David Foster Wallace BioPic Starring Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel

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Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! FML!

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... I mean, the trailer looks great. I don't know why Jason Segel or Jesse Eisenberg is a problem. You just hate them or something?

Well, one part of me is concerned about any Hollywood treatment of DFW.

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Jason Segel or Jesse Eisenberg is a problem. You just hate them or something?

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Kind of. Jason Segel is OK, but the thought of him playing DFW doesn't seem right to me. I'm not a fan of JE at all.

Infinite Jest has been sitting on my bookshelf, taunting me for 2 years now. I guess I better get on it.

I have not. He's an author that has always intrigued me and intimidated me at the same time. Every time I'm in the mood to start a new book, I find myself passing up DFW. No real reason for it.

If you are more a fan of fiction, I think that The Broom of the System would be a decent place to start. It gives a good taste of his humor and perspective without being too much to handle.

I really need to re-read Infinite Jest because I know that there is much that I missed the first time around. I'm just not prepared for that right now. It is something of a task. His writing can be complex and difficult to understand, but it can also be poignantly dark. He does a good job of balancing out the darkness with his own black humor. But I haven't been in the mood to go back down that rabbit hole for a while now.

I definitely want to see that.

BTW - about a month ago I was most of the way through Parks and Recreation and noticed a sign on a door for the law firm of "Gately, Wayne, Kittenplan, and Troelstch" and immediately thought "Holy shite!". Well...

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Parks and Recreation co-creator / showrunner Mike Schur is a noted fan of David Foster Wallace's novel Infinite Jest, and prior to last night's new episode, he tweeted that it would contain several references to the novel. As Schur discussed with The New York Times a couple years ago, he's completely obsessed with the novel, so much that he wrote his undergraduate thesis on Infinite Jest at Harvard and met Wallace after inviting him to campus to receive an award from The Harvard Lampoon. Schur even owns the film rights to the book, although he doesn't have plans to turn it into a movie anytime soon. He also directed a music video for The Decemberists' "Calamity Song" (embedded below) that was based on Infinite Jest.

So, here's every reference to Infinite Jest from yesterday's Parks and Rec, which were mostly spotted by Michael Moats at Fiction Advocate:

Ben Wyatt's hometown is Partridge, Minnesota, a reference to Infinite Jest character Ortho Stice's hometown of Partridge, Kansas.
The online quiz Ann and Chris take is called "The Incandenza-Pemulis Parenting Compatibility Quiz," a reference to characters Michael Pemulis and the Incandenza family.
The law firm Councilman Jamm hires is called "Gately, Wayne, Kittenplan and Troelstch," the last names of four characters from the book.
The phrase "Gaudeamus Igitur" (Latin for "Let us rejoice") appears on their wall in the lawyers' office and is used frequently in Jest.
The hospital Ben goes to is "Facklemann Memorial Hospital," named after the Infinite Jest character Gene Fackelmann. The hospital name seems to be misspelled.
Ben's doctor is named "Dr. Clipperton," after Infinite Jest's Eric Clipperton.
The mayor (played by J.K. Simmons) of Ben's hometown, Partridge, is named "Mayor Stice."
Chris and Ann visit the "C.T. Tavis Medical Building," a reference to the character Charles Tavis.
The doctor Chris and Ann visit at the fertility clinic is named "Doctor Van Dyne," after Joelle Van Dyne.
The end credits list Jamm's lawyers as being named "Paul Shaw" and "Eric," after Tall Paul Shaw and Eric Clipperton. The two Partridge townspeople during the "key to the city" scene's character names are listed as "Katie Gompert" and "Kenerdedy," the same as the drug addict characters from the book.

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Anybody who is a fan of Infinite Jest needs to watch the music video Schur did for the Decemberists. Great video of my favorite scene in the book. Sure, Lord's head needs to go through the monitor but other than that it's very well done for a music video. The yachting cap and NASA cup are nice touches.

Eschaton

Fairly unhappy about this. When I read about it a while back I was concerned. Lipsky's real life conversations with Wallace have always been speculated to be mostly sarcastic on the part of Wallace.

This doesn't look like it taps into that at all. And based on the dialogue in the trailer it is no where near the intelligence and complexity of Wallace's real life vocabulary.

Oh and "I do things like get into a taxi and say, 'The library, and step on it!'"

DFW Kenyon College 2005 Commencement Speech

DFW embarked on short-lived relationship with the poet/memoirist Mary Karr shortly after they were released from rehab, and if you know a little about either of them then you know it ended badly.

A friend of mine who is a great reader and wasn't aware or their history until I told him about it, later gave me a CD entitled Kin, which features songs written by Karr and Rodney Crowell and recorded by their artists/friends (Kristofferson, v. Gill, emmylou, etc).

The point of my rambling is this: in the liner notes Karr talks about she and Crowell sneaking into a La. juke joint to hear Gee Gee Shin and the Boogie Nights. Only DFW could somehow lead me back to the very beginning of my musical journey with a band I hadn't thought about in forever. Gee Gee Shin and David Foster Wallace ( shaking head in amazement).