Reader's Guide to Vineland

(or some-even-stranger-ways) to an imaginary, 4th-dimensional picnic in which Rex, Weed, and Prairie
"negotiate an agreeable version of history." This is an important little scene, since it's where the details of the
murder are made explicit at last. Or are they? Note the "nearly" in "he nearly blew me away," which seems to
suggest that maybe Weed is merely wounded? (It's just Pynchonian smoke; Weed really is killed.) This scene
appears to be Rex's fantasy -- except how does he know about Prairie?
p. 236 "...he reached for the Tube, popped it on, fastened himself to the screen and began to feed." A
great William Burroughs-style science-fictional, Tube/addictive image.
p. 236 "It's takin his soul, man" Certain primitive (and not so primitive) tribes believe that when
someone takes your photograph it steals your soul. Or maybe Howie means the Tube.
p. 236 "Culito Canyon" = Spanish for "Little Ass Canyon."
p. 237 "...might make the Guinness Book someday..." The Guinness Book of Records, published
regularly by the Irish brewery/distillery company, chronicles current achievements in urban sports like phone
booth stuffing.
p. 238 "Famous worms of song" A play on "The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play
pinochle on your snout," sung to Mozart/Haydn/whoever's requiem. A famous childhood song, right up there
with "Great green gobs of greasy grimy monkeymeat," "Hitler he had just one big ball," and the tragic ballad
"Found a Peanut." This is kind of a heavy Pynchon hit on Frenesi's knowledge of Weed's impending doom.
p. 239 Note the asterisk at the top of the page. How come? Pynchon hasn't needed no steenking
asterisks before! Can those worms have thrown him so far off balance that he can't carry on without typographic
help?
p. 239 "ND-1 filters" ND = Neutral Density; the suffix digit tells how many f stops it reduces incoming
light (or outgoing baby-blue intensity) without changing color values.
p. 239 "Nixonian reaction...continued to...compromise...what may only in some fading memories ever
have been a people's miracle, an army of loving friends..." Pynchon seems bitter over the ease with which
the government (and its media, and its money) destroyed the ideal/idyll.
p. 240 "'therapy sessions,' Brock called them..." Brock seems connected with Elasmo. Does this mean
that Weed has really turned? Or that Weed's sessions with the tooth-yanker are just Vond's "reality
adjustments," in which Weed is somehow osmosified to believe in Brock's version of reality (in which only
power counts, and resistance is futile)?
p. 240 "Smith" = Smith and Wesson.
p. 241 "24-frame-per-second truth" Hi, Jean-Luc.
p. 242 "frogwork" Frogs are the knots in which ornate cords (like the ones on doormen's uniform coats)
are tied. Similar to Buddhist "priest cords" sometimes used as hangings. Here, frogwork is an evocative
metaphor for the intricate shadow cast by the tangle of overhead cables and trolley wires -- and a very apt one,
you'll agree, if you've ever seen the rat's nest of wiring suspended above the street in San Francisco or San
Diego.
p. 244 "the Arri and...a wind-up Bolex" Two small, light, quiet, highly portable 16mm movie cameras.
The Arriflex' electric motor is powered by a battery pack; the Bolex is (like Pynchon says) spring-driven.
p. 245 "a battered old Auricon" Another 16mm camera, also battery (or AC) powered, with the handy
capability to record live sound right on the film.
p. 246 "the shirt cloth still burning around the blackly erupted exit, pale flames guttering out..."
Sounds great, but while we're no forensic experts we'd guess that burns would be characteristic of the entry hole
of a gunshot wound, not the exit.
p. 247 "a Mole-Richardson Series 700 generator ... legendary Eclairs ... Miller heads, Fastaxes ...
Norwood Binary light meters" All deluxe loot from the CotS Film Arts Dept. The "legendary" Eclairs (there
you go again, Mr. Pynchon!) are innovative French 16mm cameras, quieter (and producing a steadier image)
than the Arri, Bolex or Auricon cameras mentioned above. The Miller fluid head goes on top of a camera tripod
and allows very smooth pans.
p. 247 "Blue Cheer concert" Blue Cheer was a popular "acid-rock" band of the time, named after one of
underground chemist Stan Owsley's most popular (and potent) releases of LSD tablets. The tabs got their name
because, in the charming flower-power style of the time, Owsley used to dye each new release a different color
-- and the blue tinge of this batch reminded users of a well-known laundry detergent.