Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
    Neil -- "The Fortresses of Solitude" is part of the title essay in
TRAVELS IN HYPERREALITY, though I don't own FAITH IN FAKES (have to
remedy that) and don't know how the essays sort out.  There's a story
coming out of my last rereading of "The New Middle Ages," but it's not
here yet.

    The Deadly Trapp Debate -- I don't think SoM is particularly good
Hammerstein -- "larks learning to pray" is one of those lines that
scrapes at the pituitary -- but the man did a lot of excellent work,
just as I'd rather remember Alan Jay Lerner by, oh, GIGI or MY FAIR
LADY except the ending than his attempt to make a musical of LOLITA.
    Though in a sense, Hammerstein's "best work" might actually be
Stephen Sondheim.

     Linda -- interesting thought about kids rewaatching things. 
"Adults" seem to rewatch things in the hope of getting a repeat of the
same enkephalin trigger.
  

    
Actually, it seems that Faith in Fakes was later released with the title
Travels in Hyperreality. And yep, that's the one in which Eco, among
other things, talks about America's Fortresses of Solitude, such as
Hearst's Xanadu and the Lyndon B Johnson Museum in Austin. In the same
essay he deals with the hyperreal fakes of roadside attractions, museums,
Disneyland etc.

While on the subject of the incomparable Ambrose Bierce, this entry in
the DD is sort of apropos:

Mythology, n. The body of a primitive people's beliefs concerning its
origin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished
from the true accounts which it invents later.
  

    
John- right.  I also like to blame Rodgers.. certainly, at that point
in his career, he was more conservative, writing-wise.  After getting
burned by the failure of Allegro, Rodgers was never a groundbreaker
again.
  

    
Neil - I'm not entirely sure who he's been talking to. But when he
says that he's been talking with the publishers about the rights and
they look "all sewn up", I feel inclined to trust him (mostly because I
don't have any other choice). That's partly why I wanted to get your
mood/objections and all, since when we did Troll Bridge the publishers
told us that the request was "on Neil's desk" and you never saw it.
*sigh*

Mike - I don't know. I think that adults (at least me) re-watch
certain films over again because we enjoy the warm famiilarity of a
story we enjoy that is well told. Also, there's the enjoyment of
sharing a loved story with others or seeing it with a community. I must
have seen Princess Bride about eight times during my high school
career, with different people and different contexts. It was just a fun
thing to do.
  

    
I know that the reason shows that teach something, like "Blue's
Clues", repeat three times is because that's the learning threshold for
small kids... and that some psychologists say that until your mind
develops to a certain stage, negatives are not understood... so when
you say "Don't do that" to a toddler, they only understand "blah Do
That", so it's better to redirect their action rather than tell them to
stop what they're doing.

Of course, both of mine have ADD so all those rules go right out the
window...
  

    
Psychology - def. an American God.

So, Neil, are you going to have an annotated AG, or a book of related
stories by other authors?
  

    
Dan W: Will someone please post or email me the explanation of
“kersplooie?”  I came in just as all sorts of people were getting
theirs, and was too intimidated to ask.

<stray>: Welcome!  I loved your comments on AG.  Thanks for the
pointer regarding the Borges quote.  I knew that resonated!

Los Angeles is not real.  I have this on good authority.  We are all a
figment of Michael Eisner’s egotism and will be coming to you soon as
a subsidiary near you.  “Resistance is futile.”

Len:  Words first.  Thanks.  Got it.  Thanks also for the story about
crocheting.  I just told my husband five nights ago that I was thinking
about taking up knitting, for similar reasons.  So I am effectively
warned off.

Re: Rodgers.  Did he write _Slaughter on 10th Avenue_ before or after
his conversion to conservatism?  I fell in love with the music in 10th
grade, and have never seen him in quite the same way, since.

Neil--re: _AG_: Does the Zelazny pinch have anything to do with El
Paso?  And did you use Mulholland as a mental model for the Bilquis
road kill scene?  (I've seen limousines on Mulholland, and it's scary.)

Also, will you/they be filming the "L.A. bits in L.A.?"  And is there
any teeny-tiny possibility that we could come peek, if we promise to be
ever-so-well-behaved?  Extras, maybe?  (Actually, HCOL and/or AG?) 
Can you tell us yet who the mysterious woman director is?  I'm sooo
curious.  (I'm having visions of Julie Taymor, and getting scared.)
  

    
Pamela - It's a word that means ... well.. it's not really a word, but
I understand it as exploding or dissolving in a wet and squishy and
happy kind of way. It's also a word that Miss Mousey really likes to
hear Neil say in his quasi-Michigan-British accent.
  

    
(putting on bestest sweetest most seductive drawl, instead of usual
mountainy twang)

Neil, honey, regarding Pamela's question... if you're filming AG in
Chatta, you know I live so close, and have two very photogenic kids,
and a gorgeous husband who'd love to be extras..
and you know I love hanging around behind the scenes...
  

    

And he only says it privately, and not where certain people can hear it, a
fact I have still not recovered from.
  

    

JaZilla slipped.
  

    
Pamela, Dan - when I hear or read 'kersplooie', all I can think of is
The Kids In The Hall Chicken Lady seeing the male stripper costumed as
a rooster:

"Bac-bacca-KERSLPOOIE!"
Something you need a kleenex for, after...
  

    
Linda?
  

    
Dan: But where did it come from?  Was it a collaborative creative
effort?

JaNell: Bless you.
  

    
Linda:  Does that mean that _you_ didn't get one?  There's no justice,
if that's the case.  After all you've done to make us such a nice,
cozy nook here, an' everything...
  

    
I've never gotten one, either.
But perhaps Neil fears a chain reaction in my case..
  

    
Pamela - come from? I think Kersplooie called itself into being. I
have no idea where it came from. I had heard the word long before the
Miss Mousey-Neil connection...

Kersplooie is not born of any human agency, it simply is, and
therefore must not be questioned in any way. We must take Kersplooie on
faith. It is all things, and nothing. Even its name is a thing that 
none can be sure of spelling correctly. It is the Nonagrammaton.

As for American gods on location... I'd ask for a speaking part, but
there aren't any speaking parts for men in the San Francisco chapter. 
Maybe I can use my highly fictional influence as a Well poster to get
cast as Mad Sweeney? I mean, how many over 6 foot redheaded actors are
there? I'm made for the part!
  

    
Pamela-- I think my reaction to crocheting was far fromy typical...
I'm a kinesthetic idiot.  Knit away, you mad dreamer!
  

    
fromy=from.  heh.
  

    

> It is the Nonagrammaton

If I hadn't gotten so many compliments on my current pseud, I'd snag that in
a second.
  

    
What the heck *is* your name all about?
  

    

The original context was, I believe, back in Neil's first topic, where
someone refered to having only read part of or an abridged version of or
something like that one of Martha Soukup's stories. Someone else replied
(I'm at work, so I'm not going to go hunt for attributions, sorry folks!)
that it was better to experience uncut Martha- ie, to read it unabridged and
entire.
I took that one sentence out of context- a fairly standard WELL tradition
for pseudage.
It's better than my old default pseud, which was "The music's played by the
<madman>", which had the (perhaps) unfortunate side effect of getting
Alphaville stuck in <miss-mousey>'s head. Bwahahaha.

And, because this is the topic that is supposed to stay on topic more of the
time, a question for Neil:
Actually, two of them: 1) Because it hasn't been answered yet, I'll repeat
for posterity my earlier question: Is Chad Mulligan named such to have any
connection to _Stand On Zanzibar_?

2) You know, now I can't remember if I already asked this one or
not. Maybe I'll hunt through the topic and check before wasting everyone's
time.
  

    

Ok, evidently I haven't yet.

Neil, during your reading in Berkeley, you were asked about Roger Zelazny
and gave a wonderful description of the man and your friendship with him.
Now, I can think of no single author I would rather see cowrite something
with you than he- but he is gone. Have you considered trying the coauthor
thing again? And even if not, who hypothetically would you like to work
with? Following up with Zelazny I will say that I would so love to read a
work from the combined talents of Gaiman and Lindskald.
  

    
MadMan - Oh, yes, please.
  

    
Dan... Nonagrammaton... heehehehehe...

And madman? Madman... c'mere'n hold still for a second while I smack
you... (do you really want to live forever... SIGH)