Visual Cliff Notes of Gravity's Rainbow (Sort of)
I was in a book store the a few weeks ago and noticed Zak Smith’s Pictures Showing What Happens on Each Page of Thomas Pynchon’s Novel Gravity’s Rainbow, which is exactly that: a book of illustrations matching the action on each page of Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow. I remember reading about this as part of the 2004 Whitney Biennial, but didn’t realize it was out in book form. It’s also available online.
Zak Smith is now a porn actor under the name of Zak Sabbath.
“The new Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, to be erected in the block bounded by Park Avenue, Lexington Avenue, Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Streets, will have a private railway siding underneath the building, it was learned yesterday. Guests with private rail cars may have them routed directly to the hotel instead of to the Pennsylvania Station or the Grand Central Terminal, and may leave their cars at a special elevator which will take them directly to their suites or to the lobby.”
–The New York Times, September 8, 1929
Production still from the set of Watchmen, in Vancouver.
Dog Carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout “Save us!” And I’ll look down, and whisper “no.”
I was going to make a “You mean to tell me someone’s last name is ‘Electric Wizard’?” joke but then I remembered they’re not America’s.