“For the amateur the funniest thing in the world is the sight of a man dressed up as an old woman rolling down a steep hill in a wheelchair and crashing into a wall at the bottom of it. But to make a pro laugh, it would have to be a real old woman.”
— Groucho Marx
and this:
“A man always has two reasons for what he does—a good one and the real one.”
I'll see you Authenticity, and raise you Historicity.
Getting up, he hurried into his study, returned at once with two cigarette lighters which he set down on the coffee table "Look at these. Look the same, don't they? Well, listen. One has historicity in it." He grinned at her. "Pick them up. Go ahead. One's worth, oh, maybe forty or fifty thousand dollars on the collectors' market."
The girl gingerly picked up the two lighters and examined them.
"Don't you feel it?" he kidded her. "The historicity?"
She said, "What is 'historicity'?"
"When a thing has history in it. Listen. One of those two Zippo lighters was in Franklin D. Roosevelt's pocket when he was assassinated. And one wasn't. One has historicity, a hell of a lot of it. As much as any object ever had. And one has nothing. Can you feel it?" He nudged her. "You can't. You can't tell which is which. There's no 'mystical plasmic presence,' no 'aura' around it."
"Gee," the girl said, awed. "Is that really true? That he had one of those on him that day?"
"Sure. And I know which it is. You see my point. It's all a big racket; they're playing it on themselves. I mean, a gun goes through a famous battle, like the Meuse-Argonne, and it's the same as if it hadn't, *unless you know*. It's in here." He tapped his head. "In the mind, not the gun."
--The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick (1962)
Your mention of Xiao Yuan irresistibly reminded me of the scam in Jonathan Gash’s Jade Woman. (Trying to avoid spoilers): To provide a long-lasting con for a Chinese Triad gang, Lovejoy proposes a series of fake works by a Chinese impressionist. The secret is that the impressionist is ALSO an invention; indeed, Lovejoy devises to have another Chinese big-wig denounce them as forgeries, since he claims to have the original works himself! I’m not doing it justice, read it for yourself.
dear benjamin
love this:
“For the amateur the funniest thing in the world is the sight of a man dressed up as an old woman rolling down a steep hill in a wheelchair and crashing into a wall at the bottom of it. But to make a pro laugh, it would have to be a real old woman.”
— Groucho Marx
and this:
“A man always has two reasons for what he does—a good one and the real one.”
— John Pierpont Morgan
thank you for sharing as always!
love
myq
You’re the real deal, Myq!
I'll see you Authenticity, and raise you Historicity.
Getting up, he hurried into his study, returned at once with two cigarette lighters which he set down on the coffee table "Look at these. Look the same, don't they? Well, listen. One has historicity in it." He grinned at her. "Pick them up. Go ahead. One's worth, oh, maybe forty or fifty thousand dollars on the collectors' market."
The girl gingerly picked up the two lighters and examined them.
"Don't you feel it?" he kidded her. "The historicity?"
She said, "What is 'historicity'?"
"When a thing has history in it. Listen. One of those two Zippo lighters was in Franklin D. Roosevelt's pocket when he was assassinated. And one wasn't. One has historicity, a hell of a lot of it. As much as any object ever had. And one has nothing. Can you feel it?" He nudged her. "You can't. You can't tell which is which. There's no 'mystical plasmic presence,' no 'aura' around it."
"Gee," the girl said, awed. "Is that really true? That he had one of those on him that day?"
"Sure. And I know which it is. You see my point. It's all a big racket; they're playing it on themselves. I mean, a gun goes through a famous battle, like the Meuse-Argonne, and it's the same as if it hadn't, *unless you know*. It's in here." He tapped his head. "In the mind, not the gun."
--The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick (1962)
That's a gem, thank you! I can't quite recall where I was when they got FDR but I'll think on it some more.
Your mention of Xiao Yuan irresistibly reminded me of the scam in Jonathan Gash’s Jade Woman. (Trying to avoid spoilers): To provide a long-lasting con for a Chinese Triad gang, Lovejoy proposes a series of fake works by a Chinese impressionist. The secret is that the impressionist is ALSO an invention; indeed, Lovejoy devises to have another Chinese big-wig denounce them as forgeries, since he claims to have the original works himself! I’m not doing it justice, read it for yourself.