Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Chapter 7

2009-10-18T18:43:43Z

Redbarnlane: misread passage

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 89==
'''Doc called Sancho next morning''' 
Morning, Saturday, March 28, 1970, the fifth day of the narrative.

'''Ginger . . . Skipper . . . Gilligan . . . Thurston Howell III . . . Lovey''' 
All are characters from the 1960s TV show [[G#gilligan|''Gilligan's Island'']].

==Page 90==
'''Varathaned hatch-covers''' 
[http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGBrand.asp?bid=12 Varathane] is a brand of wood stains and polyurethane sealants.

'''Charlotte Amalie''' 
The largest city and capital of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Amalie,_United_States_Virgin_Islands US Virgina Islands].

'''Like new debt... from institutions in places like South Dakota that you send away for by filling out the back of match cover''' 
Sauncho's quote here echoes almost exactly Zoyd's thoughts in ''Vineland'' in regard to Isaiah Two Four's business proposition: "expecting some address in a distant state, obtained from a matchbook cover." (p. 19, ''Vineland'')

==Page 91==
'''Thomas Arnould''' 
An error. Should be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Arnould "Joseph Arnould"], who wrote ''Law of Marine Insurance'' (1848).

'''Theophilus Parsons''' 
There were two men ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophilus_Parsons father] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophilus_Parsons_(professor) son]) named Theopilus Parsons in the nineteenth century. This reference is to the younger one, who published A Treatise on the Law of Marine Insurance and General Average in 1868.

==Page 92==
'''Your stomach isn't it.''' 
A listless way of saying "It's your stomach, so feel free to order whatever horrible food you desire."

'''L'll buddy''' 
Another reference to ''Gilligan's Island''. "L'il buddy" was the captain's nickname for Gilligan.

Also, Hector calls Zoyd this in ''Vineland'', see p. 26. The contraction is spelled li'l in ''Vineland'' but l'il in ''Inherent Vice''.

'''Eel Trovatore''' 
A perhaps obvious pun on Il Trovatore, the Verdi opera.

'''Burke Stodger''' 
This name is likely derived from a 1910 ''noir''-ish murder-mystery novel ''Paternoster Ruby'' by Charles Edmonds Walk. Alexander Stilwell Burke and Stodger, a plain-clothes cop, are two main characters. [http://books.google.com/books?id=kd54UWt8QC0C&dq=paternoster+ruby+charles+edmonds+walk&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=mfkqjKBGj4&sig=KGhSLPxiRPQqvVPLhOQ5WNEzSE8&hl=en&ei=mfBrStfrF4uAsgPltqmWBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 Google Books] Perhaps Pynchon's slyly recycling here some unused stuff from his vast research for ''Against the Day''? A excerpt from Walk's novel:

:"Nasty case," Stodger was imparting, in queer staccato sentences. "Shouldn't have much difficulty, though; responsibility lies between two men. Here all last night. Nobody else. Callahan and O'Brien holdin' 'em. One 's Page's private secretary; fellow named Burke Alexander Stilwell Burke. Peach of a monicker, ain't it? Has all three sections on his cards.

:[...]

:Suddenly she snuggled closer and clasped her hands tightly upon my shoulder. Her hair teased my cheek, and the delicate perfume of it made me light-headed. Twisting her pretty head sideways, she flashed an arch look at me from under her lashes, then glanced quickly away again. Blue eyes and long dark lashes are a potently disturbing combination.

:"Well," she sighed, "the Page case may have cost you a fortune, but it gave you ''me''. And ''I'' for one am very content and happy, Mr. Swift."

==Page 93==
'''a three-hour tour''' 
Yet another reference to ''Gilligan's Island''. This is a quote from the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qycmb7_LvsA theme song].

==Page 95==
'''"deep interrogation"''' 
Well, it ''could'' be a reference to throwing folks into the deep blue sea. However, in the 1970s, long before Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and "enhanced interrogation," Britain utilized “deep interrogation” techniques in an effort to defeat the Irish Republican Army. ''Constitutions in Crisis: Political Violence and the Rule of Law'' by John E. Finn (Oxford University Press, 1990) examines how the efforts of two western liberal democracies, the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany, to cope with domestic terrorism threatens their constitutional integrity. Finn argues first that widespread political violence challenges the presuppositions of constitutional authority in any liberal democracy, namely that reason and deliberation, and not passion or will, can be the basis of political community. He defines "deep interrogation":

:"Deep interrogation" a bureaucratic phrase which takes the place of the simpler word "torture" and is worth of Orwell's ''1984'' is on a different level of immorality than hysterical sadism or the indiscriminate bomb of urban guerrillas. It is something organised with imagination and a knowledge of psychology, calculated and cold blooded ... [http://books.google.com/books?id=3s3ZGy0RAK4C&pg=PA69&lpg=PA69&dq=%22deep+interrogation%22+-pynchon&source=bl&ots=sfcbvQr90m&sig=iRr8MpNtWD3Cax-7bqlAwyigsvE&hl=en&ei=JFfZSsr-IIL8sgPgsKGNBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22deep%20interrogation%22%20-pynchon&f=false] ([http://www.amazon.com/Constitutions-Crisis-Political-Violence-Rule/dp/0195057384/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255758301&sr=1-1 Buy it...])

==Page 96==
[[image:zuckys.jpg|right|150px|thumb|caption|Zucky's Delicatessen]]'''Zucky's''' 
Pronounced zoo'-keys, Zucky's was run by Zucky and Hy Altman, founders of the SOVA food pantries, and frequented by such celebrities as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - who would meet there for breakfast every morning before continuing on to the gym, back in the day. Closed since 1993, it was located at the corner of Wilshire and 5th Street, in Santa Monica. It was one of the few places open after 10pm in Santa Monica.

'''''Marcus Welby, M.D.''''' 
Hour long medical drama that aired on ABC from '69-'76. Took place in Santa Monica and ranked first in Nielsens for the year 1970. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRmhb7mhiB4 View the opening credits] where Zucky's sign appears on the left side at :08 in.

'''what Cheech and Chong might call matzo-ball jones?''' 
Punned reference to "Basketball Jones", song on Cheech and Chong "Los Cochinos" album with release date 1973.

==Page 97==
'''Philip Marlowe''' 
Raymond Chandler's famous detective, featured in Chandler's many novels set in LA, including ''The Big Sleep'' (1939; his first appearance), ''Farewell My Lovely'', and ''The Long Goodbye''. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Marlowe] There are many important parallels between Pynchon's Doc and Chandler's Marlowe, especially his world-weariness, his fondness for certain drugs of choice, and a penchant for cracking wise and getting beaten up and worse. (John D. MacDonald's fictional detective Travis McGee is also an important predecessor; see below). Of all Chandler's fiction, ''Farewell My Lovely'' (1940), which many think is Chandler's best, may be most relevant for the plot and themes of ''Inherent Vice''. For instance, in that novel Marlowe stays in a hotel in Venice Beach before going out to Laird Brunette's offshore gambling boat, the ''Montecino''. ''Farewell My Lovely'' also has "rehab" centers that serve as a front for torture and murder; characters with hidden identities; an impossibly convoluted plot; and a literary style that features striking metaphors, similes, and literary allusions. Marlowe is, like Doc, a dark mixture of cynicism, doggedness, and indifference--yet his goodness and inherent virtues can't be killed. To trace the parallels with Chandler's Marlowe, though, is to see how fully Pynchon has transformed and deepened the generic conventions of 1930s and '40s detective fiction (and film noir inspired by it) even as he pays homage to these.

'''Sam Spade''' 
Dashiell Hammett's detective in ''The Maltese Falcon'' (1930) and other crime fiction; in John Huston's famous film based on the novel, he's played by Humphrey Bogart. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Spade]

'''Johnny Staccato''' 
''Johnny Staccato'' is a private detective series which ran for twenty-seven episodes on NBC from 1959-1960. Title character Johnny Staccato, played by John Cassavetes (1929-1989), is a jazz pianist/private detective. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Staccato]

'''Krazy Kat''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krazy_Kat ''Krazy Kat''] was a popular comic strip that ran in newspapers from 1913 to 1944. Ignatz and Offisa Pupp are characters.

'''Steve McGarrett''' 
Detective in the TV show [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii_Five-O ''Hawaii Five-0''], important to both [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_5#Page_60 ''Vineland''] and ''Inherent Vice.''

'''"Why not get a houseboat up in the Sacramento Delta--smoke, drink, fish, fuck..."''' 
It's tough not to see this as a nod to Doc's brother shamus Travis McGee, the creation of Florida writer John D. MacDonald. McGee lives on a houseboat, taking his "retirement in installments," drinking, lounging on Florida beaches, meeting and inevitably helping beautiful women out of troubles that almost always involve a sinister land broker or two. Along the way Trav usually ends up pontificating about rapacious land developers, the increasingly artificial and isolated American lifestyle, and people's loss of connection with the natural world. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_McGee]

==Page 98==
'''Sunrise was on the way''' 
Early morning, Sunday, March 29, 1970, the sixth day of the narrative, and Easter Sunday.

:March 29 doesn't ''quite'' jibe with "It was late winter in Gordita" (line 5) or, on [[#Page_102|page 102]], "the wintertime smell of crude oil..." (line 11). Spring comes sometime between the 19th to the 23rd of March, so according to Pynchon here we're sometime before March 29, yes?

[http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KLAX/1970/3/29/DailyHistory.html?req_city=Los+Angeles+International&req_state=CA&req_statename=California Here] is the weather for March 29--a pretty average day by L.A. standards.

'''[T]he engine sounds were not passing across the sky where they should have . . .''' 
An apparent allusion to the opening line of [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow'']. As a consequence of this, "everybody's dreams got disarranged," which also seems to be happening on ''GR's'' first page.

==Page 99==
'''two plastic skegs''' 
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeg skeg] is a fin attached to rear of a surfboard.

'''Waimea''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waimea_Bay Waimea Bay], on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii, is one of the planet's premier big-wave surfing locations, with gigantic swells in winter. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWHHqw_OniU Video.]

'''Maverick's''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavericks_%28location%29 Big wave] in Northern California. Trivia alert: apparently named after a dog who swam out with the first people who tried, but failed, to surf the wave. While no one was surfing this now famous wave until the mid-70s, it had been known about at least since 1961. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcioR3ElH60 Video.]

'''Todos Santos''' 
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhQtzxGEG6Y Video] of these big waves [http://www.todossantos-baja.com/todos-santos/surfing/surf-photos.htm near Baja.]

'''riding goofyfoot''' 
This is a surfing/skateboarding term for someone who rides left-footed. So-called regular foot riders keep their left foot at the front of the board, but goofyfoot riders put their right foot at the front. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footedness here].

'''Doc, also up early''' 
Early morning, Sunday, March 29, 1970, the sixth day of the narrative.

'''double-cross whites''' 
[http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/streetTerms/ByType.asp?intTypeID=9 Amphetamines].

==Page 100==
'''a surfer or two who'd found and ridden other breaks [...] unphotographed and unrecorded''' 
Even though Pynchon's reference to Mavericks would seem an anachronism, as no one other than a couple surfers had even tried Mavericks until Jeff Clark began riding the gigantic break in 1975, alone, until 1990 when he convinced some other surfers to check it out, this description would seem to fit Jeff Clark perfectly, discovering and surfing, alone, some of the largest waves on the planet. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Clark Jeff Clark Wikipedia entry...] Pynchon himself, as we all know, likes to remain unphotographed.

==Page 101==
'''Surfaris laugh . . . "Hooo-oo-oo-oo---Wipeout!"''' 
[[image:surfaris-dot-decca.jpg|200px|right|thumb|caption|"Wipe Out" - Decca & Dot]][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipe_Out_(song) "Wipe Out"] was a 1962 hit originally performed by the Surfaris. You can hear the song, including the insane laugh (provided by their producer/manager Dale Smallin) and a 2x4 being cracked in half, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UofdWQG346k here].

The original Dot label version of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH5WGWX4MPg "Wipe Out"] has the laughter on it that Zigzag and Flaco are arguing about, not the later, and less well-known, Decca re-recording. The Surfaris and "Wipe Out" have a surprisingly tangled history:

:Dot records was the national distributer of "Wipe Out" and the label quickly wanted to capitalize on its success, but rather than use the Surfaris they had The Challengers do covers of other intrumental hits. The only songs that are from the Surfaris on the "Wipe Out" LP are the 2 sides of that single. After the single took off they were quickly brought in to tape an album. It was in the can 12 hours later. Only a week went by before it was out in the record bins. This was a big surprise to the Surfaris. They were even more surprised realize that aside from "Wipe Out" and "Surfer Joe" the remainder of the LP was not them! When they confronted their manager (The Laugh guy in the "Wipe Out" intro), he told them the producers had to add a few overdubs and to listen closer. The more they listened the more they doubted this story. Finally the manager admitted that union musicians had been brought in to do the songs they had recorded. When they realized they had no legal binding contract from Dot records they went off in a huff to Decca records and recorded their ''real'' debut LP, "The Surfaris Play". They were required to re-record "Wipe Out" as Dot did have the rights to it! [http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1203]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Surfaris Wikipedia entry for the Surfaris...]

==Page 102==
'''barney quota''' 
A [http://onlineslangdictionary.com/definition+of/barney barney] is a newbie surfer.

'''in the slow seep of dawn''' 
Early morning, Sunday, March 29, 1970, the sixth day of the narrative.

'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikantaza shikantaza]''' 
A Zen Buddhist discipline which recommends "just sitting".

==Page 103==
'''Mira Costa''' 
A [http://www.mchs.manhattan.k12.ca.us/education/school/school.php?sectionid=2 high school] in Manhattan Beach, CA.

==Page 104==
'''laterite''' 
Soil layer rich in iron oxide, formed in tropical and sub-tropical regions. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laterite Wikipedia]

==Page 105==
'''Atlantis and Lemuria''' 
The mythical continent of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemuria_(continent) Lemuria] is mentioned throughout Inherent Vice. Shasta Fay Hepworth's namesake, Mt. Shasta in Northern California is [http://www.lemurianconnection.com/en/about-mount-shasta.htm believed by some] to be the home of Lemuria's survivors.

'''Owsley''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owsley_Stanley Owsley Stanley.] Famous large scale supplier of LSD.

==Page 110==
'''They were outside on the beach, it was nighttime''' 
Night, Sunday, March 29, 1970, the sixth day of the narrative.

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 7

2009-10-18T17:12:56Z

Redbarnlane: timeline--air traffic controllers strike

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 89==
'''Doc called Sancho next morning''' 
Morning, Saturday, March 28, 1970, the fifth day of the narrative.

'''Ginger . . . Skipper . . . Gilligan . . . Thurston Howell III . . . Lovey''' 
All are characters from the 1960s TV show [[G#gilligan|''Gilligan's Island'']].

==Page 90==
'''Varathaned hatch-covers''' 
[http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGBrand.asp?bid=12 Varathane] is a brand of wood stains and polyurethane sealants.

'''Charlotte Amalie''' 
The largest city and capital of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Amalie,_United_States_Virgin_Islands US Virgina Islands].

'''Like new debt... from institutions in places like South Dakota that you send away for by filling out the back of match cover''' 
Sauncho's quote here echoes almost exactly Zoyd's thoughts in ''Vineland'' in regard to Isaiah Two Four's business proposition: "expecting some address in a distant state, obtained from a matchbook cover." (p. 19, ''Vineland'')

==Page 91==
'''Thomas Arnould''' 
An error. Should be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Arnould "Joseph Arnould"], who wrote ''Law of Marine Insurance'' (1848).

'''Theophilus Parsons''' 
There were two men ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophilus_Parsons father] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophilus_Parsons_(professor) son]) named Theopilus Parsons in the nineteenth century. This reference is to the younger one, who published A Treatise on the Law of Marine Insurance and General Average in 1868.

==Page 92==
'''Your stomach isn't it.''' 
A listless way of saying "It's your stomach, so feel free to order whatever horrible food you desire."

'''L'll buddy''' 
Another reference to ''Gilligan's Island''. "L'il buddy" was the captain's nickname for Gilligan.

Also, Hector calls Zoyd this in ''Vineland'', see p. 26. The contraction is spelled li'l in ''Vineland'' but l'il in ''Inherent Vice''.

'''Eel Trovatore''' 
A perhaps obvious pun on Il Trovatore, the Verdi opera.

'''Burke Stodger''' 
This name is likely derived from a 1910 ''noir''-ish murder-mystery novel ''Paternoster Ruby'' by Charles Edmonds Walk. Alexander Stilwell Burke and Stodger, a plain-clothes cop, are two main characters. [http://books.google.com/books?id=kd54UWt8QC0C&dq=paternoster+ruby+charles+edmonds+walk&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=mfkqjKBGj4&sig=KGhSLPxiRPQqvVPLhOQ5WNEzSE8&hl=en&ei=mfBrStfrF4uAsgPltqmWBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 Google Books] Perhaps Pynchon's slyly recycling here some unused stuff from his vast research for ''Against the Day''? A excerpt from Walk's novel:

:"Nasty case," Stodger was imparting, in queer staccato sentences. "Shouldn't have much difficulty, though; responsibility lies between two men. Here all last night. Nobody else. Callahan and O'Brien holdin' 'em. One 's Page's private secretary; fellow named Burke Alexander Stilwell Burke. Peach of a monicker, ain't it? Has all three sections on his cards.

:[...]

:Suddenly she snuggled closer and clasped her hands tightly upon my shoulder. Her hair teased my cheek, and the delicate perfume of it made me light-headed. Twisting her pretty head sideways, she flashed an arch look at me from under her lashes, then glanced quickly away again. Blue eyes and long dark lashes are a potently disturbing combination.

:"Well," she sighed, "the Page case may have cost you a fortune, but it gave you ''me''. And ''I'' for one am very content and happy, Mr. Swift."

==Page 93==
'''a three-hour tour''' 
Yet another reference to ''Gilligan's Island''. This is a quote from the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qycmb7_LvsA theme song].

==Page 95==
'''"deep interrogation"''' 
Well, it ''could'' be a reference to throwing folks into the deep blue sea. However, in the 1970s, long before Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and "enhanced interrogation," Britain utilized “deep interrogation” techniques in an effort to defeat the Irish Republican Army. ''Constitutions in Crisis: Political Violence and the Rule of Law'' by John E. Finn (Oxford University Press, 1990) examines how the efforts of two western liberal democracies, the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany, to cope with domestic terrorism threatens their constitutional integrity. Finn argues first that widespread political violence challenges the presuppositions of constitutional authority in any liberal democracy, namely that reason and deliberation, and not passion or will, can be the basis of political community. He defines "deep interrogation":

:"Deep interrogation" a bureaucratic phrase which takes the place of the simpler word "torture" and is worth of Orwell's ''1984'' is on a different level of immorality than hysterical sadism or the indiscriminate bomb of urban guerrillas. It is something organised with imagination and a knowledge of psychology, calculated and cold blooded ... [http://books.google.com/books?id=3s3ZGy0RAK4C&pg=PA69&lpg=PA69&dq=%22deep+interrogation%22+-pynchon&source=bl&ots=sfcbvQr90m&sig=iRr8MpNtWD3Cax-7bqlAwyigsvE&hl=en&ei=JFfZSsr-IIL8sgPgsKGNBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22deep%20interrogation%22%20-pynchon&f=false] ([http://www.amazon.com/Constitutions-Crisis-Political-Violence-Rule/dp/0195057384/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255758301&sr=1-1 Buy it...])

==Page 96==
[[image:zuckys.jpg|right|150px|thumb|caption|Zucky's Delicatessen]]'''Zucky's''' 
Pronounced zoo'-keys, Zucky's was run by Zucky and Hy Altman, founders of the SOVA food pantries, and frequented by such celebrities as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - who would meet there for breakfast every morning before continuing on to the gym, back in the day. Closed since 1993, it was located at the corner of Wilshire and 5th Street, in Santa Monica. It was one of the few places open after 10pm in Santa Monica.

'''''Marcus Welby, M.D.''''' 
Hour long medical drama that aired on ABC from '69-'76. Took place in Santa Monica and ranked first in Nielsens for the year 1970. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRmhb7mhiB4 View the opening credits] where Zucky's sign appears on the left side at :08 in.

'''what Cheech and Chong might call matzo-ball jones?''' 
Punned reference to "Basketball Jones", song on Cheech and Chong "Los Cochinos" album with release date 1973.

==Page 97==
'''Philip Marlowe''' 
Raymond Chandler's famous detective, featured in Chandler's many novels set in LA, including ''The Big Sleep'' (1939; his first appearance), ''Farewell My Lovely'', and ''The Long Goodbye''. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Marlowe] There are many important parallels between Pynchon's Doc and Chandler's Marlowe, especially his world-weariness, his fondness for certain drugs of choice, and a penchant for cracking wise and getting beaten up and worse. (John D. MacDonald's fictional detective Travis McGee is also an important predecessor; see below). Of all Chandler's fiction, ''Farewell My Lovely'' (1940), which many think is Chandler's best, may be most relevant for the plot and themes of ''Inherent Vice''. For instance, in that novel Marlowe stays in a hotel in Venice Beach before going out to Laird Brunette's offshore gambling boat, the ''Montecino''. ''Farewell My Lovely'' also has "rehab" centers that serve as a front for torture and murder; characters with hidden identities; an impossibly convoluted plot; and a literary style that features striking metaphors, similes, and literary allusions. Marlowe is, like Doc, a dark mixture of cynicism, doggedness, and indifference--yet his goodness and inherent virtues can't be killed. To trace the parallels with Chandler's Marlowe, though, is to see how fully Pynchon has transformed and deepened the generic conventions of 1930s and '40s detective fiction (and film noir inspired by it) even as he pays homage to these.

'''Sam Spade''' 
Dashiell Hammett's detective in ''The Maltese Falcon'' (1930) and other crime fiction; in John Huston's famous film based on the novel, he's played by Humphrey Bogart. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Spade]

'''Johnny Staccato''' 
''Johnny Staccato'' is a private detective series which ran for twenty-seven episodes on NBC from 1959-1960. Title character Johnny Staccato, played by John Cassavetes (1929-1989), is a jazz pianist/private detective. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Staccato]

'''Krazy Kat''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krazy_Kat ''Krazy Kat''] was a popular comic strip that ran in newspapers from 1913 to 1944. Ignatz and Offisa Pupp are characters.

'''Steve McGarrett''' 
Detective in the TV show [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii_Five-O ''Hawaii Five-0''], important to both [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_5#Page_60 ''Vineland''] and ''Inherent Vice.''

'''"Why not get a houseboat up in the Sacramento Delta--smoke, drink, fish, fuck..."''' 
It's tough not to see this as a nod to Doc's brother shamus Travis McGee, the creation of Florida writer John D. MacDonald. McGee lives on a houseboat, taking his "retirement in installments," drinking, lounging on Florida beaches, meeting and inevitably helping beautiful women out of troubles that almost always involve a sinister land broker or two. Along the way Trav usually ends up pontificating about rapacious land developers, the increasingly artificial and isolated American lifestyle, and people's loss of connection with the natural world. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_McGee]

==Page 98==
'''Sunrise was on the way''' 
Early morning, Sunday, March 29, 1970, the sixth day of the narrative, and Easter Sunday.

:March 29 doesn't ''quite'' jibe with "It was late winter in Gordita" (line 5) or, on [[#Page_102|page 102]], "the wintertime smell of crude oil..." (line 11). Spring comes sometime between the 19th to the 23rd of March, so according to Pynchon here we're sometime before March 29, yes?

[http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KLAX/1970/3/29/DailyHistory.html?req_city=Los+Angeles+International&req_state=CA&req_statename=California Here] is the weather for March 29--a pretty average day by L.A. standards.

'''[T]he engine sounds were not passing across the sky where they should have . . .''' 
An apparent allusion to the opening line of [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow'']. As a consequence of this, "everybody's dreams got disarranged," which also seems to be happening on ''GR's'' first page.

In addition, this could be a reference to an air traffic controller "strike" that began on March 25, 1970, and was still keeping airplanes on the ground on the 29th. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_(1968) Wikipedia]

==Page 99==
'''two plastic skegs''' 
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeg skeg] is a fin attached to rear of a surfboard.

'''Waimea''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waimea_Bay Waimea Bay], on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii, is one of the planet's premier big-wave surfing locations, with gigantic swells in winter. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWHHqw_OniU Video.]

'''Maverick's''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavericks_%28location%29 Big wave] in Northern California. Trivia alert: apparently named after a dog who swam out with the first people who tried, but failed, to surf the wave. While no one was surfing this now famous wave until the mid-70s, it had been known about at least since 1961. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcioR3ElH60 Video.]

'''Todos Santos''' 
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhQtzxGEG6Y Video] of these big waves [http://www.todossantos-baja.com/todos-santos/surfing/surf-photos.htm near Baja.]

'''riding goofyfoot''' 
This is a surfing/skateboarding term for someone who rides left-footed. So-called regular foot riders keep their left foot at the front of the board, but goofyfoot riders put their right foot at the front. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footedness here].

'''Doc, also up early''' 
Early morning, Sunday, March 29, 1970, the sixth day of the narrative.

'''double-cross whites''' 
[http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/streetTerms/ByType.asp?intTypeID=9 Amphetamines].

==Page 100==
'''a surfer or two who'd found and ridden other breaks [...] unphotographed and unrecorded''' 
Even though Pynchon's reference to Mavericks would seem an anachronism, as no one other than a couple surfers had even tried Mavericks until Jeff Clark began riding the gigantic break in 1975, alone, until 1990 when he convinced some other surfers to check it out, this description would seem to fit Jeff Clark perfectly, discovering and surfing, alone, some of the largest waves on the planet. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Clark Jeff Clark Wikipedia entry...] Pynchon himself, as we all know, likes to remain unphotographed.

==Page 101==
'''Surfaris laugh . . . "Hooo-oo-oo-oo---Wipeout!"''' 
[[image:surfaris-dot-decca.jpg|200px|right|thumb|caption|"Wipe Out" - Decca & Dot]][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipe_Out_(song) "Wipe Out"] was a 1962 hit originally performed by the Surfaris. You can hear the song, including the insane laugh (provided by their producer/manager Dale Smallin) and a 2x4 being cracked in half, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UofdWQG346k here].

The original Dot label version of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH5WGWX4MPg "Wipe Out"] has the laughter on it that Zigzag and Flaco are arguing about, not the later, and less well-known, Decca re-recording. The Surfaris and "Wipe Out" have a surprisingly tangled history:

:Dot records was the national distributer of "Wipe Out" and the label quickly wanted to capitalize on its success, but rather than use the Surfaris they had The Challengers do covers of other intrumental hits. The only songs that are from the Surfaris on the "Wipe Out" LP are the 2 sides of that single. After the single took off they were quickly brought in to tape an album. It was in the can 12 hours later. Only a week went by before it was out in the record bins. This was a big surprise to the Surfaris. They were even more surprised realize that aside from "Wipe Out" and "Surfer Joe" the remainder of the LP was not them! When they confronted their manager (The Laugh guy in the "Wipe Out" intro), he told them the producers had to add a few overdubs and to listen closer. The more they listened the more they doubted this story. Finally the manager admitted that union musicians had been brought in to do the songs they had recorded. When they realized they had no legal binding contract from Dot records they went off in a huff to Decca records and recorded their ''real'' debut LP, "The Surfaris Play". They were required to re-record "Wipe Out" as Dot did have the rights to it! [http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1203]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Surfaris Wikipedia entry for the Surfaris...]

==Page 102==
'''barney quota''' 
A [http://onlineslangdictionary.com/definition+of/barney barney] is a newbie surfer.

'''in the slow seep of dawn''' 
Early morning, Sunday, March 29, 1970, the sixth day of the narrative.

'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikantaza shikantaza]''' 
A Zen Buddhist discipline which recommends "just sitting".

==Page 103==
'''Mira Costa''' 
A [http://www.mchs.manhattan.k12.ca.us/education/school/school.php?sectionid=2 high school] in Manhattan Beach, CA.

==Page 104==
'''laterite''' 
Soil layer rich in iron oxide, formed in tropical and sub-tropical regions. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laterite Wikipedia]

==Page 105==
'''Atlantis and Lemuria''' 
The mythical continent of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemuria_(continent) Lemuria] is mentioned throughout Inherent Vice. Shasta Fay Hepworth's namesake, Mt. Shasta in Northern California is [http://www.lemurianconnection.com/en/about-mount-shasta.htm believed by some] to be the home of Lemuria's survivors.

'''Owsley''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owsley_Stanley Owsley Stanley.] Famous large scale supplier of LSD.

==Page 110==
'''They were outside on the beach, it was nighttime''' 
Night, Sunday, March 29, 1970, the sixth day of the narrative.

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 7

2009-10-18T17:05:15Z

Redbarnlane: added weather data

Talk:Real Time and Narrative Time in Inherent Vice

2009-10-18T15:30:06Z

Redbarnlane:

How do you account for "It was late winter in Gordita" ([[Chapter_7#Page_98|page 298, line 5]]) or, on [[#Page_102|page 102]], "the wintertime smell of crude oil..." (line 11)? Spring comes sometime between the 19th to the 23rd of March, so according to Pynchon here we're sometime before March 29, yes? [[User:WikiAdmin|WikiAdmin]] 23:43, 16 October 2009 (PDT)

Just below the page 98 reference to winter, the narrator explains how the calendar is out of whack, with summer not occurring until August, and how ''there probably wouldn't be any winter until spring.'' It's also stated that ''this had been going on for what seemed like weeks now'', which could correspond to the gap I'm having trouble explaining.

By the way, I think that the point of the article is that there is no point-to-point correspondance between real time and narritive time in this book. I don't think that there will be any ''Gravity's Rainbow''-like revelations revealed by watching the television programs on in the background. As far as I can tell, the only TV shows that show up when they should are NBA playoff games and the Lawrence Welk show.

It's just too easy now. In 1973, getting BBC radio logs and London weather reports for 1944 and 1945, combing through them to match plot events with real-time days, and connecting all of this to liturgical calendars must have taken months of research. I paypalled a few bucks to newspaperarchive.com, and was downloading TV guides within minutes. There's no fun in being a famously obscure author if everyone can get at your source materials quickly.

Real Time and Narrative Time in Inherent Vice

2009-10-13T22:31:23Z

Redbarnlane: events bridging the first and second halves

'''Real Time and Narrative Time in ''Inherent Vice''''' 

'''Note: 
This article is not complete. I will be adding quite a bit to it, including citations. I just wanted to get an early version up so that I would have something in place to edit. When I'm done, I will remove this note 

'''Note''': This article contains a large number of plot spoilers. If you have not yet read ''Inherent Vice'', please do so before reading this article.''' 

On page 74 of ''Inherent Vice'', Agent Borderline of the FBI tells Doc Sportello how he (wrongly) connected Doc to Glen Charlock's killing and Mickey Wolfmann's kidnapping by saying '''It's the chronology, really'''. On page 212, Bigfoot Bjornsen tells Doc (wrongly, again) that his information on dropping off Dr. Blatnoyd '''helps a little with the chronology'''. In a Thomas Pynchon novel, those are capital-C clues, and make taking a look at real time and narrative time worth a look. 

In fact, the chronology is difficult to figure out. The narrative centers on the phrase '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart''' on page 180. There is an unbroken time line from the beginning of the book to this point. There is also continuity of time from this point to the end of ''Inherent Vice'' if you're willing to accept that Pynchon has inserted a day between May 4 and May 5. The gap of '''a few days''' is what's troublesome. 

The only events which allow one to assign real-time datesto the events in ''Inherent Vice'' are NBA playoff games. This may seem odd, as many events, such as the invasion of Cambodia and the killings of four students at Kent State University happen during the narrative frame of the story. The only news that seems to penetrate the Los Angeles of ''Inherent Vice'' concerns the Manson murders. Referring to ''Gravity's Rainbow'', [[Thomas_Pynchon|''another article'']] on this wiki notes that '''Pynchon's text enacts a type of dramatic irony whereby neither the characters nor the various narrative voices are aware of specific historical circumstances, such as the Holocaust, which are, however, very much to the forefront of the reader's understanding of this time in history. Such an approach generates dynamic tension and moments of acute self-consciousness, as both reader and author seem drawn ever deeper into the "plot", in various senses of that term. ''' That sort of dramatic irony seems to be used quite a bit in ''Inherent Vice''. 

''Inherent Vice'' begins on Tuesday, March 24, 1970. It's the Tuesday before Easter. The day, though not the date is noted on page 11 where '''This happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. The date is not fixed until page 113, where '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee.''' Pynchon has given a clue that locates the narrative in real time: the [http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_1970.html NBA playoffs]. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. By counting days from the start of the book, it can be determined that the current day is a Monday. Hence, this day is Monday, March 30. Again, by counting days, it can be determined that the day the Dart goes into the shop on page 180 is Sunday, April 5. 

In order to assign real-world dates to the second half of ''Inherent Vice'', one must count backwards from the last day of the narrative. On page 364 '''the Lakers would lose Game 7 of the finals to the Knicks'''. This is one of the most famous games in [http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_1970.html NBA history], and it occurred on Friday, May 8, 1970. Counting the days backwards to page 180 when Doc '''finally went over to pick up his ride''', one can determine that this day is most likely Saturday, April 25. It's no more than one day away from that. 

That means that the Dart was in the shop for 20 days, which is difficult to reconcile with events in ''Inherent Vice''. Two events bridge this gap, and they don't help much. First, on page 179, Dr. Rudy Blatnoyd is seen going into a Bel Air Mansion presumably owned by the Golden Fang--before the gap. On page 203, after the gap, Bigfoot tells Doc that Blatnoyd was found '''next to a trampoline in Bel Air scarcely an hour ago'''. Since the Golden Fang doesn't seem like the kind of organization that would act slowly, this seems to contradict the timeline implied by the NBA playoff games. On the other hand Riggs Warbling is first seen on page 61--presumably clean-shaven. If the timeline is correct, the day is Friday, March 27. On page 250, Warbling appears again '''with a couple weeks' start on a beard'''. Again, if the timeline is correct, the date is May 1--a few weeks later. It's easy to suspect that Pynchon is having fun with anyone trying to match the narrative timeline with a real calendar. 

Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for almost three weeks. Perhaps some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. Japonica Fenway is singing that show's theme song just before the break in the narrative. It's also possible that Pynchon, in a novel whose themes include resurrection and redemption, wanted his story to begin a few days before Easter and end a day after the feast of the Ascension. This way, the narrative would mostly take place in the time Jesus Christ spent on Earth after his resurrection. It is a time the Bible is strangely quiet about. The Book of Mormon states that Christ spent much of this time in America. Mormons are closely associated with the FBI in ''Inherent Vice''.
Or, as another editor on this wiki has suggested, it's possible that ''' Pynchon, contrary to reputation but like most authors, hasn't been perfectly careful about the relationship between his story's timeline and the real calendar's.''' For those who would like to follow the story's timeline more closely, a guide to the timeline follows. 

'''Timeline for ''Inherent Vice'' 
''Inherent Vice'' begins on a Tuesday night. On page 11, the narrator states '''this happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. Later references to NBA playoff games will confirm that the date is March 24, 1970. It's Holy Tuesday, several days before Easter. 
The second day of the narrative, Wednesday, March 25, 1970, begins on page 12, '''when Doc finally woke up'''. This day is Holy Wednesday. 
The third day of the narrative, Thursday, March 26, begins on page 34, when Doc is '''At the office next day'''. This day is Holy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper. 
The beginning of Chapter 4 (page 50) marks the fourth day of the narrative, Friday, March 27--Good Friday. It is clearly the next day, as the narrator says, '''Today, after a deceptively sunny and uneventful spin'''. Los Angeles weather forecast for today call for clear skies. This day in the narrative ends at the end of Chapter 6 (page 87). 
The fifth day of the narrative, Saturday, March 28 begins on page 89 at the start of Chapter 7: '''Doc called Sancho next morning'''. This day is Holy Saturday, the day that Jesus Christ rested in his tomb. This day ends at the bottom of page 97. 
At the top of page 98, the narrator notes that '''Surnise was on the way''', marking the start of the sixth day of the narrative. It is Sunday, March 29, 1970, Easter Sunday. This day ends at the end of Chapter 7, with Doc returning from his acid trip. 
As Chapter 8 begins on page 111, there is no direct cue from the narrator that this the next day, but considering that Doc spent the last night tripping, and now Aunt Reet's office is open, it's safe to assume that this is the seventh day of the narrative, Monday, March 30. On page 113, '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee'''. Finally, Pynchon has given a clue that helps to locate the narrative in real time, and it's the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. That means that this day can only be Monday, March 30. In order for that to be true, the "few days" that the Dart is in the shop (p. 180) must be more like a few weeks. 
Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. The only logical conclusion is that the story is in some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time for the first half of the book. 
The seventh day of the narrative, Tuesday, March 31, begins on page 117 as, '''Next morning, waiting for the coffee to percolate, Doc happened to glance out the window'''. This day ends with Doc and Penny watching Nixon's appearance at the Century Plaza Hotel at the end of Chapter 8 (page123). 

The ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1--April Fools Day--picks up at the beginning of Chapter 9 with Doc '''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' on page 124. It is significant that the visit to the Boards' zombie-infested mansion occurrs on April Fools Day. This day in the narrative continues until Doc, Denis, and Jade/Ashley escape from the zombies (page 136). 

The tenth day of the narrative begins on page 137. This would be April 2, a Thursday. On page 138, Doc asks a policeman at the Parker Center '''did he happen to catch that game with Phoenix'''? Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game. This day ends with Doc and Farley examining photos of Glen Charlock's murder (page 142). 

The eleventh day of the narrative begins immediately after with '''around lunchtime next day'''. It's Friday, April 3. Doc spends the day with Luz, and the narrative for this day ends as Luz leaves in the Super Sport (page 145). 

April 4, the twelfth day of the narrative begins immediately on page 145 with Doc '''Looking forward to a peaceful day at the office." This day comes to a close with Doc getting the All-Nighter Special on page 162 at the close of Chapter 10 

The thirteenth day of the narrative, April 5, a Sunday, begins at the start of Chapter 11. On page 175, there is a reference to rush hour traffic which seems odd for a Sunday. This day ends on page 180 when Japonica drops off Doc and Denis. 

The next paragraph begins '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart in the shop'''. The timeline gets broken here. From the end of the book to this point--from April 26 to May 8--the narrator has made it easy to follow the events of the book in real time. The narrator puts Doc to bed at night, gets him up in the morning, points out television shows and events. The only break is an "another day" inserted between May 4 and May 5. That makes a total of 14 days in the second half of the book. 
The first half of the book, thirteen days up to the "few days" the Dart was in the shop, can also be matched with real time events. For example, Doc's parents visit during a division semifinal game between the 76ers and the Bucks. That series was played from March 25 to April 3. That would mean that the Dart was in the shop for three weeks, from April 5 to April 26. Or that some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. 

In any case, the narrative resumes on its fourteenth day, probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. See below for an explanation of "probably". Since it is no longer to count days from the beginning of the book, one must now count days backwards from the conclusion, which will take place on May 8. On page 182, Tito says, '''I'll buy you lunch.''' This is probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. I say probably because it seems unlikely that Doc could have lunch with Tito, make a few phone calls, and drive to Ojai, getting there before lunchtime. The narrator has been pretty careful, though, from the end of the book to this point in noting the ends and beginnings of days. 

The fifteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 26, begins at the start of chapter 12, on page 186. On that page, Doc is said to be '''reaching the Ojai turnoff just before lunchtime'''. This day ends on page 197, with Denis describing the break-in at his apartment.

The sixteenth day of the narrative, Monday, April 27, begins on page 197 with Doc going into his office. On page 199, while Doc is arriving at the Tweedle house, ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'' is playing on a television, though listings for that day do not have the show airing. On page 200, '''''The Beverly Hillbillies'' rolled along toward ''Green Acres''''' even though these shows are not scheduled to appear this evening. Perhaps the reference is metaphorical, as both shows are about rubes and bumpkins. This day ends on page 206 with Doc's dream of being a child. 

Immediately, Doc wakes up on the seventeenth day of the narrative, Tuesday, April 28. On page 226, Doc mentions that '''there's the rent coming due and so forth''', a reasonable prevarication on the 28th. This day ends on page 232, as Doc '''headed for the other (bed) and must have made it.''' 

The narrative resumes early afternoon the next day, the eighteenth of the narrative, Wednesday, April 29. This day ends on page 246 with Doc watching ''Godzilligan's Island'' 

The nineteenth day of the narrative, April 30, begins on page 246, with Henry Kissinger on the ''Today'' show. This appearance is probably fictional. Richard Nixon was to give a speech announcing the invasion of Cambodia this evening, probably keepign Kissinger too busy to appear on television. This day ends with Tito driving Doc out of Las Vegas on page 249. 

May 1 is the twentieth day of the narrative. It begins with Doc and Tito continuing their drive '''in the first light''' on page 249. On page 250, Riggs Warbling has '''a couple weeks' start on a beard''', indicating that there is, in fact, a couple of weeks between the first and second halves of the story. Warbling's beard provides one of a few bridges between the first and second halves of IV, along with Rudy Blatnoyd's last appearance and murder, and the movies Doc sees while the Dart is in the shop. This day ends at the end of chapter 14, with Doc falling asleep as '''they were going over the Cajon Pass'''. 

The narrative resumes at the start of Chapter 15 '''Around nightfall''' of the twenty first day of the story, Saturday, May 2, 1970. On page 257 Doc has trouble recognizing Gordita Beach and its residents. Denis explains it as '''Some college break or something'''. As it is six days after Easter, this makes sense. Then '''Denis drifted off to watch Lawrence Welk'''. That fixes the time between 8:30 and 9:30 P.M. Tonight's show is a salute to the Kentucky Derby. On page 260, Bigfoot '''had been enjoying a quiet family evening...watching Lawrence Welk''' as well. On page 261, the narrator notes that the '''Saturday horror movie tonight was Val Lewton's ''I Walked with a Zombie'''''. The Pasadena Star-News TV Week section shows only one horror move on television this night--''The Crawling Hand''. Doc falls asleep in the middle, ending this day. 
The next day begins immediately on page 261, the twenty-second day of the story, Sunday, May 3. The Sunday ''Times'' shows up right on schedule. This day ends on page 274, at the end of Chapter 15. 
The twenty-third day of the narrative, Monday, May 4 begins at the start of Chapter 16 on page 275.
On page 280, the narrator mentions that '''Doc would have found his way to the TV set on some chance the playoffs, even though it was Eastern Division tonight, might still be on.''' The fifth game of the NBA finals was played in New York Monday, May 4, 1970. The Knicks won 107-100 over the Lakers. At eleven P.M., during the local news, Penny "snarls" at the television '''Give it a rest, Bugliosi'''. While the world of ''Inherent Vice'' is paying attention to the Manson case, it seems likely that the real world was covering today's killings of four students at Kent State University today. This day ends on page 281 with Penny crying while watching ''Ghidra, the Three-Headed Monster''. If you have an hour and a half to kill, you can download ''Ghidra'' for free from Google Video. 

The next day of the narrative, the twenty-fourth, begins immediately with the phrase '''The next day was as they say another day'''. It's another day in more than one way. Pynchon has inserted a day in between Monday, May 4, 1970 and Tuesday, May 5. This day continues until the end of chapter 17, a total of 34 pages, making it the day with the most pages in the book. 
The events of this day are unusual, to say the least. Most of Doc's encounters with women on this day are strange, to say the least. Rhus Frothing '''screamed and picked up a galvanized trash can prepared to throw it at Doc's head''' (p. 282). Farther down the page, the '''clock up on the wall...read some hour that it could possibly not be. Doc waited for the hands to move, but they didn't'''. This passage suggests that the events of this day occur outside of real time. 

On page 283, Doc gets the sealed file about Vincent Indelicato's killing and '''Adrian Prussia's strange history with the California Public Code'''. Doc realizes that he is being used by Bigfoot to avenge Indelicato's death. On page 285, Doc learns that Boris Spivey had been released from jail to work for Mickey Wolfmann. 

On page 287, Doc notes that '''something was strange, not only in the afternoon hush of the building but also in Petunia's demeanor'''. And she's not wearing underwear. Petunia has been acting as matchmaker for two of Doc's clients, Clancy Charlock and Tariq Khalil, who are having sex on the floor of Doc's office accompanied by the music from a ''Bonzo Dog Band'' record '''which to his recollection Doc didn't own'''. 

Tariq tells Doc the details of his deal with Glen Charlock. Later, a likeness of Thomas Jefferson counsels Doc on solving the case. 

Still later, Doc meets with Coy Harlington. Coy explains his history with Vigilant California, and with Shasta. Finally, Doc meets with Shasta. They have sex several times as she tells Doc about life with Wolfmann, recounts her kidnapping and escape, and tells Doc about meeting Coy and her involvement in his recruitment. Inexcplicably, Doc and Shasta watch a playoff game between the Knicks and the Lakers. 

In chapter 18, on page 315, '''it was still another classic day of California sunshine,''' the twenty-fifth day of the story,Tuesday, May 5. ''Inherent Vice'' is back in calendar time. This day continues until the middle of page 340. 

The twenty-sixth day of the narrative, Wednesday, May 6 begins on page 340 '''around noon'''. This day ends on page 348 with Doc and Crocker Fenway setting up a meeting the next day. 

The story doesn't resume until the next evening, the twenty-seventh day of the story, Thursday, May 7. May 7 is the Feast of the Ascension in 1970. Jesus Christ, having been resurrected, returns bodily to heaven on this day. This day is fixed at 40 days after Easter. This day ends at the bottom of page 353. 

The twenty-eighth and final day of ''Inherent Vice'' begins on page 354 with Doc's phone ringing. This day continues for the balance of the narrative.

Real Time and Narrative Time in Inherent Vice

2009-10-13T22:15:02Z

Redbarnlane:

'''Real Time and Narrative Time in ''Inherent Vice''''' 

'''Note: 
This article is not complete. I will be adding quite a bit to it, including citations. I just wanted to get an early version up so that I would have something in place to edit. When I'm done, I will remove this note 

'''Note''': This article contains a large number of plot spoilers. If you have not yet read ''Inherent Vice'', please do so before reading this article.''' 

On page 74 of ''Inherent Vice'', Agent Borderline of the FBI tells Doc Sportello how he (wrongly) connected Doc to Glen Charlock's killing and Mickey Wolfmann's kidnapping by saying '''It's the chronology, really'''. On page 212, Bigfoot Bjornsen tells Doc (wrongly, again) that his information on dropping off Dr. Blatnoyd '''helps a little with the chronology'''. In a Thomas Pynchon novel, those are capital-C clues, and make taking a look at real time and narrative time worth a look. 

In fact, the chronology is difficult to figure out. The narrative centers on the phrase '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart''' on page 180. There is an unbroken time line from the beginning of the book to this point. There is also continuity of time from this point to the end of ''Inherent Vice'' if you're willing to accept that Pynchon has inserted a day between May 4 and May 5. The gap of '''a few days''' is what's troublesome. 

The only events which allow one to assign real-time datesto the events in ''Inherent Vice'' are NBA playoff games. This may seem odd, as many events, such as the invasion of Cambodia and the killings of four students at Kent State University happen during the narrative frame of the story. The only news that seems to penetrate the Los Angeles of ''Inherent Vice'' concerns the Manson murders. Referring to ''Gravity's Rainbow'', [[Thomas_Pynchon|''another article'']] on this wiki notes that '''Pynchon's text enacts a type of dramatic irony whereby neither the characters nor the various narrative voices are aware of specific historical circumstances, such as the Holocaust, which are, however, very much to the forefront of the reader's understanding of this time in history. Such an approach generates dynamic tension and moments of acute self-consciousness, as both reader and author seem drawn ever deeper into the "plot", in various senses of that term. ''' That sort of dramatic irony seems to be used quite a bit in ''Inherent Vice''. 

''Inherent Vice'' begins on Tuesday, March 24, 1970. It's the Tuesday before Easter. The day, though not the date is noted on page 11 where '''This happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. The date is not fixed until page 113, where '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee.''' Pynchon has given a clue that locates the narrative in real time: the [http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_1970.html NBA playoffs]. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. By counting days from the start of the book, it can be determined that the current day is a Monday. Hence, this day is Monday, March 30. Again, by counting days, it can be determined that the day the Dart goes into the shop on page 180 is Sunday, April 5. 

In order to assign real-world dates to the second half of ''Inherent Vice'', one must count backwards from the last day of the narrative. On page 364 '''the Lakers would lose Game 7 of the finals to the Knicks'''. This is one of the most famous games in [http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_1970.html NBA history], and it occurred on Friday, May 8, 1970. Counting the days backwards to page 180 when Doc '''finally went over to pick up his ride''', one can determine that this day is most likely Saturday, April 25. It's no more than one day away from that. 

That means that the Dart was in the shop for 20 days, which is difficult to reconcile with events in ''Inherent Vice''. Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. Perhaps some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. Japonica Fenway is singing that show's theme song just before the break in the narrative. It's also possible that Pynchon, in a novel whose themes include resurrection and redemption, wanted his story to begin a few days before Easter and end a day after the feast of the Ascension. This way, the narrative would mostly take place in the time Jesus Christ spent on Earth after his resurrection. It is a time the Bible is strangely quiet about. The Book of Mormon states that Christ spent much of this time in America. Mormons are closely associated with the FBI in ''Inherent Vice''.
Or, as another editor on this wiki has suggested, it's possible that ''' Pynchon, contrary to reputation but like most authors, hasn't been perfectly careful about the relationship between his story's timeline and the real calendar's.''' For those who would like to follow the story's timeline more closely, a guide to the timeline follows. 

'''Timeline for ''Inherent Vice'' 
''Inherent Vice'' begins on a Tuesday night. On page 11, the narrator states '''this happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. Later references to NBA playoff games will confirm that the date is March 24, 1970. It's Holy Tuesday, several days before Easter. 
The second day of the narrative, Wednesday, March 25, 1970, begins on page 12, '''when Doc finally woke up'''. This day is Holy Wednesday. 
The third day of the narrative, Thursday, March 26, begins on page 34, when Doc is '''At the office next day'''. This day is Holy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper. 
The beginning of Chapter 4 (page 50) marks the fourth day of the narrative, Friday, March 27--Good Friday. It is clearly the next day, as the narrator says, '''Today, after a deceptively sunny and uneventful spin'''. Los Angeles weather forecast for today call for clear skies. This day in the narrative ends at the end of Chapter 6 (page 87). 
The fifth day of the narrative, Saturday, March 28 begins on page 89 at the start of Chapter 7: '''Doc called Sancho next morning'''. This day is Holy Saturday, the day that Jesus Christ rested in his tomb. This day ends at the bottom of page 97. 
At the top of page 98, the narrator notes that '''Surnise was on the way''', marking the start of the sixth day of the narrative. It is Sunday, March 29, 1970, Easter Sunday. This day ends at the end of Chapter 7, with Doc returning from his acid trip. 
As Chapter 8 begins on page 111, there is no direct cue from the narrator that this the next day, but considering that Doc spent the last night tripping, and now Aunt Reet's office is open, it's safe to assume that this is the seventh day of the narrative, Monday, March 30. On page 113, '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee'''. Finally, Pynchon has given a clue that helps to locate the narrative in real time, and it's the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. That means that this day can only be Monday, March 30. In order for that to be true, the "few days" that the Dart is in the shop (p. 180) must be more like a few weeks. 
Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. The only logical conclusion is that the story is in some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time for the first half of the book. 
The seventh day of the narrative, Tuesday, March 31, begins on page 117 as, '''Next morning, waiting for the coffee to percolate, Doc happened to glance out the window'''. This day ends with Doc and Penny watching Nixon's appearance at the Century Plaza Hotel at the end of Chapter 8 (page123). 

The ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1--April Fools Day--picks up at the beginning of Chapter 9 with Doc '''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' on page 124. It is significant that the visit to the Boards' zombie-infested mansion occurrs on April Fools Day. This day in the narrative continues until Doc, Denis, and Jade/Ashley escape from the zombies (page 136). 

The tenth day of the narrative begins on page 137. This would be April 2, a Thursday. On page 138, Doc asks a policeman at the Parker Center '''did he happen to catch that game with Phoenix'''? Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game. This day ends with Doc and Farley examining photos of Glen Charlock's murder (page 142). 

The eleventh day of the narrative begins immediately after with '''around lunchtime next day'''. It's Friday, April 3. Doc spends the day with Luz, and the narrative for this day ends as Luz leaves in the Super Sport (page 145). 

April 4, the twelfth day of the narrative begins immediately on page 145 with Doc '''Looking forward to a peaceful day at the office." This day comes to a close with Doc getting the All-Nighter Special on page 162 at the close of Chapter 10 

The thirteenth day of the narrative, April 5, a Sunday, begins at the start of Chapter 11. On page 175, there is a reference to rush hour traffic which seems odd for a Sunday. This day ends on page 180 when Japonica drops off Doc and Denis. 

The next paragraph begins '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart in the shop'''. The timeline gets broken here. From the end of the book to this point--from April 26 to May 8--the narrator has made it easy to follow the events of the book in real time. The narrator puts Doc to bed at night, gets him up in the morning, points out television shows and events. The only break is an "another day" inserted between May 4 and May 5. That makes a total of 14 days in the second half of the book. 
The first half of the book, thirteen days up to the "few days" the Dart was in the shop, can also be matched with real time events. For example, Doc's parents visit during a division semifinal game between the 76ers and the Bucks. That series was played from March 25 to April 3. That would mean that the Dart was in the shop for three weeks, from April 5 to April 26. Or that some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. 

In any case, the narrative resumes on its fourteenth day, probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. See below for an explanation of "probably". Since it is no longer to count days from the beginning of the book, one must now count days backwards from the conclusion, which will take place on May 8. On page 182, Tito says, '''I'll buy you lunch.''' This is probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. I say probably because it seems unlikely that Doc could have lunch with Tito, make a few phone calls, and drive to Ojai, getting there before lunchtime. The narrator has been pretty careful, though, from the end of the book to this point in noting the ends and beginnings of days. 

The fifteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 26, begins at the start of chapter 12, on page 186. On that page, Doc is said to be '''reaching the Ojai turnoff just before lunchtime'''. This day ends on page 197, with Denis describing the break-in at his apartment.

The sixteenth day of the narrative, Monday, April 27, begins on page 197 with Doc going into his office. On page 199, while Doc is arriving at the Tweedle house, ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'' is playing on a television, though listings for that day do not have the show airing. On page 200, '''''The Beverly Hillbillies'' rolled along toward ''Green Acres''''' even though these shows are not scheduled to appear this evening. Perhaps the reference is metaphorical, as both shows are about rubes and bumpkins. This day ends on page 206 with Doc's dream of being a child. 

Immediately, Doc wakes up on the seventeenth day of the narrative, Tuesday, April 28. On page 226, Doc mentions that '''there's the rent coming due and so forth''', a reasonable prevarication on the 28th. This day ends on page 232, as Doc '''headed for the other (bed) and must have made it.''' 

The narrative resumes early afternoon the next day, the eighteenth of the narrative, Wednesday, April 29. This day ends on page 246 with Doc watching ''Godzilligan's Island'' 

The nineteenth day of the narrative, April 30, begins on page 246, with Henry Kissinger on the ''Today'' show. This appearance is probably fictional. Richard Nixon was to give a speech announcing the invasion of Cambodia this evening, probably keepign Kissinger too busy to appear on television. This day ends with Tito driving Doc out of Las Vegas on page 249. 

May 1 is the twentieth day of the narrative. It begins with Doc and Tito continuing their drive '''in the first light''' on page 249. On page 250, Riggs Warbling has '''a couple weeks' start on a beard''', indicating that there is, in fact, a couple of weeks between the first and second halves of the story. Warbling's beard provides one of a few bridges between the first and second halves of IV, along with Rudy Blatnoyd's last appearance and murder, and the movies Doc sees while the Dart is in the shop. This day ends at the end of chapter 14, with Doc falling asleep as '''they were going over the Cajon Pass'''. 

The narrative resumes at the start of Chapter 15 '''Around nightfall''' of the twenty first day of the story, Saturday, May 2, 1970. On page 257 Doc has trouble recognizing Gordita Beach and its residents. Denis explains it as '''Some college break or something'''. As it is six days after Easter, this makes sense. Then '''Denis drifted off to watch Lawrence Welk'''. That fixes the time between 8:30 and 9:30 P.M. Tonight's show is a salute to the Kentucky Derby. On page 260, Bigfoot '''had been enjoying a quiet family evening...watching Lawrence Welk''' as well. On page 261, the narrator notes that the '''Saturday horror movie tonight was Val Lewton's ''I Walked with a Zombie'''''. The Pasadena Star-News TV Week section shows only one horror move on television this night--''The Crawling Hand''. Doc falls asleep in the middle, ending this day. 
The next day begins immediately on page 261, the twenty-second day of the story, Sunday, May 3. The Sunday ''Times'' shows up right on schedule. This day ends on page 274, at the end of Chapter 15. 
The twenty-third day of the narrative, Monday, May 4 begins at the start of Chapter 16 on page 275.
On page 280, the narrator mentions that '''Doc would have found his way to the TV set on some chance the playoffs, even though it was Eastern Division tonight, might still be on.''' The fifth game of the NBA finals was played in New York Monday, May 4, 1970. The Knicks won 107-100 over the Lakers. At eleven P.M., during the local news, Penny "snarls" at the television '''Give it a rest, Bugliosi'''. While the world of ''Inherent Vice'' is paying attention to the Manson case, it seems likely that the real world was covering today's killings of four students at Kent State University today. This day ends on page 281 with Penny crying while watching ''Ghidra, the Three-Headed Monster''. If you have an hour and a half to kill, you can download ''Ghidra'' for free from Google Video. 

The next day of the narrative, the twenty-fourth, begins immediately with the phrase '''The next day was as they say another day'''. It's another day in more than one way. Pynchon has inserted a day in between Monday, May 4, 1970 and Tuesday, May 5. This day continues until the end of chapter 17, a total of 34 pages, making it the day with the most pages in the book. 
The events of this day are unusual, to say the least. Most of Doc's encounters with women on this day are strange, to say the least. Rhus Frothing '''screamed and picked up a galvanized trash can prepared to throw it at Doc's head''' (p. 282). Farther down the page, the '''clock up on the wall...read some hour that it could possibly not be. Doc waited for the hands to move, but they didn't'''. This passage suggests that the events of this day occur outside of real time. 

On page 283, Doc gets the sealed file about Vincent Indelicato's killing and '''Adrian Prussia's strange history with the California Public Code'''. Doc realizes that he is being used by Bigfoot to avenge Indelicato's death. On page 285, Doc learns that Boris Spivey had been released from jail to work for Mickey Wolfmann. 

On page 287, Doc notes that '''something was strange, not only in the afternoon hush of the building but also in Petunia's demeanor'''. And she's not wearing underwear. Petunia has been acting as matchmaker for two of Doc's clients, Clancy Charlock and Tariq Khalil, who are having sex on the floor of Doc's office accompanied by the music from a ''Bonzo Dog Band'' record '''which to his recollection Doc didn't own'''. 

Tariq tells Doc the details of his deal with Glen Charlock. Later, a likeness of Thomas Jefferson counsels Doc on solving the case. 

Still later, Doc meets with Coy Harlington. Coy explains his history with Vigilant California, and with Shasta. Finally, Doc meets with Shasta. They have sex several times as she tells Doc about life with Wolfmann, recounts her kidnapping and escape, and tells Doc about meeting Coy and her involvement in his recruitment. Inexcplicably, Doc and Shasta watch a playoff game between the Knicks and the Lakers. 

In chapter 18, on page 315, '''it was still another classic day of California sunshine,''' the twenty-fifth day of the story,Tuesday, May 5. ''Inherent Vice'' is back in calendar time. This day continues until the middle of page 340. 

The twenty-sixth day of the narrative, Wednesday, May 6 begins on page 340 '''around noon'''. This day ends on page 348 with Doc and Crocker Fenway setting up a meeting the next day. 

The story doesn't resume until the next evening, the twenty-seventh day of the story, Thursday, May 7. May 7 is the Feast of the Ascension in 1970. Jesus Christ, having been resurrected, returns bodily to heaven on this day. This day is fixed at 40 days after Easter. This day ends at the bottom of page 353. 

The twenty-eighth and final day of ''Inherent Vice'' begins on page 354 with Doc's phone ringing. This day continues for the balance of the narrative.

Real Time and Narrative Time in Inherent Vice

2009-10-13T15:37:58Z

Redbarnlane: adding a link

'''Real Time and Narrative Time in ''Inherent Vice''''' 

'''Note: 
This article is not complete. I will be adding quite a bit to it, including citations. I just wanted to get an early version up so that I would have something in place to edit. When I'm done, I will remove this note 

'''Note''': This article contains a large number of plot spoilers. If you have not yet read ''Inherent Vice'', please do so before reading this article.''' 

On page 74 of ''Inherent Vice'', Agent Borderline of the FBI tells Doc Sportello how he (wrongly) connected Doc to Glen Charlock's killing and Mickey Wolfmann's kidnapping by saying '''It's the chronology, really'''. On page 212, Bigfoot Bjornsen tells Doc (wrongly, again) that his information on dropping off Dr. Blatnoyd '''helps a little with the chronology'''. In a Thomas Pynchon novel, those are capital-C clues, and make taking a look at real time and narrative time worth a look. 

In fact, the chronology is difficult to figure out. The narrative centers on the phrase '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart''' on page 180. There is an unbroken time line from the beginning of the book to this point. There is also continuity of time from this point to the end of ''Inherent Vice''. The gap of '''a few days''' is what's troublesome. 

The only events which allow one to assign real-time datesto the events in ''Inherent Vice'' are NBA playoff games. This may seem odd, as many events, such as the invasion of Cambodia and the killings of four students at Kent State University happen during the narrative frame of the story. The only news that seems to penetrate the Los Angeles of ''Inherent Vice'' concerns the Manson murders. Referring to ''Gravity's Rainbow'', [[Thomas_Pynchon|''another article'']] on this wiki notes that '''Pynchon's text enacts a type of dramatic irony whereby neither the characters nor the various narrative voices are aware of specific historical circumstances, such as the Holocaust, which are, however, very much to the forefront of the reader's understanding of this time in history. Such an approach generates dynamic tension and moments of acute self-consciousness, as both reader and author seem drawn ever deeper into the "plot", in various senses of that term. ''' That sort of dramatic irony seems to be used quite a bit in ''Inherent Vice''. 

''Inherent Vice'' begins on Tuesday, March 24, 1970. It's the Tuesday before Easter. The day, though not the date is noted on page 11 where '''This happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. The date is not fixed until page 113, where '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee.''' Pynchon has given a clue that locates the narrative in real time: the [http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_1970.html NBA playoffs]. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. By counting days from the start of the book, it can be determined that the current day is a Monday. Hence, this day is Monday, March 30. Again, by counting days, it can be determined that the day the Dart goes into the shop on page 180 is Sunday, April 5. 

In order to assign real-world dates to the second half of ''Inherent Vice'', one must count backwards from the last day of the narrative. On page 364 '''the Lakers would lose Game 7 of the finals to the Knicks'''. This is one of the most famous games in [http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_1970.html NBA history], and it occurred on Friday, May 8, 1970. Counting the days backwards to page 180 when Doc '''finally went over to pick up his ride''', one can determine that this day is most likely Saturday, April 25. It's no more than one day away from that. 

That means that the Dart was in the shop for 20 days, which is difficult to reconcile with events in ''Inherent Vice''. Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. Perhaps some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. Japonica Fenway is singing that show's theme song just before the break in the narrative. It's also possible that Pynchon, in a novel whose themes include resurrection and redemption, wanted his story to begin a few days before Easter and end a day after the feast of the Ascension. This way, the narrative would mostly take place in the time Jesus Christ spent on Earth after his resurrection. It is a time the Bible is strangely quiet about. The Book of Mormon states that Christ spent much of this time in America. Mormons are closely associated with the FBI in ''Inherent Vice''.
Or, as another editor on this wiki has suggested, it's possible that ''' Pynchon, contrary to reputation but like most authors, hasn't been perfectly careful about the relationship between his story's timeline and the real calendar's.''' For those who would like to follow the story's timeline more closely, a guide to the timeline follows. 

'''Timeline for ''Inherent Vice'' 
''Inherent Vice'' begins on a Tuesday night. On page 11, the narrator states '''this happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. Later references to NBA playoff games will confirm that the date is March 24, 1970. It's Holy Tuesday, several days before Easter. 
The second day of the narrative, Wednesday, March 25, 1970, begins on page 12, '''when Doc finally woke up'''. This day is Holy Wednesday. 
The third day of the narrative, Thursday, March 26, begins on page 34, when Doc is '''At the office next day'''. This day is Holy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper. 
The beginning of Chapter 4 (page 50) marks the fourth day of the narrative, Friday, March 27--Good Friday. It is clearly the next day, as the narrator says, '''Today, after a deceptively sunny and uneventful spin'''. Los Angeles weather forecast for today call for clear skies. This day in the narrative ends at the end of Chapter 6 (page 87). 
The fifth day of the narrative, Saturday, March 28 begins on page 89 at the start of Chapter 7: '''Doc called Sancho next morning'''. This day is Holy Saturday, the day that Jesus Christ rested in his tomb. This day ends at the bottom of page 97. 
At the top of page 98, the narrator notes that '''Surnise was on the way''', marking the start of the sixth day of the narrative. It is Sunday, March 29, 1970, Easter Sunday. This day ends at the end of Chapter 7, with Doc returning from his acid trip. 
As Chapter 8 begins on page 111, there is no direct cue from the narrator that this the next day, but considering that Doc spent the last night tripping, and now Aunt Reet's office is open, it's safe to assume that this is the seventh day of the narrative, Monday, March 30. On page 113, '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee'''. Finally, Pynchon has given a clue that helps to locate the narrative in real time, and it's the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. That means that this day can only be Monday, March 30. In order for that to be true, the "few days" that the Dart is in the shop (p. 180) must be more like a few weeks. 
Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. The only logical conclusion is that the story is in some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time for the first half of the book. 
The seventh day of the narrative, Tuesday, March 31, begins on page 117 as, '''Next morning, waiting for the coffee to percolate, Doc happened to glance out the window'''. This day ends with Doc and Penny watching Nixon's appearance at the Century Plaza Hotel at the end of Chapter 8 (page123). 

The ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1--April Fools Day--picks up at the beginning of Chapter 9 with Doc '''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' on page 124. It is significant that the visit to the Boards' zombie-infested mansion occurrs on April Fools Day. This day in the narrative continues until Doc, Denis, and Jade/Ashley escape from the zombies (page 136). 

The tenth day of the narrative begins on page 137. This would be April 2, a Thursday. On page 138, Doc asks a policeman at the Parker Center '''did he happen to catch that game with Phoenix'''? Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game. This day ends with Doc and Farley examining photos of Glen Charlock's murder (page 142). 

The eleventh day of the narrative begins immediately after with '''around lunchtime next day'''. It's Friday, April 3. Doc spends the day with Luz, and the narrative for this day ends as Luz leaves in the Super Sport (page 145). 

April 4, the twelfth day of the narrative begins immediately on page 145 with Doc '''Looking forward to a peaceful day at the office." This day comes to a close with Doc getting the All-Nighter Special on page 162 at the close of Chapter 10 

The thirteenth day of the narrative, April 5, a Sunday, begins at the start of Chapter 11. On page 175, there is a reference to rush hour traffic which seems odd for a Sunday. This day ends on page 180 when Japonica drops off Doc and Denis. 

The next paragraph begins '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart in the shop'''. The timeline gets broken here. From the end of the book to this point--from April 26 to May 8--the narrator has made it easy to follow the events of the book in real time. The narrator puts Doc to bed at night, gets him up in the morning, points out television shows and events. The only break is an "another day" inserted between May 4 and May 5. That makes a total of 14 days in the second half of the book. 
The first half of the book, thirteen days up to the "few days" the Dart was in the shop, can also be matched with real time events. For example, Doc's parents visit during a division semifinal game between the 76ers and the Bucks. That series was played from March 25 to April 3. That would mean that the Dart was in the shop for three weeks, from April 5 to April 26. Or that some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. 

In any case, the narrative resumes on its fourteenth day, probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. See below for an explanation of "probably". Since it is no longer to count days from the beginning of the book, one must now count days backwards from the conclusion, which will take place on May 8. On page 182, Tito says, '''I'll buy you lunch.''' This is probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. I say probably because it seems unlikely that Doc could have lunch with Tito, make a few phone calls, and drive to Ojai, getting there before lunchtime. The narrator has been pretty careful, though, from the end of the book to this point in noting the ends and beginnings of days. 

The fifteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 26, begins at the start of chapter 12, on page 186. On that page, Doc is said to be '''reaching the Ojai turnoff just before lunchtime'''. This day ends on page 197, with Denis describing the break-in at his apartment.

The sixteenth day of the narrative, Monday, April 27, begins on page 197 with Doc going into his office. On page 199, while Doc is arriving at the Tweedle house, ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'' is playing on a television, though listings for that day do not have the show airing. On page 200, '''''The Beverly Hillbillies'' rolled along toward ''Green Acres''''' even though these shows are not scheduled to appear this evening. Perhaps the reference is metaphorical, as both shows are about rubes and bumpkins. This day ends on page 206 with Doc's dream of being a child. 

Immediately, Doc wakes up on the seventeenth day of the narrative, Tuesday, April 28. On page 226, Doc mentions that '''there's the rent coming due and so forth''', a reasonable prevarication on the 28th. This day ends on page 232, as Doc '''headed for the other (bed) and must have made it.''' 

The narrative resumes early afternoon the next day, the eighteenth of the narrative, Wednesday, April 29. This day ends on page 246 with Doc watching ''Godzilligan's Island'' 

The nineteenth day of the narrative, April 30, begins on page 246, with Henry Kissinger on the ''Today'' show. This appearance is probably fictional. Richard Nixon was to give a speech announcing the invasion of Cambodia this evening, probably keepign Kissinger too busy to appear on television. This day ends with Tito driving Doc out of Las Vegas on page 249. 

May 1 is the twentieth day of the narrative. It begins with Doc and Tito continuing their drive '''in the first light''' on page 249. On page 250, Riggs Warbling has '''a couple weeks' start on a beard''', indicating that there is, in fact, a couple of weeks between the first and second halves of the story. Warbling's beard provides one of a few bridges between the first and second halves of IV, along with Rudy Blatnoyd's last appearance and murder, and the movies Doc sees while the Dart is in the shop. This day ends at the end of chapter 14, with Doc falling asleep as '''they were going over the Cajon Pass'''. 

The narrative resumes at the start of Chapter 15 '''Around nightfall''' of the twenty first day of the story, Saturday, May 2, 1970. On page 257 Doc has trouble recognizing Gordita Beach and its residents. Denis explains it as '''Some college break or something'''. As it is six days after Easter, this makes sense. Then '''Denis drifted off to watch Lawrence Welk'''. That fixes the time between 8:30 and 9:30 P.M. Tonight's show is a salute to the Kentucky Derby. On page 260, Bigfoot '''had been enjoying a quiet family evening...watching Lawrence Welk''' as well. On page 261, the narrator notes that the '''Saturday horror movie tonight was Val Lewton's ''I Walked with a Zombie'''''. The Pasadena Star-News TV Week section shows only one horror move on television this night--''The Crawling Hand''. Doc falls asleep in the middle, ending this day. 
The next day begins immediately on page 261, the twenty-second day of the story, Sunday, May 3. The Sunday ''Times'' shows up right on schedule. This day ends on page 274, at the end of Chapter 15. 
The twenty-third day of the narrative, Monday, May 4 begins at the start of Chapter 16 on page 275.
On page 280, the narrator mentions that '''Doc would have found his way to the TV set on some chance the playoffs, even though it was Eastern Division tonight, might still be on.''' The fifth game of the NBA finals was played in New York Monday, May 4, 1970. The Knicks won 107-100 over the Lakers. At eleven P.M., during the local news, Penny "snarls" at the television '''Give it a rest, Bugliosi'''. While the world of ''Inherent Vice'' is paying attention to the Manson case, it seems likely that the real world was covering today's killings of four students at Kent State University today. This day ends on page 281 with Penny crying while watching ''Ghidra, the Three-Headed Monster''. If you have an hour and a half to kill, you can download ''Ghidra'' for free from Google Video. 

The next day of the narrative, the twenty-fourth, begins immediately with the phrase '''The next day was as they say another day'''. It's another day in more than one way. Pynchon has inserted a day in between Monday, May 4, 1970 and Tuesday, May 5. This day continues until the end of chapter 17, a total of 34 pages, making it the day with the most pages in the book. 
The events of this day are unusual, to say the least. Most of Doc's encounters with women on this day are strange, to say the least. Rhus Frothing '''screamed and picked up a galvanized trash can prepared to throw it at Doc's head''' (p. 282). Farther down the page, the '''clock up on the wall...read some hour that it could possibly not be. Doc waited for the hands to move, but they didn't'''. This passage suggests that the events of this day occur outside of real time. 

On page 283, Doc gets the sealed file about Vincent Indelicato's killing and '''Adrian Prussia's strange history with the California Public Code'''. Doc realizes that he is being used by Bigfoot to avenge Indelicato's death. On page 285, Doc learns that Boris Spivey had been released from jail to work for Mickey Wolfmann. 

On page 287, Doc notes that '''something was strange, not only in the afternoon hush of the building but also in Petunia's demeanor'''. And she's not wearing underwear. Petunia has been acting as matchmaker for two of Doc's clients, Clancy Charlock and Tariq Khalil, who are having sex on the floor of Doc's office accompanied by the music from a ''Bonzo Dog Band'' record '''which to his recollection Doc didn't own'''. 

Tariq tells Doc the details of his deal with Glen Charlock. Later, a likeness of Thomas Jefferson counsels Doc on solving the case. 

Still later, Doc meets with Coy Harlington. Coy explains his history with Vigilant California, and with Shasta. Finally, Doc meets with Shasta. They have sex several times as she tells Doc about life with Wolfmann, recounts her kidnapping and escape, and tells Doc about meeting Coy and her involvement in his recruitment. Inexcplicably, Doc and Shasta watch a playoff game between the Knicks and the Lakers. 

In chapter 18, on page 315, '''it was still another classic day of California sunshine,''' the twenty-fifth day of the story,Tuesday, May 5. ''Inherent Vice'' is back in calendar time. This day continues until the middle of page 340. 

The twenty-sixth day of the narrative, Wednesday, May 6 begins on page 340 '''around noon'''. This day ends on page 348 with Doc and Crocker Fenway setting up a meeting the next day. 

The story doesn't resume until the next evening, the twenty-seventh day of the story, Thursday, May 7. May 7 is the Feast of the Ascension in 1970. Jesus Christ, having been resurrected, returns bodily to heaven on this day. This day is fixed at 40 days after Easter. This day ends at the bottom of page 353. 

The twenty-eighth and final day of ''Inherent Vice'' begins on page 354 with Doc's phone ringing. This day continues for the balance of the narrative.

Real Time and Narrative Time in Inherent Vice

2009-10-13T15:35:42Z

Redbarnlane: adding a link

'''Real Time and Narrative Time in ''Inherent Vice''''' 

'''Note: 
This article is not complete. I will be adding quite a bit to it, including citations. I just wanted to get an early version up so that I would have something in place to edit. When I'm done, I will remove this note 

'''Note''': This article contains a large number of plot spoilers. If you have not yet read ''Inherent Vice'', please do so before reading this article.''' 

On page 74 of ''Inherent Vice'', Agent Borderline of the FBI tells Doc Sportello how he (wrongly) connected Doc to Glen Charlock's killing and Mickey Wolfmann's kidnapping by saying '''It's the chronology, really'''. On page 212, Bigfoot Bjornsen tells Doc (wrongly, again) that his information on dropping off Dr. Blatnoyd '''helps a little with the chronology'''. In a Thomas Pynchon novel, those are capital-C clues, and make taking a look at real time and narrative time worth a look. 

In fact, the chronology is difficult to figure out. The narrative centers on the phrase '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart''' on page 180. There is an unbroken time line from the beginning of the book to this point. There is also continuity of time from this point to the end of ''Inherent Vice''. The gap of '''a few days''' is what's troublesome. 

The only events which allow one to assign real-time datesto the events in ''Inherent Vice'' are NBA playoff games. This may seem odd, as many events, such as the invasion of Cambodia and the killings of four students at Kent State University happen during the narrative frame of the story. The only news that seems to penetrate the Los Angeles of ''Inherent Vice'' concerns the Manson murders. Referring to ''Gravity's Rainbow'', [[Thomas_Pynchon|''another article'']] on this wiki notes that '''Pynchon's text enacts a type of dramatic irony whereby neither the characters nor the various narrative voices are aware of specific historical circumstances, such as the Holocaust, which are, however, very much to the forefront of the reader's understanding of this time in history. Such an approach generates dynamic tension and moments of acute self-consciousness, as both reader and author seem drawn ever deeper into the "plot", in various senses of that term. ''' That sort of dramatic irony seems to be used quite a bit in ''Inherent Vice''. 

''Inherent Vice'' begins on Tuesday, March 24, 1970. It's the Tuesday before Easter. The day, though not the date is noted on page 11 where '''This happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. The date is not fixed until page 113, where '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee.''' Pynchon has given a clue that locates the narrative in real time: the [http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_1970.html NBA playoffs]. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. By counting days from the start of the book, it can be determined that the current day is a Monday. Hence, this day is Monday, March 30. Again, by counting days, it can be determined that the day the Dart goes into the shop on page 180 is Sunday, April 5. 

In order to assign real-world dates to the second half of ''Inherent Vice'', one must count backwards from the last day of the narrative. On page 364 '''the Lakers would lose Game 7 of the finals to the Knicks'''. This is one of the most famous games in NBA history, and it occurred on Friday, May 8, 1970. Counting the days backwards to page 180 when Doc '''finally went over to pick up his ride''', one can determine that this day is most likely Saturday, April 25. It's no more than one day away from that. 

That means that the Dart was in the shop for 20 days, which is difficult to reconcile with events in ''Inherent Vice''. Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. Perhaps some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. Japonica Fenway is singing that show's theme song just before the break in the narrative. It's also possible that Pynchon, in a novel whose themes include resurrection and redemption, wanted his story to begin a few days before Easter and end a day after the feast of the Ascension. This way, the narrative would mostly take place in the time Jesus Christ spent on Earth after his resurrection. It is a time the Bible is strangely quiet about. The Book of Mormon states that Christ spent much of this time in America. Mormons are closely associated with the FBI in ''Inherent Vice''.
Or, as another editor on this wiki has suggested, it's possible that ''' Pynchon, contrary to reputation but like most authors, hasn't been perfectly careful about the relationship between his story's timeline and the real calendar's.''' For those who would like to follow the story's timeline more closely, a guide to the timeline follows. 

'''Timeline for ''Inherent Vice'' 
''Inherent Vice'' begins on a Tuesday night. On page 11, the narrator states '''this happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. Later references to NBA playoff games will confirm that the date is March 24, 1970. It's Holy Tuesday, several days before Easter. 
The second day of the narrative, Wednesday, March 25, 1970, begins on page 12, '''when Doc finally woke up'''. This day is Holy Wednesday. 
The third day of the narrative, Thursday, March 26, begins on page 34, when Doc is '''At the office next day'''. This day is Holy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper. 
The beginning of Chapter 4 (page 50) marks the fourth day of the narrative, Friday, March 27--Good Friday. It is clearly the next day, as the narrator says, '''Today, after a deceptively sunny and uneventful spin'''. Los Angeles weather forecast for today call for clear skies. This day in the narrative ends at the end of Chapter 6 (page 87). 
The fifth day of the narrative, Saturday, March 28 begins on page 89 at the start of Chapter 7: '''Doc called Sancho next morning'''. This day is Holy Saturday, the day that Jesus Christ rested in his tomb. This day ends at the bottom of page 97. 
At the top of page 98, the narrator notes that '''Surnise was on the way''', marking the start of the sixth day of the narrative. It is Sunday, March 29, 1970, Easter Sunday. This day ends at the end of Chapter 7, with Doc returning from his acid trip. 
As Chapter 8 begins on page 111, there is no direct cue from the narrator that this the next day, but considering that Doc spent the last night tripping, and now Aunt Reet's office is open, it's safe to assume that this is the seventh day of the narrative, Monday, March 30. On page 113, '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee'''. Finally, Pynchon has given a clue that helps to locate the narrative in real time, and it's the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. That means that this day can only be Monday, March 30. In order for that to be true, the "few days" that the Dart is in the shop (p. 180) must be more like a few weeks. 
Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. The only logical conclusion is that the story is in some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time for the first half of the book. 
The seventh day of the narrative, Tuesday, March 31, begins on page 117 as, '''Next morning, waiting for the coffee to percolate, Doc happened to glance out the window'''. This day ends with Doc and Penny watching Nixon's appearance at the Century Plaza Hotel at the end of Chapter 8 (page123). 

The ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1--April Fools Day--picks up at the beginning of Chapter 9 with Doc '''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' on page 124. It is significant that the visit to the Boards' zombie-infested mansion occurrs on April Fools Day. This day in the narrative continues until Doc, Denis, and Jade/Ashley escape from the zombies (page 136). 

The tenth day of the narrative begins on page 137. This would be April 2, a Thursday. On page 138, Doc asks a policeman at the Parker Center '''did he happen to catch that game with Phoenix'''? Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game. This day ends with Doc and Farley examining photos of Glen Charlock's murder (page 142). 

The eleventh day of the narrative begins immediately after with '''around lunchtime next day'''. It's Friday, April 3. Doc spends the day with Luz, and the narrative for this day ends as Luz leaves in the Super Sport (page 145). 

April 4, the twelfth day of the narrative begins immediately on page 145 with Doc '''Looking forward to a peaceful day at the office." This day comes to a close with Doc getting the All-Nighter Special on page 162 at the close of Chapter 10 

The thirteenth day of the narrative, April 5, a Sunday, begins at the start of Chapter 11. On page 175, there is a reference to rush hour traffic which seems odd for a Sunday. This day ends on page 180 when Japonica drops off Doc and Denis. 

The next paragraph begins '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart in the shop'''. The timeline gets broken here. From the end of the book to this point--from April 26 to May 8--the narrator has made it easy to follow the events of the book in real time. The narrator puts Doc to bed at night, gets him up in the morning, points out television shows and events. The only break is an "another day" inserted between May 4 and May 5. That makes a total of 14 days in the second half of the book. 
The first half of the book, thirteen days up to the "few days" the Dart was in the shop, can also be matched with real time events. For example, Doc's parents visit during a division semifinal game between the 76ers and the Bucks. That series was played from March 25 to April 3. That would mean that the Dart was in the shop for three weeks, from April 5 to April 26. Or that some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. 

In any case, the narrative resumes on its fourteenth day, probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. See below for an explanation of "probably". Since it is no longer to count days from the beginning of the book, one must now count days backwards from the conclusion, which will take place on May 8. On page 182, Tito says, '''I'll buy you lunch.''' This is probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. I say probably because it seems unlikely that Doc could have lunch with Tito, make a few phone calls, and drive to Ojai, getting there before lunchtime. The narrator has been pretty careful, though, from the end of the book to this point in noting the ends and beginnings of days. 

The fifteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 26, begins at the start of chapter 12, on page 186. On that page, Doc is said to be '''reaching the Ojai turnoff just before lunchtime'''. This day ends on page 197, with Denis describing the break-in at his apartment.

The sixteenth day of the narrative, Monday, April 27, begins on page 197 with Doc going into his office. On page 199, while Doc is arriving at the Tweedle house, ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'' is playing on a television, though listings for that day do not have the show airing. On page 200, '''''The Beverly Hillbillies'' rolled along toward ''Green Acres''''' even though these shows are not scheduled to appear this evening. Perhaps the reference is metaphorical, as both shows are about rubes and bumpkins. This day ends on page 206 with Doc's dream of being a child. 

Immediately, Doc wakes up on the seventeenth day of the narrative, Tuesday, April 28. On page 226, Doc mentions that '''there's the rent coming due and so forth''', a reasonable prevarication on the 28th. This day ends on page 232, as Doc '''headed for the other (bed) and must have made it.''' 

The narrative resumes early afternoon the next day, the eighteenth of the narrative, Wednesday, April 29. This day ends on page 246 with Doc watching ''Godzilligan's Island'' 

The nineteenth day of the narrative, April 30, begins on page 246, with Henry Kissinger on the ''Today'' show. This appearance is probably fictional. Richard Nixon was to give a speech announcing the invasion of Cambodia this evening, probably keepign Kissinger too busy to appear on television. This day ends with Tito driving Doc out of Las Vegas on page 249. 

May 1 is the twentieth day of the narrative. It begins with Doc and Tito continuing their drive '''in the first light''' on page 249. On page 250, Riggs Warbling has '''a couple weeks' start on a beard''', indicating that there is, in fact, a couple of weeks between the first and second halves of the story. Warbling's beard provides one of a few bridges between the first and second halves of IV, along with Rudy Blatnoyd's last appearance and murder, and the movies Doc sees while the Dart is in the shop. This day ends at the end of chapter 14, with Doc falling asleep as '''they were going over the Cajon Pass'''. 

The narrative resumes at the start of Chapter 15 '''Around nightfall''' of the twenty first day of the story, Saturday, May 2, 1970. On page 257 Doc has trouble recognizing Gordita Beach and its residents. Denis explains it as '''Some college break or something'''. As it is six days after Easter, this makes sense. Then '''Denis drifted off to watch Lawrence Welk'''. That fixes the time between 8:30 and 9:30 P.M. Tonight's show is a salute to the Kentucky Derby. On page 260, Bigfoot '''had been enjoying a quiet family evening...watching Lawrence Welk''' as well. On page 261, the narrator notes that the '''Saturday horror movie tonight was Val Lewton's ''I Walked with a Zombie'''''. The Pasadena Star-News TV Week section shows only one horror move on television this night--''The Crawling Hand''. Doc falls asleep in the middle, ending this day. 
The next day begins immediately on page 261, the twenty-second day of the story, Sunday, May 3. The Sunday ''Times'' shows up right on schedule. This day ends on page 274, at the end of Chapter 15. 
The twenty-third day of the narrative, Monday, May 4 begins at the start of Chapter 16 on page 275.
On page 280, the narrator mentions that '''Doc would have found his way to the TV set on some chance the playoffs, even though it was Eastern Division tonight, might still be on.''' The fifth game of the NBA finals was played in New York Monday, May 4, 1970. The Knicks won 107-100 over the Lakers. At eleven P.M., during the local news, Penny "snarls" at the television '''Give it a rest, Bugliosi'''. While the world of ''Inherent Vice'' is paying attention to the Manson case, it seems likely that the real world was covering today's killings of four students at Kent State University today. This day ends on page 281 with Penny crying while watching ''Ghidra, the Three-Headed Monster''. If you have an hour and a half to kill, you can download ''Ghidra'' for free from Google Video. 

The next day of the narrative, the twenty-fourth, begins immediately with the phrase '''The next day was as they say another day'''. It's another day in more than one way. Pynchon has inserted a day in between Monday, May 4, 1970 and Tuesday, May 5. This day continues until the end of chapter 17, a total of 34 pages, making it the day with the most pages in the book. 
The events of this day are unusual, to say the least. Most of Doc's encounters with women on this day are strange, to say the least. Rhus Frothing '''screamed and picked up a galvanized trash can prepared to throw it at Doc's head''' (p. 282). Farther down the page, the '''clock up on the wall...read some hour that it could possibly not be. Doc waited for the hands to move, but they didn't'''. This passage suggests that the events of this day occur outside of real time. 

On page 283, Doc gets the sealed file about Vincent Indelicato's killing and '''Adrian Prussia's strange history with the California Public Code'''. Doc realizes that he is being used by Bigfoot to avenge Indelicato's death. On page 285, Doc learns that Boris Spivey had been released from jail to work for Mickey Wolfmann. 

On page 287, Doc notes that '''something was strange, not only in the afternoon hush of the building but also in Petunia's demeanor'''. And she's not wearing underwear. Petunia has been acting as matchmaker for two of Doc's clients, Clancy Charlock and Tariq Khalil, who are having sex on the floor of Doc's office accompanied by the music from a ''Bonzo Dog Band'' record '''which to his recollection Doc didn't own'''. 

Tariq tells Doc the details of his deal with Glen Charlock. Later, a likeness of Thomas Jefferson counsels Doc on solving the case. 

Still later, Doc meets with Coy Harlington. Coy explains his history with Vigilant California, and with Shasta. Finally, Doc meets with Shasta. They have sex several times as she tells Doc about life with Wolfmann, recounts her kidnapping and escape, and tells Doc about meeting Coy and her involvement in his recruitment. Inexcplicably, Doc and Shasta watch a playoff game between the Knicks and the Lakers. 

In chapter 18, on page 315, '''it was still another classic day of California sunshine,''' the twenty-fifth day of the story,Tuesday, May 5. ''Inherent Vice'' is back in calendar time. This day continues until the middle of page 340. 

The twenty-sixth day of the narrative, Wednesday, May 6 begins on page 340 '''around noon'''. This day ends on page 348 with Doc and Crocker Fenway setting up a meeting the next day. 

The story doesn't resume until the next evening, the twenty-seventh day of the story, Thursday, May 7. May 7 is the Feast of the Ascension in 1970. Jesus Christ, having been resurrected, returns bodily to heaven on this day. This day is fixed at 40 days after Easter. This day ends at the bottom of page 353. 

The twenty-eighth and final day of ''Inherent Vice'' begins on page 354 with Doc's phone ringing. This day continues for the balance of the narrative.

Real Time and Narrative Time in Inherent Vice

2009-10-13T15:32:54Z

Redbarnlane: typo

'''Real Time and Narrative Time in ''Inherent Vice''''' 

'''Note: 
This article is not complete. I will be adding quite a bit to it, including citations. I just wanted to get an early version up so that I would have something in place to edit. When I'm done, I will remove this note 

'''Note''': This article contains a large number of plot spoilers. If you have not yet read ''Inherent Vice'', please do so before reading this article.''' 

On page 74 of ''Inherent Vice'', Agent Borderline of the FBI tells Doc Sportello how he (wrongly) connected Doc to Glen Charlock's killing and Mickey Wolfmann's kidnapping by saying '''It's the chronology, really'''. On page 212, Bigfoot Bjornsen tells Doc (wrongly, again) that his information on dropping off Dr. Blatnoyd '''helps a little with the chronology'''. In a Thomas Pynchon novel, those are capital-C clues, and make taking a look at real time and narrative time worth a look. 

In fact, the chronology is difficult to figure out. The narrative centers on the phrase '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart''' on page 180. There is an unbroken time line from the beginning of the book to this point. There is also continuity of time from this point to the end of ''Inherent Vice''. The gap of '''a few days''' is what's troublesome. 

The only events which allow one to assign real-time datesto the events in ''Inherent Vice'' are NBA playoff games. This may seem odd, as many events, such as the invasion of Cambodia and the killings of four students at Kent State University happen during the narrative frame of the story. The only news that seems to penetrate the Los Angeles of ''Inherent Vice'' concerns the Manson murders. Referring to ''Gravity's Rainbow'', [[Thomas_Pynchon|''another article'']] on this wiki notes that '''Pynchon's text enacts a type of dramatic irony whereby neither the characters nor the various narrative voices are aware of specific historical circumstances, such as the Holocaust, which are, however, very much to the forefront of the reader's understanding of this time in history. Such an approach generates dynamic tension and moments of acute self-consciousness, as both reader and author seem drawn ever deeper into the "plot", in various senses of that term. ''' That sort of dramatic irony seems to be used quite a bit in ''Inherent Vice''. 

''Inherent Vice'' begins on Tuesday, March 24, 1970. It's the Tuesday before Easter. The day, though not the date is noted on page 11 where '''This happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. The date is not fixed until page 113, where '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee.''' Pynchon has given a clue that locates the narrative in real time: the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. By counting days from the start of the book, it can be determined that the current day is a Monday. Hence, this day is Monday, March 30. Again, by counting days, it can be determined that the day the Dart goes into the shop on page 180 is Sunday, April 5. 

In order to assign real-world dates to the second half of ''Inherent Vice'', one must count backwards from the last day of the narrative. On page 364 '''the Lakers would lose Game 7 of the finals to the Knicks'''. This is one of the most famous games in NBA history, and it occurred on Friday, May 8, 1970. Counting the days backwards to page 180 when Doc '''finally went over to pick up his ride''', one can determine that this day is most likely Saturday, April 25. It's no more than one day away from that. 

That means that the Dart was in the shop for 20 days, which is difficult to reconcile with events in ''Inherent Vice''. Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. Perhaps some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. Japonica Fenway is singing that show's theme song just before the break in the narrative. It's also possible that Pynchon, in a novel whose themes include resurrection and redemption, wanted his story to begin a few days before Easter and end a day after the feast of the Ascension. This way, the narrative would mostly take place in the time Jesus Christ spent on Earth after his resurrection. It is a time the Bible is strangely quiet about. The Book of Mormon states that Christ spent much of this time in America. Mormons are closely associated with the FBI in ''Inherent Vice''.
Or, as another editor on this wiki has suggested, it's possible that ''' Pynchon, contrary to reputation but like most authors, hasn't been perfectly careful about the relationship between his story's timeline and the real calendar's.''' For those who would like to follow the story's timeline more closely, a guide to the timeline follows. 

'''Timeline for ''Inherent Vice'' 
''Inherent Vice'' begins on a Tuesday night. On page 11, the narrator states '''this happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. Later references to NBA playoff games will confirm that the date is March 24, 1970. It's Holy Tuesday, several days before Easter. 
The second day of the narrative, Wednesday, March 25, 1970, begins on page 12, '''when Doc finally woke up'''. This day is Holy Wednesday. 
The third day of the narrative, Thursday, March 26, begins on page 34, when Doc is '''At the office next day'''. This day is Holy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper. 
The beginning of Chapter 4 (page 50) marks the fourth day of the narrative, Friday, March 27--Good Friday. It is clearly the next day, as the narrator says, '''Today, after a deceptively sunny and uneventful spin'''. Los Angeles weather forecast for today call for clear skies. This day in the narrative ends at the end of Chapter 6 (page 87). 
The fifth day of the narrative, Saturday, March 28 begins on page 89 at the start of Chapter 7: '''Doc called Sancho next morning'''. This day is Holy Saturday, the day that Jesus Christ rested in his tomb. This day ends at the bottom of page 97. 
At the top of page 98, the narrator notes that '''Surnise was on the way''', marking the start of the sixth day of the narrative. It is Sunday, March 29, 1970, Easter Sunday. This day ends at the end of Chapter 7, with Doc returning from his acid trip. 
As Chapter 8 begins on page 111, there is no direct cue from the narrator that this the next day, but considering that Doc spent the last night tripping, and now Aunt Reet's office is open, it's safe to assume that this is the seventh day of the narrative, Monday, March 30. On page 113, '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee'''. Finally, Pynchon has given a clue that helps to locate the narrative in real time, and it's the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. That means that this day can only be Monday, March 30. In order for that to be true, the "few days" that the Dart is in the shop (p. 180) must be more like a few weeks. 
Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. The only logical conclusion is that the story is in some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time for the first half of the book. 
The seventh day of the narrative, Tuesday, March 31, begins on page 117 as, '''Next morning, waiting for the coffee to percolate, Doc happened to glance out the window'''. This day ends with Doc and Penny watching Nixon's appearance at the Century Plaza Hotel at the end of Chapter 8 (page123). 

The ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1--April Fools Day--picks up at the beginning of Chapter 9 with Doc '''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' on page 124. It is significant that the visit to the Boards' zombie-infested mansion occurrs on April Fools Day. This day in the narrative continues until Doc, Denis, and Jade/Ashley escape from the zombies (page 136). 

The tenth day of the narrative begins on page 137. This would be April 2, a Thursday. On page 138, Doc asks a policeman at the Parker Center '''did he happen to catch that game with Phoenix'''? Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game. This day ends with Doc and Farley examining photos of Glen Charlock's murder (page 142). 

The eleventh day of the narrative begins immediately after with '''around lunchtime next day'''. It's Friday, April 3. Doc spends the day with Luz, and the narrative for this day ends as Luz leaves in the Super Sport (page 145). 

April 4, the twelfth day of the narrative begins immediately on page 145 with Doc '''Looking forward to a peaceful day at the office." This day comes to a close with Doc getting the All-Nighter Special on page 162 at the close of Chapter 10 

The thirteenth day of the narrative, April 5, a Sunday, begins at the start of Chapter 11. On page 175, there is a reference to rush hour traffic which seems odd for a Sunday. This day ends on page 180 when Japonica drops off Doc and Denis. 

The next paragraph begins '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart in the shop'''. The timeline gets broken here. From the end of the book to this point--from April 26 to May 8--the narrator has made it easy to follow the events of the book in real time. The narrator puts Doc to bed at night, gets him up in the morning, points out television shows and events. The only break is an "another day" inserted between May 4 and May 5. That makes a total of 14 days in the second half of the book. 
The first half of the book, thirteen days up to the "few days" the Dart was in the shop, can also be matched with real time events. For example, Doc's parents visit during a division semifinal game between the 76ers and the Bucks. That series was played from March 25 to April 3. That would mean that the Dart was in the shop for three weeks, from April 5 to April 26. Or that some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. 

In any case, the narrative resumes on its fourteenth day, probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. See below for an explanation of "probably". Since it is no longer to count days from the beginning of the book, one must now count days backwards from the conclusion, which will take place on May 8. On page 182, Tito says, '''I'll buy you lunch.''' This is probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. I say probably because it seems unlikely that Doc could have lunch with Tito, make a few phone calls, and drive to Ojai, getting there before lunchtime. The narrator has been pretty careful, though, from the end of the book to this point in noting the ends and beginnings of days. 

The fifteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 26, begins at the start of chapter 12, on page 186. On that page, Doc is said to be '''reaching the Ojai turnoff just before lunchtime'''. This day ends on page 197, with Denis describing the break-in at his apartment.

The sixteenth day of the narrative, Monday, April 27, begins on page 197 with Doc going into his office. On page 199, while Doc is arriving at the Tweedle house, ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'' is playing on a television, though listings for that day do not have the show airing. On page 200, '''''The Beverly Hillbillies'' rolled along toward ''Green Acres''''' even though these shows are not scheduled to appear this evening. Perhaps the reference is metaphorical, as both shows are about rubes and bumpkins. This day ends on page 206 with Doc's dream of being a child. 

Immediately, Doc wakes up on the seventeenth day of the narrative, Tuesday, April 28. On page 226, Doc mentions that '''there's the rent coming due and so forth''', a reasonable prevarication on the 28th. This day ends on page 232, as Doc '''headed for the other (bed) and must have made it.''' 

The narrative resumes early afternoon the next day, the eighteenth of the narrative, Wednesday, April 29. This day ends on page 246 with Doc watching ''Godzilligan's Island'' 

The nineteenth day of the narrative, April 30, begins on page 246, with Henry Kissinger on the ''Today'' show. This appearance is probably fictional. Richard Nixon was to give a speech announcing the invasion of Cambodia this evening, probably keepign Kissinger too busy to appear on television. This day ends with Tito driving Doc out of Las Vegas on page 249. 

May 1 is the twentieth day of the narrative. It begins with Doc and Tito continuing their drive '''in the first light''' on page 249. On page 250, Riggs Warbling has '''a couple weeks' start on a beard''', indicating that there is, in fact, a couple of weeks between the first and second halves of the story. Warbling's beard provides one of a few bridges between the first and second halves of IV, along with Rudy Blatnoyd's last appearance and murder, and the movies Doc sees while the Dart is in the shop. This day ends at the end of chapter 14, with Doc falling asleep as '''they were going over the Cajon Pass'''. 

The narrative resumes at the start of Chapter 15 '''Around nightfall''' of the twenty first day of the story, Saturday, May 2, 1970. On page 257 Doc has trouble recognizing Gordita Beach and its residents. Denis explains it as '''Some college break or something'''. As it is six days after Easter, this makes sense. Then '''Denis drifted off to watch Lawrence Welk'''. That fixes the time between 8:30 and 9:30 P.M. Tonight's show is a salute to the Kentucky Derby. On page 260, Bigfoot '''had been enjoying a quiet family evening...watching Lawrence Welk''' as well. On page 261, the narrator notes that the '''Saturday horror movie tonight was Val Lewton's ''I Walked with a Zombie'''''. The Pasadena Star-News TV Week section shows only one horror move on television this night--''The Crawling Hand''. Doc falls asleep in the middle, ending this day. 
The next day begins immediately on page 261, the twenty-second day of the story, Sunday, May 3. The Sunday ''Times'' shows up right on schedule. This day ends on page 274, at the end of Chapter 15. 
The twenty-third day of the narrative, Monday, May 4 begins at the start of Chapter 16 on page 275.
On page 280, the narrator mentions that '''Doc would have found his way to the TV set on some chance the playoffs, even though it was Eastern Division tonight, might still be on.''' The fifth game of the NBA finals was played in New York Monday, May 4, 1970. The Knicks won 107-100 over the Lakers. At eleven P.M., during the local news, Penny "snarls" at the television '''Give it a rest, Bugliosi'''. While the world of ''Inherent Vice'' is paying attention to the Manson case, it seems likely that the real world was covering today's killings of four students at Kent State University today. This day ends on page 281 with Penny crying while watching ''Ghidra, the Three-Headed Monster''. If you have an hour and a half to kill, you can download ''Ghidra'' for free from Google Video. 

The next day of the narrative, the twenty-fourth, begins immediately with the phrase '''The next day was as they say another day'''. It's another day in more than one way. Pynchon has inserted a day in between Monday, May 4, 1970 and Tuesday, May 5. This day continues until the end of chapter 17, a total of 34 pages, making it the day with the most pages in the book. 
The events of this day are unusual, to say the least. Most of Doc's encounters with women on this day are strange, to say the least. Rhus Frothing '''screamed and picked up a galvanized trash can prepared to throw it at Doc's head''' (p. 282). Farther down the page, the '''clock up on the wall...read some hour that it could possibly not be. Doc waited for the hands to move, but they didn't'''. This passage suggests that the events of this day occur outside of real time. 

On page 283, Doc gets the sealed file about Vincent Indelicato's killing and '''Adrian Prussia's strange history with the California Public Code'''. Doc realizes that he is being used by Bigfoot to avenge Indelicato's death. On page 285, Doc learns that Boris Spivey had been released from jail to work for Mickey Wolfmann. 

On page 287, Doc notes that '''something was strange, not only in the afternoon hush of the building but also in Petunia's demeanor'''. And she's not wearing underwear. Petunia has been acting as matchmaker for two of Doc's clients, Clancy Charlock and Tariq Khalil, who are having sex on the floor of Doc's office accompanied by the music from a ''Bonzo Dog Band'' record '''which to his recollection Doc didn't own'''. 

Tariq tells Doc the details of his deal with Glen Charlock. Later, a likeness of Thomas Jefferson counsels Doc on solving the case. 

Still later, Doc meets with Coy Harlington. Coy explains his history with Vigilant California, and with Shasta. Finally, Doc meets with Shasta. They have sex several times as she tells Doc about life with Wolfmann, recounts her kidnapping and escape, and tells Doc about meeting Coy and her involvement in his recruitment. Inexcplicably, Doc and Shasta watch a playoff game between the Knicks and the Lakers. 

In chapter 18, on page 315, '''it was still another classic day of California sunshine,''' the twenty-fifth day of the story,Tuesday, May 5. ''Inherent Vice'' is back in calendar time. This day continues until the middle of page 340. 

The twenty-sixth day of the narrative, Wednesday, May 6 begins on page 340 '''around noon'''. This day ends on page 348 with Doc and Crocker Fenway setting up a meeting the next day. 

The story doesn't resume until the next evening, the twenty-seventh day of the story, Thursday, May 7. May 7 is the Feast of the Ascension in 1970. Jesus Christ, having been resurrected, returns bodily to heaven on this day. This day is fixed at 40 days after Easter. This day ends at the bottom of page 353. 

The twenty-eighth and final day of ''Inherent Vice'' begins on page 354 with Doc's phone ringing. This day continues for the balance of the narrative.

Real Time and Narrative Time in Inherent Vice

2009-10-11T22:21:43Z

Redbarnlane: added page number

'''Real Time and Narrative Time in ''Inherent Vice''''' 

'''Note: 
This article is not complete. I will be adding quite a bit to it, including citations. I just wanted to get an early version up so that I would have something in place to edit. When I'm done, I will remove this note 

'''Note''': This article contains a large number of plot spoilers. If you have not yet read ''Inherent Vice'', please do so before reading this article.''' 

On page 74 of ''Inherent Vice'', Agent Borderline of the FBI tells Doc Sportello how he (wrongly) connected Doc to Glen Charlock's killing and Mickey Wolfmann's kidnapping by saying '''It's the chronology, really'''. On page 212, Bigfoot Bjornsen tells Doc (wrongly, again) that his information on dropping off Dr. Blatnoyd '''helps a little with the chronology'''. In a Thomas Pynchon novel, those are capital-C clues, and make taking a look at real time and narrative time worth a look. 

In fact, the chronology is difficult to figure out. The narrative centers on the phrase '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart''' on page 180. There is an unbroken time line from the beginning of the book to this point. There is also continuity of time from this point to the end of ''Inherrent Vice''. The gap of '''a few days''' is what's troublesome. 

The only events which allow one to assign real-time datesto the events in ''Inherent Vice'' are NBA playoff games. This may seem odd, as many events, such as the invasion of Cambodia and the killings of four students at Kent State University happen during the narrative frame of the story. The only news that seems to penetrate the Los Angeles of ''Inherent Vice'' concerns the Manson murders. Referring to ''Gravity's Rainbow'', [[Thomas_Pynchon|''another article'']] on this wiki notes that '''Pynchon's text enacts a type of dramatic irony whereby neither the characters nor the various narrative voices are aware of specific historical circumstances, such as the Holocaust, which are, however, very much to the forefront of the reader's understanding of this time in history. Such an approach generates dynamic tension and moments of acute self-consciousness, as both reader and author seem drawn ever deeper into the "plot", in various senses of that term. ''' That sort of dramatic irony seems to be used quite a bit in ''Inherent Vice''. 

''Inherent Vice'' begins on Tuesday, March 24, 1970. It's the Tuesday before Easter. The day, though not the date is noted on page 11 where '''This happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. The date is not fixed until page 113, where '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee.''' Pynchon has given a clue that locates the narrative in real time: the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. By counting days from the start of the book, it can be determined that the current day is a Monday. Hence, this day is Monday, March 30. Again, by counting days, it can be determined that the day the Dart goes into the shop on page 180 is Sunday, April 5. 

In order to assign real-world dates to the second half of ''Inherent Vice'', one must count backwards from the last day of the narrative. On page 364 '''the Lakers would lose Game 7 of the finals to the Knicks'''. This is one of the most famous games in NBA history, and it occurred on Friday, May 8, 1970. Counting the days backwards to page 180 when Doc '''finally went over to pick up his ride''', one can determine that this day is most likely Saturday, April 25. It's no more than one day away from that. 

That means that the Dart was in the shop for 20 days, which is difficult to reconcile with events in ''Inherent Vice''. Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. Perhaps some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. Japonica Fenway is singing that show's theme song just before the break in the narrative. It's also possible that Pynchon, in a novel whose themes include resurrection and redemption, wanted his story to begin a few days before Easter and end a day after the feast of the Ascension. This way, the narrative would mostly take place in the time Jesus Christ spent on Earth after his resurrection. It is a time the Bible is strangely quiet about. The Book of Mormon states that Christ spent much of this time in America. Mormons are closely associated with the FBI in ''Inherent Vice''.
Or, as another editor on this wiki has suggested, it's possible that ''' Pynchon, contrary to reputation but like most authors, hasn't been perfectly careful about the relationship between his story's timeline and the real calendar's.''' For those who would like to follow the story's timeline more closely, a guide to the timeline follows. 

'''Timeline for ''Inherent Vice'' 
''Inherent Vice'' begins on a Tuesday night. On page 11, the narrator states '''this happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. Later references to NBA playoff games will confirm that the date is March 24, 1970. It's Holy Tuesday, several days before Easter. 
The second day of the narrative, Wednesday, March 25, 1970, begins on page 12, '''when Doc finally woke up'''. This day is Holy Wednesday. 
The third day of the narrative, Thursday, March 26, begins on page 34, when Doc is '''At the office next day'''. This day is Holy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper. 
The beginning of Chapter 4 (page 50) marks the fourth day of the narrative, Friday, March 27--Good Friday. It is clearly the next day, as the narrator says, '''Today, after a deceptively sunny and uneventful spin'''. Los Angeles weather forecast for today call for clear skies. This day in the narrative ends at the end of Chapter 6 (page 87). 
The fifth day of the narrative, Saturday, March 28 begins on page 89 at the start of Chapter 7: '''Doc called Sancho next morning'''. This day is Holy Saturday, the day that Jesus Christ rested in his tomb. This day ends at the bottom of page 97. 
At the top of page 98, the narrator notes that '''Surnise was on the way''', marking the start of the sixth day of the narrative. It is Sunday, March 29, 1970, Easter Sunday. This day ends at the end of Chapter 7, with Doc returning from his acid trip. 
As Chapter 8 begins on page 111, there is no direct cue from the narrator that this the next day, but considering that Doc spent the last night tripping, and now Aunt Reet's office is open, it's safe to assume that this is the seventh day of the narrative, Monday, March 30. On page 113, '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee'''. Finally, Pynchon has given a clue that helps to locate the narrative in real time, and it's the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. That means that this day can only be Monday, March 30. In order for that to be true, the "few days" that the Dart is in the shop (p. 180) must be more like a few weeks. 
Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. The only logical conclusion is that the story is in some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time for the first half of the book. 
The seventh day of the narrative, Tuesday, March 31, begins on page 117 as, '''Next morning, waiting for the coffee to percolate, Doc happened to glance out the window'''. This day ends with Doc and Penny watching Nixon's appearance at the Century Plaza Hotel at the end of Chapter 8 (page123). 

The ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1--April Fools Day--picks up at the beginning of Chapter 9 with Doc '''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' on page 124. It is significant that the visit to the Boards' zombie-infested mansion occurrs on April Fools Day. This day in the narrative continues until Doc, Denis, and Jade/Ashley escape from the zombies (page 136). 

The tenth day of the narrative begins on page 137. This would be April 2, a Thursday. On page 138, Doc asks a policeman at the Parker Center '''did he happen to catch that game with Phoenix'''? Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game. This day ends with Doc and Farley examining photos of Glen Charlock's murder (page 142). 

The eleventh day of the narrative begins immediately after with '''around lunchtime next day'''. It's Friday, April 3. Doc spends the day with Luz, and the narrative for this day ends as Luz leaves in the Super Sport (page 145). 

April 4, the twelfth day of the narrative begins immediately on page 145 with Doc '''Looking forward to a peaceful day at the office." This day comes to a close with Doc getting the All-Nighter Special on page 162 at the close of Chapter 10 

The thirteenth day of the narrative, April 5, a Sunday, begins at the start of Chapter 11. On page 175, there is a reference to rush hour traffic which seems odd for a Sunday. This day ends on page 180 when Japonica drops off Doc and Denis. 

The next paragraph begins '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart in the shop'''. The timeline gets broken here. From the end of the book to this point--from April 26 to May 8--the narrator has made it easy to follow the events of the book in real time. The narrator puts Doc to bed at night, gets him up in the morning, points out television shows and events. The only break is an "another day" inserted between May 4 and May 5. That makes a total of 14 days in the second half of the book. 
The first half of the book, thirteen days up to the "few days" the Dart was in the shop, can also be matched with real time events. For example, Doc's parents visit during a division semifinal game between the 76ers and the Bucks. That series was played from March 25 to April 3. That would mean that the Dart was in the shop for three weeks, from April 5 to April 26. Or that some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. 

In any case, the narrative resumes on its fourteenth day, probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. See below for an explanation of "probably". Since it is no longer to count days from the beginning of the book, one must now count days backwards from the conclusion, which will take place on May 8. On page 182, Tito says, '''I'll buy you lunch.''' This is probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. I say probably because it seems unlikely that Doc could have lunch with Tito, make a few phone calls, and drive to Ojai, getting there before lunchtime. The narrator has been pretty careful, though, from the end of the book to this point in noting the ends and beginnings of days. 

The fifteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 26, begins at the start of chapter 12, on page 186. On that page, Doc is said to be '''reaching the Ojai turnoff just before lunchtime'''. This day ends on page 197, with Denis describing the break-in at his apartment.

The sixteenth day of the narrative, Monday, April 27, begins on page 197 with Doc going into his office. On page 199, while Doc is arriving at the Tweedle house, ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'' is playing on a television, though listings for that day do not have the show airing. On page 200, '''''The Beverly Hillbillies'' rolled along toward ''Green Acres''''' even though these shows are not scheduled to appear this evening. Perhaps the reference is metaphorical, as both shows are about rubes and bumpkins. This day ends on page 206 with Doc's dream of being a child. 

Immediately, Doc wakes up on the seventeenth day of the narrative, Tuesday, April 28. On page 226, Doc mentions that '''there's the rent coming due and so forth''', a reasonable prevarication on the 28th. This day ends on page 232, as Doc '''headed for the other (bed) and must have made it.''' 

The narrative resumes early afternoon the next day, the eighteenth of the narrative, Wednesday, April 29. This day ends on page 246 with Doc watching ''Godzilligan's Island'' 

The nineteenth day of the narrative, April 30, begins on page 246, with Henry Kissinger on the ''Today'' show. This appearance is probably fictional. Richard Nixon was to give a speech announcing the invasion of Cambodia this evening, probably keepign Kissinger too busy to appear on television. This day ends with Tito driving Doc out of Las Vegas on page 249. 

May 1 is the twentieth day of the narrative. It begins with Doc and Tito continuing their drive '''in the first light''' on page 249. On page 250, Riggs Warbling has '''a couple weeks' start on a beard''', indicating that there is, in fact, a couple of weeks between the first and second halves of the story. Warbling's beard provides one of a few bridges between the first and second halves of IV, along with Rudy Blatnoyd's last appearance and murder, and the movies Doc sees while the Dart is in the shop. This day ends at the end of chapter 14, with Doc falling asleep as '''they were going over the Cajon Pass'''. 

The narrative resumes at the start of Chapter 15 '''Around nightfall''' of the twenty first day of the story, Saturday, May 2, 1970. On page 257 Doc has trouble recognizing Gordita Beach and its residents. Denis explains it as '''Some college break or something'''. As it is six days after Easter, this makes sense. Then '''Denis drifted off to watch Lawrence Welk'''. That fixes the time between 8:30 and 9:30 P.M. Tonight's show is a salute to the Kentucky Derby. On page 260, Bigfoot '''had been enjoying a quiet family evening...watching Lawrence Welk''' as well. On page 261, the narrator notes that the '''Saturday horror movie tonight was Val Lewton's ''I Walked with a Zombie'''''. The Pasadena Star-News TV Week section shows only one horror move on television this night--''The Crawling Hand''. Doc falls asleep in the middle, ending this day. 
The next day begins immediately on page 261, the twenty-second day of the story, Sunday, May 3. The Sunday ''Times'' shows up right on schedule. This day ends on page 274, at the end of Chapter 15. 
The twenty-third day of the narrative, Monday, May 4 begins at the start of Chapter 16 on page 275.
On page 280, the narrator mentions that '''Doc would have found his way to the TV set on some chance the playoffs, even though it was Eastern Division tonight, might still be on.''' The fifth game of the NBA finals was played in New York Monday, May 4, 1970. The Knicks won 107-100 over the Lakers. At eleven P.M., during the local news, Penny "snarls" at the television '''Give it a rest, Bugliosi'''. While the world of ''Inherent Vice'' is paying attention to the Manson case, it seems likely that the real world was covering today's killings of four students at Kent State University today. This day ends on page 281 with Penny crying while watching ''Ghidra, the Three-Headed Monster''. If you have an hour and a half to kill, you can download ''Ghidra'' for free from Google Video. 

The next day of the narrative, the twenty-fourth, begins immediately with the phrase '''The next day was as they say another day'''. It's another day in more than one way. Pynchon has inserted a day in between Monday, May 4, 1970 and Tuesday, May 5. This day continues until the end of chapter 17, a total of 34 pages, making it the day with the most pages in the book. 
The events of this day are unusual, to say the least. Most of Doc's encounters with women on this day are strange, to say the least. Rhus Frothing '''screamed and picked up a galvanized trash can prepared to throw it at Doc's head''' (p. 282). Farther down the page, the '''clock up on the wall...read some hour that it could possibly not be. Doc waited for the hands to move, but they didn't'''. This passage suggests that the events of this day occur outside of real time. 

On page 283, Doc gets the sealed file about Vincent Indelicato's killing and '''Adrian Prussia's strange history with the California Public Code'''. Doc realizes that he is being used by Bigfoot to avenge Indelicato's death. On page 285, Doc learns that Boris Spivey had been released from jail to work for Mickey Wolfmann. 

On page 287, Doc notes that '''something was strange, not only in the afternoon hush of the building but also in Petunia's demeanor'''. And she's not wearing underwear. Petunia has been acting as matchmaker for two of Doc's clients, Clancy Charlock and Tariq Khalil, who are having sex on the floor of Doc's office accompanied by the music from a ''Bonzo Dog Band'' record '''which to his recollection Doc didn't own'''. 

Tariq tells Doc the details of his deal with Glen Charlock. Later, a likeness of Thomas Jefferson counsels Doc on solving the case. 

Still later, Doc meets with Coy Harlington. Coy explains his history with Vigilant California, and with Shasta. Finally, Doc meets with Shasta. They have sex several times as she tells Doc about life with Wolfmann, recounts her kidnapping and escape, and tells Doc about meeting Coy and her involvement in his recruitment. Inexcplicably, Doc and Shasta watch a playoff game between the Knicks and the Lakers. 

In chapter 18, on page 315, '''it was still another classic day of California sunshine,''' the twenty-fifth day of the story,Tuesday, May 5. ''Inherent Vice'' is back in calendar time. This day continues until the middle of page 340. 

The twenty-sixth day of the narrative, Wednesday, May 6 begins on page 340 '''around noon'''. This day ends on page 348 with Doc and Crocker Fenway setting up a meeting the next day. 

The story doesn't resume until the next evening, the twenty-seventh day of the story, Thursday, May 7. May 7 is the Feast of the Ascension in 1970. Jesus Christ, having been resurrected, returns bodily to heaven on this day. This day is fixed at 40 days after Easter. This day ends at the bottom of page 353. 

The twenty-eighth and final day of ''Inherent Vice'' begins on page 354 with Doc's phone ringing. This day continues for the balance of the narrative.

Real Time and Narrative Time in Inherent Vice

2009-10-11T22:20:29Z

Redbarnlane: typo

'''Real Time and Narrative Time in ''Inherent Vice''''' 

'''Note: 
This article is not complete. I will be adding quite a bit to it, including citations. I just wanted to get an early version up so that I would have something in place to edit. When I'm done, I will remove this note 

'''Note''': This article contains a large number of plot spoilers. If you have not yet read ''Inherent Vice'', please do so before reading this article.''' 

On page 74 of ''Inherent Vice'', Agent Borderline of the FBI tells Doc Sportello how he (wrongly) connected Doc to Glen Charlock's killing and Mickey Wolfmann's kidnapping by saying '''It's the chronology, really'''. On page 212, Bigfoot Bjornsen tells Doc (wrongly, again) that his information on dropping off Dr. Blatnoyd '''helps a little with the chronology'''. In a Thomas Pynchon novel, those are capital-C clues, and make taking a look at real time and narrative time worth a look. 

In fact, the chronology is difficult to figure out. The narrative centers on the phrase '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart'''. There is an unbroken time line from the beginning of the book to this point. There is also continuity of time from this point to the end of ''Inherrent Vice''. The gap of '''a few days''' is what's troublesome. 

The only events which allow one to assign real-time datesto the events in ''Inherent Vice'' are NBA playoff games. This may seem odd, as many events, such as the invasion of Cambodia and the killings of four students at Kent State University happen during the narrative frame of the story. The only news that seems to penetrate the Los Angeles of ''Inherent Vice'' concerns the Manson murders. Referring to ''Gravity's Rainbow'', [[Thomas_Pynchon|''another article'']] on this wiki notes that '''Pynchon's text enacts a type of dramatic irony whereby neither the characters nor the various narrative voices are aware of specific historical circumstances, such as the Holocaust, which are, however, very much to the forefront of the reader's understanding of this time in history. Such an approach generates dynamic tension and moments of acute self-consciousness, as both reader and author seem drawn ever deeper into the "plot", in various senses of that term. ''' That sort of dramatic irony seems to be used quite a bit in ''Inherent Vice''. 

''Inherent Vice'' begins on Tuesday, March 24, 1970. It's the Tuesday before Easter. The day, though not the date is noted on page 11 where '''This happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. The date is not fixed until page 113, where '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee.''' Pynchon has given a clue that locates the narrative in real time: the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. By counting days from the start of the book, it can be determined that the current day is a Monday. Hence, this day is Monday, March 30. Again, by counting days, it can be determined that the day the Dart goes into the shop on page 180 is Sunday, April 5. 

In order to assign real-world dates to the second half of ''Inherent Vice'', one must count backwards from the last day of the narrative. On page 364 '''the Lakers would lose Game 7 of the finals to the Knicks'''. This is one of the most famous games in NBA history, and it occurred on Friday, May 8, 1970. Counting the days backwards to page 180 when Doc '''finally went over to pick up his ride''', one can determine that this day is most likely Saturday, April 25. It's no more than one day away from that. 

That means that the Dart was in the shop for 20 days, which is difficult to reconcile with events in ''Inherent Vice''. Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. Perhaps some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. Japonica Fenway is singing that show's theme song just before the break in the narrative. It's also possible that Pynchon, in a novel whose themes include resurrection and redemption, wanted his story to begin a few days before Easter and end a day after the feast of the Ascension. This way, the narrative would mostly take place in the time Jesus Christ spent on Earth after his resurrection. It is a time the Bible is strangely quiet about. The Book of Mormon states that Christ spent much of this time in America. Mormons are closely associated with the FBI in ''Inherent Vice''.
Or, as another editor on this wiki has suggested, it's possible that ''' Pynchon, contrary to reputation but like most authors, hasn't been perfectly careful about the relationship between his story's timeline and the real calendar's.''' For those who would like to follow the story's timeline more closely, a guide to the timeline follows. 

'''Timeline for ''Inherent Vice'' 
''Inherent Vice'' begins on a Tuesday night. On page 11, the narrator states '''this happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. Later references to NBA playoff games will confirm that the date is March 24, 1970. It's Holy Tuesday, several days before Easter. 
The second day of the narrative, Wednesday, March 25, 1970, begins on page 12, '''when Doc finally woke up'''. This day is Holy Wednesday. 
The third day of the narrative, Thursday, March 26, begins on page 34, when Doc is '''At the office next day'''. This day is Holy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper. 
The beginning of Chapter 4 (page 50) marks the fourth day of the narrative, Friday, March 27--Good Friday. It is clearly the next day, as the narrator says, '''Today, after a deceptively sunny and uneventful spin'''. Los Angeles weather forecast for today call for clear skies. This day in the narrative ends at the end of Chapter 6 (page 87). 
The fifth day of the narrative, Saturday, March 28 begins on page 89 at the start of Chapter 7: '''Doc called Sancho next morning'''. This day is Holy Saturday, the day that Jesus Christ rested in his tomb. This day ends at the bottom of page 97. 
At the top of page 98, the narrator notes that '''Surnise was on the way''', marking the start of the sixth day of the narrative. It is Sunday, March 29, 1970, Easter Sunday. This day ends at the end of Chapter 7, with Doc returning from his acid trip. 
As Chapter 8 begins on page 111, there is no direct cue from the narrator that this the next day, but considering that Doc spent the last night tripping, and now Aunt Reet's office is open, it's safe to assume that this is the seventh day of the narrative, Monday, March 30. On page 113, '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee'''. Finally, Pynchon has given a clue that helps to locate the narrative in real time, and it's the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. That means that this day can only be Monday, March 30. In order for that to be true, the "few days" that the Dart is in the shop (p. 180) must be more like a few weeks. 
Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. The only logical conclusion is that the story is in some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time for the first half of the book. 
The seventh day of the narrative, Tuesday, March 31, begins on page 117 as, '''Next morning, waiting for the coffee to percolate, Doc happened to glance out the window'''. This day ends with Doc and Penny watching Nixon's appearance at the Century Plaza Hotel at the end of Chapter 8 (page123). 

The ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1--April Fools Day--picks up at the beginning of Chapter 9 with Doc '''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' on page 124. It is significant that the visit to the Boards' zombie-infested mansion occurrs on April Fools Day. This day in the narrative continues until Doc, Denis, and Jade/Ashley escape from the zombies (page 136). 

The tenth day of the narrative begins on page 137. This would be April 2, a Thursday. On page 138, Doc asks a policeman at the Parker Center '''did he happen to catch that game with Phoenix'''? Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game. This day ends with Doc and Farley examining photos of Glen Charlock's murder (page 142). 

The eleventh day of the narrative begins immediately after with '''around lunchtime next day'''. It's Friday, April 3. Doc spends the day with Luz, and the narrative for this day ends as Luz leaves in the Super Sport (page 145). 

April 4, the twelfth day of the narrative begins immediately on page 145 with Doc '''Looking forward to a peaceful day at the office." This day comes to a close with Doc getting the All-Nighter Special on page 162 at the close of Chapter 10 

The thirteenth day of the narrative, April 5, a Sunday, begins at the start of Chapter 11. On page 175, there is a reference to rush hour traffic which seems odd for a Sunday. This day ends on page 180 when Japonica drops off Doc and Denis. 

The next paragraph begins '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart in the shop'''. The timeline gets broken here. From the end of the book to this point--from April 26 to May 8--the narrator has made it easy to follow the events of the book in real time. The narrator puts Doc to bed at night, gets him up in the morning, points out television shows and events. The only break is an "another day" inserted between May 4 and May 5. That makes a total of 14 days in the second half of the book. 
The first half of the book, thirteen days up to the "few days" the Dart was in the shop, can also be matched with real time events. For example, Doc's parents visit during a division semifinal game between the 76ers and the Bucks. That series was played from March 25 to April 3. That would mean that the Dart was in the shop for three weeks, from April 5 to April 26. Or that some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. 

In any case, the narrative resumes on its fourteenth day, probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. See below for an explanation of "probably". Since it is no longer to count days from the beginning of the book, one must now count days backwards from the conclusion, which will take place on May 8. On page 182, Tito says, '''I'll buy you lunch.''' This is probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. I say probably because it seems unlikely that Doc could have lunch with Tito, make a few phone calls, and drive to Ojai, getting there before lunchtime. The narrator has been pretty careful, though, from the end of the book to this point in noting the ends and beginnings of days. 

The fifteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 26, begins at the start of chapter 12, on page 186. On that page, Doc is said to be '''reaching the Ojai turnoff just before lunchtime'''. This day ends on page 197, with Denis describing the break-in at his apartment.

The sixteenth day of the narrative, Monday, April 27, begins on page 197 with Doc going into his office. On page 199, while Doc is arriving at the Tweedle house, ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'' is playing on a television, though listings for that day do not have the show airing. On page 200, '''''The Beverly Hillbillies'' rolled along toward ''Green Acres''''' even though these shows are not scheduled to appear this evening. Perhaps the reference is metaphorical, as both shows are about rubes and bumpkins. This day ends on page 206 with Doc's dream of being a child. 

Immediately, Doc wakes up on the seventeenth day of the narrative, Tuesday, April 28. On page 226, Doc mentions that '''there's the rent coming due and so forth''', a reasonable prevarication on the 28th. This day ends on page 232, as Doc '''headed for the other (bed) and must have made it.''' 

The narrative resumes early afternoon the next day, the eighteenth of the narrative, Wednesday, April 29. This day ends on page 246 with Doc watching ''Godzilligan's Island'' 

The nineteenth day of the narrative, April 30, begins on page 246, with Henry Kissinger on the ''Today'' show. This appearance is probably fictional. Richard Nixon was to give a speech announcing the invasion of Cambodia this evening, probably keepign Kissinger too busy to appear on television. This day ends with Tito driving Doc out of Las Vegas on page 249. 

May 1 is the twentieth day of the narrative. It begins with Doc and Tito continuing their drive '''in the first light''' on page 249. On page 250, Riggs Warbling has '''a couple weeks' start on a beard''', indicating that there is, in fact, a couple of weeks between the first and second halves of the story. Warbling's beard provides one of a few bridges between the first and second halves of IV, along with Rudy Blatnoyd's last appearance and murder, and the movies Doc sees while the Dart is in the shop. This day ends at the end of chapter 14, with Doc falling asleep as '''they were going over the Cajon Pass'''. 

The narrative resumes at the start of Chapter 15 '''Around nightfall''' of the twenty first day of the story, Saturday, May 2, 1970. On page 257 Doc has trouble recognizing Gordita Beach and its residents. Denis explains it as '''Some college break or something'''. As it is six days after Easter, this makes sense. Then '''Denis drifted off to watch Lawrence Welk'''. That fixes the time between 8:30 and 9:30 P.M. Tonight's show is a salute to the Kentucky Derby. On page 260, Bigfoot '''had been enjoying a quiet family evening...watching Lawrence Welk''' as well. On page 261, the narrator notes that the '''Saturday horror movie tonight was Val Lewton's ''I Walked with a Zombie'''''. The Pasadena Star-News TV Week section shows only one horror move on television this night--''The Crawling Hand''. Doc falls asleep in the middle, ending this day. 
The next day begins immediately on page 261, the twenty-second day of the story, Sunday, May 3. The Sunday ''Times'' shows up right on schedule. This day ends on page 274, at the end of Chapter 15. 
The twenty-third day of the narrative, Monday, May 4 begins at the start of Chapter 16 on page 275.
On page 280, the narrator mentions that '''Doc would have found his way to the TV set on some chance the playoffs, even though it was Eastern Division tonight, might still be on.''' The fifth game of the NBA finals was played in New York Monday, May 4, 1970. The Knicks won 107-100 over the Lakers. At eleven P.M., during the local news, Penny "snarls" at the television '''Give it a rest, Bugliosi'''. While the world of ''Inherent Vice'' is paying attention to the Manson case, it seems likely that the real world was covering today's killings of four students at Kent State University today. This day ends on page 281 with Penny crying while watching ''Ghidra, the Three-Headed Monster''. If you have an hour and a half to kill, you can download ''Ghidra'' for free from Google Video. 

The next day of the narrative, the twenty-fourth, begins immediately with the phrase '''The next day was as they say another day'''. It's another day in more than one way. Pynchon has inserted a day in between Monday, May 4, 1970 and Tuesday, May 5. This day continues until the end of chapter 17, a total of 34 pages, making it the day with the most pages in the book. 
The events of this day are unusual, to say the least. Most of Doc's encounters with women on this day are strange, to say the least. Rhus Frothing '''screamed and picked up a galvanized trash can prepared to throw it at Doc's head''' (p. 282). Farther down the page, the '''clock up on the wall...read some hour that it could possibly not be. Doc waited for the hands to move, but they didn't'''. This passage suggests that the events of this day occur outside of real time. 

On page 283, Doc gets the sealed file about Vincent Indelicato's killing and '''Adrian Prussia's strange history with the California Public Code'''. Doc realizes that he is being used by Bigfoot to avenge Indelicato's death. On page 285, Doc learns that Boris Spivey had been released from jail to work for Mickey Wolfmann. 

On page 287, Doc notes that '''something was strange, not only in the afternoon hush of the building but also in Petunia's demeanor'''. And she's not wearing underwear. Petunia has been acting as matchmaker for two of Doc's clients, Clancy Charlock and Tariq Khalil, who are having sex on the floor of Doc's office accompanied by the music from a ''Bonzo Dog Band'' record '''which to his recollection Doc didn't own'''. 

Tariq tells Doc the details of his deal with Glen Charlock. Later, a likeness of Thomas Jefferson counsels Doc on solving the case. 

Still later, Doc meets with Coy Harlington. Coy explains his history with Vigilant California, and with Shasta. Finally, Doc meets with Shasta. They have sex several times as she tells Doc about life with Wolfmann, recounts her kidnapping and escape, and tells Doc about meeting Coy and her involvement in his recruitment. Inexcplicably, Doc and Shasta watch a playoff game between the Knicks and the Lakers. 

In chapter 18, on page 315, '''it was still another classic day of California sunshine,''' the twenty-fifth day of the story,Tuesday, May 5. ''Inherent Vice'' is back in calendar time. This day continues until the middle of page 340. 

The twenty-sixth day of the narrative, Wednesday, May 6 begins on page 340 '''around noon'''. This day ends on page 348 with Doc and Crocker Fenway setting up a meeting the next day. 

The story doesn't resume until the next evening, the twenty-seventh day of the story, Thursday, May 7. May 7 is the Feast of the Ascension in 1970. Jesus Christ, having been resurrected, returns bodily to heaven on this day. This day is fixed at 40 days after Easter. This day ends at the bottom of page 353. 

The twenty-eighth and final day of ''Inherent Vice'' begins on page 354 with Doc's phone ringing. This day continues for the balance of the narrative.

Real Time and Narrative Time in Inherent Vice

2009-10-11T22:08:48Z

Redbarnlane: timeline article

'''Real Time and Narrative Time in ''Inherent Vice''''' 

'''Note: 
This article is not complete. I will be adding quite a bit to it, including citations. I just wanted to get an early version up so that I would have something in place to edit. When I'm done, I will remove this note 

Note: This article contains a large number of plot spoilers. If you have not yet read ''Inherent Vice'', please do so before reading this article.''' 

On page 74 of ''Inherent Vice'', Agent Borderline of the FBI tells Doc Sportello how he (wrongly) connected Doc to Glen Charlock's killing and Mickey Wolfmann's kidnapping by saying '''It's the chronology, really'''. On page 212, Bigfoot Bjornsen tells Doc (wrongly, again) that his information on dropping off Dr. Blatnoyd '''helps a little with the chronology'''. In a Thomas Pynchon novel, those are capital-C clues, and make taking a look at real time and narrative time worth a look. 

In fact, the chronology is difficult to figure out. The narrative centers on the phrase '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart'''. There is an unbroken time line from the beginning of the book to this point. There is also continuity of time from this point to the end of ''Inherrent Vice''. The gap of '''a few days''' is what's troublesome. 

The only events which allow one to assign real-time datesto the events in ''Inherent Vice'' are NBA playoff games. This may seem odd, as many events, such as the invasion of Cambodia and the killings of four students at Kent State University happen during the narrative frame of the story. The only news that seems to penetrate the Los Angeles of ''Inherent Vice'' concerns the Manson murders. Referring to ''Gravity's Rainbow'', [[Thomas_Pynchon|''another article'']] on this wiki notes that '''Pynchon's text enacts a type of dramatic irony whereby neither the characters nor the various narrative voices are aware of specific historical circumstances, such as the Holocaust, which are, however, very much to the forefront of the reader's understanding of this time in history. Such an approach generates dynamic tension and moments of acute self-consciousness, as both reader and author seem drawn ever deeper into the "plot", in various senses of that term. ''' That sort of dramatic irony seems to be used quite a bit in ''Inherent Vice''. 

''Inherent Vice'' begins on Tuesday, March 24, 1970. It's the Tuesday before Easter. The day, though not the date is noted on page 11 where '''This happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. The date is not fixed until page 113, where '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee.''' Pynchon has given a clue that locates the narrative in real time: the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. By counting days from the start of the book, it can be determined that the current day is a Monday. Hence, this day is Monday, March 30. Again, by counting days, it can be determined that the day the Dart goes into the shop on page 180 is Sunday, April 5. 

In order to assign real-world dates to the second half of ''Inherent Vice'', one must count backwards from the last day of the narrative. On page 364 '''the Lakers would lose Game 7 of the finals to the Knicks'''. This is one of the most famous games in NBA history, and it occurred on Friday, May 8, 1970. Counting the days backwards to page 180 when Doc '''finally went over to pick up his ride''', one can determine that this day is most likely Saturday, April 25. It's no more than one day away from that. 

That means that the Dart was in the shop for 20 days, which is difficult to reconcile with events in ''Inherent Vice''. Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. Perhaps some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. Japonica Fenway is singing that show's theme song just before the break in the narrative. It's also possible that Pynchon, in a novel whose themes include resurrection and redemption, wanted his story to begin a few days before Easter and end a day after the feast of the Ascension. This way, the narrative would mostly take place in the time Jesus Christ spent on Earth after his resurrection. It is a time the Bible is strangely quiet about. The Book of Mormon states that Christ spent much of this time in America. Mormons are closely associated with the FBI in ''Inherent Vice''.
Or, as another editor on this wiki has suggested, it's possible that ''' Pynchon, contrary to reputation but like most authors, hasn't been perfectly careful about the relationship between his story's timeline and the real calendar's.''' For those who would like to follow the story's timeline more closely, a guide to the timeline follows. 

'''Timeline for ''Inherent Vice'' 
''Inherent Vice'' begins on a Tuesday night. On page 11, the narrator states '''this happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday'''. Later references to NBA playoff games will confirm that the date is March 24, 1970. It's Holy Tuesday, several days before Easter. 
The second day of the narrative, Wednesday, March 25, 1970, begins on page 12, '''when Doc finally woke up'''. This day is Holy Wednesday. 
The third day of the narrative, Thursday, March 26, begins on page 34, when Doc is '''At the office next day'''. This day is Holy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper. 
The beginning of Chapter 4 (page 50) marks the fourth day of the narrative, Friday, March 27--Good Friday. It is clearly the next day, as the narrator says, '''Today, after a deceptively sunny and uneventful spin'''. Los Angeles weather forecast for today call for clear skies. This day in the narrative ends at the end of Chapter 6 (page 87). 
The fifth day of the narrative, Saturday, March 28 begins on page 89 at the start of Chapter 7: '''Doc called Sancho next morning'''. This day is Holy Saturday, the day that Jesus Christ rested in his tomb. This day ends at the bottom of page 97. 
At the top of page 98, the narrator notes that '''Surnise was on the way''', marking the start of the sixth day of the narrative. It is Sunday, March 29, 1970, Easter Sunday. This day ends at the end of Chapter 7, with Doc returning from his acid trip. 
As Chapter 8 begins on page 111, there is no direct cue from the narrator that this the next day, but considering that Doc spent the last night tripping, and now Aunt Reet's office is open, it's safe to assume that this is the seventh day of the narrative, Monday, March 30. On page 113, '''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee'''. Finally, Pynchon has given a clue that helps to locate the narrative in real time, and it's the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. That means that this day can only be Monday, March 30. In order for that to be true, the "few days" that the Dart is in the shop (p. 180) must be more like a few weeks. 
Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. The only logical conclusion is that the story is in some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time for the first half of the book. 
The seventh day of the narrative, Tuesday, March 31, begins on page 117 as, '''Next morning, waiting for the coffee to percolate, Doc happened to glance out the window'''. This day ends with Doc and Penny watching Nixon's appearance at the Century Plaza Hotel at the end of Chapter 8 (page123). 

The ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1--April Fools Day--picks up at the beginning of Chapter 9 with Doc '''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' on page 124. It is significant that the visit to the Boards' zombie-infested mansion occurrs on April Fools Day. This day in the narrative continues until Doc, Denis, and Jade/Ashley escape from the zombies (page 136). 

The tenth day of the narrative begins on page 137. This would be April 2, a Thursday. On page 138, Doc asks a policeman at the Parker Center '''did he happen to catch that game with Phoenix'''? Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game. This day ends with Doc and Farley examining photos of Glen Charlock's murder (page 142). 

The eleventh day of the narrative begins immediately after with '''around lunchtime next day'''. It's Friday, April 3. Doc spends the day with Luz, and the narrative for this day ends as Luz leaves in the Super Sport (page 145). 

April 4, the twelfth day of the narrative begins immediately on page 145 with Doc '''Looking forward to a peaceful day at the office." This day comes to a close with Doc getting the All-Nighter Special on page 162 at the close of Chapter 10 

The thirteenth day of the narrative, April 5, a Sunday, begins at the start of Chapter 11. On page 175, there is a reference to rush hour traffic which seems odd for a Sunday. This day ends on page 180 when Japonica drops off Doc and Denis. 

The next paragraph begins '''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart in the shop'''. The timeline gets broken here. From the end of the book to this point--from April 26 to May 8--the narrator has made it easy to follow the events of the book in real time. The narrator puts Doc to bed at night, gets him up in the morning, points out television shows and events. The only break is an "another day" inserted between May 4 and May 5. That makes a total of 14 days in the second half of the book. 
The first half of the book, thirteen days up to the "few days" the Dart was in the shop, can also be matched with real time events. For example, Doc's parents visit during a division semifinal game between the 76ers and the Bucks. That series was played from March 25 to April 3. That would mean that the Dart was in the shop for three weeks, from April 5 to April 26. Or that some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time is at work. 

In any case, the narrative resumes on its fourteenth day, probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. See below for an explanation of "probably". Since it is no longer to count days from the beginning of the book, one must now count days backwards from the conclusion, which will take place on May 8. On page 182, Tito says, '''I'll buy you lunch.''' This is probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. I say probably because it seems unlikely that Doc could have lunch with Tito, make a few phone calls, and drive to Ojai, getting there before lunchtime. The narrator has been pretty careful, though, from the end of the book to this point in noting the ends and beginnings of days. 

The fifteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 26, begins at the start of chapter 12, on page 186. On that page, Doc is said to be '''reaching the Ojai turnoff just before lunchtime'''. This day ends on page 197, with Denis describing the break-in at his apartment.

The sixteenth day of the narrative, Monday, April 27, begins on page 197 with Doc going into his office. On page 199, while Doc is arriving at the Tweedle house, ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'' is playing on a television, though listings for that day do not have the show airing. On page 200, '''''The Beverly Hillbillies'' rolled along toward ''Green Acres''''' even though these shows are not scheduled to appear this evening. Perhaps the reference is metaphorical, as both shows are about rubes and bumpkins. This day ends on page 206 with Doc's dream of being a child. 

Immediately, Doc wakes up on the seventeenth day of the narrative, Tuesday, April 28. On page 226, Doc mentions that '''there's the rent coming due and so forth''', a reasonable prevarication on the 28th. This day ends on page 232, as Doc '''headed for the other (bed) and must have made it.''' 

The narrative resumes early afternoon the next day, the eighteenth of the narrative, Wednesday, April 29. This day ends on page 246 with Doc watching ''Godzilligan's Island'' 

The nineteenth day of the narrative, April 30, begins on page 246, with Henry Kissinger on the ''Today'' show. This appearance is probably fictional. Richard Nixon was to give a speech announcing the invasion of Cambodia this evening, probably keepign Kissinger too busy to appear on television. This day ends with Tito driving Doc out of Las Vegas on page 249. 

May 1 is the twentieth day of the narrative. It begins with Doc and Tito continuing their drive '''in the first light''' on page 249. On page 250, Riggs Warbling has '''a couple weeks' start on a beard''', indicating that there is, in fact, a couple of weeks between the first and second halves of the story. Warbling's beard provides one of a few bridges between the first and second halves of IV, along with Rudy Blatnoyd's last appearance and murder, and the movies Doc sees while the Dart is in the shop. This day ends at the end of chapter 14, with Doc falling asleep as '''they were going over the Cajon Pass'''. 

The narrative resumes at the start of Chapter 15 '''Around nightfall''' of the twenty first day of the story, Saturday, May 2, 1970. On page 257 Doc has trouble recognizing Gordita Beach and its residents. Denis explains it as '''Some college break or something'''. As it is six days after Easter, this makes sense. Then '''Denis drifted off to watch Lawrence Welk'''. That fixes the time between 8:30 and 9:30 P.M. Tonight's show is a salute to the Kentucky Derby. On page 260, Bigfoot '''had been enjoying a quiet family evening...watching Lawrence Welk''' as well. On page 261, the narrator notes that the '''Saturday horror movie tonight was Val Lewton's ''I Walked with a Zombie'''''. The Pasadena Star-News TV Week section shows only one horror move on television this night--''The Crawling Hand''. Doc falls asleep in the middle, ending this day. 
The next day begins immediately on page 261, the twenty-second day of the story, Sunday, May 3. The Sunday ''Times'' shows up right on schedule. This day ends on page 274, at the end of Chapter 15. 
The twenty-third day of the narrative, Monday, May 4 begins at the start of Chapter 16 on page 275.
On page 280, the narrator mentions that '''Doc would have found his way to the TV set on some chance the playoffs, even though it was Eastern Division tonight, might still be on.''' The fifth game of the NBA finals was played in New York Monday, May 4, 1970. The Knicks won 107-100 over the Lakers. At eleven P.M., during the local news, Penny "snarls" at the television '''Give it a rest, Bugliosi'''. While the world of ''Inherent Vice'' is paying attention to the Manson case, it seems likely that the real world was covering today's killings of four students at Kent State University today. This day ends on page 281 with Penny crying while watching ''Ghidra, the Three-Headed Monster''. If you have an hour and a half to kill, you can download ''Ghidra'' for free from Google Video. 

The next day of the narrative, the twenty-fourth, begins immediately with the phrase '''The next day was as they say another day'''. It's another day in more than one way. Pynchon has inserted a day in between Monday, May 4, 1970 and Tuesday, May 5. This day continues until the end of chapter 17, a total of 34 pages, making it the day with the most pages in the book. 
The events of this day are unusual, to say the least. Most of Doc's encounters with women on this day are strange, to say the least. Rhus Frothing '''screamed and picked up a galvanized trash can prepared to throw it at Doc's head''' (p. 282). Farther down the page, the '''clock up on the wall...read some hour that it could possibly not be. Doc waited for the hands to move, but they didn't'''. This passage suggests that the events of this day occur outside of real time. 

On page 283, Doc gets the sealed file about Vincent Indelicato's killing and '''Adrian Prussia's strange history with the California Public Code'''. Doc realizes that he is being used by Bigfoot to avenge Indelicato's death. On page 285, Doc learns that Boris Spivey had been released from jail to work for Mickey Wolfmann. 

On page 287, Doc notes that '''something was strange, not only in the afternoon hush of the building but also in Petunia's demeanor'''. And she's not wearing underwear. Petunia has been acting as matchmaker for two of Doc's clients, Clancy Charlock and Tariq Khalil, who are having sex on the floor of Doc's office accompanied by the music from a ''Bonzo Dog Band'' record '''which to his recollection Doc didn't own'''. 

Tariq tells Doc the details of his deal with Glen Charlock. Later, a likeness of Thomas Jefferson counsels Doc on solving the case. 

Still later, Doc meets with Coy Harlington. Coy explains his history with Vigilant California, and with Shasta. Finally, Doc meets with Shasta. They have sex several times as she tells Doc about life with Wolfmann, recounts her kidnapping and escape, and tells Doc about meeting Coy and her involvement in his recruitment. Inexcplicably, Doc and Shasta watch a playoff game between the Knicks and the Lakers. 

In chapter 18, on page 315, '''it was still another classic day of California sunshine,''' the twenty-fifth day of the story,Tuesday, May 5. ''Inherent Vice'' is back in calendar time. This day continues until the middle of page 340. 

The twenty-sixth day of the narrative, Wednesday, May 6 begins on page 340 '''around noon'''. This day ends on page 348 with Doc and Crocker Fenway setting up a meeting the next day. 

The story doesn't resume until the next evening, the twenty-seventh day of the story, Thursday, May 7. May 7 is the Feast of the Ascension in 1970. Jesus Christ, having been resurrected, returns bodily to heaven on this day. This day is fixed at 40 days after Easter. This day ends at the bottom of page 353. 

The twenty-eighth and final day of ''Inherent Vice'' begins on page 354 with Doc's phone ringing. This day continues for the balance of the narrative.

Chapter 18

2009-10-11T00:22:13Z

Redbarnlane: moved to the right chapter

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 315==
'''still another day of classic day of California sunshine''' 
Back into real calendar time, morning, Tuesday, May 5, 1970.

'''bindlestiffs''' 
Pynchon may just be using the word in with its basic literal meaning (hoboes), but it is also the name ("Bindlestiffs of the Blue A.C.") of a "club of ascensionaries from Oregon," referred to in Against the Day at page 18 and again at page 1083.

==Page 316==
'''Carl Yastrzemski''' 
Carl Yastrzemski played for the Boston Red Sox from 1961-1983, and was at the peak of his career between 1967 and 1970, when he was among the most formidable hitters in professional baseball. Like Pynchon, he grew up on Long Island. He was generally admired as a hard-working, unpretentious player.

==Page 318==
'''Mike Curb''' 
In addition to contributing the musical score for The Big Bounce and other movies, Mike Curb was the leader of The Mike Curb Congregation, a popular music group with a wholesome, all-American image. The group often appeared on the Glen Campbell Show. He was also a record-company executive and, later, a Republican politician who was elected Lieutenant Governor of California in the late '70s.

'''The Big Bounce''' 
Is a film adaptation of an Elmore Leonard novel. The score is bouncy and peppy, and entirely out-of-place in the movie, and Doc's opinion regarding it is likely shared by many, if not most, viewers.

==Page 319==
'''he woke up, mercifully not too many hours later''' 
Afternoon, Tuesday, May 5, 1970.

==Page 322==
'''your hour is at hand''' 
In [http://bible.cc/matthew/26-45.htm Matthew 26:45], Jesus wakes up his disciples and warns them that the "hour is at hand" (i.e., Jesus is about to be arrested).

'''dropped it inside the forms for a concrete support column about to be poured.''' 
The fate of Adrian's victim bears a resemblance to some of the theories about the 1975 disappearance and presumed murder of Jimmy Hoffa and disposal of his body.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Hoffa Jimmy Hoffa]

==Page 326==
'''Dagwood and Mr. Dithers, Bugs and Yosemite Sam, Popeye and Bluto''' 
These are all pairs of cartoon characters who are in conflict.
:Dagwood butts heads with his controlling boss Mr. Dithers in the comic strip [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondie_(comic_strip) Blondie].
:Bugs often has to hide from his nemesis Yosemite Sam in the TV cartoon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugs_bunny Bugs Bunny].
:Popeye and the brute Bluto fight for the affection of Olive Oyl in the cartoon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye Popeye].

==Page 327==
'''Some late light off the ocean''' 
Evening, Tuesday May 5, 1970.

==Page 328==
[[File:1965Impala.jpg|thumb|right|1965 Chevrolet Impala, photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/braintoad/2687568205/ The Brain Toad / Creative Commons]]]
''''65 Impala'''
 

==Page 329==
[[File:59CadillacHearse.jpg|thumb|right|[http://www.tristatechapter.com/meet.htm photo] courtesy Mark & Debbie Teague]]
''''59 Cadillac hearse'''

'''The sun was just down'''
Sunset, Tuesday, May 5, 1970.

==Page 332==
'''Herb Alpert arrangement of "Yummy Yummy Yummy"''' 
Thankfully probably a fictional song. Anyone been able to track down a recording? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_alpert Herb Alpert.] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yummy_Yummy_Yummy "Yummy Yummy Yummy"] is [http://www.last.fm/music/The+Residents/_/Hitler+Was+A+Vegetarian covered,] starting at 5:24, of the lengthy "Hitler was a Vegetarian" from the Residents' satirical pop album [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Reich_%27n_Roll The Third Reich 'n Roll.] Not to be missed if you're looking for something to cleanse your pallet if you feel like you've listened to just too many of the songs name-checked in the novel, especially since a few of them get worked by the Residents. (By the way, it's part of the soundtrack of [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0304820/ Journey into the Mind of P.] Pynchon and the Residents can go well together.) Finally, forgive me, for the sake of completeness, the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG1SVKipKZE original version.]

==Page 338==
[[File:442 Olds.jpg|thumb|right|1969 442 Olds - Photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstone7y/1121708840/ dstone7y /Creative Commons]]]
'''442 Olds'''

'''a reasonably dark street''' 
Evening, Tuesday, May 5, 1970.

==Page 339==
'''The bars hadn't closed yet''' 
Late night, Tuesday, May 5, 1970.

==Page 340==
'''Doc had been on the phone...around noon''' 
Midday Wednesday, May 6, 1970.

'''It was toward sunset''' 
Early evening, May 6, 1970.

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Chapter 19

2009-10-11T00:21:03Z

Redbarnlane: moving to chapter 18

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 343==
'''a mural depicting the arrival of the Portola expedition in 1769 at a bend of the river near what became downtown L.A.''' 
A real or imagined mural?

'''The pictorial style reminded Doc of labels on fruit and vegetable crates''' 
Southern California used to be full of fruit/vegetable orchards. And local farms would develop their own crate labels. [http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=california%20fruit%20crate%20labels&sa=N&tab=wi&um=1 Here are some examples].

==Page 344==
'''St. John's Episcopal Church''' 
Since 2008 referred to as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John's_Cathedral,_Los_Angeles St. John's Cathedral]. The reference may seem odd, as the church is now - and was in 1970 - a very liberal one. Of course, Crocker Fenway would have been married there in the 1940s, before its transformation from "an upper-level parish church controlled by businessmen" had occurred.

==Page 348==
[[File:Patek.jpg|thumb|right|Wikimedia Commons]]
'''Patek Philippe moonphase''' 
An expensive watch, obviously: characteristics include a high value and a very complex and precise mechanism. Crocker Fenway's watch would, today, fetch a significant price: a 1968 watch (with some unusual characteristics) went for over $183,000 at a Christie's auction in November 2008. Older, and particularly rare, models have sold for over a million dollars.
 
'''Parking lot at the May Company shopping mall...tomorrow evening.''' 
This conversation happens the evening of Wednesday May 6, 1970. 
'''Doc brought Denis along''' 
Evening, Thursday May 7, 1970. May 7 is the Feast of the Ascension in 1970. Jesus Christ, having been resurrected, returns bodily to heaven on this day.

==Page 349==
'''1953 Buick Estate Wagon'''
[[File:1953BuickEstateWagon.jpg|thumb|left|Photo from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick_Estate Wikipedia]]] 

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 16

2009-10-03T17:18:01Z

Redbarnlane: typo

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==Page 275==
'''Rhus Frothingham''' 
"Rhus" is the formal name of the plant genus commonly referred to as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumac Sumac]. It includes various desirable plants, but also Poison Sumac and Poison Ivy. [[Plants of Inherent Vice|See: Plants of Inherent Vice]]

==Page 277==
'''indict a bean burrito''' 
An amusing local twist on the common adage, which virtually every lawyer probably learned in law school, that a prosecutor can get a grand jury to "indict a ham sandwich."

==Page 278==
'''Midnight, pitch dark . . . blind cannonball''' 
That's quite a metaphorical excursion!

==Page 280==
'''the playoffs, even though it was Eastern Division''' 
The fifth game of the NBA finals was played in New York Monday, May 4, 1970. The Knicks won 107-100 over the Lakers.

'''it was time for the eleven-o'clock news..."Give it a rest Bugliosi" 
11:00 P.M., Monday, May 4, 1970. Given that this is the day of the killings at Kent State, it seems odd that the late news would be taken up by the Manson case.

==Page 281==
'''A promo came on for the late movie'''
 Late night, Monday, May 4, 1970.

'''Next day was as they say another day''' 
Oh, it's another day all right. Pynchon has inserted a day in between Monday, May 4, 1970 and Tuesday, May 5. This day continues until the end of chapter 17, a total of 34 pages, making it the day with the most pages in the book.

The phrase perhaps echoes "Tomorrow is another day," from [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#Page_18 page 18].

The events of this day are unusual, to say the least. See later annotation, for those who don't mind a [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_17#Page_314 spoiler].

==Page 283==
'''Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme''' 
One of Charles Manson's devotees, not charged in the Tate murders, but later jailed for coming at President Gerald Ford with a loaded gun. Coincidentally, she was paroled after 30 years in jail, the very week Inherent Vice was released...

==Page 290==
'''El Huevoncito''' 
Someone with a better grasp of idiomatic Spanish can correct this, but:

"Huevon" is a vulgar slang insult, implying that that the subject is lazy and stupid. The "cito" is a dimunitive suffix. I suppose an English translation might be "little lazy asshole" or something along those lines.

==Page 294==
'''Thomas Jefferson''' 
Jefferson also makes a brief appearance on [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_39:_391-398#Page_395 page 395] of ''Mason & Dixon''. The transcription of TJ's language (like "traffick in Enslavement") echoes the faux-vérité 18th-century style of ''Mason and Dixon'' too.

'''the tree of liberty . . . ''' 
This quote is from a 1787 letter Jefferson wrote to W. S. Smith.

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 12

2009-10-01T23:25:49Z

Redbarnlane: timeline

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 186==
'''Doc made a couple of phone calls and took the back route up by way of Burbank and Santa Paula, reaching the Ojai turn-off just before lunchtime.''' 
Doc takes an unusual and very out-of-the-way route. From Gordita Beach (Manhattan Beach) or Rancho Park (end of chapter 11) most drivers would go north on the 405 freeway to the 5 freeway north, exit at the 126 highway, proceed west to Santa Paula, and then take "the Ojai turn-off" (Ojai Road, 150) to Ojai. But for Doc to go to ''Burbank'' is quite a roundabout route to take. 

'''reaching the Ojai turnoff fust before lunchtime.''' 
Morning, Sunday, April 26, 1970.

'''Krotona Hill''' 
A hill in Ojai where an institute run by the Theosophical Society in America is currently located.

==Page 187==
'''Dr. Threeply''' 
The name may refer to three-ply plywood. Basic run-of-the-mill (literally) plywood that's used in quantity for sheathing when building houses is often three-ply. This is, perhaps, consistent with the paragraph describing him, which mentions two other building products (aluminum siding and screen doors) and alludes to some event that has "torqued him out of tolerance," as might happen to plywood that has been misused and become twisted.

==Page 188==
'''J Kirshnamurti''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti Jiddu Krishnamurti] was a prominent Indian-born spiritualist who did, in fact, live in Ojai.

'''After lunch, Doc was bustled around''' 
Afternoon, Sunday, April 26, 1970.

==Page 190==
'''Shaggy . . . Scoob''' 
Characters in the cartoon ''Scooby Doo''. An appropriate reference since the cartoon first was aired in 1969 and involved solving mysteries.

==Page 191==
'''edges of cliffs in Hawaii''' 
This passage about suicidal love sick men is strikingly similar to one in ''Vineland'':
:Hawaii is where men from California bring their broken hearts, seeking exotic forms of self-injury not so readily available on the mainland. Some specialize in active volcanoes, others in cliff diving, many go for the classier swimming-out-to-sea option. I can put you onto several travel agents who offer Suicide Fantasy packages, if you're interested. (p. 60)

==Page 193==
'''the shadows around the place were lengthening.''' 
Afternoon/Evening, Sunday, April 26, 1970. The metaphorical shadows are lengthening, too.

==Page 194==
'''the word is not the thing, the map is not the territory''' 
The expression "the map is not the territory" first appeared in print in a paper that Alfred Korzybski (developer of General Semantics) gave at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1931. ''The map is not the territory'' signifies that individual people in fact do not in general have access to absolute knowledge of reality, but in fact only have access to a set of beliefs they have built up over time, about reality ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map%E2%80%93territory_relation#.22The_map_is_not_the_territory.22 Wikipedia]). The phrase "The symbol is NOT the thing symbolized; the word is NOT the thing; the map is NOT the territory it stands for." also appears in S.I. Hayakawa's ''Language in Thought and Action'', Harcourt, Brace and Company, (New York), 1949, p.31.

'''Doc got back to the beach just at early evening''' 
Evening, Sunday, April 26, 1970.

==Page 196==
'''"...put everything in the Ostracizer and made smoothies..."''' 
Denis means [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osterizer Osterizer], a brand of blender or food processor.

'''Didn't you see that movie?''' 
Denis is referring here to the 1932 film [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaks ''Freaks''], a horror film about sideshow performers with a cast of actual sideshow performers.

The Shasta/Mickey story shows some similarities to the central love story in the film. A "normal" and beautiful woman pretends to love--and marries--one of the "freaks" simply for his money. The freaks revolt against her and maim her, ultimately turning her into freak show exhibit.

'''Code of the Freaks''' 
is the "code of ethics" that the sideshow performers in Tod Browning's movie "Freaks" build up among themselves, "to protect them from the barbs of normal people. Their rules are rigidly adhered to and the hurt of one is the hurt of all; the joy of one is the joy of all." [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2jsX_R25LE]

==Page 197==
'''Next morning Doc threaded in to work''' 
Morning, Monday, April 27, 1970.

==Page 199==
'''Tarzana''' 
Completely irrelevant trivia: Tarzana is named after Tarzan because Edgar Rice Burroughs (the author who created Tarzan) was a prominent citizen. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzana here].

==Page 200==
'''''The Beverly Hillbillies'' rolled along toward ''Green Acres''''' 
Green Acres usually aired at 9:00 P.M on Saturdays, and Beverly Hillbillies on Wednesdays at 8:30 P.M., while this is Monday, April 27, 1970. A check of Los Angeles TV listings confirms that these shows are not on tonight. In fact, there is no time in the spring of 1970 that one followed the other. Given the nature of whom Doc is visiting and the subject matter of the shows, perhaps the rolling along is metaphorical.

==Page 201==
'''Gleichschaltung Model 33 Automatic Bazooka''' 
''Gleichschaltung'', meaning "coordination," "making the same," "bringing into line," is a system the Hitler regime developed for the complete forcing into line of German society in terms of politics, information and culture. Gleichschaltung's system established totalitarian control over the individual, therby forcing the individual/society to follow a specific way of thinking using an oppressive police force. It started, unsurprisingly, in '33.
'Schaltung' in German also refers to gears and switches (often, but not exclusively those of cars), so it might also refer to the bazooka's automated mechanism here.

==Page 202==
'''...can we improve your life tonight?''' 
Evening, Monday, April 27, 1970.

==Page 204==
'''We've been trying to call you all evening.''' 
Evening, Monday, April 27, 1970.

'''Hermosa Theater...''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly''...double feature...''The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie''''' 
That would be a very odd double feature. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060196/synopsis The Good, the Bad and the Ugly] is a blood-drenched spaghetti western, while [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064840/plotsummary The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie] is a heartwarming feminist fable about a schoolteacher in 1930's Scotland. 
The importance of these films to the timeline is that they occur during the "few days" that the Dart is in the body shop. A check of movie listings shows no Hermosa (beautiful) Theater. The same check shows no instance of these films ever appearing together on a double bill. Interestingly, in the spring of 1970, ''The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'' was often paired in second-run houses with ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.'' It's Doc mentioning that the two movies shared a bill, so you could chalk it up to stoner's memory.

==Page 205==
'''That night Doc dreamed''' 
The night of Monday, April 27, 1970.

==Page 206==
'''dead people who do and don't come back''' 
Sounds like the Thanatoids in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''].

'''He walked around well into the morning''' 
Morning, Tuesday, April 28, 1970.

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Chapter 12

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Redbarnlane: Timeline

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==Page 186==
'''Doc made a couple of phone calls and took the back route up by way of Burbank and Santa Paula, reaching the Ojai turn-off just before lunchtime.''' 
Doc takes an unusual and very out-of-the-way route. From Gordita Beach (Manhattan Beach) or Rancho Park (end of chapter 11) most drivers would go north on the 405 freeway to the 5 freeway north, exit at the 126 highway, proceed west to Santa Paula, and then take "the Ojai turn-off" (Ojai Road, 150) to Ojai. But for Doc to go to ''Burbank'' is quite a roundabout route to take. 

'''reaching the Ojai turnoff fust before lunchtime.''' 
Morning, Sunday, April 26, 1970.

'''Krotona Hill''' 
A hill in Ojai where an institute run by the Theosophical Society in America is currently located.

==Page 187==
'''Dr. Threeply''' 
The name may refer to three-ply plywood. Basic run-of-the-mill (literally) plywood that's used in quantity for sheathing when building houses is often three-ply. This is, perhaps, consistent with the paragraph describing him, which mentions two other building products (aluminum siding and screen doors) and alludes to some event that has "torqued him out of tolerance," as might happen to plywood that has been misused and become twisted.

==Page 188==
'''J Kirshnamurti''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti Jiddu Krishnamurti] was a prominent Indian-born spiritualist who did, in fact, live in Ojai.

'''After lunch, Doc was bustled around''' 
Afternoon, Sunday, April 26, 1970.

==Page 190==
'''Shaggy . . . Scoob''' 
Characters in the cartoon ''Scooby Doo''. An appropriate reference since the cartoon first was aired in 1969 and involved solving mysteries.

==Page 191==
'''edges of cliffs in Hawaii''' 
This passage about suicidal love sick men is strikingly similar to one in ''Vineland'':
:Hawaii is where men from California bring their broken hearts, seeking exotic forms of self-injury not so readily available on the mainland. Some specialize in active volcanoes, others in cliff diving, many go for the classier swimming-out-to-sea option. I can put you onto several travel agents who offer Suicide Fantasy packages, if you're interested. (p. 60)

==Page 193==
'''the shadows around the place were lengthening.''' 
Afternoon/Evening, Sunday, April 26, 1970. The metaphorical shadows are lengthening, too.

==Page 194==
'''the word is not the thing, the map is not the territory''' 
The expression "the map is not the territory" first appeared in print in a paper that Alfred Korzybski (developer of General Semantics) gave at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1931. ''The map is not the territory'' signifies that individual people in fact do not in general have access to absolute knowledge of reality, but in fact only have access to a set of beliefs they have built up over time, about reality ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map%E2%80%93territory_relation#.22The_map_is_not_the_territory.22 Wikipedia]). The phrase "The symbol is NOT the thing symbolized; the word is NOT the thing; the map is NOT the territory it stands for." also appears in S.I. Hayakawa's ''Language in Thought and Action'', Harcourt, Brace and Company, (New York), 1949, p.31.

'''Doc got back to the beach just at early evening''' 
Evening, Sunday, April 26, 1970.

==Page 196==
'''"...put everything in the Ostracizer and made smoothies..."''' 
Denis means [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osterizer Osterizer], a brand of blender or food processor.

'''Didn't you see that movie?''' 
Denis is referring here to the 1932 film [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaks ''Freaks''], a horror film about sideshow performers with a cast of actual sideshow performers.

The Shasta/Mickey story shows some similarities to the central love story in the film. A "normal" and beautiful woman pretends to love--and marries--one of the "freaks" simply for his money. The freaks revolt against her and maim her, ultimately turning her into freak show exhibit.

'''Code of the Freaks''' 
is the "code of ethics" that the sideshow performers in Tod Browning's movie "Freaks" build up among themselves, "to protect them from the barbs of normal people. Their rules are rigidly adhered to and the hurt of one is the hurt of all; the joy of one is the joy of all." [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2jsX_R25LE]

==Page 197==
'''Next morning Doc threaded in to work''' 
Morning, Monday, April 27, 1970.

==Page 199==
'''Tarzana''' 
Completely irrelevant trivia: Tarzana is named after Tarzan because Edgar Rice Burroughs (the author who created Tarzan) was a prominent citizen. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzana here].

==Page 200==
'''''The Beverly Hillbillies'' rolled along toward ''Green Acres''''' 
Green Acres usually aired at 9:00 P.M on Saturdays, and Beverly Hillbillies on Wednesdays at 8:30 P.M., while this is Monday, April 27, 1970. A check of Los Angeles TV listings confirms that these shows are not on tonight. In fact, there is no time in the spring of 1970 that one followed the other. Given the nature of whom Doc is visiting and the subject matter of the shows, perhaps the rolling along is metaphorical.

==Page 201==
'''Gleichschaltung Model 33 Automatic Bazooka''' 
''Gleichschaltung'', meaning "coordination," "making the same," "bringing into line," is a system the Hitler regime developed for the complete forcing into line of German society in terms of politics, information and culture. Gleichschaltung's system established totalitarian control over the individual, therby forcing the individual/society to follow a specific way of thinking using an oppressive police force. It started, unsurprisingly, in '33.
'Schaltung' in German also refers to gears and switches (often, but not exclusively those of cars), so it might also refer to the bazooka's automated mechanism here.

==Page 202==
'''...can we improve your life tonight?''' 
Evening, Monday, April 27, 1970.

==Page 204==
'''We've been trying to call you all evening.''' 
Evening, Monday, April 27, 1970.

==Page 205==
'''That night Doc dreamed''' 
The night of Monday, April 27, 1970.

==Page 206==
'''dead people who do and don't come back''' 
Sounds like the Thanatoids in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''].

'''He walked around well into the morning''' 
Morning, Tuesday, April 28, 1970.

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Chapter 21

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Redbarnlane: formatting

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==Page 364==
'''. . . the Lakers would lose Game 7 of the finals to the Knicks''' 
Friday, May 8, 1970. The final score was Knicks 113, Lakers 99. This means that the novel ends on Pynchon's 33rd birthday, a nice way to underscore the semi-autobiographical nature of ''Inherent Vice''. Furthermore, this situates the ending of the novel just four days after the Kent State Massacre on May 4, 1970 - yet another way of telling us that the beach is being paved over and that the sixties have come to an end.

==Page 365==
'''Ones and zeros''' 
Binary code, the language of computers. Also mentioned in ''Vineland'' (pp. 90 and 115) and in ''Crying of Lot 49''.

==Page 366==
'''Tubular, dude''' 
A nice pun. "Tubular," in surfer slang, means something like "awesome" or "cool." It refers to the tubes or curls of the waves. But in the context here with Doc and Sparky, the tubes in question are vacuum tubes, which were used on computers (and radios and TVs and speakers) before transistors.

'''Pizza Man''' 
[http://www.pizzamandelivers.com/ Pizza Man]--He Delivers - since 1964

==Page 367==
'''Doc got on the Santa Monica Freeway''' 
Doc Sportello isn't the only character taking a drive rather than turning in tonight. On May 8, 1970, Richard Nixon went public in a news conference about the war spreading to Cambodia. That night, at 4 A.M., the President called Manolo Sanchez, his valet, and asked him if he had ever seen the Lincoln Memorial at night. So, off went the (possibly a little unhinged) President, his valet, and a too-small Secret Service contingent. Nixon had an impromptu "rap session" with 8 protesters at the Memorial. As 8 turned to 30 and then 50 protesters, the Secret Service became "petrified". After about an hour, President Nixon took his valet on a tour of the Capitol. You can read about it (and get the text of Nixon's press conference)

[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=2496 here in the italics at the bottom of the page.] 

Nixon's presence in this scene is even stronger if you consider Doc's drive to be a wormhole into the conclusion of [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow'']. In IV, '''Doc got on the Santa Monica Freeway, and about the time he was making the transition to the San Diego southbound.''' In GR, Richard M. Zhlubb (according to Steven Weisenburger in ''A Gravity's Rainbow Companion'', Richard Nixon "circa 1970") takes a reporter on a drive '''on the freeways. Near the interchange of the San Diego and the Santa Monica''' (GR p. 755). 
That makes two Nixons, one real and one fictional, out for a drive with Doc.

==Pages 368/369==

'''Gordita Beach Exit''' 
On the last two pages of ''Inherent Vice'', Doc Sportello is on the Santa Monica freeway which then merges onto the San Diego, heading south:

'''Doc figured if he missed the Gordita Beach exit he'd take the first one whose sign he could read and work his way back on surface streets. He knew that at Rosecrans the freeway began to dogleg east, and at some point, Hawthorne Boulevard or Artesia, he'd lose the fog.''' 

This series of street names and off-ramps points to Manhattan Beach where Pynchon wrote much of [http://gravitysrainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow''] while living in a tiny beach apartment in the north end of the city around between 1967-1971. The Manhattan Beach Boulevard exit to Doc house would Rosecrans . The Artesia exit is after Hawthorne. [http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&ei=JoxrSo7SGY2CsgPN_LSXBQ&resnum=0&q=Manhattan+beach+california&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=us Google Maps]; [http://www.theaesthetic.com/NewFiles/pynchon.html Much more about Pynchon in Manhattan Beach...]

Though Doc Sportello shares some qualities with Zoyd Wheeler of ''Vineland'', contrast Doc's reaction to driving in fog with Zoyd's, when Zoyd and other members of the "Corvairs" "surfadelic" band "play motorhead valley roulette," speeding into patches of ground fog hoping that "the white passage held no other vehicles, no curves, no construction, only smooth, level, empty roadway to an indefinite distance--a motorhead variation on a surfer's dream" (37).

'''For the fog to burn away, and for something else this time, somehow, to be there instead.''' 
The endings of Pynchon's novels have justifiably become famous, and these final paragraphs about driving through the fog, capped by this heart-breaking sentence-fragment, will be no exception.

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Chapter 15

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==Page 256==
'''Around nightfall Tito let Doc off''' 
Early evening, Saturday, May 2, 1970.

==Page 257==
'''Some college break or something.''' 
Saturday, May 2, 1970, six days after Easter. It's plausible that Spring Break could be going on.

'''Denis drifted off to watch Lawrence Welk.''' 
Evening, Saturday, May 2, 1970.

[[File:NormaZimmer.jpg|thumb|right|The cover of a 1969 album]]
'''Norma Zimmer''' 
She performed on the Lawrence Welk show and, in the story's period, looked approximately like this.

==Page 258==
'''This ARPAnet trip is eating up my time''' 
Fritz is perhaps the world's first Internet addict.

==Page 259==
'''if it happened to Thomas Noguchi''' 
Thomas Noguchi, Los Angeles' widely admired chief coroner, was fired by the LA County Board of Supervisors in 1969, and only reinstated after a month-long hearing. The firing was a cause celebre at the time, involving accusations of racial discrimination (against the Board) and of egotism, publicity-seeking, an inordinately gleeful attitude toward death (especially celebrity death), and other personality issues (against Noguchi). In 1982, he was demoted to Deputy Coroner for similar reasons.

==Page 260==
'''I had been enjoying a quiet family evening...watching Lawrence Welk''' 
Evening, Saturday, May 2, 1970. Saturday was the usual night for Welk. Bigfoot seems like a more likely fan of the show than Denis. Welk's show was probably the least hip show on TV, without even the ironic laughs of a Dragnet.

==Page 261==
'''The Saturday horror movie tonight was''' 
Late night, Saturday, May 2, 1970.

'''Next morning...Sunday ''Times''''' 
Morning, Sunday, May 3, 1970.

'''Shoot the Pier''' 
In surfing, to "shoot the pier" is to ride a surfboard in between the pilings of a pier.

==Page 262==
'''positioning the Book Review over his lap''' 
He's hiding his erection.

==Page 264==
'''Which didn't keep Doc from driving up to Venice that evening''' 
Evening, Sunday, May 3, 1970.

==Page 267==
'''lagan''' 
Pynchon makes lagans - which are literally left by Wolfmann earlier, and by Venice dopers here - into a metaphor for things that are deliberately lost and found again. Among other people and things, this could allude to Coy Harlingen, Mickey Wolfmann, pieces of information (a basic element of nearly all detective stories), Mickey Wolfmann's conscience or lack thereof, and innocence and purity generally.

==Page 270==
'''Swedish Fish''' 
See [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_3#Page_49 note for page 49].

==Page 271==
'''Eleventh Commandment''' 
See [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_3#Page_48 note for page 48].

'''as Elvis always sez, when you have such luck''' 
Doc is quoting "All Shook Up":
:My hands are shaky and my knees are weak 
:I can't seem to stand on my own two feet 
:Who do you thank when you have such luck? 
:I'm in love 
:I'm all shook up 

==Page 273==
'''Dig yourself''' 
This was probably a common enough phrase, but perhaps--just maybe--there's a connection to Bob Dylan here. In Dylan's iconic video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (the one in which Dylan holds placards with snippets from the lyrics), there are only three cards Dylan holds up that are not part of the song lyrics, including one that says: "Dig Yourself" (the other two, which appear in succession, say "Watch it!" and "Here they come!"). See the video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-xIulyVsG8 here]. The card in question is at 1:51. (I know that that might be a stretch, but a guy can dream, can't he?)

'''natch-meister''' 
See [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_11#Page_166 note for pg. 166].

'''They approached a courtyard building nearly dissolved in the evening'''
 Evening, Sunday, May 3, 1970.

==Page 274==
'''The moon rose''' 
Night, Sunday, May 3, 1970. Almost a full moon.

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Chapter 18

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{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 315==
'''still another day of classic day of California sunshine''' 
Back into real calendar time, morning, Tuesday, May 5, 1970.

'''bindlestiffs''' 
Pynchon may just be using the word in with its basic literal meaning (hoboes), but it is also the name ("Bindlestiffs of the Blue A.C.") of a "club of ascensionaries from Oregon," referred to in Against the Day at page 18 and again at page 1083.

==Page 316==
'''Carl Yastrzemski''' 
Carl Yastrzemski played for the Boston Red Sox from 1961-1983, and was at the peak of his career between 1967 and 1970, when he was among the most formidable hitters in professional baseball. Like Pynchon, he grew up on Long Island. He was generally admired as a hard-working, unpretentious player.

==Page 318==
'''Mike Curb''' 
In addition to contributing the musical score for The Big Bounce and other movies, Mike Curb was the leader of The Mike Curb Congregation, a popular music group with a wholesome, all-American image. The group often appeared on the Glen Campbell Show. He was also a record-company executive and, later, a Republican politician who was elected Lieutenant Governor of California in the late '70s.

'''The Big Bounce''' 
Is a film adaptation of an Elmore Leonard novel. The score is bouncy and peppy, and entirely out-of-place in the movie, and Doc's opinion regarding it is likely shared by many, if not most, viewers.

==Page 319==
'''he woke up, mercifully not too many hours later''' 
Afternoon, Tuesday, May 5, 1970.

==Page 322==
'''your hour is at hand''' 
In [http://bible.cc/matthew/26-45.htm Matthew 26:45], Jesus wakes up his disciples and warns them that the "hour is at hand" (i.e., Jesus is about to be arrested).

'''dropped it inside the forms for a concrete support column about to be poured.''' 
The fate of Adrian's victim bears a resemblance to some of the theories about the 1975 disappearance and presumed murder of Jimmy Hoffa and disposal of his body.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Hoffa Jimmy Hoffa]

==Page 326==
'''Dagwood and Mr. Dithers, Bugs and Yosemite Sam, Popeye and Bluto''' 
These are all pairs of cartoon characters who are in conflict.
:Dagwood butts heads with his controlling boss Mr. Dithers in the comic strip [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondie_(comic_strip) Blondie].
:Bugs often has to hide from his nemesis Yosemite Sam in the TV cartoon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugs_bunny Bugs Bunny].
:Popeye and the brute Bluto fight for the affection of Olive Oyl in the cartoon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye Popeye].

==Page 327==
'''Some late light off the ocean''' 
Evening, Tuesday May 5, 1970.

==Page 328==
[[File:1965Impala.jpg|thumb|right|1965 Chevrolet Impala, photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/braintoad/2687568205/ The Brain Toad / Creative Commons]]]
''''65 Impala'''
 

==Page 329==
[[File:59CadillacHearse.jpg|thumb|right|[http://www.tristatechapter.com/meet.htm photo] courtesy Mark & Debbie Teague]]
''''59 Cadillac hearse'''

'''The sun was just down'''
Sunset, Tuesday, May 5, 1970.

==Page 338==
[[File:442 Olds.jpg|thumb|right|1969 442 Olds - Photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstone7y/1121708840/ dstone7y /Creative Commons]]]
'''442 Olds'''

'''a reasonably dark street''' 
Evening, Tuesday, May 5, 1970.

==Page 339==
'''The bars hadn't closed yet''' 
Late night, Tuesday, May 5, 1970.

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Chapter 13

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{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 207==
'''The vibes around Robbery-Homicide Division this morning''' 
Morning, Tuesday, April 28, 1970.

==Page 208==
'''Code 7''' 
Meal break.

'''Cielo Drive''' 
Site of the Manson family murders. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10050_Cielo_Drive here].

==Page 211==
'''Evelyn Wood''' 
Developed a system for speed reading. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Wood_(teacher) here].

'''Fontana''' 
A city in San Bernardino County, roughly 50 miles east of Los Angeles.

'''Puck's file could be in storage...someplace like Fontana....''' 
Possibly an oblique reference to the 1939 crime novel [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Sleep ''The Big Sleep'']. Art Huck's chop shop where Eddie Mars' wife is hiding out is located a mile beyond Realito (Rialto). Fontana is adjacent to Rialto in San Bernadino County.

==Page 212==
'''"Chotto, Kenichiro! Dozo, motto panukeiku."''' 
Hey, Ken! Please, more pancakes. (''Pannukakku'': Finnish Oven Baked Pancake)

==Page 216==
'''Waiting at the office when Doc got back from lunch''' 
afternoon, Tuesday, April 28, 1970.

==Page 218==
[[File:1969_red_Camaro.jpg|thumb|right|1969 Camaro [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1969_red_Chevrolet_Camaro_SS_side.JPG © BrokenSphere / Wikimedia Commons ]]]
''''69 Camaro''' 
a bright red '69 Camaro

==Page 219==
'''mug ... intended to keep the mustache of the drinker from getting soaked ... belonged to Marshal Earp''' 
Perhaps only a bizarre coincidence, but a colleague who worked with Pynchon at Boeing in the early '60s, speaking in 1990, described Pynchon as having sported a [http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19900114&slug=1050692 "kind of Wyatt Earp-type handlebar mustache."]

==Page 221==
'''They drove toward a spectacular desert sunset''' 
Evening, Tuesday, April 28, 1970.

==Page 223==
[[File:1962Bonneville.jpg|thumb|right|1962 Bonneville, photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacksnell707/3212233895/in/set-72157608598376503/ Jack Snell / Creative Commons]]]
''''62 Bonneville''' a stolen '62 Bonneville parked in a cul-de-sac off Sunset

==Page 225==
'''Ernest Tubb, Jim Reeves, and Webb Pierce''' 
aka, old school country music.

'''John Garfield'''
John Garfield (March 4, 1913 – May 21, 1952) was an American actor. Garfield was especially adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Garfield]

'''Puck and Einar might not be in tonight.''' 
Evening, Tuesday, April 28, 1970.

==Page 226==
'''Meantime there's the rent coming due and so forth.''' 
Plausible enough, as it's Tuesday, April 28, 1970.

==Page 228==
'''Wild Bill Hickok's last poker hand''' 
Maybe the most (in)famous hand in poker history. When Hickok was shot dead in 1876, he was playing poker and holding two pair: aces and eights. Since then, that hand has been called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man%27s_hand "Dead Man's Hand"].

==Page 232==
'''Next thing he knew it seemed to be early afternoon''' 
Afternoon, Wednesday, April 29, 1970.

'''As it was getting dark, Trillium finally showed up.''' 
Evening, Wednesday, April 29, 1970.

==Page 233==
'''Dietz & Schwartz, ''Haunted Heart''''' 

:In the night, 
:though we're apart 
:there's a ghost of you 
:within my haunted heart . . . 

:Ghost of you, 
:my last romance, 
:lips that laughed, 
:eyes that danced . . . 

:Haunted heart 
:won't let me be 
:dreams repeat a sweet 
:but lonely song to me . . . 

:Dreams are dust, 
:it's you who must 
:belong to me . . . 
:and thrill my haunted heart . . . 

:Be still, my haunted heart . . . 

:< instrumental break > 

:Dreams are dust, 
:it's you who must 
:belong to me . . . 
:and thrill my haunted heart . . . 

:Be still, my haunted heart . . . 

--from the musical production ''Inside U.S.A.''
Music by Arthur Schwartz
with lyrics by Howard Dietz, 1948

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==Page 186==
'''Doc made a couple of phone calls and took the back route up by way of Burbank and Santa Paula, reaching the Ojai turn-off just before lunchtime.''' 
Doc takes an unusual and very out-of-the-way route. From Gordita Beach (Manhattan Beach) or Rancho Park (end of chapter 11) most drivers would go north on the 405 freeway to the 5 freeway north, exit at the 126 highway, proceed west to Santa Paula, and then take "the Ojai turn-off" (Ojai Road, 150) to Ojai. But for Doc to go to ''Burbank'' is quite a roundabout route to take. 

'''reaching the Ojai turnoff fust before lunchtime.''' 
Morning, Sunday, April 26, 1970.

'''Krotona Hill''' 
A hill in Ojai where an institute run by the Theosophical Society in America is currently located.

==Page 187==
'''Dr. Threeply''' 
The name may refer to three-ply plywood. Basic run-of-the-mill (literally) plywood that's used in quantity for sheathing when building houses is often three-ply. This is, perhaps, consistent with the paragraph describing him, which mentions two other building products (aluminum siding and screen doors) and alludes to some event that has "torqued him out of tolerance," as might happen to plywood that has been misused and become twisted.

==Page 188==
'''J Kirshnamurti''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti Jiddu Krishnamurti] was a prominent Indian-born spiritualist who did, in fact, live in Ojai.

'''After lunch, Doc was bustled around''' 
Afternoon, Sunday, April 26, 1970.

==Page 190==
'''Shaggy . . . Scoob''' 
Characters in the cartoon ''Scooby Doo''. An appropriate reference since the cartoon first was aired in 1969 and involved solving mysteries.

==Page 191==
'''edges of cliffs in Hawaii''' 
This passage about suicidal love sick men is strikingly similar to one in ''Vineland'':
:Hawaii is where men from California bring their broken hearts, seeking exotic forms of self-injury not so readily available on the mainland. Some specialize in active volcanoes, others in cliff diving, many go for the classier swimming-out-to-sea option. I can put you onto several travel agents who offer Suicide Fantasy packages, if you're interested. (p. 60)

==Page 193==
'''the shadows around the place were lengthening.''' 
Afternoon/Evening, Sunday, April 26, 1970. The metaphorical shadows are lengthening, too.

==Page 194==
'''the word is not the thing, the map is not the territory''' 
The expression "the map is not the territory" first appeared in print in a paper that Alfred Korzybski (developer of General Semantics) gave at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1931. ''The map is not the territory'' signifies that individual people in fact do not in general have access to absolute knowledge of reality, but in fact only have access to a set of beliefs they have built up over time, about reality ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map%E2%80%93territory_relation#.22The_map_is_not_the_territory.22 Wikipedia]). The phrase "The symbol is NOT the thing symbolized; the word is NOT the thing; the map is NOT the territory it stands for." also appears in S.I. Hayakawa's ''Language in Thought and Action'', Harcourt, Brace and Company, (New York), 1949, p.31.

'''Doc got back to the beach just at early evening''' 
Evening, Sunday, April 26, 1970.

==Page 196==
'''"...put everything in the Ostracizer and made smoothies..."''' 
Denis means [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osterizer Osterizer], a brand of blender or food processor.

'''Didn't you see that movie?''' 
Denis is referring here to the 1932 film [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaks ''Freaks''], a horror film about sideshow performers with a cast of actual sideshow performers.

The Shasta/Mickey story shows some similarities to the central love story in the film. A "normal" and beautiful woman pretends to love--and marries--one of the "freaks" simply for his money. The freaks revolt against her and maim her, ultimately turning her into freak show exhibit.

'''Code of the Freaks''' 
is the "code of ethics" that the sideshow performers in Tod Browning's movie "Freaks" build up among themselves, "to protect them from the barbs of normal people. Their rules are rigidly adhered to and the hurt of one is the hurt of all; the joy of one is the joy of all." [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2jsX_R25LE]

==Page 197==
'''Next morning Doc threaded in to work''' 
Morning, Monday, April 27, 1970.

==Page 199==
'''Tarzana''' 
Completely irrelevant trivia: Tarzana is named after Tarzan because Edgar Rice Burroughs (the author who created Tarzan) was a prominent citizen. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzana here].

==Page 200==
'''''The Beverly Hillbillies'' rolled along toward ''Green Acres''''' 
A little troubling since Green Acres usually aired at 9:00 P.M on Saturdays, and Beverly Hillbillies on Wednesdays at 8:30 P.M., while this is Monday, April 27, 1970.

==Page 201==
'''Gleichschaltung Model 33 Automatic Bazooka''' 
''Gleichschaltung'', meaning "coordination," "making the same," "bringing into line," is a system the Hitler regime developed for the complete forcing into line of German society in terms of politics, information and culture. Gleichschaltung's system established totalitarian control over the individual, therby forcing the individual/society to follow a specific way of thinking using an oppressive police force. It started, unsurprisingly, in '33.
'Schaltung' in German also refers to gears and switches (often, but not exclusively those of cars), so it might also refer to the bazooka's automated mechanism here.

==Page 202==
'''...can we improve your life tonight?''' 
Evening, Monday, April 27, 1970.

==Page 204==
'''We've been trying to call you all evening.''' 
Evening, Monday, April 27, 1970.

==Page 205==
'''That night Doc dreamed''' 
The night of Monday, April 27, 1970.

==Page 206==
'''dead people who do and don't come back''' 
Sounds like the Thanatoids in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''].

'''He walked around well into the morning''' 
Morning, Tuesday, April 28, 1970.

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==Page 155==
'''"Soul Gidget"''' 
These lyrics have some similarities with "Shaft" by Isaac Hayes:

:''Who's the black private dick ''
:''That's a sex machine to all the chicks? ''
:''Shaft!''

:''Who is the man ''
:''That would risk his neck for his brother man? ''
:''Shaft!''

'''signifyin on your mama''' 
"Signifyin" is a verbal strategy employed in the African-American culture. The idea was developed most fully in Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s book ''The Signifying Monkey''. Signifyin indicates a kind of play or trickster technique. "Yo mama" jokes also appear in ''Mason & Dixon'' [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_44:_440-447#Page_445 (pg. 445)] and ''Against the Day'' [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_1-25#Page_12 (pg. 12)].

'''Pink's''' 
[http://www.pinkshollywood.com/ Pink's] bills itself as "Hot Dogs to the Stars." It's been in the Hollywood area since 1939.

==Page 157==
'''Jason Velveeta''' 
Velveeta, a notoriously plastic "processed cheese product" is probably fueling a roundabout slang joke on "cheddar," used recently to mean money, specifically a pimp or dealer's money. Hence, Jason Velveeta is not really a very good pimp.

As cheeses go, Velveeta is fake, soft and easily melted. "Jason" is a quintessentially middle-class white first name. Velveeta is also associated with middle-class white culture in its most unhip and soul-free form. See, for example, this recent [http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s2i32975 spoof news story].

==Page 160==
'''"Desafinado"''' 
A bossa nova-style song written by Jobim. Stan Getz's version was a hit in 1962. The title translates as "off key" or "out of tune."

'''I can sure relate to that lyric, man''' 
And here are the lyrics to "It Never Entered My Mind":
:I don't care if there's powder on my nose. 
:I don't care if my hairdo is in place. 
:I've lost the very meaning of repose. 
:I never put a mudpack on my face. 
:Oh, who'd have thought 
:that I'd walk in the daze now? 
:I never go to shows at night, 
:but just to matinees now. 
:I see the show 
:and home I go. 

:Once I laughed when I heard you saying 
:that I'd be playing solitaire, 
:uneasy in my easy chair. 
:It never entered my mind. 

:Once you told me I was mistaken, 
:that I'd awaken with the sun 
:and order orange juice for one. 
:It never entered my mind. 

:You have what I lack myself 
:and now I even have to scratch my back myself. 

:Once you warned me that if you scorned me 
:I'd sing the maiden's prayer again 
:and wish that you where there again 
:to get into my hair again. 
:It never entered my mind. 

Introduced in the show ''Higher and Higher'' in 1940. Famous renditions of the song in the '50s and '60s that may have inspired our singer in the Little Black Dress were done by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis (as a jazz instrumental), and Leontyne Price (!).

'''Dietz & Schwartz's 'Alone Together'''' 
These lyrics are also relevant to the scene, and to ''Inherent Vice'' as a whole:

:Alone together, beyond the crowd, 
:Above the world, we're not too proud 
:To cling together, We're strong 
:As long as we're together. 

:Alone together, the blinding rain 
:The starless night, were not in vain; 
:For we're together, and what is there 
:To fear together. 

:Our love is as deep as the sea, 
:Our love is as great as a love can be, 
:And we can weather the great unknown, 
:If we're alone together. 

Introduced in the revue ''Flying Colors'' (1932), the song has had famous interpreters, including Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Charles. There's another important D&S allusion in an upcoming chapter, folks. TP a connoisseur too of Broadway show tunes--who knew?

==Page 162==
'''then sat through the dawn''' 
Morning, the thirteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 5, 1970.

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==Page 124==
'''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' 
Afternoon, the ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1, 1970.

'''Stone Turntable''' 
The name is presumably intended to be a jokey reference to Rolling Stone: a stone turntable being not a rolling stone, but a rotating one.

==Page 125==
'''Jurgensen's''' 
Jurgensen's was an upscale, gourmet grocery store with locations in Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and throughout greater LA.

[[File:Hokusai.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Great Wave off Kanagawa, image from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa Wikipedia]]]
'''Hokusai's famous ''Great Wave off Kanagawa''''' 
a famous woodblock print. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa Wikipedia]

==Page 126==
'''uncountableth''' 
In mathematics, "uncountable" is used to describe the size of infinite sets larger than the set of natural numbers. Pynchon's use of the word here is deliberately oxymoronic. See also the reference to George Cantor further in the same paragraph.

'''the Boards...''' 
As the surf band that makes it big, the Boards suggest the Beach Boys. Pynchon himself once visited the home of Brian Wilson in Beverly Hills. See [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pynchon_and_Brian_Wilson Pynchon and Brian Wilson]. Perhaps this chapter drew some inspiration from that visit?

'''Cantor's Delicatessen''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Cantor Georg Cantor] (1845-1918) was a German mathematician who pioneered the subject of set theory, now at the foundation of all modern mathematics. He proved that there are different sizes of infinity - for example, the set of natural numbers is smaller than the set of real numbers, though both sets are infinite. The name of the restaurant is a play on the real [http://www.cantersdeli.com/ Canter's Deli] in Los Angeles, established 1931.

==Page 128==
'''''Dark Shadows''. . . The Collins family . . . parallel time''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Shadows ''Dark Shadows''] was an innovative TV show in the late 1960's and early 70's that focuses on the Collins family. The show included many Gothic elements, including vampires, zombies, and witches. It also played with time travel and parallel universes in which the same character would be played by different actors or the same actor would play different characters.

If this is April 1, 1970, here's a plot summary of today's show from [http://www.darkshadows.com/cgi-bin/eplist.pl?ep=983 darkshadows.com], all in parallel time today:

:Daniel plans to drive Maggie out of Collinwood. Quentin tells Chris to make sure Bruno Hess, another loyal friend of Angelique, is kicked off the estate. Daniel frightens Maggie by having Amy hum a tune, making it sound like it was coming from Angelique's portrait; Amy later tells Daniel that she did not make the humming sound.

'''parallel time''' 
This paragraph ''may'' be a coded reference to Pynchon's own [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page Against the Day] and its reception. ''Against the Day'' features parallel universes/time (?) and confounded readers nation- (and world-)wide. This interpretation may be a stretch.

In [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''V.''] Pynchon talks about [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mirror_Time "Mirror Time"]:

:"Rachel was looking into the mirror at an angle of 45°, and so had a view of the face turned toward the room and the face on the other side, reflected in the mirror; here were time and reverse-time, co-existing, cancelling one another exactly out. Were there many such reference points, scattered through the world, perhaps only at nodes like this room which housed a transient population of the imperfect, the dissatisfied [...]" ([http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mirror_Time ''V.'', p.46])

'''Hanon''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanon Hanon] was a 19th-century French piano teacher and composer. He's most famous for developing exercises for piano students.

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises exercises], rather than the guy who wrote them, are the primary focus of the reference. These are the basic finger exercises that almost everyone who took piano played for some period, and almost everyone who has had a family member who took piano listend to over and over for seemingly endless periods. They're basically short, hurried, unmelodic scales that work up and down the keyboard without any regard for key. The more advanced exercises feature 4th- and 5th-finger repetitions and trills that are about as pleasant to listen to as a skipping record. They would sound particularly silly on a portable Farfisa, and practicing them on a Farfisa would be strange, as the instrument, unlike a piano, has soft organ keys with virtually no action.

An [http://www.upload-mp3.com/files/84678_nuehq/HanonFarfisa.mp3 MP3] of Hanon's Exercise 1 played on a Farfisa (actually a synthesizer emulating a Farfisa).

'''Farfisa''' 
One of the first electric keyboards/organs used in rock 'n' roll. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farfisa Wikipedia entry...] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkvK638yKuY "Ninety-six Tears" by ? & the Mysterians] is a classic example of the Farfisa sound, as is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O6x_m4zvFs&feature=fvw "Light My Fire" by the Doors].

==Page 130==
'''George Formby''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby,_Jr. George Formby, Jr.] performed "Leaning on a Lamppost" (written by Noel Gay) which Herman's Hermits covered. Tyrone Slothrop, protagonist of ''Gravity's Rainbow'' is described as "sort of an American George Formby, if you can imagine such a thing." Obvious influence on "The Bonzo Dog Band." Here's a video of George Formby singing [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEymZ3rXOmc Leaning On A Lamp Post.]

==Page 131==
'''Donna Lee''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Lee Donna Lee], way more than Coy's usual 1 or 2 note solos.

'''abrazo''' 
Spanish for hug.

==Page 132==
'''third ballet position''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positions_of_the_feet_in_ballet here]

'''louche''' 
Of questionable taste or morality; decadent.

==Page 133==
[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|right|1949 Mercury Woodie [http://www.pbase.com/xl1ken/image/3748891 © Ken Leonard] used with permission]]
'''1949 Mercury woodie''' 
''The Mod Squad'' drove a Mercury woodie, either a '49 or '50.

==Page 134==
'''no longer saw the headlights''' 
Evening, the ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1, 1970.

==Page 138==
'''van Houten, Leslie''' 
b. 1949. A former member of Charles Manson's "Family" who was convicted of the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. She remains imprisoned at the California Institution for Women in Chino, San Bernadino County, California.

'''did he happen to catch the game with Phoenix''' 
Daytime, the tenth day of the narrative, Thursday, April 2, 1970. Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game.

This is probably as good a time as any to mention that the 69-70 NBA season was a big one for Lakers fans. Bill Russell had just retired as a player, after leading the Celtics to 11 of the last 13 championships. Finally, other teams would have a shot at the title. The Lakers thought that the title would be theirs. Unfortunately for Lakers fans, so did the Knicks.

'''Upstairs, Bigfoot, strangely jumpy today''' 
The '''today''' is what identifies this as Daytime, the tenth day of the narrative, Thursday, April 2, 1970.

==Page 140==
'''--not logical, Captain''' 
Star Trek reference, a phrase often spoken by Spock to Kirk.

==Page 141==
[[File:Triumph_Bonneville_T120.jpg|thumb|right|Triumph Bonneville T120, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_Bonneville_T120 Wikipedia]]]
'''Triumph Bonneville T120'''

[[File:Kawasaki_Mach_III.jpg|thumb|right|Kawasaki Mach III, photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/optikalblitz/2447598991/ optikal / Creative Commons]]] 
'''Kawasaki Mach III'''

==Page 142==
'''Around lunchtime, next day''' 
Midday, the eleventh day of the narrative, Friday, April 3, 1970.

==Page 143==
'''SS396''' 
[http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cars_mentioned_in_Inherent_Vice#SS396 Photo]

==Page 144==
'''esta gente no sabe nada''' 
Spanish for "these people know nothing."

==Page 145==
'''hijo de puta''' 
Spanish for "son of a bitch."

'''otra vez''' 
Spanish for "again/one more time."

'''Looking forward to a peaceful morning in the office''' 
Morning, the twelfth day of the narrative, Saturday, April 4, 1970.

==Page 146==
'''"Cootie food!'''" 
What Doc means is "le coup de foudre," aka "bolt of lightning." This echos Reef's 'rounder Italian'; "Say surly topple!" he would scream..." (page 889) from [[Against the Day]]. 
The English meaning, if it has one, and the explanation for Clancy Charlock's response to Doc, is unclear. It may perhaps refer to the childish fear of being infected by a sort of imaginary germ borne by the opposite sex and known as "cooties," which - possibly - makes a member of the opposite sex whom you touch "cootie food." Or, it could just be a very idiosyncratic reference to oral sex. 

Another possibility is that Doc, whose French is likely weaker than his Spanish, memorized the phrase phonetically as "cootie food", since he would not have known the spelling when it was told to him. Assuming Clancy understands French, or at least this particular idiom, her reply is fairly natural.

The phrase is apparently used - at least in the South, and not commonly - to refer to unappetizing or unclean food.

Cooties is slang for crabs or lice.

==Page 147==
'''Now, Voyager (1942)''' 
from Wikipedia: Now, Voyager is a 1942 American drama film directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty, who borrowed her title from a line in the Walt Whitman poem "The Untold Want," which reads in its entirety, "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, / Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find." Bette Davis' portrayal garnered her an Academy Award nomination, and the film continues to be popular not only due to its star power but also the "emotional crescendos" engendered in the storyline.

The film includes the line: "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon... we have the stars."

The film's romantic smoke sequence, repeated during the film and much parodied, featured Paul Henried placing two cigarettes in his lips, lighting them both, then handing one to Bette Davis. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-KGiwGn1d8 YouTube]

==Page 148==
'''That night Doc met Clancy''' 
Evening, the twelfth day of the narrative, Saturday, April 4, 1970.

'''Zubin Mehta''' 
A famous conductor, Zubin Mehta was the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1962-1978. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zubin_Mehta]

'''massé shots''' 
In billiards, a massé shot is when a player strikes a ball with the cue at a sharp angle and causes the ball to curve drastically or even eventually reverse direction. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ly8Ee_7jM Here's an example.] Some pool halls (like this one) forbid this kind of shot because it often leads to scratching or tearing of the felt.

==Page 153==
'''"Happy Trails to You"''' 
Besides the reference to Roy Roger's theme song, this phrase is a favorite double entendre among those who use psychedelic drugs. "Acid trails" are a common hallucination produced by LSD.

Also the title (and last track) of the 1968, "live", genre-defining, acid-rock album by the Quicksilver Messenger Service [http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1108947/a/Happy+Trails.htm]

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==Page 68==
'''A lunch date had just happened to cancel''' 
Afternoon, Friday, March 27, 1970, the fourth day of the narrative, and Good Friday.

'''Nickel''' 
"He showed up at a peculiar skid-row eatery off Temple where wine abusers up from bedrolls in vacent lots back of what remained of the old Nickel." The part of downtown centered around '''5th Street''' is Los Angeles’ Skid Row and has long been referred to by locals and detectives in noir novels as "The Nickel." While downtown Los Angeles has gone through a revitalization in recent years, it has mostly skipped over the Skid Row neighborhood. Listen to Tom Waits' wino lullaby [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sILtO6LAEq8 "On The Nickel."] "...off the nikel..." page 320. "Plastic Nickel" page 293.

==Page 69==
'''Never trust a flatland chick''' 
Could be a reference to ''Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions'' (1884) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland], a satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott. In the chapter "Concerning the Women" ([http://abbott.thefreelibrary.com/Flatland/1-5 full text available here]):

:"If our highly pointed Triangles of the Soldier class are formidable, it may be readily inferred that far more formidable are our Women. For if a Soldier is a wedge, a Woman is a needle; being, so to speak, ALL point, at least at the two extremities. Add to this the power of making herself practically invisible at will, and you will perceive that a Female, in Flatland, is a creature by no means to be trifled with."

:"Obviously then a Woman is not to be irritated as long as she is in a position where she can turn round. When you have them in their apartments which are constructed with a view to denying them that power you can say and do what you like; for they are then wholly impotent for mischief, and will not remember a few minutes hence the incident for which they may be at this moment threatening you with death, nor the promises which you may have found it necessary to make in order to pacify their fury."

==Page 70==
'''DDA game''' 
Deputy District Attorney (Penny Kimball)

==Page 71==
'''stewardii''' 
In the Pynchon-narrated promo video for ''Inherent Vice'', Pynchon sez:

:"stewardesses or, more correctly I guess, stewardii"

In the poem "Johnny Inkslinger Flying Coast to
Coastharkens Back to the Sand Dunes
of Kitty Hawk" from the collection ''American Elegies'' by the poet [http://www.pw.org/content/louis_phillips_2 Louis Phillips]:

:Metalinguistic Stewardii / Setting out comfort[http://www.worldaudience.org/pdfs_samplers/AE-Louis.pdf]

Mr Phillips is a widely published poet, playwright, and short story author, who lives in Manhattan, so it's possible Pynchon is acquainted with him and was riffing on Phillips' coinage of "Stewardii" in his poem.

In an email exchange regarding his use of "Stewardii," Mr. Phillips said:

:About STEWARDII.... The correct plural of STEWARDESS is, I believe, STEWARDESSES. STEWARDII would be used in a humorous manner as I do....but I doubt that it is widely accepted. STEWARDII is mock Latin.... STEWARDUS--I don't believe that exists in Latin. As in JAMES STEWARDUS. I was unaware of Pynchon's use of Stewardii...As I am certain that he has never heard of my writings...But it will not be the first time, writers have independently hit upon the same ideas.

In botany, the suffix "-ii" is often appended to the name of the person who identified or discovered a plant, or the suffix is added to the name of someone the botanist wants to honor or recognize, eg A.N. Steward is the namesake for "Meliosma stewardii." This part of a plant's name is called the "specific epithet." Given that in ''Inherent Vice'' there are [[Plants_of_Inherent_Vice|quite a few characters named after plants]], perhaps there's some connection here?

It seems more likely to be some kind of joke on the fake, or inaccurate, application of Latin rules to English words.

In Latin, regular nouns ending with "us" are made plural by changing the "us" to "i," e.g. "alumnus" to "alumni" (in the nominative case, but let's not get into declensions here if it's not necessary).

The "ess" at the end of "stewardess," of course, is completely different from the "us" at the end of Latin nouns. Though English is generally gender-free, "ess" is a suffix added to some nouns describing people (typically by occupation) in order to convert the standard form (which, at least theoretically, carries no gender) into a specifically feminine form (such as waitress, stewardess, actress and hostess).

Latin, like many languages but unlike English, has strong gender rules, with almost all nouns being either masculine of feminine. It's either ironic, or perhaps the point of the joke, that Latin nouns ending in "us" (which have plurals ending in "i") are (with rare exceptions) masculine.

==Page 72==
'''Wouldn't it Be Nice''' 
Beach Boys, 1966, off the album ''Pet Sounds''.

==Page 73==
'''Tommy's''' 
[http://www.originaltommys.com/ Tommy's] is a famous burger chain in the LA area. This place was a food shrine to the American Hamburger and people used to come from miles around to get them. Pynchon moves the location one block east from Rampart and Beverly to Coronado and Beverly.

Krishna, the fry cook: could this be the same Krishna who shows up in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''] as the sound man for 24 fps?

==Page 74==
'''Kahuna Airlines''' 
Airline made famous in Pynchon's [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''], a non-sked flying out of LAX’s East Imperial Terminal to Hawaii.

==Page 75==
'''Ron Karenga''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Karenga Ron Karenga] is an influential African American activist. He invented Kwanzaa. Back in the day in some quarters he was thought to be an agent provocateur in the employ of the FBI, especially after the shoot out at UCLA in January 1969 that left two Black Panthers, Alprentice Bunchy Carter and John Huggens, dead.

'''Can I be frank for a minute''' 
A bad joke since Doc starts to sing Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon."

'''...the Director...spade penises...''' 
Long time FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, now famous for his paranoia and closeted homosexuality.

'''Lew Erskine''' 
main character in the TV show, "F.B.I.," which ran 1965-74. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058801/ IMDB]

==Page 76==
'''Ralph's''' 
Ubiquitous grocery chain in California. Plays an important role in the Coen brothers' ''The Big Lebowski'', a film to which Inherent Vice is often compared. 
'''Coming out of work later in the day''' 
Afternoon, Friday, March 27, 1970, the fourth day of the narrative.

==Page 77==
'''I'm working weeknights at Club Asiatique''' 
Afternoon, Friday, March 27, 1970, the fourth day of the narrative. Doc sees Jade this night at Club Asiatique, still nominally a weeknight.

'''before he's slipped, as Jim Morrison might put it, "into unconsciousness"...''' 
lyrics from "The Crystal Ship" by The Doors: "Before you slip into unconsciousness / I'd like to have another kiss." The song was on the Doors' first album, The Doors, released in January 1967. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awi14wDTxNw Have a listen on YouTube...]

'''as Fats Domino always sez, "Never to be"...''' 
"Blueberry Hill" was written in 1940 and was recorded by Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey and Gene Autry, and others. In 1956, Fats Domino (b. 1928) recorded it and it was a #2 hit on the Billboard Top 40. Excerpt:

:The wind in the willow played 
:Love's sweet melody 
:But all of those vows we made 
:Were never to be

'''Motella gave him a skeptical O-O''' 
Once over.

'''Hawaiian shirt''' 
One was worn by Tyrone Slothrop in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', part 2.

==Page 78==
'''Beach Boys''' 
This must follow some Beach Boys melody. Anyone?

Pynchon's Boards' lyrics bear more than passing similarity to the lyrics of the Beach Boys' 1963 song, "Shut Down."[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykmekz9--t8&NR=1 A live version.] Note the scarcely competent sax solo by Mike Love, which provides some support for Doc's and Hope Harlingen's opinion, at page 37, of the general level of surf sax playing.

The Beach Boys song was co-written with KHJ DJ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Christian_(songwriter) Roger Christian] (1934-1991), who was likely the source of the car terminology. Christian's other Brian Wilson collaborations included "Don't Worry Baby", "Little Deuce Coupe" and "In the Parkin' Lot" and he co-wrote, for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_and_Dean Jan and Dean], "Dead Man's Curve", "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena", "Sidewalk Surfin", "Drag City" and "Honolulu Lulu."

[[File:1966GTO.jpg|thumb|right|1966 Pontiac GTO (Gran Turismo Omologato)]]'''GTO''' 
The Pontiac GTO (Gran Turismo Omologato) is an automobile built by Pontiac in the United States from 1964 to 1974, and is often considered the first true muscle car. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_GTO Wikipedia...]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

==Page 79==
'''A toda madre!''' 
from Urban Dictionary:
Mexican slang that means something is totally awesome. Often abbreviated, especially in graffiti, as ATM.

"La fiesta estuvo a toda madre." translation: "The party was totally awesome."

==Page 80==
'''like Moe going, "Spread out!"''' 
Moe, of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_stooges Three Stooges] would yell "Spread out!" to the other two, and sometimes some other people, when fighting.

[[File:VincentThomasBridge.jpg|thumb|100px|right|The Vincent Thomas Bridge by night, as it appears today.]]
'''Kai Tak''' 
Kai Tak Airport was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998.

'''San Pedro, Terminal Island, Vincent Thomas Bridge''' 
All back in L.A.

<div style="clear:both;"></div>

==Page 81==
[[File:Cheongsam.jpg|thumb|100px|right|Model in a red cheongsam. [http://www.cheongsamboutique.com/2008/07/cheongsam-qipao.html Source]]]
'''Cheongsam''' 
a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women.

'''Fan-tan... dollar-a-stone Go''' 
Fan-Tan is a form of gambling long played in China that has similarities to roulette. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan-Tan Wikipedia]. The "stones" in "dollar-a-stone Go" most likely refers to the point differential at the end of the game, usually ten or less between evenly matched players.

<div style="clear:both;"></div>

==Page 82==
'''LZ''' 
Vietnam soldier slang for "landing zone."

==Page 83==
'''''dan'' ranking''' 
The ''dan'' ranking system is a Japanese mark of level is used in martial arts (and also traditional fine arts, including mastery of the board game, Go). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_%28rank%29 Wikipedia entry]

'''wallerin in eye contact''' 
Phonetic spelling of "wallowing" (pleasantly indulging in), as in a sort of hillbilly or rural-Southern accent. [http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=41517 This article] goes into more detail. An excerpt:

:For those unfamiliar with southern U.S. parlance, the English verb “wallow” is many times pronounced as “waller” in areas of The Southeast, especially rural areas. According to Dictionary.com, the verb “wallow” means “to roll about or lie in water, snow, mud, dust, or the like, as for refreshment." [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wallow]

'''1956 Fireflite ragtop'''
[[File:1956Fireflite.jpg|thumb|left|1956 DeSoto Fireflite Convertible, photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/bsabarnowl/2784312247/ bsabarnowl / Creative Commons]]]

<div style="clear:both;"></div>

'''The nearly total absence of lighting''' 
Night, Friday, March 27, 1970, the fourth day of the narrative.

==Page 85==
[[File:PostExchange.jpg|thumb|100px|right|Post Exchange in Mogadishu, Somalia.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PostExchange.jpg Source]]]
'''PX''' 
abbreviation of Post Exchange. A service mark used for a military store on an Army or Naval base that sells goods to military personnel. Apparently, the PX often appeared in the Beetle Bailey comic strip from the 1950s. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_exchange Wikipedia].

<div style="clear:both;"></div>

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 6

2009-09-28T22:19:33Z

Redbarnlane: formatting

Chapter 6

2009-09-28T22:18:18Z

Redbarnlane: formatting

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 68==
'''A lunch date had just happened to cancel''' 
Afternoon, Friday, March 27, 1970, the fourth day of the narrative, and Good Friday.

'''Nickel''' 
"He showed up at a peculiar skid-row eatery off Temple where wine abusers up from bedrolls in vacent lots back of what remained of the old Nickel." The part of downtown centered around '''5th Street''' is Los Angeles’ Skid Row and has long been referred to by locals and detectives in noir novels as "The Nickel." While downtown Los Angeles has gone through a revitalization in recent years, it has mostly skipped over the Skid Row neighborhood. Listen to Tom Waits' wino lullaby [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sILtO6LAEq8 "On The Nickel."] "...off the nikel..." page 320. "Plastic Nickel" page 293.

==Page 69==
'''Never trust a flatland chick''' 
Could be a reference to ''Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions'' (1884) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland], a satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott. In the chapter "Concerning the Women" ([http://abbott.thefreelibrary.com/Flatland/1-5 full text available here]):

:"If our highly pointed Triangles of the Soldier class are formidable, it may be readily inferred that far more formidable are our Women. For if a Soldier is a wedge, a Woman is a needle; being, so to speak, ALL point, at least at the two extremities. Add to this the power of making herself practically invisible at will, and you will perceive that a Female, in Flatland, is a creature by no means to be trifled with."

:"Obviously then a Woman is not to be irritated as long as she is in a position where she can turn round. When you have them in their apartments which are constructed with a view to denying them that power you can say and do what you like; for they are then wholly impotent for mischief, and will not remember a few minutes hence the incident for which they may be at this moment threatening you with death, nor the promises which you may have found it necessary to make in order to pacify their fury."

==Page 70==
'''DDA game''' 
Deputy District Attorney (Penny Kimball)

==Page 71==
'''stewardii''' 
In the Pynchon-narrated promo video for ''Inherent Vice'', Pynchon sez:

:"stewardesses or, more correctly I guess, stewardii"

In the poem "Johnny Inkslinger Flying Coast to
Coastharkens Back to the Sand Dunes
of Kitty Hawk" from the collection ''American Elegies'' by the poet [http://www.pw.org/content/louis_phillips_2 Louis Phillips]:

:Metalinguistic Stewardii / Setting out comfort[http://www.worldaudience.org/pdfs_samplers/AE-Louis.pdf]

Mr Phillips is a widely published poet, playwright, and short story author, who lives in Manhattan, so it's possible Pynchon is acquainted with him and was riffing on Phillips' coinage of "Stewardii" in his poem.

In an email exchange regarding his use of "Stewardii," Mr. Phillips said:

:About STEWARDII.... The correct plural of STEWARDESS is, I believe, STEWARDESSES. STEWARDII would be used in a humorous manner as I do....but I doubt that it is widely accepted. STEWARDII is mock Latin.... STEWARDUS--I don't believe that exists in Latin. As in JAMES STEWARDUS. I was unaware of Pynchon's use of Stewardii...As I am certain that he has never heard of my writings...But it will not be the first time, writers have independently hit upon the same ideas.

In botany, the suffix "-ii" is often appended to the name of the person who identified or discovered a plant, or the suffix is added to the name of someone the botanist wants to honor or recognize, eg A.N. Steward is the namesake for "Meliosma stewardii." This part of a plant's name is called the "specific epithet." Given that in ''Inherent Vice'' there are [[Plants_of_Inherent_Vice|quite a few characters named after plants]], perhaps there's some connection here?

It seems more likely to be some kind of joke on the fake, or inaccurate, application of Latin rules to English words.

In Latin, regular nouns ending with "us" are made plural by changing the "us" to "i," e.g. "alumnus" to "alumni" (in the nominative case, but let's not get into declensions here if it's not necessary).

The "ess" at the end of "stewardess," of course, is completely different from the "us" at the end of Latin nouns. Though English is generally gender-free, "ess" is a suffix added to some nouns describing people (typically by occupation) in order to convert the standard form (which, at least theoretically, carries no gender) into a specifically feminine form (such as waitress, stewardess, actress and hostess).

Latin, like many languages but unlike English, has strong gender rules, with almost all nouns being either masculine of feminine. It's either ironic, or perhaps the point of the joke, that Latin nouns ending in "us" (which have plurals ending in "i") are (with rare exceptions) masculine.

==Page 72==
'''Wouldn't it Be Nice''' 
Beach Boys, 1966, off the album ''Pet Sounds''.

==Page 73==
'''Tommy's''' 
[http://www.originaltommys.com/ Tommy's] is a famous burger chain in the LA area. This place was a food shrine to the American Hamburger and people used to come from miles around to get them. Pynchon moves the location one block east from Rampart and Beverly to Coronado and Beverly.

Krishna, the fry cook: could this be the same Krishna who shows up in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''] as the sound man for 24 fps?

==Page 74==
'''Kahuna Airlines''' 
Airline made famous in Pynchon's [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''], a non-sked flying out of LAX’s East Imperial Terminal to Hawaii.

==Page 75==
'''Ron Karenga''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Karenga Ron Karenga] is an influential African American activist. He invented Kwanzaa. Back in the day in some quarters he was thought to be an agent provocateur in the employ of the FBI, especially after the shoot out at UCLA in January 1969 that left two Black Panthers, Alprentice Bunchy Carter and John Huggens, dead.

'''Can I be frank for a minute''' 
A bad joke since Doc starts to sing Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon."

'''...the Director...spade penises...''' 
Long time FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, now famous for his paranoia and closeted homosexuality.

'''Lew Erskine''' 
main character in the TV show, "F.B.I.," which ran 1965-74. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058801/ IMDB]

==Page 76==
'''Ralph's''' 
Ubiquitous grocery chain in California. Plays an important role in the Coen brothers' ''The Big Lebowski'', a film to which Inherent Vice is often compared. 
'''Coming out of work later in the day''' 
Afternoon, Friday, March 27, 1970, the fourth day of the narrative.

==Page 77==
'''I'm working weeknights at Club Asiatique''' 
Afternoon, Friday, March 27, 1970, the fourth day of the narrative. Doc sees Jade this night at Club Asiatique, still nominally a weeknight.

'''before he's slipped, as Jim Morrison might put it, "into unconsciousness"...''' 
lyrics from "The Crystal Ship" by The Doors: "Before you slip into unconsciousness / I'd like to have another kiss." The song was on the Doors' first album, The Doors, released in January 1967. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awi14wDTxNw Have a listen on YouTube...]

'''as Fats Domino always sez, "Never to be"...''' 
"Blueberry Hill" was written in 1940 and was recorded by Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey and Gene Autry, and others. In 1956, Fats Domino (b. 1928) recorded it and it was a #2 hit on the Billboard Top 40. Excerpt:

:The wind in the willow played 
:Love's sweet melody 
:But all of those vows we made 
:Were never to be

'''Motella gave him a skeptical O-O''' 
Once over. 

'''Hawaiian shirt''' 
One was worn by Tyrone Slothrop in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', part 2.

==Page 78==
'''Beach Boys''' 
This must follow some Beach Boys melody. Anyone?

Pynchon's Boards' lyrics bear more than passing similarity to the lyrics of the Beach Boys' 1963 song, "Shut Down."[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykmekz9--t8&NR=1 A live version.] Note the scarcely competent sax solo by Mike Love, which provides some support for Doc's and Hope Harlingen's opinion, at page 37, of the general level of surf sax playing.

The Beach Boys song was co-written with KHJ DJ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Christian_(songwriter) Roger Christian] (1934-1991), who was likely the source of the car terminology. Christian's other Brian Wilson collaborations included "Don't Worry Baby", "Little Deuce Coupe" and "In the Parkin' Lot" and he co-wrote, for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_and_Dean Jan and Dean], "Dead Man's Curve", "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena", "Sidewalk Surfin", "Drag City" and "Honolulu Lulu."

[[File:1966GTO.jpg|thumb|right|1966 Pontiac GTO (Gran Turismo Omologato)]]'''GTO''' 
The Pontiac GTO (Gran Turismo Omologato) is an automobile built by Pontiac in the United States from 1964 to 1974, and is often considered the first true muscle car. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_GTO Wikipedia...]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

==Page 79==
'''A toda madre!''' 
from Urban Dictionary:
Mexican slang that means something is totally awesome. Often abbreviated, especially in graffiti, as ATM.

"La fiesta estuvo a toda madre." translation: "The party was totally awesome."

==Page 80==
'''like Moe going, "Spread out!"''' 
Moe, of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_stooges Three Stooges] would yell "Spread out!" to the other two, and sometimes some other people, when fighting.

[[File:VincentThomasBridge.jpg|thumb|100px|right|The Vincent Thomas Bridge by night, as it appears today.]]
'''Kai Tak''' 
Kai Tak Airport was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998.

'''San Pedro, Terminal Island, Vincent Thomas Bridge''' 
All back in L.A.

<div style="clear:both;"></div>

==Page 81==
[[File:Cheongsam.jpg|thumb|100px|right|Model in a red cheongsam. [http://www.cheongsamboutique.com/2008/07/cheongsam-qipao.html Source]]]
'''Cheongsam''' 
a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women.

'''Fan-tan... dollar-a-stone Go''' 
Fan-Tan is a form of gambling long played in China that has similarities to roulette. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan-Tan Wikipedia]. The "stones" in "dollar-a-stone Go" most likely refers to the point differential at the end of the game, usually ten or less between evenly matched players.

<div style="clear:both;"></div>

==Page 82==
'''LZ''' 
Vietnam soldier slang for "landing zone."

==Page 83==
'''''dan'' ranking''' 
The ''dan'' ranking system is a Japanese mark of level is used in martial arts (and also traditional fine arts, including mastery of the board game, Go). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_%28rank%29 Wikipedia entry]

'''wallerin in eye contact''' 
Phonetic spelling of "wallowing" (pleasantly indulging in), as in a sort of hillbilly or rural-Southern accent. [http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=41517 This article] goes into more detail. An excerpt:

:For those unfamiliar with southern U.S. parlance, the English verb “wallow” is many times pronounced as “waller” in areas of The Southeast, especially rural areas. According to Dictionary.com, the verb “wallow” means “to roll about or lie in water, snow, mud, dust, or the like, as for refreshment." [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wallow]

'''1956 Fireflite ragtop'''
[[File:1956Fireflite.jpg|thumb|left|1956 DeSoto Fireflite Convertible, photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/bsabarnowl/2784312247/ bsabarnowl / Creative Commons]]]

<div style="clear:both;"></div>

'''The nearly total absence of lighting''' 
Night, Friday, March 27, 1970, the fourth day of the narrative.

==Page 85==
[[File:PostExchange.jpg|thumb|100px|right|Post Exchange in Mogadishu, Somalia.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PostExchange.jpg Source]]]
'''PX''' 
abbreviation of Post Exchange. A service mark used for a military store on an Army or Naval base that sells goods to military personnel. Apparently, the PX often appeared in the Beetle Bailey comic strip from the 1950s. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_exchange Wikipedia].

<div style="clear:both;"></div>

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 5

2009-09-28T22:15:39Z

Redbarnlane: formatting

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 55==
'''I may have a few minutes free around noon''' 
Morning, Friday, March 27, 1970, the fourth day of the narrative, and Good Friday.

==Page 56==
'''Bonzo Dog Band''' 
Located in the aesthetic cracks somewhere between the Goons and Monty Python, Spike Jones and Spinal Tap, The Bonzo Dog Band [formerly The Bonzo Doo-Dah Dog Band] was sometimes [incorrectly] cited as Britain's answer to Frank Zappa, The Bonzo Dog Band were the all-time masters of musical surrealism and not inconsequentially the Beatles favorite band. The Bonzo's performance of Sonny Bono's "Bang Bang [My Baby Shot Me Down]" appears as a bonus track on the 2007 reissue of their album "The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse."[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonzo_Dog_Doo-Dah_Band Wikipedia]

A "surfadelic" version of "Bang Bang" is included on Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet's 1991 album "Dim the Lights, Chill the Ham."

The Bonzos perform "Death Cab For Cutie" on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9y4vLrHsm4 YouTube]

'''KRLA''' 
KRLA, "The Big 11-10", became one of the top radio stations in the Los Angeles area, competing with KFWB and KHJ to be L.A.'s dominant top 40 station. KRLA featured local DJs like Dave Hull (The Hullabalooer), Dick "Huggy Boy" Hugg, Emperor Bob Hudson, Ted Quillin, Bill Ballance, Reb Foster, Casey Kasem, Bob Eubanks, Dick Biondi, Sam Riddle, Dick Moreland, Jimmy O'Neill, Wink Martindale, Johnny Hayes.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDIS_(AM) Wikipedia] KRLA was also a major outlet for radio comedy, featuring live broadcasts of Stan Freberg, The Firesign Theater and the Credibility Gap.

==Page 58==
'''Robert Moses''' 
Robert Moses (1888 – 1981) was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County, New York. His career is summed up by his sayings "cities are for traffic" and "if the ends don't justify the means, what does?" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses Wikipedia]

The quotation is, at least approximately, taken from Robert Caro's biography of Moses, The Power Broker.

'''Dr. Van Helsing''' 
A funny joke here. Helsing is a character in Bram Stoker's ''Dracula''. He's a vampire hunter.

'''Jimmy Wong Howe''' 
Master cinematographer James Wong Howe, whose career stretched from silent pictures through the mid-'70s, was born Wong Tung Jim in Canton (now Guangzhou), China, on August 28, 1899, the son of Wong How. Wong Howe was famed for his innovations, including putting a cameraman with a hand-held camera on roller skates inside a boxing ring for Body and Soul (1947) to draw the audience into the ring. . . [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002146/bio IMDb]
Howe also was the DP on the very revolutionary film 'the Molly Maguires. /cw?

==Page 59==
'''where John Garfield is this evil gangster''' 
John Garfield (1913-1952) was an American actor especially adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. He is acknowledged as the predecessor of such Method actors as Marlon Brando, James Dean, and Montgomery Clift. He was active in liberal politics, and when called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which was empowered to investigate purported communist infiltration in America, Garfield refused to name communist party members or followers, testifying that, indeed, he knew none in the film industry. As a result, his Hollywood career was pretty much destroyed and he spiralled into depression and substance abuse, dying at 39 years of age [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Garfield Wikipedia entry]. This is the first of many upcoming references to Garfield and his work, who proves to be one of Doc's few heroes. For a good short essay on Garfield and John Prine's song "The Late John Garfield Blues," from Prine's ''Diamonds in the Rough'' album (1972), go [http://www.celestialmonochord.org/2005/09/the_late_john_g.html here].

'''Ida Lupino''' 
Ida Lupino (1918 – 1995) was an Anglo-American film actress, director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her forty-eight year career, she appeared in fifty-nine films, and directed nine others. She also appeared in episodic television fifty-eight times and directed fifty other episodes. In addition, she contributed as a writer to five films and four TV episodes. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Lupino Wikipedia] 

'''The midday ''refrescos'' now, if you wouldn't mind''' 
Noonish, Friday, March 27, 1970, the fourth day of the narrative.

==Page 61==
'''Doc didn't actually see them "exchanging glances" as Frank might have put it ...''' 
A reference to Frank Sinatra's performance of "Strangers in the Night" (Kaempfert/Singleton/Snyder):

:"Strangers in the night exchanging glances 
:Wondering in the night 
:What were the chances we'd be sharing love 
:Before the night was through? 

==Page 62==
'''Bucky Fuller''' 
Buckminster Fuller was an American architect and inventor (among other things). He invented the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodesic_dome Geodesic dome].

'''quadrille paper''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_paper Graph paper], which, of course, is what Pynchon wrote ''Gravity's Rainbow'' on, at least according to [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Thomas_Pynchon#Gravity.27s_Rainbow_and_Pynchon.27s_rise_to_prominence oft-repeated] legend.

'''Arrepentimiento''' 
Spanish: n. repentance, penitence, contrition--all concepts important to ''Inherent Vice''.

There's also a cool trilingual pun here: "pentimento" (now an English word, but from the Italian for 'repent') refers to an image in a painting that was painted over but then, with time, begins to show through the top layer of represented images. Lots of ways to connect this multi-level word to the plot and themes of ''Inherent Vice''.

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 4

2009-09-28T22:13:43Z

Redbarnlane: formatting

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}
==Page 50==
'''Today, after a deceptively sunny and uneventful spin''' 
Friday, March 27, 1970, the fourth day of the narrative, and Good Friday.

'''Hughes Company property''' 
Hughes Aircraft Company was a major aerospace and defense company founded by Howard Hughes. The group was based in Culver City, California. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_Aircraft Wikipedia]

==Page 51==
'''KQAS''' 
In [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page ''Vineland''], while hassling dopers in Gordita Beach, Hector Zuniga's radio dial was always tuned to KQAS. 

:"I really want to tell you, man, about my car radio?" He moved closer to Mucho, who'd already read and filed Hector's story by now, and would presently begin to edge away. "Which is kin' of unique 'causs it only gits this one station? KQAS! Kick-Ass 460 on th' AM dial! 
:460 megahertz is the police band. 

'''Ondas Nudosas''' 
Spanish: "Gnarly Waves," Pynchon's hilarious (and also accurate) translation of surfer-speak for waves that are great to ride but challenging.

==Page 52==
'''Fritz Drybeam''' 
How much do you want to bet that ol' Fritz has CIA connections? 

'''Truth serum. Same kind the CIA uses''' 
See: [[Pynchon's California Trilogy and the CIA]]

'''Today Doc found Fritz''' 
Morning, Friday, March 27, 1970, the fourth day of the narrative.

'''Dodge Super Bee'''
[[File:DodgeSuperBee.jpg|thumb|left|1969 Dodge Super Bee, Photo from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Super_Bee Wikipedia]]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

==Page 53==
'''ARPAnet''' 
"It's a network of computers, Doc. all connected by phone lines. UCLA, Isla Vista, Stanford. Say there's a file they have up there and you don't, they'll send it right along at fifty thousand characters per second."

The ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) created by ARPA of the United States Department of Defense during the Cold War, was the world's first operational packet switching network, and the predecessor of the global Internet.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET Wikipedia]

An interesting discussion about ARPAnet on pg. 195.

==Page 54==
'''ARPA''' 
Now '''DARPA'''

Created as the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in February 1958. Its creation was directly attributed to the launching of Sputnik and to U.S. realization that the Soviet Union had developed the capacity to rapidly exploit military technology. [http://www.darpa.mil/history.html Darpa Website]

'''TRW''' 
TRW Incorporated was an American corporation involved in a number of businesses, mostly defense-related, but including automotive, aerospace and credit reporting."[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRW Wikipedia]

'''Ramo isn't telling Woolridge? [sic]''' 
The 1958 merger of Thompson with the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation (named after Simon Ramo and Dean Wooldridge) was named Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc., then shortened to TRW Inc. in 1965.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRW Wikipedia]

The Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation's main business, from 1954, was acting as the principal technical advisor to the Air Force on the development of the US intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program. The technical foundation of that effort was, of course, the German V2 program, a principal focus of Gravity's Rainbow. [http://www.spaceline.org/history/6.html Reference] and [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/business/23wooldridge.html another one].

Boeing was a contractor for the Minuteman missile system, part of the ICBM program. As a technical writer for Boeing, Pynchon's primary subject was Boeing missile work, including the Minuteman program. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6750/is_46-49/ai_n28819965/ Reference]

The Ramo and Wooldridge reference, at least for people with very long memories, may not be as obscure as it first appears. [http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19570429,00.html Link]

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 3

2009-09-28T22:12:39Z

Redbarnlane: formatting

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}
==Chapter 3==
There are no time cues in this short chapter, so it still must be Thursday, March 26, 1970, the third day of the narrative.
==Page 46==
'''Surfer-Lowrider Wars''' 
Surfers were mostly white boys, middle class. Lowriders were primarily Hispanic and working class. They were not fond of each other. I recall in high school, back in the mid-1960s, it was surfers and "greasers." Same deal, basically class warfare.

==Page 47==
'''Endless Bummer''' 
This is a pun on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Endless_Summer ''The Endless Summer''], an influential 1966 documentary about surfing.

'''what's behind the door where Carol is standing . . . zonk''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Merrill Carol Merrill] was an assistant on the TV game show ''Let's Make a Deal'' in which contestants would have to choose unseen prizes hidden behind doors. Some prizes were valuable, but the "zonks" were the worthless prizes.

==Page 48==
'''Art Fleming''' 
Another game show reference (see previous page). Fleming was the original host of the TV game show ''Jeopardy''. 
Perhaps Doc is too stoned to realize the meaning of the Art Fleming look. ''Jeopardy'' was and is a show on which the contestants are given answers and expected to come up with the correct questions.

'''quadrilateral in uniform''' 
A nice joke on "square" (as in the opposite of a hippie).

'''Sharon Tate''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Tate Sharon Tate] was one of the victims in the Charles Manson murders.

'''eleventh-commandment issues''' 
During Reagan's 1966 campaign for governor, Republicans established the "eleventh commandment": Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican. More [http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0402/0402eleventhcommandment.htm here]. This phrase also appears on pg. 271.

==Page 49==
'''Swedish Fish''' 
A gummy candy. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_fish here]. Also appears on pg. 270.

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 2

2009-09-28T19:26:59Z

Redbarnlane: formatting

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 20==
'''desert beneath the pavement''' 
An echo of the epigraph, though in this case the sand beneath the pavement is a desert, rather than a beach.

'''Kaufman and Broad''' 
In 1957 Donald Kaufman and Eli Broad cofounded Kaufman and Broad Building Company in Detroit, Michigan. In 1963 Kaufman and Broad builds its first homes in California and announces it will establish corporate headquarters in Los Angeles. In 2000 the company changed its name to KB Home. KB Home is the largest home builder in the United States, in terms of units built. Between the 1950s and 1970s, Eli Broad was known as "King of Sprawl." Kaufman and Broad built more suburban homes in this country than anyone before or since.
[http://www.kbhome.com/Default.aspx KB Home]

'''Dominguez Flood Control Channel''' 
"The Dominguez Channel extends from the Los Angeles International Airport to the Los Angeles Harbor and drains large if not all portions of the cities of Inglewood, Hawthorne, El Segundo, Gardena, Lawndale, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Carson and Los Angeles." [http://www.theriverproject.org/dominguez.html The River Project]

==Page 21==
'''bigger inside than out''' 
This trope of spaces with interiors larger than they appear from the outside is also present in Pynchon's 1997 novel [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Mason & Dixon'']:

:Our Coach is a late invention of the Jesuits [...] wherein the inside is quite notably larger than the outside, though the fact cannot be appreciated until one is inside. ([http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361#Page_354 p. 354])

==Page 22==
'''caused Doc about then to swoon abruptly and lose an unknown amount of his day.''' 
It's still Wednesday, March 25, 1970, the second day of the narrative.

'''"Congratulations, hippie scum [...] and welcome to a world of inconvenience."''' 
Detective Lieutenant Bigfoot Bjornsen echos Walter Sobchak from the 1998 Coen brothers film [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lebowski ''The Big Lebowski'']: "Smokey, my friend, you are entering a world of pain."

'''30-weight voice''' 
30-weight is shorthand for automobile engine oil.

'''chocolate-covered frozen banana''' 
Very appropriate for Bigfoot, whose namesake is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfoot an ape-like creature], to have as his "trademark snack" a banana. And it is quite a delicious snack, actually: [http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gale-gand/chocolate-dipped-frozen-bananas-recipe/index.html recipe].

'''to gaze tubeward''' 
Which is exactly what the denizens of Channel View Estates would be doing, viewing channels.

==Page 23==
'''Doc made out in the afternoon light'''
 Afternoon, Wednesday, March 25, 1970, the second day of the narrative.
==Page 24==
'''Forgetful dope fiends should be more cautious about whom they wish to act out their wacko fantasies upon.''' 
Foreshadows Charles Manson who first appears on [[#Page 29|page 29]].

[[File:68Elcamino.jpg|thumb|150px|right|1968 Chevrolet El Camino]]
'''1968 El Camino''' 
The Chevrolet El Camino is a coupe utility vehicle produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors from 1959 through 1960, with production resuming in 1964 and continuing through 1987. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_El_Camino Wikipedia]
<div style="clear:both;"></div>

==Page 26==
'''Fatso Judson''' 
Fatso Judson is the sadistic stockade sergeant played by Ernest Borgnine in "From Here To Eternity," a 1953 drama film based on the novel of the same name by James Jones.

'''It wasn't until the middle of rush hour''' 
Late afternoon, Wednesday, March 25, 1970, the second day of the narrative.
==Page 28==
[[File:Donaldstubble.jpg|thumb|150|right|]]
'''Donald and Goofy [...] in fact he's always had to go in ''every day'' and ''shave his beak.''''' 
The cartoon being discussed here is "No Sail" from 1945. Available on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hImIbmRnBU8 Youtube] and the Chronological Donald Volume II DVD [http://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Treasures-Chronological-Donald/dp/B000ATQYU6/ Amazon].
<div style="clear:both;"></div>

==Page 29==
'''Mansonoid conspiracy''' 
On August 9, 1969, members of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson Charles Manson's] "family" murdered the eight-and-a-half-months-pregnant actress [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Tate Sharon Tate] (wife of director [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski Roman Polanski]) and four others; the next night, they murdered [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leno_and_Rosemary_LaBianca Leno and Rosemary LaBianca]. Manson orchestrated these murders for the sake of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_%28Manson_scenario%29 Helter Skelter], an apocalyptic war he believed would arise from tension over racial relations between blacks and whites.

'''After no more than an hour of this''' 
Early evening Wednesday, March 25, 1970, the second day of the narrative.

==Page 30==
'''the local news came on''' 
Early evening Wednesday, March 25, 1970, the second day of the narrative.

'''the Santa Anas''' 
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ana_winds Santa Ana winds] are strong, hot, dry winds commonly experienced in southern California.

==Page 31==
'''intended to give the victim mouth-to-mouth''' 
This car-to-human interaction is similar to [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_12#Page_230 a scene] in ''Vineland'' in which Rex has sex with his Porsche, which also recalls Rachel Owlglass's intimate relationship with her MG in the first chapter of ''V''.

'''Not the one with the ''r'' in it''' 
Benzidine is a chemical used to detect blood. Benzedrine is an amphetamine.

==Page 33==
'''huaraches''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huarache_(shoe) Huaraches] are Mexican sandals often associated with California surf culture. See, for example, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfin%27_Safari_%28song%29 the Beach Boys' "Surfin' Safari"] (1963): "You'd see 'em wearing their baggies / Huarache sandals too ...."

'''the satanic Detective . . . everything in it that money could buy''' 
This is a biblical allusion to Matthew, chapter 4, in which Jesus is led to the desert and tempted by the devil: "Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 'All this I will give you,' he said, 'if you will bow down and worship me.'"

Also, similar to how Hector must have worked on Zoyd in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland'']: "Hector had been trying over and over for years to develop him as a resource, and so far technically Zoyd had hung on to his virginity... But... He kept coming back, each time with a new and more demented plan..." ([http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#Page_12 p. 12 ''Vineland''])

[[image:freak-brothers.jpg|right|200px|thumb|caption|Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers]]'''Freak Brothers' dictum''' 
Gilbert Shelton's series of "Underground Comix"—"The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers"—was one of the most popular "Comix" of its time among fans of the form. Featuring the stoned adventures of Freewheelin' Franklin, Phineas T. Freakears, Fat Freddy Freekowtski and the ever popular Fat Freddy's Cat. Famous for [among other things] Freewheelin' Franklin's dictum: "Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Brothers Wikipedia entry]

'''bricks and bricks of shit stacked to the roof''' 
In [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''], the police try to frame Zoyd by putting an enormous stash of pot in his house: "the biggest block of pressed marijuana Zoyd had ever seen in his life, too big to have fit through any door yet towering there, mysteriously, a shaggy monolithic slab reaching almost to the ceiling" ([http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_14#Page_294 pg. 294]).

==Page 34==
'''At the office next day''' 
Thursday, March 26, 1970, the third day of the narrative.

'''Sidney Omarr''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Omarr Sydney Omarr] (an apparent spelling mistake on Pynchon's part) was a popular astrologer whose horoscopes were syndicated in many papers, including the ''LA Times''.

==Page 36==

'''hizaz kar''' 
Variant spelling of ''hijaz kar''. Dick Dale's famous ''Misirlou'' is in fact a Greek tune based on the scale of Makam Hijaz Kar (E-F-G#-A-B-C-D#), and is playable on a single string of a guitar. ''Misirlou'' is one of the most famous of "Surf" tunes, thanks in large part to its presence on the Beach Boys album ''Surfin' USA'' and its inclusion in the soundtrack of the film ''Pulp Fiction''. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misirlou Wikipedia]; [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIU0RMV_II8 Great 1963 clip of Dick Dale & the Deltones performing "Misirlou" from the 1963 movie ''A Swingin' Affair''] (Is that a young Al Franken on bass?)

'''In the kitchen hung a creeping fig''' 
This highly invasive plant is also mentioned on the first page of [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1 ''Vineland''], suggesting creeps and invasions and the like which occur in both novels.

==Page 37==
'''kazoo''' 
I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that every Pynchon novel has a kazoo.
Who can forget Boyd Beaver's All Kazoo Orchestra?

'''Chantays, the Trashmen, the Halibuts''' 
Three surf bands, two famous, one an anachronism time traveling backwards from the 80's. The Chantays famous for "Pipeline" is presented here on the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j09C8clJaXo Lawrence Welk] show, May 18, 1963. The immortal Trashmen gave us "Surfin' Bird" and the Halibuts were a 1980s surf-revival group.

'''Coy and I should've met cute''' 
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_cute "meet cute"]is a movie term that describes a contrived, humorous meeting between two possible romantic partners (e.g., a boy and girl bump into each other on the street then fall in love). In the 1934 film ''The Gay Divorce'', with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, in the song "Looking for a Needle in a Haystack", Astaire sings about finding the woman of his dreams whose name he never learned after they had had a "cute meet."

Roger Mexico and Jessica Swanlake are described as having had "what Hollywood likes to call a 'cute meet'" in Pynchon's 1973 novel [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow''], on [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_37-42#Page_38 page 38].

==Page 38==
'''Charles Manson''' 
The Manson family murders play an important thematic role in this novel. Is it possible that Pynchon timed the release of this novel to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the tragedy (August 1969)?

==Page 39==
'''El Drano''' 
Besides the associations mentioned here, Drano was rumored to be used to "step on" heroin (completely substitute for or augment the quantity of). Also, "Christmas tree meth" is slang for Green Methamphetamine produced using Drano crystals, although this might be anachronistic.

==Page 42==
'''Here I am . . . to save the day!''' 
Amethyst is singing (albeit incorrectly) the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b21nxQ6nffE theme song of the Mighty Mouse cartoon]. 
This passage is as significant for what is ''not'' on the television as it is for what ''is'' on. If ''Mighty Mouse'' is on, it's between 4:00 and 4:30 P.M., meaning that ''Dark Shadows'', which shares the time slot on another channel, is not on. Which is not the case at a certain zombie-infested mansion.

==Page 43==
'''Later in the afternoon''' 
Afternoon, Thursday, March 26, 1970, the third day of the narrative.
'''Scott Oof''' 
Doc's cousin and lead guitar in the surf band the Corvairs, Oof also is a character in Pynchon's 1990 novel [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''], playing essentially the same character:

:After a bit, Corvairs lead guitar and vocalist Scott Oof wandered in from the kitchen to join them, leaning on the doorjamb playing with his hair. ([http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_3#Page p.23])

'''Scott had been playing with a local group known as the Corvairs, till half of them had decided to join the northward migration of those years to Humboldt, Vineland, and Del Norte.''' Pynchon migrated north along with many of the young people he knew from the South Bay to Humboldt county. /CW/
This passage reinforces the connection between ''Inherent Vice'' and ''Vineland''. So Oof had remained in Southern California, while half the band migrated north to Vineland.

Oof's name also opens a rabbithole to the comic genius of P.G. Wodehouse. [http://www.answers.com/topic/oofy-prosser "Oofy" Prosser] is a frequent co-conspirator in the Wooster-Jeeves comedies. [http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/85323.html "Oof"] is also 20th C. British slang for moolah, pelf, wealth, geedis.

Note that many different surf music groups in many different times and places adopted '''"The Corvairs"''' as a nom-de-band.

'''The Big Valley''' 
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965 to May 19, 1969, starring Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Valley Wikipedia] As a major-league movie star during the golden age of Noir, Barbara Stanwyck co-starred with Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson in Billy Wilder's classic: '''"Double Indemnity"''',[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Indemnity_(film) Wikipedia] scripted by Raymond Chandler.

This song from Scott Oof's band ''Beer'' points towards the San Joaquin Valley, which in 1970 was about the un-hippest place in the known universe.

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 1

2009-09-28T19:22:15Z

Redbarnlane: formatting

:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>''' 

==Title==
"Inherent Vice" has a number of meanings. See [[Inherent Vice Title]]. The phrase appears on pg. 351.

==Cover==
The cover illustration is by Maui artist Darshan Zenith (see his [http://www.darshanzenith.com/ Official site]). The piece is called "Eternal Summer," and subtitled, "A 'Retired' Caddy Hearse Greets Daybreak at a Beach Surf Shop." Prints of the painting can be purchased [http://www.cruiserart.com/1959_hawaiian-surf-surfer-surfing-art.htm here]. The 1959 Cadillac Hearse is parked in front of the "Endless Summer Surf Shop" (namechecking the Beach Boys Greatest Hits collection and Bruce Brown's 1966 surfing documentary!).

More info at [[Inherent Vice cover analysis]]

==Book jacket description==
Pynchon himself wrote the copy to the book jacket description of ''Against the Day'' (text [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Against_the_Day_description here]). It is possible that Pynchon did the same for ''Inherent Vice''.

==Epigraph==

'''Under the paving-stones, the beach!''' 
"Sous les pavés, la plage" - slogan dating from the 1968 Paris student riots. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1968_in_France Wikipedia] Literally, it refers to the paving stones thrown at the police and to the discovery made by the rioting students, after prying up the stones, that there was sand underneath. Figuratively, it uses the metaphor of a beach to allude to the ideal life to be found beneath the confines of society.

For those interested in such things, [http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=37487 here] is an odd and fairly lengthy online discussion about the phrase and its translation which, if nothing else, gives a flavor for how translations can go awry when people start trying to translate metaphors instead of words.

==Dedication==
Like ''Against the Day,'' Inherent Vice has no dedication. Pynchon dedicated three of his previous novels to friends and family: ''Mason & Dixon'' ("For Melanie, and for Jackson"), ''Vineland'' ("For my mother and father"), and ''Gravity's Rainbow'' ("For Richard Fariña").

==Page 1==
'''Country Joe & the Fish T-shirt''' 
A Berkeley-based rock band most widely known for musical protests against the Vietnam War, from 1966 to 1971

'''Tonight she was all in flatland gear,''' 
Night, Tuesday, March 24, 1970, first day of the narrative. It's a lot harder to assign real-world dates to the first half of the narrative than to the second half. It could be some kind of "parallel time" (see p. 128). Many events in the first half of the book do seem to echo events in the second half.

'''Shasta''' 
Shasta is a soft drink brand that reached the peak of its popularity in the 1980s. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shasta_(soft_drink) Wikipedia]. Note that Pynchon has named characters after soda before, e.g. Wicks Cherrycoke in ''Mason & Dixon''.

However, more to the point, "Shasta" is name-connected to Mt. Shasta, long believed by some to be where the Lemurians came after Lemuria sunk into the sea. They also believe in the presence of Bigfoot here, as well as wolfmen. See [http://www.lemurianconnection.com/en/about-mount-shasta.htm Mt. Shasta and the Lemurian Connection]. Located near the northern end of California, Pynchon would likely have been familiar with this mythology.

"Shasta McNasty" was also the name of a fictional band, the subject of a short-lived UPN [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shasta_McNasty sitcom]. The members of the band were three slackers who lived in Venice Beach.

'''They stood in the street light through the kitchen window there'd never been much point in putting curtains over and listened to the thumping of the surf from down the hill. Some nights, when the wind was right, you could hear the surf all over town.''' 
Like [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''], and [http://gravitysrainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/''Gravity's Rainbow''], here a Pynchon book begins with light coming through a window. Also like ''Vineland'', the sentence structure and rhythm is just slightly jarring - that '...in the street light through the kitchen window...' seeming to echo ''Vineland'': "Later than usual one summer morning in 1984, Zoyd Wheeler drifted awake in sunlight through a creeping fig that hung in the window, with a squadron of blue jays stomping around on the roof." In both cases, it's just a little odd that Pynchon doesn't refer to the light 'that shone' through the window. And that creeping fig makes an appearance on [[Chapter_2#Page_36|page 33]] of ''Inherent Vice''.

==Page 2==
'''makeup supposed to look like no makeup or whatever,...''' 
The "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_cosmetics_in_the_1970s natural look]" was popular during the 1970s. Ads told woman that makeup was ''invisible'', "the makeup that ''is'' and ''isn't''." Another ad sez "It looks so convincing you'd swear it isn't makeup." (See: [http://books.google.com/books?id=oNaXkUvTztUC&pg=PA20&sig=FFS2Wbh7rtPlYd7kZrWtiW_cw7M#v=onepage&q=&f=false Disco divas: women and popular culture in the 1970s] By Sherrie A. Inness, page 21)

==Page 3==
'''Hancock Park''' 
Just south of Hollywood, and one of the most desirable locations in Los Angeles. Hancock Park was developed by the Hancock family and is named after developer-philanthropist G. Allan Hancock, with profits earned from oil drilling in the former Rancho La Brea, home of the famous tar pits. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hancock_Park,_Los_Angeles,_California Wikipedia]

'''"Can't Buy Me Love"''' 
This well-known Beatles hit has a curious connection with two other Beatles tunes touched on in [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''The Crying of Lot 49'']. "She Loves You" is cited outright and there is the parody title "I Want to Kiss Your Feet" in reference to "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by Sick Dick and the Volkswagens (Volkswagens are commonly referred to as Beetles). The German language versions of "She Loves You" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" were recorded at the same session as "Can't Buy Me Love." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can't_Buy_Me_Love Wikipedia entry for "Can't Buy Me Love"]

[[image:afro-pick.jpg|right|120px|thumb|caption|'fro pick]]''''fro pick in his baggies for protection''' 
An "Afro" pick, aka a comb for the Afro hairstyle; this doesn't necessarily mean Doc has an Afro, only that he borrowed one "for protection" as they generally had fairly sharp metal tines.

<div style="clear:both;"></div>

==Page 4==
'''Evelle Younger''' 
Evelle Jansen Younger, District Attorney of Los Angeles County 1964-1971, Attorney General of California from 1971-1979.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelle_Younger Wikipedia]

==Page 5==
'''It had been dark at the beach for hours''' 
Night, Tuesday, March 24, 1970, first day of the narrative.

'''1959 Cadillac Biarritz''' 
a luxury version of the Eldorado. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Eldorado Wikipedia].
[[File:59Biarritz.jpg|thumb|200px|right|1959 Cadillac Biarritz, Creative Commons licensed photo from [http://www.flickr.com/photos/82046831@N00/2812155325/ here]]]

<div style="clear:both;"></div>

==Page 6==
'''Gordita Beach''' 
This fictional Los Angeles beach town where Doc lives and works is, according to the article [http://www.theaesthetic.com/NewFiles/pynchon.html "Thomas Pynchon and the South Bay"] Pynchon's fictionalized Manhattan Beach where he lived in 1967-1971—/CW/ at [http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=217+33rd+Street.+Manhattan+beach+california&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=us&ei=u956SsSRK4TysgPAr4DvCg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1 217 33rd Street]—while working on [http://gravitysrainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow''] And in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''], Gordita Beach is where Zoyd Wheeler lived "shortly after Reagan was elected governor of California" (on Jan 3, 1967):

:Zoyd was living down south then, sharing a house in Gordita Beach with elements of a surf band he’d been playing keyboard in since junior high, the Corvairs, along with friends more and less transient. The house was so old that all of its termite clauses and code violations had been waived, on the theory that the next moderate act of nature would finish it off. But having been put up back during an era of overdesign, it proved to be sturdier than it looked, with its old stucco eaten at to reveal generations of paint jobs in different beach town pastels, corroded by salt and petrochemical fogs that flowed in the summers onshore up the sand slopes, on up past Sepulveda, often across the then undeveloped fields, to wrap the San Diego Freeway too. ([http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_3#Page_22 p. 22])
*Pynchon owned a '65 Corvair. the car was so light that one he did a wheelie on the freeway for which the cure was putting a 50 pound bag of cement in the truck which was in the front of this rear wheel drive car-CW?
The [[C#corvairs|Corvairs surf band]] figures in ''Inherent Vice'', as well.

*MAD Magazine-style substitution pun in the name, Gordita Beach: from the Manhattan, an open-faced hot sandwich made with meat and gravy (although there are several different "Manhattan" sandwiches [http://www.columbusfoodie.com/2009/02/17/manhattan-sandwich/][http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/manhattan_sandwich_similar_to_denver_sandwich_western_sandwich/]), to the Gordita, a thick tortilla stuffed with meat stew.

'''Tree Section''' 
Section of Manhattan Beach west of Sepulveda Blvd, filled with family homes. Generally more upscale than Doc's neighborhood. The moniker comes from the streets all being named for trees.

==Page 7==
'''''2001: A Space Odyssey''''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film) This 1968 film] by Stanley Kubrick is also mentioned in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_14#Page_294 chapter 14] of ''Vineland''. It includes a computer named HAL that gains consciousness and kills the ship's crew members. Talking computers also show up on [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_8#Page_115 pg. 115 of ''Vineland''].

==Page 8==
'''Channel View Estates''' 
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Islands_of_California Channel Islands] are a chain of islands off the coast of southern California.

The name is perhaps intended as a telling contrast with "River View" (or "Riverview"), a common name for neighborhoods, real-estate developments and towns. Wolfmann's development is a "chipboard horror" - basic tract housing for the newly middle-class - and it has no river to view, only a drainage channel. "Ditch View Estates" might have been more pointed, if less believable.

Possibly a reference to "channels" on a television set with countless "viewers" looking at the tube in the Los Angeles city sprawl of future single-family homes.

==Page 9==
'''Flying Nun, The''' 
The Flying Nun (ABC sitcom '67-'70) starred Sally Field (who also played surf bunny Gidget in an earlier sitcom) as a young nun with a talent for catching the wind like a wave. Despite the reference to Bigfoot playing "comical Mexicans," the series actually took place in Puerto Rico. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Nun,_The Wikipedia]

'''SAG''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_Actors_Guild The Screen Actors Guild]

'''Zody''' 
An anagram for Zoyd, one of the main characters in ''Vineland''. Also ''Zody's'', a chain of discount stores [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zody's Wikipedia].

'''Cal Worthington''' 
If Used-Car dealer Cal Worthington didn't exist, someone would have to invent him. Famous for his TV ads throughout California and his dog "Spot" [usually an exotic animal] the many parodies of Cal never exceed his own bizarre ads. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOsLdT4slsk YouTube]

'''Freak Power''' 
Hunter S. Thompson ran unsuccessfully for mayor and sheriff of Aspen, Colorado in 1969 and 1970. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_Aspen Wikipedia] Unsure if "freak power" was a term Thompson coined?

==Page 10==
'''Godzilla''' 
Pynchon apparently wrote a letter to his editor, Cork Smith, in the 1960s saying that he was working on two books: one on Mason & Dixon, and one loosely inspired by Godzilla. See [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_3 Crying of Lot 49 Chapter 3]] & [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_9#Page_142 Vineland, page 142]. It was recounted by Pynchon to his friends that to continue to collect royalties he had to come up with the sentence from his next book. The sentence was something like "Hiro stood in the wreckage of what was once downtown Tokyo and as he looked down at the giant footprint he explained to the insurance adjusters in his Japanese accent 'clearly reptilian.'" [This anecdote is spurious at best. Is there a source for this? Any evidence?]

'''Gottlieb machines''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottlieb Gottlieb] is a corporation that makes pinball machines and arcade games.

Sidney Gottlieb headed the CIA's MK-Ultra project, way back in 1953. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Gottlieb Wilipedia]

==Page 11==
'''Sad but true, as Dion always sez.''' 
"Runaround Sue" ("Here's my story, it's sad but true...") was a 1961 hit for Dion DiMucci (b. 1939). Dion only sez it once, but then again he "said" it everytime the song was played. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c49klxPex-k Have a listen on YouTube...] 

'''Playa Vista High''' 
Mira Costa High is the high school in Manhattan Beach ("Gordita Beach" in ''Inherent Vice'').

'''Dennis came back with his Pizza.''' 
Pynchon had a passion for pizza and had proposed making a film with the FPS group of San Francisco entitled "Mondo Pizza".

'''This happened at the Pipeline every Tuesday''' 
Night, Tuesday, March 24, 1970, first day of the narrative. This establishes this day as Tuesday.

'''"sez"''' 
Alludes to the Mr. Natural comic book character created and drawn by the 1960s counterculture and underground comix artist [http://www.rcrumb.com/ Robert Crumb.] (Robert Crumb also makes an appearance on [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_14#Page_306 page 306 of ''Vineland'']) Perhaps Mr. Natural's most famous aphorism was, "Mr. Natural sez, Use the right tool for the job." ("Sez" appears numerous times throughout ''Inherent Vice'')[[File:MrNatural.jpg|thumb|right|Mr. Natural [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Natural_(comics) Wikipedia]]] Then again, it appears a number of times in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow''] as well.

'''skip tracer''' 
Someone who "traces" the location of people who have "skipped" town. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skiptrace Wikipedia entry...]

'''Sortilège''' 
The act of divining the future by casting lots, also Sorcery; witchcraft. Middle English, derived from old French via Medieval Latin sortilegium, from sortilegus, diviner : Latin sors, sort-, lot + Latin legere, to read. see [http://www.answers.com/topic/sortilege Answers.com].

==Page 12==
'''wasn't that they were fucking, exactly, but it was something like that.''' 
This sentence structure is a Pynchon trademark found throughout his works: "not X, exactly, but Y..." For instance, [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_136-144 ''Gravity's Rainbow'', pg 137]: "...you begin to wait for something terrible not exactly an air raid but something close to that."; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_580-591 ''Gravity's Rainbow'', pg 580]: "Not as an enterprise, exactly, but at least in the dance of things."

'''though, when Doc finally woke up''' 
Morning, Wednesday, March 25, 1970, second day of the narrative.

'''He stumbled up the hill to Wavos and had breakfast with the hard-core surfers who were always there.''' 
Huevos [pronounced, in Southern Californian American English, Wave-ohs] Rancheros: fried eggs served on corn tortillas with salsa, a popular dish with surfers, dopers, and other beach people in the sixties and seventies.

==Page 13==
'''dinged-up [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_El_Camino El Camino], the one with the 396''' 
A 396 is an engine with a displacement of 396 cubic inches (6.49 liters). This is a large V8 engine in a lightweight coupé utility vehicle.

'''Tomorrow is another day''' 
For those who don't mind spoilers, see [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_16#Page_281 later annotation].

'''Frederick's of Hollywood''' 
Famous retailer of lingerie, started by Frederick Mellinger (inventor of the push-up bra) in 1946. The original flagship store was a landmark on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick's_of_Hollywood Wikipedia]

==Page 14==
'''a rendering of a giant bloodshot eyeball''' 
The logo for LSD Investigations might be a parody of the logo for the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_National_Detective_Agency Pinkerton National Detective Agency], a famous and long-running agency started in the nineteenth century. Their logo is an eyeball with the phrase "We Never Sleep." See it [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:We_never_sleep.jpg here]. This agency's activities play an important role in Pynchon's previous novel, ''Against the Day''.

Famed Poster artist and surfer dude Rick Griffin also made a finely detailed rendering of a bloodshot, flying eyeball in [http://www.olsenart.com/FILLMORE/BG%20105.gif this] famous poster for a Jimi Hendrix concert at the Fillmore in 1968.

There also may be an allusion here to the most famous "giant eyeball" in 20th-century American literature, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's ''The Great Gatsby''. The eye-doctor Dr. T. J. Eckleburg's giant billboard ad for his practice features a pair of eyes and glasses looking over a wasteland near a highway on the way to New York City. In FSF's words, "his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground."

'''psychedelic favorites green & magenta''' 
A Pynchon leitmotif, the color combo of the faux-neon font of Inherent Vice's cover, also cited in Gravity's Rainbow & Vineland.

'''karmic adjustment''' 
Karmic imbalance is an important theme in ''Vineland''. See [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_9#Page_173 pg. 173], for example.

'''Sledge Poteet''' 
Sledge Poteet was a member of the film collective 24fps from [[Vineland]]. He shared, along with ninjette DL Chastain, "a fondness for enlightenment through asskicking."

==Page 15==
'''Olivetti Lettera 22''' 
A portable typewriter. See it [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivetti_Lettera_22 here]. Various sources, including Jules Siegel, note that Pynchon used an Olivetti Portable Typewriter.

==Page 16==
'''Black Guerrilla Family . . . George Jackson's outfit''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Guerrilla_Family The Black Guerrilla Family] was a prison gang founded in the mid-1960's by George Jackson in San Quentin prison.

'''Artesia Crips''' 
This is a potential anachronism. The novel ostensibly takes place in 1970, since it is after Charles Manson's arrest in December 1969 but before the trial began in mid-1970. However, many reports indicate the L.A. street gang that would eventually be called the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crips Crips] was not founded by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Washington Raymond Washington] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Williams Tookie Williams] until 1971, and it was originally called the Baby Avenues, then the Cribs, and finally Crips.

==Page 17==
'''Watts . . . the riots''' 
In 1965, there was a widespread and brutal riot in the streets of Watts, CA. It lasted almost a week and resulted in several deaths and hundreds of injuries. Read more [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_riots here]. Pynchon wrote on the subject in his 1966 essay for the New York Times [http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/uncollected/watts.html A Journey Into The Mind of Watts]

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

User talk:Sjjohnston

2009-09-28T02:02:01Z

Redbarnlane:

Nice photo of the Patek Philippe! 
Thanks for the help with the timeline. I'm new to wikis, and dropped in the notes to the second half as I was reading the book backwards. An article containing all of it is coming.

Chapter 11

2009-09-26T21:45:37Z

Redbarnlane: Timeline

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 166==
'''Brylcreem''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brylcreem Brylcreem] is a hair styling oil/gel for men that was very popular. It gives hair a wet, oily look.

'''on the natch''' 
"natch" is short for "natural" and "on the natch," in this context, means sober. On pg. 273, the perennially sober Bigfoot is described as a "literal-minded natch-meister."

==Page 168==
'''Leuzinger High''' 
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leuzinger_High_School real] high school, in Lawndale, California, which - particularly in the story's time period - was a relatively undesirable and low-priced city in the LA area.

'''Dr. Blatnoyd''' 
Probably a play on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blat_%28Russia%29 term] of Russian origin, meaning a man with underworld connections or a career criminal.

==Page 170==
'''Section Eight hippies''' 
Section Eight is low income housing funded with a federal subsidy.

==Page 171==
'''Japonica Fenway''' 
"Japonica" is just a Latinization of "Japanese," but it is most commonly used in formal Latin plant names. There are a wide variety of "____ Japonica" plants, such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia_japonica Camellia Japonica]. While it's not really possible to make any universal statement about such widely varied species, they tend to be ornamental and hardy. [[Plants of Inherent Vice|See: Plants of Inherent Vice]]

'''Crocker Fenway''' 
It is possible the first name is inspired by the character "Crocker Jarmon" from the movie [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068334/ The Candidate (1972)]. The character in the movie is an establishment, incumbent GOP Senator from California.

The first names of both characters may also refer to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocker_National_Bank Crocker National Bank], which historically was a conservative, Republican institution. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847658,00.html 1936 Time Magazine reference], [http://articles.latimes.com/1986-05-27/business/fi-7509_1 1986 Article].

'''the ancient American Indian belief that if you save somebody's life, you are responsible for them from then on, forever''' 
Last seen in Against the Day with Foley Walker and Scarsdale Vibe.

==Page 172==
'''Governor Reagan''' 
Ronald Reagan was governor of California from 1967 to 1975.

==Page 175==
[[File:MercedesSedan.jpg|thumb|200px|right|1960 Mercedes-Benz W128 Sedan, image from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_W128 Wikipedia]]]
'''Mercedes sedan''' 
ten-year-old Mercedes sedan with a roof panel

'''late rush-hour traffic''' 
Should be afternoon, the thirteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 5, 1970, but why would there be rush hour traffic? Why would postcards be delivered today, and why would the Golden Fang be open?.

==Page 176==
'''outdoor concerts where thousands . . . public self''' 
A good description of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock Woodstock], which had just taken place the previous year.

'''each person was listening in solitude, confinement and mutual silence''' 
Perhaps a foreshadowing of the iPod generation?

'''''head''phones!''' 
Here, "head" refers to drugs, as in [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=head+shop "head shop"].

'''Doc noticed (a) it was now dark''' 
Should be evening, the thirteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 5, 1970.

==Page 180==
'''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart''' 
The timeline gets broken here. From the end of the book to this point--from April 26 to May 8--the narrator has made it easy to follow the events of the book in real time. The narrator puts Doc to bed at night, gets him up in the morning, points out television shows and events.

The first half of the book, thirteen days up to the "few days" the Dart was in the shop, can also be matched with real time events. For example, Doc's parents visit during a division semifinal game between the 76ers and the Bucks. That series was played from March 25 to April 3. That would mean that the Dart was in the shop for a couple of weeks. Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. Perhaps some kind of ''Dark Shadows'' parallel time is at work.

Or maybe Pynchon, contrary to reputation but like most authors, hasn't been perfectly careful about the relationship between his story's timeline and the real calendar's.

'''When he finally went over to pick up his ride''' 
Probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. See below for an explanation of "probably". The obvious reference is to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who also came back on a Sunday. This is not Easter Sunday, though. It occurred on March 29 in 1970.

==Page 181==
[[File:1964_Dodge_Dart.jpg|thumb|200px|right|1964 Dodge Dart Sedan, photo by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:64_Dodge_Dart_F34.jpg Scheinwerfermann]
]]
''''64 Dodge Dart'''

==Page 182==
'''I'll buy you lunch''' 
Probably morning, Saturday, April 25, 1970. I say probably because it seems unlikely that Doc could have lunch with Tito, make a few phone calls, and drive to Ojai, getting there before lunchtime. The narrator has been pretty careful, though, from the end of the book to this point in noting the ends and beginnings of days.

'''They went down Pico . . . before repeating an ethnic category.''' 
A possible nod to noted LA chowhound Johnathan Gold, who got his start as a Pulitzer Prize winning food critic eating his way across ethnic LA along Pico Blvd. Profiled here on NPR's [http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=110 "This American Life"] (See: ''Act Five. Taste.'')

==Page 184==
[[File:Hispano-SuizaJ12.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Hispano-Suiza J12, photo from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispano-Suiza Wikipedia]‎]]
'''1934 Hispano-Suiza J12'''
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Chapter 8

2009-09-26T12:01:54Z

Redbarnlane: forgot a couple of words

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 111==

There is no direct cue from the narrator that this the next day, but considering that Doc spent the night tripping, and now Aunt Reet's office is open, it's safe to assume that this is the seventh day of the narrative, Monday, March 30, 1970. 

'''Arbolada Savings and Loan in Ojai''' 
While the actual bank is apparently fictional, there is a neighborhood in the Ojai Valley named "Arbolada." It is, at least today, one the most expensive and desirable neighborhoods in the area. In Spanish, "arbolada" refers to a woodland.

'''Theosophists''' 
Theosophy is a doctrine of religious philosophy (according to Wikipedia) which holds that all religions are related to a higher truth. The Theosophical Society in America operates an institute called Krotona in Ojai, near the fictional Chryskylodon.

==Page 113==

'''Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and Milwaukee''' 
Finally, Pynchon has given a clue that helps to locate the narrative in real time, and again it's the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27, Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. That makes this day Monday, March 30. In order for that to be true, the "few days" that the Dart is in the shop (p. 180) must be more like a few weeks. 
Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult to believe that he would drop the case for that long. The only logical conclusion is that the story is in some kind of ''Dark Shadows''-like parallel time for the first half of the book. 
[[File:1969Oldsmobile.jpg|thumb|right|1969 Oldsmobile, photo by [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1969_Oldsmobile_Ninety-Eight-3.jpg Stripedtomato]]]
Leo and Elmina Sportello's 1969 Oldsmobile

==Page 114==
'''a spot just down the hill good at least till midnight''' 
Night, the seventh day of the narrative, Monday, March 30, 1970.

==Page 116==
'''Cora Smith''' 
Also from the novel [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Postman_Always_Rings_Twice ''The Postman Always Rings Twice'']. This is another detective favorite of Pynchon from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M._Cain James M. Cain] (1892-1977), the other being [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Indemnity_(novel) ''Double Indemnity'']. Cora, a ''femme fatale'' figure, is tired of her life, married to an older man she doesn't love and working in a diner that she wishes she could own and improve. She meets a young drifter, Frank Chambers, and they very soon begin a passionate affair and eventually scheme to murder Cora's husband in order to start a new life together without Cora losing the diner.

The 1946 movie version starred John Garfield, making this one of the more oblique of Pynchon's numerous references to Garfield in this book.

 
'''Later, though, around three A.M.''' 
Very late night, the seventh day of the narrative, Monday, March 30, 1970.

==Page 117==
[[File:289_Mustang.jpg|thumb|right|Maroon 289 Mustang]]
'''a maroon 289 Mustang''' 
Sauncho's classic beach-town ride. 

'''Next morning, waiting for the coffee''' 
Morning, the eighth day of the narrative, Tuesday, March 31, 1970.

==Page 119==
'''Charlie the fucking Tuna''' 
Charlie the Tuna is a cartoon character and mascot for StarKist Tuna. You can see his "designer shades" and "beret" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_the_Tuna here].

'''single up all lines''' 
A phrase frequently used by Pynchon in all his novels except ''Vineland'', likely because of its multiple meanings, metaphorically.

:"single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#single_up_all_lines ''V.'', pp. 11 & 438]; [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_2#single_up_all_lines ''The Crying of Lot 49'', p.31]; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_488-491#single_up_all_lines ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.489]; [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_26:_257-265#Page_258 ''Mason & Dixon'', pp.258 and 260]; and [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_1-25#Page_3 ''Against the Day'', p.3]. Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Vineland'']?). Of course, the fact that ''Vineland'' ''doesn't'' include the phrase sort of throws a spanner in the works, as far as assigning ''meaning''!

==Page 120==
'''That evening over at Penny's place''' 
Evening, the eighth day of the narrative, Tuesday, March 31, 1970.
==Page 121==
'''yet another Hitler documentary''' 
The "another" implies that they had watched other Hitler documentaries - the most famous being Leni Riefenstahl's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_of_the_will ''Triumph of the Will'']. The description of the Nixon rally that Doc is watching has similarities to ''Triumph''.

One of Pynchon's research materials for writing [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow''] was a book called ''From Caligari to Hitler'' by Siegfried Kracauer.

Note that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_of_the_will ''Triumph of the Will''] was a favorite film of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Gordon_Liddy G. Gordon Liddy], a main figure in the Watergate scandal that enveloped President Nixon, whose televised rally Penny mistakes for a Hitler documentary.

==Page 122==
'''fuck Spiro, too!''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiro_Agnew Spiro Agnew] was Nixon's Vice President.

'''Anybody know the dog's name?''' 
Yes. While [http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/checkers.html Checkers] was Nixon's most famous dog, by the time Nixon got to the White House, Checkers was long gone. While President, Nixon's dog was King Timahoe. Tricia had a Yorkie named Pasha, and Julie had a poodle named Vickie. You can read about it [http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/forkids/trivia.php here]. 
Pascha is the Greek Orthodox name for Easter.

'''the P-DIDdies''' 
A (deliberately) lame joke. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puff_daddy Sean Combs] is a rapper, producer, and entrepreneur whose stage names include Diddy, Puff Daddy, and P. Diddy.

==Page 123==
'''Rick Doppel''' 

'Doppel' means 'double' in German and might refer here to the 'doppelganger'-motif or shifting identities in a more general way. The theme seems to be prominent in this chapter. The films mentioned on p.115 belong in this context, for example. In ''Black Narcissus'', Kathleen Byron's character, Sister Ruth, can be seen as the dark double of Deborah Kerr's Sister Clodagh. In Robert Wiene's ''Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari'', the somnambulist Cesare commits crimes when he is under the hypnotic spell of the title figure; Caligari himself may be director of a circus attraction or of a psychiatric hospital. In Fritz Lang's ''Metropolis'', a character called Maria is replaced by a robot.

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 7

2009-09-26T11:48:30Z

Redbarnlane: fixing typo

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 89==

'''Doc called Sancho next morning''' 
Morning, Saturday, March 28, 1970, the fifth day of the narrative. 

'''Ginger . . . Skipper . . . Gilligan . . . Thurston Howell III . . . Lovey''' 
All characters from the TV show ''Gilligan's Island''. See below for more references to this iconic show.

==Page 90==
'''Charlotte Amalie''' 
The largest city and capital of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Amalie,_United_States_Virgin_Islands US Virgina Islands].

'''Like new debt... from institutions in places like South Dakota that you send away for by filling out the back of match cover''' 

Sauncho's quote here echoes almost exactly Zoyd's thoughts in ''Vineland'' in regard to Isaiah Two Four's business proposition: "expecting some address in a distant state, obtained from a matchbook cover." (p. 19, ''Vineland'')

==Page 91==
'''Thomas Arnould''' 
An error. Should be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Arnould "Joseph Arnould"], who wrote ''Law of Marine Insurance'' (1848).

'''Theophilus Parsons''' 
There were two men ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophilus_Parsons father] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophilus_Parsons_(professor) son]) named Theopilus Parsons in the nineteenth century. This reference is to the younger one, who published A Treatise on the Law of Marine Insurance and General Average in 1868.

==Page 92==
'''L'll buddy''' 
Another reference to ''Gilligan's Island''. "L'il buddy" was the captain's nickname for Gilligan.

Also, Hector calls Zoyd this in ''Vineland'', see p. 26. The contraction is spelled li'l in ''Vineland'' but l'il in ''Inherent Vice''.

'''Eel Trovatore''' 
A perhaps obvious pun on Il Trovatore, the Verdi opera.

'''Burke Stodger''' 
This name is likely derived from a 1910 ''noir''-ish murder-mystery novel ''Paternoster Ruby'' by Charles Edmonds Walk. Alexander Stilwell Burke and Stodger, a plain-clothes cop, are two main characters. [http://books.google.com/books?id=kd54UWt8QC0C&dq=paternoster+ruby+charles+edmonds+walk&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=mfkqjKBGj4&sig=KGhSLPxiRPQqvVPLhOQ5WNEzSE8&hl=en&ei=mfBrStfrF4uAsgPltqmWBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 Google Books] Perhaps Pynchon's slyly recycling here some unused stuff from his vast research for ''Against the Day''? A excerpt from Walk's novel:

:"Nasty case," Stodger was imparting, in queer staccato sentences. "Shouldn't have much difficulty, though; responsibility lies between two men. Here all last night. Nobody else. Callahan and O'Brien holdin' 'em. One 's Page's private secretary; fellow named Burke Alexander Stilwell Burke. Peach of a monicker, ain't it? Has all three sections on his cards.

:[...]

:Suddenly she snuggled closer and clasped her hands tightly upon my shoulder. Her hair teased my cheek, and the delicate perfume of it made me light-headed. Twisting her pretty head sideways, she flashed an arch look at me from under her lashes, then glanced quickly away again. Blue eyes and long dark lashes are a potently disturbing combination.

:"Well," she sighed, "the Page case may have cost you a fortune, but it gave you ''me''. And ''I'' for one am very content and happy, Mr. Swift."

==Page 93==
'''a three-hour tour''' 
Yet another reference to ''Gilligan's Island''. This is a quote from the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qycmb7_LvsA theme song].

==Page 96==
'''''Marcus Welby, M.D.''''' 
Hour long medical drama that aired on ABC from '69-'76. Took place in Santa Monica and ranked first in Nielsens for the year 1970.

'''what Cheech and Chong might call matzo-ball jones?''' 
Punned reference to "Basketball Jones", song on Cheech and Chong "Los Cochinos" album with release date 1973.

==Page 97==
'''Philip Marlowe''' 
Raymond Chandler's famous detective, featured in Chandler's many novels set in LA, including ''The Big Sleep'' (1939; his first appearance), ''Farewell My Lovely'', and ''The Long Goodbye''. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Marlowe] There are many important parallels between Pynchon's Doc and Chandler's Marlowe, especially his world-weariness, his fondness for certain drugs of choice, and a penchant for cracking wise and getting beaten up and worse. (John D. MacDonald's fictional detective Travis McGee is also an important predecessor; see below). Of all Chandler's fiction, ''Farewell My Lovely'' (1940), which many think is Chandler's best, may be most relevant for the plot and themes of ''Inherent Vice''. For instance, in that novel Marlowe stays in a hotel in Venice Beach before going out to Laird Brunette's offshore gambling boat, the ''Montecino''. ''Farewell My Lovely'' also has "rehab" centers that serve as a front for torture and murder; characters with hidden identities; an impossibly convoluted plot; and a literary style that features striking metaphors, similes, and literary allusions. Marlowe is, like Doc, a dark mixture of cynicism, doggedness, and indifference--yet his goodness and inherent virtues can't be killed. To trace the parallels with Chandler's Marlowe, though, is to see how fully Pynchon has transformed and deepened the generic conventions of 1930s and '40s detective fiction (and film noir inspired by it) even as he pays homage to these.

'''Sam Spade''' 
Dashiell Hammett's detective in ''The Maltese Falcon'' (1930) and other crime fiction; in John Huston's famous film based on the novel, he's played by Humphrey Bogart. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Spade]

'''Johnny Staccato''' 
''Johnny Staccato'' is a private detective series which ran for twenty-seven episodes on NBC from 1959-1960. Title character Johnny Staccato, played by John Cassavetes (1929-1989), is a jazz pianist/private detective. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Staccato]

'''Krazy Kat''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krazy_Kat ''Krazy Kat''] was a popular comic strip that ran in newspapers from 1913 to 1944. Ignatz and Offisa Pupp are characters.

'''Steve McGarrett''' 
Detective in the TV show [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii_Five-O ''Hawaii Five-0''], important to both ''Vineland'' and ''Inherent Vice.''

'''"Why not get a houseboat up in the Sacramento Delta--smoke, drink, fish, fuck..."''' 
It's tough not to see this as a nod to Doc's brother shamus Travis McGee, the creation of Florida writer John D. MacDonald. McGee lives on a houseboat, taking his "retirement in installments," drinking, lounging on Florida beaches, meeting and inevitably helping beautiful women out of troubles that almost always involve a sinister land broker or two. Along the way Trav usually ends up pontificating about rapacious land developers, the increasingly artificial and isolated American lifestyle, and people's loss of connection with the natural world. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_McGee]

==Page 98==
'''Surnise was on the way''' 
Early morning, Sunday, March 29, 1970, the sixth day of the narrative, and Easter Sunday. 

'''[T]he engine sounds were not passing across the sky where they should have . . .''' 
An apparent allusion to the opening line of ''Gravity's Rainbow''. As a consequence of this, "everybody's dreams got disarranged," which also seems to be happening on ''GR's'' first page

==Page 99==
'''riding goofyfoot''' 
This is a surfing/skateboarding term for someone who rides left-footed. So-called regular foot riders keep their left foot at the front of the board, but goofyfoot riders put their right foot at the front. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footedness here].

'''Doc, also up early''' 
Early morning, Sunday, March 29, 1970, the sixth day of the narrative. 

==Page 100==
'''a surfer or two who'd found and ridden other breaks [...] unphotographed and unrecorded''' 
Even though Pynchon's reference to Mavericks would seem an anachronism, as no one other than a couple surfers had even tried Mavericks until Jeff Clark began riding the gigantic break in 1975, alone, until 1990 when he convinced some other surfers to check it out, this description would seem to fit Jeff Clark perfectly, discovering and surfing, alone, some of the largest waves on the planet. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Clark Jeff Clark Wikipedia entry...] Pynchon himself, as we all know, likes to remain unphotographed.

==Page 101==
'''Surfaris laugh . . . "Hooo-oo-oo-oo---Wipeout!"''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipe_Out_(song) "Wipe Out"] was a 1962 hit originally performed by the Surfaris. You can hear the song, including the insane laugh, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UofdWQG346k here].

==Page 102==
'''in the slow seep of dawn''' 
Early morning, Sunday, March 29, 1970, the sixth day of the narrative. 

==Page 110==
'''They were outside on the beach, it was nighttime''' 
Night, Sunday, March 29, 1970, the sixth day of the narrative. 

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==Page 351==
'''inherent vice''' 
[http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Inherent_Vice_Title Here's] a good discussion of this phrase.

'''original sin''' 
a Christian doctrine that says everyone is born sinful [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_sin].

==Page 352==
'''''Hawaii Five-o'' was still on.'''
 Late evening Thursday, May 7, 1970. Ordinarily, the show was on Wednesdays from 10 to 11 P.M.
==Page 353==
'''that Ada whom I have never trusted since A Summer Place''' 
Not exactly the most meaningful reference, but the same actress - Constance Ford - played both Ada in the soap opera Another World and the unsympathetic character Helen in the movie A Summer Place.

For those inclined to possibilities that require a bit of a stretch, it could also conceivably be construed to be an oblique reference to the Nabakov novel, which was published in 1969. As is fairly well known, Pynchon once took a course from Nabakov, and there are some similarities in their work, though that's a whole 'nother subject.

==Page 354==
'''Next morning the fire bell went off,''' 
Morning, Friday, May 8, 1970.

==Page 355==
'''like Easter Island in reverse''' 
A beautiful way to describe the surfers. Easter Island is a Pacific island famous for its human stone figures who were placed in a line on land, looking out over the ocean, as seen [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Moai_Rano_raraku.jpg here].

==Page 360==
'''Or what if they want Mildred to strangle Veda at the end, like she does in the book?''' 
Refers to the film [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037913 Mildred Pierce], set in Southern California and much changed from the novel by James M. Cain.

'''what, helpfully, wasn't yet a quitting time crowd.''' 
Late afternoon, Friday, May 8, 1970.

==Page 363==

'''You know what the Indians say. You saved my life, now you've got to-''' 
Recalls the bit in [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Against the Day''] between Scarsdale Vibe and Foley Walker: "You know what the Indians out west believe? That if you save the life of another, he becomes your responsibility forever" ([http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_97-118#Page_101 p. 101]).

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Redbarnlane:

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==Page 364==
'''. . . the Lakers would lose Game 7 of the finals to the Knicks''' 
Friday, May 8, 1970. The final score was Knicks 113, Lakers 99. This means that the novel ends on Pynchon's 33rd birthday, a nice way to underscore the semi-autobiographical nature of ''Inherent Vice''. Furthermore, this situates the ending of the novel just four days after the Kent State Massacre on May 4, 1970 - yet another way of telling us that the beach is being paved over and that the sixties have come to an end.

==Page 365==
'''Ones and zeros''' 
Binary code, the language of computers. Also mentioned in ''Vineland'' (pp. 90 and 115) and in ''Crying of Lot 49''.

==Page 366==
'''Tubular, dude''' 
A nice pun. "Tubular," in surfer slang, means something like "awesome" or "cool." It refers to the tubes or curls of the waves. But in the context here with Doc and Sparky, the tubes in question are vacuum tubes, which were used on computers (and radios and TVs and speakers) before transistors.

'''Pizza Man''' 
[http://www.pizzamandelivers.com/ Pizza Man]--He Delivers - since 1964

==Page 367==
'''Doc got on the Santa Monica Freeway''' 
Doc Sportello isn't the only character taking a drive rather than turning in tonight. On May 8, 1970, Richard Nixon went public in a news conference about the war spreading to Cambodia. That night, at 4 A.M., the President called Manolo Sanchez, his valet, and asked him if he had ever seen the Lincoln Memorial at night. So, off went the (possibly a little unhinged) President, his valet, and a too-small Secret Service contingent. Nixon had an impromptu "rap session" with 8 protesters at the Memorial. As 8 turned to 30 and then 50 protesters, the Secret Service became "petrified". After about an hour, President Nixon took his valet on a tour of the Capitol. You can read about it (and get the text of Nixon's press conference)

[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=2496 here in the italics at the bottom of the page.] 

Nixon's presence in this scene is even stronger if you consider Doc's drive to be a wormhole into the conclusion of ''Gravity's Rainbow''. In IV, '''Doc got on the Santa Monica Freeway, and about the time he was making the transition to the San Diego southbound.''' In GR, Richard M. Zhlubb (according to Steven Weisenburger in ''A Gravity's Rainbow Companion'', Richard Nixon "circa 1970") takes a reporter on a drive '''on the freeways. Near the interchange of the San Diego and the Santa Monica''' (GR p. 755). 
That makes two Nixons, one real and one fictional, out for a drive with Doc.

==Pages 368/369==

'''Gordita Beach Exit''' 
On the last two pages of ''Inherent Vice'', Doc Sportello is on the Santa Monica freeway which then merges onto the San Diego, heading south:

'''Doc figured if he missed the Gordita Beach exit he'd take the first one whose sign he could read and work his way back on surface streets. He knew that at Rosecrans the freeway began to dogleg east, and at some point, Hawthorne Boulevard or Artesia, he'd lose the fog.''' 

This series of street names and off-ramps points to Manhattan Beach where Pynchon wrote much of [http://gravitysrainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow''] while living in a tiny beach apartment in the north end of the city around between 1967-1971. The Manhattan Beach Boulevard exit to Doc house would Rosecrans . The Artesia exit is after Hawthorne. [http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&ei=JoxrSo7SGY2CsgPN_LSXBQ&resnum=0&q=Manhattan+beach+california&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=us Google Maps]; [http://www.theaesthetic.com/NewFiles/pynchon.html Much more about Pynchon in Manhattan Beach...]

Though Doc Sportello shares some qualities with Zoyd Wheeler of ''Vineland'', contrast Doc's reaction to driving in fog with Zoyd's, when Zoyd and other members of the "Corvairs" "surfadelic" band "play motorhead valley roulette," speeding into patches of ground fog hoping that "the white passage held no other vehicles, no curves, no construction, only smooth, level, empty roadway to an indefinite distance--a motorhead variation on a surfer's dream" (37).

'''For the fog to burn away, and for something else this time, somehow, to be there instead.''' 
The endings of Pynchon's novels have justifiably become famous, and these final paragraphs about driving through the fog, capped by this heart-breaking sentence-fragment, will be no exception.

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==Page 20==
'''desert beneath the pavement''' 
An echo of the epigraph, though in this case the sand beneath the pavement is a desert, rather than a beach.

'''Kaufman and Broad''' 
In 1957 Donald Kaufman and Eli Broad cofounded Kaufman and Broad Building Company in Detroit, Michigan. In 1963 Kaufman and Broad builds its first homes in California and announces it will establish corporate headquarters in Los Angeles. In 2000 the company changed its name to KB Home. KB Home is the largest home builder in the United States, in terms of units built. Between the 1950s and 1970s, Eli Broad was known as "King of Sprawl." Kaufman and Broad built more suburban homes in this country than anyone before or since.
[http://www.kbhome.com/Default.aspx KB Home]

'''Dominguez Flood Control Channel''' 
"The Dominguez Channel extends from the Los Angeles International Airport to the Los Angeles Harbor and drains large if not all portions of the cities of Inglewood, Hawthorne, El Segundo, Gardena, Lawndale, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Carson and Los Angeles." [http://www.theriverproject.org/dominguez.html The River Project]

==Page 22==
'''caused Doc about then to swoon abruptly and lose an unknown amount of his day.''' 
It's still Wednesday, March 25, 1970, the second day of the narrative. 
'''"Congratulations, hippie scum" Bigfoot greeted Doc in his all-too-familiar 30-weight voice, "and welcome to a world of inconvenience."''' 
Detective Lieutenant Bigfoot Bjornsen echos Walter Sobchak from "The Big Lebowski."—"Smokey, my friend, you are entering a world of pain."

==Page 23==
'''Doc made out in the afternoon light'''
 Afternoon, Wednesday, March 25, 1970, the second day of the narrative. 
==Page 24==
[[File:68Elcamino.jpg|thumb|150px|right|1968 Chevrolet El Camino]]
'''1968 El Camino''' 
The Chevrolet El Camino is a coupe utility vehicle produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors from 1959 through 1960, with production resuming in 1964 and continuing through 1987. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_El_Camino Wikipedia]

==Page 26==
'''Fatso Judson''' 
Fatso Judson is the sadistic stockade sergeant played by Ernest Borgnine in "From Here To Eternity," a 1953 drama film based on the novel of the same name by James Jones.

'''It wasn't until the middle of rush hour''' 
Late afternoon, Wednesday, March 25, 1970, the second day of the narrative. 
==Page 28==
[[File:Donaldstubble.jpg|thumb|150|right|]]
'''Donald and Goofy [...] in fact he's always had to go in ''every day'' and ''shave his beak.''''' 
The cartoon being discussed here is "No Sail" from 1945. Available on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hImIbmRnBU8 Youtube] and the Chronological Donald Volume II DVD [http://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Treasures-Chronological-Donald/dp/B000ATQYU6/ Amazon].

==Page 29==
'''After no more than an hour of this''' 
Early evening Wednesday, March 25, 1970, the second day of the narrative. 
==Page 30==
'''the local news came on''' 
Early evening Wednesday, March 25, 1970, the second day of the narrative. 
'''the Santa Anas''' 
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ana_winds Santa Ana winds] are strong, hot, dry winds commonly experienced in southern California.

==Page 31==
'''intended to give the victim mouth-to-mouth''' 
This car-to-human interaction is similar to [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_12#Page_230 a scene] in ''Vineland'' in which Rex has sex with his Porsche, which also recalls Rachel Owlglass's intimate relationship with her MG in the first chapter of ''V''.

'''Not the one with the ''r'' in it''' 
Benzidine is a chemical used to detect blood. Benzedrine is an amphetamine.

==Page 33==
'''huaraches''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huarache_(shoe) Huaraches] are Mexican sandals often associated with California surf culture. See, for example, the Beach Boys' "Surfin' Safari" (1963): "You'd see 'em wearing their baggies / Huarache sandals too ...."

'''the satanic Detective . . . everything in it that money could buy''' 
This is a biblical allusion to Matthew, chapter 4, in which Jesus is led to the desert and tempted by the devil: "Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 'All this I will give you,' he said, 'if you will bow down and worship me.'"

Also, similar to how Hector must have worked on Zoyd in ''Vineland'': "Hector had been trying over and over for years to develop him as a resource, and so far-technically-Zoyd had hung on to his virginity... But... He kept coming back, each time with a new and more demented plan..." (p. 12 ''Vineland'')

[[image:freak-brothers.jpg|right|200px|thumb|caption|Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers]]'''Freak Brothers' dictum''' 
Gilbert Shelton's series of "Underground Comix"—"The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers"—was one of the most popular "Comix" of its time among fans of the form. Featuring the stoned adventures of Freewheelin' Franklin, Phineas T. Freakears, Fat Freddy Freekowtski and the ever popular Fat Freddy's Cat. Famous for [among other things] Freewheelin' Franklin's dictum: "Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Brothers Wikipedia entry]

'''bricks and bricks of shit stacked to the roof''' 
In ''Vineland'', the police try to frame Zoyd by putting an enormous stash of pot in his house: "the biggest block of pressed marijuana Zoyd had ever seen in his life, too big to have fit through any door yet towering there, mysteriously, a shaggy monolithic slab reaching almost to the ceiling" (pg. 294).

==Page 34==
'''At the office next day''' 
Thursday, March 26, 1970, the third day of the narrative. 
'''Sidney Omarr''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Omarr Sydney Omarr] (an apparent spelling mistake on Pynchon's part) was a popular astrologer whose horoscopes were syndicated in many papers, including the ''LA Times''.

==Page 36==

'''hizaz kar''' 
Variant spelling of ''hijaz kar''. Dick Dale's famous ''Misirlou'' is in fact a Greek tune based on the scale of Makam Hijaz Kar (E-F-G#-A-B-C-D#), and is playable on a single string of a guitar. ''Misirlou'' is one of the most famous of "Surf" tunes, thanks in large part to its presence on the Beach Boys album ''Surfin' USA'' and its inclusion in the soundtrack of the film ''Pulp Fiction''. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misirlou Wikipedia]; [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIU0RMV_II8 Great 1963 clip of Dick Dale & the Deltones performing "Misirlou" from the 1963 movie ''A Swingin' Affair''] (Is that a young Al Franken on bass?)

'''In the kitchen hung a creeping fig''' 
This highly invasive plant is also mentioned on the first page of [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1 ''Vineland''], suggesting creeps and invasions and the like which occur in both novels.

==Page 37==
'''kazoo''' 
I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that every Pynchon novel has a kazoo.
Who can forget Boyd Beaver's All Kazoo Orchestra?

'''Chantays, the Trashmen, the Halibuts''' 
Three surf bands, two famous, one an anachronism time traveling backwards from the 80's. The Chantays—famous for "Pipeline"—is presented here on the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j09C8clJaXo Lawrence Welk] show, May 18, 1963. The Immortal Trashmen gave us "Surfin' Bird" and the Halibuts were a 1980s surf-revival group.

'''Coy and I should've met cute''' 
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_cute "meet cute"]is a movie term that describes a contrived, humorous meeting between two possible romantic partners (e.g., a boy and girl bump into each other on the street then fall in love).

Roger Mexico and Jessica Swanlake are described as having had "what Hollywood likes to call a 'cute meet'" on page 39 of [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page Gravity's Rainbow].

==Page 38==
'''Charles Manson''' 
The Manson family murders play an important thematic role in this novel. Is it possible that Pynchon timed the release of this novel to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the tragedy (August 1969)?

==Page 42==
'''Here I am . . . to save the day!''' 
Amethyst is singing (albeit incorrectly) the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b21nxQ6nffE theme song of the Mighty Mouse cartoon]. 
This passage is as significant for what is ''not'' on the television as it is for what ''is'' on. If ''Mighty Mouse'' is on, it's between 4:00 and 4:30 P.M., meaning that ''Dark Shadows'', which shares the time slot on another channel, is not on. Which is not the case at a certain zombie-infested mansion.

==Page 43==
'''Later in the afternoon''' 
Afternoon, Thursday, March 26, 1970, the third day of the narrative. 
'''Scott Oof''' 
Doc's cousin and lead guitar in the surf band the Corvairs, Oof also is a character in Pynchon's 1990 novel [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''], playing essentially the same character:

:After a bit, Corvairs lead guitar and vocalist Scott Oof wandered in from the kitchen to join them, leaning on the doorjamb playing with his hair. ([http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_3#Page p.23])

'''Scott had been playing with a local group known as the Corvairs, till half of them had decided to join the northward migration of those years to Humboldt, Vineland, and Del Norte.''' Pynchon migrated north along with many of the young people he knew from the South Bay to Humboldt county. /CW/
This passage reinforces the connection between ''Inherent Vice'' and ''Vineland''. So Oof had remained in Southern California, while half the band migrated north to Vineland.

Oof's name also opens a rabbithole to the comic genius of P.G. Wodehouse. [http://www.answers.com/topic/oofy-prosser "Oofy" Prosser] is a frequent co-conspirator in the Wooster-Jeeves comedies. [http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/85323.html "Oof"] is also 20th C. British slang for moolah, pelf, wealth, geedis.

Note that many different surf music groups in many different times and places adopted '''"The Corvairs"''' as a nom-de-band.

'''The Big Valley''' 
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965 to May 19, 1969, starring Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Valley Wikipedia] As a major-league movie star during the golden age of Noir, Barbara Stanwyck co-starred with Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson in Billy Wilder's classic: '''"Double Indemnity"''',[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Indemnity_(film) Wikipedia] scripted by Raymond Chandler.

This song from Scott Oof's band ''Beer'' points towards the San Joaquin Valley, which in 1970 was about the un-hippest place in the known universe.

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

C

2009-09-22T15:05:48Z

Redbarnlane: Channel Island Estates ad

'''cachaça''' 
160; popular Brazilian liquor made from fermented sugarcane juice, unlike Rum which is made from molasses. The caipirinha is the most famous cocktail using it these days.

'''Cadillac''' 
5; 1959 Eldorado Biarritz ragtop - Shasta's car

'''''Call Me Madam''''' 
1950 musical with a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. A satire on politics and foreign affairs that spoofs America's penchant for lending billions of dollars to needy countries, it centers on Sally Adams, a well-meaning but ill-informed socialite widow who is appointed US Ambassador to the fictional European country of Lichtenburg. While there, she charms the local gentry, especially Cosmo Constantine, while her press attache Kenneth Gibson falls in love with Princess Maria; "You're Not Sick, You're Just in Love" sung by Ethel Merman, 247

'''Campbell, Glen (b. 1936)''' 
American country pop singer, guitarist and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s ("By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman"), as well as for hosting a television variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television; 331

'''canasta''' 
215; Spanish for "basket," a card game originating in Uruguay, where players attempt to make melds of 7 cards of the same rank, and "go out" by playing all cards in their hand and discarding. It is commonly played by two players with two standard decks of cards, but many variations exist for 3- and 4-player games or teams.

'''"Can't Buy Me Love"''' 
3; [[B#beatles|Beatles]] song, from the 1964 film ''A Hard Day's Night''

'''Canter's Delicatessen''' 
126; Times have changed. [http://www.cantersdeli.com/ Canter's] is no longer a "hippie-friendly" deli at 419 N. Fairfax.

'''Carillo, Leo (1880-1961)''' 
78; Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo (August 6, 1880 – September 10, 1961), was an actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist, in Santa Monica, CA. He played stereotypical latins. He played Pancho on the 1950s TV show, ''The Cisco Kid''. As used here, "Leo Carillo" probably refers to Leo Carrillo State Park, west of Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway, named in his honor for his conservation services to California; "night cricket" 130

'''Carmine & the Cal-Zones''' 
228; band in Nine of Diamonds, in Las Vegas; "Just the Lasagna (Semi-Bossa Nova)" 229;

'''Carol''' 
47; see [[M#carolmerrill|Merrill, Carol]]

'''cars''' 
1959 Eldorado Biarritz ragtop - Shasta's car, 5; VW buses, woodies, 19; Harley Earl Impala, 76; "1949 Mercury woodie" driven by "zombies" 133; motorcycles, 141; Luz's "red SS396" Super Sport Chevy, 143; Boris' "'46 Dodge Power Wagon" 149; Eldorado, 151; Electra Glide shovelhead, 153; Wolfgang "ten-year-old Mercedes sedan with a roof panel" 175; Excaliburs and Ferraris, 177; Doc's '64 Dodge Dart, 180; Jaguars and Porsches, 180; 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12, 184; Falcons, Nova, VDub, 184; 216; '69 Camarro, 218; '62 Bonneville, 223; Ford Rancheros, ancient T-Birds and Chevy Nomads, 228; F-100s and Chevy Apaches, 236; Morgans, Cobra 289s and '62 Bonnevilles, "supernatural DeSoto" 298; Lincoln Continental, '65 Impala, 328; '59 Cadillac hearse (as depicted on the novels dust jacket), 329; Bigfoot's "Cherry Bomb Glasspack" 330; Vibrasonic (Made by Motorola, this device was connected to a car radio to add reverb), 335; Falcon, 335; 442 Olds, 338; "'53 Buick Estate Wagon, the last woodie that ever rolled out of Detroit" 349; Stingray, 369; See [[Cars_mentioned_in_Inherent_Vice|Cars Mentioned in ''Inherent Vice'']]...

'''Castro, Fidel (b. 1926)''' 
One of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976, and then the President of the Council of State of Cuba until his resignation from the office in February 2008. He is currently the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba; 95

'''Chamberlain, Wilt (1936-1999)''' 
Nicknamed Wilt the Stilt, The Big Dipper, and Chairman of the Boards, was an American professional NBA basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; and also played for the Harlem Globetrotters. The 7 foot 1 inch Chamberlain, who weighed 250 lbs as a rookie before bulking up to 275 lb and eventually over 300 lb with the Lakers, played the center position and is widely considered one of the greatest and most dominant players in the history of the NBA; 4

'''''Champion'' (1949)''' 
The film in which actor Kirk Douglas, playing a selfish boxer, established himself as a Tough Guy. An American ''film noir'', ''Champion'' is a drama filmed in black-and-white, and recounts the struggles of boxer "Midge" Kelly fighting his own demons while working to achieve success in the boxing ring; 336

'''Channel View Estates''' 
8; Mickey Wolfmann's "chipboard horror" housing development; ''Channel View Estates:'' suggests countless single-family homes, each with a television for viewers to flip through the channels. 
From the Oxnard Press Courier, May 8, 1970: 
[http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/redbarnlane/cie.jpg Channel Island Estates ad] If someone knows how to imbed pics, please go ahead. 
'''Chantays''' 
37; "Pipeline" 124;

'''Charlie the Tuna''' 
The cartoon mascot tuna for StarKist Tuna, was created by Tom Rogers of the Leo Burnett Agency after StarKist hired Leo Burnett in 1961. StarKist Tuna is the name of a brand of tuna; 119

'''Charlock, Clancy''' 
146; Glen Charlock's sister; tending bar in Inglewood, 214; screwing with Tariq Khalil, 288

'''Charlock, Glen''' 
15; "Aryan Bro" in prison with Tariq working as a body guard for Mickey Wolfmann; murdered, 23; and the Wolfmann raid, 85; footage of his murder, 142; 247; details from Tariq Khalil, 290; 319-320; [[Plants of Inherent Vice| See: Plants of Inherent Vice]]

'''Chateau Marmont''' 
158; a landmark from 1920s-era Hollywood where John Barrymore and Errol Flynn held inebriated court in the baronial living room. Greta Garbo regularly checked in as Harriet Brown, and Jim Morrison was one of many celebrities to call this home in later years. John Belushi overdosed in Bungalow #2.
[http://www.frommers.com/destinations/losangeles/H32788.html#ixzz0KP8rslNY&D]

'''Chatfield, C.C.''' 
360; Sauncho Smilax's boss

'''Chick Planet Massage''' 
20; a massage parlour located in a "makeshift miniplaza" near Channel View Estates; 76; raid, 141;

'''Chiffons''' 
An all girl group originating from the Bronx area of New York in 1960; "One Fine Day" 224

'''Chino''' 
16; A city in San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles; also shorthand for the California Institution for Men, a state prison in Chino where Tariq Khalil did time

'''Chlorinda''' 
91; waitress at Belaying Pin

'''Chopin''' 
The Grande Valse brillante in E-flat major (also called Grande Waltz Brillante), Op. 18 was composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1833. It was first published in 1834 and is Chopin's first waltz composition for solo piano. It is often used as incidental music in Brazilian overdubbings of Warner Bros. cartoons such as Bugs Bunny. Dubbing was made from the original film rolls, which did not provide the voices and background music in separate audio tracks. Lacking the resources to hire an orchestra, voiceover studios re-used recordings of classical pieces which had a similar feel to the pieces used in the original soundtracks; played by Liberace during "one of his shows at the Riviera" 220

'''choppers''' 
Hope Harlingen's, 36; new false teeth for Coy Harlingen, 300

'''Chryskylodon Institute''' 
111; upscale rehabilitation facility in Ojai; where Japonica is sent, 171; Greek for "gold fang", 185; Doc visits, 186; 301. Any chance this is a veiled critique or parody of Scientology? cf also Synanon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synanon]

'''Cielo Drive''' 
208; The original home at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California is infamous for being the scene of one of the Manson "family" murders.

'''Club Asiatique''' 
77; in San Pedro; 80; 131; 168

'''Coddington lens''' 
286; magnifying glass consisting of a single very thick lens with a central deep groove diaphragm at the equator, thus limiting the rays to those close to the axis, which again minimizes spherical aberration.

'''Code 7''' 
208; this police scanner code stands for "meal break." [http://www.radiolabs.com/police-codes.html]

'''Code of the Freaks''' 
196; is the "code of ethics" that the sideshow performers in Tod Browning's movie "Freaks" build up among themselves, "to protect them from the barbs of normal people. Their rules are rigidly adhered to and the hurt of one is the hurt of all; the joy of one is the joy of all." [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2jsX_R25LE]

'''Cohen's Beauty and Barber Shop''' 
127; in East London, where Spotted Dick gets their asymmetric bobs. A reference to Vidal Sassoon, inventor of the asymetric bob "I wanted to be a footballer but my mother insisted I get a profession, so I was apprenticed to a very distinguished hairdresser called Adolph Cohen" [http://english.sem40.ru/jewish_fortune/8333/]

'''COINTELPRO''' 
An acronym for Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political organizations within the United States. The FBI used covert operations from its inception, however formal COINTELPRO operations took place between 1956 and 1971. The FBI's motivation at the time was "protecting national security, preventing violence, and maintaining the existing social and political order"; and Black Nationalists, 74

'''Collins family''' 
128; vampires in TV show ''Dark Shadows''

'''Cookie and Joaquin''' 
71; ex-grunts from Vietnam; 76; 80

'''Cortes Bank''' 
Cortes Bank is a dangerously shallow chain of underwater mountains in the Pacific Ocean, about 115 miles (188 kilometers) west of Point Loma San Diego, USA, and about 50 miles (82 kilometers) south-west of San Clemente Island. Beginning in 1990, Cortes Bank attracted the interest of surfers. In ideal conditions, which are rare, surfers have caught waves up to 70' high. Although very difficult to get to, the reputation of Cortes Bank draws crowds when conditions are good; 358

<div id="corvairs">'''Corvairs, the'''</div>
This surf band is also in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/Chapter_3#Page_22 ''Vineland''], being where Zoyd Wheeler was living "shortly after Reagan was elected governor" (which would be shortly after January 3, 1967) with "elements" of the band. In ''Inherent Vice'', Elfmont and Scott Oof, Doc's cousin, are in the band; 43

'''Cottie food!''' 
146; ''coup de foudre'' is French for "love at first sight"

'''Country Joe and the Fish''' 
A Berkeley-based rock band most widely known for musical protests against the Vietnam War, from 1966 to 1971; Shasta in a band T-shirt, 1, 261;

'''''Courage'', Camille''' 
The phrase originally comes from Alexander Dumas' 1857 play ''Camille: The Lady of the Camellias'' in which Monsieur Duval tells Camille, "Courage, Camille, Courage."

Also, "Courage Camille" is a game in which three players are required. Two of the players face each other and lock hands. The third person stiffens and falls backwards into their arms. This should be done several times, with the person falling farther backwards each time (the players locking their hands should lower them each time). Other players can then try.

Also, a line masterfully delivered by Bob Hope as radio personality and craven muckraker Lawrence Lawrence Lawrence in the 1940 horror-comedy ''The Ghost Breakers''. It is also used in Pynchon's 2006 novel [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_336-357#Page_345 ''Against the Day'', on page 345]

'''Cramer, Floyd''' 
198; was a self-taught pianist who was one of the architects of the "Nashville Sound." His distinctive piano style can be heard on recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and many others. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. [http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/floyd-cramer]

'''''Creation of Adam, The''''' 
A fresco painted by Michelangelo circa 1511 that appears on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It illustrates the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis in which God the Father breathes life into Adam, the first man; God passing a lit joint, 124

<div id="creepingfig">'''creeping fig'''</div>
36; this highly invasive plant is also mentioned on the first page of [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1 ''Vineland''], suggesting creeps and invasions and the like which occur in both novels.

'''Curb, Mike''' 
American musician, record company executive, race car owner (in both NASCAR and IRL), and Republican Party (GOP) politician who served as Lieutenant Governor of California from 1979-1983 during the second administration of Democratic Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr. He is also the founder of Curb Records, an independent record label. Curb wrote and performed (with his group The Mike Curb Congregation) the music for the 1969 film ''The Big Bounce''; Doc hears Curb's score while high on PCP, 318

'''Curly's''' 
221; bar on Rampart in Las Vegas, hangout of Puck's and Einar's; former "crossroads saloon" 225;

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'''cachaça''' 
160; popular Brazilian liquor made from fermented sugarcane juice, unlike Rum which is made from molasses. The caipirinha is the most famous cocktail using it these days.

'''Cadillac''' 
5; 1959 Eldorado Biarritz ragtop - Shasta's car

'''''Call Me Madam''''' 
1950 musical with a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. A satire on politics and foreign affairs that spoofs America's penchant for lending billions of dollars to needy countries, it centers on Sally Adams, a well-meaning but ill-informed socialite widow who is appointed US Ambassador to the fictional European country of Lichtenburg. While there, she charms the local gentry, especially Cosmo Constantine, while her press attache Kenneth Gibson falls in love with Princess Maria; "You're Not Sick, You're Just in Love" sung by Ethel Merman, 247

'''Campbell, Glen (b. 1936)''' 
American country pop singer, guitarist and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s ("By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman"), as well as for hosting a television variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television; 331

'''canasta''' 
215; Spanish for "basket," a card game originating in Uruguay, where players attempt to make melds of 7 cards of the same rank, and "go out" by playing all cards in their hand and discarding. It is commonly played by two players with two standard decks of cards, but many variations exist for 3- and 4-player games or teams.

'''"Can't Buy Me Love"''' 
3; [[B#beatles|Beatles]] song, from the 1964 film ''A Hard Day's Night''

'''Canter's Delicatessen''' 
126; Times have changed. [http://www.cantersdeli.com/ Canter's] is no longer a "hippie-friendly" deli at 419 N. Fairfax.

'''Carillo, Leo (1880-1961)''' 
78; Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo (August 6, 1880 – September 10, 1961), was an actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist, in Santa Monica, CA. He played stereotypical latins. He played Pancho on the 1950s TV show, ''The Cisco Kid''. As used here, "Leo Carillo" probably refers to Leo Carrillo State Park, west of Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway, named in his honor for his conservation services to California; "night cricket" 130

'''Carmine & the Cal-Zones''' 
228; band in Nine of Diamonds, in Las Vegas; "Just the Lasagna (Semi-Bossa Nova)" 229;

'''Carol''' 
47; see [[M#carolmerrill|Merrill, Carol]]

'''cars''' 
1959 Eldorado Biarritz ragtop - Shasta's car, 5; VW buses, woodies, 19; Harley Earl Impala, 76; "1949 Mercury woodie" driven by "zombies" 133; motorcycles, 141; Luz's "red SS396" Super Sport Chevy, 143; Boris' "'46 Dodge Power Wagon" 149; Eldorado, 151; Electra Glide shovelhead, 153; Wolfgang "ten-year-old Mercedes sedan with a roof panel" 175; Excaliburs and Ferraris, 177; Doc's '64 Dodge Dart, 180; Jaguars and Porsches, 180; 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12, 184; Falcons, Nova, VDub, 184; 216; '69 Camarro, 218; '62 Bonneville, 223; Ford Rancheros, ancient T-Birds and Chevy Nomads, 228; F-100s and Chevy Apaches, 236; Morgans, Cobra 289s and '62 Bonnevilles, "supernatural DeSoto" 298; Lincoln Continental, '65 Impala, 328; '59 Cadillac hearse (as depicted on the novels dust jacket), 329; Bigfoot's "Cherry Bomb Glasspack" 330; Vibrasonic (Made by Motorola, this device was connected to a car radio to add reverb), 335; Falcon, 335; 442 Olds, 338; "'53 Buick Estate Wagon, the last woodie that ever rolled out of Detroit" 349; Stingray, 369; See [[Cars_mentioned_in_Inherent_Vice|Cars Mentioned in ''Inherent Vice'']]...

'''Castro, Fidel (b. 1926)''' 
One of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976, and then the President of the Council of State of Cuba until his resignation from the office in February 2008. He is currently the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba; 95

'''Chamberlain, Wilt (1936-1999)''' 
Nicknamed Wilt the Stilt, The Big Dipper, and Chairman of the Boards, was an American professional NBA basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; and also played for the Harlem Globetrotters. The 7 foot 1 inch Chamberlain, who weighed 250 lbs as a rookie before bulking up to 275 lb and eventually over 300 lb with the Lakers, played the center position and is widely considered one of the greatest and most dominant players in the history of the NBA; 4

'''''Champion'' (1949)''' 
The film in which actor Kirk Douglas, playing a selfish boxer, established himself as a Tough Guy. An American ''film noir'', ''Champion'' is a drama filmed in black-and-white, and recounts the struggles of boxer "Midge" Kelly fighting his own demons while working to achieve success in the boxing ring; 336

'''Channel View Estates''' 
8; Mickey Wolfmann's "chipboard horror" housing development; ''Channel View Estates:'' suggests countless single-family homes, each with a television for viewers to flip through the channels. 
From the Oxnard Press Courier, May 8, 1970: 
[[File:Example.jpg]] 
'''Chantays''' 
37; "Pipeline" 124;

'''Charlie the Tuna''' 
The cartoon mascot tuna for StarKist Tuna, was created by Tom Rogers of the Leo Burnett Agency after StarKist hired Leo Burnett in 1961. StarKist Tuna is the name of a brand of tuna; 119

'''Charlock, Clancy''' 
146; Glen Charlock's sister; tending bar in Inglewood, 214; screwing with Tariq Khalil, 288

'''Charlock, Glen''' 
15; "Aryan Bro" in prison with Tariq working as a body guard for Mickey Wolfmann; murdered, 23; and the Wolfmann raid, 85; footage of his murder, 142; 247; details from Tariq Khalil, 290; 319-320; [[Plants of Inherent Vice| See: Plants of Inherent Vice]]

'''Chateau Marmont''' 
158; a landmark from 1920s-era Hollywood where John Barrymore and Errol Flynn held inebriated court in the baronial living room. Greta Garbo regularly checked in as Harriet Brown, and Jim Morrison was one of many celebrities to call this home in later years. John Belushi overdosed in Bungalow #2.
[http://www.frommers.com/destinations/losangeles/H32788.html#ixzz0KP8rslNY&D]

'''Chatfield, C.C.''' 
360; Sauncho Smilax's boss

'''Chick Planet Massage''' 
20; a massage parlour located in a "makeshift miniplaza" near Channel View Estates; 76; raid, 141;

'''Chiffons''' 
An all girl group originating from the Bronx area of New York in 1960; "One Fine Day" 224

'''Chino''' 
16; A city in San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles; also shorthand for the California Institution for Men, a state prison in Chino where Tariq Khalil did time

'''Chlorinda''' 
91; waitress at Belaying Pin

'''Chopin''' 
The Grande Valse brillante in E-flat major (also called Grande Waltz Brillante), Op. 18 was composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1833. It was first published in 1834 and is Chopin's first waltz composition for solo piano. It is often used as incidental music in Brazilian overdubbings of Warner Bros. cartoons such as Bugs Bunny. Dubbing was made from the original film rolls, which did not provide the voices and background music in separate audio tracks. Lacking the resources to hire an orchestra, voiceover studios re-used recordings of classical pieces which had a similar feel to the pieces used in the original soundtracks; played by Liberace during "one of his shows at the Riviera" 220

'''choppers''' 
Hope Harlingen's, 36; new false teeth for Coy Harlingen, 300

'''Chryskylodon Institute''' 
111; upscale rehabilitation facility in Ojai; where Japonica is sent, 171; Greek for "gold fang", 185; Doc visits, 186; 301. Any chance this is a veiled critique or parody of Scientology? cf also Synanon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synanon]

'''Cielo Drive''' 
208; The original home at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California is infamous for being the scene of one of the Manson "family" murders.

'''Club Asiatique''' 
77; in San Pedro; 80; 131; 168

'''Coddington lens''' 
286; magnifying glass consisting of a single very thick lens with a central deep groove diaphragm at the equator, thus limiting the rays to those close to the axis, which again minimizes spherical aberration.

'''Code 7''' 
208; this police scanner code stands for "meal break." [http://www.radiolabs.com/police-codes.html]

'''Code of the Freaks''' 
196; is the "code of ethics" that the sideshow performers in Tod Browning's movie "Freaks" build up among themselves, "to protect them from the barbs of normal people. Their rules are rigidly adhered to and the hurt of one is the hurt of all; the joy of one is the joy of all." [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2jsX_R25LE]

'''Cohen's Beauty and Barber Shop''' 
127; in East London, where Spotted Dick gets their asymmetric bobs. A reference to Vidal Sassoon, inventor of the asymetric bob "I wanted to be a footballer but my mother insisted I get a profession, so I was apprenticed to a very distinguished hairdresser called Adolph Cohen" [http://english.sem40.ru/jewish_fortune/8333/]

'''COINTELPRO''' 
An acronym for Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political organizations within the United States. The FBI used covert operations from its inception, however formal COINTELPRO operations took place between 1956 and 1971. The FBI's motivation at the time was "protecting national security, preventing violence, and maintaining the existing social and political order"; and Black Nationalists, 74

'''Collins family''' 
128; vampires in TV show ''Dark Shadows''

'''Cookie and Joaquin''' 
71; ex-grunts from Vietnam; 76; 80

'''Cortes Bank''' 
Cortes Bank is a dangerously shallow chain of underwater mountains in the Pacific Ocean, about 115 miles (188 kilometers) west of Point Loma San Diego, USA, and about 50 miles (82 kilometers) south-west of San Clemente Island. Beginning in 1990, Cortes Bank attracted the interest of surfers. In ideal conditions, which are rare, surfers have caught waves up to 70' high. Although very difficult to get to, the reputation of Cortes Bank draws crowds when conditions are good; 358

<div id="corvairs">'''Corvairs, the'''</div>
This surf band is also in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/Chapter_3#Page_22 ''Vineland''], being where Zoyd Wheeler was living "shortly after Reagan was elected governor" (which would be shortly after January 3, 1967) with "elements" of the band. In ''Inherent Vice'', Elfmont and Scott Oof, Doc's cousin, are in the band; 43

'''Cottie food!''' 
146; ''coup de foudre'' is French for "love at first sight"

'''Country Joe and the Fish''' 
A Berkeley-based rock band most widely known for musical protests against the Vietnam War, from 1966 to 1971; Shasta in a band T-shirt, 1, 261;

'''''Courage'', Camille''' 
The phrase originally comes from Alexander Dumas' 1857 play ''Camille: The Lady of the Camellias'' in which Monsieur Duval tells Camille, "Courage, Camille, Courage."

Also, "Courage Camille" is a game in which three players are required. Two of the players face each other and lock hands. The third person stiffens and falls backwards into their arms. This should be done several times, with the person falling farther backwards each time (the players locking their hands should lower them each time). Other players can then try.

Also, a line masterfully delivered by Bob Hope as radio personality and craven muckraker Lawrence Lawrence Lawrence in the 1940 horror-comedy ''The Ghost Breakers''. It is also used in Pynchon's 2006 novel [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_336-357#Page_345 ''Against the Day'', on page 345]

'''Cramer, Floyd''' 
198; was a self-taught pianist who was one of the architects of the "Nashville Sound." His distinctive piano style can be heard on recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and many others. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. [http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/floyd-cramer]

'''''Creation of Adam, The''''' 
A fresco painted by Michelangelo circa 1511 that appears on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It illustrates the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis in which God the Father breathes life into Adam, the first man; God passing a lit joint, 124

<div id="creepingfig">'''creeping fig'''</div>
36; this highly invasive plant is also mentioned on the first page of [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1 ''Vineland''], suggesting creeps and invasions and the like which occur in both novels.

'''Curb, Mike''' 
American musician, record company executive, race car owner (in both NASCAR and IRL), and Republican Party (GOP) politician who served as Lieutenant Governor of California from 1979-1983 during the second administration of Democratic Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr. He is also the founder of Curb Records, an independent record label. Curb wrote and performed (with his group The Mike Curb Congregation) the music for the 1969 film ''The Big Bounce''; Doc hears Curb's score while high on PCP, 318

'''Curly's''' 
221; bar on Rampart in Las Vegas, hangout of Puck's and Einar's; former "crossroads saloon" 225;

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==Page 124==
'''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' 
Afternoon, the ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1, 1970. 
'''Stone Turntable''' 
The name is presumably intended to be a jokey reference to Rolling Stone: a stone turntable being not a rolling stone, but a rotating one.

==Page 125==
'''Jurgensen's''' 
Jurgensen's was an upscale, gourmet grocery store with locations in Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and throughout greater LA.

'''Hokusai's famous ''Great Wave off Kanagawa''''' 
a famous woodblock print. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa Wikipedia]

[[File:Hokusai.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Great Wave off Kanagawa, image from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa Wikipedia]]]

==Page 126==
'''uncountableth''' 
In mathematics, "uncountable" is used to describe the size of infinite sets larger than the set of natural numbers. Pynchon's use of the word here is deliberately oxymoronic. See also the reference to George Cantor further in the same paragraph.

'''the Boards...''' 
As the surf band that makes it big, the Boards suggest the Beach Boys. Pynchon himself once visited the home of Brian Wilson in Beverly Hills. See [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pynchon_and_Brian_Wilson Pynchon and Brian Wilson]. Perhaps this chapter drew some inspiration from that visit?

'''Cantor's Delicatessen''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Cantor Georg Cantor] (1845-1918) was a German mathematician who pioneered the subject of set theory, now at the foundation of all modern mathematics. He proved that there are different sizes of infinity - for example, the set of natural numbers is smaller than the set of real numbers, though both sets are infinite. The name of the restaurant is a play on the real [http://www.cantersdeli.com/ Canter's Deli] in Los Angeles, established 1931.

==Page 128==
'''''Dark Shadows''. . . The Collins family . . . parallel time''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Shadows ''Dark Shadows''] was an innovative TV show in the late 1960's and early 70's that focuses on the Collins family. The show included many Gothic elements, including vampires, zombies, and witches. It also played with time travel and parallel universes in which the same character would be played by different actors or the same actor would play different characters.

If this is April 1, 1970, here's a plot summary of today's show from [http://www.darkshadows.com/cgi-bin/eplist.pl?ep=983 darkshadows.com], all in parallel time today: 
Daniel plans to drive Maggie out of Collinwood. Quentin tells Chris to make sure Bruno Hess, another loyal friend of Angelique, is kicked off the estate. Daniel frightens Maggie by having Amy hum a tune, making it sound like it was coming from Angelique's portrait; Amy later tells Daniel that she did not make the humming sound.

'''parallel time''' 
This paragraph ''may'' be a coded reference to Pynchon's own [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page Against the Day] and its reception. ''Against the Day'' features parallel universes/time (?) and confounded readers nation- (and world-)wide. This interpretation may be a stretch.

In [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''V.''] Pynchon talks about [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mirror_Time "Mirror Time"]:

:"Rachel was looking into the mirror at an angle of 45°, and so had a view of the face turned toward the room and the face on the other side, reflected in the mirror; here were time and reverse-time, co-existing, cancelling one another exactly out. Were there many such reference points, scattered through the world, perhaps only at nodes like this room which housed a transient population of the imperfect, the dissatisfied [...]" ([http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mirror_Time ''V.'', p.46])

'''Hanon''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanon Hanon] was a 19th-century French piano teacher and composer. He's most famous for developing exercises for piano students.

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises exercises], rather than the guy who wrote them, are the primary focus of the reference. These are the basic finger exercises that almost everyone who took piano played for some period, and almost everyone who has had a family member who took piano listend to over and over for seemingly endless periods. They're basically short, hurried, unmelodic scales that work up and down the keyboard without any regard for key. The more advanced exercises feature 4th- and 5th-finger repetitions and trills that are about as pleasant to listen to as a skipping record. They would sound particularly silly on a portable Farfisa, and practicing them on a Farfisa would be strange, as the instrument, unlike a piano, has soft organ keys with virtually no action.

An [http://www.upload-mp3.com/files/84678_nuehq/HanonFarfisa.mp3 MP3 of Hanon's Exercise 1] played on a Farfisa (actually a synthesizer emulating a Farfisa).

'''Farfisa''' 
One of the first electric keyboards/organs used in rock 'n' roll. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farfisa Wikipedia entry...] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkvK638yKuY "Ninety-six Tears" by ? & the Mysterians] is a classic example of the Farfisa sound, as is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O6x_m4zvFs&feature=fvw "Light My Fire" by the Doors].

==Page 130==
'''George Formby''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby,_Jr. George Formby, Jr.] performed "Leaning on a Lamppost" (written by Noel Gay) which Herman's Hermits covered. Tyrone Slothrop, protagonist of ''Gravity's Rainbow'' is described as "sort of an American George Formby, if you can imagine such a thing." Obvious influence on "The Bonzo Dog Band." Here's a video of George Formby singing [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEymZ3rXOmc Leaning On A Lamp Post.]

==Page 131==
'''Donna Lee''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Lee Donna Lee], way more than Coy's usual 1 or 2 note solos.

'''abrazo''' 
Spanish for hug.

==Page 132==
'''third ballet position''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positions_of_the_feet_in_ballet here]

'''louche''' 
Of questionable taste or morality; decadent.

==Page 133==
[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|right|1949 Mercury Woodie [http://www.pbase.com/xl1ken/image/3748891 © Ken Leonard] used with permission]]
'''1949 Mercury woodie''' 
''The Mod Squad'' drove a Mercury woodie, either a '49 or '50.

==Page 134==
'''no longer saw the headlights''' 
Evening, the ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1, 1970. 

==Page 138==
'''van Houten, Leslie''' 
b. 1949. A former member of Charles Manson's "Family" who was convicted of the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. She remains imprisoned at the California Institution for Women in Chino, San Bernadino County, California. 
'''did he happen to catch the game with Phoenix''' 
Daytime, the tenth day of the narrative, Thursday, April 2, 1970. Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game. This is probably as good a time as any to mention that the 69-70 NBA season was a big one for Lakers fans. Bill Russell had just retired as a player, after leading the Celtics to 11 of the last 13 championships. Finally, other teams would have a shot at the title. The Lakers thought that the title would be theirs. Unfortunately for Lakers fans, so did the Knicks. 
'''Upstairs, Bigfoot, strangely jumpy today''' 
The '''today''' is what identifies this as Daytime, the tenth day of the narrative, Thursday, April 2, 1970. 

==Page 140==
'''--not logical, Captain''' 
Star Trek reference, a phrase often spoken by Spock to Kirk.

==Page 141==
'''Triumph Bonneville T120'''[[File:Triumph_Bonneville_T120.jpg|thumb|right|Triumph Bonneville T120, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_Bonneville_T120 Wikipedia]]] 
'''Kawasaki Mach III'''[[File:Kawasaki_Mach_III.jpg|thumb|left|Kawasaki Mach III, photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/optikalblitz/2447598991/ optikal / Creative Commons]]] 

==Page 142==
'''Around lunchtime, next day''' 
Midday, the eleventh day of the narrative, Friday, April 3, 1970. 

==Page 143==
'''SS396''' 
[http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cars_mentioned_in_Inherent_Vice#SS396 Photo]

==Page 144==
'''esta gente no sabe nada''' 
Spanish for "these people know nothing."

==Page 145==
'''hijo de puta''' 
Spanish for "son of a bitch."

'''otra vez''' 
Spanish for "again/one more time."

'''Looking forward to a peaceful morning in the office''' 
Morning, the twelfth day of the narrative, Saturday, April 4, 1970. 

==Page 146==
'''"Cootie food!'''" 
What Doc means is "le coup de foudre," aka "bolt of lightning." This echos Reef's 'rounder Italian'; "Say surly topple!" he would scream..." (page 889) from [[Against the Day]]. 
The English meaning, if it has one, and the explanation for Clancy Charlock's response to Doc, is unclear. It may perhaps refer to the childish fear of being infected by a sort of imaginary germ borne by the opposite sex and known as "cooties," which - possibly - makes a member of the opposite sex whom you touch "cootie food." Or, it could just be a very idiosyncratic reference to oral sex. 

Another possibility is that Doc, whose French is likely weaker than his Spanish, memorized the phrase phonetically as "cootie food", since he would not have known the spelling when it was told to him. Assuming Clancy understands French, or at least this particular idiom, her reply is fairly natural.

The phrase is apparently used - at least in the South, and not commonly - to refer to unappetizing or unclean food.

Cooties is slang for crabs or lice.

==Page 147==
'''Now, Voyager (1942)''' 
from Wikipedia: Now, Voyager is a 1942 American drama film directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty, who borrowed her title from a line in the Walt Whitman poem "The Untold Want," which reads in its entirety, "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, / Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find." Bette Davis' portrayal garnered her an Academy Award nomination, and the film continues to be popular not only due to its star power but also the "emotional crescendos" engendered in the storyline.

The film includes the line: "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon... we have the stars."

The film's romantic smoke sequence, repeated during the film and much parodied, featured Paul Henried placing two cigarettes in his lips, lighting them both, then handing one to Bette Davis. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-KGiwGn1d8 YouTube]

==Page 148==
'''That night Doc met Clancy''' 
Evening, the twelfth day of the narrative, Saturday, April 4, 1970. 

'''Zubin Mehta''' 
A famous conductor, Zubin Mehta was the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1962-1978. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zubin_Mehta]

'''massé shots''' 
In billiards, a massé shot is when a player strikes a ball with the cue at a sharp angle and causes the ball to curve drastically or even eventually reverse direction. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ly8Ee_7jM Here's an example.] Some pool halls (like this one) forbid this kind of shot because it often leads to scratching or tearing of the felt.

==Page 153==
'''"Happy Trails to You"''' 
Besides the reference to Roy Roger's theme song, this phrase is a favorite double entendre among those who use psychedelic drugs. "Acid trails" are a common hallucination produced by LSD.

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{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 124==
'''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' 
Afternoon, the ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1, 1970. 
'''Stone Turntable''' 
The name is presumably intended to be a jokey reference to Rolling Stone: a stone turntable being not a rolling stone, but a rotating one.

==Page 125==
'''Jurgensen's''' 
Jurgensen's was an upscale, gourmet grocery store with locations in Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and throughout greater LA.

'''Hokusai's famous ''Great Wave off Kanagawa''''' 
a famous woodblock print. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa Wikipedia]

[[File:Hokusai.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Great Wave off Kanagawa, image from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa Wikipedia]]]

==Page 126==
'''uncountableth''' 
In mathematics, "uncountable" is used to describe the size of infinite sets larger than the set of natural numbers. Pynchon's use of the word here is deliberately oxymoronic. See also the reference to George Cantor further in the same paragraph.

'''the Boards...''' 
As the surf band that makes it big, the Boards suggest the Beach Boys. Pynchon himself once visited the home of Brian Wilson in Beverly Hills. See [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pynchon_and_Brian_Wilson Pynchon and Brian Wilson]. Perhaps this chapter drew some inspiration from that visit?

'''Cantor's Delicatessen''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Cantor Georg Cantor] (1845-1918) was a German mathematician who pioneered the subject of set theory, now at the foundation of all modern mathematics. He proved that there are different sizes of infinity - for example, the set of natural numbers is smaller than the set of real numbers, though both sets are infinite. The name of the restaurant is a play on the real [http://www.cantersdeli.com/ Canter's Deli] in Los Angeles, established 1931.

==Page 128==
'''''Dark Shadows''. . . The Collins family . . . parallel time''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Shadows ''Dark Shadows''] was an innovative TV show in the late 1960's and early 70's that focuses on the Collins family. The show included many Gothic elements, including vampires, zombies, and witches. It also played with time travel and parallel universes in which the same character would be played by different actors or the same actor would play different characters.

If this is April 1, 1970, here's a plot summary of today's show from [http://www.darkshadows.com/cgi-bin/eplist.pl?ep=983 darkshadows.com] all in parallel time today. 
Daniel plans to drive Maggie out of Collinwood. Quentin tells Chris to make sure Bruno Hess, another loyal friend of Angelique, is kicked off the estate. Daniel frightens Maggie by having Amy hum a tune, making it sound like it was coming from Angelique's portrait; Amy later tells Daniel that she did not make the humming sound.

'''parallel time''' 
This paragraph ''may'' be a coded reference to Pynchon's own [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page Against the Day] and its reception. ''Against the Day'' features parallel universes/time (?) and confounded readers nation- (and world-)wide. This interpretation may be a stretch.

In [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''V.''] Pynchon talks about [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mirror_Time "Mirror Time"]:

:"Rachel was looking into the mirror at an angle of 45°, and so had a view of the face turned toward the room and the face on the other side, reflected in the mirror; here were time and reverse-time, co-existing, cancelling one another exactly out. Were there many such reference points, scattered through the world, perhaps only at nodes like this room which housed a transient population of the imperfect, the dissatisfied [...]" ([http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mirror_Time ''V.'', p.46])

'''Hanon''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanon Hanon] was a 19th-century French piano teacher and composer. He's most famous for developing exercises for piano students.

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises exercises], rather than the guy who wrote them, are the primary focus of the reference. These are the basic finger exercises that almost everyone who took piano played for some period, and almost everyone who has had a family member who took piano listend to over and over for seemingly endless periods. They're basically short, hurried, unmelodic scales that work up and down the keyboard without any regard for key. The more advanced exercises feature 4th- and 5th-finger repetitions and trills that are about as pleasant to listen to as a skipping record. They would sound particularly silly on a portable Farfisa, and practicing them on a Farfisa would be strange, as the instrument, unlike a piano, has soft organ keys with virtually no action.

An [http://www.upload-mp3.com/files/84678_nuehq/HanonFarfisa.mp3 MP3 of Hanon's Exercise 1] played on a Farfisa (actually a synthesizer emulating a Farfisa).

'''Farfisa''' 
One of the first electric keyboards/organs used in rock 'n' roll. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farfisa Wikipedia entry...] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkvK638yKuY "Ninety-six Tears" by ? & the Mysterians] is a classic example of the Farfisa sound, as is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O6x_m4zvFs&feature=fvw "Light My Fire" by the Doors].

==Page 130==
'''George Formby''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby,_Jr. George Formby, Jr.] performed "Leaning on a Lamppost" (written by Noel Gay) which Herman's Hermits covered. Tyrone Slothrop, protagonist of ''Gravity's Rainbow'' is described as "sort of an American George Formby, if you can imagine such a thing." Obvious influence on "The Bonzo Dog Band." Here's a video of George Formby singing [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEymZ3rXOmc Leaning On A Lamp Post.]

==Page 131==
'''Donna Lee''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Lee Donna Lee], way more than Coy's usual 1 or 2 note solos.

'''abrazo''' 
Spanish for hug.

==Page 132==
'''third ballet position''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positions_of_the_feet_in_ballet here]

'''louche''' 
Of questionable taste or morality; decadent.

==Page 133==
[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|right|1949 Mercury Woodie [http://www.pbase.com/xl1ken/image/3748891 © Ken Leonard] used with permission]]
'''1949 Mercury woodie''' 
''The Mod Squad'' drove a Mercury woodie, either a '49 or '50.

==Page 134==
'''no longer saw the headlights''' 
Evening, the ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1, 1970. 

==Page 138==
'''van Houten, Leslie''' 
b. 1949. A former member of Charles Manson's "Family" who was convicted of the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. She remains imprisoned at the California Institution for Women in Chino, San Bernadino County, California. 
'''did he happen to catch the game with Phoenix''' 
Daytime, the tenth day of the narrative, Thursday, April 2, 1970. Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game. This is probably as good a time as any to mention that the 69-70 NBA season was a big one for Lakers fans. Bill Russell had just retired as a player, after leading the Celtics to 11 of the last 13 championships. Finally, other teams would have a shot at the title. The Lakers thought that the title would be theirs. Unfortunately for Lakers fans, so did the Knicks. 
'''Upstairs, Bigfoot, strangely jumpy today''' 
The '''today''' is what identifies this as Daytime, the tenth day of the narrative, Thursday, April 2, 1970. 

==Page 140==
'''--not logical, Captain''' 
Star Trek reference, a phrase often spoken by Spock to Kirk.

==Page 141==
'''Triumph Bonneville T120'''[[File:Triumph_Bonneville_T120.jpg|thumb|right|Triumph Bonneville T120, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_Bonneville_T120 Wikipedia]]] 
'''Kawasaki Mach III'''[[File:Kawasaki_Mach_III.jpg|thumb|left|Kawasaki Mach III, photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/optikalblitz/2447598991/ optikal / Creative Commons]]] 

==Page 142==
'''Around lunchtime, next day''' 
Midday, the eleventh day of the narrative, Friday, April 3, 1970. 

==Page 143==
'''SS396''' 
[http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cars_mentioned_in_Inherent_Vice#SS396 Photo]

==Page 144==
'''esta gente no sabe nada''' 
Spanish for "these people know nothing."

==Page 145==
'''hijo de puta''' 
Spanish for "son of a bitch."

'''otra vez''' 
Spanish for "again/one more time."

'''Looking forward to a peaceful morning in the office''' 
Morning, the twelfth day of the narrative, Saturday, April 4, 1970. 

==Page 146==
'''"Cootie food!'''" 
What Doc means is "le coup de foudre," aka "bolt of lightning." This echos Reef's 'rounder Italian'; "Say surly topple!" he would scream..." (page 889) from [[Against the Day]]. 
The English meaning, if it has one, and the explanation for Clancy Charlock's response to Doc, is unclear. It may perhaps refer to the childish fear of being infected by a sort of imaginary germ borne by the opposite sex and known as "cooties," which - possibly - makes a member of the opposite sex whom you touch "cootie food." Or, it could just be a very idiosyncratic reference to oral sex. 

Another possibility is that Doc, whose French is likely weaker than his Spanish, memorized the phrase phonetically as "cootie food", since he would not have known the spelling when it was told to him. Assuming Clancy understands French, or at least this particular idiom, her reply is fairly natural.

The phrase is apparently used - at least in the South, and not commonly - to refer to unappetizing or unclean food.

Cooties is slang for crabs or lice.

==Page 147==
'''Now, Voyager (1942)''' 
from Wikipedia: Now, Voyager is a 1942 American drama film directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty, who borrowed her title from a line in the Walt Whitman poem "The Untold Want," which reads in its entirety, "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, / Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find." Bette Davis' portrayal garnered her an Academy Award nomination, and the film continues to be popular not only due to its star power but also the "emotional crescendos" engendered in the storyline.

The film includes the line: "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon... we have the stars."

The film's romantic smoke sequence, repeated during the film and much parodied, featured Paul Henried placing two cigarettes in his lips, lighting them both, then handing one to Bette Davis. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-KGiwGn1d8 YouTube]

==Page 148==
'''That night Doc met Clancy''' 
Evening, the twelfth day of the narrative, Saturday, April 4, 1970. 

'''Zubin Mehta''' 
A famous conductor, Zubin Mehta was the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1962-1978. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zubin_Mehta]

'''massé shots''' 
In billiards, a massé shot is when a player strikes a ball with the cue at a sharp angle and causes the ball to curve drastically or even eventually reverse direction. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ly8Ee_7jM Here's an example.] Some pool halls (like this one) forbid this kind of shot because it often leads to scratching or tearing of the felt.

==Page 153==
'''"Happy Trails to You"''' 
Besides the reference to Roy Roger's theme song, this phrase is a favorite double entendre among those who use psychedelic drugs. "Acid trails" are a common hallucination produced by LSD.

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 11

2009-09-20T20:04:55Z

Redbarnlane: Timeline

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 166==
'''Brylcreem''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brylcreem Brylcreem] is a hair styling oil/gel for men that was very popular. It gives hair a wet, oily look.

'''on the natch''' 
"natch" is short for "natural" and "on the natch," in this context, means sober. On pg. 273, the perennially sober Bigfoot is described as a "literal-minded natch-meister."

==Page 168==
'''Leuzinger High''' 
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leuzinger_High_School real] high school, in Lawndale, California, which - particularly in the story's time period - was a relatively undesirable and low-priced city in the LA area.

'''Dr. Blatnoyd''' 
Probably a play on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blat_%28Russia%29 term] of Russian origin, meaning a man with underworld connections or a career criminal.

==Page 170==
'''Section Eight hippies''' 
Section Eight is low income housing funded with a federal subsidy.

==Page 171==
'''Japonica Fenway''' 
"Japonica" is just a Latinization of "Japanese," but it is most commonly used in formal Latin plant names. There are a wide variety of "____ Japonica" plants, such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia_japonica Camellia Japonica]. While it's not really possible to make any universal statement about such widely varied species, they tend to be ornamental and hardy. [[Plants of Inherent Vice|See: Plants of Inherent Vice]]

'''Crocker Fenway''' 
It is possible the first name is inspired by the character "Crocker Jarmon" from the movie [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068334/ The Candidate (1972)]. The character in the movie is an establishment, incumbent GOP Senator from California.

The first names of both characters may also refer to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocker_National_Bank Crocker National Bank], which historically was a conservative, Republican institution. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847658,00.html 1936 Time Magazine reference], [http://articles.latimes.com/1986-05-27/business/fi-7509_1 1986 Article].

'''the ancient American Indian belief that if you save somebody's life, you are responsible for them from then on, forever''' 
Last seen in Against the Day with Foley Walker and Scarsdale Vibe.

==Page 172==
'''Governor Reagan''' 
Ronald Reagan was governor of California from 1967 to 1975.

==Page 175==
[[File:MercedesSedan.jpg|thumb|200px|right|1960 Mercedes-Benz W128 Sedan, image from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_W128 Wikipedia]]]
'''Mercedes sedan''' 
ten-year-old Mercedes sedan with a roof panel

'''late rush-hour traffic''' 
Should be afternoon, the thirteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 5, 1970, but why would there be rush hour traffic? Why would postcards be delivered today, and why would the Golden Fang be open?.

==Page 176==
'''outdoor concerts where thousands . . . public self''' 
A good description of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock Woodstock], which had just taken place the previous year.

'''each person was listening in solitude, confinement and mutual silence''' 
Perhaps a foreshadowing of the iPod generation?

'''''head''phones!''' 
Here, "head" refers to drugs, as in [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=head+shop "head shop"].

'''Doc noticed (a) it was now dark''' 
Should be evening, the thirteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 5, 1970.

==Page 180==
'''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart''' 
The timeline gets broken here. From the end of the book to this point--from April 26 to May 8--the narrator has made it easy to follow the events of the book in real time. The narrator puts Doc to bed at night, gets him up in the morning, points out television shows and events. The only break is an "another day" inserted between May 4 and May 5. That makes a total of 14 days in the second half of the book. 
The first half of the book, thirteen days up to the "few days" the Dart was in the shop, can also be matched with real time events. For example, Doc's parents visit during a division semifinal game between the 76ers and the Bucks. That series was played from March 25 to April 3. That would mean that the Dart was in the shop for a couple of weeks. Or that some kind of ''Dark Shadows'' parallel time is at work. 
'''When he finally went over to pick up his ride''' 
Probably morning, Sunday, April 26, 1970. See below for an explanation of "probably". The obvious reference is to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who also came back on a Sunday. This is not Easter Sunday, though. It occurred on March 29 in 1970. 
==Page 181==

''''64 Dodge Dart'''
[[File:1964_Dodge_Dart.jpg|thumb|200px|left|1964 Dodge Dart Sedan, photo by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:64_Dodge_Dart_F34.jpg Scheinwerfermann]
]]

==Page 182==
'''I'll buy you lunch''' 
Probably morning, Sunday, April 26, 1970. I say probably because it seems unlikely that Doc could have lunch with Tito, make a few phone calls, and drive to Ojai, getting there before lunchtime. The narrator has been pretty careful, though, from the end of the book to this point in noting the ends and beginnings of days. 
'''They went down Pico . . . before repeating an ethnic category.''' 
A possible nod to noted LA chowhound Johnathan Gold, who got his start as a Pulitzer Prize winning food critic eating his way across ethnic LA along Pico Blvd. Profiled here on NPR's [http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=110 "This American Life"] (See: ''Act Five. Taste.'')
==Page 184==
'''1934 Hispano-Suiza J12'''[[File:Hispano-SuizaJ12.jpg|thumb|left|Hispano-Suiza J12, photo from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispano-Suiza Wikipedia]‎]]
{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 11

2009-09-20T19:58:49Z

Redbarnlane: Timeline

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 166==
'''Brylcreem''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brylcreem Brylcreem] is a hair styling oil/gel for men that was very popular. It gives hair a wet, oily look.

'''on the natch''' 
"natch" is short for "natural" and "on the natch," in this context, means sober. On pg. 273, the perennially sober Bigfoot is described as a "literal-minded natch-meister."

==Page 168==
'''Leuzinger High''' 
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leuzinger_High_School real] high school, in Lawndale, California, which - particularly in the story's time period - was a relatively undesirable and low-priced city in the LA area.

'''Dr. Blatnoyd''' 
Probably a play on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blat_%28Russia%29 term] of Russian origin, meaning a man with underworld connections or a career criminal.

==Page 170==
'''Section Eight hippies''' 
Section Eight is low income housing funded with a federal subsidy.

==Page 171==
'''Japonica Fenway''' 
"Japonica" is just a Latinization of "Japanese," but it is most commonly used in formal Latin plant names. There are a wide variety of "____ Japonica" plants, such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia_japonica Camellia Japonica]. While it's not really possible to make any universal statement about such widely varied species, they tend to be ornamental and hardy. [[Plants of Inherent Vice|See: Plants of Inherent Vice]]

'''Crocker Fenway''' 
It is possible the first name is inspired by the character "Crocker Jarmon" from the movie [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068334/ The Candidate (1972)]. The character in the movie is an establishment, incumbent GOP Senator from California.

The first names of both characters may also refer to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocker_National_Bank Crocker National Bank], which historically was a conservative, Republican institution. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847658,00.html 1936 Time Magazine reference], [http://articles.latimes.com/1986-05-27/business/fi-7509_1 1986 Article].

'''the ancient American Indian belief that if you save somebody's life, you are responsible for them from then on, forever''' 
Last seen in Against the Day with Foley Walker and Scarsdale Vibe.

==Page 172==
'''Governor Reagan''' 
Ronald Reagan was governor of California from 1967 to 1975.

==Page 175==
[[File:MercedesSedan.jpg|thumb|200px|right|1960 Mercedes-Benz W128 Sedan, image from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_W128 Wikipedia]]]
'''Mercedes sedan''' 
ten-year-old Mercedes sedan with a roof panel

'''late rush-hour traffic''' 
Should be afternoon, the thirteenth day of the narrative, Sunday, April 5, 1970, but why would there be rush hour traffic? Why would postcards be delivered today, and why would the Golden Fang be open?.

==Page 176==
'''outdoor concerts where thousands . . . public self''' 
A good description of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock Woodstock], which had just taken place the previous year.

'''each person was listening in solitude, confinement and mutual silence''' 
Perhaps a foreshadowing of the iPod generation?

'''''head''phones!''' 
Here, "head" refers to drugs, as in [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=head+shop "head shop"].
==Page 180==
'''Things were weird for a few days with the Dart''' 
The timeline gets broken here. From the end of the book to this point--from April 26 to May 8--the narrator has made it easy to follow the events of the book in real time. The narrator puts Doc to bed at night, gets him up in the morning, points out television shows and events. The only break is an "another day" inserted between May 4 and May 5. That makes a total of 14 days in the second half of the book. 
The first half of the book, twelve days up to the "few days" the Dart was in the shop, is much more difficult to match with real time events. For example, Doc's parents visit during a division semifinal game between the 76ers and the Bucks. That series was played from March 25 to April 3. None of the games were played on a Sunday, which would be the day of the visit, if the first day of the book is a Tuesday. It would also mean that the Dart was in the shop for a couple of weeks. 
'''When he finally went over to pick up his ride''' 
Probably morning, Sunday, April 26, 1970. See below for an explanation of "probably". The obvious reference is to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who also came back on a Sunday. This is not Easter Sunday, though. It occurred on March 29 in 1970. 
==Page 181==

''''64 Dodge Dart'''
[[File:1964_Dodge_Dart.jpg|thumb|200px|left|1964 Dodge Dart Sedan, photo by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:64_Dodge_Dart_F34.jpg Scheinwerfermann]
]]

==Page 182==
'''I'll buy you lunch''' 
Probably morning, Sunday, April 26, 1970. I say probably because it seems unlikely that Doc could have lunch with Tito, make a few phone calls, and drive to Ojai, getting there before lunchtime. The narrator has been pretty careful, though, from the end of the book to this point in noting the ends and beginnings of days. 
'''They went down Pico . . . before repeating an ethnic category.''' 
A possible nod to noted LA chowhound Johnathan Gold, who got his start as a Pulitzer Prize winning food critic eating his way across ethnic LA along Pico Blvd. Profiled here on NPR's [http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=110 "This American Life"] (See: ''Act Five. Taste.'')
==Page 184==
'''1934 Hispano-Suiza J12'''[[File:Hispano-SuizaJ12.jpg|thumb|left|Hispano-Suiza J12, photo from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispano-Suiza Wikipedia]‎]]
{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 10

2009-09-19T14:43:37Z

Redbarnlane: Timeline

Chapter 9

2009-09-19T14:27:52Z

Redbarnlane: Timeline

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 124==
'''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' 
Afternoon, the ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1, 1970. 
'''Stone Turntable''' 
The name is presumably intended to be a jokey reference to Rolling Stone: a stone turntable being not a rolling stone, but a rotating one.

==Page 125==
'''Jurgensen's''' 
Jurgensen's was an upscale, gourmet grocery store with locations in Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and throughout greater LA.

'''Hokusai's famous ''Great Wave off Kanagawa''''' 
a famous woodblock print. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa Wikipedia]

[[File:Hokusai.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Great Wave off Kanagawa, image from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa Wikipedia]]]

==Page 126==
'''uncountableth''' 
In mathematics, "uncountable" is used to describe the size of infinite sets larger than the set of natural numbers. Pynchon's use of the word here is deliberately oxymoronic. See also the reference to George Cantor further in the same paragraph.

'''the Boards...''' 
As the surf band that makes it big, the Boards suggest the Beach Boys. Pynchon himself once visited the home of Brian Wilson in Beverly Hills. See [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pynchon_and_Brian_Wilson Pynchon and Brian Wilson]. Perhaps this chapter drew some inspiration from that visit?

'''Cantor's Delicatessen''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Cantor Georg Cantor] (1845-1918) was a German mathematician who pioneered the subject of set theory, now at the foundation of all modern mathematics. He proved that there are different sizes of infinity - for example, the set of natural numbers is smaller than the set of real numbers, though both sets are infinite. The name of the restaurant is a play on the real [http://www.cantersdeli.com/ Canter's Deli] in Los Angeles, established 1931.

==Page 128==
'''''Dark Shadows''. . . The Collins family . . . parallel time''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Shadows ''Dark Shadows''] was an innovative TV show in the late 1960's and early 70's that focuses on the Collins family. The show included many Gothic elements, including vampires, zombies, and witches. It also played with time travel and parallel universes in which the same character would be played by different actors or the same actor would play different characters.

'''parallel time''' 
This paragraph ''may'' be a coded reference to Pynchon's own [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page Against the Day] and its reception. ''Against the Day'' features parallel universes/time (?) and confounded readers nation- (and world-)wide. This interpretation may be a stretch. I dunno. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 22:59, 9 August 2009 (PDT)

'''Hanon''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanon Hanon] was a 19th-century French piano teacher and composer. He's most famous for developing exercises for piano students.

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises exercises], rather than the guy who wrote them, are the primary focus of the reference. These are the basic finger exercises that almost everyone who took piano played for some period, and almost everyone who has had a family member who took piano listend to over and over for seemingly endless periods. They're basically short, hurried, unmelodic scales that work up and down the keyboard without any regard for key. The more advanced exercises feature 4th- and 5th-finger repetitions and trills that are about as pleasant to listen to as a skipping record. They would sound particularly silly on a portable Farfisa, and practicing them on a Farfisa would be strange, as the instrument, unlike a piano, has soft organ keys with virtually no action.

An [http://www.upload-mp3.com/files/84678_nuehq/HanonFarfisa.mp3 mp3] of Hanon's Exercise 1 played on a Farfisa (actually a synthesizer emulating a Farfisa).

'''Farfisa''' 
One of the first electric keyboards/organs used in rock and roll. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farfisa here].

==Page 130==
'''George Formby''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby,_Jr. George Formby, Jr.] performed "Leaning on a Lamppost" (written by Noel Gay) which Herman's Hermits covered. Tyrone Slothrop, protagonist of ''Gravity's Rainbow'' is described as "sort of an American George Formby, if you can imagine such a thing." Obvious influence on "The Bonzo Dog Band." Here's a video of George Formby singing [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEymZ3rXOmc Leaning On A Lamp Post.]

==Page 131==
'''Donna Lee''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Lee Donna Lee], way more than Coy's usual 1 or 2 note solos.

'''abrazo''' 
Spanish for hug.

==Page 132==
'''third ballet position''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positions_of_the_feet_in_ballet here]

'''louche''' 
Of questionable taste or morality; decadent.

==Page 133==
[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|right|1949 Mercury Woodie [http://www.pbase.com/xl1ken/image/3748891 © Ken Leonard] used with permission]]
'''1949 Mercury woodie''' 
''The Mod Squad'' drove a Mercury woodie, either a '49 or '50.

==Page 134==
'''no longer saw the headlights''' 
Evening, the ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1, 1970. 

==Page 138==
'''van Houten, Leslie''' 
b. 1949. A former member of Charles Manson's "Family" who was convicted of the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. She remains imprisoned at the California Institution for Women in Chino, San Bernadino County, California. 
'''did he happen to catch the game with Phoenix''' 
Daytime, the tenth day of the narrative, Thursday, April 2, 1970. Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game. This is probably as good a time as any to mention that the 69-70 NBA season was a big one for Lakers fans. Bill Russell had just retired as a player, after leading the Celtics to 11 of the last 13 championships. Finally, other teams would have a shot at the title. The Lakers thought that the title would be theirs. Unfortunately for Lakers fans, so did the Knicks. 
'''Upstairs, Bigfoot, strangely jumpy today''' 
The '''today''' is what identifies this as Daytime, the tenth day of the narrative, Thursday, April 2, 1970. 

==Page 140==
'''--not logical, Captain''' 
Star Trek reference, a phrase often spoken by Spock to Kirk.

==Page 141==
'''Triumph Bonneville T120'''[[File:Triumph_Bonneville_T120.jpg|thumb|right|Triumph Bonneville T120, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_Bonneville_T120 Wikipedia]]] 
'''Kawasaki Mach III'''[[File:Kawasaki_Mach_III.jpg|thumb|left|Kawasaki Mach III, photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/optikalblitz/2447598991/ optikal / Creative Commons]]] 

==Page 142==
'''Around lunchtime, next day''' 
Midday, the eleventh day of the narrative, Friday, April 3, 1970. 

==Page 143==
'''SS396''' 
[http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cars_mentioned_in_Inherent_Vice#SS396 Photo]

==Page 144==
'''esta gente no sabe nada''' 
Spanish for "these people know nothing."

==Page 145==
'''hijo de puta''' 
Spanish for "son of a bitch."

'''otra vez''' 
Spanish for "again/one more time."

'''Looking forward to a peaceful morning in the office''' 
Morning, the twelfth day of the narrative, Saturday, April 4, 1970. 

==Page 146==
'''"Cootie food!'''" 
What Doc means is "le coup de foudre," aka "bolt of lightning." This echos Reef's 'rounder Italian'; "Say surly topple!" he would scream..." (page 889) from [[Against the Day]]. 
The English meaning, if it has one, and the explanation for Clancy Charlock's response to Doc, is unclear. It may perhaps refer to the childish fear of being infected by a sort of imaginary germ borne by the opposite sex and known as "cooties," which - possibly - makes a member of the opposite sex whom you touch "cootie food." Or, it could just be a very idiosyncratic reference to oral sex. 

Another possibility is that Doc, whose French is likely weaker than his Spanish, memorized the phrase phonetically as "cootie food", since he would not have known the spelling when it was told to him. Assuming Clancy understands French, or at least this particular idiom, her reply is fairly natural.

The phrase is apparently used - at least in the South, and not commonly - to refer to unappetizing or unclean food.

Cooties is slang for crabs or lice.

==Page 147==
'''Now, Voyager (1942)''' 
from Wikipedia: Now, Voyager is a 1942 American drama film directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty, who borrowed her title from a line in the Walt Whitman poem "The Untold Want," which reads in its entirety, "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, / Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find." Bette Davis' portrayal garnered her an Academy Award nomination, and the film continues to be popular not only due to its star power but also the "emotional crescendos" engendered in the storyline.

The film includes the line: "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon... we have the stars."

The film's romantic smoke sequence, repeated during the film and much parodied, featured Paul Henried placing two cigarettes in his lips, lighting them both, then handing one to Bette Davis. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-KGiwGn1d8 YouTube]

==Page 148==
'''That night Doc met Clancy''' 
Evening, the twelfth day of the narrative, Saturday, April 4, 1970. 

'''Zubin Mehta''' 
A famous conductor, Zubin Mehta was the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1962-1978. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zubin_Mehta]

'''massé shots''' 
In billiards, a massé shot is when a player strikes a ball with the cue at a sharp angle and causes the ball to curve drastically or even eventually reverse direction. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ly8Ee_7jM Here's an example.] Some pool halls (like this one) forbid this kind of shot because it often leads to scratching or tearing of the felt.

==Page 153==
'''"Happy Trails to You"''' 
Besides the reference to Roy Roger's theme song, this phrase is a favorite double entendre among those who use psychedelic drugs. "Acid trails" are a common hallucination produced by LSD.

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}

Chapter 9

2009-09-18T19:02:38Z

Redbarnlane: Timeline

{{Inherent Vice PbP Text}}

==Page 124==
'''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' 
Afternoon, the ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1, 1970. 
'''Stone Turntable''' 
The name is presumably intended to be a jokey reference to Rolling Stone: a stone turntable being not a rolling stone, but a rotating one.

==Page 125==
'''Jurgensen's''' 
Jurgensen's was an upscale, gourmet grocery store with locations in Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and throughout greater LA.

'''Hokusai's famous ''Great Wave off Kanagawa''''' 
a famous woodblock print. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa Wikipedia]

[[File:Hokusai.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Great Wave off Kanagawa, image from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa Wikipedia]]]

==Page 126==
'''uncountableth''' 
In mathematics, "uncountable" is used to describe the size of infinite sets larger than the set of natural numbers. Pynchon's use of the word here is deliberately oxymoronic. See also the reference to George Cantor further in the same paragraph.

'''the Boards...''' 
As the surf band that makes it big, the Boards suggest the Beach Boys. Pynchon himself once visited the home of Brian Wilson in Beverly Hills. See [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pynchon_and_Brian_Wilson Pynchon and Brian Wilson]. Perhaps this chapter drew some inspiration from that visit?

'''Cantor's Delicatessen''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Cantor Georg Cantor] (1845-1918) was a German mathematician who pioneered the subject of set theory, now at the foundation of all modern mathematics. He proved that there are different sizes of infinity - for example, the set of natural numbers is smaller than the set of real numbers, though both sets are infinite. The name of the restaurant is a play on the real [http://www.cantersdeli.com/ Canter's Deli] in Los Angeles, established 1931.

==Page 128==
'''''Dark Shadows''. . . The Collins family . . . parallel time''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Shadows ''Dark Shadows''] was an innovative TV show in the late 1960's and early 70's that focuses on the Collins family. The show included many Gothic elements, including vampires, zombies, and witches. It also played with time travel and parallel universes in which the same character would be played by different actors or the same actor would play different characters.

'''parallel time''' 
This paragraph ''may'' be a coded reference to Pynchon's own [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page Against the Day] and its reception. ''Against the Day'' features parallel universes/time (?) and confounded readers nation- (and world-)wide. This interpretation may be a stretch. I dunno. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 22:59, 9 August 2009 (PDT)

'''Hanon''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanon Hanon] was a 19th-century French piano teacher and composer. He's most famous for developing exercises for piano students.

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises exercises], rather than the guy who wrote them, are the primary focus of the reference. These are the basic finger exercises that almost everyone who took piano played for some period, and almost everyone who has had a family member who took piano listend to over and over for seemingly endless periods. They're basically short, hurried, unmelodic scales that work up and down the keyboard without any regard for key. The more advanced exercises feature 4th- and 5th-finger repetitions and trills that are about as pleasant to listen to as a skipping record. They would sound particularly silly on a portable Farfisa, and practicing them on a Farfisa would be strange, as the instrument, unlike a piano, has soft organ keys with virtually no action.

An [http://www.upload-mp3.com/files/84678_nuehq/HanonFarfisa.mp3 mp3] of Hanon's Exercise 1 played on a Farfisa (actually a synthesizer emulating a Farfisa).

'''Farfisa''' 
One of the first electric keyboards/organs used in rock and roll. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farfisa here].

==Page 130==
'''George Formby''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby,_Jr. George Formby, Jr.] performed "Leaning on a Lamppost" (written by Noel Gay) which Herman's Hermits covered. Tyrone Slothrop, protagonist of ''Gravity's Rainbow'' is described as "sort of an American George Formby, if you can imagine such a thing." Obvious influence on "The Bonzo Dog Band." Here's a video of George Formby singing [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEymZ3rXOmc Leaning On A Lamp Post.]

==Page 131==
'''Donna Lee''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Lee Donna Lee], way more than Coy's usual 1 or 2 note solos.

'''abrazo''' 
Spanish for hug.

==Page 132==
'''third ballet position''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positions_of_the_feet_in_ballet here]

'''louche''' 
Of questionable taste or morality; decadent.

==Page 133==
[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|right|1949 Mercury Woodie [http://www.pbase.com/xl1ken/image/3748891 © Ken Leonard] used with permission]]
'''1949 Mercury woodie''' 
''The Mod Squad'' drove a Mercury woodie, either a '49 or '50.

==Page 134==
'''no longer saw the headlights''' 
Evening, the ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1, 1970. 

==Page 138==
'''van Houten, Leslie''' 
b. 1949. A former member of Charles Manson's "Family" who was convicted of the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. She remains imprisoned at the California Institution for Women in Chino, San Bernadino County, California. 
'''did he happen to catch the game with Phoenix''' 
Daytime, the tenth day of the narrative, Thursday, April 2, 1970. Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game. This is probably as good a time as any to mention that the 69-70 NBA season was a big one for Lakers fans. Bill Russell had just retired as a player, after leading the Celtics to 11 of the last 13 championships. Finally, other teams would have a shot at the title. The Lakers thought that the title would be theirs. Unfortunately for Lakers fans, so did the Knicks. 
'''Upstairs, Bigfoot, strangely jumpy today''' 
The '''today''' is what identifies this as Daytime, the tenth day of the narrative, Thursday, April 2, 1970. 

==Page 140==
'''--not logical, Captain''' 
Star Trek reference, a phrase often spoken by Spock to Kirk.

==Page 141==
'''Triumph Bonneville T120'''[[File:Triumph_Bonneville_T120.jpg|thumb|right|Triumph Bonneville T120, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_Bonneville_T120 Wikipedia]]] 
'''Kawasaki Mach III'''[[File:Kawasaki_Mach_III.jpg|thumb|left|Kawasaki Mach III, photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/optikalblitz/2447598991/ optikal / Creative Commons]]] 

==Page 142==
'''Around lunchtime, next day''' 
Midday, the eleventh day of the narrative, Friday, April 3, 1970. 

==Page 143==
'''SS396''' 
[http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cars_mentioned_in_Inherent_Vice#SS396 Photo]

==Page 144==
'''esta gente no sabe nada''' 
Spanish for "these people know nothing."

==Page 145==
'''hijo de puta''' 
Spanish for "son of a bitch."

'''otra vez''' 
Spanish for "again/one more time."

==Page 146==
'''"Cootie food!'''" 
What Doc means is "le coup de foudre," aka "bolt of lightning." This echos Reef's 'rounder Italian'; "Say surly topple!" he would scream..." (page 889) from [[Against the Day]]. 
The English meaning, if it has one, and the explanation for Clancy Charlock's response to Doc, is unclear. It may perhaps refer to the childish fear of being infected by a sort of imaginary germ borne by the opposite sex and known as "cooties," which - possibly - makes a member of the opposite sex whom you touch "cootie food." Or, it could just be a very idiosyncratic reference to oral sex. 

Another possibility is that Doc, whose French is likely weaker than his Spanish, memorized the phrase phonetically as "cootie food", since he would not have known the spelling when it was told to him. Assuming Clancy understands French, or at least this particular idiom, her reply is fairly natural.

The phrase is apparently used - at least in the South, and not commonly - to refer to unappetizing or unclean food.

Cooties is slang for crabs or lice.

==Page 147==
'''Now, Voyager (1942)''' 
from Wikipedia: Now, Voyager is a 1942 American drama film directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty, who borrowed her title from a line in the Walt Whitman poem "The Untold Want," which reads in its entirety, "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, / Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find." Bette Davis' portrayal garnered her an Academy Award nomination, and the film continues to be popular not only due to its star power but also the "emotional crescendos" engendered in the storyline.

The film includes the line: "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon... we have the stars."

The film's romantic smoke sequence, repeated during the film and much parodied, featured Paul Henried placing two cigarettes in his lips, lighting them both, then handing one to Bette Davis. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-KGiwGn1d8 YouTube]

==Page 148==
'''Zubin Mehta''' 
A famous conductor, Zubin Mehta was the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1962-1978. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zubin_Mehta]

'''massé shots''' 
In billiards, a massé shot is when a player strikes a ball with the cue at a sharp angle and causes the ball to curve drastically or even eventually reverse direction. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ly8Ee_7jM Here's an example.] Some pool halls (like this one) forbid this kind of shot because it often leads to scratching or tearing of the felt.

==Page 153==
'''"Happy Trails to You"''' 
Besides the reference to Roy Roger's theme song, this phrase is a favorite double entendre among those who use psychedelic drugs. "Acid trails" are a common hallucination produced by LSD.

{{Inherent Vice PbP}}