In this Action-Packed One-Year Anniversary Episode (!), Tyrone Slothrop takes us from Pirates of the Caribbean to Metal Gear Solid.

Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 3.21, 3.22, 3.23, and 3.24, or pp. 527-527 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. 

Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social. 

For the month of September’s Patreon-exclusive bonus episode, we’re watching Dave Green’s Coyote vs. Acme (2026).  

Show Notes:

Shirley Temple “On the Good Ship Lollipop” (https://youtu.be/WLLSqpYyPD8)   

Georgia Tech Fight Song (https://www.gtalumni.org/news/georgia-tech-traditions/fight-song.html) 

Peenemunde Army Research Center on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peenem%C3%BCnde_Army_Research_Center)  

Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia

---

Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long.

Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social).

Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland. 

No sooner did we encounter the Anubis than, as the old sea shanty goes, “it’s time for us to leave her!” And thank heavens for that. But watch out, Slothrop—it’s werewolf season again. 

Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 3.19 and 3.20, or pp. 500-527 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. 

Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social. 

For the month of September’s Patreon-exclusive bonus episode, we’re watching Dave Green’s Coyote vs. Acme (2026). 

Show Notes:

“I FOUND ICE CUBE’S ‘GOOD DAY,’” by Donovan Strain (https://murkavenue.tumblr.com/post/16553509655/i-found-ice-cubes-good-day) 

“Blood libel,” in Britannica Online (https://www.britannica.com/topic/blood-libel) 

“The Career of a Medieval Accusation in an Age of Science,” by Hillel Kieval (https://history.washu.edu/news/career-medieval-accusation-age-science) 

“Italian Futurism and Avant-Garde Sculpture,” a conversation with Ara H. Merjian (https://yalebooks.yale.edu/2024/11/22/italian-futurism-and-avant-garde-sculpture/) 

“MUSSOLINI: SON OF THE CENTURY | Official Trailer | Now Streaming on MUBI” (https://youtu.be/F_iRg076H6g)   

“Romantasy girl reads Gravity’s Rainbow,” by bakingisscience (https://www.reddit.com/r/literature/comments/1voluzx/romantasy_girl_reads_gravitys_rainbow/) 

Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, antisemitism, xenophobia, genocide, pedophilia, incest.

---

Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long.

Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social).

Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland. 

Rocketman: I have to go now. My planet needs me. (Note: Rocketman died on the way back to his home planet.) Meanwhile, the book returns, unfortunately for us and for everyone involved, to some of its go-to subjects. And no, not just toilets. 

Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 3.15, 3.16, 3.17, and 3.18 or pp. 476-500 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. 

Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social. 

For the month of August’s Patreon-exclusive bonus episode, we’re watching Fritz Lang’s The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933). 

Show Notes:

“Toilet sketch from Not the Nine O'clock News,” by (https://youtu.be/j2b-wTJ8x3E)  

“Gravity’s Rainbow fan art — The Toiletship,” by (https://www.reddit.com/r/ThomasPynchon/comments/cbjdfy/gravitys_rainbow_fan_art_the_toiletship/) 

“Head (ship’s restroom) of Navy Destroyer USS Kidd that sailed from 1943 to 1967. One seat is painted red: This was called the "Hot Seat" and it was reserved for crew who had sexually transmitted diseases,” by (https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/rrcfbj/head_ships_restroom_of_navy_destroyer_uss_kidd/) 

“Whistled language of the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), the Silbo Gomero,” on YouTube (https://youtu.be/PgEmSb0cKBg) 

“‘A Suspension Forever at the Hinge of Doubt’: The Reader-trap Of Bianca In Gravity’s Rainbow,” by Bernard Duyfhuizen SPOILER ALERT (https://www.pomoculture.org/2013/09/26/a-suspension-forever-at-the-hinge-of-doubt-the-reader-trap-of-bianca-in-gravitys-rainbow/) 

“What Was the Deal With Graham Greene Calling Shirley Temple ‘a Fancy Little Piece’?” by L.V. Anderson (https://slate.com/culture/2014/02/graham-greene-and-shirley-temple-what-to-make-of-the-novelists-sexual-review-of-wee-willie-winkie.html) 

“The Party. Tomi Ungerer (Les Cahiers Dessinés),” by Pedro Moura (https://yellowfastcrumble.wordpress.com/2019/07/06/the-party-tomi-ungerer-les-cahiers-dessines/)  

Supercut - Snake Asking Unnecessary Questions by (https://youtu.be/cGOb1TcO-8o)  

Clive Barker’s illustrations for Abarat (https://www.clivebarker.info/galleryabarat.html) and “Christopher Carrion,” specifically (https://www.clivebarker.info/carrion3.html).  

Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, antisemitism, xenophobia, genocide, pedophilia, incest.

---

Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long.

Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social).

Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland. 

Have we arrived at Thomas Pynchon’s single best piece of writing so far? We three may very well think so. Get the ladder—because this one’s going up in the rafters next to Mondaugen’s story and Oedipa’s dark night of the soul.

Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 3.12, 3.13, and 3.14, or pp. 440-476 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. 

Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social. 

For the month of August’s Patreon-exclusive bonus episode, we’re watching Fritz Lang’s The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933). 

Show Notes:

The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms, by Margaret A. Boden (https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Creative_Mind/6Zkm4dz32Y4C) 

“The Kekulé Problem,” by Cormac McCarthy in Nautilus (https://nautil.us/the-kekul-problem-236574) 

“Were you a mail carrier or mayor at Exchange City? Kansas City, tell us your stories,” by Eleanor Nash in The Kansas City Star (https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article289893189.html) 

Exchange City on r/LiminalSpace (https://www.reddit.com/r/LiminalSpace/comments/11vmvvj/exchange_city/) 

“The Children’s Republic: A Scale-Model City in Argentina,” by Agustina Iñiguez in ArchDaily (https://www.archdaily.com/1128117/the-childrens-republic-a-scale-model-city-in-argentina) 

“Gunther von Hagens, Creator of Polarizing ‘Body Worlds’ Exhibits, Dies at 81,” by Clay Risen in The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/science/gunther-von-hagens-dead.html) 

Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, antisemitism, xenophobia, genocide, pedophilia, incest.

---

Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long.

Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social).

Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland. 

Well gang, we made it to our very own brennschluss point. Or at least we think we did? Join us for the thrilling first issue of ROCKETMAN and reencounter some old friends and some old, old friends. 

Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episode 3.11, or pp. 403-440 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. 

Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social. 

For the month of July’s Patreon-exclusive bonus episode, we’re watching Merian C. Cooper’s King Kong (1933). 

Show Notes:

Explanation of Lucretius’ “swerve” by Simon Trépanier in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lucretius/#Book2) 

“Althusser’s Clinamen: Aleatory Materialism and Revolutionary Politics,” by Promise Li in Meditations: Journal of the Marxist Literary Group (https://mediationsjournal.org/articles/Aleatory_Materialism) 

“Scottish Commentary on the Worst Tackle in the History of Football by Boris Johnson - McKallaster,” via YouTube (https://youtu.be/0UYrLfxvfhM) 

Excerpts from Roland Barthes’ The Pleasure of the Text, .pdf via The University of Pennsylvania (https://web.english.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Barthes_Pleasure_of_the_Text.pdf) 

Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, antisemitism, xenophobia, genocide.

---

Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long.

Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social).

Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland. 

A round of applause for the staff at Thomas Pynchon’s local library in the early 1970s. Working overtime getting that man his Herero cosmologies and Soviet orthographical histories. And, hey, let's hear it for the projectionist at the repertory theater showing all those old slapstick flicks, too. 

Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, and 3.10, or pp. 365-403 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. 

Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social. 

For the month of July’s Patreon-exclusive bonus episode we’re watching Merian C. Cooper’s King Kong (1933). 

Show Notes:

“Thomas Pynchon Shows Us How White Writers Can Avoid Appropriation,” by Ariel Saramandi via Electric Literature (https://electricliterature.com/thomas-pynchon-shows-us-how-white-writers-can-avoid-appropriation/) 

Clip from Sun Ra’s Space is the Place (1974) (https://youtu.be/Fgz-iQ5lSw4) 

r/AskHistorian thread on the New Turkic Alphabet in Pynchon (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/djxp0c/in_the_book_gravitys_rainbow_by_thomas_pynchon/) 

“The National Writer,” by Ted Trautman via The Paris Review on Chinghiz Aitmatov, author of The Day Lasts More than A Hundred Years (https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/06/10/the-national-writer/) 

A baby aardvark at the Cincinnati Zoo (https://youtu.be/QwLqSvXnsK8) 

An aardvark digging a hole (https://youtu.be/-u2oloi7O2Q) 

Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, antisemitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, homophobia, genocide.

---

Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long.

Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social).

Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland. 

History, math, physics, literature, architecture. This book’s a whole course of study! Do we get a little confused here about the difference between “parabolic” and “catenary” arches here? Sure we do. But we’re pretty sure our explanations of calculus check out!

Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 3.3, 3.4, and 3.5, or pp. 319-365 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. 

Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social. 

For the month of July’s Patreon-exclusive bonus episode we’re watching Merian C. Cooper’s King Kong (1933). 

Show Notes:

For more on Gaudí’s arches: “How a Gaudí Building Won Over a Strict Minimalist,” by Ayesha Khan via The Wall Street Journal (https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-a-gaudi-building-won-over-a-strict-minimalist-1457119548) 

“The math behind Gravity’s Rainbow (Part8): The shape whose centre of gravity is the Brennschluss point,” by Niklas Riewald  (https://niklasriewald.com/2022/02/21/the-math-behind-gravitys-rainbow-part8-the-shape-whose-centre-of-gravity-is-the-brennschluss-point/) 

Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, antisemitism, homophobia, genocide.

---

Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long.

Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social).

Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland. 

Is Slothrop a ghost? Is gravity time travel? Is Joe Biden a fan of the show? What’s in The Zone? These questions and more will not be answered… yet.

Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 3.1 and 3.2, or pp. 285-319 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. 

Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social. 

For the month of June’s Patreon-exclusive bonus episode we’re watching Robert Zemeckis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). 

Show Notes:

“Tantive IV” via Wookiepedia (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Tantive_IV) 

Brian Daley’s website (https://brian-daley.com/BrianDaley-books.htm) 

“Gusev” by Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garnett, via Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/57333/57333-h/57333-h.htm#Jlink2H_4_0009) 

Joe Biden quotes Thomas Pynchon (https://youtu.be/u0zog-s3UBU) 

Orson Welles’ “Cuckoo Clock” monologue from The Third Man (https://youtu.be/cydkTy6GmFA)  

“Ya Got Trouble” from The Music Man (1962) (https://youtu.be/LI_Oe-jtgdI) 

“Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,” by Jorge Luis Borges, .pdf via University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (http://faculty.las.illinois.edu/rrushing/242/ewExternalFiles/Borges.pdf) 

Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, genocide.

---

Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long.

Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social).

Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland. 

Debauchery. Grotesquerie. Eschatology. Showtunes. That’s Thomas Pynchon, for ya! 

Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 2.6, 2.7, and 2.8, or pp. 247-282 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. 

Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social. 

For the month of May’s Patreon-exclusive bonus episode we watched Hitler's Secret Weapon: The V-2 Rocket at Peenemunde (1977) (link via Archive.org), V2: Nazi Rocket a.k.a. Hitler's Space Rocket (2016) (there seems to be a couple cuts or versions of this one across streaming platforms and maybe international distributors—but here’s a link to one version on YouTube), and “V2 Assembling and Launching” (1947) (link via YouTube).

Show Notes:

“The Great Mouse Detective - The world's greatest criminal mind (lyrics)” via YouTube (https://youtu.be/8UQg4zb9dsA) 

An open-access article that very probably contains spoilers beyond where we are in the book, but which goes deep on Pynchon’s sources for the equation we talk about in this episode and others: Engelhardt, N. & Engelhardt, H., (2018) “The Momentum of Pynchon's Secret Formula: Gravity’s Rainbow’s Second Equation between Archival Sources and Fiction”, Orbit: A Journal of American Literature 6(1). (https://doi.org/10.16995/orbit.486)

Songfacts interview with Devo that mentions “Whip It”’s Pynchon inspiration (https://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/devo)

Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny.

---

Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long.

Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social).

Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland. 

Ah, now this is what we’ve been missing! The sun, the sea, the songs! This episode’s all escapades along the esplanade. At least until the paranoia sets in. 

Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 2.3 through 2.5, or pp. 208-247 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. 

Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social. 

For the month of May’s Patreon-exclusive bonus episode we’ll be watching Hitler's Secret Weapon: The V-2 Rocket at Peenemunde (1977) (link via Archive.org), V2: Nazi Rocket a.k.a. Hitler's Space Rocket (2016) (there seems to be a couple cuts or versions of this one across streaming platforms and maybe international distributors—but here’s a link to one version on YouTube), and “V2 Assembling and Launching” (1947) (link via YouTube).

Show Notes:

“Weather Station Kurt,” the secret Nazi weather station in Labrador, via Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Station_Kurt) 

“Pynchonesque” film series at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, programmed by Jesse Trussell (https://www.bam.org/film/2026/pynchonesque) 

“Spray of Glory: The Seltzer Bottle,” by Anthony Balducci (https://anthonybalducci.blogspot.com/2021/07/spray-of-glory-seltzer-bottle.html) 

Chuck Jones’ Wile E. Coyote Rules via Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wile_E._Coyote_and_the_Road_Runner#Laws_and_rules) 

Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, genocide, animal abuse.

---

Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long.

Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social).

Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland.