Pumpkins for Ventilation

A cut up. It is nice, I shall do it again. I used Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes and the instructions on How To Carve a Pumpkin. Click on it for a bigger version!

Study.

Study? No. What for? Is it really worth it? Will I actually use anything of what's taught to me? No. No. Most definitely not. I'd much rather run and jump, crushing dry leafs under me feet. I'd much rather fall, scratching my knees, yet knowing it is a little price to pay, for going out to the sun and wind. Ridiculous to say, that what I learn inside four walls shall be more useful, important or strong than what I learn through laughter, sweat, tears and knee scratches to and fro. I shall never study other than the subtle pleasures of life, and who knows, maybe one day, after I've lived through the fields and falls, I shall enter and see the misspellings of what was wrote.

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PD: I actually love to study, and more than that, learning is my utmost passion, I did however, felt like writing this in quite the opposite feeling. And to be honest, I didn't like how this writing turned out. I posted it out of sheer commitment to what I once said of posting every little piece of text I wrote using OneWord, yet I don't like it, not a bit. I guess disgust for one's own work is natural sometimes. I don't know if it's the wording or just the theme itself, it might even be the mood, I just know I do not, and will not, like it.

Regarding Comparative Essays...

A comparative essay: “papers in which you compare and contrast two things: two texts, two theories, two historical figures, two scientific processes, and so on.” (Walk) And so, a comparative essay seeks to show the similarities and differences between two or more things. That or it can also seek to show how one thing looks through the lens of another, being this called lens comparison.

My essay comparing Kafka’s Letter to his father and Auster’s The Invention of Solitude shall most probably be an A-to-B essay, trying to show the similarities and differences of both of the texts in a parallel way.

I shall establish a thesis which shall “Convey the gist of my argument” (Walk) and show in which way I’m going to compare the texts, with this I should be able to contrast each of the texts in a given frame of reference.

Schedule:

November 20 – Read Kafka’s Letter to his Father.

November 25 – Outline

November 28 – First Draft.

Hearts.

Hearts poured over the open umbrellas, with each beat, each pump. A rain of hearts over the city. Blood covered the streets; blood pumped by hearts. Hearts coming down from the clouds. Clouds with hues which ranged from piquant crimson to candied light purple, from salty blue to sour red, from sweet yellow to bitter gray; hues which swirled around the sky, in a dace accompanied by the constant pitter-patter of the hearts; raining hearts coming down from the luring colors of the sky.

"Hello Amnesia! Welcome home!"

I watched Memento. A fantastic film indeed. I shall now explore how it treats the subject of memory, the way it's shown throughout the movie. First of all, the first thing we should take into account is how immediate memory works, also called working memory, this being the memory we have that lets us use and manipulate immediate information. Memento messes with this immediate memory. Theoretically, we are usually able to remember 4-6 events in our immediate data base, and so, we are only able to manipulate this limited number of memories if are to stay paying attention to a different event, in this case, the movie. As the film goes by, Memento shows us several scenes, all in a non-continuous order, and so, it is imperative to remember all of them to make sense of the movie as a whole. We can't, this is the catch in the movie. We cannot remember all of the scenes if we are to watch the movie without standing up and thinking about it calmly. This produces a very interesting effect in the audience: they won't be able to remember all of it and thus, feel an Amnesia-like sensation crumbling their minds, just like the main character in the movie. This interesting technique is the one that gives the real charm to the movie, as without it, it might be considered a pretty common, yet great, crime story. Memory plays a key role, both in the presentation of the story-line as well as in the reception of it by the audience. Hello Amnesia!

Half Sleep, Half Dead.

The Average Bureaucrat by Salvador Dali, this is the work of art I've chosen to talk about the father figure. To give a brief history about it, this work was done by Dali when his father denounced his actions and took away all of his inheritance. Dali had named a work of his "Sometimes, I spit for fun on my mother's portrait" and that was the borderline for his dad: he was rejected, spelled from his house in Spain and, as said before, disinherited. Dali's father was a notary, hence the name Bureaucrat, given to him in the painting.

The painting shows a half sleep, half dead figure who's doing nothing but staring at his own chest. He's got no ears, showing his incapability to listen to anything or anyone and there's a lovely hermit crab living in a brain-less cave. Brian-less. The characteristic desert in Dali's paintings makes an appearance as well, only giving the painting more of a dejected air than it would've had otherwise.

That's pretty much the picture. Very desolate of course, and very depressing. It shows a hatred and contempt towards someone that I'd rather never have running through  my veins. I really really love the painting, Dali being one of my favorite artists, it's hard to ignore the masterful technique in this portrait. However, I really dislike the meaning, it sends chills down my back. It might be because I really love my father and I can't picture myself on such a situation, but as of now, only the incredible brush strokes save this painting for me.

My Funeral Triumvirate

Ok, I need to write about three different death rituals, give a summary of each and post some nice pictures about them. Lucky for me, I have three options for my remains once I die, and so, I can use this three options and write about them! What are the odds? I can give a brief insight of my death preferences AND do my assignment at the same time! Delicious!

Each option is supposed to be from a different culture, but, alas, those are not as fun. I could say that each my option comes from a different culture, but that'd be overstretching the concept. I will overstretch it. My options are: Space Burial, Mummification and one which does not exist but is portrayed in one of my favorite movies, "Dreams" by Akira Kurosawa. I'll explain each of them briefly and why I like them so much.

The first one is just what it sounds like: You get buried... in space. Yes, it is THAT great. Your remains are stored in a little capsule which is then sent to space using a rocket. There's not a lot of complexity in the burial itself, not taking into account the huge amounts of money it costs and the hassle it is to do the arrangements. Sending 1g of one's ashes to space has varying costs. If I wanted to send my remains for a round trip to the Earth's orbit, it'd be around $1,300 USD, and I say round trip because as it is in earth's orbit it shall re-enter earth after some time. If I wanted to be much cooler and send it to deep space, it'd cost about $12,500 USD, and my remains would go past Pluto and to infinity and beyond. This people can help you arrange it: Celestis

The second one is much more known, yet as unpracticed as the first. Mummification. Egyptians, and several other cultures, were known to have this fantastic burial techniques. In the case of the Egyptian, which are my favorite, this happened because they thought that the body was essential for afterlife. They buried their people with different artifacts, spells, jars with their organs known as canopic jars, etc. It was necessary for the deceased to have of of his belongings, including body and inner parts, to be able to go through the dangerous way of afterlife and into Paradise. Furthermore, Egyptians thought they'd have their heart balanced against a feather by the Gods once they died, and the feather had to be lighter, sign of a pure, clear heart, hence the fact that the only organ not placed into a canopic jar was the heart, which remained in the body. This process also included the complete dehydration of the body, which was immersed in a pile of salt for 70 days, and then carefully covered with linen bandages. I really find this method fantastic as it keeps your beautiful body "intact" for thousands of years. Mummies are one nice way of seeing the results of this method.

Finally, the last, and my favorite, death ritual is the one portrayed in the movie "Dreams" by Akira Kurosawa during the last dream "Village of the Watermills". This ritual is peculiar because even if it's a funeral, people are not mourning, they are celebrating. They celebrate the good end of a well lived life. I really love this funeral, it is full of colors, music, jumping and dancing. This is going to be a must in my funeral. Not one person is dressed in a gloomy black disgusting suit, but they are all dressed in beautiful colorful attires. I find this funeral absolutely gorgeous for that reason: it gives a whole new sense to death, it takes away the sad and horrible part  and makes it as human as it can get. Also, it does not celebrate the going of a person to another life, in which I do not believe, but it celebrates the ending of a life. What's wrong with celebrating endings? It should be a more common practice.

I really like also, about all of the three options, that none of them -have- to be celebrated as a religious ritual, not even mummification, which can be done for sole sake of it's evoking of immortality and such. They are just beautiful, interesting ways of celebrating the end of the longest thing one did: Live. They have don't necessarily have the sad duel most of the other rituals have. I really hope my family gives me one of this once I die. I'd curse them from wherever I am if they dare give me a religious celebration. Even better, I could go further myself and pre-arrange my death rituals. Yes, I shall do that; if you want something done, you have to do it yourself.