From: "HdMrs. Salacia the Overseer" <SeventhSqueal@SlowOnTheUptake.edu>
Date: Wed, Apr 21, 2004
http://tinyurl.com/2tss2
Vonnegut's thoughts on McLuhan appear a bit lower down the page.
I was going to cut and paste the interview but I thought
alt.slack would
appreciate the cover art that appears in the margin.
~Salacia
--
(thought bubbles)
I wonder if this is going to get me laid?
Oh, well..it was worth a try.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "ghost" <ghost@ghost.net>
Margin art is cut-and-pasted from the original Dell
cover of "Venus on the
Half Shell" by Kilgore Trout.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Artemia Salina <y2k@sheayright.com>
HdMrs. Salacia the Overseer wrote:
> http://tinyurl.com/2tss2
>
> Vonnegut's thoughts on McLuhan appear a bit lower
down the page.
I guess I didn't notice his comments on McLuhan, not
that I care,
really. I think one of the reasons why Vonnegut rocks
is because
you really get the sense that there is a human being
at the input
end of the typewriter. "God-damn it: You've got
to be kind." He
has sympathy for his most unfortunate characters.
The other thing that got my toes to wiggling was how
he could
create what seemed like the most ham-handedly preposterous
situations
for his characters, and yet by the end of the book you
realize that
ALL of our lives are composed of strings of ham-handedly
preposterous
situations. That's why its so easy for me to relate
to his characters;
they're really no different from me, except for the
specifics. I mean,
who HASN'T had a neutron bomb accidentally detonate
in their home towns,
killing everyone in them, yet leaving all of the familiar
buildings intact?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: bobdiddley@aol.com (Bobdiddley)
I agree with this thread - Vonnegut is at the top of the list.
======================================================
"Verily, shall They be fucked, if offered the Joke,
and They take it not." -
Dobbs Goblin
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Rev. Ivan Stang" <stang@subgeniusNOSPUM.com>
Doesn't every SubGenius read about ten Vonnegut novels
in a row when he
or she hits the age of 19 or so?
--
4th Stangian Orthodox MegaFisTemple Lodge of the Wrath
of Dobbs Yeti,
Resurrected (Rev. Ivan Stang, prop.)
PRABOB
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "HdMrs. Salacia the Overseer" <SeventhSqueal@SlowOnTheUptake.edu>
Yes. This is good otherwise they might be reading crap
like McLuhan or L.
Ron Hubbard or Ayn Rand instead. A mostly harmless,
humble and entertaining
stand-in and supplement for "Bob" until "Bob"
is discovered. IMHO.
~Salacia
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Rev. Magdalen" <magdalen@subgenius.com>
> http://tinyurl.com/2tss2
I have that book!! BEST BOOK EVER!! And it was only FIFTY CENTS!!
--
drlegume2001: And I only stabbed him by accident.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "ghost" <ghost@ghost.net>
> HdMrs. Salacia the Overseer wrote:
> > http://tinyurl.com/2tss2
> >
> > Vonnegut's thoughts on McLuhan appear a bit
lower down the page.
> >
> > I was going to cut and paste the interview
but I thought alt.slack
> > would appreciate the cover art that appears
in the margin.
Not Vonnegut... Farmer
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Rev. Magdalen" <magdalen@subgenius.com>
ghost wrote:
> Not Vonnegut... Farmer
No, TROUT! Can't you read?? Sheesh.
--
drlegume2001: And I only stabbed him by accident.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "HdMrs. Salacia the Overseer" <SeventhSqueal@SlowOnTheUptake.edu>
FCC!!! It *is* a supposed "Trout" quote. Goddammit!
Yosemite Samming away in shame!
consarn it...frickin'...fracken...ornery varmint..goshnabbit
~Salacia the Stoopid
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: nenslo <nenslo@yahoox.com>
"Rev. Ivan Stang" wrote:
>
> Slapstick (Of Another Kind) (1982)
Yeah that was a total brainfuck in every possible way.
There's nothing
one can reasonably compare it to - it's totally and
purely FUCKED DOWN.
A pristine Pain Generator. As contrasted with the movie
of Breakfast of
Champions which was damn near ideal and therefore had
to be swallowed up
by the memory hole in exactly the same way Slapstick
was but for the
opposite reason. Albert Finney plays Trout to a whatchamacallit,
fare
thee well or something.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Sputnik" <sputnik@yourworstnightmare.com>
"Rev. Magdalen" <magdalen@subgenius.com>
wrote:
> I have that book!! BEST BOOK EVER!! And it was
only FIFTY CENTS!!
Mmmmm Hmmmm. That cat planet ass-fucking scene was choice.
__
sputnik
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ridetheory@yahoo.com (ignatz topolino)
"HdMrs. Salacia the Overseer" <SeventhSqueal@SlowOnTheUptake.edu>
wrote:
> Yes. This is good otherwise they might be reading
crap like McLuhan or L.
> Ron Hubbard or Ayn Rand instead. A mostly harmless,
humble and entertaining
> stand-in and supplement for "Bob" until
"Bob" is discovered. IMHO.
I have no problem with "crap" like McLuhan.
He was the guy who
introduced me to the concept (a couple years before
DEVO) that "Darwin
may have gotten it backwards, and we may be making monkeys
out of
ourselves." And "The Mechanical Bride"
and "Counterblast" were darn
fine books, the latter of which had a big influence
on my zine's
graphic design. Quentin Fiore (sic?) was the designer,
and it was a
big black and white, op-art feast.
But then McLuhan gets into all that James Joyce obsession...
McLuhan
was to James Joyce what Purple is to McLuhan -- someone
hung up on the
WRONG PART OF THE MESSAGE!
I'm with you on the Rand and Hubbard tho. I saw who
was reading that
shit, and wanted to be nothing like 'em.
iggy topo
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: polar bear <bear@pole.com>
ridetheory@yahoo.com (ignatz topolino) wrote:
> I have no problem with "crap" like McLuhan.
He was the guy who
> introduced me to the concept (a couple years before
DEVO) that "Darwin
> may have gotten it backwards, and we may be making
monkeys out of
> ourselves." And "The Mechanical Bride"
and "Counterblast" were darn
> fine books, the latter of which had a big influence
on my zine's
> graphic design. Quentin Fiore (sic?) was the designer,
and it was a
> big black and white, op-art feast.
Jezzuz! Op-art! I'd managed to completely erase that
from my memory.
Thanks a LOT!
> But then McLuhan gets into all that James Joyce
obsession... McLuhan
> was to James Joyce what Purple is to McLuhan --
someone hung up on the
> WRONG PART OF THE MESSAGE!
>
> I'm with you on the Rand and Hubbard tho. I saw
who was reading that
> shit, and wanted to be nothing like 'em.
I recently watched a 70's documentary about Mcluhan
and the one thing
that struck me was the level of adulation. There was
even one guy who
refered to him as The Master. I don't think M did
much to discourage
that either, at least not directly. He had an audience,
and he ran
with it. Still, how many other English profs made that
big a splash?
It really doesn't matter if he was right on every point;
he put U of T
on the map, and stirred up a shit load of controversy,
which was much
needed at the time. I'd say he earned his tenure.
His followers. Now that's a whore of a different color.
I've never
yet met a McLuhanite that didn't irritate the shit out
of me. They
have this annoying habit of stating conjecture as fact,
which may have
worked for MM, but today only gets in the way of dialogue.
Woody Allen
covered this in -what was it -Annie Hall? I'm sure
most of you know
the reference.
On the Joyce thing. By descending into the most impenetrable
literature this side of Chaucer, he may well have been
trying to shake
off his followers. At one point he even says "I
am not a McLuhanite."
Unfortunately, it was too late to dig himself out of
that particular
hole. In that sense, he resembles Vonnegut, who also
painted himself
into a corner and had to kill off his own characters
to escape. Shades
of Conan Doyle!
If I had one nice thing to say about McLuhan, it's that
he introduced
me to Harold Innes. Now there's a name you can drop
at a cocktail
party without starting a fist fight. Nowadays, I hardly
ever mention
McLuhan. It's just not worth the grief. I simply
use what he taught
me, along with a handful of others like Doug Hofstader,
who also
manages to avoid mentioning him. You pretty much have
to these days,
his legacy is so tainted by acolytes and interpreters.
Now, if you're bashing McLuhan to get at Dean, by all
means, go for it.
After all, it's only usenet. OTOH, if you're bashing
him on content,
well, alls I can say is, come up with something better.
For all his
flaws, I've yet to find a better method for predicting
economic
outcomes (my bread and butter) and believe me, it's
not for want of
looking.
And that's all I have to say about that.
pb
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Why Vonnegut Rocks and McLuhan Walks
From: "Rev. Ivan Stang" <stang@subgeniusNOSPUM.com>
Date: Wed, Apr 21, 2004
HdMrs. Salacia the Overseer <SeventhSqueal@SlowOnTheUptake.edu> wrote:
> "Rev. Magdalen" <magdalen@subgenius.com>
wrote:
> > ghost wrote:
> > > "Rev. Magdalen" <magdalen@subgenius.com>
wrote:
> > >> HdMrs. Salacia the Overseer wrote:
> > >>> http://tinyurl.com/2tss2
> > >>>
> > >>> Vonnegut's thoughts on McLuhan
appear a bit lower down the page.
> > >>>
> > >>> I was going to cut and paste
the interview but I thought alt.slack
> > >>> would appreciate the cover art
that appears in the margin.
> > >>
> > >> I have that book!! BEST BOOK EVER!!
And it was only FIFTY CENTS!!
> > >>
> > > Not Vonnegut... Farmer
> >
> > No, TROUT! Can't you read?? Sheesh.
> >
> FCC!!! It *is* a supposed "Trout" quote.
Goddammit!
>
> Yosemite Samming away in shame!
>
> consarn it...frickin'...fracken...ornery varmint..goshnabbit
>
> ~Salacia the Stoopid
Vonneget described the original Kilgore Trout books,
and then Philip
Jose Farmer wrote the one that Magdalen read, under
the name Kilgore
Trout, and very much deliberately copping Vonnegut's
style. This
particular article was written by yet another guy who's
pretending to
be Kilgore Trout but who really did interview Kurt Vonnegut.
I think
it's a real old interview, though.
Farmer is one nervy sci fi writer and appropriator.
I've read more
Farmer than Vonnegut, I'll bet. Shameful, maybe, but
probably true. A
lot more.
Speaking of Kurt Vonnegut... and bad movies, which we weren't ...
The below describes one of the worst movies ever made.
I caught it one
night back when I had cable, didn't know what it was...
when it sunk in
that it was an adaptation of what was probably Vonnegut's
worst book to
begin with (of the ones I've read), I was grossed out
for his sake.
The legendary Bad Fantastic Four movie that I've heard
so many awful
things about must be a little like this movie was.
***********************
Slapstick (Of Another Kind) (1982)
Directed by
Steven Paul
Writing credits
Steven Paul
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (novel)
(more)
User Comments: Sacrilege of great Vonnegut novel (more)
User Rating: 2.6/10 (91 votes)
Jerry Lewis
....
Wilbur Swain/Caleb Swain
Madeline Kahn
....
Eliza Swain/Lutetia Swain
Marty Feldman
....
Sylvester
John Abbott
....
Dr. Frankenstein
Jim Backus
....
President of the U.S.
Samuel Fuller
....
Colonel Sharp
Merv Griffin
....
Anchorman
Pat Morita
....
Ah Fong, the Chinese Ambassador
Orson Welles
....
Father of the Aliens (voice)
User Comments:
Stillwater, OK
Date: 15 October 1999
Summary: Sacrilege of great Vonnegut novel
Despite the consensus that Jerry Lewis hasn't been
funny in decades, I
opted to watch this painful farce out of my reverence
for the great
book which 'inspired' it. And it had Marty Feldman -usually
a real
hoot. What unforgivable tripe! Lewis and Khan play Wilbur
and Eliza
(giant, ugly twins who are a genius collective genius
when together,
but idiots when apart) and their aristocrat parents
terribly. Sadly,
I'll concede that it sticks to the book fairly well
-THE FIRST HALF!
All the best portions are ultimately lost due to a cop-out
screenplay
which aims to get laughs from caper-style bumbling and
mess-making by
over-aged comedians sadly better suited to telethons.
Read the novel
-it's brilliant; Wilbur becomes the last (and tallest
ever) President
of the United States just before a plague kills off
the majority of its
population (wildly suspected to be due to inhalation
of microscopic
Chinese). His recollections of his better years and
falling-out with
Eliza are signiature bitter-sweet Vonnegut. The best
part of the movie
was Pat Morita as a prototypical 3" Chinaman ambassador.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "HdMrs. Salacia the Overseer" <SeventhSqueal@SlowOnTheUptake.edu>
That sounds terrible. Thanks for the warning.
~Salacia
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: brthrn@dangermedia.org (MRvDC)
nenslo <nenslo@yahoox.com> wrote:
> "Rev. Ivan Stang" wrote:
> >
> > Slapstick (Of Another Kind) (1982)
The best Vonnegut to film I've seen is Mother Night.
With Nick Nolte.
It's depressing as hell. And it'll make you paranoid.
But I enjoyed
it.
I saw it by myself in an arthouse theater in Philly
(Ritz 5). And. As
per usual. As I was leaving an older Jewish lady approached
me. She
wanted to chat about the film. This was guaranteed to
happen whenever
I went to the Arthouse theaters to see a movie by myself
in the
afternoon. Not that I'm complaining or anything. It
just got a little
weird after a while.
::clears throat::
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