“The most hated Incandenza film, a variable-length one called The Joke, had only a very brief theatrical release, and then only at the widely scattered last remains of the pre-InterLace public art-film theaters in art places like Cambridge MA and Berkeley CA” (397).
Having lived in both, I can tell you that audiences in each city would still “shell out for little paper theater tickets” even after they’d heard from friends what the film was.
Sweater vest or no, go read Infinite Jest with us at Infinite Summer.
NaptimeWriting 
As a Bostonian (well, south of Boston, anyway), I can totally relate to the Cambridge stuff. Imagine “The Joke” playing at Kendall Square, LOL, with Himself and Mario manning the cameras.
Kudos to you for doing IS with a young child, even if it is a reread. I’m a single mom with college age kids, and I’m positive I would never have had the patience to read the book at that time in my life.
Well, Jean, congrats to you for getting through teenagerhood. That’s like reading IJ and Ulysses and Sedaris at the same time.