vr
a novel
Scott Alexander Gabriel Reiss
January 1998
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
From: SAGReiss
Date: 1 January 1998
Subject: Thirty-seven days
The theme of New Year's Day I have taken from Columbine's page mouthorgan.
Working a humorless, boring job, I sometimes steal subject matter from her,
occasionally citing without quotation marks, which seems to annoy her, because
I have my own ideas about punctuation and usually reserve them for dialogue.
She begins with a disclaimer: I haven't got the time to make or even describe
the porn page I'd like to see which, in any event, could never be exhaustive
or all inclusive. Sade wrote the five hundred pages of the 120 Days of Sodom
in thirty-seven days, rolled it up and hid it in one of the myriad dildos
his wife had specially made according to his exacting standards, never
to see it again after Bastille Day. In his injunction to censors and
moralists, Sade makes exactly the opposite claim, comparing his work
to an immense feast where the multitudes could sate themselves, whatever
their exotic tastes, and forgo the eggplant or avocado or coprophagia,
if they don't care for it. As host, of course, Sade fulfills his duty
to provide for every appetite. There is nothing on the web that doesn't
look tame to readers of the 120 Days. Two hundred years have added nothing
to the list of passions and perversions Sade imagined in his solitude.
Be that as it may. What I would like to see on a porn site is continuity
and multimedia. Hypertext does not exactly lend itself to linear or
chronological continuity. Nevertheless, I think it would be far more
interesting to see photos of the same people in the same decor linked in
some more intelligent way than: Amateurs, Celebrities, Asians, Couples,
Lesbians, Group Sex, Blow Jobs, Cum Shots. I understand that technically
it's a little more difficult to gather pictures of the same people,
rather than just stealing anonymous gang bangs from other people's
sites. But still, someone takes these pictures. Why not just shoot
an orgy from start to finish and make the site an organic whole? (I
too can make bad puns.) My second point, multimedia, does not refer
to trendy pedagogical tools so much as to text-image links. Why should
we have to choose between verbal and visual porn? Couldn't we have both?
How hard would it be to take the pictures of the orgy imagined above
and write a story to match? That way Columbine could use her Lynx browser
for text-only speed readers, while negatron could click on the moneyshot.
This doesn't seem to me to take any more resources, financial or intellectual,
than the average porno video. Indeed one could film the session at
the same time and supplement web losses with video sales. I can't believe
that a young Fellini or Fassbinder hasn't done this yet. Surely we are not
the only people on Earth who realize that huge amounts of money could
be made on quality porn. Fuck, isn't that the theme of Boogie Nights?
From: John
Date: 2 January 1998
Subject: test
"Man's discovery that his genitalia could serve as a weapon to generate
fear must rank as one of the most important discoveries of prehistoric times,
along with the use of fire, and the first crude stone axe," Susan Brownmiller,
Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, p. 5.
From: SAGReiss
Date: 3 January 1998
Subject: ArchHomeboy
< connected: negatron. Total: 148 >
page negatron What's up, bro?
negatron pages, "not much. i'm reading dworkin."
page negatron Andrea Dworkin?
negatron pages, "yeah."
page negatron I haven't read much, a little poetry. Columbine seems to have
some deep-seated hatred of the woman. I guess she (Dworkin) doesn't like porn
much.
negatron pages, "she doesn't like porn at all. i wonder though where she
gets her porn. the kind dworkin looks at invariably depicts women tied up,
raped, cut with knives and beaten."
page negatron Fucked if I know. I can't seem to access those sites. They
always get shut down by the time I find them.
negatron pages, "i've looked at a ridiculous amount of porn, and never once
have i seen anything meeting her description."
page negatron I think Columbine stumbled upon the reason. I've always wondered
why the so-called bondage sites were so silly. I guess they're trying to avoid
the sex & bondage laws. (If you haven't seen her site, she says the two
cannot be legally combined.)
negatron pages, "that's probably true but i doubt it's a worldwide law.
much of the porn online is from europe. it's easy to tell which is which.
the stuff with the women with watermelon sized fake tits is amerikan, the
rest is european. maybe they don't go in for bondage across the pond. i don't
know."
page negatron The only world-wide law that I can see is that the shit always
rises to the top.
page negatron Anyway if you want to read Nazi-feminist propoganda, I would
recommend Mary Daly. At least she's got a sense of humor.
negatron pages, "i'm not sure i want to read it. i was bored."
page negatron Will you write to Homeboy, or would you prefer to give me
the information and I'll write the fucker?
negatron pages, "i was just starting up the moo. i was too hungover yesterday
to do anything but look at porn."
page negatron I get bored looking at bad porn, or what I think is bad anyway.
I still don't understand why someone who knows how to use cameras and studio
equipment doesn't just make a normal movie with fucking. The middle classes
would flock to it. There would be university conferences. Money would change
hands.
negatron pages, "i think the reason is that most porn flicks are made in
one day, with the really well-produced ones taking perhaps three. it takes
considerably more time and money to make a normal movie, even a low-budget
one. and then there's the movie rating nazis. it would never get into the
cinemas."
page negatron But Pink Flamingos made it, as did Caligula. Shiiit, even
Deep Throat played to middle-class audiences, and that was one bad porno
film.
negatron pages, "that was then. it couldn't happen now. there'd be protests
and fires."
page negatron Alright, then a quality video rental, discreet, with an innocuous
title. How many days does it take to film a few people in one setting? I'm
going to find me a camera man. If I knew someone who could work the lighting
and camera angles, I'd make us all rich.
negatron pages, "it would likely be just as difficult to sell a video. you
wouldn't be able to get a distributor for it, except maybe a porn distributor,
and then it would end up in the porn section and only the perverts would see
it. and they wouldn't rent it because they don't want to wear out their fast
forward buttons getting past the plot."
page negatron It wouldn't have a plot. I've already written a porno movie.
A man and woman are sleeping. They wake up. They fuck. They shower. They have
breakfast. They clean up and go to work. Finis.
negatron pages, "how's that a 'normal movie with fucking?'"
page negatron Well, people eat in normal movies, don't they? I haven't seen
a movie (except Les Nuits fauves, The Living End and The 120 Days, which definitely
aren't normal) in ten years.
page negatron As I recall the scenario I wrote was called "Strawberries".
Nothing subversive about that.
negatron pages, "so you want to make a porn movie that people can eat at?"
page negatron Well, there are strawberries for breakfast. Don't tell me
you're allergic to fucking strawberries.
negatron pages, "i'm not aware of being allergic to anything. well, i remember
getting stuffed up cutting the grass once when i still lived at my parents',
but i think that was mostly because i didn't want to do it."
page negatron Allergies are for neurotic, hysterical bitches who are mostly
allergic to their fat asses.
negatron pages, "is it okay with you if i offer this guy a copy of the db?"
page negatron That sounds fine.
negatron pages, "check your email and see if that comes to you. i'm not
confident in how i've got things set up here."
From: negatron on behalf of John
Date: Friday, January 02, 1988 5:55 PM
Subject: RLMOO
SAGReiss has asked me to write to you about RLMOO. I'm not sure what you
need to know. The database is small, mostly stock lambdacore with a few minor
modifications to enforce the theme. In general, building and programming were
not allowed, except on rare occasions. Process size is about 4.3MB for the
main server process. I don't know what else to say. If you are interested
we can arrange to get you a copy of the database (I haven't got any permanent
ftp space). If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, and I'll try
to respond in a more timely manner.
page negatron Yeah, I got it. It has this weird address: "negatron on behalf
of John", but MSN has such a fucked-up e-mail program...
negatron pages, "does it have my real return address somewhere?"
page negatron Not on my copy, but MSN fucks up. Try sending it to dreamscape.
negatron pages, "it's okay. everything looks right. i wonder where the fuck
it got negatron"
page negatron I have no idea. The word "behalf" seems a little complex for
geeks anyway. Try sending something to dreamscape and I'll tell you what's
up.
negatron pages, "okay"
Sender: negatron
Date: Fri, 02 January 1998 20:07:54 -0600
From: John
Subject: test
"Man's discovery that his genitalia could serve as a weapon to generate
fear must rank as one of the most important discoveries of prehistoric times,
along with the use of fire, and the first crude stone axe," Susan Brownmiller,
Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, p. 5.
page negatron Weird. Eudora lists as Sender: negatron. It lists as From:
John. Return-Path is simply your address.
negatron pages, "that first thing must be something tacked on by my isp.
i use negatron as my username on my computer, so it must send that to the
isp's mail server. the rest is as it should be."
page negatron I'm sure Homeboy can figure it out, ArchHomeboy, if he sets
us up.
negatron pages, "i don't think anybody really looks at Sender: unless they
suspect that the message was spoofed. or if it's spam."
page negatron MSN is just fucked because sometimes I don't know the address
of the sender, even though I can reply. Everyone, especially me, should get
Eudora. It works with Word attachments, porno pics, URLs are links. It's beautiful,
and the poor son-of-a-bitch who wrote it doesn't earn a dime off it. Oh,
the joys of university life.
From: Columbine
Date: 4 January 1998
Subject: Re: Thirty-seven days
>Working a humorless, boring job, I sometimes steal subject matter from
her,
>occasionally citing without quotation marks, which seems to annoy her,
>because I have my own ideas about punctuation and usually reserve them
for
>dialogue.
Nah, I just wish you'd put some paragraph breaks in every now and then.
Say, speaking of stylistic tics: Would you care to state a position on the
stupid colors-on-mouthorgan controversy? Distinctiveness vs. readability
is what it comes down to.
>She begins with a disclaimer: I haven't got the time to make or even
>describe the porn page I'd like to see which, in any event, could never
be
>exhaustive or all inclusive.
Not quite what the article said, and you're confusing the part with the
whole again. Personally, I won't make a porn site because it's not an exercise
which interests me. The *group* conclusion was that there wasn't a hell of
a lot of return for that particular effort. We'll write smutty fiction and
tack "labor of love" on it, but for a visually-oriented site (which ain't
our cup of tea to begin with), we don't really see what's in it for us.
As for inclusiveness, sure, you can *catalog* a pretty complete list of
vices and maybe even shave a few days off the Marquis' record. But I've seen
the 120 Days - it's a travelogue of sin, it trips heavily through a multitude
of perversions but lingers on none. That last is my opinion, not the group's
- I don't think any of the others except maybe Eric Albert have seen it.
Once again, think from the perspective of the visual site. If you take our
numbers - let's say fifty to sixty good pictures for each "genre" of vice
- then you're talking about a hell of a lot of photos; and they need to be
changed fairly often. We're talking Hollywood here, in other words, not literature.
Frankly, speaking loosely for the group, we'd rather have the literature.
We'll even read god-damned Henry Miller before we get off to the kind of porn
photos we see on the net.
I guess (speaking solely for myself again) that I'd rather know a handful
of specialists than a handful of generalists. That way, if I decide I want
to try the eggplant, I can go find someone who's a real eggplant enthusiast
and get their words of wisdom. If I want (to choose a more specific and topical
example) to find a good erotic mind-control story, I'm not going to go to
a general archive of sex fiction. I'm going to go to one which is specifically
for and about mind-control stories. (Which, by the by, would be www.mcstories.com,
in case you're in the mood. But that's more Todd's vice than mine.)
>What I would like to see on a porn site is
>continuity and multimedia. Hypertext does not exactly lend itself to
>linear or chronological continuity.
Actually, that's one of the things I *like* about hypertext. Why do narratives
have to be linear? But I agree.
>Why not just shoot an orgy from start to finish and
>make the site an organic whole?
Sounds good to me. I'd probably not be interested (this sounds basically
like a porn film, and they just don't work for me) but one does have to wonder
why more people aren't doing this. I've seen a couple of "hidden-camera" verite-type
sites which work something like this, but they're few and far between.
>Why should we have to choose between verbal and visual
>porn? Couldn't we have both? How hard would it be to take the pictures
of the
>orgy imagined above and write a story to match?
Now, this IS the sixty-four dollar question, and one which we're probably
going to write about in the future. (Thanks, Gabriel!) Which is to say, as
a group we don't have the answer yet, but damned if it doesn't bear looking
into.
From: Columbine
Date: 4 January 1998
Subject: Re: ArchHomeboy
>page negatron I haven't read much, a little poetry. Columbine seems
to have
>some deep-seated hatred of the woman. I guess she (Dworkin) doesn't
like
>porn much.
>negatron pages, "she doesn't like porn at all. i wonder though where
she
>gets her porn. the kind dworkin looks at invariably depicts women tied
up,
>raped, cut with knives and beaten."
>page negatron Fucked if I know. I can't seem to access those sites.
They
>always get shut down by the time I find them.
I showed this to all the others. Thanks, you made our day. Sometimes we
want to react the same way ("Where's all this women-hating porn she talks
about? We want to see some?") but we can't say that in public; it'd undermine
our genuine and legitimate hatred of this woman.
Dworkin hallucinates. If you read her stuff, you increasingly become aware
that it is not possible to reconcile her words with reality in any useful
way. Gabriel, you should have a look. I'd love to know what conclusions you
draw.
In the case of the specific question "does porn inspire rape?" I've gone
down this road on this list already, I think. My answer is no. I am not trying
to marginalize the reality of rape by that statement. I have had a close call
or two; when I was young and stupid I spent a lot of time wandering through
the French Quarter alone and only the fact that I run fast and kick hard
saved me in at least one case I can think of. But to my mind a rapist is
a rapist because he is malajusted, and he will be malajusted in that way with
or without porn. Do I have hard data on this? Of course not.
>page negatron I think Columbine stumbled upon the reason. I've always
>wondered why the so-called bondage sites were so silly. I guess they're
trying
>to avoid the sex & bondage laws. (If you haven't seen her site,
she says the
>two cannot be legally combined.)
We wrote that based on something our friend Jane Duvall has on HER site.
(An excellent site, by the by, for the discerning pornmonger.) She corrected
herself - you can read it on mouth organ's comments page. Sorry to have steered
you wrong.
She says there is no law she knows of which states the restriction that
plainly - but there is legal precedent for interpretation of "consent" laws
in this country which makes most porn sites want to avoid the minefield completely.
Basically, it IS illegal to depict non-consensual sex acts in this country,
and apparently a picture of someone penetrating someone else while one of
them is tied up is close enough to "non-consensual" for some bluenoses.
>Your message has been sent. negatron seems to be distracted, though.
>negatron pages, "that's probably true but i doubt it's a worldwide law.
much
>of the porn online is from europe. it's easy to tell which is which.
the
>stuff with the women with watermelon sized fake tits is amerikan, the
rest is
>european. maybe they don't go in for bondage across the pond. i don't
know."
Overgeneralizing: The Germans and the Scandinavians are big latex/rubber
fetishists; the three top fetishwear magazines all originate from Germany.
(Admittedly, two of them were founded by the same man.) The UK isn't far behind.
I can't remember whether Skin Two comes from the UK or elsewhere. The Brits
like bottoms and spanking, and have a passion for certain kinds of roleplay
which you can see done to a turn in a movie called PERSONAL SERVICES. The
Brits also pioneered the wet-and-messy scene, but that's an American West
thing as well. Bondage isn't strictly an American thing but there seems to
be more of it here than elsewhere. In Amsterdam they're into everything; in
France they flirt a lot but seem to be pretty conservative once they actually
hit the bedroom; and in Canada they don't have sex :) Just kidding on the
last bit.
The oversized tits thing is definitely an American vice.
>I still don't understand why someone who knows how to use cameras and
studio
>equipment doesn't just make a normal movie with fucking. The middle
classes
>would flock to it. There would be university conferences. Money would
change
>hands.
Negatron is right about all of this (I didn't quote his comments, but you
know what I mean):the distribution, the theatres, the audiences, the ratings,
all of it. One of our editors is a historian of porn films. We've gone over
the same questions a thousand times. We've asked people who make porn for
a living. We've asked the people at Adult Video News. It comes down to money.
It always comes down to money. Unfortunately you get what you pay for, but
most people don't seem to care. When sex is considered vaguely repellent in
a country's morality, who's going to insist on quality?
NC-17 was supposed to be the rating for a "normal movie with fucking." It
tanked. Right after this rating was created, the Peter Greenaway film THE
COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE, AND HER LOVER - a genius film which meets a lot
of Gabriel's definitions - came out. It was unrated. The attitude of film
producers now is, if I've got a movie which only a select audience is going
to bother to see anyway, because of its content, why pay the MPAA for the
damn rating?
From: Nichelle
Date: 4 January 1998
Subject: Is your vagina presently moist?
This may be a bit confusing. Once I saw that Olive was going to be a little
fun, I connected as Mauve_Guest. The indented stuff is me as Mauve, the regular
stuff is me as Nichelle. I thought it was amusing, but I was awfully bored.
But Gaby wants me to send e-mail, so here goes...
***************************
* Welcome to LambdaMOO! *
***************************
Running Version 1.8.0r5 of LambdaMOO
PLEASE NOTE:
LambdaMOO etc, etc.
*** Connected ***
Alibi
All I need now.
@go #72239
Sensual Respites
A circular stage stands blah, blah, etc…
Female: Mystere, Ansley, Ebony_Guest, Zelda, Ultraviolet_Guest, Kimmy, and
Nichelle. Male: Hammer, Red_Guest, Olive_Guest, and Tommy-Boy.
You ask, "what's shakin?"
Hammer says, "California."
Ansley has disconnected.
Ansley says, "brb"
You say, "Now that was weird timing."
Red_Guest pages, "hi up for oral sex?"
l olive
------------------- Olive_Guest (male) in Sensual Respites --------------------
6 1/2 hard and ready inches. He is looking for some whore to slap around
and make his sex bitch.
----------------------------- 1 player displayed ------------------------------
co guest
*** Connected. ***
@go #72239
Mauve_Guest teleports in.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "I'm 24 and from NYC. And yourself?"
page olive I'm 24 and in Seattle
Your message has been sent.
Saint_Agnes hugs Hammer very tightly..... Hammer is really loved!
You say, "One would *have* to be a Saint to hug Hammer."
Nichelle winks at Hammer.
Hammer peers at you.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "Is your vagina moist?"
page olive You're not really 24, are you?
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "Yes, I am, whore, and a graduate student."
page olive No. You're thirteen and a chess champion. Get off it, asshole.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "No, I'm 24 and a graduate student, whore."
page olive No, you're sixteen, a frustrated virgin who was jacked off by
his babysitter, resulting in severe sexual trauma.
page olive I'm not interested in being your whore.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "How about my wife, my darling? Are you attractive irl?"
page olive I’m a babe, but I’m not in the market for a husband.
Olive_Guest goes south.
You (Mauve_Guest) say, "Can somebody else be Olive's whore. I've got a headache."
Olive_Guest has arrived.
Nichelle pats Mauve onna head.
Jeanna might do :)
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "Is your vagina presently moist?"
page olive hang on, let me check.
Nichelle [to Olive_Guest]: We hear you're in the market for a whore. What
exactly are the job qualifications?
Jeanna giggles
Olive_Guest [to Nichelle]: Come to the Red Room and I'll show you.
Hammer . o O ( Needs to have a heart beat. Thats about it. )
Nichelle [to Olive_Guest]: That depends. How's the pay? What are the hours?
Olive_Guest [to Hammer]: It takes talent being a good whore.
Olive_Guest [to Nichelle]: Well, I have money, so I can pay you, but only
for phone action.
Lifesaver says, "I'll be your whore."
You say, "Do I have to talk dirty? I hate saying things like "I'm a little
cum-slut." and "Ooh, Cock_Master, I worship you."
Jeanna giggles
Olive_Guest [to Nichelle]: We'll work that out later.
You say, "No, I must know these things in advance."
Aera [to Nichelle]: But then you miss out on all the fun!
Lucas [to Aera]: Oh, for crying out loud.
Nichelle [to Aera]: A girl needs to be selective.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "what do you look like irl?"
page olive I don't want to be your whore.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "Are you attractive irl?"
page olive No, just on the MOO.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "Will you be my sex slave?"
page olive Get lost.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "What do you look like irl?"
page olive You first.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "You never told me: Is your cunt moist?"
page olive No, my cunt is not moist. It's not wet. Not even warm. It is
cool and dry. You could store a five pound bag of flour in there.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "5'11, 165 lbs, brown hair, green eyes,..and girls tell me I'm
devilishly handsome."
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "Well, I should like to moisten it with some saliva."
page olive But I don't want you to.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "I'm wearing green trousers and a Gambuchi smoking jacket."
page olive You sound ever so stylish.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "If you were tied down, you wouldn't have a say. :)"
page olive I don't want to be your whore.
page olive And either do I.
Your message has been sent.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "What?"
page olive Figure it out. You're a grad student.
Aera [to Lucas]: make me say "I'm your cum-slut, be my cock-master" :-)
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "You're Mauve?"
Aera causes Lucas to fall down laughing.
Mauve_Guest [to Olive_Guest]: Got it, baby.
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "I like you. Are you a graduate student as well?"
page olive You don't like me. And I really, really don't want to be anybody's
whore.
Aera [to Olive_Guest]: Oh don't be SILLY, little boy!
Olive_Guest [to Aera]: Is 6 1/2 inches a little boy?
Nichelle [to Olive_Guest]: What difference does it make, unless perhaps
you type with it?
Aera [to Olive_Guest]: ooooooooooooooooooo.. just like a real one! You got
batteries?
Nichelle [to Olive_Guest]: I'll be your whore for fifteen minutes if you
can type "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" with your whanger,
and with no typos.
Olive_Guest says, "trhe quick breown foxc juimped pover thee laszy dog"
Nichelle [to Olive_Guest]: You didn't type that with your whanger.
Olive_Guest [to Nichelle]: Oh, yes I did.
Hammer . o O ( 6 1/2" long, 2-3mm in diameter. Needle dick. )
Nichelle [to Hammer]: It’s called a prick.
Olive_Guest says, "Trust me, I know how to get the women. I take a $100
dollar bill, tie it around the end of my fishing pole, drive down the street
in my El Dorado, and the bitches come running."
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "How olften do you sleep with your bf?"
page olive You mean how often do we fuck? Once a week if I'm lucky. Once
a month if he's lucky.
(His e-mail address:
You sense that Olive_Guest is looking for you in Sensual Respites.
He pages, "Write me sometime"
Feel free to use it for whatever purpose...)
page olive Go to Hell.
Your message has been sent.
Nichelle
From: Late
Date: 5 January 1998
Subject: Re: subject lines and trouble...
oh my.
re: Is your vagina presently moist?
that subject line made my morning interesting...with my boss standing looking
over my shoulder, staring aghast at my in-box as my night's mail downloaded.
i'm trying -really- hard to find it funny.
maybe later.
for the time being, (as long as i have to rely on a work email address)
please take me off the list.
kate
From: SAGReiss
Date: 8 January 1998
Subject: The missing voice
Something Columbine said reminded me of a great field of verbal ideas. I
say: "verbal ideas" rather than "verbs" because the problem involves not so
much specific verbs, as in actions, but rather grammatical categories of
verbs, such as voice, mood, person, transitivity, as well as non-verbal elements
such as conjunctions and adverbs. In ancient Greek there were three voices,
active, middle and passive. But, as I recall twenty years later, not all
verbs were equally good in any of the three voices. Action verbs, for example,
work well in both active and passive, but intransitive verbs do not generally
function in the passive voice. A small but common group of verbs did so well
in the middle voice that they became a separate class in Latin, passive in
form, active in meaning. These are the verbs in -or whose name escapes me,
if any of you has handy a Latin grammar. They tend to be verbs whose subject
is not exactly the doer of the action, but is seen as too concerned in it
to be its object. Some of these verbs have become passive in English, to
be born, for example, while others have become active, to die. Some, when
passing through German, became modal verbs, or semi-modal, such as to dare
(duerfen). Others are modal in English alone, such as to need in the negative
or interogative. In French many of them take the auxiliary estre. The verbs
savoir, pouvoir, oser, cesser often leave out the second part of the ne...
pas. Others follow the Greek and take an expletive ne and the subjunctive:
"J'ai peur qu'il ne vienne", or "I fear lest he come". Impersonal constructions
also work for some of them, falloir. I'm not sure how important these things
are, but sometimes I brood about them. Actually I'd rather calculate food
costs for a few of Pulcinella's menu items, but I haven't got reliable prices
from suppliers' catalogues.
From: SAGReiss
Date: 15 January 1998
Subject: Objective report of facts
I must confess that I find it impossibly naive to think that one could objectively
report the facts. In Europe newspapers do not even try to hide their political,
if not party, affiliations, so Le Figaro is identified with market capitalism,
Le Monde with Social Democracy, La Liberation with Socialism, L'Humanite with
communism. While I think most would agree that if the facts contradict what
is said, more work needs to be done. Nevertheless, which facts will be reported?
How will they be organized and analysed? Statistics don't lie. Mathematics
is always tautological. Therein lies its interest, and its potential for
abuse. The distinction between news and opinion, reporting and commentary,
is totally arbitrary. When I look at a piece of literature, I make a whole
lot of simple, factual observations, before attempting to draw any conclusions.
Yet the controversial part of the expose is not in the conclusions. By that
time it's too late to argue. One is already trapped in a theoretical system.
One must argue, if one will, with the premises, which are seldom avowed. Before
I make any observations, I am assuming a theory of literature which may or
may not be true. I'm assuming that a text is a phenomenon, a linguistic phenomenon,
and as such independant of both the author and the reader. All of those assertions
could reasonably be contested. A text may not be a phenomenon, in the same
sense that a language is not a phenomenon. The English language exists only
in the minds of those who speak English. It does not exist outside of their
minds. (Again one could argue with that, but you get my point.) A text may
not be a linguistic phenomenon, but a political one. Assuming that consciousness
is the subject of science, the author may be master of the text. Assuming
on the contrary radical intersubjectivity, the reader may be master of the
text. I could go on. All of these arguments must be settled, and debatable
positions taken, before one proceeds to any observation of fact. Otherwise
how would one know what facts to look at? It is no more objective, nor less
controversial, to present homosexuality as an acceptable alternative lifestyle
than it is to present creation science as an alternative to evolution.
From: Columbine
Date: 15 January 1998
Subject: Re: Objective report of facts
Unfortunately, I tend to agree that objective reporting is impossible in
practice. If I know where the biases lie in advance - if I know the territory,
as it were - then I can read the material and compensate accordingly, obtaining
something which is close enough to a wholly objective viewpoint to suit me.
We are talking about two types of information here, which get mixed together
into a goulash: information about the matter at hand, and information about
the medium which is relaying the former to your brain.
For example, when hearing from you about some issue - say I ask you to explain
the EU's new single-currency plan to me - I may learn more about your biases,
your psychology, than about the actual issue. This is fine and useful, but
may not be the information I came in to get.
In cases where the bias is known, and the issue is highly polarized, I will
frequently request to see the other side's propaganda as well. Get one slanted
viewpoint from each side, mentally take an average.
From: SAGReiss
Date: 20 January 1998
Subject: Freedom fighters strike a blow for anti-imperialism
As an example of how a theoretical framework gives meaning to data, indeed
dictates which data one chooses, let's look at today's lurid story du jour.
It boasts all the elements of a compelling drama: sex, race, violence, economic
disparities, international intrigue. We might begin our sordid lead with:
"One year's tuition, room and board at Saint Mary's College in Maryland is
more than four times the average anual income in Guatamala, a war-torn nation
that has suffered a century of abuse at the hands of its capitalist neighbor
to the North." Or we could begin: "Women still pay the price of men's imperialist
struggles." Or perhaps the pithy: "Gringas go home." Or even: "Clinton and
the State Department put the pressure on Guatamalan security forces to find
and punish the culprits." The coverage in our newspapers (I read USAToday
and CNN online and the Sunday New York Times.) seem to be playing the story
as crime and lawlessness in Central Amerika. That makes sense to most of their
readers. If property is the greater good, then violations of it must be evil.
Further Amerika is such a violent nation that senseless brutality makes sense
to us. It is easier to understand than, say, racially- or economically-motivated
violence. The journalist does not, of course, have access to all of the facts,
but he is always making meaningful choices among the facts he chooses to relate.
Nothing is said, for example, of the race of the victims and alleged perpetrators.
Nothing is said about the victims' ability to communicate in Spanish, which
might seem rather important when someone is pointing a gun or a cock in their
face. The native driver is quoted as saying: "They raped one senorita in
the bus and the other four met a similar fate when they were taken into the
canefield." The journalist apparently didn't ask what was dissimilar about
their fate. A female hospital administrator, also a native speaker, is quoted
as saying: "The young ladies seemed very affected, tearful." The journalist
himself speaks in more politically correct terms: "The students, 12 women
and one man, were returning to Guatemala City after an educational tour of
historic and cultural sites." The nameless AP journalist does not speculate
about why only five of the twelve women (thirteen, if one counts the chaperone)
were raped. I recall reading an article recently about the violence in Algeria
which stated that the prettiest women were carried off to serve as sex slaves.
Presumably one of the villagers (male? female?) made that judgement. I'm
not suggesting that the journalist got any of his facts wrong, merely that
he chose the facts which made sense to him and his readers, and left out
those which did not. An "unbiased" account is either one which supports the
status quo, and therefore looks innocuous, or, more simply, is one with whose
assumptions one agrees. Are women pawns in men's power games? I should think
so. Do men steal and rape and kill because they are poor and angry? Yes.
Might race be a factor? Why not? I would go even further. Men try to exert
control over women because they are biologically so powerless. Women hold
the reproductive trump card.
From: SAGReiss
Date: 23 January 1998
Subject: Eggs benedict
Before bclinton was ever even nominated for anything better than govenor
of Arkansas Hunter S. Thompson, whose book Better than Sex begrudgingly endorses
Mr Bill, said: "The Man from Hope was clearly a sex addict of some kind--and
although his denials might work for a while, his staff knew they had a serious
adulterer on their hands, and he was not about to go into re-hab." I was calmly
expounding my theory (alternately entitled: "Hillary doesn't swallow") on
Lambda when someone said that lady on Salon had had the same idea. Anyone
who opened a newspaper or news site Wednesday or Thursday must have had the
same idea. I'm sure kindly uncles and mentors have been telling Monica about
her lovely smile for years. That is a mouth to drive men mad. The full lips
parted wide obviously recall the pictures of Paula Jones. Our president has
sold his command for head. Salon-lady makes a nice point about the Gennifer
Flowers/Hillary Clinton resemblance. Sure she looks steely-eyed and thin-lipped.
She probably hasn't eaten in a week and can't stop throwing up every time
she sees the television news. Where is that country music singer now? Yesterday
was something. bgates, bclinton and the Unabomber all pleaded guilty. I liked
the line of the Israeli parliament member: "The Middle East peace process
now depends on an Jewish American lady, and her name isn't Madeleine Albright."
I'm amazed that Clinton hasn't been lynched worse than he has. Some people
online call it silly. Perjury? Witness tampering? Obstruction of justice?
This is the kind of thing that sends Maffia murderers to jail for life. Al
Capone went down on tax evasion. Nixon could have been sent to prison for
many things, but probably not for the Watergate break-in. Sex has been the
downfall of politicians for centuries, from Cleopatra to Madame de Maintenon.
Since no one else seems to be saying it, Clinton is washed up. He may not
be convicted or even impeached. He may not take the high road and resign.
It makes no difference. He will be treated like scum by every clerk, page
and gofer on Capitol Hill. Nothing he says will be taken seriously. None of
his legislation will pass, or even be voted on. The evening news will soon
be rated X, and the White House web site will be filtered by NetNanny. A
parade of toothy bimbos will walk from here to the next millenium. We'll see
photos and videos. Every babe in Washington will receive a subpoena. Dr Ruth
will testify before the Supreme Court.
From: SAGReiss
Date: 24 January 1998
Subject: Nouveau Northwest
The Rainier Club Winemaker's Dinner featuring Greg Lill of DeLille Cellars
Friday, January 23, 1998
Menu
Potato-Truffle Torte with a cepe-artichoke salad, cippolini onions and a
lentil-apple vinaigrette
1996 Chaleur Estate Blanc
Seared Squab & Scallop Salad on a savory squash-thyme tart, endive and
a warm cranberry-beet sauce
1993 & 1995 DeLille Cellars D2
Herb Crusted Skate Wing and Potato-Herb Ravioli with seared fois gras and
crisp leeks in an oxtail broth
Roasted Loin of Lamb with pistachio, spinach and smoked garlic crepinette,
celery root puree, heirloom beans and crisp salsify
1992 & 1995 Chaleur Estate
Chocolate and Banana Dome with toffee-date sponge, spiced pear compote and
chocolate-tea ice cream
1995 Harrison Hill
Bill C.W.C.
Executive Chef
December 1997
February 1998
vr: 1998
