JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Photo: Velocipede by Ricky Villabona

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Found this on boingboing.net: furniture that is a political statement. Abu Ghraib table by Phillip Toledano.

Working conditions in my house, originally uploaded by 160507.

by Walter Benjamin

I. Anyone intending to embark on a major work should be lenient with himself and, having completed a stint, deny himself nothing that will not prejudice the next.

II. Talk about what you have written, by all means, but do not read from it while the work is in progress. Every gratification procured in this way will slacken your tempo. If this regime is followed, the growing desire to communicate will become in the end a motor for completion.

III. In your working conditions avoid everyday mediocrity. Semi-relaxation, to a background of insipid sounds, is degrading. On the other hand, accompaniment by an etude or a cacophony of voices can become as significant for work as the perceptible silence of the night. If the latter sharpens the inner ear, the former acts as a touchstone for a diction ample enough to bury even the most wayward sounds.

IV. Avoid haphazard writing materials. A pedantic adherence to certain papers, pens, inks is beneficial. No luxury, but an abundance of these utensils is indispensable.

V. Let no thought pass incognito, and keep your notebook as strictly as the authorities keep their register of aliens.

VI. Keep your pen aloof from inspiration, which it will then attract with magnetic power. The more circumspectly you delay writing down an idea, the more maturely developed it will be on surrendering itself. Speech conquers thought, but writing commands it.

VII. Never stop writing because you have run out of ideas. Literary honour requires that one break off only at an appointed moment (a mealtime, a meeting) or at the end of the work.

VIII. Fill the lacunae of inspiration by tidily copying out what is already written. Intuition will awaken in the process.

IX. Nulla dies sine linea — but there may well be weeks.

X. Consider no work perfect over which you have not once sat from evening to broad daylight.

XI. Do not write the conclusion of a work in your familiar study. You would not find the necessary courage there.

XII. Stages of composition: idea — style — writing. The value of the fair copy is that in producing it you confine attention to calligraphy. The idea kills inspiration, style fetters the idea, writing pays off style.

XIII. The work is the death mask of its conception.

Mat profile, originally uploaded by saffysafina.

Mat refused his breakfast this morning. In my house, this is a sign of the apocalypse. His tongue was peeking out of his mouth, and he went inside his carrier to be alone. I called the vet and after we ruled out anything serious, she said he probably has a cold. She recommended vitamin C drops for babies.

When he saw the medicine dropper he dashed away very fast, so he wasn’t weak or anything. I am an expert at administering vitamin drops to cats, I had practice with Koosi. A few years ago she was a little skinny, so the vet prescribed children’s vitamins with iron to improve her appetite. What you do is, you grasp the scruff of the neck with one hand and with the other, put the dropper in the cat’s mouth and squeeze. Mat was cranky, but he took the vitamins.

By 4pm Mat still hadn’t eaten, so I was getting worried. Then it occurred to me to offer him canned cat food, which has a stronger smell than kibble. In case he couldn’t smell because of the cold. He ate the entire can of tuna cat food. So we’re all fine.

The vitamin C drops reminded me to get an update on Ely’s condition. Last I saw him, he said his cardiologist told him he had a vitamin C deficiency, so he takes 5,000mg everyday. I called his manager, Day, who said Ely had an angioplasty today. He had chest pains during the concert and was rushed to the hospital. Tests showed it was not a heart attack, it was exhaustion and emotional stress. Further tests showed that an artery had some blockage, so an angioplasty was done. (He had angioplasty on two arteries last year following the heart attack. Since then he’s changed his lifestyle, and when I saw him and Diane a month ago, he looked younger than he did when the Eheads’ first album came out.) Day says he’s up and eating well. But this makes a heavy gig schedule unlikely.

 

Louvre photo by Rickyv, originally uploaded by saffysafina.

The winner of our caption-writing contest is lance, for not stating the obvious. That’s winner, not wiener. Please email your complete postal address in the Philippines to urban.matthias@gmail.com, and we’ll send you your prize.

Rouge Assassin, originally uploaded by saffysafina.

Snapped last year at a mall cineplex. Didn’t watch the movie, but I’m guessing it’s a fight to the death using cosmetics.