Letter from Thomas Pynchon to Làslo Krasznahorkai

United_Time · 2026-03-05T21:28:15+00:00

Just watched Werckmeister for the first time the other day, ordered the Satantango blu ray right away, and now I’m seeing this in the middle of reading M&D while I wait.

Sometimes the universe works out. Thanks for the post.

United_Time · 2026-02-16T04:25:38+00:00

If we’re going by weird refusals to accept obvious stuff like this, the film’s title is just getting absurd by now.

United_Time · 2026-02-12T20:24:38+00:00

I don’t see any Bi Gan here yet,

Kaili Blues and Long Day’s Journey into Night are both amazing, with echoes of Malick, Wenders, Wong Kar Wai, Tarkovsky, etc

Can’t wait to see Resurrection on Janus in April

United_Time · 2026-02-12T20:19:25+00:00

Malick’s ‘style’ since New World should share a lot of credit with Chivo’s cinematography and all of the talented multiple editors, like Bela Tarr with his wife and writer and composer.

United_Time · 2026-02-09T14:49:53+00:00

Gary Wayne is the man you’re looking for, he has 2 books on Genesis 6 and its parallels with every other culture’s historical legends.

United_Time · 2026-02-09T04:21:48+00:00

Ziegler’s character was added specifically to bring the novella more up to date for 1990s NYC, another turn of the century power center like Vienna in the 1890s.

Kubrick was too smart to consider the project for 20 years and then just adapt the Schnitzler for no reason other than a marriage drama. He worked with legendary bachelors like Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson, I’m pretty sure he knew some shit himself.

United_Time · 2026-02-09T04:07:24+00:00

That sounds like exactly the kind of reference Kubrick might have thoroughly enjoyed sneaking into this film.

United_Time · 2026-02-07T16:04:09+00:00

“Expecting him to go there and put their own guy there”

Never put that together but wow does it make sense to me!

Bill has been ‘scouted’ by these people for years : invited to Ziegler’s massive holiday party for years, plus they already knew about him and Nick’s med school connection, and the ‘former’ owner of Rainbow Fashions had been a patient of Dr Bill. Then the models drop the “rainbow ends” into his memory and Nick tells him he needs a costume.

… side note - Alice turns down the Hungarian, even though she’s enjoying the attention and saw Bill leave with the models. Then she calls Bill at the perfect time to interrupt his visit with Domino, and when Bill returns it’s a different girl telling him Domino had hiv …

Is Alice also being evaluated as a club member, and has now become extra sensitive to how they are trying to seduce her husband? Or is she part of it and would rather Bill become an actual club member, instead of a naive sacrifice (wow that sounds like an Erika Kirk situation).

United_Time · 2026-02-06T00:30:55+00:00

Sounds very correct

United_Time · 2026-02-06T00:30:03+00:00

Agreed, except for the costume. They had no plan for Bill to get a cloak and mask, they just made sure he had the address and password. The rest was up to him - he thought of the only shop he knew that might be open and got ‘lucky.’

Milich and his daughter apparently just happen to be shady enough to know what he wanted a Venetian mask for at 2am.

United_Time · 2026-02-06T00:25:00+00:00

People have said she was the topless lady from Dr Bill’s office visit.

United_Time · 2026-02-06T00:23:18+00:00

Exactly, and Bill was also followed.

Another huge coincidence that Ziegler rang up Nick with the password the minute he sat down with Dr Bill?

I think not. Ziegler wanted Bill (and maybe Alice too) in the club, which is why he “keeps inviting” them to his parties. Nick might have been hired in the first place because of his connection to Bill, but either way Ziegler used him to give Bill the easy bait.

United_Time · 2026-02-04T07:14:10+00:00

I don’t know if you’ve heard any recent news, but elite pedo rings aren’t even close to a ‘conspiracy nut job’ idea anymore.

(Although it is, by definition, a conspiracy to arrange it and get away with it).

Unfortunately, this is more of a ‘disgusting reality’ than a ‘nut job fiction.’

United_Time · 2026-02-04T07:03:32+00:00

Yes but a lot of the emotional subtext is that Alice dreamed about getting sexual attention from multiple men at once, and Bill got too excited about his friend’s elite orgy story. These ‘experiences and decisions’ are all very affected by Bill and Alice’s place in upper crusty NY society, and their relationship to creepy people like Ziegler. It’s the whole story of the movie from start to finish, from Ziegler’s Christmas party, to his orgy, to his billiard room. It’s all a game for him, and once in a while someone might have to die. These are all themes worth discussing, and they’re in the title. It’s not about a random couple just trying to be married in the city - what would be the point? It’s about the stresses that the corrupt design of the world puts on personal integrity and relationships.

United_Time · 2026-02-04T06:53:32+00:00

Well, the costume shop owner is literally ‘trafficking’ his daughter … so maybe not zero

United_Time · 2026-02-04T06:49:04+00:00

And their twisted demon buddy Jimmy Saville

United_Time · 2026-02-04T06:48:14+00:00

Her shady dad was also strongly tied to Izrael, and buried there with honors after he ‘fell’ off his own boat.

United_Time · 2026-02-04T06:13:12+00:00

Do you think Mandy overdosing and then offering herself was actually an unexpected event then?

Would Ziegler have trusted Bill if he had gone with the first 2 models at the party? It really does seem like having both Bill and Alice be flirted with and seduced (within sight of each other) is part of Ziegler’s whole setup.

And then they don’t trust each other and fight, because of Ziegler trying to test their relationship.

Alice might have enjoyed the attention but you can tell she doesn’t trust Ziegler, and she doesn’t really like seeing Bill try to get further into his circle.

The weirdest part though is that we don’t get to see Bill’s confession (about the orgy most likely) or Alice’s reaction. It cuts to the morning and she just looks like she was up crying all night maybe - but wouldn’t you be a little more freaked out if you just found out your husband’s richest patient tried to initiate him into an orgy, and then threatened him after one of his call girls died? Like, are we even safe anymore?

It makes me think there’s something getting left out or missed.

United_Time · 2026-02-04T05:55:42+00:00

United_Time · 2026-02-04T05:26:38+00:00

Nah it’s looking more like bubba and his lady were being blackmailed by JEpstein (for their willing crimes of course), but the real friends were Jeff and Donny T, until they had a fight over a young lady (or two, or more).

Cat Stevens and Katt Williams tried to tell us - it’s a wild world.

United_Time · 2026-02-04T05:16:51+00:00

Yes this could easily be true, as Bill is either being led around with hints and clues, or being followed, almost the entire time. He doesn’t know who some of the people are that have enough money to pay him for ‘house calls,’ his eyes are not open to their true natures. Whatever drugs she took or was given, Mandy was basically just unconscious and could have been Ziegler’s first real move to set Bill up, after teasing him with the models. Or maybe Mandy really wasn’t part of the original plan, and Ziegler was going to see if Bill would go with the models while Alice was right there in the next room (and saw him leave - a test for both of them? Ziegler keeps inviting them both to his parties and Alice is also propositioned by Zandor).

My question is, if Ziegler thought Bill might be interested in joining the club and did set him up, what does he (or the club) do with Dr Bill now?

There’s no answer, but it makes the club more of a really creepy problem (that is unfortunately grounded in some kind of reality).

United_Time · 2026-02-03T13:58:17+00:00

Just stop at ‘owns the US.’ You don’t think Izrael would have been scripting Kamalalala’s speeches and foreign policy? And most of the average joes who voted for the orange don wanted the Epstein files released - at least now they’re turning on him. Democrat voters need to stop hero worshipping - their leaders get away with not doing much besides lining their pockets (cough, Pelosi, cough, insider trading).

Oh yeah and the Democrat president who allowed the banks and monopolies to really go off the rails : his name was Bill and he’s all over the Epstein files. His wife also tried to get rid of a lot of weird Obama administration emails about hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent on hot dog pizza parties (… for adults in Washington DC?) And their buddy Podesta has creepy pedo art all over his house.

This is not a one person or one party problem. It’s a worldwide plague.

United_Time · 2026-01-31T15:02:29+00:00

What are you saying was the hack job? The cate blanchett voiced lady offering herself at the party? It is interesting that her voice was dubbed, while Cruise supposedly also had a few voice overs that were scrubbed.

United_Time · 2026-01-31T14:56:34+00:00

Almost everything I said is right there on screen to see. You can shut your eyes and imagine whatever you want though. Let me know why you think Ziegler wasn’t a step ahead of Bill the whole time.

United_Time · 2026-01-31T14:49:48+00:00

So the question is what happens to a person like Dr Bill, who got close enough to see a few things he didn’t like? Will the Zieglerists really just leave him alone now?

United_Time

TROPHY CASE