a bit (though only a bit) more sense the second time around.

Went to see "The Motorcylce Diaries" earlier this week, and it's another movie I can totally recommend. It's a road trip/buddy-flick/bio-pic that didn't feel at all generic or cliched. They handled what could have been ruinously sentimental material with humility and grace, plus the South American scenery is completely gorgeous.

I got curious about what parts of GR were based on historical facts, so I took advantage of being unemployed and spent a couple hours on the internet. The book is so weird, but it really grabbed me and I wanted to know more. I knew it won the National Book Award (says so on the cover), but turns out it was also picked by the panel judges for the Pulitzer Prize. But the people who actually give the award refused the judges' decision, saying the book was "unreadable, overwritten and obscene." (They were probably both right.)

I went on my first job interview in years this week, with a headhunter. She confirmed what I already knew: it's hard to get a job here without PR or a work permit. But she was also pretty helpful and encouraging, so it was a good experience.

There was an interesting site linking the Bush family to a bunch of businesses that supported the Third Reich. Not much of a stretch, actually, since IG Farben was half owned by Standard Oil, financed by Morgan, and spun off Bayer, Hoechst, Agfa and others. Same case could probably be made for practically every American with money in the 1930's.

One of the weirder news bits I've come across recently is the JeffGannon/Jim Gluckert story. Seems the White House gave press credentials to a guy with no journalistic experience, working under a fake name and who's other "job" was working for hotmilitarystuds.com. This is the same Administration that's taken away press creditials from experience staff at the New York Times (e.g., Maureen Dowd). And supported criminal prosecutions of more than a dozen legitimate journalists. Including a couple who were looking into the "Plame Affair" - in which an undercover CIA agent's cover may have been blown in retaliation against a diplomat who criticized Bush's Iraq policy.

Easily the most paranoid GR website made a case that the current Bush Administration is, in fact, carrying on many of the good ol' National Socialist Party's policies: escalating militarism in order to gain control of resources, promoting pharmaceutical and chemical interests at the expense of national health and safety, consolidating power in the hands of cronies while speaking to the masses of freedom and their special role in history, . . .

. . . nah, but it's a helluva book.

Cheers,
Sandie