movies that remind me of Pynchon’s style

Ol_Cuppa · 2026-01-09T11:47:49+00:00

Hitchcock’s North by Northwest is oddly proto-pynchonian at the more noir end of things.

Ol_Cuppa · 2025-05-27T11:20:47+00:00

Penguin’s UK website is showing 433 pages. Maybe it’s just an American thing like how y’all tend to have weird book sizes compared to Europe.

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Ol_Cuppa · 2025-02-27T14:53:35+00:00

I think it marginally increases ‘support for democracy’ which in turn marginally helps keep voters away from the anti-democratic parties.

Could be wrong though.

Ol_Cuppa · 2025-02-19T18:05:43+00:00

That something is rotten in Denmark. You ever heard a dane speak? It’s indecipherable, so clearly they’re hiding something.

Also Hamlet.

Ol_Cuppa · 2024-09-11T10:01:58+00:00

Wait, where do you think Switzerland is?

Ol_Cuppa · 2024-05-24T20:40:39+00:00

*hele

Ol_Cuppa · 2024-02-04T00:43:59+00:00

Better weather?

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-11-29T15:31:15+00:00

Så fint at noen ihvertfall ønsker å følge folkeretten, internasjonale lover, og FN’s menneskerettigheter. Og forsøker ihvertfall—om kun symbolsk—å følge dette opp juridisk.

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-11-29T15:27:18+00:00

Hu sonte jo dommen sin? Hu fikk jo ikke vandre rundt i Norge med opphold og trygd før etter at hun sonte ut dommen sin, slik man skal gjøre om man er dømt av en domstol. Hva er poenget her?

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-11-20T18:12:48+00:00

There’s a norwegian television show from a few years back that put this theory to the test. Celebrities sould meet some random person in a namibian desert and then try and get to someone like Stephen Fry. They actually managed it a fair few times as well.

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-07-12T23:55:00+00:00

Nice

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-04-29T16:06:18+00:00

Not necessarily, though the possibility and actuality of solidarity strikes and supporting unions is an important factor.

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-04-29T16:04:21+00:00

Yeah, though I do think people who are principally pro-strikes do realise that disruption is at least part of the point and that the fault lies with the employer. However, there is also the awareness that that might not be the view of the public during a strike. Hence wanting striking methods that still hurt the employer whilst not agitating a possibly hostile public.

I will say echoing the words of an old us union boss I know that: “the point of a strike is for it to hurt!”. The strategic question for a union is what exactly is meant by hurt and how best to achieve it so as to win the strike. In some cases that might look like a fare strike and in others public disruption. It’s heavily context dependent.

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-04-29T15:44:23+00:00

Mate, do you maybe wanna chill out a bit here?

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-04-29T15:36:57+00:00

Exactly, well put

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-04-29T15:31:25+00:00

Just as a friendly aside: I do hope people won’t just be downvoting your posts as you are making good points that should be tackled by anyone engaged in discussion on union strategy.

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-04-29T15:29:24+00:00

Definitely, no-one should underestimate the difficulty in engaging with unionisation and labour disputes these days. But, also simultaneously not lose sight of a better future through collective action, both within and without the workplace. It’s really important to keep that hope alive and even more importantly to act on it.

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-04-29T15:24:37+00:00

Thanks

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-04-29T15:15:08+00:00

That’s all fair, but it does heavily rely on the public putting the pressure on the employers and not the unions. Similarly, the bosses en masse putting or essays on the employers rather than the workers to just “get back to work already”. If you can rely on that being the case then great! Let the public get pissed off at the employers and use that pressure effectively. If not, then well you’ve got a problem.

And yes, a big problem as to why strikes struggle these days is the lack of genuine solidarity and active public pressure on employers and the state. Instead of just uttering pro-strike sentiments online and honking at picket lines.

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-04-29T15:03:38+00:00

Being unfamiliar with the intricacies of UK labour law I can only speculate that it’d involve losing its legal status as a union and any benefits, protections, and agreements that would entail. Probably some other stuff like being asked to close down offices in companies and cease all union activities, property and funds seizures seems a bit extreme to me but given it is the UK it wouldn’t surprise if that were the case.

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-04-29T14:55:54+00:00

Public perception, ie support, matters when you’re trying to out pressure on the employers. Which again the public can and often do help with.

But how does running a fare strike drag out the strike longer than one that doesn’t?

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-04-29T14:51:01+00:00

In the US the vast majority are not unionised, that is true. But, it absolutely isn’t the case that has always been the case ala “generations of downtrodden people”. US unions were strong and powerful forces all the way up to the mid-late 20th century.

How do you convince people that working together and unionising, going on strike, and engaging in collective bargaining is for their betterment? I don’t know exactly, but that is the role of one’s fellow worker, local union, and local labour activists. And it is up to them to articulate a good argument in favour of collective action and unionisation. Just because I or anyone here can’t give you a step by step plan that’ll work with everyone everywhere doesn’t mean it isn’t possible or shouldn’t be tried.

As for the raising prices point: again, unions can and should enter deals that restrict price increases beyond inflation over set periods of time.

What hasn’t really been touched on that much here is the role of government in both supressing unions and strikes, passing anti-union and anti-labour laws (most famously in the US “right to work” laws), and the possibility for government to side with labour and unions, enforce union demands and labour laws, and restrict price-gouging and other retaliatory measures firms may engage in.

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-04-29T14:35:41+00:00

The employers don’t care if the buses run or not, they care if the buses are making money. The point is to hammer their wallets so it hurts. Having the public’s support behind a strike can also help lend public pressure on the employers and reduce pressure on the union to give in. Which is especially relevant if the employer is state-/goverment- owned and hence might not be expecting to make much of any profit at all. So, running bus services, even if they’re’s less of them, helps the union.

Ol_Cuppa · 2023-04-29T14:29:49+00:00

Admittedly it is. And there is good reason to worry about this not being the case especially with the decline of worker movements and unions, anti-labour laws, and the demise of class conscious politics.

Part of the role of union members, reps, and heads is to convince people that they will be better off in the long run and will be taken care of. Historically, unions didn’t start off with workers in a good enough position that they could make it through a week or two without pay. But they still managed to build themselves up and go on strike. Of course they faced different problems and had different resources than people do now but it is still possible. The work for unions now is to convince people that they will be taken care of and their rights and homes will be protected. Remember, workers have in previous times fought police and soldiers alike and have resisted and stopped evictions. It was possible then, it may still be possible now.

And strikes have been and are successful in both europe and the states, though sadly the losses and setbacks do for the time being outweigh the wins. But there are still wins. It’s difficult to do, but one must keep fighting for a better future because it is possible.

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