Move Your Car
by Zube (zube@stat.colostate.edu)
Created:  Mar 1, 2008
Updated:  Mar 2, 2008
http://www.stat.colostate.edu/~zube/moveyourcar.txt

I recently checked out the audio book of Steinbeck's _America and
Americans_ from the public library.  Steinbeck was a good writer but 
he could also be a seriously funny writer.  I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

What's not surprising is that the God-awful parts of this book
aren't actually written by him, but by the editors.  Consider
the following (stolen from amazon.com):

"EXTRAORDINARILY SENSITIVE to his environment, John Steinbeck 'brings 
together the human heart and the land,' to borrow a phrase from 
environmentalist and writer Barry Lopez ...."

I have one comment.  In the name of all that is good and decent, 
please shut up.

It's clear that the editors are working overtime to impress the reader
with just how scholarly they are.  In a paper book, I would simply skip
over this dross.  On a cassette audio book, however, it's stupidly hard to
find just the right spot so I can listen to the Steinbeck and not to
the not-Steinbeck.  All this might be tolerable if it occurred only at
the beginning of the book, but no, this literary vermin infests the
beginning of every section and there are many sections.

I know this will come a shock, a shock I say, to the editors and
perhaps their friends, but I pulled the book off the shelf to listen to
Steinbeck's words, not yours.  I don't need a guide or a formal
introduction, all I need is for you to put the pieces together and then
get the hell out of the way.

I have the utmost respect for people who understand the "less is more"
concept and when to apply it.  Sadly, most editors aren't interested in
allowing great works to speak for themselves;  they seem to be far more
interested in seeing their own words in print next to great works, or
in this case, inserted multiple times between great works.

IMHO, Paradise would be an Introduction that read:

"We have assembled a large number of stories and articles written by
Joe Author.  We enjoy his work and expect you will too."

Yes, yes, very nice Zube (pat pat pat), so why is the title of this 
article _Move Your Car_?

In _Creature from the Black Lagoon_, a silly and fun pinball game, one
video sequence is called _Move Your Car_.  While at a drive-in movie,
a large truck parks in front of our Hero, who beeps his horn and yells
"move your car."  Making a certain shot repeatedly on the table causes
our Hero to try different weapons for destroying the truck.  The last 
weapon is a nuclear bomb; despite its destructive power, it has
absolutely no effect on the truck.  

I suspect most editors are similarly impervious.