The challenge is to read the book!

http://lifehacker.com/5856601/answer-how-much-did-you-understand-when-you-first-read-moby-dick

Daniel Russell has a column called Search ReSearch where he issues challenges to find information in our tech world. He picked Moby Dick for the latest one. Catch what he says about the book as a whole first:

If you're like me, you probably read Moby Dick at some point in your life. Maybe in high school, maybe for general reading later on in life. Regardless of when you read it, you probably have a pretty good mental image of the story, right? Captain Ahab and the search for the great white whale... maybe something about the inherent qualities of mankind, some ideas about man vs. nature, madness and a bunch of characters, the likes of which would never enter a Starbucks, but would prefer their grog on the open sea.

Whenever it was that you read Moby Dick, how much of it did you understand? Let's test your level of understanding: You know what a right-whale is, you probably remember the difference between a top-sail and a stun-sail, and you remember the characters of Starbuck, Queequeg and Ishmael, right?

He then goes on to issue a challenge to find some obscure traits about the Pequod. The question and answer is here at

http://lifehacker.com/5856601/answer-how-much-did-you-understand-when-you-first-read-moby-dick

Cool. And he had to go to the real text to get an answer and then powered through it with a good old CTRL-F find method. Didn't re-read it or anything, though.

Overall, I wonder how many high schools still teach Moby Dick. I wouldn't dare for fear of mutiny. It's a very cursory factual understanding that Russell shows above and I would be interested if all that didn't come out of a quick search rather than his memory.

Celebrating 160 years of Moby Dick in a weekend

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111103/ENTERTAIN/111030302

Published on November 3, 2011, "It's a very 'Moby' weekend" is an article by Lauren Daley for South Coast Today. She hits it right on the head several times about this strange novel pervading our culture.

"This whole thing started by asking the question: 'How do people come to know "Moby-Dick"?' Because you know 90 percent of the public hasn't read the book," said Katherine Knowles, executive director of the Zeiterion.

Yet amazingly, we still keep saying--

"Moby-Dick" (1851) is largely considered one of the greatest works in all of American literature.

Everybody knows that the whale is everywhere, but no one knows why--

"Moby-Dick," part of the American literary canon, has also become a part of 20th- and 21st-century pop culture, showing up in everything from a Led Zeppelin song to "The Simpsons" to "Star Trek."

"The fact is that 'Moby-Dick' has become iconic," Knowles said. The cartoon character "Mr. Magoo played Ahab. Tom and Jerry played out the story; 'The Simpsons' have done the story. 'Moby-Dick' is now pop culture.

So they have all kinds of activities going on to celebrate. Do they do this for The Scarlet Letter? Or Huck Finn?

Moby Dick is big

From 1966, Undersea Agent #1. I think "Undersea" is actually an acronym in the title for their secret Atlantis base.

Anyway, one of the divers sees the giant object and says, "In the name of Moby Dick...will you look at that?"

The reference here is only on the size. Another name for whale. But we all understand.

I am wondering about a hundred years or so from now...will this be a reference with footnotes? Sort of like a new mythology?

We were reading a short story in class the other day, and one of the lines referenced Nikita Khruschev. There, of course, was an asterisk with an explanation. I didn't need it, but the kids sure did.

One hundred years from now, as more and more people have stopped reading this book, will it too become an asterisk, or will our collective memory still know that Moby Dick was a big whale? Many people still say Lassie for collies but it has been quite a while since the TV show.

It ain't over til the fat whale sings!

Moby Dick the OPERA

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/ipad/a-performance-worth-krilling-for/story-fn6br97j-1226123217594?from=public_rss

Article focuses on the actor/singer playing Queequeg, the "moral compass of the piece."

Fine and dandy. I just think it is amazing that they created an opera out of this. I am dying to hear the songs.

Not a Bad movie...

From http://www.inquisitr.com/135442/pic-moby-dick-not-a-porn/ August 21, 2011.

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All-Star Superman #5 reference

Probably the most obvious modern day cultural reference to Ahab and Moby Dick would be Lex Luthor's obsession with defeating the Man of Steel.

In the comic book All-Star Superman #5 (which is mimicked almost exactly in the cartoon film version of the story), Lex Luthor says,

"Did you know that Moby-Dick can be recited at a frequency so high that it becomes a sonic drill capable of carving through solid rock?"

(Quote from the subtitles of the movie version)

The reference is of course perfect. Lex Luthor, the richest man in Metropolis, and I think the planet in the DC Universe, has a lot of ego. His pride makes it impossible for him to accept Superman seemingly lording above him. His intellect always made Luthor the best. Now an alien, a metahuman, wins the love of others. He can't stand it. He must eradicate him.

This is what makes Luthor such a good idea for a villain at the best of times. The good writers use him right. John Byrne really helped by making Luthor the ruthless business man and not the idiot portrayed by Gene Hackman in the movies.

The Ahab reference fits, and the author Grant Morrison, uses it exquisitely just to drop the hint about Ahab's obsession. Brilliant.

Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica commentaries