Before the Law - Franz Kafka

I had a quite a few minutes of free time at work today and among the many things I found to occupy my time, reading Kafka was one of them.  There is a very interesting parable called "Before the Law".  This is a very abstract story with minimal amounts of exposition... it is a very short tale.  If you care to read it... here

If you are interested further I have provided a link for a slideshow animated interpretation.

This one looks hand drawn and quite a bit older than some of us... here

Here is to yah.

The late night, what is so sublime?

To catch you up, I have been studying for my plant pathology exam on Wednesday all night. I have finally hit my stopping point at around 3 AM because I had retched stomach pains. These happened hours after the coffee and the decision to stay up later and continue studying. As you may or may not know, my bedroom window faces West Park Pl. I can't help but wonder every time I hear a car drive by or on less frequent occasion, voices, coming from the street. Are they real? Or are they implied by your sleep deprived induced delirium? One can't help to chuckle about the possibility of the street itself, speaking through various human vectors. Something that I have noticed about finals week is, I have become addicted to not sleeping, perhaps in the equivalent nature of a drug. Once those dragging hours hit you and you strive to focus on the screen and motor your way through transcribing notes onto it. The sense of thrill of stepping out of the bounds of rationalistic thinking. Yes, staying awake during the night and sleeping a portion of the day in order to do so, does not seem to benefit...to the rational thinker. Here is what an less rational thinker would say, "Well, sleeping can really be scheduled at any time, there does not need to be some 'only at night' assumption. Sure it can be difficult to do specific things at time but don't forget, you can plan out when you will be conscious during the light hours for things like class, friends, food, etc. Then you sleep after that is all done and the night is all yours. You will find others out there in the shroud of the darkness. It makes my mind feel isolated, unlike thoughts of the daytime. My thoughts seems more tangible than in times of daylight. You do realize that I am writing this blog entry in that state of mind so mind you any technical errors. In a sense loosing some steam here..."

Verdict: Electronic Cigarette = $90 down the hole, well...

Here is a new little product that may in fact "tickle your quicket". I ran into Curran tonight at Brenny's place and learned of this new fandangled "as advertised in a pavilion at the mall" kind of thing. So basically this 'electronic cigarette' is a liquid-nicotine-vaporizer. There is a small heating element that in activated when you inhale and this lets say small particles of vaporized liquid nicotine get pulled into your lungs. That is it...pros, you can "smoke" indoors and over the long run it is said that you can really save money on smokes (if the thing keeps working)...cons, Curran mentioned after a few deep drags, your throat starts to burn (I tried it and this is true) and it costs about $90 off the bat. So, if you are interested in keeping a buzz in doors then cheers to you, this new device could really help you out.

Customer Comments: Curran Raimer
"you can only hit it so many times before it will shut itself of as it is advertised to be nicotine poisoning proof..."
"is good to have if you don't want to go outside for a whole cigarette.."

Wait...? Mario Party 2...? dude.

At my house there tends to be a trend in which mario party game we play. Just tonight James, Wyatt and I were all sitting down after dinner and decided we should play some n64. Sure enough mario party 3 came up because it is what we had recently been playing. We all agreed that mario party 3 was pretty bad and everyone had already played 1 so much and I thought mario party 2 was broken but Wyatt was able to get it working. Let me tell you, this game is by far better than 3 and a little bit sweeter than 1. It has some of the best music out of all of them, especially the minigame information lobby. Overall the game has a very solid in its overall nature, unlike the very quarky game play of mario party 3. It has the very pleasing simple gameboard game play, which is what is so great about mario party 1 but, 2 has newer, more interesting evrnts, items, and all sorts of other goodies. Bowser has a much more dynamic character in 2 as well and various other things. Some of the new minigames were a bit befuddling but, were entertaining none the less. You were able to get multiple rolls in this game which was very big step from 1. The maps are a little more dynamic so mapping your root for a star has a little more essence of chance than in 1 but, not as ridiculous as 3. Like it says on the box, "Get the place jumping."

Picture from the opening...

and the Legend of John Paul.

The opening last night went very well, despite the poor weather that resulted in the bus showing up an hour late and postponing the poetry reading to hmmm....lets say 8:45. So the writing and the music grads do there literature and music performance but before delve into that matter..I must tell you of the legend known as "John Paul". To my knowledge John Paul is a homeless man living somewhere around Norther Liberties. The thing that have come to know about him is he always makes his appearance at the probably every gallery in Crane LLC. He has the most peculiar facial hair, it has a certain asymmetric qualities that make it symmetric. Well I'll have to draw a picture or ask him if I could take one or I am sure he would gladly explain his facial hair and hair. John Paul was truly a delightful man to meet and the most remarkable quality is, his words. Well, I wish I could recount more of the words that he voluntarily and with great quality, spoke. In short, he thanked us here in Delaware to going through the trouble of bringing work up to Philly to share with the community and that our contributions made the art community as a whole, a much greater place. I spoke with him after the show and he told me that he was very eager to see what will happen within the local art scene. John Paul is a spoken word artist and makes often cameo apperances at art openings in the younger scene in the northeast. Either way it was excellent to finally meet him, I had been planning on introducing myself earlier that even but I didn't even have to. You can see him in the picture above and to the right. He is leaning against the pillar underneath the amp. Anyway more soon, here are some more photos from the opening.