Super Bowl XLVI: a palindrome

From the Believer Logger:

Barry Duncan, master palindromist (profiled in our September 2011 issue), writes in:

“When I woke up on Monday morning, January 23, I learned that the New York Giants would oppose the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI, giving the Patriots an opportunity to avenge their Super Bowl XLII loss.

Having grown up (in the Philadelphia area) rooting for an NFC team, and living now in AFC territory (in the Boston area), I felt uniquely qualified to write a balanced palindrome about the big game.

I tried to mention as many New York players as New England players, all the team owners, Madonna (who will appear at the half during the game and who also appears at the half in this palindrome), FOX Sports, and so on.

By Friday the 27th, the palindrome was 585 characters long; I thought my work was done. Then I heard on Sunday that Kelly Clarkson would be singing the national anthem. I decided to open the palindrome with the anthem and to make the ending a bit more dramatic. On the 30th, one week after I began work on it, this Super Bowl palindrome (699 characters long) was completed.”

Super Bowl XLVI

We now open: “O say” as is. So belt it now, hon, or if one more? Her! A rare KC. (I know.)

Had NE revenge, Bill, or no? W? On top? Same?

To get a flag: Ellis. Tip it! Won’t Osi? One to NY. (Name it now.) NE position: on one.

Curt et al? Aces all. It’s on! Turn a FOX on.

War day, eh? Din. Oh, sure. Now, as if it’s a Feb. 5 SB. Tame?!

Set. Is opposition we felt? It’s so. Two: NY v. NE.

(No risk, nor gain.)

I. Red. Now. Hut! I note: Ball up. No! Wide! Rah!

Seen Kraft (On), Mara (foot), ST (is a hero).

Tom era: W, an ad. Still? Or met Eli?

Madonna fan? Nod. Am I!

Let ‘em roll. It’s Dan (a Ware). Motor, eh?

As it’s too far? Am not far. Knee.

Shared? I won? Pull. A bet on it? Uh, wonderin’—

I a Gronk, sir. On! Envy?

Now toss. Title? Few. No, it is opposites: EM, a TB’s 5.

Be fast! If I saw one rush on, I’d—

Hey, a draw! (No XO, fan.) Rut? No, still a sec.

A late truce? No, no, no! It is open. Won? Tie? Many note, no? Is OT now.

Tip? It’s illegal. (Fate got ‘em.) A spot. Now on roll.

(I beg: Never end.)

Ah! Won! Kicker a rare hero. Men of iron (oh!) won title, boss. I say: as one. Pow! One W.

Catchin' up — New Believer! — Free e-Stark — &c.

I haven't been blogging—I was in Taiwan and couldn't figure how to work Blogger. Did you miss me? [Tumbleweed.]

Now—to business!

I. The September Believer is out. On the site, you can read a Gregory Kornbluh's wonderful piece on master palindromist Barry Duncan, as well as Ross Simonini's (about whom, more later) interview with Jason Schwartzman. But you need to get the whole print issue in your hands. It's great. THERE IS A CONVERSATION BETWEEN DON DELILLO AND BRET EASTON ELLIS. (One of the many things I learned: DD excised 15 pages from a paperback reprint of Americana. I wonder which 15? I wonder why?)

Marc Katz has a mouth-watering essay on Huysmans' Against Nature (which has been lingering on my bookshelf for approximately 9 million years, and which I really now must read!), Nate Pedersen looks at the origins of the "butler did it" mystery trope, Meaghan Winter gets wiggy with Orthodox Jewish hairpieces...There's the usual Marcus/Pendarvis/Handler/Hornby columny goodness, filthy comics, reviews, and more...Verdict: Great issue!

II. The one book I read while away was Lawrence Douglas's upcoming novel The Vices, which is excellent—just my cup of tea. I was a huge fan of his debut novel, The Catastrophist (and profiled him for the PTSNBN, in one of my last articles there); this one shares some of the themes but seems to me even more successful—exhilarating, even.

Try the first page and see if you can stop. It's about a stalled novelist's friendship with the Bernhardesque Oliver Vice, and the prose is pure pleasure: elegant, comic, wise. There are subtle pleasures, too, that I'm not sure I can do justice to. For example, a brief passage in the first half of the book gently triggered a memory of a scene in Nabokov's The Real Life of Sebastian Knight...and many many pages later, the narrator and his friend talk about that very novel, in such a way that the book itself becomes suggestively and satisfyingly unmoored.

I will have quotes for you soon.

III. Levi alerted me to two free e-books by Donald E. Westlake—God Save the Mark (which I reviewed for the PTSNBN; it's perfect light reading) and (as Richard Stark) The Score.

The name of the week

Did you see this NYT article about Diana Nyad, who is attempting (at age 61) to swim the 103 shark-infested miles from Cuba to Florida?

And did you think:

(1) Her name is sort of a palindrome; and

(2) It's also very nomen-omen-y (see Naiad)

?

"The world's most northerly palindrome"

This is the Arctic Utopia of Knud Rasmussen, Greenland’s favourite son and most famous explorer, who memorably summed up the appeal of the traditional Inuit way of life: “Give me winter, give me dogs, and you can have the rest.”

The trading post he established in 1910 still stands by the shore, remarkably preserved in cold, clear air, near a curious flat-topped mountain that looks like a giant crème caramel. A gravel road winds past a memorial to Rasmussen and other empty buildings, and up a hill to where a sign says that only authorised personnel may proceed to the US base on the other side.

The kayaks that once glided silently among the icebergs in pursuit of seal and walrus are long gone, replaced by a grumble of military transport aircraft rising above a sprawl of hangers and fuel tanks.

The locals who lived here were relocated more than 100 miles north to Qaanaaq, the world’s most northerly palindrome, which is now a lively community of about 650 souls who still hunt seals but in their leisure time surf the internet and stage concerts in a modern sports hall. —Telegraph

Can you find one other palindrome?

(Via Dzyd Kaela)

Latin palindrome alert

NYT on NYFF: The French writer, theorist and filmmaker Guy Debord’s 1978 film, “In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni” (a palindrome that translates to “We Spin Around the Night Consumed by the Fire”), will be featured as part of the annual Views From the Avant-Garde program.

Ouroboric mail-bag

Dzyd Sarah: "I have just finished AMERICAN EVE, a book about Evelyn Nesbit and the Stanford White murder, that Riverhead is publishing next month. The author is...Paula Uruburu! Not only a palindrome but positively circular!"

(I believe the name "Uruburu" is used in Gaddis's A Frolic of His Own...I always assumed it was made-up!)

Weekend Table-Talk

I. It's not every day you pass by a palindrome, let alone two: Yesterday I walked by a new condo, Avonova...and then, later, an Argentinian restaurant, La Rural.

II. Weekend Ouroboros, from Dizzies Team Member Hua:



III. Beatles trivia was never this difficult! (Black Sabbath experts, please apply inside.)

IV. Levi uncovers more about the Family Waugh than is seemly.

V. Weekend vintage video: "Shout to the Top"!



VI. Sebald genealogy? (Via Bibliodyssey.)