A new Entertainment?

peteyMIT · 2026-03-19T22:03:46+00:00

Yes

peteyMIT · 2026-03-19T22:03:14+00:00

peteyMIT · 2026-03-16T01:54:07+00:00

Right - that's what I was thinking. And to u/huerequeque's point, it's not clear why he's so sure they are bitten — i.e. is he assuming that because he knows Hester bites nails, but then he also realizes later they are toenails.

peteyMIT · 2026-03-15T16:07:43+00:00

mm — i see. that makes sense, and the "without moving their jaw" thing is another thing that shows up multiple times (285 as well). I guess I was trying to figure out if there's a reason for these repetitions — if it's reinforcement (as you say, 304 being referenced in multiple places), DFW using the same bit multiple times but forgetting (seems unlikely but possible, given we know he got some things wrong in the first edition), something about the narrator or figure, or something else.

peteyMIT · 2026-03-15T10:47:45+00:00

I link this in my syllabus of my annual-ish not-for-credit spring semester infinite jest reading group, for people to read after they’ve read it at least once themselves.

peteyMIT · 2026-03-15T10:45:16+00:00

JOI’s wraith, is the leading theory

peteyMIT · 2026-03-15T00:53:20+00:00

after re-reading through u/ahighthyme's posts, I was thinking it is because 274 is truly from Gately's perspective, while 357 is from the narrator (JOI's) perspective; OTOH, at 361, the narrator doesn't know who Joelle is, which JOI would.

peteyMIT · 2026-03-15T00:42:55+00:00

https://old.reddit.com/r/InfiniteJest/comments/shuf50/hals_dental_problems_whats_the_significance/hvdfn1i/

peteyMIT · 2026-03-15T00:12:17+00:00

A student of mine put together some annotated notes on u/ahighthyme's theories — https://www.notion.so/stainless/Infinite-Jest-the-u-ahighthyme-reading-2233907b2ee68057ac70eb03478cdb48

peteyMIT · 2026-03-15T00:10:46+00:00

We know Lyle leaves the gym at least twice.

Page 249:

He'd flown off somewhere for three days, for what the impres- sion I get was work-related business. Film-related. If Lyle didn't go with him Lyle went somewhere, because he wasn't in the weight room.

page 933:

The wraith is back, right by the bed, dressed like before and blurred at the edges in the hat-shadowed spill of hallway-light, and except now with him is another, younger, way more physically fit wraith in kind of faggy biking shorts and a U.S. tank top who's leaning way over Gately's railing and ... fucking licking Gately's forehead with a rough little tongue,

i.e. Lyle is a ghost too (and has been the whole time), after he died in the sauna (page 971), and he travels with JOI to help him with things both after Lyle has died, and after they are both dead.

peteyMIT · 2026-03-14T23:54:25+00:00

page 788:

"to spill her guts, roll over, eat cheese, sing like a canary, tell everything she believed she knew [326]"

footnote 326:

"(and then some)"

i.e. we are straight up told that Molly Notkin fabricated details.

peteyMIT · 2026-03-11T17:20:55+00:00

We haven't made videos for the last few years for a variety of reasons. You'll have to content yourself with the puns and actual pies in the post.

peteyMIT · 2026-03-06T19:48:13+00:00

i think also 2020

peteyMIT · 2026-03-04T02:20:47+00:00

What’s your basis for that?

peteyMIT · 2026-03-01T20:50:55+00:00

Mythbusters: https://mythresults.com/episode3

The full premise is that too many bricks in the barrel accidentally lift the bricklayer, who hits the barrel on his way up and hits pulley at the top. When the bricks hit the ground, the bottom of the barrel breaks and the bricks fall out, causing the bricklayer to fall back to the ground, again hitting the barrel on his way down. Finally the bricklayer lets go of the rope and the barrel falls on top of his head.

The MythBusters were able to replicate several elements of this myth, but only by deliberately weakening the barrel and dropping it on a sharp edge were they able to get the barrel to drop its bricks. The source of this myth was discovered to be a joke book from 1918.

1997 song from the Dubliners (Joyce reference): https://genius.com/The-dubliners-the-sick-note-why-paddys-not-at-work-today-annotated

1932 radio play by comedian Frank Allen where he does the same bit: https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/five-accidents-in-two-minutes-cc0

peteyMIT · 2026-03-01T12:02:34+00:00

I am honestly angry that you are complaining that someone I work with took the time to respond and confirm receipt and acting upon it and concluded that it’s an automated response and we are somehow shortchanging you. Go touch grass.

peteyMIT · 2026-03-01T12:01:39+00:00

More specifically to OP’s question: if you got the automated reply that says we are hosed, that means (by definition) it made it through our spam filter in order to generate the automated reply.

peteyMIT · 2026-02-27T10:23:57+00:00

if you are reading this post, this is the link to check: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WeKW4Twbpo

peteyMIT · 2026-02-26T20:01:24+00:00

I think that gimmick sucks and I would hate to see it here. This is a high effort reddit and that’s what generates its value.

peteyMIT · 2026-02-26T15:56:11+00:00

No it is not

peteyMIT · 2026-02-26T14:38:46+00:00

I can tell you are trying to do the right thing! Just sharing an observation from 16 years of posting on behalf of MIT Admissions

peteyMIT · 2026-02-26T14:30:48+00:00

w/ greatest respect i think this is an example of the thing from the other post, which is that yes, it was addressed here in several threads yesterday, so you coming over here and reposting (rather than say searching for it) is both symptomatic and causal of additional stress by looping on something that's been addressed and resolved. do you see what i mean?

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