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Da Vinci Code reference in Penn & Teller: ********! ?

I think this Op was just a way for Jay to say "hey, anyone else notice that they reference the DaVinci code here?"

I used to have to watch TV with a bunch of other guys (ok, I was in the Navy, open barracks) and someone always acted upset at something stupid, just because they wanted to let everyone know they picked up on a subtle reference that no one else saw. "Jeez, I can't believe he would reference that fake book like that" sounds along the same lines. Usually, back in those days, it was common for someone to say "yeah yeah, we got the joke too" during one of these incidents.

"I have no "problem" with it. I was just surprised that P&T would play off a a novel that claimed to be true and yet had no (or extremely little) scientific support."

It is called satire.
 
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Ocelot said:
To give Dan Brown his due, he's a terrible writer, his research is lazy, it's a mystery why his da Vinci code was such as sucess but I don't think he ever claimed any part of it to be true other than the existence of the Opus Dei.

However your argument still stands (though reads a little more clumsy) "...that P&T would play off a novel who's idiot fans - claim to be true..." or if it were "Holy Blood + Holy Grail" in your sights.

Though one of the most amusing parts of the whole "Holy Blood + Holy Grail" copyright battle was Baigent and Leigh having to admit that their historical research was purely and simply the reporting of uncopyrightable truth but at least to a certain extent a creation of their imagination. That said, they lost so they're probably back to claiming it as the truth.
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Is Dan Brown really that terrible? I must admit I thought TDC was a real page turner, I couldn't put it down. I felt the same about his other books. But then again, I have read almost no other mystery novels (aside from the few Asimov wrote) so I haven't been exposed to the formula that made them so predictable in everyone's eyes (that is why they were bad, yes?).

I know this is severely off topic, but who would you suggest as a 'good' mystery writer?
 
Third Eye Open said:
Is Dan Brown really that terrible? I must admit I thought TDC was a real page turner, I couldn't put it down. I felt the same about his other books. But then again, I have read almost no other mystery novels (aside from the few Asimov wrote) so I haven't been exposed to the formula that made them so predictable in everyone's eyes (that is why they were bad, yes?).
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Certainly was a page turner. Different thing in my eye to a good book though. You can inject pace through various techniques, short words, lots of verbs a gradual reveal. It's whetehr you find the rveal particularly satisfying. I thought TDC was average. The interesting parts of course were all cribbed from Holy Blood + Holy Grail. It was Angels and Demons which had me screaming inside my head. Gross factual inaccuracies. Had me stopping to go back an check if I'd missed why a sophisiticated security service couldn't locate a radio trasmitter. What the charge of a gram of positrons would be and what effect that would have on the electrons and neurons in the air a meter away. The only redeeming feature was that I discovered what an ambigram was.

Third Eye Open said:
I know this is severely off topic, but who would you suggest as a 'good' mystery writer?
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Not really my favourite genre but I'm told that Edgar Allen Poe is the best. I've read and enjoyed some James Lee Burke. Some of the slipstream/sci-fi/fantasy I read has mystery elements of course. Nothing like a good mystery to keep the plot moving forward. The missus is the mystery freak. CSI this Law and Order that, I'll ask her.
 
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